A/N: I know I don't really talk about the show very often but I find it incredibly hilarious that Hooty is the person who made Lumity canon. It's sad that the show is getting stinched with a weird season 3 but in a way I'm grateful that the show won't be dragged on for too long. I think small, condensed and we'll written stories are horribly underappreciated when compared with long running shows that go on for like 5+ years. Still, the reason why the show is getting such an odd final season is honestly kinda shite. Oh well, this is what happens when you make a deal with the mouse.
Luz feels herself suddenly sick with deja-vu. Or maybe she's sick from being spun around by some monster tentacles? It's probably that but still it's unfortunate that that situation has happened more than once to her.
"Ugh, I think I'm gonna-!" It almost happens but she manages to hold her breakfast down. The flesh-tendrils swing her around like that stupid pink tentacle with the knife and let her tell you, being the 'knife' in this situation isn't very fun. In a blink of an eye she slashes the tendrils holding her legs and frees herself where slams down to the ground with a loud smack and a shooting pain that explodes in her left arm. She worries briefly but powers through the pain and frees Amity with a fast cut that bisects her tentacle (gross) and frees her..
She catches Amity in her arms as she comes down and breaks the fall.
"L-Luz?" Amity questions as she stares into the human's eyes. Luz feeds her with a stoic, unreadable expression. Her brown eyes focus into Amity's own and a deep heat creeps up the back of the Witchling's neck. Amity feels dazed and finds her head slowly getting closer to Luz. She's so close she can feel the heat of her breath on her lips. Could it possibly be? Are all her fanfic fantasies about to come true?
Luz then drops Amity to the floor, clutches her arm and bites her lip and barely holds in a scream of pain. Amity goes wide eyed in horror as the most awful expression crosses Luz's face. Oh Titan, what's going on?! Did Kikimora do this?! How can Amity help?!
Then she throws up. Luz, not Amity, but the young Witch feels like she's going to as well. The... bile missed her but the terrible smell makes even Kikimora pause her attack.
"Oh my, Luz! I told you you shouldn't have eaten that many eggs!"
"Ooooh, I-I was really hungry. Oh God, I think I broke my arm."
The annoyance drops from Amity and is replaced with worry. She wishes she bothered to learn some kind of healing spell but in her defense the Restoration school is really hard to practice given that, you know, you need to have a wound to know if it's working.
You're supposed to set broken bones back, right? That's what they went over in wound treatment at least. Amity grabs the bad arm and gives it a tug and the yowl of pain that came from Luz made her ears ring for a moment. Uh oh.
"Amity," Luz states with all the patience of a chimpanzee on Xanax, "-please stop helping."
Amity winces and backs away from Luz with a pout. It looks like her romance fantasy isn't going to happen after all...
The ground rumbles beneath them and they barely leap away in time to dodge a viscous explosion of spikes from the ground. Amity is the first to recover and prepares to blast the imp to smithereens only to catch a massive, weighty fist to the face instead. She's launched back with a shout and slams down onto the hard floor.
Her head feels like its spinning and she's none too sure if the wetness on her face is tears or blood but something within her boils and a deep rage possesses her mind.
She looks up and snarls at an unfortunately familiar Abomination golem that looms over her. It is partially armored with well engraved but functionally useless bronze plating. The dense liquid matter that composes the near eight feet of it is compact and heavy, far more so than even what the teachers at Hexside were capable of by themselves. Each stomp that shakes the floor attests its great weight.
This is her father's work no doubt. Part of the family business was selling specialty crafted Abomination matter for use primarily as bodyguard's for the wealthy. How her family made so much money off of them she never knew. It's just purple... stuff boiled in a cauldron. Anyone can make it though apparently there's a quality at an unprecedented level with the level of 'royalty'.
Either way it is a golem of handcrafted matter rather than one summoned by magic. It is expensive and time consuming to create but the Greater Abominations stand above their lesser summoned kin in power, longevity and independent control over the hardness of their body composition.
The hand that transforms into a massive axe looks particularly sharp.
It lashes out with a clumsy swing but the weight and strength would demolish any barrier she could conjure with ease. Amity is forced to dodge back. She conjures her fiery emotions into her magicka and a roaring blast of superheated fire flies from her staff and rips into the Abomination matter.
