Hello and welcome! This chapter marks the beginning of the end for this book, since we are entering the final stages of this arc. I'd like to thank you all for your support and remind you that after the book is done I'll take a long hiatus before posting anything else.
Being honest with you guys I've considered starting the hiatus earlier. I've been stuck in a loophole of lack of motivation to write this story for a while now and I think that the past chapters are starting to reflect that. It goes a little bit like this: I'd start wanting to write about something else but then I remember that I need to finish this story before doing anything else (bc knowing myself I won't finish either project if I don't focus in one thing), then I end up kinda forcing myself to write, and my lack of motivation affects the quality, I consider temporarily quitting the story but then I remember at how close I am from finishing the book so I just press on anyway.
I've been thinking of starting a lot of writing projects these last few months but I want to at least finish this book/fic before I do any of these. I have the general ideas but nothing written, and I wanted to share the ideas to see if any of you would be interested:
-TOH season 2 rewrite
-Amphibia s3 rewrite (And maybe my own s4)
-Naruto pokemon AU
-Arcane AU
-Original fantasy novel
Let me hear what you think of those ideas!
-Gus-
Cliffside highschool, eastern Gravesfield / Tuesday December 5th, 14:00 hrs
Gus knew that he could be really self-centered.
He always tended to be so engrossed by his hobbies that he barely paid attention to people, and it was a flaw that had cost him in the past. Because of that, he tried to be better and keep in touch with his friends, look after their needs, ask them if they needed something from time to time, stuff like that. He was proud to say that he was getting better at that front (or at least he was trying to) so usually he could recognize when something was wrong with his friends, which was his current predicament.
The person in front of him wasn't Luz.
Or well, he was certain that she was her, or at least she looked a lot like her: Brunette hair, tanned skin, lean complexion, long legs, brown eyes, military jacket, red beanie, ripped jeans, and everything. The problem was that she did not behave like Luz: She was missing her overly energetic rambling, the excited gleam on her eyes, her bouncing steps, the eagerness on her tone, and her wandering hands. It was like having a Luz without the Luz.
This girl had tired eyes, like she didn't manage to get a good sleep last night. She also was slow, like if she just came back from running a marathon all the time, which was a huge contrast from her seemingly endless energy. She never seemed to be in the mood for anything and went straight back home once classes ended. It felt like such a different person that he was considering reopening his case about shape-shifting lizards and investigating if his friend hadn't actually been replaced by a doppelganger.
"...Hey Gus, earth to Gus?" 'Luz' tugged his sleeve and ended his inner rambling "There you are, I've been trying to get your attention for a while"
"Oh, sorry. What do you need?"
"Are you gonna eat that?" She pointed to the remains of his lunch on his plate.
Gus blinked. Another thing about this Luz was that she was hungry all the time, even more than usual, which only made the shape shifting lizard theory seem even more plausible.
"Uhh, sure! There you go!" He passed her his plate and she devoured it quickly "Man you are starving today, has Eda been feeding you lately?"
"Ywess but yiss ish sho good!" She answered with her mouth full.
"Well at least that feels like her usual self"
"Luz! Swallow before speaking!" Willow reprimanded her.
"Sorwy"
At that time Boscha passed near their table and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"Ewww, you have the table manners of a squirrel Noceda. I'd expect stuff like this from a kindergartner"
Gus braced himself. Ever since their fight Bump had made Boscha promise to leave her alone, and it worked to an extent. She had stopped trying to chase Luz to beat her up, but apparently this new truce didn't include insults; Every time the two of them got near they started to practically hiss at each other. Boscha would throw jabs at everything she could find: She mocked Luz's clothes, her 'lack of style', her mannerisms, and pretty much everything about her personality.
Luz usually managed to shut her up by asking if she wanted a rematch, but that only managed to raise the tension. Everyone knew that this was a short-term solution, eventually they were going to exchange blows again.
However, this time things were different. Luz didn't respond in any way to her, she just finished eating and remained silent. It was so weird that even Boscha had a look of shock in her face before grunting and walking along.
"Luz, what was that?" Gus asked "You never let Boscha tell you whatever she wants"
"It's not like I can change anything about it" She shrugged her shoulders "She can't do anything to me because of Bump, but if I provoke her and we end up fighting I will be the one in detention. I've learned to just let it go, she's all bark and no bite after all"
Gus looked at her increadusly. That was a fair and reasonable point but that didn't sound like Luz at all. The Luz she knew would never let someone talk to her like that, it was about principles and not practicality.
"Ok, I am actually starting to get scared" The shape-shifting lizard theory became more probable every second.
Willow, who had been eyeing their friend silently for the past minutes, casually bumped her elbow against Luz's cup of water, which made it fall. The cup was made out of plastic so it didn't break, but Luz's leg ended up drenched.
"Ow, man!" She complained. It seemed that she didn't see Willow do it.
"You should go dry yourself" She commented.
Their friend nodded and got up. As soon as she left Gus turned towards Willow with an inquisitive look.
"Hey, I saw that. Why did you do it?" He asked.
"No reflexes" It felt as if she wasn't answering him, but rather making an offhand comment "She should've been able to catch that"
"Huh? Willow?" He tapped her shoulder.
"Huh- oh- nothing Gus. The period is about to start, come on let's go to class"
With that she got up from her seat and left him there. He wanted to argue but the bell rang at that exact moment, signaling that yes, the period did just start and they did not have time to talk.
"What is happening with them?"
Several hours later
The rest of the day wasn't easy for him either. He was so worried about Luz's recent changes that he couldn't focus in class and the teacher scolded him. When classes ended he grabbed his stuff and exited school alongside his two friends, all the time casting worried glances at Luz.
"Hey, don't you have to go to your gaming group Gus" Willow asked.
"Nah, I wasn't feeling like it" He really wanted to find out what was wrong with her, he wouldn't be able to concentrate on game night if he spent another hour not knowing what was going on "Besides, I like to hang out with you guys"
"Actually, I'm not feeling too well" Luz said "Sorry guys but I'm going to have to pass on this"
"Are you alright?" He inquired for the eleventh time.
"Yeah, It's that I haven't been able to sleep well lately, don't worry"
"Do you want us to stick around until Eda comes to get you?" She didn't look like she could walk home.
"Actually Eda has something to do today and can't take me, I'll just take the bus" She pointed to a bus stop that was near them "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. You guys go have fun"
"Are you really sure you don't want us to accompany you 'till the bus comes? You look like I could knock you over by blowing slightly in your direction" Willow was just mostly exaggerating, she really was in a poor state.
"I said I'm fine!" Luz snapped back at them with just a bit too much force. They recoiled and she softened her expression "Oh I'm- I'm sorry you guys, I shouldn't have screamed. The truth is that I have a lot going on right now, and I'm not in the best mood to socialize, so sorry if I overstepped there"
"Do you… want to talk about it?" Willow tentatively reached for her hand and she allowed it.
