The Luz Clawthorne/Reunion Falls crossover Act 3 comes to it's conclusion, but something of a quite different focus and life lessons can take from this.
I don't own Owl House, and I don't own Gravity Falls, both owned by Dana and Alex.
Enjoy the story.
Chapter 20: Blighted by the Light
[For experience, play "Gotta Get Up" by Harry Nilsson for this morning routine sequence]
Amity heard her alarm clock go off. She got up and to rubbed her eyes, finding her bed covered with books, spell material, and some fairy protein bar wrappers.
'Ugh, I crammed all night again, didn't I?' she thought. Amity climbed out of bed, having gone to sleep wearing the Purple Rain t-shirt that Luz had given her. With a yawn, she picked up her penstagram and noticed a few missed texts. "Boscha, Skara, Amelia, Cat…" She then saw one from Luz. She tapped it and read it, making her smile. "Looks like Luz is having quite the adventure in the human world."
Luz was snoring while King was eating cereal on top of her. "Hey Luz, wake up!" He tapped his spoon on her face, causing Luz to groan as she woke up with her hair in the way of her eyes. Moving her hair, she sees King.
"King… why are you standing on me while eating cereal?" Luz asked.
"I just wanted to make sure that you were awake so you don't miss breakfast," King answered, not realizing he was spilling some milk on her sleeping bag. "Want some cereal?"
"…You can have it." Luz told him "Now get off of me!"
Amity was greeted by Edric and Emira as she came out of her bedroom.
"Morning sis," Ed said.
"Excited for our trip to the Knee today?" Em asked.
"Yeah, color me stoked," Amity replied dryly as she walked past them.
A still sleepy Luz walked past Dipper and Mabel as she headed to the bathroom.
"Morning, Dips," Luz said while rustling Dipper's hair.
"Heh, morning," Dipper replied.
"Good morning, Luz!" Mabel exclaimed.
"Yeah, morning Mabs," Luz replied simply before entering the bathroom.
"You see that? She called me Mabs!" Mabel said excitingly to Dipper.
Amity looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Seeing her hair down, she used her magic to tie it back up. She also used a water spell to splash her face and get the sleep dust out of her eyes.
"I hate it when that Sandman puts too much sand in my eyes," Amity said, while rubbing them.
Luz looked at herself in the mirror, seeing that her hair was a mess again. She splashed some water on her face.
"There, got the sleep out of my eyes," Luz said to herself. "And no sand!" She opened up a small case, taking a fake fang out of it to put in her teeth.
Amity came down stairs, now in her usual casual outfit. She saw the Abomination butler holding up a tray of breakfast tarts with purple teeth on the side and a cup of coffee with a note.
She grabbed the note and read it over. "Yes, mother, I'll give it to him," she said to herself as she grabbed the tray and headed down to the Blight Manor lab.
In the lab there were a lot of Abomination parts, bits of machinery, and various trinkets. She found her father, Alador Blight, sleeping face down on his desk while next to him was a prototype of his Abomitron. The man had spiky but shaggy brown hair, pale skin, purple lens goggles that he wore over his eyes, and a dark lab coat covered in purple stains, white pants.
Amity left the tray with his breakfast and the coffee nearby. She looked at her tired father and patted him on the back. "Morning, dad," she said before walking out of the lab.
After sprucing herself up, Luz came downstairs in her usual casual outfit and saw Mabel fixing up breakfast, with Dipper eating some of waffles along with King.
"Hey Luz, mind if you give a plate to Stan?" Mabel asked her. "I think he's still in the gift shop checking inventory, so I decided to make breakfast for him!" She handed Luz a plate with a waffle that looked like Stan's face. "I've made waffles shaped like all our faces thanks to your mom's waffle maker."
"Just don't feed it your soul when you use it!" Eda called out from the living room before turning her attention back to the show she was watching. "Ha! You tell 'em, Bea Arthur!"
"Yeah, I got it." Luz said while walking down to the gift shop. Just as she entered, Stan was coming out from the secret entrance behind the vending machine, which slid shut without Luz noticing it. Luz turned and spotted Stan. "Oh, there you are."
"Luz!? What-what are you doing here?" Stan asked, wondering if she saw anything.
"Came to give you Mabel's waffles," she replied. "From the nervous look on your face, it looks like you're doing something illegal again. Are the snacks in that machine not FDA approved or something?"
"Um… yeah," Stan answered carefully.
"Well here's your breakfast," Luz said while handing him the plate. "Now to get some for myself." She turned and walked out of the gift shop.
Stan just sighed in relief as he looked down at his waffles. "Hey, Mabel got my nose right." He took a bite out of the waffles with a fork. "I taste delicious!"
In the Bonesborough Marketplace, Amity was with her brother and sister getting some supplies for their trip to the Knee. She planned to practice there in preparation for the exams, where she hoped to get a higher score than her older siblings. While getting supplies she was on the phone with Boscha.
"So I got this training in the bag, you know?" Boscha said over the crow phone. "I've made enough potions for my Witch's Duel and everything."
"That's great," Amity replied dryly, sounding uninterested.
"Oh, and can you call Skara? I've been trying to contact her but all I hear is some blubbering gibberish nonsense," Boscha told her while Amity paid attention to some tents for sale. "Amity? Amity?!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah I'll see what's up with her," Amity said as she hung up on Boscha and made another call. "Skara?"
Skara's voice was blubbering, sobbing. "Ahahamity, I-I-I- B-B-Bo…"
"I see you've got your own thing so I'm just gonna leave you be," Amity said as she hung up. She turned to the seller. "How much is this tent?"
Soon after making her purchase, she and her twin siblings started to leave. But Amity spotted someone at a stand selling fish. It was Levi.
"You guys go ahead," she told her siblings while walking towards the fishing stand. "I'll catch up."
"Thank you, come again," Levi waves at a customer before noticing a certain mint-haired witch. "Amity Blight?"
"Hello, Levi," Amity greeted, noticing his arm. "I see that you've recovered."
"Y-Yeah, thanks to the Healing Coven," he replied, rubbing his arm "The Potions Coven advised me to take an elixir to prevent the pain from rising up again."
"That's great, glad you're feeling better," Amity replied genuinely. "Must be tough balancing a job here while studying for exams." Levi frowned and looked down, which Amity noticed. "You are going to take the exams, right?"
"Actually…" Levi sighed. "I'm not."
This surprised Amity. "W-What?"
"Well ever since my mugging, I haven't been helping my dad as much," he said. "Now with less workers and the Emperor Coven's boats hiring our usual fishermen, plus my dad coughed up a new egg so I'm going to be a big brother… I decided that I'm dropping out of Hexside."
Amity's eyes widened in shock. "Dropping out? But… you'll be covenless…"
"Not necessarily," he pointed out. "I've talked with my dad about it, and he said that I can join the Fishing Coven he's in. I know it's not glamorous, but it does provide a useful service and is better than nothing."
Amity had forgotten that there were other covens to join. The main nine covens were promoted by the Emperor's coven system the most, but there were other covens that were more minor in self-businesses. "I… I'm so sorry, Levi…" she apologized, feeling guilty about his predicament.
"Hey, there's nothing to apologize for," Levi responded, rubbing the back of his head. "Things happened. Though, I wasn't expecting you to check on me… no offense."
"None taken," Amity replied as she left to catch up to her siblings "Good luck, Levi."
"So how'd it go?" Ed asked her. Amity gave him and Em a sad look.
