Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Oneshot 1: My Name is Jeff

Luz hummed a tune as she and Amity walked down the cobblestone road. It was a peppy bop, and Amity wondered what it was. When asked, though, Luz just said she was still standing, which was an odd thing to point out, yet completely in line for the human. Oddly wonderful, actually no, odd yet wonderful. It made the atmosphere less suffocating, though at the same time unbearable. 

The light orb in the lantern Luz held couldn’t cut through the dense wall of fog surrounding them. It had rained earlier in the day, preventing their travel. Well, it prevented Amity’s travel, anyways. Luz’s body proved to be as indomitable as her spirit as the boiling rain had no effect on her. Her clothes were a different matter. So, after waiting the rain out and hanging the purple coat to dry, the two girls found themselves leaving in the late evening. 

‘Of course it had to be at night!’ Amity remained silent as she fumed. She wasn’t angry at Luz, how could she be? A messenger approached the human after school and told her that she was urgently needed to hunt a monster. Luz accepted immediately, not minding the pay. ‘Nor was she minding cancelling our plans…’ Of course it was one of the few free weekends the duo got. They’d planned to hangout with Willow and Gus at the market for a bit before heading to the theater to watch the latest productions. Amity had grand plans for this weekend that were going to be ruined by some horrifying monster hunt. 

Again, she wasn’t angry at Luz. Not specifically, at least. She was angry at a village of witches that couldn’t handle this problem themselves, the Emperor’s Coven for being so incompetent this village had to resort to what was essentially a mercenary. She was angry at her sock still being soaked from stepping into a puddle hours ago after their carriage broke down. 

The carriage company would have hell to pay had Luz not convinced Amity to calm down. ‘How does the entire carriage fall apart!? Was it built using glue and knots!?’ They would still be hearing from the Blights, but they wouldn’t be destroyed thanks to Luz. 

Amity jumped at the sound of a stick getting broken in the distance. Luz paused her humming for a second, stopping in place. She didn’t reach for her sword, so Amity relaxed a little. Luz started humming and walking a few seconds later, with Amity following close behind. “It didn’t want to hurt us.” Amity nodded, feeling more assured. 

The atmosphere was spooky, and every noise was a possible threat in Amity’s mind. You learned to be wary of any possible threats while traveling anywhere, especially in the wilderness. Luckily, Luz was there. Aside from her cheery personality that calmed the witch, the human was the child of Sparda. Dangersense, strength greater than multiple construction coven glyphs, speed and agility that rivaled the fastest palisman, and the endurance to survive and ability to heal from any attack. Luz was far more threatening than any Isles wildlife, so Amity felt safe. 

Though she’d be lying if she said she wouldn’t feel safer if she were travelling in the morning without the fog barring visibility past a few feet. “Luz, maybe we should stop for the night?” Amity rubbed her arms as a shiver ran through her body, “We could get to the village in the morning and investigate then.” 

Luz turned to look at the witch while walking backwards, “We’re almost there, though!” She readjusted the straps of her hiking backpack, “Plus, if we stop now, we won’t be able to get breakfast in the morning! Eda told me about this place that makes some amazing pancakes, and you know she doesn’t sugarcoat praise for a restaurant!” 

“But we also need to be rested for the investigation,” Amity reasoned. “How much further?” 

Luz pulled out a wrinkled slip of paper and squinted at it. “Well… it’s a little damp… but I think we have a turn up ahead that leads to the village.” 

“Alright, but how much further?” 

Luz smiled optimistically, “Only a hundred feet after the turn!” Amity sighed and trudged forward. After a bit, and the turn Luz talked about, the human cleared her throat, “Hey, I know you don’t really want to do this-” 

Amity shook her head vehemently, “No! It’s fine!” 

Luz sighed, “It’s okay, I ruined everyone’s plans for this and you didn’t have to come with me-” 

Amity placed a hand on Luz’s shoulder and smiled gently, stopping them both, “Luz, really, it’s okay! We’ll have fun after we take care of the demon, right?” 

Luz hummed with uncertainty. “Mmmm, yeah, we might be able to if we can solve this quickly.” 

Amity nodded, “Then we should get to this village as soon as possible, right?” 

Luz went to nod, but hesitated. She narrowed her eyes back where they’d come from through the fog. “There’s a wagon coming…” she muttered. 

A minute later, a carriage slowed to a stop in front of them. “Excuse me, do you two need a ride?” A male voice called down from the coach. 

Amity stepped forward, putting on the ‘Blight Voice’, “What’s your price for your services?” 

“Huh?” the man’s silhouette did a head tilt. “Oh!” He chuckled, “I’m sorry, I’m not a cabby! I’m just a visitor.” 

Amity narrowed her eyes. It was a bit too good to be true, wasn’t it? Luz seemed to disagree, however, as she smiled and called up to him, “A visitor? What brings you to Valentown?” 

“Oh, I come annually this time of year to celebrate my marriage and honeymoon.” He tossed a thumb towards the cab, “Come on in, I’ll give you a ride to the village and give you some tips so you can enjoy your stay to the fullest.” 

Amity was hesitant. Luz was not, “Thank you, sir!” She pulled Amity towards the door with an arm around her shoulder. Luz opened the door for her and held it open as she spoke to the driver, “What did you say your name was?” 

“I didn’t, but it is Victor,” the man answered as Amity clambered in with Luz following suit. The interior was lavish and familiar to the youngest Blight’s standards. Plush velvet seats with gold flourishes in the cushions. There were temperature enchantments on the inside, and they seemed to be automatic. A rare commodity that Amity knew only the higher echelon of society were able to afford. 

Unfortunately, Luz couldn’t appreciate it, and neither could Amity. The human rolled the window down and continued to talk to their driver. It turns out that Luz misread her own smudged handwriting as the one hundred feet was actually seven hundred feet, which added to Amity’s worries. 

“So how long have you been coming to Valentown?” Luz asked as she leaned out the window like a dog. 

“Oh, I used to come with my wife every year,” he said cheerfully. “Though… ten years ago she passed. So in total, about thirty four years. Nine of those years I came alone,” Victor added sadly. 

Luz’s features softened into a sympathetic look, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” 

Amity couldn’t see Victor, but she did see the shadow he cast on the wall of fog behind Luz. He waved dismissively with a recovering mood, “Oh you needn’t be sorry for me. We were happy, and her passing was a smooth one.” He cleared his throat, “But I haven’t learned a thing about either of you! What are your names?” 

Amity opened her mouth to object. She didn’t feel comfortable sharing her name, or Luz’s. Sure, she was identifiable on sight due to her green mane and golden eyes, but that didn’t mean people called her out on those features alone. She was hardly the only witch with golden eyes or paler skin, and with her brown roots visible other witches might see the green dye as evidence against her being a Blight. “That’s not-” 

“I’m Luz and the pretty little lady is Amity!” 

Amity blushed hard. She shook her head and pouted, “I’m not little, you’re just super tall!” 

Victor laughed, “Oh, you two remind me of my wife and I coming here for our honeymoon.” 

Amity tensed. ‘She can’t be so oblivious that she doesn’t get what he means, right?’ She was terrified. This village was a honeymoon destination? Luz would know. It wasn’t planned. Everything is going wrong. ‘How does he think we’re together!?’  

Luz didn’t seem fazed, though she usually didn’t seem to be fazed by anything, which only served to make the witch even more terrified. “Oh yeah! You said you would tell us about this place. What did you and your wife do here?” 

Victor and Luz’s conversation carried on casually. The driver talked about a fancy restaurant, a great bed and breakfast with the most comfortable sheets you’ve ever been graced with, a boat ride down the cold river, and the Windmill Suite. Amity didn’t catch much about them. She was too busy overthinking. ‘Valentown… that sounds familiar. A popular honeymoon spot…’ To add onto her growing horror, she realized where they were heading. 

Odalia Blight mentioned several places that would make great honeymoon locations for a Blight and their status. Valentown was on the bottom of the list, but that list was above hundreds of locations. It also meant that rumors would spread all around the Isles if anyone figured out who they were. It wouldn’t be hard for her mother to hear that she went on a “honeymoon” with the infamous Luz Noceda: child of Sparda and human. ‘Titan help me.’ There was no telling what would happen if those rumors got out. 

The carriage stopped and Luz hopped out to hold the door open for Amity. Jarred from her thoughts, the youngest Blight stepped out of the carriage and took in her surroundings. 

It was obvious as to why Valentown was rated by her mother the way it was. It was high class, yet not high class enough that you’d deal with snooty locals and visitors. Amity could tell the prices were high enough that the upper middle class could pay for a few nights stay in the village based on sight alone. There were no dirt paths, only cobblestone with puddles that reflected warm streetlights with fog dispelling enchantments. 

It was still chillier than she’d like her honeymoon to be (not that this was a honeymoon with Luz, that’d be ridiculous!), though that could just be from her pink dress that ended above the knee with black leggings and leather jacket that didn’t provide much defense against the piercing evening breeze. Luz offered her coat, but Amity wasn’t wearing the gift and letting the coat tails drag along the ground, plus she might actually pass out if she were enveloped in the human’s smells. 

“Thanks for the ride and info, Victor!” Luz waved at the driver. 

Amity turned towards the man, finally seeing his face and immediately recognizing the man with terror freezing her blood. “Of course, Luz,” Dr. Victor Frankenstone replied with a smile and nod, “you two have a beautiful stay in Valentown.” 

“Aw, thanks!” Luz took Amity’s hand and led her into the house they were parked in front of. While the human checked them into the bed and breakfast, Amity did her best to remain calm. Dr. Frankenstone was their family’s on-retainer personal healer! He was on a first-name basis with Odalia Blight! Not even she was on a first-name basis with her mother! ‘I need to find him and tell him to keep this quiet. Anything to make sure she doesn’t figure it out.’  

“Amity?” 

“Huh?” Amity blinked at her surroundings. It was a bedroom. With a singular bed. Rose petals, heart shaped pillows, and a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket at the foot of the bed were the main features of the room. There was a single bathroom to her side with a large shower, ‘Big enough for two people…’  

“Are you okay, Amity?” Luz pressed her palm to the Blight’s forehead, making the witch blush more heavily. The human frowned, “Geez, you’re burning up! You must have caught a cold from the walk. Come on,” Luz grabbed her lower arm and pulled her gently to the bed, “Get some rest, I’ll see about getting some cold medicine from the front desk!” 

Amity pulled her arm back frantically, missing the fiery hot touch, “N-no, I’m fine! I feel fine!” 

Luz tilted her head with concern, “If you aren’t sick, then what’s making your face red and hot to the touch?” 

“…I guess I am sick… from the cold… yes…” 

The medicine tasted awful, but it was necessary to sell the ruse. It was also important in getting them to sleep in two different areas. At least that would be the case if there were two different areas to sleep. At least the bed was larger than the one in the cabin on the Knee, though that wasn’t saying much. 

That didn’t mean Amity couldn’t try to separate herself from the human, “Y-you know, if I’m sick I could get y-you sick!” The greenette pushed herself up from the bed, “I’ll go sleep in the bathtub so you can be comfortable-” 

An arm snaked around her waist and pulled her back down. Luz was laying on her stomach with half her face planted in the heart-shaped pillow. “I don’t get sick,” she mumbled, “and you need to be comfortable to get better.” 

“I- uhm… I… need to use the bathroom!” Amity tried to get up, but pulling free from the human’s grip was futile. 

“You aren’t going to get out of a good night’s rest, so you might as well just close your eyes and sleep.” 

“Fine…” Amity grumbled. She’d just wait until Luz was asleep and leave then! She came to regret staying awake, as when Luz spooned her in her sleep she found her prison to be strangely comforting and torturous. 

~~~ 

Amity awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs and Luz trying to silently creep through the room. The human was grimacing and moving as slowly as she could while holding two trays of food and juice. She lifted a foot and the floorboards beneath it groaned in relief from the release of pressure. Luz mouthed a curse and continued carefully. The greenette closed her eyes with a smile, ‘Oh, it’s just a dream…’  

Luz hummed and muttered under her breath, “How am I gonna get her up? We have stuff to do…” Amity felt the warmth in her chest even through her sleep. ‘Luz would plan an entire day for us…’ A soft ‘ah-ha!’ passed through the human’s lips, “Maybe I can just let her sleep in…” 

Amity resisted the urge to nod, ‘Yes, come back to bed…’  

“...while I go investigate the town for the monster!” 

‘Even in my dreams she’s oblivious…’ Amity thought. Then it occurred to her that this wasn’t a dream. If it were, she wouldn’t be awake enough to need to resist nodding. Hell, Luz would wake her up sweetly with a ki- 

The Blight shot up like a bullet, “I’M UP!” 

Luz flinched backwards and struggled to stabilize the platters, though she managed it. “Woah! Amity, it’s okay! You’re awake now!” 

Amity resisted the temptation to explain that her consciousness was the problem. She took deep breaths, calming her heart. She really needed to stop overreacting all of the time to the human. The greenette nodded and wiped the sleep from her eyes. With a yawn she asked, “What time is it?” 

Luz gave her usual sunny smile and answered, “Almost eight in the morning!” She presented the tray of scrambled eggs, bacon, and orange juice to Amity, “The whole day is ahead of us and the most important meal of the day is right here!” Amity accepted the tray with a thankful nod. Luz settled in on the bed next to the witch and spoke as she ate (disgusting and worthy of heavy scolding coming from anyone else, but this was Luz), “I didn’t know oranges existed in the Isles! I’ve missed vitamin C!” 

Amity tilted her head and covered her mouth politely, “Vitamin C? What’s a vitamin?” 

Luz stared at Amity in shock, “You… Witches don’t know what vitamins are?” 

Amity shrugged, “Perhaps healers do, but I didn’t study many healing tracks.” She continued eating. A few minutes later she was finished with her food. Then a concern came to mind, “Luz, how are you paying for this?” 

“Hm? I’m not.” 

Amity shook her head, “Well the village isn’t paying for it,” she forced her features to soften, “but I will pay for it all, don’t worry. My parents-” 

Luz shook her head and swallowed a sip of orange juice, “No, no, this counts as an occupational expense from the village that counts as half of the pay to find and deal with the monster.” 

Amity blinked. “Well. That is handy.” 

Luz gave a smug grin, “I have my moments!” 

Amity giggled. “Yeah, you do.” 

~~~ 

The rest of the morning passed smoothly. Luz and Amity left the bed and breakfast after they tidied the room (Luz insisted that they make the job of the employees easier, and Amity found it difficult to argue with the human). The clerk asked if they enjoyed their stay, Luz told them that it was the best sleep she’d gotten in months, then Amity received a wink from the clerk as they told the two to come back anytime. Luz didn’t seem to notice the implications, thank the Titan. 

The two investigated the village together. Unfortunately for Amity, Luz felt the best method of gathering information was to do all of the most popular activities. Specifically the ones recommended by Dr. Frankenstone, who Amity still needed to speak to. Actually, she needed to speak to the entire village and clear up any misconceptions of her and Luz’s relationship. 

Amity became distracted as they went through the biggest tropes: the boat ride (Luz questioned the ferryman the entire time which earned Amity a look of sympathy), the fancy restaurant (Luz eyed potential persons of interest most of the time and when she wasn’t she was writing notes in a notepad, which earned sympathy from the waitress), and then the theater production of Romeo and Juliet (Luz discussed theories and clues the whole time, which bothered some of the other patrons and caused the rest to give her more pitying looks). 

“Alright, this is it!” Luz pointed up at the windmill overlooking the sea and village from atop the secluded hill. Amity hummed with curiosity. Luz tilted her head and explained patiently, “What, you don’t remember?” She smiled understandingly, “I guess you were focusing on the play, but I talked about how this is where that one mystery couple is staying at! The monster started appearing only after they came to town-” 

Amity shook her head. “Correlation does not equal causation, Luz, and these events may not even be correlated,” she argued. 

Luz nodded, but she held up her index finger. “You’re right about the causation part, but this time I’m pretty sure the mystery couple is involved!” She started to explain, and Amity did her best to follow along. It was hard to focus on Luz’s words when her face was so bright, though. What Amity picked up was that only one couple can stay at the Windmill Suite at a time, and it is the most expensive room in the entire village. It was essentially a house the couple could stay at for a week, which is what happened. The only person to leave was a smaller young man that would look around at the activities and ask about the requirements in making them work. He learned how to ferry, cook, and manage the stage. 

He never partook in the activities with a significant other, and the village had a schedule of which activities would run at night for a given day. The areas that were attacked were always targeted on nights nobody was around. Luz theorized that the mystery couple were sabotaging the town and that there was no monster. “I must admit, your detective skills are unmatched,” Amity praised the human. ‘So is your obliviousness.’  

Luz only proved her silent point, “Aw, thanks Amity! It’s always nice to get a compliment from a friend!” 

‘Aaaaaannnnnnnnnddddd moment ruined!’ Amity smiled through the pain and approached the windmill, “Well, let’s see if your theory holds true.” 

Amity rapped her knuckles aggressively on the large, medieval wooden door. “Excuse me? Is anyone there?” She thought she heard footsteps, but it also could just be her own heartbeat. 

It became louder when Luz leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “Someone’s home, they’re just trying to make it seem like they aren’t.” 

Amity swallowed with a nod. After taking a steadying breath disguised as a sigh, she knocked on the door again with more intensity than before. “We can hear you, you know. You aren’t fooling us!” This time the greenette heard the footsteps. They were frantic, rushing throughout the windmill. “Abomination, let us in!” Amity summoned Nightmare from her hip flask. The purple blob took shape into a battering ram and started to charge the door. 

It came to a screeching halt when Luz stepped in front of the door with her hands up, “Wait!” Amity tilted her head to the side with a raised brow. Luz turned around and shouted towards the top of the windmill, “Hey, just give us a second, please!” She turned around and addressed the greenette quietly, placing gentle hands on her shoulders. “Let’s not get violent yet, okay? We don’t know who these people are, and not only that but we’d have to pay for the door if it got damaged.” 

Amity hummed in dissatisfaction, but sighed in defeat and nodded, “Okay, but I’m keeping Nightmare out.” 

“I can agree to that on the condition that he remains in… uh… you…?” Luz still wasn’t sure how Amity being able to combine with an abomination worked. Amity agreed with a nod and Nightmare slithered into her clothes, and possibly skin, again Luz was not sure how it worked. Amity tried to explain it to her once and the human could only equate it to the human painting squid game. 

Luz turned around and shouted at the windmill, “Hey, can you come talk for a minute? We just need to ask some questions about a mystery!” 

After a minute of silence being filled with the squeaky spinning of the windmill, Amity sighed in boredom. “Luz, I can pay for the damages if they’re done by me.” 

“I know, but it’s the principle of the matter!” Luz stated with an authoritative pose. 

Despite the situation, Amity smirked and struggled to restrain a giggle. “Really? What principle?” 

Luz’s facade crumbled to laughter. She shrugged, “I don’t know, I’ve just always wanted to say that.” The brunette knocked on the door again, “Besides, there are plenty of reasons why whoever’s here isn’t answering! For example, it could be a kid or someone who is scared of strangers!” 

