Chapter Text
The bell screamed, making Luz jump as she added the witch hazel to her sleep draught. The ingredient slipped out of her hands, and the entire bottle went into her cauldron. Instead of a pale lavender, the concoction turned a stark violet. Luz cursed under her breath and ran a hand through her tousled hair.
Around her, classmates began to pack up their things to head to lunch. Luz sighed and decided to discard the ruined potion, she would just have to start all over again next class period. After disposing of the potion and cleaning up her work area, Luz shouldered her bag and made her way to the cafeteria, where Willow and Gus were waiting for her at a corner table.
“There you are!” Willow cocked her head. “What took you so long?”
“Yeah!” Gus added. “We were barely able to save some of today’s special for you, cockatrice egg omelettes!”
Luz smiled gratefully as her stomach rumbled. She plopped down next to Gus and dropped her bag on the floor.
“Thanks guys, I’m starving,” She started to dig into her food. “Sorry I’m late, I had to scrap a potion I had been working on in class cause I messed up. It took longer than expected to clean up.”
Willow waved a hand in the air.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Her eyes brightened. “So have you heard the news?”
Luz’s brows furrowed.
“Uh, no. What’s up?”
“Coven applications are finally open,” Willow grinned.
“And guess who’s already halfway done?” Gus pulled a relatively thick packet of parchment out of nowhere. “The Illusion Coven won’t know what hit them!”
Luz smiled.
“That’s great! It looks like we’ll be able to finally put our grand plan into action!” Thinking of their plan made her remember something, or rather, someone. Luz glanced around. “Wait, where’s Amity?”
Willow shrugged.
“Dunno, last I saw of her she was pushing through the crowd to get to the Emperor’s Coven applications.”
Luz’s stomach dropped. Her fork slipped from her hand and clattered loudly as it hit the table.
“What?” She croaked.
Willow gave her a confused look.
“You didn’t know?”
Luz leaned back in her seat and frowned.
“I thought she was going to apply to the Abomination Coven.”
“Uh, Luz it was your idea to have someone get into the Emperor’s Coven,” Gus pointed at her with his fork. “For the plan, remember?”
Luz shook her head.
“I only brought it up as a suggestion,” She felt sick to her stomach. “I didn’t think Amity would…” She trailed off.
Willow reached across the table and took Luz’s hand, giving it a light squeeze.
“I know you’re worried about her, but you know as well as I do that Amity’s perfectly capable of handling herself.”
Luz pressed her lips together. Willow was right, but that didn’t make Luz feel any better about one of her best friends going undercover with an oppressive police force so they could try to gain an upper hand against Belos. There’s no telling what could happen, and so many things could go terribly wrong.
Yet, the root of Luz’s concerns ran a little bit deeper.
The truth was that-
“Hey! Sorry I’m late!” Amity sat down next to Willow and slipped off her bookbag. “The line for coven applications was a nightmare.”
Luz didn’t say anything. She averted her gaze away from Amity and stared forlornly at her food. This didn’t go unnoticed by Amity, whose eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Just as she was about to ask Luz what was wrong, Willow jumped in.
“Amity!” She clapped her hands together. “Are we still on for practicing plant magic afterschool?”
Amity tore her gaze away from Luz and turned to Willow.
“Oh,” She nodded. “Yeah, of course.”
Gus jumped in after that, asking if he could join them. Their conversation soon turned to what types of plant magic they would be practicing. Amity was more interested in offensive magic, but Willow insisted on perfecting defensive spells first. Gus listened and contributed his own thoughts when he felt it was appropriate. Meanwhile, Luz quickly finished the rest of her lunch and stood from her seat abruptly, the metal legs scraping loudly against the floor.
“I just remembered I promised to meet Bo during lunch,” Luz picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “She’s going to show me a few more types of healing spells to see if I can get the glyphs down. Bye!”
Luz turned and ran off, not even giving a chance for her friends to say goodbye.
“Luz seems a bit off today,” Amity frowned and turned to Willow. “Did something happen?”
Willow opened her mouth to respond but Gus cut her off.