"Levi's… dropping out," Amity told them, much to their shock.
Luz looked at the second volume of Azura in her hands, having just finished reading it. She was on the roof of the Shack again. "Huh, Azura made friends with her rival," she commented. "I find that oddly relatable."
"Hi, Luz!"
Mabel suddenly popped, startling her and causing her to almost drop the book. She managed to grab it before it fell, turning to Mabel with a narrow look. "You are just as bad as Gus when it comes to popping up out of nowhere," she said to her.
"Oh my usual pop ups are said to be charming and adorable, so I take that as a compliment!" Mabel replied, sitting beside Luz. "Anyway, since this is your last day in Gravity Falls before you leave tonight, I was thinking, well… that maybe I should invite you with the girls to a whole trip of your picks!"
"I thought Candy and Grenda were told to not hang out with me?" Luz asked.
"Come on, Luz, do you really expect kids to listen to their parents?" Mabel asked her.
Luz rubbed her chin at the thought. "You got a point there," she commented, looking at the book in her hand. Mabel noticed it.
"Hey, so you're into the Azura franchise?" Mabel pointed out, causing Luz to blush in embarrassment as she hid the book in her bookbag.
"N-No! This is Amity's book," Luz corrected. "I-It's too flowery and it sugarcoats witch culture… but the characters are still interesting and the art isn't that bad."
"Amity… oh, you mean your crush?" Mabel asked, leaning towards Luz.
"W-What? N-No! Where did you get that-!?"
"Gus told me," Mabel explained. "But you know, I did hear you confirm it when he left… like, seriously, practically everyone was in earshot."
Luz, quiet for a long moment, glanced at the edge of the roof. "I'd jump, but since I'm in the human world, I think I'm safe from embarrassment."
"Girl, you don't need to feel embarrassed about having a crush." Mabel told her. "I mean look at ya, you're a teenage witch who has big hair that-" Once Mabel felt Luz's hair, her eyes widened when she saw how tangled up and not so well groomed it was, especially with the bugs and dirt. "…how long have you had a haircut?"
"Haircut? Nah, I let my hair grow as much as I like," Luz answered, feeling a bug crawling out from her hair. "Hey, another snack!" Luz grabbed the bug and ate it while Mabel watched in horror.
'This girl is more work than I thought,' Mabel thought. "Um… so what is this Amity like, by the way?"
"Well, she's the top of her classes, part of the Abominations Track, hell she's pretty much going to be part of the Emperor's Coven someday. It's basically her life goal!" Luz explained. "I didn't like her that much at first, I thought she was one of those snooty types. But after she began tutoring me, I started to see that she's not that bad. She's like… this cute dork that makes my heart hurt from beating so much."
"Aw…" Mabel said while absorbing Luz's explanation of her crush.
Luz looked at the book in her bag, remembering that she wanted to get something for Amity. She thought of the mall, hoping that she wasn't banned from there. "You know, maybe a trip to the mall can be something we could do."
Mabel gasped. "You just read my mind!" She grabbed Luz's hand. "To the mall!"
The Knee was a very cold and snowy region of the Boiling Isles literally located on the Titan's right knee. known to contain many caves and ruins. Witches in ancient times came here to develop and practice their magic skills, something continued by witches even to this day. But they had to be respectful of the creatures that called the Knee home, particularly the carnivorous Slitherbeast. As long as you left it alone, it left you alone.
The Blight siblings had made their way to the Knee, where Amity planned to train so she could improve her fire spell. She had to use a training wand as she practiced. However, Amity was feeling down, which Ed and Emira noticed and responded to by trying to cheer her up.
"Isn't this neat, sis? Up in The Knee!" Ed states. "Where we can have snowball fights, eat s'mores, pet an ice wolf…"
"Don't forget the snow angels!" Emira suggested but it doesn't make Amity feel better. "Oh come on, Mittens, you used to love playing in the snow!"
"Can we just get this over with?" Amity asked them. They were all wearing their winter clothing due to how cold it got up here.
In a clearing, they found a good place for the twins to set up camp while Amity began her practice. She tried to follow the instructions in her book to a T, but her mind was too distracted about Levi's predicament.
'If I had said anything sooner…' Amity thought to herself.
'If you DID, YOU'D be SEEN as WEAK!'
Amity shut her eyes while gripping her wand. 'This damn family name,' she thought to herself. 'But I am a Blight… I'm a part of an elite lineage… I can't have any of these thoughts… but if I…' She was so focused on her own thoughts that she didn't hear her sister calling for her until Em had to shake her.
"Amity? Amity!"
"H-Huh, what?" Amity responded, looking at her older sister.
"You zoned out, are you alright?" Edric asked her.
"Is this about… Levi?" Emira asked, making Amity avoid eye contact. "Hey, don't feel bad, not every student is able to graduate. It happens."
"Well, dropout rates are pretty rare these days." Edric mentioned. "According to the history books the dropout rate used to be much higher in the early days of Belos's rule-" Emira glared at Edric, who realized that he was not helping. "I mean. I'm sure he's doing fine."
"If I had reported my own mugging earlier, he might not have had to drop out of Hexside." Amity stated. "But if it had gotten out that a Blight had been mugged, do you know how bad that would look? Especially for me? I'm supposed to be seen as strong… but… am I strong? Or am I nothing but a coward?"
"Mittens, you're not a coward," Emira assured her, but Amity disagreed.
"I didn't make a report about my mugging out of fear of how I'd make our family look. I have to keep up appearances and not show weakness. Blights are supposed to be the strong and elite, but I'm neither of those." Amity was still holding her wand. "I hate this elitist lifestyle our parents enforced upon us. I hate that I have to act cruel to others just because I'm part of a high-class of witches." The tip of the wand started to glow purple magic. "I HATE that I can't stand up for myself over a stupid family name!" Her eyes glowed pinkish purple as she looked at a tree and shot a fire blast towards it after making a circle with her wand, incinerating the tree. She fell onto her knees, breathing heavily while tears formed. "I don't even know who I am anymore."
Ed and Em look concerned for Amity and went to console her, patting her on the back. The two looked at each other, understanding how she felt. "Sis, we know how you feel," Emira admitted.
"Yeah," Edric agreed, looking down at the snow. "In the past Mom tried to dictate who we could or couldn't be friends with based on who their parents were."
"It's why we don't have any close friends at Hexside," Emira added sadly. "We didn't like the snooty kids that Mom wanted us to hang with, so we pranked the hell out of them. So because of that, we're not really friends with anyone in our classes."
Amity looked at them, comprehending their speech. "So it's like when Mom and Dad didn't like me hanging out with Willow?"
"Yeah, we know that you don't really like spending time with Boscha instead," Edric admitted. "I mean, who would? It's Boscha. But you deserve to hang out with people you like and do stuff that you like, not have it all chosen for you by our parents without letting you have a say. So what do you like?"
"And we mean what you choose to like," Emira clarified and Amity gave it some thought.
"Well, I like… the Azura series. I like working at the library and reading to the kids there."
"See, and who do you actually like to hang out with?" Emira asked.
"I miss hanging out with Willow, but I ruined that a long time ago," Amity told them, looking down. "I… don't pay any heed to Boscha, Skara, or anyone else at school. The only other person who… I feel comfortable around is…" She thought of Luz and blushed, which did not go unnoticed by the twins.
What did go unnoticed by them was a shadow watching them and listening in from the trees…
The Gravity Falls Mall, a place where the denizens came to shop and eat. Though if you were Luz Clawthorne, there were about ten stores that you were banned from.
