#luz jumping in front of something yet again and getting banged up so much she needs to get patched up

[noblechaton]

Fic Title: I would live a thousand lives (For You)

I got a fandom in mind but lemme see whatcha got.

what springs to mind here immediately for me is a post reveal story that sees Desperada return - it's set in the afterwards of her most recent attack, with Chat breaking down after barely holding it together throughout the fight, dramatically detransforming as he comes to finally admit to the fact that he'd lost Marinette over and over again during Desperada's first appearance, failing again and again to save and protect her. Adrien slinks down along some concrete wall, tears welling up as he professes to just how traumatic this has been for him to hold inside for so long, apologizing for keeping it a secret but admitting he'd had no idea how to tell her that she basically died thousands of times

cue Marinette taking him by the shoulder and shaking him to his senses, making it a point to assure him that she was okay, that she is okay. she understands why he'd kept it a secret, but professes that she wishes there'd been some better way for him to share this story before this, in a less traumatic situation. Adrien starts calming down as Marinette reaffirms her love, hands at his shoulders and a peck at his lips as she admits that she'd live a thousand lives for him, with Adrien briefly kissing her back before repeating that sentiment, too

[drabbles-of-writing]

Meet Me in the Void (pt 3)

This is part of my Fallen AU Part 1, Part 2

AO3

Masterpost

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Purple either has to be remarkably stubborn or ridiculously inhuman, because Luz is pretty sure any regular human, or even witch, would’ve collapsed from blood loss at this point.

She decides it's probably a bit of both.

Purple had insisted on moving as soon as their injuries were bandaged up. Luz protested, but clearly, when Purple had an idea in their head, they couldn’t quit. Because despite that, Purple still got up and limped their way through the trench. Luz couldn’t do much but follow. Or, really, lead.

Every few minutes Luz would stop and turn around, seeing that Purple had fallen back a bit and was struggling to keep up. And Luz found Purple was...a lot less intimidating. Obviously, because of the whole injured thing, but they had taken off their cloak and wrapped it around their side, leaving them just in black. They seemed far skinnier than Luz imagined, like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. Who knows, maybe those animals who made themselves look bigger had the right idea on intimidation.

But back to the topic at hand.

Luz would insist on slowing down whenever Purple seemed to take an extra minute to catch up, but at this point, they’d stopped responding. Luz figured they were just tuning her out.

So, clearly that wasn’t going to work. But what else was Luz supposed to do? Walk in awkward silence for hours on end? She’d rather try to climb the trench with her bare hands. 

And for the dozenth time in half an hour (she thinks, time is weird when you're underground and lost in a ravine), Luz was leaning against the wall of the pit, arms crossed as she waited for Purple to limp their way over.

“So,” She started. Upon no reaction from Purple as they continued limping by, she took it as a go-ahead. “Do you have a name?”

Purple finally looked up at her (progress!), giving her a tired look. They then went right back to limping, now beginning to pass Luz.

“...okay, no name then.” Luz said, pushing off the wall and deciding to walk slowly alongside them. “Is it cool if I call you Purple, then? Cause that’s kind of what I’ve been doing lately.”

Purple blinked, or at least gave the impression of it, and looked over at Luz incredulously. 

“So I’m not original, sue me.” Luz mumbled, shoving her hands into her pockets. “You got a preference for something else?”

Purple grumbled a few throaty clicking sounds, turning their head back to paying attention to what was in front of them.

“Well, I can’t pronounce that, so I think Purple will have to suffice.” Luz said simply.

She could’ve sworn the light chuffing sound Purple made was almost a laugh.

The silence started up again, and Luz reached for anything to talk about. Or, ask, really. It was a little hard to keep up a conversation with someone who couldn’t talk, but she could make this work.

“I’ve also just been calling you a they,” Luz started, waving her hand around. “Is that alright, too?”

Purple glanced over at her again, and Luz got the feeling they very much didn’t want to entertain her questions or pestering. To their credit, they weren’t outright ignoring Luz anymore.

“Do you go by he?” Luz guessed, kicking at the small pebbles beneath her feet in some attempt to not have to focus solely on the conversation. “She?”

Purple raised a claw, chirping as they pointed at Luz and nodded. Praise them for using gestures that Luz could understand.

“You're a she?” Luz guessed. Purple nodded calmly, going right back to dragging herself over the stones.

Luz resisted the urge to pump a fist in the air. She was getting somewhere! Purple seemed to not have an aversion to yes or no questions, probably because they were easy to answer, so if she just kept asking those, she could maybe not get murdered after all this.