“Luz, I l-” Amity cleared her throat, “I appreciate you giving this person the benefit of the doubt, but-” 

“Jeff,” a soft male voice came from behind the door, “...my name is… Jeff…” 

Luz aimed a teasing smirk at the greenette before speaking. “Hi, Jeff! I’m Luz, my grumpy friend is Amity!” 

The Blight scoffed, “Luz!” 

“...is she…angry at me?” Jeff asked. Amity’s features eased at the soft-spoken voice filled with regret or fear. Perhaps it was both, but Jeff sounded upset. 

“No, Jeff,” Amity bowed her head slightly, even though he couldn’t see it. Amity didn’t apologize much, but her mother would have her hide if she didn’t apologize to someone deserving of one and Amity hoped that Jeff was. “We had some trouble getting to Valentown yesterday evening and I didn’t have the most restful sleep, so I have been more irritable as of late. I hope you can forgive me for my rudeness.” 

“...oh…” The door creaked open an inch. There wasn’t enough light pouring in from the sun to illuminate Jeff’s face, but his hand and leg were visible. “...I’m sorry to hear that… I would offer you something to revitalize your spirits…but…” The hand was bandaged heavily, to the point Amity couldn’t tell if Jeff was a demon or a witch. His leg was covered with a pair of comfortable pajama pants, and his foot was wrapped similarly to his hand. 

“Oh? Are you part of the potions coven?” Luz asked, appearing to not notice the oddness of the wrappings. Amity knew better though. Luz may be oblivious to her feelings and the not-so-subtle hints the village had been giving her ( ‘Thank the Titan!’ ), but she wasn’t blind. Amity smiled subtly at the human as Jeff answered slowly. 

“...yes…” The silhouette of his head nodded, “...I… was…” 

An awkward silence hung in the air. Luckily, Luz neverminded awkward situations. “Wow, that’s awesome! Potions class is fun, but the homework is really difficult,” the human unshouldered her backpack and rummaged through it a moment before breathing an ‘ah-hah!’ and pulling out a packet of paper that Amity recognized. Luz wiggled the packet with an innocent smile, “Do you mind helping me with it?” 

Amity blinked and felt her jaw slacken. “Did you just ask a stranger to help you with your homework?” she asked in utter disbelief. 

Luz shook her head proudly, “Nope! I asked Jeff from the potions coven to help me with my homework!” 

“I… I don’t think you’d want my help… Luz…” Jeff answered sadly as he went to close the door. 

“What? Why wouldn’t I want an expert’s help?” Luz asked in that innocent, curious way of hers that Amity adored appreciated . 

The door stopped about a quarter of an inch before shutting. After a few minutes, Amity thought Jeff had left. She was about to voice her concerns and suggest coming back later when the door groaned on its hinges as it slowly slid open. 

Jeff was a large… person? He was comparable to Warden Wrath in size, being taller than Luz by a whole head and incredibly fit. Jeff wore pajama pants and a simple t-shirt that exhibited his physique well, and his entire body was covered in bandages except for his face. Half of his face was a pale white complexion, yet the other half looked like it was stitched on to account for a missing part and discoloured. 

Amity flinched away. ‘What in the Titan’s will…?’ Luz, unsurprisingly, stood and smiled brightly, “Are you inviting us in?” 

Jeff looked just as taken aback as Amity, “You… wish to stay…?” Luz nodded. “Uhm… Why…?” 

The human tilted her head with a clueless look, “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I want to?” Her face became accusatory, “Are people bothering you?” 

Jeff blinked in surprise before shaking his head, “N-no… they’re just scared… I think…” He waved the girls in, “...I can tell you… about the monster…” 

Luz and Amity glanced at each other before proceeding through the threshold hesitantly. 

~~~ 

Jeffery Mills and Gary Adams worked together on a potions experiment in school. It was the same that everyone else had done: a simple healing potion. They worked well together, though. Neither were particularly gifted at their crafts, as Jeffery was in the potions track and Gary was in the healing track. They were simply average, at least that was the case when separated. Together, they scored the highest on the experiment. They never worked on another school assignment together after that, yet they became inseparable. 

The story is a classical storybook stereotype. They fell in love, dated for a while, and moved in together. They didn’t get married, though. They never had an interest in getting married when nothing would change afterwards. It was always reasoned as a waste of money and important time needed for their careers. 

Imagine for a moment that you knew when you’d die. It would be a normal death for the Boiling Isles: getting attacked by a slitherbeast. What would you do with your time left? Imagine that nothing you did could stop this fate. What would you do? 

At least you would have known your end was coming and could spend that remaining time wisely. Jeffery did not, unfortunately. He wished he had spent his time differently. Taken Gary to more dinners, adopt a pet, remodel their home to fix the pesky issues Gary had with the bathroom and kitchen. Jeffery would have gotten married. 

Instead, he was out with his coworkers on the Knee collecting flowers required for a new line of cosmetic potions. He was picking extras for Gary to use with healing treatments when the slitherbeast attacked him. It was on the smaller side, and due to the witch’s abnormal size he wasn’t immediately killed by the beast. 

He was alive for a while. He needed to see Gary again. He needed to give him the flowers. Jeffery was never able to give the flowers to his partner, though. The healers arrived too late. 

Gary always supported the donation of bodies to the efforts of the healing coven. Jeffery supported Gary, so he made it clear what to do with his remains. 

It was all a matter of fortune that Dr. Victor Frankenstone was familiar with Gary and felt his pain. It was the perfect time to test his theories with an experiment. The night of one of the most violent boiling rainstorms of the year also held some of the most potent lightning strikes. Using parts of other donations, Dr. Frankenstone rebuilt Jeffery and conducted his experiment. It was successful for a number of reasons. 

For one, Jeffery hadn’t gone into post-mortem yet. Next, most of his most important organs were still intact. The storm was also quite fortunate in timing, and had Jeffery not been there an older body would have been used that likely wouldn’t have made it. 

It was a journey in regaining feeling and motor functions of his left side. The right side was a nightmare. Gary was supporting, though, and that made Jeffery feel like he could do anything. It’d been a month since he was revived and made medical history. He had gotten married to Gary, because why miss a second chance? Dr. Frankenstone offered to pay for a honeymoon to the wedding village, Valentown. 

But- 

~~~ 

“-But you were mistaken as a monster, so you and your husband go out at night instead.” Luz filled in the blanks for Jefferey Adams, “Gary scopes the places out during the day while you hide here and do exercises to regain control of your body, right?” 

“...Exercises…?” Jeff asked with a tilt of his head. 

Luz nodded while she took a sip of some tea Amity brewed while Jeff told his story. “Yeah, you need to do some exercises to build up those muscles, tendons, and nerves in the foreign body parts.” 

Amity shifted in the armchair to look at Luz on the couch, “Wait, can humans reattach limbs, too?” 

Luz nodded, “Yeah, but it’s a process and you’re never the same after.” 

“...do you… know how to do these… exercises…?” 

Luz shook her head with a sad look, “Sorry, I’d google it if I had service, but…” 

“Perhaps you could consult construction coven members?” Amity redirected the conversation away from the sore subject. “They know how to strengthen muscles for precise movements. I’m assuming the vandalism and damage that were reported were unintentional?” 

Jeff nodded, “...I didn’t mean to…” His expression changed to one of terror, “...You don’t think… Dr. Frankenstone is going to be… upset… do you?” 

Luz shook her head calmly, “Nah, he seemed fine when he gave us a ride into town.” Jeff didn’t seem convinced. Luz smiled comfortingly, “Hey, I can talk to the people who hired me. I’m sure they’ll let you and your husband off the hook for costs after I explain the situation!” 

“...You will…?” Jeff said with as much excitement as he could muster. 

Luz nodded resolutely, “I promise, neither you or Gary will be punished for this.” 

~~~ 

And in the end, they weren’t. Luz gladly gave up her payment to cover the Adams' expenses. Amity didn’t agree, but it was Luz’s money. And… well… It was the best solution that didn’t involve the Blight fortune. Dr. Frankenstone offered to give Jeff, Gary, Luz, and herself a ride back to Bonesborough. They accepted, of course. 

“So,” Victor cleared his throat and checked the coach of the carriage. Luz, Jeff, and Gary were asleep inside. He smiled and lowered his voice, directing his words to Amity sitting next to him at the drivers’ seat, “How long have you two been together?” 

Amity felt her cheeks redden immediately as she answered too fast, “We’re not.” 

“Is that so?” Victor smirked. “I didn’t expect the infamous Amity Blight to be a coward ,” he teased. 

Amity should have leveled him with a scowl, but that would be rude. Not only that, but he was right. She was a coward, “I…I’m not, usually.” She checked on Luz, making sure she was still asleep. The human had her head leaning back fully. ‘She’s going to get a stiff neck,’ she smiled as the brunette snored. Her smile fell, “I think the most scared I’ve been was when I heard she…” 

Victor seemed to understand. He nodded sagely, “...I remember when my wife passed.” He sighed sadly, “It still hurts, and I think about her all the time.” 

Amity tilted her head in confusion, “What?” 

Victor chuckled with amusement, “I’m glad you don’t know how it feels to lose a loved one.” He raised his eyes to the starry night’s sky, “You hear that it gets better with time, but it never does. You just get stronger, older, and wiser.” Victor looked at Amity with a sudden seriousness that caught her off-guard, “At least I have the knowledge that I was able to spend many wonderful years with her, and Jeffery and Gary won’t be wasting their second chance.” He sighed and shook his head at Amity’s confusion, “Don’t gamble for a second chance, Ms. Blight. You may not get one. Being honest shouldn’t be perfect. Lies are perfect, too perfect.” 

“... but what if I lose her…?” Amity whispered. 

“What’s that saying? ‘It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all’?” Victor smirked. 

“... I don’t want to lose her…” 

“At least if you tell her, losing her would be in your control instead of losing her to someone else.” 

Amity nodded, “... you’re right, I know you’re right, but…” 

Victor sighed softly, “I’m not saying that you should tell her when you are not ready, I’m telling you that you need to become strong enough to tell her before you miss your chance.” 

Amity folded her arms, “... I’ll try…” 

Victor smiled, “That’s all I ask. Don’t worry about your mother, either. Valentown holds their patrons’ privacy to the highest degree, and as a healer I’m quite familiar with keeping secrets.” 

Amity replied with a small smile, “Thank you, Dr. Frankenstone.” 

He waved dismissively, “Please, just Victor.” 

“Alright, thank you, Victor.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

I was on a roll with writing for a bit. I hadn't finished anything, but I got close. I had a few oneshots planned, and I still need to write them. I had an amazing suggestion for a chapter I want to write, but then life happened. 

I have midterms right now, and amongst that both of my dogs are unwell. It's also not a very good time of year for me amongst all of the things that are going on. I meant to post a chapter last week, but I had family visit. Then I had stuff happening this week. I hope to post something soon, but I have a lot on my mind that's making the quality of my writing suffer and progress slower. 

Good news is that I'm catching up with the owl house! I can't wait to get to season three with all the characters. I'm hoping to see more Vee and Hunter and Flapjack because I love them so much! Also, more good news is that I've started writing part 2. I have chapter 1 almost finished, and chapter 2 has started. When those will be posted I'm not sure. Hopefully not too long. I'll likely post oneshots alongside the regular chapters, too. 

Anyways, I hope you continue to support the series while I get over this hill. If there's anything you'd like to see in part 2, let me know in the comments. I always get a motivation boost when I receive kudos and comments. Anyways, until next time! 

Chapter Text

Wing it Like Witches 

“You want me to play Grudgby with you guys?” Luz narrowed her eyes in suspicion, “Why?” 

Boscha huffed indignantly, “Come on, do I always need an ulterior motive?” Luz replied by raising her eyebrows with an unamused expression. “Ugh, fine!” Boscha groaned. She summoned her scroll and tapped and swiped its surface a couple of times before turning it around to show the human. 

Luz watched with interest. She’d never had the chance to watch a grudgby game before due to the Bat Queen. From what she could tell, however, the Hexside team was beaten pretty hard. But in the end the triclops pulled a surprise victory. “That was a good game, Boscha!” 

“We almost lost ,” Boscha scoffed as she spelled the scroll away. “A grudgby player can use any spells they want as long as it is within their coven choice. They had to be using construction glyphs to enhance themselves.” 

Luz frowned, “So they cheated? Why not go to the refs?” 

Boscha took a deep breath, “I forget that you weren’t born here.” She cleared her throat and explained, “The main rules of the game is that you just have to get the balls in the hoops to score. Four quarters that each last fifteen minutes. The timer pauses when someone scores and a thirty second break occurs. Players may use any tactic they wish to win as long as it does not break the law. Technically, Glandus didn’t do anything wrong since they did have a construction coven player.” 

Luz nodded with a smile. Sports could be fun to watch, but usually she was outed as a freak with how much she’d accidentally overdo it. Dodgeball was the worst since she was so good that nobody would have fun. It was the same with all sports. Which reminded her, “But what does this have to do with me, Boscha?” 

The grudgby captain smirked, “Well, I figured that we were unprepared to deal with opponents of overwhelmingly greater strength. To train against that, why not play against the strongest person I know?” 

“Yyyyyyeeeeeaaaaahhh, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Luz rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, “I once threw a dodgeball at a kid and dislocated his jaw…” 

Boscha rolled her eyes, “Well don’t throw the ball at us that hard. This is practice, so just go easy on us.” 

“I was going easy on that kid.” 

Boscha faltered, “Er, well, just go easier on us then, yeah?” 

Luz sighed, “You aren’t gonna let this go, are you?” Boscha shook her head. “Fiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnneeee, I’ll help,” she groaned. 

~~~ 

The grudgby field was most similar to a soccer field, though the triangular hoops on each end set it apart. Boscha, Skara, Amelia, and Cat were on one side of the field in their uniforms discussing tactics. Well, Boscha wasn’t, she was too busy keeping a pair of eyes out for the human. 

“What’s up, Boss?” 

Boscha turned to Skara with a questioning hum and an eyebrow raise, “What?” 

Skara tapped the center of her forehead with a curious expression. “You were staring at me. Did I say something wrong?” 

Boscha shook her head as she clenched her eyes shut ( all of them), “Nah, I just spaced out while looking for the human.” 

The bard brightened fast (too fast in the triclops’s opinion), “Oh! Yeah, she’s daydream worthy, isn’t she?” 

That caught Boscha’s attention. “HWHAT!?” she almost screamed as she whirled on Skara. 

The other three girls flinched. “W-what is it, Boscha?” Cat asked with a tinge of fear. 

“W-we weren’t wanting to date her! Honest!” Amelia lied like it would be convincing. She was the worst person to tell secrets on account of just how awful she was at lying. Boscha had to admit that she had gotten better at lying, but it wasn’t much of an improvement. 

Skara shrugged, “I don’t see the big deal.” She grinned mischievously, “Though I guess you don’t see a problem with it either, Boss .” 

Boscha was lost and her facial expression showed it. “Skara, what the hell are you talking about?” 

“You invited the human to practice because you wanna see her in a cute uniform, right ?” Skara explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Amelia and Cat gasped and nodded as they followed the bard’s train of thought. 

Unlike the bard’s expectations, though, Boscha didn’t seem fazed. She narrowed her eyes at the silver-haired witch, “Are you suggesting I like the human?” She scoffed, “She’s not my type, Skar.” 

The bard shrugged, “We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” Skara nodded towards something behind the Banshee captain. Boscha followed the indication and turned around. 

Luz Noceda stood wearing her… normal clothes. Her pants, boots, shirt, and purple coat. “Sorry I’m late, had to deal with a toilet hand demon and my uniform got soaked.” 

Skara leaned against the captain’s side and said suggestively, “You even gave her a uniform !” She gasped dramatically while the other girls gasped in a more subdued manner. 

Boscha shook the girl off, “I didn’t!” 

Luz eyed Boscha and Skara a moment before clearing her throat, “I meant my school uniform. Do I need something like what you guys have on?” 

Amelia nodded vigorously, “Yeah! There should be a spare in your size in the locker room!” 

Luz nodded thankfully and jogged over to the doors the lime-haired witch pointed towards. Boscha rolled her eyes and cleared her throat, drawing the three ogling girls’ attentions, “Alright you guys, focus. This is a practice , not a peepshow. Get your minds on the game, here.” 

“Why don’t you get your mind on what’s important?” Skara poked an accusatory finger into the center of the captain’s chest. “Loosen up! We need a break sometimes!” 

Boscha took a step back yet returned her words with the same energy that Skara’s held, “You have breaks scheduled during each practice and you have weekends off.” Before any could retort, a familiar voice spoke from the sideline closest to the school. 

“Really? I thought you’d push them harder than I did, Boscha.” The girls turned and cheered at the sight of their old team captain, Amity Blight. Next to her was half- ( ‘Luz said to be nicer or else…’ ) Willow. 

“C’mere, gurl!” Skara opened her arms for a hug, “Been ages since we last hanged!” 

Boscha allowed herself a tiny smile, “Yeah, you can even bring pl-” she cleared her throat, “Willow, with you!” 

“I’m glad she has your permission,” Willow said coldly. 

Boscha groaned exasperatedly, “That’s not what I meant-” 

“I know what you meant-” Willow began with a fire in her eyes, though the flames were dimmed quickly. 

“Amity, Willow!” The two witches were snatched up into a hug, “You guys came to play after all? That’s awesome!” 

“Actually, Luz, we-” Willow started. 

“YeAH, OF cOURsE!” Amity sputtered out. Boscha forgot how tall the human was compared to the greenette, and everyone else for that matter. No wonder Amity was acting odd, the human probably intimidated her! The flushed cheeks was probably just embarrassment, too. 

“Yay!” Luz cheered and set the two down. “I guess you guys’ll be on my team!” Amelia, Skara, and Cat groaned. Luz looked at them with an oblivious expression, “What’s the problem?” 

Boscha spoke before any of her team could, “You and Amity are pretty much the best players here, besides me.” She nodded towards Willow, “I don’t know about her, but I can say for certain she’s a threat. You three would destroy us and it wouldn’t be a good practice.” 

The triclops expected Amity to agree. She still helped with the practices sometimes, and she would be able to convince everyone that a three v. three with these teams would be a terrible practice. Yet the greenette was silent and watching the human’s legs in shorts. 

“It’s important to simulate an accurate representation of the game to have a good practice, though,” Willow argued. 

Boscha bit her tongue. She didn’t need to get into an argument with Luz’s friend and risk the human’s participation. The plant witch had a point, too. “We need two teams of equal skill to give a full simulation,” Boscha sighed, “Amity, Amelia, and Cat will go up against Luz, Skara, and Willow, understood?” 

Willow crossed her arms and scowled at the triclops, “I didn’t agree to play.” 

Boscha rolled her eyes, “Well someone needs to analyze everyone and figure out what’s weak, and I doubt that you’re gonna be able to do that.” 

“Hey, if Willow doesn’t want to play then we can’t force her,” Luz frowned. 