"Wow, this place has less paint than there was last time I was here," Luz noticed while earning some glares from the shoppers. Especially Blubs and Durland. "Hey, I didn't know you guys were mall cops too!"
"We're just temporarily taking over while the other mall cops are on vacation," Durland explained as he and Blubs drove up on their scooters. "Plus these scooters are neat to ride."
"Just stay out of trouble, Clawthorne," Blubs warned. "You're already banned from ten stores, we have the authority to ban you from this entire place."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be on my best behavior," Luz said with a wave. "No tricks, no schemes, just spending time with my stepbrother's twin sister and her friends." She pointed to Mabel, Candy and Grenda.
"We're gonna have a sister shopping spree!" Mabel declared, hugging a less enthusiastic Luz.
"Well, as long as Mabel's there to keep you in line," Blubs said, his eyes narrowed at Luz behind his shades, before he turned to his deputy. "Durland, race ya to the arcade!" He started to drive away on his scooter.
"Not if I get there first!" Durland replied, chasing after him.
"Ah, same old Blubs and Durland," Luz commented with a smile. "About the only thing we can agree on is that we don't like the local reverend's views on marriage."
"So now that you're hanging with us, we're going to help you get ready for your crush," Candy told her.
"Uh… what?" Luz asked.
"Luz, we know that you have a cool, big sis style with the free spirit of a wild and untamed horse." Mabel said as she patted Luz's back. "But we're going to help you impress your crush with a cute new look!"
"Um… okay, but what I really need-"
"First thing's first… that hair!" Mabel declared as she started to drag Luz to the salon up the escalator. "We're gonna get your hair straightened up and washed!"
"What? No way! Let go of me!" Luz cried out as she struggled, but Grenda held her tightly from behind. "How is that girl two years younger than me and this strong!?"
Soon they forced Luz into the salon as Mabel went up to the front desk. "Welcome to Shannon's Salonamo, what can we do for you?" asked the clerk.
"We need to help fix my stepsister's hair!" Mabel explained.
"No I don't!" Luz replied, while another bug crawled out and fell to the floor.
The clerk's eyes widened when she saw this and she grabbed the phone on the desk. "Send in Johnny, Francois, and Claudia. Code word: jungle hair."
"Wait, what's going on?" Luz demanded as three hair stylists showed up and trendy music began to play. "What's this music? Who are you people? What's with the scissors!?"
Dipper was on his laptop as King entered his room with a soda can. "Well, I'm bored," he said as he sat on the bed. "So uh, what are you doing, Dipper?"
"Oh, King, I was just doing some research," Dipper replied, looking up from the laptop. "Do you know where Eda and Stan are?"
"Probably doing some weird gross old people thing," King replied with a shrug, while Dipper shivered at the thought. "So what are you researching about?"
"Well, I was just looking for old news articles," Dipper answered. "Trying to find a specific article about an accident that happened years ago. Even had some of my online acquaintances do some research for me."
"I don't know why I came in here," King said with an uninterested expression, but then Waddles came into the room and crawled onto the bed he was in. "What the… you again?! I thought I already conquered you!" He tried to push Waddles away, but the pig wouldn't budge. "Ugh, I will not stand for this." He turned to Dipper. "You! Do you know where Satan is?"
"Satan?" Dipper asked him.
"Yeah, that horned fella that keeps eating the grass," King clarified.
"Oh, you mean Gompers," Dipper nodded. "I think he's outside the Shack in the yard."
"I shall return with Satan as my steed!" King declared as he ran off.
"Heh, Luz is right, he is an adorable little guy," Dipper commented, turning his attention back to his laptop.
"No Ed, we're not keeping the bat," Emira told Edric while dragging him away from a bat he found.
"Oh come on, sis! I think we bonded!" Edric complained, which Amity didn't hear since she was focused on her spell book and trying to draw more circles to perform a fire spell. Unfortunately, the circles broke.
"Dammit!" Amity cursed.
Edric gasped. "Mittens said a swear!"
"It's happening, she's becoming a bad girl," Emira said proudly.
"No, I'm not!" Amity objected. "I just can't get this spell right. I don't know why, but I can't perform a single fire spell without a wand."
"Don't try to stress it out." Emira advised. "Tell you what, why don't we have a campfire and eat some s'mores? A cool head would help you focus more."
Amity looked at them, thinking over their offer before silently nodding. Her wand was now only at half of its charge, but she paid no mind to it.
The Blight siblings gathered around a campfire. Edric brought out marshmallows and chocolate bars while Emira brought out crackers. Putting their marshmallows on their sticks, they held them over the fire.
"Isn't this fun? Just some sibling time here at the campfire," Edric said while letting his marshmallow catch on fire.
"Yup," Emira replied, turning to Amity. "Hey! You remembered that time we had this sled, and you crashed into a tree and snow fell on you?"
"I was four and had the flu at that time," Amity mentioned, wincing at the memory. "I still remember the nasty elixirs I had to take to get better."
"Oh yeah, mom tricked you into thinking it was grape flavored," Edric replied, looking around at the ruins they were camped out in. "Man, you guys ever wonder if the old witches used to have duels here?"
"This place is where witches practiced manifesting their magic naturally," Amity replied, noticing some graffiti around. "And it looks like we're not the only ones who have been here."
"Yeah, a lot of trouble makers must've come here, some of them look… huh, whoever made these clearly is very anti-Belos," Emira noted.
Amity got up to get a closer look at the graffiti. She spotted one with an image of a coven mask with x-marks on the eye holes. She saw another one that looked like King's skull cap, and one where Belos had a dunce cap on. Amity fug out a folded paper from her coat. Unfolding it, she looked at the art Luz made for her, recognizing the style. She also spotted some graffiti of a dancing witch girl who slightly resembled Luz. The art was signed.
-Luz C. Badass Witch 4TW
Emira noticed Amity and nudged Edric, both smiling.
"Luz," Amity said "She's been up here, I definitely recognize her style. She's actually a very good artist with a lot of impressive talent."
"Didn't you used to hate her guts?" Emira asked, crossing her arms.
Startled by the question, Amity rubbed the back of her neck "W-Well… she's not too bad when you get to know her," she muttered with a blush. "I wonder if she's doing alright in the human world?"
"I knew you'd look good in this hoodie!" Mabel said after forcing Luz to wear a half-indigo and half-white hoodie with cat ears. "You are adorables!"
"…I look like I'm gonna offend the cat witches in the Isles," Luz said as she took the hoodie off. Her hair was about half done with it being straightened half way and with a lot of clips in it. "Not my style and neither is this hair." She pulled the clips from her roots. "Ow! I am never going under those brain melters again."
"They're hair dryer seats," Mabel corrected. "And since we've been banned from the salon after you attacked one of the hair stylists, trying out clothes is a good example of sisterly shoppinghood."
"Yeah, yeah I get that," Luz replied, back in her original clothes. "Look, I don't need a new look, I just need to find something to take back home to give to Amity."
"Oooh, you know, maybe there's some good jewelry around here we can check out." Mabel suggested.
"Witches don't usually need jewelry unless it's for curse uses," Luz said as she exited the dressing room.
"Okay, then it's off to the perfume department!" Mabel said while pulling Luz to the fragrance department where Candy and Grenda were trying out perfume.
"This one is butterscotch mixed with violets," Candy said as she sprayed it around Luz for her to smell, but it only made her cough.
"Oh Titan, it's burning my sinuses!" Luz screamed.
