Chapter Text
A breeze whistled through the cracks of the crooked, unhinged door. Luz watched the tiny particles of dust shine in the leaks of sunlight. She flinched at the sound of a brick plummeting from the sky above, more parts of the house's foundation crumbling.
She tucked her knees into her and burrowed her head. She tried to stay away from the windows, the cracks, the places she could be seen. Instead, she sat up against the far corner wall.
To be honest, it was the only place she could think of running to. The only place that would really accept her. Sure, it was predictable, after all, if anyone would be looking for her, they'd know where - but it was also safe - comforting.
Yet, on second thought, as she sat there - tired, sore, alone - it wasn't as comforting as Luz recalled it to be. Not now. Not when everyone else had left.
The house was empty. No one had been here in months to tend to it. And with enough time and neglect, this home would be repossessed by the elements, by the environment of the Boiling Isles.
She could almost already see the effects. The wallpaper was coming loose. The wooden floorboards creaked from disuse. A thin layer of dust collected, blanketing every surface.
A small squeak came from somewhere farther away. And with dull curiosity, Luz watched as a pair of eyes turned to stare. It noticed her, only for a second, then darted away into a crack in the walls.
A mouse. Just looking for refuge. Just like her.
The darkness enveloped the living room. It just wasn't the same as she remembered it.
She tried shutting her eyes, squeezing them tight, hoping it would bring the home around her back to the way it was, back to the light. But it didn't. It didn't change anything.
There was no home left to return to.
No wrestling and tickling fights on the floor with King or his squeaks of rage. No puzzles or card games at the table with Aunt Lilith. No corny jokes from Hooty.
And Eda.
Oh, Eda.
Luz's lip quivered. She bit down on it, trying to shove the thought away before it could break her.
The loss of Eda was too much - she meant too much. Losing Eda meant losing everything, even more than all the other memories.
No more hugs that embraced so tight that Luz couldn't breathe, or kitchen cooking disasters, or flying lessons with Owlbert, or learning new combinations of glyphs.
No more snarky and witty jokes, or laughing until her stomach hurt so bad, or doubling over and wiping away watery eyes.
No more late night stories, or long nails combing through her hair, lulling her to sleep, or kisses on the head when Eda thought Luz had long fallen asleep and thought she wouldn't notice, but Luz still felt it.
And if Luz thought hard enough, she could still hear her voice.
"Gnite, kiddo."
And then she would shut the door quietly. The light would go out.
Now, it was dark.
There was nothing left.
A sort of definite…
Hopelessness.
That was it. Luz realized. Hopelessness was the right word.
Her heart stung. Her chest broke. And for the first time, the tears that she had been holding in since retreating back to the Owl House the night before, the heavy sadness she held inside of her had finally burst.
She suddenly didn't care how quiet she had been holding herself, how calm she had tried to be. It didn't matter to her who was in earshot to hear her vocalized cries. Besides, there was no one left to hear it.
It was just Luz. She was alone here. And everyone else had been captured, or taken, or worse. Luz didn't understand it.
Why hadn't she been the one? Why hadn't she been taken too?
What made her so different from the rest? Because she could outrun it faster?
Had she been able to grab her Mama and cloak them both under an invisibility glyph, maybe she could've saved her too.
Where did The Collector's surveillance stars take them? What did they have planned for her friends - her family?
She stopped, turning her head to the side, resting it on her knees. Her gaze dropped down to the floor, down to the polaroid photo by her feet. In it, Luz stood in the middle, beaming, and King, hanging off her left shoulder while Eda, tallest of all of them, leaning forward to be in frame, tustled her hair.
Luz felt a pang behind her eyes. She suddenly became aware of her migraine and of her exhaustion. She tried her best to sleep, to allow herself to heal, just like her Mama would've told her to do, but the thought of resting while the ones she knew and loved were probably suffering guilted her. That she had betrayed them in a desperate time of need.
Maybe she was way in over her head after all.
Maybe Belos was right.
The realization of this made Luz shiver.
Belos. Being right.
It sounded wrong - no, of course it was wrong!
What was she even thinking? If that were true anyway, then it meant that Luz had been blinded. It meant that she had been so naive to trust the Boiling Isles and its people. It meant that she really was just a foolish, gullible kid.
Just a kid.
It rang loud and clear for Luz, for some reason. And as she wondered why, the answer laid on the floor next to her. She stared at it with disgust.
Azura's witch hat gleamed with white and gold.
Just a kid, pl aying pretend.
A fantasy to distract from reality - es capism.
Too ignorant to grow up.
Her own yearning for thrill and adventure had hurt everyone else, even the people in the Boiling Isles, who didn't necessarily have it any better than she did, not with a tyrannical emperor who only served to sought out mass genocide.
There was no fun here.
Literal lives were on the line.
Luz's scream alarmed the birds nearby, cawing and flapping away from the roof above. She kicked her hat, got up, prying her witch's jacket off too, so much so it began to tear, until that too was thrown to the floor and stomped on.
"Stupid! It's all just… stupid!" She whimpered to herself. Then, in a fit of hysteria, she thought he might've been watching. With her kind of luck, he always was.
He could be hiding in the walls.
Though, Luz wasn't really sure. Her mind had left logic and reasoning behind.
"You hear me, Belos?" She shouted, a sound of grit and thunder from within her chest. Her voice shook. "You. Were. Right! I'm just a stupid, idiotic kid! You won! You got what you wanted! What are you waiting for?!"
For a long pause, she waited for an answer. She wasn't confident he was even there, or if he even heard her. The unknowing of this frightened her. Then again, she wasn't thinking straight, head turned towards the sky, arms out in a surrender.
The exertion tired her. She fell back down, wiping away the last of her tears with the heel of her palm, sinking her fists into the pits of her eyes.
She almost didn't notice the echo coming from farther inside the house.
A deep throated, dark chuckle.
"Oh, Luz." It cooed. "I knew you'd finally come to your senses."
Luz's eyes snapped open. She already knew.
Though, before she even had time to react, the dark muck protruded through the floorboards, smothering. It puddled underneath her, and when she raised her hand to inspect it, it stuck to her like thick, black tar.
The more she pulled away, the more she seemed to sink, like quicksand. She tried to stand but her knees only buckled, clumsily falling back down.
"No. Nonononono!"