Chapter Text
The light of the setting sun combined with the emptiness of its halls gave Hexide a gloomy atmosphere in the late afternoon, a sight Willow was used to by now. The plant track would usually have longer classes than the other tracks; the teachers were constantly talking about how niche and competitive plant magic was as a profession, and how much the students needed to excel to be able to make a living off their magic.
Luz and Gus usually stayed in school to wait for her, meaning she had company as soon as she finished her exhausting extra classes, but today she’d told them she had other plans.
This meant that, as she walked the halls and felt the chill of the winter air on her skin, Willow felt the solitude of the school as her own. She may not have been the most popular witch, but she still felt the most at ease surrounded by people. Walking the halls alone, she felt unprotected and on edge, her exhaustion from class being intensified by the consumption that followed her when she was alone with her thoughts.
She was initially relieved to see another student walking the halls, but the purple hair she recognized made her freeze on the spot.
It had been months since Boscha had been an active bully with her, but Willow still felt an instinctive fear whenever they saw each other. She’d gotten so used to the pain she felt when Boscha harassed her that her subconscious was still not used to her more polite and apologetic way of behaving lately.
When they passed each other, Boscha was the one who tried to start a conversation, while Willow was trying to somehow hide herself in the empty hall with bare decorations.
“Oh, hi, Willow! Good morning!” The purple-haired girl said, before slamming her palm on her own face so forcefully it turned pink. Or did the pink shade come before that?
“Hey, Boscha. See you, Boscha.” Willow responded more quickly than she’d intended while she picked up her pace. Whatever the case was, she was not good at dealing with Boscha on her own, and she especially didn’t have the energy for it now.
“Wait, Willow!”
Willow turned back around slowly, her self-preservation instincts and polite attitude clashing against each other.
“I just wanted to know if… We could, maybe, hang out sometime?” Boscha said with clear hesitation.
Willow didn’t quite process what was said. Boscha had already been trying to be more friendly with her for a while, but she was still unused to her change in demeanor, and the sudden invitation didn’t entirely register for her. She just knew she wanted to be out of this situation.
“Sorry Boscha, I’ve got plans today already, maybe some other time. See you.”
Boscha was left standing in the hallway, her eyes wide in surprise, Willow having fled before she could notice. “...Was that a yes?” She muttered, to no one in particular.
…
Willow had made plans with a friend she hadn’t been alone with in a very long time. They met up outside of school and quietly walked together to Willow’s house, quickly going inside to her room.
Her bedroom was sparsely decorated, with a couple bookshelves, a desk and a bed for furniture. The windowsill had room for a few small potted plants she took care of, which gave the room a touch of color and a soft, earthy smell that made her feel at peace. The sunset’s color combined with the room’s light to give it a subtle pinkish glow, a familiar scene that brought her comfort.
The sight of Amity in her room after so long, now with her dyed green hair almost erasing her natural brown, brought Willow a lot of conflicting emotions. She looked away as they began to talk, sitting next to each other on the bed.
“So how was your day, Amity? We barely get to see each other since we don’t share any classes now, huh.”
“Yeah, it was… fine.” She trailed off, looking around at the room that had been so familiar to her growing up, taking in how much it had changed since they had ended their friendship.
Amity looked like she was trying to gather courage, and Willow waited patiently to see what she wanted to say.
“Thanks for inviting me here after so long, Willow. I know it must be hard for you, after what I did… And I know things can’t just go back to normal as if nothing happened. I really appreciate you giving me a second chance, I mean it.”
Hearing her friend being emotionally honest was rare, and Willow couldn’t help the small smile that lit up her face.
“Of course, Amity. Our friendship meant a lot to me.
“That means it hurt more than I can describe when you broke it off, and even more so when you joined in on the…” Harassment? Bullying? Willow didn’t know if she even wanted to put it into words.
“Anyway, it also means that I always wished we could go back to how it was. We can’t exactly, but… if you can put in the effort, I want to try.”
Amity gave her an honest smile and sighed with relief. “Yeah. I’m glad we talked about it.”