Boscha shrugged, “Then she’s free to leave. Go home or to the stands. Either way, anyone not actively participating should clear the field.” The captain smirked after a moment as she eyed the plant witch, “And yet she doesn’t.” 

Luz laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “Hey, you don’t have to play-” 

Willow patted the human’s hand with a smile, “It’s fine, Luz, I’ll play. Do I need a uniform?” 

~~~ 

“Amity, calm down.” 

“I can’t, Willow!” Amity took several hyperventillating breaths. “She was wearing shorts . You saw those legs!” 

Willow rolled her eyes as she finished lacing her cleats and grumbled, “Well if you didn’t want to play you should have said so!” 

Amity gaped. “B-but Luz was there! I couldn’t have said no, she would have been sad!” 

Willow blew a raspberry, “Maybe for a minute. She would have forgotten, you know.” Willow checked herself out in the locker room mirror and admired the Banshee uniform. “I told Luz about how I wouldn’t be able to go to her sleepover once and she was disappointed for all of thirty seconds until she found a string to pull from her sleeve. Later I apologized and she didn’t even remember that she had invited me!” 

Amity rubbed her arm, “Y-yeah, but I want to hangout with her…” 

Willow sighed. She turned around and grabbed her friend by the shoulders forcing the golden orbs to face her olive green ones. “Amity, stop being useless and talk to her.” 

The greenette’s eyes widened to saucers as she tried to pull away from Willow’s grip, “I-I can’t do that! It’s a terrible time to do that!” 

Willow didn’t let her budge. She sighed, “Amity, you have to tell her at some point because this -” she lifted a hand and made a circle with her hand around Amity, “-is starting to become a bit annoying.” 

Awmity scowled, “W-well, I… uhm…” But she knew. So she dropped the angry kitten mask with a defeated sigh as her head drooped, “I know…” Amity hugged herself tightly and added with a small, fearful voice, “But what if she doesn’t like me like that?” 

Willow softened at that. “Wwweeeeeeellllll, you know if Luz were to reject you it wouldn’t be mean, right? She’d probably still wanna be friends.” 

Amity looked up with terror, “You think she would reject me?” 

Willow huffed in exasperation. “Amity, go play grudgby.” 

~~~ 

The game was closer than it really should have been. Sure, Boscha put Amity on a team with the two weaker members of the Banshees. Amelia and Cat were nothing to scoff at, though. They didn’t excel at any one task, but they could fit into any position on the field. Defence or offence, it didn’t matter. As long as they had a good leader, they would perform well. 

Amity Blight should have been that good leader. Hell, Amity used to be their leader. In the greenette’s defense, it had been years since she had led them in a game. But Amity shouldn’t have lost the game against two people that had never played the game before and Skara. Skara was a great player and an amazing bard. She made sure to put on a show, as always. But how she was playing today was reckless. It was too showy. 

Boscha was the Banshee Team Captain for a reason. Well, she was the next in line when Amity quit, but she was still the captain for a reason. She was great at analyzing her team and determining what was needed to improve. The main issue she found was players were distracted. 

Amelia kept looking at Amity in fear or kept looking at Luz. Amity shot a couple of withering glances at the lime-haired girl whenever Amelia looked at Luz, as well, before bumping into her or throwing the ball to her. At first, Boscha thought it was just the old team captain refocusing her team. 

But as the game continued, Boscha realized that Amity was more distracted than Amelia! The Blight’s eyes were practically glued to Luz. If they weren’t on the human, they were on Amelia or Skara. 

Speaking of the bard, Skara was constantly showing off with grand movements that often left her or her team over-extended and easily punished by Amity. After every single display the bard performed, she’d look at Luz to see if the girl was watching. 

Boscha may have gotten off on the wrong foot with Luz. The human knew when to let someone else take charge. She asked questions to understand what was happening, and Boscha appreciated it more than she thought she would. In potions, she found she was studying more in the beginning to get through the explanations to Luz faster. Her grade had risen immensely because of it, and Luz was a good student and a friendly person with her own set of morals that Boscha could respect. 

“...Let’s take a break,” Boscha suggested. The players nodded and went to the sidelines. The triclops caught the human by the arm and spoke quietly, “Let’s talk privately.” 

~~~ 

“What’s up?” 

Boscha sighed as she plopped down on the locker room bench. She eyed the human up and down. “What did you see out there?” 

Luz hummed with curiosity, “Uhm, what do you mean?” 

“What did you think of my players?” Boscha hinted. 

Luz held her chin between her index and thumb and thought for a moment. “Well, Amelia was alright, but she seemed distracted. Like whenever I had the ball she always targeted someone else.” 

“What about Skara?” Boscha said darkly. 

Luz, oblivious as she always is in certain social situations, answered honestly. “I think Skara would be better in a different sport. She’s too flashy here, and she isn’t contributing a lot to the game. Heck, if I didn’t know better I’d think she was an illusionist!” 

Boscha blinked in surprise at the human’s blunt analysis. That was before the comment registered in her mind, though. The triclops growled, “Skara is fine . She’s my second in command for a reason!” 

Luz held her hands up in defence, “Woah! Hey, you asked me for my opinion! I think Cat played better.” She started counting off her fingers, “She listened to her teammates, analyzed the field, read her opponents, but more importantly she knew when to let someone else take over. She was the best player on the field, I think!” The human tilted her head, “Why isn’t she your second instead of Skara?” 

“Because she isn’t Skara!” Boscha roared. “She isn’t as fun, smart, or pretty as she is!” ‘Oh.’  

The words hung silently in the air. The atmosphere became tense. “I see…” Luz said after a minute. Boscha’s shoulders were tight as she awaited the human’s teasing. But the teasing never came, “...so, you like her?” Boscha nodded. “Have you told her?” 

“Wouldn’t be here if I had…” Boscha felt her cheeks burning. 

“Why haven’t you told her?” Luz asked before backtracking, “Don’t feel like you have to tell me, it isn’t really my b-” 

“Skara likes you,” Boscha admitted quietly. She rubbed the back of her neck guiltily, “I didn’t realize I had a crush on her until recently, and by then…” she trailed off. 

“By then I showed up?” Luz finished softly. Boscha nodded as her shoulders slumped. Luz nodded, “Okay, well, uhm…” She laughed nervously, “I’ve never had people have a crush on me before, so I don’t know what to do.” 

Now that surprised the grudgby captain. “Wait what? How!?” Boscha gestured towards Luz, “You have charisma, incredible physique, and honestly there really aren’t many better options in the looks department.” After a moment she suggested, “Maybe people never confessed? I’m sure there was plenty -” 

Luz barked a harsh, bitter laugh as she shook her head. “Nah, nobody ever had a crush on me. Trust me.” 

Boscha was taken aback by the human’s pessimism. “W-well it doesn’t matter now, right? There are people that have a crush on you here!” she reasoned. 

Luz sucked a hissing breath through her teeth, “Yeah, a girl that I don’t see that way…” 

Boscha nodded as she hung her head sadly, “Yeah… I’m not sure what to do about that…” 

After a few minutes, Luz gasped brightly. She slammed her fist into her palm, “I’ve got it! I know how to give you an in to confess!” 

~~~ 

Boscha’s heart was pounding, and not because of the game. They started a new game with Amity and Skara swapping teams and Luz’s plan. Not that anyone aside from the grudgby captain and human knew what that plan was. Luz mentioned that she had read about this tactic working, and if it was published in some ‘fan-fick’ then it had to be reliable and trustworthy and totally real! 

Luz would target Skara when the bard got the ball, she would go fast and hard. If Skara got hit she might be injured, but Boscha would be fine. Mostly. Boscha would move to stop the ‘accidental-overdoing’ by going to tackle Luz. Skara gets saved by Boscha, she stops liking the rough Luz, she starts liking her hero Boscha, and everything is right with the world! 

Boscha’s heart skipped a beat when Skara caught a ball launched by Willow. ‘This is it,’ the triclops tried to psyche herself up, but the tales of the human’s strength made it near impossible. It all happened in slow motion. Luz went to stop Skara, Boscha made her way over with all of her might knowing the human could take it. If she’d known Luz better, she would have known that a plan made by her would never work exactly as planned if it worked at all. 

Amity seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but Boscha wasn’t paying much attention to anything but what was in front of her. If she didn’t have tunnel vision on Luz, maybe the plan could’ve gone perfectly. Foresight is 20/20, though, and Amity was in Boscha’s way. She couldn’t stop, only feel like she was a spectator instead of a controller of her own body. 

Amity clenched her jaw and tensed her body and braced for the impact. Boscha always had more mass in terms of weight and muscle, which was the breaking point for Amity’s grudgby career. Her mother always wanted her to be better, even if it was impossible. Her mother would be livid when she heard she got flattened by Boscha. 

Though Odalia would be more enraged if Amity cried. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to let anyone know she was injured. Someone was screaming, but she didn’t know why. She was fine! She wasn’t in pain! There was a funny pop in her lower leg, but it was fine! She’d get it looked at later. 

Luz’s worried face filled Amity’s vision and the screaming stopped. ‘Luz was screaming, I guess? Was she worried about me?’  

The human’s voice cut through Amity’s dulled hearing like a heated knife through a stick of butter, “Amity, can you hear me?” She nodded. Luz sighed in relief, “Good. Can you feel your legs?” 

Amity nodded. They didn’t feel abnormal. A soreness was developing in her left leg, but that was likely a small injury. If it were a bigger issue it would hurt more, right? 

Luz sighed, but the concern never left her face. “Alright, she’s in shock,” she announced. Her eyes met the witch’s and it felt as if Amity’s soul was being scrutinized. Luz spoke gently, “Do you want me to carry you to the healer’s office, Amity?” 

Amity’s blood could’ve been considered half adrenaline as she shot up and tucked her legs under her, “WHaT!? N-no, I’m fiNE! Ha ha, who’s Amity?” If her head didn’t feel so light she’d cringe at the voice cracks and obvious tells. 

“Aaaaaaannnnd scoop!” And then Luz swept Amity up into a bridal carry. 

The greenette’s mind went blank, “Oh wow. Sports.” Any further cognitive functions ceased. She may as well have been dead. 

“I’ll see you guys later, I’m gonna take her to the healer’s office and head home! Thanks for the game, Boscha! I’ll play against you again sometime!” Luz shouted over her shoulder as she began to jog towards the school. 

“What the hell!?” Willow roared as she marched up to the jock. “You were aiming for Luz, I saw it! I knew you were up to something!” 

“Willow, calm down!” Cat tried to defuse the situation. 

“I… It wasn’t supposed to happen like that…” Boscha said quietly. 

Amelia, Skara, and Cat spun on their captain with shocked expressions. Willow scoffed and crossed her arms, “Then what was supposed to happen?” 

Boscha glanced at Skara. The bard looked betrayed. With a sigh, she explained everything. She owed it to them. Would her team believe her? She didn’t know. She didn’t care. It never would’ve happened if she was just honest from the start. 

~~~ 

“Wow.” 

Willow nodded, “Yep.” 

Gus glanced over towards Boscha’s table, “So they believed her?” 

Willow chuckled as she shook her head, “No, but I believed her. You and I both know that’s a certified Luz plan.” 

Gus hummed as he watched Amelia, Cat, Skara, and Boscha engage in comfortable conversation. He nodded towards the jock and bard, “So they’re together?” 

Willow nodded, “Yep! Apparently, Skara only joined the team to try to get closer to Boscha. When she didn’t show interest, Skara got a tiny crush on Luz instead. But since Amelia had a crush on her , Skara let it go and was trying to get Amelia to confess.” 

“How’d that go?” 

Willow winced, “I think Amity scared her into not speaking to Luz…” 

“I see,” Gus nodded. “That explains why Amity isn’t here, but what about Luz?” 

Willow smirked, “Oh, that? Well…” 

~~~ 

“I don’t know why, but I was terrified!” Luz ran her fingers through her hair, wiping the sweat from her brow with the palm of her hand. 

“Well, she was screaming a lot,” Willow suggested as she changed out of the grudgby uniform. “Honestly, it was a terrible plan.” 

“I didn’t think she would jump in front of me!” Luz whined. “I-I don’t want her to get hurt for me! Now she’s going to be in trouble with her mom and it’s all my fault!” 

“Luz, it’ll be fine!” Willow chuckled, “Odalia is out of town and there wasn’t a big break. Healing magic has come a long way, it’ll be healed by tomorrow afternoon!” 

Luz shook her head, “I’m sorry, but that scream… I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much…” 

Willow’s mirth died down into a frown. The human’s demeanor was full of anxiety and pacing. “Luz, you know it wasn’t your fault, right?” 

Luz shook her head, “No, it was.” She caught her fist in her palm with determination, “I won’t let anything hurt her again.” 

Willow narrowed her eyes, “Really? Anything?” 

Luz glanced at her from the corner of her eye, the anxiety gone and replaced with determination. “If something does, it’ll regret it.” 

~~~ 

“Luz is helping Amity get around.” 

Gus giggled, “And how is Amity handling that?” 

Willow barked out some laughs, “She looks like an apple!” Gus responded with several laughs of his own. They could laugh at their friends’ obliviousness, right? It would be wrong to go behind their backs and reveal everything. So their only option was to enjoy the show, for now. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Beach Episode  

“Shoo! Out!” Eda whacked a broom across her apprentice’s head. 

“Ow!” Luz rubbed the back of her head and shot away from the couch and getting out of the witch’s range. “Eda, what the hell!?” 

“No offense, kid, but you’re being super gloomy.” 

Luz gave an indignated scoff, “ That’s why you hit me!?” 

Eda held up her hand and wobbled it side to side, “Eh, that was part of it. I also need you out so you don’t try to do any weird portal stuff and end up blowing my house up while me and Lilith are off shopping.” 

Luz held her arms out, “What am I supposed to do while you’re shopping?” She paused and did a double take, “Wait, you’re going shopping with her ?” 

Eda rolled her eyes, “Oh boy, here we go…” She sighed, “She’s been doing better-” 

“Only because she has nowhere else to go, Eda!” Luz argued. “Lilith is only here while you let her stay here, and she knows that if she slips up once she’s gone! None of her niceties are genuine!” 

Eda scowled, “Don’t forget that you’re in a similar position, Luz. I could throw you out anytime.” 

“The difference is that I didn’t curse you or throw me off a damn bridge into a moat of spikes, Eda,” Luz growled. 

Eda sighed in defeat, “Luz, you’re allowed to dislike her, but I wish you’d talk about something other than building a portal or what should be done about Lilith. I’ve told you I’ll handle it all.” 

“I want to help! You shouldn’t go through all of this alone, Eda! I should help because-” Luz explained exasperatedly. 

Eda held her hand up, “If you talk about me not having my magic being your fault one more time I swear to you Luz I willllll-” she paused, “-uh, I will do something!” 

Luz huffed, “Yeah? Like what?” 

~~~ 

“Hey Luz!” Willow greeted the human half an hour later with Gus and Amity behind her. Gus was vibrating with energy, while Amity seemed to be more reserved than usual. Willow wore a flower embroidered sheer white kimono over a green one piece swimsuit with a flower-y tutu thing and a large sunhat with tan flip flops. Gus wore a small black and blue striped beach poncho with blue swim shorts and sandals. Amity wore a purple skirted bottom swimsuit with a black kimono draped over her shoulders matching her black flip flops and sunhat. 

Luz raised an eyebrow as she held the front door open, “Uh, what are you guys doing here?” 

Gus hopped up on his tippy toes and peeked over the plant witch’s shoulder, “Eda called and told us you needed to get out of the house, so we thought it’d be fun to go swimming at the beach!” 

Luz brow furrowed as she turned around and looked at Eda. The silver haired witch merely grinned smugly back. Luz sighed as she turned back to her friends, “I thought the water was boiling? Are we using some spell to cool the water down?” 

Amity shook her head, “The sea boils during certain times of the year. Currently, the sea isn’t boiling and is safe to swim in.” 

Luz hummed as she thought about the offer, “Well… I’ve been to the beach once when I was little, and the pool was always really fun…” She nodded, “Okay, I’ll come! Just let me get changed and get some stuff together and we’ll go. Feel free to wait on the couch!” 

“Thanks, Luz!” Willow and Gus said as they entered the Owl House. Amity hung back, though. Her heart was hammering against her ribs. ‘Why did I agree to this again? Why did I think I could handle letting her see me in a swimsuit? I’m practically naked!’ She adjusted the fabric covering her shoulders from the harsh sun and pulled it forward to cover her front. ‘Maybe I should go…’  

“Oh wow, Minty, looking good!” Eda gave a thumbs up as she passed the front door. “Someone’s dressin’ to impress!” 

Amity’s cheeks burned in embarrassment, “I-I-I, uh… I think-” 

“Edalyn!” Lilith hissed as she marched into the room from the kitchen, “You’re embarrassing the poor girl!” The raven haired witch turned towards Amity with a smile, “Don’t mind her, you look fine.” 

“That’s what I said!” Eda argued with a laugh. 

Lilith scoffed and rolled her eyes, “No, you were teasing her for her lovely swimsuit. So what if she wore it to impress the human? You don’t have to call her out for it!” 

“Her name is Luz , Ms. Clawthorne,” Amity said lowly. The greenette didn’t really know what to think of her old mentor after the near petrification of Eda, but she knew what wouldn’t improve that image. “You’d think that you would call the person who saved your life something with a little more respect, but you’ve surprised us all before, haven’t you?” 

The room went as silent as a graveyard and the air was as tense as a circus tightrope. Lilith broke the silence by stammering, but Eda gave the first worthwhile response, “That’s enough, Blight. Luz has good reason to not like Lilith, but you don’t get to come in here and insult her like you own the place.” She paused. “This isn’t somewhere your mother owns, you have no power here,” she added after a moment. 

Amity and Eda glared each other down while Willow, Gus, and Lilith watched on in tense awe. The moment was broken as everyone heard heavy footfalls down the stairs as Luz entered the room with a yell. 

“Woo! Beach episode, baby!” Luz cheered with her fists in the air. Amity turned and felt her breath hitch. Luz was wearing a white shirt and black swim shorts and a pair of bright pink flip flops that were a tiny bit too small. She had a white towel draped over her neck and a tote bag on her shoulder. She reached in and started showing off the contents, explaining each one’s purpose. 

Luz was excited to go out with friends normally. After everything that happened, she needed normalcy. Amity was happy to provide that. So seeing the human being so bright and energetic for the first time in a while, she felt warmth radiate through her. ‘Finally, my Luz is back.’ Her face immediately flushed and she tried to shrink herself down so no one would ask her questions. ‘Dear Titan, what is wrong with me, why did I think that!?’  

Eda leaned into the greenette’s ear and whispered with a smirk, “Oh? What could be making you go so red, Minty?” Lilith saved her from further embarrassment by subtly dragging her sister out the door under the pretense of grocery shopping. 

