Chapter Text
"Say, have we met? Something about you seems familiar."
"Uh, no. I'm new in town. I just have one of those faces. J-but just the one. The normal amount of face."
Those words are still haunting the basilisk. She lied to her oldest friend and now they think she's a total stranger. What was she supposed to do now? Rebuild their friendship and hope they'll like Vee as much as they liked Luz? Or come clean and hope they don't hate her?
Vee had gone over the pros and cons multiple times. If she kept lying, she'd have to make sure she never slipped up about knowing what happened at Cabin 7. Also, Luz would have to pretend she knows what happened. It would suck for both of them. However, the other option would mean having to out herself and risk Masha reporting her to the FBI.
Now, Vee doesn't actually think Masha would turn her in. Masha loves witches and demons, at least the human realm myth versions. Chances are they would love the real thing too. But it's not just her call as she would be revealing the existence of a whole realm, not just herself. She's made several friends who are witches and they're like family to her. In fact one of them is her sister's girlfriend and another was practically adopted by Camila himself.
Unfortunately, she couldn't talk to any of them for advice right now as they all went back to the demon realm to finish the fight against Belos once and for all. Until they can make it back and the Boiling Isles are safe, she's on her own. This, of course, poses another problem: she still has to pretend to be Luz. It's only a matter of time before she slips up and forgets if she's supposed to be Luz or Vee. She's going to say something as Vee that only Luz knows or vice versa and the jig will be up.
Before she could keep spiraling, her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She shook herself off to calm her nerves before shifting into Camila and answering the door, only to find the last person she was hoping to see.
"Hey Mrs. Noceda, is Luz home?" Masha greeted.
"Hello, dear. Of course, let me go get her." Vee closed the door and shouted for Luz to keep up the illusion before shifting to Luz. She waited a few minutes to help sell the illusion before opening the door again.
"Hey Masha, what's up?" Vee greeted, trying to play it cool.
"I just wanted to check on you." Vee could hear the hurt in their voice and her heart broke. "We haven't heard from you in a while and then you show back up with a new friend group while acting like you don't know us?! What's going on?"
"Masha…I'm going to ask you to do something that doesn't make sense, but I need you to trust me, OK?" Masha couldn't remember the last time they saw Luz look so serious.
"Of course Luz, you're my friend, I just want to know what's going on," Masha pleaded.
"You need to talk to my sister, Vee." Masha blinked in confusion.
"Wait…that's the girl that came into the historical society with your friends last week." So they do remember me, Vee thought.
"Yes. She'll explain everything, I promise. Just, let me go get her." Vee closed the door before she could get a response and shifted back to her human form. She took some deep breaths and reopened the door.
"Hey Masha. There's…something I need to tell you." Vee was a nervous wreck, but it was now or never.
"Uh…sure." Masha raised an eyebrow in confusion. "About what, though? Like no offense, but we don't really know each other. Also, Luz never told me she had a sister before?"
"Yeah both of those are what we need to talk about. Do you want to come in?" Vee moved aside so Masha could walk inside before they went to sit on the couch."
"Wait…where did Luz and her, or I guess your, mom go?" Masha asked after looking around and seeing they were alone.
"They haven't been here for a couple days." Vee was avoiding eye contact, fearing the worst.
"Vee, what are you talking about? I just talked to them five minutes ago." Masha looked at Vee like she had two heads, which was a real concern for the disguised basilisk.
"You were talking to me the whole time." Here goes nothing. "I'm a shapeshifting demon called a basilisk. The reason Luz has been more distant since school started is because she's the real Luz, the one you never met."
"What do you mean 'the one I never met'?," Masha cut in. "Are you saying you're the Luz I went to camp with? That you disguised yourself as her all summer?"
"Yes," Vee answered. "Luz ended up in the demon realm and I crossed over here at the same time. Camila came to pick her up to take her to camp and in a panic I disguised myself as the only human I had seen in person. Before I knew what was happening, she drove me to camp and I met my best friends."
