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“Amity! Hey, Amity! Amity!”
Luz swooped from the top of one of the lockers, flaring her wings to slow herself down as she skidded to a stop by the girl, nearly knocking into her.
Amity jumped, her wings twitching ever so slightly before she relaxed into a smile, side-stepping to avoid Luz’s flailing wings.
“Hey, Luz.”
“Sorry about the drop in,” Luz said sheepishly, her wings scrunching up over her shoulders as she rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ve been trying to find you all day, but, ah, all my classes were practically on the other side of school.”
Amity’s ears perked slightly in curiosity. She let Luz continue rambling as she placed the last of her books in her lockers, far more relaxed than how she had been earlier.
“So, I actually have an idea for us! You said you weren’t busy today, right?” Luz asked, clearly straining to not stand so close to Amity as to avoid hitting her with her wings that refused to sit still.
“No…” Amity said slowly, shutting her locker and glanced at Luz with sudden interest. “What were you thinking of?” She said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“You’re gonna love it!” Luz smiled, grabbing her wrist with both hands and beginning to tug her along. “It’s just a little off from where we fought Grometheus, remember?”
“It was only a few days ago, Luz.” Amity said, a faint blush on her cheeks as she was pulled along. “What’s this about?”
“So, I was talking with Willow and Gus,” Luz said, flapping her wings on occasion to speed up their movement. “And I felt bad that you can’t fl--”
Amity stiffened and suddenly seized forward, slapping her hand over Luz’s mouth. Only then did the human stop.
Amity looked around fearfully, though since it was the end of the day, nobody was really paying attention. The only students still in the building were too busy making their ways to the exit.
“Luz!” Amity hissed, slowly taking her hand away.
“Right, sorry, private subject, I forgot.” Luz said sheepishly, her wings drooping slightly. “But that’s the point of this outing! It’s to help you with that little dilemma.”
Amity blinked at her in confusion. Luz’s wings were already twitching again as she was hurrying towards the exit, once again, pulling the kestrel along.
Then Luz saw her expression of realization.
“No, no, no no no,” Amity said, digging her heels in, but it was useless against the tile and the unstoppable force known as Luz. “No, bad idea, we’re not doing this.”
“Yes, yes, yes we are!” Luz said, giving Amity a wide grin and beating her wings as they came out of the school. “You said you couldn’t, you know, do the thing, during our fight with Grometheus, and I have made it my mission to help you.”
“You really don’t have to,” Amity shook her head, still half-heartedly struggling as Luz dragged her to the bottom of the steps, where Willow and Gus were waiting.
“Too bad, I’m doing it anyway.” Luz said, finally stopping by her friends, her wings practically vibrating.
“Please tell me you’re here to try and be the voice of reason,” Amity begged, turning to Willow leaning against the stone by the steps.
“I am,” Willow nodded, and Amity visibly relaxed. “And my voice of reason says that you need to learn how to use those wings.” She said firmly, crossing her arms.
Amity groaned and hung her head, defeated. Luz was too giddy with excitement to bother with a sympathetic pat on the back.
“And it would be interesting to document,” Gus added. “I mean, not a lot of people write down or talk about what happens to wings when they aren’t used in flight for years on end. It could be enlightening!”
“You better keep that completely anonymous.” Amity warned, pointing a threatening finger at the boy. “No names, no locations, no mentions of species, anything.”
“All my research is one hundred percent confidential.” Gus said, raising a hand. “It’ll remain personal for a long time, anyway.”
“Keep it that way,”
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” Luz said, flapping her wings widely and jumping around her friends. “We only have so much light left!”
“We have at least a few hours,” Amity pointed out.
“And those precious hours are being wasted,” Luz whined, her wings hanging loosely at her sides. “Come on, come on!” She said, grabbing Amity’s hand with both of hers and already tugging her along.
“Looks like the natural disaster has truly begun,” Gus sighed, hurrying after the two as Luz pulled them along.
“Oh, just you wait.” Willow mumbled.
“Okay, so!” Luz stood in front of Amity, the cliff behind her. “What do you know about flying?”
“Uh,” Amity blinked, glancing back at Willow and Gus, who were sitting on the sidelines of the clearing. “I know you need to...flap your wings a lot?”
“Alright, not a bad start.” Luz said, her wings half-open as she scrunched her face in thought. “Do you know how to take off?”
“I just need to jump and flap my wings, right?” Amity said. “Then, I dunno, catch a draft of air?”
