It wasn't like Amity had disappeared off the face of the Realm. Not really.
Because she had been infected by a Cherubim Ray, she had been taken to one of the makeshift hospitals for the infected, to protect them from any Cherubim attacks, and keep those that sought to feed from them away - A system designed to both protect them, and to pragmatically keep any more Adult Cherubim from forming throughout the night, to keep the wider population safe too. Those very makeshift homes - turned - hospitals were one of the first innovations for dealing with the Cherubim that the Witches of the Isles had thought up, centuries ago. Many buildings that were on the edge of the town had even been constructed with this exact purpose in mind.
If someone checked, they would see the internal architecture of the newer homes change throughout the ages in a circular, radial pattern, as new ideas and innovations came with the centuries.
They were also one of the preparatory defences that saw the most immediate clearing out. As the event of Valeween came to a close, the effects of the Cherubim's Rays wore off, the moment that the tear between their realities shut itself, everyone who had been hit by a Cherubim Ray returned to their normal selves.
With the memories of what they said and what they did while under the influence of the invaders still perfectly intact.
Buildings that had been converted into these hospitals could be cleared out very quickly and easily, and often were, but after the Cherubim left, those who had been affected were seen as the truest victims of the invasion. That wasn't to say that people who had been subjected to their outbursts or actions weren't victims as well, but there was a degree of separation there that made the Boiling Isles come to see those who had been directly affected as the true victims. As they left the converted hospitals, and entered society again, some cried at what they had done or said, some seething with anger or embarrassment, while others found themselves to be incredibly lucky, socially speaking, but still traumatised from the experience. The variety of reactions and emotions was equal to that of the number that had been hit by a Cherubim Ray.
And victims or not, they would have to deal with the consequences of what they had been made to say or do. At least, socially speaking. No one was going to be arrested for something they couldn't control, but that didn't mean the people they had been around had to forgive or accept what they did either.
This particular invasion had seen a... Roughly average number of people who had been affected by the Cherubim Rays. And while it varied depending on where you were on the Isles, that translated to roughly a tenth of the entire population of Bonesborough.
And that translated to just about everyone in the city knowing at least one other person who had been affected by the Cherubim Rays.
It was easy to blend in with a crowd of that size and get out of the place before anyone knew where you went if that was what you wanted to do. Hell, it wasn't even like Amity was the only person to do so that particular Valeween either. Just one more person in a crowd of hundreds that could slip off without being noticed by anyone.
Not that that made not knowing where she had ended up any easier.
It took just a few hours after she woke up before a Healer made their way towards Luz, to inspect the chewed-up leg that she now sported. The Healer looked at the injury, and actually winced at the sight once the cast was off. Considering just how messed up things could get on the Isles, between the monsters, Magic, and brutal ecosystem, Luz thanked God that she couldn't see her own leg from this angle. Any injury that inspired that reaction from a Healer couldn't be a pleasant sight, and she was worried that if she saw it, she would really freak out, or be sick. She just closed her eyes, tightly.
Magic was applied, as was a series of potions, and another batch of potions that were given to her as a sort of prescription, with instructions on what to take, how much to, and when to take them. The potions were mostly for helping with pain and to finish up the internal healing process, but Luz was given permission to be back on her feet, provided she was careful, and didn't strain herself. There would still be a pain in the leg, but it would be gone in a couple of days, provided she was conservative with how much she relied on it.
Several scars were permanent though. There was only so far Magic could assist - It could speed up the Healing process. It couldn't do anything the body wasn't capable of itself. And some of the teeth of the Adult Cherubim had gotten in deep - Very deep. The body couldn't always heal everything. Some marks would remain. But to be honest, Luz didn't mind. She even thought they looked kind of cool.
Or would have. If anything other than Amity was on her mind.
The ride back to the Owl House was a silent one, Eda and Luz flying above the ground on Owlbert, no longer needing to fear Cherubim assault. Lilith would return on her own at some point, since she seemed to have taken to organizational efforts throughout the town, helping to move things, take down the defences and the likes. People needed her there, and she was glad to feel needed again.
The island looked beautiful once more, it's vibrant reds and oranges covering the place once more, as opposed to the shades of black and grey that all the plants had been over the last few days. It made the island feel like it was alive again. The air felt fresher. Tasted fresher. Even the yellowish bones of the Titan's skeleton remains looked brighter and more full of life than they did throughout the rest of the week. It was spectacular.
But Luz only had Amity on her mind. She didn't pay it all that much attention.
Mercifully, Eda didn't say anything. She didn't try to make conversation, nor did she pry about anything while Luz had been waiting for a Healer to arrive. She didn't try to get anything out of Luz. Because she knew the signs.
