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Willow held Gus’ hand as they sat in their separate chairs. Luz, hooked up to various medical instruments, sleeping peacefully, lay before them.
A body so painfully still, supposed to be full of life and vibrancy. Supposed to be talking their ear off and rambling about magic and friendship and demons and all other wonders of life.
The only sounds coming from her were the steady, unbroken breaths that forcefully exited her body with the help of her machine. A steady beeping assured them that, no, she wasn’t dead.
For the 30th time, despite how horribly inactive she was, she wasn’t dead. No. Not that it mattered. With how interactive she was, she might as well have been.
Gus let go of Willow’s hands, standing up and walking to the side of Luz’s bed.
Her hair had grown out, now coming past her shoulders. Her face was regularly groomed and cleaned, though that didn’t stop it from appearing ghastly. She should be talking, she should be thinking.
But as Gus performed another illusionary spell, trying to get a read of her mind, he could only dejectedly lower his arm to his side as he confirmed, once again, that her mind was static.
“Any different?” Willow asked, though her voice was void of hope. She’d lost it a month ago. Gus gave a bare shake of his head.
“No.”
…
Willow sighed, putting her hands on her knees to aid in standing up. She walked over to the other side of Luz’s bed, opposite Gus.
She took a hand and combed Luz’s long locks away from her face, as if to make her more comfortable.
It had been two months. Two long, grueling months of waiting for Luz to wake up. “She’ll be fine,” they said. “Just wait a little longer,” she told herself.
She shouldn’t have been such a fool. The damage to her brain was apparent from the various scans she’d been warned not to bear witness to. A normal person’s brain shouldn’t look like that.
And every new, stagnant week brought with it a new scan, an update. Ironically, her brain was healing, though Luz never displayed any sense of consciousness. Or even much brain activity. For a long while, they’d been convinced she was braindead, though the strongest of illusion magics, aided by galdorstones, revealed that she was merely in a deep, deep, deep sleep. A deeper sleep than she’d ever been in her life. No amount of shouting or shaking or crying or screaming or begging or apologizing would wake her up. Willow would know.
The healers explained that her mind needed more time. However, they shouldn’t get their hopes up.
After a week of not waking up, the chances of a miracle lessened each and every day. By this point, two months in and two months drained of hope, the chances were astronomical.
Willow hadn’t realized that she’d begun crying, tears dripping onto her comatose friend’s arm. But this wasn’t a fairy tale. Desperation and heartfelt emotion wouldn’t wake her up.
A healer opened their door, walking in slowly and carefully, attempting to not break the heavy atmosphere.
Gus barely turned his head to observe the new presence, merely having come in to dispose of Luz’s waste bag.
He turned his gaze back to his friend. The healer in the room had no good news to give. They stopped trying to give reassurances long ago. His friend was being tortured with life. She shouldn’t be alive. Her soul craved to move on. At least that way she’d regain some sense of autonomy, rather than being chained to this worthless body.
Still, even recognizing this, he couldn’t help but be so woefully attached to her body. Any time anyone suggested…
The healer cleared their throat.
“Listen, I know this isn’t easy to hear, but Luz’s guardian is no longer acting in her best interest.”
Neither of the young witches responded to them, still staring blankly at their friend as they had done every day. A promise to be there for her when she returned, ready to greet her and treat her and meet her all over again. They weren’t stupid. They knew that after this long, the chances that it would be their friend waking up were slim. Even if the body and mind were reanimated, they couldn’t expect it to be the same person that had fallen asleep.
The healer spoke up once more.
“Edalyn refuses to hear us out. She refuses to sign the consent form. I know this is hard, but what Luz is going through is harder. She’s not going to wake up. It would be best for all of us if we could let her move on.”
Gus gripped the sleeve of Luz’s arm painfully, knuckles turning white. He struggled to see his friend through the fog of his tears.
“But won’t it hurt?” he asked so painfully small, so painfully mistrusting. He couldn’t fail Luz again. Not this time, and not ever again.
That’s why…
that's why…
…
The healer shook her head.
“No. She hasn’t felt anything in a long time. She’ll pass peacefully, I assure you.”
