The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

"You really like that berry stuff, don't you?" Luz asked the adorable little owl sitting on her shoulder.

The owl in question, Eda's palisman Owlbert whose theft of Luz's book had started this whole adventure, cutely hooted in response.

The last week and a half, Luz thought, had been absolutely crazy. To settle an argument, Eda has used a spell to swap King's, Luz's, and Eda's own bodies between themselves. This somehow resulted in a massive brawl in the streets and Luz had to actively resist the urge to scratch the itch on her bandaged wrist.

A few days later her friend Gus had told her that her ban at Hexide had been lifted and brought her to the school to speak at the human appreciation society. Unbeknownst to Luz, however, Gus had been lying to her, and well... The bad news is that Gu s wasn't president of the Human Appreciation Society anymore. The good news is that Eda had gotten the ban lifted for real and Luz was starting there next semester, which was going to be so awesome. Also, Eda taught her how to make fireworks to celebrate the destruction of the detention pit.

A few days later, Luz had... borrowed Owlbert in order to try and attend a sports game, Hexside vs Glandus, but... Owlbert had gotten hurt, something for which she was very sorry, and Luz had to go through many trials to both earn his forgiveness and prove to the Bat Queen, a giant palisman, that she was worthy of that forgiveness. Owlbert had then lied to Eda to cover for Luz, apparently saying that Luz had taken him out for ice cream.

A few days ago, she and King had collaborated on writing a book only for... Well, let's just say that they'd learned a valuable lesson about friendship and also avoiding predatory publishers.

Which brought Luz to today: As Luz was going over things she needed to know for her first day at Hexside, she'd noticed that she needed to know at least two spells to get into the standard classes, otherwise they'd put her in with the toddlers. She'd told Eda this, panicking, to which Eda replied that she'd think of something but first, they had some business to settle.

It was then that Luz had noticed a very apologetic-looking Owlbert on Eda's shoulder. Eda had finally worked up the motivation to call Owlbert out on his obvious lie from a few nights before and got the truth out of him. Because of Owlbert's passionate defense of Luz and insistence that the human had learned her lesson, Eda wasn't mad but insisted that if Luz wanted Eda's trust back she must perform a trial of penance:

Take Owlbert out for ice cream for real.

Mission accomplished, Luz and the satisfied palisman were making their way back to the Owl House. As they passed through town, however, Luz noticed two people with familiar dark green hair up near the town bulletin board.

"Hey Ed, hey Em!" Luz greeted Amity's elder siblings as she approached. She wasn't expecting them to jump or to turn to her looking so frazzled... Then she was hit by the guilt that was radiating off of them.

"Oh, hey Luz," Emira greeted nervously. "You haven't seen Amity around, have you?"

"Not since that day at the library," Luz denied, "I assumed she'd been busy." It was then that Luz noticed what it was that they'd added to the bulletin board: a 'Have You Seen Me' poster with a prominent photo of Amity. "What happened!?" she asked in a sudden panic. "Who did I have to hurt!?"

"No one!" Edric insisted perhaps a little too fast, when Luz glared at him, he buckled. "Look, it's our fault. Mittens gets so uptight sometimes and we thought that a prank—"

"Just a little prank!" Emira added.

"Yeah, just a little prank," Edric justified, "would help her loosen up a bit but we uh... Underestimated just how badly it would hit her and..."

"...She ran off," Emira finished. "At first Mom was pretty sure she'd come home after she cooled off but it's been days. She hasn't been home, she hasn't been at school, or the Library..."

"There are a lot of angry, brokenhearted toddlers right now," Edric interjected. "Have you ever been threatened by a kindergartener? It's surprising how intimidating they can get."

"If you see her, could you please tell her that we're both so very, very sorry?" Emira continued.

"And to please come home?" Edric finished.

Luz was about to ask what they did when she was interrupted by an impossibly deep voice calling out "There they are Daddy!"

When Luz turned to look, she saw the voice came from a small child in the uniform of Hexside's baby class, a red bipedal demon whose face was mostly a mouth full of fangs.

And he was sitting on the shoulder of the intimidating figure of Warden Wrath.

Who was himself flanked by twelve conformatorium guards.

"They're the big kids who were mean to Miss Amity and made her go away," the small child... Luz thought she heard Amity call him Braxas that day at the Library, declared while pointing to the twins. "Beat them up!"

