Chapter Text
Luz wrapped the bandage around her knee, tying the knot. The back of her hand now looked somehow worse, pulling up her sleeve to see it. Belos’ darkness had crept up the veins in her wrist now, leaving behind the sensation of pins and needles, like growing pains.
This was how it started with Hunter back in the Human Realm.
How long had Belos remained dormant until he finally corrupted Hunter?
How long would it take for her to start growing antlers, or for her eyes to change?
How would she even explain it to Eda?
Would she even believe her?
She hid her arm back in her sleeve. Eda didn't need to know of every aching wound or physical ailment. She'd already been too watchful and clingy, so much so that Luz couldn't seem to shake her away. It was almost like wherever she went, Eda was not far behind.
Luz wondered how long she had before she came back. Though, judging by the fact that she'd seen Eda enter the workshop after Lilith a few minutes ago, she figured this had only bought her time to herself, away from Eda and her obsessiveness.
And when Luz stood back up, the symptoms intensified. Her head pulsated from the pressure. Her vision whirred, causing the nausea to unsettle in her stomach. And as fast as it came, it was gone. Though, Luz still couldn't deny the feeling; Like the time she was home from school, bedridden with a stomach bug. Stringbean burred by Luz's ear, sensing her discomfort.
“I'm okay,” Luz said, though her brief fit of coughs deceived her. “I promise.” She added, though her voice was scratchy, the back of her throat ripped raw.
But if Luz was being honest, she felt far from okay. She hated how she was beginning to rethink coming along in this mission - and for what? To somehow prove to Eda that she could really go on this mission? To push her own limits to prove herself?
With each passing minute, Luz was beginning to wish she just stayed behind at the Owl House, where she was not only far away from Eda and Lilith, but where she could also keep Belos at a distance.
Luz's regret would have to wait when she could save it for the trip back home, and when she could really allow her body to be sore and fatigued. Though Luz couldn't fully say it was all a loss, considering her luck in looting.
The local market was scarce, already picked clean from a lot of perishables and necessities by previous looters, though Luz still found some hidden treasures - a few bags of Hex Mix, an unopened can of beans, and half a roll of bandages.
A hint of pride came with her success, as if her findings were proof of her usefulness in their mission. She would make Eda second-guess her doubts in her competence.
This may have been the doll-apocalypse after all, and Luz may have been sick, but that didn't mean she couldn't pull her own weight. And the more time that Eda had taken, disappearing from her post, the more Luz wandered until her foot caught the uneven ground, nearly sending her tripping and stumbling. Stringbean was quick to bite down on Luz's hood, tugging her in the opposite direction to steady her pivot.
Luz exhaled, stepping back, only to discover the wooden board below her. Not only that, it was the bold print of a shop's sign.
“Mr. Elixir.”
And when she looked back up, there it was. Yet only now, the building was not how she once knew it. The shingles of the roof were ripping away, along with loose-hanging shutters from the window. And upon walking inside the door left ajar, Luz could see the endless shelves lining the room. It was strange seeing the inside of Morton’s shop, considering Luz had never really wondered what it really looked like, nor questioned Morton’s process of operation.
The potions ranged anywhere from tall to short, fizzing to flat, colorful to curiously colorless. Luz became lost in reading the labels of each glass vial - shrinking potions, truth serums, even an all-you-can-eat potions.
But what caught Luz's eye more than all the rest was the towering shelf on the far wall of the shop. She recognized the name in its carving.
Eda Clawthorne.
Luz's chest fluttered.
Eda's elixirs!
A metal padlock hung from the cabinet door and Luz noticed the forced break in the link of chains.
Lilith and Eda had definitely been here before.
When she opened it, the dust made her sneeze. And despite the promising size of the outside, the inside of the closet, all of its shelves, it was empty…
They were all… gone?
Luz stared at the only emptied glass bottle left on one of the shelves. It had sat there so long, a spiderweb had formed on its rim.
“Oh, no. Eda,” Luz mumbled to herself, pitifully. “Please don't tell me you're all out.”
A full inventory usually would've lasted Eda a few weeks at best, yet there was no telling how long the elixirs kept her stable.
Luz shivered at the thought - or maybe it was just her fever.
With Eda and Lilith having to share, they most likely ran out of elixirs a long time ago.
Eda and Lilith's state of crisis was more serious than Eda let on.
The sound of rummaging from above Luz's head made her look up. Higher in the cabinets shelves, Stringbean burred. At first, Luz thought she was just playing. After all, Stringbean was still a newborn palisman, still young and curious, but then something rolled out from the top shelf - a shelf that Luz wouldn't have been able to see - a shelf that both Eda and Lilith must've missed. The bottle fell from the edge, prompting Luz to reach out, catching it, hugging it into her.
The contents inside sloshed, gleaming a familiar bright orange hue.
“Stringbean,” Luz exclaimed. “You found it!”
The excitement sent her twirling on her heels, to the door where she just came, but something stopped her. Stringbean ceased too in front of Luz, flapping her wings, tilting her head, as if to question what she was thinking.
Luz stared at the tag that was still strung around the bottle's neck.
“An elixir a day, keeps the curse at bay.”
