Luz threw herself from the ground as she came back to consciousness. Honestly, she wasn't expecting to wake up after that, but...
The ground she stood on was like crystal-clear still waters, and yet it was fully solid, and the sky above her was cloudy but blue and well-lit.
"...Is this the Good Place?" Luz asked. "Because if it is, I'm glad I made it, but I'm a bit disappointed if this is it."
"It's not," came an older boy's voice.
"Who said that?" Luz asked while looking around.
"Over here," the voice said again. Then she saw it, a star shape made of glowing sparkles.
"Not the weirdest thing I've ever had a conversation with," Luz said. "Hi, I'm Luz Noceda-Clawthorne."
"That's a mouthful," the star said.
"It used to just be Luz Noceda," Luz said. "It means light that never gives up."
"Well, that's a good name then," the star replied. "Still, kind of a lot."
"Just call me Luz," she said, "so where are we?"
"The Final World," the star said.
"...And that is?" Luz asked.
"I'm not really sure myself," the star said, "it's a place between death and dream, the last place you go when your body and heart go out at once, before you get to what comes next. Sometimes people linger here if they have something tying them back, but usually it's just a pit stop."
"So, I am dead?" Luz asked. She then thought it over... It was sad that she couldn't say goodbye, but... She trusted that her friends and the other heroes could stop Meisto. She'd gotten the cube away from him, saved the Collector, that's all that mattered. "I guess it doesn't matter. I helped my friends, no regret."
"Kind of how I ended up here," the star said. "Kinda."
"Kinda?"
"Well, I already went through once. I was pulled back recently and... I think I'm here to explain this to you," the star finished.
Luz hummed. "Well, I appreciate it." She looked around some more. Everything seemed the same for miles in every direction, but the more she thought about it, the more it felt like.
"I'm being pulled," Luz said while gesturing in the direction of the tugging on her heart. She wasn't sure what was in that direction; it looked the same as any other, but...
"It's probably where you're meant to go," the star said. "I'll walk with you."
Luz was about to comment about how a star could walk, but then realized that maybe, since this was an afterlife waiting room deal, maybe this was what souls looked like, but he saw himself as himself and was seeing her as the star.
Instead, as they walked, she mused. "You know, you hear stories about people having someone paired with them to escort them through the afterlife," she said... Then she looked down. "My girlfriend has a power like that."
"Are you okay?"
"I found out I could live forever not too long ago, and I was worried about outliving my friends. Turned out not to be that much of an issue, but now I'm never gonna see them again for the opposite reason," Luz said. Maybe Amity would find some way to visit her, since she's a valririe and can travel afterlives, but... "Just a few months ago, I didn't have any friends, now I have more than I know what to do with but..."
"Luz," the star said, "one thing I've learned is that when you share your heart with someone, your friends, the people you love, that it's forever. From then on, your hearts are connected, and no matter where you are, across time and space, no matter how far, past life and death, that connection lasts. I think you'll see them again. It might not be for a long time, but it could be sooner than you think."
That made her feel better. "I hope they're all really old the next time I see them," she said with a laugh.
The star chuckled. "Why don't you tell me your story?"
Luz thought it over. "I was always the weird kid growing up. I never had friends until recently, not for lack of trying, mind you. And for the longest time, I wanted to be a witch. When a little owl stole my book and led me to a portal, well, I saw my chance for a magical adventure and I took it."
The star laughed again.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said. "Just reminds me of myself and some of my friends when I was younger. It wasn't that long ago, but sometimes it feels like it's been decades."
They continued on like that for a while, Luz telling her story, the good and the bad, and everything she could think of about her amazing friends up until her possession.
"And then I said 'my friends are my power' and finished him off, which let me wake up and deal with the other creep," Luz finished.
"That's the only power you really need," the star said. "Everything else is extra."
"Yeah," Luz agreed. "You don't think it's weird that a lot of my other powers come from a dark place, do you?"
"The problem's never the darkness," the star said. "It's the things that come with it. They use it to hide or as an excuse to be their worst selves. I have a friend who's got some pretty strong powers of darkness. I've used powers like that myself at times, though I don't really talk about it. Light and darkness go together. Even the darkest abyss could have the brightest light in it."
"Hmm," Luz vocalized. "I think we're here."
There wasn't really anything to mark this place as being all that different from any other place, but... This was where the tugging stopped.
She only had a moment to ponder what was next when she was suddenly enveloped in a bright light.
"Hello? What's going on?" Luz called. The light was so bright that she had to close her eyes, but soon enough it faded.
"Mija, I'm so proud of you."
Luz's eyes snapped open. "Dad?"
"Ven aquí, mi brujita," her father said with open arms.
"Papá, ¡qué bueno verte!" Luz shouted as she went in for the hug.
"Yes, great to see you... But terrible that you're here."
Luz laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, well, that's just how it happened to shake out. But I did my best to keep the people I love safe, so I have no regrets."
"About... that," her father started... "No, that can wait a moment. I've met someone up here who had lots of good things to say about you."
"Hello again, Luz," came the huglike voice of The Titan.
Luz turned to see him, just the way he always appeared to her.
"Hey, um... Sorry you gave up the last of your time for what turned out to just be a few more months of mine," Luz said.
