Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I'm telling you, Hunter. You really helped me figure something out, which I still can't believe..." Luz grinned.

"And what would that be?" Hunter asked as he grabbed another handful of popcorn, his gaze still fixated on the television. The two were situated in the basement, using the old CRT and some VHS tapes.

"That my mom's a total nerd! Do you see what we're watching right now?"
"Yes, we're watching a Cosmic Frontier episode. And I'll have you know, this should be respected as high art!" Hunter insisted, his face turning to a pout.

"Psh, not even Mom believes that! Gus, I'm not sure..."

It had been only two weeks since Emperor Belos had been brought down at the hands of Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne, and King Clawthorne. After reuniting, practically everybody who could help rebuild the Boiling Isles began to do so promptly. There had been plenty of things to sort out as a result of Belos' desperate attempts to 'cleanse' the ‘perdition’ and such. Nobody really got hurt, and the primary concern these days was cleaning up and rebuilding the Isles... for everybody except Luz. As for her, she had been subjected to a well-deserved break. Ideally, it was supposed to be two weeks of living back and forth between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm for her.

"So... how are things over there?" Luz asked hesitantly.

"Eh, the Isles are still kind of a mess, but you know, it'll get better. They're going to need to rebuild a whole section of Hexside and the entirety of Glandus. And... Principal Bump said they'll probably need to redo the entire year because of everything that happened." Hunter sighed, slumping back on the couch. "It's going to take some time for things to settle back to normal, but I think things are going to be okay in the end. Belos is.. is gone, so that's definitely a plus."

Luz smiled softly. "And... are you still feeling alright? I hear catharsis is unhealthy."

"I'm.. I’m fine. I'm rather grateful that you let me handle the… ‘last step.’ Helped me get over things a bit quicker." Hunter nodded assuredly. "But, I am curious about something."

"What's up?" Luz tilted her head, trying to hold back a yawn.

"As of late, you’ve been hanging out pretty much just here in Gravesfield for your recovery. Why is that?"

"Well, I… I thought I'd take a break from all the dust and noise! The reconstruction effort makes it a bit hard to sleep, y'know!" Luz nervously sputtered out, giving a shrug with her palms upwards.

"That's not it." Hunter tilted his head. "It's the fact that the glyphs don't work anymore."

Luz paused for a few seconds, processing the words. Then she just kept staring off into the ceiling, taking a bit too long to respond. It was as if she were frozen.

Hunter raised an eyebrow at her, opening his mouth to speak before being interrupted.

"Well..." Luz began. "That's part of it, sure. I feel like I could be more effective helping with the clean-up effort if I could still use the glyphs. But like I said, there's more to it than just not having magic."

"Then... what else?" Hunter asked, staring at Luz. "I know you have the drive to help out wherever you can, glyphs or not, so...?"

"I guess it's just..." She sat up, stretching out her legs and letting out a long yawn. "I'm all kinds of messed up right now. I'm... sore, I've had a fever the past week. Remember the Titan thing I told you about? Eda and Amity think that I'm, like... relapsing from having all that power in my weak nerd bod. So I'm taking it easy."

"Well, I’m glad that you’re doing that. But... surely you can come visit us? Heck, why not spend your recovery in the Owl House to keep up with things?"

"Eh, as fantastic living in the Isles has been, there are some things about good ol' Earth that I like having by my side while I recover. Like... like my mom. And human food. And the human food that my mom makes!"

"Wow, that almost sounded believable. It was Camila's idea to keep you around here, yeah?"

"I- Yeah, it was..." Luz mumbled. "Aside from my recent illness, my mom pretty much read my mind when we got to talking. Her and Amity, actually. They could tell I was a bit on-edge after, you know... everything that happened that day."

"On-edge' is putting it lightly, batata!"  Amity exclaimed as she walked down the stairs into the basement, smiling as she approached the two. She set two steaming mugs on the small coffee table in front of the couch and handed one to Hunter, before wrapping an arm around Luz's neck and draping it over her shoulder, joining her on the couch. "What were you two talking about?"

"I was asking Luz why she's not hanging out in the Isles." Hunter shrugged as he took a sip of his drink, his eyes sparkling a bit as he realized he had been given hot cocoa.

"I thought I explained all that a week ago." Amity huffed, blowing a few strands of her hair out of her face. "It's because--"

"Not to worry, Amity! Luz explained everything to me." Hunter smiled.

"Ooh, I doubt that. She hates it when people worry about her. She has this nasty habit of thinking that her pain is better off being shoved under the rug for later." Amity muttered, shaking her head.

"Hey, I don't do anything like that!" Luz said, grabbing her cup of cocoa from the coffee table, "I just like to, you know... be considerate!"

"Luz, not too long ago I asked your mom what's up with you, and you know what she said?" Amity asked as she leaned in a bit closer to Luz.

"What'd she say?" Luz asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

"That you've undoubtedly have some form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Amity said as she pulled her hand back, choosing to gently grip Luz' shoulder. "Which is super understandable, considering what Eda told me."

"Well, that's a... a rather strong diagnosis, isn't it?" Luz muttered with a nervous chuckle, feeling herself shake slightly as she gripped the mug with both hands. "I mean, sure, I'm a little out of whack, but... it's more like Post-BELOS Stress Disorder. Much more specific, barely even a probl-"

"Okay, stop." Amity frowned as she sat up, softly gripping Luz’ shoulder. "You know we're just trying to help, right?"

"Of course I do."

"And you know I care about you, right? Like, a whole lot?" Amity said, loosening her grip.

"Yeah, I do. I know you do, Amity. I... I guess I'm just super upset that I can't be much help right now. Or ever again, apparently. That I can't make up for what happened. It just sucks."

"We're not expecting anything like that from you. All we really want right now is for you to rest." Amity said softly, brushing some stray hair out of Luz's eyes, pushing it back behind her ear. "I think it's better that you take this break. For your sake, don't worry yourself into more night terrors, or an even worse fever."

"But-"

"Nope!" Amity grinned as she poked the tip of Luz's nose, prompting a red hue to fill Luz's cheeks as they both stifled a giggle. "That's final. Your health is more important." She looked down at the mug Luz held and smiled. "And you know, this cocoa is a lot better when it's still hot."

Luz scoffed, taking a slow sip before setting her mug back down on the table. "Well, before you go back upstairs... you think I can get a little peck from my awesome girlfriend?"

"Oh, now what kind of silly question is that?" Amity said as she leaned in closer, cupping Luz' face with two hands and kissing her softly before pulling back.

"And that makes seven!" Luz gasps out as she glances up at Amity. "Am I keeping count correctly? I can't seem to remember."

"Nine, actually." Amity says softly, pursing her lips tightly to try to suppress her own giggle. She eventually lost it and let out the last of her laughter in the midst sigh before slowly moving back in, still gently holding Luz's face as she gave another peck. "And that makes ten. Oh, Titan, I can't wait to lose count myself..."

"Should I... take my show upstairs?" Hunter asked with a wide, snarky grin as rested his elbow on the armrest of his end of the couch, squinting at the two. "I'm starting to feel like I'm intruding on something in here..."

Luz and Amity paused for a moment, before giving each other a nervous smile and peeling away from each other, choosing to simply slump back on the couch and match Hunter's posture.

