Chapter Text
Luz felt the magical energy zoom past her ear. If that had been a few inches closer to her face, she would have been done for. Her breath was getting heavy. How long had they been fighting? It felt like hours, but Luz knew it couldn't have been more than 15 minutes.
"Are you getting tired?" The Golden Guard asked. Luz noticed a little smirk appear on his face. She couldn't give in that easily.
"You wish!" She yelled as her staff glowed, and a fiery ball of magic made its way towards her opponent. Yet, he redirected it with a simple swish of his staff. Luz could feel herself getting tired and annoyed. She grumbled as she clumsily fired fireball after fireball, each one getting redirected or dodged.
"Oh, Come on, is that the best you got?" The boy twirled his staff as plants began to sprout around Luz's feat, holding her in place. She could feel the roots digging into her ankles as they crawled up her legs. She tried to pull away, but the magic was too strong.
"Oh, come on!" She complained as she stabbed her staff into the ground. It glowed red as icy spikes made their way towards the Golden Guard. He easily dodged the oncoming attack and rushed towards her. Before Luz could blink, he was standing in front of her, staff at her throat.
There was a quiet moment. The arena was silent as they both waited for the other to speak.
"Fine, I give in," Luz said as she gently pushed Hunter's staff away, "Just help me get these vines off."
Hunter smiled, reveling in his small victory, as he made the vines disappear with one swift motion of his staff. The moment Luz was untangled, she fell to the ground and let herself catch her breath. She felt the coarse dirt of the castle courtyard on her skin as well as the new aches and pains she got from that fight. She was going to be sore tomorrow.
"How do you not get tired?" Luz asked as she gasped for more air. She could barely get through a 15-minute fight, yet she knew Hunter had been in battles that lasted for hours.
"I don't know," Hunter said as he held out his hand for Luz, "You just kinda... get used to it."
Luz took his hand and pulled herself up. She brushed off the dust that accumulated on her light blue cloak and uniform. She honestly looked like a mess, with her sweaty hair, bruises, and dirt stains. Of course, Hunter looked nearly spotless, as he usually did after they sparred. If Luz was being honest, she was getting a bit tired of constantly losing to him.
"When did you learn that plant trick?" Luz asked as she went to grab her things. She had read about a spell like that but hadn't gotten around to learning it yet, and had assumed Hunter never bothered to learn it either.
Clearly, she was wrong.
"This morning, actually! That was my first time trying it out." Hunter said, a bit proud of himself, as he picked up a few of his books. They all looked new, and Luz had to wonder how often this man was hitting up the library. She would be lying if she said she didn't notice the constant bags under his eyes. He always seemed to be lacking sleep, grabbing quick naps whenever he could. Plus, he always seemed to be trying out new spells. Could all of this be because he was studying too much?
"So whatcha reading?" Luz asked as she grabbed one of the books from his hands. She glanced at the cover to see what he was reading, 'The Magic of the Savage Ages: A History of Wild Magic'
Before Luz could ask questions, Hunter had snatched the book out of her hands, "What the heck, Luz? Don't you know not to take things from people?"
Luz thought about questioning him. Hunter told her everything, so why was he being so secretive about this? Though judging by the way he was now clutching his books to his chest, she figured it best not to ask him about it.
Hunter cleared his throat as he gathered more of his things. He clearly wanted to change the subject, "Didn't Belos say he wanted to meet with you today?"
Luz's eyes lit up when he said this, "Yes! And I think it's good news about the portal!" She then took a pause, her face deep in thought, "And I told him I would meet him in fifteen minutes! I have to run!"
She then began to dash across the courtyard, still covered in dirt and sweat from training. She ran past guards who weren't that surprised to see Luz rushing past them. I mean, the girl wasn't known for being punctual. She could hear her black boots clicking on the castle floors as she weaved her way through the hallways. But just as she was about to turn a final corner, someone walked right into her.
They both hit the cold ground with a thud.
Luz looked over to see a familiar green-haired witch and realized the person she bumped into was none other than Amity Blight herself, "Heeeyy Amity," Luz said as she picked up the girl's things.
Blight's eyes looked over the messy girl holding her stack of books and papers with disgust. She carefully took her stuff from Luz's hand, extra careful not to touch the dirt, "Luz," She infused the name with annoyance.
You could say they had a bit of a rivalry.
"So, did you just have a class with Lilith?" Luz asked. She really didn't have time for this, and she knew it, but she didn't want to crash into Amity and runoff. That would be rude.
"Yes, it just finished, and did you just get done rolling around in the dirt?" She asked as she brushed some dirt off one of her books.
A flush of embarrassment went across Luz's face, "Well, me and the Golden Guard were actually sparing in the courtyard,"
" Did you lose?" Amity asked with an eyebrow raised. The worst part about it was the confidence in her voice. It's things like that that made Luz despise Amity.
"How do you know I lost?" Luz asked.
"Winners aren't typically covered in dirt and bruises," With that final statement, and a very dramatic flip of her hair, she walked off. She didn't even leave time for Luz to rebuttal.
No matter, Luz had places to be anyway. She decided that Amity was, somewhat, right; in the fact that Luz shouldn't walk up to Belos covered in dirt. She swirled her staff around, and magically an illusion spell covered her body. It adjusted her short curly hair, and it made her blue jumper look pristine and fresh.
She admired her handy work before she began to run towards Belos' chamber once again, and this time made it without a hitch. She braced herself before opening the doors.