Or at least be entertained for a while.

“Uh, lets see,” Luz thought aloud, searching for questions. “Well, since we’re down here, did you see where anyone else fell off?”

Purple shook her head, not bothering to look over at Luz this time.

“Not even the other two Chasers?” Luz inquired. “Actually, do they have names, too? I never managed to get any for them. We kind of just identify those two as ‘the one with darts’ and ‘the one with the rivet.’” 

Purple snorted, raising a brow as she looked to her side, where her needle was resting on her belt. She pointed to the needle, then to her, with a faint amused air to her.

“What, you think we should’ve called you Needle?” Luz huffed. “That...huh,” She paused. “That actually might’ve been more creative than Purple.”

Purple snickered, Luz was sure of it this time, their body shaking slightly with a laugh. Luz will admit, she felt quite proud of her feat. For a solid five seconds.

The movement made Purple wince, and she hunched her shoulders as she stopped in her tracks, hissing.

“Crap, are you alright?” Luz fretted, stepping closer. “I told you, we really should rest, that wound could--” 

Her hand brushed Purple’s shoulder, and it was like a switch was flipped.

Purple snarled, a feral, guttural noise Luz would be terrified to hear at night. And was more than a little scary to hear in the moment.

Purple jerked away from Luz, claws unsheathing as she stumbled right towards the edge.

Luz was somehow thinking clearly enough to sharply back away instead of reaching out, fearing the Chaser would fall right off into the Void.

And, thankfully, Purple didn’t take a step too far. The edge of her heel went over the edge for barely a moment, pebbles clicking and falling silently in the blackness beneath them. It was enough for Purple to look back and retract her foot.

Once again, the Void almost seemed to reach for her, like a hundred hands towards a raft in the middle of a sea. Though none were close enough to be anywhere near actually grabbing her.

Luz swallowed and Purple stepped away from the ledge, shaking herself and tightening her hold around her wounded side.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t--”

Purple growled, glancing at Luz before straightening up somewhat, though it was clear doing so completely would be too painful. With a gruff and a sharp turn of her head, she went right on walking (poorly so). At a much brisker pace this time.

Luz, who personally didn’t want to see how else Purple would react if further prodded, resigned to keeping her mouth shut and shuffling after her.

Well, at least she had made some progress.

,

The next pits of walking were far more silent than earlier. Luz wasn’t even rambling or saying something brief to break the anxious silence like before. She didn’t even bother walking ahead of Purple, even though her regular pace was still faster than hers. Being in Purple’s line of sight and having to wait for her seemed like a death sentence at this point.

Purple either knew Luz was doing this on purpose or didn’t care, because she hadn’t looked back once. Only hobbling along and growling quietly if she stumbled, to which Luz had to bite her tongue and let happen.

It continued like that for what seemed like an eternity, though now that Luz thought back, it was probably about fifteen minutes or so. And Luz had been so wrapped up in feeling awful for startling Purple that she hadn’t noticed said Chaser had stopped moving.

It was a miracle Luz managed to realize it in time before walking right into her, giving a small squeak as she jumped back.

Purple glanced back, for the first time, with nothing short of an annoyed glare.

“Uh, sorry,” Luz mumbled with a shy smile. “What’s the hold...up…”

Luz trailed off as she peered around the assassin. There, in front of them both, was nothing but a gaping hole straight into the Void.

The large jut of rock they had been walking across had ended, leaving a sizable gap before them. There was another ledge a few feet in front of them, though it was also well above the height of their current standing. Not an impossible jump, but Luz was a little antsy about someone as banged up as Purple trying to traverse it.

Purple paced, limping to the side as she looked between their ledge and the one above and across from them. Her eyes were narrowed, and she made a lot of odd steps as she tried to figure out how to make the leap.

Luz, meanwhile, was pretty sure she could make it in one bounce.

Easily? No, but she was fairly certain she’d made worse before. And Purple was definitely going to have some trouble getting over that.

So Luz took a few steps back, sizing up the gap between the two ledges. This would be a lot easier with her sword, but it would have to do.

Purple chirped quietly as she looked between the distance. Her hand went to her needle right as Luz crouched down, bunching up her legs.

Now, were anyone else here, they probably would’ve caught on right away to Luz’s (heart-attack inducing) plan. But fortunately for her, none of her friends were here right now. And Purple had yet to get used to how impulsive Luz’s plans could be.

So when Purple turned around, she had no time to prepare or stop Luz as she took off straight towards the gap between the ledges.

