The Owl Familia: The Family That Will Grow Forever:
Catching up

"So, let me see if I got this straight," Camila said slowly.

She took a long sip of her tea as she processed everything she had just learned. Truly, it wasn't as overwhelming as she first thought. However, it was still a bit much, as it had taken over an hour for the Owl Familia to explain recent events. It didn't help that Camila had fainted a couple of times when hearing some of Luz's recent adventures.

"You fought the evil Emperor Belos, who was actually a human from this town, to stop him using a draining spell from wiping out everyone on the Boiling Isles," Camila said slowly.

Luz and Amity nodded their heads and this caused the vet to let out a light sigh.

"But how could a group of children fight against someone who wasn't just powerful but had lived for over 400 years," Camila said, her voice getting a bit higher.

"Well," Luz replied a little sheepishly, running a finger down the scar on his left eyebrow, "It wasn't like the fight wasn't easy. My friend and I barely made it out alive."

Camila send a look her daughter's way, one that was a mix of relief and anger, and said "But that's the thing Mija, I don't understand. This Belos sounds like someone who killed for less, so how could you beat someone like that?"

Luz and Amity looked at each other quickly and turned to Luz's human mother with matching sheepish smiles.

"To be fair, Miss. Noceda," Amity began sheepishly, "Having 400 years of mental trauma mixed with repeated physical beatings isn't the best thing for anyone."

(In the restructured Conformatorium)

Something deep within the prison that once housed the "criminals" of the Boiling Isles was a padded cell. In the cell was Philip Wittebane; the former Emperor was rocking back and forth slightly. The witch once known as Belos was also wrapped in a straight jacket made out of Abomination goo and mumbling the same thing over and over.

"Caleb, make the bad witches go away."

(Back with the Owl Familia)

Camila sighed slightly and took another sip of her tea. She took this time to recollect her thoughts and decided the best way to approach this next topic.

"Another thing I don't get," the vet said after a moment of silence. "If all of this happened a month ago, why did it take so long to come back here?"

Lilith decided that it was time to intervene and said, "That fault is solely on me, Miss. Noceda."

Camila gave the former coven head her full attention, and Lilith took a moment to collect her thoughts. Since her family had decided to leave out the part about why children ended up fighting a powerful tyrant and skipped to the last part.

"In his final bout of sanity, Belos…Philip destroyed the only source powerful enough to create a stable method to travel realms. I wanted to ensure the replacement source was strong enough to create a stable portal," Lilith explained calmly. "It took us a whole month of tests to ensure the blood he gave us was strong to create the portal."

"He?" Camila said with a confused expression.

With a knowingly and motherly smirk, Eda reached into her hair again, and gently pulled out a sleeping dog-like demon. Camila blushed slightly when she saw the adorable creature in the witch's arms.

"Ay Que Lindo," the vet muttered softly.

Lilith smiled as she saw the human adult's fingers twitching and she figured out what she wanted to do. Eda must have realized the same thing as she gently leaned over and offered King to Camila.

"Would you like to hold him?" Eda asked gently.

Camila was surprised by this and hesitated. However, the smirk on Eda's face turned into a motherly smile, and the warmth shining in her eyes put the vet's doubts to rest.

She gently took King and leaned back into her chair. A soft smile graced Camila's face as she began to rock the titan back and forth.

"King donated more than a third of his blood to create the portal," Lilith explained proudly. "The entire ordeal took a lot out of him, but he will make a full recovery."

Camila nodded, only half paying attention as she couldn't take her eyes off the young titan. All members of the Clawthorne family smiled fondly at this moment, and the entire room settled into a comfortable silence as Camila began to whisper things in Spanish.

Five minutes nearly passed before someone decided to break the silence.

"I can't help but feel that you're not telling me everything," Camila said, eyes falling on her daughter who started to get a little nervous. "But I know not to pry. I do, however, want to know one more thing."

The human vet looked down at the open photo album on the table and frowned when she saw the pictures. Namely, her eyes landed on a picture of soaking-wet Eda holding Luz and King, but both looked younger than they should be.

"May I ask for an explanation on these pictures?" Camila asked slowly.

Eda just put on a mirthful smirk and jumped to her feet. "That's because I got the need to knock me down some kids," she exclaimed mischievously.

Camila looked at the former wild witch like she had grown a second head, and Lilith sighed tiredly.

