This one will probably be the most difficult chapter to write because of the way I wanted to stick to canon for this chapter. The chapter before this one was comprised of a majority of flashback material. This one has those moments, but we get more of canon stuff. Some of this I really came up with on the spot and for most of it I tried to stick to the script throughout this. I didn't expect this to be so long, nor did I expect it to take so long, but after this, we can get to the fun stuff that I have in store for Kurt. Not to say that I don't have twists in this one either.
Also, I don't own Owl House or the many songs, tv shows, anime, or books mentioned in this story. They're for the express purpose of showing Kurt's dissociation from a perceived threat of trauma and rooting this story in modern times.
mezentsevmichael: He doesn't have fire powers currently. The first fire was coincidental. The second one has some meaning behind the circumstance that I hint at in this chapter.
As Kurt fell from the sky, he remembered this:
Before the fire came, he enjoyed listening to music with his mother as he would be preparing for Kindergarten and when she would read to him and Luz and when they would watch the small television in the living room, and when she came home after they were left alone. There was one particular song she played, oddly, it was a song in English by a German band. But unlike a few other songs she listened to, she sang along in English:
Follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change
The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
Can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change
She told him that this was the song she heard on the radio after moving to Gravesfield after living in New Jersey for some time. They played this song very often and she was never able to forget what she felt as she entered a new world.
After the fire came, he was alone most of the time. Thinking about many things that were almost too much for him to bear. After a few very intense moments where he thought he was going to die, he was given a small MP3 Player from his mother since it always seemed that music was his best therapy, and this became his solace. For the nearly ten years, he spent most of his free time obsessing over all things media-related - video games, books, comics, tv shows, stage plays, even fanfiction - to call it anything other than all-consuming would be an understatement. In a way, it was the worst kind of escapism, one that forced him away from his reality and let him revel in someone else's for a time, a story that he knew or understood the logic of, or that gave him a sense of catharsis.
But he would always remember that song his mother would sing along to in English, listening to the winds of change.
But when it came to real life, he was reminded that joy only existed for others, and not for him. He faced the ground of this odd and new world with a sad expression. This would be where he died again.
Death did not come so easily, for Kurt though.
He was surrounded by a black aura as he flailed around frantically, it exploded outwards as pain shot through his spine and torso. He let out a gasp of pain and let the growing bile shoot out of his mouth. Then he realized that he was kneeling in the middle of a big crater the size of a regular suburban house.
"What the hell?" he heard from behind him, "Did you just-"
Then he heard his sister's exuberant and bouncy voice, "Kurt!"
From his body, a plume of black mist seemed to void from his skin. As he stood upright, Luz wrapped her arms around him, "How'd you get here?" she asked while holding him.
He shrugged.
"It seems that you both are stuck in the same situation, huh?" the woman behind him spoke, "Well, I'm Eda the Owl Lady. The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles- blah blah blah. And... this is the Owl House!"
"And she's a witch criminal!" Luz exclaimed.
"She's more of a misfit than a criminal," the house spoke, with a screechy, owl-like voice, "Those guys just don't like her all that much."
"Don't believe what Hooty says," uttered Eda, "He just likes to mess with us. Open up the door!"
Kurt noticed what she said, and followed the two of them to the front door. Luz looked over her shoulder and then back at Eda, "Won't those guards come back?"
"Hm? Maybe, but Hooty here has a natural camouflage. He can hide in plain sight at all times," she said, "And he has other tricks, too. But he mostly repulses others with his voice."
"Hey! That's not very nice! You don't hear me judging you about your-" she poked both of his eyes. "Ow!"
"We don't have time for this, Hooty! Open up!"
"All right, all right! Geez! You never want to have any fun! Ow! Hoot!" he opened his mouth letting them inside. Kurt stood outside for a few moments, thinking of the implications for a moment, a rising feeling growing in his mind. Then Eda pushed him in with a swift hand. He panicked for a moment then looked around and saw he was in a mystical house. The candles flashed on and gave the room an otherworldly feel.
"Your friend here is really slow, huh?" Eda said to Luz. Luz glanced at Kurt, nervous to speak on his problems.
Kurt felt like Dante entering the gate of hell in The Divine Comedy, nearly fainting as he fell forward. Kurt looked in the dark room with trepidation, as if he were staring into an abyss. He lifted himself off the ground, attempting to find his footing.
