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Caw. Caw.
Amity groaned and threw a pillow in the vague direction of the crow messenger. If someone was calling this late at night, it had to be a spam caller that had somehow gotten her number. No reason to get up to answer.
It stopped ringing, and she was blessed with about five seconds of peaceful silence until it started cawing again.
She just wanted to go back to sleep, dammit.
So she laid there with another pillow over her head to muffle the sound as best she could. It went away again, and she hoped it was over—spam callers usually didn’t call more than twice—until her crystal ball started ringing instead.
The crows were relatively cheap and easy to replace. But this model of crystal ball was not and her mother would have her head if she broke it.
Sleepy and upset, Amity threw her blankets off and shuffled over to block the number. Her finger hovered over the “end call” button as her half asleep mind suddenly registered what the caller I.D. was.
Now snapped awake, she accepted the call and clutched the magic device in her hands as it connected. Something had to be wrong—her girlfriend hated disturbing her late at night. Or ever, really, but they were working on that.
But it wasn’t Luz who popped up, it was a frazzled looking Eda.
“Ah, Boots, you finally picked up. Sorry for calling so late at night-“
Amity glanced at the time up in the corner. It was sometime after one in the morning.
“-but something happened and we could really use you over here. Do you think you’d be able to sneak out?”
The Blight was already up and moving to grab a jacket. “I have a few invisibility glyphs, I should manage to get out past the Abomatons just fine with them. But is Luz okay?” she asked, worried. “She is why you called, right?”
Eda winced. “Physically, she’s fine but… You’re the person she needs right now. I’ll fill you in once you get here.”
———
The cold early fall air nipped at her exposed skin as she made a hasty landing just in front of the Owl House. She stumbled a bit as her feet hit the ground, but managed to stay upright and sprinted toward the door.
Or in this case, Hooty. He didn’t even try to speak to the girl, worry all over his weird bird face as he silently swung the door open to the house.
It was a mess. Books, papers, and various magical items laid strewn about. The coffee table that was usually placed in front of the couch was shoved aside, leaving the living room one big open space. Eda, who had been sitting on the couch amid the mess, perked up as she saw Amity enter. She stood up, smoothing out her dress.
The woman was shorter without her massive heels on, but she still towered over the girl. Four months ago, she probably would’ve been intimidated. She still was, but only because she knew Eda was capable of going Harpy Mode and claw her throat out in a split second if she wanted.
“You got here faster than I expected. Did you ride over the legal speed limit?”
Amity looked away. “Maybe. Where’s Luz?”
Eda snorted, but her brief amusement over the former ‘prissy little blue blood’ turning into a rebel didn’t last long. “She’s up in her room. There was, uh, an unexpected adventure earlier where she ended up with the Golden Guard somewhere they weren't supposed to be.”
She wrinkled her nose at the mention of him. She still wasn’t over his betrayal at Eclipse Lake, and she still didn’t like that he befriended some of her friends. Her eyes narrowed. “Go on,” she said.
“And, well, they ended up in the Emperor’s mind. From the way they both reacted when we got them out…” she trailed off, looking out into the forest.
Amity blinked a few times, unsure if she heard that right. “Wait, like what you did when I, uh, burnt Willow’s memories?” she squeaked out the last part. “But how did they get in Belos’ mind?”
The older woman nodded solemnly. ”Seems like they ended up interrupting someone else’s spell circle while we were in the night market, and Luz says they got transported when Hunter stepped on a vial.”
She furrowed her brow. At the night market? Who would want to invade the emperor’s mind, and in such a crowded area? Even if the market was always teeming with criminals and covenless witches, there weren’t many that wouldn’t blindly follow Belos to the point they’d do something so drastic.
And there was the fact her girlfriend was trapped in his mind. Willow’s was already scary enough, and that was just a fourteen year old’s mind. Belos was…
Amity didn't know how old he was, exactly. Well over fifty, at the very least, given how long he’d been in power. He looked pretty rough in his projection at the parade. She couldn’t even imagine how terrifying his mindscape might’ve been, given his past.
“We don’t know who it was,” Eda continued. “Luz says there were three cloaked figures and one was small, and I have my suspicions, but…”
“What…what happened in there?” She clenched her first around her staff. There was no doubt she had run into the inner Belos. Which means Belos was aware she (and Hunter) were in there. Which was the opposite of good.
