Hi Everyone! This is a SMALL side project that I might come back to every now and then and I'm probably going to forget about this in a month. Literally, the only reason I am even making this is to help improve myself in this area and also because I was extremely inspired by something. That brings me to the credits, yay! I saw a short webcomic strip on youtube (original post here, r/TheOwlHouse/comments/y8z1tk/car_key/) and I started to think a bit about it and eventually wanted to come up with this. Also, this might take inspiration from a different fanfic, The Misadventures of Vee ( s/13984663/1/The-Misadventures-of-Vee), as that is the only other thing I've seen that really explores Vee's character. Also, feel free to comment your ideas on where this story will go (because I have no clue myself), and a title, as I have no clue what to call this. Please watch "Thanks to Them", otherwise you won't understand anything. One more thing, I know the show says that Masha is non-binary but I will use She/Her pronouns so I don't get mixed up. Just pretend that she is trans. Now that all of that is out of the way, let's get to the story, shall we?

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It was a dark and stormy night… okay, maybe it wasn't stormy, or even dark really but it was on Halloween night in a graveyard. Vee looked on as her surrogate family, walked through the portal frame into another dimension. A dimension where so many bad memories took place. Vee was so glad she could stay behind. She put her arms in her pocket and walked back to the festival in a happy mood. At least she was until she remembered…

"Shooooot! Camila still has the car keys!" The keys to, said car, was halfway across the multiverse. Even if she got the car running, she didn't have a license. Or a job. How will she pay for food, rent, and electricity, among other things? What will she do if someone she doesn't know comes over, asking for Camila? How will she explain Luz dropping out of school? Vee didn't have time to think about that, as she heard a noise nearby.

"Wh-who's there? Show yourself!" Vee cried. Suddenly Masha, the curator of the Gravesfield Historical Society, and Vee's summer camp friend, stepped out of a bush.

"Masha? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the festival?" asked Vee

"Well, I could say the same thing about you. The festival ended about 30 minutes ago. I saw a bright light in the sky and came to investigate. Why are you here?"

"I-uh… was just out for a stroll and, uh… also saw the light," Vee lied. The truth is that Vee is friends with Masha but only when she is disguised as Luz. As Vee, she basically just met her a few hours ago. "Actually I… dropped my keys in the pond." Vee said as she discreetly made herself look slightly taller to make it seem like she was old enough to drive a car. "Any chance I could get a ride home?"

"Sure, do your friends need a ride too?" Masha asked. Remembering that the last time she saw Vee, she was with a group of people.

"N-no, they all went home already." Vee replied.

"Okay. Where to?"

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"Are you sure we haven't met before? I could've sworn I saw someone with the same weird hair as you not that long ago," Masha asked. The rumbling of her car droned on as she tried to initiate conversation.

"My hair? Ha! I once saw a person with what looked like an afro with branches and leaves growing out of it! Although that might have been part of that dream I had one time about a red moon about to crash into the earth but then a glowing girl destroyed the moon with anime-like superpowers," replied Vee.

"...Wow, you got some wild dreams! I once dreamt that the world was destroyed by a one eyed yellow triangle thing with a top hat." The two teens laughed as the car drove on.

"This is it," said Vee as they slowed to a stop outside the Noceda residence. "Thanks for the lift Masha!"

"Anytime!"

Vee walked up to the door but stopped before she opened it.

"Dang it! I don't have the keys!" She looked under the doormat and took the spare key and unlocked the door. "Yaaaawn! I'm going to bed."

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"Wow! Hopkins left behind a lot of junk!" Said Masha as she looked through the piles of boxes Jacob Hopkins left behind in his office at the Gravesfield Historical Society. She pulled out a video tape recorder from one of the boxes. "What's this?" Masha took the tape and put it in a nearby VCR and pressed play. "I've been seeing some strange activity at the old abandoned Wittebane house." Hopkins was talking to through the TV. "I've bought this camcorder and I'm going to put it at the house and watch to see if any paranormal activity occurs. Maybe I might even set up a trap… yeah I'm going to do that." Masha fast-forward a bit. "It's been a month and still nothing has happened," Hopkins was looking up at the camera in the abandoned house. "But nevertheless, I will never give up! I KNOW I saw something. Even if it takes a year, I will find out where this martians are! THEY WILL NOT GET MY TEETH!" She fast-forward again until she saw something unexpected. Luz, Masha's friend from Summer Camp. "So this is it. I'm gonna have to run... again." "Run from what?" asked Masha. "Why couldn't this just work out?!" Masha watched the screen as Luz kicked a rock, activating some sort mechanism. Luz's foot got caught by a metal wire that wrapped around her leg. Luz fell on the ground and then started… writhing? "What-the!" Masha jumped back. She couldn't believe her eyes! Luz turned into some sort of giant slug! "Stop moving! You'll make it tighter!" Masha looked around the screen for whoever said that. It sounded like Luz but the creature didn't say anything. Masha noticed a small pocket mirror on the ground. In the reflection Masha saw… Luz? She looked different then she normally does but it was definitely Luz. "I didn't mean to freak you out," said the reflection Luz, "I just want to figure out what's going on, okay? You're a demon from the Boiling Isles, aren't you?" "Mm-hmm" replied the creature as she turned back into Luz, except that she didn't. She looked like a hybrid between Luz and the creature she was moments ago. "What's your name?" Asked the mirror, "I'm number F- uh, I mean, I'm… Vee." Masha watched as Mirror Luz helped Vee out of the trap. Vee asked if Luz was Camila's daughter. Luz asked why Vee was pretending to be Luz. Then Masha heard something that caught her attention, at least more than what was already caught. "I need magic to transform and I, uh... just used the rest of it." Said Vee, "Magic… wait a minute! Waaaaaiiiiit… what day was this at?" Masha looked at the recorded date. "OH MY GOSH!" Masha remembered that that day Luz came up to her and asked about some cards. Masha told Luz that she found the cards here at the Historical Society. She looked around and found an old box labeled CARDS. She took a deck out and looked at the packaging. "Hexes Hold'em! LUZ?!"