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Luz barely remembers walking all the way from the Emperor’s Castle to the Owl House, just replaying her last interaction with Eda in her mind and fighting the urge to cry. Thankfully, her feet move on their own, bringing her back to the Owl House (back home) before she can get herself lost.
She doesn’t look up as she approaches the house, still desperately holding back tears. As she moves closer, Luz hears Hooty yawning, but she doesn’t look at him. She can’t focus on anything other than the awful fight with Lilith and losing Eda.
“Oh, Luz, there you are!” Hooty says, as cheerful as ever.
“Hi, Hooty,” Luz mumbles as she opens the door, her voice flat.
She steps inside the house, raising her head to stare around the dark, silent living room. Her gaze focuses on the table, on which sits a massive cake, and something wrapped in ribbon. Gifts, she realizes. And considering that Luz was out all day on her field trip to the Castle… these gifts must be for her.
Before she even thinks of walking closer and investigating the gifts, King startles her by bursting out of the top of the cake. Panting for breath, he raises his arms above his head, beaming at her.
“The cake is me!” he cries, and the joy in his voice would normally make Luz grin. As he takes in Luz’s expression, his joy fades to confusion and King glances around the room. “Hey, um, where’s Eda?”
And just thinking about how to answer that question brings tears to her eyes. Luz tries to hold them back, but all the stress and fear and grief become too much for her to contain anymore. As she stands in Eda’s home but without Eda by her side, Luz drags in a shuddering breath and the tears spill over.
Her legs buckle and she sinks to her knees, trembling as the tears keep falling. King and Hooty approach her cautiously, unsure how to react to Luz crying in front of them.
“Luz?” King says, gently touching a claw against her arm. “What… happened?”
Hanging her head, a sob bursts out of her. Luz’s hands fly up to her head, burying her face in her hands. Her palms wet with tears, she shudders for breath, her chest aching like she got stabbed in the ribs.
“Luz?” Hooty asks.
“Eda…” Luz says, her voice hitching and muffled by her hands. “Eda is… she… Lilith was… It’s all my fault!” Crying harder, Luz tries to say more, but she just splutters with sobs, unable to speak.
She hears Hooty and King talking to each other, but she cries too hard to process what they say. Although, when they both cling to her, she can deduce what they talked about. Hooty wraps his tube-shaped body around her and King jumps onto her lap, hugging Luz’s stomach.
“You don’t have to say anything right now, hoot hoot,” Hooty says, squeezing her tighter.
“Y-Yeah,” King says, but the tremor in his voice betrays how scared he feels too. “Just let it all out. We’ve got you, Luz.”
Luz tries to smile, grateful that they don’t expect her to explain everything—and to be honest, right now she doesn’t want to explain what happened. With the grief piercing her chest, Luz can’t think about explaining every horrible detail of what happened at the Emperor’s Castle.
She needs to make a plan to get Eda back (and get revenge on Lilith for cursing her own sister and trying to kill Luz and pushing Eda until her magic ran out and she transformed into the Owl Beast—possibly forever), but right now, Luz doubts her ability to even stand up.
So, she just stays crumpled on the floor, enveloped in King and Hooty’s hug, hoping she’ll be able to think of how to save Eda once she’s calmed down. But even thinking of Eda makes her cry harder, choking on her sobs, and wishing that this terrible day never happened.