"Shut up, Wittebane..." Amity grumbled, momentarily trying to appear angry before letting her face falter into an embarrassed smile.

They watched the television set for a while after that. Soon enough the tape ended, leaving the screen sitting on a blue screen. There was a long stretch of silence as the three just laid there, staring up at the basement's ceiling. It reminded Luz of how she, King and Eda laid in the grass after Belos was killed. Just without the warm sun and wet grass. And without Hunter letting out a wicked, vitriolic victory howl twenty feet away.

Eventually, Luz shifted from her spot on the couch, rotating herself about ninety degrees, placing her head on Amity's lap and her legs crossing over Hunter's.

Once she got settled in a comfortable position, she let out a deep sigh, followed closely by a few stifled coughs.

"Still not feeling better, huh?" Amity asked softly as she brushed her fingers through Luz's hair.

"No, not really. I'm thankful for the power King's dad gave me that day, but I'm not appreciating this whole after-party very much."

"Hey, about that. I‘ve been meaning to ask… what was it like?" Hunter asked, his eyes wide and curious. "You know, having the Titan's power?"

Luz looked up at the ceiling, narrowing her eyes as she interlocked her fingers over her stomach, deep in thought for a moment as she tried to come up with the words to describe being imbued with the collective power of an entire landmass. Then she stopped, and there it was again. That odd staring into nothingness as she froze up. This time, however, her eyes had a glimmer about them. She looked scared. Once more, Hunter tried to speak before being cut off.

"Loud." She said, before letting out a short, deep chuckle, wracked by more stifled coughing.

"As in... loud up here." Luz tapped the side of her head. "Intense, overwhelming, overstimulating. Have you ever tried running down a steep hill at full speed before? It was like that, but all up in my brain and through my nerves." 

Luz chuckled, closing her eyes and calling back upon her memories to provide a better description.

"And there were so many things I noticed just before I changed back... I had sharp fangs and horns, my ears were big and pointy, and my eyes were all black and--"

"I'm sorry, can we go back a bit? You had pointy ears?" Hunter asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah! I had pointy ears! They were like... not as pointy as everyone else's, but not as round as the ones I've got right now." She said as she cupped her hands around her earlobes, using her fingers to sort of trace the shape she felt, making it easier for Hunter to understand what she meant.

"So... the Titan turned you into a witch? How is that even possible?" Amity asked, tilting her head.

"I don't think that's really what he did, but... it's a neat thought! Would explain how I was doing spell circles and such." Luz shrugged.

The room was filled with a long silence again. Hunter continued to stare up at the ceiling, deep in thought, Amity continued to run her fingers through Luz's hair, and Luz herself began to doze off, feeling her body sinking into Amity's soft lap. Apart from dozing off, she didn't really like talking about her magic, or lack thereof.

"Not to cut our time short, but I'm pretty sure I'm about to conk out, folks..." Luz muttered with a smile as she gently scratched the side of her cheek. "It was a long day of fever dreams, chugging cough syrup, and watching Hunter's nerd show..."

"Wait, you actually took Hunter up on his offer? I'd think you were Gus wearing a disguise if you hadn't kissed me!" Amity chuckled, prompting Hunter to sit up straight and cross his arms with a pout.

"Hey, I found out that it's actually pretty good! You might see me dressing up as Lieutenant Ezria Trax next Halloween!" Luz exclaimed, giving Amity a wink.

"I don't even know who that is, you goofball!" Amity chuckled.

The three shared one more laugh, with Hunter dropping his pout upon noticing that Luz actually remembered one of the characters, feeling on odd sense of pride. Breaking the silence, he spoke up first, sitting up straight and looking over at Luz.

"Okay, I'm gonna be awake for a while upstairs to help Camila with some numbers. Amity, are you thinking about spending the night here?" Hunter asked.

"Well, I told my dad that I'd be visiting here for just a bit, so I'm not sure that includes…-" Amity explained before looking down and noticing Luz practically giving her puppy eyes, wordlessly pleading Amity to stay. She sighed, smiling softly and looking back up to Hunter as she reached down to take Luz's hand. "Yeah, I guess I'll stay the night here. I'll come up with an excuse tomorrow morning."

"Sounds like a plan! And hey, I'm happy for you two, especially Luz. And I would love to keep being happy for my sister... once she raises this drawbridge and lets me go." Hunter said as he gestured downwards towards Luz's legs, which were still resting over his lap.

"Whoops, sorry...!" Luz muttered with a weak chuckle.

Hunter shook his head as he lifted Luz' legs up and moved them to one side, getting himself to finally stand up. He allowed himself a painful-sounding stretch upwards before collecting the popcorn bowl. After that, he hobbled over to the television set and removed the 'Cosmic Frontier: RN-12' VHS. He placed the worn tape in a plastic case before setting it on a shelf near the base of the stairs. Once he had made his way halfway up, he gave one last tiny wave goodbye.

"I'll see you two in the morning. Hopefully with an actually edible breakfast prepared!" Hunter said as he climbed up the steps, leaving the two to themselves.

"MAKE ME SOME BACON!" Luz shouted up at Hunter while he left, prompting a chuckle from him which faded as he closed the door upstairs.

With that, she began to doze off for real now, her eyes becoming heavier with every blink as she continued to use Amity's lap as a pillow. Amity, in turn, continued to brush her fingers through Luz's hair as she let out a gentle hum, a small smile on her face. 

After a few moments of silence, she looked down to find Luz had finally fallen asleep, her face a bit red from the fever and her breathing slightly raspy. Amity's smile widened as she let out a deep sigh, letting herself lean back into the couch, sinking into it a bit as she too began to drift off.

"You know, if this is how things are gonna be from now on... I think I can get used to it." Amity whispered to herself as she gave Luz's face one last rub with her thumb, gently caressing her cheek and brushing her ear before noticing something flake onto her nail upon contact. Uh-oh.

Chapter Text

Rarely did Luz ever think about the events preceding the final bout with Belos, at least not while she was awake.

During her waking hours, she was focused on what the experience of being imbued with the Titan's magic was like, or how it felt to have such power. Her thoughts lingered on the technical end of things, as is to be expected.

But come nightfall, or whenever she fell asleep, her mind decided that was the best time to think about the OTHER experiences from that day, from just before she met the Titan.

Aside from struggling to come up with her words, that strange feeling was all that Luz could focus on. That vile sensation from when Belos struck her. Starting from her fingertips, a prickling numbness surrounded every facet of her form.

Overwhelming and strange, like when your foot is waking up after putting weight onto it for a while. The numbness only got stronger, and it scared the hell out of her as she could almost feel her body become unraveled into little more than particles of spores and light. 

She gave what she thought would be her last words to Eda and King before closing her eyes. And that is what kept looping in her mind. That acceptance of the end, of what she believed to be her ultimate failure. Replaying that experience and that unbelievable thought process nearly each night since that day.

Though sometimes, if she were lucky, her mind would conjure up something else. Most often, the conversation she held with the Titan following the destruction of her body, and her spirit's transfer to the In Between Realm.

"Are you sure you want to give this power... to me?" Luz remembered herself saying. The strangest part about calling back on that conversation with King's dad is that it all feels flimsy, like remembering dreams.

"Well, you're the one that ended up here, and you seem like a good witch."