"So… you two are pretty much friends now?" Emira asked, eating her s'more.
"I know, strange isn't it?" Amity replied, looking at the campfire. "One moment, we couldn't even stand to be in the same room with each other when she first came to Hexside. But now… I don't know if it's the adrenaline or how much she makes me worried about whatever stunt she'll pull… honestly, I used to think she was just crazy… but, in a way, she does and says things that I never could. It's like, I wish I was more like her…"
Emira went to sit closer to her sister and Ed did the same. "Look Mittens," Emira started. "Everyone wishes to be a better version of themselves. We've all had… someone we admire and wish to be more like. For example, a cute nerd who is good with animals. Sometimes that admiration becomes something else…"
"What do you mean?" Amity asked her.
"Oh you know, sometimes it becomes a desire to build a secret shrine to that someone you admire and hide that shrine in your bedroom," Edric mentioned with a smirk, looking at Emira whose face turned red.
"Now you're not making any sense," Amity told him, not noticing her sister's face.
"Yeah Ed, you're not making sense," Emira told her twin with a glare. "So shut up."
RROOOOAAARRR!
Startled by the noise, the Blight siblings felt a rumble. "What is that!?" Edric asked.
"It sounded like…" Amity saw something come through the forest.
Knocking over any trees in its path was a large yeti-like monster covered in white fur and standing on four legs. It had purple claws, yellow sharp teeth, and when its mouth opened you could see two blue orifices on its upper gums. Noticeably, it also appeared to be wounded since its fur was burnt in places. Apparently it had just been attacked, which had angered it.
"The Slitherbeast!" Amity cried out while the twins' jaws dropped in panic.
Amity looked terrified now as her siblings rushed forward to use their magic to grab the beast's frontal legs. Amity wanted to help and grabbed her wand, pointing it at the Slitherbeast. "Get back!" she shouted as she tried to make a circle, only for the spell to not work. She looked at the wand and realized it was out of charge. "No…"
"Amity, run!" Emira shouted to her.
"We got this!" Edric replied, only for the Slitherbeast to yank both twins in the air and cause them to land in the snow.
"Ed! Em!" Amity shouted. But before she could run to see if they were alright, the Slitherbeast grabbed both of her siblings and ran off with them. "NO!" she cried out, hearing her brother and sister scream as they were carried away. "Ed… Em… no…"
"Nope! Nope! Definitely nope!" Luz came out of the make-up department, rubbing the black mascara off her face. Mabel and her friends followed her.
"Come on, Luz! You haven't even tried crimson cherry lipstick #56!" Mabel held up the lipstick.
"Yeah! We're just trying to help impress your crush!" Grenda added.
Luz's fists tightened, but she took a deep breath before turning to the girls. "Look, I know you girls are trying to help, but this stuff ain't for me, alright? So I'm just going to hide out at the Books-A-Jillion over there…" She marched into the entrance of the Books-A-Jillion, which was having a special on the Azura series. 'Bingo,' she thought, but then Mabel blocked her way.
"But Luz, there is a lot of stuff to help you improve yourself if you just let us," Mabel stated.
"Improve myself? What's wrong with the way I look?" Luz asked her.
"Nothing, nothing." Mabel assures her. "Just that… if you're looking into trying to impress the girl you like, maybe just spruce yourself up a little. I mean, it wouldn't help if you just wash and do your hair once and a while! And maybe if you dress a little more fashionable like everyone else…"
"Like everyone else? What, like becoming something that I'm not?" Luz asked.
"No, I'm just trying to help you! I mean, if this Amity girl is like Pacifica-"
"She is not!" Luz yelled, trying to walk past Mabel.
"Wait, Luz!" Mabel grabbed her hand, but Luz tried to pull away.
"Let me go!" Luz shouted as she yanked her hand away from Mabel, causing her to trip and fall into a pile of books. "GAH!" she shouted as the books fell onto the floor.
"Hey! What's going on here!?'' The manager of the store walked up and saw the mess which Luz seemed to have been the cause of. "I was warned that you would be trouble! But here in the place where the magic of reading happens… you should be ashamed of yourself!"
"W-Wait, I didn't mean-" Luz tried to reason with the owner, but he would have none of it.
"You're banned from the Books-A-Jillion! And you won't be purchasing any books from this store!" the manager declared, causing Luz and Mabel to gasp.
Luz was thrown out of the store, pushed away by the security guards. "Hey! You can't do this! I didn't even mean to cause trouble this time!" Luz shouted as the manager putting an image of Luz on the banned sign, along with Old Man McGucket, Stan Pines, Jean-Luc the Waiter, and Mr. Poolcheck.
Luz just stood there at a loss. Mabel went up to her, looking concerned.
"Luz, are you alright?" she asked.
"All I wanted was to give her the fourth volume of the Good Witch Azura," Luz said, tears streaming from her eyes as she gritted her teeth. Mabel tried to reach out to her. "Don't touch me!" She turned to Mabel with an angry look, wiping her tears before she ran off.
"Luz!" Mabel shouted, trying to chase after her.
"EDRIC! EMIRA!"
Amity ran through the forest, looking for her brother and sister. "Where are you?" she yelled, starting to feel nervous now that she was alone and it was starting to get late. She knew that she had to find them, she knew that she couldn't let them down. But could she do it by herself?
'Luz isn't here…' Amity thought as she sat down with her back against a tree. She was starting to tear up, though she didn't want to cry. She had to find them, and there was no way she could do that if she had a panic attack. "What would Luz do? What should I do?" she asked herself.
"Perhaps I can be of assistance."
Amity's eyes widened and she looked up, noticing a stranger who looked to be about a teenager suddenly in front of her.
"Hello there," he waved at her with a smile.
"W-Who are you?" she asked, noticing the horns sticking out of his messy brown hair.
"Look, we both don't have time for introductions." he told her. "The Slitherbeast has run off with your brother and sister, so I'm offering you a deal… I will help you save your siblings, as long as no harm comes to the Slitherbeast." He offered her his hand. "You don't have any other options, so do we have a deal?"
Amity was hesitant, but also desperate. She didn't have to think long on his offer. "Fine," she said, taking his hand and letting him pull her up. "Now do I have to make a blood deal or something-"
"No need for that," he told Amity, before running off. "Come on, the cave is this way!"
Meanwhile back in the human world, Blubs and Durland were flicking fries and trying to catch them in their mouths in the food court of the Gravity Falls Mall. "Got one!" Blubs exclaimed after succeeding in getting a fry in his partner's mouth.
"Can we hit Hoo-Ha's?" Durland asked after swallowing, but before Blubs could answer, Mabel, Candy and Grenda ran over to him.
"Sheriff Blubs! You have to help us!" Mabel begged.
"Luz got upset and ran off!" Candy explained.
"She's somewhere around the mall, alone!" Grenda exclaimed.
"Now hold up, hold up, we know what to do," Blubs calmly stated, rolling his scooter to the help desk. He grabbed the microphone and made an announcement. "Attention all shoppers! Luz Clawthorne's loose in the mall! Finish your shopping and evacuate the premises!" he shouted in a panic before he and Durland sped off to the exit.
The shoppers who heard this screamed as they either ran or hid. People fled to the exits, stores closed early, and a family took shelter in the dirty ball pit at Hoo-Ha's.
Once the food court area was cleared, Mabel, Candy, and Grenda's jaws were dropped.
"Luz is even more feared than we realized," Candy said in awe.
