He/Him | 24 | You can call me 3laxx or Lukas | Part time writer/artist, other part time big dork | Probably sometimes dead | Wishing I had an interesting life | Avatar by the amazing orangebunnit!
You mean that fic you started in 2017 and update once every few years??? Yeah that one. I'm so sorry, lol If you need to re-read heres all the chapters. Royal Guard!Nino and Princess! Alya
There was never a more agonizing 35-40ish seconds of waiting in all his life. The amount of time from Nino confirming his fears of Alya’s disappearance and the replacement guard for the night to arrive was seemingly infinite, and certainly enough time for him to imagine the absolute worst.
The likelihood of her being in any kind of danger yet from anything other than him was practically non-existent. She was in an incredibly well guarded castle with guards of all kinds on nearly every exit and any man in the castle who could gain something from harming her would have no reason to do it yet. A ransom was better sat on for a while, but in a way this fear was ridiculous. She was in her own home, but the reason behind her being restricted in her movements at all was because of the vast number of visitors the castle was currently entertaining. Every stuffy, important council member came with an entourage of their own guard, and the individual intentions and loyalties of these men could not possibly be fully screened. So as an added precaution against threats the King commanded the guard to oversee the restricted activities of his daughters, specifically Nino. He had specifically commanded Nino to oversee this exact task, and yet.
Here he was.
Nino left in what was surely a suspicious hurry, but for the first time the complete disrespect of the senior guards actually worked in his favor. The very instant the night guard replacements started to crest the final step, Nino was in motion. His gate was one fraction shy of far too fast as he desperately scanned the area and tried to determine the most likely path for a stubborn, bull-headed princess to flee, and he considered his options as they occurred to him.
He could feasibly A) alert everyone of her disappearance to best ensure her return and basically hand his job over as he did so.
B) Tell no one and fail to find her, and for his failure basically hand his job over anyways,
Or C) try and make it look like he wasn’t there at all when she went missing and hope no one clarifies the timeline.
Now C wasn’t genuinely an option, he knew he’d have to take responsibility no matter what nor would he want to sacrifice the other guards to save his own skin, regardless of their treatment of him. They may be sordid old men but he was not… even if this would cost him everything, he would do what was honorable.
But he’d much prefer to do no such thing, and just get her back in her damn room without anyone noticing at all. In reality, all the guards had a lot to lose from letting her slip by, so if they were smart they’d just shut the hell up about the whole thing.
Or sell him out to ruin him.
Nino shook his head, trying to clear his rapidly spiraling thoughts and do his job. He couldn’t worry about himself, he had to worry about her. Taking care of the princesses was his job, and he was going to do that whether they liked it or not. The twins may be his main charge, but he also had a responsibility to Alya.
With that in mind, he got to work.
He descended the stairs nearest to the royal chambers quickly, knowing these passageways were largely reserved for servants. At these hours they would be growing sparse for the night, long laborious chores carried out near firelight likely claiming the bulk of the workforce’s attentions. The staircase itself bottomed out into a sheltered flat space, and though he noted there were guards pacing the area, a quiet, witty girl could still possibly get through. If she had managed to slip such a densely guarded hallway, he had no reason to doubt her infuriating tenacity.
Nino looked around, making assessments such as these to rapidly decide which ways she couldn’t go, and breaking down the search from there. Her goal was undoubtably to slip out of the castle all together, meaning she had only one real option, which was the main gate. To go anywhere else would require keys she did not have and patience she likely lacked. The path down to the courtyard from the royal chambers was winding, and he was infinitely grateful that he was not slowed down in the way she probably was. He could traverse hallways in a fraction of the time she could, and to be honest, he felt a subdued sort of giddy feeling at that.
He was a royal guard. While in full armor and in high attendance to the royal family he was permitted nearly everywhere with few exceptions. While it might look suspicious for him to loudly clank his way into a hallway, stare every guard in the eye before whirring around and vanishing down a side passage, he wasn’t actually doing something he wasn’t allowed to.
Nino slid into a dim corridor, which was quite the feat in metal boots to be honest (and fairly loud), and quickly accessed his surroundings, his heart sinking to see no guards in sight. He was near the bottom now and this would soon let out into the courtyard, these storage rooms holding nothing of value that needed to be locked away or looked after. She’d have a dead sprint from here to the open night, and she had quite a lead on him. If he had even correctly guessed her path, he reminded himself. However, his pessimism warmed just slightly as he looked to the end of the corridor.
The door leading out into the courtyard was ever so slightly ajar, the torch light of a passing patrol illuminating the dark stone of the wall. Nino’s pulse quickened as he approached, regretting his noisy entrance now and approaching the door quietly. Surely, he had paced her… surely she hadn’t made it so astonishingly far, but he knew better than to underestimate her.
His heart was racing as he reached for the door, waiting until the torch light faded before slowly pushing it outward, just enough to see.
From his nearly crouched position what he could primarily see was flowers. They were all garish, exotic flowers, the big kind that had unnaturally vibrant colors and attracted flies and beetles. They were foreign though, and he assumed they must be a symbol of wealth of some kind. The kingdoms natural flowers were certainly more pleasant, but rich folk didn’t always care for that sort of thing, which is why this garden wound its way all beneath the guest chambers high above. This garden, the West Garden, was not the one known to be tended to by the Queen (likely why it was so unpleasant up close) but it looked extravagant from a distance he was sure. The stalks were thick and the creeping plants were tall, a suitable place to hide, if not to take your daily strolls.
Nino entered the garden as quietly as possible, closing the door behind him to mimic how he had found it. His body was tense and he could feel his own panic building, doubting himself still and wondering if he was just wasting time. If he was wrong about this he’d have to explain why he waited so long to say anything, he’d be fired but even worse she could get hurt. Worse than anything the princess could be putting herself in danger, and he needed-
He stilled.
Ahead of him by forty yards or so in this long, stinking garden was a subtle flash of movement, amidst a particularly thick row of bushes.
His breath caught as the movement flashed again, and he saw the unmistakable white hem of a dress drag against the ground. He could hardly see her she was crouched so tightly in the dark, but her fidgety movement gave her away. She hadn’t seen him yet, overly confident in the path she had taken and focusing only on the path again.
He made the critical mistake of looking away, leaning out a bit to get a look at what she was so focused on. As he did so he saw to the edge of the garden and further still, out across the bare cobbled ground of the courtyard. Appropriately, a patrol of four guardsmen were passing them by, their torches flickering with their steps. They were headed towards the main gate still far in the distance, and as he assessed it, he saw a shape dart through the dark.
He turned to look as a woman ran, attempting he figured in some way to look casual, if anyone could look casual while clearly trying to evade notice. The unseen guardsmen manning a blind spot she hadn’t accounted for shouted out in surprise as she tried to cling to the darkness of the wall, and she only dared a handful more steps before the patrol turned to look.
Nino looked on in horror as the princess was caught, guards quickly turning to attention and hurrying towards her. It was a fool’s plan and doomed for failure but he couldn’t help the way his heart sank with her posture. Alya stilled… and quieted, refusing to move at first. He could see it even at a distance, as he hurried to stand and stumbled forward.
He could see how straight her back became, how resigned her posture appeared.
He didn’t have a plan as he approached them, hustling now as he saw her fist ball up in the fabric of her dress. He had a lot of things to say but didn’t have the faintest idea what kind of order to put them in.
So the first thing he settled with was a lie.
“Hold on! Hold on, it’s alright! She’s with me.”
Nino stiffened under their gaze, a crowd of armored men turning to look at him in surprise. He wasn’t sure how he appeared but didn’t have the time to worry about it, floundering slightly as Alya herself turned to regard him.
He hesitated for possibly a moment too long as he finally joined the group, gesturing to the princess. “She is with me. Um… her highness, she requested a walk before she retired for the night. A bit of fresh air. Um,” he wavered, desperately trying to sound flat and orderly as Alya gave him an incredulous look. “I was trailing behind at her request, so she could have some space. I’m sure you thought she was out here alone but, clearly, that is not the case. Because I am here with her.”
There was a beat of silence.
“So all is well,” he concluded, hot panic settling on his shoulders as the men looked between themselves. He saw some kind of expression flicker across Alya’s face that he didn’t quiet catch, deciding in a moment that that was probably for the best. The silence was tense, before finally, gratefully, Alya cleared her throat.
“Yes… that is the case. I just wanted to have a bit of time in the courtyard, that’s all. This kind guard agreed to accompany me. I apologize if I frightened you somehow, I know I can walk… briskly.”
As she said this she moved slowly to his side, the awkwardness of the whole encounter starting to get to them.
“Ah, well… it’s quite alright, your highness,” the guard who spotted her finally relented. He shot Nino a weird look which Nino only matched with a nod.
“It’s getting late your highness,” Nino said pointedly, glancing to the side at her. She was looking up at him thanks to their somewhat significant height difference, and he did his best to keep his tone neutral. “Is that enough fresh air for one night?”
Alya tensed and let out an audible exhale, clearing her throat again and flattening her dress. As he turned to look at her more fully he noticed her slyly scraping some dirt from her shoes, her tone stilted as she said, “Yes, I should think so. If you could please return me to my room.”
“As you wish,” was his only reply, relieved as the other men began to drift away.
Alya turned quickly on her heel, brushing past him and walking without further prodding towards the closest entrance. He couldn’t quite place the feeling in his chest as they headed for the steps, noticing that she was stubbornly refusing to look at him at all for a while.
He was struggling with what he thought of it as they entered the hallway, starting the walk back through familiar walkways with no commentary.
When she finally looked back at him her face was full of something like embarrassment and stubbornness, and he could not help himself as he settled on at least one of the things he was feeling.
He was feeling smug.
"I wasn't-"
"Oh, I’m sure you weren't."
"I was just-"
"Of course."
"I was going to-!"
"Surely your highness," he quipped with a note of finality, surprised at his own boldness but unable, truly unable to help himself. He couldn’t deny his irritation, relief a prominent feeling as well. And smugness, there was definitely smugness.
She huffed, facing forward again and marching quicker. He wasn’t going to complain for that, and even if he was still wise enough to have a chill up his spine for upsetting her he had reason enough to believe she wouldn’t have him hanged for a little back talk.
Get him hanged for losing her though, that surely she failed to consider.
She had set the pace sharp and fast, probably eager to be rid of him, but as they got nearer to her room her steps slowed. She dropped back a little, like she was trying to drag it out, and as she did… his stomach sank a little.
He felt like he was marching her to prison.
He was trying to rationalize with himself that he was just doing his job, when suddenly he heard her speak, so quietly he almost missed it.
“The poppies are going to die soon.”
“Your highness?” he asked, trying to step closer but she stayed ahead of him, looking away.
“The poppies in the field,” she replied, just as quiet. “They’ll be gone within a week. I was just…”
When she didn’t finish, their steps were the only thing he could hear. He struggled with what to say, that sinking feeling changing into something else that was harder to name. Something near to guilt but… smothered by his responsibility. He tried to speak, but she didn’t look at him, and he didn’t know if he was supposed to.
His nerves at what to do reached a breaking point as they finally neared the royal chambers, Nino actually starting to feel a bit sick. He internally berated himself for panicking but, he couldn’t help it. He could tell from Alya’s stilted steps that she too was feeling anxious, but at their approach rather than the silence. Neither of them knew exactly what they were going to say next.
His jaw was taut as the time was lost to him. They cleared the final step, and all too soon he was forced to step up to face it head on.
As they approached the guard did as they were trained to do and turned to appraise whomever was seeking access. However, what they certainly did not expect to find was someone who was, as far as they were aware, already inside.
There was an audible sound from every guard gathered, all six men tensing when they saw the eldest princess standing stiffly. She had her head held high and her chin up as they strangled out a gasp of sorts, the most shocked coming from the two most panicked personal guards Nino had ever seen.
“Wh- y- your highness!”, one of her personal guards shouted, looking at his partner, and then at the door they were guarding, and then back to the princess. “You weren’t-,”
“Princess!”
“Lahiffe!” barked a guard, “What is the meaning of this?”
The men all took a step forward, Alya’s two guard’s descending on them quickly as Alya held herself straight, prepared to try and regain control but feeling caught out. Nino instinctively took a step forward, not even considering the possible ramifications of doing so but choosing to put Alya behind him as the men moved towards her. He could clearly see the flash of rage in their expressions when he did it, but Nino was too on edge to care, bolstered in his stance when he felt Alya take a step behind him.
“Well- I just-” Alya began, taking a deep breath to defend herself to the crowd,
when suddenly everyone’s blood ran cold.
At the pointed sound of a door opening.
Alya and Nino both paled in horror as her royal highness, the Queen of Aquitani stepped from her room, every man frying on the spot as she abruptly entered a situation they had no grasp on. The men were reeling from the moment as it was, and suddenly before the Queen?
Nobody knew what the hell to do.
Marlena took an innocent step forward, obviously having been wrapped up in her own thoughts as she stepped out of her chamber. She didn’t look up at first as she assessed some scroll of paper she held in her hands, only looking up to find the nearest guard when she was satisfied with the message she had prepared.
What she hadn’t been expecting, was to find six fully armored men scattered about the hallway and not at any of their posts, looking desperately caught out with her daughter staring wide-eyed at her from behind a seventh guard who looked like he was going to pass out.
Marlena took a moment to look between them all, before straightening up and settling on her daughter. “Alya, what is this? Care to explain?”
The silence, for a moment, was deafening, every man gathered rising to complete attention and clinging to their formal training for some clue of what to do here. Nino did not miss four of the guards subtle attempt to get back to where they were supposed to be, no doubt hoping to blend in to the scenery itself and leave the situation to the morons that were involved in it. As the slunk back to their spots as professionally as possible Nino had just enough time to lock eyes with Alya’s two personal guards.
The message was clear.
‘Don’t do it boys. Don’t fucking do it.’
Alya cleared her throat unsteadily, fixing a smile to her face as she stepped out around Nino, staying close to his side however as she greeted her mother.
“Mother! Hello, I hope we weren’t disturbing you, no everything’s alright. I just, I wanted to see how to twins were uh, behaving! I had heard them getting loud and wanted to make sure they were behaving for their guard but I knew if I said something in front of them they'd deny it and Nino, their guard" she prefaced, unsure if her mother remembered his name and gesturing to him awkwardly, "He might not want to say, in front of them. so I uh, I..." Alya stalled, losing momentum underneath her mother’s withering gaze. She looked to the side at Nino, and to his horror he realized he was expected to help lie.
To the QUEEN.
Nino floundered for a moment, standing up as straight as he could as he said, “Um, your Majesty. The princess called me out briefly at the end of my shift, to discuss the twins. I was um, debriefing her on their behavior at her request- which is why we are out here… in the hallway.”
“Yes,” Alya quickly agreed, nodding confidently, and giving her mother a warm smile. Her personal detail were sweating bullets as they spoke, trading a glance between each other, and looking uncertainly again to Nino. He gave them the exact same expression as before.
‘Don’t do it.’
There was an awkward beat for a moment before Alya said, “How are you mother? Doing well?” And another cheesy smile.
“Hm,” was all Marlena replied at first, narrowing her eyes slightly and looking to the other two guards who hadn’t managed to fade away as convincingly as the others. “Is this the truth?”
