It feels peaceful, her lying down on the grass with her arms as a pillow for her head, it's nice. For once in her usually stressful life, her surroundings were quiet, apart from the sounds that came from the little night critters that hid in the forest. But even that was calming to her.

Relaxed, she looked up at the stars that splattered across the night sky. They shined brightly, as usual, but the sight of them still makes Amity smile.

A little secret about her: she likes the night, specifically the sky. She especially likes staring at the stars as her mind only contain voiceless thoughts with no unnecessary stress to wear her out, just her and the night sky.

This little hobby of hers isn't exactly common among the citizens of the Boiling Isles, or at least, in Bonesborough. It doesn't even have its own word yet, that's how uncommon it is. Maybe it's because it's the Boiling Isles, and anything and everything can and will kill you, so why risk the chances of death with your own?

However, despite the dangers her world offers, Amity would still often sneak out in the middle of the night, just to stare at the stars. Something about it relaxes her, not to mention that the scenery is often times beautiful. Like an authentic painting, pretty and original, simple but interesting.

It's mesmerising really. Once she starts focusing on the sky, she would feel tired, sleepy, like her body was there but her consciousness isn't. And on rare occasions, she would fall asleep on the grass. It was that mesmerising.

This, and along with some others, are the usual for her star watching hobby: she would go to a certain spot in the forest (she'll tell you how she found it some other time), somewhere she knows that is somewhat safe from any danger, and a place where there's less trees, thus allowing her to see the sky clearly. It's pure luck that she found the spot in the first place.

She closed her eyes, tempted to just sleep there, take a little nap. It wouldn't hurt anyone, right? She had intended to do it, when out of nowhere, she heard a familiar voice. A voice that she did not expect to hear when she first entered the forest.

"Amity? What are you doing here?" a familiar, confused, voice asked. The voice sounded like it came from somewhere close, so she quickly turned around to find the source of the sound.

Oh, it's just Luz. No need to worry— hold on, it's Luz. Oh no, Amity's not ready to meet her like this. She's wearing a shirt that has a bunny print for Titan's sake! (But to be fair, it's her favourite shirt, of course she'll wear it out to see the stars. Why wouldn't she?)

She swiftly sat up, straighten her back, her drowsiness forgotten in the process. "Luz? What are you doing here?"

"Um, well..." Luz fluffed the back of her hair, a habit caused by nervousness as Amity had observed, "I, uh, couldn't sleep. Yup, couldn't sleep. What about you?"

Even Amity's tired self could tell that Luz was trying to change the subject, but she let it be anyway. That doesn't mean that she isn't flustered at the sudden presence of her crush though.

"I, well, I... Don't laugh, alright?" Amity was certain that Luz wouldn't laugh at her for her boring interest in watching the stars, she was too nice to do that, but her mind was barely working at that point, everything she did was on pure adrenaline. Not fully comprehending anything but just enough to understand what's going on.

"Okay?" Luz questioned rather than answered. She wore a confuse expression, which was understandable in her opinion.

Amity took a deep breath, trying to be ready to face whatever response she's going to receive. "I... I came out here to watch the stars," she said in a quiet voice, she cringed at how weak she sounded. (A Blight is never weak. But a Blight doesn't exactly find themselves indulging in a "boring" activity either.)

"Oh, so you were stargazing?" Luz asked, looking up at the sky, "Huh, what do you know? It does look beautiful up there."

"Stargazing?" Amity echoed. She was saying it right, right? Stargazing? Was that the word for what she was doing for the past few months? She guess the activity was a common thing for humans then. Interesting.

"Yup, stargazing. Wait, is that not a thing here?" Luz asked.

Amity shook her head. "No. Or at least, it isn't common enough to have a word for it." "Stargazing, sounds simple but nice."

"Well, it should be," Luz responded as she got closer to her friend, "Stargazing is one of my favourite hobbies! It's really refreshing after a long day. I didn't know you like it too."

"I do," Amity nodded her head to emphasis her point. The earlier drowsiness was coming back to her, "It's also one of my favourite hobbies. It's very... peaceful."

Luz nodded her head in agreement. "Mhmm, true on that... Mind if I join you?" she asked, gesturing to the empty spot next to Amity. (But honestly, everywhere was an empty spot since it's a forest.)

Amity, flustered and running on adrenaline, stuttered in response, "Huh?... O—Oh! Um, sure! Of course! The ground is free after all! Hahaha..."

"The ground is free? Smooth Amity. As smooth as Abomination goop," she mentally slapped herself at her stuttering mess.