Something had happened before she had arrived last night.
And the last thing Luz needed right now was someone prying into her business. It was like yesterday morning. She would make sure that Luz knew she was there if she needed someone to talk to, but Eda would respect her space. She knew how Luz worked.
How Valeween made people work.
While she had expressed her concern with Luz rushing off during Valeween, she hadn't even raised her voice or chastised her in any way for it. She understood that Luz's friends needed help, and that Luz went to help them. She understood. And chastising her right now wouldn't do anything anyway. Knowing Luz, it wouldn't do anything anyway. So she didn't do it. Just another thing Luz didn't need right now.
Luz was grateful for both those things. Even if she didn't express it.
As they reached the clearing that the Owl House was built within, and began to descend, Eda opted to ask a single, neutral question. "How's your leg doing? It still hurt?"
"...It's okay." Luz gave her answer simply, and quietly.
"You need any help getting inside?"
"Thank you... But I'll be okay."
"Alright, kid." Eda nodded, and her feet touched the ground as her Staff lowered them down. She let Luz get off before she swung it in front of herself, and held it upright in her hand.
The Owl House itself looked to be relatively untouched, actually. Some piles of dust were noticeable around the defences, and none of the barriers that covered up the windows had been taken down either. Cherubim had been here, but they didn't seem to have even remotely damaged the property in any way at all. Of course, that probably came down to the fact no Witches or Humans were there. Eda had been attacked in the house during previous Valeweens, and the one time she wasn't there, they didn't so much as leave an impact on the side of the building? Somehow, Eda doubted that was a coincidence. The ones that did end up here and somehow got caught in the traps and defenses were probably going to find a place in a book somewhere about natural selection.
And once again, Luz barely even acknowledged it. Her mind was still on Amity.
"Hoot! Hoot! Hey guys!" Just as soon as they had landed and gotten off the Staff, Hooty's voice quickly filled the air. He extended up to the pair of recent arrivals, sounding as cheerful as he ever did.
"...Hey, Hooty." Luz said, quietly, and with barely any emotion at all.
"You both okay? Nobody hurt? No big, dramatic, life changing events or anything?"
"Yeah, maybe don't ask anything like that." Eda hissed at Hooty, pressing a finger over her lips.
It seemed to take Hooty a second to realize what Eda was implying. "Oh. Well, something dramatic happened here while you were gone! Hooty Hoot! Okay, so - "
"I... Don't care right now." Eda flatly replied, and just walked past the House Demon, and opened the door. While she was there, Hooty retracted into his perch, and Eda whispered, "Just... Keep it down for a bit, alright? For Luz's sake."
As if to punctuate the point, Luz just slowly made her way past the two of them, her head hung towards the ground, and her limbs with barely any rigidity to them. Like she was near entirely limp. It wasn't even clear if she had even heard Hooty past his greeting, or Eda's responses.
While Hooty had little sense in social graces or anything even approximating them, he wasn't a completely unaware creature. He had seen similar body language and expression in Luz when Eda had been kidnapped by the Emperor, and he recognised it now. He did the closest thing that he could do to a nod, and let Eda and Luz enter the house without another word.
Interior wise, the Owl House was nearly just as it had been when they had left yesterday evening. Things were still strewn about the table, plates and cutlery were still in the sink and placed randomly on the counter as they had been ignored over the last few days in favour of preparations, and everything that had crashed to the floor when Luz called Eda and Lilith outside was still on the floor. Just about everything was the same.
The only difference was that now there was a stool from the kitchen that had been moved to the living room window, and a huge fort of pillows and blankets located on the couch.
No prizes for figuring out where King had been hiding throughout the night.
As soon as that thought crossed Eda's mind, the tiny demon's head emerged from the top of the fort, and looked around, his stuffed animal in one hand, and a ladle he was apparently going to use as a weapon in the other - Evidently, he was still on edge.
When he saw that it was people, and who those people were that had entered the house though, he quickly relaxed, and dropped both. "You're back!" He exclaimed, cheerful at the sight of both of them.
Immediately, he ran over to Luz, and more or less leapt at her, abandoning whatever aloof attitude he normally had when it came to being openly affectionate with the people he cared about. While Luz adjusted her arms and caught him, she didn't really return the affection in the normal manner that she usually did. She simply caught him and prevented him from falling back to the ground, but did no more.
"...Hey, King." She greeted, about as enthusiastically as she had greeted Hooty.
King noticed pretty much instantly. "Weh? What's up with you, Luz?" He blinked. "Wait, you didn't get hit, did you?!"
"Not her, no." Eda answered, taking King off of Luz and holding him herself.