But what if it could keep the “curse” of Belos at bay?
But the thought is both amusing and frightening - the fact that she'd once almost mistakenly drank this elixir herself.
The voice in her head erupted into a mocking laughter, like a cacophony resounding. It made Luz's ears ring.
“Do you really think that will work?”
Luz held her head against the splitting migraine, grimacing in pain - Belos was getting stronger.
And it made Luz's stomach writhe, because Belos could also hear her thoughts, and he knew what she was thinking.
No hiding, no secrets, no tricks.
Belos could hear and see it all.
But what if he was lying?
What if that was just what Belos wanted her to think; because he was afraid of the effects.
The indecision left Luz rooted. The elixir, although appearing fairly unassuming, couldn't let that fool her.
But the guilt was still there, overturning in her stomach.
No, she couldn't! It was for Eda - for Lilith!
But what if Belos was right? What if it didn't work?
Eda's body was used to magic like this, but what did it mean if Luz, a human, drank it? What were the side-effects?
“You… you won't tell them, right?” Luz muttered to her palisman, who was now wrapped around her neck.
But a light glinted from below, stealing Luz's eye. She thought it was the elixir in her tense grip, but the brightening ring around her feet became the light, Transforming the once dark and inconspicuous shop into reflections of illumination and color.
Luz leapt away from the ring’s golden center, staring at the symbol that was encased in its circumference. A smaller circle sitting on top of the point of a triangle, divided by a line in the middle, slashed by two miniature lines - a light glyph.
Stringbean burred again, turning Luz's attention behind her, in every direction, at the searing glyphs taking form along the walls, the shelves, the floors - glyphs varying in different shapes and sizes and colors, so much so that Luz's vision dizzied.
Then, something shifted - liquid potions began to rise and swell in their glass vials, almost like the movement in lava lamps, until the glasses too were seized from the shelves, corrupted by an unseen force, pulling it upward.
A voice called from elsewhere, echoing from a void that expanded further than the shop’s capacity. Though, this was not Belos. This voice was more gruff in nature.
“Luz,”
And the stronger the pull became, the more Luz felt it too. It started with a buzz in her ears, something static sending her skin to goosebumps.
“Luz.”
Her heels lifted, released from her own weight. The floor slipped away, leaving Luz's body suspended. Stringbean slithered upwards, climbing the air, cartwheeling above her head, soaring to observe the floating disk-like glyphs in the air.
“No, Stringbean-” But when Luz reached up to her, she found her fingers traced in an aura, transcending up her hand and forearm, so much so, it overtook the entirety of her body. It outlined her in an ultraviolet glow, while golden cuffs of magic enclosed around her wrists and ankles. Almost like those of a witch's signature spell circles. She could feel its electric charge surging, admiring the way it wisped through her fingertips as she twirled her fingers.
And then it stopped.
Like a flick of a switch, gravity restored, sending Luz down to the ground roughly. She caught herself with a hand and knee before standing up. And as she did so, so did the rest of the shop’s possessions.
Luz cringed at the clamorous noise, multiple glass vials shattering and splintering, exposing their magic potions and elixirs along the floor. The sharp, shrill sound was enough to alert the entire market corner.
Luz froze.
Had Lilith heard it? Had Eda?
First, she fell from her palisman. Now, this. This was sure to stir up Lilith's wrath; The elixir shop, trashed and turned upside down - and Luz, in the center of it.
“Luz?” A stark voice called from the front of the shop, the door whining slightly open. “You in here?”
Eda.
Luz clutched her chest, trying to subside the feeling of a faint drumming inside. The aura light around her dimmed and died, almost as if whatever magic had just run through her was only temporary.
Quickly, before she could come any closer, Luz swung her hood back up, turning around to explain, to somehow apologize.
“Eda, I… I didn't…”
“Sheesh, what happened to this place?” Eda said, cutting off Luz's sputtering.
What Luz wasn't expecting was for Eda's tone to be so nonchalant, surveying the floor of shards and puddles of potions, some of which were beginning to bubble and simmer.
Luz's mind drew blank, unsure of how to answer. Luckily, she didn't have to.
“Hey, you found it - ” But as Eda moved closer, Luz drew back suddenly, out of her reach.
Eda stopped her advance, just as hesitant. Luz’s eyes blinked downwards at her hand, until she finally understood the reason for the motion - because the object was guarded in her embrace, latched protectively in her arms.
Oh. Right. The elixir.
Slowly, guiltily, Luz surrendered it, holding it out, though a sort of uncertainty still lingered. Eda took the vial from her at the same, steady pace, yet even with Luz's eyes glued to the ground, she could feel Eda's tense, unwavering stare, even as she backed away again.
But instead of addressing the awkwardness, Eda ignored it, popping the cork and taking a big swig. Her wings furled, fraying away feathers until retracted behind her back and accumulating more to the ground.
“Tastes much better than Lilith's homemade elixir!” Eda jeered, after drinking half, bottling up the rest for later. She snorted, finding pleasure in her own tease.