Either Luz was too nice to question her strange stuttering, or she was too dense to figure out why, because she seemed to ignore it. "Great, thanks!"

She sat down on the ground, next to Amity, really close to Amity. She looked up at the sky, focusing on the beautiful scenery above her while Amity focuses on her friend/crush.

The two of them fell into comfortable silence, both too tired to start a conversation, but they didn't have to.

One was gazing at the stars, the other was gazing at the other. One in awe, the other in love.

And of course, that moment was interrupted. But unlike other times, it was in a good way. For better or for worse.

"Hey, I see the Big Dipper!" Luz exclaimed, pointing to a direction in the sky. Amity looked towards the direction, and was completely lost on what she was suppose to be looking at.

"Um, what's a Big Dipper?" Amity asked. She figured, maybe it was a human thing, but then again, she's curious.

"Ah, right, stargazing isn't common," Luz said, more or less to herself than to Amity. She pointed at the same direction. "A Big Dipper is a constellation, you know what that is right?"

Amity nodded her head. She read something about this in the book about humans (don't ask why she read it in the first place) a while ago. "It's basically patterns in the sky right?"

"Close enough," Luz then went on to explain, "It's more like, hmm... It's like, a group of visible stars forming an outline of, well, anything really."

"Like what?" Amity inquired, tilting her head as a habit of curiosity.

"It could be an animal, or some kind of mythological creature or person, or an inanimate object," Luz explained, "They usually have different meanings, most are from mythology."

"Wait, are constant— constila— constal—" Amity struggled. In her defense, it's her first time saying the word out loud to someone else. Pronouncing something right for the first time is hard.

"Constellations," Luz corrected.

"Con-stell-ations, right. So, do con-stell-ations existed even in the early ages of human evolution?" Amity asked, slowly pronouncing the newly learned word "constellations". Her natural curiosity was getting the better of her. Plus, she just wants to hear Luz talk, but that was more of a bonus.

"Pretty sure, but I think more and more got discovered over time," Luz replied. She pointed at the constellation again ("Big Dipper, wasn't it?"), tracing it. "Look, there's the handle, then there's the little scoop thing. Can you see it?"

Amity mindlessly shifted closer to Luz, trying to see what she saw. "...I think I do."

"That's good enough," Luz smiled. And even though it was dark, Amity felt herself blush at the sight. But then, out of the blue, Luz said, "...I like the Moon the most."

"Huh, why?" Amity herself didn't particularly like the Moon, rather, she liked the stars the most. But it never cross her mind that Luz liked the Moon more. (But then again, she was assuming things again. She shouldn't assume in the first place.)

"I don't know, it's just... pretty, ya know?" Luz shrugged. Amity noticed how she fluffed her hair.

Immediately getting the sign of "I don't want to talk about it any deeper", she changed the spotlight. "Personally, I like the stars more."

"Why is that?" Luz asked in a softer tone. She was probably sleepy, it was almost one in the morning after all. They were fortunate that the next day was a weekend.

"Hmm," Amity tried to think of a good response, but it's difficult when your mind went blank since forever ago. After a moment, she finally replied, "Well, first of all, they're pretty."

"Don't use the same word I used," Luz teased.

"I use what I want to use," Amity retorted, malice could not be found in her words.

"True, after all, words are free. Right?" Luz grinned.

Amity felt her face flushing. "Shut up," she said in a playful tone rather than a malice one.

"Never!" Luz exclaimed before giggling, which made Amity break into a giggle as well.

At that moment, Amity felt like the stress from earlier the day just evaporated. She can't believe that it was actually that easy. She figured that Luz just had that effect on her. It's amazing, and terrifying.

After a minute of giggling while lying on the soft grass, they came to a slow stop, focusing their gaze onto the stars.

Amity's thoughts were turning. The more she thinks about the sky, specifically the star and Moon, the more, in lack of a better word, familiar she feels. But she doesn't exactly know why.

"...You're like the stars," Amity thought out loud. Even though she had practically muttered it, Luz was close enough to hear her.

"Huh?" Luz looked at Amity, which made the latter realised that she thought out loud.

Amity was flustered. "I—I mean, um, well, I just..." Think, Blight, think of an excuse. "Just, well, metaphorically speaking, you're like the stars."

She winced at herself, thinking that she sounded too much dork, but when she see the expression on Luz's face (who was finding her statement intriguing), she blushed more.

"How so?" Luz asked, looking at her with an expression that makes her heart flutter. She unconsciously leaned closer towards Amity, a thing she always does when she's intrigued or curious by something or someone.