“Well, I guess we’d better head out, then!” Luz announced as she led the way for her friends. 

~~~ 

Willow took the lead shortly after as it became obvious that Luz had no idea where she was going. Luz and Willow chatted happily as they traveled to their destination, unknowingly letting a distance grow between them and Amity and Gus. 

“So… Luz, huh?” 

Amity’s head whipped towards the shorter boy so fast she gave herself whiplash, “HUH!?” There was a pause in Willow and Luz’s conversation, but the plant witch reinitiated the discussion of what made a derby team good with a simple dismissal of the severity of Amity’s situation. ‘If Gus knows then the entire school knows! How did this happen?’ She cleared her throat, “I don’t know what you are referring to, Augustus.” 

Gus shrugged with an easygoing smile, “Willow helped me figure it out. I won’t say anything to Luz about it, don’t worry.” 

Amity’s eyes instinctively narrowed in on the boy with suspicion, “Why?” 

Gus looked at her with confusion, “Do you want me to tell her?” 

“No!” Amity winced at the volume of her voice before trying again quietly. “No, I-I don’t want her to know, please.” 

Gus nodded with his relaxed smile returned. “I thought so. Most people don’t want that. If you ever need help with it though, I’m always willing to help my friends!” 

“We’re friends?” Amity tilted her head with a look of confusion. 

Gus shrugged sheepishly, “W-well, I thought we were, but-” 

“No, no, I would like to be friends with you, Gus!” Amity said as she waved her hands defensively. “I just didn’t know you counted me as your friend,” she added meekly. 

Gus waved dismissively, “Psh, you used to be a jerk, sure, but you were pretty nice for a jerk.” 

“You never hated me?” Amity asked skeptically. 

“Hate’s a strong word… I’d more describe it as if you were drowning I probably wouldn’t have saved you,” Gus explained as easily as his smile. 

“O-oh…” Amity rubbed the back of her neck, “A-and now?” 

“I probably would save you,” Gus shrugged. “I mean, it all depends on the circumstances. In both situations, if you were easy to save and it didn’t mean sacrificing anything, I’d save you no matter what.” 

‘Well, at least I know why he’s friends with Luz,’ Amity smiled in relief. ‘They’re both too good to hate anyone and their brains work similarly.’ The two drifted into a comfortable silence after Gus finished discussing the various factors that’d affect his willingness to save his friends. 

Eventually Amity’s eyes drifted to the human. This was the most of Luz she had seen ever. The toned legs and arms were distracting her more than she cared to admit. And oh how her imagination tried to run with the information it was being given. Amity was a distinguished and respectable gentlewoman, though. She would control her mind and she wouldn’t think about Luz in any fantasies. 

“We’re here!” Willow announced, pulling Amity from her thoughts. The four teenagers pushed through the brush and came to the familiar sight of the beach Amity and Willow played at as kids. 

“I didn’t know this place was still here!” Amity gasped and pointed at a raggedy wooden structure, “Hey, there’s our base!” 

“Base?” Luz asked before gasping, “Backstory time!” 

Willow giggled, “Amity can tell you more about it while me and Gus set up our spot.” 

Amity caught Willow giving her a wink . She felt her heart drop, ‘That sneaky witch, she planned this!’ Amity needed to deflect this before- 

“So, when did you guys build this?” ‘Too late.’ “Did one of you wanna be in the construction coven when you were kids?” Luz leaned in close and grabbed Amity’s shoulders and whispered, “Tell me everything you know.” 

“W-well, uhm, I-uh… don’t remember?” Behind Luz Willow eyed the greenette with a flabbergasted expression. Amity herself was even confused, ‘That’s a terrible excuse!’  

Luz cleared her throat and shrugged as she let go of Amity’s shoulders (Amity barely suppressed a whine at the absence of the human’s incredibly warm hands), “Oh yeah, I get that. Sorry, don’t mean to overstep my boundaries!” 

Amity dismissed the apology with a wave, “It’s fine! I can tell you about something else if you want!” 

“Oh, well I don’t want to make you feel like you have to tell me something,” Luz rubbed the back of her neck. 

Amity’s body shook her head while the mind wondered why exactly she wanted to tell Luz everything and nothing at the same time. “No, really! Go ahead and ask me something! Willow and Gus have to set up the spot, and we’ll need something to do!” 

Luz rubbed her chin as she eyed the small shabby structure, “Weeeeeeeellll, we could fix this up so we could use this thing ourselves? Maybe you can think of something to talk about.” Luz gasped and grabbed Amity’s hands, “We could talk about Azura!” 

Amity gulped. ‘Welp, I guess this is what we’re doing. Manual labour. Hard, sweaty, manual labour. Oh Titan…’  

~~~ 

Amity was barely holding Nightmare together. Luz had a propensity to bend over to pick things up, even though Amity had told her a few times to lift with the knees, not the back. Luz countered with a smile and her healing ability. Also her strength. ‘And the view…’ Amity’s complaints died in her throat quickly as she realized that this was something she could milk. 

Sure, maybe it wasn’t the traditionally feminnine attire that should be attractive. But that was Luz: breaking all the rules and showing that they aren’t always in place for the right reasons. Right now? Luz was breaking the white shirt plus sweat rule. It was generally considered inappropriate to perform any activity that would elicit sweat or other liquids while wearing white garments. It was unseemly and provoking of lustful reactions. 

Amity never thought about that rule that Belos put into place. Sure, she could see that being a reaction of some of the more degenerate members of society, but she wasn’t of the normal echelons of witchkind. She was a Blight. 

Luz wiped some sweat from her brow, “Woo! It’s gonna be a scorcher today!” The human pulled on the hem of her white t-shirt, “I haven’t gotten near the water and I’m already soaked!” 

‘Oh fuck…’ Amity Blight appeared to be a high class degenerate, because she couldn’t explain away the thoughts that sped through her mind as if they were on demon speed. Amity really wanted the human to take that shirt off. “Well, we should go check up on Willow and Gus,” she squeaked. 

“Great idea!” Luz exclaimed as she started out of the enlargened and repaired shack, “We probably could all go for a dip right about now, anyways!” 

Amity followed Luz out of the shack. They spent half an hour fixing it up, and Amity was proud of the progress made. Well, the progress Luz made. The most Amity did was summon Nightmare to gather materials for Luz to use and hold things for Luz. 

Willow and Gus had been busy organizing belongings and spaces near the shack. Towels had been spread for lounging usage, Willow had used her plant magic to create furniture, Gus used illusions of himself to set things up quickly. Now they were patting their hands clean and relaxing in two plant lounge chairs beneath an umbrella they’d brought. 

“Oh, hey! You guys done?” Willow asked. 

Luz nodded proudly, “Yep! We fixed it all up! Now we can use it for all sorts of fun stuff!” 

“Well that’s all well and good, but you two look pretty thirsty,” Willow said without taking her eyes off Amity with a tiny smug smile. 

Luz gasped and stared at Amity, causing the greenette and plant witch to have tiny heart attacks as they feared their incredibly perceptive friend had picked up on the signs. “I completely forgot! Humans normally need water every three hours, but we’ve been out in the heat and doing work, Amity! You’re probably getting super dehydrated!” 

Willow breathed a sigh of relief. Amity’s breath was hitched at the concern in the human’s voice. “O-oh, i-it’s fine, Luz! I-” 

“No it isn’t!” Luz dug into the cooler by the relaxing witches’ feet and procured two waterskins. She stopped and eyed them with curiosity, “Huh, waterskins? I thought these only existed in fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons. Never thought I’d see any in real life!” Luz blinked before shaking her head. She handed one of the waterskins to Amity, who accepted it gratefully and drank with a thirst she attributed to a human. “Sorry, Amity! I’m standing here jabbering away while you’re dying of thirst!” 

Amity gasped and caught her breath after downing half the waterskin. “What…do you…mean?” 

“Well you were clearly thirsty,” Luz nodded towards the half capacity waterskin, “And dehydration is no joke! You’d be surprised how easy it is for someone to become sick if they aren’t properly hydrating or keeping cool!” 

“Well, yes, of course, but do humans regularly die of thirst?” Gus asked, genuine concern written on his face. 

“Uhhh, no?” Luz shrugged, “I guess not. Water is very important for the human body though and we can only go a maximum of three days without water.” 

The witches were silent and still for a few moments. Amity broke the silence, “...Luz, how do you know how long it takes for a human to die of such a preventable death?” 

“Oh, humans study what causes death all the time!” Luz said cheerily, “Like it takes about ten days to die from starvation for the average person, and the longest someone was able to stay awake was eleven straight days, though there is a rare hereditary disease where people can’t sleep and they died after six months.” 

“How did humans determine these thresholds?” Gus asked, sitting on the edge of his seat with a notebook in his hand. 

“Oh, most of the discoveries of what can kill you and how long it takes to kill you were made through trial and error, I think,” Luz answered with her usual go-lucky smile. 

Willow was the first to break the following silence, “Luz, no offense, but I’m not sure what is scarier. The fact that humans decided the best way to find out how lethal something is to sacrifice someone to find out, or the fact that if you accept it as normal then there is literally no human that thinks that’s a horrible thing to do.” 

“Oh, I didn’t say it was good,” Luz corrected, “I, with the rest of the human race, recognize the scientific achievement that those who came before us made.” She waved dismissively, “Besides, science has come a long way! We don’t test stuff on humans until we’re sure the side effects wouldn’t be too bad!” 

“And how do you determine when that point is?” 

“Oh we test stuff on rats and mice because their DNA is really similar to ours!” Luz answered like it was common knowledge. 

Before Willow or Gus could ask who Dee n’ Ay were, Amity patted the human’s shoulder, “Didn’t you say you wanted to go swim and cool off?” 

“Oh yeah!” Luz twisted the cap off her waterskin and drained it in seconds with speedy gulps. A few stray drops rolled down her chin and down her throat all the way to the collar and into the shirt. Amity’s hand became cold and wet from squeezing the waterskin and spilling water to the towel below. Luz gasped with a satisfied sigh. She recapped the leather waterskin and tossed it down next to the cooler. “Welp, anyone joining me?” 

“I will!” Gus struggled a little pulling his poncho off his head. He stumbled forward after his arms got caught in the front while he tried to pull it off. 

Luz laughed, “Don’t worry, bud, I got you!” She helped pull the boy free from the cloth prison, folding it neatly and putting it on top of the boy’s bag. “My turn!” 

Up to this point, Amity held her cool. She was able to play off any reaction that she had. Luz was none the wiser, and Willow and Gus had kept the teasing to a minimum. She was able to at least react on instinct to appear to be normal and not have a massive crush on her friend. But when Luz Noceda reached down and gripped the hem of her white, sweaty t-shirt and pulled it up and off Amity had no excuse. 

‘Oh glorious Titan, those are abs,’ Amity stared at the human’s glistening toned stomach. She knew of Luz’s fitness, she had to be strong to do everything she had, after all. But up to this point Amity had never seen it. Luz seemed to be pretty reserved about how she presented herself. Always wearing clothes that didn’t reveal too much (except for her pajamas, though even those were more reserved than they could be). 

A voice in the greenette’s mind was screaming, ‘WHOOOOOOO! Yeah baby! That’s what I’ve been waitin’ for!’ It drowned out all other sounds, and her vision was hyper focused onto the greatest sight she’d ever seen. 

At least, until the sight came closer and the human’s voice cut through her thoughts like the chisel that cut through whatever stone was used to create those abs- 

“Amity? Are you okay? Here, let me get you a tissue!” 

Amity blinked as the statement confused her. ‘Why would I need a tissue-’ Then she felt a warm, thick trickle touch her upper lip. She touched the area and found red trailing from her nose. 

Usually, Luz managed to make things better for Amity. Usually. In the case of cleaning up a nosebleed that happened for… some reason … Luz did not manage to make things better. In fact, she made things so much worse . Luz cupped Amity’s jaw and dabbed at the area gently as if the greenette were made of glass. 

“That shack must’ve been pretty dusty,” Luz mused. “My mami gets nosebleeds if the air’s too dry, too.” 

‘I’ll take what I can get,’ Amity thought to herself. It was a terrible excuse because she didn’t get allergies like her siblings did. But her brain was still mostly fried from everything, and the only response she could give was a simple nod. 

“Why don’t you sit down and cool off, too? You feel really warm,” Luz suggested. 

Amity knew in that moment what an abomination must feel like. Gelatinous and totally and completely submissive to a master (but not in the weird way ( though she wouldn’t mind that, either )). If Luz told her to go fight the entire Emperor’s Coven, she would. She was already daydreaming ways to collapse the coven, so it wouldn’t take much for her to start her war. But she wasn’t being used as a common soldier, being ordered to battle. Amity was being told to relax and take care of herself. The best abominations follow their orders diligently. 

So five minutes later Amity had regained her functions laying in Gus’s chair watching Luz and Gus splash each other playfully. 

“Amity?” Willow called offhandedly. 

“Hm?” Amity hummed without taking her eyes off Luz. 

“Hey, you actually responded!” Willow cheered. 

Amity looked over at her friend with worry, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you! I-” 

Willow snorted with a dismissive wave, “It’s fine, you seemed pretty out of it. I was honestly just seeing when you came back to the mortal realm!” 

Amity narrowed her eyes, “Don’t say a word.” 