That's what the Titan said to her. That she seems like a good witch in his eyes. His... unquantifiably old eyes. She had been told similar things by all of her friends in the Isles, of course. But to hear it from the second-closest thing to a deity that she knew of was... overwhelming. Especially given what she had been feeling about her efforts just moments prior to hearing those words.

Though dreaming up her memory of the Titan was often preferable to, you know, having nightmares over the exact moment she died... she couldn't help but feel confused upon waking up, always having questions she'll never receive an answer to.

It was an entirely different kind of dread to deal with. Not as awful as what she felt with losing the glyphs, but far more confusing.

Worse still, she often woke up alone, with nothing to fill her mind but those questions and a tiny bit of panic, given her brain decided to drift off into 'nightmare' territory the night prior. Couldn't exactly blame anyone for her solitude, given her rather erratic and inconsistent sleep schedule the past week or so. 

But at least this time, she gets to wake up with-

"AMITY! GET THE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE FROM THE CUPBOARD!" Camila shouted across the room, the volume snapping Luz from her sleep.

She had been expecting to wake up with Amity in her view, along with a view of the basement ceiling illuminated by the morning light. A perfect scene, more or less. Instead, she had been moved upstairs at some point! And instead of her head resting on Amity's lap, she had seemingly been downgraded to a square throw pillow.

"Wha... huh? What's going on, Mamá?" Luz asked groggily as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Mija! You're awake! Don't worry about a thing, just... stay very, very still." Camila said as she adjusted the towel that had been wrapped around the back of Luz's head, folded up into a dense 'U' shape, covering her ears like a misplaced travel pillow. Luz nodded carefully, but began to feel panic fill her mind upon processing that something probably went very wrong while she was asleep.

"What... happened?" Luz asked, feeling her heart begin to beat faster, but still not moving in her spot as per her mother’s instructions

"Oh, um... well, you started coughing in your sleep and Amity said that-" Camila began before…

"YOUR EARS FELL OFF!" Hunter exclaimed as he ran in, his arms full of far too many rolls of gauze and elastic bandaging, which he set onto a small stool beside the couch.

"WHAT?!" Luz shouted, her eyes growing wide with panic as she shot up in her spot, sitting up straight as she reached up, feeling that she indeed had nothing there, momentarily feeling the warmth of her blood stream down the sides of her head.

Camila let out a grunt, quickly pushing Luz back into her spot with a firm grip on her shoulders as she glared at Hunter.

"¡¿Qué demonios crees que estás haciendo?!" Camila scolded, which caused Hunter to quickly recoil and hold his hands up defensively.

"Sólo le estoy diciendo a Luz la... la..."Hunter tried his best to finish the sentence, but scoffed to himself as he lost the words. English for Hunter. "I'm just telling Luz the truth! Is that not what happened?" He asked, looking between the two, a confused look on his face.

Luz, in the meanwhile, was starting to freak out a bit. As she woke up more and more, her head hurt like hell and the burning sensation was only getting worse, which wasn't helping her nerves.

Working alongside those was a dense pain inside her chest.

She let out a soft whimper, rubbing the back of her hand across her mouth to cover it, her eyes darting between Hunter, Camila, and Amity who was just coming back with the little brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

"This seems like the kind of thing that would happen in a nightmare..." Luz said with a nervous giggle, though her body began to shake.

"Yeah… but unfortunately, Hunter is telling the truth. That is what happened, more or less." Amity muttered as she took a spare towel from the stool of medical supplies in one hand, using the other hand to guide Luz's face so it was facing the ceiling. She then opened the bottle and stuck it against the fabric, overturning it to let the contents soak into the rag.

"So that's.. that's all? The hell does he mean 'my ears fell off?'" Luz questioned, her face getting a bit redder as she clutched at the front of her shirt, that chest pain still bothering her.

"Right after you fell asleep, I kind of just rubbed my thumb across your face, brushed your ear, and.. I don't know! A bit of it came off! Then the rest of your ear kind of just... dissolved, or something!" Amity explained as she looked at Luz, a mixture of concern on her face while she recalled what happened. No time to think about causes, however.

"We tried waking you up, Luz, but you wouldn't budge. You were burning up, and you were coughing non stop. So we carried you upstairs, in case you needed to be driven somewhere." Hunter explained.

"I... was really hoping this would be like the Common Mold, but it's turning out to be much, much worse." Amity muttered, as she got onto her knees next to the couch, the peroxide-soaked fabric in hand. "I wish I knew more about healing magic, because it would definitely be easier than this. Camila says this is going to hurt."

Luz nodded, understanding what was happening as soon as she got a glance at the rag. She closed her eyes and tried to let out a slow, easy exhale before being interrupted by a cough.

Amity reached forward, gently holding her by the forehead and pulling the towel from her ears, slowly moving the rag in her hand towards the 'wound' where Luz's ear should be.
She grimaced as she watched the liquid bubbled up, fizzling quietly as the open area was cleaned by the chemical. Luz winced, but handled it well enough, staying almost entirely still for the process.

Amity felt a bit of guilt upon seeing Luz's pained face, but was happy to see that she wasn't shaking at all. That made her feel a bit better about how well she was doing.

She then grabbed some gauze, placing it over where both ears should be before wrapping a bandage around her head. It kind of looked like Luz was wearing earmuffs.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Amity asked with a smile, trying to bring some levity to the situation.

"Eh, I've had worse. That, and you're the best at pretty much everything." Luz chuckled, shaking her head a bit. "You know, this one time, me and Eda-"

Before Luz could continue, she could feel an intense pain suddenly form inside her chest, a sharp stabbing sensation that just didn't let up. Luz's eyes shot wide open as she dug her head back into her pillow and towel, arching her back slightly and gritting her teeth as the pain hit her. The first thing she could think about was how the pain seemed to spread. It felt like someone had taken thousands of needles to her left lung, and her breath quickly became short.

"Luz, Luz! Are you okay?" Camila asked as she joined Amity, sitting on her knees next to Luz as she took her daughter's hand.

"Yeah, I- I think I'm okay..." Luz tried to say, but it came out as a horribly squeaky rasp, closely followed by loud hacking. "...but it's getting really, *really* hard to breathe..." She said with a panicked cough, trying to catch her breath as she began to tremble, her grip on Camila's hand tightening.

"Luz, listen carefully, okay? You need to relax, breathe as deep and as slow as you can. You need to breathe." Camila said, trying her best to remain calm for Luz's sake.

"I... I can't!" Luz managed to say before being overcome by another fit of coughing. She let go of Camila's hand as her whole body began to shake, feeling an intense panic fill her as she felt the pain in her chest become worse, and the coughing worsened.

Luz then began to claw at her chest with one hand as she gripped the couch’s cushions with the other, the wheezing becoming worse with every passing moment.

"What's up with her?! Why is she doing that?!" Hunter shouted, the color draining from his face as he looked over Luz, who was starting to turn blue.

"She’s having trouble breathing!" Amity shouted, her eyes wide and terrified as she stood up to look over Luz, watching her scratch and claw at her own body as she practically choked, losing her breath with each passing second. "We need to- We need to bring someone who's good with healing magic! Emira, or- or that one girl that hangs with Boscha! Or we can take her to the Isles, and-"

"She needs to be taken to a hospital, right now! You two, cover up your ears and come with me!" Camila shouted as she got onto a knee, putting her arms under Luz's back and knees. She leaned over, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead before standing up.

