Twelve Years Ago...
"BABABABABABABABABA!"
Camila Noceda enters through the front door of her home with her toddler daughter Luz who is currently shouting random sounds and wailing her body back and forth.
"Yes Luz, I know you're hungry." The tired mother says as she swings the door back only to fail to notice that it didn't close and instead is left cracked open.
It's been a long day for Camila. She first woke up around five in the morning and dropped Luz off at a daycare and went to work. What was supposed to be a six hour shift suddenly changed to thirteen hours, so Camila was late to pick up Luz which thankfully the lady who worked at the daycare decided to stay with the little girl until her mother arrived. Then Camila had to stop by a grocery store to pick up supplies which took almost forever because of a car wreck that caused traffic to be backed up for miles.
Like I said, it's been a long day for Ms. Noceda.
That's right, Ms. not Mrs.
Mr. Noceda, the oh-so dreamy dreamboat that Camila fell in love with back in medical school decided that he didn't want a kid and ran off, leaving Camila to raise their daughter alone.
She didn't let this bother her for that long, but it would've been very helpful if she had someone at home who can watch Luz while she works. The person in question wouldn't even need a job! Just as long as Luz it taken care of. But Camila is not interested in dating again. She would have to go through so many people to find the "right one" and make sure they aren't some creep or jerk that'll hurt her and Luz, most importantly Luz.
There isn't much sitters around town that could look after her daughter, she was an only child so aunts and uncles are out of the question, and her parents have passed on long ago which checks them off the list.
The piece of trash's parents have also cut contact whether out of embarrassment for their runaway son or they just never liked Camila in the first place, which leaves Camila to do everything herself. But to her, it's worth it. Having Luz is the best thing to of ever happen in Camila's life.
Now if only she could get a bottle ready to quiet the tike down...
Camila stepped in front of the refrigerator and used her free arm to open the door and grab a plastic bottle filled with formula sitting in a shelf. Camila sat the bottle the microwave and pushed in the correct time. After a few seconds, the microwaved beeped allowing Camila retrieve it and pass the warm bottle to little Luz who impatiently snatched the bottle from her mom's hand and began to suck on the rubber nipple.
Camila sighed with relief, she carried Luz into the living room and sat her on the carpet. Camila went to the couch and lid down on her stomach. Propping her head on a pillow, Ms. Noceda grabbed the remote and switched on the tv with a cartoon channel already on. Luz's attention was now on the silly noises and bright colors coming from the tv.
Sitting the remote down on the ground, Camila yawned.
She would just "rest her eyes" until Luz finishes her bottle and then put her to bed.
In a matter of seconds, Camila was asleep.
Almost an hour later, Luz's focus on the tv broke after hearing a loud snore come from her mother's mouth.
The toddler pushed her now empty bottle aside and pressed her hands on the carpet under her. Luz's little feet wobbled as she stood up, but she quickly regained balance. She toddled over to her mom as she let out another snore which made her laugh.
Luz brought her pudgy hand under Camila's chin and pushed it up, closing her mouth and stopping the snores.
With everything now silent sans the tv, Luz noticed the front door still cracked open. Curious, Luz waddled over to the door and pulled it open with her hands just enough for her small body to fit through. Now on the porch, Luz looked out to see mostly darkness save for some street lights and the lights from neighboring houses allowing her to see just enough.
Luz never gets to go outside without her mommy holding her hand, but the door is open so her mommy must want her to, right? It makes sense to Luz.
The tan-skinned toddler carefully climbs down the small set of stairs and steps onto the grass. The chill air makes Luz shiver despite wearing a purple onesie, but this doesn't sway her thirst for adventure. With that, the little girl walks off into the night.
Somewhere nearby...
"Junk...Trash...Bingo!"
A tall, slender woman wearing a maroon dress and a hood over her head which fails to keep her gray hair with orange bangs from spilling out against her ears stands next to a trashcan with her ivory skinned arms reaching through the rim and rummaging past plastic bags and other garbage.
