Chapter Text
Luz knows she is fragile compared to witches, that much has spoken to her over and over like rhyme. She still lives quite recklessly as her loved ones would say. But Luz is as stubborn as a mule. She gets scared but never terrified.
But Luz thinks, for the first time since the near petrifaction, that she’s utterly terrified.
The first reaction is to throw her hands up in helpless defense. Belos swings toward her with such conviction, all light pooled in her sensitive eyes darkens. The teenager doesn’t even scream, which she momentarily thinks is odd. She should be screaming, rightfully so.
Even when the blade cuts thickly into her hip. She doesn’t scream then either, just sinks to her knees in agonizing pain that ripples through her body. She clutches onto her side, eyes blinking away the blurriness that clouds her vision. Even adrenaline isn’t enough to stop the sizzling and stabbing pain in her torso.
Luz whimpers as the shape of Belos narrows in. She attempts to crawl away, using whatever strength she has left. His cold chuckle is no near comfort.
“You’re surprisingly strong, Luz. You remind me much of myself in the first few months here. So childishly naive and yet..oddly brave. You are more like myself than you care to understand. It’s too bad you were too easy to fool.”
Luz bites her lip so hard it bleeds. She shakes her head, throat closing from the indescribable searing in her side and the insult she feels. She lurches forward ever so slightly, eyes darkening with an anger she’s never felt. Her words are poisoned with vexation.
“I will never be like you,” she spits.
“Very well. It really is a shame. I’ll be reminded to send your mother a card,” he winds his arm, “for her loss, of course.”
Luz throws up her hands again to shield herself. She feels fear swallow her. In what she assumes will be her final moments, she thinks of her mother, her father misses more than she can explain. She thinks of Eda, the witch who took her in and loved so dearly and so fast. And her friends and her girlfriend who appreciate all her little quirks. She thinks of King, her small sidekick. She feels guilt pool in her heart.
Most of all she feels burning shame. Shame for not being more careful.
She opens her eyes when she hears Hunter screech. He wastes no time grabbing her by her hand and dragging her from a sudden wall of thick glyph induced vines. Her entire body is throbbing, but she focuses on getting to the walkie-talkie.
The fourteen year old cries out in pain, but Hunter practically drags her to the walkie-talkie. Luz cries out into the little hand held device, begging God, the Titan. Anyone. Because if she makes it out of this to see her Mami, she swears she’ll never leave her behind again.
Luz has never been strictly religious. But she thinks she might dedicate herself to cathedrals and stained glass windows if she gets out of this with a beating heart.
In a flash her screams dissolve as the ground around her and Hunter lights up. She squeezes her eyes shut and clutches the device to her chest.
They land on the floor of the Owl House with an ‘umph’. For a moment she is stunned, staring at the ground beneath her body. The familiar, safe ground of her current residence.
Luz hears Eda ask a question, likely about how they feel, but the fast paced breathing of the boy beside her numbs any concern she feels for herself. She turns to look, relief briefly settling in the corners of her eyes when Eda holds her hand out. But Hunter takes a look at Luz and the abundance of blood pooling where she lays. His magenta eyes widen, and with deep heaves he crawls back and stumbles onto his feet.
“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!”
The ex golden guard sobs in a choked manner before sprinting out of the home. Luz wants to cry out, to chase him and tell him Belos is the only true person who’s done wrong, but her eyes start to darken and her head is buzzing. So instead incoherent mumbles spill from the corners of her mouth as she lays against the floor.
The pain is much too strong now. She thinks it just might be easier if-
“Luz! Luz! Titan, she’s bleeding so much.”
She then finally notices Eda at her side who is gaping at the large wound.
Eda’s frantic shouts sound close to sobs. The witch kneels on the floor next to the girl. Her hand shakes as she cups her face and screams for something. She ever so gently turns the kid and holds her gingerly in her lap. Blood is staining her dress, but that doesn’t matter.
Luz crumples into pained screams and cries as pressure is wrapped around her. She gasps as the air in her lungs stings. Eda apologizes, for what Luz can’t quite figure out. There’s quite a bit of shuffling going on. But her eyes feel heavy and there’s a certain sense of peace in closing them.
“Eda..” Luz cries out heartbreakingly strained.
“You’re going to be fine. I just -I just need to get you to a healer. You can’t go to sleep yet. Eyes open. Look at me, kid. Stay awake for me. I’m gonna get you some help.”
“Eda it hurts ,” the girl cries once more. Eda grimaces when she turns into her body, accepting the help of the owl beast. She can get to someone faster in harpy form. And for once, the beast doesn’t argue.
Luz screams when the much older witch stands with Luz in her arms. The kid’s sobs hurt Eda so much. She curses the rotten fleabag that is the emperor. She’s just a kid. A human one at that. One who can’t risk extreme injuries.
“Hooty, King, lock up the house. Don’t let anyone in unless it’s Lilith.”