The heat and smell are awful from so close but her work is done. The golem piles formless on the floor defeated... but only for a moment. The Witchling watches in amazement and horror as the lifeless substance reforms its' looming shape. The lost fluid from the fire is somehow regenerated and the thing reforms a weapon and resumes attacking as though it were never vanquished in the first place.
Amity's mind races with thoughts as she tries to rationalize how the entity could reform without any assistance. She glances over and sees Kikimora busy in a deadly dance with Luz. Even without an arm to use her glyph's the human holds her own against a trained coven Witch with that damned stick of metal she calls a sword.
The Abomination takes a powerful swing that Amity ducks under and the sheer wind generated by its power almost knocks her down. She feels like her hair has been sliced but she ignores it and maintains her focus on her own problem. Luz can handle herself.
This abomination can maintain itself without a master... but how?! She was never privy to her father's secrets (the man was paranoid even with his own family) so he must've found someway to create a self rejuvenating masterpiece.
Her heart pounds in her chest like a beating war-drum. Idly she notes she can hear the sound of the beat clear in her ears.
A useless revelation of no help at all!
The entity swings downwards and splits the ground clean as she leaps back. Her fiery temper has sizzled down to be replaced by focus and fear.
All it takes is one misstep and she'll be a pile of body parts on the floor. Think Amity, think! How would her father solve a problem with a fairly fragile but self-healing golem meant for battle? There would have to be some external source of power to revive it but how? Empowering magic is all but impossible to transfer remotely; it's why power glyphs require physical contact.
Amity remembers once, when she was very little, asking her father how to solve a math problem and instead of answering the fucking question the distractible man went into a philosophical lecture on how he believed all problems could have solutions found in observing nature.
...Wait a minute. Her hand hover above her heart where her stolen bile-sac once existed. Of course! How could she be so dull?! The Abomination has an artificial Bile-sac!
Luz is having a pretty bad day. Has she said that already? Probably but all her days these days tend to be bad days. Too much alliteration? Oh wait, she doesn't care since she's currently fighting for her life.
The rabid dog called Kikimora fights dirty, smart and without an ounce of hesitation or pity. And Luz is fighting only with a broken arm, no glyphs and a sword. It's a damn good sword, but her skill won't get her far if she can't hit the stupid imp!
"Hmph! I can't believe someone like you took Belos down. Further proof that I am the one worthy of the throne!"
"Oh my god, please stop gloating. And it's not like you're a good leader! Have you seen what Bonesborough looks like right now? It's a nightmare everywhere and it won't get better until we take. You. Down!"
That seems to strike a chord as the tiny devil shouts something in gibberish and conjures several thick, thorny vines that slash at her like whips. Luz cuts them down with ease and leaps forward to end Kiki but the imp has already covered the weakness of her mobility and dodges.
Wrapped around her little person is something like a nest of plant vines and artificial flesh. Kiki pilots her 'body' from within and controls several thick tentacle 'limbs' for scary agility. Luz can slash her way through any attack but that doesn't mean squat if she can't get anywhere near her!
Luz backpedals from a barrage of arrow-like thorns launched from the vines but finds her feet stuck suddenly! She look down and sees she walked right into an Abomination goo trap. Dozens of tiny hands race from the purple stuff and hold her feet down like cement.
She hears a whistling in the air and feels her body almost move on its own. She leaps high, leaving her shoes behind in the goo, and pulls off a pretty sick five-forty spin through the air. She feels the air ripple as dozens of thorn projectiles pass underneath and miss her body completely.
Her feet touch the ground almost gently and her eyes feel comically wide. Holy crap. Did she just pull that off?! Epic!
Luz's moment to shine is outdone by the whip slapping her across the gut. The wind is knocked from her lungs and she's lifted off her feet and launched through the air. Something warm and soft catches her and suddenly Luz finds herself in a reverse situation from mere moments ago.
Here she is. In Amity's arms. Looking up at her face and getting lost in her eyes.
Beautiful...
Amity suddenly blushes blood-red and drops her dead on her ass causing a complaint from the human.
"Ow! Amity, what the hell?!"
