The Owl House Oneshot Collection

Your Fault

Word Count: 624

Originally Finished: 03/21/2023

Rating: General

Warnings: N/A

Characters: Luz Noceda, The Collector

Relationships: N/A

Other Tags: Angst, Feels

Summary: We know that part of the finale will be in Luz's dreams. But how exactly did she fall asleep in the first place?

Luz fell to her knees in tears, before quickly beginning to sob uncontrollably. All of her friends fell to the ground limp, all of them now puppets.

She couldn't save them.

As she stared at the ground, she noticed a small shadow land in front of her.

The Collector.

Why were they down here? To gloat? To see the free will drain from her eyes as they turned her?

What else could they possibly have to gain anymore?

" You ...." Luz said softly, expression turning to a scowl as they spit that one word like venom.

Luz looked up, staring the god-child in their cold, heartless eyes. Their expression was almost completely neutral, but Luz could see the corner of their mouth slightly quirked.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!?" Luz screamed, making the Collector ever so slightly flinch, "My friends...you...how could you do this to them?!?"

"You know, let's talk about your friends." The Collector chuckled, a hint of resentment in their voice, "None of them had to be here. They were doing just fine until you came into this realm and messed everything up."

"N-no. No no no. This-this was all Belos' fault. Your fault. I had nothing to do with this!"

"If you had just gone to summer camp, none of this would have happened. I mean, your time travel made Emperor Belos."

"If I hadn't shown him the light glyph, he would have still found it later eventually." Luz insisted, remembering Hunter's words to her that were somehow spoken just hours ago, "He would have tricked someone else and still found you."

"Would that have made him Belos, though? I mean, your cool aunt Lilith gave him the scar that holds his curse. Her punching him cemented his hatred of witches. He could have eventually seen reason if a witch hadn't punched him in the face. And why was she even there? Because you used her love of history to get her to figure out how to time travel so you could talk to your idol. Impressive, really, the amount of things you set in motion."

"I didn't make him hate witches or kill his brother or create a theocracy with the goal of genocide!" Luz continued to insist as the Collector skipped around her in a circle, like a vulture circling its prey.

"Amity's dad would have let her mom eventually, giving her her freedom. Gus didn't need you to get his self-esteem. Willow had a friend, and it was only a matter of time before her skills at plant magic were revealed. Lilith would have seen through Belos, Eda was doing just fine, King would learn about his past at one point or another, and Hunter...well there's so many of him why does that even matter? Your mom already had a daughter she loved, she didn't need two, and, who knows, maybe Vee would have just shifted into a different human or you two would have found each other and she'd be safe that way."

Luz's breath hitched as the Collector stopped behind her and lifted up her chin, forcing her to look at the puppet versions of all her friends.

"They were just trying to help me..." Luz whispered.

"Yeah. And look where that got them."

The Collector dropped her chin and walked back in front of her. He lifted her head again, this time by pushing up on her forehead with two fingers, making her look them in the eyes.

"But you don't have to worry about that. Because I'm going to make sure you really get to soak in this person you've become. So sleep well, human." The Collector tapped her forehead, making her suddenly tired, then pushed her back, "Your dreams will be anything but sweet."

A/N: So right after the Watching and Dreaming promo teaser released, I wrote this in 15 minutes, edited it, and posted it. And yes, it is heavily inspired by that one scene from Infinity Train.