"My sister's using a slang term for a method that's becoming quite popular on the Boiling Isles as of lately," Lilith explained. "By using rejuvenation potions, one could be rejuvenated to a younger state, to enjoy some relaxation."

Camila nodded and while not fully understanding it, decided not to push for more information. Instead, she skillfully balanced King on one hand and used her other hand to turn the page. She let out a small giggle when saw a picture.

Curious, the Owl Familia looked at the picture, and Luz let out a short gasp as she realized what picture her mom was looking at.

"I forget that one was in there," the human witch muttered embarrassingly.

The picture in question was the one where Luz was playing dress-up…as her girlfriend, before they were even friends.

"Ahh," Amity couldn't help but cooed playfully, "I don't know you like dressing up, Batata."

Luz's entire face was so heated it was a wonder steam wasn't coming out of her ears. The entire Owl Familia had soft smiles on their faces as Luz mumbled something about tailors. Eda was the only one whose smile didn't quite reach her eyes; her focus was on the human mother.

Maybe it was just her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Camila was looking at the pics of her kid with a certain sadness in her eyes.

She opened her mouth to say something when a sudden noise startled the witches. Instantly, Eda, Lilith, and Gwen were on their feet, ready to cast a shield spell to protect the house from the boiling rain.

Camila was confused by this, and Luz was too busy trying to calm Amity down to give her witch family much information.

"Don't worry," Vee said, trying to keep her uneasiness out of her voice, "Rain doesn't boil here."

The witches looked at the basilisk, uncertain, and then turned their attention to the window. They watched as the falling water hit the window harmlessly, and relaxed.

"Now, where were we?" Eda asked as she took her seat.

Camila was still confused by all that happened and looked down at the titan in her arms. He didn't even stir from all the noise, and she wondered what he put himself through just for her daughter.

(SC)

Eda lies awake on the couch just staring at the ceiling. After the scare with the rain passed, the Clawthornes had spent the rest of the night telling Camila more about her daughter's adventures in the demon realm.

The family had kept some of the more dangerous parts out, and downplayed others. Eda had to hand to the human though, she did see through a lot, but didn't press matters.

Unfortunately, all of the retellings had brought up a lot of bad memories for the ex-wild witch, and with a sigh, looked at her right arm. The mark of the Bard coven, while she willingly got it to stop the Day of Unity, it still stings that she had to get it in the first place.

Owda sensed her witch's growing angst and began to chirp to get her attention and hopefully to calm her. The witch smiled at the beast at her feet, but the gates were opened and there was no stopping the memories from coming.

Things didn't go as planned; Belos had somehow learned of the rebels' plans and put countermeasures in place. If it wasn't for the unexpecting heel turn of both the Oracle and Healing Coven heads, things would have turned out differently.

Eda growled when the next part of that day began to play out. Despite the help, the draining spell was still activated. This was thanks in part to a potion the Potion Head had thrown and it froze everyone in place. This has allowed the Coven Heads still loyal to Belos to set everything up.

Eda snapped her eyes shut as tears began to come, as she remembered the cries of the witch she loved filling her head. It was those screams that caused Eda to snap, and she changed into Harpy Eda.

She was able to get Raine out of their spot in the ritual and take their place. With her harpy form boosting the warping powers of her curse, the spell was stopped.

Still, the few short seconds the spell was running caused some damage to many witches. The way how Willia Oldstone explained it, a lot of witches would have their magic power cut in half. She had also explained that it would take times, maybe years, for some witches to regain their full powers.

"Ahh farts," Eda groaned softly, trying to shut out all of those unwanted memories. "If I didn't promise my kid, I would have been on my fourth bottle of Apple-Blood."

She turned around on the couch and frowned when she saw something. She was missing a bunkmate. After spending the day catching Camila up on her kid's adventures, the Familia had turned in for the night. The human beast-keeper had offered her bed to Gwen and Dell.

Camila, as it turns out, was as stubborn as her kid; she wouldn't take no for an answer. If anything, she became more stubborn when she learned of Dell's condition. It brought a smile to Eda's face when she realized where Luz gets her heart from.

The kids had taken Luz's room, with Vee and Luz sharing the bunk bed and Amity in a sleeping bag. That left the adults to sleep in the living room, and Camila had once again offered the couch to one of the witches and she still didn't take no for an answer.

Lilith had offered the couch to her younger sister and took a place on the floor before Eda could get a word in. Camila was close behind her, and soon, all three adults had settled for a night's rest.

