Chapter Text
In a split moment, Luz was flying over to The Collector. She had no idea what she was thinking. She wasn’t even sure she was thinking at all. Time seemed to slow as she grabbed The Collector, turning to protect them from the blast. When the light faded, she heard The Collector gasp.
“Huh? But I-I thought I was doing the right thing!”
She turned to look at him.
“No, no… you did good, Collector. But this is a little more… complicated. Don’t worry! I think it… missed.. me…”
Luz noticed him staring at her hand, and when she turned to look, she finally saw the white and green rot growing over her body. It climbed up her arm and submerged most of her body in the substance.
“Eda, King. Looks like we’re going to be split up again. I… feel like I should be used to this feeling by now? But I still don’t know what to say.”
As the words left her mouth the rot consumed the last remaining bit of her. The world turned to darkness, sound and feeling fading away.
The darkness felt all-consuming. Luz laid there… laid? It didn’t feel like she had any body at all. Perhaps all that was left of her was her consciousness. That should’ve been terrifying, but no emotion came to her. She wasn’t at peace, confused, or sad. There was nothing at all. Luz existed in that void for what felt like an eternity until she heard a ringing. She focused on the sound, and suddenly she realized she could feel her limbs again. Warily she moved her fingers, but they felt numb almost. For a while, she just tried to regain sensation in her body, until she could faintly hear someone talking above her. Before she had been convinced her eyes were open, but when she flinched at the noise her eyes briefly opened and she immediately shut them again to protect against the blinding light. After a couple of moments, she tried to open her eyes, and light slowly opened the world around her. Luz blinked several times, taking a deep breath. Above her there were several people, humans, standing around her. She yelped and tried to scramble away, hitting her head on the ground when her arms couldn’t support her weight. Any sound she could hear returned to a ring as pain coursed through her head. Luz desperately clung to her consciousness as she felt it slip away, the pain too overwhelming.
Returning to wakefulness, she was quickly reminded of her burning headache. Her eyes felt heavy but she forced them open. Still on her back, she could see the roof of a car. Panic encouraged her to sit up but she felt horrendous as she did so. Luz looked over at the driver to see it was her mom. Almost immediately calmness washed over her. Of course. She’d explain everything to her… when… they got home…
Luz laid back down and fell asleep nearly instantly. Her rest was much more peaceful this time, until she was being gently shaken awake by someone.
“Luz, we’re home. Can you walk inside on your own?”
She slowly sat up and yawned, rubbing her head.
“Yeah…”
Luz looked at her mom. Her hair was straightened. She reached out to touch her hair.
“Mama, you straightened your hair…?”
Camila gave her a confused smile as if it were obvious that she had done so.
“...Si. C’mon, let's get you to your bed.”
Luz climbed out of the car and Camila gently led her inside the house and to her room. Amity, Willow, and Vee’s things were gone. She pointed at where their makeshift beds had been. Even if Amity and Willow were in the demon realm, shouldn’t Vee be here at least?
“Where’s Vee?”
Camila sat her down on the bed, and when she looked up at her she was deeply concerned.
“Vee must be your friend from camp… you’re not at camp anymore, mija.”
She laid Luz down, pulling the blanket over her.
“Go back to sleep. I’ll bring you dinner later, alright?”
Kissing her on the head, she watched her from the doorway for a few moments before leaving, keeping the door cracked.
Fighting to stay awake Luz reached for her phone, which was on the bedside table. She clicked the on button, and it flicked to life but alerted her that there was only 13% left. Weird… last time she’d been on her phone it was nearly fully charged. As she unlocked her phone, her brain hadn’t even processed what her mom had said. Everything going on was so fuzzy, she could just barely remember saving The Collector before blacking out. She must’ve been at the hospital. Camila brought her home from the hospital. That must mean everything in the Boiling Isles was alright, then. She didn’t get to see his defeat- but surely everybody else had taken him down. They had to of. Luz was once again unable to resist sleep, the phone slipping out of her hand and falling on the floor.