Everyone in the hall felt cold as ice, every man here having a choice to make. To tell the truth would put them all at risk of punishment, or even reassignment. Regardless of whatever it was that the new guy had pulled off they were all present for when she must have gotten past them and they were all liable for her well-being. But she was FINE and she was here, and the new guy had somehow fixed it, so the only thing the truth would get them was trouble. All the men gathered could practically feel this sentiment radiating out of the commoner guard, standing tall (if a bit pale) and taking a ridiculous gamble to keep his job. And really, wouldn’t any man do the same if in the end it was no harm done?
The personal detail traded one last glance between them before turning towards the queen, both of them nodding obediently in confirmation.
“Yes your Majesty,” they both echoed, Marlena quirking an eyebrow but making no comment at first.
The queen looked between all who were gathered, squaring her daughter with a serious look, before finally she relented.
“Very well then. My day was fine sweetheart, and while I’m happy to see you minding the girls you should be getting some rest.”
“Yes of course mother, I was just going to bed.”
Alya gave a tight curtsy to her mother out of respect, the guards present giving their finest bow. The Queen turned to give one of her own guards her message, and Alya began to head for her room without further prompting. Her guards escorted her a bit more firmly then was completely necessary, but she allowed it without complaint.
Nino lingered, looking quickly between the Queen and Alya’s retreating form, but the princess was almost completely obscured by the guards who quickly ushered her away. She was lost from sight behind shining armor and stiff formalities, until abruptly the door was shut, and he was out of place.
It took only a few more seconds before the glare of the guards started to pressure him to leave, the panicked energy of the two guards who almost lost it all being converted into postures more befitting a pair of statues. Still though, Nino found himself staring at the heavy oak door… before leaving with what he might have said stuck in his chest.
With his station replaced he had no reason to stay and doing so any longer than he had would surely draw the attention of the queen again, so leaving was the only smart thing to do. It was the ONLY thing to do, because that was his job.
So why then, did he feel choked?
Nino hurried down steps, anxiety creeping up his arms and making him eager to get to his quarters. Before he had been tired, but now he was alive with nervousness. His smugness was as dead to him as his weariness, and the only thing he could think of was the princess.
There had been no closure, everything had happened too fast. Yet he ran through it in his head and it all felt like years apart.
He had meant to be playful, in a way. He had felt smug catching her as he did (or rather catching UP to her) and was foolish enough to tease her in what little ways he could. But her embarrassment in the hallway had been real, and while she had nearly cost the livelihoods and careers of every man in the wing, he too had caused her some humiliation. Not to mention the comment she had made about the poppies… the quiet whisper of her voice…
Now if all things were equal, what she had done was far worse than any transgression from him. Yes he’d caught her out and made an awkward moment for her, but she seemed to have no understanding of the kinds of consequences her actions could have on others. There is no reason they all should have had to lie to keep their jobs, she shouldn’t have been trying to lose them their jobs in the first place!
So maybe that’s what he was feeling? Angry? He mulled it over as he quickly stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding a train of servants toting sheets and blankets.
He clung to the corner and rounded the final rung towards the guards quarters, but before he could cross any real distance the thought was mostly gone from his mind.
No, he decided as he entered the empty common area, he wasn’t angry.
Well maybe he could be, he was irritated but he could understand it from her perspective too. Brief though their interactions had been Nino didn’t truly believe that Alya was trying to harm anyone. If anything she probably had some far flung reasoning that escaping meant SHE was clever, not that THEY were incompetent. And that’s all well and good if that’s what she believes, but in the scheme of things that doesn’t really matter.
Nino allowed himself a heavy sigh, surprised to find himself alone for a change in his tiny, shared room. He was free to disrobe noisily, and for a moment he was tempted to let his armor all crash to the ground, but of course he didn’t do that. He took the weight of each piece into his hands, dusted them off, and set to cleaning them each one by one. Even as he engaged in this nightly ritual he found that buzzing, choking feeling in his chest hadn’t subsided, and the feeling he was grappling with remained frustratingly nameless.
It wasn’t his place to judge a princess, and certainly not to assume her thoughts or intentions. He thought he’d make a pretty poor attempt at it if he even tried, but still. Her actions were a little thoughtless, it may have been some kind of game to her but it wasn’t a game to them. Didn’t she understand that they were all just doing their jobs? The people who guarded her with their lives were not babysitters to be slipped or enemies to overcome. Each and every one of them had sworn fealty to her family name.
His hands slowed over the pauldrons of his armor, examining the warped reflection of his own face in the dim of the room. After a beat he rolled it between his hands, tracing the less refined interior of it . Because things always looked a little less refined on the other side…
He could sympathize with her frustration. Hadn’t he given the same grace to the twins earlier that day? And every day since he’d been charged to them? They were restless and restrained, for their own safety yes, but he couldn’t imagine how maddening that was. If his whole life was in a small stone room, reading and waiting and sounding smart and waiting and looking right and waiting and waiting…
He hummed a little to himself, flipping the pauldron lazily and catching it again, examining what he could make out of the room around him in its face.
Okay so he understood, he wanted to make it better for her, but that didn’t negate the risk of what she did. What if she’d been lost? Or hurt? Kidnapped? He wished the world was safe enough, that she could be normal but that just wasn’t the case.
He sighed. The feeling in his chested ebbed a bit as he confronted what he was feeling as a mixture of irritation and regret. He would have risked just a little bit more if he could have smiled, or even traded a look.
He hoped she understood that he was sorry, in a way. As much as he could be. As much as was reasonable.
As he sat there in his half armor he let the pauldron droop in his hands… and he wondered how much more he could risk, to say what little he’d had no time to say.
----
The next morning, Alya lay awake in her bed but left her eyes closed. She knew it wouldn’t be long before she was ushered away. Today there were the departing arrangements for the guests of theirs who had traveled the furthest, and there were political farewells to be made. She’d be expected to attend their closing sentiments and stand smartly off to the side as they spoke with her father.
She waited dejectedly to be told to move, allowing her sullen mood to have her for awhile. She wasn’t one to wallow, she knew she would wake and shake it off and just get on with it… but for the moment she allowed it. Just for a moment.
When the door to her chambers opened, she didn’t have to look up to see who it was. And she also knew that this particular handmaiden was perfectly aware of the fact that she was awake, her subtle weight settling on the mattress near her feet.
Alya sighed before cracking an eye, rolling her head to look at her favorite maiden. The girl had always been a blessing to her and was among the very few she’d be bold enough to call her friend. For a princess was afforded so few of such a precious thing.
Marinette gave her an unimpressed look, raising an eyebrow before looking away in an attempt to hide her smirk.
“So,” she started plainly, smoothing out her simple dress. “I heard you had an unsuccessful escape attempt last night.”
Alya groaned immediately, rolling over to grab a pillow and slam it to her face in one motion. She could hear Marinette snort and she projected to be heard through the goose down. “WHY did the guards say anything?? I thought they weren’t going to say anything??”
Marinette leaned over to pluck a stray goose feather sticking out of the pillow and held it pinched between two fingers, allowing her highness a moment to thrash in embarrassment before continuing. “Well if it makes you feel any better I don’t think anyone other than me knows, if I wasn’t the gossip would be all over by now.”
Alya pushed the pillow back enough to glare at her, but Marinette remained annoyingly resistant to it. “Then how do YOU know?”
“I’m a special case.”
“Oh?” Alya glowered at her as the maiden seemed suddenly distracted by something, looking down at her apron before looking away again, an eager yet nervous smile on her face for some reason. By the time she looked back at her again, the giddiness was clear in her entire being and she was wiggling a little on the bed.
“Yes, cause you know I had needed an explanation. It looked VERY strange when I was approached this morning, especially with what he was asking me to do so obviously I made him tell me the whole story.”
She gestured to her apron pocket, and for the first time Alya noticed a small, folded cheese cloth just barely poking out.
“It would have been a bit suspicious otherwise” Marinette continued vaguely, almost too giddy to finish. “Had Nino just given me this with no explanation I could imagine it would look a little… out of place. Which is probably why he was completely flushed head to toe when he was telling it to me. He was very insistent that I reassure him it was perfectly appropriate, I think he might have bolted otherwise.”
At the mention of Nino’s name Alya sat up, leaning over to look a little closer at what Marinette was referring to but the maiden pulled away, probably to prolong the drama. The princess frowned then, a bit put out by the mention of the twins’ guard. He had protected her, lied for her even to get her out of trouble but…
She wavered, wondering what she was so annoyed about. She decided quickly it was at Marinette, who was dancing away from her now pulling a vase from a forgotten place on the wall.
“Oh get to the point! What did he say? What did he give you?”
Marinette grinned widely, setting the vase down on a nearby table but returning to her highness’s side to carefully pull the bundle from its place, handling it as if it were made of gold. “Oh nothing much…”
Slowly she extended the white cloth, bulky and loose as if surrounding something frail as Marinette explained, “He had wanted me to say for him that he was sorry for embarrassing you, he was just trying to do his job. And that he wanted me to give you this, before they were all gone.”
Finally she unfolded the cloth, gently, and the Princess looked down to see what had made her maiden so excited.
Alya froze, only her mouth moving as is parted in a silent gasp. She thought too her hand must have frozen, but after a time, her index finger reached out without her command to do so.
And stroked a single red petal, of summer’s last poppies.
The ban means that classical music will have a big problem! If this ban goes through, bow makers and musicians all around the world will be directly or indirectly punished by that ban.
My father, a professional bow maker, in in an initiative since the year 2000 to regrow and protect Pernambuco wood, working on reforestation in a national park to grow enough Pernambuco trees to use for bow making.
This is the IPCI (International Pernambuco Initiative) who, with the support of string players, have made it possible to replant more than 340,000 trees in Pernambuco to date!
This initiative is actively working to regrow and protect Pernambuco wood and ensuring that classical music is still possible today!
I think I've worked out (part of the reason) why there's been such a huge uptick in folks who don't reblog things on here.
This post has like 14k notes right now, and the tags and comments and reblogs are FULL of people who didn't know about fast-reblog, and -- you guys have been slow-reblogging this whole time!?!??!?!?
In the interests of a) making your lives easier, and b) encouraging you to reblog posts, which is what keeps this site alive, here's how you fast-reblog:
On mobile: press and hold the reblog button. Your blog icon will appear. If you have sideblogs, all of the different icons will appear. Drag to whichever blog you want to reblog to, and release. Job done.
On desktop: hold down the E key and click reblog. Job done.
On a nightly heist, Luz stumbles into a situation that quickly bears an unexpected outcome for her.
I have been away for... A very long time...
Actually, I have some really cool news!
I got into my dream job and am moving to Munich for that!
And I printed my very first book (which is fanfiction so not available to the public, Breeze) and it felt amazing to hold it ;-;
Anyway, I had a lot to do, moving out of my parents' house and coordinating all that...
Truth be told, the bad news is that I haven't written in months because I have a lot of anxiety and some discussions on the internet have made it hard to muster the courage to share my work, or even write at all.
The writer's block is still holding me tightly, so I'm not sure when I'll muster the courage again to upload but be at ease - I've already written 90k words for Noble Pursuit.
If I can't write at all anymore, there's at least a little more of this story, we're only at half of what's already finished xD
I'd love any and all encouraging comments. And maybe a few tips on how to beat writer's block?
If you guys have any suggestions I could try, please do tell me!
I hope I'll find the passion for writing again once I feel less stressed and once the excitement of moving out and the anxiety of the internet has subsided x)
Love, 3laxx
Ao3 / FF.net
---
Eda didn’t come home that night.
Lilith said that it was completely normal, even when her sister didn’t return after dinner. Luz and Gus were sent to their room without anyone tucking them in, and the girl had waited for exactly that. She made sure her brother had changed into the pajamas Lilith’s servants had put on their beds, and tucked him into bed, before pretending to lie down to sleep as well. Little did Gus know that she had kept her clothes on, and waited for him to fall asleep.
Luckily, they had gotten one room for both of them, because if they had two separate rooms, Gus would have come over to sleep with Luz in one bed, as he was used to on their travels.
If that had happened, Luz couldn’t have snuck out without waking him up and having to take him with her.
Upon lying down, the girl sighed, though.
This bed was as heavenly soft as she couldn’t have ever imagined. It was so soft she sunk into the sheets and threatened to fall asleep like Gus. But, the heavenly bed was as much her disadvantage as it was luck.
Gus had fallen asleep immediately when his head had hit the pillows, and Luz didn’t have to wait long until his breaths had evened out and he had been sleeping soundly. Finally, after just a few minutes and just before she would’ve fallen asleep as well, she got up and snuck to the window.
She had prepared to climb out since they were only on the first floor, so climbing down shouldn’t be a big issue. After finding their window this afternoon, she had mapped out a way she could climb out of and back into the room without being seen or heard, and had even tried it out when Lilith and Gus had already gone inside for lunch.
Opening the window, she looked back to Gus and nodded when he kept sleeping, then she feathery climbed atop the windowsill and climbed down until her feet touched the damp grass below. It was her luck that the house was so decorated and full of rims and gargoyles and bars so she could just climb her way down. Sneaking off through the now quiet, dark gardens, she took care that Lilith wasn’t sitting in the glass room, before making her way through the undergrowth and reaching the fence.
She could still turn back now and not steal from their neighbors, but their wealth made her angry. She had nothing as an orphan, and Eda had to struggle to feed them all. She didn’t want Eda to go through such hardships just to keep them.
Determined, she grabbed for the fence and pulled herself up, swinging herself over the fence and taking care to utilize the stone pillar at the corner of Lilith’s grounds, so as not to rip her clothes on the spikes of the iron fence.
Finally, she jumped down and her boots touched the ground in the park of the other mansion. For a second, she hesitated and waited if there was some sort of alarm or guards that would be notified of her trespassing, but nothing happened. Even when she did a few quick steps into the park around the giant mansion, nothing happened, no alarmed voices started up and nothing of the sort came to her ears. There were no demon wolves around nothing that served as an alarm.
She continued through the dark gardens, keeping in the shadows and taking care not to stumble upon any guards or anything of the sort, but there was nothing. She supposed the family living here didn’t fear any robberies because their house was intimidatingly big and any sketchy folks weren’t allowed into these streets anyway. Besides, they probably didn’t anticipate anyone coming from the back, from the garden of another wealthy mansion.
Luz snuck up to the corner after checking that there was nobody on the back porch which was really as big as the theater ruins she had been visiting, maybe even bigger.
Luckily for her, the mansion had big stones on its corner as well, which served as a ladder for her. She could easily climb up to the first-floor window and onto the windowsill, peering inside. There was no light, which was why she had picked this room, and nobody seemed to be inside. From the light shining in from the hallway, she could determine that it was a room of a kid like her, with a bed and some toys, but the bed was empty.
Using a trick Eda showed her, which was to open the locks of the windows with a very thin metal card that she always carried with her, she opened the window and quietly climbed inside, after taking off her boots and leaving them on the windowsill. If she didn’t want to leave behind any traces, she’d better leave the dirt outside, because she doubted that the other kid living here regularly went in here with dirty boots.
