Author's Note: I would like to thank Wolvenstrom for beta reading this chapter, enjoy
Luz was looking in a mirror while carefully drawing a new combo glyph on her forehead, "and there, now to DBZ this thing" she then put two fingers to her forehead, and she disappeared
"weh?" King said, looking up from Luz's phone before she reappeared and jumped with joy, shaking the whole house "geez Luz, calm down"
"eh-he sorry, I just got my Instant Transmission spell to work perfectly this time"
"yeah, you're not covered in dirt, garbage, or have any broken limbs this time *looks back at the phone* yes! Yes! Kill!" Luz raised a brow and sat on the couch next to King, the couch groaning under her now 620lb frame "Check this out! Two warriors battling to the death!" Luz saw that King was watching a video of two cats play fighting
"Ah. I see we're getting enough Wi-Fi through the portal for cat videos"
"Senseless violence. Yes, attack! Death is your god!"
"I regret teaching you about the Internet"
"Hah! What possible regrets could come from the Internet? Oh! Did you know that the Earth is actually flat?"
"Yep, that's not right" she then took her phone back, just a text from her mum came through. 'How's camp today, cariño? 3, Mamá.' It read, Luz gulped at this. Unable to think of what to write she just sent a thumbs-up emoji. "Good enough"
"Ah, a severed hand! Perfect response"
Luz gave a groan and slid down the couch until her rump landed on the floor "Ugh! What am I supposed to say? "Hey, Mom, not at camp actually! I'm in the demon realm learning to be a witch! Also, did you know that demons and magic are real? Plus they constantly give me food which is making me blow up like a balloon" She. Will. End me."
"Nah, she'd be freaked out by our world anyway. So actually, by keeping the truth from her, you're doing her a favour!"
"Hm. The demon on my shoulder makes a good point"
"Always trust a shoulder demon!" he then took the phone from her as Hooty opened the door.
"Hoot hoot, Luz! Time to fill up that darling little head of yours with... *Regurgitates a stack of books onto the ground.* Mm-hmm. Delicious knowledge!" Amity, Willow and Gus looked in from the doorway.
"Please hurry!" Gus pleaded
"his voice is like toothpicks on my eardrums" Amity winced
"and the more I look at him, the more uncomfortable I get" Willow finished
"Hoot hoot!"
"Hehe. Coming" activating a weightlessness spell, Luz quickly got back onto her feet "don't spend all day watching MewTube, 'kay?"
"I forge my own path!" he then watched a fluffy black cat chase its tail. "what a dum-dum" he then got distracted by his own tail wagging. He tried to catch it but flopped on the couch after a second. "Ugh. Who has the energy?"
Once she was outside, she saw her friends all had their Palismen staffs out, ready to fly. "Your Palismen still not hatched yet?" Gus asked
"nope" she then stretched the front of her uniform open and pulled out her Palismen egg which was wrapped in a blanket, kept warm by her own body heat "I hope that it's not a dud" she said and she gave it a kiss before stuffing it back in
"I'm sure Evelyn and Caleb wouldn't have given you a dud, besides, I don't think that you can get duds with Palismen eggs" Willow stated.
"hopefully. Okay everyone we're going to school the express way, grab onto me" her friends did as they were told, Luz then put her index and middle finger to her forehead and disappeared, reappearing in front of Hexside in an instant.
"Whoa!" her friends said in union
"yep, I finally perfected my instant transmission spell, the hardest part was drawing it on my own forehead"
"how is it different from a normal teleportation spell?" Gus asked
"well by combining a teleportation glyph with a light glyph and a clairvoyance glyph, I can teleport to any location I think of in the blink of an eye, that way if I can't speak for some reason, I can still teleport to a location of my choosing" Luz explained, while her friends understood that, they were confused about one thing
"why would you put that spell on your forehead of all places?" Willow asked
"because that's what an anime character does to teleport away" Luz simply replied, unable to come up with a response to that, the group just headed inside Hexside.
As the group walked through the school, Luz saw decorations hung up and most of the students looked either shy or couplie "hmm something's different today. Did everyone get a haircut?" Luz asked
"Oh yeah! You've never been here for the social event of the season" Willow said before Gus spoke up
"welcome to your first—" suddenly, two masked health workers enter, rolling a stretcher, making siren noises.
"outta the way!" one of the workers said before they surrounded a male bard/abomination student with blue skin, green hair that covered one of his eyes, and larger than average completely jet black eyes, Amelia looked on.
"Come with us immediately! Your disease—it's advancing!" the other worker said, they then helped him onto the stretcher.
"Is there a cure, doc?" the student asked
"only one... finding the perfect date to Grom!"
"If that's the cure... then, Amelia, will you go to Grom with me?" and he held out a beating heart, with "GROM?" written on it in…red ink.
"Ahhhhh! Of course I will!" and she hugged/jumped on him. The stretcher groaned before it broke under their combined weight. The onlooking students and teachers cheered at this.
"awe, that's so sweet, it's good that she stopped being 'friends' with Boscha and started becoming her own person. So you guys have a version of prom on the Boiling Isles? I was kicked out of my last school dance for dressing like an otter, [Strikes a pose.] but here, I can be your Grom Queen!"
