#it's never happened (or not so badly) since. probably was triggered by the physical exertion and period and lack of sleep. but still

[mzyraj]

Early morning thoughts, still ruminating on that video from the other day, but shout out to that time I possibly got psychosis during the Duke of Edinburgh award camping thing and was terrified and convinced I was gonna die in that field if I stayed, so I bailed and my best friend of the time broke up with me for being 'selfish' because I left

[3laxx]

When the Dream ends - Chapter 2

In this chapter, with Amity's nightmare, I will be giving her a flashback to her view of the accident. Thus the rating Mature, but I want to put a warning before this chapter again. The nightmare is not necessarily story-relevant and happens in the second half of the chapter. It also eases into it. So if you had enough with Boscha's view of the accident, you can skip not to get triggered. Again, warning for blood and injuries. Have fun reading!

Ao3 / FF.net

---

“It’s okay, Luz, take your time.”, The girl by her side mumbled, but Luz was done waiting.

She had spent three days in bed now. And while she had been sleeping even longer!

Luz wanted to get up and the healers had said it was going to be fine if she started exercising again. In the human realm that would’ve taken longer, but luckily for her ADHD, here it didn’t take nearly as long. Thanks to magic. And she was gonna do this now, damnit.

Amity was sitting by her side while Eda propped up the bed, a healer standing by in case something was to go wrong.

Ugh, Luz felt like an old woman.

“I took my time. I wanna get up now.”, she grumbled and rolled her shoulders while waiting for Eda to come back to her side, the older witch having offered to assist Luz to get up again.

They hadn’t told them that Luz had tried sitting before, which was probably for the best, but now after days of testing her feet, legs and spine, she finally wanted to stand up again.

“Take it slow, kid. I’ll be with you.”, her mentor told her, then she grabbed Eda’s hand and pulled herself up, whining slightly when her back started hurting again. This was totally fine, she could do it.

At the next groan, Amity leaned over from the other side of the bed and softly supported her back, making Luz grind her teeth.

She felt like a baby and she knew they all just wanted her to be okay again someday, but she wanted to be okay again now.

“Hold that position for a minute or two, to get used to it again.”, the healer instructed before scribbling something down. Luz nodded and tried not to lean against Eda too much. Sure enough, after a few agonizing seconds, her spine adjusted and the pain faded.

“That’s better…”, she pressed out, before slightly pulling her legs in and attempting to swing them over the edge when the healer stepped in, stopping her right there.

“Hold it a bit longer. You should be able to sit alone, before standing up.”

Luz rolled her eyes but didn’t complain. Instead, competitiveness grabbed her.

“Amity, Eda, let go.”, she instructed, and while the witchling hesitantly obeyed, her mentor didn’t seem to like the idea.

“We’ll wait a little first.”, she shot back, still keeping an arm wrapped around Luz and holding her hand, furrowing her eyebrows, “You’re just as bad as me when it comes to patience.”

Luz had to chuckle at that, then she breathed through.

“Okay then, fine.”

The next few minutes Luz attempted to sit alone but repeatedly fell back against Eda, while Amity came around the bed to sit down by Luz’s legs, her eyebrows furrowed in worry. Luz didn’t like that face on her.

“Stop looking at me like that.”, she grumbled and Amity huffed.

“You stop being in pain, then.”, she shot back, making Luz nod. Fine, she got her.

Finally, she managed to get her muscles working properly again after that many days of lying down, succeeding to sit alone. Eda got up and cheered when Luz was securely sitting on her own, grinning down at her apprentice.

“You can finally sit! Your physical age just went down from 130 to 95.”

Luz rolled her eyes at that and carefully tried out her shoulders, glaring at Eda.

“Hah hah, you’re so funny.”, Luz grumbled at the older witch who just chuckled before sitting down next to her again to help her stand up. Amity got up to allow Luz to turn, then she sat down on her other side to mirror Eda’s position, wrapping an arm around Luz’s back.

“Are you sure you wanna do this, Luz?”

With a smile, the Latina looked over and nodded, determined to pull through with what she had begun.

“Yes.”

With a groan, Luz leant forward, then she put some weight on her feet and slipped off the bed, digging her fists into Eda’s and Amity’s clothes while she adjusted to the new position. With a whine, she straightened up and felt tears slowly welling up in her eyes but she would do this. She would absolutely do this.