She woke up to the sound of her door closing. On the table, there was a warm plate of food. For the first time since she’d left the Boiling Isles, her mind felt clearer, and she could finally think straight. Sitting up, she crawled out of bed, pulling the shirt she was wearing off. It was the same shirt as the people she’d briefly seen earlier. She left it on the floor as she changed clothes. Once she was done she took the shirt, holding it like it was contaminated, and walked out into the hallway, calling out.
“Mama?”
Camila’s voice called back.
“I’m in the living room!”
Luz went over to the living room, showing her the shirt.
“What’s this shirt from- why was I wearing it?”
She looked just as concerned as she had earlier.
“It’s the camp uniform, cariña. Oh, dear, maybe I should take you to the hospital. The nurse said you’d be alright with just some bed rest.”
“Wh- camp? Hospital? Didn’t you… just take me home from the hospital?”
Luz took a step back. She began to feel sick in a way she couldn’t explain. The more Camila talked, the more her stomach turned. Unable to bear hearing any more answers, she turned and ran back to her room. She threw the shirt under her bed, collapsing onto her blanket and pillows. Slowly she turned over to the plate of food on the table, but she thought if she ate anything at all she’d throw up. Luz reached for her phone in the crack between her bed and the nightstand, plugging it into the nearby charger. Then she noticed that the crack she’d become familiar with was gone. Her heart ached as she slowly tapped on the gallery app, silently praying to herself that the videos and photos she’d taken would be there. But everything was gone. The last available picture was of one of her school projects- the one that… made Camila send her to the Reality-Check camp. Everything began to make sense in the worst way possible, her entire world crashing down around her. She was back at her summer break, when she’d already gone to the Demon Realm, and Vee had taken her place and went to the camp. But she wasn’t Vee. She was Luz. So was everything she’d seen, every person she’d known, not real? How could that be? Her whole body begged her to go check the cabin. This couldn’t be the end. That wasn’t fair. Though as she lay there in her bed, she felt paralyzed. Luz stared at the top bunk for what felt like hours. Until Camila came in. She slowly cracked open the door, checking to see if Luz was awake before walking over to her bedside.
“I’m going to bed, okay? You come get me if you need anything at all.”
She kissed her on the head.
“Goodnight, I love you.”
“Love you…”
It was hardly even a mumble, yet Camila smiled and backed away, taking the untouched plate with her.
Luz rolled over to face the wall, curling into a ball. She didn’t think she could ever sleep again, let alone eat, move, blink, or even breathe. The world no longer felt real. Though as she continued to lay there, still breathing and blinking, some unknown exhaustion encouraged her to sleep again. She gave in and closed her eyes.
In the morning she was in almost exactly the same position, and her body ached when she rolled over. Luz slowly got out of bed and dragged herself to the bathroom, looking in the mirror. She really had been taken back to her younger self. It’d hardly been 6 months, but still, she felt too old to be in this version of herself. The state of her hair was just the cherry on top of her misery cake. Camila and her had worked so hard to take care of their hair after she returned to the Human Realm. Feeling her hair, she stretched it out and watched it bounce back, the slightest beginning of a curl at the end. Luz sighed, tears threatening to spill over. Instead, she left the bathroom and walked over to the kitchen, where Camila was making breakfast. She sat at the table, staring at the floor until she heard the plate being set down in front of her. Camila hugged her.
“I hope you’re feeling better, mija. I was worried about you yesterday.’
Luz slowly nodded, though her being ‘better’ couldn’t be farther from the truth. She picked at her food, hardly taking a sip of water before she stood up.
“I’m going outside.”