The lady in question holds up an average paperclip grasped between in her long fingers and her even longer orange fingernails.
"It's amazing what humans will just throw away." she commented before tossing the paperclip into a large burlap sack sitting on the ground and continued to search through the dumpster.
"Found some good loot tonight! Though it's not something I would do again given I can be easily seen. Too bad you got sick, Owlbert." she said as her yellow eyes flashed to a long staff propped against the trashcan with a wooden owl figure standing tall on the tip. The owl didn't move or reply, but the lady still smiled at it with her ruby lips a gold fang sticking out.
"Not that I'm mad though, it's nice to get out of the Isles every once in a while and catch a break from the guards always trying to arrest me. But we should finish here soon. We don't want King to throw a party or anything, right?" the lady asked the owl again which was still unresponsive.
"It's alright. You just rest until you feel better."
The woman continued her dumpster diving unaware of her little visitor approaching. Luz walks up to the woman and tilted her head in wonder.
She doesn't know why the silly lady is looking around in the trash. Momma always said that trashcans are yucky and we should never go through them.
Luz was about to walk off from a lack of interest until she noticed something erecting from the opening of the sack. It was a teddy bear!
The toddler smiled and with a clap her hands, she approached the bag, climbing in next to the other object that are occupying it and grabbed the bear. Luz sits as she begins to play with it as the woman pulls out a plastic bottle from the trash.
"Hand San-itizer? Don't know what that is. Maybe I can advertise it as a portable potion bottle and sell it to some sap." she said before flipping it into the bag. "Anyways, that'll do it for now."
The lady crouches down, ties the sack closed, and tests her collection by lifting it with one hand.
"This is a bit heavier than I remember. Must've got a lot of stuff!" she grinned before tying the sack to the staff.
She then mounted on the staff which levitated on its own into the air. It then propelled forwards at a great speed as it flew over the streets. The woman made the staff turn onto a path next to Luz's house that went into the dark woods which lead to an old, abandoned house.
Decreasing speed, the lady positioned herself in the air just enough to soar through the doorway and into the darkness of the house until there was a sudden burst of bright light, leaving just an empty house.
A few seconds later, the lady found herself back in her homeland and she exited a partial which closed as soon as she emerged.
She made the staff fly into the sky and over a town surrounded by a ribcage that once belonged to a now dead titan.
Before going to her destination, the woman glanced around to make sure she wasn't being watched or there was no trap set up for her. She hoped that the night sky will cover her from sight.
Feeling in the clear, the staff flies down into a Forrest and soon made it in front of a white cottage with a large stain-glass window over the front door and a stone tower that looks like it belongs to a castle standing tall in the back.
"Home Sweet Home." The lady sighed happily as she approached the door.
"Hoot! Hoot!" a voice sang loudly out of nowhere.
Suddenly, an owl face on the front door begins to stretch out like a worm popping out of the dirt and extends forwards only to stop an inch before the woman before...whatever it is.
"Hey Eda!" The snake-owl creature greeted.
The lady, who's name has been revealed to be Eda, reaches her free hand up and pulls the hood which causes a giant hedge of hair with two shades of gray to spill out and covers her back and reveals her pointy, elf-like ears and her orange spherical earrings.
"Hello, Hooty." Eda greets back while rubbing the top of Hooty's head, causing him to purr like a cat. "I trust that you and King took care of my house while I was away?"
"You bet! King only broke one vase the entire time!" Hooty replied in a loud voice.
Eda scowled which Hooty noticed. "Oops. I was supposed to keep that a secret." Hooty added with a voice of ignorant happiness.
Eda rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Whatever. Just as long as he cleaned up the mess."
With that, Eda walked passed Hooty's elongated neck and made her way towards the front door where she opened it it, leading her into a large living room that's containing two couches, artifacts strewn all over the walls, a fireplace, and a large wanted poster hanging on the wall which had Eda with the bounty of one-trillion snails (Calm down, they're just coins). Along with Eda on the wanted poster was a black, dog-like creature with a skull on its face standing next to her.