Purple’s eyes widened and a sound similar to a cat’s wail and yelp came from her as Luz leapt off at the very end of the rock, completely untethered in the air for a few seconds. Right before she slammed, rather harshly, into the other jut of stone.

“Woo!” Luz cheered, despite the fact that only her hands had a good grip, and half her body was dangling precariously over the Void.

Purple was now rapidly pacing across the rock she was still on, sounding like a strained, slightly less painful chalkboard. Luz paid no heed, instead moving her feet around to try and get a good grip on the rocks to hoist herself up.

“Don’t worry, I got it!” Luz called (rather optimistically) behind her.

Purple’s distressed calls didn’t cease, neither did her lopsided pacing. It took a few more agonizing moments before Luz had managed to get her foot caught on a nook in the rocks and heave herself up, rolling over onto her back once she did so.

“I’m okay!” She assured, not even bothering to lift her head as she caught her breath, calming from her adrenaline rush.

Then, and only then, did Purple finally stop. Luz sat up then, looking down and seeing a thoroughly pissed off witch (if Purple counted as one) glaring up at her.

“Oh, so you can walk for hours on end while bleeding out, but when I jump a gap, suddenly it's an issue?” Luz demanded.

Many loud, chittering squawks came from Purple as she began waving her hands around and gesturing to Luz, her irked tone not lost on the human in the slightest. She still held the needle, and Luz was rather grateful she wasn’t within stabbing distance.

“Yeah, yeah, should’ve warned you,” Luz mumbled, crawling to the edge of the ledge. “But look on the bright side! Now I can help you cross over. So I’d say it was worth it.”

Luz swears she saw Purple’s eye twitch.

And then, immediately after, Purple raised the needle in her hand and stepped back. Luz knew that stance well enough and quickly backed away.

In a mostly fluid movement, she threw the needle like a spear almost towards the exact spot Luz had been sitting. It embedded into the stone right below where Luz had been, albeit not very deep. Either Purple’s aim was failing, or the rocks were very tough down here.

“Is that a good ide--”

Luz was cut off by Purple giving her a dirty look, and Luz slowly shut her mouth. Right, not her place to bring up how bad an idea is.

Purple tugged on the string connecting her belt to her needle, experimentally testing it out. Luz, fairly certain that needle would hold about as well as the first time Purple tried that stunt, made sure to grab the other end of it with her hands. A safety-line of sorts.

Purple seemed exasperated but didn’t argue. Instead, she crouched at the edge and bunched her legs up like a cat underneath her. One wrist had the string loosely wrapped around it, her hands free to become clawed and grip the stone underneath her.

With far more grace than Luz, Purple sprung.

Granted, it was as much grace as someone bleeding from two injuries could muster.

Purple hit the rock, a little lighter, and instantly dug her claws in and gave a hiss, coiling in on herself. Luz winced, that had to hurt.

Purple was quick to begin pulling herself up, and Luz began to offer her hand for a moment before deciding better of it and scooting to the side. She gave the Chaser room as she kept her hands tightly around the safety needle.

The assassin flopped onto her front when she climbed up, her feet hanging off the edge as she deflated with a groan. Luz, who felt assured Purple wouldn’t roll off to her demise, wiggled the needle for a few moments until it popped loose. She set it down before looking back to Purple, crawling closer until she was peering over the bug.

One of Purple’s eyes opened, landing on Luz. Her ragged breathing slowed then as she growled and pushed herself onto her knees. Luz didn’t move back, instead gazing over Purple’s side and noting that the cloak had gotten dirty once more.

“You should probably change that up again.” Luz mentioned, a lot more casual than one should probably be when next to an upset assassin.

Purple grumbled, flicking her wrist that was still wrapped up in the string. It quickly brought the needle closer to her, and in one movement, Purple had grabbed the needle and raised it to Luz’s face.

Luz instinctively stiffened, the point of the needle pressed right on the bridge of her nose. Luz crossed her eyes to look at the point.

“So,” Luz said with a click of her tongue. “I take it...you're still mad at me?” She guessed sheepishly, her eyes uncrossing for a moment to look towards Purple, who seemed like she was debating if she was too tired to be bothered.

Instead, Purple sighed and pushed at the needle, causing Luz to lean and then stumble back so as to avoid getting a new injury on her face.

Which ended up not working when Purple gave one last tiny push and pierced the skin between Luz’s eyes.

“Ow!” Luz yelped, jerking away and pressed a hand to the wound. Purple snickered and sat back, strapping the needle to her belt.

