Tomorrow's Vow
The worst day of their lives, for so long, had ended with the solid humming tone of a heart monitor. But now it ended in the rain.
"Heh! Look what I can do with the rain!" The voice was Luz, and the body was too, cast in the glittering rainstorm that was completely dousing Camila. "Vee! I'm so happy you're okay!"
The young girl reached for a high-five, and Vee met her in the middle, but their hands intersected, and Luz seemed startled.
"Thank you, Camila. For everything." Vee said, but the addressee of the sentence felt numb. It wasn't until now did it truly hit her, seeing her daughter cast only through the lights of a car refracting in the rain, did it hit her.
"Vee. You have a place here for as long as you need." She said, voice dull, as she handed Vee the stack of magical playing cards, much to the basilisk's delight.
Luz was stuck in a literal demon realm. And it was Camila's fault, how could she not have noticed the difference? And Camila didn't even want to think about what would've happened if Luz haddied. Would Vee have ever come clean? Would Camila ever know?
"Mom, you were awesome back there!" Luz cheered, smile wide, the ghastly image of her cape — she wore acape, just like the witches of fiction — flickering absently in the rain. "Thanks for being cool... about everything."
"I'm trying to hold it together…" Camila choked out, "I really am, but I have never been this scared before!" She looked at Luz's eyes, the familiar brown colour reflecting back at her even in the man-made iridescent rainbow, the car lights on rain. "A demon realm? Magic? How are you gonna get back here? Is this the only way I can touch you?"
Or rather, as her hand went through Luz's, will I ever be able to?
"I need a little more time," Luz said, confidently, at least Camila hoped it was confidence, "But if I keep working my hardest I will make a working portal, I promise!
"As scary as this is, it really does seem like you've matured." Camila admitted, seeing how brave her daughter was.
"Yes! I've learned so much! Staying here was the best decision I ever made!" Luz said excitedly, but Camila's world shuddered and here was the best decision I ever Luz wasn't trapped, she was, she was, what was she? Did she run away, or did she…
Camila felt a flare of anger, and with more vitriol than she ever intended, enough that something in her screamed to calm down, she spat out "You… youchoseto stay there?"
"I-" Luz started, but Camila wasn't done.
"Is this, are you trying to live out some witch fantasy?" Camila accused, "Did you really run away just so you could learn magic!?"
"Mama, that's not–" Luz started, but suddenly, Camila saw the girl shift, floating upwards, and her eyes went wide. "N-no, not yet, wait,"
"Baby? No, no, Luz, you'll come back, right?" Camila pleaded, the words in her throat a jumble, a mess. "When you come home, promise you'll stay here, promise!"
"I-" Luz's eyes were wide, she was hesitating, and that anger came back full force,especially when Luz spoke next. "I, I can't make th–"
"Are you… Am I that bad?" Camila asked, "You'd rather, what, run off to a fantasy world? I tried to help–"
"Please, mami, don't make me choose," Luz begged, floating higher, and Camila grimaced.
"Fine!" Camila shouted at the rain, the twisted truth that her daughter was considering this nightmare realm over home echoing in her skull, voice feeling foreign in her throat. "Then don't choose, enjoy your, your demon realm, Luz!"
The girl's face dropped. "W-what?"
"Camila," Vee shouted, "Please calm–"
"You heard me, Luz," Camila spat, "You wanted magic so badly, then don't come back!"
There was shock, horror, maybe evenbetrayalon Luz Noceda's face, as the golden glow faded, Camila could only stare at the air where her daughter's phantom had been standing.
The words she just yelled set in.
Oh god,she have I done?
Camila Noceda dropped to her knees, the painful jagged asphalt road and the puddles upon it not phasing her as she crumbled into herself, and in the few seconds between her dropping and Vee running to her side, tears were already streaming down the woman's face.
"And pull, and pull, and…" Eda repeated, watching as the sickly green portal melted, warped, fizzed, and hissed, and it was with a strangled tug that Luz came staggering out the portal, eyes glazed over, wet.
"Luz!" Eda exclaimed, noticing somewhat that King and Hooty had joined her, "I'm sorry, I had to pull– Kid?"
(The portal warped, cracked, splintered, before folding in on itself and burning up completely. It went unobserved.)
"Kiddo, why are you crying?" Eda asked gently.
"They're happy tears, right?" King asked even softer, but Luz shook her head.
"Luz?" Eda murmured, and Luz hugged her tightly.
"E-Eda, I…" Luz started, "She… not to…"
Cut it out if you have to!
Eda heard an echo in her head, but she shook it needed her in the present.
"Oh, Luz, oh, Luz," Eda held the human tightly, and she could feel her own eyes grow wet. "I promise, I understand, you're not alone, kiddo,"
"I didn't…" Luz started, "Tell you yet,"
"And you don't need to," Eda murmured, so grateful that when push came to shove, Hooty knew when to keep his mouth shut. "Is it too soon to say that you're my kid now?"
Luz shook her head, and Eda's heart tightened.
"Good." She said simply, the air of confidence that helped still Luz's tears for just a second, "Because you'remykid now, and no one's ever gonna hurt you again."
Vee helped usher in Camila, the mother nearly dead weight at her side, and she took one step, two step, before dropping to the ground again, wet back against the wall as water ran down the paint, sobbing hard. (Without the rain to wash tears, blend in with tears, it looked like she was crying harder, least to Vee.)
"W-what have I done, Vee?" Camila's voice was choked, strained, as though she had been crying on the road for ten hours instead of ten minutes, "I, did I j-just kick her out?" Vee sat down beside Camila, as the woman sobbed harder and harder, "All because, what? I c-couldn't tolerate some magic?"
"Because you were scared," Vee said slowly, "It'll be okay,"
"Will it?" Camila asked sharply, and at the sound of her own tone, the woman cried even harder. "L-lo arruiné todo, Vee, lo a-arruiné todo."
"If Luz could get there," Vee offered quietly, "We can get there too."
Camila's sobbing halted for a heartbeat, maybe two, and then it continued.
(It was another hour and sixteen minutes before she finally ran out of tears. She fell asleep right there on the floor.)
Luz was curled up, tightly, in the softest blanket Eda owned, a cup of hot chocolate – the human way, too, despite how weird it was the way they made it – warm and resting on the table beside her.
The human's eyes were wet and red, and her girlfriend was curled up beside her, King curled up in her lap, the tammy gotcha (or whatever) resting in her hand, still untouched from the initial message she had sent with it. It was only then, when she told about what happened in the Human Realm, or at least the greenish garish place Luz had ended up, and what she saw unfold in the realm she had been reaching out to.
All while Eda brewed up ways to dispose of Camila Noceda's body, should the girl ask. Maybe if she didn't, honestly. Eda couldn't say she ever murdered someone before, but she was not opposed to another zero on her bounty, especially for the kid.
So while Boots held her tightly, Luz held to the blanket tightly, the cellphone that had been her lifeline to another world resting above the fireplace on the mantle. Quiet, too quiet, with the only sound being the dry sobs of a girl who had only wanted to go home.
She called in sick the next day. She couldn't work at the vet today.
She called in sick the next day. She couldn't go to school like this.
The worst day of her life ended with rain.
A/N: YEP THE ANGST TRAIN IS AT MACH FOUR.
Anyway, I figured, Camila tries as a parent, but Camila isn't perfect, and seeing how close both sides were to saying something they really shouldn't, I think with the only shift being Luz not folding like a house of cards would lead to... well, this. Don't worry, this story will have a happy ending. It'll just take a bit to get there. This story is going to get heavy, you've been warned, and I'll see you all for the next chapter.