"Can you show me?" Masha asked.
"Show you…oh!" Vee realized what they meant and shifted into her old Luz disguise she used at camp. "Tada?"
"Wow…I…this is a lot to take in," Masha managed to get out. "But that does explain a lot. I thought Luz was avoiding me because she, or I guess you, hated me."
"I COULD NEVER HATE YOU!" Vee shouted out a little too quickly, before covering her mouth and trying to keep the blush off her face.
"It's crazy, here I was thinking camp helped you so much, you were able to find other friends and we didn't matter anymore." Vee could see Masha look away and if she didn't know any better, she would think they were trying not to cry. "I'm pretty sure my parents were getting sick of me talking about you. They started questioning me when I stopped."
"Masha, I-"
"And then you, the real you, not you pretending to be Luz, walked into the museum. I knew you looked familiar but I wrote it off as wishful thinking." Masha finally looked up at Vee. "Can I see your real face?"
"Of course!" Vee shifted back to her human form.
"Is this the real you or just another person you're pretending to be?" Masha's voice had no hint of anger, just confusion.
"I'm not borrowing someone else's face, if that's what you're asking," Vee answered. "This face is 100% mine."
"But is it still just a disguise?" Masha asked. "You said you were a basilisk and that Luz was the first human you saw. I wouldn't expect you to look human."
Vee stared at Masha for several seconds, contemplating if this was the right move; if she was ready for this. Well, I've come this far. She shifted back to her basilisk form, keeping her eyes shut, fearing Masha's reaction. When none came, she slowly opened one eye to see Masha staring at her with stars in their eyes.
"You look beautiful," Masha said under their breath.
"Wh-what?!" Vee's blush came back in full force. Once Masha realized what they said, their face also lit up.
"Oh goddess I'm so sorry, that slipped out!" They protested.
"Masha, most people don't accidentally call a magic sucking snake demon 'beautiful'," Vee teased.
“Vee, I am not, nor have I ever been, most people.” Masha glared at her.
“You got me there.” Vee shrugged. “So, uh. Now what?”
“What do you mean?” Masha raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Masha, I just told you that I, someone you thought was a complete stranger, am a shapeshifting demon that took the form of the girl you thought was your friend since before you met. You never knew the real Luz, I’ve been lying to you for months, I’M A MONSTER!” Vee didn’t know when she started crying, but judging by the look on Masha’s face, it was probably towards the beginning of her rant.
“Vee.” Masha stepped toward their friend and attempted to rest their hand on her cheek. Vee winced for a second, causing Masha to pull back slightly, before they tried again and Vee let it happen. “Were you scared?”
“What?” Vee opened her eyes to look at her friend, only to be met with the most caring look in their eyes they’ve ever seen.
“You came over to a strange world where you didn’t know anyone because you saw a portal,” Masha elaborated. “Were you running away from something?”
“Oh…yes,” Vee sighed. “I…shouldn’t exist.”
“What do you mean?” Masha questioned.
“The Boiling Isles is currently being ruled by a human claiming to be a witch who can talk to the Titan, who is kind of like the demon realm equivalent of a god? The main landmass is his rotting corpse and all magic was derived from him. Before witches evolved bile sacks, which is what gives them the ability to do magic naturally, they had to draw glyphs that harness the Titan’s power. That’s how Luz can do magic there.” While Vee explained all this, Masha had stars in their eyes.
“That’s hardcore. You have to show me around sometime!” Masha shouted, while getting close to Vee’s face. Way to close for the poor basilisk’s comfort.
“Of c-” Vee coughed to get the squeak out of her voice. “Of course I could, if you want, but…well, let me finish my story.”
“Oh right, sorry, continue.” Masha went back to listening intently.
“Anyway, Belos, which is what the human goes by now to hide his origin as Philip Wittebane, brought me and the other basilisks back to life to experiment on us. We were extinct and he brought us back, shoved us in cages, and forced us to feed on other creatures to study how we drain magic,” Vee explained.
