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To say that it had been a rough day would've been the biggest understatement of the century.
The day had started out well enough, despite what seemed like eternal rain.
Camila had mentioned that Luz loves the rain with a sad smile sometime after lunch but that smile had turned genuine after Vee had asked her to tell her all about it.
Of all of Luz's silly adventures out in the rain.
The harmless rain of the human realm.
She had thought that the day Luz returned would've been a happy one and while Camila had been relieved to see her daughter, the state she and her friends had been in had brought the woman no joy.
Even less so after they had told her what had happened, not even the mention of Luz having a girlfriend could bring a smile to the older woman as she held her daughter tight, as if letting go would make her vanish into thin air.
Again.
That was hours ago and as Vee woke up in the middle of the night from yet another nightmare, she couldn't help but frown.
She counted three witches in her bedroom when there should've been a fourth.
Gus, the young boy who had fallen asleep shortly after arriving was missing.
The basilisk slowly slithered out of the small nest she had built in the middle of the room, careful as to not wake any of the other witches, acutely aware that their hearing, while worse than her own, was still leagues better than that of humans.
That same hearing let her hear the faint sound of sobbing coming from downstairs the moment she left the room.
She could hear Luz and Camila both snoring from the latter's bedroom, leaving only one option as to who it could be.
And sure enough, the moment she arrived down the stairs she could see him huddled up on the living room sofa, shuddering with his legs hugged tight against his chest.
Being well aware of her species reputation on the Isles, she decided to make her presence known before approaching, worried she might scare the boy otherwise.
"Hey.. Gus..uhm..can I join you?" she tried, flinching slightly as the witch looked up at her with a jolt of fear before slowly relaxing.
"Yeah…you.. I didn't wake you..did I?"
"No. Just had a nightmare." Vee replied, raising a claw as Gus was about to respond. "Don't worry about it, I'm used to it." She finished as she slithered up on the sofa, putting as much distance between herself and the witch as possible as to not scare him.
"Me… me too..but it was just..a memory.." Gus said as his whole body shuddered. "About yesterday, about…everything."
"I heard about what happened but..do you want to talk about it?"
"It's.. It's.." the boy tried as he clutched his knees tighter. "I just.. I don't know what happened to my dad. I know he was hurt, everyone was but..is he alive? I don't know! I.. I'm scared.."
"I can't imagine..if something happened to Camila or..if I didn't know.." Vee murmured as she twiddled her claws together. "I wouldn't be able to sleep either."
"Vee..you're from the Isles..how did you deal with it? With leaving everything, everyone behind?"
"I didn't leave anyone behind." the basilisk replied. "I was alone and scared. If I hadn't stumbled across Luz and the portal… if I hadn't stepped through…I'd probably be dead by now."
"Oh..I'm sorry.. I didn't -"
"You couldn't have known." Vee interrupted the boy. "But if I had to go to the demon realm? Leave Camila and my friends behind? I..don't think I could..I don't want to imagine it."
The pair sat there for a while in silence, the only sound being the ticking of the grandfather clock opposite the sofa and their own breathing, Gus' being shallow and slow, being utterly exhausted.
"You're safe." Vee said suddenly as she moved slightly closer. "Sometimes, self preservation is..it's what matters, a victory in itself and I don't know your dad but.. I'm sure he thinks your safety is the most important thing in the world. You're safe so you've done right by him."
She couldn't help but flinch once more as a sudden sob rocked the boy's body once more, fearing that she had said the wrong thing, that she'd made it worse.
That was until the witch looked at her and as tears flowed unhindered down his cheeks a tired smile graced his features.
"Thank you, Vee. Just..getting it out..it feels better." he said as he moved closer to the basilisk until they were just next to each other, the boy feeling the frilled tail occasionally brush up against his leg.
"You've been through a lot, you all have." Vee said as she slowly curled her tail around the boy in lieu of a hug. "We all have."
"We have..but it'll get better.." Gus said with a yawn as he leaned against the reptilian demon. "It'll..get better, I'll.. I'll see him again.."
"I'm sure you will.." Vee said with a yawn of her own.
And with that, the two of them fell asleep on the living room sofa of the Noceda household, witch and basilisk, together as friends.