"This is my fault," Mabel said as she rubbed the back of her neck, feeling ashamed. "I thought we were just about to connect but… is this what being a teenager is like?"
"Don't worry, Mabel," Candy assures her friend. "We'll find her."
"All we need is to follow a trail of her chaos," Grenda said while looking around, noticing a dropped pineapple pizza. "Pineapple on pizza? This must be part of her chaotic method to mess with our minds!"
Mabel thought it over and decided to get out her cellphone. "There is someone who knows Luz better than I thought I did."
"Mabel, what's up?" Dipper asked after answering.
"Dipper, I need your help," Mabel told him. "I messed up, Luz got upset and now she's run off somewhere in the mall. I don't know if I can find her but I thought maybe you would have an idea where she might have gone."
"Did you check the roofs?" Dipper asked her. "Whenever Luz gets upset, she always climbs up to the roof of the Shack. Check and see if she's on the roof of the mall… is everything alright?"
"No… I think I hurt Luz," Mabel admitted with a sigh. "I thought that we could get along and find something in common with each other through this shipping trip. Because that's what I thought sisters do… maybe I shouldn't believe anything in movies about sisters sharing travel pants."
Dipper was silent for a moment before answering. "Mabel, you have to understand that Luz is different. That's what makes her so great, but you can't change that. People are who they are and if Luz may not want that kind of relationship with you. She's only known you for three days. And she's been through a lot."
Mabel looked up, through the glass ceiling of the mall. She could almost catch a glimpse of Luz's hair in the wind. "Thanks Dipper," she said before ending the call. She turned to Candy and Grenda, giving them some cash. "Look to see if the Books-A-Jillion is still open, force your way in if you have to. I think I know what to do now."
Luz sat on the roof of the mall, looking out in the distance and wiping away her tears.
"LUZ! There you are!"
Luz looked back, seeing Mabel at the door to the roof of the mall. "What do you want, Mabel?" she asked. "Haven't you already done enough?"
Mabel felt a sting from Luz's comment. She rubbed her arm and looked down, as she joined Luz. "Look Luz… I just want to say I'm sorry, I should've listened to you instead of trying to force you to play out a sisterhood fantasy. You're right, I don't know what this Amity girl is like. I shouldn't have assumed and tried to change who you are to impress this girl. To be honest, I think I was prepping you up for a boy in hindsight."
That last line made Luz feel uncomfortable. "If I'm gonna be honest with you, Mabel… we're not sisters," she told her coldly, making Mabel feel bad. "I don't even know you, yet you tried to insert yourself into my life and force a bond between us that you wanted but I didn't… at least not so soon. But you know what's the worst part of this experience? You trying to make me more like you. I'm not into make-up, getting my hair done, and I don't like wearing girly clothes and sweaters - which are too hot to wear in the summer, how are you not swimming in your sweat?" She continued to her point. "If you genuinely want us to bond, you need to accept me for who I am rather than what I'm not."
"I know that now…" Mabel admitted.
"And you know what, you were prepping me up as if I was expecting a boy to like me." Luz pointed out. "I do like both guys and girls, which is no problem from where I am. But your methods in trying to change me to impress Amity as if she was a boy made me feel uncomfortable. Amity doesn't care if I'm like this, because you don't know her like I do. For some crazy reason, Amity actually likes me when I'm being me and you have no idea how much that means to me." She turned to look at the skyline of the town.
Mabel looked at the skyline as well, feeling really bad about herself now. "I guess I'm so boy-crazy that I don't even know how to help a girl try to impress another girl."
"I don't get you humans," Luz admitted. "I mean, I get some humans. But not humans in general. Especially their beliefs and their heteronormative culture. Look Mabel, I'm not like any human just as much as I'm not like any witch back home. I am an outsider in both worlds, but I don't let it get to me. I like being me. I'd rather be unique than another blando."
"Dipper once said the same thing," Mabel mentioned, looking down "You are right, I did try to make you into someone more like me. To tell you the truth, I don't know much about romance other than what I was taught by my parents or on TV, movies, and magazines. One of my goals for this summer besides bonding with Dipper, was to find a boyfriend. But so far it's not going as great as I thought it would. It's the same with trying to bond with Dipper. I thought we'd both be ecstatic about meeting each other, but I've had to accept that my expectations are very different from reality." She sighed. "Maybe my problem is that I project myself too much on others."
"You are," Luz simply replied in agreement.
"I guess I should have known that this summer wasn't going to go as planned when right after I got here and before I met Dipper, I got catfished by a pile of gnomes pretending to be some emo boy just so they can try to marry me," Mabel mentioned and Luz's eyes widened.
"Wait, they tried that again?" Luz asked. "I thought they'd learn their lesson right now."
"They tried to marry you too?" Mabel asked in shock.
"I was eleven when they tried that. Me and mom made sure to teach those pedo-gnomes a lesson afterward." Luz chuckled. "Guess we both have one thing in common… bad experiences with creepy gnomes."
"Amen to that," Mabel replied, just as Candy and Grenda made it up to the roof with a large bag.
"Mabel, we came with the goods!" Candy exclaimed.
"Oh! You've managed to get it!" Mabel said happily, walking over to her friends. Luz looked at Mabel, confused.
"What is this? Like another one of your-" When Luz saw what Mabel pulled out, she looked surprised. "Are those…"
Mabel held up the entire five volumes of Good Witch Azura the series, grinning. "I had Candy and Grenda spend my allowance to get you the book you wanted. You said you were looking for a Good Witch Azura volume, so I had them get one… but they ended up getting the entire series."
"We were lucky enough to find the manager before he closed the store," Candy explained. "We forgot which one you wanted so we bought the whole set."
"I had to intimidate the manager to let us buy them!" Grenda shouted.
Luz looked at them, then at the books. She walked over to them and picked out the fourth volume, smiling. "Thank you, she will love this." She turned to Mabel, looking unsure.
"Hey, Luz," Mabel began. "I'm not gonna try to force a bond with you just as I tried with Dipper. You don't have to be my sister, for now you can just be my friend."
"…You know, since I don't have to leave until tonight, there's still one more thing we can do," Luz told Mabel, holding up her bat. "Like making a little visit down by the forest…"
Back in the Isles, Puck had led Amity to the cave that the Slitherbeast called home. Inside the cave, the Slitherbeast had spat its purple gunk onto a wall that Ed and Em were not stuck to. It had then crawled away to get some seasoning, deciding that a good meal would help its temper.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine," Emira tried to reassure, only for a pile of bones and skulls to fall from the ceiling.
"Nope, we're gonna die," Edric told her.
"That's right!" spoke a skull that popped up, shocking the twins. "Death is here…" The skull was being held by Puck. "Just kidding, here's your sister to free you." He tossed the skull away as Amity stepped up. "I'll take care of the Slitherbeast."
"Who was that?" Edric asked as Puck ran off.
"He's here to help," Amity replied, trying to pull her siblings down but to no avail. "If only I had the wand, then I'd get you two out."
"Amity, you don't need the wand to get us out," Emira encouraged. "You just got to focus."
The younger Blight sister hears her sister's words and decided to concentrate. She cleared her mind, took a deep breath, and drew a spell circle in the air with her finger. The violet light circle was formed and she pressed her hand on the circle to create a levitating fire spell. She used the fire to melt the gunk off of her brother and sister, freeing them.
"See, I knew you could do it!" Emira stated. "Well, not really but you did it!"
