Always by your side

Chapter 32 - Meet your foe

Upon leaving the building I heard a powerful metal clang coming from the inside of the factory and it certainly didn't fill me with confidence. I feared for the worst but had to push the negative thoughts outside. It didn't take long for Owlbert to notice me. He flew away and 10 minutes later I saw Eda and Raine in the sky.

"We came as soon as we could." Eda said, giving me a concerned look, "What happened?"

"I- We- We were inside- and-" I broke down and hugged Eda, "I don't know where she is... help."

"You stay here, we will go in and check it out."

"Watch- Watch out for abomatrons." I mumbled

"We will, don't worry Luz, it won't take long." Eda said and entered the building with Raine. I waited patiently, trying to pull myself together, though with minimal effects. Even though I was a mess, when I heard fighting inside I rushed back in.

In the basement, I found Eda, Raine, and what was left of an abomatrons. I looked around, but when I caught eye contact with Eda I knew there was no good news.

"Kid, we searched through the rooms, but found nothing but a lone abomatrons, I'm so sorry." Eda said, waiting for my reaction. Honestly, I never felt so helpless as right now. I fell on my knees and sobbed, not knowing what to do next. Eda came closer, trying to comfort me while Raine stood in the back silently. I appreciated the effort, but sadly nothing could help me now.

Eda helped me stand up and slowly walked me outside. I gazed at the factory for the last time, the place of my greatest mistake yet. The place where I lost Amity.

"Luz, we should go, there is nothing we can do from here. We should go back and conduct a proper search. Everything will be alright, I promise."

'It won't' I thought to myself, but didn't say anything. I got on Owlbert right beside Eda and we flew back to the Owl House. When we got there I immediately went to my old room and locked the door. The only thing I wanted right now was to sleep, to get away from all of it. Though it took quite some crying, finally I slipped into the dreamscape, trying to forget.

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Getting a message from Eda was quite a surprise. I figured it must be urgent and excused Gus for a second. After finishing my read I already knew that our plans for the evening were screwed, however, neither I nor Gus minded helping Luz.

At first, I found it surprising that we got called since I had no idea what could upset Luz so much. However, when we reached the Owl House and talked to Eda it all became clear. That was also when we realized it would be much harder than we thought.

It took us over an hour of convincing to even get to Luz's room, and well when we got in she didn't look great. I couldn't blame her though, I didn't know what would I do without Gus. For the time being, I even let go of my aversion towards Amity. It was painful to see Luz like this, considering how optimistic and full of energy she tended to be.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to cheer her up. We were as powerless against this whole situation as much as she was. I did my best to find something comforting to latch onto but to no avail. It wasn't until Gus figured out that this was going nowhere. We had to change our strategy a little. Instead, we tried to help her cope with the loss. This time it showed at least some sign of effect. We managed to get her out of her room and to eat something.

While Luz was having her first meal since the incident we went to confer with Eda.

"Sorry Eda, I don't think we helped much here." I said.