Loyalty & Light

by BlehBluhBlah

"You and me, hermana... always." Ever since the Noceda sisters were kids, Lealtad had one thing in mind, and one thing only: protect her little sister's smile. Follow through a journey of The Owl House, as canon events unfold with Luz's big sister watching over her. Can Lealtad keep her sister grounded in her true home? Or will she lose her to this new world's fantastical themes?

8. Lost in Language

A/N: Behold! The longest chapter yet! This introduces many important themes and ideas for the whole concept of L&L I had to get into this deeply. There's many reasons why it's so long, and hopefully you'll soon get why.

I guess be warned? This chapter includes a LOT of cussing. (I'll give ya guess as to who the culprit is).

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Chapter Summary: Another Eda chore leads Lealtad and Luz to a familiar home turf to the older Noceda: the library. But after they make fast friends with two troublemakers, a whole slew of shenanigans ensue!

Word Count: 19,085

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Lost in Language

The crackling sounds of eggs on an open pan was something of a nostalgic echo in Lealtad's mind. Making breakfast—brunch, actually, as they all slept in—wasn't exactly something Leal aspired to do today. But she had been meaning to make up for the moonlight conjuring incident a couple days ago and after hearing Eda grumble about having to get a late meal up and cooking, instinct carried her over to the kitchen before the witch. She had yet to learn how to cook griffin eggs after all.

Yet it turned out, cooking griffin eggs wasn't at all too dissimilar to making scrambled eggs. Leal supposed scrambled eggs were scrambled eggs no matter what dimension you were in. Eda had mainly sat nearby, sipping her apple blood with periodic check-ins but overall, gave Lealtad glowing encouragement. She showed her how to slice Bitter Biter Bread without getting bit, and how to toast it on a pan. She showed her how to carefully salt the eggs just a tad and how to stir them into a perfect hard scrambled mix. And it was all honestly… exciting?

"Wow, not bad, Bean Head," Leal spared a quick glance over her shoulder, smiling in response toward the witch beaming proudly at her, "you got a real knack for this!"

"I hope so!" She chuckled. "Otherwise our mamá leaving me in charge of Luz's lunches would be poor oversight on her part."

Eda tilted her head. "You often make a lot of her meals?"

"No, not really," Lealtad shook her head before returning her attention to the pan. She inspected the eggs with her spatula once more, noting they were now ready. "Mamá knows a lot more recipes and meals. I only know a bit of the smaller stuff. Snacks, quick breakfasts, niche treats and sides, but nothing completely filling." She placed the last of the eggs on the plate. "I don't think I've ever cooked a full brunch like this before," she said as she looked at the array of toasted bread and scrambled eggs over at the kitchen table.

"Well, for a brunch novice," Eda smirked, gesturing to the table, "you did a pretty solid job."

Lealtad felt her ears reddened at that, causing her to pull her beanie down a bit before taking the plate of eggs toward the table. Her temporary teacher did her a favour by turning off the burners—courtesy of using her magic to remove the flames from the fire pits beneath. Something about cooking with Eda… it was nice. Surprisingly.

But that familiar pit in her stomach dropped again and she felt weird.

Deciding to distract herself, she gestured to the table, "So, how 'bout we get eating?"

Eda clicked her teeth as she shot Leal a set of finger guns. "Go get your sister and King," she told her, "I'll prep the plates."

She snorted. "Oh gladly. Last I heard, she was re-reading Azura again and King got hooked." Eda chuckled as she shook her head goodnaturedly. "Anything to silence that spiel once more!" Leal mused, heading toward the hall.

"Hey guys!" Luz shouted, storming into the room with a basket in hand and King in tow. Lealtad stepped to the side in surprise as the two darted toward the table. "Look what came at the door!" She brushed aside Leal's plates of food to the corners of the table, making room for King and the basket.

"Oooh, num num, time!" King excitedly cheered, grabbing his big from his chair.

"Eda, you got a package!" Luz explained as she set it down. "It looks like a gift basket."

"¡Oye! You know I just cooked that right?" Leal deadpanned, pointing at the table.

Luz sheepishly smiled before turning back to Eda who remarked, "Probably an offering." She stated in her smug tone, "Ah, being the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles has its perks."

King went for the basket, pulling the cloth back and revealing… a baby?

"¡Qué diablos!" Leal exclaimed, rushing to the table. "Is that a baby?"

"Mmm," King rubbed his hands together, "fresh meat!"

"Nope, not eating that," Luz cringed, shielding her eyes with her hands as she walked away from the table.

"Man, I cook a perfectly good brunch for y'all and you ruin it by getting yourself a baby," Lealtad sarcastically complained, lifting a plate of eggs.

"Ah, don't worry 'bout it, Bean Head," Eda dismissed. "Witches eating babies is so 1693." She rolled her eyes. "What is this?"

"So… you did eat babies?" Leal asked.

"There's a note," King pointed out, pulling off said paper. "'Take care of my child 'til morning. Yi yi'?"

"Nope! Babies are awful!" Eda motioned two thumbs down. "Not happening," she added as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Lealtad raised a finger. "No seriously—did you guys used to eat babies?"

"'You will be handsomely rewarded," King read on, "XOXOXOX, Bat Queen.'"

Eda's head turned in interest as King rooted through the basket. "Bat Queen?" she echoed whilst King brandished a couple of gold coins. "Reward?" she excitedly said, staring at said money.

"Who's the Bat Queen?" Luz asked with a mouthful of hard scrambled eggs as she set down her plate.

"Don't chew with your mouth open," her older sister chided. She turned back to the basket. "And who leaves their baby with gold coins?"

"Only the wealthiest demon on the Boiling Isles!" Eda eagerly explained. "Get in with her and you're set for life," she said as she picked up a coin from King's palm, inspecting it with a grin. "So, we keep this thing alive for a few hours and we get paid?" She flipped the coin in her hand. "Pfft, easy!" she commented.

"Our greatest adventure yet!" Luz clasped her hands together as she adorably looked to the ceiling. "Learning about love and life through a child's eyes."

"Some of us could still use some learning," Lealtad teased, quirking a brow at her.

Luz pouted back.

Eda pointed at Luz. "Uh-uh, not you. You have to return the books I checked out from the library." She drew a spell circle and summoned a stack of books over Luz's shoulder, prompting her to catch them. "And I doubt I even have to ask Leal to go with you," she amusedly said.

Leal scoffed as she went over to her seat, picking up her bat and slinging her brown messenger bag over her right shoulder. "Aw, you know me so well," she dryly remarked, digging through her bag for her camera. She wrapped the straps around her neck and rested her bat on her left shoulder, jutting out her hip. "You sure you know how to watch a baby?" she skeptically asked.

"Of course! Now skedaddle!" Eda waved them off, Luz was already opening the door while Lealtad began trailing behind. "I don't want them getting a cut of the loot," Eda whispered to King.

"Good thinking!" King agreed.

"Really?" Leal frowned. "After I made you brunch?"

"Ah relax, Bean Head," Eda smiled, "we'll save you some!"

"Of the food or the gold?" she cocked her head.

Eda simply just clicked her teeth and winked.

She shook her head, pulling the door for Luz as her sister walked out. "Talk about ungrateful," she jokingly muttered.

Luz smiled. "Aww, Leal, I liked the brunch you made!"

She was about to thank her sister, until the most piercing screech echoed throughout the house, making Leal wince. She and Luz looked at the source, realizing the bat baby was the culprit, they exchanged a look of pain before taking a step back.

"On second thought we could maybe use your help!" Eda shouted, covering her ears.

"Well, we better get to the library," Luz shouted as she backed out, "Go to go! Bye!"

"Lealtad, I'll give you a cut too!" Eda desperately pleaded.

She cupped a hand around her ear. "What's that? Can't hear you! Books are too loud!" she shouted before shutting the door.

Needless to say, she didn't think this time her and Luz were stuck with such a terrible job. After all, libraries were some of the coolest places in all of existence. She hoped that went double for a Boiling Isles style library.

::TITLE OPENING::

Lealtad swallowed the last bite of her ham-bug-er before wiping her hands with some of her cleanwipes. "You sure you don't want me to carry that?" she asked Luz, who seemed to have trouble finding her footing and carrying the stack of books.

"Nah, I'm fine," Luz dismissed while she adjusted her grip, "Besides, you didn't have brunch so the least I could do was let you eat."

She chuckled, throwing her cleanwipe into a trash can they passed by. "Fair point, but I'm finished now. Sooo…" she prompted Luz, holding out her hand.

She shook her head, still determined.

Leal rolled her eyes. "You know I have books in this bag of mine, right?" she pointed at said bag with a raised brow. "Plenty room to spare! I can at least put some in here."

"Leal, I told you, I'm fine!" Luz asserted. "And… I… wow," she uttered wondrously, eyes darting ahead.

Lealtad looked over and whistled at the sight before them. "Now that's a library," she muttered, already readying her camera. "You're right, Sunshine, you can hold 'em," she said as she crouched down, looking through her viewfinder, "I gotta snap a few."

"Gee, I'm glad you came around on that," her sister sarcastically quipped.

"Ah relax, I'll take some with you too," Lealtad offered. "Heck, you with those books—it'll actually look kinda cool!"

Luz agreed, patiently waiting to the side as her older sister worked her magic.

The library was like a cathedral. And in the most nerdy way possible, Lealtad honestly thought that was how libraries felt. It was like a monument to literature. Stained glass windows, a large purple-brown domed roof with pointed stone pyramids in each corner. The salmon walls were accented with beige-ish brown pillars in each corner, as well as purple stained windows. The highlighted trims of nearly every step and stone wall gave a glimmer of a gold shine, and almost made Lealtad have to refocus some of her shots because of their glares.

Needless to say, these might've been some of her favourite shots.

"Alright, get in there, hermana," she nodded on, prompting Luz to walk ahead. "Uhhh stop!" she ordered, looking through her viewfinder. "Okay, good, good, now put the stack on the ground."

Luz gasped. "Lealtad? Saying I should just dirty a book with the dirty ground? Oh how scandalous," she teased.

She stared at her with deadpan. "The ground's not that dirty and Eda already stained some of 'em with coffee grounds, grass, and what I'm hoping is apple blood!" she shouted back. "Now lean up against the books!" At her suggestion, Luz obeyed and Leal snapped a few more pictures. "Oh! Pick one up and pretend you're reading it—yes, like that!" she encouraged, capturing more.

The shot of Luz sitting on a stack of books, shyly smiling at the book in her hands made Lealtad giggle.

"How's it feel to read something not Azura for once?"

Luz flushed as she picked up the stack, turning her head. "I read other books sometimes!" she grumbled, stomping ahead.

Lealtad laughed, running after her sister.

The doors were left open courtesy of the last visitor holding it open for them, a giant fellow with a manic wide grin and four eyes, and after bidding him a quick thanks Lealtad's awe exceeded upon entering. The inside was ten times more amazing than the outside (much like books!) and revealed a massive hall within. The walls were shelves filled with books and fancy lanterns protruding from each pillar between each shelf. To the right of the entrance, stood a semi-circle front desk with a witch at the counter. He had gray hair and glasses, as well as a black robe, and a red sweater underneath. That getup alone screamed librarian.

Instinct told Lealtad to power on her camera once more but she figured asking the worker permission to photograph would be a polite gesture. The library she worked at in Gravesfield had a policy about photography being allowed so long as a librarian granted them permission. Something like covention differed from a place like this, so the eager photographer held her excitement as she and Luz approached the desk.

Though before they even arrived, the books stacked in Luz's hands illuminated green. They all leviated out of her hands and over to the receptionist. They each flew one by one through a red spell circle with a label attached reading, LATE. At each pass, the man stated, "Late." At the final book, he caught it and inspected the stains, making Leal wince.

"Coffee, grass, and bloodstains?" he tiredly observed, rubbing his fingers against the residue. He put the book away as he placed his hands behind his back. "These are Eda's, aren't they?"

"Heh, that was a crazy night," Luz shyly supplied.

Lealtad scoffed. "Sure, if reading outside at night with Hooty just existing is enough to warrant 'crazy'," she dryly said with finger quotes. That night happened a few days before the moonlight conjuring incident and was actually a rather dull one, as Leal was outside by herself reading and Luz suggested they all join her in reading. Which then prompted Eda to bring out her books and supply them for everyone. King pretended to read, Eda fell asleep on her stack, and Luz excitedly tried to learn how to animate food while Leal stuck with her To Kill a Mockingbird.

