The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

Luz had a bounce in her step as their party of four trekked back to the Owl House. She was a little confused about where this Raine came from, but Eda had said they were a friend and Luz trusted Eda... Even if the tickle of her ESP told her that Eda was hiding something. King was riding Eda's shoulder and Eda... For all that, she was clearly hiding something

As they got within eyeshot of the Owl House, Hooty stretched out to greet them and gasped quite loudly upon seeing Raine.

"Hello, Hooty," the tanned, androgynous, green-haired witch greeted nervously.

"Hiya Raine!" Hooty replied cheerfully. "Gee, I haven't seen you in..." Hooty seemed to freeze. After thirty seconds, Eda poked him. "Sorry about that!" he declared. "I just realized that I have no frame of reference for the passage of time, hoot hoot. Still, it's been a while. You haven't been here since you broke up with Eda."

Now it was Luz's turn to gasp, as yet more of Eda's mysterious backstory was revealed to her. King, for his part, started laughing as the two adult witches blushed Amity-red... Luz made a note to make sure her beloved girlfriend never found out about that thought.

"Well, yes, that did happen but... That was a long time ago and we're on good terms now," Raine replied. "Right?"

"Yes," Eda confirmed.

"Then you'll be happy to know that Raeda has been replaced as my favorite ship," Hooty continued as if he wasn't undulating into a minefield. "I'm all about Amluitzy now."

"That's the worst one!" King shouted at the same time Luz shouted "I told you we went with Lumity!"

...When all eyes turned to Luz, she coughed and added "I mean, I told you, shipping real people is cringe."

"Ri~ight," Hooty responded. "By the way, how'd the race go?"

"Came in third," Luz replied. "But Eda streamed King's message on penstagram instead and she signed the papers."

"Oh, that's great!" Hooty said ecstatically. "We need to celebrate!"

"Well, knowing Eda," Luz teased, "the best way to celebrate making the adoption official would be a jailbreak. Do we know anyone in prison right now?"

This was apprently the wrong thing to say, as both adult witches froze with awkward expressions on their faces and Luz suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong even more strongly than earlier.

"Okay, who's in jail and how much time do I have to prepare before I bust into the Conformatrorium for a third time?" Luz asked.

Raine was the first to respond. "It doesn't—third time?"

"We'll handle it, Luz," Eda insisted. "We don't want you involved in this."

"Eda, I think you know me well enough that if you don't tell me I'm going to get involved anyway, and in ways you can't prepare for," Luz replied.

"C'mon Kid, you're smarter than that," Eda replied.

"The Selkidomus hunt?" Luz quipped back.

"...You aren't still feeling like you're a burden, are you?" Eda asked with sudden concern. "Because you're not. You don't have to be involved in every little thing to be... C'mon, Luz, you're family."

"No, I don't," Luz said honestly while kicking herself for choosing that example. "Especially since Piniet started paying royalties so now I can contribute to the food budget."

"Seriously when did you and King write a book?" Eda asked.

"It's just... I kind of have a habit of stumbling into these sorts of schemes, Eda," Luz replied. "Also I'm basically low-key a superhero at this point and, well, great power and all that."

"What's a superhero?" Raine asked

"It's a human thing, Rainestorm," Eda explained quickly. "Look, Luz, this... You have a point, but this is a much bigger deal than what you normally get into."

"I beat up the Emperor," Luz deadpanned. "I don't think it gets bigger than that."

"And I'm more afraid of Cam than I am of Bonehead," Eda finished. "If something happens to you we both know she'll tear the portal open herself and beat me within an inch of my life."

"You're being ridiculous," Luz countered. "She'd beat Belos within an inch of his life."

"Okay, but still," Eda countered while looking around awkwardly, "it's fine, we have it handled and—hey look a distraction!"

Luz rolled her eyes."Like I'll fall for—Amity!"