“Yeah. So, Amity, now that that’s out of the way…” Willow suddenly got a scary glint on her eye as she grinned, causing Amity to audibly swallow. “What’s up with you and Luz?”
Amity’s blush wrapped around all the way to her ears. “WHA- Wh- What do you mean?!? There’s nothing up or down with me and Luz.” Her voice trailed off and steadily decreased in volume, making the last word a barely audible whimper.
Willow rolled her eyes and pushed on. “Oh please, remember when you asked us for help when she was going up against Boscha and her team on her own?” She flinched a little saying Boscha’s name, but tried not to dwell on it. “You’ve never praised anyone so much, or been so embarrassed, it was so obvious. You have a crush!”
Seeing Willow’s expression suddenly change from a teasing grin to an excited, expectant look and a beaming smile knocked the wind out of Amity and left her giggling uncontrollably.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ha ha ha ha, sorry, Willow it’s just- You looked so happy, I didn’t know you were so into romance like that.”
Willow put a hand on her chin thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t say I’m into it. I’m just curious! Two of my friends might like each other, that’s never happened before! It seems fun!”
A fond smile appeared on Amity’s face when she heard Willow call her her friend. Simultaneously, she blushed at the implication Luz might like her back.
“What about you then? It’s not fair for you to know more about my love life than I do yours!”
Willow almost jumped in surprise, not having expected the interrogation to be turned against her. “Um, me? I don’t really have anything like that.”
“You’ve never had a crush? Or have someone crush on you?”
“I don’t think so? I mean, I don’t know, it’s hard to tell, I guess.”
Amity eyed her friend with a curious look and made a noise that Willow couldn’t quite place as either agreement or suspicion. “I guess that’s fair. It took me some time to realize I was crushing on Luz, too.”
“So you admit it!” Willow flashed Amity a wicked grin. She could be scary when she wanted to.
“Wait, no I- ughhhhh” Amity hid her blushing face with her hands and groaned, causing Willow to giggle in triumph.
“So what do you like about her?” She asked when Amity was just beginning to let her guard back down.
“You mean Luz? I mean… she’s so pretty, and nice, and the way she gets so enthusiastic about magic is adorable, and-” She stopped herself from rambling with a shake of her head, and continued in a quiet voice with a shy smile.
“Well, most of all, she tried to befriend me despite how awful I was. And she helped me be a better person just by being herself.”
“Awwwwww, Amity, that’s adorable!” Willow was beaming, her eyes practically glowing with glee.
“Adorable!? Ha, hm, erm, thanks.”
Willow was about to launch into more questions, ready to grill Amity about this crush she found both adorable and hilarious. Before she could, however, Amity turned things around again with a question she had not been ready for.
“Hey, by the way, Willow… What’s going on with Boscha?”
The mention of Boscha made Willow’s teasing smile freeze. There was a lot on her mind regarding that girl, and some of it was related to the friend sitting next to her. She still didn’t feel entirely comfortable with Amity again, but she knew talking about it with a friend would help. She answered with hesitation slightly muffling her voice.
“I don’t know. Ever since we beat her in that grudgby match, she’s been a lot less aggressive. And lately, it’s like she’s trying to be friendly with us, with me, but…”
Amity cut in after a few seconds, after realizing she had become too immersed in her thoughts to finish her sentence.
“You’re not sure about forgiving her, right?”
“...Yeah. It’s just-! You’re one thing, but she was never nice to me. Not even once. Not until now, and suddenly she gets to apologize once and I have to accept that?” Unexpected tears had started to fill up Willow’s eyes, clouding her vision, and she could feel them rolling down her cheeks now. “It’s not fair… Why do I deserve that?”
She could barely make out a confused Amity through her vision clouded with tears. Her friend seemed paralyzed with uncertainty for a second, but she shook her head and quickly stood up, her hands curled into fists helplessly at her side.
“Of course you don’t deserve it! You’re a great person, Willow, and a great friend. So much better than Boscha, than me. You don’t deserve any of what we put you through.