It was a rather dull night, until Hooty saw a bug near Luz's feet and that was the last thing anyone remembered.

Still, feeling partly responsible—since the actual owner of these books wasn't present—Leal stepped forward, digging into her pocket. "Erm, uh, for the damages—if there's a fee—I can pay for it?" she offered, tucking her bat between her armpit as she rummaged through her Ace Pride wallet.

Eda's allowance of snails wasn't exactly vast, as she was still a cheapskate, but Leal had still been mindful of saving a good portion just in case.

The receptionist simply held up his hand. "No matter." He sighed. "I'll put them on her tab," he explained, defeat laced within his expression. His tone gave the impression that this was a lost battle long before their arrival in this realm, leaving Leal to put her wallet away. He summoned a scroll and began writing in the books' titles. "By the way, we're closing early for the Wailing Star meteor shower." He pointed at the poster near his desk before continuing his writing.

The two Nocedas looked over at the poster. It was a simple graphic of a night forest sky with a cartoonishly drawn shooting star centered on the poster. It had a crying face drawn onto the shape with big cursive like writing above stating, Wailing Star.

"Ooh. What's that?" Luz excitedly asked, placing her hands on the desk.

"You're in a library." He gestured around them with his pencil. "Read a book," he deadpanned.

"I am in a library," Luz stated before rushing off, "I will read a book!"

"Shh!" the librarian hissed.

Leal sheepishly apologized, "Sorry about her—just really excitable." He gave an uninterested grunt, making her awkwardly chuckle. "So, um, I have a camera?" she mentioned, shaking said device in her hand, "Is there a policy about photography here or—"

"Please no flash photography, especially around the demon decimal systems, they're light sensitive," he monotonously answered as he turned back to the returned books stacked behind him. "Aside from that, be mindful of taking photos of other visitors without consent."

Lealtad eagerly nodded. "Noted. Thank you," she hastily said before turning back.

Though she knew her flash was off, caution and worry clouded her logic and prompted her to double check anyways. And of course, it was off, but it was better safe than sorry! With that out of the way, Lealtad ran back toward the entrance and began capturing the surrounding area. From the first look inside the hall, to the stack of shelves tucked into the walls and even the ceiling itself. Excitement coursed through her with each shot as she moved through the library.

She took back her earlier thought. These were her favourite shots.

Though her sense of responsibility returned as Lealtad decided looking for Luz was a good idea. Both for the premise to make sure she wasn't alone, and that she wanted to take some photos of her with this great scenery. Following where she last saw her run off, a familiar calm struck Leal as she roamed the corridors and shelves. It was like being back at home.

Right as she rounded a corner, she caught Luz on the floor with a puddle of papers all over her face and the floor. "Luz!" she exclaimed, rushing over. "What happen—" her gaze found the demonic eyes and mouths of drawer-like storage just before Luz's feet and made her frown. Her eyes went up toward the sign and she sighed. "So this is the demon decimal system," she stated.

"Uhh, a little help?"

She looked back at Luz, who began pushing herself up, holding an expectant hand out. "Got any paper cuts?" Leal dryly asked.

"Uhh, no?"

"Then I'm good." At Luz's gasp she smugly grinned, "It's your mess." Raising her camera to her eye, she snapped the picture before Luz could take a swipe at her. She stepped off to the side, laughing as Luz shed herself of the blank pieces of paper.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself," her sister grumpily commented.

"Of course I am!" Leal replied, gesturing around them, "I'm in a library and I get to take photos!"

Luz's annoyance quickly faded as she smiled knowingly at Lealtad. "You feeling nostalgic?"

Leal cocked her head. "How so?" She snorted. "Don't recall ever living anywhere with demon decimal systems, Sunshine." She jerked her thumb over at said demon drawers.

Her sister rolled her eyes. "I mean about being in a library!" she lightly smacked Leal's arm, clicking her teeth. "You know that!"

She shrugged, turning around as she looked at the section they were in. History. "Libraries seem to be libraries anywhere you go," she softly said, observing the book's decimal system labelled at the bottom of their spines. She took a whiff, and pardoning the Boiling Isles smell, felt a wave of joy surge through as the scent of books—old and new—passed into her nose. "Books are always books, no matter the dimension."

Luz chuckled. "Gosh you're such a nerd," she teased.

Leal raised her bat, feigning a swipe which made Luz laugh more as she shielded her face with her hands. "You're one to talk, Azura fangirl," she sniped back.

"I wear that like a badge though," Luz confidently countered as they emerged from the shelves and out under a pillar archway. They simultaneously gasped in awe as they watched the flying books levitating above, just near the railing of the second level. Within seconds, Lealtad began taking pictures of the flying books above, capturing all angles from where they stood.

It was very Harry Potter, but also not crazy cool. Typical fantasy magic stuff.

Which is something she didn't think she'd be casual about (she was really overexposed to this place).

"We definitely didn't have this back at the Gravesfield Library," Leal mused.

"I. Want. To. Ride. That," Luz eagerly said, shaking with joy.

Lealtad scoffed. "Not if I have something to say 'bout it." She elbowed Luz, shifting her attention back onto her. "You don't know if that might make them stop flying because of your weight or whatever, so I'd rather not watch you eat dirt from two stories."

She raised a brow. "Oh, but papers are okay?"

"In fairness," she raised her finger, still holding her bat's grip, "I wasn't there for that. I only saw the aftermath, which was hilarious." She dodged Luz's attempt at a slap. "The aftermath of falling from that height?" she pointed to the flying books. "Definitely seems more lethal."

Luz pouted. "Fine, fine, I won't." She raised a brow once again, "You think you'd consider working here?"

Leal blinked confusedly. "No? Why?"

"It's a library?" her sister obviously stated. But she seemed to recognize the strangeness of her reasoning and further explained, "I-I mean, you coming along this summer already costed you a summer's worth of pay from your old library job so—"

"Current job, and I get paid in American dollars with that one, not Snails," Leal corrected, pointing at her sister with her free hand. "Also, I'm still working there when we come back home," she reminded Luz. Her sister's smile seemed to falter a bit, but Leal went on to explain, "My boss knows my sitch and said three months without me there for the weekends and the odd Wednesdays was manageable, 'specially 'cause summer usually brings in more volunteers for community hours. The week we return: I'm back at the grind." She smiled, thinking about the excitement of returning back to Gravesfield Library.

Being in that atmosphere again, Lealtad couldn't wait for it.

"Ahh," Luz acknowdgingly nodded. Though her masking of her brief discomforted smile still burned in Leal's mind. What was that about? "B-But for the sake of it," she went on, "can you imagine yourself working here?"

Lealtad turned back at the shelves they just passed, pulling a random book out from the shelf. Demons and Their Homes, was the title. She tucked her bat between her armpit as she flipped through the book's front page. "I mean… I dunno." From a quick scan, it seemed all its language was also English. "It seems like the default language is English, like in Star Wars with Basic—"

"Nerd," Luz quietly coughed.

She shot her a glare, before returning to her reading. "Back in Gravesfield all I ever did was sort books and stand by if anyone needed help turning on a computer or finding a section. I also manned the reception desk like that dude back there but only when some of the staff was unavailable." She tilted her head, looking up at Luz. "Then there was the occasional reading group session too. But, again, I worked weekends and some weekdays so those were rare."

"Oh yeah," she snapped her fingers, "You read to kids right?"

Lealtad nodded, shutting the book as she slotted back in its spot (and yes she knew where because she understood the decimal system). "I don't know if anything like that is around here… or maybe it's a lot more similar than I realize." She shrugged, shouldering her bat once more. "This place is cool after all. Only way to find out is to explore."

Luz's excitement bubbled to a high once again. "Then let's go!"

The group of witches sitting nearby shushed her.

"Sorry," she quietly said.

Lealtad snorted ruffled Luz's hair. "C'mon, Sunshine, I'll teach you library etiquette while we roam around," she teased before walking off.

"I know library etiquette!" she shouted.

"Shhh!"

"Sorry…"

::::

Falling in love with a realm's library might've been the cheesiest and textbook nerdy thing Lealtad could've done, but she couldn't help it. Gravesfield was a semi small town, and warranted a semi small library, but the Boiling Isles Library was amazing. She had long lost Luz to the depths of the world of books and knowledge as she got caught up in the Demons section. Part of her wondered why the history book she grabbed earlier wasn't in this section, but she understood it after she skimmed through a couple of the books.

Demons were much more complex than King let on during that Demon Day they had together. Granted, most of that day was just playing pretend and acting like big fun demons from King's book, but there were still some parts of an educational experience throughout. Leal learned a good amount about the kind of scary things out there in the wilds, but she also learned not every demon was as scary as she thought. But sifting through the texts of a library section? She was learning so much more.

The bipeds, bug, and beast divisions were the umbrella terms as the expansive knowledge of what they were was vast. She had been meaning to learn about the species that could swallow her up in one second or poison her with a single breath and this was barely fulfilling that gap. Lealtad was fascinated with all the facts and biology of demons, especially bipeds as they too possessed magical bile sacs like witches. King hadn't ever gotten around to explaining that fact, but Leal learned there were many different types that also coupled their magical techniques with their natural demon traits.

She would've stuck on it more, but she then wondered if she could find out what type of demon King was—as she realized he was a sort of confusing mix between the three classifications. Then she got lost in demon evolution (and a bit bored) and realized Luz was no longer nearby.

She sighed, knocking the back of her head against the bookshelf behind her. "Of course I nerd out and lose her. ¡Soy una idiota!" she groaned, slotting the book back where it belonged before searching after her sister.

Knowing Luz, she would've been attracted to the most eye-catching and thrilling Boiling Isles-esque things. She pondered on that thread as she looked around, observing the most unorthodox items and judging them on being Luz-worthy. Then she heard a dial-up sound. She followed the source to a section labelled Reference, where a line of crystal balls were available to a cluster of visitors—and like most libraries, were where a good portion of where the visitors roamed. She barely paid attention to the displays on the crystal balls as she caught Luz posing stiffly between two shelves.

"Sunshine, you good?" she amusedly asked.

Luz's face reddened as she laughed. "Uhh yup! Definitely was not pretending to be a book for no reason!" she quickly replied. Before Leal could even question her further Luz walked past her, toward the source of laughter in the nearby area. The small room ahead had Kid's Corner labelled above but also, a familiar voice within.

"—'friends and we wanna help,' said the Tin Boy with a yelp," the two Nocedas looked in—Luz creepily around the corner while Leal just stood out in the open—and were both surprised to find Amity sitting in front of a bunch of kids, reading aloud, "Otabin smiled and paced the floor. 'I've never had real friends before.'" Her tone and expressions were not too different to how Lealtad read to her kids back home, which gave her the impression she did this a lot.

"Amity reading to kids?" Luz said in shock.

"¡No me diga!" Leal exclaimed, amused at the sight. When she turned back to see her sister's reaction, she caught her making a move to sneak in. Leal quickly pulled her back, staring at her quizzically. "The Hell you doing?" she asked.

"Amity seems so… nice and smiley," she explained, gesturing at the girl.

Leal spared a glance before frowning. "So the twerp has a bit of a heart, huh?" She recognized the rising eagerness in Luz's face. She'd seen it plenty of times back home: over trips to the playground and in Comic Con events. She had seen it back when they first met Willow. It was the possibility of befriending someone. "The bookworm in me approves of such a cliché but I don't welcome it anywhere near you," she pointedly said.

"B-But maybe I can befriend her like Azura befriended her rival!" Luz suggested.

That made her roll her eyes. "I'm all for letting books and stories resonate with lessons, but Sunshine, that doesn't apply with people like her." She shot a scowl at the witch. "Bad people can be nice sometimes, but that doesn't give 'em a pass." When Luz pouted, she sighed. "She picks on Park and Porter, 'member? She picked on King! She picked on you." She pointed at her chest. Her sister's gaze slowly drew over to Amity, making Lealtad place her hand on her shoulder, sadly smiling down at her. "Sometimes there are people who just don't like you. And that's okay! Of course, I'm not talking about bigoted reasons but just personality wise in terms of clashing!"

"I know but—"

"Luz, hermana, not everyone will like you and that's okay," she softly said, shaking Luz's shoulder a bit. "You can't befriend everybody."

"What're you two doing here?" Amity's voice was suddenly nearby.

The two looked over, noticing the batch of kids run past them giggling as the two toned green haired girl scowled at them.

"Amity!" Luz greeted.

"Blight," Lealtad said curtly.