"Someone she knows?! Who upset her?! I'll make them rue the day they - "
"Just leave it, you little - "
"It's okay!" Luz said, firmly. Just that bit louder that everyone stopped talking and gave her their full attention. The first sign of any actual outward expression since leaving the makeshift hospitals. She shied away after saying it, and returned to that quiet way of speaking she'd been using since the hospital. "It... It's fine. Honestly."
"...No, it's not, kid." Eda responded, though her tone wasn't confrontational. It was... Understanding. She chose her words carefully. "It's clearly bothering you."
And it was. Everything that had happened to her throughout Valeween - Very little of which Eda herself even knew - had clearly had an effect on Luz's mental and emotional state right now. There was something that had happened to her that she didn't know how to deal with. Something major.
Something important.
"...And you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Eda assured her. "There's nothing wrong with needing time to yourself."
Luz glanced at King, saw the look of worry he now had, and let a heavy sigh escape her. Right as Eda was, she hadn't meant to worry King. She'd been wrapped up in her own thoughts, and hadn't thought about anyone else around her, or their concerns.
"...Sorry, King. It's just..." She tried to find the right way to say it. "It's been a rough couple of days. I've got a... A lot on my mind and I'd... Like to be alone for a while, if that's okay."
He tilted his head, but King nodded. "If... That's what you want, Luz. If you ever want any company though, you know where I'll be."
A small smile and nod followed from Luz.
"I'll make you some food." Eda said. "And I'll leave it in stasis for you for whenever you're ready for it, like yesterday."
The Human just nodded again, made her way to the steps, and got ready to climb. Her injured leg made it a bit more difficult, but she would manage. She got up a couple of steps, using her good leg to lift herself up, and used the railing to balance herself.
She paused though, and looked back at Eda and King. Both of them were just watching her, obvious concern on their faces. Not that Luz could blame them. And in a weird way, she did appreciate their concern. It was nice to know that they cared enough to be concerned. Not that she doubted it anyway, but seeing it was... Weirdly nice. If a little guilt inducing.
She couldn't bring herself to just go without saying... Something.
"...Hey, Eda?"
"What's up, kid?"
"I just..." Luz tried to think of what words to use here. There weren't really any combinations of words in any language that she knew that could express what she wanted to say in a concise manner. It would end up being a long-winded, elaborate speech that she'd have to do to express it properly.
Something that she wasn't up for right now. So instead, she just opted to be simple with what she had to say.
"...Thank you. For being so... Understanding. About everything. It... It means a lot more than I think you know. And... A lot more than I think I can say."
All Eda did was smile. "I was a kid once too, you know. I've had... Nasty Valeween's myself. I know what it's like. Just... Remember what I said yesterday, yeah? If you need anything, just let me know."
"I know. Thank you."
"Ooh, wait, wait, hold on!" King suddenly began to wriggle around and escape being held, until Eda just let him drop unceremoniously to the floor.
Running quickly to the pillow fort he had been hiding in, he grabbed hold of the stuffed animal he had been hiding with. He then hugged it, looked for all the world like he was whispering something to it, and then ran to Luz's feet, and offered her the toy.
"I know you said you didn't want company, but being around this guy always makes me feel better, so, maybe he'll help you too?"
Such a kind and cute gesture - That, Luz couldn't not react to.
Picking up King, this time, Luz actually gave him a hug, and this time, King didn't even put up even the smallest level of feigning disdain for the gesture. And when the Human put him down, she accepted his offer, and took the stuffed animal with her.
"Thank you. I... I think he'll help." She said, giving him a gentle smile. And then she turned, and began to make her way up the steps again. The sound of footsteps continued for a few seconds from the next floor up, until they eventually stopped, following the sound of a shutting door.
Only once he heard the door to Luz's room shut, did King speak up again. "So... What happened? Do you know?"
"Just a little." Eda shrugged. "She was with that Amity girl, and she got hit by a Cherubim Ray, so, I guess that she said something to Luz. I dunno what they said to each other exactly, but..."
Sighing, the older Witch took a seat on the couch, next to the pillow fort. It was the first time she had been able to get off her feet since this all started yesterday, and she was beyond exhausted from standing up the entire time. Her feet felt like they were covered in blisters.
Her eyes glanced up at the ceiling. A frown occupied her face.
"...I have a feeling that Luz doesn't even know where to begin to make sense of it."
When the door shut behind Luz, she took a brief moment to look around her room. For some reason, she half expected it to be completely different.
But it wasn't. It was the exact same as it had been when she left it. Clothes, paper, and the angle that she had left the chair at when she got up from her desk last. Even the creases in the duvet on her bed were the same.
It was like it preserved the moment Luz was last in there, and had waited for her to return, to pick up where she left off.
