Hi everyone! Just reeling from the midseason finale of The Owl House. Decided to write a little one-shot to get through the recent hiatus. I know it's like day 3, but still! It's rough.

Anyway, this is also cross-posted on ao3 if y'all wanna check it out there, too.

Everything was fine, until it wasn't.

Eda knew she shouldn't have let Luz go through the portal door—at least, not alone. But she'd insisted that it would be a quick trip; that she would be fine. She would fill her mom in on her whereabouts, tell her a little bit about her wacky adventures, and then come right back home. It sounded fairly simple, right?

But nothing was ever simple for Edalyn Clawthorne, was it?

Eda had been plopped down on a boulder near the makeshift door, scrolling mindlessly through her Penstagram feed, not really paying attention—just desperately needing a distraction from the uneasy feeling sloshing around her stomach—when a loud resonating crack broke through the clearing.

It broke through like thunder, making the hairs of her neck stand on end.

Her head swiveled in the direction where the finicky door lay, and what caught her eye made her blood run colder than ice. Tiny, thin fractals of light were bleeding through, forming cracks on the door, racing along the misshapen piece of magical wood like webs of lightning. The portal door drooped black, florescent goop on the gravel floor—like plastic being stuck outside in the boiling rain for too long.

'The door's collapsing on itself—Luz!' Eda's mind raced at the idea of the door caving in on itself with the girl trapped inside. The door was collapsing, and the girl was nowhere in sight. The rope had stopped tugging a while ago, the cord now laying lifeless on the ground, no sign of it coming back to life and dragging the cheerful girl back over.

Rushing over to the door, King and Hooty hot on her heels, she yelled, "Luz, can you hear me? The door's closing; we have to pull you out!"

She neared her ear to the portal, desperately hoping to hear the girl answer back, anything that told her she was alive and well. The only answer she got was the door creaking and groaning, protesting that it had mere seconds before it gave way.

That spurred her into action; bounding over to Hooty who held the rope in his beak—not once putting it down since the girl jumped into the unknown. "Hooty, you need to start pulling!" she shouted at the demon in question.

"Hoot!" The owlish demon gave a nod, puffing out his cheeks with determined concentration. "On it, chief!"

Clenching the rope with his beak, Hooty began tugging. The rope gave no hesitation as it smoothly began returning—or at least, that's what Eda had thought at first—but as he continued to tug on the rope, the cord pulled back with unrestrained force, causing the demon to almost come crashing face first into the self-destructing portal.

'What?' Any sort of collected calm Eda had desperately been trying to keep had thrown itself out the metaphorical window. Nearly nothing could knock Hooty down, but whatever had pulled back, it caused the demon to stumble. Had something grabbed at Luz while she made her way to the human realm? 'No, don't think like that, Eda. The rope probably got caught on a branch or something…right?'

Flashes of what happened weeks ago ran through her mind as she remembered what happened to Raine. How she desperately tried to pull Raine from the abomination muck, but was too weak to do anything to save them. 'No, not again.'

Fear grappled at her heart, clawing its way up her throat as Hooty gave a strangled cry, continuing to pull with all his might, rolling his body around the boulder she had recently been sitting on. But the more he pulled, the more the rope pulled back, trying to keep the child it had dragged into the inky, florescent darkness; as if saying, "This is mine now! You gave it up, so now I'm keeping it forever."

"No, no, no!"

Eda had learned to trust her kid. She was smart, resourceful, and quick on her feet. But this was too much. She should have trusted her gut feeling when it told her not to let the kid go. She should've followed her in. She should've done more to protect her. Now this thing was going to steal her away. Just like Raine was ripped away from her not too long ago.

She scrambled over to Hooty's front, seizing part of the rope in her grasp and pulling, pulling, pulling—her teeth clenched in frustration and at the unfairness of it all. 'Not again—please, not again!'

The universe seemed to love playing some sick, twisted game with her. Giving her the most precious of things, and then snatching them away. Taunting her. Taking everything away from her. Her magic, her love life, and now her kid.