As Luz noticed her girlfriend flying in from the same general direction Eda had gestured in, she bolted back up the path so as to greet her as she landed. Amity for her part literally leaped from her staff and landed in Luz's outstretched arms. Maintaining the momentum, Luz twisted to twirl Amity a round a few times before hugging her tightly and placing a kiss on her, both actions being eagerly reciprocated by Amity. After a few moments, they broke apart, Luz set Amity down, and Amity leaned on her while purring. Amity's purring was music to Luz's ears.

"Dang," Eda observed. "You act like you haven't seen each other all week."

"We haven't," Amity replied.

"You go to school together," Eda deadpanned.

"Seeing each other in class doesn't count," Luz insisted. "I've been training for the race and her dad finally got her a tutor for her to turn into an abomination. How's that going by the way?" she asked while facing Amity.

"I'm done now, for good," Amity confirmed. "I can change at will but... Don't ask me to do it now. The training was kind of rough."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Sweet Potato," Luz said while giving Amity a little nuzzle. "But you got it down so fast, you're so awesome."

"Thanks, Batata," Amity replied with a smile. "You're awesome, too. Third place in your first flying race?"

"You caught the race!?" Luz asked excitedly.

"No, but Ed and Em filled me in and I watched, liked, and shared King's stream afterward before flying over," Amity explained. She then shot the newly rechristened King Clawthorne a thumbs up, which the young demon returned. "But um... I have a question... How do you know the head of the Bard Coven?"

"Who, Raine?" Luz asked. "Apparently they used to date Eda, I don't have all the details but... Something's up and Eda's not telling me," she finished as she turned back to her mentor.

"...You're not gonna let up on this, are you?" Eda asked with a resigned expression

"I am not."

"Okay, fine," Eda relented in the same tone and cadence as a teen agreeing to clean her room. "But inside, and not right away. I need a few minutes to decompress. Today was very emotionally taxing for... a couple of reasons."

With that, they were led into the Owl House, and Eda gave Hooty instructions to go on high alert until further notice. She then set King down on the couch, told Raine to make themself comfortable, and marched into the kitchen to make tea.

"So, Raine... You used to date my mom," King started.

"Yes, yes I did," Raine replied neutrally.

King hmmed. "I don't know where I was going with this."

"How does it feel to call Eda 'mom' King?" Luz asked.

"It feels right," King said confidently. "Not sure I'm ready to call her that to her face yet but..." King was clearly happy.

"So, I think I know how King came into Eda's life," Raine began, "but where do you come in? Luz, is it? I take it you're her apprentice, the one the Emperor says was blessed by the Titan?"

Luz rolled her eyes. "Don't believe everything Belos says, he's a liar."

"Oh, I'm quite aware," Rainge replied darkly.

"I mean, he might have been accidentally telling the truth," Amity added.

"What?" Raine asked.

"It's complicated," Luz dismissed, "anyway I first met Eda when Owlbert stole my book and I ended up chasing him through the portal between the human realm and the demon realm."

A scandalized hiss emerged from Luz's lowered hood and Stringbean floated out. "Papa Owlbert did what?"

"It's fine, Stringbean," Luz reassured. "Owlbert and I are friends now."

"Still," Stringbean hissed, "that wasn't very nice." Stringbean then floated down to Amity's lap, where Ghost was resting, and rattled "Ghosty, come help me talk to Papa Owlbert."

Ghost stretched in a way that seemed akin to a shrug and then padded off after Stringbean to, presumably, find and chastise the owl who had become something of a father figure to Luz's palisman.

"So that happened," Luz observed. "Anyway, Eda wouldn't let me go home until I helped her break into the conformatorium to steal back something Warden Wrath stole from King, so we did, I freed some prisoners, started a riot, discovered I had powers, and... Well, I really didn't want to go to that summer camp and I always wanted to learn magic so... I became Eda's apprentice."

"A lot of things are starting to fall into place," Raine replied neutrally. "So... You're a sorcerer, I take it?"

"Nope!" Luz replied cheerfully. She then drew a spell circle to cast the light spell. Luz wasn't sure exactly how much of it was from practice versus just getting stronger from absorbing more magic but she was able to cast the spells she knew with normal-sized circles and not too much of a drain now. "I wasn't born a witch, and I don't have a bile sack so I can't cast any of the main magics since, um, no spell phlegms, but I can do elemental magics as long as I... Ooh, I need an example."