“Nope! I think she was a bit thrown off by messing up in Potions class.”
Amity hummed, seeming to accept the answer. She settled back into her seat and resumed eating her lunch. Willow gave Gus a judgemental look but he only shrugged in response.
---- ---- ----
Amity rubbed her tired eyes as she scanned over the coven application again. Filling it out wasn’t necessarily hard, but the process was extremely tedious. It was several pages long, she had to include her biographical information, academic records, and answer essay questions regarding her interest in joining the Emperor’s Coven. Unlike the other covens, once she submitted it, she would be invited to try out for a position by competing against another applicant in a witch’s duel to test her combat abilities.
Amity wasn’t too worried about getting in. For one: her parents had several connections within the Emperor’s Coven and had spent many years strengthening them so that they could place her there. Her siblings had managed to avoid her fate by devoting themselves to their Illusion magic and quickly rising to the top ranks of the Illusion Coven when they graduated from Hexside.
Of course Amity was confident that her magical abilities and impeccable grades would surely earn her a well-deserved position within the coven. Afterall, she had managed to maintain her position as the top student of the Abomination track for four years now. Not to mention committing to countless training sessions with her friends, where she was able to practice other types of magic to improve her combat skills.
But did she really want to join the coven?
Not at all.
Ever since Amity had learned of what had happened the day of Eda’s attempted petrification, from Luz being kidnapped to her fight with Belos, she realized just how oppressive and wrong the Emperor’s Coven was as an institution. They didn’t work to make citizens of the Isles any safer, rather they only aimed to enforce Belos’ will. And Amity wasn’t exactly fond of him given that he had tried to kill her best friend (and crush).
Her feelings for Luz certainly made her biased against the Emperor’s Coven and Belos, but she had her own separate reasons for disliking them as well. Luz and Eda had helped her, and their other friends realize that everything Belos spewed were lies meant to maintain his grip over the Boiling Isles. Wild magic wasn’t evil or wrong. It was freeing. That’s why Eda had been able to become the most powerful witch in the Isles, and a threat to Belos’ rule.
The coven system enshrined by law forcefully limited witch’s magic for no good reason, other than to benefit the Emperor. Amity firmly believed that witches should be able to practice whatever magic they so choose. She herself loathed the thought of having to give up her elemental magic (fire spells had especially endeared her) if she were to join the Abomination Coven.
So while she hated the thought of having to join ranks with the very same people she sought to take down, she knew that there were no other viable options available to her. If their plan to take down Belos was going to work, they would need someone on the inside feeding them information. And there was no one better suited for the job than her.
Amity was about to jot down another answer on the endless application when the door to her secret room opened, and Luz peeked her head in. Amity blinked, and then her eyes widened. Today was their weekly Azura book club meeting. How could she have forgotten?
“Hey! I’m not late, am I?” Luz rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Eda and Lilith had me go on a supply run in town. But, I was able to borrow Owlbert so it didn’t take me too long.”
Amity glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, and shook her head.
“You’re right on time,” She tucked the application forms away into her folder and rose to her feet. She stretched her arms up in the air and stifled a yawn. “We’re reviewing book five today right?”
Luz tried and failed to ignore- were those abs?- that became briefly visible as Amity’s shirt rode up her stomach. She swallowed and managed to respond, shifting on her feet.
“Yup!” She waved her copy in the air with a practiced flourish. “And I brought snacks from the Owl House!”
Amity smiled.
“Sweet, did you get-”
“Tailypo Truffles?” Luz grinned. “Duh! I know they’re your favorite.”
Amity blushed. Even after all these years, Luz’s endearing personality never failed to fluster her.
Luz pulled their bean bag chairs to the center of the room and Amity joined her on the floor after retrieving her own copy from the shelf. Luz pulled the snacks out of her bag, setting them down on the floor in between them. Amity set her copy down onto her lap and looked up at Luz.
“Anything in particular you want to cover in our review?”
Luz tapped a finger to her lips contemplatively. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers.
“Ooh! Can we do a deep dive into Hecate’s redemption arc?”