"Even if it had just been for a second, it would have been worth it," the Titan insisted. "But I think you'll find that you've still got plenty of time left."
Luz blinked. "Beg your pardon."
"What he means, young Queen in Black, is thanks to your powers, you can go back."
Far up above them, Luz realized they were joined by the presence of a cosmic Axolotl.
"Okay, um, I'm not sure I understand. The Titan could linger for a long time, but... His body was still dead, and this doesn't look like the Inbetween Realm to me."
"That's true," The Titan said, "but you're more than just a titan."
"You're human," the Axolotl said.
"You're a Noceda," her dad said, "what is and isn't possible should never be a concern for you."
"But most importantly," a new voice added, "you're Klyntar. Living Abyss. Like me." Luz turned to see the Eventuality. "A King in Black's control of their body is absolute. But for us specifically? Time, space, life, death... They're meaningless concepts. You're lucky you're not plugged into the hive; you could have gone flying to who knows where or when."
Luz blinked. "Okay, so pretend I'm stupid."
"Your mind and soul can go anywhere there's a body for you, even if that body is just smoke and ash," the Eventuality said, "and as long as there's even a scrap of your body left..."
The realization fundamentally shifted Luz's perspective. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh," the God of the Symbiotes said, "so if you wanted, right now you could pop back into what's left of your body, pull it back together, and regenerate. Or maybe you'd like to be a door. That portal you made with your blood and eye'd work as a vessel. Euclidia? The Realm of Magic? Your blood and power are a fundamental part of their recreated existences if you ever decide the genius locus thing sounds fun. Or you could probably make a new body entirely from the golden goo if you need to." He gestured to the Titan. "Since part of his spirit is one with your own, you could pop back here when you feel like it, or take his bones for a joyride."
"Please don't," the Titan asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that would kill everyone," Luz said dryly. "I um... I think I need to... Oh, jeez."
Her father placed a hand on her shoulder. His touch was warm. "Are you alright?"
"I kind of have to be, there's no running away from this, but... the whole 'Elder God' thing never really sank in until now..."
"You get used to it surprisingly quickly," the Axolotl said, "but the first century is the hardest."
"Look, I've said my piece and I've got a cat to cover for and some Beyonders to argue with so... By."
The Eventuality then turned into black goo that imploded in upon itself and vanished.
"I can't decide if that was more or less helpful than when I was limited to five questions and he cut me without warning me first," Luz said. She took a deep breath and... No, didn't feel better. "So I'm incomprehensibly more powerful than I thought I was, and... So do I just will myself back to life? Is it that easy?"
"It should be, but before you go, there's one last thing to discuss," the Titan said, "now, you probably don't want any more power, but—"
"No, no, no gifts, please," Luz said, "I have more power than I know what to deal with and I—"
"Nothing like that," the Titan interrupted. "But, well, between your own talent and hard work, and the gifts you've been given by those you've endeared yourself to, the rewards for your strength of character, you've become the most knowledgeable and powerful magic user in all the Demon Realm. And you've faced death without fear or regret. Certain roles and titles have power all their own, and you've put yourself on a very short list to take up a job that's been empty for a long time."
The realization of just what that meant hit her like a ton of bricks... But then she smiled. "I think I can work with that. Um, I'm probably not gonna be back here for a while, but... Dad? Papa Titan? If you have anything you want me to tell anyone once the fires are out?"
TLOA
If Mephisto had one regret over how this was going, it was that he'd underestimated exactly how many friends Luz Noceda had.
Granted none of them, not even the three brats with the cosmic power of The Guardian of the Multiverse split between them were doing anything in the way of real damage, but doing his impression of a pin ball while waiting for all of the people who were increadibly pissed at Luz's death to tire enough to get a move in edgewise was starting to grate.
Eventually, he arrested his momentum on his own mid-bounce and shouted "Enough!" and chains of hellfire bound all of Luz's loved ones from as superficial as her sister's lover to as deep and sickeningly genuine as her own, firmly to the ground.
"Alright. I'm done playing. If you surrender my Pandemonium Cube to me right now, you'll all get to live in the gilded cage district of the living Hell I intend to turn the multiverse into. Won't that be nice? Being spared the torture? Mittens, getting to watch your mom get tossed into the lake of fire every morning? Gotta tell you, the look on Philip's face if he sees you not getting tortured would be hilarious. No?" he said, as no one took the offer. "No takers? Okay, twist my arm, why don't you?" He cracked his fingers. "Have any of you ever seen the movie Saw? Or its sequels? We show the to some of the sinners down there, crappy horror movies that are up their own ass about the philosophy of the killer are a surprisingly effective punishment for certain sins and, well, if nothing else, they're good for ideas."
Luz's friends and family were spared from the product of the gear's turning in Mephisto's head when a cloud of ash and smoke coalesced and purple goo emerged from it, forming into a humanoid shape, and soon enough, there was Luz Noceda in the flesh. "She is risen, Baby!"
"Oh, darn," Mephisto said, "tell me, did you figure out the trick on your own or did Eddie tell you?"
Instead of answering, Luz called her staff/familiar to herself in a burst of black and purple energy and stamped it against the ground. Instantly, the hellfire chains binding her loved ones were dispelled.
"Do not underestimate me, Mephisto," Luz declared, "for I am the Good Witch Luz: Sorcerer Supreme!"