They sounded heavy as they slowly creaked open. The Emperor's room always smelled like they were trying to hide the scent of decay. Which, to be fair, they were. But when you have a dead titans heart in your throne room, there's not much you can do about the smell.
"Hello, Luz," Belos' voice rang through the throne room, and its sound reminded Luz of someone talking in an empty cathedral, "I have some good news for you."
Luz gave a smile, "What is it?" She asked out of nicety, but she knew what he was going to say. She had heard someone from the emperor's coven discussing it in the hallways yesterday.
"We found the witch who stole the portal; now it's just a matter of obtaining it," He began to walk towards Luz and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "After ten years, you can finally go back home."
Luz had to bite back a squeal as Belos told her the news. She could finally see her Mom, she could go to human school, and maybe she could finally see a giraffe! There were so many things rushing through her head, but she had to stay calm because Belos was no doubt about to send her on a mission to retrieve the portal. So she straightened herself up and was prepared to be sent on her first task. She waited for him to say the word, but then...
"I'm sending Lilith to retrieve the portal, so, hopefully, we will have it in a few day's time."
Luz had to make sure she heard him correctly. Why was he sending Lilith? She's been training for this her whole life for this moment, and, if she's being honest, she didn't think Lilith was the type to get her hands dirty on a task like this.
Before she could think about it, the words were shooting out of her mouth, "What do you mean you're sending Lilith?"
The words echoed in the quiet throne room. She covered her mouth, but it was too late. Belos turned his full attention towards her, his mask giving Luz a cold dead stare. Luz felt her shoulders tense as she realized she not only spoke out of turn but questioned his decisions as well.
But Belos didn't get mad like she thought he would. His voice turned strangely warm, and he placed his cold metallic hand on her cheek, "Oh Luz, I know you want to go out there and find this portal, but I have my reasons for sending Lilith on this mission. She needs to prove herself to me. And besides, you know that I am only doing what's best for you, right?"
"Yes, Belos," Luz said as he pulled his hand away.
"Then it's settled," Belos' voice evened out again, morphing right back into his stern and decisive tone, "I will call you back when we have more information, but until then you are dismissed."
He waved her away, and that was it. Luz walked out of the room and heard the heavy doors close behind her.
She didn't know why but she always felt empty when she talked to Belos about going back. There was this tugging on her heart she could never get to go away.
Only one thing sorta-cured this emptiness was reading about the human world. She couldn't count how many times she had snuck into the library as a child, staying up late to read just one more page about humans.
She made her way to the palace library, which took up almost the whole upper west wing. It was filled with dust-covered books, some she was convinced had never been read. It had towering shelves that smelled of worn leather and crisp pages.
As she made her way to the human section of the library she saw Hunter from the corner of her eye. He seemed to be buried in a book about wild magic, and she noticed he was mumbling something to himself. He was so focused on his reading that he didn't even see Luz.
Perfect.
Luz crept towards him, trying to keep as quiet as possible. She ducked behind a row of shelves that stood only a few feet away from him. She took a few moments before leaping out from behind the books, "Caught you red-handed!"
"Aggghhh!" Hunter yelled as he almost fell out of his seat. He took a moment to realize it was Luz, "Titan, Luz, you can't scare me like that."
"I can, and I did," Luz chuckled. She could see the title of the book he was reading now, 'The Full Effects of Wild Magic.' She looked at Hunter, who looked down at the book then back at her. There was a tight silence because they both knew the question that lingered in the air.
Luz finally broke the silence, "Why are you reading about wild magic?"
She and Hunter both heard the stories of wild magic gone wrong. She even heard rumors of witches who went crazy because of it. Plus, the practice was outdated anyway, and they had no use for it now. So you could say she found it a little suspicious that Hunter took such an... interest in it.
"I just," He paused and looked at Luz for a moment. He seemed to be debating whether he could trust her or not. He finally made a decision, " Belos doesn't want me too but I want to see if I can help him. Wild magic hurt him so maybe... it can cure him as well."
He looked to Luz hoping she would understand. She had to because if she didn't she might rat him out to Belos, and he wasn't looking forward to that conversation.
After a few seconds of silence, he seemed to regret his decision, "Please don't tell Belos; if he found out, he would get super mad."
"Hunter..." She looked dead into his eyes; her face was serious, "This. Sounds. So. Cool!"
She plopped herself down into the chair next to him, "I mean, I was worried you were becoming some anti-coven witch, but this sounds great! You have to let me help."
Hunter gave her a quizzical look, "You really want to help?"
"Yea," Luz said, picking up one of the books from the small pile next to him, " Why not? Belos has helped me for so long, I feel like I should pay him back. Ya know."
"I know what you mean," Hunter said as he returned to his book. Luz also decided she should crack open the book she was reading. They remained like that for a few minutes before Hunter suddenly looked up.
"Why were you in the library anyway?"
Luz thought for a moment and decided not to tell Hunter about why she came here. It was embarrassing to her because she felt a bit stupid finding comfort in a bunch of old books and scientific papers, "Oh no reason,"
"So I tell you everything, but you get to be all secretive?"
"Hunter, for once, you are correct," Luz chuckled before returning to her book. Hunter really didn't need to know why Luz came to the library because he would never understand. Also, it didn't matter why Luz came anyway; because that emptiness began to fade away as she and Hunter sat together in comfortable silence.