Chapter Text
It’s been about 2 weeks since the dance. 2 weeks since Clara found out her girlfriend was a snake creature from another dimension. A dimension that Vee has made perfectly clear she will never return to. A dimension that Luz wasn’t allowed to return to either. Though that’s because she was grounded.
She was grounded from everything except her books for 1 week, her girlfriend for 2 weeks, and banned from leaving the house for a month. Although Camila did say she’d like a tour of the dimension once her grounding was up.
Clara didn’t really care though. That was Luz’s life and that didn’t involve Clara or her girlfriend. Who Clara REALLY needed to see right now.
It had been a bad few days. On Monday, she ended up sick in bed, and she had the whole 9 yards. Runny nose, a nasty cough, lightheaded. Quite frankly it was a nightmare. Vee offered to come over, but Clara wasn’t quite ready for Vee to meet her dad. Plus who knows if Vee can catch human diseases. Better safe than sorry.
On Tuesday, Clara forced herself to go to school. She doesn’t like missing school, and she was feeling better. But apparently, it wasn’t better enough because due to her exhaustion Clara botched a stunt during cheer getting one of her peers hurt. Benching both girls for at least the rest of the week.
Wednesday, Clara’s mom called saying she’ll be down for the weekend. And per her parent’s deal with each other, Clara had to go stay with her mother for the weekend. The same weekend Vee had planned a date for them, but it’s fine! Vee probably wouldn’t mind putting the date off. Probably.
Though Clara’s beginning to lose it. It’s been 3 days with no real cuddle time with Vee. So Clara came up behind Vee between classes yesterday and asked “If Vee would like to go have cuddle time at one of their homes after school?” Obviously, Vee agreed.
But before the two can even leave the school grounds for the day Luz and her witch girlfriend Amity approach Vee in a panic, kinda butting between Clara and Vee.
“Vee! We need your help. I need to do something really important in The Boiling Isles but Mami won’t let me go due to me being grounded. We can’t put this off though. Can you pretend to be me for the rest of the day? We should be back later tonight.”
Vee looks concerned, back and forth between Luz and Amity, and Clara. “I mean I’d love to but… I promised Clara we’d spend the afternoon together.”
Clara responds quickly reassuring Vee “Oh, it’s alright Vee. This is important to your sister, we can hang out tomorrow.”
Vee gave a sad look “Are you sure? I’m sure we can figure something else out. If you-”
She’s cut off by Clara squeezing Vee “It’s. Fine. We’ll hang out tomorrow once Luz is back.”
“Alright, Alright. But I promise that we’ll hang out tomorrow. You’ll get all the snake cuddles you need”
She finishes with a boop on Clara’s nose and a kiss on her cheek then follows Luz and Amity back home to set up their plan. “Tomorrow,” Clara says to herself “I can hold out until tomorrow”
Tomorrow isn’t better.
Clara doesn’t hear from Vee before she went to bed. Or when she woke up. Or at school . She didn’t see any of her friends at school today. ‘Did they abandon me?’
Clara shakes her head. “Something probably just came up. I’ll gonna go check on Vee. Heck to Luz if she isn’t back yet. I need my cuddle time before I’m dragged off to mom’s.”
So she makes her way to the Noceda household. The walk isn’t usually that long, but Clara made it there in record time. Nothing could keep Clara from her Vee, especially not a 15-minute walk.
Approaching the door quickly, she knocks. Only a few seconds go by when the door is opened by Luz. “Hello? Oh. hey.”
Clara could tell it was actual Luz, not Vee disguised as Luz, their body language was just too different. ‘ Besides . Vee would never have such a tone with her .’ “Hey Luz, is Vee here?”
“Oh uhh. No, she’s out at the moment. I can let her know you came by. But I’ve got som-” Luz is cut off by her Camila.
“Luz! Who’s at the door?”
“It’s Clara Mami . She’s looking for Vee!”
“Well let her in! Vee shouldn’t be gone too much longer.”
Luz sighs. “Ok Mami ” Luz looks at Clara opens the door wider and gestures inside the house.
Clara takes a cautious step inside, and when she enters the threshold of the house the door is closed behind her. Luz barely acknowledges Clara as she moves to the couch where Amity is seen waiting for Luz. They appeared to be watching a movie, it looked like one of those overwritten ‘The Good Witch Azura’ movies Luz liked so much.