"W-What did you say?!"
Her eyes go saucer wide. Ah cripes, she just called her secret crush 'beautiful' right to her face. Luz isn't ready for this! She'll never be ready! She just outed herself and now Amity's gonna hate her guts!
"Luz! Lookout!"
"Huh?" Amity yanks Luz, by her broken arm, out of the way of a mighty blow by the Abomination. She fends it back with a blast of fire to give themselves time to recuperate.
Kikimora quickly backs away as the impressive and deadly strength of the Blight's magic makes the imp cower back in fear behind her champion golem.
It's a struggle to stand with the shooting pain coursing through Luz's broken arm but the copious amounts of adrenaline cut it back just enough for her to remain useful. Her stance is shaky and her vision isn't much better, but damn the world if Luz Noceda didn't stand back up!
The two Witches in training stand side by side, sword and staff, might and magic, and both certifiably badassess... are considering accepting their losses and running away.
Luz recognizes the form of the Abomination and shoots her companion a question glance.
"I thought Abominations were your thing? Can't you snap something like this away?"
Amity opens and closes her mouth a few times but says nothing. She refuses to meet Luz in the eye. The shame of her mutilation and her cowardice in coming forward with her issues is coming to a head.
The anxiety, the crippling-crushing-crowing emotions gnaw at her mind like maggots. She hides her fear behind psychopathic attraction yet when the time comes to form a genuine connection she chickens out. Why does Amity do this to herself? She knows Luz. She knows how bloody accepting and endearing the human is. So why is she so damn afraid to open up?!
...Oh. She's traumatized.
Luz is surprised when Amity turns towards the towering giant with such a devastatingly defeated expression.
"Fuck it. Daedra, rise!" The Witch thrusts a hand in the air and a hollow, dreadful and eerily familiar energy fills the air. An invisible force swirls around her body and coalesces as a vibrant purple power in her palm. Luz isn't sure how to describe it. It's like... Amity's refining the energy somehow? As if she's channeling raw and meaningless power around her body to focus and give it purpose.
Luz can't help but look at Amity in awe. Try and much as she likes with glyphs and creativity the human will never reach this level of control and power with magic. To her, Amity is a real Witch with real magic. Luz is only mimicking the real thing.
She feels something... weird in her chest. Like a warm campfire on a cold night or a hug from her mom but on the inside. "Oh... wow."
The channeled power suddenly leaps from Amity's palm and erupts in front of them in a brilliant and swirling vortex of deep purple magic. A pit forms in Luz's stomach as a familiar yet wholly different presence seems to tear it's way into their reality from somewhere far away.
A being forms and it is every bit as large and as strange and as deadly as the Greater Abomination they face.
It's... ugly for lack of a better word but the rippling muscles give the impression that saying that to its face would probably cause it to rip your arms off and beat you to death with them.
The skin is somewhat scaly and muted green. It's body is stocky yet heavily weighed down with draping layers of fat despite the enormity of its muscles. The face reminds Luz of those ugly short-snouted dogs only hairless and with a pair of horns relatively small to the otherwise big body and head they're attached to.
It also has golden nipple rings and a simple loincloth that covers just about nothing.
Luz keeps her gaze away from that area and absolutely refuses to drop her head below chest level despite the stupid rings.
There's no doubt about it regardless of any excuse she can make. Amity summoned a daedra of all things. Luz... doesn't know what to think. Her complications with any kind of daedra are so convoluted that in the moment she simply can't comprehend her own emotions.
"Sh'rk." The Witch commands with a cool voice, "Destroy the Abomination."
The Ogrim grins with a mouth filled with foul fangs. It rears a fist back, almost comically so, and the sheer force in which the beast punches is so mighty it sounds like a shotgun blast that scatters the purple matter all the way to the base of the throne. Amity spots something solid tossed out of the matter that lands in a large puddle far away.
Some of the goo slips down and reveals a spherical core of silver metal with strange engravings and various muted gems embedded into the surface. It's the artificial Bile-sac! It has to be! The goo quickly rushes to reform around the device. It has to be now!
Before Amity can blast the core a powerful tentacle wraps around her staff and pulls it aside. A deafening boom of lightning harmlessly strikes the far off wall. The whole castle seems to shudder under the might of the magic as if the Titan itself were stirring.