Her mentor and her friend held her firmly and kept her standing, since Luz couldn’t stand alone yet. Shakily, she leant against Eda, seeking comfort.

“… I-It hurts so bad…”, she finally pressed out, causing Eda to look over to the healer. He merely nodded.

“It will hurt for the next few days, still. That’s caused by the injury and your bones and muscles having rested for some long.”

Luz gritted her teeth, then she straightened completely and looked ahead, tears flowing down her cheeks. She wanted to do a step.

And she would take it.

Breathing in, she then held her breath and lifted her foot, taking a step forward, closely accompanied by Eda and Amity. This could take a while.

 “Luz, don’t you think you’ve practiced enough yet?”, Amity asked, still keeping her arms around the girl. She could tell her crush was exhausted and she wanted nothing more than for her to lie down and rest.

But the Latina wouldn’t give up. Eda had left in the meantime, and that left Amity with only half an hour to spare until her curfew.

“No, I g-gotta-”

“Luz, seriously, I need to go, too and you can’t just keep being in pain for this.”, the girl didn’t listen to her and took another step, “I swear, I’ll just drop you right here and go.”

A whine sounded from the human and Amity’s heart broke.

“… Okay, okay, I’ll go back to the bed.”

Unwillingly, Luz redirected her steps back to the bed and sat down with Amity’s help, before sinking back down in the covers and lying down on her side, still feeling pain doing that. This sucked so bad, she didn’t wanna be in pain.

“… Do you think Boscha might visit me?”, she asked, not without a certain fear in her voice, while she watched Amity pack her things and get ready to leave. The young witchling turned to her and a small, sympathetic smile grew on her lips.

“I mean-… She might. Why do you ask?”

“W-Will you be there?”, Luz asked slowly, worrying her lip. She wasn’t sure how to approach Boscha and how to handle that the witch had injured her so badly. Of course, Luz knew that she hadn’t meant to but she was still scared. What if Boscha reacted poorly?

And what if it had nothing to do with her reaction but with her face alone? Would she be fine with seeing her?

Amity shrugged.

“I guess so.”, she joined Luz on her bed, brushing a few sweaty strands of hair out of her face to which the human closed her eyes, enjoying the touch, “If you want me to, I’ll be there.”

The teenager smiled, then she looked up to Amity again and sniffled.

“S-Sorry, this is so dumb. I guess I’m just tired.”

Amity hummed and smiled at that, still brushing her hands through her hair and playing with a few baby strands on her hairline.

“It’s not dumb. It’s natural you’d be unsure about that. But I assure you, I already talked to Boscha and she’s very sorry. She went to therapy like I assumed, actually.”

Luz slowly nodded at that.

“I don’t know what happened but it must’ve really shaken her.”

The young witchling shuddered, thinking back to her memories of it, but she brushed it off. If she told her parents she needed therapy, they wouldn’t let her, to keep face. A Blight never showed weakness, and being influenced by this was weakness.

Her parents would only tell her to suck it up and forget about it. To toughen up.

Amity forced a smile, then she leant down to place a feathery kiss on Luz’s forehead, a habit Luz had welcomed happily and introduced it as a tradition whenever Amity would wish her a goodnight.

Luz smiled at that and wished it’d last longer but the witchling already pulled back and softly brushed over her shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much about Boscha, Luz. It’ll be fine once you two talk it out, okay?”, but she couldn’t help it. Her thoughts were racing and she huffed.

“Fine… Get home safely?”

Amity smiled at her and nodded.

“Okay. I promise. You sleep well.”

The human nodded after her, then the witchling already closed the door and left. Luz was alone in her room now, and she felt as lonely as never. A tear slowly rolled down over her cheek but she didn’t know if it was still from the exertion or being left alone now. She closed her eyes and tried to keep as still as possible, so she wouldn’t mess up the hairstyle Amity had given her. And after a few minutes of keeping her eyes closed, sleep wouldn’t leave her waiting for long.

 Willow and Gus agreed, they couldn’t leave Luz hanging, taking up Boscha’s bullying alone. Amity smiled as she raced after them. The plant track witchling would probably call the game back on and Amity was prepared to absolutely kick Boscha’s butt in grudgby if need be. She doubted Gus would want to participate in this game, still, so she would step in and absolutely bring Luz a victory. It was already bad enough that Luz had to take the embarrassment of being Boscha’s target practice.