Coincidently, the demon in question was sitting on the couch under the poster, hard at work with the broken pieces of a vase and scattered scotch tape stuck in different areas.
"Almost there..." King said to himself, unaware that the owner of the house was behind him.
"King." Eda called.
King stopped his task and looked back at Eda.
"Not now, Eda. I'm trying to fix this vase before Eda gets back!"
The little demon turned back to his work only to freeze. He quickly jumped to his feet and spun around to face Eda.
"I-I didn't do it! Hooty broke it!" said a frightened King.
"Snitches get Stitches, King." Hooty warned from beyond the closed door.
"But Hooty said that you're the one broke my vase." Eda pointed out which King glared after. "That elongated liar...well, lied!"
"Sleep with your eyes open tonight. Hoot! Hoot!"
Not in the mood for an argument, Eda untied the sack from her staff and sat in on the floor below and walked over to the couch where King was sitting.
"Eh, don't worry about it. That vase was ugly anyways." Eda waved her hand which caused a small trashcan to appear out of thin air. She brushed he shards into the can with her left hand and made the can vanish. She then plopped down on one of the cushions and laid her head back.
"So did you find anything?" King inquired.
Eda turned her head to look at King. "I found a lot of stuff! Only snagged a few interesting things. The rest is just junk, but it all should be enough to impress some buyers."
"Goodie! When are you going back?" King continued.
"Hopefully never. The human world is just so lame to me; I went to this place called Las Vegas a few years back and let me just say for the record that I wasn't impressed. That's why I made sure to pack the bag full so there'll be enough to sell until ol' Owlbert gets better." Eda replied lazily.
King was about to speak again until something caught his eye. He glanced over to see something from inside the bag was poking and prodding the surface.
"Eda. Eda!" King hopped up and started to frantically slap Eda's left shoulder repeatedly.
"What is it, King?" Eda groaned.
"Something is moving in your bag!" he panicked.
Eda's head shoots up just in time to see that the sack is indeed moving. Her eyes open wide as she quickly grabbed her staff and stands up in a defensive stance.
"Stay behind me, King." Eda ordered with a sharp whisper as she pointed the owl head of her staff at the sack.
Slowly, she tiptoed on the floor to make as little sound as possible.
King watches with both nervousness as the tension grew thicker by the second. With Eda, heavy beads of sweat covered her face as her heartrate quickened.
The tip of the staff reached the opening of the sack and with a deep breath, Eda pulled back and...
...
Eda halted what would be an attack the very second she saw what was in the bag. Sitting there was a little girl... a human girl holding a teddy bear close who confusingly looked up at Eda who just stood there with her mouth agape as King, who was peeking around Eda, also froze in surprise.
Time seemed to have stopped as the eyes of Eda and the little girl connected.
After what felt like forever, King finally spoke.
"Eda...you kidnapped a child?!" he yelled in shock.
Eda blinked rapidly before she turned back to King, frustrated at the accusation.
"I didn't kidnap anyone! The little squirt must've snuck into my bag while I wasn't looking." Eda defended.
Suddenly, Hooty stretched himself into the house and loomed over Luz.
"Ohhhhh! Eda had a baby!" he rejoiced.
Eda facepalmed. "No, Hooty. I didn't. This kid's a stowaway."
Hooty understood. "Okay If it's not yours then I'll just eat it then!"
Hooty's beak opened wide as his face hovered over the little girl who was now looking up to see a huge dark mouth about to approach.
Frightened, the little girl screamed and began to cry.
"HOOTY! NO!" Eda screamed as she lunged forward and forcefully pushed Hooty away before he could clamp down on the child's head.
Hooty reeled back as he was now face-to-face with Eda who's face was red with rage.
She pointed towards the door.