Quietly making her way towards the drawer, she kept her eyes open for anything that looked like a jewelry box. If she couldn’t find anything here, she would climb out the window again and try another one, until she would find something she could take with her. It didn’t even have to be as big, it just had to be expensive, so Eda wouldn’t have to struggle anymore.
Luz tried to quietly rummage through the drawer, coming across more toys and some clothes, as well as books and papers and quills, but nothing that looked like a jewelry box.
Moving to the next cabinet, she was just about to open the first drawer, when she suddenly heard voices.
It was the voices of children, a girl that sounded about her age, and two older voices, racing up the stairs and making her freeze.
Her eyes started flickering around the room to search for a hiding place and the best one she could find was next to the cabinet that she had just wanted to open up, cowering in the corner in fear of getting caught.
She pressed herself against the wood of the cabinet, trying not to make a sound, as a girl came running down the hallway directly towards her, seemingly upset, before entering the room.
“You’re so mean!”, she cried and slammed the door, turning something that sounded like a lock, before the voices outside came closer as well, calling through the door.
“Aw, mittens! We just wanted you to relax a little bit!”, a big boy voice sounded, and Luz felt her heart racing in her throat, squinting her eyes.
She never should’ve come here. She never should’ve set foot in here. Just because this room had been dark hadn’t meant she was safe to come in here!
Her breath hitching, she listened to the kids arguing through the door, something about mittens having to relax and loosen up and mittens calling back that she didn’t want to be pranked.
Finally, the siblings let off and the girl with her in the room sighed, walking into the room. Luz tried not to make a sound as she waited for the girl to leave again, but it didn’t seem like she would.
Opening her eyes again, she leaned forwards and peeked around the corner to see a little girl with brown hair sitting in the middle of the bed, pressing a pillow to her face and seemingly sniffling.
Immediately, Luz felt bad for sitting here.
Aside from the fact that she had broken in, the girl seemed upset. Discovering a thief was in her room with her, the room where she felt safe from the other kids, wouldn’t be nice to her.
Slanting her lips, Luz leaned back against the cabinet and tried thinking about what to do now.
The girl could see all of her room except for the little corner where Luz was sitting. She couldn’t cross through the room and go back to the window where she had come from. The girl would hear and see her, and she would begin screaming and Luz would be discovered and caught. She shuddered.
Maybe she should just wait until the girl would go to bed.
The room was already dark, anyways, and children her age would sleep soon. The girl hadn’t bothered igniting a candle and Luz doubted she would, still. Maybe she could just wait it out like she had waited for Gus to fall asleep, and be able to sneak out when the girl was fast asleep. She wouldn’t even take anything with her, she just wanted to go back to Lilith’s mansion again.
Cowering, even more, she tried to keep as still as possible, but when the girl groaned and a little light started flickering, Luz knew she was in deep trouble now.
The light bounced a bit up and down and she heard the girl getting up, jumping off the bed, and walking back to the door. For a moment, Luz couldn’t hear anything anymore and hoped the girl had left, but just before she moved, the girl turned again and walked to the middle of the room, kicking something. The plush toy flew across the room and bounced off the wall, to come to a stop just a few paces away from Luz. She held her breath and squinted her eyes again.
The girl in the middle of the room hesitated, suddenly. She had seen the open window. The open window that Luz could see as well.
The light bopped through the room as it followed the girl to the open window, and she finally came into view for Luz.
She was as old as her and had brown hair that was tied up in a half ponytail. She was wearing a dress in the style that Luz had only seen here in Bonesborough, and was washed and properly styled with a little bow in her hair and ballerina flats with some high socks.
Luz would’ve almost been jealous of that expensive dress if she wasn’t so scared to be discovered now.
Her heart beat up to her throat and she felt her palms getting sweaty and cold as the girl leaned outside, discovering her boots.
“… Hello?”, she timidly called, outside, before scowling, “Ed, Em, if that is a prank again, I will-”
She turned and her golden eyes landed on Luz.
Something inside her sunk low, deeper and deeper, until she hit rock bottom. Her breath stopped, her eyes widened, and suddenly, she felt sick.
She was discovered.
That had never happened before. She had never been discovered before, she had always either stayed hidden or gotten away. She had never felt the gravid feeling of locking eyes with someone who lived where she trespassed and felt everything crumbling.
She couldn’t even describe the feeling. Of course, she had that feeling before, whenever Gus and she played hide and seek and he found her. It had been thrilling, though, and she had giggled and run away. Right now, it was so scary.
Knowing exactly that this was it, she could very well be arrested and punished for her crimes. She had seen other orphans being punished for crimes like these, sitting in metal cages high above the heads of the passing crowds, starving for stealing and getting caught. Eda had always used them as examples to demand the utmost caution from her daughter. Threatening her that she would end up like them if she was caught.
The girl stared at her as if she was a ghost, and Luz felt like one, empty and weirdly light while observing the girl closely.
She needed a moment to come to terms with what she was seeing here, which was a possibly dangerous stranger in her room, and with her breath hitching, she opened her mouth, pointing at Luz, her face whiter than before even.
“Please don’t scream!”, Luz blurted out in a whisper, her voice failing her, but much to her surprise, the girl obliged. She closed her mouth, still in shock, but she didn’t scream and didn’t say anything, just stared at Luz and pointed at her.
Slowly, Luz felt herself getting up and approaching the girl, now seeing that the light source she had been carrying around was actually one of those small light balls Eda liked to make sometimes. Holding out her hands, she tried to keep the girl calm and quiet.
“I-I’ll leave, I promise.”, Luz mumbled and was surprised by her own courage. She hadn’t planned any of this, and she certainly hadn’t planned on talking to the girl.
Her expectation was more like, running like hell, but apparently, she could talk the girl down and maybe just leave. Maybe.
“I’ll leave, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”, she came to a stop in front of the girl, still two paces away from her, and glanced to the window in front of which she was still standing. She would somehow need to get past the girl, but she didn’t want to come too close to her, the shock could be broken and she could start screaming, then, if Luz came too close.
She bit her lip.
“I-… I just need to get to the window…”, she tried, but finally, the girl found her voice again, and even if it wasn’t more than a whisper, Luz could feel the panic that someone would hear her rising up in her throat.
“… Who-… Who are you?!”, she asked, in an equally hushed tone, probably because Luz was speaking so quietly, and she found herself grimacing.
“I-… I can’t tell, I’m sorry.”, she excused herself, before looking at the window again, “I-… I just gotta get to the window… Can-… Can you step aside?”
The girl still seemed shell-shocked and finally managed to ask another question.
“What are you doing here?!”, she bit out, now a little louder, and Luz shrank, wincing.
“I-… I just wanna leave, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, really! I didn’t take anything!”, she promised and the girl squinted her eyes, before crossing her arms.
“You tell me your name first.”, she demanded and Luz pouted, her heart beating faster. Eda had made her swear to never, ever give people her name if she was at risk to be caught. It was harder to catch a thief without a name.
“I-… If I tell you my name, will you let me go?”, she tried and the girl furrowed her eyebrows, huffing.
“… Maybe.”, she gave the cryptid answer and Luz felt herself pouting.
“Fine, then. If I give you my name, will you give me yours?”, she asked, feeling like that was a justified deal. The girl seemed to ponder at that and finally nodded.
“Deal. Now tell me your name.”, she said and Luz had to grin a little,
“Sorry, mittens, but I already know yours. That breaks the deal.”, she felt herself grinning smugly and the girl in front of her suddenly turned red in her face.
“I’m not. Mittens.”, she pressed out and Luz took a little step back.
“O-Okay, I’m sorry. I’m Luz. What’s your name?”, she asked, trying to keep the girl calm, and as it turned out, apologizing helped.
“… I’m Amity.”, the girl finally answered and squinted her eyes again, eyeing Luz, “If you tell me what you were doing here, I might let you go.”
The pressure was too much for Luz. She finally broke, all the suave behavior Eda had trained her to use when in a situation like this falling off of her.
“I-… I just wanna help my mentor. She took me in as an orphan and now she’s struggling to keep me because she doesn’t have enough money.”, she sniffled, rubbing her palms on her pants, “I-I just don’t wanna go back to the orphanage. I don’t know how else I could-… I just want her to keep me. She said the inn was too expensive and that we had to leave and-…”
That seemed to take Amity off guard. Luz rubbed her eyes and tried to will the tears back, but they just kept coming. Soon, her shoulders began shaking and she felt all the tension of getting caught catching up to her.
“I-I-… I just don’t wanna be an orphan again-… And-… And I don’t wanna take money from people who need it, I-… I just wanna stay with my mom.”, she sniffled, rubbing over her face before hugging herself, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll leave, I promise, I didn’t take anything.”
She tried getting to the window, but Amity didn’t move away, making Luz cry harder. She didn’t even know why she was crying right now, she had just started at the thought of being an orphan again and now she couldn’t stop.
“Please, please let me go, I just wanna go back to my mom, I didn’t take anything!”, she sobbed and hiccupped, yet the girl wouldn’t move away. Instead, she began approaching Luz, and she stumbled back, shaking her head, but the girl, Amity, wouldn’t let off, now holding her hands the same way as Luz had when she had done the same just a few minutes ago. That made her stop.
“It’s-… It’s okay.”, she tried speaking lowly, just so Luz would hear her over her sniffling, and eventually put her hands on Luz’s arm. The warmth somewhat made her hesitate, and Amity continued talking, “It’s okay. I-… I was just scared. Usually, I’m alone in my room.”
She tried an experimental chuckle and Luz joined in, albeit still wetly and very pathetically.
“Y-You’re not mad?”, she tried and Amity shrugged, shaking her head.
“I was just scared for a moment, but it’s okay now.”, she caught Luz’s gaze again and pulled her eyebrows together in sympathy, softly squeezing Luz’s arm, “You-… You’re a little young to be a thief, aren’t you?”
Luz sniffled and nodded at that, but managed a small smile.
“I’m really good at it, though.”, she hiccupped, but slowly, the tears subsided and she was able to rub her cheeks dry, “But I have to steal. My mentor can’t feed me otherwise. She barely has enough for herself. And I have a little brother, too.”
The girl softly tugged on her arm and Luz felt safe enough to be guided to the bed, sitting down on the edge and wiping over her eyes a final time, while Amity sat down next to her.
“You don’t have enough to eat?”, she asked in a concerned voice and Luz managed a nod, staring down at her lap.
“We eat some dried meat and bread most of the time. In the orphanage we just had apples and some round bread, so eating with my mentor is better already. Today I had a warm meal for lunch, though, because her sister is caring for us now.”, she explained and Amity seemed troubled by that.
“You-… You don’t have a warm meal every day?”, she asked and Luz looked at her quizzically, almost laughing.
“No, of course not. Do you?”, she asked and shook her head in disbelief at Amity’s ridiculous question, yet the girl didn’t seem like she was willing to laugh about that.
“Yeah.”, she replied and Luz’s head shot up, her stomach grumbling right on cue.
“You have a warm meal every day?!”, she asked disbelievingly and Amity slowly nodded, making both girls look at each other in shock. After they both made sure the other wasn’t joking, Amity smoothed her dress and took a minute before speaking up again, seemingly collecting herself.
“… You need money so your mom can keep you?”, she asked quietly and Luz grimaced, shrugging.
“I-… I don’t know about her being my mom, but-…”, she began and Amity protested that she had called her mentor her mom when crying earlier, before Luz could continue, “Yeah… If she can’t care for me anymore, she has to bring me to an orphanage again and I’ll have to go begging again.”
Amity seemed shell-shocked at that as if she had never thought about that. Luz was actually pretty sure that she hadn’t thought about that before because she had a warm meal every day and had parents that could care for her.
“You went begging before?”, she asked and Luz grimaced.
“Well, yeah, the orphanage was in a pretty small village and they didn’t have enough supplies to feed all of us. We all went begging.”, she said as if it was completely normal, and to her it was, but Amity was hearing about something like that for the first time.
She pondered on that again, before suddenly jumping off the bed and furrowing her eyebrows at that, softly stomping her foot.
“That’s not fair.”, she decided and Luz looked at her surprised, tilting her head, “Come with me. You’ll get food now.”
At the demanding tone, Luz couldn’t help but slip off the bed, perplexed, and take Amity’s hand that she offered to her, letting her unlock the door and drag her along the hallway.
Instead of being scared about being out in the open in a house in which she shouldn’t be, though, Luz merely looked around in awe. It was gigantic. She would’ve lost her way in here pretty quickly, but luckily for her, Amity knew exactly where she was going. Luz couldn’t believe how much stuff people could stash in one single gigantic house. She looked around and saw cabinets, drawers, tables, and statues everywhere. There were big carpets on the floor and the walls were decorated with carved poles and white pillars. There were golden accents everywhere, on corners and sometimes even as the wall decoration, along with polished metal plates for mirrors, reaching from top to bottom and shining with its smooth surface. Luz could see herself in those reflecting walls, and she didn’t think she could remember the last time she had seen herself clearly. Her brown hair stuck out in every direction, short but still wild, and her face was brown as well. She had never thought about the color of her face before, especially not when observing Amity’s white face in front of her.
She had brown eyes and her clothes were simple but she knew they were comfortable. With her jaw hanging open, she let Amity drag her along, down some stairs and through long hallways. There were things everywhere. Goblets standing on tables that weren’t used by anyone, statues that were never looked at twice, some busts of important-looking people, and flower pots. She saw golden carpets that hung in front of windows, and some even on the wall, where they served no purpose at all.
And there were a lot of rooms. She could see at least a handful of rooms that were closed, and she couldn’t imagine what was hidden behind those doors.
Some were opened and she could spot a library and a big empty room with nothing inside but a few chandeliers from above and mirrors on one side while there were windows on the other.
She even saw some paintings on walls, some framed and some just on the wall somewhere. For example, a big tree on one wall, made her furrow her eyebrows, because instead of fruits, it grew faces. Disgusted, she continued stumbling after Amity who was now crossing through the gigantic entrance area, leading her to a back door that seemed very inconspicuous.
When she looked up to the ceiling that was so high above that she had to put her head in her neck, she could see a painting on the ceiling as well and asked herself how someone could reach up so high and paint so intricately and with so many details and colors.
Amity led her to a room that looked weird, with long tables to either side, and finally, they entered the kitchen. There, Luz saw the first people during their whole tour through the house, and immediately, she froze up again. The feeling of getting caught bubbled up in her throat and she almost believed Amity had led her right into a trap but the girl did nothing to alert the kitchen staff.
She merely approached a big female demon and smiled sweetly.
“Can I get a little dessert?”, she asked and the demon smiled back, putting one of her four hands on her chest, cooing.
“Oh, the little Miss Blight asks for a dessert? That rarely happens! Of course, child, I will make sure to get you a sweet snack right away.”, she cheerily replied, before her gaze wandered along Amity’s and Luz’s joined hands over to the small demon next to her patron’s daughter, making her pull up her eyebrows.
“But Miss Blight, is that a guest? After bedtime?”, she now sounded slightly chastising and Luz froze up, feeling very cold and hot at the same time. The demon looked at her as if she wasn’t supposed to be here, not even as a guest, and suddenly, Luz knew she was in trouble.