"Wait, how is a human hospital going to help with an illness based on magi-" Hunter began to say as he ran after her.

"Now!" Camila said with a sharp tone as she kicked open the door, carrying Luz down the steps and outside, Hunter and Amity right behind her.

They followed Camila's instructions, quickly covering up their ears with the towels from the couch before looking over to see Luz, still struggling for breath. That is, until all three of them were able to hear Luz barely muster out a few words.

"Put me down..." Luz said in the midst of a weak cough. "Put me down...!"

Camila looked at Amity with raised eyebrows before doing as she said, gently setting her down onto the dew-covered grass in front of the house. Luz went quiet for a moment, her coughing fit seemingly coming to a close as she began to breathe slowly, her airways already sounding a bit clearer.

A bit of color returned to her skin, the blue hue leaving just as quickly as it came. She looked tired, but managed to open her eyes just enough to glance at the three faces staring down at her.

"I'm.. I'm alright. I'm gonna be-" Luz muttered just before her eyes widened and she interrupted herself, her cheeks puffing up. She turned over and lifted herself with her elbows, promptly dry-heaving into the grass, her body going stiff with the effort.

"Luz!" Amity shouted, running to her side, putting a hand on her back as comfort.

"Whew... That was nasty... but I think I'm actually starting to feel a lot better- HRK-" Luz began to say before she was cut off by a rather gross display, coughing up a good deal of what looked to be... some kind of purple, glowing substance.

She coughed a few more times and went back to just laying on her side, the bile dimming and staining the grass. The others stared on, all made speechless until Camila spoke up.

"I... still think we should go check you in." Camila asked as she took Luz's hand, gently stroking the back of it with her thumb.

"No, no... I'll be fine..." Luz said, her voice still shaky, but otherwise sounding more like herself. She gave a weak, crooked smile to try and set her mom's nerves at ease, but she couldn't help but wince in pain, her throat sore.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm pretty sure you were choking! Like, to death!" Hunter exclaimed, a bit of panic still evident in his voice. Camila nodded in agreement, looking at Luz with worry.

"I know, but... but I think I'm doing better now." Luz said softly, sighing as she sat up. One thing became clear as she spoke, which was that her voice is crystal-clear again. No hint of rasp, not an ounce of strain. 

Only Camila noticed at first, but then Luz decided to stand up. She didn't spend half a minute trying to get her footing, like she has been these past few weeks. No, she got up in a hop as if she had gotten a full nine hours of sleep, full of energy. She had a smile on her face, almost like she was excited about something.

As if the last minute didn't just happen.

"You’re sure you’re okay?" Amity asked as she took a step forward, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"I am! Hoo, now that I'm thinkin' about it... I feel fantastic!" Luz exclaimed, the grin on her face widening as she clutched her chest again, seeing if the pain was still there. She let out a short, exasperated gasp of relief.

"I think it's a little too soon to say that..." Amity muttered, walking over and gently taking Luz's hand in hers.

"Usually, I'd agree, but I genuinely feel like I could run a marathon right now." Luz chuckled, looking around at her friends, seeing their dumbfounded expressions. "You guys don't believe me? It's true, I'm feeling great! Better than great, really. I mean, that was absolutely fuckin' terrifying, but-"

"Mija!" Camila exclaimed in offended disbelief, quickly covering Hunter's ears with her hands clasped over his towels. Hunter just responded with a flustered groan.

Luz gave a nervous chuckle in response. “Sorry, Mamá!” 

She then looked at Amity, seeing a bit of fear and concern in her eyes. Her expression softened and she put her hand on the side of her cheek, rubbing her thumb across it, her smile shifting to be a bit more reassuring, figuring out how bizarre this might come off to them.

"It's the exact same thing as the Mold, remember? I got pretty much got better in an instant." Luz smiled.

"Yeah, but the Mold didn't make your ears fall off!" Hunter pointed out, a bit of exasperation in his tone, in disbelief of how Luz could be possibly acting this way following such an intense fit. "I mean, they're still gone!"

"I- Oh, yeah. Nevermind, I'm still a bit messed up." Luz replied with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I mean, you're not wrong there... but I don't think you understand what we saw." Amity said, shaking her head. "You sounded like you were drowning! You started turning blue and you said yourself that you couldn't breathe!"

"Well, it looks like I can now, so... everything's okay, right?" Luz shrugged.

Amity paused, her expression turning to one of mild disappointment as she figured out what Luz was doing.

"You're trying to get us to stop worrying about you, huh?" Amity asked, letting her shoulders drop as she sighed. "Luz, you can't just... you can't just brush off the fact that you were pretty much dying. Please, for your sake, stop expecting us to brush it off."

"I'm not! I just-" Luz tried to speak, but Amity cut her off.

"We're not going to stop worrying about you! I’m not going to stop worrying about you!" Amity cried, her expression serious.

"Look, we can go around and around with this all night..." Luz said as she closed her eyes, taking a step back. She began tracing the shape of a circle with her finger in the air to her left. To the immediate surprise of Amity and Hunter, a purple string of light spawned from her fingertip! 

"...but I guarantee that I'm feeling okay! I know I have my bad habits about that kind of thing, and-"

Just as Luz tried to speak again, a beam of concussive energy shot from the spell circle, grazing the roof of the Noceda residence and knocking a few tiles off! The three stood there, staring at the tile fragments falling down, then at Luz.

"Was that..." Hunter muttered, his voice just barely above a whisper

"...a spell circle?" Amity continued, her voice equally low.

Luz was totally silent, just staring in the direction she shot the beam, watching the magic fly off until it became too small to even see. Her eyes were wide, her body frozen in place. She stared for a moment, before taking a few steps backwards, eventually falling back to sitting on the grass, still speechless.

She looked down at her hands, which were shaking. She slowly moved her fingers, watching sparks of magic form at the tips. The only noise that filled the scene were the sound of crickets in the brush and distant late-night traffic.

"Okay, I'm feeling like I'm missing something here..." Camila muttered, not quite understanding this reaction from the other three.

Just beneath Luz’s tee shirt, there was a glowing symbol. It was hard to make out, but it was two circles connected by a line, one encasing a dot. Right as she looked down to get a better look, it faded. After another half-minute of astounded silence, she stood up and turned to face the others.

“I… I think I need to go lie down...”

Chapter Text

"So you're telling me..." Vee started as she raised the entire pot of coffee to her lips, taking an alarmingly large drink before setting it down.

"...that right after her ears molted off, she cast a spell. Like, a REAL spell? Drawing the circle 'n everything? No training wand, no nothing?"

"I could hardly believe it myself." Hunter replied with a shrug, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot before sliding it back over to Vee. "But yes, that's exactly what happened."

It was the following morning, about seven hours after last night's fiasco. Luz had gone back to sleep, because despite her protests to the contrary, she still had a bit of recovery to go through. Definitely better than she's been doing for weeks, but not quite enough to be called cured. 

That, and she figured she still needed to take time to heal from the wounds where her ears should be. Amity joined her back in the basement, and they got their night of peaceful sleep together. 