Luz reached into her pocket and drew out her glyph cards before passing a light glyph to rain. "Tap it."

Raine obliged and was rewarded with a simple ball of light.

"The glyphs are this ancient form of magic that witches used before they figured out how to cast spells with their bile," Luz explained. "They're some kind of language that manipulates the ambient magic of the Boiling Isles and I rediscovered them... With a little help."

"We're pretty sure, from overwhelming circumstantial evidence," Amity added, "that they have something to do with the Titan."

"At first I could only do magic with the glyphs," Luz continued, "but then I got magic of my own through some... Complicated stuff and with a bit of trial and error we figured out that I can use my own power to cast any spell I know the glyph or glyph combo for." She drew another circle and then held out her hand, conjuring some flowers. "I can even fake a couple of the main magics. I don't have answers to any of the advanced plant spells but one of the four basic glyphs is for conjuring live plants and you can get pretty far with just that if you're creative." She then handed the flowers she'd conjured, a bouquet of lavender, to Amity who gave a quiet giggle as she took them. "I can also contribute magic to communal spells and rituals."

"That's all very impressive," Raine said genuinely. "So Eda said you go to school with... Amity? Amity Blight, Alador and Odalia's youngest?"

"Yes, Headwitch Whispers," Amity answered.

"Please, call me Raine," the bard replied, "so, you'll be enrolled at Hexside then, which tracks are you in?"

"All of them!" Luz declared proudly.

Raine blinked. "How?"

"She did in one day what I never could," came Eda's voice as she came back in with a tray of tea mugs. "On her very first day, she and some kids she met in detention convinced Bumpipoo to let the kids learn whatever magics they wanted instead of strictly following the Emperor's boneheaded one magic one witch policy. I couldn't possibly be more proud of my apprentice."

"To be fair, we did defeat a greater basilisk that had already drained the rest of the students and staff," Luz added sheepishly. "That kinda gives you a pretty big boost to persuasiveness."

"Lots of kids are multitracking now," Amity confirmed. "I'm mostly an abomination specialist, but I also study plants, potions, and bard magic."

"You know, Boots," Eda added, "Raine wrote the song I taught you and Luz."

"You taught them one of my songs?" Raine asked with a blush.

"They needed a love song," Eda replied. "Something pure. So I taught them Raine's Rhapsody... Hey, why don't you two get your instruments and show Raine what you did with their song."

"After you explain what's going on and who we know that's in jail," Luz insisted.

"Dang it," Eda. "Okay, fine. So... You remember that group of bards that showed up and wrecked the petrification machine back at the Confomrtatroim?"

"No," Luz replied. "I heard about them but I never saw them."

"Oh right, you only came out at the very end," Eda realized, "Boots, you saw them."

"They called themselves the Bards Against The Throne," Amity explained. "There were four of them. They appeared during the protest-turned-riot, declared they were there to rescue Eda, used a bard spell to summon a localized storm that destroyed the petrification, and then their leader dueled the Golden Guard..." Something seemed to occur to Amity. "The leader of the bards used a viola and... When Eda taught us the song, she said it was originally written for the mandolin and the viola. She plays the mandolin, so... Now that I think about it, they had light green hair too and... You're the Leader of the Bards Against The Throne, aren't you, Mx. Whispers?"

"You're much more observant than most witches, Ms. Blight," Raine noted, "and I told you to please call me Raine."

"Sorry, the force of habit," Amity acknowledged.

"But yes, I am the leader of The BATTS," Raine confirmed. "the other day, as we were rescuing a Wild Witch who had been captured by some coven guards when we got into something of a jam and Eda helped us out. Going forward, she started aiding us and we were able to really ramp up our efforts... Until today. Just a few hours ago I got a tip-off about something big... That turned out to be a trap."

"Oh boy," Luz replied.

"The other BATTs were captured by Eberwolf and Darius Deamonne," Eda added. Amity spilled her tea. "What?"