With that, Eda gently clutches the child, her child, and takes off. She can feel the weak grip Luz holds onto her with. She looks down, willing herself not to break down and sob into her apprentice’s curls. She has to keep it together albeit how scared she is.
She knows the teenager has gone quiet and it terrifies the living shit out of her. Eda may not have been an expert in medical emergencies, but she knows quiet is never good. Not with an injury this severe.
“Luz, baby, please stay awake, we're almost there.”
If either are aware enough to notice the slip of the endearing pet name, no words about it are exchanged.
“Tired,” Luz mumbles in return. She squeezes her eyes at the warm wind that brushes her cheeks.
“Please, I can’t - I can’t lose you. Luz, please. Just a little longer.”
And maybe it’s the desperate tone Eda begs with, or the pain she still feels thumping, Luz slowly peels her eyes open. Eda looks down, breathing with relief ever so slightly. “Good girl, Luz. You’re being so brave. You’re the bravest person I know. And you need to stay awake so you can continue being brave.”
Luz’s breathing is labored. But she nods slightly to her mentor’s words. They almost make sense in her head that floats in and out of consciousness. But there is soft reassurance in Eda’s strong but gentle grasp. If she doesn’t make it this time..well she’ll be with Eda. And that might be enough to soothe the fears and regrets that tremor in her burning chest.
Eda speaks to her more. But Luz isn’t listening, she can’t with the ringing in her ears, but she doesn’t have to know what she tells her. She makes out the broken, strangled words of ‘I love you, kid’.
She doesn't quite get it. She’s been reckless and dumb ever since her two feet led her into the realm. That’s what’s got her in this position, anyhow. Still, Eda loves her.
That makes the darkness a little more warm to slip into.
***
Eda grew up naming herself in negative adjacent words. She was, after all, a troublesome child. It was easy to get comfortable being called ‘cruel’ or ‘apathetic’ . And while Edalyn Clawthorne never took herself for a bully (no, she had enough of those growing up), she certainly didn’t think she was exactly peachy. The adults in her life had enough to say about that.
She particularly never counted herself to be loving, or at least in the maternal sense. King came into her life with squeaks and a need for someone and Eda was a lonely witch on the run. Naturally she took it upon herself to love the little rascal. How could you not with his precious foot stomps and collection of adorable stuffed animals.
Sure, she loved King from the start. But she still never considered herself motherly. Not in the traditional way. While King grew under her wing and became hers and hers only to protect, his demon instincts and behavior was vastly different from a withling. He didn’t require the same care of a witch child, albeit his precious characteristics.
Eda Clawthorne considered herself to bare of any maternal instincts. While she didn’t mind the presence of children, especially those who inhibited cunning and sneaky traits like herself, she never once thought she’d be so fond and nurturing.
But she supposed the Titan has good humor.
Because then an excitable, curious teenager stumbled through her portal and landed right into her lap. Metaphorically, of course. Though she thinks fondly of the time she physically held the kid in her lap when she missed her Mami (but no one has to know about that).
Eda harbored every intention of keeping Luz in the same field of respect and bond as she did to King, or even Hooty for that sake. A month or two in the demon realm serving as an apprentice, and soon she’d be back home with her own family. A moment of time, Eda assumed.
How deathly wrong she was.
Somehow the kid worked her way into her heart and made a spot there. Maybe Eda could blame biological instincts from being a woman, but Luz became her kid. And rather quickly.
The petrifaction was a quick reality check to how much Eda adores her apprentice/child/surrogate daughter. And if she died fighting for a realm she didn’t even grow up in, Eda knew she’d never recover. If she couldn’t, and having only known Luz for a handful of months, she didn’t want to know what Luz’s actual mother would go through.
And now she’s sitting in a healer’s office, hoping nothing takes her kid away from her. She just loves her too damn much.
Eda always prided herself on her stoic nature. But her motherly feelings eagerly squashed them. Standing in the only trusted healer she knows office certainly
doesn’t provide any comfort. Her clothes are stained a crimson color that makes nausea quickly rise in her throat.
That’s Luz’s blood on her dress. Her child’s blood.
Eda slumps in the seat, burying her face in her hands, willing herself not to further breakdown. Luz is hurriedly being worked on by a wild witch who focuses particularly in healing. There’s nothing Eda can do but wait.
She stares blankly at the wall. She knew humans ran warmer than witches. She often felt it in the kid’s hugs and affectionate touches. But Luz was just so cold as she clutched her close and begged her not to close her eyes. It was unnerving to say the least. It couldn’t mean anything good.
Eda jumps when she hears the door open. She rolls her fists up, though she knows it would be fruitless. She has no glyphs. Not that she’s as skilled as the fourteen year old.
“Edalyn!”
The witch widens her eyes when her older sister barrels through the door with Owlbert chirping on her shoulder.
