Devil Town (The Owl House AU)

Chapter 2: Be Calm

Luz Clawthorn wasn't sure what to expect going to the human realm for the first time. All she knew about it was, from the perspective of her adoptive mom Eda, that the human realm had no magic and that it makes a lot of trash. Luz had been begging her Mom to let her go for as long as she could remember, Eda had promised she could go after she turned 16. Finally, a few months ago she turned 16 and Eda told Luz she could go.

Luz was bouncing off the walls in excitement that night as Eda collected Owlbert and got ready to go. Luz bounces on her heels and follows Eda into the living room where Eda turns to Luz. Eda looks at Luz bouncing on her feet and snorts, "Look, kid, I am gonna go first 'cause you never know what you're gonna find in the human realm. Ok?" Eda waits for Luz to respond, with the key to the human realm in her hand. Luz nods quickly, "Yeah, yeah, ok. Just open the door already!" Luz grins at Eda.

Eda laughs and rolls her eyes, turning and pressing the key. The heavy wooden door appears, unfolding with three loud clunks, and Eda grabs the door nob. The door opens with a creak and Eda steps through the dark doorway and into the abandoned house, Luz bounces after her. In her haste Luz crashes right into Eda's back, "Eda? What's wrong?" Luz asks, trying to catch Eda's gaze.

Luz tries to look over Eda's shoulder and catches a glimpse of a dark shape curled on the splintered wooden floor. Eda spins around and pushes Luz back through the door, "Luz, I need you to stay here for a minute," Eda blocks Luz's view of the door. "Awww, but you were s'posed to take me to the human realm," Luz looks at Eda sadly. "Yeah, yeah, I will, just, uh, not today," Eda replies distractedly and closes the portal door in Luz's face.

Luz whines at the closed door and throws herself onto the couch next to a sleeping King, who growls at the movement. Luz snickers and pulls King into her lap, petting him gently. Luz thinks about what could have shaken Eda up so much and slowly starts to wander deeper into her imagination, 'till Eda comes back.

Eventually, the portal door creaks open again and Eda trudges back through, Luz has to do a double-take as Eda is carrying what appears to be a, rather scrawny, girl. Luz dumps King off her lap, much to his disappointment, and jumps to her feet. "Eda?! What's going on!?" Luz asks and quickly moves toward, a very worried-looking, Eda.

Eda raises her head and looks at Luz, "I don't know, Luz, this kid was just laying in the cabin, completely out cold," Eda looks down again at the girl. Luz inches closer to Eda, looking at the small girl as well. "Come on, let's put her in the guest room, carry this," Eda drops a heavy purple backpack into Luz's arms before trudging off towards the stairs.

"What's this?" Luz asks as she bounds after Eda. Eda shrugs and pushes the door to the guest room open, still holding the unconscious girl in her arms. Eda gently sets the girl down on a mattress in the guest room, watching carefully, Luz copies Eda, studying the unconscious girl. Luz finally gets a good look at the girl's face and takes note of the purple bandaid on the bridge of her nose as well as a busted lip, among other things.

"Hey, Luz, help me take this soaking jacket off her," Eda catches Luz's attention, gesturing at the girl's varsity jacket. Luz nods and helps Eda pull the soaking wet jacket off the scrawny girl. Luz turns and folds the jacket up neatly, before looking back at Eda.

Eda doesn't hear Luz's question, as her gaze is fixed on the myriad of ragged scars crisscrossing the girl's, unhealthily thin, arms. "Eda!" Luz almost shouts, to get Eda's attention. Eda looks toward Luz, "What do we do?" Luz asks warily, lightly touching one of the bled-through bandages around the girl's wrists.

"We wait for her to wake up," Eda says, looking down at the girl's face, noting the blood that was dripping from her mouth and her ragged, almost breathless, breathing. Luz sighs and she and Eda leave the room, shutting the door behind them.

Eda and Luz slowly make their way back downstairs, where the portal door still stands. Eda clicks the key, puts the door away, and flops down onto the couch next to Luz. "Who did that to her?" Luz questions in a whisper, looking down at her hands. Luz already felt bad for this girl, who she didn't even know the name of yet. "Well, I'd say she did the wrists herself, and maybe the arms too, but someone else did the other stuff," Eda absentmindedly answers Luz's question.

Eventually, King climbs back into Luz's lap and she hears Eda's quiet snoring. Luz looks out the living room window drowsily, her eyes fluttering closed as she gently pets King...

Amity woke with the sun, just like normal. Her chest felt tight and she found she was struggling to breathe correctly, not normal. She opens her eyes with a bit of a struggle, her mouth tastes strangely metallic, oh, it's... blood. She sat bolt upright at this realization, sending a burst of pain into her chest making her take in a sudden breath, which in turn made her choke on her own blood and cough violently.

Amity wipes blood off her face with her arm, and she notices she's not wearing her jacket anymore. Amity looks around wearily for her coat, taking in her surroundings it dawns on her that she is not in the abandoned house anymore. Her already shallow breathing speeds up, making it even more difficult to get oxygen into her aching lungs.

"Shit, shit shit, I've been kidnapped, my parents are going to kill me," Amity mutters breathlessly while looking around for her bag. Snatching it from the ground and ignoring the burning pain in her chest, she unzips it and pulls Ghost out. Amity cuddles the soft white cat into her chest and curls up on the mattress. She pants shallowly, trying futilely to get air into her lungs, she feels herself getting dizzy.

Amity whimpers and bites one of Ghost's plush ears, she feels blood drip down her chin. She closes her eyes tightly, the light from the window now turning too bright. Amity barely registers the knock at the door through her fuzzy mind and the sound of her heavy breathing, but the next thing she knows there is a quiet voice talking to her.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, calm down," the voice says soothingly, and Amity risks a glance at them. Opening her eyes a crack Amity looks up at a girl who appears to be about her age. The girl tilts her head to see Amity's face better, "Hey there, my name is Luz, what's yours?" the girl, now known to Amity as Luz, asks. "Amity," She replies shortly, not meeting Luz's soft brown eyes. "Ok then, Amity, why don't you tell me what's wrong?" Luz asks quietly, setting her hand on Amity's back. Amity flinches at the contact and shuffles away from Luz, "Are... are you going to hurt me?" Amity asks, almost inaudibly. "What!? Why would I do that?" Luz almost shouts, making Amity flinch and whimper.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell," Luz lowers her voice considerably, now almost a whisper. Amity looks up at Luz for a second before looking back down at Ghost's head, "It's fine. Can you just... not call my parents? They would kill me if they had to pay a ransom..." Amity whispers the last part herself, but Luz still hears. "Wait, why? Did... did you think we kidnapped you?" Luz asks quietly. Amity nods shakily, her breath slowly coming back to her. Luz looked at her warily, "How do you know they would be angry?" Luz asks carefully. Amity looks up at her, making shaky eye contact, "They were last time," She replies.

"Your parents... were mad... that you got kidnapped?" Luz repeats, almost to herself. Amity nods again, and an expression of horror and anger crosses Luz's face. "I... I'll be right back," Luz says, standing up and leaving the room. Amity watches the door silently, wiping a bit of blood off her face.