Interlude: What If... Lilith raised Luz?
Art by Crosshot: There's always a different side to the story.
In an Alternate Timeline, Lilith took Luz back to the Emperor's castle and with Belos' blessing, raised her as her child. What will happen to Luz 14 years later when she's enrolled in Hexside?
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Luz and Lilith's relationship goes from being one between aunt and niece to mother/daughter. She grows up being Childhood Friends with Amity and Hunter, but meets Eda, Willow, and Gus when she's 14.
- Alternate Reality Episode: Diverting from the main storyline in the middle of a book for the first time, this one-shot revolves around how things would go for Luz if the eldest Clawthorne sister would raise her.
- Alternate Timeline: Lilith rescues Luz from the car crash before Eda could find it. Bringing her back to the castle, Emperor Belos gives her his blessing to raise the child.
- Big Damn Heroes: Using an army of abominations, Principal Bump clears away the mob attacking Luz.
- Brainy Brunette: Thanks to Lilith's tutoring, Luz is highly knowledgable in potions magic and studies.
- Call-Back: On the way to school, Luz excitedly says that Hexside better be ready for another Clawthorne. This is what Eda said in a flashback in "I Ain't Troubled Yet!"
- Childhood Friends: Lilith brings baby Luz with her when she has to babysit the Blight children; when she sets her down with baby Amity, the two instantly get along and grow up knowing each other.
- Death Glare: Principal Bump shoots daggers at everyone who attacked Luz. Willow fires one directly at Amity for not helping Luz.
- Disappointed in You: Highly implied with Willow towards Amity for not helping Luz when she needed it.
- For Want Of A Nail: In addition to Luz being raised by Lilith, she grows up alongside Amity & Hunter and is homeschooled for 14 years (thus sparing her and by extension, Emily Tricks, from the slayground incident) before starting out at Hexside, being placed in the Potions track. She involuntarily incurs Boscha's ire and get exposed as human, which leads to her being attacked, befriending Willow and Gus, and meeting Eda when the two take her to her aunt's human junk stand. There's also the fact that Hunter dating Edric is known by the latter's sisters a lot sooner.
- The Ghost:
- Hunter's only mentioned by Luz stating he'd be jealous that she's attending a real magic school and he tells Luz to say hi to Edric through texting.
- The Hieron and Saltstar families are brought up by Luz when she first interacts with Boscha.
- Hereditary Hairstyle: Just like her main counterpart before cutting it, Luz has long straightened hair just like Lilith.
- In Spite of a Nail: Luz is still adopted by a Clawthorne, attacked by a mob of witches just for being human, befriends Willow and Gus, and meets her aunt who didn't know about her at all. Edric and Hunter still become an item, but that's not really important.
- Karma Houdini: None of the students and teachers who attacked Luz recieve any comeuppance. Boscha specifically doesn't get hit by karma for exposing Luz as human.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Amity never told Luz about Willow or any of Boscha's posse, and likewise never told the group about Luz. It's highly likely that Odalia ordered her to never bring up the human to anyone outside their family. This causes Luz to feel like she and Amity were never really friends.
- Out of Focus: King and Hooty don't make an appearance.
- Pet the Dog:
- Learning that Luz has been orphaned, Belos decrees that Lilith shall be her new mother and raise her as her own. Of course since it's Belos, it's countered by what we know will become of Luz if he gets his way.
- Willow and Gus track down Luz after she's attacked so Willow can thank her for standing up to Boscha. To cheer her up, they offer to take her into town to Eda's stand so she can learn about humans. They don't force her to go, giving her the choice so she can get her mind off what happened.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: Many reviewers see the one-shot as a potential reboot, but since the authors are busy with the main story, it's unlikely to pass. However, that doesn't mean it's entirely off the table...
- Shout-Out:
- The very concept of the one-shot is a reference to Marvel's What If?
- The ending (AO3 and FF.net versions) features appearances from...Pibby and Bun Bun. Unfortunately.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: Luz only wanted to attend Hexside to meet kids her own age, but Boscha sees her as a rival trying to steal her spot as top student of the Potions track and her position as Grudgby captain (despite Luz not even being interested in the sport.) This culminates in Boscha picking on her when she defends Willow from Boscha's bullying and stealing the hairband keeping Luz's ears hidden and exposing her as human to the school.
- Was It All a Lie?: Seeing and hearing that Amity had a lot more friends than she never knew about and never mentioned her to any of them makes Luz question if Amity didn't really see her as a friend.
- What If?: Lilith, in her moment of guilt, took Luz home with her and raised her as her daughter?
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Luz berates herself for being nothing more than a "stupid human" after being attacked which causes Gus to try cheering her up by telling her how innovative humans are. When she becomes curious, he offers to take her to his human artifact supplier to learn more about her race.