That action took Amity by surprise, causing her to be extremely flushed. She avoided eye contact with her crush. "Well, I mean, stars are bright, you are bright, so, um, yeah."

The response seemed to got Luz thinking, because she backed off and looked up at the stars, seemingly deep in thought. Amity felt her heartbeat slowing down.

After a while of tense silence, or at least it was tense to Amity, Luz finally seemed to concluded whatever thoughts she had. "I think you're like the Moon."

Now, it's Amity's turn to be curious. "W—What do you mean by that?"

"Well, and no offense or anything, but the Moon gives off an elegant aura, like, something that's majestic and untouchable. Like something to be jealous of," Luz demonstrated as she raised her hand up, like she's trying to touch the Moon, "But it could also be lonely being the Moon, right? As majestic and elegant as it is, it could be lonely being surrounded by only stars, right?"

Luz spoke with such softness, it makes Amity wonder if it's her vibrant, typically loud, human. But she knew that it's her Luz, because when she looked at her in the eye, she could sense the warmth within it, as well as sadness. Weird, maybe she was too tired to see properly.

Not to mention, the sudden description of the Moon gave her shivers. What does Luz mean by that? And what does she mean by her being the Moon?

"I... I don't understand," Amity admitted. Her tired mind could barely wrap around the metaphor, and she herself did not want to believe that Luz knew something she never told others. Something she hid from everyone else, in fear of being judged and mocked at. Something she hates about herself, for being so weak, for being so pathetic, for being so scared of it, for being so needy of the thing that she has never truly had. For being unlike of a Blight, for being a failure of a Blight, for being a phoney.

Luz looked at her with her usual warm brown eyes, but something is different, Amity senses. There was another emotion that swirl within the usual warmness of her eyes, she couldn't tell what it was though. But she knows that it bothers her.

"...Look at the stars, then look at the Moon, do you notice anything different between the two?" Luz pointed at the stars and Moon respectively. Amity still felt bothered, but she didn't know why. She felt slightly uncomfortable.

Nonetheless, she tried understanding what Luz meant. The stars, in comparison with the Moon, they're... smaller? Is that it? The sizes? Can't be it, it seems to simple to be it... But maybe it is?

"Um, the Moon is bigger, and the stars are smaller. Is that it?" Amity asked, confusion only grew as time went on.

"Hmm, well, sure, you can put it that way," Luz responded, "But there's more to it than sizes. See, while the Moon is by itself, the stars are together. Separated, but together. No one is left out, cause they all seem the same from afar."

"—And the Moon is alone, surrounded by others who have someone else." It was an oh moment for Amity. Despite her tiredness, the metaphor of Luz's clicked inside her mind.

"Yup," Luz chuckled. "While the Moon seem majestic and beautiful, it's also lonely. Even in a sky full of stars."

Amity was impressed, in all honesty. She never knew that Luz could be... like this. It's very unlike her, very different from her usual cheery self, it's somewhat disturbing but interesting at the same time.

Though, Amity can't deny it, Luz did have a point. A really frightening, terrifying point. A point that hit too close to home for her.

Thus, she needed to make sure. To make sure that Luz didn't know and was just saying random things that held no specific meaning. That her crush didn't know of her feelings of being lonely, even in a room full of others. ("It's also lonely. Even in a sky full of stars," her voice rang through her memory even now.)

"W—Why are you telling me this?" Amity asked. Her voice betrayed her.

Luz looked at Amity with the same eyes as before, but this time, it held empathy, like she herself had went through the feeling of being lonely. The feeling of being by yourself.

"It can't be though, Luz makes tons of good friends here. She wouldn't know... Would she?" One could say that Amity was in denial, but can one blame her? She didn't want to believe that her crush, her first ever true friend, the person who brought back the real Amity, who knew that she isn't just a Blight and thus treating her as such, to ever felt the pains of feeling lonely.

But alas, reality is often disappointing. Reality is often harsh, and the truth would often crush a person. Amity felt the weight of this when Luz gave her a weak smile and said, "Because I know what it feels like to be alone."

Amity felt herself blankly blinking, her mind not cooperating with her to comprehend the confession. Then when it did, she felt shocked.

"What? How?" Amity asked, wanting to know. How, in Titan's dead remains, did Luz feel lonely?

Luz gave a small, soft, smile. It made Amity feel conflicted. "Before I came here, I had no friends in the Human Realm. Everyone either disliked me, ignored me, or hated me. I felt like I didn't belong, I felt alone without actually being alone. But I never really thought anything of it, so what if I don't have friends? Better than having fake ones that would stab you behind the back whenever the opportunity is given. So what if my mom is rarely home because of work? At least I still have my art, books and animes to distract me. I believe that, I want to believe that, but at the same time, it's impossible to not feel sad about it. I would have thoughts like: what would my life have been if I'm actually normal? If I blend into the crowd, or if I'm not myself, to put it in other words."