Yet, Amity reacted very sweetly and leaned in, whispering to the big woman.
“Noo, Fina, you can’t know!”, she sang in a conspiratorial way and Luz practically felt the big demon melting, “She’s not even here, you can’t see her.”
The grin of the small witch made the demon chuckle so much her whole body wobbled and Luz saw her waving it off, shrugging.
“I don’t see anyone but you, Miss Blight. But you do seem double hungry, don’t you?”, she conspiratorially asked back and Luz furrowed her eyebrows, staring at Amity in confusion. She seemed like she had the staff wrapped around her finger because even if the demon seemed to not approve before, she was laughing now.
“Very hungry, at least double!”, Amity grinned, before looking back to Luz in thought, “Actually, I’m triple hungry.”
The demon merely laughed and did something on the counter that Luz couldn’t see because she was too small, then the demon leaned down with a tray that showed three treats that Luz had only seen in passing some years ago in Latissa, behind a window. She didn’t know what Eda had called these treats, but they were brown and had pink and blue cream and sprinkles on top. If Luz didn’t know better, she would have believed the treat to be a toy instead.
“There you go, little Miss Blight. I haven’t seen anyone but you.”, she promised with a wink and Amity took one of the treats, before nudging Luz to take the other two, grinning up to the demon.
“Thank you so much, Fina!”, she exclaimed before leading Luz out of the kitchen again and giggling to herself.
“Fina is our nanny, too.”, she explained and Luz gave a nod, furrowing her eyebrows.
“Why… Why did she let me go?”, she asked and Amity gave her a smile, before biting into her treat. The pink and blue cream stuck to her nose and upper lip when she chewed on her bite, and she waited until she had swallowed the portion before answering.
“Because I asked her to.”, she triumphantly beamed, already crossing the entrance area again and walking up the stairs while Luz followed her, holding the treats like two treasures, walking extra slowly because she feared they could break.
“What are you waiting for?”, Amity suddenly asked and Luz looked up to her, furrowing her eyebrows.
“You-… You want me to eat these?”, she asked quizzically and Amity grinned. A shade of violet, a mixture of pink and blue, decorated her teeth.
“One of them. The other is for your little brother.”, she explained and Luz had to blink very fast not to cry. She followed Amity up the stairs and gulped, before speaking up again, concentrating really hard on her voice coming out the right way, but she still sounded forced.
“… Th-Thank you…”, she mumbled and Amity stopped, waiting for Luz to catch up.
“I hope you like it.”, the girl softly replied, encouraging her with a nod to take a bite. Luz looked down at her hands, still blinking the moistness away, before choosing one of the treats and biting into the side of it.
A sweet, sugary taste exploded on her tongue and she almost coughed. She had never ever eaten anything as intense or sweet as this. She stared at Amity while the cake dissolved on her tongue and the sugary cream stuck to her teeth. She could have cried.
The taste was so much it short-circuited her brain and she hiccupped, really trying not to show any exaggerated reaction, but she couldn’t help it. A new tear rolled down her cheek and she stared at Amity in bliss and shock, while she tried chewing her bite.
The other girl quickly moved to take Gus’ treat from her and allowed her to wipe the tear away, before grimacing.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I thought you’d like it, you don’t have to eat it!”, Amity tried apologizing but Luz managed to hold the treat away from her to protect it at all cost. She would not give away that heavenly piece of luxury that she had just received.
“No!”, she quietly cried with a full mouth, desperately shaking her head as she managed to swallow the wonderful taste, “I-I like it! I like it a lot, I-…”
Staring back at the colorful treat, she took another bite and almost sunk to her knees at how good it was, humming.
Amity looked at her irritated, before slowly nodding and eating the last bite of her treat so she could lick her fingers clean and guide Luz back to her room, trying not to be too confused at her behavior. She couldn’t understand how someone would start crying because of a cupcake.
The two girls made their way back upstairs unseen and quickly snuck back into Amity’s room. She wouldn’t say why but Luz suspected her siblings that called her mittens had something to do with that.
Amity closed the door behind her and set the cupcake for Luz’s brother on her bedside table, before sitting down on the floor with the other girl, watching her with furrowed eyebrows. Luz loved the treat so much, that she was fully immersed in it and ate as if her life depended on it. When she had finally savored every little crumb of the treat, she was almost disappointed and looked back up to Amity.
“I never knew something could taste so good. Especially bread.”, she mumbled and Amity giggled at her obliviousness.
“It’s not bread, it’s cake!”, she corrected the other girl and Luz grinned as if someone had just told her that it's trees that grow the leaves on the ground.
“Oh! So that’s cake! I only ever heard of that from my mentor. I didn’t know that was cake.”, she giggled along with Amity, then she looked around.
“Woah, you got a big room… And so entirely without tents.”, she remarked and Amity giggled again, shaking her head at Luz, deciding it’d be better to leave that be instead of asking.
“You’re odd.”, she said and Luz grinned at her.
“Eda says that, too.”
They sat for a while and Luz asked all sorts of questions she had about Amity’s life, like if she was used to having so many toys, and if she sometimes rode a hell horse and other things. The girl next to her happily answered all her questions and had just as many to shoot back to Luz, making sure they understood each other’s lives since they were so vastly different.
“Do you have treats like this every day?”, Luz asked and Amity shook her head.
“Only on special occasions.”, she replied and Luz tilted her head.
“Is today a special occasion?”
The girl proudly puffed out her chest and declared the vent of today.
“I made a friend today.”, she importantly stated, and the little demon had to giggle at that, making Amity grin as well, “And that’s why we’re having cupcakes because you’re my friend now. If you wanna be.”
At Amity’s shy question, Luz quickly nodded and they both grinned.
“I made a friend yesterday and today! That means I can have two treats!”, Luz boasted but Amity held her back from stealing the third.
“That one is for your brother. You have to let him have one, too.”, she reminded the girl and she nodded, pouting.
“Right…”, after a moment of sulking, she looked up again, “You have siblings, too, right? What are their names? You said Ed and Em but-…”
While Luz shrugged, Amity rolled her eyes, not exactly liking being reminded of them. Today, they had been especially mean, causing her to cry in front of Fina. She wouldn’t forgive them as easily.
“I have older siblings, yeah… Edric and Emira, they’re twins. And they’re mean.”, she pouted and Luz scooted closer, awkwardly patting her shoulder.
“What do they do that makes them mean?”, she asked timidly, fearing that Amity wouldn’t want to talk about that, but her new friend didn’t even hesitate. She supposed she had needed someone to listen for a long time now.
“They always pull pranks on me!”, she complained and Luz continued patting her shoulder, squeezing comfortingly when she felt it fit, “They make me cry a lot because I get so angry when they do pranks on me. And-… And I don’t wanna be angry at them, because they were my only friends…”
“Until now!”, Luz held up a finger and Amity could smile again, “Because now I can climb over the fence every single day to come play with you!”
Amity really smiled now, a bright, happy smile, and she nodded enthusiastically.
“I’d like that! My parents are rarely home, so you can come over whenever you want.”, she rubbed her hands in pleasant anticipation, until she finally tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows, “Wait, climb over the fence? Where do you come from?”
Luz grimaced at that.
“Uh, actually, Eda is Lilith’s sister. You know, the knight who came home a few weeks ago, who lives in the Clawthorne mansion just across your garden.”, she pointed her finger in the general direction when Amity got up and peered out the window that pointed to the back of their house. Luz followed her and showed her the ignited windows from where they were, one of the two mansions sitting right in the Blight backyard.
“You actually live in a mansion?”, Amity skeptically asked and Luz shook her head.
“Normally, Eda travels around with us, but she has to complete a special mission for her sister, to get some money. Until then, Lilith cares for us.”, she explained and Amity nodded.
“And why did you wanna steal from us, then, if your mentor is earning money right now?”, she asked, more curious than accusing and Luz shrank.
“She-… She told me that the inn was too expensive yesterday… And, I, I feel guilty about that. I didn’t want her to earn money alone, so I tried to help.”
Amity slowly nodded, looking over to the mansion again, then she got a mischievous gleam in her eyes that Luz had the chance to see once already when she had gotten her that treat.
“I can help you.”, she finally declared and Luz gulped, before following the little witch out of her room, her eyes blown wide.
“W-Wait, how do you wanna help me?”, she asked but Amity shook her head and motioned her to be quiet, before sneaking along the railing while keeping a look out downstairs so no servant would see them. Luz instinctively bent down and kept quiet, until Amity reached a door to her side. It was across the stairwell from her room and she grinned at Luz.
Pushing the door open, they entered the relatively small room, which was really just small for a mansion, not for Luz, and her jaw promptly fell.
They were in a jewelry room of sorts, necklaces and bracelets and earrings as far as Luz could see. There were some pieces presented on open vitrines and in the middle on a table, and she gulped.
“Wow… I’ve never seen that much jewelry in one place.”, she mumbled. Ducking, she followed Amity to a wooden cabinet, a vanity of sorts, and watched her open a door there. Grimacing, she shuffled closer to Amity, very much intimidated by all the wealth around her, while the witch didn’t really mind.
“Are you allowed to be in here?”, the seven-year-old asked and she shushed her, only to rummage around all the boxes in there, making Luz look to the door anxiously, “Can-… Can we go?”
Amity gave her a sign to wait just a little longer, then she finally straightened up again, holding a simple necklace in her hands, grinning. It was made from red pearls, something very valuable, Luz had heard from Eda, and had a big pendant that looked like it was made from glass.
“This should help out a little.”, Amity whispered and nudged Luz to turn around and leave again, following her after making sure that the vanity looked just as it had before, and that nothing was out of place in the room. The two girls snuck back to Amity’s room and she giggled when she closed the door again, encouraging Luz to relax some more.
“Okay, here you go.”, she pushed the necklace with the pendant in Luz’s hands and she looked back at her, shocked.
“W-Wait, you can’t just-… Give this to me! This is really expensive! Won’t your parents find out?!”, she exclaimed in a hushed tone, which made her sound even more panicked than she had felt in this room. Trying to give Amity the necklace back, she shook her head, horrified at taking this from her now friend, “Take it back, take it back! I don’t want your parents finding out and punishing us!”
The girl merely laughed and shook her head, lifting her hands so Luz had to keep the necklace.
“My mom and dad never wear that. They only wear the newest jewelry on the shelves and push everything else into that vanity. I took it from far back, they’ve forgotten it’s there.”, putting on a more serious face, she finally clasped Luz’s hands in hers and caught her panicked gaze, “Luz, you need this more than my parents. You wanna help out your mom to keep you and your brother. I think that makes the necklace worth something, at least.”
Luz had stopped trying to push the necklace back in Amity’s hands and felt tears starting to well up as she listened, then she let her hands sink again, the necklace hanging from her fingers.
“But-… But What if they find out I took it? They would never let us be friends, then.”, she gulped and rubbed her neck, knowing exactly what happened to thieves that were caught, “I don’t think they’ll spare us the punishment, either.”
Again, Amity shook her head and this time, grabbed for Luz’s shoulders.
“Trust me. They won’t find out that thing is missing. They never open these doors, except to shove things they don’t want in there.”, she squeezed Luz’s shoulders, “You should have it. I don’t want you to go back to an orphanage, because we wouldn’t be able to see each other again, then.”
Wiping her eyes, Luz sniffled, before managing a shaky smile.
“O-Okay, thank you…”, she mumbled and stuffed the necklace into her pockets, before pouting, “But I still wanna be your friend. Without stuff like necklaces, too.”
Giddily grinning, Amity nodded at that, before getting an idea.
“Hey, wait! Can you read?”, she asked and Luz nodded wildly, squaring her shoulders in pride.
“Yeah! Eda says I can read better than anyone else!”, she said and Amity giggled, finding the other girl’s antics endearing.
“I want you to read something if you like stories!”, she already ran to her bookshelf and Luz interestedly followed, already having forgotten the weight of the expensive jewelry in her pants, “Because I read a book that I like a lot and I wanna do a book club! But I don’t have anyone else who would want to read that book.”
She climbed the lowest shelf and Luz jumped to hold her waist, looking up to where Amity was grabbing.
“I do like stories a lot! Eda wrote down a few stories for me and I sometimes got to read tales in bookstores when I had some free time!”, she helpfully answered and Amity nodded, finally having reached the book she wanted to find.
Luz let her down to the floor again and Amity handed it to her. On the cover, she could see a witch with green hair, holding up a sword, and another female demon was holding the hilt of the sword a little lower.
“The good witch Azura?”, Luz asked and Amity nodded excitedly, grinning.
“Yeah! Do you wanna read it?”, she excitedly asked and Luz wholeheartedly smiled back.
“I do wanna read it!”, she giggled and Amity clasped her hands around hers holding the book.
“I hope you like it as much as I do because then we can talk about it all the time and play Azura’s and Hecate’s adventures!”
Luz blanked out at that. This was her dream coming true. Reading more stories that she craved, playing pretend with a real friend that she could see every day from now on, and having someone to talk to. She couldn’t help but feel her lips stretch into a big smile, and relished in the feeling of Amity’s warm hands pressed against hers. This was perfect. The sugary sweet treat still lingered in her mouth, she had pockets full of jewelry to help Eda and she had just been given a recommended story by her friend that she made. A friend she made.
Her breath hitching, she finally broke from Amity’s grasp and before the girl could say anything, Luz hugged her tightly. Amity froze at first, but she soon relaxed and melted in her hug, before slinging her arms tightly around her back and nuzzling her face into Luz’s neck.
“Thank you…”, Luz mumbled and Amity nodded, pressing herself against the other girl.
“… Thank you for being my friend…”, the witch mumbled back and Luz gave a little chuckle at that, before hearing a weird noise over the city outside. It almost sounded like a scream, but as if that scream was interrupted again and again, with a slamming noise in between. In an instant, Amity parted from her.
“Oh no, it’s already midnight!”, she exclaimed and Luz tilted her head.
“How did you know?”, she asked and Amity pointed outside, towards the city center.
“That’s the sign the Bonesborough clock gives when it’s midnight. It’s so late already, I should’ve been in bed for so long.”, grimacing, she hugged Luz again, almost too quickly because Luz had no chance to hug her back, “You gotta go now! I’m sure your guardian is already worried!”
Slapping her forehead, Luz stared at Amity and grimaced.
“Oh right! Eda wanted to come back tonight and look after us! What if she already did and sees that I’m missing?!”, moving quickly, she ran to the window and climbed to the windowsill, before pushing the book into her pants’ hem and slipping on her boots again. Amity turned and grabbed the treat from her nightstand, to give it to her.
“Give this to your brother!”, she hurriedly pushed the cupcake into Luz’s hands and smiled at her, “Can we meet at the fence right after lunch?”
Taking a moment to smile, Luz finally nodded and grinned at her newly made friend.
“Yes! I’ll be there after lunch and wait for you. And then we can play!”, she waved to Amity with a quick goodbye, before climbing down the corner of the house, using the protruding stones as a ladder and taking care the treat wouldn’t touch the walls, then she waved to Amity again who was looking after her and ran towards Lilith’s mansion.