"Welcome... to the Owl House!" Eda snapped her fingers and the candles lit themselves, sending the room into a beautiful and ethereal glow. "Where I hide away from the pressures of modern life. And... ex‐boyfriends."
"This place is beautiful!" Luz uttered, having an appreciation for the rustic feel and hermit-like sensibilities of the house. It was large and carefully built, however, the inside was much less carefully designed. The inside was largely empty being covered by a carpet, a couch, and a coffee table. The wall was covered in knick-knacks from the human realm and beside the walls, there were chests and trunks that Kurt thought similar things were inside of them too. Luz placed her book on the coffee table and looked to Eda, "Do you live here all alone?"
"Actually, other than Hooty, I do have a roommate," she said.
"Who dares intrude upon I, the king of demons?!" uttered a high-pitched voice from the hallway. A small creature the size of Kurt's forearm stepped forward, it was covered in a furry black hide and had horns similar to an antelope. "What the-"
"¡Ay, que lindo!" Luz exclaimed, rushing forward and picking him up as a baby, "Eda, he's so cute! Who's a widdle guy? Who's a widdle guy? Is it you? Is it you?"
King pushed away from her, "No! I don't know who your little guy is! Eda, who is this monster?"
Eda lifted Luz away from him with a surprising amount of strength. "This is Luz. And this is her brother, Kurt. They're here to help us with our problem."
"Wait, hold on," Luz cut in, "I don't like the sound of this "problem" you're talking about. What do you want from us?"
"Just let me explain," Eda uttered, with both hands, she used her fingers to draw a circle of light, which took on the appearance of gold flames, creating a magic visual as she explained their issue. In that ring, she showed an image as she told a story, "King was once a mighty king of demons until his Crown of Power was stolen, and he became..." she motioned to the said demon. "...this."
"You mean this little bundle of joy? " Luz asked holding King in her grip once again hugging him.
Kurt looked at the creature before him with slight suspicion. This thing? A mighty king of demons? No way. He looked more akin to a canine with a goat's skull as a head.
"The crown is being held by the evil Warden Wrath and locked away by a magical force field, that only a human can break through. A human like you. If you help us retrieve his crown and another important item, we'll send you back to your realm," Eda explained her conditions. "So whaddya say? Plus..." Eda then held King up by his face and showed him off to Luz, much to his dismay, "Who can say no to this cute face?"
Kurt felt like doing just that, but instead, he let Luz answer for him. To which she quickly agreed, "So I don't really have a choice, do I?" she uttered.
"Nope, now let's go," Eda said, grabbing Luz as if she weighed nothing and walking out of the Owl House. Kurt and King walked behind tentatively, unsure of what this dangerous quest would have them do.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere fun," Eda uttered with a smile on her face.
Boom! Thunder exploded from the sky, making Kurt whimper and fall into Luz's arms. She held him up with a smile as they always did for each other. Kurt found his footing and silently thanked his sister for the assistance.
As he looked ahead, he felt like Jean Kirstein facing his first Titan in Attack on Titan, filled with nervousness and unease at the nigh-insurmountable task he was facing. He started to understand how he felt when he entered a battle and tried his best to avoid dying, seeing death before him in the form of two eyes, Kurt felt this same cowardly impulse when he saw the gothic castle before him. It was a concentric castle surrounded by towers, and cones that looked like gigantic rolls of sharp teeth. To say the least, it was heavily fortified.
"The Conformatorium... a place for those considered unsuitable for society," Eda said, standing behind Luz, Kurt, and King (who sat on the former's head). Luz moved away from the wall when she realized that no one could see them anymore. She noticed a poster with Eda's cackling profile on it, she tore it off and showed it to her.
"Is this you?" Luz uttered, confused. "I thought you were exaggerating when you said you were the most wanted witch in the isles."
"Why would you think I was kidding?"
"I mean, the guards didn't really chase us that far..." she said. "If you really were that famous, wouldn't they chase you a little more?"
"It was meant to be a short chase scene, human. Get over it." Eda snapped back. "And besides, It's not public enemy numero uno. Only the mooks of Emperor Belos are looking for me. The people of the Boiling Isles would turn on him if they announced me as a federal criminal. In places with so many people, they are forced to back off. But this guy, he's different."
King chimed in, "Yeah, he really has the hots for you."