It was Willow that spoke up this time.
“But won’t Eda be devastated?”
The healer flinched.
“Obviously, but she can’t think straight anymore. She’s starving herself, constantly hovering outside the hospital, hoping her baby will wake up. We’ve told her many times that she’s dead already, that she should just move on. Obviously, Eda won’t listen. I don’t expect her to. As Luz’s primary care provider at this point, I must admit that I’ve grown attached to her, even if she’s never spoken a word to me. The stories you’ve told me. The tales you weaved; they all breathe life into her. Isn’t that enough?”
Willow grabbed Luz’s hand, squeezing, pleading one last time out loud for her friend to hear her words, for her to jump out of that bed and run away from these horrible people. These horrible people that want nothing but to pull that plug.
As always she didn’t listen.
The healer cringed at the sight, trying her best not to break down. It was unprofessional, but the overwhelming grief never ceased to strike down her heart.
“This is what’s best for her. If you’re truly her friend, you’ll realize that.”
…
Willow struggled to speak through the saliva choking her.
“I don’t want her to hurt anymore. What do… what do I do?”
The healer walked up to Luz, hovering over her before pressing a magic-infused kiss to her forehead.
“This will block all mental pain. It’s done as a last resort. The spell won’t last long. If there’s ever an opportunity to say goodbye, it would be now.”
The healer turned toward Gus, who was bawling as he did way back when. It hurt just as much now as it did then. The responsibility of freeing his friend.
He couldn’t do it alone. He can’t do this alone. He doesn’t want to do this alone.
“Willow… I don’t want her to suffer anymore.”
Willow looked like she wanted to hit him, though she refrained.
…
She nodded her head.
“Go bring us the paperwork.”
Her eyes opened, crusty and bleak. She couldn’t see, yet the sudden stimulation of existence was overwhelming. She screamed the best she could, though only a muffled choke entered her ears.
Various voices tried their best to get through to her, to make their presence known.
But Luz wouldn’t listen.
Her legs.
She couldn’t move her legs.
Her legs were stone and she was stone and her heart was stone and
She couldn’t move.
Please, Eda, King, Amity… God, anyone. Please, anyone. Please, spare her. Free her. Let her see.
She can’t see.
She can’t hear.
She can’t think.
She’s crying. She’s crying and she can’t stop. Her heart is heavy and breaking because it’s stone and she’s stone and she’s going to die and she’s stone and she’s going to die and
A soft hand wrapping her own feels like fire, though it’s so soft and so much not like stone.
A person with blue hair is dripping tears onto her face, but Luz can’t push her away.
Her heart is heavy and broken and she’s hurting and she’s in pain and she’s stone and she’s stone and she’s stone and she’s stone and
A boy wraps her in a hug, though another person in medical clothes pulls him away, shouting orders to everyone and everything and she’s stone and she’s stone and she’s stone
A beeping she didn’t even know was beeping is no longer beeping. Her head is foggy and it hurts and she’s stone
A tall lady with a great big grey main of hair is shouting at the people touching and prodding and forcing her to drink and casting weird circles on her and she’s stone and she’s stone and she’s stone
They press a needle into her arm and it hurts and she’s stone and she’s stone and she’s slipping god don’t let it happen please she doesn’t want to die not again it’s been so long please let her stay
Let her stay
Let her
Stay
Stay here
…
…
…
Her screams stop.
It shouldn’t have been possible. After all this time, it was nothing short of a miracle. Just as the healer solemnly began pushing various buttons, one by one turning off the various systems keeping her body breathing and her heart pumping…
Luz screamed. A horrible, choked, agonizing scream that spoke of all the pain of existence. Her eyes opened, her body thrashed, and she cried out and out and out to free her. She was turning to stone and she was turning to stone and she was turning to stone.
Gus was the first to hold her down, prevent her arms from injuring anyone and anything, most of all herself. Her muscles were tearing themselves apart with her struggle to escape, adrenaline and a desire to be free and no longer stone and no longer stone and
“I’M STONE OH MY GOD I’M STONE PLEASE GOD I’M STONE,” was what she had been screaming, vocal cords tearing themselves apart as she tried to regain control of the reigns to her life.