Naturally, Camila had to head off to work earlier that morning, leaving Vee and Hunter the only two to look after the house.

"That's insane. She's a human, she doesn't have a bile sac or anything! Does she?" Vee asked, her eyes wide.

"See, I had a thought about that. All that horrible coughing, her trouble with breathing... I'm thinking that right then, during that moment, she was... growing a bile sac. Like, out of a lung. The organ turned into a makeshift bile sac." Hunter theorized.

"That's even more insane. Had you not told me about the ear thing, I would have dumped this coffee over your head." Vee said, rubbing her eyes.

"I can't blame you. I woke up thinking it was just a weird dream, but then I walked outside and saw where Luz coughed up some magic bile." Hunter shrugged.

"Oh jeez, that's what that is? I thought that was some kind of scorch mark." Vee scoffed, taking another drink.

"Yup. Choked, threw up, blew up the roof, then went to bed. Now we're here and wondering what the hell the Titan did to Luz." Hunter explained as he looked over his own mug.

"I can't believe you're still mulling it over. Isn't it obvious?"

"What's obvious?"

"She's turning into a witch. Think about it! Losing her human ears, getting a bile sac... Straight up transmogrification, courtesy of King's cool dad!" Vee exclaimed as she took another drink, finishing off the pot in three painful-looking gulps.

Hunter paused, pondering this for a few moments.

"Well, that does make a bit of sense."

"It makes total sense! It's the only explanation that makes any kind of sense, and it's also the most fun one." Vee said, smiling.

"It does sound like it could be. I don't know, though. From what we know of the Titans, they don't seem like the type to be able to, you know... change up somebody's bodily functions or their physical form. That sounds like Collector stuff."

"Are you kidding? The Titan gave Luz black contacts, horns, claws, AND wicked fangs! Does that not count?" Vee asked, tapping her fingers against the table as she watched Hunter formulate a response.

Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"...you have a point."

"I do, cause I use muh brain." Vee nodded with a smirk.

"It's just..." Hunter began, a bit of hesitation in his tone.

"I wonder how Luz is gonna feel about all this. Last night, I'm pretty sure she was only excited because she started feeling fine. But right after casting that spell, she got jelly legs. The only thing she said is that she needs to lie down."

"Weird... from what I know, she'd be stoked to be able to do magic! Was she not?" Vee asked and tilted her head.

"Not really. We all went quiet for a moment of course, but I was kind of expecting Luz to start cheering and hollering over it, but she never did. She just... seemed so shocked. I'd even go far as to say... mortified over it."

"That doesn't sound right." Vee muttered with a shake of her head.

"Hence my worries. Last night, she was just talking to me about how she feels bad about not being able to help, citing her lack of magic. So I want to know what got Luz so shaken up about it now." Hunter said as he raised his cup again, seeing it was now empty. He huffed quietly before setting it down.

"This is the first time you've stopped by, Hunter. I've had to look after her constantly since, you know, I live here. I can confidently tell you that kind of thing is common right now. Even if I'm confused about why she had it over doing magic, me and Mama have gotten used to seeing Luz kind of freeze up like that. It's one of her calmer responses." Vee said as she shrugged, though her eyes had a sad glimmer to them.

Hunter's eyes widened slightly. "Calmer... responses?" Hunter repeated.

Vee nodded in response, her eyes closed. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve before pushing the empty pot aside.

"Okay, you tell me if this sounds familiar. You're hanging out with Luz, and you decide to make conversation. You start talking with her, and then when it gets to be her time to speak, she goes quiet. It looks like she's just thinking about how to word what she wants to say. Then it happens.”

“She freezes u-”

“She freezes up. It doesn't even look like she's thinking about a response anymore. Dead silence, and a dead stare into nothing. If you keep paying attention to her face, you'll notice that just before speaking up, she looks absolutely terrified." Vee put up her hands, giving a shrug to prompt a response from Hunter.

"That... does sound familiar. Really familiar, actually. I was asking her about what it was like to be all suped-up with the Titan's power, and then she-"

"Ah, you brought that up with her! Great, fantastic, that's just great." Vee interrupted, sarcasm and slightly bewildered frustration oozing into her tone as she glared at Hunter with wide eyes. 

She looked down at the table, before sighing and continuing to speak.

Hunter felt his stomach sink a bit, realizing he may have messed up a little.

"I- I didn't know-"

"No no, I'm sorry, that's on me. I didn't exactly brief you on what you can and cannot talk about around her. I thought you'd watch, like... one episode of Cosmic Frontier then head out. Did she do anything else?" Vee asked, leaning in a bit.

Hunter shook his head. "Nothing after that. She seemed calmed by Amity's presence."

"Good, that's... good. I was worried for a second. These past few weeks, Luz has had a hair-trigger emotional state. She’s gotten lots better, but it was really bad in the beginning…"

"Is that why I haven't really been invited over?" Hunter asked.

Vee just went silent, putting a hand to her forehead and taking a deep breath in before she let it out through her nose. She looked around the kitchen for a moment before just going through with what she was thinking.

"In a way? Do you... want me to just tell you the truth?"

Vee looked up, her eyes narrowed.

Hunter just nodded.

Vee nodded back, pursing her lips as she tried to think of a way to explain the concept of PTSD to Hunter.

"You and Luz... you’ve both been through a whole lot. A lot of pain and other generally overwhelming experiences. Hurt in such a way that makes the things that did hurt you nearly impossible to talk about without having some kind of trouble, or some kind of reaction. For Luz, one of her triggers was you.”

Hunter’s eyes widened upon hearing this. Vee noticed right away, nervously stuttering before continuing on.

“Not for- Not for anything you did in particular, but because in her mind, you became a living reminder of what she believes to be her own mistakes. The mind stuff with Belos, the stuff you went through after you deserted. She still blames herself for so, so much that it is hard for her to see the good she’s done." Vee explained with a shake of her head. 

Hunter made mental notes of what he heard, as he tends to do. His eyes flickered in brightness as he catalogued.

"And you... well, you already know how much you've been through, how you've handled your end of things. Similar situation, really." Vee added, sitting up and clearing her throat.

"I guess that makes sense, but I would have appreciated being told about all that." Hunter muttered.

"I think it was better you didn't know. When you and the others were stranded here, I noticed you tend to try taking care of things on your own. Willow told me about that haircut you tried to give yourself!" Vee exclaimed with a bit of a smile.

Hunter gave a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I suppose that's a fair assessment." Hunter sighed, his eyes wandering to the ground. He didn't have much to say after that.

"Hey, since we're on the topic now... how are you holding up? You've spent your recovery in the Demon Realm, as was intended." Vee asked, leaning in a bit. "Are you doing alright?"

"Is that why I’ve been babied the past two weeks?”

“Yes, precisely.”

“Well... I don't know. I guess it’s been pretty good." Hunter said, letting his hand fall to his side. "I haven't really thought about it."

"You're under the care of...?"

"Eda and Raine, they're living together now. Sometimes Darius stops by. Not sure if I can count Hooty and King in that equation." Hunter shrugged.

"Ahh... Luz tells me Eda and Raine are nice. I don't know much about Darius." Vee admitted, leaning back and putting her hands on the table as an anchor to make sure she didn’t fall back in her chair.