"Sure, but seriously... who doesn't?" Eda replied arrogantly. Giving the two a wink at the kids as they stared back at her, "But, we were never caught because we're too slippery."
"Try to catch me when I'm covered in grease. I'm a squirmy little fella!" King exclaimed with bravado, falling off of Luz with a squeal. He stood and dusted himself off, "Alright, us three will sneak up to the top of the tower, where they're holding my crown."
Kurt wanted to point out the fact that none of them knew where they were going, but said nothing as he always did. Eda continued, "And I'm gonna make sure the warden's distracted."
Luz gasped, "Will I need a disguise?"
"Uh..."
"I've been waiting to use this," Luz pulled her hood on and flicked up cat ears, "Meow, meow."
"It's hideous," King said.
"Oh, you'll fit right in," Eda said with a knowing grin. "This one is the one that worries me," she said turning her head to Kurt. "Does he-"
"No." Luz replied. "He... doesn't talk. At least, not to anyone that isn't me or..."
"Hm." Eda tapped the butt of her staff against the ground, creating a glowing platform for the three of them. She stepped away from it and let the platform rise. "Hold on tight," it floated up to a window in the tower then disappeared suddenly, Luz quickly grabbed a window sill, but Kurt found himself too confused and he fell for a few moments before catching a loose brick a level just below them.
Kurt hyperventilated for a few moments, panicking. King and Luz both pulled themselves into the Conformatorium. Eda grabbed Kurt as she casually floated on her staff, dropping him at a window just near the one Luz and King dropped into. She smiled at him, "See ya at the top of the tower."
Kurt took a few deep breaths and tried to find his way, but ended up going in circles for a little while. He only wanted to find Luz or King or Eda... anyone. But it was like he was walking in the Tower of Druaga without an overhead overlook or one of the many Legend of Zelda dungeons. After what felt like hours of walking, he found himself in the lowest section of the Conformatorium's prison. He did not know where he was or what he did to get there. As he entered, he couldn't help but feel the same kind of dread he would feel in a Majora's Mask level or cutscene.
He found odd creatures imprisoned behind metal bars in small, desolate rooms, no toilets, no bed, no lock or key. They appeared malnourished and tired. He fell on his ass when he saw them, allowing a small high-pitched whimper to slip past. They began to take notice of him, one taking particular interest in him, moving closer to the bars that warded. He was a red-haired, bony, bloody witch in rags with eyes that were sunken in. His hands were covered in dried blood. "Ey, you don't look like no guard. And you ain't got them pointy ears witches got... you human or somethin'?" he asked, "How you even get in 'ere? This ain't a place for lil missies like you."
Kurt shook his head vigorously as the man continued, "People like us are evil to the emperor an' em'. We don't fit they perfect world-we ain't fit to be in they kingdom!"
The world had gone from being the Fanfiction Before the Fire Comes to being the A&E TV show Beyond Scared Straight. The imprisoned man continued on his rant, seeming as if he was looking to talk without any specified reason, "I was a writer. I wanted to write 'bout the Emperor, but his people told me I can't cuz of the Index Librorum Prohibitory Imperatoris," he said with no issue. "I can't write about it if it criticizes him or say something of substance. It has to be shallow and willin' to bend to the jokers who pose by the glitz. Even if it ain't real!" he tut-tutted, "And I'm not the only one here!" he shouted pointing at the long-haired fellow, "He's a painter!" whose appearance was like that of Edvard Munch, dead. "He painted a beautiful portrait of himself, abstract an' the like, they arrested him cuz of the symbol it had in it! It was an old symbol of self-love in the written language witches spoke before Belos came to power... an' of course, all of its anti-Belos if it even has the single inkling of a world without him. We all end up shut out cuz' we wanna say somethin'."
He pointed to an old man directly behind Kurt's body.
"He was a soldier who fought for Belos... through thick and thin, braved the harshest circumstances for him, even killed for him!" Kurt's body shook and trembled without his volition, "Do you know what that does to a person? To end someone's life? I've seen what it does. It's like a fire explodes in you. A fire that doesn't go out when you look at innocent people, your countrymen, even your own damn family. It just burns and burns until til there's nothing left to burn and the last person standing is the one who started it all."
"That's enough!" the former soldier cut through, "Get out of here. You go on back to your family. Don't you never let that fire get you," he said, eying the burn mark on Kurt's neck.
