Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Luz has been under a lot of stress since she and her friends were thrown through the portal to the human realm.
She stays up to unreasonable hours trying to figure out ways to get back to the place that felt like her home, even if it wasn’t. Not really .

She always felt guilty. Like a large void was just sitting in her chest.
Any time her mom seemed stressed about having to look after so many children, or any time the rest of her friends expressed how much they missed their homes it seemed to get deeper.
It felt like it would swallow her up.

Right now, Luz is awake at 4 AM again.
She’s scribbling ideas down in her notebook, surrounded by messy diagrams and glyphs.
She hadn’t had more than 4 hours of rest in days.
No, she has to focus. She has to finish this portal. She has to find a way back, to finish what she started.

If it wasn’t for her, none of this would’ve happened.
She didn’t notice that she was crying, she felt so awful.
She hated herself. How could she hurt eda and king? How could she hurt all her friends and even her own mom?
All because she wanted to be a witch.
If she never tried to be a witch none of this would’ve ever happened.

Nobody would be trapped in the wrong realm, nobody would be missing their family.
Nobody would be lost.
She gasps as she feels a pair of cold hands on her shoulders, not expecting it.
She quickly turns around, and sees amity stood there.

Her scared eyes soften, and but she doesn’t smile. She doesn’t have the energy.

“Are you okay, Batata?”

Amity asks, tilting her head.
She’s been concerned about Luz. She notices how tired she looks, and she can sometimes hear her getting out of bed at around 1 AM to go plan in her notebook.
She knows it’s not healthy, but whenever Camila or anyone else brings it up she says she’s fine and that she sleeps enough.
She knows Luz has a tendency to downplay her issues, and she doesn’t want her to feel like she has to do that.

Amity used to have to do that as well, being in the blight family and having odalia as a mother.

“I’m fine. You should go back to sleep, you and the gang are going exploring tomorrow.”

Luz reassures, her voice uncharacteristically monotone and emotionless.
She’s usually so expressive and loud.

“It’s not fine, Luz. You’ve been looking so tired and stressed for…I don’t know, days?”

Amity states, concerned.

“I’m worried about you.
We all are.”

She kisses Luz on the cheek, and Luz sighs.

“Just go to bed, amity.
I’ll be okay, I’m going to sleep after I’ve finished this.
I promise.”

Luz brushes off amity’s concern, crossing her fingers as she promises and amity thankfully doesn’t notice.

Amity sighs, knowing she’s probably not going to get very far trying to argue with Luz.

“O-okay.
Goodnight, Batata..”

Amity says, turning to leave.
Luz doesn’t say goodnight back, going straight back to scribbling ideas down.
Luz can’t help but feel even more bad. Had she upset amity?
No. She has to stay on track. She needs to get back to eda and king, even if it means leaving everything behind.
She has to make sure they’re okay.
If they’re not, she’ll never forgive herself. But then she’ll have to leave her mom behind again and-

WHY DOES THIS ALL HAVE TO BE SO CONFUSING!

She puts her head down on her desk and takes a deep breath.
It’s fine.
Gus, willow, amity, vee and hunter are all going exploring the human realm tomorrow and her mom is at work so she has the whole house to herself. She can come up with a plan to get back to eda and king without being distracted.

She will get back to them.
She has to, somehow.
She has to get rid of this guilt and make it right.

Luz can feel her eyelids getting heavy, and she decides to call it a night.
She gets up and stumbles a little bit, but then walks to her room. She gets into bed, and looks at amity who’s on a mattress on the floor next to her.

She looks so peaceful, and it makes a pang of guilt shoot up Luz’s chest again.
How could she hurt someone so sweet?
She takes a shaky breath, she feels so bad.
She manages to fall asleep, but it’s a difficult job due to all the stress and guilt in her mind.

——-

Luz still manages to wake up early despite her lack of sleep. She wakes up the same time as the others, 8 AM.
She changes in the bathroom and eats her breakfast.
It’s the weekend so she doesn’t have to go to school. The rest of her friends have just left to explore the human realm, so she can plan all day.

She knows that she needs titan blood, but there’s realistically no way of getting it..maybe she could use some of the magic from those cards vee has to make artificial titan blood?
She is proud of her idea, so she immediately gets to writing, even if she’s running on 3 hours of sleep.

——-

The rest of the gang have just left to explore, all excitedly chattering about what they’re excited to see, all but hunter.
Hunter is walking behind the group, thinking to himself for a moment before speaking up.

“Uh- guys I think I’m gonna go back.
I’m tired I didn’t get much sleep last night…”

He says, getting the attention of the rest of the group. It was a lie, though, he slept well.
The rest of the group wave him off as he turns around to walk back to the Noceda house.

He needs to help Luz.

He opens the door, and goes to the girls’ room, and as he expected Luz is there writing and planning as ususal, head resting on one of her hands.

“Luz..?”

Hunter calls out, looking worried.

She turns around, not expecting to see him.

“I thought you and the gang went out?”

She says, her voice still monotone.

“We did but I came back.
I’m not gonna try sugarcoat it. I’m worried about you, Luz.
I see that you’re tired, you have been for days.”

“It’s fi-“

“ Don’t . Don’t try and brush it off.
I know what that’s like. I was in the emperors coven for as long as I remember. I know you feel guilty but you have to realise it wasn’t your fault.
Belos does that he tricks people.
I would know. It happened to me so many times…”
Hunter starts, sighing.

“He tricked me into being loyal, saying the titan had big plans for me. Saying that he took me in and it was for the greater good when really I’m just a clone made to serve him.
That’s just what he does. I don’t know why, I never did, and I don’t think I ever will.
But you have to sleep, Luz. We will find a way back to the isles. I promise you, we will.”

He explains, putting a hand on Luz’s shoulder.

“Nobody is mad at you, Luz…”

He reassures, and tears fill Luz’s eyes.

“People died because of me, hunter..”

She says, wiping her eyes.

“People died because of belos.
He had this plan way before you were even born.
Heck, before I was even born!!
You can’t blame yourself for this!”

He tells her, pulling her into a hug.
She doesn’t respond, just hugging back and sobbing into his shoulder.

“Let it all out.
I’ve got you..”

Chapter Text

Hey chat. This isn’t an update on the fic..well it kinda is :P
I just wanted to come on here and say I’m not gonna go out of my way to finish this fic. If you want me to continue, please comment on this chapter letting me know, but if nobody comments I won’t continue it. If you read the first chapter thank you, and feel free to check out my other works! I post the owl house fics and also fics of my ocs but hey, maybe I’ll post about other fandoms in the future? Thanks zombies! Stay safe and keep being yourselves ✨