There was a weird... Longing that came with that. No matter how long she left the room, and no matter what state she left the room in, when she came back, it would always be the same. It wouldn't change. Not without her knowing about it. Not without her wanting it to change. She didn't have to think about it. She knew where she stood with her room. What she thought about her room.
She didn't have that with Amity.
Not anymore.
Wandering over to her bed, she collapsed onto the mattress face down, with an absolutely graceless fall in which her face ended up burrowing in the mattress in a way that felt like she landed on her nose far more than her face. Despite being laid on a hospital bed all day, she was exhausted, and just wanted to lay down. She expected to be comfortable, but she wasn't. For some reason, the mattress felt more like springs than it did like cotton or feathers or... Whatever the Boiling Isles used to fill in mattresses. It didn't feel like what Luz was used to, what she had spelt on for the last few months. Her mattress felt different, in spite of nothing being different about it in the least. She couldn't bring herself to care all that much though, and laid there regardless.
All she had had on her mind since she woke up was Amity.
Rolling onto her back, Luz looked at the ceiling. It would have been so easy to fall asleep. Her eyes felt heavy enough to close for the next twenty four hours - Probably a side effect of the Healing Magic, and the potions she had been given. She couldn't though.
The events in Blight Manor replayed in her mind, over and over again.
Every word that Amity said. Every expression she made. Every noise she made.
Every sob. Every tear. Every cry of pain.
Everything was so tangible in her mind, replayed in front of her so vividly, that she could almost reach out and touch it.
Amity was in love with her.
Just thinking about that was... The best word Luz could think of was disorienting. Confusing. It was hard to believe - Impossible almost. If Luz hadn't been there to hear it and see it first hand, she wouldn't have been able to believe it.
But it was the truth.
Amity was in love with her.
Amity Blight was in love with Luz Noceda.
No matter how many times she repeated it in her head, no matter how she phrased it, no matter what words she put emphasis on, it still sounded so absurd, so... Surreal. So...
...So much like back home...
...Luz didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to think.
Minutes passed, and she just watched the memory play out in her mind, over and over and over again. She couldn't stop it. Couldn't think, or focus on anything else. It consumed her mind.
That moment when Luz saw Amity's eyes change to blue stood out the most.
Don't go.
That had been what Amity kept a secret. A desire for Luz to stay in the Isles? Not the fact she was in love with her in the first place? She had said that she had been playing to confess before going to the Ved'ma temple... Maybe that was why.
Or was it that she had forced herself to resist the effects of the Cherubim Ray's until she had got to say it on her own terms? If that was the case, was that abnormal for a Witch? To be able to resist the effects for as long as she had? Boscha had lost the fight after just a few seconds. That one guy before, Lecta, hadn't even managed the few seconds that Boscha had managed. So did that say something about Amity's willpower? Or had something else been at play there?
What... What did Amity even see in Luz? What was there to even see?
Luz shook her head - It was all such a jumbled mess that didn't make any real sort of sense the more that Luz thought about it. Every question just led to more questions, and that led to more questions, until entire new spider diagrams of questions had been brought about. It was all so, so confusing. She didn't know why Amity felt the way she felt.
She didn't even know what she felt anymore.
She didn't even know what she thought anymore.
...She didn't know what to do.
Amity was the closest friend that she had on the Isles, and Luz treasured the friendship that they did have. It meant far more than she could figure out how to put into words. As a person, Amity was incredible - Smart, skilled, talented. Kind underneath the exterior she put up. Probably one of the kindest people that Luz had ever known. Brave enough that she would stand up to Adult Cherubim on her own when she needed to. Strong enough to fight against swarms of the things on her own. There were a million words Luz could use to describe Amity.
And right now, she didn't know which ones to use.
There was no structure to her thoughts. No consistency. She couldn't stay on any one train of thought for long before it jumped onto another topic, or another feeling took hold that drew her attention, or another memory played by itself in her mind. Too many things jumped around in her mind to grab hold of any one thing.
Luz wanted to be alone, in her room, where nothing could bother her.
But being alone made her thoughts jumble and wander on their own. She just...
...Wanted things to make sense again.
It was hard not to wonder if anything had gone differently if Luz had taken one of these weapons.
The armoury that the Owl House sported was still lined with all manner of dangerous, and almost certainly illegally owned weapons, from halberds to axes, and from swords to throwing knives. Sharp. Designed for lethality. Some, she was fairly sure, were custom made. All far more deadly and dangerous weapons than the baseball bat that Luz had chosen for herself to protect against Valeween invaders.