"That's, uh, not something people usually sign up for"
"why's that?" The speaker screeches on. Everyone looks at it as Principal Bump's voice came out of the intercom.
"Attention Hexside students. This is your principal speaking. This year, I have the privilege to bestow our highest Grom honor to... Amity Blight!" Willow, Luz, and Gus gasped before the three of them turned to Amity, who looked surprised before frowning "Our Grom Queen!"
"Whoo! Amity, get it, queen!" Luz cheered and held her hand up for a high-five. Amity looked at Luz and gave a sigh before giving her a half-hearted one. "hey! Where's the enthusiasm!" she asked as Amity walked off
"you might want to give her some space. Being Grom Queen is a tough job. Even for Amity" Willow stated
"seriously? Even after everything we went through in the past?" Willow simply nodded, making Luz give a concerned look.
Luz was now at her locker getting her books for her first class for the day. As her lockers mouth opened up she saw an envelope in it addressed to her. The envelope was covered in hearts, making her gasp "oh my gosh! Someone is asking me to Prom, I mean Grom!" opening it up she gasped again as she read it 'Luz, will you go to Grom with me? -Amity' Luz smiled, she was about to teleport straight to Amity when she realised that it was almost class time "I'll give her my answer at lunch" she said before she grabbed her books and teleported to class.
After a few uneventful classes, it was lunch time. Luz was normally last getting to her friends due to people constantly stopping her to give her food, now when ever she went for lunch, she just carried a large tray with her and collected food on her trip. As she approached the table where her friends were sitting she could see that Amity looked extremely nervous.
"hey Luz" Gus greeted as she placed her tray down on the table
"hey guy's" she greeted back before turning to Amity "I got your note, and Amity Blight, I would be honoured to go to Grom with you" Amity gave an uncharacteristic squeal before she leapt up and hugged Luz, who giggled and returned the hug.
After lunch, the 4 friends headed over to the gym to see how everything was being set up. when they arrived they saw that nearly everything had been set up "ah. My first school dance experience on the Boiling Isles. I can't wait to get overdressed, take awkward photos, push all the buttons—wait, what?" she looked at a red button on a black-and-red pedestal with insect legs on the bottom. "well, hello. Don't mind if I do." And she pressed it, making the floor open up to an underground arena, connected by a ramp. "woah! That's so cool!" she exclaimed before two walls of weapons came up from the floor on either side of the group "*Gasps* Medieval torture seems like a strange theme for Grom, but hey—"
"They're not for decoration, Luz. This arena's where I'll make my debut as Grom Queen"
"I'm starting to get the feeling that Grom Queen is very different from a Prom Queen"
Willow then spoke up "this isn't just some dance party" hearing growls they looked down into the arena and saw some black goop moving around
"what's that?" Luz asked
"That would be Grom. Short for Grometheus, the Fear-Bringer. It's a monster that lives under the school. Every year it tries to break out, and a student had to defeat it before it invades the town. Ever the optimist, Bump holds a party and calls it tradition" Willow explained
"The worst thing is that Grom can read minds and shape-shift into your worst fear" Gus added
"And mine...is very embarrassing" Amity said while looking down. Willow knew exactly what Amity's biggest fear was, and had vowed to keep it a secret.
"Amity, after everything I've seen you go through and do, there shouldn't be anything in the whole demon realm that you're afraid of"
"thanks Luz, that's really sweet of you to say"
"…hey I have an idea, what if we helped you defeat Grom?" Amity looked at Luz, then Willow, who nodded, and then Gus who gave a thumbs up
"with our magic combined, there's no enemy that we can't beat" Amity said with determination, her friends nodding in agreement, each with a look matching Amity's.
After school had finished for the day, Luz simply teleported herself inside the owl house "I'm home!" she called out
"Ow!" raising a brow she teleported upstairs into Eda's room where she saw Eda in a brown tuxedo with King, who was standing on a stack of books, wearing a green apron. "Careful with those pins, I'm young, not invincible"
"Why am I doing this? I don't even wear clothes!" King snapped
"Hey, sweet duds, Razor claw!"
"Razor Claw?"
"yeah, I mean I can't call you owl lady any more now that you're free of your curse"
"Razor Claw…I love it!"
"Glad to hear, so what's the haps?"
"I'm chaperoning Grom tonight. So I have to look sharp. So, have they announced the victim yet?"
"Yeah. It's Amity. But Willow Gus and I are going to help her"
"you think you can handle Grom?"
"hey, if I can handle Boscha, I can handle anything"
"the girl who, need I remind you, threw you up into a tree yesterday?" Eda stated
"ugh don't remind me, anyway with the 4 of us, there's nothing we can't over come. Now I need to find the right thing to wear"
"I think I have some armour around here, not sure it will fit you though"
"no, I meant something nice, this girl's got a date to Grom"
"oh, does the lucky ones name start with an 'Am' and ends with an 'ity'?"
