Chapter Text
Amber really just wanted to go home.
It had been one hell of a long night, and they were on their way back to their apartment building after stopping by a convince store for some pads because their cousins needed some. They were exhausted, annoyed with their parents, (for regular teenager reasons for once) and in desperate need of a cup of good hot chocolate.
That's when she heard it. The voice of her least favorite uncle coming from around the corner. That was never good. Amber carefully inched closer, trying to hear what he was saying.
"...you and the rest of your little band wont be able to stop me!"
Oh no. They peaked into the alleyway, and saw what might as well have been the very last thing they were expecting. Mira from Hunter/x was on her knees in front of their Uncle Bill. Uncle Bill had some form of energy in his hand that looked like it was coming from Mira, and he was definitely trying to destroy it. Well shit. Anything that particular uncle was up to couldn't be good for anyone but himself.
"Dīvello!" Amber shouted, right as she stepped around the corner to face him. The shockwave from her spell (which might have been a little bit stronger than she intended) slammed her uncle into the wall behind him and caused his hold on Miras energy to fizzle out.
Once he had recovered somewhat, Uncle Bill looked up in shock. "Amber?" His eyes narrowed. "Stay out of this You've messed things up enough for me already."
Amber rolled their eyes and summoned their skateboard, ready for a fight. (Well, they didn't actually need it out to use it's power, but he didn't need to know that.)
Uncle Bill called out "Pello!" Right as Amber yelled "Attĕro!" The result was a barrage of multicolored flashing lights as the spells collided and fizzled out. Amber took the opportunity of her uncle being briefly stunned to cast another spell. "Rĕpĕto."
A large swirling blue portal appeared behind the man and they lunged forward on their skateboard to push him into it.
Once their uncle was gone they recalled their skateboard and looked around cautiously in case he had left a hellbat as a parting gift. (Amber had vowed to never be caught off guard by that again after the first time. Never again...)
He had not. The only other entity left in the alley was Mira. Speaking of Mira, they should probably check on her.
She still appeared to be unconscious when Amber reached her, which was... Concerning. They didn't know any healing spells yet, (an unfortunate oversight now that they thought of it.) but maybe there was something around them they could use? They closed their eyes to reach for an energy that might be helpful (One of the many perks of accidently bonding with a magical skateboard.) and almost immediately a particular force jumped out to them. It seemed powerful and all around them, little colorful threads of power woven from love and humming with hundreds of years of songs. Amber also got the impression that this force had somewhat of a will of it's own. The message it sent was clear. It wanted to help.
They opened their eyes and let some of that power flow through them, using themselves as a conduit for the strange force to heal Mira. After a few minutes of this she started to stirr, and Amber may or may not have panicked a little. Mira was their favorite Hunter/x girl after all. They were still trying to get their emotions under control when she opened her eyes.
"Wha... Huh..?" Amber stifled a yelp (Which they desperately hoped Mira didn't notice.) and tried their best to put on a smile and a gentle tone. She didn't need their nervous fangirling right now, she needed a calm and stable person to lean on while she recovered. So that's who they would be.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" Mira groaned, but she did respond (Much to Amber's relief.) "Fine- ughh.." That relief was almost immediately dampened when she tried to sit up and failed pretty harshly.
Okay, um... "Yeah, you might want to take it easy for a bit. Do you have somewhere to go? Do I like, need to call you an Uber or something?" Mira just shook her head and sighed. "No, it's alright. I can just call my girls to come pick me up." Amber nodded. "Okay." After a pause something occurred to them and they started to glance around.
"Do you... Uh, do you want to try and move somewhere a little safer than a dark alleyway?" Mira shrugged. "That's probably a good idea." So Amber helped her up and half carried her over to one of those little garden walls made of stone. It only occurred to them much later that a high schooler basically being able to carry a grown woman might have looked strange.
After a moment Mira turned to look at them. "So... What's your name?" Amber had been trying so hard not to stare that they got a little started when she spoke. "Amber." They could only hope she didn't notice when they startled, or the fact that their voice was just a little bit higher than normal. God damnit. "Cool." Mira smiled. "I'm Mira."
"Yeah." They did their best to smile back despite the fact that they were panicking internally. "Nice to meet you Mira."
Neither of them spoke for a bit while Amber thought things over. As nervous as they were, they were also curious. Mostly about the force that had helped them heal Mira. They were no stranger to semi-sentient magic, but even they'd never seen anything quite like it. Amber was hesitant to ask about it, but it's not like they had any other way of getting information. They couldn't really look for information at the library if they didn't even know what they were looking for.
....
They decided to take the chance. "Hey... what is this..?" Mira seemed startled that they could even see it, but she did willingly explain what it was after only a few moments of hesitation. Amber was a little surprised at how easily she opened up to them, but they listened carefully while she did.
A barrier huh..? They'd never heard of anything like that before. Amber leaned into the Honmoon's power again, then, very carefully, they reached past it. Into the demon realm. The most prominent force there was what seemed like some sort of sentient fire. It was only really a weak flicker, but it was still the most powerful thing there. That... Might be worth looking into.
The two of them spent the rest of their time waiting talking about demons. Mira still seemed hesitant to give up some details, but they got enough that they were pretty sure they could find some books in the library later.
Eventually though, the conversation was interrupted by a fancy black car rolling up beside them. Which might have been concerning if Amber hadn't known exactly who she was talking to.
After a brief interaction with Zoey and Rumi (And more silent panicking from Amber.) the girls left and Amber started walking home again. She would definitely have to make a trip to the library soon.
Oh. And she really needed to get those pads to her cousins. Sorry Juni and Tom.