Amity arched an eyebrow. While they had talked extensively about Azura’s budding relationship with Hecate that had begun to flourish in book six, she couldn’t recall ever discussing Hecate’s redemption from evil. She personally didn’t care for how Gilthy Tabalm had gone about it, but she was still curious to hear Luz’s thoughts.
“Sure,” She shrugged. “Want to go first?”
Luz nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Yeah!” She set her book on the floor and knitted her fingers together. “So when Hecate was first introduced in book two, I didn’t like her at all! I didn’t understand why she was working with Queen Celesta and Rifaris the Sorcerer in their conquest of Adeotara when they were so obviously evil! But, as Tabalm developed her character over books three and four, I realized that she was motivated by a desire to unite the Fractured Realm. She grew up seeing multiple civil wars pillage the region, and even lost her parents in the Shadow War. She believed that the unification of Egosia, Ioddalan, Flokurene, and Adeotara would put an end to all of the violence once and for all.”
Amity hummed.
Luz isn’t wrong, but Hecate was still complicit in the genocide of the Etilion fae, not to mention the executions of captured members of the resistance and other war crimes ordered by the Queen.
“And from the get go, she had an emotionally charged dynamic with Azura,” Luz continued. “Their banter was amazingly well-written, and each interaction they had with each other had me wanting for more. Azura was the perfect person to help Hecate realize the error of her ways. Azura sees the potential in good for everyone, no matter who they are or what they’ve done.”
Amity smiled to herself.
Just like you.
“Hecate was initially distrustful of Azura and warded off any attempts to improve their relationship, a classic tsundere move,” Luz nodded knowingly to herself.
Amity’s brows furrowed.
Tsundere?
She was about to ask Luz what she meant, but her friend continued rambling.
“But eventually, Azura was able to get through to her!” Luz beamed. “Honestly, seeing Hecate’s character growth over the series made her my favorite character, second only to Azura herself. So I’m really glad she was finally redeemed in book five!” She leaned back and placed her hands on the floor behind her.
Amity cocked her head.
“Okay, but what did you think of her redemption arc?”
“It was fine, made perfect sense to me,” Luz shrugged. “I know there was a lot of controversy over how it was carried out, but I don’t see what the big fuss was about.”
Amity groaned and ran a hand over her face before replying.
“Luz, a character shouldn’t get to be redeemed simply because you like them!”
"Hey! That’s not my only reasoning for Hecate’s redemption! And I thought you shipped Azura and Hecate!" Luz protested.
"I do. Just because I don't mindlessly accept Hecate's rushed redemption arc doesn't mean I dislike their dynamic."
“It wasn’t rushed!”
Amity deadpanned.
“Luz, it took place over the course of four chapters.”
“Those chapters were a lot longer than normal!” Luz insisted.
“Book five was 40 chapters, a lot more time could have been devoted to Hecate making amends for her actions before Azura forgave her.”
“Well, for the sake of argument-”
Amity chuckled dryly.
“You do realize people only say that when they have nothing else meaningful to add to the conversation, right?”
“Let me finish!” Luz scowled at being interrupted.
“Finish what?” Amity scoffed, growing irritated at her friend’s complete lack of literary criticism. It wasn’t often they disagreed, but Amity knew she was right. “Your moot point?”
“I-”
“If I spent seven years being on the opposite side of a conflict with you only to suddenly say: my bad, you’d still be pretty mad at me!” Amity argued. “It makes zero sense that Azura instantly forgave her after the Water Trials Arc.”
“Azura is a very forgiving person, and Hecate saved her life!”
Amity crossed her arms.
“One good deed doesn’t cancel out many hurtful and cruel decisions.”
Luz shook her head and her eyes softened.
“But it’s a start,” Luz leaned forward. “People aren’t binary Amity, someone can feel conflicted their whole lives, making misguided mistakes along the way, and still turn out pretty cool.”
"Like who?" Amity raised an eyebrow. “Hecate was never conflicted with what she had done until Rifaris backstabbed her after the battle in Plemmedu Forest, shattering her reality.”
Luz swallowed and gave Amity a long, hard look.
"Like you."