"Honestly I don't think I'm ready to. Sorry guys, it's just that this is something personal" She offered them a small smile.
"It's ok, we all need our privacy from time to time" Gus grabbed her shoulder as a sign of support "Just remember that we are here for you whenever you feel like talking"
Willow nodded and Luz sniffed some tears. Before he knew what was going on he got pulled into a bone-crushing hug with his two friends.
"Ow…"
"Thanks guys! You are awesome" She smiled like she did before, full of joy and warmth "I will def tell you all about this when I get it all sorted out, but for now I really should go rest"
They assured her one more time she could count on them and parted ways. As he and Willow left Gus kept stealing glances towards his friend, even though she seemed fine in the bus stop he couldn't stop worrying.
"Soooo, what are we gonna do? You know that she wasn't being honest with us, right Willow?... Willow?"
His other friend had stopped walking and was looking at the ground. Her eyes were filled with doubts and distant thoughts, she seemed to be focused on something else.
"Sorry Gus but I gotta go as well, there's something I need to do" With that, she turned around and started walking away.
"What is happening?"
"Oh no, none of that" He ran to catch up with her "You are not going to do this to me too. I don't know what's going on between you two but whatever is happening to you it's connected with what's going on with Luz, you two have been acting really weird this past week" He stood in front of her and stood his ground.
"Gus… You know what? Sure. I'm not gonna behave like Luz and push you away, the things is that I've been worried with something all this time"
"Oh really? What is it?"
"I've been trying to come up with a way to explain this to you, because I think that you wouldn't understand if I told you, but it would be different if I can show you" She grabbed his hand and led him away.
She refused to elaborate further and left Gus with more questions as he walked alongside her. They ended up sitting on a bench behind a tall bush, he could see the bus stop from there.
"Soooo, what do we do now?" He asked after a while.
"We watch and wait" Willow responded while looking at the stop.
"Until she takes her bus?"
"She is not gonna take her bus, she can't" She answered cryptically.
"And why is that?" He was getting tired of these one-sentence conversations.
"Because I stole her pass when she hugged us" She said like it was nothing.
"What the- Willow! Did you steal from our friend? You can't do that!" He was actually flabbergasted.
"Shh" She silenced him "If you yell like that people are going to notice"
Ok his lizard people theory must be true, because there was no way that Willow Park, the sweetest girl in the world, would rob her friend. Heck, two hours ago he was convinced that she wouldn't be capable of doing something like this to Boscha.
He tried to pry more information from her but at that time the bus arrived and everyone in the stop went in. He couldn't see nor hear what happened from his position, but seeing how Luz went back down with a depressive expression he didn't have to guess.
"Ok, this is it. We have to move" Willow said and started running. Once she realized he wasn't following him she went back to grab him by the wrist.
"Huh? Wha- wait!" He ran to catch up with her.
"Man for someone who complains about being weak she is in top notch condition, I guess all that training with Luz paid up"
When they stopped in an alley he was panting to recover his breath. He was about to ask what was going on for the millionth time but he saw Luz slowly walking in the distance.
"Something's wrong" Willow said "Why isn't she flying?" She muttered that to herself but he was able to hear it due to their close proximity.
"Hold on, what?" This wasn't funny anymore.
"We are going to lose her" She didn't address the subject and started tugging at him again.
"Ok that's it. I've had enough!"
He managed to release his wrist and then grabbed Willow by the shoulders while standing in front of her, effectively stopping her. It wasn't an easy feat for him (especially considering their different frames) but once he did it Gus stood with a serious expression.
"I am tired of this, Willow. None of us is taking a single step until you tell me what is going on, it has been far too long already"
"I'm sorry, it's just that… there's a lot going on, I want to tell you so bad because I think I'll explode if I go any other second without talking about it, but I don't think you'll believe me" The look on her eyes told him she was being sincere.
"Ok, you know what? Let's test that theory. Try me, after all the things I've read in internet, I can assure you it won't surprise me"
Boy, he had never been this wrong.
-Luz-
Everything hurt, literally everything.
She had told Eda this morning that she was feeling better, but it was a lie. She just didn't want to see that face full of pity again, and she didn't want to be treated like a porcelain figure anymore.
Ever since Luz had lost her magic this past friday she had been in a constant state of physical exhaustion and chronic pain. It seemed that since her magic was a vital component of her body, its absence also affected her other bodily functions. The first days were horrible, she barely had any strength to stay awake, but as the time passed she got better and actually managed to walk, so they theorized that her body needed time to recharge and decided to just wait and see what happened. Two days passed and she had gotten better in some aspects- She could walk without fainting and the pain was manageable- but she still wasn't able to produce the smallest particle of magic, Eda was being optimistic for a change and suggested that her powers would come back in time, that her physical improvements were a proof of that.
"Pfft, as if anything in my life would be that easy" She thought bitterly.
The attack had happened five days ago, if all she needed to recover her powers was time to heal then she should've been able to produce something by now, but nothing.
She had decided to go to school today just to have something to occupy her mind, but just fighting to stay awake and interact with people had been tortuous enough. Not only was she missing her magic but she also didn't seem to have some of her basic body functions.
"This cannot stand! I have to do something about this. I can't skip school or else people are gonna think there's something wrong going on, Willow and Gus are worrying too much already, and let's not mention Lilith, I'm so lucky she had to leave the entire week for a work trip… But she will be back eventually, and there's no way she won't notice that there's something different with me" She thought as she stumbled through the streets "I need to think about a way of solving this today"
It was really easier said than done. She had some theories about methods on how to restore her powers, but none of them would be easy to achieve. However, she could not just simply wait and see if she got better, that wasn't an option anymore; Every day that she spent this weak the odds of a magical attack happening, or the coven witches attacking grew, she had been lucky that there were no emergencies these past couple days, but who knew how long it could last
"One thing at the time, I gotta get home and then I'll figure out how to get my powers back… Uf, if only I hadn't forgotten my bus pass…"
It had been a little bit more than twenty minutes since she left her friends at the bus stop and she only managed to walk a few blocks towards the owl house. Every step she took was a monumental effort on her part and her vision was getting blurry, she guessed that an entire day in school was a bit too much for her body in her actual physical condition.
"Ugh, that doesn't matter! I gotta press on. If I call Eda or my friends they'd only get more worried, I have to pull through"
It seemed that, despite her best efforts, her body was too exhausted to continue, she ended up collapsing in the floor and crawling to the nearest surface, she leaned her back against a wall for support and decided to give up and finally call her friends. Luz reached for her phone but she was too feverish and tired, so she couldn't see the screen well. She ended up passing out right then and there.
She did not know how much time she was there but it couldn't have been long 'til she heard some voices near her. There were nothing more than muffled sounds to her tired mind, but they sounded familiar. So familiar that when they approached and started grabbing her she didn't fight back, she didn't feel like she had to.