Before Camila could object, she went over to the front door, slipped her shoes on, and walked outside. Slowly but surely she made her way over to the cabin, feeling more and more nauseous as she drew closer. She could still remember the day clearly- either one, really- she remembered chasing after the tiny bird who’d stolen her book. Being tossed through the door just moments before it closed. Luz stepped up the stairs one step at a time, hesitating as she reached for the door. So badly, she wanted this to work. But what if it didn’t? Would she be able to handle that? No, she decided. She wouldn’t be able to. It seemed as though, the moment she opened the door and saw nothing, that she would stop existing. Luz tried her best to silence her worries, taking a deep breath as she took hold of the knob and turned it, swiftly pushing the door open. …It was Eda’s house. As it used to be, before it was raided by the emperor's coven. She excitedly ran through the door, any sense immediately leaving her.
“Eda! I’m back! Where are you?”
There was only silence in return. Maybe she wasn’t home. But where was King, or Hooty? Luz turned to look back at the portal as it closed, folding in on itself and clattering onto the floor, key alongside it. She picked it up and put both on the coffee table. She could come back later, she supposed. This technically used to be her home too, but it felt weird to just sit around inside and wait for Eda. She also wanted to see Amity and the others, anyways. Looking back behind her as she left, Luz felt something stir inside of her, but she ignored it. Closing the door, she looked at the spot where Hooty should’ve been, but there wasn’t anything there. Not even a hole, just a plain old door, with no Hooty. This was starting to creep her out but she brushed it off, and turned away from the house, walking off.
Everything looked pretty calm, The Collector must’ve helped clean everything up, because Belos had been making a pretty big mess when she’d… left. As she kept thinking about the Boiling Isles, she knew at the back of her head that this wasn’t the same place. But she couldn’t help herself, even though she knew she was only setting herself up to get hurt. Luz kept walking all the way to Bonesborough, where she saw flyers for the Covention. It was only three days away. Not only did this confirm for her that this was no longer her Boiling Isles, she knew how much time had passed. Her mind was racing. This was more unexplainable than the Boiling Isles even existing in the first place. If she really was in some alternate universe, then… couldn’t she do better this time? Fix all her mistakes? Though if these people weren’t quite the same as the ones she remembered, this could be harder than she’d expected. She just hoped Eda was the same. Suddenly Luz realized that she was going to have to find Vee- she wasn’t going to be able to pull this off if she had to be both in the human realm and the demon realm.
Luz had been seriously lost in thought as she walked, and when she suddenly snapped out of it, she realized she was over halfway to the castle. Well, Vee had said that she knew Belos would find her and the other basilisks again. It was a terrible thought, but she almost felt lucky. It’d be way easier to find her if she was merely inside the castle. Though… the cells were most definitely hidden. And she couldn’t risk being caught searching around for them. She needed glyphs if she wanted to find Vee. Luz slipped into an alleyway, sneaking up behind an unattended booth. Quickly she grabbed a notebook, a pen, and a handful of snails that she stuffed in her pocket. You know, so she only had to steal once. Briefly sitting down in an alleyway, she drew a light glyph, hesitating before she pressed it. She honestly had no idea what she’d do if the glyphs were different. There wasn’t really anything she could do about that. Though when she touched her hand to the paper, it wrinkled up into a ball of light. A sigh of relief escaped her. For a moment she closed her eyes, as she remembered her first… almost positive, interaction with Amity. The covention hasn't passed yet. She could still restart her relationship with her. Luz put her hand on her cheek and let out another sigh before she stood and headed off towards the castle again.