"No, I won't let you have her, too," she ground out, gritting her teeth in anger, heels digging into the dirt, keeping her from getting dragged into the decomposing portal door. "King, grab the rope and pull as hard as you can!"

King scurried over, grasping the rope and yanking at the cord with as much strength as he could muster. A look of fear clear as day on his features. He couldn't lose Luz, either. Eda would make sure that would never happen. She wouldn't drag him into her rotten luck, too.

The rope strained against the pressure of being pulled taunt by both sides, and a new fear slipped into Eda's mind, 'What if the rope snaps?' That's probably when her sanity would snap, too. 'No, no—stop that!' her mind battled. 'It'll hold, it has to hold—please!'

The cord fought back with the strength of a thousand men, causing the rope to run wildly through her fingers, burning at her skin. She held back a cry, her hands burning at the sensation. Pain frantically registered in her mind, begging her to let go of the rope and avoid the hurt. But she fought back against the feeling and pulled as hard as she could. She was not going to lose this fight. Too much was on the line for her to simply give in.

"C'mon guys," she gasped out. "Pull!"

With another tug of the rope, they heaved in unison, warring against the supernatural force the rope seemed to posses.

"And pull!"

The portal sounded with a thunderous clap, melting more and more black gunk onto the dirt of the clearing, announcing that it couldn't hold on for much longer. It was going to cave in any second now, but Eda wouldn't let her kid get taken away from her. Not like this—not ever.

"…and Pull!" With a strangled cry, they gave one final tug and the rope finally gave way. It let go, losing the battle and accepting defeat. Luz's body came hurtling from the disintegrating portal door, crashing into them and knocking them down into a tangled pile of limbs.

Rubbing at her forehead, she was sure she was going to have a mean bump on her head, and possibly a bruised backside, but what mattered most was the girl that they fought so hard to push back through the portal—who currently was tangled around their legs and covered in greenish-black gunk; holes covered the cloak Eda had made for her, which only worried her more.

"Luz!" She cried out in alarm, King and Hooty vocalizing their own worry by shouting her name as well. The trio helped the girl in question, carefully lifting her up; whilst inspecting her for any injuries. She only looked to be a bit disgruntled, and if Eda didn't know any better—upset.

Trying to give her an explanation for cutting her visit so short, she said shakily, "I'm sorry, I had to pull you out. The portal was closing."

As if heeding Eda's words, the door crackled one last time before it caved in on itself and disappeared from existence. Good riddance. If she could avoid doing that again, she would. Unfortunately, she suspected this probably wasn't going to be the last portal-making trial test for them. That thought didn't sooth her still erratically beating heart.

King wasted no time. He scampered up Luz's arm, and immediately dove into a flurry of questions, "Did you talk to your mom? Did you mention me?"

"Yeah," Luz chuckled. "Mama—mom can't wait to meet you guys."

Eda caught a bit of a disheartened ring to her normally cheerful tone, but she shook it off as being emotional over seeing her mother. Luz hadn't seen her in months and she probably missed her. It was a normal reaction.

The girl needed reassurance; and even though Eda was still shaking over the whole ordeal, she was always going to be there to give her support. Grabbing her shoulders and giving her the best smile she could muster, she said, "Well, just rest up now, ok?" She gave her a gentle affectionate pat on the head. "And don't you worry, kiddo. With everything we've learned, we'll have a real working portal in no time."

"I'm going to eat human snacks!" King exclaimed, pumping up a small fist in the air.

"I can't wait to share parenting tips!" Hooty popped up from behind.

Eda could only snark back playfully, "Who dubbed you a parent?"

And as they laughed, she felt her aching muscles relax, the tension from earlier slowly ebbing away. Although, strangely enough, there was still an uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach. It wasn't as strong as before, but it still sloshed around; making her feel slightly queasy from the feeling. Why hadn't it gone away? Luz was back home. She was safe. Everything was ok now, right?

Trying to stomp down her worry, she turned to look at her kid—still covered in green goop and a wavering smile on her face—and squeezed her shoulder tight.

She would hold on for as long as she could.

And that's a wrap! Hope y'all enjoyed!

Thanks for reading!