Luz pressed her mouth into a thin line, mildly concerned.
“How about we just take a look at those wings first?” She said, doing her best to give a reassuring smile.
Luz spread her own wings to their full length, then gestured for Amity to do the same. The witch swallowed and slowly unfurled her wings from her shoulders.
They sagged a bit, the tips of her feathers brushing the grass. The first thing Amity noticed was that, in comparison to her own, Luz’s wings were tiny. Amity’s wings were narrow and meant for speed. Whereas Luz’s were wider, the feathers and patagium thinner, and practically shrank when put in front of the kestrels.
Which was an odd realization, Amity thought. Her wings were nowhere near big, and barely even normal-sized. She supposed it put into perspective just how...fragile Luz was in this world.
“Not bad, not bad,” Luz hummed, her wings arching as she walked in a circle around Amity, peering at her wings.
Luz reached forward and touched Amity’s left wing. Amity startled and jerked her wing back.
“Sorry, sorry!” Luz raised her hands quickly and stepped away. “Wing sensitivity, my bad.” She said shyly.
“N-no, it’s fine,” Amity mumbled, slowly stretching out her wing again and ignoring Willow and Gus’s snickers behind her. “Just surprised me, that’s all.”
Luz flicked her tail and reached forward again, glancing at Amity. At her nod, she drew her hands underneath Amity’s wing and lifted it higher.
Amity resisted the urge to shutter at the touch and instead did her best to hold her wing at the height Luz lifted it to.
Once Luz was satisfied, she hurried to Amity’s other wing and did the same, until they were raised just above her shoulders and back in a take-off position.
“Try moving them,” Luz said, backing up to stand in front of Amity again. “Like this,”
She began beating her wings, slowly at first, but soon became rapid. It created a small gust of wind that ruffled Amity’s hair and feathers, and even rose Luz off the ground a few inches before she stopped and dropped back down.
Amity shuffled her feet and stretched her wings back further, feeling small pops in her muscles at being stretched. She beat them forward, and mid-movement, the bones on her wings let out a sickening crack.
Really, it was only the type of crack that your bones give in the morning when you wake up and haven’t moved for a while. But nevertheless, it was loud, and it was disturbing , to say the least.
Luz instantly cringed back, wincing at the sound. Willow did the same as Gus self-consciously drew his wings closer.
Amity paused, her wings halfway hanging in front of her as she gave a nervous smile.
“It’s, uh, been a while.” She mumbled.
“I can tell,” Luz nodded. “Just, erm, stretch them out.”
Amity nodded and slowly beat her wings back and forth, wincing at every strain and crack her wings gave, not used to being moved. Luz was disturbed by every noise she heard, and Amity didn’t blame her.
Eventually, her wings stopped making sickening noises, and she began to speed up her flapping. Luz perked up and her own wings started to beat in excitement.
“Don’t forget the tail!” Luz added above the wind being created by Amity’s flapping.
Amity spread her tail and increased the power, despite already starting to feel fatigued.
She felt her feet begin to lift slightly and she held the speed her wings were at. Luz bounced on her heels in excitement and stepped back.
Amity rose a few inches in the air, causing Willow and Gus’s interest to grow.
A spike of pain shot through Amity’s right wing and she dropped with a yelp, her wings laying on the grass as she landed on her side.
“Are you okay?” Luz worried, hurrying over and dropping to her knees.
“M’fine,” Amity mumbled, raising her head and giving a smile as Willow rushed over. “Just a cramp, I think.”
“Probably from not using your wings for a while,” Willow said, both her and Luz helping Amity to her feet.
“Maybe we should just work on wing exercises today,” Luz hummed, glancing back at Amity’s wings, which were loosely dragging on the ground. “It’s probably not easy on your wings to start flying after going unused for years.”
“No, no, I can do it.” Amity shook her head, raising her wings to her sides.
“Someone had a change of heart,” Willow murmured, stepping away and fluttering her wings.
“Zip it,” Amity grumbled, her ears pressing back.
“Are you sure?” Luz worried, her tail flicking. “I thought this would only take a few days, but if it hurts, it might take longer…” She said, running a hand through her hair.
“I’m fine, really.” Amity insisted. “I wanna try again.”
Luz seemed unsure, but nodded. She stepped back and let Amity stretch out her wings again. Willow wandered back to Gus but stayed standing, her wings buzzing every now and again.