Except the human mother wasn't in her place, and after a quick search found a soft light coming from the kitchen. With a groan, she got out of bed and slowly made her way to the kitchen. Sure enough, Camila was in the kitchen, looking over her kid's album.

The ex-wild witch must have made a noise as Camila half-heartedly lifted her head and looked at Eda. Eda offer an awkward smile as she took a seat across from the human.

For the next couple of minutes, the two mothers just set in silence. Eda was trying to figure out the best way to approach the mother to the child whose she now thinks of as her own.

"I have forgotten how cute Mija was at that age."

Eda wasn't merged with her beast at the moment, but her hearing was still sharp enough to hear what the human woman just muttered.

"You don't have a baby book of your own?" Eda asked, realizing too late she said that out loud.

If Camila was surprised, she hid it well; she just lifted her head half-heartedly and sigh.

"Si," she muttered weakly. "But almost all of my Mija's baby pictures have Manny in them. It's hard to look at them."

Eda felt like calling Owda, merging with her, and taking off an arm to beat herself silly. After the Brawl thing, Luz had fully opened up to Eda about her dad, and she couldn't help but feel bad. Her dad may be in rough shape, but he was still here and in her life.

"I could make you a copy if you like?" Eda suggested hopefully. "I could even have a spell put on it that would add a new picture anytime one was added to mine?"

"I would like that," Camila replied with a small, but genuine smile.

Eda returned the smile and tried to think of something to keep the talk going before things got awkward again. A light bulb went off in her head as she thought about something.

"Say, Cammy," Eda said, trying to sound as lightheartedly as possible, "Did you put on some extra pound so you could have some padding for the mornings?"

Eda put on a catty grin as the human looked at the witch with confusion. She suddenly gasp and covered her mouth as a light smile bloomed on her face.

"No, she didn't?" Camila whispered.

Eda's grin grew tenfold and said, "Oh, "knocking down" doesn't just make one younger in the body, but in the heart as well. They acted like they did when they were that age."

A small laugh escaped the human mother's mouth as she recalled the method her daughter used to wake her up. While a little painful, she had fond memories of those times, especially after she turned it around and would tickle her Mija after catching her.

Eda's grin turned into a smile as she realized she had gotten her fellow mother in a good place. Now it was time to seal the deal and move on to more serious matters.

"And how many times did you clean that gremlin's face after a meal?"

Camila tried to stop it but a short snort escaped her as she replied, "E-everyday until she was six."

That was the last straw and Camila began to laugh heartedly as memories flooded her mind. Eda's smile turned gentle and allowed her kid's other mother this moment before the heavy stuff comes.

It was nearly two minutes before Camila got control of herself, and Eda decided to get serious before anything else could happen.

"I not going to make Luz stay," Camila suddenly said, catching Eda by surprise.

The current bard looked at her kid's mother like grown a second head, and Camila sighed tiredly. She got up and decided to make some tea, it wasn't like she would get back to sleep anytime soon.

Eda waited for the human patiently as Camila finished making the tea and returned the drink. She handed a steaming cup to the witch and Eda took it without saying a word. For nearly a minute, the two just sat there and drank their tea.

Finally, Camila let out a sigh and looked at the half-drunken tea. "I haven't told my Mija this, but I was bullied as a kid too. So I know what it's like to want to run away and find a place for myself."

Eda was caught off guard probably for the third time in less than an hour. She couldn't believe what she was hearing; Camila seemed like the type who could get a lot of friends easily. So to hear that she was like her daughter was somewhat shocking.

"It's not lost on me, either," Camila said bitterly.

Eda looked at the human and couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman. Her eyes had clouded over with regret and grief as she was reliving some bad memories.

"I didn't want to send Luz to that camp, but I was bullied into doing something I didn't want to do," Camila said sadly. "Manny would have scolded me for that. Dios, I really am a terrible mom."

Something snapped in Eda at that moment, and she jumped to her feet. She slammed her hands on the table and that startled the human vet.

"No!" Eda said firmly, "That kid loves you. TITAN, the only reason I knocked her down in the first place was that she was becoming obsessed with getting back to you and that was unhealthy!"

Camila looked at the witch, and like she was about to say something, but a short growl shut her up. Eda realized she wanted to slap the human in front of her, but knew that wouldn't get anyone anywhere.

