Archive of Our Own ^beta

She knows it is going to be a bad day as soon as she wakes up. 

She spends about ten extra minutes on her back over her sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling unable to move, despite knowing that she has to get ready for school. And she loves school! But there was a heaviness pushing down on her chest that made her want to stay there and never get up. 

Honestly, the girl deserves some off time considering what she had gone through just the week before--facing off against the Emperor and saving Eda from being petrified. Every night excluding this one, she had been jerked awake from a nightmare featuring either of the two events. Despite this, she did everything in her power to act like the same girl with boundless enthusiasm, while she honestly just wanted to sleep for a week straight.

The one time that she’s actually able to sleep and she still wakes up tired and slightly nauseated. 

After finally managing to peel her nice warm blanket off, she changes into her Hexide uniform, fixes her bedhead in the mirror, and makes her way downstairs. After she plastered what she hoped was a convincing smile, Luz enters the kitchen to see Eda cooking something in a pan chattering away to King seated across the table from Lilith. 

“¡Buenos días!” Luz chirped happily, scooching King over to sir next to him, who huffed at being manhandled so easily.

Eda grinned at her before pushing what looked like blue-colored scrambled eggs onto four different plates, “Luz! Are you ready for your first day back?” She placed (more like slammed) plates in front of everyone before sliding in next to Lilith who scoffs as she watches Eda shovel food into her mouth like a wild animal. 

The question made her sicker than anything else but she pushed the feeling down before digging into her eggs, “Yes! I’m so excited to see Willow and Gus! Oh and Amity! I need to catch up on everything I’ve missed in the last week.”

Lilith looked up at Luz over her coffee surprised, “You and Amity are friends now?”

“Yeah we had a uhm… rocky start but we’re really good friends now!” Luz said hesitantly before finishing with a chuckle, picking at her eggs.

Eda coughed into her arms something that sounded suspiciously like “Friends?” but Luz didn’t seem to catch it. 

“I will never forgive that appalling cupcake stomper! She will be killed for her crimes, do you hear me? Killed!” He raised his tiny fist in the air and glared at his eggs.

“Welp! I better head to school now, but I’ll be back soon! Love you guys!”

A chorus of “Bye Luz!” follows her as she leaves the house, Hooty is thankfully in a conversation with what looks to be a leaf. 

As she makes her way to school, that feeling of unease slowly creeps back up on her.

“Stupid brain, nothing is even happening right now!” 

She figured she was still on edge from almost losing Eda and that nightmare of an experience with Belos. A shiver went down her spine as the images flashed in front of her eyes, but before she could think about it too much she caught sight of the front steps leading to the school.

 “Luz! Luz!” She turns and sees Guz followed by Willow running up to her before they both throw their arms around her and pull her into a hug. 

Willow’s muffled voice from somewhere in the pile said, “Luz! We were so scared when we saw you up there! Nobody could really tell what was going on and we were terrified something had happened to you!”

Luz laughed mostly in relief than anything else as she pulled her way out of the hug, “I’m fine guys, see! Not even the Emperor himself can beat down Luz Noceda!”

A third voice rang out from the steps of the school, “And what is that supposed to mean?” 

Luz turned and grinned as she saw her favorite green-haired witch, sans crutches, with her eyes narrowed, “Amity!” She ran forward and enveloped the poor witch into a hug before she had time to move. 

Pulling back from the embrace, Luz saw Amity’s face melt into a dark crimson at their proximity before continuing, “Luz, not that I’m not excited to see you-- seriously we were so worried--but what exactly do you mean by not even the Emperor could beat you ?”

Now it was Luz’s turn to blush as she bashfully squeaked out, “Oh did I say that? I don’t remember.”

The three of them looked at her incredulously.

“Okay, okay yeah, I may have had a small throwdown with my boy Belos, BUT it’s okay, see? I’m here and still in one piece!” she said as she did a little ta-da motion with her hands.

Physically , her mind helpfully supplies.

Shut up. 

Gus’s mouth dropped open, “You WHAT?”

Amity and Willow had the same shocked and appalled expression at her words before Willow said, “Yeah, Luz, sorry but what the heck? Are you sure you’re okay? A human going up against probably the most powerful witch on the Isles? There’s no way it was as easy as you’re letting on.”

Luz smiled at them but it honestly came out as more of a grimace than anything else, the unease from this morning once again returning, “Okay so it wasn’t exactly easy and was more mildly terrifying than anything else. But, actually, guys I’m not hurt and we’re going to be late to first period. I promise I will tell you all the riveting details of my epic battle with the man himself later, okay?”

The girls looked uneasily at each other before Amity slowly said, “Okay Luz, if you’re sure.”

