Hey people, I'm back.
I had a massive writer's block due to some... Circumstances.
But yesterday I chucked out 4k words and thus, this chapter was finished x)
I hope you all can forgive me for being rather uhm. Anxious about the last few chapters.
I decided my fanfictions are my business and if someone can't handle that, they can leave. I'm always tagging and warning accordingly and I'm writing what I would want to read.
There are a lot of like-minded people out there that are sweet and kind and always lifting me up if I'm feeling anxious.
Reading through all your comments really lifts me up and cheers me up.
Thank you guys so so much, for sticking around, for taking up with me and my stories, and for being awesome.
Thank you so much.

I've uploaded the big fanfiction I've been talking about! It's called Noble Pursuit and you can read it under my account. It'd really mean a lot to me x)
Also, I've decided to upload Built to Last one week and the other Noble Pursuit. Weekly updates on my account baby!
Let's see how that goes x)

Anyway, speaking of tagging accordingly.
TRIGGER WARNING:
- FIGHTING
- BLOOD

When they stepped out into the cool night air, Amity felt much better. The fresh air was allowing her head to blow free and her beginning headache to lighten before it could start.

Luz was keeping her warm arm around her shoulders and Gus and Willow were quietly conversing, in a calm tone, so peacefully that Amity felt comfortable all around.

She was happy.

So unconditionally happy, she could hug the whole world right now. She had never felt this way before. With her parents, she had always felt as if she wasn't enough, no matter how confident she tried to seem. With her siblings she had always felt inferior, somehow they had seemed smarter than her, more confident with their role, and quicker in assuming responsibility.

With her friends, it had always been a feeling of not belonging. She had never had the words to explain it until now because she hadn't known anything else but them. They had made her feel like she wasn't enough to be in their elite circles, as if there was always something offputting and wrong with her.

Of course, they had always respected her because of her parent's wealth, but she had felt that respect was nothing but a facade, to get on her good side. She had been popular in school because everyone had held up a facade, because nothing was genuine and because it was known that she was offspring of one of the most powerful and wealthy couples of the world.

Nobody had put it in words, but it had always been like this. Amity had been a tool, a connection to the upper circles for many students who had less wealthy parents.

She had been nothing but alone, truly.

Only Boscha had dared to speak her mind about her, and while they had kept the friendship that had been thrust upon them by their parents, they had never truly gotten along.

Amity hadn't dared object to her parents and Boscha had taken advantage of knowing her. That they had a somehow similar childhood merely gave them a reason to talk, not exactly to bond.

Truly, the only thing Amity had appreciated in Boscha had been her honesty and her determination to strive for her best self.

Unlike some others, Boscha had actually been the only nearly genuine thing in Amity's world. Her parents' affection was a hoax, their siblings' care was their duty, her friends had been friendly for her money.

Boscha had been the only one to tell her to her face when she acted out and wasn't ashamed to stand up for herself when things got messy.

But now, knowing these wonderful people and their caring way to interact, Amity had learned that there was genuine affection in this world. Their friends had just accepted her for who she had been, not even questioning that they'd only known each other for a few days.

Reaching up, she took Luz's hand and leaned into her. This felt so right.

It was a bit harder to walk that way, but Luz made it work, using her taller frame to keep Amity upright despite walking so close.

Luz's hands were rough. She played with her long fingers and for the first time, discovered some bracelets she was wearing. They were woven and leather and Amity eyed them from the side for a while, before looking back to Luz and grinning, letting her thumb ghost over these tiny details she hadn't noticed before.

"Where did you get those?", she asked and Luz chuckled, interlacing their fingers now, ignoring Gus' small whoop.

"Mostly from visiting Mama's family.", softly caressing her fingers, Luz smiled back at Amity and she felt her heart skipping a beat, "Why, you like them?"

"They're pretty.", Amity breathed and decided not to turn it into a pick-up line. She thought she might have to collapse if she saw Luz blushing.

Turning back front, she spotted a shop window that was reflecting the night street, some guys on the other side partying, and when they reached it, Amity peeked in. There were the reflections of Willow and Gus walking in front of them, bickering and softly pushing each other when discussing some bets they had running. Then, she and Luz stepped into the reflection. Promptly, she stopped and stared, making Luz notice the window as well.

"I think it's a little late to get a haircut right now, but we could try again on Monday.", she joked and Amity chuckled but shook her head.

She saw a taller girl in the reflection, smiling softly, wearing some dark jeans and a long, grey shirt, as well as a green jacket with some pockets on her chest. A necklace was hanging around her neck and her bracelets were visible on her wrist. She was also wearing a beanie now, which was strange, she hadn't worn one before they had entered the bar. Maybe she had forgotten it there before.

Luz was grinning now, staring at their reflection as well.