"Reading to kids—wow!" Luz pointed at her awkwardly. "Looks like this sour lemon drop has a hidden sweet center."

"It's for extra credit," she said as she turned around, walking back into the Kid's Corner. For some reason, Luz followed after her so Leal did too. "Don't get your leggings in a bunch." She walked over to the table, picking up a book on the floor along the way.

Lealtad snorted. "Of course not. Wouldn't expect you to do something out of the kindness of your heart anyways," she mused, earning an elbow to her stomach from Luz.

Luz turned back to Amity and walked up to her. "Hey, I could help with the kids," she offered. "We could take turns reading. And do voices! I do the best," she shifted into a robotic tone as she did the robot dance, "monster voice." Lealtad chuckled as she leaned up against the nearby shelf.

Amity slammed the book in her hand against the table and whipped around at Luz. "Human!" she shouted. "Do you see me going to the Owl Shack and bothering you while you… fry up owls?" Luz and Leal exchanged a confused look while Amity sighed. "Okay, I don't really know what you do there, but every time you come near me, I get in trouble." She pointed to herself. "Just leave me alone!"

"I'm sorry!" Luz backed away. "I'm sorry," she repeated as she turned around and walked off.

Lealtad noticed a slightly regretful look on the witch girl but ignored it, in favour of tending to Luz as they walked off. "See what I mean, ¿hermana? Some people just don't wanna be friends."

"Yeah," Luz bonked her head with her fist, "so much for befriending rivals."

"You gonna let her get to you like that?" a boy's voice suddenly appeared.

The two Noceda's looked toward the source and found a set of twins standing before them. Pale skinned witches with emerald green hair—a girl with long braided hair, and a boy with a fluffier mess that looked like a rain spell away from being considered bangs. Lealtad instantly noticed their attire was that of Hexside uniforms, with the standard cowl, as well as a familiar sky blue that she knew to be that of the Illusionist Coven. The boy had his arms crossed with a weird pink lunch bag in his hand as he leaned up against the bookshelf with a smug smile, while his sister had her hand on her hip and sweetly smiled at them.

"Who are you?" Luz asked.

"Well-wishers on a mission," the boy answered humbly as they approached. As they neared, Leal noticed the boy had a mole under his right eye while his counterpart had one under her left.

"A noble quest," the girl tacked on.

"Watch this." He cupped his free hand around his mouth and shouted toward Amity, "Hey Mittens!" The way Amity froze up at that made Lealtad's jaw drop. "Mom says stop forgetting your lunch," he held the lunch bag up as the witch returned. "And stop being a jerk to your friend."

Amity grunted as she snatched the bag out of his hand. "She is not my friend."

Luz deflated at that while Leal scoffed. To her surprise, the other twin sided up behind Luz, placing her hands around her. "Yeah, makes sense!" She smiled. "She seems too cool for you."

"I am?" Luz wondered.

Leal grinned. "Hells yeah you are!" she nodded.

"You can leave now!" Amity pointed at them. "All of you!" she shouted before walking away.

The older Noceda's grin grew more impishly as she cupped her free hand around her mouth. "It's a public library, Mittens!" She snickered as the girl flinched. The two twins laughed, with the boy sparing a wink at the two Nocedas. Lealtad snorted and elbowed Luz. "Pfft, Mittens?"

Luz's face was slightly red as she muttered, "Better than Sunshine."

Leal balked a bit. "Hey, what's wrong with Sunshine?" Her sister seemed reluctant to share, in favour of staring at the two newcomers before them. Her sister's faint blush was suddenly more noticeable to her now, which prompted Leal to do introductions for her. "So uh… I'm Leal, Lealtad Noceda." She jerked her thumb to her chest. She then elbowed Luz with her designated bat arm. "And this is my little sister, Luz."

"H-Hi," she shyly waved.

"Lealtad, huh?" the boy grinned. "That's a pretty name. I-I mean, a cool name. Pretty cool." He coughed.

His twin snorted as she shot the boy a smug look, whispering, "Smooth."

Leal pretended not to hear that as she just shrugged. "I mean, it's just a name." She nodded at them. "I'm assuming you guys have some of your own?"

The girl smirked as she gestured to herself. "I'm Emira. And this is Edric," she motioned to her brother. "We're Amity's older siblings."

Lealtad chuckled. "Yeah, kinda picked up on that."

"And you guys are the humans we've heard so much about," Edric said as he crossed his arms.

Emira mimicked her twin as she leaned in a bit. "We heard how you embarrassed her at the school and at the witch covention last week. No wonder she hates you."

"I know. B-But I didn't mean any of it!" Luz desperately urged. "I thought we were as cool as cucumbers. But we're as sour as pickles." She slapped her cheeks sadly as she frowned.

Lealtad rolled her eyes. "What about me, what's my profile with the lettuce head?"

Edric seemed to like that nickname as he snorted, quickly masking himself with a cough.

"She seemed scared of you," Emira noted, observing her bat resting on her shoulder, "Something about a club?"

Leal released a devilish grin as she twirled said bat for a moment. "Ahh, just what I thought." She shouldered it once again as she looked at Luz. "See, Sunshine? Girl's all talk, no spine," she waved off.

Luz frowned. "But that just shows that there's a way to get to her!"

Leal scoffed. "More like get under her skin," she muttered.

"Don't waste your time with Mittens," Emira said as she grabbed Luz's hand and Lealtad's wrist. "Me and Ed, we're way more fun. Follow us!" They broke into a light jog, smiling all the while.

Lealtad wagered these two weren't half bad. On the basis of Gus and Willow being a bit fun to be around, as well as these two clearly being somewhere near her age for once, she assumed they might make interesting company to say the least. It wasn't like they had anything else going on. So she let them lead them around. But after about thirty seconds of wandering, she had to ask, "Is getting lost, part of the fun?"

The two chuckled. "Relax, we know where we're going!" Edric replied.

"Yeah," Emira turned and smirked, "is patience not a human thing?"

Lealtad smirked, throwing a knowing glance at her sister. "For some of us? No."

Luz scowled back at her, playfully sticking her tongue out.

"Alright!" Edric chirped, clasping his hands together excitedly. "Check this out!" His sister held her hand up, halting the two as he ran up ahead and over to a pillar. He walked up to the chalkboard labelling the fiction and non-fiction sections, then rubbed his hand over the "non-" part. With a childish giggle, he retreated back to the three, and they all tucked into between the shelves.

She scoffed. "Really? There's no way—"

"And here we go towards our nonfiction section," a librarian announced, leading a small group. As soon as his three eyes caught the label, he released a gasp. "Fiction? Fiction?" he shouted, gesturing between the two. "Is our world but fiction? Then what in my life is real anymore?" he rambled on, falling to his knees before sobbing.

Luz and the Blights snickered while Lealtad rolled her eyes, offended at the witch's reaction. "Ahh c'mon!" her companions tried to shush her but she went on, "If you've got your own Dewey Decimal System you know where things go! Do you not even know—hey!" Luz grabbed her hand and dragged her away, following after the twins. She locked eyes with Luz's amused stare. "What! It's true. Guy shouldn't be a librarian if he can't manage without that."

Her sister merely rolled her eyes as the twins led them around.

While Leal had a bit of mixed feelings playing pranks within a library—as she had to deal with a myriad of students back in Gravesfield who had had similar fun—she also admitted it was kinda thrilling running around like this. Of course, she'd let kids and teens get away with most harmless, funny pranks if she ever caught them. She understood having fun after all. But how the concept of "pranking" translated across the Boiling Isles was a substantially higher degree.

In Gravesfield, kids would like to sneak up on Leal's book cart while she wasn't paying attention because she was sorting (and maybe also reading), and they'd swap books out to mess with her. On the Boiling Isles? Emira sought fun in using magic to rotate the same two books, leaving a poor librarian in an oblivious loop. But what really got Lealtad was when Edric swapped two librarians themselves! She fully laughed at the sheer befuddlement of the same librarian before, realizing he had ended up back in the fiction section, causing him to break into a fit of sobbing noce again.

The four quickly ran off, laughing amongst themselves.

"Dios mío, that was fucking hilarious," she chuckled, holding her hand up to Edric. His eyes lit up as he titled his head, confused. She gasped. "Oh right. That's a high five." As they slowed their pace she shook it at him, "Just slap it with your palm."

And he did.

His eyes widened. "Wow! That's cool!" He looked to his sister, who shot up a set of thumbs up, before looking back to Leal.

She snorted. "If you say so," she shrugged, smiling at his child-like awe.

"But hey, if you think that's hilarious," he grinned, "check this out!" He motioned her to follow as he rushed ahead, darting past his sister and Luz. Where he led them ended them back at the Demon Decimal System. Edric ducked away, presumably in search of something, while Emira drew up a spell circle and levitated 3 stacks of large books onto the floor. She sat down on the middle stack and patted the two vacant spots. Luz went forward without hesitation, sitting to Emira's left while Leal stayed and frowned a bit.

"C'mon, that might damage the books a bit," she lightly chided.

Emira smirked a bit. "Oh don't worry, these books are… enchanted, they can take some butt abuse."

On the one hand, the librarian in Leal was ready to protest, but on the other, hearing "butt abuse" was so absurdly hilarious she couldn't help but snort. "I don't think I've ever heard 'butt' and 'abuse' in one sentence before." She walked over, tapping her knuckles against her bat's grip. "But I'll still decline the reserved seating in respect of the health of the books."

"To each their own, I suppose," the witch shrugged with a sweet smile.

Edric then returned with a large book in his hands, brushing his finger against it to check for dust. After revealing a substantial amount on his fingers, he smirked and turned toward the drawers. Lealtad's eyes widened as soon as she saw Edric suck in a breath. She reached out to stop him, but it was all in vain as he blew out all his air. In an instant, the air was filled with dust and all the demons' eyes began to water as laboured gasps started to echo all around them. And as if on cue, the entire group sneezed at once, releasing a shower of papers into the room.

Admittedly, the sight of the paper rainfall was cool to see. She already knew Luz was all for it, as she already dashed into the cloud and danced around like it was falling snow, laughing along with the twins. The Blights exchanged a quick high five—Edric exclaiming how exhilarating such a gesture is while Emira laughed—but Lealtad cringed at the sight. But before she could even shout at them to clean up or to stop or something, a familiar voice called out at them:

"Hey!"

The excitement between the three halted instantly as they all looked toward the source. Amity and the librarian from the front desk were standing side by side, arms folded across their chests and expressions unamused. Leal's ears flamed red at the embarrassment of getting caught not just by the librarians, but by Amity. The librarian growled in irritation before confusedly glancing around. "Wait. Where's Gary?" he asked.

"Coming!" the three eyed sobbing librarian from before announced, darting toward the two. After sidling up beside the two his attention quickly flew to the four troublemakers, prompting him to collapse to his knees once again as he cried out, "Nooo!" And combust with a fit of sobbing.

Lealtad glanced at the twins, who seemed barely able to contain their laughter while Luz looked a bit sheepish. She honestly seemed amused by the Blights' poor attempt at looking apologetic. Instinct carried Leal over to the librarians and Amity as she remorsefully frowned. "I am sooo sorry for the mess! We-We can clean it up if you—"

The receptionist drew up a spell circle and suddenly the four of them were floating in the air, flying toward the entrance. Lealtad barely had time to comprehend a response as they were then dropped at the front door, thankfully landing on their feet. Their backs facing the librarians, they were then unceremoniously shoved out the door and out on the landing.

"You've made reading far too fun!" the librarian shouted, "Now stay out!"

Lealtad scoffed as the doors shut behind them. "Reading is always fun!" she shouted back, shaking her bat at the door.

Both Luz and the Blight twins giggled. "Solid burn, Leal," her little sister teased.

She shot her a small glare before fixating on the two witches. "Was that really necessary!"

Emira smirked as she crossed her arms. "It looked cool, didn't it?"

Lealtad sighed. "Sure but—"

"It's nothing they can't fix with a wave of their finger," Edric chimed in, mirroring his sibling.

"But that doesn't make it right," she shot back.

He grinned. "But Mittens is the one who'll have to clean it up."

Call her an insensitive hypocrite, but hearing that made Leal snort. That reaction spurred another round of laughter between the four teens. Emira slapped Leal's shoulder as she dropped the barrel of her bat to the ground, using it to brace herself from falling to the ground. The sight of Amity begrudgingly having to clean all that up was just a bit funny to her (so sue her).

Luz was the first to calm down, holding her stomach as she looked down and said, "Amity's even madder at me now." She slapped her cheek. "I didn't think that was possible."