Amity beat her wings once more, testing them out. Luz circled her in half-flutters as she did so, her tail twitching nonstop.
Amity soon rose off the ground again, feeling a heavy strain in her wings and creeping pain. She ignored it and held her position a few inches in the air. Luz started grinning and chirped, flying a little ways above her in encouragement.
“Come on, let’s see if we can get you airborne!” Luz said, giving Willow and Gus thumbs up.
Amity felt a swell in her chest and beat her wings faster, trying to angle properly and push herself in the air.
The second she tried to fly up instead of hovering, however, was when her wings suddenly felt like thorn-covered chains had suddenly wrapped around them.
A strained cry escaped Amity and her wings cramped up. She hit the ground harder than she thought and was winded momentarily, letting out a wheezing breath of air.
She was subconsciously aware of Luz landing and her friends surrounding her, asking questions that blurred together. Her vision was fuzzy and she tried to blink it away, shutting her eyes like that would combat the pain her wings were in.
It truly felt like a sharp string was contracting around them at different levels, and she was reminded of those awful binding straps her parents made her try out that wouldn’t let her wings move an inch.
She tried to mumble that she was fine and attempted to push herself upright. Her wings started to automatically move to fold regally over her back as they had been for all these years, and the muscles in not only her wings but shoulders and back cried in protest, causing her to whimper and collapse again.
She was aware of the flash of speckled brown wings covering her before she let her head thump on the ground and her eyes shut.
“Day three of flight training,” Gus mumbled, walking along the large branch as he tapped his pencil on his notebook. “Luz has decided to try moving through the trees to build up Amity’s wing muscle-mass. It's…” He paused, frowning.
“Not going too well,”
“I can hear you!”
Amity hopped to the next closest branch, stumbling before clinging to the trunk of the tree, her wings curled tightly at her sides. Willow landed on the same branch, giving her a pitying look.
“This is ridiculous,” Amity grumbled under her breath, looking off the branch to the ground spiraling below. “The kid with baby fluff is better than me.”
“I’m writing that down!” Gus called from his branch, angrily scribbling in his notebook.
“Don’t mind him, he’s just had more...exercise with his wings.” Willow said, hovering a few feet away as Amity peeled herself off the trunk and sheepishly stepped to the next branch.
“If it makes you feel any better, Luz still has a bit of fluff.” She offered.
“She does?” Amity instantly perked up, missing her branch and slipping off.
Thankfully, she managed to scramble and grab onto the branch, her lower half hanging off as she clinged to the thicker branch for dear life, her wings still tightly around her sides as she tried to pull herself up.
“Hey, Amity!”
Luz zoomed right on by, pausing for a moment to perch on a thinner branch above the witch, making her pause and look up.
“The point is to, uh, use your wings.” She said, ruffling her own. “Just try gliding! Or moving them when going from branch-to-branch.”
“I’d rather not fall out of the tree, thank you.” Amity grumbled, struggling to pull herself up as Willow watched with mild concern.
“Psh, you won’t fall. We’re high enough that you’d hit a branch that’d stop your fall...eventually.” Luz shrugged.
“You’re terrible at reassurance,” Willow deadpanned.
“Tell you what,” Amity said, laying her chin on the branch. “I’ll give it a shot. But I’m starting slow.”
“I can work with that!” Luz said cheerfully, her wings raising. “Hey, Gus! Race ya!” She called, hopping off the branch.
“Wha--wait! I wasn’t ready!” The nuthatch cried, fluttering after her.
Amity watched Luz fly off, stopping on branches occasionally to laugh and tease Gus. Her wings were constantly moving this way and that, and not for the first time, Amity wondered if Luz’s wings were really as fragile as they looked.
Willow cleared her throat and Amity jerked her head up, catching the hummingbirds smile with a raised brow.
“What?” Amity growled, finally managing to pull herself up onto her branch and trying to steady herself.
“I didn’t say anything,” Willow said simply, landing on a branch next to Amity’s. “Just that...you’re awfully more open recently, that’s all.”
“Luz has that impact on people,” Amity said stiffly, half-opening her wings and debating if the five foot jump to the next branch was worth it.
“Of course,” Willow said calmly.
Amity jumped to the next branch, her wings spread to balance her. She floundered for a moment before shooting out both of her wings, keeping herself from falling off.
Amity let out a breath of relief and lowered her wings slightly, but kept them open. She looked down the line of trees again, spotting Luz darting around the bigger trunks and startling Gus, laughing with her wings hanging at her sides, yet seeming so lively.