Some time later…
Luz drifted through consciousness slowly, her mind protested for being awoken from its slumber, it had been so peaceful up to this point.
She still couldn't see anything, she just heard random noises that were incomprehensible to her. She could feel that she was laying down in a comfortable and warm place, but nothing else made sense beyond that.
"...do you think that she's cold?" She heard a voice say.
"She has like seven blankets on, she'll be fine" Another one responded.
Luz got the feeling that she should know these voices, they did sound familiar after all, but her brain was so foggy that she couldn't put a name or a face to those voices. She felt a weight shift near her, like if someone got closer.
"Maybe she's uncomfy, I should probably get more pillows"
"Gus, she'll be fine. You practically built a pillow fort around her, you are being overbearing"
"I can't help it ok! I'm worried"
"I am worried too, but there's nothing we can do. Eda said that she should wake up at any moment, but she isn't!"
"We'll just have to wait for it. I know it's not easy, but we'll just have to do it"
The voices kept on talking and she shifted in her position. She figured out that she was in a bed because she felt really comfortable, even if she couldn't move her body.
There was a sound of a door opening (Luz wasn't even sure what doors were, but a part of her knew that the sound corresponded to an object called door) and some footsteps approached her.
"How is she?" A new voice said and something inside of her mind shifted, she felt like this person was important to her.
"Still no changes"
"Fine, I'll just check on her for a while, you guys can leave if you want"
"We're staying here"
Again she felt someone sitting beside her and this time she also felt a hand caress her cheek.
"Hey Luz, how is it going?"
Luz felt like her mind was getting clearer the more time she spent awake. Now she felt like she was doing something before she fell asleep, she was planning on doing something important, but she couldn't remember what it was. Thinking about it made her head hurt, so she focused on something else; The voices. She was certain that she was supposed to know who they were but her memories were all fuzzy so she couldn't associate them. It was really frustrating, it felt like she had words in her brain but the letters were all jumbled together in an incorrect order, the information was there but it made no sense to her.
"Hey Luz" The new voice spoke tenderly "How is it going?"
Something told her this wasn't right, that wasn't the tone that person would use while addressing her. Feeling fed up with her current situation, she forced her eyelids open (which was really hard, they felt like they were made out of concrete)
At first nothing that she saw made sense, the world was merely a haze of colors and shapes, but then she saw a particular blur of red and grey, and something came to her mind: A grey mane of hair and a long red dress. Suddenly memories flashed through her mind, memories of a grumpy old woman who secretly cared about her.
"Eda! Gus! Willow! Oh my titan, I must've passed out! I need to reach out to them"
But that was easier said than done, she could barely keep her eyebrows open and her mind was still fuzzy in some parts, so her body didn't respond to her commands. Now that her vision had reajusted she could also see that none of them noticed her being awake, they all seemed to be engaged in a conversation with each other, which made things harder for her.
Nevertheless, she decided to give it a shot, she forced her throat muscles to cooperate and articulate some words. It took a while, but she finally got something.
"E-Eda?" It was raspy and her tongue felt as dry as a dessert, but it was something.
"Oh my god, Luz!" Willow's voice came from the left of her field of view and soon after she saw her friend appear beside her "Are you okey?"
"We were so worried!" Gus came to the other side of the bed.
"Hey give her some space you two, you are crowding her!" Eda came and shoved them aside "Luz here, drink"
She lifted her head and put a glass of water in her lip. Luz discovered that she was actually really thirsty, so she drank it entirely on a few gulps.
"Easy there kiddo, why don't you sit up?" Eda suggested.
She found out that the longer she stood awake the more her mind became clear. It took a little bit of effort but she managed to sit up in the bed and Eda put the cup of water on her hand. She looked around while she took some sips, she seemed to be in Eda's room again, her clothes were folded on top of the chair and owlbert was perched in the windowsill, Willow and Gus were on both sides of her bed looking at her worriedly.
Once she finished absorbing everything in front of her, her memories decided to reboot.
"Oh my gosh!" She gasped and choked in the water.
"Easy kid, breathe"
"I-I I passed out?" It came like a question, but she knew it was true.
"In the middle of the street, yeah" Gus clarified "You didn't look really well when we found you"
"You were really unresponsive when we found you. We were about to call an ambulance but at that moment Eda called you, we told her what happened and she drove you here" Willow explained "She told us you had a fever and needed to rest, but it has been a day since then, so we've gotten worried…"
"A day?" She asked with wide eyes.
"I've been sleeping for a day? No wonder I'm starving…"
To prove her point at that time Luz's stomach decided to emit the loudest growl ever. She blushed while the other three smiled.
"Here you go" Eda offered her a bowl of noodle soup and a spoon "I figured that you would be hungry so I came prepared"
"Thank you!" Somehow she felt the strength return to her upon seeing food and started eating quickly "Dish iz da besht!" She spoke with her mouth full but she didn't care, she felt as if she hadn't eaten in years.
"Ok but try not to choke, it would be lame for you to die this way" Eda only half-joked.
"I'd die happily then"
She finished eating and looked at the rest.
"So… it really has been a day? What about school?" She inquired the first thing that popped into her mind.
"I've mailed the principal already, so you are covered on that front" Eda answered.
"And we brought you the homework! That way you'll have something to do while being bedridden" Gus happily dropped a pile of notes on the side of her bed and she groaned.
Owlbert, who up to this point had been perching up top on a windowsill, hopped down on top of her head and hooted happily.
"Owlbert! That tickles!" She grabbed and put him on her shoulder "I missed you too buddy"
"You should be thanking him. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have found you on time" Willow said.
"What?"
"Yeah after we uh… separated yesterday that guy came flying towards us and started making some bird noises, we didn't know he was yours nor that he wanted us to follow him. It was pretty scary to be honest" Gus put one of his sleeves down to show some red marks "When we didn't follow him he started pecking us, you gotta train him better"
"Owlbert!" She exclaimed and held the tiny bird in front of her "What did I say the last time you did this? No pecking!"
Owlbert just produced some complaining hoots, she knew that he was saying something like 'I had no choice!'.
"Luz… You had Owlbert with you, why didn't you fly away?" Eda asked with a worried tone.
"I wasn't sure that would've been the right idea. At that time I was feeling like I could pass out at any moment, I would not want to do that in the air"
"So you weren't feeling alright like you told me that morning" Eda put her hands on her hips.
"No. I definitely felt better, but as the time passed I started to feel more tired, it seems that a full day of school is a tad bit too much for my current state"
"So no school until you get better, got it" Then she looked to the side and sighed "And what about…"
"I still can't do magic" Luz somehow knew what Eda was about to ask "And I don't think I'll ever will unless something changes"
"Uh, what are you-" She started talking but Luz interrupted her.
"Eda, we can't go on like this. Sitting around and waiting to see if I get better on my own is not gonna work, we need to do something about it"
*Sigh* "But what do you want us to do? You don't have powers"
She was about to retort but then Gus cleared his throat.
