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Wasn’t she just with everyone?
It’s a nightmare in every sense of the word. Thrust into a reality that Amity feels doesn’t exist but is forced to remember as though it does. Her memories are not her own, they’re prepackaged, and come in waves.
Flashes of a mass petrification ceremony are burned in her head. She hears her sibling’s screams and begs to be spared.
The ceremony moves on.
And Luz.
Luz is at the helm of the ship.
That can’t be right?
Is it?
Amity’s mind is jumbled as she tries to make sense of what’s going on. Memories jogged by the thunder that feels like it’s raged on forever in this reality. She feels time bend and anger come to the surface.
Luz has been working with the emperor this entire time.
No.
Yes.
But if Luz was responsible, she would have to face her.
She comes into semi consciousness on the bridge to castle of the Emperor’s Coven. Anger looming and buzzing around her.
Her words are not her own.
“Don’t you remember?” Amity begins, feeling Luz’s presence just across the bridge, “This is all your doing. You helped Belos meet the collector.” Tears well up in her eyes, it’s too much, “Your actions led to this. You’ve been the real villain this whole time.”
Amity feels her staff raise up. She can’t fully resist the hatred that clouds her judgment and it’s like her body is being controlled.
She sees Luz, in a panic, say across the bridge, “Listen, I don’t know what I missed but i’d never do this. See?” Luz throws off her cloak seamlessly, like shes trying to prove how little it means to her.
I believe you
That phrase flashes in her brain for a second before it’s replaced with the anger for her family and home. “I’m sorry Luz. But I have to take you down.”
If this is what she wants, why is it so hard to cast her spells, why is the thought of harming Luz so excruciating?
She feels her magic twist and spin around her and she rushes at the person she swears she hates but knows she cant. She tries with all her might to consume the one she loves.
Loves.
Amity watches as her abomination goo nearly miss the the Emperor's Apprentice, and Luz manages to escape deeper into the castle.
She’s escaped.
Relief? Something she cant quite place washes over her.
The next thing she can remember is being pulled away. Locked in the recesses of her mind. She can’t see, or feel anything. It’s pitch black, and the only thing she is experiencing is the countless thoughts flowing through into consciousness.
None of which she has a way to know is real.
But if Luz was working with Belos, why would she hurt so many people she swore she wanted to protect?
Strings.
She was pulled?
Amity remembers moments before the lightning began, she was with everyone. She abstractly sees Camila, Hunter, Willow, Gus, and Luz.
Luz. Precious Luz. Loving hero Luz.
She feels another presence but can’t discern who it is.
It’s like they know she is resisting. They, too, are a part of the clouds that blur her vision.
She feels another pull and suddenly she’s back at the castle.
This. This isn’t real.
The rage that once took hold can’t seem to find its grip. Amity still can’t control herself but she knows this isn’t Luz.
Luz could never do this.
She hears herself speak. “I’m sorry, but for the sake of everyone you hurt,”
She hears Luz weep, “Please, no.”
Amity needs to take a chance. She fights back. But how? Do thoughts have an opening?
“I challenge you to a witch’s battle.”
It’s the only word she’s able to actually get out. But Amity immediately sees Luz stop in her tracks.
Did Luz get her message?
“Wait. Say that again?”
Like clockwork her body repeats what she had just said without fail, “I said, I challenge you to a witch’s battle.”
It worked.
Luz walks up to her, “A-a witch’s battle?” And Amity feels Luz’s hands on her cheeks, then ears. The feeling is far more familiar than anything else she can remember right now.
She was right.
“You look like Amity.” She sees Luz pause and lift her arm, “You feel like Amity. But you’re not Amity, are you?"
No, no this could never be her.
She hears Luz laugh, joyous, “You’re not her! None of you are you!”
She hears Willow say, “How dare you, of course we’re us!” from behind her.
Amity wonders if Willow is suffering just as much.
Luz smiles again, “It’s ‘I challenge you to a witch’s duel’, not witch’s battle. And the Amity I know would never misquote The Good Witch Azura.” with a smug look on her face she says, “So come on. Attack me. I know what’s going on now.”
Amity feels herself rushing towards Luz along with others before she’s stopped by strings attached to all parts of her body. Things are suddenly clear.
She is a puppet.
This was the Collector's doing.
She comes to and immediately tears up when she sees Luz, and all of muffled feelings she was having before come to the forefront.
She frantically explains that this was the Collector, that none of them were themselves and that if Luz wants to get out of this she needs to wake up.
Talking is hard after being controlled so it feels like they’re all speaking in riddles. It’s confusing, exhausting and she just wants to be with Luz.
With all of her might, she physically resists the Collector's strings which bind her wrists, and she takes hold of Luz’s hand. Only to leave behind a light glyph.
“You turn on the light.”
She wants to say more, she wants to show Luz how much she loves her. How much she cares and wants to be by her side. How much it means that she truly knows Amity.
To be loved is to be seen and to be seen is to be so absolutely changed.
The familiar pull of the Collector interrupts that thought and she’s caught in the pitch black again. It’s scary, but this time she knows none of this is real and if she can resist, she can fight this.
She has to.
If light is always the answer, every road leads back to Luz.