On the way there Luz got busy drawing glyphs, making multiple of any she could ever possibly need. It was a chore to remember them all, honestly. The sky was beginning to turn orange when she got there. She needed to hurry. Picking up her pace, Luz stalked around the perimeter of the palace, making herself invisible when she was nearly spotted by a guard. The guard stared at her for several moments before shrugging and moving on. As she continued she noticed someone making their way into the castle. That was her way in. Taking a deep gasp for breath, she started a new invisibility glyph, running after the person. The door began to close and she pushed herself to run faster, just barely barreling into the castle before the door shut. Collapsing onto the floor, Luz pressed her hands to her mouth, watching the person continue down the hall, somehow not noticing anything. The moment she was sure they wouldn’t be able to hear, she gasped for breath, laying on her back on the floor. She took a couple more seconds to recover before picking herself up off the floor. Luz proceeded with caution, deciding not to make herself invisible unless she needed to. Though she held the glyph close, just in case something went wrong. The longer she aimlessly roamed the more worried she began to feel. She still needed to get Vee all the way back to Eda’s house, and explain why she needed to use her portal… man, she really did not think this through. Luz was almost distracted as she nearly walked past a hall without checking first, but she quickly reeled back, peeking her head around the corner. There was someone there. But they hadn’t noticed her. They were staring at a wall, and drew a spell circle onto it. After a second the circle dissipated and they walked through the wall. Her eyes widened and she quickly followed after them, slipping through the part of the wall like it was air. She looked back at the wall before looking ahead of her. There was a long set of stairs going down, and the mysterious person was making their way down. If Belos was holding the basilisk's prisoner, this would certainly be a good place to keep them. Slowly, and as quietly as possible, Luz followed the person down what seemed to be endless stairs. The hallway was only lit by dim candles, she couldn’t see the end of the stairs. A door came into sight and the person slid a key into the lock as they approached, pushing open the door and walking inside the chamber. Luz ran after them, just barely managing to catch the door before it closed and locked again. Activating a glyph she opened the door as quietly as the hinges would allow, she softly shut it behind her and turned to the room. On each side of the wall were chambers containing just as she’d suspected, basilisks.
Luz snuck up on the person, who didn’t seem to currently be doing much besides walking down the hallway and looking into each cage. She formed a bat-shaped icicle in her hand, getting as close as possible to them before hitting them over the head with it. Letting out a sigh of relief, she stole the key ring off their belt and started to look around for Vee, but she was nowhere to be found. Luz double checked every cell, triple checked even. But she was nowhere to be found. Warily she approached one of the basilisk’s cages, bending down slightly.
“Excuse me?”
The basilisk turned to her with a hiss, their ears drawn back- similarly to a cat- before they calmed down slightly, looking confused. Cautiously they slid forward.
“I’ve never seen you before..”
Closer they approached.
“You’re a human.”
They reached their hands through the bars of the cell, touching Luz’s ears.
She nodded.
“Yes, and I really want to help you. But I also really need to know where Vee- uh, number Five is. I don’t see her here with the rest of you guys.”
Their arms drew back into the cell as they tipped their head. “You know Five? She got away when the rest of us were recaptured. I believe she was headed for the Looking Glass ruins. Not many people go there… it’d be safe for her.”
The Looking Glass ruins. Luz had heard about them from Gus, when he’d gone there with some kids from Glandus. She sighed. There was no way she could do this today, now. It was already far enough to get back to The Owl House.
“Okay. Thank you. I’m going to let you out, then give you the key. I want you to let everyone else out then tell them to disguise themselves as guards.”
Luz unlocked the door, handing over the key. Walking over to the person still passed out on the ground, she pulled their cloak and mask off, putting it on. It was way too big on her and dragged on the floor when she walked. She would just have to be careful not to trip. When she turned around, there were nearly a dozen basilisks standing there eyeing her, already disguised as members of the emperor's coven. She flinched at the sight, laughing awkwardly to herself, nudging past them all to the exit. Waiting for a couple more of them to be released, she began to speak.
“When I open this door, we’re all going to calmly walk up the stairs, and when we’re at the top I’ll check to see if the coast is clear. At the hallway make sure that you spread out- it’ll look weird if there’s a ton of guards all in one area. Remember when you get out, to get far away from the castle before you return to a normal form. Also- uh… remember that, just because you were treated badly here, doesn’t mean you should treat others badly as well.”