"No, when Mittens gets mad, she looks like this," Edric pointed to his face. He then sucked in a huge amount of air before puffing his cheeks and turning his whole face red. He blew out his breath and nearly stumbled back a bit, grabbing his chest as he said, "Whoa, I almost passed out."

Lealtad snorted at his supposed imitation. "Dios mío, I'd pay to see that!" she giggled.

Edric grinned back at her as Emira crossed her arms once again, glancing between her and Luz. "You're pretty fun, humans." She spared a look toward her twin, sharing a nod before turning back to them. She leaned over and cupped her hand near her cheek as she quietly said, "So, hey, we're coming back tonight. There's a certain book we forgot to… check out." She folded her hand and rested her chin on it.

Her brother stepped forward, mirroring her pose exactly but lacking the same quietness as he added, "And bonus, rumor has it the Wailing Star's supposed to unlock some rare magical event." He looked to Lealtad. "You in, friends?"

Luz's eyes lit up. "Sur—"

"Hold it," Lealtad interjected, throwing them a knowing look. "This sounds a lot like trespassing and while I'm all for fun, I gotta ask if property damage is involved or not."

"Relax, Lealtad." Emira waved her hand dismissively. "All we're checking out is if this Wailing Star rumour is legit or not."

"And if it flops," her brother shrugged, "then we're just chilling in an empty library at night! No harm, no foul!"

She considered plenty of harm from the two, but also figured from what she had seen today: they weren't capable of severe property damage. And she did have to admit it was kinda fun goofing off. Much like their Hooty joyride—a bit of teen fun! In any case, what came out of her mouth next was either Lealtad convincing herself or just her trying to sound nonchalant. "Fine, but I'm coming just to make sure y'all don't blow up a book."

Emira snorted at that while her twin lit up.

"Great! Meet back here at midnight," Edric announced as he and his sister began to leave. They both threw a parting wave as he said, "See you guys!"

"Catch ya later," Leal shot a two fingered salute.

"Bye!" Luz waved. "This is great, Leal!" she turned to her, fists pushing against her cheeks excitedly. "First I befriend the siblings then I befriend the Amity!" She pumped her fisted to the sky and squealed, making Lealtad wince.

She rolled her eyes and elbowed her sister's shoulder. "I'd rather stop at the siblings." She smirked as she raised a teasing brow. "From where I'm standing they've managed to remove the sticks from up their—"

"La, la, la, la!" Luz shouted, plugging her ears with her fingers, before darting down the steps.

The older Noceda chuckled as she chased after her sister. Tonight was certainly going to be interesting…

::::

Lealtad suggested staying in Bonesborough for the rest of the afternoon but Luz wanted to head back to the Owl House to get her messenger bag and check up on Eda and King. Leal wasn't at all keen on reuniting with the screeching baby doll bat, but as they neared the clearing, the screeching had suddenly come to a halt. "Oh shit, maybe they ate the baby," Lealtad mused to herself. But then she recalled Eda has eaten live things before which made her frown with concern. "Oh Hell, I hope they didn't eat the baby."

"Pfft, you worry too much!"

She shot her sister a look. "And you worry too little."

"Hey, we had fun didn't we?" Luz smirked, waggling her brows.

Leal rolled her eyes. "Pequeña mierda," she muttered.

Her sister responded with a typical tongue out in turn, as per usual.

"Hello! Hoot, hoot!" Hooty greeted them as they arrived.

"Sup, door-bird," Leal nodded. "Mind letting us in?"

His eyes widened. "Would I!"

A pause hung in the air for a moment as Luz and Leal spared a glance. They shared a shrug before looking back at the house demon.

"Uhh," Luz blinked, "are we supposed to answer that or…"

"I would!" Hooty declared, whipping the door open for them.

Lealtad shook her head with a chuckle. "Thanks, Hooty."

"Not a problem!" he chirped.

Luz cheerily stepped in as she announced, "I just had the best day. Cool teens like me. Call me a library book 'cause they were checking me out!"

So that was why her sister was so giddy. "Not if I have something to say about it!" Leal quickly chimed in, stepping in just the doorway so as to leave Hooty an excuse to stay open. Though the sight Lealtad witnessed made her double take for a second. And no, it wasn't King wearing pillows around his head like earmuffs. It was Eda… rocking the baby. The bat baby was now curled up in her arms on the couch, sleeping soundly and softly—just like how they found them that morning.

Her sister cupped her hands together as she tilted her head in wonder. "Aw, Eda," she brought her hands to her chest, "you look so motherly."

"Yeah, Dama Búho, this is downright wholesome," Lealtad admitted with a smile. It kind of reminded her of the photos their mom had of holding her and Luz when they were little babies. It was… really sweet.

"Say that again and I steal your tongue," the witch monotonously threatened.

And the moment was now over.

"Awww," Luz scoffed as she walked over. "How can you say that around this cute little baby?" she said as she leaned over and poked the baby.

Leal's eyes widened as she saw the baby's eyes open.

Instead of the screeching scream she had expected, it first spewed out another smaller version of itself from its mouth which also did the same—like a Russian nesting doll of baby bats! Luz gasped as she backed away from the trio of bats that suddenly took flight? And if that wasn't enough, they began spitting fire from their mouths, setting the couch ablaze and forcing the three to flee.

The horrific sight before her honestly rendered Lealtad speechless for a couple seconds, but thankfully Luz had enough reason to dart toward the door and pick up her bag along the way, hurriedly stating, "Parenting sure looks rewarding. E‐Enjoy your life lessons. Bye!" She grabbed Leal's arm and pulled them out the door as Hooty slammed himself shut behind them. "Whew, that was a crisis averted." She took a step but stopped and stared at Leal. "Leal?"

Her older sister merely blinked and sighed. "Every time I think this place is out of nightmare fuel, it literally spits something else in front of me." She shivered as she walked on, shaking her head. "I will not be able to sleep tonight…"

"It's okay, I can't sleep most nights either!" Hooty shouted. "Byyyye!"

The two Nocedas bid an awkward farewell to the house demon before setting off to Bonesborough once again. Lealtad distracted herself with a few more glimpses into her camera gallery while Luz excitedly hummed to herself the Good Witch Azura's theme song from that one movie or whatever it was. It wasn't until they neared town and that Leal stumbled across the photo of Luz covered in paper from earlier that day, that she remembered something. "Luz."

"Yup?"

"Be honest with me," she stopped in her tracks and shot her sister a skeptic squint.

Her little sister sensed the minor seriousness and met her gaze head on. "Yeah?"

"You crushing on those Blight twins?"

Luz's eyes widened as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

Lealtad gasped. "I knew it!" Her checkout comment from earlier as well the way she was so eager to hang out with the two. With her free right hand, she cupped her cheek as she softly cooed, "Awww, Sunshine's got a wittle cwush—"

"I don't!" she hissed, elbowing her sister before stomping off.

Leal frowned as she walked after her. The gesture was barely painful but Luz herself seemed more ticked off than she expected. "Ah c'mon Luz, I'm kidding! I know you don't!" she assured her as she caught up. Well, she figured her sister at least found the two attractive, which was fair enough—from an objective standpoint. But she was well aware that she saw the two as a way to befriend Amity as an end goal.

Her sister pulled her hood and sunk her head low.

Now that made Lealtad pause a bit. "Luz?" she called out, tapping her sister's shoulder. "Talk to me, hermana."

Luz sighed as she pulled off her hood and met her sister's eyes, though it didn't have any tears or anything she expected it to have. She just looked… nervous. "Lealtad, can you promise not to embarrass me?"

Her jaw dropped. "Me?"

"Yes!" she exasperatedly exclaimed, stomping her foot again. "I mean like, calling me Sunshine or going all Helicopter Sister on me!"

Both those declarations struck something sensitive within Leal as she balked. "Hey you said you don't mind 'Sunshine'!" she countered. "And where is this all coming from?"

Luz sighed once again as she shrugged. "I dunno. I just…" she took a breath. "I dunno."

Lealtad's eyes caught on a familiar face in the coming distance which made her smirk. "How 'bout this," she suggested, grabbing Luz's shoulder, "you save us a seat on a bench or a stair step." She handed Luz her bat. "And I'll be back with a pick-me-up?"

Luz wordlessly nodded as she walked off, taking her sister's bat with her as she pulled off her cat hood.

With that, the older teen rushed off to the not dog vendor in the distance. "Hey Venny!" she greeted as she rushed forward.

The green slime cheerfully shook as their brain and eyes shifted toward her.

She giggled at the vendor's excitement as she dug into her brown messenger bag for her Ace Pride wallet. "Nice to see ya too, Ven." She chuckled. "Listen, my little sister is kinda in the dumps so you mind adding an extra bug to her ham-bug-er?" she asked as she fished out a couple of snails.

Venny blinked their eyes with joy as they quickly slapped together two ham-bug-ers. Leal nearly drooled at the sight but before she could even hand the money over, Venny proceeded to slot the food into two separate cardboard boxes with a side of chinch chips. Lealtad had one before but they were usually a bit pricey to combo with her usual. "Agh, sorry Ven, but I can't afford—"

The big green slime simply shoved the two boxes forward and into her hands, taking her snails out from her palm.

Her jaw dropped. "Seriously?"

They nodded.

"Venny, at least let me tip—"

They barely even let her finish as they grabbed the cart handle and began pushing, giggling to themselves all the while.

Lealtad smiled. "Thanks Venny!" she shouted as the not dog vendor began making their rounds down the streets of Bonesborough. With the food secured, Leal returned to her sister, who was sitting on a lone sidewalk bench near one of the egg stops. Luz had her bat rested up against the seat as she had her chin in her palms. Taking a deep but encouraging breath, Leal stepped toward her sister with her meal outstretched. "Ham-bug-er with a side of chinch chips! Courtesy of Venny!"

Luz's face lit up. "Chinch chips? You said these were expensive?" She had never got the chance to try one.

Leal simply grinned as she shrugged. "Well, ol' Venny was real generous when they heard you were downtrodden," she mocked with a pompous accent.

Her sister snorted as she plucked a chinch chip out from the box. "I was not," she replied before popping the chip in her mouth.

Past tense. That was a good start. Maybe. "Then care to elaborate, mi hermanita?"

Luz rolled her eyes with a small smile. "I know what you think of Amity but I believe it's just all about approaches." Leal sensed this was going somewhere so she held her tongue and kept eating. "You haven't spoken to her as much as I have and yes, I know she can be—is mean to Willow but I've also seen how soft she can be when it comes to things she cares about. Like education!

"I just, I think if I can do right by her siblings then I'll do right by her! Wherever that leads, who knows?" Luz shrugged with a chuckle. "But what I do know, Leal, is that some people are worth second chances if they have the option. Maybe me showing Amity I can be nice around her siblings will make her realize I'm not so bad to be around!"

Lealtad fondly smiled at that. It was… not so bad reasoning, honestly. "Well put," she commended her. "But from what I saw back at the library? It didn't seem like she liked her older siblings either."

Luz scoffed. "Naaah, that was just her probably being embarrassed."

In all honesty, Lealtad couldn't attest for either side of Luz's argument. She was clearly biased to her stance of thinking Amity was just bad for Luz. But Luz's optimism was something Leal loved most about her, even if she couldn't agree with it all the time. This time? She just had to accept that she couldn't do more than say her piece and let her little sister make up her own mind. The Blight drama was something she could do without, the promise of library fun was the only end of the bargain Leal could look forward to the most.

"Regardless, I promise not to spoil your fun with the twins too much, Sunshine," she offered, "though I will pull out all the stops if I even get a sense things are going to Moonlight Conjuring levels of 'oh shit'." She took a bite of her ham-bug-er and grinned.

Luz quietly chuckled. "As always, Leal, as always…"

The rest of the afternoon went amicably after that. Luz had long finished her meal while Leal let her have her chinch chips, assuring her little sister that she couldn't finish them. They began making their way over to the library once it began getting dark as they both realized neither had actually read up on the Wailing Star event when they were inside so they didn't when it started or anything like that. So to take punctuated caution, Leal suggested they arrive early just in case. Making their way through nighttime Bonesborough was a rare sight for the two, but Leal's firm grip on her bat was all the confidence she needed that she was ready for whatever came their way.

But as they neared the library street, an important thought occurred to Lealtad, prompting her to fish for her phone. She realized she hadn't sent their mother an update yet and began typing one up.

"Whatcha doin'?" Luz asked through her mouthful.

"Sending Mamá an update text, per usual," she replied.