"Darius is great. He kept Flapjack a secret from Belos for me, among other things." Hunter reminisced as he leaned forward, picking up his empty cup and turning it about, idly fidgeting.

"It sounds like you have it pretty good, then."

Vee stopped rocking in her chair and put her elbows on the table, resting her head on her palms as she watched Hunter continue to fidget, waiting for more exposition.

"A bit too good. They pretty much just keep me inside the Owl House." Hunter sighed, putting the cup down.

"Yeah? I mean, I can't really say that's all bad, right? It's good you've been getting to know them better."

Hunter chuckled before his expression dropped, his eyes becoming somber.

"They don't even let me out of their sight. The kitchen drawers are under lock and key. I can't say I don't understand why Eda treats me like that, given how I was the last time I was there, before the Day of Unity. I'd be the same if I was in their shoes, but... honestly? It feels like there's some kind of guilt surrounding me. I feel like I'm a... a burden on them or something."

Vee's eyes narrowed. "Is that really what you think?" She asked, her voice soft.

Hunter nodded. "I mean... I know for a fact that I became one the last time I was living there, before the Day of Unity."

"Hunter, I seriously doubt that was the case. But now that you mention it, you never really talked about what happened during that first stay." Vee said, tilting her head.

"It wasn't pretty. After me and Luz were taken out of Belos' mindscape with the return spell, I freaked out quite a lot. Tried to run away with Flapjack, no clue as to what I was going to do. Luz stopped me and managed to calm me down just enough to stay. Eda took me in, and I stayed there for a while." Hunter explained.

"That doesn't sound so bad..." Vee muttered.

"No, it doesn't. But you don't know the kind of person I was at the time. I had just found out my entire life was a lie, and I had no direction. I treated getting better as another one of Belos' missions. I treated every little thing like tasks that I would have been given. I expected punishment for my mistakes. I wanted to be the Golden Guard again, in a way. I didn't know how else to live." Hunter explained as his eyes wandered. He then looked back to Vee, his expression becoming somber.

Vee slowly brought her hand up to her mouth, her eyes looking down at the table as she considered everything he said. She never really got to witness what Hunter was like during his service to the throne, to Belos. Luz described him as… robotic.

"So.. unfortunately you're wrong. In a way, I did hurt Luz with things I did. I made... very bad choices throughout my first stay, and I was constantly fighting to keep making those choices. I didn't want to accept what my life had become, that emptiness. I felt like I couldn't." Hunter said with a deep exhale, struggling to get the words out as his voice began to break a little.

"What... did you do?" Vee asked, leaning forward and looking at Hunter with immense concern. 

She didn't like the implication of his words.

Hunter just looked down at the tabletop, his eyes beginning to well up. He said nothing as his face twisted into a grimace as a tear rolled down his cheek and over his scar. In near immediate response, Vee let out a shaky exhale as she leaned over and placed her hand on his forearm, squeezing it to try and ground him back to reality.

"I'm sorry, Hunter. I shouldn't have asked." Vee whispered.

Hunter sniffled before opening his eyes again, bringing up his sleeve to wipe his eyes. There was a coin-sized patch of scar tissue on his wrist, which looked roughly rectangular. A confirmation of Vee’s suspicions for sure, but not exactly the shape that she expected to see there.

"No, it's fine. I'm good, it's just... I'd rather not talk about it. I'm not ready yet." Hunter said as he looked back up, a strained smile on his face.

"I totally understand. But I'm proud of you for trying. Even if I might have prompted you to do so." Vee uttered with a smile of her own.

Hunter gave a quiet chuckle. "Yeah... I guess that's true enough."

Vee grinned as she reached her other hand out, wiping away some stray tears on his face. It wasn’t exactly a gentle motion, prompting Hunter to make a dismissive noise as he weakly batted Vee's hand away, causing her to let out a giggle.

"You okay there?" Vee asked.

Hunter sniffled, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"I am now, I think. Thank you, Vee."

"No problem. No problem at all." Vee said as she stood up, stretching and looking towards the kitchen. "I'll... take over breakfast duties, if you don't mind."

Just as Hunter was about to protest, a gentle hissing noise emanated from across the room. Stringbean floated in, much to the delight of Vee and Hunter. She coddled herself into the crook of Hunter's neck for a moment before floating to Vee, setting herself atop her head.

"Stringbean! I was wondering where she's been!" Hunter chuckled as he watched Luz's palisman stir in circles before getting into a comfortable spot. Vee froze up a bit, doing her best to not disturb Stringbean.

"I assume this means Luz is up now...?" Vee asked.

"Hm. I don't know. Usually, she likes to stay right by Luz ninety-nine percent of the time. I was thinking of checking myself, but I'd hate to wake her and Amity."

"I think it'll be alright either way. If she says she feels alright, we should try to keep that up by making sure she doesn't sleep in too much. Camila tells me that night-owling isn't all that good for humans."

"Night-owling?" Hunter repeated.

"Staying up too late."

"Oh! Oh, yeah. I knew that." Hunter said, feeling a bit sheepish.

"Uh-huh, like you know anything about sleep schedules. I almost didn't recognize you without those eye bags."

"Then I'll be sure to get a full five minutes of sleep later."

"Aw, go check on Luz already!" Vee giggled as she pointed him off, Hunter quickly standing up and leaving the kitchen. 

“Oh, and Luz asked for bacon last night!” Hunter added, walking backwards. Vee just gave an affirmative thumbs up.

He walked down the hall and opened the door to the basement, turning himself back around as to not fall down the stairs. Carefully, he stepped down into the basement, his hand carefully dragging against the railing.

Right away, the room looked messy, and far messier than it usually is.

Bits of the walls were scorched, others were glazed over with frost. There were a few particles of light floating about, varying in size and brightness.

Down in the center of the room was Luz and Amity, both wide awake and sitting across from each other on the carpet, having moved the coffee table. He could hear their conversation clearly now.

"Cut me some slack, Amity! I've only done this a few times..." Luz said as she held up one hand.

She then drew a crude circle in the air with her pointer finger, her eyes shut hard as she pictured what she wanted out of the spell circle. From it, another orb of light formed. Luz opened her eyes, smiling widely before the light became unstable, dissipating in seconds. She let out a groan.

"Oh, come on! I just now had it!" Luz exclaimed as she fell onto her back, letting out a loud groan.

Amity smiled and crawled over, laying herself down next to her.

"Don't worry about it, Luz. You've got all the time in the world to practice."

Luz tried to put on a pouting face before nuzzling her head into Amity's neck, getting comfortable.

"You know, it's weird..." Luz muttered as she closed her eyes again. "Part of me feels like this is... cheating, somehow."

Amity sat up, raising an eyebrow at Luz. "What do you mean? Doesn't Stringbean let you do magic?"

"That's what I was thinking, but it turns out that all I can really do with her is fly. The magic inside the palismen aren't enough to match what even the glyphs could do, not if you don't have some degree of magic in you already. Borrowing Owlbert made me figure that out. I had Flapjack for a brief period before meeting Hunter, and I couldn't do that golden flashy-speedy thing he does. And trying to do magic with Stringbean just results in a big messy burst of raw untethered magic, so no luck there..." Luz explained.