She protected the book and the treat from the undergrowth as she made her way back the way she had snuck in here, through the forest and shrubbery until she reached the fence. Climbing over the fence wasn’t as difficult as she would’ve thought, especially since the iron decorations served as steps for her, then she ran back to her room and climbed the mansion the same way as she had done up to Amity’s room. Making her way back into the room proved more difficult since she had to transfer herself to the windowsill and almost squished the treat, but she was able to preserve it and open the window, before slipping inside. Luckily, nobody but a sleeping Gus was in here and she put the treat on his nightstand, before pulling out the necklace.
Looking around, she finally opened her nightstand and was about to put it in there, when she heard a hollow noise when the pendant hit the floor of the drawer. Furrowing her eyebrows, she pressed her nails into the tiny gap by the sides of the drawer, and, to her surprise, she could take the floor out to reveal a secret department. Finally, after stashing away her treasure and taking off her boots and clothes, she cuddled herself into the fluffy bed with her new pajamas, pressing the book to her chest.
Dreamily, she looked up to the ceiling and smiled to herself. This had gone better than she had thought. She had made another friend, two in a row, and had a book now that she could read!
The necklace was safely hidden on a secret floor in her nightstand drawer, something Eda must’ve owned she was sure, and there was no way this night was going to be forgotten.
After putting the book away, she turned to the side and curled up, kind of missing Gus’ and Eda’s warmth since they were used to sleeping together, but soon, she felt herself slipping away to sleep.
Her eyes drooped and she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so content with herself. She just hoped Amity wouldn’t think she only wanted to be friends with her to get more expensive stuff from her parents.
But she had told her, it would be okay, she believed.
Tomorrow Lilith would give them some lessons again, her in fighting and Gus in magic, and she would be able to see Amity again soon. After dinner, they had agreed, and Luz was already so excited. She would make sure to read a little bit in the book Amity had given her, and maybe she would even be willing to read some with her!
Smiling, Luz cuddled into her sheets. She couldn’t understand why Eda didn’t like being in Bonesborough. For her, it had just begun and she had already made two friends, started knight training, and would get warm meals for now. She felt content here, and maybe she could stay for a little while. She had nothing against their original lifestyle, but she had so many possibilities here!
Since she was already dreaming about her day, it didn’t take her long to slip into a well-deserved sleep, continuing to dream of her achievements and possibilities.
---
If you have any suggestions on how to beat writer's block, please let me know!
“Ao3 needs an algorithm” no it doesn’t, part of the ao3 experience is scrolling through pages of cursed content looking for the one fic you want to read until you get distracted by a summary so cursed that it completely derails your entire search
hot shower or cold shower // texting or calling // earbuds or headphones // paperback or hardcover // matte or gel // 12 hour clock or 24 hour clock // blue or green // sunsets or sunrises // tulips or orchids // candle light or moonlight // sci-fi or horror (that being said, Doctor Who is my favourite piece of fiction and I only like a very specific type of horror) // pen or pencil // pandas or koalas // gold or silver // sneakers or boots // denim jacket or leather jacket // pink or purple // chocolate or sour candy // deodorant or perfume // drive-in movie theatre (sadly never been to one though) or the cinema // pastel colours or neutral earth tones // lemonade (that being said, I'm a sucker for freshly pressed fruit juice) or fruit juice // past or future // constellations or aurora borealis
lads, should you be so inclined: @sp-eedysp-special @3laxx @smelly-cassettes @lily-cmdier99 @mdhwrites @fandomstalker27
Alright then!
hot shower or cold shower // texting or calling // earbuds or headphones // paperback or hardcover // matte or gel // 12 hour clock or 24 hour clock // blue or green // sunsets or sunrises // tulips or orchids // candle light or moonlight // sci-fi or horror (cannot handle horror except if I think of it) // pen or pencil // pandas or koalas // gold or silver // sneakers or boots // denim jacket or leather jacket // pink or purple // chocolate or sour candy // deodorant or perfume (both fight me) // drive-in movie theatre or the cinema // pastel colours or neutral earth tones // lemonade or fruit juice // past or future // constellations or aurora borealis (it is a crime to decide)
Uuuuuh I have nobody to tag, anyone who feels this just go ahead and tag me
Lilith studies the children's skills and Luz gets her first official swordplay lesson.
Hey guys!
I know it took a while oof...
I've been really busy. I've been looking for a new job, a flat to rent, and been organizing two class reunions, but I hope I'll have a bit of time this week!
Anyway, let's get right into this chapter!
Luz has trained with Eda before but we all know Eda xD Now, the proper lessons start! And already, Luz is a bit closer to her dream of becoming a knight like her mentor and adoptive mom!
And Gus is a little magic prodigy because honestly, had he not been limited by illusions, I believe he would have tried to learn every type of magic when he was younger!
I hope you like this chapter! <3
Ao3 / FF.net
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In the early morning hours, Luz and Gus were dropped off at the Clawthorne mansion, along with their sparse belongings, before Eda set off on her mission. For the first few hours, Lilith had not let them outside since it had been raining and they couldn’t master a shield yet to safely go outside.
Most of that time was spent by Lilith determining their reading and writing skills and being pleasantly surprised with both their abilities to read and write fairly well. Gus was almost at Luz’s level, even if he was still reading slower than her.
But at writing, they both had some trouble writing some words right, which Lilith of course immediately noted and moved on to test their simple mathematics skills. That was Luz’s weakness, especially because she had always been demotivated when Eda had tried teaching her, which was why she was lacking some patience with the tasks presented.
After their math lesson, Lilith tested their skill in identifying some vegetation home to their kingdom, presenting them drawings of various plants and animals to ask them what they were, and again, noted all the things she deemed necessary to know for further lessons. She would have to teach them a lot about biology, still, but she supposed that didn’t have to go as in-depth as she probably wanted.
After all, these children wouldn’t stay with her for as long as it would take to properly educate them, so she refrained from making a schedule for them. She tended to go overboard with things like these, planning ahead, especially since as of now, she didn’t have much to do.
The king had promised her a spot in the administrating senate of the city and kingdom, yet it wasn’t as far to say she could pick up some work, since she had quite a few voices against her. Including Adegast.
But she hoped her sister would uncover some dirt on him and allow her to take the spot in the senate.
After testing their critical thinking and abstract and philosophical understanding, which was not yet as much, she finally allowed them to take a break and watched as they settled to play a simple dice game with each other.
Their bond was strong, as strong as Eda’s and she had once been, and Lilith discovered she was somewhat moved by the love the siblings shared. She saw a lot of her past in them, like how Gus looked up to his big sister and how Luz always made sure to tag him along, show him all the things that interested her, and how respectful they acted around each other. She supposed that by being adopted, they had a different kind of appreciation for Eda and each other since they knew exactly how it was to live on the streets and have nothing but the certainty to die young.
Lilith felt something that felt an awful lot like sympathy towards the small children playing on the floor of her library.
Gus was merely a boy of five summers, and Luz was only two older than him. These two had already witnessed a lot of destruction in their tiny lives, much more than Eda or her had begun to imagine at the same age. Physical destruction as well as mental abandonment, Lilith was sure. She was amazed to see them both flourish with Eda’s help and to discover that they were both fairly intelligent, both in their own ways but nonetheless further than other kids of their age.
After the rain had stopped and the outside had cooled down enough for it to be safe, she let the children go outside again and play outside, for a while.
Eda had told her of her daughter’s wish to become a knight and even if Lilith was against this future, much like their mentor, she wanted to see what Eda had taught her. As she knew her little sister, she couldn’t resist teaching her children a thing or two about footwork and swordplay and she was curious if there were parallels to her sister’s fighting style.
The children were laughing outside and for some reason, Lilith could not bring herself to feel annoyance at that. It brought life and innocence into this house after it had been devoid of it for so long. She remembered the last few times she and her sister had laughed like this. They had been quite young at that, before learning of the seriousness of life. Before their mother had brought them along to political meetings, and before they had learned to fight in tournaments that were meant as entertainment for royals and rich aristocrats.
Lilith had never liked these tournaments, she had never enjoyed fighting in them, as opposed to Edalyn.
Her sister had enjoyed the thrill more than the seriousness of war, and while Lilith hadn’t enjoyed serving at the front, certainly not, she had at least felt that her duty made a difference, that her fight made sense, that she protected her kingdom and all the witches and demons in there.
Ah, to be a child again, and forget these worries.
With a sad smile, she tapped her hurting leg with her cane, before searching out a few wooden training swords and stepping outside, calling the children to her. She had a feeling they would like their next lesson, and she should be right because as soon as Luz saw the wooden swords in her hand, she felt her heart beating faster.
The young girl sprinted up to her, excitement already shining on her face as she dragged her brother along, the treasure hunt forgotten again.
They had run around a little at first and chased each other after having to sit for so long, then they had attempted to find a way up to the griffin to solve the riddle, but Lilith had interrupted them. Not that Luz actually minded.
“Children, what has Eda taught you about swordplay?”, the witch asked and Luz immediately piped up, feeling her heart beating fast in anticipation and joy for what was about to come.
“I learned a bit about sword fighting!”, she proudly stated, making Gus huff in annoyance. Lilith sent him a short glance but turned to Luz.
“I want you to show me some of the steps Edalyn has taught you and how you practice them.”, she instructed, handing the sword over to the little girl who promptly dashed over to the training area she had found the day before, followed by Lilith and Gus who were significantly slower.
“Say, Gus, you don’t like swordplay?”, she asked and he grumbled, shaking his head.
“I like magic better.”, he said and Lilith nodded.
“Then, I want you to show me what you’ve learned after Luz has shown me her skills in swordplay. Is that fair?”, she asked and the little boy almost skipped, grinning and nodding at her. He always enjoyed Eda’s and his magic lessons, most times when Luz was practicing her sword skills, and he knew he’d excel at these.
“Yes! I wanna show you my illusion magic!”, he exclaimed and Lilith gave a content nod, successfully having diverted having to deal with a grumpy child the whole afternoon. She preferred children obedient and motivated, that was the only state when they were able to learn. She didn’t know a lot about children, but she could teach quite well. Raising them was not a quality she could claim to have.
“Very well. You will be content watching your sister for a bit?”, she asked and the boy nodded, feeling justified with having her attention after, so she turned back up front as they arrived at the training site where Luz was already waiting impatiently.
“Alright then, Luz. Warm yourself up first.”, she ordered and the little girl looked at her quizzically, furrowing her eyebrows. Lilith merely managed a sigh. She had suspected Edalyn wouldn’t teach her children to warm up, as she had never been thrilled to stretch and warm her muscles before using them.
“Very well. Warming up means that you stretch your muscles first, to avoid injury. Come here and give me the sword, I will show you some practices to stretch.”, she instructed and Luz planted her feet on the field.
“No.”, she pouted, holding the sword dearly, as if Lilith demanded a precious present back. At that, Lilith furrowed her eyebrows, not wanting to put up with her hesitance.
“Child, hand me the sword and I will teach you how to fight properly.”, she said, in a stricter and colder tone than before prompting Luz to tense her chin in defiance and hold the sword away, but after a glare from her mentor’s sister, Luz finally handed the sword over to Lilith.
The witch took the wooden training sword from her and sat down on one of the stone benches, dried by the heat of the boiling rain itself, before directing Luz to stand in front of her.
“How much has Edalyn taught you about fighting?”, she asked and while Luz felt hurt in her pride, she did answer, because Lilith was a lot scarier when things were not going her way.
“How to stand…”, she slowly mumbled, and Lilith nodded, prodding her to continue, “And uh… How to hold the sword. And how to hit someone.”
At her lame attempts of listing the techniques, Eda had supposedly taught her, which was completely uncharacteristic of the usual, quick responses of the chipper child, Lilith pulled up her eyebrows, before propping herself up on the two swords she had brought, nodding.
“Alright. Luz, fighting with a sword is about handling it like an extension of your arm. Do you know what that means?”, she asked and Luz shook her head, staring at the floor. She didn’t like being talked to as if she was stupid, especially when Eda hadn’t done that yet, “That means you have to accept the sword as if it was your hand. It becomes you, and you have to know exactly where it is, what it does, and how it is pointed once you go for a hit.”
Even when sitting, Lilith could move gracefully. Her upper body had not suffered under her leg injury, and she was able to show Luz some simple movements, circling the sword around her with ease and letting it cut through the air so quickly that it made a whistling sound, without even hitting herself once. Or without breaking eye contact with the child. In an instant, Luz was fascinated.
“Wow…”, she mumbled. Lilith nodded at that.
“You have to mind where your sword is at all times, and you cannot look at it. You have to keep your eyes on the enemy, and your sword has to obey your movements, as your legs and head do when you tell them so.”, she explained, ramming the point of the wooden blade down in the fine, red gravel before fixating on Luz again, “You have to adjust your movements so the sword will work seamlessly with you, so you won’t have to fear being hit by your own weapon.”
Luz already longed to hold the sword again, but Lilith shook her head.
“For that, you have to warm up. I don’t want you complaining about injuries after.”
Unwillingly, but more motivated than before, Luz followed Lilith’s instructions. She bent down to her feet while keeping her knees straight, she made side steps and felt her muscles burning, and did a few other positions as well, before Lilith made her run a lap around the training grounds, making sure the child was warmed up and flexible.
When Luz arrived back with the older witch, she was slightly panting but way too excited to care. After all, now she was warmed up, now she could show her footwork and swordplay!
Lilith handed her the sword and nodded at her, at which Luz beamed. She could finally show what Eda had taught her. And she could finally work off some steam she had been building up over the morning when she had to sit around and read and write and calculate stuff.
Enthusiastically, she grabbed the sword and stood as Eda had instructed her, keeping her whole body tense and her sword in a tight grip, before repeating some steps Eda had shown her.
One, two, three, some more, again. She jumped back and forth, keeping her other hand out of her way, and finally stabbed her imaginary enemy who had taken quite a few blows, making her grin widely.
“And that’s how Eda showed me!”, she finally turned to where Lilith sat and bowed, when the older witch got up, propping herself up on her cane.
“That was already a good understanding of the basics, although you lack the coordination, poise, and restraint to go too far.”, Lilith factually explained, and much to Luz's own surprise, she didn’t feel attacked. The teacher stood next to her as she gestured for her to go back into her basic stand, where she adjusted a few things.
“Your legs are too far apart. A gust of wind could knock you over. And if nature manages that, an enemy will have you on the ground faster than you can relax. Stand with a shoulder width, that should be enough to give you a proper and steady stand. Now, your sword should not be held as tightly. Remember, it must be flexible, it must be guided by you, but not forced. Here, try shaking your wrist out a little bit and keep it loose. If you hit something with such a cramped hand, you might break your wrist, that would not be desirable. Imagine if you hit some armored knight with a stiff wrist.”
Luz merely tilted her head at that and Lilith nodded, getting in front of her.
“Here, I’ll show you. Try and hit my sword with yours and hold it really tightly.”, she instructed and Luz tried, feeling the force of the impact run from the two swords up her elbow and to her shoulder, making her wince.
“And now try again, but keep your wrist loose.”, Lilith encouraged her and Luz tried again, this time not gripping as tightly. The hit on Lilith’s unmoving wooden blade wasn’t as hard, but at least her wrist didn’t hurt anymore.