Reality was that Luz wasn't built to handle weapons like this. Ever since she arrived on the Isles, she had gotten a long physically stronger, that was true, but that didn't mean she was trained in how to handle swords. That much had become clear when she tried to pick one out to fight the Emperor with when Eda had been kidnapped. A ball-and-chain flail, she had managed to handle at Grom, sure, but the Cherubim required a lot more precision to take down than whatever nightmares Grometheus had sent her way. There was too big a risk of accidentally hitting someone else with a weapon like that.
Plus, even having a weapon like that at all was a last-minute choice she had made to try to round out her group's methods of fighting after Amity said that she wasn't going to be joining them. A few hours practice with a sword wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Swords weren't just a matter of swinging metal around and hoping that whatever you didn't like went away. She had seen Amity enough to know that much at least.
No, her choice to utilise a baseball bat that Eda kept in one of the other storage rooms had been one she had made out of pragmatism. She wasn't Amity - Amity had been trained in how to use a sword, and had been for years. She knew what she was doing. Luz knew how to handle a baseball bat. So she had gone with that. And combined with her Glyphs, it had been a deadly weapon in it's own right.
In the moment, back then, she had made the right choice, she was sure.
But it was still something Luz wondered. Maybe if she'd made a different choice somewhere, somehow, the butterfly effect would have kicked into gear, and something would have changed.
Maybe she wouldn't know what she knew now. And maybe she wouldn't have to be fighting with her own heart to figure out what came next.
Thanks to the Magic and the potions that Luz had been ascribed, it was only a day before Luz felt the worst part of her leg heal up, and let her put weight back on it again. There was still a sting and a bit of stiffness to it, but for the most part, Luz felt like she was almost completely better, physically speaking. She was up and about, though she still spent much of her time on her own, in her room, repeating the same things, and same sentences to herself, over and over again. The entire reason she had come to the armoury was for a change of scenery.
Her thoughts betrayed her though. No matter where she went, those thoughts and memories followed her. They had for the last two days now, and they didn't show any signs of stopping. Her brain hadn't gotten any more sensible even after sleep, and even after eating. Nothing made any sense. She couldn't stay on topic in her head long enough for anything to make sense.
Amity was in love with her... And Luz didn't know what to do with that information.
She sighed, and slumped against one of the walls. "What the heck am I supposed to do..."
It was never like this in stories, or fanfiction, or fantasy, or anything like that - Maybe there would be some confusion on the half of the hero, but they seemed to understand how they felt, what to do, and what to say. They could always figure it out. Be it in the affirmative or the negative, they always seemed to navigate the situation perfectly.
Maybe that was another reason why Luz had loved fantasy growing up. It let her transpose herself into someone who knew what they were doing.
Because the reality was that she didn't have a clue. She couldn't even put a word onto what she felt about all of this.
...Or she was too scared to.
Honestly, she didn't know which it was.
Another sigh escaped her, and she stood upright again. Plan 'Distract - yourself - from - the - confusing - thoughts' had failed miserably, and would continue to fail miserably, so she left the armoury, and began to make her way back to her room. She hadn't heard from either of her friends since the incident. Maybe one of them could talk with her, help her figure things out.
As soon as she reached the living room though, she ran into Eda. She was just sat there, on the couch, with a book in one hand, and a cup of Groffee - Essentially coffee, but with the usual Boiling Isles twist. For one thing, Groffee was yellow.
Eda and Luz both looked at one another, like neither of them was sure what to do. The older Witch hadn't been here when Luz had come down initially, so she must have come in here and settled down in the last twenty minutes or so. And she had had no idea Luz had even left her room - So running into one another like this was, to say the least, awkward.
Mercifully though, Eda didn't say a word. She just gave Luz a gentle nod, and a smile. An acknowledgement of her presence, but not pressuring her into talking if she didn't want that right now.
And Luz nodded back. Eda's eyes returned to her book, and Luz began to make her way across the living room.
And then she stopped.
"...Hey, Eda."
Eda looked up again.
"Can... Can we talk?"
With one hand, the book was closed with a crisp 'thwud' as the pages came together, and Eda put it to the side of her. "You want some Groffee? Or some Blood Tea, or something?"
"Erm... I'll have Blood Tea if that's okay." In spite of its name, Blood Tea wasn't actually made of blood. It was actually made from some kind of tree sap that tasted sort of like toffee. Luz had actually developed a bit of a taste for it.
Eda patted the seat on the couch next to her, indicating that Luz could sit there, and got up, and made her way to the kitchen counter. Luz sat herself down, and a couple of minutes later, Eda returned with a nice, hot drink for her. Immediately, Luz took a sip, and a cold that she hadn't realised had gotten into her body evaporated. It helped to relax her, at least a little.
Going back upstairs and returning to nothing but screaming at herself in her mind was... Not an expelling prospect, to say the least. Luz didn't know what to do or where to start. At this point, she was willing to try talking.