"That part's explained, but you haven't answered my question. What makes you think that having magic on your own now is cheating? I'd be elated if I were in your place." Amity asked as she pulled Luz closer to her side.

"I guess it's just unfamiliar to me. I'm used to working my way through things, learning each part of the process as I went. That's how I learned glyph magic, that's how I got Stringbean. In fact, it's what I love about magic. So being handed this gift just... doesn't feel right. Totally not satisfying to my weird nerd brain, I guess."

"Is that not what the Titan did, though?" Amity asked. "He gave you that power-up and all..."

"He did, but that was an emergency. Y'know, the ultimate emergency. And that's what I thought, that would be it! One big boost to guarantee that I could-"

"Hey, you're up!" Hunter interrupted as he entered the room, which caused Luz to let out a yelp. She quickly sat up, looking up to the stairs.

"Oh, hey! Did you make that bacon I asked for?" Luz asked with a smile.

"Nope! Vee's making it now. We... kinda got lost in conversation, so it's not done yet. But we have a theory as to what's happening with you. We think that-"

"The Titan did something to change me into a witch?"

"You're slowly changing into a- huh, so you already figured it out. Cool, cool..." Hunter muttered, looking off to the side as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"We were just talking about it now. Well, practicing it." Amity said as she sat up, too.

"The ear thing was a dead giveaway." Luz added.

"Huh... How's she doing with it?" Hunter asked.

"With the magic, or with the ear healing?" Amity furthered.

"Both, I suppose."

"Fantastic, really! Still a bit shaky in places, but other than that... I think she'll get it down in no time. You know she has the drive to do so!" Amity replied with a smile, leaning against Luz, who's face had gone a bit red from the compliment.

"Right! Good to hear, good to hear. As for the healing?"

"Doesn't sting as much anymore, actually." Luz uttered with a smile, moving her hand across her cheek, just below the gauze. "I mean, it didn't sting when you yelled about it last night, but then it STARTED to sting. Then it stopped!"

"That's... great?"

"Mhm! And I'm happy to report that I am, in fact, all better."

"No, definitely not. You still have a bit of a cough." Amity interjected.

"Just a bit, though!" Luz exclaimed with a smirk.

Amity just gave a dismissive scoff in response.

"Well, do you think you feel good enough to come back to the Isles with me and Amity? You said you wanted to talk to Eda." Hunter asked.

Luz paused, looking at Amity, who just gave a nod. "You know what, sure! After breakfast, though."

"Great, so it's settled. Just let me know when you want to leave!"

"Alrighty, thanks, Hunter!" She exclaimed with a smile as she reached out, giving a wave before he turned and left, climbing back up the steps.

Soon after, Stringbean floated in, wrapping herself around the back of Luz's neck and resting on her shoulders, happily slithering away.

"There you are, my adorable little squirmle! Speaking of cute palismen, where the heck is Ghost at?" Luz asked, glancing about the room.

"Right here!" Amity held out a hand, summoning Ghost in her staff form before letting her switch out from it, the palisman promptly walking over to sit on Luz's lap with a purr.

"Mmm... I was wondering where she was." Luz smiled, petting Ghost with her free hand.
Amity simply watched as Luz played with her palisman.

"So, Luz... how are you feeling? Like, mentally?" Amity asked, her eyes darting between Luz and the wall.

Luz shrugged. "Not waking up in the middle of the night screaming anymore, so that's good."

"No, Luz..."

"I'm saying I'm doing better!"

"Last week, you could barely hold yourself together when I gave you updates about how things were back in the Demon Realm." Amity said, gently putting a hand on Luz's arm. "Do you think you'll be okay if we talk about this? Because I think we really need to talk about this. I've been fine comforting you, holding you until the tears stop, but... I need you to understand a few things. For your sake."

Luz paused, taking a deep breath before she turned to face away from Amity, with Ghost gently stepping out from her lap.

Amity almost looked dejected, taking this as Luz refusing to talk about things once again.

That is, until Luz let out a long exhale as she laid back, placing her head in Amity's lap once again. Stringbean re-positioned herself to rest atop Luz's sternum, curling up and closing her eyes to rest. Luz just stared up at the ceiling.

"Alright. Alright, I can do this..." Luz repeated to herself under her breath.

"Luz. You don't have to do or say anything. I'm not expecting you to. I just... need you to listen to what I have to say, and I really mean listen." Amity said with a gentle tone, slowly reaching down and grabbing Luz's hand.

"Okay..." Luz replied, still staring at the ceiling as she listened closely.

She had promised to listen, to consider what Amity was going to say. But there was a part of her that knew what she was going to say, more or less. Reminders about how things that she believed were entirely her fault just weren't, somehow. Comfort through expressions of love. Appreciated, but definitely not-

"None of this would have happened if not for you." Amity began.

Luz took her gaze from the ceiling, averting it to look at her girlfriend's face. She was confused by this. It's definitely a familiar phrase to Luz, as she's said varieties of that sentence to herself nearly every day. Even more confusingly, Amity was wearing a smile.

"Wha...?" Luz whispered out

Amity giggled in response to Luz's confusion, which only made the expression on her face widen further.

"Look around you, sweet potato! The Boiling Isles are safe. Everybody we know is safe! You saved an entire realm from being annihilated! Do you know how crazy that sounds? Do you realize just how... how much you've done for everybody? Every single morning, I wake up and I am just... astounded, absolutely freaking floored because I know that you're the person I get to spend my life with." Amity explained as her eyes lit up. "Do you know what I mean?"

Luz just stared in silence before looking back to the ceiling again. She squeezed Amity's hand, letting out a long sigh. She blushed deeply, looking off to the side.

"I mean, it's nice hearing stuff like that, but..." Luz uttered, trying to ward off her smile.

"But what? That you messed up a few times? You might think you are, but you are absolutely not considering the whole picture here, Luz. Think of everything good you've done! You got on the good side of the two most powerful beings that you or I have ever known! If not for you, I'd still be a major bully to Willow, still listening to my mom! And also dead by now! Think about Hunter! He still would've been taking Belos' abuse and listening to his every word, none the wiser! And also dead!"

"I get it, I get it! Enough with the- the death stuff!" Luz interjected, chuckling and sitting herself back up as she let go of Amity's hand. "That was... a little much."

"My point is that you don't give yourself enough credit!" Amity giggled as she leaned down, wrapping her arms around Luz and picking her up until she was sitting, too.

Stringbean floated in front of them, hissing at the fact she had been moved from her comfy spot.

"I guess I'm just not used to all this praise and... not used to considering that I..." Luz's words devolved into soft mutters as she started to picture scenarios, events from the past five months. Imagining hypotheticals where she just wasn't there. Mostly considering the praise that Amity offered.

Amity turned Luz a bit so they could be face-to-face, placing her hands on her shoulders. To Luz's surprise, her girlfriend's face was red, her cheeks slick with tears that had already run.

"It's not just praise, Luz. It's the truth of things! You're pretty much the best thing that's happened to the Isles in hundreds of years! You're- You're the best thing that's ever happened to me! And it makes me so confused, so upset when I hear you blame yourself for things you never could have been prepared for, because none of that matters anymore! All that you need to know is that we're okay, and we're gonna keep being okay because of everything you did, all of your work! We all love you for that, I love you for that...!"