"Maybe we can help there?" He raised his hand and pointed to Willow and himself "I mean… we don't know much about magic, but there has to be something we can do"
It was at that moment when the full extent of the situation caught up with her. She was holding her magical owl while talking about losing her magical powers in front of her friends, who did not know about magic.
"Oh titan strike me dead"
"Ohhh, Uhhh, Ehhhm. Magic? Who said anything about magic?" She started hyperventilating "Eda and I were just talking abou-"
Eda groaned and put a hand on top of her mouth to stop her rant, meanwhile Willow and Gus were doing a terrible job at hiding their laughter.
"I'm gonna save you the embarrassment kid, they know" She then let go of her mouth.
"They… know?" Luz was starting to feel nervous.
"E-ve-ry-thing, I told them once they brought you here" Luz felt like fainting.
"To be fair it would have been hard to try to lie to us after what we have seen. I mean we literally were called by your magical owl and you have been acting strange all day" Willow smiled at her.
"Not to mention that they already saw these before I arrived" Eda then flicked Luz's ears with her finger. That hurt a lot and made her realize that she wasn't wearing her beanie, which meant that her pointy ears have been exposed this whole time.
"Eep!" She squealed and put both her hands at the sides of her face.
"It's a little late to try to cover them!" Gus laughed and she pouted.
"E-Eda? You told them? But you are always tell me that I should be more secretive with this stuff" The older woman shrugged.
"Meh, I just don't see the point to it. Even if I could've tried to bullshit them I decided that they deserved to know about it, besides as soon as you were safe they started to bombard me with questions and I couldn't get them to shut up, but this is my limit tho. Do not try to tell anyone else" She pointed an accusing finger at her.
"Well, I kinda knew already" Willow sheepishly said.
"Wait what!?" Luz felt her blood pressure rising "You knew?"
"I've been suspicious for a while. You fixed my flowers on the day we met, always dissapeared whenever something magical happened, and each time that Boscha tried to chase you there was a root or something in the ground to make her trip" She shrugged and smiled "I had my doubts but it wasn't until last week that I confirmed it. I was outside of the owl house when you exited it, I… kinda followed you because you were acting strange, and then I saw how you flew away dressed as the wild witch"
"Wait a second" Gus said "Is that why you have been so weird this past week?" Willow nodded.
"Oh man, I thought I was being sneaky" Luz looked down in shame.
"Luz!" Eda was pinching the bridge of her nose"What did I tell you about being careful with magic outside the house?"
"Hey, you said they are ok!"
"Yes, but if these dweebuses figured it out it means that anyone could, you gotta turn the notch down when you are in school" Eda scolded her.
"Give her more credit. I've only discovered it because of all the time we spend together, and we are like one of the few people that hang out with her" Willow defended her.
"Ngh, fine" Eda got up from her seat "I'm gonna go back to attend the shop. Luz, you finish that plate and rest, we can make plans on how to recover your powers later, okay?"
Luz nodded. Usually she would argue that planning was more important but she was feeling really tired and hungry.
"Fine. In the meantime, why don't you three have a chat? I feel like there's some things you guys need to talk about" With that the owl lady left the room and closed the door.
As soon as she left an awkward silence and a feeling of uneasiness settled in her stomach. She did not know what to do or say, this particular scenario had passed several times in her head, but now that she was here she couldn't come up with anything.
"Luz, look at me" Willow spoke and she raised her head "It's ok, I can guess why you didn't tell us who you really were, so don't feel bad for it"
"It's not just that, it's… well"
"Maybe you were afraid that we were going to treat you differently?" Gus asked and the two of them looked at him with a surprised look "What? We've been friends for months! I've learned a lot about her. At this point I can predict what food she ate for breakfast"
Luz casted her eyes down and sighed.
"Luz, we wouldn't treat you different for this, you are still our friend!" Willow said
"Yeah. Just because now we know that you are a magical being capable of shooting fireballs doesn't mean anything has to change between us" Gus chipped in.
"Aww, you guys!" Luz lunged forward to envelop the two of them in a huge hug, she almost knocked over the soup that Eda made her but it was worth it.
"Careful!" Gus laughed.
Once she finished hugging them she sat back down and started eating the soup while they chatted.
"Ok so, now that we have clarified some things, you need to tell us everything"
"Yeah, I guess you deserve it" She looked at her younger friend and smiled "Gus, I'm honestly surprised that you haven't fired me questions ever since I woke up"
"Oh trust me, I've been wanting to. But I figured that it would be insensitive with your situation, so I decided to wait"
"Ok, where do I start? Hmmmm, what did Eda tell you about this?"
"Only that you are the wild witch, you lost your magic, and that you come from another dimension or something. We wanted to ask more but she said that it would be better if you explained it to us directly" Willow answered
"Well, that makes sense" She took a long breath and prepared herself mentally "I come from a place called the boiling isles…"
As she narrated the stories of her homeworld (and answered the thousand questions the male member of the trio had) she felt herself smile. Something about this, being able to be entirely truthful to her friends for the first time ever, felt just right.
-Lawrence-
The MCU main building. The outskirts of Eastville / Wednesday december 7th 21:00 hrs
The people rushed throughout the corridor in front of him. Men and women carried on their tasks as if the fate of the world relied on it, which probably it did. They carried files, packages, crates, weapons, trays with food, supplies, one time he saw two people pass carrying a wounded person in a stretcher. Everyone did their part in keeping this organization working, everyone but him.
Lawrence reflected on how odd the situation was. Mere months ago he was just like them: Rushing to deliver everything he was asked to, completing any task he was entrusted with blissful ignorance, fully committed to the cause of the organization, and now…
He looked to his right and saw his reflection in the wall mirror. He looked like a older than he actually was, the bags in his eyes were deep and made him look ten years older than he actually was, his black hair had always been messy but it had gotten so long that made him look like a homeless man, and it had been so long since he had shaven that his scruffy beard had resurfaced. Lawrence couldn't remember the last time he had a proper sleep or was able to relax, everything nowadays was crisis after crisis.
But all of that was nothing compared to his wounds. The last battle had left him all battered and bruised: He had a black eye, swollen nose, and several scars on his back. He had gotten better after a week of rest, but he still looked like he just got out of a bar fight.
"I'd never thought I'll miss the days when I was an errand boy but here we are"
He sighed. It's not like he wasn't loyal to the organization or committed to it's cause anymore, if anything the recent events showed him their importance, he just was so tired and couldn't wait until this case was closed. He was going to take the greatest vacation ever when this was done.
His communicator beeped, showing that he was needed. He cursed under his breath and got up from his chair.
"Might as well get this over with"
He walked alongside the other agents in the halls and took an elevator towards the deepest level of the facility. Several people were talking about the actual situation but he paid them no mind, he probably knew more about the subject than all of them combined.