"You heard him boys," the Warden replied.

Edric and Emira proceeded to draw blue spell circles in the air and vanish from sight. Luz herself likewise decided to make herself scarce, lest the Warden recognize her from the riot a few weeks ago.

At first, Luz was perfectly calm as she made her retreat, but once she made it to the woods outside of town proper she bolted making a beeline for the Owl House, rushing there in record time, jumping over the extended form of Hooty that reached out beyond the trees for some reason and bursting into the house.

"Eda!" Luz cried out as the worry that had formed in her belly reached an apex. "Eda there's a problem and—"Eda wasn't even in the Owl House, judging from the open portal door. As her concern for her friend grew Luz considered going through herself to find Eda, her need for help to see to Amity's safety beginning to outweigh her fear that it may be discovered that she ditched camp. Eventually, Eda walked in with a large heavy sack carried over her back.

Eda took one look at Luz's face, sat the sack down, and melted into a pose of resignation. "What's wrong?" she asked with a sigh.

"Eda, problem, Amity, missing, prank," Luz babbled, her brain going a little too fast to speak coherently.

"Luz"? Eda began, "Breathe"

Luz stopped and took a breath while Owlbert flew from her shoulder to Eda's and began hooting.

"Uh huh...? Uhuh? Really? Did they say what they did?" Eda replied to her Palisman. A few hoots later she looked back to Luz. "Okay, Owlbert filled me in. I'm not gonna lie to you, Luz, if your friend's been missing for days the odds aren't good but I know every nook and cranny of Bonesborough like the back of my hand," Eda said while pulling off her hand to demonstrate. That was a thing Eda could do and while freaky, Luz had gotten used to it. "If she's still here we'll—"

"Hoot hoot!" Interuped Hooty as he writhed and undulated into the living room. "I found a new friend skulking in the woods!" he declared. Then he started heaving for a solid thirty seconds before throwing up a massive, squirming owl pellet that burst open to reveal an incredibly freaked out...

"Amity!" Luz declared before tackling her non-longer-missing friend and pulling her into a hug.

"Well that was easy," Eda declared with unearned satisfaction.

"Where, huh?" Amity asked in a confused tone. "Luz?"

"I'm glad you're okay," Luz began. "Ed and Em told me that—"

"Don't talk to me about them," Amity said quickly and Luz could feel a spike of anger. "Just... Give me a second."

Dutifully, Luz released Amity and backed up. Amity started going through slow, methodological breaths and soon the red faded from her face. She then looked at Hooty, who was looming over the whole scene, and slowly scooted away from him. Then she began looking around the room. "Where am I?"

"The Owl House," Luz informed.

"...I thought it was the Owl Shack," Amity admitted, which prompted an indignant "Hoot" from Hooty. "Please stay away from me," Amity said in a small voice in response.

"Yeah," Eda admitted, "it's never pleasant when Hooty owl pellets someone. Can't think of a worse first impression."

"Amity, are you okay?" Luz asked.

"...No," the girl admitted. Now that things had calmed down some, Luz could see dirt and grass stains on her school uniform, a few cuts and scratches, and her hairband was missing.

"What happened?" Luz asked.

"Ed and Em found my hideout," Amity began, "and they stole my diary and... Posted the pages all over school," she finished while shrinking in on herself.

Luz blinked. "They said it was a prank. That's not a prank. That's just mean."

"And boring," Eda added. "Pranks are supposed to be about fun and chaos. That's just pouring oil on the flaming cesspit that is school."

"I got into school that morning and... People stared," Amity continued. "A few people laughed. Then I saw a page taped above a locker with a familiar doodle and... Looking at Ed am Em it was obvious they were responsible and... I had to get out of there. I felt... Couldn't let them see me, couldn't... Couldn't go home, either. Ed and Em never get in trouble for anything, so..."

"You ran away." Luz finished. "I know the feeling. I'm glad you're alright but why did you come here?"

"I was going to try and hop a caravan to Latissa, but then I remembered that I still had your book," Amity explained and pulled Azura 5 out of her backpack. "It wouldn't be right to just run off with it so I spent the last few days trying to find... Here. Because all I know about this place is that it's in the woods. Then I was attacked by your Bird Tube."

"I have a name," Hooty interrupted.

"Not now, Hooty," Eda dismissed. "Now, the question I have for you Baby Blight—"

"Please don't call me that."

