Chapter Text
Despite the fact that they hardly ever saw their parents anymore, there was never any doubt in Raine’s mind that their parents were there for them always.
Growing up, they had been… lonely, certainly. They were fortunate enough to be a prodigy in bard magic, being invited into St. Epiderm under scholarship, which they would use to ensure their success at the yearly IFWOT.
Until Head Wi— Terra. Until Terra had unknowingly made everything better for them. She definitely didn’t mean to do it, but her refusal to distribute the blue ribbons that year caused them to lose their scholarship, and so began their enrollment in Hexside.
They finally had friends, and their parents had been so proud of them.
Raine would have liked to be a parent one day, if they were being honest. Amber was the closest thing to that, considering she was technically not a legal adult yet, so they’d take what they could get.
When they found out that Eda had kids…
A life had flashed through their mind. A life that they could have had if they had just stayed. One full of love and freedom, with warm hands playfully stealing their glasses and a comforting voice greeting them each morning.
So they had sent Eda away. Again.
Things of course got… weird for a while. They didn’t want to risk Eda’s safety, because Titan, they couldn’t bear the thought of possibly being the reason those kids lost a parent. Not to mention that they were terrified of losing Eda, because deep down, a part of them was still in love with her.
Her laugh, her attitude, her ridiculously soft lips. It was all theirs once. And they wanted it to be theirs again.
It was late, the moon hanging heavy in the sky. The base was shrouded in darkness, the only light coming from the candle flickering on the table. Lilith was curled up against Eda’s bird tube…friend, snoring softly.
They peeked around the corner, spotting Eda passed out on the bottom bunk of the bed she and her family had been provided. A whittling knife was tightly gripped in her hand, wood shavings cluttering the ground. Her other arm was draped over the demon boy– King, their mind supplied–who was cuddled into Eda’s hip.
It was adorably domestic.
Raine wanted to be a part of it.
They frowned, suddenly realizing that something was missing from the moment. Some one. The other girl, Luz, wasn’t there.
With everything that happened that night, Raine hadn’t gotten much of a chance to speak with her after the initial introductions had been finished. She was endearing, and extremely sweet. Of course, she had her spunk–any kid of Eda’s would, obviously.
There was something else that they couldn’t quite put their finger on, but they’d have a much harder time figuring it out if they couldn’t even find the kid. Where could she have run off to at this hour? Raine hadn’t spotted her entering the kitchenette, or lingering around the designated lounge area…
A gentle breeze wrestled them out of their mind, causing them to finally notice the door that was cracked open.
The balcony.
That solved their question, then.
Raine quietly pushed the door open, spotting the human girl leaning over the edge of the balcony, eyes glazed over with unshed tears while she was lost in thought.
“Luz?” the bard asked, the girl’s shoulders tensing for a moment before relaxing. She pulled away from the balcony, offering a forced smile to them as they approached. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” she replied, too quickly for it to be true. “Everything is fine. I’m fine.”
“You know…” they trailed off, garnering her attention. She looked up at them, eyes gleaming with awe. It was adorable. She could have been one of yours, if you had chosen to stay. “You’re allowed to be stressed and upset. You… can cry, if you want to.”
Luz’s eyes darted away, the girl biting her bottom lip.
“I’m not. I can’t. Not when everything is my fault,” she choked out, an admission Raine wasn’t entirely expecting, but still managed to make their heart ache. “Everything that happened today just makes it worse. Eda apologized to me, and she’s saying it isn’t my fault, but it is. If I hadn’t overreacted and yelled, or insisted on the heist–”
“Hey, hey,” Raine clasped their hands over the girl’s, catching her attention. Brown eyes that carried too much guilt snapped open. “So many people were manipulated in this. You’re a kid. You’re a strong and brave and capable kid, but you’re still so young, you can’t shoulder all of this by yourself, cariño.”
“Cariño?” Luz furrowed her eyebrows. Raine squeaked, their cheeks flushing red in embarrassment.