It wasn’t bleeding very much, barely anything really, but Luz was still miffed. Purple didn’t seem to care and rolled to her feet, muttering as she shuffled towards the stone wall.

Luz blinked, watching her from where she sat as Purple flopped against the wall, already messing with her cloak wrapped around her injury so she could press slightly-cleaner cloth against it.

“A...are we resting now?” Luz asked incredulously.

Purple raised a brow, looking around and gesturing with a hand as though the answer were obvious and not at all a legitimate question in these circumstances.

“Seriously?” Luz groaned. “I ask you to break for hours, and all I have to do to get you to take a break is to be quiet for fifteen minutes? Or was it the reckless behavior that made you decide it's time to have a break?”

Purple puffed with a shrug, and Luz had a sneaking suspicion she was grinning under that mask. If there was anything under the mask. Maybe it was just void, that’d be cool.

The assassin then gestured with her claws to a spot a couple feet from her, even snapping her claws in emphasis. Luz, who was in a mix of being excited that Purple didn’t appear to want her gutted and very mildly annoyed, decided it was alright to talk more.

“What, think I’m going to dive off headfirst for fun?” Luz grumbled, though she did get up and walk to the spot Purple wanted her to sit in.

Purple nodded calmly, to which Luz gave an offended gasp. 

“I’ll have you know that I have some impulse control,” Luz scoffed with mock-annoyance. “And I am honestly appalled that you’d think otherwise.”

Purple looked at her strangely then, her head tilting like she was looking between Luz and whatever else was around them. As though she were confused at Luz’s dramatized outrage.

“I…” Luz hesitated, but decided she’d already made enough bad decisions that she could risk looking like a further idiot by guessing incorrectly. “You know I was joking, right?”

Purple’s brows raised at that (mimicking doing so, really), humming in realization. She looked far more assured before nodding and going back to re-tying her cloak around her side.

So, Purple had a little trouble with sarcasm at times. Good to know.

Luz took the moment of calmness to look up the chasm. She could see faded lights from nearby towns shining just over the trench. Luz had no idea what time it was now, the Boiling Isles didn’t really have a sense of night and day, but she could figure that now was generally when most people were asleep. Though knowing Eda, she’d be wide awake right now. She’d always insisted the ‘normal time’ for everyone else was stupid.

“Do you think we’ll find the others?” Luz wondered aloud, turning her head slightly to the Chaser. “I’d say I’m pretty alright at finding wherever my friends run off to, but that’s usually because Eda leaves a wake of destruction in her path. You gotta be good with tracking to find us all the time, right?”

Purple didn’t respond, as per usual. But she did glance up to Luz, her claws twitching. Her shoulders seemed to raise, becoming stiffer as she looked out at the canyon they were in. She didn’t look at Luz as she shrugged and leaned back against the wall, one hand laying across her wounded leg and pressing at it.

“Do you need new bandages for your leg?” Luz asked, perking up and leaning just a bit closer. “I can help with--”

Luz cut herself off when Purple shrank away from her getting closer. There was still at least a two foot distance between them, and yet Purple coiled right back in on herself.

“Right,” Luz mumbled, moving back to her previous position.

And that was that, she supposed. 

Luz drew her knees close to her chest, noting that Purple had turned her back to her and was likely attempting to sleep. Or at least get some rest.

Luz figured she should probably try to rest, too. She had a lot more walking ahead of her. So she stretched her legs out, using her hands as a pillow on the very uncomfortable ground.

“Night, guys.” She whispered to no one in particular. Nobody around right now, at least.

Silence answered her.

[e350tb]

The Owl House: A Blight on Gravesfield (Chapter One)

One

An uninvited guest arrives at the Noceda residence.

Right, settle down everyone, time for a history lesson.

No, no, please save the questions for the end of the class.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, English settlers - note the terminology there, English, not British, the Act of Union doesn’t happen for another hundred years. Anyway, English settlers started to cross the Atlantic in earnest to colonise what we now call the eastern seaboard of the United States. While Englishmen liked to claim they weren’t motivated by the same ‘base’ desires as the Spaniards in Central and South America, generally speaking, colonists were motivated by the same three things as the conquistadors.

There’s our key words - glory, God and gold.

Not literally gold - the hopes of gold nuggets on shores of Virginia didn’t bear fruit - but commodities. Beaver pelts and tobacco, things you couldn’t get in Europe at the time. The trade in rare goods and eventually humanity would enrich both colonists and their backers for the next two hundred years. They also served as breeding grounds for religious dissent.

Ah, dissenters. We’ll come back to them, because they’re much more interesting than they sound. 