Amity is quickly engulfed in the thrashing, stinging tendrils of flesh and thorns. She can feel the sharp thorns slashing her skin through her clothes and the pain that follows feels like poison or acid that penetrates her to the core. Her prison squeezes around her arms and legs like a vice trying to crush her bones. She chokes back a pitiful shout of pain and struggles in vain against the sturdy magical constructs that only tighten in response like a snake around its prey.
Luz quickly slashes away the vines and flesh that come for her and quickly frees Amity from her prison. She moves to help her Witch friend but the prideful Blight swats the hand away and launches a poorly formed fireball that Kikimora deftly dodges.
She snarls in rage and throws out a torrent of flames. The Imp empress mutters some colorful curses and scurries back to hide behind the might of her Abomination that has reformed.
The Greater Abomination struggles to hold its own against a mighty daedra. While sharp and weighty the formed axe fails to break the tough hide of the Ogrim. Only silver or superior metal can be effective against the supernatural protection afforded to the creature. Sh'rk continues wailing against the bizarre matter of the odd purple atronach.
Tendrils of something suddenly wrap around the daedra. Is it a Spriggan matron? Or perhaps some wood elf sorcery? The Ogrim shrugs. To him the squeezing power of the vines and flesh are as weak as the grip of an elf. It grabs a fistful of the stuff and pulls with terrible might. Something heavy slams into Sh'rk's and shatters completely upon his back.
Annoyed, the ancient daedra turns around and glares down at a tiny and pathetic Scamp that sits stunned in a ragged pile of plants and meat. The puny thing is even smaller than the weak, stunted fodder Dagon employed in his crusades against Mundus and it angers the Ogrim deeply.
Sh'rk grabs the weak critter and bashes it against the purple thing. There is crunching and crying and sweet bone-breaking but not once does the atronach fight back. Consumed by a deep rage the old warrior chucks the Scamp somewhere and rips into the flesh of the atronach in a hungry desire for violence.
The goo tries and fails to reform. The daedra is too powerful and too violent. Its massive and clawed hands brush against something physical within the goo. Finally! Something to destroy! Sh'rk tears the hard thing from the atronach but discovers it's just some stupid ball. It is crushed within the powerful grasp and the frantic atronach finally stills and dies pathetically. The victor grumbles in disappointment.
Stupid. What a waste of time.
Luz and Amity stare down at the ruined form of the Empress; Her legs are bent in all the wrong ways, fingers and arms are crooked and the white, regal robes are torn like a pauper's and stained with fresh blood.
And somehow she's also still alive but only barely.
Kikimora's breathing is haggardly and the single, un-swollen eye darts back and forth between the girls as though it were begging for something from them. Probably for help given her current state of things. She'll get none. Amity and Luz came here to kill the Imp with complete surety.
The Human takes Umbra and plunges it into the chest of the fallen dictator. The life is ended in less than a moment. Luz can sense a happy humming from within the consuming soul of Umbra. She can tell it likes the taste of a queen's soul. The essence of life brought from death flow's from Kikimora's body and into Luz. It nourishes her damaged body and heals her arm with a pleasing, electrical feeling that flows through her whole body.
It's a rush for sure. Adrenaline? No. It's something more. Something better and it's something that feels so very, very... good. Like the glowing feeling after a good massage.
She wants more.
A hand clamps down on her shoulder and shocks Luz from her spiral. She meets Amity who gives her an odd look. For a brief moment the human was worried she'd been had and her friend was going to berate her for harboring dark thoughts.
Luz was wrong. Amity gives her a look of understanding. But why? And how?
The human smiles in response and looks down at the corpse. A shadow looms over them and Luz looks up to the sight of a glorious golden nipple ring.
She grimaces. Tacky.
The beast point down at the body, "I... have?"
Amity and Luz share a look and the Blight gives a general 'go ahead' motion and the monster grabs the body with an eerie smile and vanishes in a swirl of chaotic purple energy back to whatever hell it came from.
"...Okay, now what?"