"Come on, let's-" Amity heard a loud roar and turned to look around. "That guy! He's still with the Slitherbeast!"
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go help him!" Edric shouted and the trio ran down to go find the one that led Amity to their rescue.
"Who is he, by the way?" Emira asked.
"I don't know, he just showed up and offered to he-" Amity and her siblings stopped when they saw the Slitherbeast, who was on his back with Puck rubbed his belly. "Huh?" she asked, confused.
"There, there," Puck said as he rubbed the Slitherbeast's belly. "Those mean hunters can't hurt you anymore. You're going to be fine." As Puck rubbed the Slitherbeast's belly, his hands glowed and the animal's wounds faded away. He was having a conversation with the Slitherbeast, though none of the Blight siblings could hear it. 'Don't worry, you're safe. There's no need to be angry and eat those nice kids.'
'You are no witch… you're not from around here, are you?' the Slitherbeast asked.
'Just called me a friend,' Puck told him.
'Friend… that is an unfamiliar word for someone like me. But thank you.'
"Whoa, he tamed the Slitherbeast," Emira said in awe.
"Tamed?" Puck asked with a laugh, hearing Emira. "Nothing of the sort. All I did was listen. The Slitherbeast was hurting and angry, so I helped him out."
Amity looked at him curiously. "Who are you, exactly?"
Puck turned to them and smiled. "I'm a Fae, of course," he said with a bow. "Greetings my minty haired witchlings. I have many names, but you can call me Puck. I've been following you three just to make sure that these two were nice to their sister." He gestured toward Ed and Em.
"A Fae?" Edric asked, pulling out two lemons from his coat. "Then I should be able to see past your glamour with these." He squirted the lemons into his eyes, stinging them. "AAAAH! My eyes! The lemons do nothing!?"
Puck chuckled. "Oh that's just misinformation we Faes made up to trick you mortals, along with spreading sugar around your houses and buildings. All that does is attract other pests."
Amity didn't know what to make of the Fae, who she was taught were unpredictable creatures forbidden from the Boiling Isles. But, he did help her save her siblings. So she stepped forward to thank him while Em got out a healing patch for Edric's eyes.
"Thanks for helping me save Ed and Em," Amity told Puck as the Slitherbeast licked him.
"No problem," he told her. "Though mainly I just wanted to make sure that nobody, including this lonely guy, got hurt. Truthfully, you were more than capable of saving them on your own. You are stronger than you realize, Amity Blight. And you're no coward." He then turned to Edric and Emira, shooting them glares. "And I better not catch you two doing anything like you tried to pull with her diary in the library, because next time you won't get off easy with just a scare." Edric and Emira both gulped nervously, realizing that they had met Puck before…
"W-We won't cause any trouble from now on, sir," Emira stammered.
"Y-Yeah! We love our baby sister and books!" Edric nodded.
A satisfied Puck turned to Amity, winking at her. "Later, Pixie Dust," he said before vanishing into thin air.
"Pixie Dust?" Amity asked, confused. She looked at her siblings. "Come on, let's get out of here." The twins agreed and they all walked out of the cave together, leaving the Slitherbeast in peace.
Puck reappeared in a different location, far from the cave. "Sorry that took so long. Now then… where were we?"
"We won't talk!" shouted Eyepatch, caught in one of his own traps along with the other Demon Hunters.
"Oh you will," Puck said as he clapped his hands together and pulled a knife out of the air. "Because I need to know why you thought it was a bright idea to mess with the Slitherbeast, who was just minding his own business until you decided to bother him. I mean, you were just asking for trouble. Who knows what could go wrong?" He raised the knife to Eyepatch's face, smiling. "You could even lose an eye…"
"Go ahead, do your worst," Eyepatch said defiantly.
"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Tom spoke up immediately.
"Tom!" Eyepatch shouted at his hunting mate.
"Sorry boss, but you've been through too much already thanks to that human girl. I don't care what that Fae does to me, but I won't let anything else happen to you!" Tom declared, making Eyepatch sigh.
"How nice," Puck smirked, going over to Tom. "Now… who sent you after the Slitherbeast?"
In the Shack, King was trying to ride Gompers who was making a ruckus around the house. "Stop, Satan! I command you to stop!" King ordered but the goat kept trying to shake him off while Waddles followed.
Dipper chased after them into the gift shop, past the vending machine. "King, you gotta get off him!" he shouted.
Behind the vending machine and inside the secret basement underneath the Mystery Shack, Eda was sitting on a table reading a familiar looking red journal with the same six fingers, except that it was labeled with a number one.
"Okay, so no luck in getting that portal opened as usual," Eda said while looking at the particular page.
"I've tried everything, but no luck." Stan replied from his seat. "I need the other two journals, but I've had no luck in finding them either. If only I could get all three…"
"Look, Stanley." Eda closed the book and put it down. "I wish I could help, you know I do. But we both know that the portal was made by what you humans call 'science', which is something you humans are more comfortable to believe in unless you're from the sheep house. My magic has no effect on it. I'm sorry, there's just nothing I can do."
"But there has to be a way!" Stan yelled, before adjusting himself. "Sorry, Eda… all these years I've worked on it so I can get him back… Are you sure that door of yours doesn't have a way to find him?"
"All I know is that my portal serves as a gateway between the Boiling Isles and the human world," Eda told him. A tired Stan looked down and tried to comfort him, patting him on the back. "Look Stan, all I can say is that things sometimes find a way to work out in the end. We've come this far, after all. And I know you're too stubborn to quit. Just like you were in Vegas." She laughed softly. "That's probably why I married you back then."
Stan gave a small smile. "You always had a way with words, especially with this old man."
"Hey, from one old parent to another," Eda told him, looking down. "Honestly, I'm still surprised that we both ended up raising kids on our own. But we managed pretty well so far, all things considered."
"Yeah, I just wanted to be a better father than my own dad was," Stan admitted. "In the hopes that Dipper will be a better man one day than I am."
"Yeah…" Eda nodded, hoping something similar for Luz. "Look at us… two common criminals becoming good parents to such wonderful kids. Why did we end things between us? We could've been like, partners in crime."
"Yeah, we could've." Stan agreed with a sigh. "But that's the thing, we're too alike. We're both con artists and agents of chaos, we both give the finger to the law, we both have a shared hatred of Florida…"
"Ugh, don't remind me." Eda stuck her tongue out and the two shared a laugh. "We were a match made in hell, weren't we? Maybe if it weren't for this curse, I would consider settling down."
"Yeah," Stan nodded and the two looked at each other in silence for a long while until they were interrupted by Stan's watch beeping.
"Oh, it's uh… about time to take Luz and King back," Eda replied awkwardly as she stood up.
"Yup! Hope she has a good time with Mabel!" Stan said as he stood up himself. The two gave awkward glances before heading back upstairs.
In the forest, the small gnome village was in flames and chaos. One tried to hide, but was hit with a bat by Luz. She along with Mabel stood before the leader of the gnomes, Jeff, who backed away from them in horror.
"P-Please, spare us…" Jeff begged.
"Spare you?" Luz asked with her deranged smile. "I don't think so. See this girl over here?" She pointed to Mabel. "She told me what you tried to pull… so here's what's going to happen." She leaned down towards him, smashing her bat right next to where Jeff was. "She's gonna let me know if you pedo-gnomes try to marry another underage girl and make her your queen. Then I'll come back here and you all will be fed to the Multi-Bear, just like what happened to your grandpa." She gave a wide-eyed, frightening and intimidating look while baring her teeth. "Understand, creep?"