Kurt managed to find Luz after a little while longer, "Kurt! There you are! I was so worried!" she hugged him tightly with an odd amount of desperation. "C'mon we're finding Eda!" They rushed down a hallway where Eda sat on her staff outside a window, jumping through and landing in front of them as larger than life as she always appeared.
"Hey, I just checked. The warden is distracted, apparently tormenting some small creature. He won't be coming up here anytime soon," she said, "You two alright?" she asked.
Kurt had forgotten why he'd come there in the first place.
They stopped at a door that was larger than all of them, on the front it read "CONTRABAND"
"My crown! It's close! I can sense its power!" King exclaimed, rushing to the door. he scratched at it before seeing the large doorknob. Jumping up at it, aggressively, he grabbed on and tried to twist his body to turn it and open the door.
"Aw, he gets so cute when he's thirsty for power," Eda said as King ran inside, cheering with joy. "Come on, before he hurts himself," Eda uttered to the two of them as they started walking to the door.
"Ow!"
Kurt, Luz, and Eda follow King in. The inside of the room was is empty save a giant glowing pillar in the center. The chamber was massive and empty on the inside. They saw a giant barrier in the middle of the room. King rubbed his skull before charging into the pillar; it deflected him.
"We have humans, remember?" Eda said, gesturing to Kurt and Luz.
"Oh, yeah," King said.
Luz and Kurt looked at each other before they slowly reached out and they passed through the barrier. As they did, it dissipated just as easily as they walked through it. Eda looked on, somewhat confused. "What the-?" the two humans continued unimpeded. Kurt managed to climb to the top of the pillar and pulled from the top what appeared to be a crown from a familiar fast-food chain.
Luz was almost disgusted by how much effort they put in to achieve something that was such a common commodity in her hometown, but Kurt saw it in a very different light than his sister, finding it very interesting that he'd put such belief in a small piece of cardboard. And further that Eda would put so much effort into trying to obtain it that she would trust two strangers to help her. It was a dynamic he'd rarely seen in his world. And to add, wasn't it was common for humans to put belief into pieces of paper, what was different here?
Kurt looked at Luz who gave him the dullest frown she'd ever had. Nearly dying for a Burger King hat that smelled of dead rats and unwashed dog. She wouldn't do that for anything.
Kurt thought of the book that brought them there.
"My crown! Yes. Yes! I can feel my powers returning! You, there. Nightmare critter," King declared to a small stuffed animal, "I shall call you Francois, and you shall be a minion in my army of darkness. Ha‐ha!"
"That crown doesn't give him any powers, does it?" Luz said.
"Did it give you humans any powers when you got it from your odd plaza for foods?" Eda asked.
"No," she said, glaring at her.
"Then that answers that question."
Though he accepted that this may be one of the things that may occur when he decided to follow this witch, Kurt had the same feeling in the pit of his stomach that Luz did and he hated the feeling of being used.
She spared a glance at Luz, who was disappointed by what she put so much effort to do, "Were you ever going to let us go home, or was that some twisted plot too?" she said bitterly, tears threatening to spill from her glassy eyes.
Instead of another snippy remark, Kurt saw Eda reply simply and seriously, "Oh, look at us. King and I don't have much in this world. We only have each other. So if that dumb crown is important to him, it's important to me." she said, gazing at the sight of King enjoying his toy, "And besides, we weirdos have to stick together, you know?"
That was a good answer. In truth, he felt the same way about Luz and her reveries and he knew she felt the same way about his silence and his feelings about the days before the fire came. The memories of those days weren't as significant to her as they were to him. Especially...
"Well, we owe you one. Now, let's get out of here before the warden finds us and loses his head," Eda told the two as her cap was cropped off by the titanic, stocky warden perched behind her.
Luz caught the decapitated woman in her arms, no blood poured from her head; muscle and bone and even nerve-endings visible from her neck. Kurt lost his coordination and fell onto his ass. Luz was screaming as the cut-off head spoke back to her, "Ow! Oh, I hate it when that happens."
Luz screamed even louder, "Eda! Are you okay?"
"Yeah. This just happens when you get older."
"This isn't what happens to humans..." she uttered, still disgusted.