Maybe it would help. Or maybe she was just more sick of the silence than she was anything else.
Taking a sip of her own, Eda let out a sigh as she finished, and then turned towards Luz. "So... I'm guessing being on your own hasn't helped you figure things out, huh?"
"...No." Luz admitted, though for some reason, it didn't feel like it was shameful or awkward to admit to that. "It... I think it just made things more confusing to be honest."
"Yeah... That can happen." Eda nodded. She took another sip of her Groffee. "Well, I said I'd listen if you needed to talk, and you've been really... Not Luz-y for the last couple days. What's going on, kid?"
"...I'm confused. About a lot of stuff." The Human explained, trying to figure out how to boil down the complexities of her life recently into just a few words. "A lot of stuff happened over the last three days and I... I don't even know how I feel about it. What I should feel about it... Or what I'm supposed to do about it. And I can't figure it out."
"Hit me with it."
So Luz did - She explained everything that had been going on since the start of Valeween. The way that Amity had acted, the time they had spent training together, and the fight that they had ended up having. She explained where she had gone during Valeween, and why she hadn't said a word about it to Eda. She told her about what happened in Blight Manor.
About what Amity said to her.
The only thing she left out was the story Amity had told her about her parents and the previous Valeween. That was for Amity to tell. Not her.
Throughout it all, Eda didn't interrupt. She just sat there, and listened, occasionally taking a sip of her Groffee. Her expressions changed at certain points in the story, indicating surprise or worry, but she never once spoke. Even when Luz asked her if what she was saying made sense, the Owl Lady only nodded her head, to let the Human know she was following everything that she was saying.
And it felt really, really good to say it all out loud. Like a boulder had been lifted off of Luz's chest. It felt good to be able to get this all out there, in the open, where it no longer crushed her very spirit and soul. It didn't help to make things make any more sense, or help her figure out what she should do, but... It felt good to vent it out loud at least.
When she finished, Eda just let out a long, low whistle, before she finished her drink. "Well that's... Different to how I thought this was gonna go."
"Sorry." Luz apologised, though to be honest, she didn't know what for. "I know, it's super confusing... And awkward - "
"No, I just thought that green-top was never gonna make a move." She shrugged. "Then again, I dunno if being forced to by a Cherubim counts as making a move."
"Yeah, I - Wait, what." Luz blinked, and just stared at Eda, not sure if she had heard that right.
The older woman raised an eyebrow incredulously at the teenager. "Don't tell me you didn't notice that she's crazy about you."
"I don't - "
"Seriously? Kid, I see her maybe once a week for maybe an hour, and even I noticed."
"People don't have crushes on me, Eda! That - That's not how that works! That - That's never been how any of this works!" Luz almost threw her hands into the air, before she remembered that she had Blood Tea in her hands. "I don't... No one even liked me enough to be around me back on Earth. I'm lucky that people even want to be my friend here, but the idea that people... Like me like that is - I - I don't..." Her voice trailed off. Bad experiences, bad memories of what that was like back on Earth flooded her mind.
Not once in her life had Luz ever been confessed to, or asked out, or anything like that, when the end result wasn't just a joke - Or a dare, or... Something else along those lines. Luz wasn't liked at the best of times. But some people would pretend that they did sometimes to impress their friends.
Who could dare being around the weirdo for a while?
It just - It didn't happen. That wasn't how things worked. People didn't like Luz. That wasn't how it worked.
"...Well, not to rub it in or anything," Eda said, leaning back into the couch. "But you're not on Earth right now. You're on the Boiling Isles. And things work differently here. She got hit by a Cherubim Ray, so unless you think she was somehow lying to you..."
"No, no, I don't. I just..." Luz's shoulders slumped, and she faced forward, decidedly not looking towards Eda. Because of how the Cherubim worked, it... It was undeniable that that was how Amity felt about Luz. That in of itself wasn't even the issue. "...I don't... I don't know how I feel about Amity..."
"...Go on." Eda urged, gently.
"....Amity is like... One of the best friends I've ever had. She's one of the best people I've ever even known. She... She really tries her hardest, you know? A lot of really bad stuff happened to her with her parents, and she screwed up a lot in the past, but she's tried so hard to try to make things better. She tries to be better. She's really good to people. She helps me when I struggle with certain classes. I can actually make a sort-of Abomination because of her. I... I can't imagine this place without her."
A pause.
"....I don't want to imagine this place without her. But I never... I don't think I ever thought about it... Like that before."
She had assumed that she felt the way she did about Amity because Amity was her closest friend. Now she wasn't sure if that was what it was, or if there was something more there.
"...You know I got confessed to during a Valeween once?"
