The Forbidden Drink

Ch. 3: Guilt and Voices

Luz looked down, saddened and ashamed of her actions. Not just from last night but long before that.

I'm sorry. I messed everything up again!" Luz said, grabbing her hair.

"Luz, you didn't. You didn't mess everything up." Amity said to her.

"But I did! I started all of this because I helped Belos when he was Philip Wittebane 300 years ago!" Luz said, sitting on the couch in shame.

"He... he mentioned that you helped him meet the collector." Amity said, looking at Luz nervously. "That... that was a lie, right?"

"No....it's not. Using a time pool, me and Lilith inadvertently helped him find the disk the Collector was trapped in." Luz said, looking down in guilt. "I... I didn't know it was him. I... I-"

"Was manipulated." Hunter said, cutting Luz off. "That's what Belos does, he manipulates and eliminates anyone that doesn't fall in line... you shouldn't feel guilty, we've all fallen for his lies."

"If it wasn't you, he would've used and lied to someone else to get what he wanted." Gus said, smiling at Luz.

Luz just looked down, still feeling a bit sad.

"Maybe, but I still am the reason you guys can't get home." Luz said, slapping her head. "Drinking Titan's Blood, what was I thinking!?"

"You were dying, you actually flatlined." Camila said, wincing a bi. "Legally speaking, you were dead. You clearly were just trying to die doing something to stop him from succeeding."

"Kind of an Azura thing to do." Amity said, smiling a tiny bit. "But you still stopped Belos from getting the Titan's blood. He's caused enough trouble for the demon realm."

"But without it, we can't get back." Luz said.

"We'll figure something out." Amity said, kissing Luz's cheek. "I promise you."

Luz looked at her hands before realizing something.

"Was... was there someone else there?" Luz asked, looking up to her friends and mother. "I heard you all call my name, and... I heard someone I've never heard before."

"I'm sure it was just you suffering from blood loss." Amity said, shrugging. "That can make you delirious."

"You must have been hearing things after you passed out. Maybe you need some more rest." Willow suggested.

"And something to drink. Black tea with sugar can help regain your strength faster." Camila said, walking to the kitchen to make the tea.

"Yeah... yeah I'm sure that's it." Luz said.

"I'll also warn you up some dinner from last night. You must be hungry too." Willow said, walking into the kitchen with Camila.

"Thanks, Willow." Luz said.

Luz leaned back to relax, looked at the table to see her palisman egg was safely on top and wrapped in a blanket.

'At least you're save.' Luz thought, nearly forgetting her unborn palisman after last night.

'Luz' a voice said.

Luz looked up and around, hearing the voice again. She shook her head.

"It's nothing, I've just been stressed." Luz said to herself.

Picking up the remote from the coffee table, Luz began to watch TV to relax herself a bit until the food and tea got ready. Though, whoever that voice belonged to, it made Luz feel like she's heard of it before. She knows she heard it when she was... dying... but she swears she heard it before that as well. She swears she heard it weeks ago.