"Finally, I have you cornered, Eda the Owl Lady," the warden growled, taking the small crown King was withholding in his hand. "My guards could never get you, you were too smart and resourceful. In fact, after a few scuffles with your magic, a lot of them even exited the profession. But after a while, I figured it out. I knew if I took your pet's toy you would come."
"No! My power!" King shouted.
"What do you want with me, Warden?" Eda spat, "I've never actually broken any of your stupid laws."
"I want you to..." Kurt turned away as he knew this part from everything he'd ever watched. This was the part where he threatened to kill her friends - which, coincidentally, included him now - if she didn't do what he wanted.
However, when he turned to face them during the stunned silence, instead of a weapon facing them he saw him bowing on a single knee as if he was prepared to give his hand in marriage to her right then. And after that, he pulled out a bouquet of flowers.
"...go out with me!"
Luz uttered, "What?"
Eda echoed, "What?"
Kurt frowned as the guards cheered him on. What in the actual fuck was going on?
"You've always evaded me and my soldiers. You've always been the one who got away. I found that interesting, alluring, even... sexy."
Kurt choked. He turned away, putting his hands on his ears, was disgusted beyond belief.
"I hate everything you're saying right now," Luz said.
"You stay out of this!" the warden yelled, calling his guards to grab Luz and King and hold Kurt down. Kurt let out a gasp as they began to force themselves on his spine, all the air shooting out his lungs. He became numb as he tried to breathe but was restricted by the force on his neck.
As Kurt began to go unconscious, he remembered this:
In his nightmares, the fire encircled him - caressing him and feeling him. Then it would choke him and burn him, while its tail would strike him in his lip over and over.
Once he returned to reality, he saw Eda's body pick up the guards on top of Kurt and toss them into the guards holding Luz. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Warden Wrath shouted angrily.
Eda rolled her eyes degradingly, "Get over it. You had your guards stalk me, and then you cut off my head! I'm not going out with you."
"If you don't accept my offer, then I have no choice but to-" He was cut off when Eda's body and struck him in the back of the head with her staff. Knocking him down to the ground for a few moments. "Gah!"
"Okay, we're going now," Luz grabbed all of them and Kurt followed behind her. Together, they leaped onto the staff as the owl's wings unfurled. Luz was in the front, holding the witch's head on her lap. Kurt was behind her, having King on his shoulder. Eda's body was in the back.
Luz looked at the small owl confusedly, "Expecto... flying? Magicus... escapicus?!"
Eda shouted, "Gun it, magic stick!"
"Owl Lady, I won't let you get away again!" they heard as they flew past the Warden. Wrath followed behind, his arms transforming into tentacles and chasing after them. They passed multiple other cells and they came upon the prisoners that Luz had run into. "Eda! Kurt! Lend me a hand!"
Eda and Kurt placed their hands against Luz's and pulled the lever to let all the prisoners. They broke through an outer door high in the center of the Conformatorium and fell onto their asses. Warden Wrath whipped out one of his tentacles, hitting the back of the staff and ejecting Eda, Luz, Kurt, and King off of it. They rolled when they hit the ground, and Warden Wrath stepped in front of them, his hand transforming into a blade again.
"Kurt... Luz..." she sighed, pulling the key from her hair and tossing it to the two of them, Kurt catching it in his tired hands, "...go back to the human world," Eda said, finally calling them by their names for the first time.
"What about you guys?" Luz asked somberly.
"If you think this guy is bad you should have seen her last boyfriend," King said as Eda dodged the attacks.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Eda yelled, being grabbed by Eda as she evaded attacks from the wrathful Warden Wrath.
"Obsessive, cruel, long tentacles... He checks all of the boxes, I think." King replied, "The only difference is that this guy has decent taste in flowers."
"Get outta here you two," she said, putting the two of them onto her staff, "You have somewhere you need to be. Now go!"
"But‐ But I‐" she started, but was cut off as the staff launched into the sky. She and Kurt looked down and watched the vicious fight between the two of them. Luz tried her best not to fall off the staff as Kurt held on with careful balance. "Bring it down to them! I need to talk to them!" Luz said.
"W-wait, why?" Kurt said, his voice hoarse from not talking for a while.
"I have a plan!" she replied.
"Okay," he nodded and replied, changing his direction to head toward the escaped prisoners. They landed softly in the dirt and looked at them. Kurt saw the other prisoners from the lower prison, standing around just as the others were.