“But what do I do if I want to hit hard?”, she asked and Lilith smiled.
“A sword is sharp, young one. It is meant to cut, not to hack. Hold your sword up.”
Luz did as she was told and held her sword sideways, the same Lilith had held it, and Lilith moved slowly.
“Look and observe exactly what happens. If I keep my wrist stiff, I hit your sword hard and don’t achieve anything but hurt myself.”, she held the sword tightly and Luz saw how it touched hers, unmoving. Lilith’s arm came to a stop as well and Luz understood how it had hurt so much when she had tried to be unmoving and hot something.
“And now look what happens when I slash, rather than hit with brute force.”, Lilith let her watch as she let her sword sink down on Luz’s in slow motion, her wrist loose this time. The blades connected and Lilith’s sword tilted back, her blade running down Luz’s before Lilith could smoothly transition by pulling it down and moving to motion another hit.
The young girl nodded slowly, before shaking her wrist out that still kind of hurt, and taking in her position again.
“I wanna try!”, she exclaimed and Lilith gave the littlest smile as she held her sword for Luz to hit it, at first instructed her to try the same slow method as she had shown her, before encouraging her to take a faster slash. Luz felt how much smoother her hits went when she didn’t hold the sword as tightly.
“Alright, now that you’ve understood the basics of slashing with your sword, you must learn to show restraint.”, she said and Luz tilted her head, furrowing her eyebrows.
“Restraint in a fight?”, she couldn’t understand that. Eda had always told her to be poised, which Lilith had also criticized in her technique. That she wasn’t poised enough. How was one poised and restrained at the same time?
Her teacher chuckled, then she tapped Luz’s sword that she had pushed on the ground, propping herself up on it. Luz immediately took her stance again and lifted her sword, furrowing her eyebrows, anticipating Lilith’s next move.
“First of all, a sword must be guided, as I said already. Sometimes, moving slower at first makes it easier to know the movements you can do. You remember what we just did with the different hits.”, she showed Luz a simple pattern of an eight, lying horizontally, as she crossed the sword’s line in front of her and drew long curves up and down on her sides. Luz observed her carefully before trying it out herself, quickly learning the organic movement and trying to keep Lilith’s pace.
The wooden sword bumped against her hips and thighs and even her shoulder, once, while Lilith’s kept close to her body but never hit herself.
“See, you have to feel exactly where the sword is, Luz. Look at me, don’t look at your hand, and try not to hit yourself for at least ten rounds.”
Luz quickly found that to be impossible. Most times when she tried speeding up along with Lilith, she lost control and with minding to keep her wrist loose, she hit herself quite often. Luckily, the sword was made of wood.
Lilith nodded, finally after the third attempt, and Luz stopped her sword, looking to the floor. The bruises that already started to form would be her lesson and her punishment, she supposed. But instead of chastising her, Lilith acted so much like Eda.
She leaned down to the child, put her hand on her shoulder, and nodded at her.
“Good work, Luz. You will have to practice a lot, still, but do not worry. I don’t expect you to excel at all practices within just a few minutes. It takes weeks, months to perfect the technique of the sword, and you have to invest many hours until you can lead your sword not to hit yourself anymore.”
The girl tried a smile, before looking up again and nodding at Lilith.
“What’s the next lesson?”, she asked and her teacher nodded at her.
“The next lesson is your footwork. You have to take care not to stumble over your own legs. What you showed me already is good so far, but you jump too much. You want your feet to be planted to the ground firmly, and you never want to jump, unless absolutely necessary. Here, see.”
She made room for Luz to walk in a straight line.
“Show me again what you showed me in the beginning.”, she encouraged the girl and Luz attempted to incorporate all the techniques she had already learned but quickly lost her rhythm and Lilith shook her head.
“Again, and don’t mind the techniques from before. I just want to see your footwork, for now, you can practice the other techniques soon enough once they’re automated.”, she smiled at Luz before nodding at her again, “Now, again.”
Luz did her line once more, three steps, back, then another three steps, and Lilith held up a hand, nodding at her.
“Yes, you move dynamically and smoothly, that is already a huge step, but you have to take care not to jump. And you walk fast, so fast that your knees almost hit each other. Move slower, with more determination, and try to keep your feet out of each other’s way. Just like you already do by crossing them, but slower.”
Luz tried her former rhythm again and Lilith nodded as she watched her, this time seeming pleased.
“Yes, that is already better. You don’t move erratically when fighting. You always try to direct your energy from one side to the other, never stopping or balking. Do you understand?”, Luz furrowed her eyebrows in concentration, so Lilith now conjured up a spell circle. Immediately, both children looked up, Gus even sitting up straighter. This was the first time they saw Lilith using magic, and they were not about to miss it. She made a little mountain out of stone, just pushing it out of the field, and conjured a little water spring up on the top. The water made its way down the miniature hill, finding the smoothest way down, without stopping at a pebble in its way, “Here, see? Think of it as water. It moves smoothly, never stops, even here, where it makes a small lake.”
Luz watched in fascination as the water pooled in a little dip in the slope, but she could observe it spiraling, twisting, before searching for another way out. Lilith was right, there was no drop of water that was standing still.
She nodded slowly, not paying any mind to Gus who had watched her perform the spells closely, and turned away from them to practice what he had seen Lilith demonstrate just now.
Lilith smiled at her again, then she picked up her own sword.
“Do you remember the movement we made before, to practice the flow of the sword?”, she repeated the pattern of the lying eight again and Luz watched her closely, “You never see me stopping or slowing down. It’s the same as with this water. Even if I hit another sword, I stay in the movement, never lose any of my momenta.”
She gestured for Luz to present her sword again and the girl did as she was asked, watching with fascination as Lilith showed her how she fluently translated the movement of her sword into a hit, letting her blade slash against Luz’s, before letting it sink down, slash past her blade, twist it around and go for another hit. She never stopped or hesitated in her movements and they always stayed fluent.
Luz grinned in fascination, before readying herself.
“Can I try?”, she asked and Lilith nodded encouragingly, presenting her sword so Luz could practice. Meanwhile, behind her, Gus had already managed to make small pillars of stone from the grass, giggling to himself as he now attempted the water spell.
Lilith instructed her how to move her sword so it would hit accordingly, and watched her trying to slowly translate her movements from hit to swirling fluently, as Lilith had demonstrated. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pride in Luz demonstrating how well she could handle the sword after just an hour of practicing.
If she had observed anything in that girl, it was that Luz learned incredibly fast if someone showed her first, and all that she lacked was the automated movement, the muscle memory, that she could train for.
It wasn’t hard at all for Lilith to admit that she was impressed with Edalyn’s children.
They practiced for a little longer, Lilith showing her a few details about footwork, and sword positioning and even began explaining the basics of stabbing to her, before summoning a puppet for her to practice on. Luz began practicing everything she had just learned and while Lilith knew that she would never be able to combine all these things without at least some coordination and muscle memory that could only be trained in months of work, she was proud to see that the girl tried to mind everything she had just told her, concentrating and making sure to move slowly, as her teacher had advised her to.
When she turned to look after Gus, she was even more surprised, though. The little boy of merely five years was sitting on the grass of her lawn, little pillars the height of his knees, made out of stone decorating the ground around him, and as he was drawing a bright blue spell circle, a little spring of water was created on a pillar between his legs. He stuck his tongue out in concentration, yet the spring dried up within a minute.
She had always known her sister was an exceptional witch, and she had also known her magical abilities, as well as her fighting skills, were paralleled by only a few knights she knew, but her kids were even an exception from her.
As she saw it now, these two were insanely talented.
But it didn’t surprise her as much as she would have liked to admit. If Edalyn was already such a skilled knight and witch, who said the children she would choose to adopt wouldn’t be as skilled as her.
Luz showed a lot of potential as a knight, because even if her technique was still the uncoordinated slashing of a child, she showed a wonderful understanding of the basics, and was willing to practice with focus and determination.
Meanwhile, Gus was very skilled with magic, at such a tender age. He already showed more understanding of magic than any of the children of his age, and if he continued like this, he would grow up to be a powerful witch, maybe even able to be a king someday.
Lilith slowly made her way over to the chipper boy, eyeing all the stone pillars over her lawn that he had made, then she stopped by where he was seated, pulling up her eyebrows.
“Say, Gus, did you do construction magic before?”, she asked and the little boy grinned up to her, shaking his head.
“But you just did!”, he explained and Lilith tried not to splutter.
“You just created these pillars because you were able to observe my spell?”, she asked and the little boy nodded, grinning. Lilith gave him an approving nod, before conjuring herself a temporary bench to sit on since she had difficulties kneeling down to his level, and watched him creating another stone pillar to try the water spell again. Eda had told her he was already excelling at illusions magic, and she suspected that he might have been born in Illna, but she couldn’t be sure.
But when Lilith softly kicked against one of his pillars, it didn’t puff up in smoke. She raised her eyebrows.
“Can you conjure an illusion that looks just like the pillars you just made?”, she asked softly, and the five-year-old boy nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes! That’s easy!”, he said, before conjuring up a stone pillar that looked identical to the one before him, and when he tried to touch it, that pillar vanished without a trace. Lilith nodded again, still not quite believing that he had figured out the spell immediately, but it seemed she had been proven wrong.
“Can you make them bigger?”, she asked and he furrowed his eyebrows, before conjuring up the next one, but it came out the same size as the other ones. He furrowed his eyebrows again, yet Lilith was still impressed with him. This was not an easy feat, to learn a completely new range of magic within a few minutes, and especially not common for a five-year-old like him.
“That’s not a problem. Someday you’ll make them taller.”, she reassured him and he nodded, seeming certain.
“Tomorrow.”, he said and Lilith furrowed her eyebrows, looking at him questioningly.
“Tomorrow?”, she echoed and he grinned up at her, letting off his most recent water spell.
“My magic gets better by day, Eda says.”, he proudly stated and Lilith almost couldn’t believe it. Edalyn had really found a little magic genius.
“Ah, I understand. And what about that water spell?”, she asked, making the little boy turn back to his attempts to make water sprout from his little stone pillar. He grumbled a little and pouted, before trying again, managing to keep it running for a few seconds, before it petered out again.
“It goes dry…”, he mumbled and she leaned down to him a little, drawing the spell circle again. He watched intently as she used the magic to create a water source on the pillar he had made.
“See, you conjure the water from deeper in the ground and let it bubble up. That way you have more ground to work with and to help you. And when you’ve managed to make a little water, you concentrate to reel it in, pull it out and let it flow.”
He observed as she made another spell circle and, once again, let water flow from a stone pillar before he tried as well. She watched him performing a nearly perfect spell, and now, he managed to hold the water source for a whole five minutes, before it dried out again.
Deeply impressed, Lilith sat straighter. She had seen exactly what little details he had done wrong in his conjuring, but those were mostly practice flaws, easily corrected by conjuring the spell time and time again. This was really impressive.
“… Can you show me some of your illusion magic?”, she finally asked and the little boy happily obliged, conjuring up some illusions that kids twice his age would have problems with.
To say Lilith was impressed was an understatement by now.
Gus showed her how he could conjure some flowers, growing all around him, yet when she touched them, they puffed up in the air. Tomorrow she would show him some plant magic to allow him to recreate his illusion for real.
She doubted Eda hadn’t already shown him some plant magic spells, but as she knew her sister, her spells were always a bit chaotic and wild, much like her spirit.
Lilith’s spells were a lot more structured and orderly, so she wasn’t that much surprised that Gus could read her spells like a book, but that he had been able to recreate them almost exactly at his young age was another story.
She supposed she would have a lot of fun with this boy and with teaching him magic. He could learn a lot from her and even when Eda had a lot of magic to perform as well, she supposed the boy could handle her pristine, perfectly practiced spells a lot better than Eda’s powerful, emotional ones.
After a while, Lilith was still practicing with Gus, Luz stopped training on the puppet and dropped her sword by the other one on the bench, before joining her little brother and her aunt, she supposed, to watch them have their fun.
She had always been fascinated by magic, even going so much as resenting that she didn’t have a bile sac, but it always made her feel better to watch Gus perform magic.
It was a joy to see her little brother giggling and grinning from one pointy ear to the other when he was performing spells and perfecting them, and she loved watching how he joyfully managed new spells or concentratedly made sure to practice a spell over and over to be sure that he could perform it whenever.
She joined Lilith on her makeshift bench, wiping the sweat from her forehead and encouraging Gus to hold the water glyph for longer, before gratefully accepting a water spring from Lilith so she could wash her face and drink a little, before hopping off and leaving the two witches to themselves.
She wandered through the garden, still hearing Gus’s giggles from afar, and visited the little pavilion. After making sure that Lilith had put back the treasure map in the hollow piece of the railing, she ventured on. Now, with Lilith in the gardens, she couldn’t dare to climb the house, so she merely wandered on, to visit the little garden gnome, the old wise one, to see if he was still there.
And so he was, she discovered as she found it, still covered in moss, sitting in the undergrowth of the little forest area of the gardens.
Now, finally, she also spotted the mansion across from the Clawthorne mansion.
There were big houses all around them, one bordering each side of the park around Lilith’s home, but the other two on the streets didn’t interest her as much. She had seen them through the fence the day before and they were similar to this one where they were living now, but the one on the backside was different.
It was bigger, way bigger than Lilith’s house, and its garden spanned two mansions, Lilith’s and her neighbor’s. It was massive.
She squinted her eyes to look through the gardens, but couldn’t spot much more than the rough dimensions and some of the back porch, which was more of a theater stage than anything. She had never been to an actual theater, but Eda had shown her the ruins of one, and she still remembered the massive dimensions of that one. If the back porch was as big as that, how big was the house, then?
Humming, Luz leaned against the fence and pushed her face against the iron bars, masterfully formed into leaves and berries. Lilith’s parents really hadn’t spared any expenses building this house. But if the Clawthornes already spent so much on their residence… How much had the residents of the mansion on the backside spent on theirs?
Luz tapped the iron bars.
Eda had said that the inn was too expensive to live in, and even if she had tried to gloss over that with a joke, Luz couldn’t stop thinking about it.
She knew she and Gus were expensive to dress, feed and entertain. She knew that because Eda had actually told her, she had to pay four times what she had paid before to get a meal because she had to feed herself, her two children, and the demon wolf now.
Finally scowling, Luz pushed herself off the fence.
If these people had so much money, it wouldn’t hurt them to give something to her mentor, she decided. She had often climbed into houses at night, and taken some of their belongings. And if she had learned something, then that the bigger the house was, the smaller was the chance of being discovered sneaking around in it.
Patting down her pants, Luz emerged from the undergrowth and directed her steps back to Lilith and Gus who were still practicing magic, her thoughts running quickly and wildly. She knew she had promised Eda not to steal anything while living with Lilith, and she knew Lilith wouldn’t like her stealing from her neighbors, but they had so much. Luz would never understand how some people could have so much and let orphans like her starve.
Adjusting her shirt, she finally sat down next to Lilith again and inconspicuously looked over to where she had spotted the giant mansion.
She would just sneak over at night and grab some stuff that they didn’t need anyway, and then she would be on her way. She would feel better about Eda having some money again, and she would stop stealing after that, she promised.