"Darius is the one who was training me in abomination metamorphosis," Amity explained.

"Oh, that must have been rough," Raine observed with sympathy

"It was... The talent is powered by anger," Amity began, "so the last few days he's been making me duel him while insulting my performance and... My self-esteem has been pretty bad lately."

Luz could sense the bad feelings coming off of Amity. "I'mma kill him."

"Luz, no... He admitted today he didn't mean any of it and he offered to buy me something expensive after seeing just how badly the damage was, so I'm extorting him into providing us with some Titan Bone," Amity explained. "So at least wait until then. Besides, just being here with you is making me feel better."

"...So when's the wedding," King asked. During the conversation he'd left the couch and was now sitting atop a pile of his stuffed animals, accompanied by a trio of palisman. The demon and the palisman had all clearly gotten bored at some point and were playing some kind of game. "Seriously. I think Hooty's an ordained minister."

"How is Hooty an ordained minister!?" Eda demanded.

Hooty proceeded to crash in through a window. "I took a correspondence course!"

"When!?" Eda asked again.

"When King and Luz were writing their book," Hooty replied. "I got the letter confirming my certification two weeks ago, hoot hoot. But King, that is not an appropriate question to be asking. Even if it's obvious they're going to be married someday, right now they're just kids and should be allowed to be kids and figure this out on their own."

"I was joking!" King insisted.

"To answer King's question," Amity began, "when we're old enough and not a second sooner. Like Hooty said."

"And on our terms, no one else's" Luz agreed.

"Then I dropped my grom photo that I keep with me, and... He sort of... Threatened Luz."

"Luz, you're not allowed to kill him, I call dibs," Eda interrupted.

"He was bluffing about that, too," Amity shared. "Or at least that's what he says. He said that he knows firsthand what it's like to have someone you are about taken from you and that he wouldn't do that to someone and..."

"...That might explain something," Raine observed. "After he captured my apprentices, Eda and I fled into the woods and.."

"You know how my curse futzes with bad magic?" Eda added. "We tried to use that with Raine's Rhapsody to take Darius and Eberwolf out: Emperor Bonehead has a plan and needs all nine Covenheads to pull it off and it's not like he can replace them on short notice. But... We had to stop because it was affecting us too."

Eda was clearly not telling the full story there, but Luz didn't press.

"Then Darius caught us," Raine finished. "I was fully prepared to give myself up so Eda could escape, to fight them both on my own or die trying, but Darius got a good look at us, said 'Don't do it again,' and left with Eberwolf."

"We got back to town just in time to see the end of the race."

"That... That's bad," Amity said clearly panicked. "He knows you and Eda were involved in a rebellion, he... When he threatened Luz I didn't know he was bluffing. I tried to kill him, I... He got a call from someone named Eber right before he sent me home. If you got back... This couldn't be more than half an hour before you walked into the trap. If I'd..."

"Boots, don't do this to ourselves. I've been there and done that when it comes to asking what-ifs and all it does is lead to sleepless nights," Eda gently chastised.

"Besides, you did more than enough," Raine confirmed. "Your reaction to his provocation,s that conversation... It must have reminded him of his own pain enough to have second thoughts. And for as much of a jerk Darius can be, he's still a witch of principles. He won't expose us as long as we don't get caught again."

"And dealing with stuff like this isn't your responsibility," Eda added. "It's like Hooty said, you're just kids and should get to be kids. Let us worry about breaking Amber, Derwin, and Katya out of the Conformitorium."

"They got Katya again?" Luz asked. She'd just sent the witch her feedback on her latest fanfic.

"Luz," Eda insisted, "let us handle it."

"Fine," Luz agreed reluctantly. She then finished her tea and took a moment to read the leaves, as had become something of a habit. The weather was going to be good tonight.

"Now, why don't you get your instruments and show Rainestorm what you can do?" Eda asked.

"Alright," Luz said as she stood up and started heading up the stairs. Amity followed after her.

Once they got to her room, Amity asked "You're already planning to break them out tonight, aren't you?"

"You know me so well," Luz said with a smile.