Amity didn’t want her to be tormented by her so-called friend even more.

They ran back to the grudgby field, Amity now running ahead, but the closer they got the more she missed the action sounding from the field.

Had Boscha and Luz made up?

She furrowed her eyebrows when she got closer, but something seemed wrong. Cat was just flying off, towards the school, and it almost sounded like Boscha was shouting, but no teasing like before. It sounded-… Almost serious.

Which was rare for Boscha, given that she loved to talk in that demanding, bossy tone.

They rounded the last corner and Amity stopped dead in her tracks, yelping, Willow and Gus doing the same. Quickly, Willow lifted her arm to block Gus’ vision, probably the most reflexive and smartest thing to do in this situation. But Amity was seeing what was happening on that field.

Boscha was kneeling on the ground over someone unmoving, barking instructions at Cat, Skara and Amelia, her team. Which were okay. Which meant-

She first recognized the colorful multitrack uniform of Luz, when she looked down to the person Boscha was kneeling over, her hand on their neck while she talked to Skara.

It was Luz. Luz was lying there.

Boscha above her, just looking over.

There was red.

White, seething anger bubbled up in Amity and she leaped.

“BOSCHA!!”

She ran towards them, already preparing to throw whatever her magic offered at Boscha.

The realization only hit when she came closer to the scene. Luz was lying on the floor, half on her side, half on her face, and there was red.

Blood was spreading all over her clothes, her hair was soaked in blood and her face was so red and her clothes were getting all red, her beautiful multitrack uniform. Boscha’s knees and hands were full of red and she was kneeling in her, in Luz’s blood. Amity was furious.

Suddenly, a vine jumped up from the floor, accompanied by others, trapping her. Her glaring eyes met Amelia’s, who still lifted her hands, building a cage around Amity. Her gaze screamed an apology, but Amity couldn’t care, she was focused on Boscha and got ready to summon an abomination.

Boscha didn’t even acknowledge her. She didn’t even look up.

Her hand was seemingly glued to the human’s neck, staying in one certain spot on the slippery, bloodstained skin.

“BOSCHA, YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR A WITCH!!”, she screamed, the abomination forgotten now. She was too emotional to even grasp a straight thought, too focused on ripping up Boscha with her bare hands that she didn’t even think about magic anymore. Her hands ripped at the cage but Amelia had conjured some sturdy vines, “LEMME AT HER, AMELIA, I’LL RIP HER UP!!”

Luz looked so horrible, so horrible that Amity almost couldn’t look at her. But Boscha didn’t even care that the blood was everywhere on her, on her hands, sleeves, gloves, uniform. She didn’t even care that Luz was bleeding out.

Amity couldn’t look away, either, though. She didn’t see much of the wound, she was still too far away and Luz’s face was facing her, so she couldn’t see the back of her head. But all her hair was wet, and all her face was red. She looked horrible.

The seething anger had completely taken over her, so much so that she was screaming herself hoarse. Especially when Willow joined the scene and Boscha leaned down as if she was to kiss Luz, her hair getting all soaked from the blood pooling around Luz’s face, before straightening up again and having Luz’s blood run all over her face from out of her hair. Boscha looked terrifying like this.

“DON’T BE A FUCKING COWARD BOSCHA, FIGHT ME!!”, she screamed again, even if her voice was breaking at the tears and sobs building up in her throat, making her voice crack and break off. Her body was on autopilot, ripping on the vines like a maniac and stretching for Boscha no matter what despite being a good two meters away from the scene unfolding in front of her.

“I SWEAR, BOSCHA, I’LL MAKE YOU FEEL SO SORRY!!”

She couldn’t even stop screaming. Couldn’t stop to grasp a logical thought, couldn’t stop.

She still stretched for Boscha, her fingernails turning bloody upon clawing at the vines that held her back. Or for Luz. She didn’t really know what she’d do once she’d reach them.

She’d either attack Boscha or probably try to protect Luz from more damage. But she couldn’t stop raging, couldn’t stop, and she began to think, deep down in her subconscious, that maybe it was better this way.