It took a moment for a reply. “She couldn’t get the words out and looked like she was about to cry, so I diverted and asked how she got there. Got that outta her, then she just couldn’t speak anymore. Blondie ran off while freaking out right after he got out, saying something about ‘I can’t go back’,” she said, idly nudging a white cloak haphazardly strewn on the ground with her foot. “She won’t talk to King and I–or Hooty, for that matter–at the moment. I get that she needs time to process whatever she saw, but she still has the dumb idea in her mind that her problems aren’t worth sharing with other people. I know she hasn’t been communicating with you very well either, but you’re our best shot. If anyone is able to comfort her, it’s you.”
The witch blushed slightly and straightened herself up. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said as she made her way to the stairs.
King was curled up outside of her door. Amity gently picked him up after propping Ghost against the wall—the floor couldn’t be comfortable. He didn’t wake up, but made a soft noise and curled into her arms, his horns narrowly missing her eyes.
Note to self: be very careful when handling King.
He was basically a bigger version of Ghost, just with horns instead of ears. They weren’t that sharp actually: bumping against one would give a bruise, not a cut. The tips were about as dull as a ballpoint pen was.
She brought him back down to Eda, who was momentarily surprised to see Amity again so soon. Her gaze softened as she spotted the sleeping demon in the girl’s arms, and she outstretched hers to take him.
“By the way,” she said lowly, putting King down into her lap, “we had to use the rest of the titan blood to get Luz outta there. She knows that already, but just so you know too.”
Amity pressed her lips together and nodded. So she was basically back to square one now, except now she doesn’t have the portal key. Square zero, then?
A couple of the stairs creaked as she went back up, placing herself in front of Luz’s shut door. She craned her neck, trying to pick up on any sound, but there was nothing. No crying, at least. Was she asleep?
Preemptively sitting on the floor, she leaned against the door and gently knocked twice.
“Go away, King. I still don’t feel like talking.”
The human’s voice was rough and scratchy and clearly the result of crying for a considerable amount of time. Biting her lip, the witch leaned her head against the back off the door with a soft thunk . “It’s not King,” she replied gently.
A split second of silence, and then, “Amity? What are you doing here?”
“Eda called, told me something happened and that you might need me.”
No response, so she continued.
“She really didn’t tell me anything past where you were and how you ended up there. You don’t have to talk about it yet if you aren’t ready, but…” She sighed, picking at the splintering floorboards. This whole house was a bit of a safety hazard. “Will you let me in?”
Amity waited with bated breath. She didn’t know if Luz would actually let her in or not. Her girlfriend still struggled with sharing things that were anything but positive, but after gentle nudging (or after Amity ran off while upset) she would spill. This might be a little more severe to the point where gently prodding wouldn’t cut it. But on the other hand Luz absolutely loved physical affection. There was little she wouldn’t do to get a hug or to be cuddled for a bit, and especially from her girlfriend.
There was shuffling in the room, and then a gentle click as the knob was turned. Amity immediately caught herself before she went tumbling back, shifting up into her feet.
She let herself in, finding Luz already back to where she had presumably been before. The girl was wrapped up in a blanket, sat upright with her knees to her chest. After quietly shutting the door, Amity took a few steps closer, stopping a couple feet away.
“Can I sit here?”
A small nod gave her permission, so she sat where she stood.
“...You're too far away.”
The witch blinked, head snapping over in the direction the voice came from. Did she hear that correctly?
She took too long trying to process it, apparently, as Luz tore the blanket off of her head and looked at Amity with a somewhat indignant look on her face. “You sat too far away from me,” she repeated, pouting.
Amity had to bite back a smile at the way her lower lip jutted out and instead scooted closer until there were just a few inches remaining. Luz, satisfied, sighed and leaned her head against her shoulder. It was warm, and a few stray strands of hair tickled the side of her cheek.
“Are you doing okay?” Amity asked after a little while of silence. She expected her girlfriend to just outright say no, because clearly she was not okay, but what she didn’t expect was the soft crying that started immediately after.
Luz pulled away to wipe at her eyes, opening her mouth to say something, only for a choked sob to escape. Her hand went to cover her mouth, as if trying to muffle the noise.
