Chapter Text
Amity Blight was frustrated. Willow had cheated in Abomination class which cost her her top student badge and even though Willow had been caught, she hadn't been punished, and Amity hadn't been restored to her rightful place.
All in all the day had been humiliating, and her mother had been displeased with her when she found out.
Still, there wasn't much she could do about it right now, and it was late. She'd figure out how to overcome that embarrassment in the morning.
...Her preparations for bed, however, were interrupted by a flash of light, a loud tearing noise, and two grown adults materializing in the middle of her room and slamming into the far wall.
One of them sat up and started rubbing her head, allowing Amity to see that she was about ten years older than Amity herself, dressed like an adventuring gadgeteer, with brown and lavender hair. There was something familiar about her, but Amity couldn't place it.
"Okay," the older woman began, "I know now how..." The woman trailed off as she locked eyes with Amity. "Oh no," she said with narrowed eyes, followed by a series of swear word after swear word interspaced with a few words in a language she didn't understand.
The other figure stirred, "Sweet Potato, what..." The other figure, dressed in clothes that seemed strange to Amity sat up and... Something was vaguely familiar about the tan-colored witch, too. "Oh... Amity," she said but... She was looking at the Lavender-haired witch, not at Amity. "Amity, calm down."
"Why should I be calm, Luz!? We just traveled through time and got spotted! All of reality could be unraveling around us as we speak!"
The other witch rolled her eyes. "Since when am I the rational one? Okay, 1: Our memories aren't changing, are they?"
The lavendered-haired woman, the other Amity, forced herself to breathe. "No."
"2: We aren't fading away, right?"
"No."
"3:" she pulled a large locket out of the collar of her shirt and opened it to show Other Amity, "the photos aren't changing, are they?"
"No."
"And 4, the universe is still here," the strange witch began. "Which, if we really had caused a reality-breaking paradox, it wouldn't be. Which means....?"
"Multiverse theory," Other-Amity concluded. She then took a deep breath. "Thanks, Batata."
"Any time," the strange witch replied. "Bet you're glad Gus and Hunter finally wore us down about Cosmic Frontier right now, huh?" she said with a laugh.
"Never," the other Amity insisted.
"Okay," the strange witch began again, "now I have no idea what you were doing before I walked in so could you walk me through how we got here?"
"I was working on that experimental generator I told you about," Other Amity replied, "I had just started stabilizing the palistrom frame when my Awesome Wife walked in to tell me that her mother wanted us over for tea when something slipped and... Okay, I think the molten selkigris might have dripped into the Titan blood reactor and triggered a volatile reaction... I think I can get us home, but we're going to need some more Titan blood."
"Well that's gonna be tough," the strange witch answered, "With how far back we are King's not gonna be old enough for his to work unless we take like, a lot and—"
"Excuse me," Amity interrupted, "but could... You please explain who you are and what you're doing in my room?"
The two adults looked at each other, then the lavender-haired witch turned to Amity. "You're going to want to sit down for this."
Amity sat at the foot of her bed and crossed her arms. The lavender-haired witch moved in front of her, dragging the other witch with her, before kneeling down to face level. "So, Amity Blight... I am... Well, you, from about ten years in the future, give or take. There was some remodeling done uh, well, a few years from now, honestly, and I have a workshop across the hall now, and when the little incident I was just talking about happened we didn't just get blown through time, but through space."
Amity blinked. "Okay. Who is she?"
Amity's self-proclaimed future self sprung up suddenly and wrapped an arm around the other witch. "My Awesome Wife!"
"Amity," the other witch said with a giggle, "how long are you gonna keep saying it like that? The wedding was a month ago, people are getting flashbacks to when we first started dating."
"When it stops making me happy," Future Amity insisted while nuzzling her apparent wife and... Moved some of the other Witch's dark hair asside, revealing her round ears.
"Is that Willow's fake abomination?"
"Oh wow," the fake abomination replied, "I knew we went back far when little Amity's hair was still dyed green but I didn't think we went back that far... Which means... The original portal door still works," she said with a smile. "So we can get the vial of Titan blood from Old Gravesfield."
"Yeah," Future Amity replied, "we could... Wait, aren't they gonna need that here?"
"Not if we, I mean, if multiverse theory is in play then we don't need to worry about the loop so we could just..."
"It would be nice to nip that in the bud," Future Amity agreed.
"I have so many questions," Amity began as she felt the panic come over her. "In, in the future I marry the, the..."
"Human," the strange creature supplied.
"The human that Willow used to humiliate me? And her name is Batata?"
"No, no," Future Amity corrected, "When I was first trying to learn her language I mistook a food item for a term of endearment and it just sort of stuck."
"It means sweet potato, little Sweet Potato," the human added.
"Speaking of which," Amity's future self continued, "turns out witches can't eat those. Learned that the hard way," she said while clutching her stomach.
"My name is Luz," the human finished.
"I'm so confused," was all Amity could say. "How... How?"
"That," her alleged future self replied, "is a long story. Like, it'd be a season and a half on Crystal Ball, at least, to get from where you are now to when we actually started dating."
"And... Dating the human will make me happy?"