Willow smirked smugly, but said nothing. She didn’t need to rub it in. Not yet. 

~~~ 

Later at lunch, they enjoyed their packed food. Luz had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips. Amity had a crisp, cooling salad. Willow had already eaten her packed sandwich earlier, so she went ahead and snacked away on celery and carrots. Gus snacked on an apple. 

“So, what next?” Luz asked after finishing her sandwich. 

Amity averted her eyes from the human’s wandering gaze. She’d been watching the girl the entire meal and it was slowing her eating to the point that her salad was becoming lukewarm. Gus and Willow eyed each other and shrugged. 

Luz shrugged amicably. “Well, that’s fine, why don’t we play a game?” 

“What do you have in mind?” Willow asked. 

Luz shot up and reached into her tote bag, pulling out a white ball with an ‘ah-hah!’ “Beach Volleyball!” 

“That sounds like fun!” Gus cheered, throwing his arms into the air. “How do we play?” 

After explaining the rules to her friends and not explaining them to the readers due to the author’s own incompetence and neglegience to research the intricasies of beach volleyball law, Luz set up a net using two ice glyphs to make poles and two plant glyphs to form the net. 

“So, what are the teams gonna be?” Luz asked with a clap of her hands. 

“Gus and I against you and Amity to start, I think,” Willow suggested. 

And they played. Gus and Willow won, but not easily. It mainly came down to Gus’s illusions of himself, which allowed him to cover as much area as he wanted. Amity did her best to replicate the action with her abomination abilities, but ultimately she couldn’t keep more than Nightmare standing at once. If she summoned one more, the previous one always fell apart. 

Luz was definitely the weakest player, which surprised all of them. It wasn’t until she hit the ball with a bit more force that they saw why. They stared at the scraps of the ball after the deafening pop with grief (Gus), regret/guilt (Luz), competitive adrenaline (Amity), and indifference (Willow). 

“Well,” Willow shrugged, “what can you do?” She turned to Luz, “Do you have anything else fun that we could do?” 

Luz thought about it for a moment before nodding, “Well, there’s the classic sand activities: building a structure using sand and water or digging a hole and burying someone in the sand.” 

The second suggestion was met with horror that was alleviated by Luz explaining that the head was left unsubmerged. The witches decided on the buildings of sand, even though they worried about the structural integrity using such a material. They were again relieved when they discovered the buildings were merely scaled down versions of structures. 

The sand castle they built was glorious. The base was strong and wide, and within the thick outer walls was a small village surrounding an inner wall with another village. The closer to the center one was, the better the tiny houses were. The explanation the friends gave for this was that the wealth distribution increased the closer one came to the center of the civilization. The real reason was that Amity and Gus were getting tired of using their magic from starting from the middle and expanding outward, and it showed in the craftsmanship. 

“This seems deliberate,” Willow commented on the design of the city. 

Amity tilted her head and nodded at the plant witch, “Of course it is! Hasn’t Luz shown you that mango?” 

Luz laughed and Amity felt her face heat up, though whether it was from embarrassment or adoration of the girl she wasn’t sure. “It’s pronounced ‘mahn-gah’, and Willow doesn’t like violent stuff, so I didn’t show her it.” 

“Well now I’m interested! What happens in this story?” Willow asked. 

Luz opened her mouth to answer, but a moan from the ocean cut her off. Moments later a large, slimy, smelly creature pulled itself from the water. Luz wrapped an arm around Amity’s waist and dashed backwards to their picnic spot. Willow grabbed Gus using a vine and dodge rolled out of the monster’s way. The creature’s large, bulbous body crushed the sandy city the group had made and released a mighty roar. 

Luz turned to Willow, “That’s actually pretty accurate, surprisingly.” 

“WHAT IS THAT!?” Gus screamed. 

While everyone else seemed to panic, Luz sighed, “A dumb monster that knows how to crash a party.” Solar Flare appeared on her back and she drew it, aiming the tip for where the acid sack normally was. “Careful, keep your distance! Trashslugs spit acid, sometimes.” Before anyone could react, Luz had surged forward and stabbed the trashslug in the perfect spot. The beast screeched and it wasn’t difficult to figure out why a moment later. Luz tore her blade from the beast roughly, leaving a jagged gash with a red-green liquid pouring out with steam pouring off. 

The trashslug lifted its massive body up preparing to slam it down, but a large, purple fist spawned out of the sand with the force and speed of Truck-kun. The trashslug was thrown off-balance and it fell onto its back, stunned. 

Willow, Gus, and Luz rushed the beast. Willow used her magic to give her strong gauntlets made of roots and bark that wrapped around the entirety of her arms. Gus summoned several dopplegangers of himself that started kicking the sides of the trashslug. Luz used her sword to deal debilitating slashes and thrusts that tore the beast’s flesh asunder. 

In under a minute, the group had defeated a monster. They also caused the area to reek of trash, forcing them to leave soon after. Luz called Eda and informed her of the loot, and the rest of the young adults made their way back home. Amity was the first to split off as her home was the furthest from the Owl House. 

“Bye Amity!” Luz waved energetically. As soon as the greenette was out of sight and earshot, Luz sighed and Willow and Gus giggled. “What?” 

“You should ask her out,” Gus deadpanned with a smile. 

Luz groaned, “Ugh, not this again…” 

“I think you might have a chance!” Willow agreed with the illusionist. 

“I’d rather not push my luck, thanks.” Luz split off from the group with a friendly wave, “Adios!” 

Once the human was out of earshot, Willow and Gus groaned. 

“How much longer do we have to keep their secrets!?” Gus whined. 

Willow sighed, “All we can do is hope they grow eyes and ears soon.” 

“I’ve been praying to the Titan,” Gus admitted, “I hope he’s hearing me.” 

“Me too.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Oneshot 4: Lilith’s First Day 

“You got that?” Eda asked jadedly. Lilith was a Clawthorne, and most would think business was in her blood. It was, just not the fun kind of business. Lilith had the stick-up-the-ass kinda business in her blood.

“But Edalyn, you’ve marked up the prices of these potions by as much as three times the cost of producing them!” Lilith argued, “You’re being a dishonest swindler and I’ll have no part in it!” 

Eda facepalmed and slowly dragged her hand down her face. “Look, Lilith, you need to pull your own weight. You aren’t a member of the Emperor’s Coven anymore. You don’t have to keep the stick up your ass.” Lilith opened her mouth to argue, but Eda wasn’t having it. “And in this case, I am your boss, now. You’ll sell these at the prices I give you because I made it, understand?” 

“I understand increasing the price with a manufacturer’s fee,” Lilith conceded. Eda rolled her eyes sensing the rebuttal coming from a mile away, “but these prices are insane !” 

“They’re actually on the cheaper side,” Eda grumbled. “This isn’t up for negotiation, Lilith. Either you can do sales while I brew, or you can do deliveries while Luz does sales.” 

“ OR ,” Lilith clasped her hands together, “hear me out-” 

“No,” Eda denied immediately. 

“But-” 

Eda shook her head, “No, I know how you make potions. You would follow the recipe exactly, and you never do that.” 

Lilith looked shocked, “How did you pass the potions track at Hexside!?” 

Eda tapped her temple with a smug grin, “I went by heart and knowledge of the ingredients. You used too much of the ingredients every time, which is why you got a B.” 

“Then why do they write the recipes with more ingredients than necessary, hm?” Lilith asked with a hidden desperation to be right. 

Eda waved dismissively at the question, “Psh, they do that because using too much of those ingredients would be unsafe. Give people a safe maximum because there is no minimum!” 

“I feel like that is untrue,” Lilith countered, “I wonder-” 

“Hey, Pinkie!” Eda called out to a passing Hexside student wearing yellow colours on her uniform holding a silver-haired bard track student’s hand. 

The triclops turned with a raised eyebrow, “Uhh, yeah?” 

“Should you follow the recipe for a potion exactly? Like use amount of ingredients that it specifies?” Eda quizzed. 

“Only if the recipe specifies that the amount written is to be used. Usually the amount in a recipe is a safe maximum, though some potions have a small range where the measurements need to be exact, though the recipe should specify that range,” Boscha answered expertly. 

“Huh, I’ve never seen a minimum before,” Eda hummed. “Thanks, kid!” 

“No problem, strange lady?” Boscha replied before Skara pulled her along towards the diner. 

Lilith groaned as Eda slowly turned around with an even more smug grin. “Fiiiiiinnneee, you were right, I was wrong.” 

“Yep, so now we know who is brewing potions!” Eda said with a victorious smirk. “But who is going to sell our wares? Luz could, but then who would transport deliveries-” 

“I said fine, Edalyn,” Lilith sighed in defeat, “I shall do my best, but you know I’m not the…” She cleared her throat, “...the social Clawthorne…” 

Eda wouldn’t admit it, but this wasn’t fun anymore. She still didn’t forgive Lilith, but the raven-haired witch was trying to atone. Owlbert had suggested she was testing Lilith’s will to atone by giving her increasingly harsh tasks. Maybe he was right. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anyone she could talk to about this. Luz only ever encouraged the punishments, and King wouldn’t understand. That only left… shiver … Hooty… 

‘Nope!’ Eda sighed, “Listen, just make the amount of snails I’ve written down, then you can go home, alright?” 

Lilith tilted her head, “Are you sure? It doesn’t seem like that’d take too long-” 

“Oh it wouldn’t take me or Luz long, but like you said you’re not the social one.” 

Lilith nodded, “R-right.” 

Eda summoned Owlbert and mounted the staff before pointing at the witch, “And if you catch anyone trying something funny with you and only you show them our store policy!” 

“Uhh…” Lilith raked her brain for what might be the correct store policy. Eda had told her several store policies. “...is it ‘Mess around and find out’?” 

“ Fuck around and find out,” Eda corrected. She waved, “Alright, see ya! Byyyee~” then she sped off, leaving Lilith on the side of the street with Eda’s stand and a stock of potions. 

Lilith sighed sarcastically, “Glad she gave me advice on selling things…” She took her place behind the stand’s counter and took stock. Without the portal, Eda’s method of income had disappeared. There was still human junk they could sell in a pinch, but Luz suggested they hold onto those items in case they needed a lot of money quickly. Lilith agreed, and so did Eda. 

So Eda’s Human Emporium was now Eda’s Potions and Brews. They usually set up on the other side of Bonesborough opposite of the place Eda got her elixirs, as Lilith found the case today. She had suggested the change of location using evidence from her head coveness days. This side of the town was on the poorer side, and that posed many risks and rewards. 

One risk was as Eda had mentioned: thieves or swindlers. Lilith could handle people trying to haggle her down. She knew the stopping point of the price she could sell something for a profit. As for thieves, she had her palisman that was named in a chapter of DMC2 and the author didn’t think about that fact before writing this. The palisman’s name is Craig. Anyways, she could still use Craig to cast spells with great effectiveness. 

Another risk was the Emperor’s Coven. Sure, they all may have been pardoned by Belos, but that didn’t mean they didn’t get harassed sometimes. Luz didn’t, but she was part Titan! She was essentially a god amongst mortals (Lilith was waiting for their relationship to improve before worshiping the girl). Of course, nobody knew her true nature. They only knew she was just as likely to attack some guards on sight as she was to ignore them completely. It certainly was effective in ensuring that they left her alone. 

But for those risks (and many more) there were even greater rewards! Many people here were poor and sickly or old and weak. Most of the time they couldn’t afford to try to travel to the center of the town for the market, or go to the potion shop that the author forgot the name of. So, by setting up in the center of the slums, the potions stand could be frequented by a plethora of customers. 

Customers willing to pay a bit more than usual to get what they needed. As Lilith assumed the case was with an older witch that approached the stand. She had turquoise hair and a few layers of animal pelts. Not too strange for the area, Lilith supposed. 

“Oh!” the witch took a step back in surprise upon realizing the witch running the stand was Lilith Clawthorne. “You… where is your sister?” She glanced around, “Or her apprentice?” 

Lilith gave a small smile that she hoped was friendly (she didn’t know, she hadn’t smiled genuinely in a long time from working for the Emperor’s Coven, so smiling felt unnatural now), “They are busy with other important matters. I’d be happy to assist you in their stead!” 

The customer looked nervous. ‘I guess my smile wasn’t friendly, after all…’ Lilith sighed, dropping the smile and her impersonation of what a salesperson should be (in her mind). “I’m sorry, I’m not used to this quite yet,” Lilith looked at the woman with a nervous smile and chuckled softly, “If I am to be honest, you are the first customer I’ve had and I’m not sure what it is that makes a good merchant.” 

The woman eased the tension in her body a little, “You… I see.” She gave a warmer smile, though there was caution in her body language, “Well, the owner and her apprentice have shown me and my family kindness, so perhaps I should do the same.” She offered her hand, “My name is Carrie, and I go by she and her.” 

Lilith took the hand and shook it gingerly, “I’m sorry if the question seems odd, but why introduce yourself like that?” 

“My child prefers to go by they or them, and they don’t like it when people use anything else,” Carrie explained as she released the handshake. “They usually won’t say anything to correct anyone, however. So I’ve started to introduce myself with preferred pronouns and encouraged them to do the same!” 

Lilith smiled genuinely, “Oh? That’s nice, it would’ve been helpful back in the Emp-” The raven haired witch cleared her throat, “I-ah-forget I said anything, what do you need?” 

Carrie nodded, “I think that may be a reason people aren’t exactly flocking to the stand.” 

Lilith stood slack jawed with a look of dread, “Do…people usually come to the stand in crowds?” 

Carrie giggled with a shake of her head, “No, but usually there is a line when it first opens, so I was surprised by that as well.” 

Lilith frowned and rubbed her chin, “It must be due to my stature and appearance. Perhaps I give off an unapproachable vibration?” 

“Vibration?” Carrie asked with a tilt of her head. 

“Oh!” Lilith lightly smacked her forehead, “It was an expression the human made!” 

“...you mean Luz?” 

Lilith blinked, “Oh, yes…” She frowned again, “I’m finding it difficult to call her by her name…” 

Carrie hummed, as if considering something. “Would you like to know what I did when I was having trouble calling my child by their chosen name?” Lilith nodded. “Well, I used to have a son named Rictavio. He didn’t feel like the male pronouns fit, nor did the female ones. So, he became they and Rictavio became Rivali. I always had to correct myself after calling them by their deadname until I thought changed who they were in my mind. They were no longer my son, they were my child. They were a different person, yet at the same time they were exactly the same.” 

“That worked?” Lilith asked with disbelief. 

Carrie nodded, “Yes. I decided to have my child reintroduce themselves to me, and I did the same. It recreated the image of them in my mind.” 

Lilith nodded gloomily, “Not sure she’d be up for that…” 

“Why’s that?” Carrie asked. 

Lilith sighed, “I’ve…made mistakes in the past. When I was younger, I hurt people close to me. I’ve been trying to do things for them to make up for it, but it never seems to please them…” 

“Well… I’m afraid I’m not the most knowledgeable on the topic of earning forgiveness…” Carrie rubbed the back of her neck. 

Lilith shook her head and threw on a faux smile, “Oh, don’t worry about it. What was it you needed?” 

After selling a common mold cure to Carrie, customers seemed to get less nervous and slowly trickled out. Lilith sold about half the stock by the time the sun was at its highest. She wiped her brow as the sun beat down on her and cooked her all-black attire. She would have liked to get a meal and something to drink, but she still had a quota to meet. Lilith Clawthorne faced all manner of life threatening things, a hot day would not be her downfall!  

At least until in the middle of a sale when everything became foggy and dark. The next time she awoke, she was inside a tent filled with potion-filled shelves. Outside she heard the hum- Luz’s voice as she apparently was making sales left and right. 

Lilith clutched her head, “Ugh… was my magic drained…?” 

“You passed out from the heat,” Eda replied while grabbing a few potions to bring out to her apprentice. 

Lilith jolted, “Edalyn!?” She gasped, “Oh no, what-” 

“A buddy of yours from the old bastard’s circus troupe made sure to catch the guys that stole from you after he got Luz to come take care of you,” Eda explained as she handed the collected potions out the tent flaps. 

Lilith’s brows furrowed, “And she did? Why?” 

Eda paused on her trip to more shelves in front of her sister. She turned to her sister with a scowl, “We aren’t happy with you. I’m still upset, and I’m not sure when I will be able to forgive you for what you’ve done to us.” Lilith flinched and looked to the floor in shame. “But-” the raven haired witch looked back up, “-neither of us wants you to get hurt. I know you’re trying to make it up to us, and Luz does too. She just…” 

Eda sighed with a shrug, “I don’t think she’s in a good place right now. I think she feels like anything and everything is a threat, and you are a big one.” 

“What can I do?” Lilith asked desperately. 

Eda was silent for a moment with a neutral expression. Eventually she shrugged, “I don’t know, you can start by actually taking care of yourself.” Eda tapped a water bottle by Lilith’s thigh, “Believe it or not, neither of us want you to die.” 

Lilith took the bottle and gulped the water within greedily. She coughed upon finishing, “You said…” she gasped and tried to catch her breath, “...you said… a guard helped me?” 

Eda nodded, “Yep, if I remember Luz right it was that Steve guy?” 

Lilith hummed, “I see.” She stood on shaky legs and summoned Craig to help steady herself before Eda could lift her hand fully to help. “I shall return to the Owl House, I have some business to take care of.” 

Eda raised an eyebrow, but ultimately shrugged with indifference. “Alright, just do me a favour and take the back? Don’t wanna ruin Luz’s groove.” Lilith obeyed. 

~~~ 

“Steve?” Steve knew that voice anywhere. He spun around with a salute, “Miss Clawthorne! You’re doing better?” 

Lilith knew she’d find him here. Steve always had the greatest reports. Sure, they were mostly boring, but they were accurate and he included anything that may have been important, and he had decent instincts. A few times his reports gave enough small clues to lead to an arrest of a dangerous criminal. He also knew reading those reports was a slog of short and to the point statements like “all clear” or “at this hour we did this mundane task that didn’t need to be explained, and certainly not this robotically”. 

Steve wrote jokes he thought of, nice sweet moments he witnessed, and hilarious happenstances. It was always the highlight of her day to read his reports, and it was nice to always know what to expect. He went above and beyond for the job, and though she wished other members of the coven had the same drive to write reports that actually reported things, she knew that was not a fair expectation to place on everyone. 

Lilith nodded, “Indeed, thank you for your assistance.” 

Steve dismissed her gratitude with a wave, “Oh, no thanks needed! Gotta help my commander when she’s in need, right?” 

Lilith frowned, “But…I’m no longer your commander. You shouldn’t prioritize me over other citizens.” 

“Well…” Steve shrugged, “...if you’re no longer my commander I guess I don’t have to follow your orders?” 

Lilith rubbed the bridge of her nose with an exasperated sigh, “Steve, I really don’t think it is a good idea-” 

“I know, it’s alright!” Steve waved his hands in frantic dismissal. “But I also wanted to keep an eye out on you and your sister’s apprentice!” 

Lilith raised an eyebrow, “Hm? Not Edalyn?” 

Steve shook his head, “No, ma’am. Many guards are quite… upset with the human, and there are some people willing to pay for her to get hurt.” 

“Kikimora?” Lilith didn’t think she had to guess, but there was a chance- 

“Yeah!” Steve exclaimed, “You’re always so smart! How’d you know?” 

Lilith rubbed the back of her neck with an embarrassed tiny smile and a light blush, “Oh, well, you know how she is. All fight in a small package. Also, I can’t imagine being kicked into the horizon without fighting back is a very flattering image.” 

Steve nodded, “Heh, yeah.” There was a moment of silence before Steve cleared his throat nervously, “Ms. Clawthorne, don’t take this the wrong way, but would you like to go somewhere private?” 

“What about your post?” 

Steve scoffed, “Kikimora can stuff it! Besides, I’m already in trouble for abandoning my post earlier, can’t get into much more trouble!” 

Lilith was a skeptic by nature, and many times had she faced this very same question. One of those times was Steve asking her out, but the answer was clear. He was simply too young for her, and she did her best to let him down nicely. Honestly, if he were a bit older she would make sure to lock that down. 

And just like last time, she accepted. Were it anyone else, she would have told them no in certainly unkind words. But this was Steve. Lilith didn’t think he was capable of ill will. The two of them wandered through alleys and weaved through buildings until they reached a small building towards the center of town. 

“Come on,” Steve motioned for Lilith to follow him through the door, “Let me show you something.” 

Lilith followed the young man into the old, weathered building. Inside it was pretty dusty and obvious that it hadn’t been in use for a long time. There were trails through the dust from what the raven-haired witch assumed was Steve. He went up the staircase and waited at the top while Lilith glanced around. 

It was a simple wooden structure with a stone base. Inside it was cozy, and the windows were tinted to regulate temperature gain and loss. With the setting sun, it cast a warm glow throughout even though it was still very dark. There was no furniture, so it was impossible to tell what the building’s purpose was. Ahead of her was an open door that led to a hallway with other rooms, and to her left was the stairs. 

Lilith followed Steve up the steps, wiping the dust from the railing along the way. As she continued following the young man, she scanned the second floor. On the left was a kitchen, on the right an empty room with a closet, on the next left a full bathroom, on the next right a cozy library with a fireplace and bookshelves built into the walls. At the end of the hallway there was a ladder leading up to a trapdoor, which Steve climbed and opened. 

With nothing better to do, Lilith followed. It led to the roof, where the first signs of life appeared. There were lounge chairs, a cooler, and a small folding end table towards on edge of the flat roof. On the opposite side there was an overrun greenhouse. 

“Come on!” Steve waved her over to the chairs, “Come have a drink.” 

Lilith frowned, “You shouldn’t be drinking on the job.” 

“And you shouldn’t be this stuck up without a job, but here we are,” Steve teased as he opened the cooler and pulled out two bottles of apple blood, offering one to the witch standing by the lawn chair while he settled into the other. 

Lilith sighed, but accepted the bottle and sat down in the chair. She opened the bottle and took a swig, cringing at the strong taste of alcohol. 

Steve laughed, “What’s wrong?” 

Lilith coughed, “Just… a bit strong for my tastes. I was never really a drinker.” 

Steve nodded, “Yeah, I can tell. I’ll bring something softer for you next time.” 

Lilith smirked. “Next time? Are you planning for this to become a regular thing?” 

Steve turned his head towards the raven-haired witch with a slight tilt, “Well I don’t have any other good friends to just chill with, so yeah I was hoping it would?” 

Lilith hummed. “Why are we here, Steve?” 

Steve took off his mask and took a large sip of his drink. He sighed with satisfaction and answered, “I know family trouble when I see it. You know I have a little brother, right?” 

Lilith shook her head, “I tried not to pry into the personal lives of my colleagues.” 

“Of course you did,” Steve said with admiration, “You always did care about us.” He took another swig, “Anyways, I have a little brother. He’s a bit of a pain sometimes, but you know how that goes!” Lilith nodded. She did, and it led her to a path of pain and suffering. Steve continued on, “I remember when I got accepted into the Emperor’s Coven. He felt betrayed, and it really hurt when he said that his brother was leaving him to the slitherbeasts.” 

“He had to have known you’d be leaving home at some point,” Lilith commented. “He would still be cared for by your parents, so he wasn’t being abandoned!” 

Steve shook his head, “Our parents died to a devil attack when I was fourteen, Matt was just three.” He sighed as he stared into his drink, “I had to step up. I started working jobs when I could. Grades started to slip. Honestly, it was kind of a miracle that I got into the Emperor’s Coven in the first place.” He took a swig, “But I made it, and Matt was very angry.” 

“You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t wish to,” Lilith laid a gentle hand on Steve’s shoulder. 

Steve shook his head, “No, it’s fine.” He took another swig, “It’s important to talk about things and get different perspectives.” He paused to collect his thoughts, “The part that hurt the most is that he was right to be angry. I was telling my little brother that he had to grow up before he was ready because I couldn’t take care of him anymore. He was seven-years-old.” He glanced at Lilith from the corner of his eye, “Do you remember when you were told to grow up and you had to?” 

“Yes,” Lilith answered immediately. It was when she and her sister were applying to the Emperor’s Coven. It was when she passed by the stand in the night market with a scroll that had been burned decades ago. It was when her sister transformed and became shunned by society. It was when she ruined her sister’s life. “Yes, I remember it perfectly, unfortunately.” 

Steve nodded as he took a small sip and returned his gaze to the horizon. “Then you know how it feels to have your way of life destroyed.” Lilith nodded. “Matt wouldn’t talk to me for a while after I told him that. But you know what got him to forgive me?” 

“What?” 

“He apparently was still awake one night when I started crying,” Steve said with a smile. 

Lilith did a double take, “What!? I apologize, but I just can’t imagine you crying!” 

Steve shrugged, “Well when you were promoted to Head Coveness, you made a lot of changes for the rights of the members. Things became easier, and I didn’t feel like crying anymore.” He took a sip, “Anyways, when I did cry I did it when I was sure Matt was asleep. That night, I forgot to check.” He paused, “I’m not gonna go into a long winded story about it, but he understood that he wasn’t the only one going through things.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” Lilith asked after a moment. 