But Amity wasn’t having it. Shifting position again, she reached over to wrap her arms around the human, pulling her in close. There was a faint, barely audible gasp between the muffled cries at the sudden action. “You’re allowed to cry in front of me,” she murmured, holding her firm. Firm enough so Luz knew she wouldn’t let go, but not so hard as to be uncomfortably tight. “I know you try to put on a happy mask in front of me, but you don’t need to. Being here is a lot and basically nothing has gone to plan, but I’m still here for you nonetheless. Don’t hide parts of yourself away just because they don’t fit into this happy front you always put up.”
She was a little afraid her words fell short of where they needed to be—after all, comfort absolutely wasn’t her forte. Like, at all. Judging from the way she felt the other girl move to throw her arms around her torso, clutch her pajama top, and try to pull their already flush bodies even closer together, they reached more than far enough. Her hand no longer restricting any sounds, her cries were free to escape as she burrowed her face into Amity’s neck.
This was the first time she’d actually seen her girlfriend legitimately cry. The closest time had been at the second library incident, when words were said and feelings were hurt and Luz had messed up, bad. Those were just tears and a few sniffs and a heart wrenching forced smile, and she’d definitely forced herself to keep from breaking down back then. These were full on sobs, her whole body shuddering. Although it was absolutely much needed, the sound still made Amity’s heart rip in two.
All she could do as the girl cried it out was continue to hold her tight as one of her hands rubbed slow circles into her back. Almost as if saying ‘I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.’
Amity was very sleepy during all this. After all, Eda had woken her in the middle of the night and it was probably around two right now. But the cries kept her awake, and her girlfriend needed this more than she needed sleep.
Eventually the sobs began to subside, slowing down with hiccups every now and then. Luz still clung to her shirt, but her previously tense body had relaxed. “Amity,” she started, taking short but deep breaths to control her heavy breathing, “I-I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?” Amity murmured back. “Was it because of something you saw in Belos’ mind?”
The human whimpered and nuzzled into the crook of her neck, as if hiding. And then, she said words that the witch would have never expected to hear in any wild theory she could have ever come up with: “Belos is Philip Wittebane.”
Her hand faltered as her eyes widened in complete and utter shock. “What?” she gasped.
“H-He played memories of when Lilith and I found him through one of the time pools. And then his inner self kept switching to his form, as if he was mocking me. And he was mocking me!” she exclaimed, voice rising with every word. Then it fell back down, dangerously close to tears again. “And I taught him the light glyph. I’m part of the reason he ended up as powerful as he is.”
Amity kicked away her shock in order to deal with the way Luz was berating herself. “You said he already knew the other three, right? Then wouldn’t he have found the light one eventually? For all you know, he could’ve ended up finding it that very same day.”
It was quiet for a short while. “Even if that’s true, he still ended up finding the, the round disc the Collector was in because we were there to distract the stonesleeper!” Her voice was becoming panicked and her breathing was shallow and uneven.
The beginning of a panic attack, something Amity knew all too well. She pushed herself away from Luz, hands now gripping her shoulders an arms length away. “Luz,” she said firmly, staring into her red and puffy eyes, “none of this is your fault.”
“But-“
“No buts! Repeat after me: none of this is my fault.”
Luz stared back, blinking slowly. “None of this is my fault,” she parroted, voice meek.
“Again, but say it like you mean it.”
“None of this is my fault,” she repeated, the words this time said more confidently.
Amity smiled. “And none of it is your fault. Philip- er, Belos, I guess, would have found another way to get… what’d you call it, the Collector?”
“You’re right,” she admitted. “He definitely would’ve managed without me.”
Reaching over, the other girl began to wipe some of her tears away. Or tried to, as all it did was just spread the wetness around her cheek. Titan, she had cried a lot. The human giggled weakly and pointed to a tissue box that the witch hadn’t noticed in the darkness of the room. Only the fairy lights and the jar of lightning bugs (the human world had them too, but they were more commonly called ‘fireflies’ and didn’t generate electricity. Or fire.) emanated any light, outside of the moon through the window.
The tissues were much more effective at clearing away her tears. Luz sat there patiently as Amity gently dabbed at her face, extra gentle around her eyes. A hand gently cupped either cheek as she worked, the warm skin on skin contact just what she needed to ground her.
Amity finished by placing a tissue in her hand, for her to blow her nose. As Luz did, her girlfriend sat back on her knees. Her eyes scanned the room, having now fully adjusted to the dark. “Do you want some water?” she asked.
Nodding, Luz tossed the used tissue in the vague direction of the trashcan. But as the other began to stand up, a hand grabbed the hem of her top. She halted and looked at her curiously.
