Chapter Text
The gentle sound of rain as it pitter-pattered against the window was soothing, giving the day an almost dreamy feeling. The phone had only rang once today, and it was sadly a wrong number. Things had been relatively quiet for awhile, but the voices still persisted, as if she was haunted by memories that refused to leave. Just as she began getting lost in thought again, the phone on her desk rang once more.
She sprung up and grabbed it as fast as possible. "Luz Noceda, private eye!" She called out excitedly. There was a brief pause as the person on the other end took their time announcing themselves.
"Jumping at shadows are we?" The voice through the receiver was one she was all too familiar with. She had been tormented by it for almost six months now, and so far it showed no signs of stopping.
"It's not real. It's not real," she continuously whispered to herself. Someone was talking on the other end but she couldn't hear them properly. Everything sounded garbled, as if two voices were fighting for control.
"Mija? Are you there?" The sound of her mother's voice finally cut through the voices in her head. She paused, blinking for a second as she felt beads of sweat drip down her face.
"O-oh, hey mom," she replied meekly. Camila would definitely know something was wrong, but she has tried to play the voices off lately, openly admitting to others that they seem to have gone away.
"Is everything alright Luz? You sound worried," the voice on the other side of the phone sounded far more worried than Luz, which in this situation seems justified.
"Oh yeah, totally, just tired! Haven't been sleeping well but I've been drinking a lot of coffee lately so that'll probably do it!" She was loud. Loud and nervous. Camila hesitated for a moment before answering again.
"Alright, but if you're not doing well, please let me know. I just wanted to check up on you, Eda told me you've done a job recently for the BPD again, how did it go?" Changing the subject seemed to help Luz along, getting her mind back on track.
"It was no big deal, just some elusive crook who was hiding in a weird portal thingy. It was an easy job, Eda was prepared for it to take weeks and we had him found in six days!" She proudly declared. She had done that easily as well. Since she had started learning glyphs, her magical prowess seemed to be expanding. She could feel the presence of magic in a way she never thought was possible. Simply by practicing the magic she was able to produce, her natural instinct seemed to be sharper, more honed.
"That's wonderful, Mija! Oh I'm sure Eda was over the moon about that." Luz wouldn't admit that Eda was, but mainly because she didn't have to pay her as much. The BPD was now running at a capacity that was much closer to what it was pre-incident, but still funding was hard after everything that happened.
"Thanks mamá, I'm doing my best. I'll swing by this weekend for dinner, I have to go now, I just got a text about a possible client. I love you!" She called out, with her mother returning the gesture. As she hung up, she took a shuddering breath. That was harder than she thought.
"Lying to your mother, maybe she'll abandon you like your friends should." The voice called out again. She closed her eyes, repeating the phrase she was now accustomed to saying.
"It's not real. It's not real. It's not real." She tried convincing herself, but she could still feel him somewhere in the recesses of her mind. Everything was quiet, but her mind screamed in pain.
Time felt like a blur suddenly, like she couldn't keep track of the minutes as they turned into hours. Nothing happened, but she couldn't remember most of it. She could hear faint whispers in her head that she kept trying to silence.
She would squeeze her eyes shut, repeat her mantra, and everything would stop for a few minutes. She had to make sure the whispers wouldn't become a full blown voice again. Her phone rang once more, and as she looked at the clock, it was ten minutes until she would leave her office.
"Luz Noceda, private eye," she said, this time with much less gusto.
"You're an investigator right?" A man's voice called out, though it sounded faint, distant almost.
"I am, how can I help?" She perked up, an actual call hasn't come in in months, this was her time to shine. Just as she was grabbing her notepad and pen, the phone disconnected. Crestfallen, she attempted to have the phone redial the last number, but to no avail, it led to a disconnected number.
Strange, she thought to herself. Maybe it was someone playing a prank on her, who knows? She put her notepad and pen in her shirt pocket, grabbing her keys from the desk. As she walked towards the door, there he was standing next to it. Ignore it, she told herself.
"You can only do this for so long. How will everyone feel knowing that you lied to them?" She walked past him and out the door, finding herself in the silence of the hallway. Maybe Amity would want to do something later, anything to take her mind off of the constant voice that now resided rent free in her head.
She took the elevator down; the old, musty smell of the interior was something that she'd never get used to. The groaning of the motors never failed to make her uneasy as it slowly descended. Upon hitting the bottom, she exited the death trap, making a quick stop at her small mail slot to check if she had gotten anything other than bills.
Nothing. She had received nothing. She didn't expect anything, but she was still let down a little. The smell of rain hit her nose, drawing her eyes to the glass double doors that led outside. It was now pouring.
Luz still hadn't gotten a car, and it consistently, in her words, kicked her in the rear. She sighed, knowing she was in for a slog. As she stepped outside under the covered overhang, she noticed a car waiting near the bottom of the steps that led to her building. She knew that car!
She sprinted down the steps, being careful not to slip and fall as she hit the bottom, throwing the door open to hop inside. She breathed a quick breath before smiling over at the driver.
"Hermosa!" She called out as she hugged her cotton candy-haired goddess.
"Hey Batata, you did remember I was picking you up today, right?" She didn't.
"Oh yeah, totally! Totally didn't forget at all, who even forgets things these days?" She smiled sheepishly at Amity, her awesome girlfriend.