Fave Bebé [7:07 PM]: WiFi's been a bit spotty! Today's news is subject to change as Luz has made two more friends! Though that may change if they get into more hi-jinx and I have my say.(NOT SENT)

Fave Bebé [7:08 PM]: Only room for one troublemaker in this camp! ( ^‿^) (NOT SENT)

"How? The portal's not here."

Leal chuckled. "It'll automatically send when we return, duh," she shook her head. "Sometimes I do that when we head out for the day. They're not all convos, it's just literally a quick update and all that." She smiled, a bit proud of herself as she added, "Told Mamá that the shit WiFi might cause my messages to come late or be delayed. It's a nice cover for when I forget, heh."

Luz frowned a bit. "You're… uh, still doing those, huh?" She turned away and threw her now empty box of chinch chips into a nearby trash can as they walked.

Lealtad furrowed a brow. "Uh-huh. She still worries, less now than when summer first started, but still." With the library now in view as they walked, she shot her sister another smile. "You know, you should send her a text! She hasn't asked me why you haven't been texting, weirdly enough, but it might make her day!"

"I'll, um, think about it?" her sister replied with a shrug.

With no one but herself to say it to, Leal wondered aloud, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Speaking of thinking," Luz grinned, looking back at Leal, "So uh, what was it like?"

"Huh?" Lealtad was still caught off by her sister's obvious change of subject but sensed no ill intent behind it.

"You said the only way to figure out if this world's library was like ours was to explore!" It was a well-timed topic, as they were now approaching the steps of the library, giving Luz a physical entity to gesture at. "So?"

She decided answering her sister's questions was harmless even if it was an obvious derailment. "It's kinda similar but has its own charm," she said as they ascended, "Though, most libraries have their own charm anyways."

Luz snorted. "You're such a nerd."

"Ahh, Luz." Lealtad clicked her teeth. "Pot, kettle, kitchen appliances, we can just go in circles all night if you want." She playfully teased as they reached the landing. "Though I'm sure you would prefer spending your time trying to make a good impression."

"Uh duh?" Luz walked over to one of the pillars and placed her bag there. "Gotta be cool!" she rested her arm on the pillar and forced an awkward smirk. "Cool?"

Leal merely snorted.

Her sister groaned. "Leal, how do you act so cool!"

"I don't act Sunshine," she shrugged with a smug smile, "I just am."

Luz stared blankly at that. "That was lame."

"I thought it was neat!" Edric's voice suddenly appeared.

The two quickly looked over at the source, and sure enough, the Blight twins were standing at the pillar across from them. The two were now in what seemed to be casual attire: Emira sporting gray shorts with burgundy cuffs and a burgundy tunic with long gray sleeves, with a green diamond on her chest, while Edric wore a similar colour composition but with gray pants and a gray belt, while also lacking a gem of his own. The two were casually leaned up against the pillar, bearing smug looks with an air of mischievousness about them.

"Of course you would say that," Emira said as she elbowed her brother.

He rolled his eyes in response. "Well, you ready to bring this whole, uh, whatever, inside?" he asked the two humans, throwing a set of finger guns toward the door.

Lealtad cocked her head. "You two always match your outfits or was this just coincidence?" she teased, pointing her bat at them.

The flushed cheeks she received in response honestly surprised her, but they managed to garner Luz's excited attention to pull toward the door to divert the subject. As they walked up to the door, Edric dug into his pocket and pulled out a parchment as he said, "It says no trespassing but I'm allergic to the rules." He handed it over to his sister.

Leal rolled her eyes while his twin grabbed the paper with both hands, chiming in, "And dairy." At that, Lealtad snorted, making the boy flush once again.

"Wow, okay. Just expose me," he frowned, hands clenched.

The paper in Emira's hands began to illuminate, making Leal realize there were some sort of inscriptions on it but she couldn't make them out. It hadn't mattered anyway, as the witch stepped forward and gestured the paper toward the massive lock on the door. Within seconds, it fell apart like a fiery puzzle. Luz uttered in awe while Leal just whistled. It did look cool. But not as cool as the lock itself expanding and making a way in for them.

It was like Hooty!

She and Luz had stepped back in shock, while the twins walked inside, with Edric waving them to follow. The Nocedas quickly followed after and as soon as they entered, the door shut behind them, returning to its normal state. Lealtad smiled at the sight before her.

"Standing in a dimly lit lobby," her sister sarcastically commented, "You guys know how to party."

"Aw c'mon, Sunshine, even at night this place looks cool," she said as she powered on her camera and began taking more pics.

"There!" Edric shouted, pointing to the window above the doors. "The Wailing Star!"

Lealtad whipped around and brought her camera up toward the window. And from the left side, a bright green light started to shine as a growing sob began to near. Prepared, the second the star passed through the stained window glass, Leal clicked her camera and captured the shot as the sobs began to fade away.

"Whoa…" she heard her sister gasp.

For a moment, the two witches looked around in confusion, disappointment reaching their faces as they noticed nothing had happened. Leal smirked a bit, as their disappointed pouts were a bit adorable to witness but she understood they had hoped something would occur.

"Hmm," Edric shrugged, "Nothing happened."

"Waaait," Luz murmured. The three turned toward her and found her pointing behind them, drawing their attention toward the bookshelves. They were all glowing green, like the Wailing Star! Luz eagerly jogged over to the nearest bookshelf and grabbed a book. Lealtad didn't even bother warning her sister of the potential danger—it would fall on deaf ears at this point—and watched in awe alongside the Blight twins. "The books are all glowy!" she announced, turning it over.

"Astute observation, dear sister," Leal teased as she walked over.

Luz shot her a scowl before turning the book open. Lealtad barely had time to process what was on the pages as a sudden green circle outlined itself within the book, and a blur of flying demons and birds flew out from it. Leal instinctively brought her bat up but stopped when she realized the creatures flying about were the ones from the book in Luz's hands. Her jaw dropped at the sight as she spun around.

This was like a dream come true.

Instinct once more prompted Leal to put her bat aside and pull up her camera, snapping the shots of the animated creatures taking flight above them.

"Wow!" Edric chuckled with glee, "The Wailing Star magicked the books to life!"

But then the creatures suddenly outlined green and vanished from thin air. Leal gasped in shock before casting a look at Luz, realizing she had shut the book. So closing it got rid of them as well—it was fascinating! The four teens exchanged a look for one moment, and it was then Lealtad knew…

Tonight might just be beyond interesting.

::::

Lealtad's heart was pounding. Any second now, any corner, and she would be caught. Her breath was ragged from all the running she had been doing. Her hands were clenched around her weapon as she rested her head against the bookshelf. It started out all fantastical and fun, with all of them just magicking books to life. The twins and Luz went around checking out the comics and graphic novels while Leal rushed over to the landscapes and nature section she had seen earlier that day. The photos she collected, the scenery she captured, it was the stuff she could only see in pictures. It made her want something like this back in the Human Realm. Back at home.

But the peace and tranquil sweetness had all but been silenced now.

Now? Now it was a hunt.

First Luz, and now her. Could she manage all on her own?

Then she heard noise behind her. They were near. With a gulp, Leal readied her weapon at the corner beside her. Any second now…

A flash of green appeared and Leal opened her book, casting an onslaught of snowballs at the attacker before her. She cackled with delight as she watched Edric tumble over and slam up against the adjacent bookshelf. He was absolutely smothered in snow.

"Gonna have to sneak better than that, Blight!" she shouted before running off, tucking the Snowballs: A History back into her messenger bag, which in turn caused all the snow to disappear from Edric's face. Sticking her bat inside her bag was a nerve wracking decision, but after she got pelted by Luz's surprise snowball shootout, Lealtad couldn't take any chances being unprepared. The three had cornered her in the Geography section a while back and practically forced Leal to retreat from her scenic solitude.

Having a snowball fight indoors, however? Well, six year old Lealtad would be foaming at the mouth with such a reality.

Lealtad couldn't remember a time she had this much fun with kids around her age—or having a snowball fight with anyone aside from her sister. This was all so thrilling! Even though they were running rampant and playing with books, Leal had laid down the law about mistreating them and making sure they don't damage the books in any way. The three had called her librarian in jest (she took that tease like a badge) but agreed nonetheless. Even with her restrictions, it was still amazingly fun.

Books were coming to life and they were at a library at night!

A whizz of a snowball zooming past her ear, made Leal duck into a nearby bookshelf alley.

"Nice reflexes, Leal!" Edric's voice echoed from the distance.

"Nice aim, Ed," she shot back, "I think you have your sister beat by an inch!"

"Them's snowballing words, Leal!" he shouted.

A hail of snowballs zipped by Leal, forcing her to retreat further away from the path. She sneakily looped back around the other pathway, returning to the section Edric had found her at. Sure enough, the witch was mindlessly spraying his snowball shots down the alley. She shook her head with a smug smile—it was too easy. As she moved over to sneak up next to him, she heard another set of footsteps trail behind her.

"Hey Leal," Emira's voice softly came from behind.

Instinctively, the teen ducked, just in time to dodge another round of snowballs that passed over her head and straight into Edric's face. The poor boy fell over to the floor once again but Lealtad took no time in relishing in his defeat as she whipped around, pulled her book out, and opened it right at Emira's face, sending her off her feet and onto the floor along with a pillow of snow.

She snorted at the sight of the two Blights on the floor, tucking her book under her arm. "And that, dear Blights, is how you snowball fight." The two propped themselves up from the now disappeared snow and offered a round of applause, which Lealtad responded in kind with a series of bows. "Thank you, a-thank you," she dramatically said, "I'll be here all night!"

Edric pushed himself up to his feet with a smile. "I hope that means we get a glowing review on tonight's activities."

Leal shot him a smirk. "So far? Exceeding all expectations, Blight," she winked.

He proudly smiled at that as Emira dusted herself off. "Well come on!" his sister shouted, putting the book down on a nearby cart. "I bet there's even more fun things to try!"

"Like what?" Leal quirked a brow.

"Follow me," she waved as she ran off.

Edric made a move to follow but stopped when he saw Leal grab Emira's book from the cart. "You coming?"

She shot him a half-smile. "I'm gonna return these back in the section we found 'em." At his raised brow she rolled her eyes in amusement. "Someone's gotta."

"Okay," he shrugged, "we'll meet ya there then." He waved before running off.

Returning the books back into the nature section was barely a chore in of itself, she simply chalked it up as the twins being lazy and excitable. That train of thought made her wonder about Luz. Last she saw she had run off and hid when Leal was noticeably getting a fair amount of the snowball beatdown (most likely because she knew she was also on Lealtad's hit-list). She hadn't seen her since their split, but she wasn't exactly too worried. There wasn't much hi-jinx that could occur—dangerous hi-jinx, that is—for Luz to get wrapped up in.

As Leal excited the nature section she was quickly reunited with the twins. Emira had a book with a duck on its cover titled, Quacks Eats Snacks, but both Blights seemed particularly eager about this book. She bit back her smile as she nodded at the book. "So what's this one? Some duck buffet?"

"Uhh no?" Emira tilted her head.

Edric pulled out a pencil and wiggled it in his hand. "We were thinking, 'What would happen if we drew something in the book'?" He smirked mischievously as he leaned over a bit. "Y'know, add some flair.

Leal's eyes widened at that. "C'mon, these are public library books though," she frowned, crossing her arms, "We can't deface 'em."

"Aww, don't spoil the fun now," Emira pouted.

Leal narrowed her eyes. "I'm not. Sneaking into a library is fun, defacing its property isn't."

The two exchanged a look before frowning. "Fine, fine, we'll put it back," Edric conceded with placating hands. "Meet us at the romance section, we're gonna bring Luz too. It's time for the real event of the evening." At that, she raised her brows in disbelief while the boy shot her a wink before they took off.

Keeping up with the pace of the Blights and their attention spans wasn't too dissimilar than keeping up with Luz's (it might've been easier, honestly). Though Leal wasn't sure what kind of fun could await them in the romance section or if that was just a point of reference to regroup. It wasn't like she had an axe to grind with rom-com books or anything like that, but she kind of picked up on the fact that Edric and Emira weren't exactly book lovers of any sort—least of all romance lovers. Though of course, she had been surprised by people before so who knew what was going to happen?

Aside from them, obviously…

When Lealtad arrived at the romance section, her sister and the twins were not far behind, approaching from the other side of the alley.

Luz glanced up at the section title with an awkward smile."Oh, wow. Boiling Isles romance. That's totally lame," she apprehensively commented as she held up her hands. She then folded her right hand onto her left inner elbow, propping her chin on her left fist sheepishly as her eyes darted around. "I mean, unless you guys are into it?"