“I…” Truth be told, Luz wasn’t sure why she’d stopped her. She wanted water, yes, but… “I don’t want you to leave,” she whispered bashfully. “Please.”
Crouching back down, Amity placed a hand over the one making a fist in her lap. “I’ll be right back, I promise. You’ll feel better once you drink something and it’ll just take a minute or two, okay?”
With a gulp she nodded. The witch smiled, leaning in to gingerly place a kiss on her cheek before standing back up and leaving. She left the door open, scurrying down the hall and down the stairs.
Eda was still up, and King had since awoken from his nap. “Did she talk to you?” she inquired, pausing from cleaning the living area.
Amity nodded, walking right past them to the kitchen. “She’s starting to. She’s only said one thing so far, and…” she trailed off, pausing in the doorway. The weight and the implications had just hit her, as she’d been more concerned about Luz than anything in the moment.
“What was it?” King asked as he yawned from behind her.
“I-“ the girl bit her tongue, unsure if she was allowed to share. They’d find out eventually though, right? This was pretty important information. “The only thing she’s told me so far was,” she swallowed and turned around, “that Belos is Philip Wittebane.”
Eda’s mouth fell open and King sprung up from the couch. “He’s what?” they both exclaimed simultaneously, breathlessly. The older witch covered her hand with her mouth, brow furrowing as she thought.
“But Philip is from the seventeenth century, so that would make him well over three hundred years old. And humans and witches have about the same lifespan, so how-“ her head snapped up. “The palismen!”
Luz had told Amity what she’d seen Belos do during that field trip she had missed: cracked a palisman open in half and drank the magic inside. That could explain it.
King crawled down to hide behind Eda’s leg. “Does that mean Belos knew Luz was the one he met when she went back in time?”
The teenager nodded, turning back around to get that water she had promised. If she took any longer, she’d start to get worried and the last thing she wanted was for her to be sent into another panic.
Eda snapped out of her thoughts and followed Amity in. She nabbed an empty glass out of a cabinet and set it on the counter as she rummaged through another one. “Just in case she’s also hungry,” she explained as she produced a bag of Hex Mix. “The kid usually has a late night snack and, well, she didn’t have one tonight.”
After thanking her the young witch grabbed the bag and the full glass of water and went back upstairs. Luz was immediately relieved when she saw Amity enter again, and it looked like she had to stop herself from throwing herself at her.
Shutting the door once more—a bit of a struggle with her hand half full of the snack mix—she knelt down in front of her girlfriend and offered the water. It was accepted and half downed within seconds.
“Thank you,” she mumbled, wiping her mouth with the edge of her sleeve. “And, um, if you want to wear something dry, I have a shirt you can change into.”
Amity looked down at what she was wearing. Why would she- oh. Apparently she had been too preoccupied to notice that the entire left side of her shirt was soaked. And frankly, she was surprised Eda hadn’t pointed it out. Now that she was aware of it, the dampness and the way the material clung to her body in spots was beyond uncomfortable.
“That, that would be nice, thank you.” The fresh garment was slid over and Luz immediately buried her face in her blanket to give a bit of privacy. It was a rainbow tie dye t-shirt, slightly oversized. Was this one of Luz’s? Amity was, admittedly, a little excited at the prospect of wearing her girlfriend’s clothing.
She quickly slipped out of her current top, drying herself off with the dry half, and then slipped into the new one. “I’m done,” she said softly. The human shyly peeped out of the blanket, further lowering it as she took in the sight.
“You look… good in my clothes,” she murmured. Then, a second later, her face lit up and she began to backtrack. “Wait, no, that came out creepy! I-I just-“
Amity giggled. “I was hoping this was one of yours and not just one from Eda’s leftover human stash,” the girl said, her voice containing a bit of an amused lilt. “One day I’ll return the favor, but I dunno if anything I own is your style.”
“Well, uh, you wouldn't happen to still have your old grudgby jacket, would you? Eda’s is nice, but it’s kinda… old.”
She stared at her, face also turning red. Imagining her girlfriend proudly wearing her old team captain jacket with her first initial embroidered into the front? Sweet Titan, she wouldn’t survive actually getting to see that in person. “Yeah, it’s in my room somewhere,” she squeaked out.
Way to play to cool, Amity.
Luz smiled, and then sighed. “I’m ready to tell you everything else now.”
