Total Eclipse

Chapter 2

Luz rushed to find the case and try to do whatever she could to get it open. The bolts and welding tools littered the floor as she crammed to fix it. She put it down after a moment and looked up. It was going to open. She grabbed a shard from Amity's glove, stained a deep blue from titan blood. It was long dried by now, but it would serve its purpose. All the junk she found in the shack was shabbily put together to make it. She tied crumbling parts with purple duct tape and tapped her foot impatiently. It kept getting wider and wider before starting to close again.

She grunted in aggravation and kicked the frame of the door lightly, tears starting to form. She was so close, she couldn't fail now. She wouldn't. It completely shut. Luz groaned and went back inside. Of course, it failed.

Luz got into bed and tried to tune it all out. She would never get anything done in this state. She thrashed and turned in her bed, never settling in a comfortable position. She came to the conclusion that sleep just wasn't going to happen tonight. All she could do was stare at the ceiling, dotted with plastic stars she taped up to make herself feel less lonely. Sometimes, when they just wouldn't cut it, she'd sit on her fence and look up in the sky. She found comfort in the fact that somewhere, maybe not even in this world, someone else was looking at the same stars.

A phone notification went off, dragging Luz out of her trance and her knotted thoughts. This was odd because her ringer was always off. She turned to examine it but found nothing. As soon as she turned to try to sleep, another notification rang crystal clear.

"Is this it? Have I officially lost it? This is the final straw?" Luz mumbled as she checked again, still finding nothing. She turned again, and it went off again. She ignored it for the first time, and it seemed to retaliate. It went wild, getting a new message every second. Luz slammed her head into the pillow and groaned when there was nothing on her phone. She was about to throw it at a wall when it went off again. But this time, she could tell this terrible noise wasn't even coming from the phone.

She turned on a lamp and checked under her bed. Nothing. She checked her desk and her drawers and her tote bag. Wrong. She checked in her closet. It sounded closer but still distant. Then it hit her. She got a wobbly chair to step on and grabbed the box from the top shelf in the back of her closet.

Her Tamagotchi.

All of the messages from amity... they were sending. They were old, the oldest going back to 2021. They had gotten to her. But why? How? Then she realized.

The portal.

Luz quickly got on some decent clothes, a tank top with some patterned sweatpants and a warm sweatshirt and boots. She ran outside and found the portal, wide open. She rushed to it and looked at it with disbelief. This was it.

Luz left a note on a tear-stained post-it and grabbed the bag she had packed so long ago, never knowing if she'd even ever use it, and leaped into the realm.

Luz found herself in the heart of the Owl House, the floorboards creaking under her feet softly. She looked for a moment, tears forming slightly, smudging her light eyeliner. She took another step and the memories fled into her mind, bringing a joy she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Who's there?" announced a familiar voice. Eda stepped into Luz's sight, armed by her palisman. They met eyes for a moment before Eda lowered her staff.

"Kid?" she said, her voice cracking slightly. Luz nodded and smiled weakly. She ran towards Eda and hugged her tighter than ever before. King ran into the room, thinking she was attacked, and instead, found his long-lost friend. He hugged Luz's ankle, only slightly bigger than the last time they met. Eda was crying slightly, laughing a bit through it.

"Luz. Luz. Kiddo... I thought I'd never see you again."

"I'm here... I promised I would be." Luz said, sobbing through her words.

"Let me get a look at you," Eda said, cupping her face and brushing her outgrown split ends and bangs.

There wasn't much to look at. Luz was thin with her usual nerd muscles. Her face was hidden by her overgrown bangs and curls that she tended to cut herself. Her hair was cropped short and grew slightly uneven. It framed all around her head and face. Her usually bright eyes have dark bags underneath them and the eyeliner she used to brighten them once more was smudged from tears.

Eda had her classic dress on but her hair was tied up and she had a matching blazer on. There were bottles of appleblood everywhere. Her eyes were a little more tired than before, but she was still the Eda Luz knew and loved. And King... well, he was King.

"You've grown. You're making me feel all old, Luz." Eda laughed and as she smiled, Luz noticed some of the wrinkles on her overjoyed face. Luz hugged her one more time before taking a deep breath.

"Eda. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Luz," said Eda with a smile. "How have you been?"

"I've been holding up. I wrote... I wrote a book. About you guys. About here. You still inspire me after all these years." Luz smiled as she tucked a loose curl behind her ear.

"Creative as always. Everyone here missed you so much."

Willow and Gus... do you think they still remembered her?

And Amity.

"I'm guessing you'll want to go see them," Eda said with a wink and a swig of apple blood.

"I don't want to leave you guys... I just got here..." Luz said, even though she desperately wanted to see amity again."

"Uh-huh. Well, I'll be here. You can come for dinner and tell me everything." she replied quickly. "Oh, and Amity will be hosting an investor's meeting near the manor in 15 minutes. Just thought you should know."

Investor's meeting? Luz thought to herself but smiled anyway. She gave Eda one last hug and ran out to find Amity.

Luz ran to the manor, knowing the way like the back of her hand. She used to go there and use the glyphs to get up to her window.

The glyphs!

Luz instinctively crouched and drew the light glyph she had taught herself all those years ago. She tapped the circle and a ball of light was illuminated. It had been so long since she felt special, felt that she was truly magical. She ran through all the spells she remembered and got so excited that she almost forgot about amity.

Almost.

She drew a few more and kept them in her pocket for safekeeping and kept walking.

She heard a huge crowd and sort of shoved her way through it, getting as close as possible to the now-empty stage.

There were hushed whispers and rumors shared, muffled by their excitement. Luz wasn't sure what was going on—but she figured she would wait and maybe talk to Amity after.

Suddenly, the lights went dark and the crowd went silent before the stage exploded with a brilliance of light. Luz looked up, after being temporarily blinded by the swift change in lighting. She could see a beautiful woman, center stage.

Amity.