Luz's entire body turned towards Eda at that. There was a fond smile on Eda's expression, like she was remembering the entire thing clearly. Luz could have sworn she saw a hint of red on her cheeks too.
"Wait, you're serious?!"
"What, you think I wasn't pulling bachelors and bachelorettes back when I was your age?" Eda smirked, and feigned mock-offence. "Have a little more faith in me, kid. I'm still fighting them off with a stick. You remember the Warden, right?"
"...Okay, fair point."
Eda chuckled, and then returned to her reminiscing. "I knew this person since we were both little girls. Their name was Yeven. Started going with they back when we were thirteen, but they were one of the best friends I had back then. Probably one of the only ones who didn't get sick of me turning Hexside into a war zone. Don't think Lily liked them very much. Anyway, we got hit with a Valeween and we decided to tough it out together. Kinda like what you and your friends did, only back then we got hit by a far worse wave. They got hit and... Boom. I was in the same situation you are now."
"...What'd you do?"
Another pause, this time, as Eda's smile fell slightly.
"...To be completely level with you? I froze up. This was one of my best friends, what was I supposed to say? Hell, what was I supposed to think? It's been over twenty years, and I'm still not sure what I was supposed to think. So I... Didn't."
There was regret there. Luz could tell, just by the way Eda's eyes seemed to lose that bit of light that they had had before. Eda wasn't normally one to show that sort of emotion. She kept moving forward. This bugged her still, Luz realised.
...Was that part of why she didn't want to be involved in defending Bonesborough?
"And, well, anyway, we kind of grew apart, and then I got cursed, and that was that." Eda wrapped up her story quickly, obviously skimming over some details she didn't want to get into, and allowed herself to sink deeper into the couch. "Story's over."
"...You... You think that's going to happen with me and Amity?..."
"...That'll depend on you." Eda answered, honestly, but gently. She sighed. "Look, Luz, the point of that wasn't to make you nervous or think that ruined friendships is all that you have to look forward to. You're not me, and you don't have to make the same mistakes I did. It was... I can't help you figure out how you feel about green-top. That's got to be for you to figure out, but the only advice I can really give you is this."
Sitting upright, Eda made it so she was level with Luz, and looked her in the eyes.
"Figure out how you feel about her. And then act on it. Because you... You're lucky, in a way. You know what the answer will be. You don't have to figure it out right away. Just... Try to figure it out, before something takes that chance away from you."
It made sense, Luz supposed. It didn't get her any close to where she wanted to be, but... It helped. It put things into perspective, at least a little bit. Helped her to contextualise. Figure things out. Gave her something to focus on.
Not that she knew how she was going to figure it out, mind, but... At least it was something she could try to aim for.
That was better than just hoping random thoughts would begin to make sense.
"...Thanks, Eda." Luz said, getting onto her feet. "I.... I think I needed that."
"Feel any better?"
"A bit." She nodded. Having it all off her chest, and getting to just... Talk to someone about it had helped. If nothing else, it had let her calm down a bit. "I still don't know... What to do. But I know what I need to focus on, I guess."
With a nod, Eda smiled. "Better place than you were before, then."
"Yeah..." Luz nodded again. It was better than her mind being an unfocused miasma. But still... "I'm... I'm gonna go back upstairs. I need to think a little bit more. If I need to talk more - "
"I'll be right here, don't worry."
"Thank you." Luz smiled, and began to make her way up the stairs again, before she paused halfway up them. "Hey, Eda?"
"That was fast. Now what's up?"
"Maybe you should look up Yeven." A small grin spread on Luz's lips as Eda's head swivelled to look at her. "Hey, you never know."
"I'm gonna poison your next meal, kid."
When evening eventually came, Luz found herself watching the sunset from the window in her room. It was something to help her focus. Keep her head on straight.
There was a comfort, now that she looked, to seeing the Isles have its natural colours again. The reds, the yellows, oranges and browns of the flora as opposed to the dark greys and blacks. And there was definitely a comfort in knowing that the Cherubim weren't able to watch them anymore. It was weird though, to remember that the plants were in some way, connected to the Cherubim. How in the Realm they were connected, that was another question entirely. Maybe it was just the Cherubim's Magic that affected the plants, and was some sort of vessel that they used to observe the Isles. Or maybe something else was going on there. Who knew? Either way though, the bright colours being back did help Luz feel a bit more at ease.
The sun set, and the sky turned from purple and orange, to dark blue and black, and the stars began to appear. They were different here. None of the constellations were the same on this side of the Realm. Which made sense, she supposed. But for some reason, it made her wonder about what other planets were like here.
Still, there were plenty of things on her mind. And not even just her confused feelings towards Amity.