"Alright, Bossy Boots," Eda corrected.

Amity paused for a moment in thought. "That's better."

"Now the question I have for you, Boots," Eda continued without missing a beat, "is just what do you think you were going to do when you made it to Latissa?"

"I don't know," Amity admitted. She handed Luz her book and then tried to get up and leave...

Only to be stopped: "Hooty, door," Eda commanded. Hooty retracted into the front entrance to the Owl House and the door slammed closed and locked itself.

"I might be an all-around scoundrel," Eda continued, "but I cannot, in good consciousness, let a kid your age live on the streets."

"I've been living in the woods," Amity corrected.

"And you certainly smell like it," Eda replied. "And uh, when's the last time you had something to eat?"

"...I found some berries yesterday," Amity confirmed while looking away. It was then that her stomach grumbled quite loudly.

Eda pinched her nose. "Okay, here's what's gonna happen," she declared. "You," she said while shaking her still severed hand at Amity so that it pointed at her, "are going to hop in the shower. Then we're gonna get some food in you. Then we're gonna sit down and plan out where you're going from here, you got that?"

"I... I don't think—"

"This is not up for debate. As much as I hate being responsible, if nothing else you're important to Luz and that makes you important to me. Luz," Eda continued with a turn to the human girl, "Boots is about your size, go see if you have any clothes she can borrow while what's she wearing is in the wash."

"Yes, mam!" Luz declared as she bolted upstairs. Before she made it to her room, she overheard Eda asking Amity about food allergies.

TLOA

"You seriously didn't have anything else I could borrow?" Amity asked, not for the first time, as she sat on Eda's couch in Luz's otter costume.

"It's laundry day," Luz defended. "Besides, you look cute in it"

This made Amity's face go red. Poor girl probably wasn't used to genuine compliments, Luz thought to herself.

"Alright," Eda began. "So to recap: Boots ran away from home because her jerk siblings posted her diary all over school. Now that she's eaten and no longer smells like a forest gremlin the question is... What do you wanna do about it, Kid?"

"I just want to disappear," Amity admitted.

"Well I can do that for you," Eda quipped, "but I can't guarantee I can make you reappear." That seemed to startle Amity so Eda continued, "Now seriously, I am the last person who gets to judge you for dropping out of school or running away from home but... Are you sure that's what you want? This kind of thing needs to happen because it's your choice, not because you were chased away. What do you want out of your life?"

"My whole life has been building up to joining the Emperor's Coven," Amity said before pausing, "Uh, I mean... No offense intended to present company."

"It's fine," Eda dismissed, "but do you really think the Head Bootlickers are going to take in a girl who dropped out of school?"

Amity looked away. "I... I can't go back."

"Teenagers are the most fickle animals in the Demon Realm," Eda replied. "This time next month, nobody is going to care... Unless... You didn't write about any crushes, did you?"

Amit paused, briefly glanced at Luz for some reason, and then answered with a blush. "One, but... They don't even go to Hexside."

"Then nobody's gonna care after a few days," Eda said, "and you didn't write anything... Age inappropriate, did you?"

Amity blushed even redder, "Titan, no!"

"Then you're fine, this will all blow over," Eda said with certainty.

"And if it doesn't," Luz chipped in, "I'm starting at Hexside next semester. I'll have your back."

Amity let off an awkward smile. "Great... But... I'm not ready to go back."

"Well, then you can hang out with us for a few days," Eda answered. "Relax, take your mind off things, reconnect with nature, and when you're ready go back refreshed and confident."

"Ooh!" Luz jumped to her feet. "It'll be like a sleepover! We can do each other's hair and nails, dress up in animal jammies, and stay up late talking about Azura! What did you think of book five?"

"I didn't get a chance to finish it," Amity admitted.

"Then I know what we're doing tonight," Luz declared.

"Don't stay up too late," Eda warned. "Because we still need to get you that second spell and for that, I was thinking we'd be taking a trip to the Knee."

AN: Yeah, not every change is gonna be a good one. Luz and Amity being friends early means she doesn't get roped into Ed and Em's antics... but also means that Luz can't stop them from taking Amity's diary and hanging out with Luz means Amity doesn't overhear them planning to sneak into the library to find it. This is tagged "Amity Blight Needs a Hug" on AO3 for a reason.