Leal barely covered her snort, in favour of trying to save her sister's face from awkwardness. But seriously? She was worried about her doing the embarrassing?

"I think I'm into this one," Edric mischievously replied, pulling out a book Leal read to be titled, The Lone Witch & Secret Room.

And honestly? The shelf pulling back and sliding into the wall to reveal a hideout? It wasn't a surprise to Lealtad at this point. It still warranted a complimenting whistle, but aside from that, it was pretty tame of shock factor at this point for her. Maybe the Boiling Isles desensitized her sense of shock to above mundane things.

Luz, as always, was easily amazed as she uttered, "Wow. That's a good book."

The room itself wasn't anything crazy from what Leal's seen in terms of private reading rooms or hideaways. It still had the quaint, homeliness that reading places like these typically had which was honestly always a wholesome aspect in Leal's opinion. Even if it wasn't extravagant or fancy, it was still pretty adorable and nice—no, not just that. It was… safe. Just one look and Lealtad got the sense of safe.

"Your clubhouse is like my ultimate secret hideaway," her sister said as she walked in.

"It certainly is cozy," Leal commented as she followed her sister in, already taking a picture of the room.

The twins, who had been leaning up against the entrance frames, pushed off and amusedly smirked at Luz. "We don't hang out in the library," he pointed to himself. "'Uh, teacher, I'm in love with a dictionary!'" he sarcastically joked as he waved his hands about.

Emira held her hand up to her mouth, hiding her smile. "'I'm studying the dork arts!'" she joined in.

Leal rolled her eyes, deciding not to express her outright offense about their teasing. She was used to kids making fun of libraries anyways.

"This is Amity's secret hideaway," the witch added, cupping her hands behind her back with a smug smile. Her brother threw up a pair of enthusiastic thumbs up as he grinned.

The reveal made Lealtad's heart still for a moment. She glanced at Luz for her reaction and only found her frowning in surprise. "Uhh," Leal spoke up, turning back to the two, "then the Hell we doing here?"

"Mittens has gotten too… full of herself," Edric sadly explained as he and his sister walked in. He walked over to Luz and placed his left hand on her right shoulder. "She keeps tattling on us when we cut class."

"She needs to learn not to mess with people like that," Emira chimed in, mirroring her brother's actions by placing her hand on Luz's back. "So, we're going to find her diary," she said excitedly.

"And then post the pages all around school for everyone to see!"

The two laughed as they raised their hands up with wide grins.

Leal's jaw dropped while Luz's face contorted into concern. "What? Isn't that taking it a bit too far?"

"No. See, we're her family," Emira explained, "It's tough love. She needs to learn to lighten up."

The two then moved to the other corner, beginning their search. Lealtad didn't even register Luz's reaction as she marched past her and over to the two. "Hey," she hissed, poking Edric's shoulder with her bat. The two turned around with raised brows. "You can't do this."

They exchanged a surprised look. "Why not?" Emira asked, confusion evident in her tone.

Lealtad took a breath before speaking her mind. She couldn't believe she was about to defend Amity but… "It doesn't matter if you're 'family'," she said with finger quotes, "You can't just… expose your sister like that!"

Edric tilted his head. "What, like you don't have a reason to do this?" he remarked.

"You know we heard how you threatened to hurt her with your bat," Emira snidely retorted.

"Yeah, how is this worse than a beatdown?"

Lealtad closed her eyes in frustration and sighed. "It's different because she's not my sister," she softly explained, jerking her thumb to her chest. "I don't like your sister, sure, but I wouldn't wish humiliation like this to anyone!"

"Why not?" they asked together, cocking their heads reflectively.

"Because my axe to grind with her is our beef!" she hissed, this time a bit louder, "The second you pull shit like that, you're welcoming a whole school to her obvious insecurities and that—" she stopped herself as thoughts of Luz and her life back in the Human Realm came to mind. The countless nights spent together, hugging it out and the cries of sadness and desires that fell on the sheets of huddled comfort. With her voice cracking without her meaning to, she said, "That's not something anyone can heal from."

"No!" Luz whisper-shouted, just loud enough to pull all their attention toward her.

"What've you got there, Luz?" Edric asked, sidestepping around Lealtad.

Leal's eyes flew toward the bookshelf behind Luz and widened at was under the display of My Favourite Books. It was The Good Witch Azura series. Luz's favourite series. No freaking way. She shook herself out of her shock once she noticed the book in Luz's hand fly out and into Emira's. She handed it to her brother, who held it out for them as he flipped it open to a random page.

And out emerged a small, green-lit outlined Amity, looking down in dejection. Even her diary responded to the Wailing Star? "It's not fair," she muttered, rubbing her neck. She crossed her arms in frustration as she said, "I'm the only one who knows Ed and Em aren't perfect. Why do they keep getting away with things?"

At that? Lealtad's heart broke. God, were they really here for this the entire time?

"This is it!" the twins said together.

"Luz, were you hiding this from us?" Emira said with a frown.

"You see how she treats people," Edric addressed as he closed the book and walked toward Luz with his sister, "How she treats you."

"I know Amity can be kind of cold but no one deserves this," Luz explained, "These are private thoughts. Let's put it back." She moved to grab the book but Edric held his grip.

Emira quickly grabbed onto her brother to help tug, prompting Lealtad to run to her sister's aid. She dropped her bat on the floor and grabbed Luz's side of the book, pulling it away from the Blights. The four grunted back and forth as the twins gritted out how this was necessary but Leal wasn't having any of it. "You can't just do this to her!" she shouted at them.

But the tugging must've been too much: the pages started to fall out and onto the floor. And out emerged all the Amitys…

"I wish I had somewhere to go."

"Why won't the human leave me alone?"

"Called my teacher mom again."

"Sorry I haven't written for a while. Wait, why am I apologizing?"

Leal's body froze as Luz dove after the pages, hurriedly picking them up. She… She was just like Luz. A stinging pain threatened Lealtad's eyes, causing her to blink back the near tears. But as her eyes became clear, she blinked up toward the door and realized Amity was here. Hands clenched and face red with anger—exactly like Edric said.

"Really?" she angrily shouted.

"Argh! It's not what it looks like!" Luz replied as she aimlessly grabbed the last sheet and tucked it into her pile.

"Yeah, wait—" Leal began, but she was cut off by the twins.

Who were laughing at their sister.

Lealtad whipped her head at them vehemently. How could they— "You two are the worst!" Amity shouted at them. "But you…" she looked to Luz, grabbing her diary back and hugging it close to her chest, protectively and small-like. Like Luz did with her Azura books, like any girl would to their entire heart exposed. "I've been trying to figure out what your deal is," she softly spoke, "Are-Are you a poser? A nerd? I know: you're a bully, Luz." It was the one time someone had said something like that to her sister, and Leal couldn't find it in her to speak up. It was all so much so fast! But then Amity's eyes locked onto hers with a line of tears at her eyelids. "And I bet you got a crack outta this," she spat toward Lealtad.

She gulped as she slowly shook her head. "N-No! I—we—" but Amity ran off.

"Amity!" Luz shouted as she stepped outside Amity's hideaway.

The twins then burst out with laughter as they followed Luz out.

Lealtad picked her bat up off the floor with a fury in her heart. "What the fuck is funny about that?" she shouted, following after them.

The two jumped at her tone but exchanged a frown. "Ugh, you probably don't get it because Mittens killed the fun," Emira sadly stated.

"Again," Edric tacked on. "Oh, well! We're headed out to go goblin tipping. Wanna come?"

"You're just gonna leave?" Luz asked with a concerned look.

"Yeah, with you," Emira said as she made a move to reach for Luz's wrist, but Lealtad stepped between them and slapped the girl's hand. The two stared at her in confusion while she narrowed her brows.

"Look," Luz spoke up, "you guys are cool," they both nodded in agreement, "but I need to go talk to Mittens—I mean, Amity."

"All right," Emira chuckled with a wink and wave. "See you around, cutie!" They glanced at Lealtad. "You wanna come?"

Lealtad looked to her sister, who stared up at her with those classic Sunshine pleading eyes. She nodded toward Amity's direction. "Adelante, hermana, voy a tener unas palabras con estos pendejos," she said to her.

Luz's face contorted into a grin. "Let 'em have it, hermana," she whispered. Leal shot her a wink before she ran off, leaving her with the twins.

"C'mon! We gotta hurry before all the good goblins go missing!" Edric excitedly said, waving her to follow as the two ran.

Lealtad rushed after them. "Hold the fuck up, Blights!" she shouted, managing to bring their sprints down to a slow walk.

"Okay," Emira said, "I'm sensing you still have something to say about earlier?"

She blinked at her incredulously. "'Earlier'? That just happened!" she pointed down behind her.

"Yup!" Emira nodded. "And little sis ruined all the fun, as per usual." The two sighed as they turned the corner and kept walking.

"Your little sister seems too cool to pull lame stuff like that off," Edric mused.

Lealtad marched after them and grabbed their shoulders, whipping them around to face her. "Forget the lame ass prank for a second!" she nearly shrieked, stomping her foot. The two stared at her with wide eyes and it was then she took a moment to calm her breathing. "I get it, I rag on my sister too sometimes—especially when she gets on my nerves—but there's a line you don't cross and when the chips are down, you protect her from that kind of hurt." She looked at their faces. "That kind of hurt you almost exposed her to."

"C'mon, you've seen how she acts!" Edric quickly defended, gesturing in Amity and Luz's direction.

"But that doesn't make it right!" she shot back. "When it comes to my sister's privacy and me? I'd put myself in the line of fire to protect her from that level of embarrassment every time," she clenched her bat aggressively. Her ears felt hot from the rage and embarrassment. "You're her siblings, you don't do that to her," she nearly whispered.

"I don't see how us plastering her diary all over school isn't as humiliating as you beating her up with your club in public," Emira countered, crossing her arms with a raised brow.

"Right now?" Lealtad narrowed her eyes back at her. "I'm letting Sunshine defuse the situation because I trust her. Because I know and love my little sister and I'm letting her do what she does best: what I've basically been telling her not to do with your little sister this entire time! Because I also know when Amity's calmed down, I'll be able to apologize too."

Their eyes widened at that.

"Oh so because she has secrets and is insecure she's suddenly nice?" Edric dryly remarked.

"No!" Leal scoffed. "I'm gonna apologize for stepping into her hideaway without knowing and seeing her diary. The shit she pulled on my sister and her friends is a separate story—I can get her attitude now but I don't suddenly think the world of her!" she immediately explained, spurring more obvious confusion on their faces. She sighed as she palmed her face. "What I'm getting at though, is my issues with your sister's treatment to Luz, Park, and Porter isn't the same case as you wanting to get back at her.

"As her older siblings you can't just emotionally hurt her like that! You're the few people she has in this fucked up realm you live in that she's tied to through bonds," she ranted on. "You can't just disregard all of that because she's a stuck up student! Little sisters trust you with their secrets, their passions, their vulnerabilities!" she desperately listed. Her eyes locked onto Emira's. "You are the only people she will see on a near daily basis." She then looked to Edric's. "And the second you hurt her like that? She will be stuck with you daily… wondering if she could even step out of her room without being violated like what you just did."

Edric's eyes were the first to weaken, looking anywhere but at Leal's. Emira looked like she visibly considered her words, but seemed as if she forced a scoff and rolled her eyes. "We didn't get to do anything though."

Leal chuckled humorlessly. "You just brought two people she was convinced were out to ruin her life… into her only safe space," she stated in a quiet voice.

Their eyes seemed to react to those words, with a meaning Lealtad couldn't relate to or understand, given their own personal history with Amity. But it looked like it hit them. Which was good. Edric then awkwardly said, "W-Well, we don't know it was her only safe space…"

Leal shook her head. "No, it was." Before they could even ask how she knew she added, "If you were good older siblings? You'd know too." And then she turned and walked away. There was no importance to her witnessing their guilty expressions, it wasn't her comfort reached there. She said what she needed them to hear and that was that. Now?

It was time to apologize to a lettuce head.

Picking up into a light jog, Lealtad ran back toward Amity's hideaway and managed to close the door (sliding it back seemed to trigger its own locking mechanism). After that, she followed the direction her sister ran off and began jogging down the corridors. "Guys!" she called out. "Sunshine! Amity!" She wasn't sure how far they could go or even where they'd be, so this was her only best option.