Amity jolted. Unable to maintain Luz’s serious gaze, she turned away.
“...That’s different.”
Luz hummed.
“I think you and Hecate have a lot more in common than you think,” Luz reached out and took hold of Amity’s hand, giving a gentle squeeze. Amity’s cheeks pinked, but Luz didn’t notice since she had glanced down at their joined hands. “For one, you both love to hold grudges.”
“I do not!” Amity exclaimed.
Luz ignored her friend’s protest.
“You’re both incredibly powerful witches,” Luz added, smirking as Amity finally turned to meet her eyes.
“Well, obviously.”
Luz smiled fondly at her friend’s abashed expression before she remembered Willow’s news from earlier today.
“And,” She took a deep breath. “You’re both willing to sacrifice yourselves for the sake of others, even when it’s unnecessary.”
Amity’s eyes widened.
“Wh- What do you mean?”
Luz pressed her lips together in a thin line before answering.
“I know you’re planning on applying to the Emperor’s Coven,” She squeezed Amity's hand again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Amity pulled her hand out of Luz’s grasp, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. She missed the hurt that flashed across Luz’s face as she briefly glanced at her desk, where the application was still waiting to be completed.
“I didn’t think I needed to.”
Luz’s jaw dropped.
“Amity, how could you think that!” Luz grabbed her by the shoulders. “This is a really big deal!”
Amity took Luz’s hands and pushed them away. Her friend always had a tendency to be a bit overdramatic.
“It’s really not,” Amity tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Plus, my parents already expected me to join the coven, so I won’t have to worry about them.”
Luz frowned. Luz knew how fraught the relationship Amity had with her parents was. After fighting the Emperor, Amity had avoided her for two weeks fearing what her parents would do if they found out they were friends. She couldn’t help but think that the Blight parents were a primary reason why Amity was applying to the Emperor’s Coven.
“You won’t have to worry about them once you turn 18 in a month,” Luz gave her friend a pleading look. “You don’t have to live under their thumb anymore.”
“I know that,” Amity gave Luz a weird look. “They’re not why I’m applying. I’m doing it for our plan.”
Luz shook her head.
“You don’t have to do it for the plan either.”
Amity gave Luz an incredulous look, rising to her feet and placing a hand on her hip.
“Wasn’t this your idea?”
Luz stood up, and nodded reluctantly.
“Yeah, but it was only a suggestion,” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I didn’t think y- someone would actually apply.”
Amity rolled her eyes.
“Well, I am. So that’s that.”
Luz took a few moments to respond, and when she did, her voice was soft.
“Please don’t.”
Amity was dumbfounded by Luz’s crestfallen expression. Did she not think she was capable of handling this?
“Luz, I get that it’ll be dangerous but you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
Luz frowned.
“It is dangerous. That’s why you shouldn’t do it. You could get hurt, or worse.”
Amity huffed.
“Like I said, I can handle whatever happens.”
“No you can’t,” Luz shook her head. “We don’t know for sure what’ll happen to you, or what they’ll make you do. I should’ve never suggested it.”
Amity pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Luz, what is your problem? Why don’t you believe in me?”
“I do, I- I just…” Luz faltered.
“What?” Amity asked as a wave of irritation washed over her.
“I don’t want to see you get hurt!”
Normally, Amity would have found Luz’s concern over her well being sweet and endearing, but in that moment she only felt betrayal. After everything they had been through together, all the times they had looked out for each other, Luz still didn’t trust her to take care of herself. Her stomach flip flopped and she pushed down her insecurities that had begun to resurface.
Amity sighed.
“I hear you Luz, but I’m not changing my mind.”
“But-”
“No buts,” Amity interrupted her, shaking her head. She walked over to her desk and began to gather her things. Their book club meeting was clearly over. “I’m done talking about this. Now-” Amity glanced up and was shocked to see Luz fuming at her, tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.
“Fine! Be that way,” Luz choked out before she spun on her heels, wrenched open the door, and stormed out of the room.
Amity could only watch in disbelief as Luz’s retreating figure quickly disappeared around the corner. After a moment, she blinked.
What just happened?