Her eyes swept over the crowd of silent basilisks, wondering if one of them was the basilisk who had attacked Hexside. Inwardly she decided that it didn’t matter. None of them deserved this, being tested on like lab rats. Luz hesitated no longer as she turned and unlocked the door, silently heading up the stairs- not bothering to glance behind her as she knew they wouldn’t hesitate to follow. At the head of the stairwell she warily put her head through the fake wall, glancing each direction multiple times before she continued forward. Two or three basilisks followed her, and she led them through an entrance that actual guards were coming in and out of. The sky had begun to turn pink and purple as the sun set further into the horizon. Some distance from the castle Luz ducked behind a wall and threw off the clothes she’d stolen, scrambling out the alley way as she booked it back towards The Owl House. Why did Eda have to live so far away?! Well, she knew why, but as she entered the forest that hid the estate, she wished she would’ve been quicker with her travels earlier in the day. Her legs were beyond burning when she could finally see The Owl House through the trees. Hardly able to make herself slow down, she nearly crashed into it. Luz bent over with her hands on her knees as she panted. She managed to push herself upright and grab the handle of the door, twisting it open. In her exhausted state, she hadn’t really thought about Eda probably being home by now. Sitting on the couch was the witch, in her pajamas and sipping some sort of herbal tea straight from the pot, the smell hitting her right in the face as soon as the door was ajar. They both kind of just stared at each other for several seconds, equally confused. Her gaze slid over to the portal door, still neatly set on the table where she’d left it. In a moment Luz dashed over to it, grabbing it and flinging it open.
“Uh, sorry Eda! Bye Eda!!”
Just as quickly as she’d come, she was gone again, the door quickly zipping out of thin air before Eda could even think. All she’d managed to do was stand up, and watch the random human in her home steal her most valuable possession. Pretty much all she could do at this point was go and close the front door.
Luz nearly collapsed on the other side of the door, the briefcase closing shut behind her. She barely had time to sigh with relief before tucking it away into a corner, under some leaf litter, before dashing back to her house. Quickly, before approaching the front door, she dropped down and rolled on the forest floor, getting covered in mud. Taking a deep breath, she put a look on her face that hopefully gave off ‘I just spent all day lost in the forest, but had a lot of fun’, and not ‘I just set free an endangered species of people, that could potentially be dangerous’. Luz pushed her way into the house, immediately calling out.
“Mom! I’m home!”
Almost instantly Camila was rushing up to her, giving her a tight bear hug despite how dirty Luz was.
“Where were you all day?! Oh, I was so worried. I was about to report you missing. Please don’t ever do this again!”
Luz hugged her back, a pang of guilt in her chest. Her mom deserved to know she wouldn’t have her own daughter under her roof for the next couple of months. But, she wouldn’t understand. Not now anyways.
“I got lost in the woods! I didn’t mean to stay out so late, but I only just found my way back.”
Camila sighed, kissing her forehead.
“I believe you, mija. Let’s try not to do it again though, please.”
She finally seemed to realize how dirty she was, drawing away slightly.
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up while I reheat your dinner?”
Luz nodded and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
After eating she got tucked into bed, looking at the underside of the top bunk bed. Exhaustion dragged at her as she fell asleep. She’d taken it too hard today, tomorrow she wouldn’t push herself as hard. Well, she wouldn’t have to anyways because soon Vee would be in the human realm to take her place. No more double life. Another pang of guilt hit her like a ton of bricks. Luz rolled over, hugging the pillow as though she could distract herself from it. Before she had no idea that Vee had taken her place, but now she was going to encourage her to. It was for a good reason though. The Boiling Isles needed her, she reasoned. She closed her eyes, deciding to ignore any further thoughts.
In the morning she rolled out of bed, her legs sore. She ate breakfast and started to put her shoes on. Camila hugged her from behind.
“Be careful today, alright? I want you back before dinner.”
She smiled and nodded.