By the 1630s, the colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts are fairly well established, and people are spreading out in search of more land. If you’re a settler in Massachusetts and you want to find a new patch of land away from everyone else, well, Connecticut’s right there.

There’s a lot of debate over which town is the oldest in Connecticut - traditionally, it’s Wethersfield. But a few academics have argued that that laurel belongs to a different township - the one in which we are gathered today.

Which brings us to 1635, and the establishment of Gravesfield by ten men who had wandered over from the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. Perhaps no town in the state has as much weird colonial lore as us.

And how much of it is true?

Well, that’s for historians to work out…

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It all began on a dark and grey autumn day.

When something happens in a small town like Gravesfield, it gets everyone’s attention. About two weeks ago, for example, the curator of the local historical society had been arrested, fined and fired for trespassing, and it was still the talk of the town. They whispered about it in the cafes, shared articles in the offices, and presented wild, unsubstantiated theories about it on local talk radio.

“So you’re saying that we can’t trust historians?”

A few drops of rain rapped against the window - it was one of those days where it doesn’t rain, but it gusts heavily, and droplets are caught in the wind. The kitchen was dark; light shadows danced on the wall, and the illuminated numbers on the microwave seemed almost brilliant in the gloom. It very much matched the mood.

“Look, Kerry, I’m not sayin’ all historians are bad, but you gotta listen to some o’ these people; the things they say about Jefferson n’ Washington n’ all them folks. They get their kicks on bein’ right and tearin’ people down, this Hopkins fella probably wanted to prove something, and…”

Over the dim sound of the radio, one could hear the clock; tick, tick, tick, tick. Occasionally it was drowned out as a gust rattled the windows and doors, but the sound always returned, constant and ever present - tick, tick, tick, tick.

Time. Ever ticking, ever moment. Every moment, a moment stolen.

“And that was Marvin from Bridge Street. We’ll come back to that, but first the news on the hour. Brad?”

On the bench, next to the phone, stood a small picture frame, the glass slightly illuminated in the stormy afternoon light. To all the world, it showed a typical family - a man, a woman and a little girl. The man’s face was obscured by the light, but one could see the clear similarities in the faces of the mother and daughter.

Those that were here. Those that were now gone.

“The Los Angeles Police Department has announced an amber alert that was put into place several months ago has been withdrawn. In defiance of all expectations, a teenager, whose family has asked for anonymity, returned home over the weekend; two other missing girls, whose cases were connected to the teenager, remain missing at this-”

Camila Noceda turned off the radio.

She sat at the kitchen table, staring at the clock. It had been a long day. It had been a long few weeks.

Unlike those engaging in baseless speculation about the case of Jacob Hopkins, Camila knew exactly what had happened to the previously respected amateur historian. She could even tell you who the mysterious assailant who had beaten him up and left him for the police was; it was her.

She was quite happy to remain anonymous, too. She didn’t want any laurels, any radio interviews, anything like that. She didn’t want to be reminded of that day.

Not while Luz remained separated from her.

Everything about the situation boggled her mind. The Boiling Isles, the Owl House, Emperor Belos - they sounded like fantasy; even she’d thought they were fantasy to begin with. But the idea that they were real, and that her daughter was in such a dangerous world - willingly, no less - was absolutely terrifying.

The same words ran through her head, day in and day out.

“Staying here was the best decision I ever made…”

Had she really been that bad of a mother?

There was a strange thumping noise outside. For a moment, Camila ignored it, but then it came again, louder this time. 

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

It was like something was trying to break through a door.

Camila shot up - was it Vee? No, she was at school (where everyone still believed she was Luz - Camila swallowed the thought.) Was an animal trapped under the house - or had Hopkins started trapping them again? If he was, she was going to make their last encounter feel positively…

BANG!

Camila jumped. It was definitely coming from the front yard - this time it sounded a bit like a car backfiring, but much louder and much closer. The thumps were getting more frequent too, almost like a heartbeat - thump-thump thump-thump thump-thump!

She looked out the window.

There was… something swirling and morphing on the front lawn, trying and failing to manifest into a single unified shape. She could just about see the frame of a door, and a swirling landscape of… nothing behind. It almost hurt her eyes to look at. Yet she could just about swear she could see a silhouette through the shifting, swirling frame.

Luz!

She raced to the front door and threw it open, just in time for the door frame to settle - only a little, as the edges still twirled and twitched like a heart in cardiac arrest. The figure stepped forward, and Camila realised there was another held in her arms.

