Luz yelped, and stumbled back, tripping over her own feet in a thunderous panic. The shadowy figure came into view, and the mist swished into a sort of projective form, looking like her titan form; but more…… ancient.
"Oh, I'm quite sorry for the scare." It apologized, its voice having a sort of accent Luz didn't recognize. Maybe something in between the lines of British and an Aussie accent?
"Who are you?" Luz demanded, as she was just realizing this had to have been some sort of illusion. Or maybe a nightmare?
"I wouldn't worry too much about that." It dismissed, pulling its hands behind its back, and stepped forward. The dark swirls turned into ash, glittering on the being that felt to mirror Luz's titan form.
"I asked a question," Luz said dryly but was determined to keep her foot down with the entity."Who. Are. You."
It narrowed its deep purple and silvery gold eyes at Luz. "I'm merely you." It chuckled and began to pace around with a grin. Warping in and out of reality - as if it could never stay stationary, it needed to keep moving in order to make Luz scared. Like it was feeding purely from it. It was menacing the way it thought. It was practically playing her into its hands. And Luz knew that whatever that thing was, didn't actually look like herself - as she knew it must've been some cloaking mechanism to hide its true features.
But its accent was a dead giveaway of not being of Boiling Isles or Human origin.
"Hm? Well," It pulled its arms back, its long strides circling around the endless black void. "I am everything you could be, Mrs Noceda." It supplied, waiting for the smallest gasp given by Luz, but she didn't give in.
There was a momentary pause, the only sound being of the rushing breathing of Luz's chest. The constant and consistent rising and falling, with the occasional gasp for air when the oxygen started to get a little tight.
Luz shook her head in denial, tripping over her foot as she took a step back. "W—what the hell does that even mean?" her arms twitched a little.
It continued to plaster its grin and took another step forward. Luz could smell the indescribably scents of ash pits, and magic practically radiating off the being. "It means, that I've been here. In this little nook of your mind since the dawn of time." It poked her head with its long claw. "I've watched your failures, victories, your little hopes and dreams that scurried rent-free in your mind, the illusive feelings..." The being drew out the last supporting detail as if making sure Luz caught the hint. Whatever was in her head, (Or even a part of it) could read herself like a book. So she couldn't try and escape— since it would already know how and when to counter.
Luz felt her flurry of emotions connect, almost as if it had become a straight line - littered with points on a timeline. It was all starting to come together. "You... you're one the one who—"
"Created your nightmare?" It chuckled, speaking over her. "Yeah, I was behind that too."
That too? Luz pondered to herself. "You were behind... more?"
"Yeah..." It giggled, "...I'm surprised you figured that out. Genuinely." It said honestly and began to circle again. Like a predator.
Luz looked away for a moment, and her eyes lingered on her human self. She liked being human, as that was what she was born to be... but being a Titan (Or hybrid of one) was also the most exciting thing that ever happened. "I want to ask a question." She looked up, hesitantly.
It perked up. "And what is your query Mrs Noced—"
"It's Luz." she interrupted.
It gave a small and understanding nod, and mimicked her standing posture; it folded its arms in, and even leaned to the side, shifting its little weight. "Luz." It corrected itself. "So what do you want to talk about?"
Meanwhile…..
Amity who was panicking: "Why is she not waking up?" she looked to Gus and Eda.
Gus raised an eyebrow: "I-I don't know! Was she like this before or—"
Camila, who was pacing around Luz's bed: "She was fine!" She interrupted. "She just seemed a little tired from casting that spell."
Gus, who raised an eyebrow in concern: "How tired? Maybe she was just having a burnout from the cast?"
Eda, who was walking around the room as well, pondering: "That's not normal for someone like Luz. She tougher than that."
Camila nodded in agreement: "Before she went to bed, she looked like she was having a migraine, like what I have."
Willow turned to Camila, confused: "What's a migraine?"
She shook her head, rubbing her temples: "It's like a week-long headache. It's not fun."
"That's weird," Eda observed.
Lilith ran into the room, making the group quickly disperse. She leaned over Luz's bed, and she noticed right away that she was twitching and writhing in her sleep, but not waking up. "Everyone just shush!" she ordered, throwing her hands out, and everyone silenced.
Hooty was going nuts downstairs, as the team could hear the door swinging so violently that Willow thought the hinges were going to come off.
"Hootsifer!" Lilith yelled from the bedroom, and it echoed throughout the house.
"IS LUZ OKAY?!" Hooty screamed from the landing.
"She's fine! Take a chill pill will you!" Camila growled, and Hooty became quiet, only for his small squawk - it sounded like a deflated HOOT.
Lilith and Eda quickly pulled back their attention to Luz, watching her sudden flinches. That was when Eda and Lilth got the same groundbreaking theory; backing up in unison.
"She's lucid dreaming," Lilith said, her voice running cold.
Camila looked from Lilith, and ran over to Luz, shaking her violently, but she only quivered in Camila's arms. "Wake up honey! Luz!"
Lilith quickly took a step in and gently pulled her to the side. That was when Eda stepped in. "She's not just lucid dreaming, because she would be awake by now." Her tone turned grave, and she turned back to the team. "She's having a lucid nightmare."
"A lucid nightmare? What—" Amity paused.
"It's something I know. It's like a normal nightmare, yes. But it's something that follows you," Eda paused, looking at Luz with nostalgic eyes of her own memories. "It's hard to escape something like this at such a young age."
"So then what do we do?" Willow crossed her arms, staying a distance away from the tension building up in the room.
"We wait," Lilith replied, sitting down on the small couch.
Five minutes passed.
... then ten...
...almost fifteen.
Everyone was now on edge, waiting for the young girl to wake up.
Waiting for their friend to wake up.
Amity sighed deeply and looked away from Luz, whose sheets were thrown off the bed. "How long is—"
The room went silent, and in a quick jolt, Luz woke up. She frantically looked around, spitting blabbers and words that were a jumble of franticness and fear. She was looking around for any exit, and her mind was running as fast as Harpy Eda.
"LUZ?" Everyone had a collective gasp, and Luz's head whipped back to meet her friends; her arms shaking and trembling as she attempted to get out of her bed.
Amity quickly ran to her side, holding her shoulders and strong body in place. Almost colliding with her long horns that protruded from her head. "Luz, hey hey...relax." She comforted her, pulling her close to make sure she wouldn't do anything stupid.
"What...where— how am I here?" Luz began to calm down a little bit, but her hands and legs were still twitching like crazy, her body was vibrating with adrenaline and paranoia.
"What do you mean, Luz?" Camila asked slowly and softly, pulling herself to sit on the side of the bed.
"The place the—the..." Luz stumbled on her words.
"Hey...look at me." Amity swiveled her body to Luz's gaze. And their eyes connected. "You're okay, you're awake."
Luz blinked for a moment, and was able to collect her thoughts after everything - and took a deep breath of revelation, her eyes closing; realigning with Amity. She slowly got up and grabbed her hat that was still on the end table, putting it back on as she looked at Stringbean (Who was still in staff form). Thank god she wasn't able to see me like that. She thought her herself.
She peered at everyone's intense gaze, and her shoulders finally relaxed as she spoke, grabbing her staff. "I know how to make the cure."