And then there was her, she was a little smaller than Luz, reaching just under her nose, and wearing the clothes she had put on after long consideration the day before, some ripped jeans and a crop top.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she combed through her long green hair with her free hand, before her golden eyes jumped back to Luz who had put her other hand in a pocket by now.

"You look great, don't worry.", she teased and Amity looked back to herself.

"... No.", she mumbled, still mesmerized.

"What do you mean? You look awesome.", Luz argued but Amity was shaking her head.

She was looking nothing like the fake pictures her mother made her upload on the internet. And she looked nothing like when she was invited to a party her old friends were throwing. She looked nothing like that. She didn't look perfect.

Her hair had become a bit ruffled by, well, everything today. The warm steam in the kitchen, the wind outside, the grass she had been lying on in the park, and the warm pub she had been in. From Luz's hands burying into her locks.

Her hand wrapped around Luz's waist and she watched her reflection doing the same, her hands appearing on Luz's other side and pulling them closer together. She decided she liked that.

A lot.

"I look normal.", she finally decided and Luz slowly understood what she had meant.

"... You don't look-...", she hesitated, "You don't look staged."

Amity gave her a slow nod and Luz smiled again, this time tilting her head to kiss her temple and softly squeeze her closer.

"Are you happy this way?", she asked and Amity grinned at herself in the reflection. It was the first real smile she had seen of herself in a long time.

"Guys, you coming or what?!", Willow called a few steps down the sidewalk where they had noticed that their friends had been missing and Luz gave her a little wave, chuckling. Amity couldn't help but notice her lower arm and the defined muscles moving when she was waving.

Immediately, a blush crept up her cheeks.

Embarrassed, she questioned if she could stop gay panicking for a second, but apparently, she was unable to. Thank everything for that, she was much rather a gay mess than anything else.

"We'll be right with you guys!", she called and Amity briefly buried her face in her hands before looking back up again, Luz already directing her steps past Amity to continue down the sidewalk.

"This is so weird... To be out in the streets, and-... Not be stressed.", she mumbled and Luz laughed, shrugging.

"I can't feel with you because your stress is probably not running down the street not to miss the bus.", she teased and Amity groaned, nodding.

"Yeah... That bus ride today was-... New."

"But I get what you mean with that.", Luz continued, still keeping their hands interlaced. Even if Amity stumbled due to the alcohol in her system, she was guiding her safely, "The streets are wonderful at night. Quiet and nobody needs you to be somewhere."

Humming, Amity agreed.

They slowly approached the park they had been in earlier and Amity remembered the stars. Now it was hard to see them, even if she put her head back and squinted, because of the street lights above, but she remembered how beautiful they had been.

When they approached the entrance, Willow turned back to them.

"I gotta go use that toilet real quick, it's still gonna be a while 'til home. Can you hold this?", she handed her purse to Amity and jogged ahead before Luz also pulled her arm back.

"I'm gonna take that chance. Gus, watch her.", she jogged after Willow and patted Gus' shoulder, then she vanished around the corner as well and ran to the toilet building that was still open.

Amity tilted her head.

"Did she seriously ask you to watch me? I'm not gonna do anything dumb.", she mumbled and Gus shrugged, shaking his head.

"Nah, it's because I'm a guy and you're a girl. Never leave a girl alone at night out on the streets.", he casually replied and Amity furrowed her eyebrows at that.

"I mean, I know about stranger danger and stuff, but, seriously? We're alone around here."

Gus looked around and grimaced.

"Well, you never know.", he shrugged, then she noticed him squirming.

"Do you need to go as well?", she chuckled and Gus groaned, nodding.

"Yeah, but I'll wait for the others to get back before I go."

Amity waved that off, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Don't worry about that. I'll be fine, and it'll just be a few minutes! You can go, I don't mind.", laughing, she softly pushed his shoulder, "I was in the Owl House, I don't need to."

"... Are you completely sure?", he finally asked and looked up and down the street again, so she nodded, taking out her phone.

"Should something happen, I can call you guys."

Apparently, the urge was too big and the alcohol reassured his better judgment, so he merely shot her a grateful gaze and left, running to the small toilet building. Amity decided to follow them a little bit and to lean against the pillar marking the entrance to the park, to be in sight of the toilet. She got comfortable and unlocked her phone, to go through her notifications.

Blushing, she realized she had uploaded a story on her social media where she was dancing in the Owl House. She didn't even remember that. But it wasn't too long ago and not a lot of people had seen it yet, so she quickly deleted it not to get in trouble with her parents.

But of course, her siblings had seen it and had immediately bombarded her via text, asking where she was and if she was having fun. And if the crowd she was with was safe.

Giggling, she texted them back, saying she was fine and safe before someone whistled.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked up from the phone to see a group of guys on the other side of the street, one of which had whistled. She didn't think much of it and instead continued scrolling through her messages, but out of the corner of her eyes, she realized one of the guys was coming towards her.