“Hold on just a second.” The witch shuffled forward onto the sleeping mat, sitting on her knees. She patted her lap, signaling for it to be used as a pillow. The human blushed but did just that. “Now you can start.”
Inhaling, Luz took a deep breath before she started. “I don’t even know where to start, there’s so much I haven’t told you yet.”
She hummed. “How about starting with the Collector? Who are they?”
“He- I don’t know what he is, exactly. He’s not a demon or a witch, I think he’s something else entirely. I saw him, in one of the memories, and he was some sort of weird… shadow thing, completely two dimensional. He’s the reason Belos has the coven system and the reason the Day of Unity is going to happen soon. And I don’t know what exactly the Day of Unity is going to entail, but I do know that it involves a draining spell. The coven sigils,” she taps her wrist, “are used to control an individual’s magic and Belos is definitely planning on using them for it.”
“Which is why he’s so set on having as many wild witches as possible join covens,” Amity finished. “If they don’t have sigils, they’re one more person he won’t have control over. Is that why he doesn’t care about Eda anymore? Since she doesn’t have any magic left?”
Luz nodded from in her lap. Amity stared down at her and her hands suddenly felt very useless, so she placed one atop her head, and the other hand over her arm, where her partner took hold of it.
“This whole time, these hundreds of years he’s been alive, Belos has been a witch hunter.”
At those words the witch felt her blood run cold.
“He’s from where I’m from, and at the time he lived there witch trials were rampant for decades—I remember learning about them in school. After coming here, after finding out that witches were real, he must have thought that it was a sign to wipe you all out.” She laughed bitterly. “The last actual witch trials in my country were over a hundred years ago! He doesn’t realize how outdated his views actually are.”
“But,” Amity found her voice was shaky. She was scared too, terrified even, even if her reasons were slightly different than Luz’s. To calm herself, she began to stroke her hair with a trembling hand. Hopefully it wasn’t noticeable. “But why has it taken him so long?”
“I don’t really know. Part of it was he had to come to power so he had control over everyone, and I guess the Day of Unity had to be at a very specific time?” Turning in her lap, she made eye contact with the gold-eyed girl above. “He’s been lying about the Titan for years . The Titan is dead, has been this whole time! He claims he can speak to it, but it’s just been the Collector telling him to ‘paint the land in nine bright hues, then we’ll play forever, me and you’!” she nearly shouted, voice going up in what Amity could only assume was reciting what she’d heard it say.
Amity took a deep, shaky breath and began to brush Luz’s bangs away from her forehead. She couldn’t hold the eye contact for very long, opting to focus on trying to tame flyaway hairs. In her peripheral vision she could still see the human gaze up at her, studying her face, and then she let her eyes flutter shut.
“Do you know what a grimwalker is, Amity?”
“Huh?” She stilled her movements. “They’re artificial, magicless beings that can be made to take the appearance of a witch or demon. Some of the parts to make them don’t exist anymore, though, so they’re basically just a myth. Why?”
“Hunter…” Luz opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling. “Hunter is one of those. A grimwalker. All the past Golden Guards, however many dozens there’ve been, have been grimwalkers. Belos makes them as servants, and then he,” she gulped, voice wavering, “he destroys them when they ‘betray him’. He murders them in cold blood. Over and over and over again. It’s not wild magic that destroyed Hunter’s family, it was Belos’ own hand.”
Suddenly, Amity didn’t hate Hunter as much. She was still upset over the things he’d done, but the only life he ever knew was under Belos’ control. He never got much of a chance to experience what it could be like outside of it, and as soon as he got a taste… “And Hunter knows the truth now, so Belos is going to kill him, isn’t he?”
Her girlfriend nodded grimly. “He already tried. Dragged him down under the ground in his mind, and he only escaped because my jacket went down with him. I had glyphs in the pockets, and then he used them to save me when Belos tried to kill me shortly after. He only told me who he really was with the plan to get rid of me before I ever left his mind. I,” she squeezed her hand, “I think he’s going to be after me from now on. The Day of Unity is so close, he can’t afford to mess it up.”
“Dear Titan,” Amity murmured to herself, “this is a lot.”
Luz laughed. “It is, and that isn’t even all. I also found out Belos rebuilt the portal I blew up. He has the key, which means he can open it whenever he pleases. I do have a way back, now that my own titan blood is all gone, but I have a feeling he needs the portal for the Day of Unity. Even if I managed to sneak in beforehand… I wouldn’t be safe there for long.”