She smiled, just a bit.
“You know I wouldn’t mind, right?”
Amity squawked and whirled around, realizing Willow had landed next to her without her noticing, a smug look on her face.
“Mind? Course, course not.” Amity said quickly, ears flicking back as a flush came to her face. “I mean, it’s a small thing anyway, why would you even worry about it?” She said, forgoing judging the gap and flapping her wings as she landed on the next branch, having to grab one above her to stop herself from slipping off.
“But, uh, you wouldn’t? Really?” Amity swallowed, glancing at Willow as she calmly landed next to her.
“So you do know what I’m implying,” Willow said smugly, her wings arched.
“I--” Amity started before slowly shutting her mouth again and resorting to a glare. “I don’t like you.”
“Yes, you do.”
Amity muttered and released the branch above her, debating the consequences of knocking Willow off the branch with her wings. So far, the cons were outweighing the pros.
“Out of curiosity, could you bend the trees so I don’t break every bone in my body when I inevitably fall?” Amity asked, hoping to change the conversation.
“It would be more like growing the leaves, not bending the tree, but yes.” Willow said, deciding to be merciful. “You’re going to be fine, Amity. Luz went out of her way to make sure nothing went wrong today.”
“Which means she shoved a bunch of problems into a closet and is going to deal with them when she forgets they exist and suddenly burst free?” Amity guessed, giving Willow a side-eye.
“Yeah, pretty much.” Willow nodded with a tired sigh. “But let's focus on getting those wings moving before whatever troubles Luz has hidden away come looking for blood.”
“It is sounding more appealing now,” Amity agreed, holding her wings out and taking a breath before jumping off her branch.
She glided in a wonky fashion for only a few moments before smacking into a thin branch and clinging clumsily to it, her cheek resting against the wood. She heard whoops and rattles and looked up, seeing Luz and Gus had brought their game closer to her and Willow.
“That was a good glide,” Luz complimented, landing on a branch underneath Amity’s so her face could lean closer to hers. “We could probably try glides across the clearing, soon!” She said gleefully.
Amity short-circuited for a moment, her words coming out in a jumbled mess before she realized she was slipping off and re-tightened her old on the branch.
“Y-yeah! Totally,” Amity nodded, swallowing thickly as she attempted to sit up.
“How are your wings feeling?” Luz asked, flying up and offering a hand to Amity, which the witch gratefully took.
“A little stiff, but not too bad.” Amity said, steadying herself on her feet. “I haven’t been moving them much, so that probably helps.”
“Aw, come on, Amity! You’re supposed to use them,” Luz complained, landing on the thin branch beside her and making it wobble.
If she noticed, she didn’t react to it.
“We gotta build up those muscles! Make them big and powerful, like mine.” She said, proudly flaring her wings, despite them being significantly smaller than Amity’s.
Amity raised a brow in amusement and looked over Luz. Her gaze paused for a moment on her wings. Specifically, the base of them.
Sure enough, Willow was right. Where Luz’s wings met her body, and even underneath her marginal and secondary covert feathers, was small gray and white downy fluff. It wasn’t exactly hidden, but due to how close it was to her body and her wings' natural white speckles, most people wouldn’t even notice them.
“Amity?”
The witch jerked her head up, startled. She blushed redder when she noticed Luz was looking at her oddly and drawing her wings half-closed.
“Are you sure you're okay? You kinda spaced out for a moment, there.” She said, a slight twitch to her tail.
“Yes! Yeah, I, erm, I’m okay.” Amity said, hating how loud her voice was at first and rubbing the back of her neck. “Just, uh, thinking about how I’m gonna actually manage to fly.”
“Aw, you’ll get it, I’m sure.” Luz said kindly. “We’re not giving up that easily!”
“What are ya talkin’ bout?”
The branch shook more as Gus landed on Amity’s other side. Amity held out her hands to keep her balance, uneasy.
“Just flying,” Luz said, oblivious as Gus rose his wings to hold himself still. “Hey, where’s Wil--”
Willow, sure enough, came to land on the branch where it connected to the trunk of the tree. Her wings were still slowing down to stop her flight when a cracking noise reached their ears.
Before anyone could shout a warning, the branch snapped off from underneath the kids, sending them tumbling down.
Amity flailed and flung out her wings, trying to stop her fall. Her wings caught the air and she got momentary whiplash as her fall stopped abruptly.