"Y-Yes! W-We understand!" Jeff stammered, shaking in fear.
"Good." Luz brought her bat away, before swinging it at him making Jeff flinch as she stopped just short of his face. "Madeya look," she said with a smile, as she turned to Mabel. "Alright, tell your girls we can go."
"I'm keeping these beards as trophies!" Mabel declared as she lifted some beards up and kicked Jeff where the sun didn't shine. She then followed Luz while calling out to her friends. "Candy! Grenda! Let's move out!"
Candy and Grenda, having just beaten up their fair share of gnomes, followed behind their friend Mable Pines and the legendary delinquent witch girl, Luz Clawthorne. "So what kind of coven do you think we'd fit in?" Candy asked.
"Well, I think you would be a good fit for the Bard Coven, and Grenda's got the strength for Construction," Luz answered.
"But I like animals, wouldn't I be in some animal loving coven?" Grenda asked.
Luz hummed. "I don't see why you can't be both? But yeah, you'd make it in Beast Keeping." She laughed. "Good job with the gnomes, girls. Looks like we were able to have some fun together after all…"
Later back at the Shack, Luz was in Dipper's bedroom packing her things, including Amity's Azura book and the fourth volume. She heard Dipper clear his throat and she turned to him. "Ready to go?" he asked.
"Already kicking me out, huh Dips?" Luz asked, holding up her book bag. She noticed King's stuffed bunny and picked it up. "Better give this to King, he wouldn't like it if he lost one of his minions."
As the two walked downstairs, Dipper pulled out something. "Oh, before you go, I have something to give you," he said, holding out a piece of paper. "I was researching some news articles on my own time and I think you'll be interested in this."
Luz looked at the printed article, an old news story that made her eyes widen. "This is…"
'Car Wreck Claims Mother, Child Missing'
Circled Line: Dominican-American Healthcare Worker Camila Noceda found dead after a fatal car accident by a Minnesota highway. Baby daughter Luz Noceda missing, believed to be dead by police.
"This was found by Wade, one of my moderators from the group chat I'm in," Dipper states. "You said that when your mother found you after a car crash, you already had a name. So we looked up 'Luz' with 'car crashes in Minnesota' until we came up with this, which comes with a picture of your birth mother."
"Dips…" Luz wiped away her tears, looking down at the photograph of the woman that had been her birth mother, wearing the same pair of glasses that Anu Bist had given to her. "Thank you."
"Alright! Let's get a move on!" Eda shouted from outside, holding up her key. She turned to Mabel. "It was nice meeting you, Marbles."
"I'll take that as a pet name, Ms. Owl Lady," Mabel replied as she handed Eda a hat. "Here's something to remember me by."
Eda looked at the hat, which read 'Number 1 Foxy Grandma.'
"…That stings," Eda said dryly. She patted Mabel's head. "But thanks, and keep her out of trouble, Little Dipper."
"Will do, Eda," Dipper said as he came outside.
"Goodbye, Satan, and Waddles," King saluted the two animals. "You two may not be my henchmen, but you two became respectable rivals. And for that, I hope on our next visit we'll play our war games again."
"Hey King," Stan spoke as he knelt down near King. "If you're ever around, you can always keep Waddles and Gomper company, while helping me out with my business. With no pay."
"As long as I bask in glory, you and I will make great business partners!" King declared.
Mabel noticed Luz had stepped outside and she walked up to her. "You know, what you said earlier… was a real eye opener. I obviously have some stuff to work on moving forward."
Luz nodded. "I have one more thing to say before I leave," she told her. "I get you that you came here with certain expectations, but maybe you should focus less on them."
"Whatchu' talkin' about, Luz?" Mabel asked.
"What I'm saying is that you should focus less on what you want from people and more on what you already have," Luz clarified. "Like, maybe looking for a boyfriend shouldn't really be the only thing to focus on right now, as well as pursuing what you think is the ideal relationship with Dips. Just focus on the relationships you have now rather than trying to change it into something it's not. You can't force people to change to fit your idealized version of them and it's okay to take things slow, you don't want to rush things or you'll crash and burn."
"So I should focus more on what I already have instead of what I don't?" Mabel asked.
"Yeah, especially since it could be taken from you at any time," Luz warned. "But also, if you take the time to appreciate people for who they are… they'll likely end up appreciating who you are as well. Let them be true to themselves while remaining true to who you are."
Mabel smiled and gave Luz a hug. "Thanks, Luz. And maybe when you're comfortable enough, we can really be like sisters."
Luz patted Mabel's head, "Yeah, maybe someday." As Mabel let go, Luz turned to Dipper. "So, goodbye punch?"
"Yeah, as usual-" Before Dipper finished, Luz gave him an unexpected hug rather than a punch. This surprised him but he quickly hugged back. "See you later, Luz."
"You too, Mason," Luz said softly before the two let go.
Eda opened up the portal back home and started to walk through it with Luz and King. "Later, Pines!" Eda waved back.
"You too, Clawthornes!" Stan replied, he and the twins waving back as the portal closed.
"They're something, aren't they Mabel?" Dipper asked his sister, who smiled.
"Yeah," Mabel agreed with a nod. "Really something."
None of them spotted the camera drone, which started to fly away after getting the footage that it wanted…
It had been a long day for the Blight siblings, who were finally back in Bonesborough.
"I am so having that bath when we get home," Edric mentioned.
Emira looked at Amity and smiled. "You know, Mittens, you proved yourself wrong earlier." Amity looked up to her older sister. "You were brave when you needed to be. Even if you felt like you were a coward earlier, that's not something to be ashamed of."
"But still… I wasn't strong enough to defend myself against those muggers. Then Levi…" Amity felt Emira's hand on her shoulder.
"Amity, it would have been stupid to defend yourself in a situation like that when you're at a disadvantage," Emira told her, "You could get killed or worse. You can't blame yourself for being scared. But there's no easy answer when thinking about what you could've done before, so just focus on what's happening now."
Amity nodded, just as her Penstagram buzzed. She brought it out and noticed a notification from Luz to meet her in front of the library. "Luz's back."
The Blights stopped by the library, where Amity saw Luz by the steps along with Eda and King. Luz walked over to Amity while holding her bookbag.
"Hi Luz," Amity greeted. "How was the human realm?"
"Oh, it was an adventure, can't wait to tell you all about it." Luz replied as she brought something out from her bookbag. "Also, I finished the second volume of Azura! Kept it safe and sound!"
"Wow, thanks I-" As she was handed back the book, Amity's eyes widened when she noticed something underneath the second volume that made her heart flutter. "The fourth volume."
"Yeah, craziest thing, the Azura series is actually quite popular in the human world," Luz explained. "Like, mind blowing that these books are in the human world. I don't know why that is the case, b-but that's not what's important." She rubbed her arm while looking away shyly, showing a tint of red on her cheeks. "After helping me and everything we've been through, I thought I would pay you back. You know, as a way to show thanks." She looked back at Amity.
The Blight girl blushed when Luz looked at her. She was at a loss of words, her face turning red as a tomato. "T-T-T-Thank you, Luz," she weakly replied. "I-I'll see you tomorrow." She then ran away quickly while hugging the books close to her.
Ed and Em went to chase after Luz. "Don't worry, we got this," Edric shouted back.
"See ya around, Luz!" Emira waved as she followed her siblings.
"…She likes it…" Luz said while holding her chest. "She really likes it… Mom, Mom my heart is beating for some reason."