Once he reached the level with their meeting room (seriously though, who thought that it was a good idea to have the most important room in the deepest parts of the facility?) he saw Lilith talking to her phone in a hushed tone.
"...and I got this call from Bump about her not showing up to class the last two days, what was that all about?" She whispered in an accusatory tone.
Someone said something over the other side of the line, but Lawrence couldn't hear it.
"What do mean she is sick? What did you give her to eat? Have you been forcing her to take the late shift at the shop again with this weather? I told you the last time-"
Judging from the buzz coming from the phone, the other person interrupted her.
"Fine, fine, I'm sorry. I wish I could do something for this situation, but I'm stuck here until the weekend. I'll- I'll try to come back earlier if- what, no- agh, fine. Goodbye"
She pressed a button on the phone to end the call and turned around. Lawrence didn't have time to turn away before she bumped into her.
"Ah!" Lilith immediately went into combat mode and punched him in the gut, making him fall into the ground.
"Fucking great. So far my week has been amazing" He thought with bitterness as he lied there trying to recover his breath.
"Lawrence! By god, I'm so sorry" She offered a hand to help him get back up on his feet again and he took it.
"No problem" He said with a strained voice "It was partially my fault"
"When did you get here?" She asked him.
"Just took the elevator" That wasn't the whole truth but there was no way he was going to admit to Lilith Clawthorne that he heard her private conversation "Do you wanna walk with me to the meeting room?"
"Yes, I think they are ready. Again, sorry for that"
"No prob"
They started making their way towards their destination. As they marched he wondered why he decided to invade her privacy and listen to her conversation, he guessed that it was partially because it was so rare for her to exhibit any kind of emotion, so seeing her interact with her personal side was intriguing for him. Although, if he was being honest, he had to recognize he did it mostly because he was bored.
"So" He started talking after a while "Any idea why they want us there?"
"It seems that the overseer is here"
Lawrence slapped his forehead.
"Him?" He asked with impotence.
"Yes… him" Even Lilith seemed displeased at this.
"Fan-fucking-tastic"
Even though he was relatively new to the agency he knew who the overseer was. No one gets to a position of power here without his approval, so when Marcus appointed him as an officer in charge Lawrence had to be interviewed by him, it was a scary experience. The fact that the higher ups had sent him here to… well 'oversee' things means that they might've fucked things up worse than he originally thought.
They arrived at the door and he was already filled with dread, but they hadn't started yet so that was a positive thing. Kikimora was in a corner of the room talking to Ralph while Steve napped in one of the chairs.
"Does this guy ever take something seriously? I can't figure out how he and Lilith work together"
Marcus was in the other corner of the room talking to a redhead in a suit he had never seen before. He smiled once he saw them enter and approached him.
"Lad! Good for ye to join us!" He clapped his back with a bit more strength than it was required "Let me introduce you. This lovely lady 'ere is Amy from our European division, had to pull some strings in my old home to get her to come. Amy, this young man here is Lawrence, I told you about him over the phone" He led the girl towards him and she smiled.
"Pleased to meet you, agent" She said in a happy tone with a british accent.
"If I'd known that I was going to meet someone new I'd have shaved at least! I look like a hobo now…" Nevertheless he decided to give it his best try and smiled to her
"The pleasure is all mine" He extended his hand and she shook it.
He analyzed the newcomer. She had her bright orange hair tied up in a bun and her sharp face had a kind expression. Her pale skin was covered in freckles and her green eyes shone with a light of intelligence. She looked both shorter and younger than him, so he wondered how she managed to get this post.
"So, a new commander in charge? Welcome aboard! Usually I'd say that we have too many hands here already, but after the beating we suffered last weekend I'll appreciate all the help we can get"
"Oh no, she isn't a new commander. She's here because I just hired her as a new assistant" Marcus commented.
"New assistant? Are you… Are you replacing me?" The thought hurt him more than he thought it would. While they haven't worked directly together these past weeks, Marcus and him had been an inseparable team ever since Lawrence got into the force.
"Oh goodness no, we are not replacing anyone, our hands are as full as it is, not to mention that you haven't been my assistant for quite some time" That was true, he had stopped being an errand boy for a while now "I already got a full squad of rookies to obey my commands, so you don't need to worry about me"
"Okey, who is she assisting then?"
"You" Marcus said nonchalantly.
"Wha-" He opened his mouth in shock.
"Lad, these past months you have been doing an excellent work at trying to solve this crisis, but I've seen it take a huge toll on you. You may be younger than us but even the vigor of youth has its limits, lately you have been working your arse off without rest and that has been affecting your performance and other aspects of your life, I mean look at you: Right now you look like a serial killer with a hangover, no offense"
"None taken" He knew that he looked like shit, it's just that he didn't have the time to clean himself with all of this work.
"Usually I'd just recommend you to take a vacation but I don't think that's a posibility with all of the shite going on here" Lawrence winced and nodded "So, in order to lower the burden of your shoulders, I hired Amy to be your personal assistant, that way you'll have less in your plate"
"Oh… uh… thanks for the help? Wait, shouldn't you have warned me about this before you did it? You know, protocole and everything?"
"Oh yes, but ye would've just refused so I took the choice in your place" He smiled.
"Great…"
"I can't even choose my own staff now? Having an assistant would be great, but I wish I knew something about her beforehand"
"You don't need to worry about me sir. I can prove to you that I'm quite capable" She smiled at him.
He smiled back and they engaged in some small talk for a while, until someone opened the door. Lawrence turned to see a small blonde man with glasses, black pants, and a white shirt. He was holding a laptop and had a neutral expression on his face.
"Oh no… not him" even if he knew it was coming it still was unpleasant.
"Is that the overseer?" Amy whispered to him "He's not what I expected"
"No, that's not him. He's just his assistant"
"Then where is-"
She stopped talking when the blonde guy pressed a button on his laptop. Suddenly all of the speakers from in and out of the room started blasting a funky beat at full volume. It was such a sudden change that everyone recoiled and Kikimora ended up falling from her chair. Steve was startled awake from his nap because of the ruckus and looked around in confusion, his hair was sticking in all different directions and he had a trail of drool coming from his mouth.
"Whah?" He looked around drowsily.
"Introducing!" A male voice came from the speakers. The blonde guy pressed another button and the conference room started filling with smoke "The man who will save your sorry asses! An elite member of the MCU and the only agent who was able to single-handedly stop a full scale invasion from extra dimensional beings, the overseer of the American division is a living legend! Let's all give a big round of applause to… Misterrrrrrrr X!"
As soon as the voice in the speakers said those words the door bursted open and, after an explosion of confetti, the overseer jumped into the room.
"How's it going everyone?!" Mr X said in a cheerful tone.
