The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

Things had been going pretty well for Luz.

Then... Then, after Hooty fended off a raid, Eda bragged about how nothing could stop her but her curse and how even that hadn't acted up in a while, but... Poof, Owl Beast.

That was how Luz learned that the curse had been getting worse since sometime after Eda let her and King know about it, that the elixirs Eda took to manage it weren't working anymore, and that Eda had been hiding that.

Luz's thoughts kept turning back to when she was little and her dad was sick and there was nothing anyone could do to save him. The way Eda talked about her curse... It was even worse than that.

She was so checked out that she almost didn't notice that everyone at school seemed... Not anxious but... Anticipatory?

Eventually, she picked it all up and asked Willow about it.

"Don't you remember?" the plant witch asked "Today's the day of the field trip to the Emperor's castle."

"Oh, yeah," Luz said while rubbing the back of her head. "I was thinking I'd sit that one out." Mostly because if any scouts or guards recognized her from encounters it would likely end poorly but especially since she knew she wasn't exactly in a good headspace today.

"What, you've gotta come!" her friend Gus declared while holding a brochure. "We get to see the relic hall and everything."

"I mean," Luz countered, "what even is a relic, anyway?" Then she thought about "...No, seriously, in the human realm relics are things like historical oddities or the bones of holy men."

"Weird," Gus replied. "Here relics are ancient and powerful items of magic from the savage ages collected by the covens and donated to the Emperor. Like the Oracle Stone. It shows you exactly how to become your best possible self."

"I'm pretty interested in the Green Thumb Gauntlet myself," Willow added. "Legend says it can conjure any kind of plant its wearer can imagine."

"What are we talking about?" Came Amity's voice from right next to Luz, which prompted Luz to jump. She really was out of it today, if the 'vaguely aware of people' part of her ESP didn't pick up someone next to her.

...Then she noticed Amity's hair. Amity had left it brown for a bit until the dye additive Eda offered her was ready but she'd dyed it again in the time since Luz had seen her last and it was...

"Different."

Amity patted her now-lavender locks. 'Mom always insisted I dye my hair green. She said it was so all her kids would match, but... Wrong shade of green." Amity smiled. "But I was feeling rebellious and decided to dye it a color I liked better and I'm very happy with how it turned out. What do you think?"

"Pretty."

"Thank you, Batata," Amity replied with a smile.

"Um, how did the additive work out?" Luz asked.

"No clue," Amity replied. "I haven't been able to metamorphose since that day and I haven't been angry enough to trigger an adrenaline-bile feedback again so..." Amity shrugged. "Dad said he'd feel out for tutor in the Abomination coven but Abomination Metamorphosis is a pretty rare skill so it might be a while."

"Cool," Luz replied.

"Now, what were you guys talking about?" Amity asked.

"The artifacts in the relic room at the castle," Willow answered. "Luz was saying that she didn't want to go on the field trip but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"I mean, I get it," Amity added. "Given her um... associates. Not gonna lie, I'm kind of apprehensive myself. If the tour runs into Lilith it could get really awkward... But, on the other hand," Amity continued, "it would be pretty cool to see the Abomi-Flask up close."

Gus held up his brochure to Luz's face. "There's gotta be something that catches your eye, right?"

Luz gave the relic list a once-over just to humor Gus but then she did notice something.

"The Healing Hat... Cures even the deadliest of diseases and can break any curse..." Suddenly the gears started turning in Luz's head.

"It figures that that'd be what interested you," Amity commented.

"Huh?" She wasn't onto her, was she?

"...Because you're so kind and compassionate?" Amity clarified.

"Oh, yeah," Luz said feeling relieved. "Sorry, I'm a little checked out today. Maybe I should go to the castle."

Amity hugged Luz. "I've got to go now but I'll see you on the airship," she said. Just before leaving, she looked around and then, as if by impulse, kissed Luz on the cheek.

Blushing almost as red as Amity sometimes did, Luz began attempting to plot out a heist before her brain caught up to an earlier part of the conversation. "Wait, did she call me a sweet potato?"

TLOA

On the airship, Willow explained to Luz the history of Emperor Belos, about how he spent years educating people about the dangers of wild magic and the importance of keeping the nine main forms of magic separate because mixing magics angers the Titan, and how the Titan speaks to the Emperor and... The whole thing sounded like a cult but Luz knew better than to say that aloud.

Once at the palace proper, a red goblin-like creature dressed in a white coat with hair sculpted to resemble a clawed hand introduced herself as Kikimora, who then took them across an extended bridge before lecturing them on the history of the Emperor's Coven in depth which all sounded... Really sinister. Luz wasn't really paying that close attention though, she was mostly on the lookout for hiding spaces, hints to the patterns of guard patrols, and flaws in security so that she could get back out again once she stole the Healing Hat.

