"Luz." the name echoed through its owner's mind as it was pulled from the depths of slumber "Luuuuz."
"Ugh, five more minutes..." Luz muttered out, tossing and turning a few times before slowly forcing her eyes open, to meet another pair fully encompassing her vision. "AHHH-" the human started screaming only to quickly notice the rest of the face in front of her and recognize it "Wait, Lilith!?"
Indeed standing over her bed was the former head of the Emperor's Coven, but even more surprisingly were the tears filling the corners of the older Witch's eyes. "Oh Luz," Lilith sobbed out, two thin streams of tears running down her cheeks, "I'm so sorry."
Luz sleepily glanced about the room in confusion, it was pitch black with the sole exception of a candle Lilith was holding that lit up the Witch's face, before finally half-registering what had been said. "What are you talking about? What-" the human paused her questioning to let out a yawn "What time is it even?"
"Just after midnight, but that's not important!" Lilith quickly explained and, as much as Luz wanted to argue the validity of her statement, the former Coven Head changed the subject "Luz… I dropped you off a bridge above a pit of spikes!"
"You did?" the human in question asked, due to still being half asleep alongside the fact that said event had happened over a week ago and by this point, Luz was worryingly used to her life being put in grave danger, but soon she recalled and mumbled out "Oh yeah, you did."
"I mean what was I thinking!?" Lilith continued to ramble on "It's already bad enough that I was trying to force Edalyn to join the Emperor's Coven all for a cure that never existed, but you're just a child and I tossed you around like a rag doll without a care if you got hurt or not!" she froze up and fell silent as she realized something "Y- you didn't get hurt… right?"
Luz sleepily concentrated on her hazy memories of the day, trying to recall if any of the injuries she sustained were Lilith's doing, before giving a defeated shrug as she admitted "I don't remember."
Letting out a horrified gasp, Lilith cupped her hands over her mouth before whispering out "…oh my Titan, she's already repressing it."
"Right…" Luz muttered, stretching out and pulling her blankets back over herself, "Why don't we continue in the morning?" the human suggested letting out a yawn as she finished with "It's not that important."
"But it is important!" the distressed Witch cried out as she pulled Luz back out of the blankets "If- if Eda hadn't caught you- If her magic had drained just a bit faster-" Lilith choked on her words as she sobbed out "Oh Luz! I'm so sorry!"
Before she even could respond, Luz found herself pulled into a tight hug by Lilith; which would have been somewhat nice, if not for the vice-like grip the elder Clawthorne sister showcased, much to the dismay of Luz's spine.
Fortunately, Lilith soon let go (diminishing some of Luz's future back problems) to throw her arms up and dramatically cry out "Oh I can't even begin to list the ways I'll try to make amends."
Luz felt a blossom of hope at Lilith possibly leaving begin to form, only for it to be quickly dashed away as Lilith pulled out a quill and a piece of paper.
"But I will try!" the Witch eagerly declared, breaking into deranged writing as Luz rolled over and pulled her pillow atop her head.
The next morning, despite her wishes, Luz found herself waking up just after the crack of dawn and, despite her many many attempts, she couldn't force herself back to sleep.
Luz stumbled into the kitchen, bumping into the walls a worrying amount of times along the way, where Eda and King waited.
"Wow, you look terrible!" King noted with a laugh which quickly trailed off as the physically and mentally spent human shot the demon a glare that quite clearly said she wasn't in the mood.
"Let me guess, Lilly apologized to you last night?" Eda asked before taking a sip of her Apple Blood, already knowing the answer.
"For. Five. Hours." Luz's monotone punctuated every word as she aimlessly stared into the distance.
Eda gave an impressed nod "Wow, she has gone on for that long since she accidentally misgendered Raine." the Owl Lady noted.
"Who?" Luz questioned, a microscopic hint of interest managing to break a small crack in her exhaustion.
"Not important," Eda bluntly replied, sending Luz instantly back to her near-asleep state, "especially since I'm pretty sure she only did that in her head." the shocking more mentally stable Clawthorne sister pondered out loud.
"Is she like this every time she feels bad about something?" Luz questioned.
"Why do you think I haven't been so hard on her about the curse?" Eda rhetorically asked with a chuckle "Lilly's beating herself up about the whole thing worse than I could ever hope to do."
Right on cue, Lilith entered the kitchen looking quite well-rested in spite of her late-night task, much to Luz's annoyance.
Not that the human had the energy to make said annoyance known outside of a low grumble.
Lilith opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted as she felt a slight jolt from King tackle hugging the helm of her dress "Just so you know, as the King of Demons I officially pardon you of all crimes against me." the tiny Demon uncharacteristically politely stated, before quickly finishing with "Soyoudon'tneedtoaplogize!"
"Ooookay?" the former Coven Head said as she gently pried King off her "How did everyone sleep last night?" she asked without a single trace of sarcasm or irony "I for one slept incredibly after lifting a great weight off my conscience."
Eda rolled her eyes and scoffed at her sister's lacking self-awareness "I wouldn't cheer too soon Lilly." she mumbled into her mug before taking another swig of Apple Blood.
"What was that Edalyn?" Lilith shot a glare at her little sister, who whistled innocently, "You shouldn't mumbled, it's rude."
"And you say I never grew up, what's next going tell on me to Mom?" Eda sarcastically suggested with a wily grin on her face, which only grew as Lilith's bubbling anger did.
The elder Clawthorne resisted the urge to argue with her sister, a task that proved quite difficult for her, and let out a sigh and turned towards Luz "How did you sleep Lu-"
Lilith's question was cut off as Luz fell forward, with a loud thud ringing through the house as she hit the floor, leaving the group to stare at the unconscious human in shock.
"…is she okay?" Lilith finally questioned as King poked Luz's limp arm with slight concern on his face.
Eda thought deeply on whether or not she should answer honestly, knowing exactly how her sister was going to react. "Lilly, you kept her up until basically the crack of dawn." the younger Clawthorne bluntly stated "What do you think?"
Lilith stared blankly for a few moments, processing the information, before a horrified expression ran across her face "Oh my Titan! Luz, I'm so sorry!"