"Lealtad, help!" her sister's voice rang out.

"Help us!" Amity's voice echoed alongside her sister's.

Instincts kicked and she immediately began dashing toward the source of the shouting. An hour ago she would've accused or maybe been concerned with the thought that Amity engaged in a brawl with Luz, but that wasn't even a thought that would've crossed her mind right now. She could only imagine: an emotionally hurt young teen and her little Sunshine, screaming for help. It wasn't just any type of yell. It might've been all the near-death experiences she's had, but Leal knew those two girls were in danger from something.

And then she rounded the corner into one of the main paths, and watched as a giant book dragged past her sightline. It was skewered with a sewing needle, right near the spine, and on its open pages had… Amity and Luz? She rushed down the path and turned toward where they were being dragged, immediately noticing the giant slug-like bunny rabbit, with demon claws and teeth, yanking them toward itself. The illuminated features around its demon-like characteristics as well as the open book in its chest cinched it for Leal—it was because of the Wailing Star!

She hurriedly dashed after the two.

Amity managed to grab one of the ladders with her spare hand, making it known to Leal the two were stuck to the pages. As the witch struggled to maintain a hold on the ladder, Leal shouted, "Hang on! I'm coming!" But between the weird thread and Amity's grasp, the tension was too much and it snapped, separating Amity from the book but sending Luz faster toward the large monster. Amity collided into a nearby book cart, which made Leal stop in her tracks to check on her.

"Luz!" Amity called out to her, holding her head in agony.

"Me!" she cried back.

"Hang on ¡hermana!" Leal shouted as she helped Amity to her feet. "You good, Blight?" At her nod, Leal gently pushed her back a bit. "Stay here and hide, I'll take care of this—" she made a move to leave but Amity grabbed her arm.

"No!" she tugged, pointing toward the cart. "I have a better idea, hop on!" she said as she turned the book cart toward the monster and Luz, then jumped on.

The human girl wasn't sure what to make of Amity's sudden decision making, but the determination in her eyes was enough to convince her. "Fine, but you're only pushing," Leal agreed as she pulled Amity off the cart. "I'll be the one swinging. Send me as fast as you can," she concluded as she hopped on the cart. Amity nodded at Leal's order, and began pushing her. As they neared the creature, who was spouting off some rhyming rhetoric, Leal shouted, "Okay, push off now!" She heard Amity release a loud cry before feeling a decent amount of force push her toward the giant bunny. Right as she neared the creature, it managed to lock eyes with her in shock, just as she shouted, "Bookmark this!" With a wide swing, the momentum was enough to knock the bunny off its feet and over to a bookshelf, causing it to fall on its face.

Leal hurriedly hopped off the cart and over to her sister, who was being helped by Amity. The witch managed to pull off all the threads in one tug, freeing her little sister of her captivity.

"Oh!" Luz gasped. "Third dimension, how I've missed you!" she cooed, flexing her hand.

As the older Noceda helped Luz to her feet, the sound of books rustling startled her, causing the three to look back at the giant beast. It pushed the bookshelf off like a blanket and glared at them. "We must stay friends until the end," it growled out as it stomped toward them, "There is no tear I cannot mend!"

Luz gulped as the creature moved its giant claw toward her. "Luz, move!" she shouted as she pushed her sister aside. The creature responded by reaching for Lealtad, prompting her to swipe at its hand with her bat. A gnarly growl emitted from the large bunny before it cast a backhanded swipe, one too fast for Leal to react to—sending her flying over Amity.

As she landed on her butt (major ouch), she propped herself up on her elbows and watched as Luz was now in its clutches once again. With a wince, Lealtad began to rise up to her feet as she heard Amity recite, "'Luz has to right a wrong.'" She looked over to the girl, and watched in awe as a huge eraser summoned from the book she had just written in and fell into her hands. "Luz, quick!" Amity shouted, tossing it over to her little sister.

With an amazing reaction time, Luz ceased struggling and turned toward Amity, catching the eraser with one hand. She then drove it toward the bunny's chest and began scratching the book with it, presumably erasing something? With one small little erase, the bunny faded from existence and in came a smaller version, one Leal recognized to be from that children's book Amity was reading earlier that day. As Luz fell on her rear, she also managed to catch the little bunny in her hands with a small smile.

She set the small bunny on the floor, just in time for Amity to arrive, who picked it up off the floor and held it bridal style, but much more cradle-like.

Leal got the sense the moment between the two was one that shouldn't be intruded, and so she lagged a bit in her walk as she approached.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me," they said in their sweet little voice.

"Hey," Amity softly said, "It's okay, We're still friends." She cradled them a bit closer before giving Luz a nod, prompting her to shut the book. And the bunny was now gone.

Luz then stood up and walked over to Amity, handing the children's book with a smile, while Amity held a frown.

"So," Lealtad spoke up, "I'm sensing I missed a whopping amount of context, but can it be summarized this was your siblings' fault?"

Her little sister awkwardly shrugged. "They uh, they did… 'edit' the book a bit…"

Leal rolled her eyes at that before she neared her sister, placing a hand on her. "You good? No cuts? No bruises? No nothing?"

Her sister replied with an eye roll of her own. "I'm fine Leal, I'm fine." She then shot her a smirk as she giggled. "Also, really? 'Bookmark this'?"

The older teen sighed. "Hey we can't always have a cool one liner in a crisis." She turned to the witch. "What about you, Blight? That looked like a rough fall."

Amity averted her eyes as she straightened her spine, tucking the book under her arm. "I'm fine." She then turned and began walking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Luz asked.

"To put this book back and clean up this mess," she curtly answered as she continued walking.

"We'll help," Leal loudly said.

That managed to get the Blight to stop and turn, staring at her with eyes of surprise. "R-Really?" she quietly asked.

She merely shrugged in turn. "Least we can do after causing a bit of this mess. Need any help on your end?" The witch awkwardly looked at the book in her hand before looking back at them. Leal chuckled as she grabbed her sister's shoulder and gave her a tiny tug. "We'll take that as a yes."

Getting the bookshelf back up and standing wasn't too hard of a feat, especially when Amity summoned an Abomination to help them prop it up. Leal assured the young witch she could handle sorting the books on her own and they could divide and conquer. Which prompted a small discussion.

"How do you know how to do that?"

Leal chuckled as she started slotting them into the bottom row. "I work at a library back home. It's a weekend job, but sometimes an afterschool thing," she answered.

Amity, who had began at the top row—courtesy of her Abomination hoisting her up—blinked in what she assumed was awe? "Really?" she asked.

She shot a smirk up at her. "Why? I don't seem like the book reading type?"

"Leal has all kinds of books!" Luz shouted from the Kid's Corner, where she had tasked herself with returning and erasing the vandalism of the children's book. "She even brought her favourites with her in that bag of hers!"

She caught Amity's curious gaze toward her messenger bag before she schooled her surprise with that blank look she usually wore. What a mask. Leal wouldn't let it go though. "Yup, they're some of my most re-read books," she said as she continued to sort. With a bit of fondness in her tone, she said, "My all-time favourite is probably The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit." She spared a quick glance toward the girl, noting despite her cool expression, she had an ounce of interest in her brows and ears. So she kept going. "It's a sorta biography about a guy who spent twenty-seven years in the woods all by himself. Just all alone, complete solitude."

"Why?" Amity asked, a bit amused. "Sounds crazy."

"Just wanted to be alone," Leal wistfully answered. She stopped sorting and looked up at Amity, making her attention known to her. "He just wanted an escape. Didn't really mesh well with society. So he just left with what he had and abandoned everything."

The witch finally stopped sorting and looked down at her. "Because… he wanted peace and quiet?"

"Well, he wanted something, I think the solitude was just the plus." She shot her a wink before turning back to her books. "Can you imagine just wanting to be completely alone from everything else?"

"I can," she heard her whisper.

Lealtad didn't doubt that for a second.

This absolute nerd of witch only had one safe space: it was where she worked. And she hid there for her job and likely after hours. A type of place you could lose yourself in and call it work. A safe space full of the cheesiest, most guilty pleasure books a bookworm could need after a long hard day. It was a small, closeted space that felt wider than any world. It was security.

Lealtad knew all too well how libraries could feel. It was a nice escape but also a comfortable feeling, to be in an environment that was limitless and home-like. There was once upon a time Lealtad would've liked to live or have a hideaway in a library. But curling under the blanket with Luz and watching anime was even better.

On the topic of Luz, as they had just finished putting the books back, she emerged with something in her hands. "Sorry I took so long, I guess I can't really read the decimal system as well as you guys. And erasing the drawing was a delicate process. Oh, Amity," Luz held the object in her hand out to her, "Your diary."

The speed at which the girl grabbed the book was tremendously fast. She hugged it to her chest as she looked away. "Thanks," she muttered.

"I, um, I'm really sorry about reading it. I-I swear I didn't mean to," Luz assured her.

The witch turned away as she began walking back over to the book cart, which apparently had some books spilled out from it.

"Hey," Leal chimed in, "I swear, my little sister would never violate your privacy like that."

"What about you?" she snidely returned.

"Lealtad would never!" Luz shouted, following after the girl.

"Hermana, relájate," Lealtad advised as she calmly walked after the two.

"It's whatever," Amity muttered. "I think this is the last of it," she spoke up as she started to stack the books back, "Anything else I need to know about or is that all? Because I'm closing up after this."

Luz sighed before sparing a look to her older sister. "I, um, I do have a book I want to check out." The two shot her a confused look. "I-I know where to look! I saw it earlier. I'll meet you at the front desk? And… you could ring it up?"

Amity clutched her book for a moment before nodding. "That's fine. Do you have a library card?"

"Uhhh, Eda has a tab?"

The witch sighed. "That should be fine."

"Great," Luz smiled, "I'll be quick!" She then darted off, leaving the two alone.

Amity spared a hesitant look as she asked, "You're not going with her?"

"Nah, she'll be fine." Leal shrugged. She nodded her head, gesturing in front of them. "Shouldn't we get going?" The witch's hesitance seemed to stay as she looked down at her diary. It clicked to Leal. "I closed your hideaway," she said, which seemed to be the right thing to say as Amity's eyes widened. "I mean, you could go look for yourself—I won't be offended."

And that was how the two began trekking back to her hideaway. When it was revealed it was in fact shut, Leal made no comment. She understood the girl's trust there and honestly respected it. But before they walked off she stopped and cleared her throat. "I, uh, have something to show you," she spoke up. Amity turned back, just in time for Lealtad to power on her camera and turn her screen toward her, showing her the most recent photo.

"What is it?" she asked as she stepped closer, suspicious.

"It's your hideaway," Leal answered. The girl stilled at that, visibly so. And so she immediately followed up with what she wanted to ask her, "Do you want me to delete this?"

That question seemed to stir her out of her shock, as she quickly masked her expression once again, looking away. "Why should what I say matter? Keep it if you want."

With a sigh, Lealtad shook her head. "I wanna keep it… because it's a photo of a dope hideaway for book nerds. But it matters because it's your hideaway," she crouched down and met her eyes, "It's your privacy and I respect it. I don't wanna keep this photo if I know you're not comfortable with me having this." She softly added, "What you want with your personal things is your right, Amity."

The wideness of her eyes.

The quivering lip in her frown.

The way she clutched onto that book.

Leal just wanted her to say it, because she knew she deserved something like this for once.

After a few seconds, Amity's head fell as she slightly nodded. "I… I'd like you to delete it please," she said in a soft voice.

Lealtad turned the screen back to her and made her watch as she deleted the photo. "It's done, gone," she confirmed, even scrolling back a few in the gallery to show it hadn't been miraculously duplicated or hidden. With that done, she stood up and smiled, "Let's get going."

Amity blinked her confusedly. "Wait, that's it? Nothing else?"

"Why? You want there to be?" she replied as they continued walking.

"No, I just, thought you'd—"

"Give you shit?" Leal guessed, "Nah. I'm not cruel, Blight," she explained, "And I know what happened to you tonight was a real shitty thing. If something like that happened to my little sister?" The thought of those damn sticky notes came to mind again, making her pull her bat out from her bag and shoulder it with a tight grip. "I'd burn the world over," she whispered. Shaking herself out of her anger, she tacked on, "So I figure having your own siblings do something like that is perhaps new levels of shitty. So yeah." She shrugged, not sure what else to make of it.

"Oh… yeah, it was," she quietly remarked.

"Hey," Leal nudged her with her elbow, gaining her attention. "Sorry for walking in your hideaway. It doesn't really matter if I did or didn't know it was yours when I walked in, it still sucks to have something like that. So, I'm sorry about all that."