Her initial attempt to steal the hat, just after the class left the relic room, was foiled when Willow and Gus noticed she was straggling and pulled her back to the group. Also, Amity gave her a little side-eye.

Not long after, however, Lilith appeared. Luz pressed herself up against a wall to stay out of the older witch's line of sight, noticed that Amity was likewise avoiding eye contact with Lilith, and waited. Eventually, it was clarified that Lilith, still looking ragged from the whooping Hooty had given her and her raid that morning, was set to go speak with the Emperor himself.

As the tour group and Lilith parted ways, Luz impulsively followed her mentor's villainous older sister. Tailing her without getting caught was... surprisingly easy. And soon enough, Luz had a vantage point to spy on Lilith's meeting with the Emperor.

The first thing Luz noticed about Belos was that he seemed to be sick. The second was that his throne was directly under a giant beating heart. The third was that he seemed to be English. Like, obviously he wasn't really English, he was a witch, but he had an English-like accent when to Luz's knowledge everyone else on the Boiling Isles spoke with American accents.

And that was a whole other thing as well, now that she thought about it. Everyone here spoke what was more or less American English but not any other Earth languages. No one was using translator spells, Luz asked and apparently, those weren't a thing.

Anyway, Belos commanded Lilith to capture Eda by twilight, tonight, or face the consequences. Then he ate a palisman.

Someone's personally crafted, bonded-for-life companion. A pet, a best friend, and a soulmate all in one, and he just cracked the poor little thing open like an egg and sucked out the magic inside.

Locking up people for lack of conformity, manipulating people with cult indoctrination, and branding people to restrict their natural abilities was one thing, but that? That was a special kind of evil. Luz had to bolt and find somewhere to hide, as her breakfast was coming back up on her.

Once she'd managed to do that and calm down... And forced herself to stop imagining it happening to Owlbert... And forced herself to stop thinking about how Lilith was the only witch in the castle with a staff... Luz looked out of a window and saw the airship from Hexside loading up to leave. Luz didn't have long, someone would notice she was missing so she needed to get back to the relic room and—

"There you are!"

Luz's train of thought came to a crashing halt as she turned around and saw Willow, Gus, and Amity standing behind her... Wow, the people sensing parts of her ESP were useless when she wasn't paying attention to it. And they all looked varying degrees of upset.

"Hey uh, Willow? Gus...? Sweet potato...?"

"It is a term of endearment!" Amity happily declared before blushing and returning to an expression of concern.

"Luz," Willow asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Luz insisted.

"You've been acting weird all day," Gus pointed out.

"And then you snuck off from the tour," Willow continued.

"Oh, you know me," Luz tried to dismiss. "Stupid, impulsive Luz. Always getting in over her head and doing dumb stuff for no reason..."

"Luz," Amity said as she stepped to the front of the group and made eye contact. "I didn't want to pry, Titan knows how mad I get when my boundaries are pushed, but... I know there's a problem. And you know how I know there's a problem." Luz wanted to facepalm, of course, she wasn't hiding anything from an Empath. "If you're going to... If you don't want to say anything, that's fine, but we can't help you if we don't know what's wrong."

Luz took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "It's Eda," Luz began. 'She's... Really, really sick," Luz didn't feel right mentioning the curse. "When I first found out she said she had it under control, but today I found out that it's getting worse. And the potions she uses to treat it aren't working anymore. I... I've already." Another deep breath. "I'm scared and I don't know what to do. The Healing Hat might be the only thing that can save her..."

Luz opened her eyes when she realized that her awesome girlfriend was hugging her. "Okay, looks like we're doing this. Off to commit high treason with my girlfriend. Is there a human phrase for that?"

It took a moment to respond. "I think the closest would be 'be gay, do crime.'" Luz admitted.

"Well if you're gonna break the law I'd hope you'd be at least happy about it," Gus chipped in.

"Do you really think I'm just going to let you two steal from the Emperor?" Willow asked as she adjusted her glasses. "Without me? Someone has to keep you guys out of trouble."

"You know, I don't think there are any laws against borrowing from the Emperor," Gus suggested.

Luz wanted to reject this, to say that she didn't want them getting in trouble just to help her, but she couldn't. "Thanks, guys."

TLOA

Lilith burst through a wall into the relic room. Moments ago, the Emperor had been alerted to intruders in the chamber in question. Children who had apparently snuck off from the field trip from Hexside to play with the relics. They'd almost gotten away with it if it wasn't for the fact that one of them tripped the security system.

Specifically, the human tripped the system. The only human on the Boiling Isles. Edalyn's apprentice, whom she was so very proud of.

Lilith had volunteered to deal with the children immediately because if there was one thing that Edalyn would make Edalyn come running it was the idea that someone or something she cared about was in danger.