Mr X was a bald african-american man who wore glasses and lipstick, the rest of his attire (his vest, suit, tie, and pants) were different shades of purple and blue, with exception of his red sneakers. Lawrence wasn't sure why or how a man so goofy as him managed to land such a high post in the organization, but everyone respected him in spite of his… antics.
"He's… not what I imagined" Amy whispered
"Agh, this guy is so eccentric" Ralph complained.
"Fear not fellow agents, your salvation has arrived" He rose his hand in the air while striking a pose to exaggerate his speech.
"I… rather doubt that" Lilith said.
"Alright Jenny, the timing with the music was excellent! But you need to seriously tone down the fog machines for next time, this place looks like a cloud now!"
Jenny gave him a thumbs up.
"Yeah, about that. Can someone turn the ventilation on?" Steve asked.
"Alright gang, let's see what I have to work with" He strode cheerfully towards Lilith and clasped her hands "Oh my gosh Lily, it has been so long! How have you been?"
"Hi… X" She had an awkward smile on her face.
"I gotta say that you are still as pale as usual, you need to be out in the sunlight more often"
"No… trust me. I don't get tanned, I get sunburnt"
"Oh yes I've seen the photos from hawaii. Speaking of which, you looked fabulous in that bikini, sister"
Upon hearing that sentence Lawrence choked on his spit and Lilith blushed.
"I-I-I, Steve!" She turned towards her assistant "You promised that you would stop sending those pics to people!"
"It wasn't me!" Steve defended himself "It must have been some of the other guys in the office"
It was quite a sight to see. The fearsome Lilith Clawthorne reduced to a red stuttering mess by a mere sentence.
"Steve! My man! Come here" They high-fived in the air and did some sort of secret handshake that included spinning around with their hands raised and finger gunning each other at the end "Good to see you buddy"
"Same dude, it has been a while" At this point Lawrence wasn't really surprised by how social Steve was.
"Can we just skip this and get straight to the meeting? We have a lot to discuss" Kikimora said.
"Oh, you know me Kiki, I can't get 'straight' with anything" He then laughed at his own joke and walked towards Marcus.
"Marky!" He had to hold his laughter upon hearing that nickname "It has been too long"
"Hah! Good to see you X!" They hugged each other.
"Still as spry and jovial as ever I see. Now, where's our newest rising talent?" He looked around trying to search for Lawrence and gasped when he saw him "Oh my lord! What happened to your pretty boy face? Marcus, what have you been doing to him?"
"Work…" He tried to downplay it but he just grabbed his face to see him better.
"The lad has earned his battle scars" Marcus commented.
"Still, this is too much, did you let them punch you or something?"
"No…" As a matter of fact he tried to not get punched very hard, but the magical creature he fought with had other ideas.
"And who do we have here?" X shoved him aside so that he could look at Amy better "Hello darling, what's your name?"
"Hello! My name is Amy Hofseter and I am Lawrence's new assistant, pleased to meet you" She offered her hand but instead of shaking it he kissed it as he bowed to her.
"Oh, what a cutie! It's always good to have young blood around here" He then clapped his hands and addressed the entire group "Alright everyone! I know that the situation is harsh and morale is low, but don't worry because that's exactly why I'm here baby. So, does anyone care to fill me in on the situation?"
There was a huge silence.
"What do you mean fill you in?" Lawrence said after a while "We sent tons of reports"
"Oh I haven't read those, I hate paperwork. I was expecting you guys to tell me in person!"
There were several complaining noises coming from everyone in the room. It seemed that the meeting was going to be longer than they anticipated.
Several minutes later
"So… to recapitalize" Marcus started "We had a level six rift open in gravesfield's aerial space this past summer, it allowed several magical beings, including (at least) three witches and a demon capable of doing magic, to cross to our world. People have been seeing and recording magical events, we used the memory wipe and media control but there's so much we can do from here. The demon and two of those witches are highly dangerous individuals who have been raiding our facilities. We contacted their ruler to facilitate a plan to subdue them peacefully… but sadly that failed miserably. Also several citizens found magical relics and they used them to commit several crimes, any questions?"
X's mood had changed. As he listened about how dire the situation was he lost his silly mood and goofy attitude. Now he was leaning forward in his chair with his hands clasped together in front of his mouth, his face had a serious and stern expression, which really seemed unusual for him.
"Huh…" he said after a while "Jenny be a darling and cancel all future plans for the month, also tell my hubby that this work trip might take longer than anticipated"
Jenny nodded and started typing on his laptop. Meanwhile, X got up from his chair and stretched, popping his back muscles.
"Alright thanks for catching me up, time to officially start this meeting" Lawrence woke up Steve who was sleeping beside him "First item of this list: We have to assess last week's raid and why it failed, what was your original plan?"
Before anyone could pitch in Marcus spoke up:
"Those three witches belong to the emperor's coven; An organization that serves as civil protection and the executive power of the boiling isles, they respond directly to the ruler of this dimension, Belos" He explained.
"Hmm, if I remember correctly that realm is your responsibility. What was your method of approach?"
"We consulted with the emperor and he agreed to speak to them if we managed to create a portable speaking device for him, considering that the one we have now is way too big to be moved. Lawrence, if you please"
Lawrence pressed some buttons on his tablet and some images appeared in the projector; It was depicting the schematics of the transmissor they used to speak with Belos and the blueprints to make a portable one.
"Oh, wow, interesting. What did you hope to achieve with this?"
"The fights against witches were causing a lot of damage and casualties. I was hoping to subdue them peacefully with this"
"And were you successful?"
"Sadly no" Kikimora interrupted, earning a glare from Marcus "Our efforts were wasted in that front. As a matter of fact, I wanted to discuss exactly that now that we-"
X moved at a faster speed that he could have predicted and in less than a second he moved across the room. He placed a finger on her mouth to silence her.
"Shhh Kiki, it is very rude to talk over others. Next time, raise your hand if you want to speak, got it sweety?" Kikimora seemed too stunned to talk so she just nodded "Cool, go on Marky"
"As I was saying, the idea was to build a portable communications device, and we actually managed to do it, next slide please" Lawrence pressed his tablet again and the proyector displayed a video of a handheld device with a monitor that showed Belos' face "The day prior to the raid we managed to track where the witches lived and set up an ambush. Unfortunately the device malfunctioned when we were going to use it"
"Oh wow, it seems that your luck was terrible" X had returned to his seat at this point.
"Which is why we went with plan B" Lilith grunted at that "We had Belos record a message for us in case things went wrong. We hoped that once they heard their leader asking them to surrender they would do so, it seems that we were wrong in that matter"
"I wanted to make a point in that" Lawrence raised his hand to speak, he didn't want to piss off mister X "I have been doing some research on the matter and I've found some new information about that, may I?"
"By all means" Marcus said.
"After the battle I thought how weird it was that they attacked us so quickly, one would assume that they would take more time to react but they fired at us before the message ended. It intrigued me so I did some research" He typed a little and an image appeared on the screen: A middle sized demon of orange skin "Apparently one of our inmates is from the boiling isles, I checked it myself"
"Truly?" Lilith asked "Did he come from the rift like the others? Then why haven't we done a bigger operation to capture him?"