"Why are you guys just standing there? This is your chance to escape!" Luz called out.
One looked down at their feet, "The warden'll catch us. He always does."
"We belong here," the other said.
"Self‐doubt is a prison you can never escape from," the small one spoke in a dissatisfied tone.
"Listen to me, we're all different. Not just how we look, how we act, what we do, but where we're born and the people who surround us are different. We're all products of different worlds. And he wants to silence us because of how different we are. A person being different doesn't make them wrong. And he's oppressing you because you're different. Putting you in this prison because he can't stand people that aren't like him! And that isn't right! You're your own people. You have families, friends, and lives that he disregards! And that isn't right!" Luz said. As she spoke, he listened quietly as always, but there was a new feeling as he watched his sister give an almost stereotypical motivational speech, making him feel as if they were prepared to head into the Soul Society or get Sasuke back. Growing within him was a desire to move, a desire to act. Something he hadn't seen in a while. Maybe it was the put"If you want freedom from his oppression, you have to fight for it! You have to let him know that you won't take abuse lying down. You have to push back!"
One of them looked at her with muted amazement, "Why are you helping us?"
Luz twisted her head to face the person, her eyes staunch and unmoving. A smirk grew from her lips and she placed her hands on her hips. "Because we have to stick together. No one should be punished just because they don't fit someone else's view of a good person." Luz replied. The prisoners cheered, rallying together in a fine show of solidarity.
"No more running away, Owl Lady. Today I capture you once and for all!" Wrath uttered, stepping forward. But just as he was prepared to do something, Kurt and Luz came in with the other prisoners.
"Go, go, go, go!" called a familiar voice. Eda and King turned to see Luz flying towards them with her cat-ears hood up, leading the charge of the prisoners to attack the warden. Kurt was behind both of them, trying to stay as stable as possible. Together, they all launched into him and tried to pin him to the ground.
"What the...?" he said, struggling against all of their grips, "What are you-"
"I eat my own eyes!"
"I think the world is a triangle!"
"I practice the ancient art of fanfiction!"
"You stupid, stupid children! Get the hell off me!" he shouted, struggling against their grip. He pushed all of them off him and turned to Luz, "Who do you think you are? Do you think you think you're some hero?"
"Yes, I am!" she responded, "Don't underestimate me, Warden, for I am Luz, the human, warrior of peace. Now eat this sucker!"
Luz pulled her firecracker from her book report out of her messenger bag, tossing it into the air before hitting it with Eda's staff. The firecracker landed in Wrath's flaming mouth. She awaited an explosion, but none occurred.
"A dud?!"
"Nonsense," he said, launching a tentacle at her face, gripping her in his tendril, and holding a blade to her neck, "You're a fool if you think you can hurt me without magic."
"Darn it, kid!" Eda shouted, preparing another magic attack.
"Use one bit more of your magic, and I'll slit her throat," he said, aiming the blade at her neck, eliciting a whimper from her. Kurt watched with tears in his eyes as Eda dropped her staff and pleaded that Wrath let her go.
"Please, stop, don't hurt her! She didn't do anything!" she uttered.
"No, I think after all you did to me, I'll get some vengeance and spill this little brat's blood all over the dirt!" he brought the sword to her neck and sliced, blood shooting all over the ground.
But, oddly she was still alive. Something had come between him and her neck. "What the-" he noticed the other child, Kurt, standing between his helpless sister and the instrument of her death. Kurt moved his hands away from the edge, moving like a marionette as the hand melted into a puddle. Wrath had no time to think as pain shot up his arm and he let go of Luz. "You-" the boy leaped up to Wrath's full height and slammed his fist into his face, breaking the mask on his face and knocking him onto his back.
"What did he just do?" King asked Eda. "How did he get there so fast?"
"I... I have no idea," she uttered in disbelief.
"You... you!" he growled, "You anti-magic bastard!" he shouted.
"Anti-magic?" Eda said, noticing the black energy rolling off of his right hand and body.
As he growled and groaned, Kurt walked up to his unmasked face and muttered something unheard to anyone other than Wrath himself. He hoisted up his foot and crushed Wrath's head under his heel. The body - the corpse transformed into a pile of purplish muck and bones. He turned to Luz, Eda, and King, the tears still rolling down his cheeks, his face a pale grey and drained of blood, and stumbled forward until he fell and landed flat on his face.