"I had a feeling. Remember you were going to help me study for my exams, then have dinner after." Amity didn't take offense to it, knowing full well that Luz had a tendency to get overly excited and forget things from time to time. To her, Luz had been getting much better since she's begun therapy.
At least, that's what Luz has led her to believe. Her medication had begun to have no effect, and the nightmares had been coming back in full force. Reliving the worst moments, killing someone, fighting grom, fighting Belos. Everything seemed to pile on, and no therapy seemed to be helping.
She did her best to keep a positive attitude around Amity, even though she was falling apart.
"Still not telling her? Some 'awesome girlfriend' you are," the voice from the back seat made her wince as Amity began driving. She hadn't noticed thankfully. She shut her eyes as she repeated in her head that he wasn't real. Everything felt real though, what if it was? Doubt began to creep into her mind, maybe she was going crazy.
"You okay Luz?" Amity asked, not taking her eyes off the road. Luz had to think of something quick.
"Oh yeah, just tired, it was a boring day so I had to struggle to stay awake," she laughed nervously, but Amity seemed to catch it.
"Luz, is everything alright? You look like you've seen a ghost." Technically she had, in a sense.
"It's just, been a rough couple of days, my meds have been upped a bit so I'm a bit out of it, y'know?" She continued to lie. Amity seemed worried, but nodded her head.
"Alright, just let me know if anything changes. I don't want you feeling alone in this," Amity sounded defeated, hoping she was wrong in her assumption that Luz was hiding something from her.
"So how was class slash work? You've been doing a lot lately, just wanted to make sure you're not getting burnt out," Luz was genuinely concerned, knowing that Amity had been through similar traumatic events. Amity coped by keeping herself as busy as possible despite always seeming exhausted.
"Oh, both were fine, I got coffee spilled on me at work, but all in all it was pretty bearable." Her own tiredness shined through, and Luz took note of the prominent dark circles under her eyes.
"Ams, how much sleep did you get last night?" The question was answered with silence. "Amity? How much sleep have you gotten the past few nights?" Once again, silence filled the space between them.
"Um," Amity finally spoke up, "maybe six hours?" She answered through a voice just above a whisper.
"Six hours a night?" Luz asked, a hopeful tone to her voice. It was met with hesitation.
"In total." Amity's voice continued to grow more quiet as she answered. Luz instantly went into girlfriend mode, she was determined to make sure Amity got rest.
They arrived at Luz's apartment shortly after, the drive being a quick few minutes down the road. They quickly grabbed Amity's things from the trunk and hurried inside, making their way to the ground level apartment.
It wasn't the most luxurious, but it was home for Luz, and she had grown quite fond of it. She advised Amity to take to the couch and start setting everything out while she grabbed them some hot chocolate.
She knew if Amity laid down, it wouldn't be long before she fell asleep, so she gave her the best opportunity to do so. She watched from the open kitchen as Amity sat down on the couch, propping herself up against the arm of it and stretching her legs out. It was working!
Luz retrieved two mugs from a cabinet before grabbing the milk from her fridge. She didn't have fancy hot chocolate, but damn if it wasn't delicious anyway. She took her time, letting Amity get settled as she heated up the milk. Quietly, she tried not to clink the mugs against the counter as she set them down.
It wasn't long before she heard quiet snoring, indicating her plan to get her darling girlfriend to take a nap had worked. She made some hot chocolate still in case she ended up waking shortly after, but snuck her way to her room to grab a blanket from the bed.
As she returned, she saw Amity had shifted to lay her head on one of the couch pillows, now being fully prone. Luz smiled as she draped the blanket over her, which caused her to lightly stir before once again returning to the peaceful sleep she so desperately needed.
Luz went back to the kitchen to retrieve her hot chocolate, pulling out her cellphone from her pocket on the way in. She looked to where she sat her mug down and found that it had been moved. Maybe she did it without thinking?
"Was it you? Or am I growing stronger? Is the great Luz Noceda going mad, or did you simply not remember?" The voice called out from behind her. She turned, fully expecting to be face to face with him, but found the space behind her was completely empty.
As she turned back toward the kitchen, her mug was exactly where she had left it. Her eyes are playing tricks on her, that was it. That had to be it. She shook her head as if it would dissuade her delusions from returning.
As she grabbed her mug of hot chocolate, her phone began to ring, startling her and causing her to jerk her other hand. Hot chocolate splashed onto her wrist and thumb as she silently cursed to no one in particular. She quickly set the mug down, shaking her hand as she stepped outside of her apartment.
She slid the button to answer it, placing it up to her ear. "Hello?" She strained out, thinking only of the pain in her hand.
"Luz Noceda? I'm sorry, I called earlier but I had to hang up." The voice was clearer this time, sounding like they were outside. Wait, something wasn't right.
"Okay, but how did you get my personal cell number?" She was now more concerned than anything.
"It's a long story, I need to hire you if I can, just please hear me out." They sounded panicked, as if they felt they were in danger.
"Okay, alright, who are you and what's the problem?" She brought her shoulder up to hold the phone in place as she grabbed the notepad and pen from her pocket with her chocolate burned hand.
"My name is Hunter, and I need your help to figure out how I died."