But, where Luz would've once laughed too, she didn't, and Eda finally took note of her uncharacteristic silence. Except this time, she didn't really rebuttal like she always did. Almost like something had clammed Eda up, and the silence seemed to hang in the air a little longer. It could've been awkward if it lasted another second, but Eda saved the timing.
“You, uh, like the new arm?” Eda began, wriggling her fingers, twisting her wrist. She must've noticed Luz staring. The corner of her mouth turned upwards in a weak half-smile. But, for however small it was, Eda must've taken it as a victory nonetheless because a grin grew in self-satisfaction.
The smirk didn't last long, slipping from Luz's face, before her nose scrunched, triggered by the fumes that were now emitting from the exposed potions. She sneezed, followed by a wet sniffling.
Eda's promptness with tissues in hand was almost compulsive, as if she really couldn't help herself. And although it was helpful, Luz hated the gesture. Almost like Eda was trying to manipulate her, to get Luz on her side.
Like an apology for her own annoyance.
Though, even the apology was an annoyance.
“It's… it's just a fever.” Luz insisted, despite reluctantly taking the tissues anyway. But the second she said it, she winced from the lie, averting her eyes.
A simple "fever" couldn't be further from the truth.
She didn't know how she became so secretive, so prone to lying. It almost felt like betrayal.
Eda humphed. “We'll be back home soon, kiddo.”
Luz nodded, hoping it was enough to satisfy her, anticipating Eda's exit out of the shop, but she didn't move. Her eyes followed to Luz's side, to the hand that stiffly spasmed. Luz tucked it away, into her underarm.
But the pain only became more intolerable. The internal drumming came back, pulsating through her temples. Luz doubled over, knees buckling. She shut her eyes tight, but it wasn't dark; flashes of memories came in and out behind her eyelids, swarming her mind. Except these memories were corrupted, turned against her.
Fragmented visions, distorted, intertwining.
An image of Eda, tipping her head back in an echoing, taunting laughter.
“Grom is a little above your pay-grade. You're a human. You're… fragile…”
Lilith's scowl as she left Luz alone by the edge of the castle gates.
“Go back to your world. This one is ours.”
Then, the week before the Day of Unity. When Eda and Lilith had sent her and King away.
“...you two need a safe place to hide while the adults take care of things-”
Her own voice faded in, shouting; The time when her and Eda were captured, trapped in a holding cell.
“Why couldn't you just let me help with your stupid plan?! Is it ‘cause I'm a kid? Do you think I'm still that weak?!”
Eda's voice is muddled in response.
“- you always go overboard and I end up bailing you out-”
The look on Eda's face just before they left for Bonesborough, the look of doubt as if to question Luz's competence.
“I… I dunno, Lilith. Should we…?”
Then, her own words from before the Day of Unity.
“...I can't believe you're still underestimating me!”
Then, a memory from a day she wished she could forget. And Luz was curled in on herself, hugging her knees into her, just like she had back that day of the memory - hiding, cowering in the corner of Eda's room.
Luz covered her ears against the shrill, piercing screech, shielding her face away from splintering debri of the door coming in, the obscure, giant shadow of the Owl Beast forcing its way in.
Lightning flickered from the bay window, thunder hammering, a split second sight of its black eyes and sharp, lethal teeth.
The Beast's claw came down to swipe at Luz's head, only missing by a few devastating inches.
Something gripped firm onto Luz's arm, and the sudden touch sent her into alarm, tearing herself away. She teeteered back, stumbling, creating distance between her and the attacker.
“No, stop! Stay… stay back…” Luz's voice came out louder than she'd anticipated, a shrill sound.
But it was only Eda.
“I… I’m sorry. I was just trying to help-”
“I don't need your help.” Luz snapped, defiance in her tone.
Eda's expression turned confused and upset, eyebrows furrowed, her eyes searching Luz for an explanation. Luz's stomach overturned in some sort of dread. She'd never seen Eda this way, especially with her.
"Luz, what has gotten into you?"
Luz could almost laugh at the irony.
Belos.
“I'm not a little kid.” But her voice was nothing but a meek, sickly sound that contradicted her words.
Eda must've recognized the memory too, because her expression changed, eyebrows easing. The repetitiveness of Luz's mantra coming back to her.
The immediate regret of it made Luz's stomach knot tight - but it was the same. She had thought Eda had doubted and patronized her then too, as if Luz was helpless, nothing more than…
Naive. Dumb.
Nothing more than a child.
Luz didn't really know why she even brought it up now. Maybe because it still stung somewhere inside. Or maybe she was just trying to swat Eda away, even if it meant hurting her back.
But even with Eda admitting it and withholding the truth - that there was no plan, that there was no stopping the Day of Unity - still…
Eda never apologized.
"Luz…” Eda said, a strain in her voice. But she didn't have another moment to say anything else before a palm came up from behind, dragging her down and away from the windows. Eda jolted, reaching up to tear away the hand at her mouth, before realizing it was only Lilith, who forced her to the ground, up against the nearest wall. Luz joined swiftly, choosing the furthest spot from Eda, one where Lilith could be a barrier.
“Oh, what now-”
Lilith hushed Eda before she could finish.
“The Collector,” She muttered, peering out the crack of the door of Eda's side. “They're here.”