Luz forces herself to up the voltage on her grin, “Perfect! Let’s go then!”

***

Throughout the day Luz could feel that heaviness push harder and harder on her chest and shoulders.  

As excited as she was to learn magic, her heart just wasn’t in it today. And while Luz knew she was a good actor, she knew her friends could see the cracks in her facade as she seemed zoned out in most of her classes. 

She couldn’t help it but her mind just kept replaying the battle over and over and over.

The spikes. The giant green worm creature. Her body being thrown like a ragdoll into a column. That chilling voice.

What’s wrong, human? I thought you wanted to fight?

Her heart slamming in her chest waiting for another spell or illusion. Waiting for him to kill her.  

I like your spirit, but try that again and things won’t end well for you. 

She jerked in her seat as the bell screamed signaling lunch. Blinking, she realized that she had spaced out for almost her entire History of Magic class. 

Dios, she just wanted today to be over. 

She made her way through the lunch line and grabbed a lunch tray with what she thought was a Boiling Isles take on spaghetti with eyeballs in it and made her way over to Willow, Gus, and their newest tablemate, Amity, who was already seated as well. 

She smiled as Luz slid into the vacant seat next to her, “Hey! How was class?”

Luz gave another half-hearted grin, “Oh you know, magic! And history! Spells! All that fun stuff.”

She missed the worried looks the three witches gave each other as she stared down at her eyeball spaghetti. One eyeball in particular seemed to remind her of a door with a similar-looking--

“SO,” she shouted, startling the others, “What have I missed since I’ve been out!”

Guz’s anxious look vanished as he launched into a story about how Boscha almost killed some student in the hallways who had accidentally changed her hair color to blue in potions. 

Luz felt herself once again spacing out as he kept talking, his voice becoming a droning in the back of her head. As much as she tried to zone back in on the conversation she just couldn’t focus. She kept seeing the same things--hearing the same voices--swirling around in her brain.

Take care of King, don’t forget to feed Hooty.

She’s with her real family now.

Tik-Tok, Human.

Lo Siento, Mami.

She gasped, finally realizing what she was missing, why she felt so anxious and exhausted and confused and scared . 

The portal. 

“Luz?”

She isn’t sure who says it. She stares out the cafeteria window at the odd orange-colored leaves in a world she doesn’t know.

“I’m in the Boiling Isles,” She breathes out

The three friends glance at each other, worried for what had to be the hundredth time that day before Amity slowly says, “Uhm.. yeah, Luz, you are. You have been for the past month. Are you okay?” 

Luz doesn’t seem to hear them as she turns her head from where it was stuck on the window and finally makes eye contact, but she doesn’t seem like she’s really there.

 “I’m in the Boiling Isles .”

It goes silent for a minute as they don't know how to respond to that before Luz puts her head in her hands on the table. “I’m in another dimension. Away from Earth, nothing is familiar, you guys have pointy ears and fangs. I’m in another realm , completely alone .” As she goes through her list her breathing seems to pick up and she feels her body flush from head to toe completely panicked, her voice cracking at the end. 

Amity gently pulls Luz’s hands from where they’re pulling painfully on her hair and covers them with her own, “Luz, what’s going on, what happened? We’re here for you, you know, so you’re not alone.”

Luz yanks her hands from Amity’s grasp, almost regretting it as she sees the flash of hurt in her eyes but she’s too focused to pay it that much attention.

“No, no, you don’t get it , you don’t understand. I have no one. I have no way home. Mi Mami is just going to keep waiting and waiting for me to come back from summer camp, but it won’t happen. She probably thinks I’ve been kidnapped! Or--Or dead!” She starts to feel tears burning at the edges of her eyes, and her breathing becoming more labored, “I chose to stay here, I chose to lie to her about where I am, and now I’ve abandoned her and I don’t know if I’m ever going to see her again!”

Luz looks up at them, a pained expression painting her face, “I’m so selfish! Why would I do that? Just because for once in my life I fit in somewhere? Because having magic would be cool? That’s so..so..!” she couldn’t think of the word, “Selfish!” Luz finally breathes as she finishes her impromptu rant. They stare at her and she feels her face flush.

Willow carefully starts, “Luz it’s-”

“Shit I’m sorry. I have to go. Lo Siento, lo Siento,” She hesitates for a second before taking off from the table. Luz hears them shout her name as she leaves but she’s already out the cafeteria doors. She sprints down the hallway, tears finally bursting from her eyes before she realized the one place no one would bother her. 