Luz tugs on Amity's sleeve and points up at the throne. The human isn't sure what to be surprised by the most; the now beating heart of the Titan, signifying its revival, or the golden Bastard sitting on his throne with an air of strength around him.
"Oh, so now you show up?!" She sasses with her hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face. Amity doesn't laugh out of politeness but anger and Luz do not match well. She looks like an angry puppy. "What, Got nothing to say? Or are you too Important to fight your own battles?"
"Yes." He answers without missing a beat, "It takes time to reform my connection with the Titan and your little... quarrel with Kiki was the perfect distraction. You didn't need my help anyways although I must admit I am disappointed to learn all our problems originate with you miss Blight."
Amity shrinks under the attention and refuses to meet Luz in the eye when she turns to look at her fellow witch. Luz holds her gaze for as second but sighs and returns her stony stare to the new, yet old, Emperor.
"Fine. Whatever. It's not like I broke an arm and Amity got her skin slashed and weird dress ruined." She blows out a puff of hot air, "...Okay. So what now? You got your throne back. What's there between us?"
"Between us? Nothing. Not anymore. The time I spent in your presence was enough. We will go our separate ways and never meet again. I will not seek you and you will not stand in my way. Keep your troubles with my peons and we will never have business again. So do as you please. I don't care anymore. I have traitors to round up and execute and a realm to restore."
The emperor goes silent for a moment as he regards the human, "Hmm... curious. You have an air about you, child. Make no mistake your actions here are nothing short of heroic. You have brought peace to my realm and given my people hope. With the Key you have given me I will unite the human and demon realms and finally... after many years, I can know peace. But that is not all there is to you, is there? Are you even aware I wonder? You hide behind your human emotions and your human morals and your human needs but I see you, Luz Noceda. I see your heart. You share more with that beast of a Blight than you may know. I can only hope death claims you sooner than later. But! That is not in my fate any longer. Walk your path, human. I pray I never see you again."
Belos snaps his fingers before Luz and Amity can rip him a new one and they vanish within a portal only to appear at the far end of the bridge outside of the castle. Anger swirls within the human and she hurls a slew of insults across the way hoping beyond hope that the Emperor can hear her.
In response the great gates of the castle slam down. Luz is cut from the emperor's life in two ways now.
Something... clicks in Luz. All the action and tragedy and betrayal and death. It all comes to her in a great and nauseating wave and all she can do is drop to the floor and let her heart out.
She cries at first. And then she sobs and sobs. Her whole body feels cold and weak and is wracked with terrible shakes of grief. But there is a warmth from something. A sweet arm that embraces her and washes away the pain if only just a bit.
Amity, the Angel to Luz and the Devil to anyone else, holds Luz as the tears finally dry and her body stops shaking and then she holds her some more.
Time flies by, not that the both of them know, until it is dark out. The sun has long gone to rest and a bright moon shines its peaceful and sleepy light down upon the Boiling Isles. It is over now. The air, the people and the land are at rest. Peace is with them for now.
Luz tries to say something, anything! ...But she can't find the words. How could she? How could she possibly express any bit of her feelings over the past few months now that it is finally over? Amity takes Luz's hand in her own and gives it a firm squeeze. Somehow that simple, wordless action tells her that she doesn't have to say anything right now.
There is always a tomorrow.
Something appears from the horizon. It is small and fast and cuts through the air like a swallow. Luz recognizes it as a gift from a dead man from so very long ago.
Her flying broomstick comes to a halt in front of the pair. Had Luz unconsciously summoned it? Amity looks at the broom and shoots her human a questioning look.
"...A gift from Em." Luz's explains. Her voice is hoarse and she can't help but wince at the sound in embarrassment. Amity doesn't judge her. She never does. Luz mounts her trusty travel companion and scoots up enough to give Amity room.
A faint flush colors her cheeks. Under the pale light of the moon Luz can't help but feel her heart churn at how it seems to illuminate everything great about Amity. Namely all of her.
She mounts the flying broom and wraps her arms around Luz's waist. The human's heart flutters fiercely at the touch and she finds herself grateful to be facing away from Amity. There's no way she could look her in the eye with the goofy and smitten smile on her face right now.
The broom lifts off the ground and flies high into the sky leaving the past behind and the future to look forward to.