“BOSCHA, I SWEAR TO THE TITAN I’LL KILL YOU!!”, she yelled when the three girls got ready to roll Luz onto the stretched Willow had created at Boscha’s command.

They were so gentle and careful with her, probably to mind her spine. When Luz rolled onto her back, Amity only then saw how bad the human really looked like. It seemed like she had lost a lot of blood already, blood that was now all over Boscha, Skara and Willow, and her injury just wouldn’t stop bleeding.

Shortly, she asked herself why Boscha hadn’t put anything on it yet, but this thought went under in her murderous rage. Later, she’d understand that Boscha was way too shocked to do everything right.

She wanted to scream more at them, when the grudgby team captain suddenly leaned down and instructed her helpers to hold Luz firmly, while she’d start CPR. Amity couldn’t bring out proper sentences anymore, she just yelled death threats at Boscha and some incoherent insults, when Boscha started to perform CPR on the human. Especially, when she held Luz’s nose close and blew air into her mouth, Amity’s rage was tinged by ugly, green jealousy. She rammed her body against the vines that Amelia still held up, screaming and clawing at everything she could reach, once again stretching out her arms despite being unable to stretch the gap.

She had to reach Luz.

Luz was hurt by Boscha.

She had to beat up Boscha.

A lot of sobs built into her rage now, making her voice break and crack, but she wouldn’t ever stop, not if Luz’s life was in danger. Finally, the Healing professor and the Illusions Professor showed up and took Luz with them to the Healing Coven. That’s when a wave of relaxation went through the girls. Amity couldn’t hold up her screaming anymore as well.

She had by now collapsed against the vines as well, sobbing quietly to herself while exhaustion washed over her.

Luz had looked so horrible. She’d have to face the possibility of her dying, and never coming back and Amity having missed her chance to ever come clean about her feelings. Never ever again she’d see the dumb otter costume Luz loved so much.

Sobs sounded through her head, making her shake and tremble, when she realized Luz was dead, gone, never to return again. She was dead and Amity couldn’t tell her how much she loved her. She wouldn’t see her dumb smile again, wouldn’t be able to snicker at her human expressions and she’d have to say goodbye on her grave.

Titan, that was a hard pill to swallow.

When Willow approached her, she was just strong enough to look up, before everything around her went black-

 With a scream, Amity shot up in her bed. She was drenched in sweat and crying. The hoarseness in her voice was also evidence that she had been screaming in her sleep.

Curling in on herself, Amity started sobbing. She couldn’t do this anymore. She had only had this dream ever since Luz had been brought to the Healer’s Coven. She was exhausted and sad and terrified what this was doing to her.

Shortly after, she felt a familiar scent surround her and Edric climbed into bed with her. Her brother had a light sleep, completely opposite to their sister who could sleep through an earthquake.

Edric softly pulled her closer and cradled her head close, allowing her to curl up against him.

She immediately felt better and her violent sobs turned down into sniffles, until she just breathed against his shirt.

All the while he said nothing. He was probably already asleep again. As deeply as Emira slept, as quickly Edric could sleep. Amity was just grateful he wouldn’t leave her alone during a time like this. She always wanted to apologize to him that she was screaming at night but he always brushed it off, gave her a kiss on the forehead and pulled her close, reassuring her that everything was fine.

Snuggled against the chest of her brother, she quickly found some rest again and even, subconsciously, reached up to bury her hand in his dark green hair. Like she had always done as a little witchling, when she had had nightmares about having to hurt Willow. Her brother had always gotten up and lied back down in her bed, and she had made it a habit to calm herself and bury a hand in his hair.

This was a long time back but she could still immediately feel the relaxation and thus, the sleepiness set in once her fingers were entangled in his soft locks, making her smile.

Unbeknownst to her, Edric was just dozing and smiled as well, when he felt his baby sister seeking for her comfort position since she had just been a baby.

After all, Amity was still just a little girl, wanting to be comforted.

He smiled, then he pulled her closer and pressed a little kiss to her forehead when he was sure she had already fallen asleep, making sure that she could keep her hand in his hair and her other hand against his chest, to feel his heartbeat.

Most of this she did unconsciously, but Amity had always been a snuggly baby, especially with Edric, and he had more than welcomed the unusual warmth in their family. And if she needed his hair and heartbeat to sleep again, he would more than happily allow her those things.