...Well, that and well-aged apple blood, but Lilith knew better than to try to use that to lure Edalyn into a trap. It took her months to get the stains out of her robes.

Once in the room, two of the three real witch children attempted to defend themselves from her using the artifacts they'd pilfered but the Oracle Stone ironically enough only conjured an image of what you wanted to hear and the Green Thumb gauntlet still needed a competent plant witch to master: Artifacts or not, these were mere children and easy to defeat, disarm, and restrain.

The third child hadn't even grabbed an artifact. Just a witchling with... Wait.

"Abominations, rise!" Declared Lilith's former student as two rather standard abominations appeared from Amity's summoning. The head witch almost didn't recognize the girl with her hair styled and colored differently.

"Amity," Lilith declared, "I am very disappointed in you."

"Well, you're not my teacher anymore so your approval holds no value," Amity quipped. "Abominations," she instructed to her summoned minions, "attack!"

Two abominations charged at her, but Lilith was able to fend them off with strikes from either end of her staff and then dispatch them with blasts of lightning.

"Amity, please, I was the one who taught you how to fight."

Lilith was then forced to dodge a blast of brilliant pinkish flame. That was new. "You were a lousy teacher."

Lilith was actually a little hurt at that. "I mentored you for two years!" Lilith declared while batting away fireblasts.

"Yeah, and I'll admit that I did learn a lot from you," Amity admitted, "but there was no support. Every lesson was clinical and academic and the one time you gave me any positive feedback, the one time you ever said you were proud of me as your student it was a lie!" The fireballs got a little more intense after that.

"Are you still upset about that?" Lilith asked. "I tried to explain to you that I merely wanted to ensure that you were dueling on an even playing field. If you knew Edalyn, you'd know just how out of character it was that she didn't cheat."

"Do you have any idea what that hug meant to me!" Amity screamed. Her face then turned red. "But it doesn't matter. I do know Eda, she was the one who helped me over my dependency on training wands. And Luz was the one whose support gave me the confidence I needed to really bloom!"

Lilith noticed Amity looked past her with that line with a strange sparkle in her eye. She turned and saw the human standing in the hole that Lilith had blasted through the wall. She was looking back at the duel with a degree of hesitation, and cradling the Healing Hat in her arms.

Amity apparently noticed that Lilith had noticed the human and shouted "Luz, run!"

"But—"

"This will all have been for nothing if you don't take the Hat!"

Lilith couldn't let the human escape. She needed her to finally capture Edalyn, to finally induct Edalyn into the Emperor's Coven so that the Emperor would cure her curse as he promised. She'd chastised the scout who'd branded the girl... Then imprisoned said 'scout' when it was discovered that he had been an imposter who'd abducted and replaced one of her actual scouts. Of course, then someone sprung him from the conformatorium...

Regardless, Lilith wasn't happy that a coven sigil had been forced on the girl. Those were meant for witches, not humans, and there was no telling what the long-term effects on her would be... But that doesn't mean she wasn't going to take advantage of it now. The spell to activate the trap hidden in the coven sigils was subtle, but the human's screams of pain and clutching at her branded forearm before her muscles locked up completely mostly certainly weren't.

"Is that... Is that what the coven sigils are for!?" The sound of anger and betrayal in Amity's voice told Lilith that doing that may have been a mistake.

When Lilith failed to respond, Amity's eyes glowed abomination purple and...

Oh. Amity had clearly gotten much more powerful since she left Lilith's tutelage. Her abomination form was different from Darius Deamonne's. A lighter shade of purple, closer to the lavender she'd died her hair. No extra eyes throughout her body, the slime was uniformly colored, her eyes were pink rather than green, and in general, she was just 'cuter' for lack of a better term, but her teeth became just as sharp, and being cute did not make the form any less intimidating.

"Stop hurting my girlfriend!" Amity growled and slithered menacingly at Lilith.

Lilith reflexively struck at Amity with the head of her staff and tapped some of her palisman's power to generate a minor blast of electrical discharge. Not enough to seriously hurt the girl, but definitely enough to revert her back to her flesh and blood form and knock her out.

"The human is clearly a bad influence on you," Lilith mused before returning the pilfered artifacts to their display cases. The human had been quite reluctant to part with the Hat.

"Did you think this would help Edalyn?" Lilith asked the still-paralyzed child. Fool. If the Healing Hat would have worked on Edalyn's curse, Lilith would have used it on her years ago.

That done, she unbound the two conscious witchlings and set them, amity in between them, on her staff. "Tell Edalyn she has until sundown to rescue her apprentice."

She then sent them off, trusting her Palisman not to drop them on the way to Edalyn's shack, and turned back to the human.

"It is a shame you got caught up in all of this," she admitted. "You should have stayed with your own kind instead of getting dragged into the messes Eda makes for herself."