"Only some demons from that realm can produce magic" Marcus answered "I remember this fellow, he only had slightly superior strength so he was easy to capture"
"Exactly. I approached him and had him watch the recording, just in case that he could detect something there we missed. At first there wasn't anything, but after his second watch he proclaimed that something was off: Even though it felt like it was something he would say, Belos would never address his subjects in that manner. He doesn't ask, he orders people to do stuff"
"Wait so, he tricked us?" Lilith asked, full of rage.
"Apparently so. It seems that he recorded the message in a way that would seem to be genuine for someone that doesn't know him. But the ruse would be obvious for those who lived under his rule, I could only imagine how offended the coven witches must've felt when they found out that we were trying to impersonate their leader"
The room fell in an overwhelming silence after that, till Marcus broke it with a curse.
"That was a great insight young man, too bad it is too late for it" Mr X lamented.
Kikimora raised her hand.
"May I speak now?" She eyed X warily.
"You may" he answered.
"This all goes to show the point I was trying to make before: Markus has shown that he isn't suitable to lead this operation anymore. From the insubordination present in the recruits when I arrived, to lack of organization in our plans. The only reason why he was still here is because of his knowledge on the realm, but it seems that isn't reliable anymore"
"Are you implayin' what I think you are?" Marcus asked with a tired voice.
"Yes, Marcus. Taking advantage that the overseer is here with us, I'd like to propose a vote in this meeting to properly replace Marcus with a new leader for this particular operation, since he and his assistant have one vote each and Marcus can't be a part of this it leaves us with an uneven number, perfect to vote in my opinion" Kiki looked at him with a triumphant grin "I am sorry my old friend, but it seems that this mission is too much for you"
Any other time there would've been an upheaval in the room, the sound of several shouting matches at once, any other time, but not this one. No one moved or said anything, all of them knew that this was going to happen.
"Umm, is something wrong?" Kikimora asked after a while.
"As a matter of fact, yes" Lilith rose up and walked towards the screen "Put the slide 13, Steve"
"10-4!" The young man said and typed something on his laptop. The screen changed to show a video of the trials that they were doing to the transmissor.
"This was our portable transmissor. It was doing fine just the day before the raid, so we thought that it was suspicious that it suddenly malfunctioned just before the raid, I mean the guys at the lab were as shocked as us! There's no way that it could be a coincidence"
Lawrence could see Kikimora starting to sweat.
"So I did some digging and I found this, next slide please" The screen now showed footage of a security camera from one of their facilities "This camera was the one outside of the chamber where we held the device and we found out that the cameras went dark for approximately two hours the day before the raid. Fearing that the object might have been tampered with, I took it to some specialists that dismantled it and told me that it had been indeed tampered with"
There was a pause, the tension was palpable in the room.
"Now, our guards have not seen anyone come in at that hour and all of the cameras on that side of the building are missing footage too, but we kept doing some research and we found something else" Steve pressed another button and the scene changed again to show the files of several employees "The research that we conducted determined that it couldn't have been someone from outside since it was in the middle of our most protected building, not to mention that there were no signs of breaking and entering. The people you see here are the ones that were around the building at the time when the sabotage happened, we have checked them and so far we found that all of them have an alibi. After that we were going to give up the investigation, but then we found out of something important" The image on the screen changed again to show what he believed to be archive logs of some sort "The entrance of this building is opened with our security cards and, apparently not many people know about this because it was installed last week, the scanner keeps the logs of who enters and leaves the building with the cards swipes, so we know who entered at what time"
"I see…" X seemed to be enjoying this.
"Most of the people who were there left before the incident happened, and the others who didn't have alibis that clear them. Which leaves us with just one person that entered just when the cameras turned off and left just after they went back on. To make this worse, none of the other people in the building ever saw them"
Steve pushed another button and the screen showed Kikimora's credentials, along with the time she used them to enter and exit the building on that day.
"Are you? No… This is slander! You can't possibly be suggesting that I sabotaged my own organization!" She slammed her fist on the table.
"Why not?" Marcus asked with a boring expression. It seemed that he saw this tantrum coming a while ago "That sounds like something you'll do"
"Marcus! You can't be serious-"
"What were you doing when the incident happened?" Lilith interrupted "Do you have an alibi?"
"I- of course I do! I was reviewing cases with Ralph in my office, he can vouch for me!" She pointed to the male agent, who looked like he wanted to be everywhere but here.
"Your own assistant? The one who is so loyal to you that he would lie in a situation like this? Seems like a biased witness, don't cha think?" Marcus asked.
"Not to mention that we already checked the cameras around your office beforehand" Lawrence spoke "You left your office half an hour before the event"
Kikimora started backing away.
"This… this is no meeting, this was a trap! You all planned this beforehand!" She pointed an accusing finger to the three of them.
"I helped too!" Steve proclaimed proudly.
"Oh this is a real meeting, we do have lots of things to discuss after all, but we thought it was better to deal with this shite first" Marcus stepped towards her "Also if we wanted to set a trap for you, I'd have just told you that if you could get into my office in the next thirty seconds you'll be in charge of the whole operation, and then just wait for you to come runnin' with security guards inside" Lawrence had to suppress a laughter at the imagery, it was pretty fun.
"I- I, Mr X!" She ran towards him and clung to his arm "Have you seen this whole circus? They have it against me, and now they are planting fake evidence to criminalize me. Please, you have to believe me"
X, who up to this point had been looking at all of them like this was a part of his favorite program, stretched his arm and yawned.
"Hmmmm, I don't think so. After all, you are the reason I came here"
"Wh-what?" She let go of his arm.
"Oh sure, I did not know the full extent of the situation here, but I was made aware that one of the commanders was being naughty and that's why they sent me" He stood up from his chair "You see, when the problem is that people are unable to complete a mission because they are lacking skill it's an easy solution: We just train them or send more help. However, when one of our agents deliberately sabotages one of our operations in their little games to earn more power, things get… more complicated"
"You-you, don't tell me that you-" She again was silenced by X's quick finger.
"No interrupting, Kiki. Didn't we just talk about this? Now, don't worry, the higher ups will hear about this and there will be a proper research, but things aren't looking good for you either. After all, you have always been a naughty girl"
"This is a scandal! I've always been a loyal member of the MCU!" Kikimora proclaimed.
"Only when it served your best interests and you were in charge, but as soon as other people receive more privileges you start conspiring against them, it happened to Axel, it happened to Lilith, and you just tried to do it with me!" Marcus roared.
Lawrence raised an eyebrow at that. He didn't know anyone named Axel but whoever it was must've been important.