She glided for a good few moments, looking around frantically before crashing face-first into a branch and landing with a thud on the one beneath it, groaning.
She lifted her head to check what happened to the others, worried. Gazing below her, she saw that Gus had landed on a large leaf that Willow made to catch him. Luz hadn’t been so lucky and clearly tried to fly away but instead hit a branch and landed on the intersection between two larger ones. Bruised, but no worse for wear.
Willow, since she had been the last to land, and was a hummingbird, had avoided falling altogether.
“You guys okay?” Willow asked, landing in the middle of where her friends were scattered.
Groans of pain greeted her.
“I think we’re done for today.” Amity decided, folding her wings over her back as she sat up.
“Fair,” Luz mumbled, rolling off the intersection before flaring out her wings and flying up. “Amity, you need help getting down?”
“I...I think I can try and glide down.” Amity said, peering over the branch. “Willow, prepare to catch me, please.”
“Can do,” Willow sighed, letting Gus’s leaf shrink to normal size and dumping the nuthatch on the ground below, much to his complaints.
“Hey, I think today was pretty successful.” Luz shrugged, flying around Amity. “Considering how it could’ve gone, breaking a branch is actually pretty decent!”
Amity and Willow made eye contact from across the trees.
“You have a monster chasing you today, don’t you?” Willow deadpanned.
“Two, actually.”
“This is the worst idea you’ve ever had during these sessions. And you wanted us to try and ride a Roc.”
“I think you’re being a little over-dramatic, Amity.”
“It’s not so bad,” Luz said, standing at the edge of the cliff. “I mean, you’ve made a lot of progress. And it’s only been just over a week! If anything bad happens, you can just glide to safety. Or Willow can catch you.” She added.
“There is one branch on this entire cliff.” Amity said, pointing below. “And I don’t want to land in the ocean, Luz.”
“This is why we don’t take advice from Eda,” Gus mumbled under his breath.
“I won’t let you fall, I promise.” Luz said, her tail quivering slightly. “I can catch you, and so can Willow.” She insisted.
Amity frowned and peered over the edge, clearly not convinced.
Okay, Luz thought, so maybe her previous ideas hadn’t all been bangers. Especially not the Roc or the throwing plan. But this wasn’t that bad, not really. Sure, Amity could get her wings wet, but so long she didn’t crash at the bottom of the cliff, she’d be fine, this is fine.
“We gotta get those wings in the air somehow, and you’re already able to glide longer! This’ll be great, I’m sure.” She said, waving a hand.
“Yeah,” Gus drawled out slowly, glancing at Luz’s tail, which had not stopped twitching. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this if you're not completely sure of it?”
“Course I’m sure, why wouldn’t I be sure?” Luz said quickly, glancing around. “I’m fine, it’ll all be fine. Look, here,”
With that, she calmly took a step backwards off the cliff.
Amity jerked forward for a moment before drawing back. Luz had fallen for barely a second before she had spread her wings and flown up, now hovering a little over two thousand feet in the air.
“Now I can make sure nothing bad happens.” She said. “Just, uh, you know...don’t look down?” She tried with a sheepish smile.
“We’re all going to regret this,” Willow muttered.
Despite her words, she also stepped off the cliff and flew halfway down where the broken branch was, hovering by it at the ready.
“You three have fun, I’m staying here.” Gus said, fluttering his wings as he focused on his notebook. “I’d rather not risk crashing into the sea.”
This did little to reassure Amity.
“Just open your wings and glide,” Luz said, flying around the edge of the cliff. “Maybe flap your wings a little. What’s the worst that could--”
“Don’t finish that,” Amity growled, snapping her head up to glare at the sparrow. “I don’t need us being jinxed right now.”
“Right, yeah, sorry,” Luz nodded, flying back. “Uh, you can do it?”
“Thanks,” Amity deadpanned.
Luz flew a little below the cliff, clinging onto the rock as she looked up at Amity psyching herself up. She kept her wings half open behind her, should she fall off.
“I’m right here, I promise.” Luz said, offering a smile.
Amity looked down at her for a few moments before giving a smile back and vanishing from her line of view.
Luz tilted her head, confused, and a little intrigued, as she heard the shuffling and ruffling of feathers above her.
Then, without warning, Amity suddenly leapt off the cliff.
Her wings were spread wide, and she soared right over both Luz’s and Willow’s heads. Luz gaped for a few moments before launching off the rockface.
