The Light of Abyss by Rater202
Marvel & Owl House Xover Rated: T, English, Adventure & Romance, [Luz N., Amity B.] [Vee, Masha], Words: 345k+, Favs: 159, Follows: 160, Published: Jan 24, 2024 Updated: Apr 22
297Chapter 101
Ultimately, after Luz had finished explaining both the logic that she'd used when her depression hit and the events that had happened after the summoning from her PoV, and that she was very sorry for getting stupid all of a sudden, it was decided that Luz would notbe grounded.
Her mother had several reasons for this decision. The first and foremost was that punishment's purpose was to ensure that someone knew their behavior was wrong and discourage them from doing it in the future. Thus, there's not much point in punishing someone who was aware that what they'd done was wrong and was already remorseful—the fact that Luz, either back in her physical body or not longer running on whatever astral adrenaline was, she wasn't sure, had been quite shaken when she recounted how she'd noted that she could have easilyseen herself making a mistake like Cipher's. Additionally, this wasn't the first time that Luz had done something foolish on impulse, and probably wouldn't be the last. The depression might have made it worse, but it was a pre-existing concern that Luz wasn't always consciously aware of until after the fact. While this was something to try and keep an eye on and find a solution for, the simple fact was that her experiences with American Public Schooling, especially since moving to Gravesfield, made it abundantly clear that negative consequences were not an effective means of managing it. Additionally, wanting to solve problems before they got worse, wanting to avoid putting others at risk, and so on were not in and of themselves bad ideas even if they'd been misapplied here, and rather than something to discourage, they were more things to think through better. Finally, taking away Luz's creative outlets or means of relieving stress, or else disrupting her routine, would run the risk of jeopardizing her recovery: no matter how upset Luz's loved ones were over what had happened Halloween Night, her long-term mental health was more important.
This did not, however, mean that her actions were without consequences.
The rest of the evening was allowed to continue as originally planned, accounting for the events that had occurred, with the exception that one journal had somehow become three. Apparently, some pages from other Journals had been pasted into the one Luz had been given to cover up missing info, and when Cipher had been beaten the last time, damage to the journals had been restored then. Secrets were divulged, pictures were taken, and then they were taken when the Pines returned Home so that they could be returned to Ford who, as their rightful owner, would decide their ultimate fate.
However, the next morning, after frankly the best night's sleep Luz had had in literal months, there had been an... Intervention. A long, serious discussion on trust, on how Luz knew she had the others' support and how much it hurt them when she kept problems bottled up and... It was a painful conversation, but one Luz knew she needed to have, and she'd promised she'd do better. An agreement was reached: If one of the others asked about her feelings, she had to answer truthfully. Additionally, they would be delaying the return to the demon realm by at least a week.
This was partly for practical reasons, to make sure Luz was actually up for confronting the Collector and contacting people on this end to arrange a plan, and partly because everyone else needed time to recover emotionally from... Luz had a feeling she'd be making up for this one for a while.
Another part of the agreement was that a good chunk, though by no means all, of the free time Luz had in her routine would now be filled by volunteering at the animal clinic. Officially, this was because her Mom figured that some practical and productive work would be good for her, but Luz figured it was at least partially because her Mom wanted to keep a closer eye on her, and she couldn't exactly blame her. And really, it's not like Luz had never volunteered at the clinic before and nowshe could use her healing and beasteeping spells to help. And that new schedule didn't officially start until the weekend was over.
After the intervention, there was the Saturday support group meeting, which, since Magik had yet to find anyone else, was still just her and the Calamity Trio. There, Luz was informed that, while she'd held it together decently well the previous night that seeing a friend get possessed again had been very triggering for Marcy, which Luz was immeidately apologetic for, and a good chunk of that week's session had been talking about the two's respective traumas and doing work on those fronts before somehow transitioning into a discussion on Marcy's attepts to replicate Amphibian curse bags with earth based ingrediants. Luz shared a bit of Boiling Isles potions theory she recalled that might be of value, and it almost got to the point of making a bag then and there for testing before Luz recalled that this was exactly the kind of risky, impulsive behavior that she was supposed to be working on. Luz was informed later that Marcy's testing had left her in the form of an (Earth) toad for twenty minutes so that had been a good call.
And apparently Anne and Sasha were meeting some friends Marcy had made at her school this weekend, which was nice.
The rest of the weekend saw Amity practically glued to Luz's side. Based on the feelings Luz was picking up, it was as much for Amity to reassure herself that Luz was right as it was to keep an eye on her. Amity admitted it when Luz asked, Luz reassured her that it was okay and she understood, and then they spent some time looking up more human music for Amity... Lesson learned: Just because an actor is in a lot of family-friendly films, that doesn't mean their rock band plays PG music. And that one song seemed really familiar.
That had led to a bit of laughter, which somehow became a serious discussion about feelings, and by evening, as they were snuggled on the couch watching the second Azura movie, Luz couldn't help but think they'd grown even closer. And Luz had slept great again that night, too.