"It's okay."

Lealtad sure hoped it was. Not for the sake of being on good terms but for Amity's sake for what just happened. Even still, she wasn't done with her side of things. "Also," the witch sighed at that, clearly peeved by Leal's conversational mood, "I wanna say thanks." Another incredulous look from Amity—this poor girl must've had so much whiplash tonight. "For saving my sister?"

Amity's cheeks flushed as she looked down. "It was nothing."

"Not to me," Leal earnestly countered. "Don't have to make anything of it—just wanted to say thanks."

And not another word was spoken after that.

They managed to arrive at the front desk at the same time as Luz, who checked out a book titled, Coping with Empty Nest Syndrome— "For Eda!" Luz told her. Leal laughed at that. Because of course it would be. Amity didn't seem bothered by the random book request and rang it up in the system. It was then, as they began to leave, Leal realized the sun had come up. It obviously had to have, as the illuminating books stopped and were no longer summoning things, but seeing the break of daylight on the rise made Leal wince as she realized how long she'd been up.

She was definitely passing out the second they got back ho—to the owl house.

As soon as they exited the building and Amity locked it up, the two released a big sigh of relief. "What an adventure," Luz exclaimed, somewhat sarcastically. She then shot Amity an awkward smile as she said, "Thanks for helping clean up our mess."

"This never happened," Amity stated as she walked past them, tall and proud and blank as usual.

Lealtad rolled her eyes at the witch's stoicness. She understood the mask, but that didn't mean the attitude wasn't still annoying.

"Wait!" Luz called out, holding her hand out. Amity stopped and stared back with a tired gaze as Luz rifled through her yellow messenger bag. "It doesn't make up for reading your diary but would you wanna borrow this?" she offered as she held out her Azura book! Lealtad blinked in shock at the gesture. Was she really just doing that? "I noticed you only had up to four," Luz softly said.

To her credit, Amity seemed genuinely considerate of Luz's offer as she accepted the book from her. "Thank you," she quietly replied. She made a move to turn away but then stopped just a couple steps down, looking back at Luz. "Maybe you aren't a bully." Her eyes averted to the side as she added, "I haven't been the friendliest witch either—"

"I'll say," Lealtad muttered. A swift elbow from Luz was expected, but its speed still made her wince nonetheless.

"I'll think on that," Amity continued, before walking off.

As the two Nocedas watched the witch walk away, they sighed together.

"Lealtad."

"Si, ¿heramana?"

"Did I do the right thing?"

She chuckled at that, bringing her hand to Luz's hair, ruffling it around a bit much to her displeasure. "You did you, Sunshine, and that's all I could ever hope for at the end of the day," she proudly answered, "I admire you for being the bigger person no matter what and no matter when."

Luz smiled impishly up at her. "Even if it means I go against your advice?"

Lealtad laughed at that. "I'll let ya have this one. But yes, even then. Now c'mon," she hurried down the steps, waving Luz to follow. "We better make sure Eda and King didn't get devoured by bats in our time away."

"Hey wait," her sister called out as she caught up, "What did you say to Amity's siblings?"

She sighed once again, rolling her eyes before she looked at Luz with a tired expression. The expectant look she received in turn was all she needed to know Luz's persistence would win yet again. "How 'bout we trade? Tell me how the Hell y'all got caught up in that weird bunny thing and I'll tell ya a bit about what I said to the Blights."

"Deal!" Luz cheered.

::::

After seeing a demon-drawn, friendship seeking bunny rabbit last night, Lealtad was too tired to be fazed by the giant bat entering through the front door. The Bat Queen, as Luz astutely observed, thanked Eda for her troubles and left behind a giant treasure chest of gold and a whistle of a small beak-like skull, declaring "Eda is owed one." There wasn't much the two could even say as the mama bat had already called her kids and was set on leaving out the door and flying away, way before any of them could even ask why she chose Eda to babysit.

"Ahhh. Sweet babies," Eda muttered. She woke up from her sleep, looking around frantically. "Babies? Where are the babies?" she worriedly called out, waking King as well. Luz mimed the action of the Bat Queen flying off, much to the two's sadness. "Oh. And I just taught Junior how to pick locks too," the Owl Lady longingly expressed.

"Your night looks very successful," her sister optimistically pointed out, gesturing to the chest. "Look at all that money you made!" She then grabbed the whistle with saliva and added, "And look at this cool whistle that scary woman gave you. I'd wash it before you use it."

"I'd wash it before you touch it!" Lealtad hissed, smacking the whistle back onto the chest. She proceeded to squirt a bit of hand sanitizer into Luz's hands as the two babysitters sighed to themselves in anguish.

"Yeah, we did it all for the money," Eda sorrowfully agreed.

King, not holding anything back, immediately broke out into sobs and hugged Eda as he exclaimed, "I miss my babies!"

At that, Luz dusted off her hands and walked over to the two. "I actually got you something from the library," she announced as she dug into her bag and brandished the book she checked out.

Lealtad chuckled at the small smile on Eda's face. "It's on your tab again so make sure you return that one on time? And don't stain it?" she advised.

Eda's warm smile still persisted as she looked up to Leal. "Yeah, yeah, of course Bean Head. And hey," she aimlessly waved toward the hallway, "I saved the brunch you made. Should be all good in the fridge." She turned to Luz. "Thanks, kid." But Leal checked herself out of the rest of the conversation as she stepped away, not liking the sudden swelling in her chest.

Lealtad wasn't sure what to make of the face Eda just made at her.

Or why her saving the meal she cooked even mattered.

It was just Eda's maternal instincts, right? She just babysat—she was just high in emotions at the moment was all. Thankfully, her phone chimed. Her messages must've just now been sent and their mom was responding to them. Accepting the distraction, Leal fished for her phone and of course… it only made her feel worse.

Mami [9:19 PM]: I'm assuming that camp wifi of yours must not be too good or you're already asleep.

Mami [9:19 PM]: Either way, hope you and Luz had a nice day!

Mami [9:20 PM]: Goodnight!

Mami [8:04 AM]: I figured as much with the wifi! I'm so happy to hear Luz is making so many friends!

Mami [8:05 AM]: I hope you mean NEITHER of you is that trouble maker! ;)

The queasy feeling in her heart, the realization of it all just settling in now…

With hesitant hands, Lealtad typed back,

Fave Bebé [8:05 AM]: I'll leave it up to interpretation!

Mami [8:05 AM]: ha! Make sure to have fun yourself!

She looked up from her phone, soaking in the sight of Eda, King, and Luz, berating Hooty for wanting to share his night with them. It was too homely.

Fave Bebé [8:05 AM]: Don't worry Mamá.

Fave Bebé [8:05 AM]: I'm having fun too.

She was in too deep.

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A/N: this chapter was important in several aspects. Lost in Language takes to many forms in its title here for the many paths it hints at. So for once, the lack of name change for the episode title is fitting! And first off, establishing amongst all things, Lealtad is still trying to teach Luz things but also learns things herself. She wants Luz to grasp that not everyone being your friend is okay, but evidently learns that first and second impressions aren't the whole making of a person and she shouldn't be as mad at someone especially when her sister has no malice against them either.

Secondly, this gives some context for Edric and Emira thinking on their roles as older siblings since Lealtad comes off as the Best Big Sister. They will notably take it to heart when she outright confronts them. I do plan to pursue this too. Can't wait for the episodes to come!

Thirdly, Lealtad is absolutely aware of how Amity exhibits similar traits to her: bookworm, works at library, and is a bit standoffish with people—she just doesn't like seeing it. So yes, a bit hypocritical. At least, suffice it to say, now she doesn't think the absolute worst of Amity. I understand some might think her points against Ed and Em was kind of bad, but Leal's consistently stated having a sad story isn't an excuse to be cruel: the softening that happens here is just the big sister in her feeling for Amity.

Fourthly, the cracks in Lealtad are simmering and started to grow but also within Luz! With the mid-season finale coming on the rise, I figured having instances of both main characters cracking in their beliefs and ties would be a good way to segue in the REAL nitty gritty parts of TOH that everyone loves. Next episode is definitely my most favourite in terms of creative liberties, and I cannot wait for you all to see it.

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Review Responses:

Thomas Holmes II: I'm glad you like Lealtad's integration! I worked hard to make sure it fit and that it wasn't TOO out of place at times. I really wanted to drive home the idea that sometimes the Noceda sisters disagree and bicker, but also that Leal is prone to having her own opinions but still being supportive of Luz (as evidenced with this chap). Hope you'll enjoy the rest to come!

MarauderPrime12: As always, thanks! ( ^‿^)

OMAC001: And considering her romantic experience in the Asexual department, she might border some awkward tension for sure!

Demon dark mezzo sangue: RIGHT? I for sure thought Luz would be all about the card games. Grudgby and Flyer Derby look fun I guess, but you'd think Boiling Isles' equivalent of card games might appeal to her as well. As the youngest brother of many siblings, we too have watch parties and must watch together. My sisters and I actually watch the latest Owl House episode together every Monday! Leal does also reason that she gets Gus and Willow are her first friends, and so she's willing to bend rules to be liked, but yes: Lealtad also acts a bit motherly. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter? hehe.

Kagaminelover657: (responding to chap 4 review) Huh, I've never really noticed that being a huge issue—most especially with any of mine. I've used the chat style before, but I believe as long as it's not the entire format of the story it's okay? Even then, how I integrate into the story still adds more semblance than typical chat fics where there's just all there is. I appreciate the warning and suggestions, and while I am considering them, I also cross post these on Ao3 and having the documents as one-to-one is crucial for many things: formatting, word count tracking, but also errors. If I have an error I need to correct or something I need to add, having a similar structure makes it all the more easier to navigate and correct. If a problem arises in the near future, I'm sure I can work it out peacefully with the Admins if need be. Of course not all canon details need to be adapted because the sake of adding context is sometimes more necessary than just straight up copying canon, lol. While I make a point to rewrite Lealtad in along with giving some explanation to certain elements, sometimes just adding something so Leal as SOMETHING to do is needed too, hehe. It's unfortunate FFN doesn't have a tagging system, but I guess also fortunate in its own way? On Ao3, future relationships/friendships have already been tagged in advance so most reading there know what they're getting into. Here, I guess it's a bit of a surprise? Though one could always just look at the Ao3 tags if they wanted but eh, I doubt it because there's a reason FFN readers are reading here I suppose. Thanks for your insightful review! Looking forward to the rest!

Kagaminelover657: (responding to chap 5 review) I'm just gushing with your compliments! Thanks so much for the appreciation and for noticing the attention to detail! Making Lealtad shine as a side character isn't necessarily too hard, as supporting characters tend to outshine the main characters because of what they're able to do, but Leal still shines in a way I'm glad isn't too bright but just enough to stay intrigiuing. ( ^‿^) Also, the shoe bit was because in canon, Luz explains to King that he was suddenly gone when she turned around, the whole explanation just felt wonky to me so yeah. And yeah, Leal's overprotectiveness and caution would definitely come into play for things like drinking a mysterious elixir.

Kagaminelover657: (responding to chap 6 review) You are a real trooper for reading all these so consecutively and quickly! ( ^‿^) Yup, the Gus and Willow appreciation is something I want to bring to the forefront, as Lealtad constantly recognizes them as her first friends she values that. In turn, this fic values that which means they get a lil' bet more screentime! Ah, I'm glad you caught the Willow crush sooner regarding the ship bit. The unexpectedness of it is sorta part of the play, as you've not doubt seen in Chapter 7. And yeah, including her in some fashion for the duel had crossed my mind, but taking her out meant more Gus and Willow and some big sisterly time with King.

Kagaminelover657: (responding to chap 7 review) Congrats on catching up! I really appreciate you taking the time to review on every chap! Luz's homesickness is the same fallacy of the show's where I think it's kinda, "You don't miss it until it's gone" while Leal is very grounded in her reality, or rather, true home. She doesn't like the routine that's come with this place. Homesick is definitely the best word for it. And yeah, Leal's fighting style is less inventive than what Luz will do with Light Glyphs, that's for sure. (I mean, cover art wise, we know she just slaps glyphs on her bat). Thanks for all the reviews!

starrat: Glad you did! I hope you enjoyed this one!

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As always, feel free to hit me up on tumblr if ya got asks! And leave a comment if you liked this chapter!

Next chapter update: May 11th, 2022

Stay safe, and stay lovely y'all.

Until next time,

- Bleh