Amity was managing to glide, albeit shakily, over the ocean. Luz grinned and flew up beside her, whooping and cheering.
Amity had her arms held out at her sides and her eyes were glued to the horizon.
“You alright?” Luz giggled.
“If I just keep staring ahead I’ll be fine,” Amity said, never moving her head. “I’m not falling, right?”
“Hmm,” Luz glanced back and at Amity’s steady gliding. “Nope! Well, I guess you are, but it’s with style.”
Amity snorted, her stiff stance wavering for a moment. Luz grinned in victory and looked back, noticing they were getting further from the cliff. Willow had moved away from the branch and was waving to them.
“We should probably turn back before you glide out to sea,” Luz called over to her. “You remember how to tilt your wings?”
“I think so?” Amity mumbled.
She dipped her left wing and leaned, turning in the air. Luz smiled, flying up and over Amity in a spinning circle before continuing to fly normally just underneath the witch.
Willow was cheering as well, hovering above the cliff. Luz could see Gus furiously scribbling notes and constantly looking back up at them, grinning.
Amity laughed, finally relaxing as she tilted her wings slightly, swaying in the air.
“And you thought this was a terrible idea,” Luz smirked.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Amity grumbled, rolling her eyes before glancing down at Luz.
Luz saw her eyes wander to the crashing ocean beneath them and her face fell.
“Uh, Luz?” Amity said, going a little pale.
“I told you not to look down!” Luz squawked, flying higher up so that her wings were nearly brushing Amity’s.
“It-it’s not the height,” Amity shook her head, tearing her gaze away from the ocean and looking back up at the human. “I think there’s something down there.”
Luz blinked and looked down, squinting. For a few brief moments, she saw nothing. Then, in a brief flash, she saw something dark flick out of the water before vanishing.
Luz glanced back at Amity, who was banking to the right in a circle, nervous.
“Uh, out of curiosity,” Luz said slowly, pausing in the air to hover as Amity glided by. “What’s the ocean wildlife like in the Boiling Isles?”
A massive tremor suddenly shook the area, catching the attention of Willow and Gus, who were both standing when it hti. Luz whirled around to call a warning to Amity before the sea suddenly split apart, revealing massive, gaping jaws.
Luz let out a cry and flailed, barely missing jaws closing around her tail as she tucked in and darted away.
She spun, taking in the massive monster that had come from the sea.
It’s lower half was a golden carp, even with the head. But the mouth was wide open, and coming from said mouth was a striped cat-like demon. All that was coming out of the mouth was from the shoulder up, including paws nearly the size of the Owl House and a maw filled with teeth as big as a person.
The monster fell back to the sea at it’s failed attempt, though it’s eyes still shone with hunger.
“What was that?” Luz shouted, looking around wildly. “Amity? Amity!”
The kestrel, during the chaos, had smacked into the cliffside and was about two hundred feet down, clinging to the rock for dear life. Willow and Gus were picking themselves up from the sudden attack, panic evident.
“Luz, get back here!” Willow waved her hands around. “It’s after you!”
Luz didn’t need to be told twice.
She dove towards the cliff, hitting the safe grass before springing up a moment later and leaning over, her tail trembling.
“Amity!” She called down, and the witch jerked her head up.
“Hang on,” Willow said, stretching out a hand and making the branch a couple hundred feet below Amity twitch and move.
The branch had grown to a reasonable size before it started growing up towards Amity.
That was when the sea monster leapt out again.
It had spotted Amity, as her bright green feathers made her stand out against the dark gray stone. It snapped its jaws, taking out the branch cleanly as a claw dug into the cliff, dangerously close to the witch.
Luz didn’t know when she jumped off, but in a flash, she was suddenly diving right towards the leviathan.
She flared her wings, barely slowing her descent before she landed right between its eyes. She could hear her friends screaming, either at her or for their own lives, but she couldn’t make out any of the words.
“Get lost, you overgrown catfish!” She barked, flapping over to its left eye before slamming her feet down on it.
The monster howled and reared back, nearly taking Luz with it before she darted back into the air. She turned and flew to Amity, who was curled into a ball where she was clinging to the rocks, her wings shaking.
Luz landed right on the rock beside her and grabbed her shoulder. Amity’s eyes opened and she stared at Luz, unable to speak. All Luz could hear were distressed, rapid chirps from her throat.
“Willow! Help me grab Amity!” Luz called up the cliff, taking Amity’s arm.