She stepped into the light, and Camila’s heart skipped a beat.

The figure was about Luz’ age, she reckoned - her hair was a bright purple, with edges of brown, and she wore what looked almost like a robe with purple sleeves and pants. Her eyes were a hazel brown, and her skin was pale - but more remarkable were her pointed ears.

And yet Camilia’s eyes focused on the limp form in her arms, her brown hair messy, her tan skin covered in cuts and bruises, and her breathing heavy and laboured.

The other girl spoke, her voice shaking.

“Are you Luz’s mom?”

Camila’s hands covered her mouth.

“Luz,” she whispered.

She was running before she knew it, sprinting over to the limp form of her daughter. She barely heard the other girl; she seemed to be babbling.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Emperor Belos, the golden guard, they-they came without warning a-a-and this was the only thing I could think of! Sh-she needs help but I don’t know…”

Camila took her from the girl’s arms, swiftly placing a finger on Luz’s wrist - a pulse, even and regular, if a bit shallow. Good sign, but she needed to get inside. She could go to pieces later; right now Luz needed her.

“It’s okay, mija, mami’s here,” she whispered. “We need to get you inside, come on…”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know how to…”

Camila looked back at the girl as she turned to run inside.

“You can tell me about it later,” she said. “We need to lie her down.”

She raced inside - she thought she heard the girl sprinting after her - and ran into the living room, laying Luz down on the couch. Quickly she checked her temperature - seemed okay, but her skin was a little clammy. More important were the cuts and bruises. She needed bandages, and probably a hospital. She needed to call an ambulance, now, and…

“M-Ms. Noceda?”

The girl had arrived behind her - she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

“Can… can I try something?”

Camila opened her mouth to reply - what could she do? Luz needed a doctor! She needed a hospital, she needed…

Slowly, the girl stepped forward, standing over Luz’s unconscious form.

“Lilith said I wasn’t supposed to use this unless it was an emergency,” she said, “but I think this is an emergency, so…”

She touched her forehead to Luz’.

“With this spell declared… let the pain be shared.”

Camila stepped back, eyes wide, as both Luz and the girl glowed blue. The light intensified, and for a moment, she had to shield her eyes.

When she regained her vision, the girl was slumped next to the couch, sweating and breathing a little heavily; but Luz looked noticeably healthier, and many of the worst cuts and bruises were gone.

“What…”

“I shared the pain,” the girl said woosily.

“I… you could’ve hurt yourself!” exclaimed Camila. “Y-you have hurt yourself! I…”

“Yeah?” The girl chuckled humourlessly. “It’s worth it… as long as Luz is okay.”

CRASH! BANG! THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!

Camila jumped and turned around. Outside the door, she could just about see the magical doorway violently twitch and swirl, thrashing like a trapped, wounded animal. For a moment, it seemed almost to be in a state of rage, as if it would lunge at Camila in a last, desperate effort; for help or to main, she could not say.

Then there was a loud pop, and it was gone. It was as if it had never been there.

“Your… portal?” Camila said, her throat dry. “It’s gone.”

“I…” The girl had hobbled to her feet and was gazing outside to where the door had been. She swayed on her feet.

“Oh,” she said softly. “Oh, Titan.”

Like a puppet with its strings cut, she swayed and dropped to the floor.

Camila looked down at the two unconscious girls; she mopped her brow, forcing herself not to panic or cry. She needed to keep herself together, to make sure Luz and her - friend, maybe? - were okay. Then she could cry all she liked.

There was a knock, and Camila turned back to the door. There was another girl, one eerily similar to Luz, standing there - she looked deeply confused.

“Camila?” she asked. “I-is everything okay?”

Camila swallowed, wondering how she was going to explain any of this.

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Ch 8

On Friday Amity is tired, but she relishes every minute she spends at school and not home, because the weekend was looking to be just as exhausting. 

Blue moon masquerades are a Blight family tradition, her parents have been throwing the parties for as long as she can remember and it’s a tradition that they begin throwing these parties at sixteen. With this being the first blue moon since the twins turned sixteen it's finally time for them to do it. 

Normally the two are all about parties, but considering all the rules and protocols their parents have set for the event, any enthusiasm the twins might have had is well and truly dead before the party planning even begins.  

Now it’s just one more thing expected of them and Amity can tell how much they hate it, so she tries to help them with the planning whenever she can.

Someday it will be her turn after all. 

She also still has yet to speak to Luz since Wednesday and she feels bad about it, but facing her is too hard right now, especially when the object of her affections seems to actively pushing her toward this secret admirer she has.