It was at this point that Luz started to break as well. She reached forward, her shaking hands moving to cup Amity's face.

"We're... we're okay! We're gonna be... be..." Luz couldn't even get the words out before she lost it, her lips quivering as tears started pouring down her face.

Her shoulders trembled as she tried to hold back sobs. She choked up on words, on thoughts as she shook her head, just repeating a few lines under her breath and trying not to fall apart.

Amity just pulled Luz in by her shoulders before wrapping her arms around her, surrounding her in an embrace that Luz immediately returned, quite literally crying over each other's shoulders.

And for the first time in weeks, it was not because of a nightmare or because of Luz driving herself to tears with boundless criticisms against herself, but just over the sheer joy of allowing herself to process everything she had completed, all the impossible work she had done. To let herself fall apart into a mess of tears as Amity repeated one simple phrase over and over again in her ear, both of their eyes shut tightly.

"I love you, Luz... I love you, I love you, I love you..."

The only thing Luz could say in return were sobs and whimpers into Amity's shoulder and neck.

It felt like hours before they finally separated, and it felt like this embrace would last forever.

That is, until Amity spotted the tuft of gauze attached to Luz's head fall off in the corner of her vision.

She quickly pulled back, letting out a sharp gasp with wide eyes as she got a good look at Luz, who was still going through the throes of cathartic emotion.

Amity's reaction brought Luz back to reality, where her eyes narrowed at Amity, wondering what could have made her look so perturbed.

"Sweet potato, your... your..." She stammered out as she weakly brought up a finger, pointing to Luz's ears.

"Huh? Did the bandage come loose again?"

Luz glanced to the side before reaching up to feel where her ears were, letting out a shrieky yelp as she felt it. A new pair of ears, equally long and pointy. 

Besides being a bit messy with dried blood, Luz could feel that they were practically seamless.

It was as if she always had them.

She instantly took both her hands, clasping them over her mouth as if to prevent herself from screaming. Amity sat there dumbfounded for a few more seconds before she leaned in, reaching up to gently touch Luz's new witch ears. Once she did, she instantly reeled her hand back.

"Oh... Titan." Amity muttered, just staring in awe. Confused, overwhelming awe. "This is..."

Luz muttered something, muffled by her frozen hands.

"I'm sorry, what?" Amity asked. 

Luz just released her hands from her mouth, as if they were glued on before very quietly whispering…

"I have witch eeeaarrsss..."

There was a moment of silence, both girls just staring at each other. Neither knew quite how to process this. Then Luz just let out a brief, mischievous chuckle.
.
"What if I were to just... walk upstairs right now? Act like nothing is different?" Luz said, breaking into snickers mid sentence.

Amity gave a quick response to Luz's question.

"Do it." She said , feigning dead seriousness for about a second before bursting into quiet laughter herself.

Stringbean soon hopped back onto Luz and gently coiled atop her head, letting out a gentle hiss as Luz quickly stood up, her eyes wide in anticipation as she quickly sped up the stairs, rapidly wiping her eyes with her palms.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Vee had pretty much finished a bog-standard breakfast. Bacon, eggs, toast… It wasn't exactly anything special, but it was better than whatever Hunter would have tried to do, who genuinely believed that 'shell-in eggs' could work. 

She had everything lined up on a large platter, as she didn't quite feel like plating everything up for all four individual people. 

Except for Luz, of course.

She had made her a plate and already put it on the table, and a few empty plates as well.

"Is everything ready?" Hunter asked as he made his way to the table, setting down a fresh pot of coffee as he took a seat, as well as a few glasses of the soft version of Apple Blood that Eda had kindly donated some time ago.

"Yup! Stringbean went to go get them, so I'll think everyone'll be here in just a few more-" Vee began before being interrupted.

The sound of the door to the basement slamming open practically shook the house, closely followed by Amity's laughter from within the basement.

Hunter and Vee stared at the source of the noise, only seeing Luz's sweatpants-adorned leg sticking out of the door-frame, a slipper dangling off of her foot before falling off.

"Hey, you’re finally coming to join us! I hope you're hungry, because Vee really put in the- AAH!" Hunter let out a shrill yelp as Luz stepped into view, revealing her new pointed ears to the two.

Vee stood there in silent shock, suddenly very glad she put down the platter when she did.

"Gooooood morning, family~!" Luz cheered, doing a twirl and giving her best Azura pose as she summoned Stringbean in her staff mode, staying there for a few seconds to let the other two really soak in the change.

Hunter was the first one to move, instantly standing up.

"T-There's... something on your head..." He stammered out.

Luz just looked at him with a blank stare.

"What, the gauze? I knooow, it looks like I'm wearing earmuffs indoors!" Luz teased, pretending to be oblivious.

She could tell Hunter was utterly flabbergasted, and seeing his face like that instantly broke the bit she was trying to do.

"Okay, okay! This just happened, and to be honest? Just as surprised as you!" Luz exclaimed before walking over to the table, but not quite sitting down.

Instantly, Vee raced over and sort of grabbed Luz by her forehead and chin, inspecting her face like a doctor, her grip sort of stretching her bottom lip and upper eyelids.

"Vee?" Luz asked, now confused.

"Your eyes are red. Have you been crying?" Vee questioned in a quick, worried voice.

"Oh, uh... yeah. But it was good crying! Happy crying, even." Luz explained with a chuckle.

Vee let out a sigh of relief before going back to roughly inspecting her sister.

"Your ears are red! From- From blood!"

"...Yeah? Of course there'd be-"

"Not that! You didn't even clean up before coming to breakfast, you big goof! Go! Go wash those!" Vee said, nudging Luz towards the bathroom, pushing her by her back.

"Okay, okay! I'll be right back!" Luz said as she turned and ran off down the hall, soon returning with her face and some of her hair dripping with soapy water, falling off her ears in droplets.

"Good! Now you can come eat." Vee said, returning to the table and sliding Luz's plate a bit to emphasize it to her.

"Man, you're just like Mama. In- In a good way!" Luz noted as she sat down.

Amity walked in from the hallway, moving around Luz to take her own seat next to her. She still seemed a bit shaken by the sudden appearance of Luz's new ears, but she quickly shook that away as she reached out and placed a hand on Luz's cheek.

"You know... they look pretty good on you." Amity said with a smile, which caused Luz's face to turn beet-red in an instant.

"So... you don't seem surprised by these." Luz said to Vee as she reached up, flicking the pointed tips of her ears.

"Ehh... Hunter told me about the whole situation last night, I kind of connected the dots myself. I am pretty surprised it happened this quickly, though... I thought it would take weeks or months." Vee muttered, picking up a fork.

"I'm... not sure I'll get used to that, to be honest. But Amity is right. I suppose those do suit you..." Hunter muttered as he leaned forward a bit, his eyes wandering the tabletop before snatching the refilled coffee pot.

He slowly poured himself a second cup, nearly overflowing it as he kept staring at Luz's ears.

Luz gave a mischievous smile before looking down at her plate, then to the front door, tapping her left foot and swinging her right beneath the chair she was on.

"Vee... do you mind grabbing me a container for this? I think I'll take this to-go!" Luz said with a grin.

Amity raised an eyebrow. "What are you planning now?"

"I think that I'm going back to the Demon Realm. I need some help from the professionals..."