The whole group was obviously drunk, stumbling through the streets and drunkenly singing and swearing.

Well, maybe he just wanted to get into the park. Or to the toilet!

Keeping herself distracted, she still kept him in her vision but didn't move or look up, despite feeling a bit uneasy.

Finally, he came to a stop in front of her and tried masking his drunkenness by leaning back and putting his hands in his pockets. He was grinning.

"Hey girl...", he slurred and Amity tilted her head.

"Yes, can I help you?", she asked and he only grinned wider at that.

"You're looking mighty fine, girl.", he continued and Amity understood what he was on, but before she could do anything, he was already leaning in, putting one of his hands now on the pillar above her head and coming closer than she felt comfortable with, "Wanna tell me your name?"

Shaking her head, Amity tried inching away from him while his friends were laughing hysterically from the other side of the street, trying to half-heartedly call him back, but he was entirely focusing on her.

Grimacing, Amity now furrowed her eyebrows at him, feeling frozen for some reason. She couldn't move the way she wanted to, ice shivers running up her back and goosebumps spreading all over her arms. Sensing danger, she finally realized. She just knew, the moment she felt the wave of unpleasant tingles running all over her body.

Her instincts were screaming at her, to get away, get away, this is not safe, danger, danger, danger-...

"No, and-... Please go away.", she stuttered out, but he didn't seem fazed.

"Aw, come on. You're so pretty, I think I like you.", his words seemed heavy, and his uneven blinking only assured Amity that he was heavily drunk. Another wave of tingles sent goosebumps up her back and down her arms, up into her hair. She felt the little hairs of her undercut standing in an instant and her crop top to ghost over her goosebumps.

This was not a situation she wanted to be in.

This was not safe. She knew, she knew it was not safe, everything told her it wasn't, it wasn't safe, get away-

"Thank you, but, go away now. I don't want-"

"Why are you rejecting me, come on, smile a little.", he tried leaning in even closer and Amity didn't want to touch him, didn't want to be close, just get away, while his friends began whistling and whooping, still staying on the other side of the road.

"Go away-", she tried, but his other hand now found her hips and she squirmed away, tried to shy away to the other side, yet he just followed her. Her knees were buckling, weakened, but he had her trapped against the pillar. She was sober at that moment, the shock and fear having blown away any and all tipsiness.

She couldn't move the way she needed to. She couldn't find room to punch him, she couldn't find a way out, she was trapped, trapped, nothing was right, this was scary-

"Just your name and a little kiss, maybe?", he mumbled his lips already so close.

Amity was too afraid to do anything. Nobody had ever approached her that way, and she had never encountered someone as heavily drunk as this guy. It was scary how little he was aware, and how little he was in control of his actions.

Goosebumps once again rushed up and down her spine, her whole body freezing up, her knees locking in place as her breathing picked up. She was just a wink away from hyperventilating.

She needed to get away, but her body wouldn't obey.

She felt her fight or flight instinct being blocked by fear, freezing her in place, her ears rushing and her breath getting faster, her instincts screaming, thrashing, her heart beating so fast. She needed to get away from here, just run, run, run-

Whimpering, she turned her face away, towards the park, when she heard the toilet opening and Luz and Willow coming out, chattering. Her eyes found Luz's, just before closing them, her own breath sounding so loud and hectic to her.

Suddenly, everything moved very fast.

Before the guy's hand could slip up her shirt, he was ripped away from her and all she could see when she opened her eyes was Luz's back.

Willow was suddenly by her side and pulling her into the park, into her arms, and away from the guy, while Luz pushed him again. The guy was stumbling but caught himself, his disoriented, dizzy eyes finally finding the disturbance. And apparently, as quickly as he could get flirty, he could get angry.

Luz, on the other hand, was seething already.

Maybe it was the alcohol firing up her rage as well, but she knew she would have reacted that way sober as well. There was this guy, just cuddling up to her Amity, her girlfriend, and thinking he could have anything he wanted. Squaring her shoulders, Luz clenched her fists and stared at him.

"Don't touch her.", she growled, suddenly feeling a lot soberer than before.

Goosebumps were rushing over her body as she made herself as tall as possible to seem serious and intimidating.

All her hairs were standing up in the back of her neck and she growled, baring her teeth. She didn't know where that came from. It felt like she was moving on autopilot.

The guy was straightening up and even if he was taller than Luz, she wouldn't back down. He lifted his fists and even if he still seemed incredibly drunk, she knew he wouldn't hesitate to throw a punch.

"What's your business?!", he called, enraged, and his friends on the other side of the street started making their way towards them. Luz only glanced their way shortly but focused back on him. A little too late, it turned out, because he had already readied himself for a swing.

An intense wave of tingles rushed through her body as she leaned to the side out of reflex, not to be hit.