Sunday, well, Luz got an urge to draw, one thing led to another, and much of the afternoon had become a spontaneous art therapy session as she and the rest of the squad ended up drawing their feelings.
On Monday, the new schedule started, and Luz settled into the new routine. She also got a text from April: Apparently, Clara had wanted to apologize to Luz, finally, but since Luz hadn't left the house all weekend she couldn't. Then, on Tuesday, during her therapy session, possibly her last for a little while if the all clear to open the portal went through, she recapped to Professor X what had happened on Friday evening, the good and the bad with no varnish and what she and her friends and family had decided in the aftermath. He'd initially offered no judgment, but when pressed, he agreed with her mother's assessment of the situation.
Then it turned to what her weekend had been like and that had caught his attention. Specifically, when she'd mentioned watching the Azura movie with Amity, he cited what she'd told him when they first met. When asked if she found herself having difficulty engaging with things she'd once enjoyed. She had said she'd had difficulty with Azura when Villinous Lucy was involved and asked if she played a role in the film.
"She's the main villain," Luz had said, which prompted a few questions about the character and why she in particular, made it difficult to engage with the media. "It's dumb," she'd replied, "but... She kind of looks like me if I was a white girl, if that makes sense. Especially in the movie, where she's got a facial scar that's kind of like mine, but bigger, and her battle robes have the same color scheme as he tights from my Hexside uniform.. She started out as Azura's ally but betrayed her 'for the greater good,' which Azura declares to be unforgivable and... I thought I was doing good when I did the things that ended up helping Belos, which... You know, I was blaming myself for what he did and... It was... So dumb now that I'm saying it out loud."
"It sounds like the superficial resemblance between youself and this character, and the warped perception of your circumstances compared to her own, caused the character to serve as a trigger for your trauma and the fears born from it," Xavier had said, "I assure you that's not 'dumb.' You'd frankly be surprised at what sorts of things can serve as a trigger."
"Yeah, well, anyway, it's not a problem anymore. My ind started going that way during the betrayal scene, but I was able to stomp it down and enjoy the rest of the movie."
"And you say you've been sleeping better since last Friday?" He'd asked.
Luz's confrontation, combined with the near-total resistance to a trigger from a few months prior, was apparently a sign of great progress. Professor X wasn't prepared to declare her cured just yet, as there was still some notable excess negativity in her demeanor, but this was something she should be proud of.
Before leaving the institute, Luz made time to find Clara so that the girl could give the apology she wanted and then talked to Logan. He'd ade an offer all the way bac when they first met and, while the circumstances had changed singificantly, if he was still willing to go through with it it would help Luz immensely.
When she got home, she told everyone what Professor X had said and... She didn't feel like she deserved the celebratory atmosphere after upsetting everyone that weekend, but they all insisted, and her Mom had made her favorite dessert that night.
The rest of the week progressed as planned, with Luz helping out at the shelter and otherwise maintaining her previous routine, though Gus pointed out that it seemed like some of her old energy was back after her sparirng session with Hunter that Friday.
TLOA
Luz got up early that Saturday. If the all-clear to open the portal came, then this could be the last day her friends spent living in the human realm, at least for now, and that deserved something special. And, even if not, well, she still wanted to do something special. To thank everyone for sticking with her, through highs and lows, even when she was at her worst, after everything that had happened since she first stumbled into the demon realm.
And, well, she'd considered making breakfast for everyone one say a while back. Nothing too fancy, but some egg sandwiches might be appreciated.
One egg for each person eating, thoroughly whisked until the yolks and whites were as mixed as they were getting, then about two eggs worth were portioned out in separate dishes. Then milk was added, mostly soy, but one of the separated bowls got real milk because, while her friends didn't seem to care either way Vee definitely prefered the real thing. Then came the seasoning. Some salt, some black pepper, a few dashes of smoked paprika, and a slightly generous bit of ground basil. Except for the other seperated bowl, which got jalapeno salt instead of regular salt: Amity prefered a bit of kick and had rather quickly fallen in love with the human world version of her prefered spice... Again, assuming she didn't have to actually put chunks of it in her mouth.
Once that was done, a small sillet was greesed, and one egg omlets were cooked. One for each person in the house. As each was cooked, they were moved to be placed on buttered toast—honey wheat for most of them, but Hunter and Willow both preferred whole wheat. Willow also liked a bit of baby pinage with her eggs, while the omelet Luz made for her Mom had a bit of vegan mozzerella added to it. Gus, for some inexplicable reason, habitually ate his eggs with mustard, so she applied a bit as she was making his sandwich.
Everyone, clearly following the sound of cooking, came in just as Luz was finishing up. "Hey, everyone," she greeted. "I made breakfast."
She made sure everyone got the right plate, and then Amity came up behind her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "What's the occasion?" She asked.
"Just felt like it," Luz replied.