Besides. Eda had always said that it wasn’t stealing when they took from rich people. It was distributing their wealth evenly.
That was a difference, and as much as Luz disagreed most times, she had never seen a house as big as theirs. She couldn’t imagine they needed everything in there, especially when her mentor couldn’t pay their inn anymore. Her decision was made and she knew exactly, she was good enough to sneak over, get in and steal something without a trace. They would never know, Lilith would never know and Eda would have some more money not to worry about having children.
Or possibly giving them away.
Luz shuddered at that. She had had that thought a few times already, and it had never been pleasant. That Eda decided one day that her children were too expensive, and to get rid of them. Because she couldn’t care for them anymore. Shaking her head to herself, she decided to never let Eda have that decision. Before she would be given back to an orphanage, she would pull her own weight.
---
Let me know if you liked it!
The aus I've been talking about have admittedly been on hiatus the past few days, but I am still determined to write them!
Just, as soon as all the organizing is through in my life x)
Moving 400km away from home is quite a stressful matter, as it turns out.
But Hunter couldn’t sleep and Luz couldn’t sleep and it seemed a time as good as ever to be putting the question out there when it was just the two of them.
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The Day of Unity is over, and the gang is trapped in the human realm. Some Late Night Conversations are inevitable.
I knowwww, I should be working on all my other projects and AUs but this just came to my mind and before I knew it I had written over 6k words for it.
WE'RE ALL SUFFERING OKAY THIS IS MY WAY TO COPE
Anyway, suffer with me.
That being said, the new chapter for Built to Last is coming along well and I've started on my Bartender AU!
Otherwise, have fun with this first lmao
TRIGGER WARNING:
- PANIC ATTACK
Ao3 / FF.net
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The evening bled into the night before either of them could even blink.
Camila had taken them all in immediately, having Vee ordering in Pizza to feed them all and preparing makeshift beds, mattresses, and mats for them to sleep on in the living room.
It hadn’t taken long for the first to break down. The others followed suit.
It hadn’t come as a surprise for anyone that the first had been Amity. She had swallowed all her concerns about her father and siblings to function in the fight. Gus had been next to break out in tears again, immediately comforted by Willow and Hunter while Luz and Amity had lied down on the couch, tightly cuddled up, as Amity wept.
Camila had taken a chair next to them to listen to Luz quietly explaining the past few months, while she had held her girlfriend in a warm embrace, patiently waiting until her tears had dried.
Willow had managed to hold on the longest and by the time she shed the first tear, it was late at night already.
These were the first few shocks.
Just a while later, the anxiety started.
And the big looming question of “What now?”
Camila had immediately shut down any doubts about going home. She had made sure everyone had new clothes on, was warm and fed and bandaged up, and she wouldn’t hear any fears about the future.
Somehow, her firm denial of any doubts put the children to rest.
Gus had been the first to fall asleep. Curled up into a little ball, he had made himself comfortable on one of the mattresses on the living room floor, the blanket wrapped around him so snuggly only his ear poked out from beneath it. Willow made sure to keep close to him, one of her hands constantly keeping contact with him, and that’s how she fell asleep, too.
She had long given up trying to hold onto him, so her relaxed, half-closed hand merely lay somewhere on the little huddled pile of witchling while she was sleeping tightly.
Hunter had made himself comfortable next to her, even if he couldn’t fall asleep yet. He was the closest to the couch where Luz and Amity stayed since Amity hadn’t been able to move from the spot after her breakdown.
Luz had turned to the side by now, overlooking her friends on the floor, and managed to wrap her girlfriend’s arms around her to spoon her, making sure she was comfortable.
Amity had contently snuggled into Luz’s back, her arm tightly wound around her middle as if she was afraid of losing her once she let go. Luz had only been able to loosen her grip somewhat by interlacing their fingers on her chest, occasionally placing a little kiss on Amity’s curled-up fingers.
But she couldn’t sleep, either.
She had pretended to sleep for the past ten minutes after her mother had shut off the lights and checked on them one last time. She had kissed Luz’s forehead and told her not to worry, they would find a solution, before tucking a strand of hair behind Amity’s ears and making sure the other kids were looked after as well.
Scrunching her face, Luz huffed quietly, listening to Willow’s soft snores because she was lying on her back, then she opened her eyes for just a short moment.
It wasn’t a surprise to her that Hunter stared back at her in the otherwise dark room, only illuminated dimly by the moon outside. It had stopped raining for now and the clouds had broken up to allow a little bit of the night sky to shine in, but the weather forecast had predicted it would begin raining again in a bit.
He was lying with his back to his captain, staring up at Luz unmoving, and she found herself staring back at him. She had meant to close her eyes again, but she supposed the unrest she had felt was partly due to him staring at her.
Amity behind her huffed softly and snuggled tighter into her back, she could feel her girlfriend’s adorable nose getting scrunched up against her shirt.
Pulling her arm a bit higher, Luz adjusted ever so slightly, Amity following her movement to stay close, then she nodded at Hunter.
“… Can’t sleep either?”, she asked in a hushed whisper, not to disturb her friends’ sleep. The boy in front of the couch shook his head softly, not wanting to make too much noise either, before sighing.
“… No.”, he whispered back, equally as quiet. Luz almost couldn’t hear him in the soft rustling of the wind.
They stayed quiet for another little while, none of them wanting to start first. Luz looked out the window across from her and Hunter looked at her. Both couldn’t seem to break the quiet.
Until Gus huffed and turned in his sleep. The silence was broken.
“… What now?”, Hunter asked, causing Luz to look back down at him with the dreaded question out there. The question Camila hadn’t allowed in her presence, not wanting the looming threat of despair to consume the teens quite yet.
But Hunter couldn’t sleep and Luz couldn’t sleep and it seemed a time as good as ever to be putting the question out there when it was just the two of them.
Luz looked at him for a minute that felt like an eternity, her mind only working slowly, as she went over all that had happened in the short time of this day. She didn’t know if Eda and Raine and all the other witches were really okay after the Collector had stopped the draining spell.
Sure, Hunter had stopped feeling the effects, and the magic flow had stopped, but she didn’t know if Eda’s curse had affected her too much.
King was at the mercy of a godchild now, and there was no way back. No Titan’s blood, no portal, no key, nothing. There wasn’t even a point to start at. No plan to follow, no lead to pursue, nothing.
Luz was just about ready to throw herself off a cliff with the uncertainty she was facing now.
Most of all – she felt responsible.
Not only responsible for helping Belos achieve the goals that had been necessary to lead up to this mess, but she also felt responsible for her friends ending up in the human realm along with her.
She was the human. She was the one they knew best, not her mother or Vee.
She was their guide, their anchor, she had to take responsibility to keep them safe.
Herding them, teaching them, educating them, and making sure they’d fit in, that all fell into her responsibility.
And finding a way back home. She knew that if she failed, she would consider herself the reason they were stranded here, away from their home, their families, and their other friends. Any familiarity they had.
And it was her fault, of course.
Philipp, Belos, the portal, the mess. Everything was her fault.
Breathing through, she squinted her eyes, then she looked back down to Hunter who was looking worried by now but didn’t seem to want to get up to comfort her, in the fear of waking Willow or Gus with that. Or Amity.
“… Tomorrow you’ll recharge and rest. I’ll go to the library and see if I can find anything. And to that guy’s museum, the one who captured Vee, to see if he has any other magic stored.”, she whispered, furrowing her eyebrows. She was sure she could find something if she looked hard enough.
Who knew, maybe they could recreate the way Philipp and his brother had ended up in the Boiling Isles. Eda’s mother had said garbage from the human realm got swept through the realms all the time, and that humans slipped through on occasion as well.
And the diary had made it sound like Philipp and his brother hadn’t come through to the Isles out of their own free will.
Whichever way it was, Luz would find it.
“… I’m coming with you.”, Hunter whispered and Luz already began shaking her head, but he wouldn’t let her object, “I want to know my roots.”
She couldn’t argue with that.
He was a grimwalker, which apparently meant he was a clone of Philipp’s brother if she could trust the bits and pieces of info they had gotten from fleeting glances at his memories.
She could understand him wanting to get to know his counterpart, the inspiration for his creator to make another. Especially if he looked the most like him, in Belos’ words.
But if she let Hunter come with, Amity would want to come as well. And with Amity, Willow would insist on coming, as well as Gus. If she was unlucky, Vee would want to help out, too, as well as her mother.
And then she would have a hell of a lot more pressure on her shoulders to find a solution to this.
Shaking her head, Luz huffed.
“No. You guys need to recharge and rest. I will go out to start. Maybe you can join me later.”, she tried but Hunter merely gave her a deadpan.
“Nice try.”, he dryly commented, “But you need rest, too. I won’t let you run off alone again.”
With an indignant pout, Luz nestled deeper into Amity’s embrace to escape his knowing glare, biting the inside of her lip.
“But you guys look like witches, you can’t just-”, she tried but Hunter was having none of it.
“We can wear hats, or use illusions.”, he pointed out, unimpressed by her weak protest, “Don’t try to do this alone.”
Luz hid her face in the pillow for a minute, before breathing through and rubbing her eyes. She had to convince him to leave her alone. It was her fault they were all here. It was her fault she couldn’t get them back to the Isles, that she didn’t know Eda was safe, or where that godchild had taken him. If the collector had enslaved the Isles or killed them all.
She remained quiet for a while, not wanting to move as she felt Amity’s hand curling and uncurling over her heart. She could probably feel her agitation in her sleep and didn’t like it.
Finally, Luz looked back up and out the window.
It was still quite windy, but still not raining. She could see the illuminated outlines of trees outside softly swaying in the wind, leaves rustling with each gust plowing through the crowns.
It was somehow serene, almost calm, as she stared out the window.
“… What now?”, it was now her turn to ask this question and Hunter sighed softly, shrugging as he adjusted to lie on his back, looking outside as well.
“We’ll have to adjust.”, he suggested, and Luz knew that was true. They wouldn’t find a way back within a few days. Maybe not even weeks. They would have to find a way to keep everyone safe here in the human realm. And help out her mom with some money and work around the house.
She supposed she would have to go back to school again.
“… We’ll have to help Mama, somehow.”, she mumbled and Hunter nodded, uncertain what that entailed but he was sure he could do some job to keep the woman that had taken everyone into her house financially stable. He could go bounty hunting or maybe he would be proficient as a soldier.
“Yeah…”, he lamely replied and Luz had the nerve to laugh softly, stifling her giggling as Hunter shot her a glare.
“I really don’t know what job you could be doing here.”, she said, as if she had read his mind, which made him huff indignantly.
“I’ll find something.”, he mumbled and heard her giggle again, before shuffling a bit. A small smile from Amity followed.
“Maybe you could help out on a construction site. Or in a supermarket. Though, I really think we should keep you away from interacting with too many people. You’re not the best actor.”, she mused and while Hunter wanted to protest that, he actually had to agree with her on this one. Interacting with fewer humans meant less stress for him to keep up a façade.
“Amity could help out in the library. She has some experience there, at least. Willow could help out as a gardener. I’m sure she would have an easier time working within her expertise. And Gus could help out in the cinema, maybe.”, she mumbled to herself, and Hunter realized this was more wishful thinking. She followed suit, “But we’ll probably just all end up in fast food anyway.”
He sent her an amused glance, prying his eyes away from the window to look at her briefly, before turning back to the moon.
“What’s fast food?”, he asked and Luz chuckled.
“Like not-dogs, but more of that.”, she decided on the simplest explanation. He could hear the tiredness in her voice. Turning back to her and lying back down on his side, he looked back up at her.
Luz was still looking out of the window, even as she noticed Hunter had returned to his old position of looking at her. The wind was picking up a little and she could see the little drops of the previous rain glistening in the moonlight. It was mesmerizing to see something as normal and bland as leftover raindrops sparkling in the moonlight.
“… You okay?”, he finally asked and Luz sighed, feeling the dread pooling in her stomach again. She was tired and exhausted and overwhelmed and most definitely not okay. But she wouldn’t tell him that.
On the other hand… She really should begin telling the others that she was not okay. She wouldn’t be able to hide it in the long run, especially with her mother and Amity around. Her girlfriend had proven more than once that she was capable of looking right through her, and her mother knew her all her life. Now living together with Willow and Gus would surely make them more sensitive to her actual mindset.
She gave herself until tomorrow when they would start to notice something was seriously wrong.
Biting and chewing on her lip, she contemplated if she should start now with Hunter and risk the wrath of her girlfriend in the morning when she realized she had not been the first to be included in Luz’s wellbeing, or wait until tomorrow and risk not telling anyone at all until they’d inevitably pick up on it.
Finally, she decided against her usual way of trying to keep it a secret for as long as possible. Eda had taught her as much. It was always better to talk about what weighed down on her and to find a solution together. She had been able to look right through her as well. Luz wondered how she was doing right now.
“I-… I feel like… Why we’re here, I mean…”, she gulped and played around with Amity’s fingers, trying to procrastinate actually having to say it. It would mean taking responsibility. Something she knew she had to do but was terrified of.
“Stop blaming yourself.”, she finally heard after a few minutes and looked up to see Hunter still staring at her. He looked sympathetic, and she could tell he’d been through this for himself already.
“… How can I not?”, Luz finally asked, blinking away her tears. She could feel her sleeping girlfriend press a soft kiss to her neck at her sniffles as if to comfort her.
“It’s not your fault.”, Hunter simply stated, narrowing his eyes, “But if you believe helping Belos was your fault, you have to blame me, too. I’ve been helping him all my life. I got him your Titan’s blood.”
Immediately, Luz shook her head.
“I wouldn’t ever blame you-”, she started and he cut her off.
“Then don’t blame yourself either.”, he said, pulling the blanket tighter around him. Suddenly, he looked so mature to Luz, even if he was just sixteen, just two years older than her. The way the moon illuminated the back of his head and the way his expression spoke of a deeply rooted guilt he’d been carrying with him ever since they had left Belos’ mind, made him look older.
He looked back up at her and Luz worried her lip, trying to think of a way to go against his argument. She couldn’t do anything against the feeling of guilt that was weighing heavily on her shoulders. And she didn’t want to work against it either. It felt righteous, justified to be blaming herself.
“You were just following orders. He would hurt you when you didn’t obey. I was helping him out of my own free will.”, she argued and Hunter scoffed at that.
“I still enabled him. And you didn’t know better. At the end of the day, he just exploited us both.”
Luz still wasn’t happy with his reasoning. Grumbling, she once again pushed her nose into the pillow, eyeing him, before facing him.
“Ignorance is no excuse in law.”, she mumbled, which almost caused Hunter to sit up, but after flinching, he thought again and settled back down, not wanting to jostle Willow or Gus, or startle Amity awake. He was about sixty percent sure she would immediately attack him, should he threaten Luz in any way.
“That was no ignorance. You just didn’t know, and Belos deceived you. If you had known who he would turn out to be, you would have done everything to stop him.”, his whispers got a bit more aggressive, though he didn’t raise his voice.
Luz pouted at him trying to reason with her, scrunching her eyebrows, before looking down.
She had been deceived. She hadn’t known.