The human took charge here, waving her hand non-comitally. "Kinda. Our relationship got off on a bad foot but I make my Amity happy. You're... A different Amity. You shouldn't feel obligated to make the same choices that my Sweet Potato did. And even if... I mean, It took me months from when we are now before I started seeing her that way."
"Took me a couple of weeks," future Amity admitted.
"And we both did a lot of growing up before we got together. If you just rush out and find Little Luz thinking that a relationship might make you happy it probably won't go as well as it did for us originally."
Amity rolled her eyes, "Like that was ever gonna happen. Okay, if you're me then I have questions about my potential future and you—" she gestured to the human who was looking at her a little too intently. "Stop staring. It's creepy."
"Oh, sorry," the human said sheepishly. "I just, I almost forgot how cute you used to be back now."
This prompted Amity's future self to glare at the human, "What do you mean 'used to be?'"
The human gulped. "I mean, uh..."
Amity's future self continued. "You're sleeping on the couch when we get home."
"But I just talked you into trying out a nest!"
"Too bad, it's my nest now," Amity's future self insisted. "Still not sure why you wanted one so bad but it's mine now."
Amity was more confused than ever now. "Uh..."
"Right, your questions," her future self acknowledged. "Shoot."
"You... Do seem pretty happy with your life," Amity admitted. "It can't just be her. I assume that we succeed in joining the Emperor's Coven?"
"No," her future self said with a smile, "I think I'm technically a wild witch," she said while removing her gloves to show the lack of any sigil, "but the coven system the way you know it doesn't really exist anymore by our time."
That was a lot to swallow. "When did you start dying your hair that color?"
"When I started to care about doing what made me happy more than what Odalia wanted of me."
Amity blinked. "Why did you just call Mom by name?"
"Because Odalia doesn't deserve to be called a parent," Future Amity insisted angrily. "Someday, you're going to realize that the people who deserve your love will love you unconditionally. They won't make you earn it, they won't punish you for 'showing weakness'" she finished in a mocking tone.
"Like who, the human?"
"Yes," her future self said bluntly. "But also Dad. He's distant, but he does care. If you reach out to him, he'll reach back. Emira and Edric, too. They can both be real jerks but if you go to them for help they'll support you no matter what.. Especially if you're rebelling against Odalia."
Amity responded to that by poking her future self to make sure this wasn't all just an elaborate illusion, a prank by one of her siblings.
"Or Willow," her future self finished.
That brought Amity's rather confused and skeptical train of thought to a crashing halt. "But..."
"It's not too late to fix things with Willow," her future self said. "To explain, to apologize, to try and make things right. It... It won't be the same, you and her have both grown into different people since you were little, but... I reconnected with her and it was tough at first but I'd still say she's still one of the best friends I ever had."
"But.... What about Mom?"
"Okay, it's gonna take us at least a couple of days before we can get that Titan blood and a couple of weeks before I can build a way home, Odalia's threats will fall apart when she realizes that she can't control you, especially if you can get dad on your side, but if you're too scared to confront her I can do it for you."
"I... I..." Amity didn't like this. She didn't like feeling weak in front of others. "If you're not in a coven," she changed the subject, "then what do you do for a living?"
"Whatever I want," her future self said with a smile. "Sometimes I tinker with abomitech, sometimes I go out in my personal airship and explore the wilderness. I've done a lot of archeology work for the Bonesborough Museum. Lilith was a bad teacher but she's a much better colleague."
Amity blinked slowly. "If you're not in the Emperor's Coven then...?"
"That's another long story," the human added.
Amity took a deep breath. "Okay, assuming that I believe you... Is there anything I should know?"
"Two bits of advice," her future self began. "First, there are a lot of things that I was too scared to do that, well, even when it was still scary it was worth it and I could have been happier sooner if I'd worked up the nerve faster."
"Okay," Amity acknowledged. That actually seemed like sound advice. "And the other?"
"Humans don't like eating live fairies," Amity's future self said in total seriousness. "And even if they did, they can't digest them."
"Are you still upset about that?" The human asked.
"I would have liked to know before I baked you five fairy pies, Luz," her future self insisted.
"I didn't want to hurt your feelings."
"If I knew I could have made you something you liked," the lavender-haired woman finished with a pout that Amity immediately recognized. One that... Basically confirmed the older witch's identity.
"So, it's, uh, very late," Amity suddenly insisted. "And I really should be getting to bed so..." A gear in her head slipped. "You two don't actually have anywhere to stay, do you?"
"We'll figure something out," Future Amity insisted. "But I was serious about helping you confront Odalia," she said before drawing an abomination spell circle and making a small device land on her bedside table. "I'll be in touch, so think it over."
"I'll sleep on it," Amity agreed without committing to anything.
"Alright, we'll leave you alone then," her future self concluded. She and the human both summoned Palisman staves, a white cat and a purple snake-like creature, and made their way toward the window that led to the balcony. "If you need us, my Awesome Wife and I will be spending the next day or so plotting regicide."
They then flew off from the balcony and Amity allowed herself to laugh at her future self's obvious joke before she finished her interrupted preparations for bed. That had been the most confusing course of events in her entire life. Yeah, she'd think about it... After the Covention in a few days. Assuming that this wasn't just a very weird dream, the chances of her encountering anything related to the future or humans there were slim to none.