“It’s not wrong for you to feel bad about it, and if you decided you wouldn’t want to talk to her, or to me, that’d be perfectly reasonable. A-and you have friends who know all this, who like you, and will treat you like you deserve! So… Um, please don’t cry?”
Willow giggled softly, surprising Amity, who was still standing holding a stiff pose. She rubbed her eyes and sniffled a little, the flow of tears having been interrupted. “Thanks, Amity. You’re really not used to this, huh?” She added with a small smile, with no sign of mockery in her tone.
“Hah, yeah, I’m not. Luz would be so much better at this, I’m sure.”
“Maybe, but I’m glad you were here, Amity.”
The smile Willow gave Amity warmed her heart, and made her feel like all the awkwardness and difficulties in their road to becoming friends again had been more than worth it. She sat down again, this time closer to her friend, and smiled at her in return.
“Also, next time, you can hug me if you’re ok with that. I like hugs.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll remember that- I just wasn’t sure that, you know, you would be ok with it. From me.”
Willow moved to close the gap between them further, sitting next to her with their shoulders touching. “Yeah. I would be.” They fell into a comfortable silence, perhaps the first they’d shared since they were children. A couple of minutes later, it was Willow who broke the silence with a quiet question.
“Do you think she can really be better? I mean… Like you’re trying to?”
“You mean Boscha? I… I’m not sure.” Amity stared into space for a minute, collecting her thoughts.
“I mean, I’ve known her for as long as I’ve known you, but she’s always been like that. I’m sure she has her own problems like I did, and I never- Well, I wouldn’t have stopped being such a jerk if I hadn’t met you, and Luz.”
Willow chuckled quietly at the mention of Luz. What a lovebird . “Well, she knows us too. And I guess she did start to mellow out after the match.”
“Do you want her to be better? So you can be friends?”
“I don’t know. I think I just don’t want to feel so bad whenever I see her.”
“Yeah. That makes sense.” Amity laid her hand on Willow’s shoulder in an attempt at comfort that she appreciated. After a pause, she came up with a suggestion. “Maybe you should talk to the rest of the Banshees?”
“Her team? I guess they seem nice, so I’m not opposed, but why bring that up now?”
“I just thought that, maybe if you get to know them, and they get to know you, you could all be a little more comfortable with each other.
“A-and that doesn’t have to mean you forgive everything! But maybe it will help you not feel as bad around her.”
Willow gave it some thought. It seemed like an idea with some merit, but more importantly, it was clear Amity was trying her best to help her. And that made her feel truly happy. Sometimes she felt a little scared at how important their friendship had remained for her after everything that happened. But she couldn’t deny that Amity had a very special place in her heart, and she wanted to count her as one of her closest friends again.
She nodded. “I could try that. It would be nice to be more friendly with them, I think.”
“Yeah. They were always easier to talk to than Boscha, at least…” Amity trailed off, eyeing a book she hadn’t noticed on Willow’s bed. “Wait, is that-” Her eyes lit up, an uneven grin showing on her face. “Is that Azura?!”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, Luz lent me that book. She’s kinda obsessed with it.” Willow couldn’t help the giggle that came up alongside that remark. “Wait, do you read them too? I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing.”
“Yeah! Did you read this one yet? I love the part where the perspective changes to Hecate for a chapter, it adds so much to her character!”
It took a few seconds for Willow to get past her initial surprise. How long had it been since she’d seen Amity so enthusiastic and bright-eyed? It really did feel like Luz’s personality had started to rub off on her.
A fond smile made its way to her lips as they continued to talk to each other, at first about Azura, and later about anything and everything that crossed their minds. Talking like this, in her room after school, had felt as natural as breathing to her when they were younger. So much had happened in between then and now, but in those moments she felt like things had gone back to the way they were supposed to be.
They stayed together like that for hours, much longer than they’d planned to. For that time, they were kids again, laughing and crying together about anything they could think of. Willow’s room felt brighter to them than the rest of the world, and they could feel the fondness they shared for each other coloring their senses once again, back from deep inside their hearts where it had slept for all those years.