The Owl House episode 16.5 - Understanding Boscha

Chapter 7 - Hope

     After the last memory had faded, the place that Willow and Luz were in - whatever it was - was now just a black void. Willow tried to feel around for Luz, but felt nothing.
      "Luz? You there?" She whispered, slowly starting to get uneasy.
      Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm here. Your eyes glow in the dark! They're so green," Lus said enthusiastically.
     "They do?" Willow asked. She could see the outline of Luz's head nodding."It's very cool." She said. Willow smiled a bit, and the static noises came rushing back to the kids.
     When the memory faded in, the building in front of them looked very familiar. Hexside. The memories must've done a timeskip - however that worked here.
     Boscha, who looked just about as old as she was now - Willow could only assume that Luz thought that witches aged differently, and she was wrong about that - was walking up the steps into the school, looking miserable; her usual, daily look.
     Skara was leaning against her locker, looking deep in thought. When she heard footsteps approaching, her eyes lit up. "Hey, Bosch!" She said happily, running up and hugging the witch.
     "Hey, Skara. What's up?" Boscha asked, smiling at her friend.
     "Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. At least, to the best of my knowledge." Skara replied, shrugging.
     "Don't worry about that, you know I trust you. You're always in on the best gossip around." Boscha scoffed, and Skara grinned. "You bet," she said, with a hint of mischief in her voice.
     Boscha just elbowed the bard, and Skara laughed. "Welp, I better get ready for the day. See you at lunch?" Skara offered.
     "Oh, no, I'm too busy growing wings and flying away. Of course, dummy," Boscha snickered.
     "Great. Cya!" Skara called as she dashed around the hallway, to the bard section of the school.
     Willow realized that she - somehow - felt genuine happiness as she watched the bard that had been in on bullying her for years had ran around the corner and dissappeared.
     "Hey, Luz, you feeling the same thing I'm feeling?" Willow whispered.
     "No." Luz responded.
     "So you felt nothing when you were in my head? Just your own emotions?
     "Yep. Amity and I were just in and out." Luz recalled.
      Willow snorted. "Sure. Just in and out." She smirked. Luz just tilted her head quizzically but said nothing.
     Focusing back on the memory - Willow could really only call it that, without knowing what to call a memory where you feel the feelings of the memory holder - she noticed she felt different. In the memory, Willow herself was walking up the stairs, discussing something with Gus. Willow scoffed, as she noticed he hadn't had his growth spirt yet and was still shorter than she was. But as she looked over at Boscha, she realized she looked different. There was a sort of light in her eyes, and her ears seemed to be perked up, as if she was straining to hear something interesting. Boscha went from looking pale, to looking a little red in a matter of seconds.
     "Is she okay?" Luz asked, sounding a little worried.
    Willow shrugged, but she felt an odd burn in her chest and her stomach seemed to do flips in her body. She'd never felt this way before, so she couldn't pinpoint what in the hell was going on. She was only concerned for the way her heart raced, as it felt like it was about to pound out of her chest, grow legs, and walk away.
     "Luz, do you feel okay?" Willow asked, starting to feel worried.
     "Mhm, yeah, I'm great, actually." Luz said brightly.
     "You don't feel anything... unusual?" Willow questioned."
     "Nope. I feel just fine. You?" Luz asked, smiling at her friend.
     Willow gulped nervously. "Mhm, yep, absolutely." She muttered. She didn't understand why it was so hard to talk now.
     Looking back, Willow noticed Boscha staring at her with her third eye the entire time she walked down the hallway. 'That's so creepy.' Willow thought, shuddering.
     Boscha was now looking down at her scroll with Skara's contact pulled up. 'Meet me at the library for lunch?' She texted.
     'Yeah, no problem, fidget spinner' Skara replied. That got a little snicker out of Boscha and she smiled. Willow missed Boscha's genuine smile, though she'd never admit it. It was small, but it meant a great deal to anyone who received it.
     The day went on with Boscha's regular schedule, which seemed to be potions all day. The little burn in her heart never went away, though, which was odd.
     When lunch had came for Boscha, she had walked over to the library, and Skara was waiting for her, like she said she would. They sat down in a little corner next to each other.
     "Any reason why we've isolated ourselves from the rest of the population?" Skara asked.
     "Well... Skara, do you think that... I'm a good person?" Boscha asked, hesitantly, refusing to look into Skara's eyes with any of her own.
     Skara laughed. "Of course I do, silly! You may not make the best choices, but that's because your parents are assholes. You're a good friend, Bosch." She said, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.
     "I've done so much wrong in the past... how am I supposed to fix it?" Boscha said, finally meeting the bard's gaze.
     "Well, you could make up this super amazing apology that everyone will just have to accept it." Skara offered.
     "That's not how it works. Some people may accept it, but never really forgive me." Boscha muttered.
     Skara just gave her a reassuring smile. "Just take it step by step, alright? Start off with a wave, then get to the chit-chat, if it's who we're talking about." She smirked knowingly.
      Boscha turned a bright red. "Dude! Shut up!" She shoved Skara and Skara burst out laughing. "I didn't say any names!" She countered.
      Boscha huffed. "Whatever." As she got up to leave, she turned around halfway, not looking over her shoulder.  
     "Thank you, Skara." She muttered as she left her friend alone in the corner.
     "You're welcome, fidget spinner." Skara smiled, and everything faded.
     Willow frowned. Despite the memory fading, and the feelings fading too, she held on to the little burn in her heart. It felt weird, but nice. Yeah, it felt nice.