“I promise, mama.”
Camila held her there for several seconds before letting her go, opening the door for her.
“I’m holding you to that. Have fun.”
Luz closed the door behind her, walking off to the cabin. She dug out the briefcase from its hiding place, staring at it while she held the key.
“Uhm.. I don’t really know how you work, I realize. Don’t take me to Eda’s house. Please?”
Warily she slid the key into its slot and the door opened, the white void fading to show she was in the forest outside of Eda’s house. Wasn’t as far as she meant but it was better than being directly inside her house… she’d just have to be careful not to be caught. Luz closed up the door and held it at her side as she took a wide circle around her house, then headed for where Gus had told her the location of the Looking Glass ruins were.
Despite not being far, it was already midday by the time a fog started to roll past her. She activated a light glyph, using it to light her path. Luz came upon a metal gate, and it creaked as she pushed it open. Inside the gate was a short stretch of path, and she finally came upon the ruins. Vines and moss grew at the bases of the statues. She called out.
“Hello? Is anybody there?”
The only response was the wind whistling through the trees. Luz turned in a circle, holding the ball of light out in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she was pretty sure she saw something slithering behind one of the statues.
“Please come out- I’m not here to hurt you. I want to help you.”
She continued to turn, catching another glimpse of a lurking figure.
“I know you’re there. Please, at least show yourself to me.”
All of a sudden a hand came from around the back of a statue. Her voice was hesitant as she spoke.
“How do I know… you’re not part of the emperor's coven…?”
Luz touched her hand to her ear.
“Because I’m a human, see?”
A face, covered by the fog, poked out from hiding to look. Slowly Vee slid into the clearing.
“Who are you…? Why do you want to help me?”
“Well, I’m Luz, and as you can probably tell I’m from the human realm. A-and I don’t really know how to explain this, but uhm, I need you to pretend to be me, in the human realm. So that I can stay here. You’ll be safe there, and my mom will take care of you. She’s really nice- you’ll like her.’
Vee drew closer.
“I… don’t understand why you’re doing this.But I can’t stay here… okay. I’ll go with you.”
Luz sighed with relief, opening the portal door. The other side was the porch of the abandoned cabin. When she turned back to look at Vee, she had shapeshifted to look like her. She gestured to the door, and Vee cautiously walked through, Luz following close behind. The basilisk admired the forest. She walked past her, leading her closer to her house. Vee grabbed her arm.
“Wait, I- I don’t know anything about you.”
She looked back at her.
“Uh, well I like weird stuff, I guess. Mostly something called The Good Witch Azura. I have all the movies, you should watch them. And…”
Luz tried to think of what she did before finding the boiling isles. It seemed like so long ago.
‘I go outside a lot. It’s okay if you don’t do it perfectly, I went to this camp that was supposed to… make me more normal, I guess.” She fumbled for words. She’d changed so much since then.
Vee stared at her, dumbfounded.
“Uhm… alright. And you’re sure your mom won’t notice.”
“Pretty sure.”
Luz ushered her towards the front door, keeping out of sight from the windows.
“Just, act happy and like, excited I suppose.”
The basilisk stumbled closer to the door, when suddenly it opened. Camila was standing there, looking down at Vee.
“Luz? Who’re you talking to?”
She glanced around the porch, and Luz quickly dived out the way, slapping her hand over her mouth.
Vee slowly looked over to the empty space.
“Oh, uhm, nobody?”
Camila looked at the grass for a couple more seconds before she shrugged and headed back inside. Vee warily followed after her, looking back at where Luz had been again before shutting the door.
She let out a sigh of relief, though her fists tore a chunk of grass out the ground. While this made things easier for her in a sense, she now also lacked someone to confide in. Her mom was the only person that still knew her. Luz stood up and wiped the bits of grass off her hands, returning to the cabin before she reopened the portal. Leaving one last glance at the forest, she disappeared through the door.