“That’s awful!” Masha shouted. “No one deserves to be treated like that! And…wait, did you say Philip Whittebane?!”
“Yeah, we don’t know the full story, but between what Luz found out from Belos’s memories and the stories you know about the Wittebane brothers, it sounds like a witch found them and brought them to the Boiling Isles. Then when Belos found out his brother was getting close to her, he killed him and kept making grimwalkers, which are a kind of clone, to try to make a new version of his brother that wouldn’t betray him.”
“That’s messed up,” Masha stated. “But sounds like I was right, big bro got a hot witch girlfriend and little bro got upset. Shame he went as far as he did, but at least it gave me you.”
“It gave us Hunter too! One of Luz’s friends, one that we are starting to see as a brother.” Vee was smiling now, thinking of the life she has now putting her fears in the back of her mind.
“How did it give you Hunter?” Masha asked.
“He’s the latest grimwalker,” Vee explained. “Belos told him he was his nephew and that wild magic killed their family to brainwash him into helping him. But after learning the truth, he finally got out. It hasn’t been easy for the two of us, but we’re in a better place now.”
“Well, from all that, I can understand why you did what you did.” Masha put a hand on Vee’s shoulder. “You were scared, in a world you knew nothing about. You were just trying to fit in so you could live a normal life without fear of being captured again. And then Luz came back and you couldn’t just tell me what was going on without revealing all this. I’m just glad I have my friend back!”
“Even if your friend is now a magic sucking sna-”
“Vee, you don’t understand. You being a magic sucking snake demon makes you so much
cooler!
” Masha shouted, leading both the basilisk and the enby to blush. “What I mean to say is, Vee, you’re my friend and it doesn’t matter what you look like. I think both your basilisk and human forms look awesome. You can take whichever form you’re more comfortable with around me, I promise.”
“Masha, have I ever told you that you are literally the coolest person I have ever met?” Vee managed to squeak out. She was sure she was blushing so hard, it was covering her whole face by now. She’s not sure what’s worse, Masha seeing her blush when they thought she was a total stranger, or them seeing her blush now knowing who she is.
“You may have mentioned it once or twice back at camp,” Masha said nonchalantly. Vee doesn’t know if they ignored her blush or just didn’t notice it. “So, I have tomorrow off and you’re here all alone right now. What do you say to me giving you that long overdue tour? I mean, obviously now I know you aren’t actually that new in town, but I figured why not hang out and keep each other company? We haven’t hung out since camp and I-”
“Masha, you’re rambling.” Vee giggled.
“Sorry.” Masha laughed back. “But for real, wanna hang out tomorrow?”
“I’d love to.” Vee smiled.
“Cool, I’ll come pick you up tomorrow, say 10:30?” Masha got up and started walking to the door.
“It’s a date!” Vee winked, before realizing what she just did and blushed again.
“Sure thing, girlfriend ,” Masha teased while winking back, before walking out the door…leaving Vee alone with her thoughts…thoughts about how she just called their hangout a date and Masha jokingly called her their girlfriend in response.
Vee did the only sensible thing in this situation: She slithered up to her room, collapsed on her bed, and screamed into her pillow. After calming down, she went back downstairs to make herself some dinner. She heated up some leftover empanadas and sprinkled them with some of her magic stash. Having witches living at the house allowed for some creative ways to keep up her magic intake, including ways to mix it with normal food. She hasn’t had a worry about running out of magic in a long time and she’s very grateful to Luz’s friends for that.
Once she finished her dinner, she went back to the couch to watch some TV before bed. She needed to mentally prepare herself for tomorrow when she goes on her not-a-date date. While she’s really happy that she can finally be herself around Masha, this has reopened up the complications of her feelings towards the goth enby. This coupled with the fact that she no longer has the excuse of hiding who she is as a reason why she can’t be with them, she’s for a lack of a better word, screwed. Her only silver lining is the fact that Masha did, in fact, flirt with her. Maybe she had a chance? Only tomorrow will tell.