"OUT! It's past your bedtime!" Eda commanded.
Like a moody teenager, Hooty rolled his eyes. "Fine!" he scoffed before sinking back into the door leaving Eda, King, and a crying child.
King covered his ears and his eyes winced as the girl's loud screams got louder.
"Eda, do something!" King pleaded.
But Eda was at a loss of what to do. Everything was happening so quick.
First she finds out that she accidentally brought a child from the human realm to the Boiling Isles, and Hooty decided that the kid would make a sufficient snack which made things worse.
Using what she knows about little kids (which wasn't much) Eda picked up the girl and held her in her ivory arms.
"Shhhh. It's okay! It's okay! Stop crying now, please." Eda spoke in what was the closest to a soothing voice she could muster which didn't work as the girl continued to wail.
"Aargh! My head!" King whined.
Eda looked around the room for more ways to calm the child until she remembered something.
Sitting the sobbing kid down on the floor, Eda erected her two index fingers and waved them in circles as small rings of light followed, creating a circle.
Out of nowhere, balls emitting bright lights appeared in thin air and slowly drifted around like bubbles.
The girl's tear-soaked eyes opened halfway when she finally notice the light orbs.
Slowly, her cries calmed until finally stopping as the balls of light seemed to catch her attention. Her red eyes marveled at the orbs as she attempted to grab any that came close to reach.
Relieved, Eda reached down and picked up the little girl and once again held her in her arms.
"That's better." Eda said, satisfied.
"I agree." King added "But what are we gonna do about...that?"
That's when Eda remembered what had just happened which completely slipped her mind thanks to Hooty.
"I really don't know." she replied while looking down at the toddler.
"I guess just go bring it back to the human realm. Drop it off wherever you got it from." King suggested.
"But that's the thing; I don't know where this one came from. I've been to so many places tonight and I'm not just gonna leave a little kid alone on a sidewalk!" said Eda.
King pondered for a second. "Did you go into any houses?"
Eda shook her head. "No. I did my searching outside. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to any houses along the way."
King tapped his chin as he thought some more.
"You could always drop it off at an orphanage. Or a random house near your last stop!"
Eda raised an eyebrow as she pursed her lips.
"An orphanage? What if the kid has a family? And if I do drop it off at a house, how would I know it's the right one?"
King was about to speak again until he stopped and just looked at Eda.
"Huh. My ideas have a lot of flaws in them." he said.
"Nothing new." Eda snarked.
Suddenly, King got another bright idea. "Hey, why don't you just go back to the last stop you took and actually look into nearby house. Just find humans who looks like one and boom! They have their kid back."
Eda was about to protest until she thought about it herself.
"You know what? That's actually the best plan you've ever had."
King smiled at the compliment until he thought about Eda's words again.
"Hey! I had good ideas before." he pouted.
Eda grinned after witnessing the kid smacking a ball of light away with one of her pudgy hands only for her smile to shrink into a frown.
"The only issue is that Owlbert might not be up for another trip tonight. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to return, especially at night so I won't be seen." she explained.
King tilted his head aside like a curious dog.
"So...what about tonight? With the kid, I mean." the demon asked.
Eda glanced down again to see that the kid's focus has changed from the light spells to the oval gem on the front of her dress where her little fingers was picking at it.
"As you know, the Boiling Isles isn't too fond of humans. If I were to leave this one in town, she would either be made into a soup, or worse." Eda said grimly.
King gulped. "Yeah. Best to not do that." he agreed.
Eda continued to search her mind for a solution despite one already lingering in her head. Eventually, it won out.
"It's settled. The kid stays with us for tonight." she revealed.
"Sleepover!" King sang with a wag of his tail.
"Hey, you." Eda called gently to the kid who looked up at her.
"Wanna stay the night?" she asked the toddler who instead of answering with words, eyed Eda's pointy ears and quickly grabbed them and started to pull.
"Oh! Ears! Ears!" Eda said over and over as King laughed while the little girl continued to pull on Eda's pointy ears.
