"Well, this is something I definitely didn't expect to come back to." Lilith chuckled, while Hooty twisted out of the little wooden house strapped down to her back, and the Collector hovered down on his glowing star - it materialized into thin air once he bounced off.
"HOOT HOOT, HI LUZ!" Hooty yelled, smiling widely.
The Collector gave a shy wave. "Hey, Luz."
Luz gave a weak titter and shook her head. "Hello, Hooty." she acknowledged. "Hey, Collector."
Lilith had pulled in not too long after the earthquakes had stopped, and she was visibly panicked - yet somehow strangely interested in the fact that the blast radius by just one compacted spell had expanded so far out. She analyzed the walls of the school, as students began to flood it; cramming the hallways and any breathing space in the classrooms. The constant chatter of kids and staff, murmurs about Luz's new form and abilities.
"Woah..." Boscha whispered, standing next to Amity, who yelped - her leg swinging upwards in an arc from the sudden voice.
"Boscha! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Amity yelled, setting her let back down, gasping for the post air in her lungs.
Boscha pulled up her hands in surrender. "Sorry, sorry. I was just curious." She said lightly, pulling herself a few steps back and her foot dragged a little. Wait, did Boscha really just...apologize?Amity thought.
"Did you just—" Amity started.
"Yes! Now take it because you're not getting it ever again!" Boscha tested, glaring at her.
Boscha pulled down the grudgeby ball in her offhand and tucked it under her armpit. She looked away for a moment, almost in denial, but not wanting to admit it. She wasn't the nicest person back then, and even now she was still a little sharp and edgy towards the group. But it was evident she wanted to make amends - Amity knew that ever since she helped take down Kikimora. Amity obviously didn't forget that Hexide even managed to let the Empire loyalist in the school in the first place, but Kikimora was always on a slippery slope when it came to picking sides.
She sighed deeply again, closing her eyes tightly before her shoulders slowly unwound. "Okay, let me start over," She mumbled softly.
There was a pause between the two, while Luz, Eda, Lilith, and Camila (Not to mention Hooty) were all chatting with each other about Luz's magical feat.
"I'm sorry." Boscha paused. "I know I wasn't the most, approachable back in my headspace." Her gaze met Amity's. "But I'm trying. I mean hard, to better myself. To start over... after all of—this." She gestured to all of the destruction around the school, and to the far distance. Spotting a star stuck in one of the leg bones of the dead Titan, before her head swiveled back to Amity. "I want to help."
Amity was completely baffled, her mouth couldn't form words, and her vocal cords were frozen. "You—you're serious?" Amity blinked, feeling a small knot of guilt puncture her stomach.
"Yeah," Boscha replied dryly. "Why? Do you not believe that I'm actually trying to make amends?"
"No no no, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just I'm surprised. That's all." Amity surrendered.
There was a pause.
Amity was hesitant but was able to muster up the courage to speak the sentence she was scared to share. "How can I trust you?"
"Because I've been helping everyone at Hexide, after everything. I've put in the effort to make it up to you. Whether you accept my amends, or not." she let out a huff through her nose. "I just want us not to be enemies anymore."
After Boscha finished, Amity could only feel compassion for her guts. She knew the looks that only her young best friend would give. Not the corrupt, egotistic attitude she'd grown into all those years ago.
The side of her friend that would always laugh at her stupid jokes, and support her decisions. Amity felt her body move on it's own, and her arms reached out - and she hugged her friend.
Boscha gasped, and her arms were up in the air, stiff and frozen as the rest of her body. But soon relaxed, hearing the sound of her friend as well.
"I missed you, Bosh." Amity whispered, and wrapped her arms around Boscha, who felt her arms slowly come to mind; hugging back as well. Feeling warmth fill her empty heart.
She finally had her friend back. She really did. They both did.
"I guess I— I did too," Boscha replied, feeling her shoulders slowly relax.
After everyone had settled down for the night, Luz decided to clock out after all of what had happened, feeling like there might have been something else at play. She was stumped but wouldn't let it linger and get stuck in the corner of her mind for all eternity.
"You heading to bed already?" Eda raised an eyebrow, feeling slightly suspicious.
Luz felt a spike of pain hit her head, and she nodded vigorously, clenching her fists and eyes shut for the moment as it soon settled down. What the Titan was going on with her all of a sudden? She thought, only for Camila, (who was bunking in the spare bedroom) to come over; and give a small kiss on Luz's forehead.
"Buenos noches, Luz." Camila's kiss made Luz melt. It was like a small speck of light in the infinitely dark tunnel. Like she was no longer falling.
"Na-night Mamá," Luz whispered back, and slowly pulled away, the cold returned. And she closed her eyes for a moment as she stopped at the threshold of her bedroom door.
Luz slowly pulled herself into bed, scratching her horns that she forgot were even there forever, and set down her hat on the end table beside her. Allowing herself to finally doze off into the world of dreams and nightmares.
Her eyes slowly opened at the sound of her blaring alarm clock, and she groaned, massaging her eyes with her hands. Her eyes finally snapped open, and she could smell the yummy food she was ready to dive in for day two - and she could hear everyone at the table chatting and laughing.
Luz reached for her hat, but it wasn't...there?
She turned her head to meet with an empty end table, minus the Tamagotchi that had a few emojis from Amity saying good night. "Huh..." She mumbled to herself. "That's...weird." She shook her head, and let in a big breath of air, her lungs filled with the crisp Boiling Isles air, and she headed out downstairs.
"Hey, morning! Whatcha cooking Ed...a?" Luz slowed her happy joy joy morning prance down the stairs and looked at the somehow desolate Owl House. It was so suddenly quiet, that she could hear the morning howlers outside, chirping away in the distance. She went into the dining room.
Nobody was there.
She checked the living room.
Nobody was there.
There wasn't a single... soul in the house.
Luz's breathing sped up tenfold, and she sprinted to the spare bedroom. "Mom?" She yelled, her voice echoing through the hollow room.
Mom was gone too.
Her heart was throbbing in her ears again, and she felt small tears beginning to well up in her eyes. What happened to them? What was going on in the flurry of confusion? She frantically thought of her own introspection. The panic she was feeling...
...the feeling of abandonment.
It was as if it wasn't her own.
She was just falling again.
Down...down...down...down...
And then it just stopped again, and she slowly picked up her head again, being met with just...
...void.
"What the hell is going on?" She cursed under her breath, turning and looking around. She couldn't see any color, it was as if she had dropped to the end of the world. Like space, but more eerie.
Luz didn't have a single moment to herself, and she heard the faint voice, almost sounding like herself— but more distorted...inhuman. She didn't know what the being had been saying, but she turned her back round to be met with a pitch black mist in the darkness; somehow standing out from the background even if it was the exact shade of black. Three, bright white eyes stared back at her, not moving as black particles, almost like ash rippled off the indescribable figure. The only feature she could recognize, was a pair of long... horns, protruding from the mist. As it was the only thing that kept shape as it twisted and contorted. "Who...who are you?" She questioned the dark mist.
It spoke up, so far away it was nearly inaudible; but so close it sounded as if it was right next to her.
"Oh well hello, Mrs. Noceda."