Darting into the nearest classroom, she grabs a piece of chalk before drawing a keyhole just like Viney taught her and clambered into the secret shortcut room. She leaned against the wall before slowly sliding onto the floor, hiccuping and barely able to get enough air, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She doesn’t know how long she sat there hiccuping and crying but it was a while before she finally ran out of tears. Her eyes stung everytime she blinked and she honestly just wanted to take a long hot shower. Or hug her mom. 

“Luz?” 

She blearily looks up and sees none other than the Blight twins looking down at her concerned.

Her body immediately flushed as she realizes that she must look awful right now, all things considered. She coughed harshly and sat up, trying to look more presentable before croaking out, “Hey guys, what are you doing here?”
Emira frowned and then sat on the floor in front of her, “What are you doing here? What happened? Mittens and your friends have been looking all over for you all panicked and I guess now I can see why. Do you want to talk about it?”

Luz’s face scrunched up, “They’ve been looking for me?”

Emira rolled her eyes good-naturedly and smiled gently, “Of course they have Cutie.”

Edric grinned, “Nice try at shifting the conversation though.”

“Ed, go tell Mittens and the others we found her and she’s okay,” she turned back to Luz, “would you be okay if they joined us?”

Luz sighed. They deserved an explanation, considering the mess that she made, “Uhm, yeah, sure, if you think they won’t be too mad.”

Edric crouched down, making her focus her attention on the green-haired boy who had a frown on his normally smirking face, “Nobody is mad at you, Luz, they just want to make sure you’re alright.”

She glanced back at the floor before whispering, “Okay,” her voice still hoarse from her meltdown.

Ed left and Emira shifted so that she was rubbing circles on Luz’s back to soothe her, reminding her of when her mom used to do that back on Earth. A new wave of tears burned behind her eyes but she dug her fingernails into her palms to keep them at bay.

Edric must have warned them not to run in yelling for her because she glanced up and saw the four of them tentatively walk into the room.

She manages to right herself before approaching her friends hesitantly with Emira following.

She can't bring herself to look them in the eyes as she says, “I’m really sorry I yelled like that and then ran out, I was being dramatic and,” she couldn’t help but cringe at her actions, “I’m sorry for making you look for me, and you probably missed class time an-”

Willow huffed unbelievably, “Luz we don’t care about missing class! We wanted to make sure you’re okay!”

“And you were not being dramatic at all! Something clearly upset you, you don’t need to invalidate your feelings on such a whim!” Amity said fiercely before smiling shyly at the Afro-Latina who was in shock.

Gus frowned slightly as he said, “Luz, we know you’ve been kind of high-strung and avoiding telling us what’s wrong, but seriously, what happened?”

Luz looked at each of them individually before lowering herself to the ground again, the others following. She sighed heavily before saying, “Okay, yeah you’re right. A lot happened, and it honestly hit me really hard.” She goes on to explain in detail from Eda’s battle with Lilith to fighting Belos, destroying the door, to finally freeing Eda and making it out of there. After she finished retelling the story they all sat in shock-absorbing the full impact of what happened.

“So yeah, I’m kind of stuck here until we can find another way back to the human realm.” she clenched and unclenched her hands, eyes trained on the floor.

Amity looked at her, eyes full of determination and certainty as she said, “Well, we’re going to help you in any way that we can to get you back to your mom, Luz.” The two looked at each other and Luz was taken aback by just how certain Amity was that they could fix this. 

“And we’ll be there for you when you get homesick until then,” Willow says, Gus, nodding along.

“And we can provide you with all the distractions you want when you do miss home,” Emira added, Edric smiling at her too. 

She felt tears brim her eyes again, but this time because of how lucky she was to have such amazing friends. 

“Aw, you guys!” She laughed and pulled them all in for a group hug.

As they pulled out of the group hug Edric rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly said, “I hate to be a downer but I heard the bell ring a while ago and we’ve missed all of our second half of the day classes, so we’d better get home.”

Luz winced apologetically before saying, “Sorry about that.”

“NO.” Amity yelled before blushing when she realized how loud she had been, “No, you help all of us so much, let us help you too.”

Luz’s heart warmed at the sentiment before they made their way out of the room and out the front gates. 

“Thanks, guys, for everything you did for me today, it really means a lot to me.”

Willow smiled at her and placed a hand in her arm in a reassuring gesture, “Hey, it was no problem.”

“Yeah seriously.”

“Of course, Luz!”

They all say their goodbyes and do one more group hug before they all leave, going their separate ways home. 

Luz can’t help but think about how much she loves the friends that she’s made, and despite not knowing if or when she’ll ever get back home, she feels content at the moment. The weight on her shoulders has finally lessened for the first time in days. She feels safe right now in her home away from.