Lilith nearly trips herself running over. She envelopes her younger sister in a tight hug. Eda tenses then relaxes in the hold. She and her sister had never been quite affectionate. But then, Luz has an easy way of leaving her affect where ever she goes.
“I came as quick as I could. Luz, is she..is she going to be okay?” Lilith asks, furrowing her brows and softening her voice. She pulls away, leaving her hands placed on Eda’s slim shoulders.
Eda opens her mouth to speak, but she surprises herself when all she can hear is strangled sobs and gasps for breaths. She is once again tugged back into her sister’s arms. Lilith gently guides her to a chair.
“ Oh Eda ,” Lilith murmurs, stroking her sister's mane of grey hair, “it’s alright. I’ve got you.”
“It’s not alright!” Eda cries breathlessly, “she almost died in my arms. And I couldn’t heal her. I got her here as fast I could, but I didn’t know what to do. And I’m so scared, Lily. Titan, I’m terrified. I can’t lose her. Not
Now. Never. I can’t. She has a mother and she needs to go home to her. She can’t die, Lily. I don’t know what -I don’t know what to do if-“
Lilith bites her lip and squeezes her sister’s hand. “Luz is a strong girl. You know that. And you did everything right. You did your best and now you just have to let the healer do what they do.”
Eda sniffles and wipes at her nose. She sighs, hugging herself and looking at her nails. Blood has dried on her hands from wrapping a towel around the wound. She clenches her fist in anger, thinking about all the ways to screw up the tyrant who hurt her kid. And the little golden guard who ran off before she could talk to him.
“Edalyn, go wash up in the sink. I’ll stay here. Having your hands dirtied with..it won’t make you feel any better. Get cleaned up. I’ll send Owlbert for a change of clothes,” Lilith pets the top of the owl’s head, who coos in response.
Owlbert chirps and nuzzles Eda’s cheek. The witch sighs and scratches his chin. “Okay, okay. And check on King and Hooty. See if that little golden guard, Hunter, has been back.”
Owlbert hoots and takes off with one last nuzzle.
Lilith nudges Eda towards the small bathroom, “go on. I’ll wait out here.”
“But what If-“
“ Edalyn , it’s fine. I’ll be right here.”
“I need to be close to her. Anything could happen!”
“Eda, you need to be taken care of when Luz wakes up. She’s going to be in a lot of pain. Then you can give her all of your attention. You need to be ready for her. ”
Eda bites her lip. She finally nods. “I’ll be quick. And if anything-“
“It’s going to be okay,” Lilith softens her voice, “you know I care about her. Go clean up. Owlbert will be back soon.”
The younger witch finally huffs and turns to the bathroom. She closes the door with hesitancy. Lilith finally breathes a sigh of relief when she hears the faucet running.
As she settles in the chair, she listens to the quiet murmur of the healer and their assistant. It’s awfully silent otherwise and it churns anxiety in the navy haired witch. She thinks about Eda, and the stain on her clothes and hands. And the poor kid now fighting to survive.
Eda and Luz’s tightly knit bond grew increasingly less subtle after Lilith had to move in with them. The Owl House in entirety moved together in a way Lilith envied. They’re a family, albeit a strange one. And they even took Lilith herself in, despite everything she did.
Lilith would be lying to herself if she were to say the bright little human didn’t have a certain affect her. The former emperor coverness grew more and more impressed rhe more Luz advanced in glyph skills. And she grew more fond the more time spent with her.
If there’s anyone who deserves more kindness in the realm, it’s Luz Noceda.
But kindness will not be enough to save the fourteen year old now.
By a miracle from Titan himself will the human get out of her injury with her life spared. Lilith doesn’t need to be an expertise in human anatomy to know the blood on her sister’s dress is a life threatening amount. If she were witch, she’d likely need a blood donation. But Luz isnt a witch by biological standards and there’s no excess of human blood lying around.
Lilith sighs. She’s more worried than she’s ever been. But for the sake of her frightened younger sister, she takes a deep breath and greets the little owl that returns with a small bag.
“Thanks, Owlbert,” Lilith says softly. He hoots happily to her.
Lilith takes the small bag and knocks on the door. Eda quickly opens, widening her eyes in alarm until she sees the witch holding out the change of clothes. “Nothing so far. That’s a good thing. Owlbert is back.
“Oh. Thanks. I’ll finish.”
Eda shuts the door. Lilith sits back down and waits patiently.
The next time the bathroom doer opens, Eda is dressed in an outfit nearly identical to her last. She pauses at the door to the healing room where Luz is being taken care of. Her hands tremble as she forces herself to turn around and reassume her spot next to Lilith.
“I feel sick.” Eda mumbles.
“I’m here for you, Edalyn. We just have to trust that the healers can do everything they can.”
“They have to save her. They have to.”
Eda lays her head on Lilith’s shoulder and sighs. They have to save her because she is just a child. She’s her child and that makes it all the more important.