“Well, maybe you could talk to your sister about what you went through?” Steve took a sip, “Everyone knows you two have a bit of bad blood between you, but if she knows why you were trying to capture her and the circumstances around that-” 

“I cursed her, Steve,” Lilith interrupted calmly with her eyes locked on the horizon. “It was when we were children. We both were talented and incredibly skilled, it’s just she was better. Every time. We both wanted to join the Emperor’s Coven, but there was only one opening. We had to duel to earn it.” 

Lilith took a swig of her drink, though she couldn’t contain the grimace from the strength of the beverage. “I cursed her to give myself a better chance at winning. I thought it’d be temporary, but it wasn’t. She transformed in front of the entire school. She begged for help, and nobody did. They shunned her.” 

Lilith paused to take a few gulps of the drink, hoping the alcohol might loosen her tongue to get the words out better and help ease the pain of one of her few true friends never wanting to see her again after this. “Then I spent the next few decades trying to get her captured. I was so blinded by the wish to make everything right that I didn’t see how my actions made it all worse.” Lilith sighed, “No matter what I do now, it will never change what I have done. It won’t cure Edalyn of the pain in all of her joints. It won’t stop the terror I can see in her eyes as feathers start to poke through her skin.” 

Lilith’s eyes dropped to her drink, “It won’t stop the hatred she feels for me.” 

“She doesn’t-” Steve started quickly. 

“I hope she does,” Lilith was met with silence. “I hope she does hate me. It would be better than anything else. If she forgives me, I’ll always feel like she has made the wrong choice. I feel like she has chosen incorrectly in allowing me to stay in her home with her true family. Hating me would be justified, and it is what I deserve.” 

“She doesn’t want to hate you,” Steve sighed. 

“How would you know?” Lilith snapped as she eyed the young man with a glare. 

“W-well…” he cleared his throat. “Nobody wants to hate their family, even if they do terrible things. Matt was hurt, but he didn’t hate me. He just wanted things to stay the same because normalcy is safe and comfortable.” 

“Please,” Lilith rolled her eyes, “it’s been normal for her to hate me ever since she was cursed.” 

“And yet she never severely wounded you or any other guards whenever we approached her home or her stand of wares,” Steve argued. “If she hated you, you wouldn’t be here, I’m sure.” 

“I’m fairly sure that she is restraining herself to set a good example for her apprentice,” Lilith said before finishing her drink. “Now she hates me.” 

Steve hummed with concern, “Well, you know that you can come to me if she does something. I’ll talk to her myself.” Steve finished his drink as well, “But Edalyn doesn’t hate you. I think you should just talk to her.” 

Lilith scoffed, “Yeah right, like that’ll ever happen.” 

~~~ 

It was dark, and Eda was tense. ‘Just talk to her. Be honest.’ Luz wasn’t happy about it, but she could deal with it. She was a resilient one. Eda had to do this. ‘Damn, how long are they going to be drinking for?’  

As if on cue, Lilith stumbled through the door into The Owl House. She froze when her eyes met her sister’s. The light pink flush in her pale cheeks and the mirth that accompanied it drained from the witch’s face. “E-Edalyn! You’re still awake!” 

Eda nodded. “Yep,” she popped the ‘p’, “I figured that you might be more talkative if you were a little tipsy.” The silver-haired witch nodded towards the other end of the couch, “Sit.” Lilith shuffled nervously for a moment before taking a seat against the armrest of the couch. 

“W-what did you want to discuss?” 

“I wasn’t lying when I said we don’t want you to die,” Eda began. “We don’t hate you. I did, for a little bit,” Eda glanced at Lilith’s deflated form, “but now? Honestly, I just want things to be fun again.” 

“I want to see Luz smile, I want King to run around screeching about conquering the world! I want Hooty to disobey me a little bit, even!” Eda ranted. She took a deep breath as she stared at the ceiling, “I want my sister back. The one that loved to read any book she could get her hands on. The one that could go on and on about a piece of lore. I want the sister that was happy.” 

“...what changed?” Lilith asked with a barely audible whisper. 

Eda sighed, “I realized that my sister was never a Head Coveness. My sister disappeared after she joined the Emperor’s Coven. I realized after I overheard you and that guy- yeah, I was flying by and I saw you two. Thought you were on a date, so I was gonna scare ya’. Instead, I heard my sister for the first time in years.” Eda paused for Lilith to ask questions. 

“Your sister still cursed you,” Lilith muttered. 

“My sister is the only one bringing it up,” Eda smirked. “Yeah, it sucks to be cursed and no I haven’t forgiven you completely for that, but I might have to thank you for getting me out of that Coven system how you did.” 

“You were ostracized and hunted ever since you were a child,” Lilith growled, “you were-” 

“Free,” Eda interrupted, “I was -and still am- free. Free to do any job, cast any spell, take on any apprentice, and follow my rules. If I were given the chance to never have been cursed, I probably wouldn’t take it. Being cursed is what led me to King, Hooty, and Luz. Being cursed brought my sister back to me-” 

“Don’t call me your sister,” Lilith’s voice wavered, “I… I don’t deserve that.” 

They sat silently for a moment. “I’ve chosen my family,” Eda broke the silence, “and I want my sister.” 

“I don’t know if I can be your sister anymore.” 

Eda laughed, “Well, you coulda fooled me! You’ve got the nervous mouse energy and the terrible eyesight already. Now all we need is the red curly hair and the love of books!” 

Lilith blinked before turning to her sister, “How did you know I-” 

“You’ve been taking twice as long to read stuff this week compared to last week, and it was Luz that mentioned it to me,” Eda answered. 

“Oh,” Lilith nodded, “I see.” 

“Why don’t we go get you some glasses tomorrow?” Eda suggested. “We can also go grocery shopping.” 

“And what of the human and the demons?” Lilith asked. 

Eda held up her index finger, “First of all, they have names and you’re gonna need to work on that. It’s one of the reasons Luz isn’t talking to you.” She raised her middle finger, “Second of all, I need a break from this place and Luz can watch the place while we’re gone. And she can’t really complain about you not being here, can she?” 

“I suppose not…” 

“Then it’s a sisters’ day out tomorrow!” Eda left the couch and made it to the base of the stairs before Lilith stopped her. 

“Do you really think we can be sisters again?” 

Eda turned around and faced the hopeless expression on the raven-haired witch’s face. She answered with a sigh and a shrug, “Truthfully? I don’t know. But if I can bring the person I know is still in there out I know I can try.” 

Lilith’s expression didn’t change, but there was a flicker of hope in her eyes. She nodded, “Goodnight, Edalyn.” 

Eda smiled, “Night, Lily.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Oneshot 6: Interview with a Demi-God 

“Please?” 

“No.” 

“Luz, please, for the sake of everyone that worships your kind, you must give some words to your followers!” 

Luz groaned. “Bruh, Lilith I’m not Jesus, alright? Leave me alone!” she marched into the kitchen to grab a plate of whatever horrifying new breakfast combo Eda tried. 

“But your highness, you have a duty to your people-” Lilith began while holding out two stone tablets and a chisel. 

“Lilith! I am trying to eat breakfast!” Luz roared. 

“I’m sorry, your holiness!” Lilith scrambled back to the living room to discuss the fury of the young god amongst them with Hooty. 

“Deep breaths, Luz. Deep breaths,” Eda instructed. 

“I’ll admit, her treating me like a god was funny and watching her act that pathetic did make me forgive her a tiny bit,” Luz pointed towards the living room, “but this is getting out of hand!” 

Eda sighed and nodded, “Yeah, I know. Cults have never been my thing, either.” 

Luz shook her head, “Lilith starting a cult isn’t the problem. Hell, not even her making me the figurehead of her cult is the problem. It’s that she keeps wanting me to do things for her so that she can go back to being a powerful leader!” 

Eda did a double take, “What? Luz, come on, give her a break. She just wants to do right by her god, y’know?” 

“She’s trying to convert King right now,” Luz deadpanned. 

Eda peeked through the kitchen doorway into the living room and found Lilith and Hooty bowing before a drawing of Luz. Lilith and Hooty were on their knees and bowing their heads to the floor, and after they came back up each time they would shoot a scowl towards King. Eda’s eyes widened as King began to buckle under the peer pressure and he dropped to his knees. 

Luz dashed to the drawing and touched it. Milliseconds later the depiction of the human was immolated. “Lilith, we need to have a talk. Hooty, stop pressuring King into doing things. And King? If anyone is ever trying to force you into joining something, remember that if you don’t want to join you don’t have to and shouldn’t join anything if you know you won’t enjoy it.” 

Lilith nodded solemnly, “Yes, Titaness.” 

Hooty nodded excitedly, “I’M GONNA CREATE A GANG AND KING’S GONNA JOIN!” 

King nodded and smiled, “Thanks, Luz.” 

The moment was ruined by a chinking from the corner where Lilith was inscribing Luz’s words to stone. The human sighed, “Y’know what? I’m not dealing with that right now.” 

~~~ 

“Hey Luz!” Willow greeted her human friend. Amity shuffled nervously at Willow’s side, waving with a smile. Luz opened the door to the Owl House widely without a word. Inside the two girls were amazed and horrified by the fanatical amount of drawings and writings that covered the living room. All of the drawings were of Luz. Some were of particular tastes and styles. Some would give Amity a bloody nose (and she would pocket one of them). 

“I need your help, guys,” Luz sounded tired and miserable, “Lilith is being… how do I put this…” 

“Fanatical?” Willow suggested. 

“Do you want me to deal with her for you?” Amity asked as she summoned her staff. 

“Uhhhhh…” Luz didn’t know what to say for a moment. “Willow, yes, Amity, no,” she settled on. 

“So, what do you want us to do?” Willow asked. 

Luz shrugged, “I don’t know! Like, she’s trying to earn my forgiveness or whatever, and that’s good, but-” 

“Wait,” Amity held up her hand to pause Luz, “ have you forgiven her?” 

Luz squirmed, “Wwweeeeeeeellllll…” 

“Luz!” Amity scolded, “After what she’s done!?” 

Luz held her arms up defensively, “Mami taught me to not stay angry at people! And at least she’s trying to get on my good side!” 

“Only because you’re a god!” Amity scoffed. 

“Luz isn’t a god, Amity,” Willow corrected. 

Luz sighed in relief. ‘At least someone gets it!’ “Thank you Wil-” 

“-She’s a demigod ,” Willow added. 

Amity nodded with humility, “Of course, Willow, you’re right.” She turned to Luz and bowed deeply, “I apologize, Luz, for mislabeling you.” 

Luz pulled at her hair, “Please tell me that you two are joking. I can’t handle being a religious figure, that’s too much responsibility!” 

Willow and Amity snickered. “Wait, the Lilith Clawthorne actually bows to you?” Amity began to laugh heartily, “Oh Titan, that’s amazing! I need to see that!” 

“We were kidding, Luz,” Willow admitted much to Luz’s relief. “But I agree with Amity, I need to see her groveling.” 

“Your majesty!” Lilith shouted from upstairs. 

“Oh shit,” Luz cursed under her breath before responding with a shout, “Uh, yeah?” 

“I require assistance with the shower’s temperature knobs!” 

“That doesn’t sound like a fanatical worshiper-” Amity began. 

“My prayers didn’t seem to be heard, so I was worried you were deafened!” Lilith added. 

“Oh,” Amity scratched the back of her head, “Does that-” 

“Only all the time,” Luz grumbled. “Especially at night before she goes to sleep. She’s a night owl, too. She does her schedule before prayers, and that all takes a couple of hours, and she tells me all about her day during those prayers.” 

Willow and Amity glanced at each other and winced. Luz did look worse for wear. She had bags under her eyes, paler skin, and a noticeable slouch. “Luz,” Willow began carefully, “when do you go to sleep?” 

“I haven’t slept in a week,” Luz deadpanned. “Lilith loves to pray and beg for forgiveness.” 

“We’ll talk to her,” Amity declared. 

~~~ 

“Lu- mph!” Lilith stepped out of the bathroom to be met with the cold slime of abomination goop covering her mouth and dragging her down the stairs and slinging her down onto the couch. It didn’t release her. 

“Ground rules, Lilith, you need to be quiet,” Lilith’s star protege, Amity Blight, ordered from where she sat on the coffee table with crossed arms and a furious scowl that rivaled her mother’s. 

“You’ve been keeping Luz up,” Willow explained. 

“And me!” King screamed before kicking the raven haired witch in the shin, eliciting a muffled yelp of pain. 

“You need to stop. Luz isn’t a god or someone to worship,” Amity added. 

“She’s not even really someone to look up to,” Eda contributed as she walked through the room towards a cauldron brewing a purple concoction. 

“Yes she is!” Amity argued. 

“Why is nobody trying to be quiet?” Willow whispered before sighing. “Lilith, how much of what you are doing to get on Luz’s good side is because you believe she’s a god?” Lilith’s answer was muffled once again. “Oops! Amity, do you mind…?” 

“Oh!” Amity spun a spell circle that retracted the abomination goo back into her hip flask. 

Lilith cleared her throat before answering matter-of-factly, “First of all, Luz is a goddess. Second of all, everything I do is to try to become closer to the goddess amongst us.” She shrugged with a casual smile, “Besides, Edalyn told me-” 

“I told you to talk to her, not worship her and try to get King to join a cult!” Eda scolded. “At first it was funny, but now I’m close to kicking you out of my house!” 

Lilith gasped, “You wouldn’t!” 

Eda smirked dangerously, “Oh, I would . Everyone is losing sleep here, breakfast has gotten weird, and as you showed just an hour ago even using the restroom in any capacity has gotten weird!” 

“But she is the Messiah!” Lilith argued. 

“I’m not the Messiah!” Luz announced her presence at the base of the stairs. 

Then the worst thing that could’ve happened occurred. Hooty busted through a window and slithered to Luz’s feet, “I SAY YOU ARE, LORD, AND I SHOULD KNOW, I’VE FOLLOWED A FEW!” 

Lilith dropped to her knees and started bowing to Luz, “Hail, Messiah!” 

Luz groaned and dragged her hands down her face, “¡Ay dios mío! Por favor, haz que estos idiotas entiendan.” 

“More holy words! Allow me to grab the tablets, my Lord!” Lilith rushed up the stairs. 

Luz turned towards her friends and mentor with a crazed look, “I’m about to lose my fucking mind!” 

“Have you tried indulging her?” Willow asked. Everyone turned towards the plant witch with looks of confusion. “What if you showed her that you couldn’t meet her expectations of her god? Maybe then she would stop worshiping you?” 

Luz sighed with a defeated shrug, “Eh, it’s worth a shot, I guess.” 

~~~ 

“Alright, Lilith, what do you want me to do?” Luz groaned. 

“Show me your awesome power, your holiness!” 

Luz sighed as she stepped out into the open front yard, “Alright, but you’ve seen most of it already.” Solar Flare appeared on her back, “This is my sword. It used to be a bat that my mami gave me for my birthday to try to fit in with other kids by playing a sport.” The sword vanished and she held up her wrists where Luna’s bracelets began to glow and the blades appeared in her hands, “These are Luna.” 

Lilith nodded excitedly, “What about the other things? The miracles?” 

Luz narrowed her eyes and de-summoned Luna. “What do you mean?” 

Lilith looked frustrated for a split-second, but her adoration returned just as fast. “Well, there’s miracles of strength, miracles of…” she cleared her throat, “...healing?” 

Luz blinked. It all made sense. She sighed, “Lilith, if I could, I would. I’m not a god, and I know you wish I was. Sometimes I do too. If I were I could’ve saved Eda, I could make a portal, I could save everyone on the Isles.” Luz brushed the growing bangs out of her face, “I know you want me to be this perfect thing, but you know I’m not that. You want a good ending where everyone is happy…” She sighed, “...I do too…” 

Lilith’s smile had faltered and shattered long ago. Now the raven haired woman hung her head low, “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s f-” 

“It is certainly not.” Lilith lifted her head showing the sorrowful expression she held, “I believe I am still coping with the loss of my sister and I’s magic, and I was hoping that since the Titan granted us magic…” She shook her head, “No, that is no excuse. I shouldn’t have pushed you. You are still attempting to discover who you are after everything, and I tried to force you into a role you wanted no part in.” She hung her head again and added in a nearly inaudible whisper, “Just like in the castle…” 

Luz felt the anger in her rise, but she kept it in check. “Do you regret it?” 

Lilith’s head snapped up immediately, “Of course I do! It shattered my relationship with my sister and angered a god!” 

Luz crossed her arms and scowled, “You’re doing it again.” 

Lilith scoffed, “Please, Luz, you’re at least god-like . You have incredible feats with your powers-” 

“No,” Luz shook her head, “I did that stuff myself. The powers certainly help, but I still did everything I have done myself.” Through clenched teeth she added, “What my father gave me does not define me.” 

There was a moment of silence. Eventually, it was broken by Lilith, “...I apologize once again, I did not mean to-” 

Luz shook her head with a calming sigh, “It’s fine, really. You didn’t know. Just like you didn’t know that he was lying to you about curing Eda, or like how you didn’t know that you were putting a permanent curse on her.” Lilith opened her mouth, but Luz held up a hand, “No, it doesn’t make what you did okay. But you shouldn’t be irredeemable just because you made a mistake. If that were true, I’d be just as bad as some of the monsters I hunt.” 

Lilith hummed in thought. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps you and my sister have forgiven me, and that confuses me. You shouldn’t forgive me when I haven’t forgiven myself.” 

Luz shrugged, “Well that sounds like reason enough to forgive you. I know that you’ll learn from your mistakes and try to be better.” 

Lilith smiled, “Why Luz, thank-” 

Luz jabbed her index finger into the witch’s chest, “But seriously, stop doing that weird shit. Like drawing me, that felt weird! And let me sleep! Like, seriously! Can’t you read some history books or something to go to sleep with?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Ey Shawty, It’s Ya Birthday 

“Wait a second,” Amity sat up in the beanbag chair within the library hideout, “I thought your birthday was this week?” 

Luz laughed, “Yeah, I think they mixed up the dates of when I was supposed to head back and visit mami and my birthday and gave the coat to me early!” 

“So… your birthday is this week?” 

Luz nodded, “Yep! Why? You got something planned~?” 

“No!” Amity responded far too quickly. She regretted it as soon as she saw Luz’s face fall, though. 

“Oh, yeah, of course not!” Luz returned to reading the Good Witch Azura, “You must be busy, just like everyone is.” 