Eda took a minute to calm down before talking again.

"Look, I get it. You're a little overwhelmed by everything and not thinking straight. So, take a day to digest everything and then make your call."

Camila looked like wanted to say something again, but Eda didn't give her that chance; she finished her tea and stormed out of the kitchen.

Once she left the human's sight did she realize what she just did, and let out a sigh.

"Titan, there I go again, losing it and shooting off my mouth," Eda muttered dejectedly. "If my kid saw that, she would give me a shin buster next time she's knocked down."

Eda returned to the couch, but sleep didn't come easy for her.

(Two days later)

Despite regretting her actions that night, Eda wouldn't deny that her words had gotten through to Camila. The next day, in the late afternoon mother and daughter, talked. They came downstairs nearly 45 minutes later, and both were in good spirits.

Following this, the group settled down to make plans. Camila would allow Luz to return to the Demon Realm and Vee would continue to pose as Luz. This didn't sit right with everyone in The Owl Familia, and later, had a private meeting to talk things over.

That was a day ago, and the Familia was readying to go back to the demon realm. Luz was hugging her mother one last time.

"Make sure you write, Mija," Camila said sadly.

"I will, Mami," Luz replied, just as sad. "I would even send it the old-fashion way."

Camila out a bitter laugh at her daughter's lame joke, and the two separated. The vet gave her daughter's extended family a long look before sighing. She turned to get back into the house when Eda's voice got her attention.

"Before we bounce, we like to say some things."

Camila looked back at the family of witches and watched as they walked up to the human they now consider one of their own. Eda put her hands on Luz's shoulders and offered the human mother a kind smile.

"Before this kid came into my life, I was just living day to day," Eda said kindly. "Luz's coming gave me a reason to really start living my life. Without her, I would be nothing more than a cool but petty witch."

Eda paused and looked down at the girl who became her daughter and then looked back at Camila, her smile growing.

"She's my little witchlet, just as much as she's your Mija."

Camila was in awe at the warmth coming off of the witch; she would say it was as warm as the warmth she felt from her mother, and could feel some tears coming.

Amity was next; getting next to Luz and interlocking their hands together.

"Before my fiance-"

"FIANCE!" Camila suddenly scream and sent a glare at her daughter.

Luz let out a short, awkward laugh and had an ", oops, forget that part" smile on her face. Eda and Camila let out a sigh in near-perfect unity and let Amity continue. The Abomination witch gave her fiance a quick glare before looking at one of her future mothers-in-law.

"Before Luz, I was just another piece in others' games. She gave me the courage not just to be myself, but-" A blush appeared on Amity's face as she turned a bit more bashful. "-That's being a dork isn't something I should be hiding."

Camila couldn't help but gasp she realized just how perfect this girl was for her daughter and could feel her tears building some more.

Lilith was next; she place a hand gently over her daughter and niece's hands and looked at the older human with a fond smile.

"If wasn't for my niece, I would be like my daughter," the ex-coven head spoke warmly. "I would have lived the rest of my life alone because I thought I didn't deserve happiness."

Camila stared at the ex-head and her adopted daughter and finally understood the depth Luz had pulled them from. Her tears were close to coming out, and when Gwen put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, and lean husband's embrace, she knew she didn't want to stop them when they came.

"If it wasn't for my granddaughter, I would never realize how my actions were hurting my family instead of helping," Gwen said warmly. "And I can't thank her enough for that."

"And we will be honored if you allow us to call you daughter," Dell finished warmly.

Camila couldn't hold them back anymore and let the tears come as she looked at the family before her. She realized just how much these witches has changed her daughter's life. No, she realized that wasn't completely true; Luz had changed their lives just as much as they had changed her life.

Eda offered the human a hand and said uncharacteristically, "Camila Noceda, would you and your other daughter do us this honor and join our family?"

After that emotional scene, there was no other answer the human could give. "Si, SII" Camila cried joyfully.

Luz, with a big smile and happy tears in her eyes, rushed to hug her mother. Everyone in the Owl Familia has smiles on their face brighter than the sun as they watched this happy moment.

(M Corner)

I'm crying at this because of the onions under my nose, seriously here! But jokes aside, this was a bit of an emotional ride, so the next chapter starts the "knocked-down" antics, which means…We're getting baby VEE!
If you're wondering how Luz popped the question, that would be covered in the 'Daily Lives" story.