She yawned, tongue curling back like Ghost’s did, and suddenly Amity was aware of how utterly tired she looked. Smiling softly, she began petting her hair again. “You can sleep, if you want to. I’m not going anywhere.”
Yawning a second time, her girlfriend smiled sleepily. “G’night, Amity,” she mumbled, words slurring slightly, “thank you for lisnin’ to me. We can talk more 'bout this in the mornin’.”
And then she was asleep.
Eda knocked on the door sometime after, peeping in. King was there too, perched atop her head. “Did she-” Upon seeing her apprentice fast asleep in the younger witch’s lap, her eyes softened and her voice lowered. “Aw, how sweet. Did she tell you anything, Boots?”
Amity nodded. “I think just about everything. I can give you a quick rehash, if you’re okay with no questions because I don’t wanna wake her up. She needs to sleep,” she said, looking down and brushing her hair back again.
The older witch chuckled and atop her head, King muttered something about hashbrowns. “Fair enough. Now shoot.”
She took a deep breath, needing the extra oxygen to get the words out as fast as possible. “The Titan was never alive and the person Belos was talking to this whole time was the Collector, who is behind the Day of Unity. Coven sigils are used to control people and we think they can drain magic, and the Day of Unity is going to be powered by a massive draining spell, maybe? Hunter is a grimwalker and he isn’t the first one Belos has made, he kills them and then makes a new one whenever they betray him. Also Belos is a witch hunter, Luz said he was from a time where witch hunts were a thing in the human realm, and he’s rebuilt the portal and we also think he’s going to use it for the Day of Unity. And then she fell asleep.” Then, after some consideration, she added, “oh, and he tried to kill both of them in his mind which is the only reason why they know Hunter is a grimwalker and Luz knows Belos is Philip.”
King was the first to speak. “Well, that ain’t good.”
“It… It definitely isn’t. Christ, I’m gonna have to sign the kid up for therapy. I probably should’ve done that months ago, actually. We can deal with this in the morning because you two need sleep and I need time to process the word vomit you just threw at me. Want me to let your brother know you’re spending the night here so he can cover for you?”
She nodded, again, with a thank you. The two left with Eda mumbling something under her breath, and Amity stifled a yawn. Sleep was catching up to her, and although sleeping upright like this wouldn’t be the most comfortable, there was no way in hell she was going to disturb her incredible girlfriend’s slumber. She needed to be comfortable more than she did.
Until she blinked awake maybe an hour later, pins and needles shooting through her legs. Great, her limbs had fallen asleep, not her whole body. She shifted slightly, making sure Luz didn’t stir, but the sudden shooting pain of said pins and needles made her squeak and jerk rather hard to one side. Thus jostling the girl she was trying to leave undisturbed.
One of the two actions, or perhaps both, woke the human up. She blinked blearily for a moment, rubbing her eyes. “You okay?”
“Sorry, my legs just fell asleep. I’ll be fine.” She tried to push her head back down, but Luz just sat up.
“Nuh uh,” she stated, awfully firm for being half asleep. Shuffling around, she unzipped her sleeping bag, spread it out, and then patted the empty side beside her. “Come lie down next to me. I loved your lap, but it’s going to make my neck sore.”
Blushing, Amity was too tired to protest. She crawled over, enveloped in warmth as soon as the blanket was dropped on top of them. This was much nicer than her previous position. Her eyes fluttered shut, but snapped back open when a soft hand grazed her cheek.
“You doing okay?”
Huh?
“I-I’m fine, why are you asking? Last I checked, you were the one that experienced a horrifying nightmare earlier.”
“Because,” the hand cupped her cheek, “your world is going to forever change too. You just found out the man in charge is a liar and a witch hunter, and you’re a witch. That can’t be easy to digest.”
Amity stuttered. She was right; it was hard to digest. But she came here to comfort Luz, not to be comforted herself. The human apparently knew what she was thinking, because she pressed their foreheads together.
“You have every right to be scared too,” she whispered, “didn’t you tell me earlier not to hide my emotions from you? The same applies to you too, sweet potato.”