Oh how Amity wanted to blurt the truth on the spot. But the best secrets are kept, well, secret. 

~~~ 

Amity marched through the Owl House. It was chaos before she arrived and worked her Blight managing magic. Eda was trying to gather ingredients for the cake, but King and Hooty kept attempting to eat them. Willow and Gus were arguing about what the decorations should look like. To her own surprise (and suspicions) Lilith was the only one having no trouble, though in all honesty it was more likely due to the fact that the raven-haired witch was just cleaning the house. 

But as soon as Amity arrived an hour and a half before Luz was supposed to return and nothing was finished, she knew she had to get to work. First was the cake. After giving King some milk, he was satiated and took a nap. Hooty was a little more troublesome, but Amity managed to send him flocking to Lilith for help in fear of the Blight’s wrath. With those two off Eda’s back, the cake was making good progress. 

Willow and Gus were easy to settle. Willow believed that a more subtle decoration style that was soft and green would be better, while Gus argued that the occasion called for spectacle and fanfare. Amity suggested doing a little of both while adding light orbs for good measure. The two agreed to compromise and started working on designs. 

Since Lilith was pretty much finished cleaning and Hooty wanted to help in hopes of avoiding Amity’s anger, the greenette decided to work on gifts. Or, gift . “Where’s everyone else’s gifts?” 

“Forgive me if I am mistaken,” Lilith said carefully as she paused her sweeping, “but I was under the impression that you were the one to purchase the gifts as you, ah, had the funding to do so?” 

Amity blinked, “None of you got her anything?” 

“Me and King and Hooty got her that coat!” Eda called from the kitchen as she mixed the batter. 

“We, uhhhh…” Willow winced and glanced at Gus who shrugged with a nervous expression. 

“Seriously!?” Amity exclaimed with disbelief. “How did all of you fail to get Luz something?” 

“Again, you’re the rich one who also forgot to get a gift,” Eda deadpanned. 

Amity tried to work up a response but failed miserably. With an exasperated sigh she rushed to the pile of human junk, “Well we don’t have enough time to try the market and wrap anything, so I hope you have something here!” 

“Why would we give her garbage?” King tilted his head. 

Amity shot a glare at the tiny demon, “Well if you have a plan and gift for Luz, enlighten us!” 

King smirked haughtily, “Of course I have something for my big sis!” He reached under the couch and pulled out a small box and presented it proudly. “I got Luz a human artifact!” 

“What kind?” Eda asked with suspicion. 

“The second Station of Play! She saw it at the market last week and pointed it out to me,” King explained. 

Eda crossed her arms, “And how much did you pay for it?” 

“Nothing, it was free!” King answered. 

“Nothing is free, King,” Willow added. 

“It is if you steal it,” King turned and looked up towards Eda with bright eyes and a wagging tail, “Right, Eda?” 

Eda sighed as everyone’s eyes turned to her. She shrugged, “Well, he’s not wrong.” 

While everyone lightly scolded Eda’s life lessons, Amity was frantically digging through the pile of human paraphernalia. “Come on, there’s got to be something here…” 

“PSST,” Hooty whispered, if you could call talking at a normal speaking volume whispering. “I KNOW SOMETHING SHE MIGHT WANT!” 

Amity was skeptical, to say the least, but she was also desperate. “What do you have in mind?” 

“COME OUTSIDE IN FIVE MINUTES,” Hooty began to slither out of the room, “I’LL HAVE IT COUGHED UP BY THEN!” 

Amity sighed as she resigned herself to her fate of following the whims of a bird tube. She cleared her throat and received the desired attention of the remaining residents of the Owl House, “Okay, everyone, we need to get some gifts together and all we have to work with is in this house, so let's get to work.” 

Eda raised her hand, “Question.” 

Amity sighed again as she wondered what kind of ridiculous question the older witch may have for her, “Yes, Eda?” 

“Can you define what a gift is?” 

Amity blinked before understanding the question, “Oh! Well, the only requirement I can think of is that it needs to be something Luz can use or appreciate having.” 

“Good, then I already have a gift,” Eda smirked before turning around and returning to the kitchen, “Anyways, I’m gonna finish this cake. Have fun!” 

Willow and Gus glanced between each other and nodded, “We have an idea, but we’ll need some money and Luz’s exact measurements from you, Amity.” 

“What makes you think I have Luz’s exact measurements?” Amity raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. Willow and Gus mirrored her. She finally broke, “Ugh, fine, I do. What do you need them for?” 

“Luz’s gift, of course!” Gus responded matter-of-factly. After Amity wrote down the numbers and gave them two pouches full of snails, Willow and Gus bolted out the door and flew away on their palisman. 

“Well, I guess I will continue searching the inventory of human miscellany,” Lilith announced before doing just that. 

“Thank you, King, for getting Luz a present.” 

“Well, yeah, of course I’m getting my big sis something,” King scoffed. 

“You know she isn’t your actual sibling, right?” Amity raised an eyebrow. 

King rubbed the back of his skull and nodded, “Yeah, but it feels right to call her that, you know?” Amity smiled and nodded. King’s demeanor took on a more curious nature as he asked, “Hey, what’d you get her?” 

“Oh I got her this book called-” 

“Borrrrrrriiiiiiiinnng!” King marched away towards the kitchen, “If you require your king, he shall be raiding the pantry!” 

“Like heck you will!” Eda shouted from within the kitchen. 

Amity shook her head with an amused smile before her face took on a somber expression. She approached the front door. With a deep breath, Amity took hold of the door handle and pulled open the door with hopes that she’d be ready for what was on the other side… 

~~~ 

…she wasn’t. As soon as Amity was through the doorway, Hooty had reached the climax of his hacking and heaving. A large hairball-like feathered ball covered in a thick layer of saliva. Amity gagged from the smell alone. She covered her nose as her eyes began to water, “Oh, Titan! Hooty, that’s awful!” 

“IT’S RANCID !” Hooty corrected. “IT’S ALSO LUZ’S PRESENT!” 

“Hooty, I know Luz will appreciate the…” she shivered at the sight, “...thought, but what is she supposed to do with a hairball?” 

“THAT’S THE WRAPPING!” Hooty once again corrected. “THE TRUE PRESENT IS WITHIN!” 

Amity cringed. “Hooty, no offense, but I refuse to touch that or move it into the house.” 

“OOOOOOOORRRR, I COULD MOVE IT!” Hooty realized and moved to roll it towards the greenette. 

“Okay, OKAY!” Amity blocked the doorway with her body. If the ball made it into the house, the party would be ruined by the stink alone. “I’ll,” Amity held back a gag, “I will…open this and rewrap it…” 

“YAY! I KNEW YOU WOULD HELP ME, MEAN GIRL!” Hooty cheered. He slithered back into the house, leaving Amity to suffer alone. 

“I can’t believe I just agreed to this,” Amity groaned as she approached the ball. She didn’t want to touch this… thing … but she didn’t want her abomination mixture to be tainted by Hooty’s bodily fluids. So, she rolled up her sleeves and asked herself why she was doing this. ‘For Luz…’  

Amity Blight, one of the highest members of society, plunged her hands into the ball of feathers, dirt, and many things that were half digested. The ball itself measured half the girl’s height in diameter, and it wasn’t hollow. Amity gagged and suppressed the urge to vomit. She was going to need to change shirts. Scratch that, she was going to burn this outfit. She’d need to go home and change, so she’d be late to the party. 

Amity started to resent the house demon. ‘He couldn’t tell me what I was looking for!?’ Then she was shoulder deep into the ball and her hands felt cold metal. Everything else was burning hot, but the metal she felt was cold. She gripped the two pieces of metal tightly and tore them out. 

Amity examined the present Hooty planned to gift Luz. They were two L shaped blocks of metal with several mechanical functions. Amity recognized the device from things Luz had told her. Primarily the discussion of Luz’s Rough Rider and the disassembling of the weapon. 

‘Well, I’m sure Father wouldn’t mind if I borrowed some tools, and I need to head home anyways…’  

~~~ 

Amity showered and changed before anything else. Well, aside from cleaning the weapons. Fortunately for Amity, it turns out her mother was out at a company dinner. Alador Blight was still in his office, though. ‘Probably for the best, he gets upset when his office isn’t how he left it.’  

Amity knocked on the large metal door, “Father? Is it safe for me to enter?” 

“Huh?” Alador’s voice boomed from within. “Oh! Yes, of course! Come in, come in!” 

Despite the intimidating echo from the metal door, Amity knew her father was in one of his more lively moods. Alador Blight was a polar opposite to his wife. His mind wandered easily, he had an easy-going temperament, and he was an innovator who welcomed change. However, he was a bit eccentric and difficult to communicate with at times. 

Amity entered her father’s “office”. In all actuality, it was more of a workshop. It had several vats of prototype abomination mixtures, ingredients laying about haphazardly, and many books along the shelves built into the walls that were splattered with purple stains. Alador was sitting at his desk and he spun around when Amity entered. “Kittens!” Alador cooed with his arms open for a hug. 

Amity held up her hands with an awkward and embarrassed smile, “Um, Ed and Em call me ‘Mittens’, and I’m not too fond of that name…” 

“Oh!” Alador winced, “I apologize, Amity, it must have slipped my mind… I’ll remember next time!” 

Amity smiled with a light roll of her eyes, “I’m sure you will.” He wouldn’t, she knew. After all, this was the seventh time she had to correct him on the topic. 

“So, what brings you to visit me?” Alador tilted his head with an earnest smile. ‘He always looks more alive when mother is away…’ Amity noted sadly. “Amity?” The greenette hummed in response. “You look like you have places to be, so I was wondering what brought you here?” 

Amity shook her head lightly, then nodded, “Uhm, yes, I visited for a reason.” 

Alador didn’t seem to mind. He nodded with patience, “Well, I am listening.” 

Amity took a deep breath before she pulled out the pair of pistols from her purse, “Do you think you could help me fix these up, father?” 

Alador eyed the weapons with a critical eye only masters in the field of tinkering held. Without removing his gaze he took a rag from the corner of his desk and wiped his hands clean of residual abomination goo. He took the weapons carefully and began to inspect them more thoroughly. “Tell me about this request, please.” 

“Well, it is my…” Amity swallowed, “...it’s someone important’s birthday today, and-” 

“To my knowledge, these are human-made, am I correct?” Alador interrupted. Amity nodded with an affirmative hum. “...I see. You wish to help that human Devil Hunter, yes?” 

Amity swallowed. She hadn’t told them that Luz was her friend, but she knew that they had to have known at this point. Her parents never talked about Luz, at least never in Amity’s presence. So she worried what their reaction may be, “...yes. I wish to help my friend.” 

Alador nodded, “I’m afraid to begin working on this with time constraints, it would be a terrible gift if it exploded in your friend’s hands. I would also need time to take them apart and reassemble them to better understand what would need to be done to improve them-” 

“I can help, Luz has told me a bit about human weapons and technology. She’s also helped me disassemble one of her weapons, so I have experience with this as well,” Amity admitted. 

Alador took his eyes off the guns and tilted his head at his daughter, “Is that the human’s name? ‘Loose’? Why name a child such a name?” 

“It means ‘Light’ in her language, father,” Amity explained. 

“Ah!” Alador smiled, “A wonderful name!” He motioned his daughter over, “Come! We have to work quickly if we wish for this to be done soon. What time must you leave?” 

“As soon as possible, I’m afraid.” 

Alador laughed maniacally, “A challenge? Exhilarating!” 

~~~ 

“HOOT! YOU’RE BACK AND JUST IN TIME!” Hooty greeted the greenette who dismounted her palisman. 

Amity sighed in relief, “So Luz is running late?” 

Hooty nodded, “EDA INTERCEPTED HER AND IS STALLING FOR TIME WHILE EVERYONE GETS READY!” 

Without wasting anymore time Amity barged through the door and eyed the inside of the house. Lilith was sitting on the couch fiddling with some leather straps with King sitting next to her with a pout and a harness. 

“How’s the cake?” Amity asked before Lilith could greet her properly. 

“Unharmed by either demon, and I found the perfect matching gift for you and Hooty’s present!” Lilith held up a menagerie of leather straps that were crafted into a set of two holsters that would carry the two pistols. 

Amity narrowed her eyes towards the back of the front door, “... how did you know what Hooty got Luz?” 

“He told me?” Lilith answered innocently. 

“You’ll pay for that later, Bird-Tube!” Amity yelled. She ran to the coffee table where some wrapping paper was to wrap the gift. A few minutes later, Willow and Gus arrived and began wrapping white boxes. Amity asked what they had gotten Luz, but they simply responded with “it’s a surprise!” 

After fifteen minutes, Owlbert did The Signal that told everyone Luz and Eda were close. They got into position and prepared to surprise their friend. 

“-Well, birthdays were always-” Luz’s voice could be heard through the door. This was it, this was all according to the plan that had been formed after Amity left. Eda would stall Luz and walk her home. She would leave Owlbert at the Owl House to alert anyone to be ready to surprise Luz when she entered through the front door. 

But what did Amity expect? A plan to go accordingly? Because it didn’t. Hooty decided a better surprise would be to wrap around Luz and throw her through the window, which he did. And honestly, Amity would admit to it being more surprising than their original plan. Luz flew through the window and into the greenette in her trajectory which sent both of them to the floor with groans of pain. 

“Dammit, Hooty!” Eda scolded as she burst through the door. 

“SURPRISE LUZ! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Hooty cheered. 

“...ugh…” Luz groaned. 

The window was fixed and the glass cleaned a few minutes later. Luz frowned at her frayed and tattered jeans. “Why don’t we go ahead and open some presents?” Amity suggested. 

“Hm?” Luz tilted her head in confusion, “Shouldn’t we eat the cake first?” 

“Yes!” King cheered. 

“Actually, why don’t we do presents first?” Eda agreed with Amity, “It shouldn’t take too long, right?” 

Luz eyed the stack of gifts on the coffee table and shrugged indifferently, “Sure, I guess.” 

Amity frowned at Luz’s disinterest. ‘Did something happen today? Why isn’t she happier?’ Her eyes wandered over to where Hooty bounced up and down excitedly. ‘Well, that is certainly a contributing factor…’  

Luz reached for Amity’s gift first, but King had other plans. “No! Open mine first!” 

The human smiled, “Alright, we’ll open yours first, buddy.” King cheered as Luz took the gift that was wrapped in a large amount of toilet paper and duct tape. ‘It’s King, he is akin to a younger sibling for her, so of course she would go for his gift first. There is no reason to be jealous,’ Amity told herself. 

Luz’s eyes lit up upon uncovering her present. “A PS2!? King, how did you afford this?” 

“A King has his ways of procuring the greatest treasures for his favourite underlings,” the demon answered regally. 

Luz set the console down on the table and scooped King up into a hug. “Awww, you shouldn’t have! You already got me the coat!” 

“Ahem!” Eda raised an eyebrow at her apprentice, “ I got you that coat and made it for you, King didn’t help at all!” 

“Yeah, but you guys gave it to me together !” Luz corrected. She waved dismissively, “But semantics, semantics. You guys didn’t have to get me anything-” 

“I disagree,” Lilith interrupted with a matter-of-fact tone, “Your clothes were in awful shape before.” 

Willow and Gus glared at the raven-haired witch for ruining a surprise. Fortunately for their gift, Luz studied her clothes with a frown, “Yeah, I need to go shopping for clothes soon.” 

“Perhaps we should continue to open presents?” Amity suggested eagerly. “That cake smells absolutely delectable!” 

“Oh, right!” Amity held back a cheer as Luz grabbed her purple and gold wrapped present, “You guys must be hungry! I’ll hurry up!” 

Luz tore open the wrapping paper and raised an eyebrow at the clean wooden suitcase-like box. She opened the box gently and exhaled a small “Wow…” Within the case was a pair of pistols. They were unique and unlike anything Luz had seen before. One had a silver grip and slide and a black steel frame, while its twin was the opposite. They both had vents where the bullet casings would eject from, but no magazine release nor magazines. “Uh… Amity? How do these work?” 

Everyone turned to the greenette who shrunk under the weight of the stares. She shrugged, “Uhm, I’m not sure? Hooty gave me the pistols and I took them to my father and we worked on them today, but we didn’t have time to test them.” 

Luz smiled as she took out the guns, “Well, I’m sure I can figure these out!” She made her way outside with a pep in her step. After only ten seconds, before anyone could join the human outside, gunshots were thundering. As the rest of the party goers got outside Luz cheered, “Amity! How did you and your dad figure out that they could use my powers for ammo?” 

Again, everyone turned to Amity for an answer. The Blight shrugged, “My father worked on the ammunition section despite my warnings.” 

Luz twirled both of the pistols with a smile, “Well, he sure knows how to make a gift!” 

“Luz, don’t you think that’s a bit dangerous?” Eda winced. 

Luz tilted her head and scoffed as she continued to twirl the pistols faster, “Oh please, Eda, I think I know how to not shoot my toe off-” 

BANG  

Everyone froze. Moments later Luz began to curse like a sailor and hopping on one foot and holding a bleeding foot. While Eda, Lilith, and Amity helped Luz into the house as her toes grew back, Gus chuckled nervously, “Well, I think you’ll like the gift that Willow and I got you now!” 

Aside from Luz shooting her toes off and needing to regrow them, the birthday girl enjoyed her birthday. Willow and Gus got her a new shirt, boots, and pants. She wondered how they knew her measurements, but shrugged it off as magic. Maybe they asked her and she had forgotten? It was possible with her ADHD. 