She clutches her book to her chest as she walks down Hexside’s quiet and deserted hallways. 

Maybe Luz is just a pipe-dream she needs to try and forget about. She was never going to have the courage to face her and tell her how she feels, and if Luz had any inclination toward her at all she wouldn’t be advocating so hard for a mysterious stranger. 

Her lips quiver and her eyes burn but she quickly shoves it down. She is not going to cry at school, she’s a Blight!

A mantra she uses to steel herself even as she hates it. 

She shakes her head and continues on toward her locker. 

When she stops to stand in front of it the creature looks annoyed and she realizes why when it opens its mouth unprompted and sticks out its tongue.

She's started to get a little more used to these surprises but the one waiting for her this morning makes her gasp. 

Sitting there on her locker's tongue is a small maroon colored velvet box she knows immediately is a jewelry box. A piece of folded paper sitting beneath it.

She hesitates a minute before picking up the box and the note. Curiosity gets the better of her and she opens the box before anything else and stares wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape.

Nestled within the satin lining is a brooch. 

Fine lines of gold shaped to look like thorned vines twist and loop in random but pleasing patterns, overlapping each other in places. At the center of the vines is a small tear-shaped gemstone in a gold setting. She's not sure what kind, but it's a deep fuchsia color that sparkles and gleams when it catches a stray beam of light from the hallways overhead lights. 

It's beautiful and Amity is in awe of it as she pulls it from its box with hesitant fingers and holds it gently in her hand. She runs her thumb over the hard and smooth facets of the stone, feeling the different, sharp cut sides press into the pad of her thumb. 

The metal is cool and hefty in her fingers and her heart thuds in her chest that someone would go through all this trouble for her.

It's a common misconception among the student body that Amity Blight must be beating suitors off with a staff, but the truth is no one had ever pursued her.

Her family was highly influential and well off, everyone assumed she was above them, unattainable; so they didn't try. Not that she’d done much to change that opinion. 

Of course, when it finally does happen she's head over heels for someone as unattainable as people think she is…

With gentle fingers she puts the jewelry back in its box and finally turns her attention to the piece of paper, unfolding it.

"Amity,

When I saw this in the market I could only think of you. I hope you like it. This is my final gift as your secret admirer.

Even if you can't return my feelings, would you dance with me tomorrow night?

I'll be wearing a black and purple horned demon mask.

~Your soon-to-be-not-so-secret Admirer 

Amity's heart is thumping loudly in her chest, the meaning of the letter is clear. Her secret admirer is going to be at the masquerade tomorrow night. 

She clutches the box in her hands and bites her lip.

Maybe… this was her chance to let go of Luz… 

Her heart aches at the thought, but her mind knows that it would be the better choice. 

Luz is human and while it's rather uncertain right now if she'll ever actually leave the Boiling Isles since the only known portal has been destroyed, Amity's parents would have an aneurysm if they were to ever find out she was in a romantic relationship with a human, the Owl Lady's apprentice no less. 

Despite that, if the opportunity presented itself Amity would still leap headfirst into it without any reservations.

She's never known anyone like Luz in all her life. The girl is kindness and sunshine incarnate, something exceedingly rare in a place like the Boiling Isles. 

She’s made her a better person in the time they’ve known each other. 

Looking back now she finds it hard to believe that she ever hated her.

She looks down at the maroon box in hand and frowns, chest tight. Conflicted emotions run rampant through her mind

For all the things she loves about Luz, of which there are many, she knows that she'll never have the courage to tell her so, and Luz has made it clear in just as many ways that she doesn't see Amity in the same light, and at the end of the day, all her longing and feelings are for not if Luz doesn't return them.

But here, in the palm of her hand, she has a chance at something that might be real and not just a flight of fantasy.  

She takes a deep breath and puts the box and note in her bag and heads to class.

She doesn't see Luz at lunch, for which she is grateful but disappointed. She sits with Willow and Gus when they wave her over.

"Hey, Amity, have you seen Luz today? We missed her this morning," the plant witch asks. Amity frowns.

"No, I haven't seen her all day." 

"She must not be at school today…" Willow frowns.

That's unusual, Luz loves school. Amity wonders if she's sick, but in the back of her mind, she wonders if Luz is avoiding her.

She looks down at her lunch and is suddenly not very hungry, but she stays and chats with Gus and Willow.

~ ~ 

Luz probably should have told her friends that she decided not to go to school today in order to have more time to get ready for Saturday night, but she’s on a deadline, there was no time to go to the school to tell Gus and Willow. She really needed to get a scroll. 