‘ You’d think that dating an actual witch might make Luz stop watching that crap, but I guess not .’ “Ugg, Luz you still watch this trash? Even though your girlfriend is a literal witch? Don’t you think maybe she might be a little offended by how humans portray witches?”
Amity is staring daggers at Clara “I actually like The Good Witch Azura, thank you very much. Maybe don’t insult people’s interest, might make you more tolerable to be around.”
Before the two’s bickering can get anywhere when Luz whispers something in Amity’s ear and then kisses her under her jaw. Amity relaxes and begins watching the movie again, but Clara can tell she’s being side-eyed.
20 minutes go by and there’s still no sign of Vee, and Clara’s getting antsy. She’s been watching the other two girls cuddle with each other ‘mocking me.’
Clara looks towards the two girls and asks Luz “Do you know where Vee went? She hasn’t been answering my texts.”
Luz looks at Clara for a second before returning to the movie but still answered. “She uh, went out. With Sam and Gean, I think.”
“Oh, ok…” Clara goes a bit quiet, but her mind is running a mile a minute. ‘ Out? What like a date out?’ Sam and Gean are in on it?’ ‘That probably means Mari’s there too.’ ‘Did Luz even need Vee’s help or was she trying to- ’ Clara’s thoughts are cut off suddenly.
“Amity? Could you come into the kitchen? I need your help with something.”
“Coming Ms. Noceda!”
“I’ll come to Mami !”
“Don’t worry about it Luz, you just keep Clara company while she waits for Vee. Oh and Amity I’ve told you, please call me Camila.”
Amity gives Luz a sympathetic kiss on the cheek ‘gross’ and gives Clara a death glare before heading to the kitchen to help Camila. Leaving the two girls alone in the living room ‘with that trashy movie still playing.’
The two sit in near silence, with only the movie playing in the background. Luz is the first one to break under the pressure in the room. “Soooo… we haven’t talked since I got back…”
Clara grimaced “We might have been able to if you weren’t so busy sucking face with my look-alike over there.”
Luz scoffed “ You’re look alike? Well, I’m sorry to disappoint but Amity is way prettier than you are. And besides, aren't you the one who is dating my literal look alike? The one who was meant to replace me while I was gone?” Luz crossed her arms.
“Vee may have looked like you but she’s nothing like you. That might be why I like her when you didn’t even make me look back! Vee is sweet and kind, she isn’t spiteful towards me for my mistakes. She’s also managed to stay grounded in reality, and she’s literally not from this reality.” Clara had stood by now
Luz stands as well eyes glaring at her bully “Of course she isn’t spiteful towards you. She isn’t the one whose heart you ripped out and stomped on, after weeks of leading them on!”
“I wasn’t leading you on, I was trying to be nice because you were some weird loser who couldn’t calm themselves down and talk to someone without almost killing them! How many times have you almost killed Amity? Does she even like you? Or maybe she’s just as fucked up in the head as you are!”
As their argument reaches a peak Clara feels something fly past her, she reaches up wincing at the fairly deep cut on her cheek. Looking up she sees what has rushed against her. In Luz’s hand is a blue staff with a Cobra-like snake with bat wings outstretched where the hood would be, the snake around a crystal ball of sorts with a symbol of sorts floating inside.
Clara realized just how upset Luz was as she takes a step closer to Clara, both her and the snake’s eyes glowing a deep yellow.
“Maybe you don’t understand who I am. I am Luz Noceda- Clawthorne. First human witch in existence, discoverer of lost magic, the most powerful being on The Boiling Isles, Slayer of the tyrannical ruler Belos Wittebane.”
“And you are Clara Heartfield. The piece of entitled garbage that thinks she’s worthy enough to date my sister when your most important accomplishments will lead to nothing. You don’t deserve the right to even think about my sister, much less stand there insulting my girlfriend.”
The words stung Clara, but ‘nobody talks to Clara Heartfield that way’. There was shuffling coming from the doorway that lead to the kitchen. Clara had a plan to deescalate the situation, so she took a breath and responded “Look Luz, I don’t care how upset with me you are. I am dating your sister and you need to respect the fact that makes her happy. ”
“Happy? Happy?!” Luz’s staff is placed directly to Clara’s chest, heat coming off the snake, beginning to burn the fabric to her shirt. “You don’t get to decide what makes people happy, not after what you’ve done!”
“ Luz Noceda! What on earth do you think you’re doing!” Camila had come around the corner with an expression somewhere between confused and enraged.