It took a few moments, considering all the howling and tremors the sea beast was causing, but Willow appeared on Amity’s other side just a moment later. She grabbed her right arm and the two were quick to launch off the cliff and rise to the air.
Until a paw slammed into the cliff, just above them and barely a few meters away from missing Gus, who had been peering over the edge.
The girls all whirled around, meeting two massive eyes, one of them slightly red from getting kicked.
The three froze for a moment, the girls and the monster having a momentary staring contest.
Then its jaw opened and it launched towards them.
The three split apart in a flash. Luz and Willow flew to the left and right, and Amity...dove.
Luz could see her wings tucked into her sides as she dove downwards, panic violently seizing her.
“Amity! Pull up!” Luz cried.
The monster’s face hit the cliff and it hissed, jerking back and swiping it's free paw towards the closest bird, which happened to be Willow.
Willow managed to dodge and fly upwards, making a beeline for Gus, who had stepped back.
Luz tightened her wings to her sides and dropped like a stone, attempting to peer around the hulking beast, trying to figure out where Amity was among the thrashing golden body and massive waves.
She saw something coming at her from the corner of her eye and spun to the side, spreading her wings right as a gust of wind went by, accompanying a paw with claws the length of a bus.
The tiger roared, furious that it’s prey was proving so hard to catch.
Luz finally saw Amity, right as she was twisting around to miss the beasts thrashing tail.
Luz cried out, curving around to try and reach her friend.
Amity suddenly shot out her wings and tilted upwards, sending her soaring nearly straight-up.
Luz didn’t have the chance to gape, because the beasts paw had hit the water right by her, sending waves four times as big as she was.
She darted up and around its forearm, missing its jaws by the brush of her feathers as she finally popped up above its head.
Willow was swiftly growing the grass on the cliff face, beginning to move them around the monster's neck and face, causing it to yowl and hiss.
Luz couldn’t even pay attention to that, she was too busy flying around and looking for a familiar flash of green.
And, right by the leviathans back, she saw it.
Amity soared up and her hand suddenly lit ablaze. She paused right by its head and flared out her wings. In that brief moment of pause, she flung the handful of fire at the cat's nose, hissing a slew of curses at it.
The fire grew when it came in contact with its nose and the beast shrieked, pulling back and breaking free of the grass wrapped around it. Amity flew, flew, out of the way as it hissed and removed its claws from the cliff face.
Luz slowly landed, deciding she’d rather not get involved. Amity’s rage-filled snarls were enough to keep her at bay.
The cat spat back at her but lowered its head, rubbing at its nose with its paw.
With a growl, the beast turned and dove back into the sea, deciding the fight wasn’t worth the prey.
In mere moments, it was like it was never there.
The others were breathing heavily, trying to process what had just happened. Luz, on the other hand, was left staring in the air at Amity, who was hovering right where she was, still watching where it vanished.
“She’s flying,” Luz murmured, before suddenly jumping up. “She’s flying! Amity! Amity! You’re flying!”
The witch turned back around, confused for a brief moment before glancing at her wings.
Luz leapt into the air and spun around the kestrel, talking a mile a minute as she resisted the urge to tackle Amity out of the sky in a hug.
Amity exhaled, shaking with the effort and her wings faltered. Luz paused then and gave her a worried look.
“Yeah, great,” Amity wheezed, her eyelids drooping. “I’m...I’m kinda tired…”
“Oh, right, right!” Luz nodded, taking her hands and flying the witch down. “Yeah, I think we’ve done more than enough for the day.”
“Are you okay?” Willow worried, coming up to Amity once they landed and holding her up.
“Everything hurts,” Amity whined, “Especially these,” She weakly twitched her wings.
“But not as much as before, right?” Gus inquired.
“...nah, not yet.” Amity shook her head.
“That’s a win in my book!” Luz said cheerfully. “C’mon, let’s get back to the Owl House before Eda shows up wondering what the fuss was all about.”
Amity didn’t respond. She just closed her eyes and nodded tiredly, leaning on Willow as she began the walk back to the Owl House.
Gus and Luz kept on talking, about the fight, the flying, what Gus had written down, anything. Luz somehow still had an abundance of energy, asking Amity questions she didn’t expect answers to and thinking up more ideas now that Amity had flown. After all, just because she flew once didn’t mean she was a master now.
Amity could barely keep her eyes open, and her walking was more like stumbling.
And yet, despite that, she couldn’t stop smiling, either.