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Holding Francois in one of his paws, King had been digging through Eda’s fridge for some scraps. He was getting frustrated, so the young tyrant decided to climb inside to continue his search. His scrounging was suddenly interrupted when he heard the front door open.
“Luz! You’re back!” King cheered, “do you know where Eda put the firebee honey sandwiches? I saw her pack one for your lunch and I–”
King heard the front door slam shut, instead of a response and that confused him. Maybe she hadn’t heard him? King turned around and watched Luz as she quietly made her up the stairs, completely ignoring him. He complained with a whimper and followed her to her room, though Luz shut her door before King could enter, which left him outside.
“Weh?” He whined. King started to scratch at the door, “Luz?”
“Not now King,” he heard. Luz sounded so drained. That’s weird, she seemed fine this morning. Maybe she was just tired? Maybe something happened at school? He wasn’t sure, but she also sounded sad, and he could hear the soft sniffles that confirmed that theory.
Luz had collapsed on her bed, her school bag was half haphazardly tossed to the side and she lay motionless with the exception of her face, which was buried in her pillow instead. She let out some muffled groans and whines before putting her hands in her hair to scratch the back of her own head. She heavily sighed, something didn’t feel right. Her chest was too tight and her brain was just static.
Luz was finishing up an essay in her last class of the day when her hand first started twitching. And at first, it was nothing, Luz just shrugged it off as nerves. Maybe her hand just needed a break from all the writing.
Then 30 minutes later, the twitching turned into tremors. Okay, that was weird. It kind of freaked her out but it’ll probably go away after class. Luz looked down at her paper.
Why is everything so blurry?
The words Luz previously wrote were suddenly scrambled. In a weak attempt to refocus, she tried to reread what was in front of her. The human noticed that she couldn’t read anything, she could kind of see the words, but she wasn’t processing anything.
Okay. Now I’m scared.
Luz felt her neck get warmer and looked down at the palms of her hands, which were now noticeably trembling. She opened her mouth to say something or ask for help, but she found herself internally freaking out and not able to speak. Cold sweat gathered at the collar of her shirt and everything started to spin.
You’re fine. It’s fine. Just breathe. Luz coached herself. In. And out. In. And out. In. And out.
“Miss Noceda? Is everything alright?”
Luz found herself unable to use her words, “Mhm,” she managed to hum. She had also started hyperventilating apparently. She was so scared, tears filled Luz’s eyes and they threatened to slip down her face. She couldn’t breathe. She felt stuck.
Luckily, the human was saved by the bell. And the poor girl kept her mouth shut as she picked up her bag, rushed outside, and immediately started to power walk back to the Owl House. It wasn’t cold, but she was still shivering. Her breaths were shaky, her vision was blurry, and her body was trembling. Luz whined to herself as the tears that had been previously built started to fall from her eyes and run down her cheeks. She was so confused, and holy titan, she was so freaking scared.
Thankfully, the walk helped with clearing her head, but now everything seemed to crash down on Luz as soon as she shut her door. She let herself cry while she gasped for air. The human’s hands fumbled to press her pillow into her face and she choked out more panicked sobs. Luz’s chest twisted tighter and the air just got heavier.
Please make this stop. She begged.
Luz gave up on holding back to keep herself together. The teen let herself sob freely as her cries painfully ripped her heart open. She didn’t want anyone near her, but at the same time, she mentally pleaded for someone to make this feeling go away. A few minutes later, everything came to a halt when she heard someone softly knocking. Luz froze, she really couldn’t do anything.
“Kid? Is everything okay? King said you weren’t feeling well,” It was Eda, and Luz found herself suddenly aching for the woman’s comfort, “Luz? Are you hurt?”
The teen responded with a weak whine, “Edaaa,” she cried softly. Her pleas were only loud enough for Eda to hear the human calling her name, and she didn’t hesitate to open the door. The older witch’s heart dropped when she found the girl buried in herself, eyes red and swollen from her tears. She could hear Luz’s raspy and panicked breathing, and she could see the kid shaking even from the doorway despite the child’s efforts to get her body under control. Another muffled whine from Luz snapped Eda back to reality.
“Oh Luz…” Eda moved to the girl’s side and kneeled to meet her now bloodshot eyes. She moved her hand to card her fingers through Luz’s hair, “ What’s going on?”
The poor thing let out another choked sob, “I dunno,” she mumbled.
Eda frowned in confusion, “What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?” She was going to need a better grasp of the situation if she wanted to comfort her kid.
“I don’t kn-know,” Luz choked as she cried, “I… I just feel b-bad. I was in p-potions and now everything h-hurts.” More tears fell freely as she tried to gasp for air. Eda moved her hand from Luz’s hair to start tracing some shapes on her back and judging by how her whines morphed into a soft hum, it definitely helped in calming her down. Eda had an idea, she was a bit of a stranger when it came to physical affection, but that was not going to stop her right now, “you wanna try something?” she asked gently.
The human nodded into her pillow, and with that Eda moved so that she sat on the edge of the sleeping bag, leaning against the back wall. She looked at Luz and opened her arms, and the girl quickly crawled into the embrace. She laid on Eda’s chest, arms wrapped around her waist and her face buried into the older witch’s shoulder. Eda’s right hand moved to run through Luz’s hair, occasionally scratching the back of her head. At the same time, she used her left arm to keep her in a secure hold and started rubbing her back.
Eda tapped Luz’s shoulder, “Now take some deep breaths okay? Can you do that for me?”
The girl in her arms hummed. Eda started to take some slow and deep breaths, exaggerating her inhales and exhales for Luz to follow. After some time, the human was able to match her breathing with Eda’s and finally calmed down.
“You feeling okay?” Eda didn’t dare let go of her kid. Not just yet.
Luz silently shrugged and held onto the woman tighter.
“Yeah, panic attacks are a bitch to deal with,” Eda scoffed, “just get some sleep hun, I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
The teen smiled and didn’t say anything as she nodded into Eda’s shoulder. Her secure hold made the human feel safe, and Eda’s presence was enough to keep her unbelievably calm, it was so relaxing. The woman pressed a kiss into her kid’s hair, and it didn’t take long for said kid to slip deeper into a peaceful sleep.
At some point, King had stopped by to check in on the two. He found that the owl lady and the human were both fast asleep, with Luz cuddled under Eda’s protective embrace. So of course, he scampered over to snuggle his little body under one of Eda’s loose arms and joined them in dreamland.