Luz could dodge his fist but was still under influence, so she stumbled a little while he followed his own fist, losing his balance and taking a step past her.

She had never been in a fight before. She had never taken anyone up in a fight before. Sure, some play flights with other kids in her neighborhood, and she had watched some fistfights in school or on the streets. Even in the Owl House, before Eda had broken them up.

But she had never been in one herself.

Blood was rushing through her ears and deafening any sounds from the outside. Adrenaline was rushing through her body, sobering her up somewhat and keeping her body poised. The rage was barely containable. She had seen where his hand had gone. She had seen where he had wanted to take this approach on her girlfriend.

Growling, she finally balled her fist for real now and pulled her arm back.

Taking a swing, she let her fist connect with his nose and heard a crunch. Underestimating the blow, she was taken aback by how forcefully she had punched him. Immediately, her knuckles started hurting and her fingers felt like they had been numbed.

This hurt really badly.

Yowling, she pulled back and caught her hand with the other, cupping as the pain came in waves, each wave subsiding just the littlest bit. She hadn't anticipated hitting him that hard.

Looking at her hand, she couldn't really see anything out of place, but it hurt. Furrowing her eyebrows, she made a mental note to check on her hand later, before looking up and discovering the guy was upright again. She suspected his drunk state allowed him to ignore the pain for now, because blood was dripping down his lips and jaw. She must've broken his nose.

And he was readying himself to make this fight two-sided.

After a little moment of catching herself, she shook out her hand, then she breathed through. Straightened up again, she lifted her fists back up. If he was set on making this everyone's problem, she wouldn't back down.

"I said don't fucking touch her.", she clarified again and he took another swing. This time, Luz couldn't escape in time. His knuckles connected with her jaw and she felt like a truck had hit her. Damn, this hurt!

In movies and games, the protagonists always took hits like this easily, but she saw black dots dancing in her vision and like her jaw had been dislocated. Unfortunately for her, he was quicker than she needed to recover from that punch. His second fist now hit just above her eye and she stumbled back.

Stars and black dots were dancing around in her vision and she was flailing for some balance, but no support was provided. Her hands waved through the air in a desperate search, her feet scrambling to put some ground beneath them until finally, she felt the pillar of the other side of the entrance bumping against her back.

Huffing and trying to regain her stance with the help of the pillar, Luz's hands somehow found her knees and she tried calming her shaking vision. It almost looked like her framerate had gone way down, and as if everything was shaking wildly from side to side.

Her jaw was hurting badly and she felt that her eyebrow had split open thanks to the ring he was wearing. Warm blood was starting to dribble down just past her eye.

This hurt!

Her head was aching with the impact of the punches, and everything was numbing. Blinking rapidly, she tried to somewhat regain her senses, but it took a moment for her to see straight again.

She had never thought two punches alone would hurt this much, and he hadn't even broken her nose or anything!

Groaning, she blinked some more, numbness arising in her face where he had punched her, already starting to swell, but she managed to get her hands off her knees and lift her fists again. He was charging at her, apparently having some trouble keeping his balance after she had broken his nose, swinging at her again.

Luz managed to block his elbow with hers, and had to clench her teeth at the pain that immediately shot through her arm, then she swung her other fist to hit his solar plexus. At least that was her plan, but he didn't immediately collapse, so she had apparently missed. Still, a fist to the stomach was equally as painful.

Just as he was curling down, gasping for air and turning away from her, a pair of hands grabbed her jacket and pulled her back to throw her against the other pillar. Her teeth were clacking together as the back of her head hit the stone and she groaned, new waves of pain arising, but the hands held her there, despite her weak protests and kicks.

His friends were engaging in the fight now. Some were looking after him while he slowly straightened up again, and some were holding her back to keep her from attacking again.

And then there was this equally drunk guy, apparently, a good friend of this pervert, who was looking very angry. None of the group noticed he wasn't interested in breaking the fight up.

Luz saw it coming. The hands holding her back against the pillar were less for both their protection now, but rather the trap she had gotten herself in.

The second guy was the last to arrive at the scene, and instead of heading to his friend who was still gasping for air, he went straight for her. Goosebumps once again rushed down her spine and her good eye was widening with fear. He had it out for her and she was trapped against the pillar.

A small kick and a yelp were all she could manage to alert his friend but it was already too late.

His fists rammed against her stomach, multiple times before she felt herself slipping to the ground, the hands having let go of her. Apparently, his friends who had held her back had been surprised by the outburst of violence from their friend.

She sank into a crouching position, curling up around her stomach when suddenly, a shoe connected with her face.

Unimaginable pain erupted in her head, but before she could even register what happened, her eyes already rolled up and everything went black. She didn't even feel the impact on the ground when she fell back.

Again, thank you guys so much. I'm also thinking about opening commissions with unusual prices x)