"Ugh. Guys I usually love the drama, but this has carried on for far too long, so let me just" X snapped his fingers twice and three security guards that were stationed outside entered the room "Boys take her to a cell, she is pending a trial"
The guards grabbed Kikimora and forced her out of the room, during all that time she kicked and screamed about betrayal at the top of her lungs. Lawrence would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy that.
Once she was out of the room everyone breathed a sigh of relief, he thought he heard Marcus mutter the words 'fucking wee shite'.
"I'm sorry that you had to see that" He turned to Amy who was present during the whole ordeal "I would've asked you to stay outside, but I didn't want to kick you out of your first meeting"
"Oh, it's fine. Marcus told me everything about her and I'm very familiar with the organization's politics" She shrugged.
"Marcus told her everything? Who is she"
"Alright, alright" Lilith interrupted his thoughts "I really want to get this meeting over with, so can we please move on to the next subject?"
"Fair" Marcus pressed a button and the screen changed one more time to show a report to the raid "Even though our A and B plans failed, I would not call this whole operation a complete failure, we did manage to capture one of them after all"
"Wait, really?" Amy asked out loud and everyone looked at her "Sorry, I spoke out of turn…"
"No, it's ok lass. Yes it's true, while the other two magical creatures scattered and fled, the third one was subdued and imprisoned
"Thanks to our golden boy over here" Steve rubbed his shoulders and Lawrence grimaced at the attention "Where do you think he got his black eye and broken nose?"
He preferred not to think about it, the battle had been exhausting.
"Well then, the only question left to answer is: What do we do with her?" Lilith asked
With the pressing of another button, the screen showed footage of one of their cells. In there, he could see the angry face of the woman that charged against his squad.
-Eda-
The Owl house, western Gravesfield / Friday December 9th, 19:00 hrs
"Thank you for buying! And remember, no refunds!" Eda said as she waved at the retreating customer.
It felt so surreal for her. To go back to her job after experiencing such a life-threatening event, even if it was a necessity (They still had bills to pay) she felt weird trying to put on her owl lady persona in front of the customers.
A part of her was thankful for this momentary distraction. This way she could pretend that everything was ok and her life hadn't changed at all from last summer, the mundane tasks helped her act as if she didn't see the beast's fangs closing on Luz whenever she slept. At least the kid was doing better now, but those firsts days of taking care of her brought back so many memories of this past months of Luz barely standing after a long fight, so many times she wanted to tell her that she should just quit the fighting but she held her tongue, she knew that she wasn't capable of doing it, that damned heroine.
"At least she shared her secret with her friends now, more people to share the burden" She thought as she closed the curtains of her shop and put a 'closed' sign on the door "That's gotta help with something, right?"
She finished closing the shop and prepared a bowl of soup to take upstairs. She mused how the roles have changed: She was taking dinner to her teenage daughter while she was hanging out in her room with her friend, she used to hate it when her mother did that… to… her…
"Whoa there brain, let's not unpack that. I did NOT just think of her as my daughter, she's just my… housemate, yeah that's it. A housemate who I care a lot about and completely relies on me and… this isn't helping"
She decided to put those conflicting feelings on hold for the moment (She tended to do that a lot these days) and focus on the task at hand. As Eda got near Luz's room she could hear the sounds of happy talking and smiled, it seemed that she was in a good mood.
"I don't think it works like that, Luz" The dweebus Goops was explaining "We wouldn't need to- Oh hi, Eda!" He immediately changed the subject when he saw her opening the door.
As soon as she entered she noticed that there was something going on. The homework that those two had brought her, the one that they were supposed to be doing, was tossed aside on the floor, untouched. The board that Luz had gotten for herself with the money she earned in the shop had a lot of doodles and words on it: She recognized some of the drawings as the magic circles Luz drew to cast her spells, and the words were something for a plan or a mission.
"Heeeey, Eda!" Luz got up from the bed and positioned herself in front of the board to keep her from looking "How's it going?"
Eda raised an eyebrow at that, she thought that at this point Luz would know it'd be pointless to try to lie to her.
"Ok, drop it now. I'm gonna give you this soup, you are going to eat it and then you are going to tell me what's going on" She put her hands on her hips to emphasize.
The three teens sighed and Luz grabbed the bowl.
"It's not much really" Willow started "We were doing some plans, that's all"
"Plans for what?"
"On how to get my magic back" Luz answered between sips.
Eda's eyes widened at that. Ever since she lost it her magic had been a sore subject for Luz, so they avoided talking about it, hoping that it would return on its own.
"I see. So the 'let's wait and see' plan is over?" She asked.
"It should have come back by now, it's been an entire week. So I talked with the guys and we decided that we need to be more… proactive"
"How?" She was getting curious about this.
"I think Gus can explain things better" She nudged her small friend.
"Well I've been doing some research, it's not like we have anything on the boiling isles but I've gathered enough material to make an educated guess" He went to the board and pointed at some drawings that reminded her of a heart "Luz had told us that the magic witches have comes from a vile sac. So according to my logic that sac it's like any other gland that we humans have: It secrets substances to help the body function, like every hormone of our endocrine system"
"Okeeey, I'm following so far"
"So, in essence, she can't actually lose her magic. As long as her body functions, her vile should be pumping… unless there was some outside interference"
"The Basilisk" Eda guessed.
"Yes" Luz confirmed her fears "I… Uh, I don't know much about Basilisks myself, they are supposed to be extinct in my world. But there's something close to what they do that I know of: Magic transference"
"Luz told us that it's something you do to pass your energy to a friend of yours if they are ill or particularly weak. You basically cast a spell to share your life essence, basically sharing the physical burden" Willow said.
"Yeah, correct" Gus continued "In that spell you designate the amount that you are going to share and you can't stop until the designed quantity has transferred to the other person, if the spells gets interrupted in any way then the two people involved are left weakened and won't be able to regenerate any more magic until they resume the transference. It seems to be that this is the same case, the only difference is that the amount that the Basilisk set up before beginning the transference was all of Luz's magic"
"But… you stopped it, so that means"
"That both me and the Basilisk won't be able to regenerate magic until the transfer is completed. That's why I have been so weak lately: My vile sac is attached to my heart, so my body functions are linked to the production of magic, I can't have one without the other"
"Wait, hold on a damn second! Goops said that you are going to be stuck like that until the spell it's completed. So what are you gonna do? Let that thing out so it can finish sucking you off?"
"Not exactly" The small dweeb said "There's a way of canceling the spell. You have to… uh… kill the receiver or the sender, and the energy will return to its original place"
Eda's eyes widened upon hearing this new information.
"Yes Eda" Luz said with total determination "We need to kill the Basilisk, and I'm gonna need you guy's help to do that"
In case you don't know Mr X is a character from amphibia. I hope I didn't make him too ooc, it's been a while since I watched it.
Forgot to mention this but whenever I don't specify the time at the beginning of a section it's because there's no timeskip, we are continuing when we left off.
Also, longest chapter up to date! Eeeeey!