Kurt remembered the feeling of being in his mother's small car, often he remembered never sitting in the passenger's seat next to his mother, even though was the only other person in the car. He'd often stare outside the window and gaze at the world outside the small box he'd set himself in. And though everything was in motion, to Kurt, it was all cruelly frozen in time. He was stuck in a standstill so that it could all stare back at him with a self-satisfied and superior smirk.
Cómo duele, cómo duele el corazón
Cuando uno es bien entregado
Pero no olvides, mujer, que algún día dirás
Camila always looked at him through the mirror, silently observing the landscape as it passed by with glassy eyes. He did this often after the incident. She'd try to play music to mitigate the cold silence between them, she'd engage him, but he wouldn't engage back, and often he'd fall asleep before she could say anything. And this time seemed to be no different. So she tried something different.
Ah-ah-ah, corazón espinado
Cómo duele, me duele-
"Hey, why don't you play something from your mp3?" she inquired, glanced at him then turned back to the road. As they reached a red light, she pulled the auxiliary from her phone and gave it to the despondent Kurt, who looked up finally and took it with some degree of anticipation. He opened it up and went to a playlist called "The Lone Wolf Playlist" and a song started. The first thing they both heard from the speakers were the soft drums and then the atmospheric guitar and bass in a chorus effect. Then the thunderous and tumultuous electric guitar that faded just as quickly as it came.
Pull the blinds
All the black dreams I've had
Well they don't mean much now
"What song is this? I've never heard it before," she said, having never heard any of this type of music.
"It- It's d-dream pop," he replied. "It's called disappear always,"
This was the first time he spoke to anyone other than Luz in months.
When I rise at noon
I'm missing someone I don't know
And I don't want to be alone
Kurt tapped his finger on his lap, following along the tempo of the song. His lips turned upward, a small smile gracing his face as he drowned himself in the dreamy aesthetic of Wild Nothing's ethereal music.
And this house is now a grave
I've been sleeping here for days
I'm too hidden to awake
So I disappear always
Disappear always
Disappear always...
"Kurt?"
He'd fallen asleep again.
He woke up in the place he'd least expected, a dirty old closet surrounded by strange people and his sister standing over him. Luz hugged him tightly until he started gasping for air.
"You okay, kid?" Eda asked, standing behind Luz. She was tentative to engage him after what seemed to be a nervous breakdown.
He hesitated, looking around for a few moments, before nodding.
"Ah," she breathed a sigh of relief, "Well, now you both can head back to the human realm now."
"Well, a deal's a deal, let's get you two home," Eda said, making the key that Luz was holding fly out of her hands and land in Eda's. She pressed her thumb against the eye, and the Eye-Door appeared. Luz and Kurt stared at the door, still amazed by the world they were in. Luz turned to King.
King looked at the ground, visibly sad. Luz reached into her bag, pulling out a doll and taking the crown off, and giving it to the distraught demon. "Think of it as a goodbye gift, I guess. A king shouldn't be without a crown."
He looked up at it, his eyes widening in joy. He hesitantly took the crown from Luz and placed it on his head. "This... shall suffice," he told the two humans. He directed his attention to a small potted plant. "You there, plant! You are now under my command."
Eda picked up Luz's book and the summer camp brochure. "Oh, and don't forget this."
Luz stared at the brochure for a few moments, while Kurt attempted to enter through the door. He tried to enter first with a finger but found himself pushed back by an unseen force. He tried to walk through but was repelled. "What's going on?" Luz asked.
In response, Kurt leaned his entire weight on the portal and floated above the surface, unable to enter. Luz walked over and stuck her finger through it as if she were placing her finger through jello. "Well, ya don't see that every day. Maybe it's because of that anti-magic stuff Wrath was talking about?" she thought aloud, "Huh, guess you won't be going anywhere anytime soon. What about you, Luz the human?"
"Okay. I know you got your head cut off, and we started some kind of prison riot, but this was the most fun I've ever had," she started. " I don't fit in at home. You don't fit in here. If I stay, we could not fit in together. I want to stay and become a witch. Like you." she smiled, looking down at the book and walking toward Eda.
"That's crazy, humans can't become witches. It's just not possible," Eda rebuked.
She persisted, "Maybe that's because they haven't tried. Besides, if Kurt used anti-magic, can't I use magic? If you teach me to become a witch, I'll do anything you want."