She only has one real problem left.

Hiding her ears.

If either of the Clawthorne sisters had magic it would be an easy thing to cast an illusion spell over her ears, but they don't; so it's not.

She's been leafing through Eda's various magic books, searching for a practical solution to her problem.

So far, no luck.

"Ugh!" Luz groans, shelving the books and stalking to her room, grumbling under her breath. "Why couldn't I have been born with a bile sac!?" she laments, dropping face down onto her sleeping bag.

She’s running out of time and unlike the way she handles most things, no plan, full steam ahead and flying by the seat of her pants, she needs to have this figured out before the party or everything was going to be for nothing! Now wasn’t the time to sharpen her improv skills. 

She has her clothes and her mask, they were easy. She was pretty pleased with herself on that front.

“Aghhhhh” she yells into the fabric before she ran out of air and was forced to flip over onto her back. 

Her time is ticking away and she can’t waste anymore with her frustrations. With a sigh, she hauled herself up and looked around her room, spotting the book about ancient, wild magic Amity had leant her and leaned over to grab it, dragging it into her lap and flipping it open.

She quickly leafs through page after page, hope waning as the minutes turn to hours and the next thing she knows the orange rays of the sunset are leaking through her window.

She sighed and twisted around, trying to relieve the pressure in her back from sitting hunched over the heavy tome for so long.

Maybe she could wear a hat, would it be okay to wear a hat?

She tiredly flips another page and scans it quickly as she reaches for the next but stops. 

In front of her are some illustrations of witches, but unlike other images in the book, these ones have what look like glyphs drawn on their skin; tattoos maybe?

Some of the book is written in a language she knows and some of it is not, and this section is, of course, not. 

But the longer she studies it the more an idea forms.

She sets the book aside and scrambles to her bag for a pen.

With one in hand she moves back over to the book The studies it again before laying her hand flat against its pages.

Steadily she draws the illusory glyph she'd been experimenting with across the back of her hand. She observes the final product and hesitates.

This could be dangerous.

She doesn’t allow the thought to take up much more than a few seconds of her time as she slaps her other hand over the glyph and willing it to do what she wants.

Her hand is enveloped in a light blue glow and when it fades her hand is tipped with long claws, the glyph still visible on the back of her hand. 

She flexes her hand tentatively and slowly a grin begins to split her face.

“It worked… It worked!” She jumps up with an excited whoop. She licks her thumb and rubs at the ink, as soon as the circle is broken the illusion fades with the same soft blue glow as before. She takes her pen and closes the circle back up and casts the spell again, and again, her hand transforms.

Giddy energy is filling her to near bursting as she shoots out of her room and runs into the bathroom.

It's an hour later that King is banging on the bathroom door.

“Other people live here and need the bathroom!” he squeals angrily, stomping his feet.

He almost falls over when the door suddenly swings open just as he’s pounding on it.

“Weh!” He stumbles, but catches himself and looks up, ready to lay his wrath upon whoever is hogging the bathroom but stops short at the sight in front of him.

“Well? What do you think?” Luz asks excitedly, but she doesn’t wait for his answer before bolting down the hall.

“Eda, EDA!” She calls pounding down the stairs and toward the kitchen, where she can hear someone moving around. Lilith looks up from her place on the couch as the girl passes and does a double take. 

“What?” Eda grumbles looking up from the large pot of potions she’s stirring. “Where’s the fir-” she trails off when she actually sees Luz.

She looks totally the same.

Except where once her ears were round, they are now pointed like any other witch on the Boiling Isles. 

“Wha-?” Eda looks at her wide eyed.

Lilith has followed into the kitchen to get a better look at the girl.

“Fascinating, how did you accomplish this?” She leans in close to get a better look. The illusion is seamless and if she didn’t know better she would have never guessed Luz wasn’t a witch.

“Well, you know that illusion glyph I taught you?” she asks and they nod. “Well, I was looking through this book Amity gave me and it showed wild witches with glyphs drawn on their bodies. So I figured I'd give it a shot!” she grins and reaches up to flick the tips of her now pointed ears. 

Eda walks over and turns her around, brushing Luz’s dark hair out of the way, she can see that  drawn on the back of both of Luz’s ears are small illusory glyphs. The older with grins.

“Kid, you’re brilliant.” She ruffled the girl's hair and Luz beamed. 

“Thanks, Eda.” 

“And think of the scams we could pull with this!” She grins and Lillith rolls her eyes.

Luz just chuckles, not even a little surprised.