“ Mami! Wait let me explain! Vee can’t date Clara. Clara isn’t a good person! She’s going to hurt Vee, I would know she-”
“ Luz. Noceda. That is not your choice to make, and more importantly, you have your staff pointed at Clara. And if I’m remembering right, you told me that staves can be more dangerous than any weapon I’d know. Yet here you are pointing it at her.”
“Mom, Please I wasn’t going to hurt her, I was just trying to scare-” It was at that moment that Luz took one of her hands off the staff and Clara swatted it out of Luz’s hands and stomps on the head of the staff.
The world seemed to slow as Clara's foot strikes the crystal ball smashing it, and damaging one of the wings on the snake, nearly taking it off. Leaving Luz standing in complete shock, a gasp is heard behind Camila as Luz falls to her knees next to the staff. “Moriom, are you ok?”
The staff topper begins to uncurl from the staff and began to slowly slither up Luz’s arm, hissing softly. Amity moves quickly to Luz’s side not saying anything, just picking up the remaining pieces of the staff.
Clara seems to come back to reality and takes a step back from Luz and her staff. “Luz? The snake was…? I swear I- I didn’t know. I-”
Camila spoke trying to calm the room down “Luz, you need to go upstairs to your room, I need to make sure Clara’s ok. Then I’ll come to talk to you, maybe I can-”
“I need to go home” Luz said to no one in particular as she got up. And before Camila could question Luz, she moved quickly to the front door.
Luz quickly opens the door but is met by Vee and the rest of the cabin 7 gang, carrying different snacks and party supplies. “Oh! Hey Luz! Don’t worry about helping, we've got it!”
Luz ignores and pushes past them, with Amity looking apologetically at the incoming group while following behind Luz into the forested area by the Noceda house.
Vee enters the front door confused “Ca- Mami? What’s wrong with Luz? Clara!? What happened”
Camila has sat Clara down on the couch and has begun cleaning the gash on her cheek. She sighed before answering Vee “Your sister got into a fight with Clara. I don’t know about what. She ran off when her staff broke.”
Vee immediately panicked “Her staff broke! Mami, you need to find Luz NOW! A witch's staff is one of the most important things they have. Some even compare it to having a kid!” Clara’s face becomes harder and drops in her hands.
Camila’s eyes widen in fear, and Vee is sure she hears an expletive under her breath. “Ok! Vee! Stay with Clara please. I’m going to take her to the hospital once I find Luz.”
Gean spoke up “I think she was headed in the direction of Hooty’s house in the woods.”
Camila makes her way to the door, not even bothering to get a coat “Thank you Gean. I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere until I get back.”
Not long after Camila had gone to find Luz, Clara had broken down crying “It’s my fault. It’s my fault. It’s my fault.”
The 3 humans from cabin 7 excuse themselves to the kitchen while Vee looks at her girlfriend still on the couch “Clara? Clara, what do you mean?”
“I insulted her, I hurt her staff, I put my bad week on her because I couldn’t handle it myself. I’m just as terrible as I was before I met you! She was right, I’m not good enough for you!”
“HEY!” Vee yelled changing back into her Basilisk form “You are more than good enough for me. I know this week’s been rough, it’s my fault I haven’t been there for you. I was trying to surprise you for your birthday, but I guess I forgot to actually spend time with you.”
Clara looked shocked before smacking her hand to her face “My birthday? My Birthday! I forgot that was this week. No wonder mom’s coming down. It’s my sixteenth birthday! And you remembered?”
“Clara, I’m your girlfriend, of course I’m going to remember your birthday. I’m kinda surprised you forgot.”
“Birthdays haven’t been a big deal for me. Dad tries but, I haven’t really had friends who cared… up until now I guess.” Clara smiled for a second before it fades again. “Not that it matters, I ruined it by being a terrible person. No wonder Luz hates me.”
Vee moves closer to Clara. “Clara, My little snake whisperer. Luz is definitely in her right to be upset, but she’s a forgiving person. I’m sure once we talk to her, things will get better. And if they don’t, that won’t stop me from being by your side.” Vee wraps her tail around Clara. It makes her feel much safer. Like she can take on the world.
“Oh, Vee. By the way, I think we need to find you a look that isn’t your sister. It’s kinda weird sometimes you know?”
Vee smiles, but before she can respond Camila comes back into the house, with nearly lifeless eyes and tears running down her face.
Vee looks up from Clara “Mom?”
“The door… it’s gone…”