"Let her stay!" King tugged on Eda's dress, "She can make us snacks."
Eda picked up the little demon and said, "Well, I could use a few hands keeping this goofball out of the cupboards." she pondered for a few moments, "All right. I'll teach you how to be a witch. But you have to work for me before you learn any spells. Deal?"
Luz hugged them.
"Gah! What's going on?"
King gasped, "Too tight! Too tight!"
"Thank you," Luz said, "Thank you..."
The Owl House was asleep, but not Kurt Noceda. He sat beside the long way down, his legs hanging off the edge of the cliff almost joyously, contrasting his form in the darkness, one of the few things that were identical between his world and this new one. He remembered doing this at home to avoid everyone else in the house and just be without needing everyone around to do it for him. Truth be told, when he was in the darkness, it felt right to be there. The waning moon felt nice on his skin, too. It was a temporary peace, though.
Again he began to think about how everything went down after the beginning of the day, simple - and then there was now, where their standing in this world was complicated and confusing.
And his mother. What would she think? Was she looking for them? Would she worry?
That last question was a given. Of course she would worry. She always worried about them. And since he knew that Luz could still text her, hopefully, she could mitigate any worry that she might have. She'd probably and justly worry anyways. There was no changing the decision now. Kurt couldn't just walk back through and Luz didn't want to go back in the first place, so it was their only option.
But then there was the problem of anti-magic.
His head practically blew a gasket just thinking about it. He was anti-magic in a world that relied on magic. While in the moment he only thought of stopping Wrath, going past that, this might put a hamper on Luz's hope to learn magic and the way Wrath spoke of it, made him think he was inherently evil. He wondered if there was merit to what he said, or if it was another bout of ridiculous hyperbole by a defeated man. If it was true, then his life here might be a nightmare, a challenge in itself. Just like school. Prejudice coming from all angles both because he was a human and because he was an anti-magic creature. A fire rose in his throat, bile prepared to launch from his mouth. He leaned on his forearm holding himself up carefully. Suddenly he felt two warm hands lift him upright. He turned to face the person that stood behind him.
It was Eda.
She stood barely a finger's distance from him, enough that if he moved slightly forward, their faces would smash together. He stumbled back, but there was nothing to fall back on, so instead, he fell for a few moments before Eda grabbed him and pulled him back up with relative ease, dropping one-hundred and seventy-five pounds of Kurt onto his ass. He hadn't heard her first few words as he was falling off the cliff, but she spoke clearly and without the smirk on her face now.
"Watch your step, human," she looked down at him on the ground, the height discrepancy between them appearing vaster. This time staring up at her from below she was a giant as if she looked down at him from the highest pedestal, from here on the ground, she commanded respect.
She leaned down again and not for the mischievous intent of surprising him, but this time, to look at him in the eye, "Couldn't sleep?" her eyes softened and she waited for a reaction. He nodded, "It was quite the eventful day, that's for sure. I didn't expect to have humans living in my home after dealing with a jailbreak from the Conformatorium managed by an unstable masochist."
Neither was he expecting to wind up in the world of Lovecraft's most fantastic dreams or nightmares.
"Yeah, I think this is the best place to wind down from all the things that were thrown at us," she uttered.
Kurt frowned even more.
"Listen, I know the Owl House can seem tumultuous. I know I can be a lot, King demands a lot of attention, and Hooty is, well, Hooty. But... I think you'll like it here," Eda continued, "I know you didn't come here looking for adventure like Luz did, but maybe you'll find some answers here that you didn't know you needed. My time here most certainly did, that's for sure."
As she said that, he saw the light focus on her. A spotlight illuminated the slight twitches of her pained expression and the strain of her smile. He felt pangs run up his spine, a chill lurching into his core and paralyzing him with an unknown feeling. She looked at him and give her classic gold-toothed grin. He realized he hadn't nodded to her and did so emphatically. As he did, she looked at him as if he were a child and ruffled his hair. Surprised, he pouted with an embarrassed squint in his eyes. She giggled, "Get some rest now, we've got a long few days ahead of us," she said, heading back to bed. He sat looking at the town for a while as well before he returned to the Owl House and slept against the wall.
And this house is now a grave
I've been sleeping here for days
I'm too hidden to awake
So I disappear always.