Luz saw nothing but darkness. It scared her. It felt cold, and she felt like something was following her. Then she saw a green light, and started to follow it.

Luz ran towards the green light and stopped. She froze and covered her mouth with a gasp at what she saw.

Eda, in her owl beast form, was turned to stone.

Luz felt like throwing up. This didn't make sense. She saved Eda from being petrified, so why was she…?

Several voices interrupted her train of thought.

"It's your fault. You couldn't save her."

"Eda is dead because of YOU."

The voices sounded like a combination of her friends and family's voices. Luz was close to crying.

"No…no, I…"

"Maybe if you were good enough, Eda would still be alive."

"This little 'family' you think you made? It's a fantasy."

Before Luz's eyes, Eda's petrified form crumbled and turned to dust.

Your fault your fault your fault your fault your fault-

Luz woke with a gasp. She looked around, and saw that she was back in her room in the Owl House.

Her vision started to blur with tears. It was a dream, but it felt so real. Her heart was pounding, and it was starting to get hard to breathe. It felt like she was suffocating.

Suddenly Luz felt something touch her, and she flinched, instinctually shoving whatever touched her back. She scrambled back until she was against a wall. Then she curled into herself, closing her eyes. Anything to protect herself from the silhouetted figure before her. Breathing really hurt now. Her head started to hurt, and her body started to feel numb.

"Luz!" The voice sounded familiar, but the ringing in her ears made it difficult to place.

"Hey hey hey, it's okay." Luz could sense the person coming closer.

Then she felt strong hands on her arms. She tried to wiggle away, but she was stuck. "No no, don't fight me…" she felt the hands go to her shoulders. "Luz, look at me. It's me, it's Eda. You need to breathe." The voice gently commanded.

Luz didn't want to look. "N-no, y-y-you're not, she's-"

"Please, Luz, open your eyes?" The voice was starting to sound worried.

Luz opened her eyes and started to look up. The person held her face with their hands and forced her to look at them. "Look at me. Look into my eyes."

Her vision was still blurred, but she saw one gold eye and one grey eye. She only knew one person with those color eyes. "E-E-Eda?" She choked out.

"Yes, that's right, it's me, kiddo." Eda sounded relieved. But Luz was still shaken up. She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks as her breathing started to quicken again as she tried to talk.

"I'm so sorry, I-" she coughed harshly.

Eda brought Luz into her arms. "Shh, no no no, don't do that, don't talk, you'll make it worse." She pressed Luz's head to her chest where she could hear a faint heartbeat. "Hear that? Focus on me, okay? Just listen to me. Listen to my voice. You're gonna be okay. I'm here."

Luz nodded weakly, feeling Eda bring her closer.

"I need you to breathe, okay? Now just inhale through your nose slowly for 6 seconds," Luz took a breath. "Good, now just exhale through your mouth for 7 seconds." She let it out. "That's it, there we go. Let's do that again." She felt Eda's hand come up to ruffle her hair.

Luz gradually regained her senses, but then the memory of the nightmare wormed its way back into her head. Her breathing began to quicken again.

"Luz, no! Stay with me, kid. Stay with me." Eda's voice urges. Her hold on Luz tightened. "I'm not gonna let go, everything's going to be fine. Just breathe with me. In and out. In, and out." Luz followed the instructions. "That's it, you're doing great."

The feeling of Eda's embrace and the sound of her voice was enough to ground the girl. For now, the nightmare was pushed to the back of her head. Luz felt safe in Eda's arms, knew she could protect her, magic or no magic. She began to relax as she focused on her mentor's heartbeat, a reminder that Eda was alive and well. Her vision started to clear, and Luz finally used her strength to look up at the woman holding her.

"Eda?" Luz croaked.

"Yup, it's me, kid." Eda said, sounding relieved. She gently held Luz back, keeping her hands on her shoulders. "You really gave me a scare. Looked like you were about to pass out." She brushed some hair out of her eyes. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

Luz's eyes widened. "The nightmare, it was, um…you were stone, in your cursed form. I…I saw you turn to dust!" She tried hard not to cry. "I'm so sorry…" she failed, throwing herself around Eda as she cried.

"I'm okay, kiddo! Come on, don't fall apart on me again…" Eda half-joked, rubbing circles on the girl's back. She sounded close to crying too.

"It's my fault you were captured, my fault you were about to get petrified, if I hadn't been so stupid and wandered off…" Luz started rambling, but Eda cut her off, taking her face in her hands.

" No . You listen to me. Don't you dare blame yourself for that. None of that is your fault, you hear me? I don't want to hear you say that about yourself, and if anyone tries to convince you otherwise, you can bet I'll make them pay." Eda insists. "And before you say so, I don't blame you and I never will."

Luz took a deep breath. "Okay. You're right." Eda used her thumb to brush away Luz's tears.

"You'll always have me, okay? I'm here for you."

"Mm-hm." Luz started to feel drowsy again. She looked to Eda. "Stay?"

Eda looked a little surprised, but smiled. "Sure. I'll be right beside you if you need me."

"Thank you, Eda. I love you so much."

"…I love you too, Luz."