“Ah, sorry! That’s just something my mom would call me, it just sort of slipped in there–” they rambled. “It’s nothing bad! It’s just…”
“No, no. I know what it means. Simplemente no tenía idea de que hablabas español aquí,” Luz laughed awkwardly, the words rolling off of her tongue. Raine didn’t understand, but they desperately wanted to. Luz must have noticed their confusion. “Oh! I’m sorry. I just… assumed.”
“It’s alright,” they smiled. “I do wish that I understood. Common Tongue has been the only language on the Isles for as long as anybody can remember. Some families, like mine, have a few sayings and some songs, but that’s about it. Do you…?”
“Yep,” Luz nodded, making herself comfortable on the stone. She laid down, staring up towards the sky. Raine figured that it wouldn’t hurt to join her. “It’s called Spanish. It’s me and my mami's first language.”
“Spanish,” Raine parroted. “It sounds lovely. I’d love to learn more about it once this is all over, yeah?”
Luz quieted again.
“What if it doesn’t end?” she eventually whispered. Raine frowned, sparing a glance at the teen next to them. “I don’t wanna lose Eda. Can I tell you a secret?”
They nodded, mocking the gesture of sealing up their lips and locking it with a key. Luz sighed, tears pooling in her eyes again. Raine’d give her all the time that she needed to talk.
“Eda reminds me of my dad,” she eventually mumbled. If it hadn’t been so quiet, they would have missed it entirely. “I don’t wanna freak her out with the dead dad comparison but it’s just… she’s just like him in so many ways. She’s weird and chaotic, completely unpredictable in what she does.”
Luz’s breathing picked up for a moment, she paused her ramble to collect herself. Raine waited.
“But she’s also so patient with me. She learns how to sit and wait for me. She reads my books with me, and I know that she only pretends to hate them, because she doesn’t wanna ruin her whole bad girl image,” Luz let out some mixture of a laugh and sob. “I’m so scared. I don’t want to lose her. I can’t do it again.”
“I’ll protect her,” Raine offered, reaching out to stroke Luz’s hair. “I’ll make sure that she stays safe.”
“But…” Luz curled into herself. “I can do something this time. I don’t have to sit around watching her slowly die. I can help. I want to help.”
“Cariño, please,” Raine struggled with their words. “You’re tired. It’s been a long day, you should get some rest. We’ll figure out a final plan in the morning, and you can help.”
“You promise that you’ll protect her?” Luz wiped away her own tears, face riddled with exhaustion.
“I…” Raine hesitated. They wanted to say that they could, but it was Eda. The last thing they wanted to do was make a promise that they weren’t certain they could keep. “I can’t promise anything right now. I’m sorry. Let’s… get you to sleep. I’ll sing you a lullaby.”
Luz’s expression became crestfallen by their avoidance, but she didn’t push. She nodded, slowly standing up, and practically falling over.
With a gentle sigh, they scooped the girl up, adjusting her as she leaned into the crook of their neck. They nudged the door open, slipping back inside the base. Luz was slipping into oblivion quickly, her grip losing its tightness. They laid her down on a nearby cot, pulling the covers over her shoulders.
Part of them wanted to kiss her goodnight, but they couldn’t. It wasn’t their place, not when they had pulled themself out of Eda’s life like they had.
With a quick spell circle, they summoned one of their instruments, giving the strings a quick pluck. Luz curled up, her face relaxing as they began to play the song that had always helped them in their own youth.
“Viento a viento va
El sueño del mar
Gira sin parar
Viento a viento va
Durmiendo el sol
Un guiño de luz se perdió
Tu cuerpo se hace vientre
Estatua transparente
En la arena oscura esperarás”
“Viento a viento va
Bailando el mar
Ésta sola voz se quebró
Pájaros de sal
Ciegos de llorar
Vuelven a volar”
“Viento a viento va
Éste pequeño
Temblor que jamás gritó
A la luz, al árbol, a la lluvia
A la voz, al aire, al final
Y así este viento va girando
Y así este viento va
Se fue
Y así este niño va
Llorando
Llorando”