Willow couldn’t cry out in joy, instead scared beyond belief that her friend, who had been asleep, quiet, dormant, at peace for so long was now screaming bloody murder, eyes glazed over with pupils rapidly contracting and expanding with a desire to see and
“I CAN’T SEE I CAN’T SEE WHERE AM I PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME GOD HELP ME”
Eda had opened the door, dragging with her the bodies of three healers trying their best to desperately hold her back.
They barely managed to stop her from pouncing on Luz, ready to shower her in motherly love and reassurances and
“Mama’s here, Luz! Stop crying! I’m here I’m here I’m here!” she shouted at her daughter from her trapped position, trying her hardest to get through to her.
She didn’t realize that her shouts only added to the painful stimulation of the previously comatose patient, who was struggling to realize that she was awake and safe and nothing would ever hurt her again so please so crying and screaming and just wake up fully please Luz listen to me
You’re going to be okay.
Willow produced various vines to keep Eda trapped in place. It wouldn’t have normally been enough, but with how she starved herself for weeks on end with worry, it was rather easy to stop her limbs from flailing.
Now free from their struggle, the 3 healers rushed forward and, in a calm, orderly, practiced manner, began administering various fluids and magical spells to Luz’s thrashing body. Her body stopped moving, though this only caused the streams of tears to increase in volume, her whole face becoming covered in her own snot and tears and spittle and oh goodness she was going to choke herself.
The healers cleaned her face, all the while administering various spells to calm her mind. But it wasn’t working.
With one last, desperate plea for escape, Luz lost control of her body and mind as a fast-acting drug was delivered straight to her overactive bloodstream, forcibly putting her to rest.
Luz opens her eyes a second time. Her body is not stone. She is not stone. Experimentally, she tries to move her legs. It’s almost painful, but they cooperate just barely, the barest of wiggles from her toes ensuring her that, no, he isn’t hurting her anymore.
She doesn’t know who he…
…
She’s so tired. She’s so, so tired.
She could just close her eyes and go back to the darkness, but the distressed faces of the strangers in the room are too much.
She forces her eyes to remain open, taking stalk of her situation and gathering all the information she could. It made her head pound, but the bed on which her tired, broken body rested was very soft. She could do this.
She turns her gaze to a tall woman in a red dress, crazy grey mane and mismatched gold and grey eyes only adding to her bizarre appearance. Her ears were pointy too, but Luz couldn’t give this much thought as the woman spoke up.
“Hey, Luz. It’s been so long. I hardly know what to say.” Her voice shakes with emotion, though is kept low and whispery, which Luz appreciates. Her ears are ringing painfully.
A small boy coughs, garnering Luz’s attention to her right, though it’s difficult to even manage the strength it takes to roll her head.
She tries to say hello, only to cough in his face. She cringes at the sight, recognizing that was so horribly gross but he doesn’t seem to mind, only giving the barest of flinches before reaching forward and pressing his forehead against hers.
Luz is uncomfortable with this stranger being so close to her, so she voices her concerns, voice so scratchy and dry and not at all like she remembers.
“Please get off of me.”
He stiffens, though obliges. He returns to his sitting position.
A girl with blue hair taps her shoulder, though instead of letting Luz struggle to turn her head, she helps by pressing a delicate hand to her chin and turning her head like a weight on a joint.
“How’re you feeling?” she asks, voice small and hopeful and just a tiny bit desperate.
Luz would have shrugged if she could.
“I don’t know. I don’t know where I am.”
The woman nods, patting her cheeks as if to keep herself in check.
“You’re in a healer ward. You’re safe. Mama’s here and you’re safe,” she whispers, unable to stop herself from walking forward and holstering Luz’s upper body up, wrapping her in a hug that edges on painful and overwhelming.
But it feels so right. She does not have the heart to tell this crazy woman that no, she is not her mom. Her mom’s…
Where’s her mom?
Where is she?
Who’s hugging her?
Why can’t she move?
Why does she hurt?
Isn’t she…
Stone.
She’s stone and she’s stone and she’s stone and she’s stone.