The cake was delicious and simple. It was perfect. The only thing the party was missing was her mami. Luz hoped the woman was doing okay. 

~~~ 

“Sooooooo… what should I call you?” Camilla asked awkwardly. 

“Uhm… what about Vee?” the Luz doppelganger shrugged. 

Camilla smiled, “Okay, Vee, that sounds good.” She lit the candles on the cake with a melancholic smile, “This is mija’s favourite. I got it a bit ago, back when she was supposed to come back. I…” She shook her head with a sigh, “It doesn’t matter right now. We can figure out your true birthday later, but for now why not celebrate your first one? We can go shopping tomorrow, if you’re up for that?” 

Vee gave a tiny smile as she nodded, “That sounds nice, Ms. Noceda, thank you.” Vee wondered why Luz could give this up for the Demon Realm as the cake touched her taste buds. Hopefully she’d be able to ask her one day. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Final Oneshot: 

"A what?" Luz asked the raven haired witch. 

"An office! Don't you think that'd be great?" Lilith answered without looking at the human as she continued to stir a mixture in the Owl House's living room cauldron. "That way, you'd have a more professional look, and you wouldn't have to worry about taking work home with you!" 

Luz mulled it over for a moment. On one hand, Lilith wasn't really the type of person that brought stuff up out of the blue, so the woman had put some thought into this. On the other hand, Luz had just gotten to a particularly juicy Hecazura scene in her seventh reread of the sixth Good Witch Azura book. 'And to think that some fans were upset when Hecazura was confirmed! It was obviously gonna happen at some point with all of this pretext!' Luz shook her head, trying to refocus her ADHD brain. "Have you got a place in mind, Lilith?" she asked with a tinge of disappointment as she marked her page for later and closed the book. 

Lilith nodded, "Yes, I have visited it already and thought about moving in myself, but as I continued to think about it I realized it would be far easier if you were the one to purchase it." The witch let out a small gasp and quickly took the cauldron off of the heat of the fireplace before starting to fill several vials with the cosmic slurry. "You would also benefit from owning the location more than I." 

Luz raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, "Well, that's super nice of you, but why? What do you get out of this?" 

"Your happiness, what else?" Lilith answered in a rehearsed manner. Luz raised the other eyebrow with a smirk and crossed her arms and waited for the other woman to break. Lilith sighed with a smile, "Okay, you got me. The building has living amenities on the first and second floor, fit to support a few inhabitants." 

"You wanna be roommates?" Luz laughed. "Not saying I wouldn't, but-" 

"Oh no, of course not!" Lilith waved the assumption away, "If you were gone I would get your room, and I have plans for what I would do with the space." 

Luz opened her mouth to object, but thought better of it. If she had an office, or would it be a house? Luz mentally shrugged, for in the end it did not matter. If she had her own place, she could do a bunch of the stuff she had always wanted to do, like owning a jukebox and a pinball machine. 

Luz hummed and rubbed her chin, "Y'know what? That's not a bad gig. How much for the place, if you know?" 

"I can arrange it," Lilith said with a courteous bow. "Do you have any specifications for any remodeling that needs to be done to accommodate your business?" 

Luz shrugged, "Not really, just make sure it works." 

Lilith nodded, "It will be done. I shall come back with the bill later this evening." 

"Any idea how much this'll cost?" Luz asked, cursing herself for not asking that sooner. 

Lilith frowned, "It won't be cheap, though I believe it will pay for itself in no time!" 

Luz sighed once Lilith left, "Me too, Lilith." 'Maybe it'll be better to do Portal experiments there instead of here, keep everyone here safer…'  

Luz shook her head and continued to read her book. She couldn't benefit from dwelling on the past. She destroyed the portal, and prevented Belos from gaining access to the Human Realm. She saved her mami. Luz should be happy to be stuck in the world where she was actually successful and appreciated. Yet she felt there was something she needed to do back in the Human Realm, something important. 

And so she would continue to look for that way home, regardless of the cost. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

Hey there! Sorry for the delay, I've been backed up by work and feeling sad recently. Now I'm back to writing and forgot about the chapters I had backlogged. 

Before I post any to Demon May Cry (instead of making a whole new story for) I have a question.

What should Luz's monster hunting business be named? I currently have two options, but if you all have a third one I'd love to hear it! 

"Devil May Cry"

Or

"Demon May Cry"

Whichever wins by the weekend will be the name of her business for part 2. 

After the poll ends, I'll post chapter 1 of DMC2 next Monday. I may post a chapter every two weeks to help me get caught up with where I want to have everything written. 

I want to apologize again for the delay. Work has been unpleasant and very difficult to write during with short breaks and not exactly having access to my usual writing medium: my tablet. I lost focus during this period, but I'm actually back this time, promise.

Kept you waiting, huh?

Chapter Text

Luz tapped her foot against her desk with a sigh. It had been a few days without a call to Demon May Cry, which was odd to say the least. Could the Emperor’s Coven really be cracking down this efficiently against rampant demons and devils? 

Perhaps there was a gathering of demons or devils wanting to raise their imprisoned king? Or summon an androgynous fire god? Mayhaps they wanted to summon a tower in the middle of Bonesborough? Or even a cult wanting to assimilate into a giant statue controlled by their pope? 

Luz groaned, hating the creativity of her mind for such eventful adventures. Why couldn’t something happen now? She was on the clock and she didn’t get the satisfaction of padding time when she was the one that paid employees and bills. 

“Ugh, I’m so bored!” Luz eyed her demonic landline rotary telephone, “...maybe I should call Amity?” She shook her head, “No, Luz! Resist the temptation! She’s studying and you’re at work! You can be a responsible adult for your girlfriend.” 

She made it an impressive sixteen seconds before she reached for her scroll to call her girlfriend. That is, until the phone on her desk began to ring. 

With a groan the hunter picked up the receiver, “Hello, Demon May Cry! How can I help ya’?” 

“Uh, hey! It’s uh, it’s Steve. From the Emperor’s Coven.” 

Luz blinked. “Steve.” 

“Steve.” 

“From the Emperor’s Coven.” 

“From the Emperor’s Coven.” 

Luz sighed, “Dude, why are you repeating what I am repeating from you?” 

“I dunno, I thought you might be playing a game, or something. You’re a mystery to us coven guards.” Steve answered. 

Luz rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, “Whaddaya want, Steve.” 

“Oh yeah! I’ve been authorized to hire you and pay you handsomely to slay a dangerous monster!” 

Luz huffed a laugh, “Oh yeah? What widdle mownster cawn the Empewow’s Coven not handwe?” 

“Oh, you haven’t seen it yet? I thought you would have.” 

Luz blinked. Something was shaking the ground beneath her feet, shaking her chair out from under her butt. She hopped forward as the chair tipped over and landed standing straight. “...where is it, Steve?” 

“Oh, you should be able to see it from anywhere near Bonesborough.” 

Luz walked over to the window and saw a cart and its owner flying through the air towards the street in front of her business. She cursed and tossed the receiver away before teleporting to the door and crashing through it. 

Once out on the street she sprinted along the walls, hopping between them to avoid obstacles and launching herself into the air. The cart’s owner was flailing through the air screaming about how he was going to die when Luz caught him by the midsection. She twisted her body enough so that the two of them slipped through the wagon’s interior safely. 

They cleared out the other end as the wooden vehicle smashed into a building, splintering into cracked planks and sharp fragments. Luz held the man close as she landed on a slanted roof and slid down the shingles before landing on the ground easily. 

The devil hunter placed the witch down, “That was exciting, huh? You alright?” She waved her hand in front of his face, “Hellooooooo?” 

The witch blinked and began screaming. Luz shrugged and turned back to the ramp of the roof. She sprinted up it and launched herself off the edge towards a taller building. She caught the ledge with one hand and flung herself up to the top with a flourish. 

“Oh, Titan…” 

It was like a worm, a large worm. A very, very, very, large worm, but with a human-like head with bulging red eyes. It was a veritable kaiju, something Godzilla would fight in a feature length movie. It roared, its voice booming across the Titan. 

“Yes!” Luz cheered with her arms up. She drew one of her pistols and fired a purple blast of energy at the worm. 

The blast hit it in its eye, causing it to yowl in discomfort. It wasn’t enough to cause any damage, of course. From this distance it wouldn’t deal much damage due to the damage falloff from the power she charged into her pistols. But it certainly got its attention, if it turning and aiming a murderous glare solely at Luz Noceda was anything to go by. 

Luz waved, “Hi! Nice to meet you! I loved you on Spongebob, your episode was my favourite. Can I get an autograph?” 

The worm roared and charged forward over buildings. Luz dove down into the alley and started shouting, “Run! Worm incoming!” 

As Luz ran through the streets she felt a shadow encompass her being. A peek over her shoulder confirmed her fears: the worm was aiming to crush her. 

The devil hunter smirked at the idea of fear. Maybe a few months ago, before she had discovered the true extent of her power. But now? She was Luz Noceda, Legendary Devil Hunter. 

She plucked an ice glyph from the notepad in her coat’s inner pocket. She tossed it out in front of her as she drew her sword and ground the edge along the cobble streets. When the shadow grew close enough she sped forward past the glyph fluttering in the wind. “No wait, my favourite episode was actually ‘Jellyfish Jam’, sorry!” 

Luz swung her sword in an upper cut into the ice glyph. The paper glowed bright blue as ice burst from it violently in a giant pillar. The pillar shot forward like a piston, slamming into the monstrosity and sending it flying towards the outer wall of the city. 

The devil hunter used her sword to swing herself onto the ice pillar and took off as fast as she could. As she ran she sheathed her sword and tossed glyphs out in troves, each landing on the bottom of her boot. When her foot lifted off the ice it left behind a burning fireball. It took her only a few seconds to get to the end of the pillar. 

At the end she tossed a plant glyph down that puffed out as a large mushroom. Luz jumped on top of it and bounced off towards the devil. 

She waved her arms trying to guide her body through the air towards the monster as it landed outside the city’s outer wall. The devil hunter redrew her sword and twisted her body into a beyblade of devilish death. She slammed the monster sword first into its neck. She used her momentum to slice around the body like a weedwacker that could move on its own around a tree. 

In mere moments, Luz was where she started again. She let herself slide down the body and hit the ground with a soft grunt, “Whew, I’m no Sandy Cheeks, but I’d say you’ve been wrangled, pardner.” 

The monster gurgled and a waterfall of purplish blood oozed down around it, drenching Luz Noceda. She froze as she felt the hot liquid seep through every thread of her clothes. 

“Oh! Hey, Ms. Noceda Devil Hunter!” Luz couldn’t open her eyes, but she could hear Steve as he flew closer. “Oh, Titan, it stinks! Are you alright?” 

“Ye-” Opening her mouth was a mistake, she found. Human blood, at least her own inhuman blood, tasted coppery. This was acidic. “Gahk!” She tried to spit it out, but the taste coated her tongue like oil. “Oh, Titan, it’s awful! Like vibrating bees on my tongue! Yuck!” 

Steve rubbed his neck, “Uhm, so, this is probably a bad time to mention that your pay is being used to repair the town, but Kikimora sends her thanks for the help!” 

Luz groaned. How was she gonna pay her bills now?

“...do you wanna ride back to your home? Maybe the boiling sea?” 

Luz shook her head violently, ridding herself of the easiest viscous fluids. “Yeah, my office has a shower that I’d very much like to use right now.” 

~~~

Chapter Text

“Demon May Cry, how can I help you tonight?” Luz answered the phone with a strained smile and a flawless customer service voice. Amity leaned close towards the receiver pressing her pouty face against her girlfriend’s. 

“U-uhm… I messed up.” 

…

“Yeah? I-I get that, man.” Amity looked at Luz with a questioning head tilt. Luz answered with a shrug. “Like this one time when my mom was teaching me to drive I didn’t cut a turn tightly enough and almost got into a head on collision with another car.” She chuckled, “My mami was yelling at me the whole time, it was terrifying!” 

“...what?” 

Luz smacked her forehead with the receiver. She placed it against her ear and put her customer service voice back on, “Sorry about that, sir, how might I help you tonight?” 

Amity pulled the receiver to her mouth, “Rates are tripled for late night emergency services.” 

“I killed someone.” 

The girls blinked. “Ah,” Luz recovered first, “yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhh, I know I’m friends with one of the most well known criminals of the Isles, but neither of us do murder-” 

“It was an accident!” the young man exclaimed. He cleared his throat and whispered frantically, “Listen, I’ll do whatever you want, Luz, but I can’t go to the Emperor’s Coven about this, so you’re my best bet!” 

Amity raised an eyebrow. Luz hummed as she narrowed her eyes, “Can’t go to the Emperor’s Coven, huh? Why’s that?” 

The girls stared at the open sack. There was a dull red pupil staring up at them from between broken finger bangs protruding from the hand-like head of hair. Luz and Amity glanced up at the young man. 

Mattholomule was trembling and drenched with sweat. The front of his shirt was stained and he was pale. He was tapping his foot at a lightning fast pace. “S-so?” 

Amity rubbed her chin. Luz scratched her head. 

“How did you even kill her?” Luz asked. “Like, if you did it on purpose I’ll be honest and say I’m proud of you.” 

“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! I TOLD YOU THAT!” Matt screamed. 

Amity rolled her eyes, “Alright, alright, how was it an accident?” 

Matt cleared his throat to regale the ladies with his tale… 

Mattholomule held out his hand to the demoness, “Come along, let me show you the best view of Bonesborough from atop this crane.” 

Kikimora took the strong and handsome Mattholomule’s hand and swooned, “Oh, Mattholomule, you spoil me so!” 

He drew her in close, “Anything for my love…” he leaned in close and 

Amity looked disgusted, “You had a crush on Kikimora!? She’s gotta be at least twice your age!” 

“The best wines get ripe with time, Blight!” Matt spat back indignantly. 

Luz stepped forward with her hands up placatingly between the client and her girlfriend, “Alright, alright, Matt’s into older women and we shouldn’t judge him for that.” She scowled at the boy, “But you gotta stop with the embellishment, man, it’s weird.” 

Matt rolled his eyes, “Whatever…” 

Matt hammered the last nail on the windmill. “Finally! My project is finished! I can finally go home and play Demon May Quest IV!” 

He tiredly tossed his hammer behind him. Then he blinked. ‘Why did I do that!? That’s school property!’ He scrambled to turn around to catch the hammer just in time to see a white cloaked individual fly into the hammer face first. 

“Luz, stop laughing!” Amity said out of the corner of her mouth with her jaw strained. 

“I hahaha can’t!” Luz belted out laughter, “It’s just hahahaha such a funny way to go!” 

“Oh that’s not how she died.” Matt said with a thousand yard stare. 

The small figure slipped off their Emperor’s Coven palisman and smacked into the trees at a high speed. They were ping-ponged around at a high velocity until they hit the stack of bricks by his windmill neck first. The sudden and sickening crunch of bone echoed in the air off of the trees. 

Matt scrambled down the windmill, careful not to fall and risk the same fate. He got to the bottom and rushed over to the slumped figure, “Oh my Titan, are you okay!? I’m so sorry!” 

The figure rasped a dying breath, “Oh my love, you do not need to worry

“MATT!” Luz and Amity yelled. 

“This is my story!” 

“We aren’t asking for a story, we’re asking for the truth so we can figure out how to hide the body!” Amity explained. 

“And because this is hilarious from a cosmic comedy standpoint,” Luz said before Amity lightly smacked her shoulder in admonishment. 

“Fine! She said-” 

“And if she did break her neck like that she wouldn’t say anything, she’d be dead on the spot. Trust me, I’ve had to do this with a few deer on the side of the road.” 

“Deer?” Matt asked. 

“Like wendigoons but without the accents and on all fours. Also they’re herbivores?” Amity shrugged, “I dunno. The human realm is weird.”
“Right… anyway…” Matt continued. 

“Oh Titan, no…” Mattholomule pulled down the hood, “Listen, you’re gonna be al-” 

His heart dropped. The tiny demon of his dreams was lying still with her neck at an awkward angle and blood trails from the sides of her head and her nose. 

“Titan, oh Titan…” His hands were shaking. “I-I can fix this! I’ll just put your neck back where it should be!” 

He channeled construction magic, enhancing his strength as he grabbed her head and 

“No-” Luz started. 

“-Way!” Amity finished. 

“What!? Was I not supposed to do that!?” Matt ran his hand through his hair. 

“No!” Both girls said. 

“Why the hell would that be the solution!?” Luz asked. 

Matt shrugged exaggeratedly in frustration, “How was I supposed to know? Only healing track students know what to do about hurt people!” 

Amity grimaced, “Yeah, the education on the healing field should be a bit more open…” 

Luz shook her head, “So you tried to put her neck back, got it into the normal position-” 

“It actually went to the other side first, I wasn’t adjusted to my new strength yet.” 

The girls were speechless. 

The burlap sack that contained the corpse of Kikimora moved from the wind blowing through the alley they were in. 

“Okay. So. Moving on.” Amity motioned for Matt to continue. 

“Well I called Gus first to try to get him to help me discreetly, but he said he was busy researching a human artifact so I called you on his recommendation.” 

Luz nodded. “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.” 

Matt felt a drop of sweat slide down his face, “W-what’s the bad news?” 

Luz sighed, “Well you might get caught. You are a terrible liar and if you embellish your cover story -which I am not writing for you- then you’re immediately gonna be a suspect. So. Don’t get interviewed by the Emperor’s Coven if you can help it.” 

“And the good news?” Matt asked hopefully. 

“Oh I get to mark ‘hide a body with a hot girl and make out on the grave passionately’ off my fanfic-inspired bucket list.” 

“How is that supposed to be romantic?” Amity asked incredulously. 

“Sweaty manual labor mixed with the undeniable sexual tension of crime, Ms. Blight!” Luz answered plainly. Amity rolled her eyes. “Alright, Matt, get outta here, you need an alibi.” 

A cool breeze blew through the trees as the young couple trudged down the worn dirt path. The grass brushed the lilac witch’s boots and the coat tails of her girlfriend’s purple coat. Amity couldn’t tear her eyes off of the human’s toned and bulky arms as they held up a body bag. 

“...okay, Luz, I don’t think this is working for me.” 

Luz tilted her head, “What do you mean? I thought you liked to see my arms? I even rolled up the sleeves!” She flexed her bare bicep as an emphasis. 

Amity nodded, “Yeah, I do, and I appreciate you showing off, I really do…” she eyed the bag once more, “...but Luz everytime I look in the area of your arms or face a burlap sack with a corpse is bouncing out of the corner of my eye.” 

“Oh.” Luz started to walk stiffly, trying to limit how her body bounded up and down as she walked. 

“Luz it isn’t helping, can we not just use your strength to throw the bag away past the horizon or use my abomination to catapult it away?” 

Luz frowned, “Yeah but don’t you feel the thrill? The thrill of crime? The fear of being caught at any moment and the possible need to hide closely together in a hollowed out tree…” She waggled her eyebrows. 

Amity laughed, “Luz, I’m never afraid of anything whenever you’re around.” Luz blushed. “I mean, you’re stronger than anything else on the Isles, y’know? Why would I ever be afraid?” 

“I mean, you could be kidnapped by the Emperor’s Coven.” 

Amity raised an eyebrow, “By who? Kikimora?” 

The girls shared a brief chuckle before trailing off awkwardly as the burlap sack bounced on Luz’s shoulder. 

There was a break in the trees showing a beautiful night sky. The moon shone brightly. 

Amity smiled, “You know, you’ve made me realize how pretty the Isles are.” Luz hummed inquisitively. “You know, I took the sky for granted. I never really thought to look up until you took me stargazing. Most people would see it as a waste of time.” 

“Like your mother?” Luz growled. 

Amity chuckled with a nod, “Yeah, like her.” 

Luz gazed up at the sky. The stars were different here, no similar constellations. She wondered if her mami was also looking up at the stars. Then her foot snagged on a root and she couldn’t right herself in time before falling on her face. 

Amity giggled, “And here I thought you had the super reflexes! How are you still so clumsy?” 

Luz hopped up to her feet and laughed, “What can I say? It’s part of my charm.” 

They walked a bit further until they reached a river. The water simmered. Luz stepped forward and placed the sack into the water and guided it with the current. The bag floated out towards the boiling sea. 

Luz stepped out of the water and stretched her arms, “Welp! That’s done. We’ll collect from Matt through a payment plan I’m thinking.” 

Amity nodded in agreement, “Alright. What are we doing for the rest of the night, then?” 

Luz tapped her chin for a moment before snapping her fingers with an ah-ha, “Well, we could go to our tree and do hypotheticals on hiding a different body?” 

“...you’re really hung up on this crime thing, huh?” 

Luz smirked, “I was thinking we could think about your mother with a positive connotation for once.” 

Amity opened her mouth. Then closed it. She considered it for a moment. Then, “You know what? Yes. Yes we can talk about my mother being gone.” 

They held hands and made their way towards the pink blossoming tree, laughing and smiling all the way. 

Kikimora disappeared mysteriously… never to be seen again…