Her cheeks reddened, both at the nickname and having her own words thrown at her. How hypocritical of herself. With an exhale, she put a hand over Luz’s. “I’m absolutely terrified. I don’t like that we still don’t know what the Day of Unity is going to entail, I’m mad that Belos tried to kill you, again, and I don’t like that we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Trust me, I don’t either. But,” she yawned, “let’s worry about that later. I wanna catch me some more z’s.” After a second, she spoke with a request. “Can we, uh, cuddle, maybe?” Her voice came out tentative and hopeful.
The witch made a noise most similar to a verbal keysmash. She couldn’t even begin to count all the times she had wished for, had daydreamed about getting to straight up cuddle the adorable human she was dating. The closest they’d really ever gotten was nuzzling up against one another or having an arm thrown around a pair of shoulders, which was becoming increasingly more common over time. Never when they were lying down, inches apart, sharing a (makeshift) bed. Hell, they hadn’t really ever cuddled while sitting on the couch, either.
But that much contact was still too little, sometimes. Amity hadn’t realized until they began dating just how touch starved she was. Luz’s warmth and softness brought a sense of security and always made her heart flutter and sent a pleasant tingle throughout her body that she could never get enough of.
“Yes,” she ended up blurting out, “absolutely.” She wasn’t even embarrassed over her enthusiasm, because she saw Luz’s face light up immediately.
“Do you, um, think you can lie on top of me?”
“...On top?” Amity questioned. That wasn’t quite what she was imagining.
She met her eyes, a little sheepish. “Back home, whenever I was stressed I would use a weighted blanket, and I don’t have one here. You’re warm and you’re heavier than my normal blanket and today has been real stressful,” she laughed awkwardly.
Surprisingly, Amity knew exactly what she meant. In the colder months, when the weather would permit it, she would stack as many blankets as possible on top of herself to create a nice, warm, heavy covering. Like the inside of what Luz had described as a “hot pocket” once. Whatever that was.
Without another word she pressed a brief kiss to the side of her cheek, using the few seconds her girlfriend would be stunned to shuffle underneath the blanket. Outside of being incredibly embarrassing and awfully intimate because, you know, she was lying directly on top of the girl she was dating , it felt rather pleasant. And if she thought about it, they were basically just hugging horizontally. Gravity was just aiding in the different distribution of weight.
One of these days she wanted to reverse their roles and see how it would feel. But preferably on a real bed or at the very least a couch.
“Is this good?” she whispered.
Luz nodded, eyes half lidded with sleep. She brought one arm over the witch’s upper back and the other hand to gently stroke her cheek. “You’re beautiful, have I ever told you that?”
Amity’s breath hitched as the hand ran up along her cheekbone, stopping by her ear. Luz stared into her eyes, soft and loving and the other girl for the life of her couldn’t break away. That is, until the human lifted her head enough for an equally soft, lingering kiss on her forehead.
This time a noise escaped and she couldn't prop herself up anymore. She collapsed against Luz’s chest, hearing her heartbeat almost directly against her ear as Luz giggled from above.
Huh. Human hearts sounded a little…different. And they’re further to the left than witch and demon hearts are. She was probably one of the few, if not the only witch on the isles who knew what a human one sounded like. The thought made the ear that wasn’t pinned down twitch slightly.
“Thank you for coming here and listening to me,” Luz said after a moment. The hand that has been on her cheek and crept down to tangle in her hair, near the base of her scalp, where she’d opted to dye her hair back to its natural brown a while back. “You really didn’t have to.”
“But I did,” Amity replied, able to find a clear spot in the fuzziness of her thoughts from being in such close proximity to her. “Eda said something was wrong, so of course I was going to come to help. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t?”
“Still an awesome one.”
She smiled. “Thank you, but I’m always willing to come help whenever you need it and for anything. Okay?”
“...Okay.” The confirmation was a little reluctant. “It might be a little—okay, a lot more frequent now, because of certain… events transpiring.”
Unable to reach her face, Amity tugged at the hand on the side of her back until she had a hold of it and kissed the backside. She would have kissed her face, but her position was quite comfy and her eyelids were beginning to become rather heavy. But, before she fell asleep, she had a little more she needed to say.
“And that’s okay. Like I said, I’m okay with taking things one day at a time. One problem at a time, too.” Stifling a yawn, she nuzzled a little further into her chest, the top of her head just barely grazing the underside of her chin. “Goodnight, batata,” she murmured, feeling the human, her human, intertwine their fingers together. The arm the hand was attached to was still over her back and held her close to her body, snug and secure.
“Goodnight, Ames,” Amity last heard before drifting off to sleep.