Luz hugged her knees, Amity felt sad, and anger. Who in their right mind have the audacity to hate this lovable girl right in front of her?! If she ever finds them, she'll burn them alive.

But they aren't here. They're very likely in the Human Realm, and Amity can't help. She feels useless.

But Luz wasn't done. "I try and think positive most of the time, but thoughts like those would always leak out, especially when I'm alone or trying to sleep. That's why I'm out here, actually, and that's also why I like the Moon so much. It somewhat reminds me of me, lonely in a sky full of stars, the only nearest, visible planet to the naked eye in a sky full of tinier, brighter, things. And I can't help but feel like... And sorry if I'm wrong, but I can't help but feel that you know that feeling too."

Amity felt shell shock. A million thoughts went through her mind, feelings of anger, sadness, helplessness, swirl within her.

"I... I—I, um," Amity figured that, if Luz could trust her with all... this, then Amity could too. She responded, in a small, awkward, voice, "Yeah, I do too. And I'm sorry for what you experienced and felt. That must be terrible for you."

Luz laid on the grass, "It is, it really sucks. Feeling lonely sucks, but what can you do, huh?"

"..." Amity felt the need to tell her experience too. So by pure adrenaline, she laid on the grass next to Luz and said, "For me, I grew up with a lot of different people. But all of them share one trait, they're all bad people. Witches who think that they're the perfect, flawless main character, so they often do things and think that they could get away with it just because they're wealthy and flawless, or because no one told them that they're wrong."

Amity took deep breaths, preparing herself for the more difficult parts. "My parents would often tell me to befriend these sorts of people. They say it's because it's "beneficial to the Blight name", but you know what? I hate it. I hate being a Blight, it's way too stressful than it needs to be— sorry, off topic."

She noticed Luz giving her a sympathetic expression, but she didn't say anything. That allowed her to continue.

"Anyway, that's how I befriended Boscha and Skara. That's also how I unfriended Willow, which is my most regretful decision I ever made. And you know how I ended up making that decision," Luz nodded, "So yeah, I'm friends with Boscha and the others, but sometimes, I don't really feel like I'm friends with them. It's complicated, so I won't go in detail, but in short: I feel uncomfortable with them, which I'm pretty sure isn't a friend thing."

Amity shifted her body to face Luz, who was lying very close to her, and making an expression that could warm the coldest of hearts. But oddly enough, she wasn't awfully flustered. The sleepiness was making her bold.

"But with you? I feel like I'm flying. I feel completed, and I never felt completed before. I feel comfortable, I feel like I can be myself without any worries, I feel happy. Really happy. And that's thanks to you," Amity gave one of her most genuine smiles she ever made, "I don't feel alone anymore, and you shouldn't too. Because you have the Owl Lady, you have that little demon, Willow, Gus, even that annoying owl demon, and... well, me."

Luz seemed to be tearing up, touched that someone was actually comforting her. Amity continued, "Luz, I'm very grateful for you being in my life. Even though I was initially mean to you, you still tried to become my friend. And it ended up working, and I'm forever thankful that it did. Luz, I... I like you. I really do. So thank you, for being in my life and changing it for the better."

Luz seemed to be silent for a while, her eyes widen, teary, but widen, as if she was surprised and shocked. In hindsight, she may be. Amity felt nervous, the words from her confession coming to her, slowly comprehending what she had just admitted.

"I... don't really know how to respond," Luz admitted, chuckling from nervousness, "But, thanks. I... really like you too. And to tell you the truth, the Boiling Isles changed me too. For the better, and you're apart of the reason why, so I thank you too, Amity."

The two fell into a comfortable silence once again, but this time, it felt more comfortable. The sounds of night critters from afar surrounded them, but it was relaxing.

And as much as Amity was thankful that Luz didn't question about her basically confessing her love, it also pains her. "Next time, Amity. Next time. Now though? Enjoy the sky, both of us need it."

(After that day, stargazing just became even more enjoyable than before.)


Author's Note: I am really sorry for the long wait, inspiration is hard, as well as motivation and time. Plus, time has never really been my friend. So, here's a long chapter as compensation. Hopefully the next update isn't as late as this one, no promises though. Okay, have a nice rest of your day, peace.

(Also, I don't know how to name this chapter better. Oop.)