Watching the sunset like this... It reminded her of Earth. Of her mother.
It was one of the few similarities that the two worlds shared - The sight of stars come night-time. The question of what else was out there. That was a mystery both worlds had yet to figure out. That mystery was like a lifeline back to Earth. Back to her mother.
Still a source of guilt for Luz. Now in more ways than one.
Had she not brought up the fact she wanted to return to Earth to let her mother know she was okay... How would the situation she was in now be different? What other path would all of this have taken? If she had kept that to herself...
...If she had kept this to herself, Amity would have confessed the day before Valeween. But would that change the confusion Luz now felt?
Probably not.
But it was hard not to think about.
So much had happened in such a little amount of time. So many things, stacked up against one another. So much... And barely any time to figure it all out.
She glanced back into her room, and on the desk, spied her phone. Getting up, she went to the desk, picked it up, and went right back to her seat on the windowsill. She flipped through the videos file, and scanned over the old diary entries that she had made. Her diary entries. Plus the video that Gus had taken. She paused for a moment. Then closed the folder.
Then hit the camera app, and hit record.
"...Hey Mami." She said. Her voice felt heavy. "So... Valeween's over. I had a bit of an injury, but the Healers managed to fix it up. I've got some scars, but I'm fine with them. It's not that bad.... It's the emotional stuff that's been an issue."
A glance out the window - She could see a few buildings in Bonesborough from this distance. Not a lot, and only some of the tall ones that peaked over the trees, but she could still see them. It was weird how much more light and colour they had than they did a few days ago.
"Willow got a confession - From Boscha. I know. Weird. Boscha got hit by a Cherubim Ray, and just sort of... Spilled everything out. I'm still getting used to it. Boscha and me teamed up, and... Well, it's weird. I don't think she's a bad person, not really, but after everything she did to me and Willow and Gus... I can't forgive Boscha on Willow's behalf. And I'm not gonna try and convince her to forgive Boscha either. She got the worst of it from her... I can't even imagine what's going through Willow's head... Actually, forget that. I know exactly what's going through her head. It's... Pretty similar to what's going through mine. I got a confession too. From Amity."
Her face returned to the phone. She could see herself on the screen. It was difficult to recognise the expression she had on her own face.
"...I like Amity a lot, but I... I don't know how I feel about her like that.... At least, I don't think I do. It's..." A small laugh escaped her. "It's... Scary, y'know? Even though I know she likes me, figuring out how I feel about her, and what that means about me, about her, about us, it's... It's scary. Eda tried to help. She was in the same situation as me and Willow. And it's how Willow's dad's got together. I guess this happens more than I thought. Eda says I should try to figure it out. And I know she's right. I'm gonna... Do that. Tomorrow. I... I think I'll go for a walk tomorrow. Try and get out of the house, see if that helps... Maybe someone's seen Amity since Valeween. But I should figure out what I'm going to say to her first."
A sigh.
"...I wish you knew I was safe, Mami. I wish that I could see you, and ask you for help. I think... I think you'd really like Amity. And I think you'd know what I should do. Sometimes I..."
Another pause.
"...Sometimes I wonder if I do already know, and if I'm just kidding myself. Because that's easier. Just a couple of days ago I wanted nothing more than to see Amity, when I thought I'd ruined our friendship... And... I wonder if she's doing the same thing. Wherever she is. And if I'm just being selfish by not being honest with myself about things. But I... I don't know."
Another sigh.
"...I guess I'll have to find out tomorrow. Maybe."
A final pause.
"...I miss you, Mami. I'm still going to find my way home... But I've got things that I need to do here first."
And then, she ended the recording.
This chapter is a very wind-down and low energy one, which I think I needed to do after the absolute hectic hell that was the last four chapters. Jumping right back into it again would have felt weird I think.
You guys really seemed to enjoy the last chapter too - So thank you SO much for the response that chapter got. Seriously, I think I broke a few peoples brains. Also the story crossed 10,000 hits on Ao3, which I was really hoping to hit with an Owl House story at some point, so thank you all for that :D
I'm actually pretty partial to CamilEda personally, but that isn't within the scope of this fic, and I'm not breaking the scope of it to just throw that in here. Besides, I'm here for comrade Anarchist Bi-Owl Mom (ABOM. Huh.) who is down for dating Agender/NBs, so, here we go. A lot of confusion, a lot of feelings, and a lot of found family vibes going on here. Honestly, this chapter wasn't even planned, I wrote this just to relax during the weekend more than anything, 'cause next chapter is gonna be one of those "I really want to get it right" types of deals. So I hope that it's still good regardless.
Next chapter, we're getting right back into it - Operation "Luz figuring out what the hell she's doing" is a-go - Hope to see you there!