"That's just your hormones reacting to your excitement gland," Eda said while drinking her apple blood. "Now let's go home before Hooty starts eating our beds… again." She held her staff up for King to get on.
"Man, that was a long weekend," King said as Luz hopped on the staff as well. "But hey, at least we got something out of it."
Luz smiled while holding on to her mom, thinking over everything that happened over the last few days. "Yeah, we did."
By the time that the Blight siblings made it back home, someone was waiting while seated in front of the fireplace.
"Mittens, are you there?" asked a female voice that made Amity freeze. "I want to speak to you… alone."
Ed and Em frowned, looking at Amity sympathetically. Amity gave them an assuring look, before the twins dismissed themselves to their rooms. Amity walked up to face the woman who had called on her. "Hello, mother. How was work?"
"Oh, the usual." Sipping her tea was the green haired matriarch of the Blight family, Odalia. Her skin was pale but fair skin like Amity's, her green hair tufted to a bun, her blue eyes narrow, and her lips dark. She wore a violet blouse with a white petticoat with three interlocking orb patterns, navy trousers and gray heeled boots. She also wore a pink necklace that matched the one Amity wore. "But enough about me, let's talk about you. Now, take a seat dear."
Amity sat on the couch. "If it's about my lessons and studies, I have continued to excel and I can even do a fire spell without the wand-"
"Yes, yes, but I'm not talking about your schoolwork," Odalia said, her tone dismissive. "I want to talk to you about your slip ups." Amity looked down as her mother continued. "They started ever since you began to hang out with that human thug."
"I had to tutor her, mom," Amity objected.
"I'm not finished," Odalia told her strictly. "These slip ups will no longer be tolerated. I'm only allowing you to tutor that human thug because it's obligatory. It's one thing that you're not studying the Abomination Track, but it's another that you've been sneaking out at night just to spend the night in that thug's house. So once the exams are over, I expect you to cut all ties with her. You'll be getting back on track with no further incidents and distractions. Am I clear?"
With a silent gulp, Amity was forced to submit. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good," Odalia replied. She noticed Amity's look. "Oh don't give me that, I'm only doing what's best for you. Who knows what that human is capable of." She pours herself more tea, "You're dismissed, and I better hope we won't have this talk again,"
Amity slowly stood up while grabbing her books, holding them tightly "Yes, mother," she said as she began walking upstairs to her room.
"Some people live the life that was given, some people just get by," her inner self's voice sang while Amity entered her room. "Some people never learned how to be driven, some people don't even try."
Amity closed the door behind her, closing her eyes while holding the Azura books. "But some people know what their heart desires, some people lead with a passionate fire," she sang to herself. "And some people know that they'rе destined… to fly."
She placed the second volume on her desk and caressed the fourth volume. "I'll go all out, ace every test. No doubt, outdo all the rest."
"Don't pout," her inner self reminded. "Or settle for second best."
"So I won't stop, and won't lose my cool."
"Don't flop, 'cause Hexside's no fool."
"And who'll love me, if I'm not the top of my school?" Amity sat on her bed, imagining the voices of her students and teachers as they praised her.
Students: "She's the top (She's the top)"
Teachers: "She's the top (She's the top)"
"She's the top (She's the)"
"Top of our"
"Top of her school"
Amity thought of her friends at Hexside. "Maybe my friends will say I'm overzealous, maybe I try too hard (Her friends: Maybe she tries too hard)."
"Maybe they'll just have to learn to be jealous, watching you shine like a star," the Inner Amity chimed. "'Cause maybe you know what your heart desires, maybe you'll lead with a passionate fire, 'Cause baby you know that you're destined… to fly."
The Blight girl looked up at her Lilith poster. "But if I hadn't earned a dollar, what would they think of their dear daughter?" She turned to the family portrait on her dresser. "Would it be pity or dishonor… to ensue?"
"And if you failed to earn blue ribbon, how could you ever be forgiven?" The Inner Amity sounded loud. "Tell me what love would still be given… to you."
The thought of not seeing Luz again after this pained her.
"So you'll go all out, ace every test, no doubt, outdo all the rest."
Amity laid back in bed and closed her eyes, not knowing what these feelings she had for Luz were. "Don't pout, or settle for second best."
"Yes you won't stop, and won't lose your cool."
"Don't flop, 'Cause Hexside's no fool."
"And who'll love you, if you're not the top of your school?"
Amity sighed, hugging onto the book that Luz had gotten her. Suddenly her eyes shot open with realization as her face blushed. "Oh Titan, I have a crush on Luz…"
[Audience: WHOOOOOOOO!]
Yeah, you can't get enough of that.
So that concludes the crossover, ending on a, well, bittersweet note. Bet none of you expected both the Blight parents to make an appearance. Adding in the impact and drama in Amity's life, as much as impact and drama in Luz's life right now. Also Amity now knows about Puck.
I bet this chapter makes a lot of Mabel-haters feel better when Luz calls her out, which I do share the sentiment on how canon Mabel was written. But it would took a deep character study from Buck to suggest what Mabel's upbringing is like, both canon and in the Reunion Falls AU, that Mabel was raised around expectations, which I believe anyone can relate to when getting pressured by the people like friends and parents trying to have you do what you're expected to do rather than focus on the now. When writing and Buck's suggestion, made me realized my own upbringing is very similar, especially on the now when I still have these expectations from my own folks, so this was pretty much cathartic on my part.
This chapter shows how Luz feels different in the human world, being raised in an environment in the demon realm that is different from the human realm. Which is pretty much easier and more flexible to write rather than try to make a fantasy world too much like the human world. Hell, even Boscha and the Blight parents wouldn't be homophobic and transphobic, especially in canon.
Guess this theme of this chapter is "Expectations vs Reality" where it shows how toxic it can be in living to expectations for others, but not realizing what you have rather than what you or the other want.
So now for the reviews:
RonaldM4: Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Valentine's Day were created by greetings card companies. People can make up a holiday whatever they want, the internet does it with international Hotdog or Popcorn Days. So your question is invalid. Like, what are you trying to get out of with these weird questions?
BuckJohnson: Yeah, I've tend to learn how to manage these subplots around. I wasn't sure at first but I think I did a good job in them. And thanks, I tend to make my own spin. Learned it from a lot of my colleagues in this site.
Guardian of the Inheritance: I don't ask for much, but leave out a real review or not. I will not tolerate broken records.
MysteryGirl7Freak: Yeah, Stan and Eda are kinda like Scrooge and Goldie in a way. The Pines would immediately can tell that Belos is evil, and Mabel would probably flirt with the Golden Guard, at least canon Mabel would. The flashes Luz has hints at her memories coming up, only as a piece of puzzle due to a trigger of the crash. And no, Bill Cipher won't be summoned anytime soon. And yeah, you're asking way too many questions. And hey, you'll be seeing what goes on beyond Gravity Falls soon.
ultimate-drax: I do love my Charlie Brown references.
Monokub: You're not the only one who noticed about the cursing, but yeah I've toned it down to a minimum. Hope you enjoy the story.
Shuffollower: Dude, I totally would love it if this story gets a TV Trope page of it's own.
Jss2141: I'm still considering in how to use that song you've suggested.
OMAC001: Yeah, the inspiration for that chapter was from the time America was having a weird clown sightings back then. IT was one of the inspirations.
UltimateAvengers: It's not Belos.
The Great Fossil King: Tune in for the next chapter.
White Fire the Dragon: Yeah, I can see that.
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