A few minutes later, Eda carried the kid into her bedroom which was where the giant stain-glass window was at. The room itself was quite a mess with a giant nest in the middle.
"Since you're a guest, you get to bunk with me! Which is good since if you were to of stayed with King on the couch, he would've probably kicked you off."
Truthfully, Eda didn't like the idea of sharing her room, even her bed, with anyone. But this is a little kid so she could make an exception.
After all, this is just for one night.
Eda stepped into the large nest as the straw crunched under her boots. She was about to sit until she realized that a laying in a nest might not be best for a human child. The risk of getting constantly poked is high which is something that Eda's used to. A kid on the other hand...
Eda looked over her piles of junk and found a thick blanket that was clean (well, clean enough).
"You're getting the special treatment, kid. Make sure to give me a good review after you leave." Eda joked.
The girl, even if she had no idea what Eda was talking about, smiled only to yawn and rub its eyes after.
"Tired? Me too." Eda replied.
She quickly laid the blanket out on the nest and put the little girl on it who immediately fell to her side in an attempt to fall asleep.
Eda chuckled before laying down herself and was ready to go to sleep herself until she heard the little child whine.
Looking over, Eda saw the kid staring at her with big tired eyes.
"What?" Eda asked.
The little girl replied by reaching out towards Eda which didn't take long for the her to realize what the tike wanted.
Eda grabbed the child by the sides and set it on her chest.
The kid's head nuzzled close to Eda's body as it's eyes fluttered before closing. Eda then heard the faint sound of the kid's soft breathing.
She gently caressed the toddler's soft head of dark brown hair with one hand at the other rested on the its body.
"Just one night..." Eda told herself while staring up at the ceiling before falling asleep herself.
Smack
Camila woke up to the suffocating feeling of her dry tongue poking the insides of her even dryer mouth.
She weakly propped herself up with her arms before fully sitting up. Her vision of blurry from how she was sleeping but it came back quick when she saw that Luz was no longer in her sight.
Glancing at the clock, Camila saw that she has been asleep for about two hours since she got home. Thankfully, she's due to arrive at work ten in the morning instead of five this time which gives her some extra hours of sleep.
Now she had to look for her daughter. God knows where she could be doing right now, hopefully she isn't stuffing toys down the toilet or making "Snow Angles" out of flour in the kitchen.
Camila forced her tired body up where her back cracked with every movement. A trip to the chiropractor is well needed.
"Alright, Luz. Where did you-"
Camila stopped as she turned and noticed the front door open. Her eyes widened as panic filled her.
"No! NONONO!" Camila hurried to the open door and ran outside only to not see her daughter anywhere.
"Luz?" she called worriedly
The mother ran towards the sidewalk and looked both ways only to find nothing yet again.
"LUZ?!"
Merry Christmas!
That's the end of the first chapter. And as some of you might've noticed, I changed the original way as to how Eda met Luz as stated in the concept story. Other things might change too.
I don't think I need to explain this, but just in case if I do; I gave Luz pronouns like "They" and "It" is because other than Eda not knowing Luz's name, she also doesn't know her gender... yet. I was basically doing it in Eda's P.O.V in a way.
I also have an announcement about my other story called "The Raven House (Mentor Swap AU)". The thing is, I'm not sure when or if I'm going to work on it. For starters, it's literally regular Owl House but if Eda and Lilith switched places. But that doesn't mean it's cancelled, it just isn't top priority for me. If I do manage to get around it, it'll mostly be in the form of one-shots showing Lilith & Luz's relationship.
Besides, I have a major Owl House story in the works that I'm looking forward to publishing one day and Raven House would've most likely of got in the way. Don't get crazy though, the first chapter's not even completed and I want to get some others done before I post the first. Being optimistic, I'd say the first chapter should come out around late 2021, but that's not guaranteed.
Anyways, keep a look out for chapter two!
