Chapter Text
“We’re gonna need an Owl House!”
The hall’s stone began to crumble like paper as the remains drifted towards the star child.
“We’re gonna have a blast, everyone!”
A piece of debris zoomed by, only taking a piece of Slim’s ear because his dodge prevented it from taking his head.
“I think there’s a way out!”
The group saw Willow’s goal: The portal door, flickering as it struggled to stay whole.
“RUN!”
The others followed Slim’s instruction, the Night Walker pushing Luz and Amity as they started to trail behind. Even with Firefly’s passive healing light, his legs were still aching with pain and adrenaline, the bleeding and likely broken bone on his right leg almost causing him to miss jumps to safety.
While Hunter, Gus, and Willow managed to make it to the door, the flickering was becoming faster and faster. Slim looked beside him to see Luz start to make vine glyphs, joining her and pulling with all his might.
“Guys, go!” Slim shouted as Shade and Firefly each supported an arm.
“No, King!”
The child Titan was being drifted away, but it took all of Slim’s physical concentration to keep himself from slipping, barely catching King’s words.
“…so glad I got to have you as a big sister.”
“King, don’t…do this!!”
The sonic scream proved too much for them, pushing the two into Amity and through the door in an instant.
Slim immediately huddled himself to hide from the boiling rain, only that…it didn’t boil.
The snap of pain from moving also heightened his focus, seeing that it was darker than normal Bonesborough nights. The rain was…cool, oddly comforting. The wind was stale and had a subtly foul stench. The only sounds being the weather and an opening and closing door.
The latter brought Slim to a chilling sight: Luz left the old shack’s door open, but not into the Demon Realm, looking back at the others with a blank face. The Night Walker immediately recognized the terror in her eyes, and the realization of what just happened froze him and his parts.
Gus’ fall and cry to the ground snapped them out of it, finding new energy to walk forward.
“No. No no no no.”
Slim reached the door, opening and closing it with a rapidly fading hope.
“No. T-there has to be another way.”
“Slim…”
“A-are there any other doors in the house? Maybe t-there’s another portal point near-“
“Slim.”
“We can’t leave them there. D-Dot needs– “
“Slim, please.”
Willow put her hand on the boy’s shoulder, seeing his eyes flurry between colors. She lightly tugged on his arm, leading him with the others down a trail. The only thing Slim could feel was the rain and the ground beneath his feet. He could see the others ahead of him, but not really perceive them. Even Shade and Firefly were untraceable in his soul.
Slim felt…alone…numb…
“Hey, Mom…I’m back.”
The words briefly snapped Slim out of his trance, though instinct and the mother’s insistence guided him into the home. It was small but bright, a bit crowded for his tastes, and even more so as the group only barely separated from each other. The nearby couch called to him as his adrenaline faded, the pain from his leg starting to set in. Slim limped to the far end of the couch, falling and flinching at the pain that sent him to his knees before it.
“Firefly…” A push to equal heights with the cushions. “Heal…”
“Wait, niño!” The mother quickly rushed over. “You can’t move your–“
“Get…the others…first.” Slim rasped as Firefly appeared, “We’ll be–“
“No.” Her stern glance froze the boy and his light in place. “I may not know everything that’s going on, but I do know how to start mending broken bone, and your leg is exactly that.”
Slim briefly stayed silent as the woman examined his leg.
“W…What’s your…name?”
She quickly looked up with a soft smile. “Camila. What about you?”
“S-Slim.” His parts briefly appeared, “These are Shade and Firefly.”
“It’s nice to meet you all,” she nodded, “Now I can accelerate the healing by readjusting the bone, but it’ll hurt.”
Shade summoned a bundle of vines. “Don’t worry, I’m on it.”
Slim took the thick roots and put them in his mouth, clamping down with a nod to a further concerned Camila.
‘This boy is no older than Luz, but immediately knows to bite down for resetting bone. What happened to him?’
She filed that question away for later before focusing on the next few seconds. The nurse’s patient looked away with a deep breath, almost immediately letting out a roar with the sickening snap that echoed through the room. Orange lines glowed from Slim’s stomach to his mouth, the flames in his throat almost escaping between the vines and his prominent fangs that had pierced into the roots.
Firefly immediately emerged, wrapping himself around the leg to Camila’s surprise and encasing the limb in light. His host took a deep breath before disintegrating the remaining plants, looking at the very concerned friends and mother who locked eyes with him.
“Thank you, Camila.” Slim slowly rose. “We’ll take it from here.”
Shade wrapped around Firefly’s light as a protective casing. Slim took an unsteady step before Camila and Luz put a hand on his shoulders.
“Slim, please.” Luz’s eyes were starting to get something in them, but it was minimal.
“Whatever skills you have…” Camila gulped at her inner thoughts. “You still need rest.”
“…Fine. Where’s Hunter?”
The boy in question slowly approached. “Right here, why?”
“I still need to help somehow, and what unused magic I have left for now could help alleviate the draining spell’s effects.”
Hunter’s right arm shook as he looked at the Emperor’s sigil. There was still a very faint glow around it, bringing a small burn to his skin. Hunter sat next to Slim, giving him a shaky nod. With a focused breath, Slim summoned a small light onto his hand, covering Hunter’s sigil and the surrounding area with it.
When the sigil was uncovered, its colors were dull. Hunter glided his fingers around it, feeling only the cool from the light and outside’s rain.
He looked up to Slim with a grateful nod. “Thank you.”
The Night Walker shared the nod before flinching at the boom of thunder outside. Putting his hands to his ears brought a familiar feeling and color to his palms.
Blood.
Camila’s gasp only barely reached the boy. “Stay still! We need to disinfect that now! Luz, get me the first aid kit!”
A wide-eyed Luz followed the direction, Amity close behind. Willow sat beside Hunter, checking on the sigil. Gus shakily followed, refusing to be more than a foot away from anyone else; and looking at Slim’s injury with dread.
“It’ll be alright, Gus. We’ve had worse.”
The boy could only nod as Luz and Amity returned. Camila reached down to get her phone, turning on a small light. Gus saw her intention and summoned a ball of light towards Slim’s ear.
Camila quickly went to work cleaning the dripping blood. Slim instinctually flinched away in intense pain, baring his fangs.
“You need to stay still, niño. It’ll get infected if we don’t clean it.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Camila quickly resumed, guiding Gus to move his light around as she needed. The nurse was able to stop the bleeding, the remaining sight almost making the kids vomit. A good quarter of Slim’s left ear from the top was gone, only leaving frayed bits of dried blood.
“I…I got it cleaned.” Camila couldn’t hide her stunned face. “How do you feel?”
“I’m fine.” Slim looked to the others. “You guys need to get patched up now. What can I do to help?”
“You can rest.”
“No, I can still do something.” Slim grunted.
“Slim, you need to rest.” Amity softly spoke.
“But you guys are still banged up.”
“So are you, worse than us!” Gus softly scowled.
“But I can still do something! We need to get back to the Demon Realm, now!”
“We can’t do anything if we’re a step away from death, Slim!” Luz tightened her left hand, the other held by Amity.
“But– “
“Enough!”
The others looked to a frustrated Camila, who kept her stern gaze on Slim. Her face made the Night Walker look away, his ears drooping in shame.
“Slim, your heart is in the right place.” She slowly approached. “But your body needs to recover.”
Camila gave Slim a careful hug, making the witch gasp.
“Please, rest. You can help more in the morning.”
The Night Walker wanted to cry, could feel the tears gather in his eyes, but they never came out. His remaining adrenaline was quickly leaving, pulling down his eyelids as he drifted to the couch below.