Still, it did little to alleviate the pressure on her chest, nor did it help her get rid of the blame she felt. Not only for helping him but also for ditching her friends once the Owl House had gone into hiding, for getting herself captured by Kikimora, disguised as Hunter, to be taken to Belos. For trying to fight him alone, for almost getting herself petrified, for being so useless in their fight against him, for-
It took a few attempts for Hunter’s voice to get through to her.
She had in no way intended to ignore him, but her panic had gotten the better of her. So much so that Hunter had in the end sat up to scoot closer to the couch, uncertainly patting her shoulder.
Luz’s eyes finally focused on him, if only to blur over immediately while she tried her hardest to contain herself, then Hunter leaned forward to cradle her head and let her bury her face in his chest.
Amity snuffled and pressed herself tighter into Luz’s back, unwilling to give up even an inch of her girlfriend in her sleep, but Luz was grateful for Hunter’s hug.
It allowed her to stifle her sobs, and muffle whatever she couldn’t suppress.
A moment later, when she had finally managed to match her breathing with his deep, calm breaths, she felt him leaning back and Amity pulling her back into their embrace again. A glance over her shoulder reassured her that her girlfriend was still tightly sleeping, and another over Hunter’s shoulder revealed that neither Willow nor Gus had woken up either.
She breathed through, then she watched as Hunter sat back and pulled his blanket around his shoulders, watching her again as she brought Amity’s hand up to her face to softly kiss her palm. The girl spooning her immediately relaxed at that with the most adorable little huff Luz had ever heard.
Blinking slowly, she settled back into the pillow and looked at Hunter who was still watching her as the first few droplets of rain began tapping against her window once more.
Luz breathed through and tried to focus, nodding to herself. She had to tell someone and Hunter would probably understand the best.
“… You-… You’ve seen his… Appearance.”, she tested the waters and Hunter slowly nodded, his own memories flashing across his face. It was obvious he had seen Belos like this more than once, and it was possible he kind of knew what Belos had done to himself, “He was able to do magic without the staff.”
Hunter nodded again and Luz gulped, worrying her lip before continuing.
“When-… When I fought him alone, he outmatched me by far. I didn’t have a chance… So he, uhm, captured me.”, she mumbled and Hunter sat closer, putting his elbow up on the couch beside Luz’s head. She was glad for the close proximity, the quieter she could say it, the less chance any of her friends had to listen in on them, should they pretend to sleep.
“He wanted to make a deal. That I come home with him, to the human realm, because he didn’t want me-… Staying in the demon realm.”
Hunter slightly recoiled at that, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Why? Why did he care about you?”, he asked and Luz felt her heart being squeezed by the hurt look on his face. As much as Belos had betrayed him and as much as Hunter had learned in the past few weeks, she figured it would still hurt for him to hear his uncle, as he had thought his entire life, would care for her, who had just been on the Isles for a few months.
“… I’m human… He didn’t want another human hurt by the Isles… It was about his ideology. He’s-… He didn’t care for me. I guess he was just projecting.”, she explained and Hunter visibly relaxed. She couldn’t blame him.
“And I guess you said no?”, he asked with a deadpan after a while, the rain was by now audibly splattering on the window and getting so loud it even droned out Willow’s and Gus’ breathing.
“… I kind of… Maybe… Insulted him instead.”, Luz grimaced and Hunter had to groan at that. She really had no common sense for any safety.
But as she grew quiet again, listening to the soft pattering of the rain, Hunter leaned in again. Luz turned her head back to the pillow, as if attempting to hide, then she sighed into the fabric. He moved his other hand to rest on her shoulder and encouraged her to speak up about it.
“I-… I got him so mad that he-… He wanted to put me out of my misery instead.”, she gulped as Hunter furrowed his eyebrows at that, his grip on her shoulder tightening, “And-… When-…”
Her voice failing, she felt tears welling up in her eyes again and her feet felt as heavy as they had when Belos had raised his hand and made a fist. It felt exactly like that again, the unforgiving cold and stiffness creeping up her legs again.
Rubbing her feet together, she made herself feel that they were not actually turning to stone again but the dread was still pooling in her stomach.
“… What happened then?”, Hunter asked and Luz sniffled, pulling Amity’s hand up to her face again, keeping her gaze down to avoid his looking at him. Her girlfriend gave another little huff and tightened her hug before she could answer.
“… He petrified me.”
The silence that stretched after she had said it grew louder by the second.
The rain and wind from the outside were suddenly droned out at the deafening absence of words, just the rush of blood in her ears was still there. Slowly, Luz looked up and grimaced at the expression on Hunter’s face.
He looked downright furious.
Breathing through his clenched teeth, he stared at the backrest of the couch, trying to contain his rage as he worked through the first few seconds of understanding the horror Luz had gone through.
Gulping, she looked down again, waiting for his response.
Only now that she had said it, told someone else what had happened, it seemed real. Before that, it had happened between Belos and her, and before he had gone berserk when she had branded him.
Now that it was out there, now that Hunter had heard it and now that she would have to tell her girlfriend, her mom, and her friends, it seemed a lot more real.
Breathing faster, she squeezed Amity’s hand and tried breathing through.
When the stone had crept up her legs, when she had understood that she could die right there, with the portal open next to her, with her mom not knowing what had happened, with Eda and Raine and the rebellion so far away. With her friends on the way, only that she hadn’t known that.
Hot tears welled up in her eyes again and she rubbed her feet together to feel them alive and not made of stone. Finally, her tears spilled. Once again, she buried her face in the pillow, and once again, she felt Hunter leaning in and comforting her.
The realization set in now. The shock faded. The feeling that it was a dream, that it had never happened, was gone. The comfort, maybe delusion, that she had dreamed it all up, was gone.
Suddenly, she knew it was real.
How her joints had started working, how Belos had thrown her across the room, how she had watched her legs turning cold and unmoving, how she had already pictured moss spreading on her statue. How it had moved up her body, her hips, how hard it had been to move then. How her hand on the floor, desperately grasping the branding glove, had turned cold, unmoving. How her own arm had started feeling like a cane or a branch merely supporting her chest, how she hadn’t been able to move away or do anything about it. All the while her brain raced a thousand miles an hour, trying to find the right words to persuade Belos, how she had hated to say his name to his face and the smug smirk that had spread on his lips then.
How the stone had moved up her chest, how she had felt her lungs turning, how breathing had gotten hard. How she had spoken the last words on her last breath before her mouth and nose had turned to stone as well. How suffocating it had felt, that her throat had hardened and finally, her breathing had cut out. She had heard her last breath. How scary that had been, how the tears had soaked the stone that her cheeks had turned.
Gasping, she curled up even tighter, not even realizing how she had started curling, around the void that started filling her middle. How the pain had started spreading from her ribcage, how her heart was being squeezed and how she had started breathing faster, tucking her legs in.
Her knees were up to her throat when Hunter’s voice finally broke through to her. He told her to breathe, to open her eyes, and to look at him, otherwise, he’d wake Amity.
She couldn’t say it again. She couldn’t have Hunter tell her girlfriend.
Forcing herself to breathe in through her nose, Luz tried hard to fill her lungs with air to help with the lightheadedness, but it was harder than she thought.
The feeling of her body hardening, of herself turning to a statue, of the pain she had worked around just to keep talking, bargaining, dealing with Belos. Her begs rang in her ear, louder than she had probably spoken.
The cold, unforgiving, unmoving, hard stone reached her head, locking her jaw, working up to her ear, her eye, her brain just before Belos had stopped it.
Functioning, executing her plan, after almost ending up as a statue. And telling nobody about it.
It all came back now.
How horrifying the past few weeks had been, between the anniversary of her father’s passing and her ending up back in the human realm. How she and Hunter had discovered he was a grimwalker, how she had gone into hiding, how helpless and desperate Eda and Lilith had been to keep her and King safe, how they had discovered everything about King’s true heritage, the Titan Trappers, the Day of Unity starting, her friends, her family, the rebellion-
Suddenly, a female voice talked to her.
The hand she had so tightly clasped in hers had disappeared from her grip and when she was turned over and opened her eyes, she was looking into Amity’s golden ones. Hunter was still there as well, talking fast to her girlfriend while she only curled up tighter, struggling to breathe.
She still didn’t know what had happened to Eda. She still didn’t know what happened to King. How the Isles were. If the collector had left with King or if they had decided to enslave the entire population of the Isles into some sick, twisted game to play with him.
Raine, Darius, Eberwolf, she had heard of none of them. All that she had to go by was that Hunter’s sigil hadn’t killed him. But what of Eda’s curse?
Had it harmed her?
Was King safe?
What about everyone who didn’t have a sigil? Were they okay?
Luz tried to breathe, she really did, but she could only squint her eyes more and try not to let the pain inside her chest eat her up alive.
A hand cupped her cheek and Luz opened her eyes back up, looking up to Amity once again. Once her vision stopped being blurred, she could see how disheveled her girlfriend looked. Hunter had probably woken her up while panicking about her state, and Amity had immediately entered the adrenaline rush over her girlfriend not being okay.
Amity was leaning over her, propping herself up above her, so she could look at Luz properly.
She was saying something, but Luz couldn’t hear her. Her own shallow breathing was too loud, the rushing in her ears, the tumult in her head, the concern and worries and everything was getting too much and she couldn’t focus, damnit-
Until a comfortable weight settled on top of her. And the weight was breathing. She only belatedly realized Amity had climbed atop of her and was showing her hand, slowly counting up to four and down again, doing the same movements with her lips as Willow’s breathing technique required.
With the help of being engulfed completely by her girlfriend and the breathing on top of her that she could feel and didn’t have to hear, she slowly managed to get her oxygen intake back under control.
They breathed together until Luz could feel stuff around her again. Hunter’s hand on top of her head, Amity’s hand in her hair, the blanket still draped around them.
Somewhere in between, Amity’s head had dropped next to hers, snuggling into her neck and continuing to breathe slowly as Luz’s vision stabilized and she could slowly find back to herself.
Amity continued breathing on top of her and Hunter still held up his fingers, counting to four and back so Luz wouldn’t forget to breathe.
When she had calmed down enough to talk, Amity leaned back again, looking down at her skeptically.
“… Did you sleep at all?”, she asked and Luz sheepishly shook her head, looking around as she felt Hunter’s hand leaving her hair to discover he was only fetching a glass of water for her. Amity obviously disapproved, but looked understanding. She probably knew why Luz had trouble sleeping.
After allowing Luz to sit up to accept Hunter’s glass of water, Amity slipped from her lap and she gratefully took the glass of water, taking a sip before her girlfriend nudged her.
At her nod, Luz drank half the glass and looked for her approval.
They settled back down on the couch and Amity draped the blanket back over them both, now having switched places after Hunter bid them goodnight, and looked at her.
Luz felt the comforting pressure of the backrest along her body and had her hands linked with Amity’s, resting between them. She smiled at her girlfriend, but Amity was having none of it.
“Luz, what just happened?”, she whispered, just loud enough for her to hear since they were practically nose to nose, so Amity would still have some room on the couch. Luz squinted her eyes and buried her face in the pillow before Amity reached over and brushed some strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear. She would really have to get a haircut.
“… Some… Stuff happened before you guys arrived in the skull…”, she admitted. Her girlfriend merely nodded, leaning in closer and pressing a soft kiss to her cheek, keeping close and parting their fingers so she could hug her.
“… Hunter told me as much…”, she murmured and Luz was glad she didn’t hear anything from the mattress down below. She also couldn’t hear any sort of resentment from her girlfriend, as scared as she had been of that.
Huffing, she turned her face back up and leaned the bridge of her nose against Amity’s to be as close as possible. Their breaths mingled and thankfully, Luz felt herself growing sleepy at that.
“… I-… I fought Belos and, he wanted a deal…”, she began but Amity merely shook her head, her hand wandering up Luz’s back before weaving into her hair, her fingers playing with her locks.
“… Not tonight.”, she mumbled and Luz gratefully snuggled in some more, finding herself smiling. Amity probably just didn’t want her to have another panic attack. She couldn’t express how thankful she was that she didn’t have to repeat the three words that caused her so much pain and fear.
“Okay.”, she mumbled back, snuggling into her embrace and trying not to think too much about what had happened. She had thought about that enough for today. Hunter knew now and Amity knew she had to tell her something. She would tell them all tomorrow and it would feel much better doing so after she had slept a night over it.
And they were safe. As much as it sucked to be away from the Isles and everyone else and as much as it pained Luz not to know what was happening over there, they were safe. Willow and Gus and Hunter and Amity, her girlfriend, were safe.
Before she even knew what she was doing, she had pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Amity’s lips and snuggled closer, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. Amity gave a soft eep, before snuggling into her warm embrace and settling down again.
Sleep took her faster than her girlfriend this time. After just a few breaths, she was out cold and had quickly fallen into a deep, dreamless slumber. Here, in the arms of her girlfriend, the world on her shoulders seemed lighter, the light brighter, and the solution closer than she thought.
Just a moment later, Amity followed. The last to fall asleep was Hunter, and as much as he tossed and turned, as soon as Luz's hand dropped over the couch’s edge and Willow’s hand had found its way to his mattress as well, he calmed down.
---
When Camila entered her living room this morning, disheveled and bleary-eyed from a restless night, she found a smile growing on her lips.
She had sent Luz off to camp mainly to make some friends, not because she had wanted her to actually think inside the box. It had been her last resort to allow her daughter some kind of connection with the rest of her age class.
And now, seeing her all cuddled up with her girlfriend, holding hands with the boy she had come here with – Hunter, as she recalled – she felt that maybe, the Boiling Isles hadn’t only kept her daughter away from her.
She tiptoed past the sleeping horde of teenagers and managed to get herself a nice cup of coffee before sneaking back in and leaning over the backrest to watch her sleeping daughter. She had curled in just enough to hide her face in the crook of Amity’s neck, leaving the witch girl to bury her nose in her hair. They looked so serene, so calm and peaceful, despite what they had been through just yesterday.
Luz’s arm was draped over her girlfriend’s waist and hanging off the couch, where Hunter’s fingers were timidly laced into hers, his elbow propped up just enough to keep his arm upright, while he was softly snoring. His other hand was occupied by the girl sleeping next to him, Willow if Camila remembered her name right.
Gus was curled up on Willow’s side and huffing from time to time, his ears flicking. She suspected the youngest of the group would wake up soon.
Looking back down at her daughter, Camila couldn’t resist the smile she felt growing on her lips, or the hand to reach down and brush some of Luz’s hair out of her eyes while taking care not to wake Amity. She also reached over to brush a strand of lilac hair behind her pointy witch ears, though she wasn’t too sure if witches slept lighter than humans. She didn’t want to wake Amity up.
Without meaning to, she mustered the young witch that her daughter was so cuddled up to. She was pretty. Luz really had chosen well, even if she hadn’t believed her daughter at first when she had told her she had a girlfriend that night she saved Vee.
Chuckling to herself, Camila finally took a sip of her coffee that had cooled down a bit by now and walked back to the kitchen to sit down at the counter and have her cup of coffee to herself, without annoying the children too much.
Without her noticing, a sleepy smile spread on Amity’s lips. She hadn’t woken up, but the timid touch alone had been enough to make her feel entirely at home, with her girlfriend snuggled up to her.
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