"yes" Luz said, her chubby cheeks now tinged with some redness
"well all I can say is that I hope you have fun and kick some monster butt while doing so" and with that Luz left
"do you think we should tell her that she has a horrifying spider in her hair" King asked
"nah she's a big girl, she should be fine" Eda then looked at herself in the mirror and paused "Do you think I could pull off red eyeshadow?"
"Girl, with that bright orange hair of yours, you can pull off anything! Up top! [They high-five.] We're style geniuses!"
Luz was now rummaging through a chest of clothes in her room and pulled out a black dress "Hmmm..." She pulls out an otter suit. "Hmm!" realises its way too small "aww" her phone then buzzed. She picked it up, and saw that she had gotten a text from her mom: "Mira! Visiting our fav after school snack spot !" Then there was a selfie of Camila holding a sandwhich outside of a store with a sign reading "Chimichurri Sandwhiches!" Another text followed that read: "Miss you BEBE! XO" Luz smiled and simply replied with a 'delicious' emoji, Hooty then entered and smooshed his face against hers.
"Oh, Luz! You have a guest!"
"Hooty! No touching!" Hooty retreated out the window and Willow entered Luz's room "Willow?! What are you doing here?"
"I just needed some time away from my dads, don't get me wrong, I love them with all of my heart, I just…ever since we came back from the past, I've barely been able to get a moment away from them, that's why I've been so happy to be at school lately"
"don't your dad's have a tracker on you still"
"I was able to chew it off" she said, Luz giggled at that
"well while you're here, could you help me pick out something for Grom"
"sure, I'll even modify it to fit you perfectly if need be"
"then lets get to it *spider crawls onto her face* WAH!" *slam* *squish!* "give…me a minute to clean up" And she teleported away, while Willow looked at the spider gut face print Luz had left on the wall
"hmm, abstract"
Willow was now admiring her handywork, or at least trying to admire. While she had helped Luz to make her Grom outfit, it wasn't exactly…traditional, with Luz now wearing a tux/tutu combo with brown boots for good measure. "so Willow, what do you think?" Luz asked while striking a pose
"um, well…its definitely you"
"thanks, now to find something for you"
'oh boy'
By the time the two were done Willow was now wearing a green dress "you look very pretty in that Willow" Willow blushed at this, she wasn't used to getting complements on her appearance from people other than her dad's and Amity.
"Hey, are you two done up there, its time to go" Eda called out
"coming!" Luz called back before turning back to Willow "ready to make Grom cry?" Willow grabbed her Golden Thumb Gauntlets
"bring it on"
"that's the spirit" and with two uses of her instant transmission spell, She, Willow, Eda, and King were at the entrance to the gym. Entering the gym, they could see many students had already arrived and were already dancing with each other, quite a few couples looking awkward. Eda headed up to the stands while King made a beeline for the refreshment table. Luz looked around but couldn't see Amity anywhere, figuring that she would be arriving soon she walked out on the dance floor and began showing off her moves, being surprisingly agile despite her current size. After 2 songs Luz stopped to take a breather. After getting a few drinks, she saw Boscha standing to the side, glaring at all of her friends, who all apparently had dates to Grom. Not seeing Amity yet, Luz gave a sigh and figured that she might as well ask. Passing by Willow, who was donning corsages onto some guests, she told her what she was doing. After a quick 'are you crazy' from Willow, Luz continued over to Boscha.
Seeing someone approaching her, Boscha looked at Luz and glared "what do you want human"
"would you like to dance with me?"
"…what?"
"I saw you here all by yourself, so I was wondering if you would like to dance with me"
Boscha looked at Luz's extended hand and sighed "okay" she then took Luz's hand and she was guided onto the dance floor. The two found it rather awkward and embarrassing as their large bellies squished up against each other as they tried to hold each other. They eventually got it to work and they had 3 dances with eachother before Luz had to take another breather. "that was fun, thanks Luz"
"don't…mention it" Luz said completely out of breath, before she made her way over to the refreshment table. After guzzling down 6 cups of punch, Amity came up to Luz "Amity! I was wondering when you were going to show up. you look really pretty"
Amity went beet red at this "thanks Luz, you look hot, I mean pretty as well"
Luz gave her a sly smile "oh so you think I'm hot hmm?"
"uh so um, why were you dancing with Boscha exactly?"
"I saw her standing there all by herself and I thought she shouldn't have to be fully alone on a dance night"
"you're always thinking of other's Luz, that's one of the things that I like about you"
"then may I have this dance" the lights then dimmed and a spotlight shone on the stage, revealing Principal Bump by a microphone
"ehem, students, it's almost time for our main Grom event. Please take a seat, so that the battle may begin" once all of the students were seated he continued "this year our Grom Queen will be accompanied by 3 others. Now, introducing our Grom Queen. Amity Blight" a large spotlight then shone on Amity "and she will be joined by Willow Park, Gus Porter, and Luz Noceda" the spotlight increased in size revealing the extra 3 students.
After the floor opened up, Amity and her friends descended down the ramp. As they did, Luz whispered something into Amity's ear. Amity looked at Luz who gave her a cheeky grin and a double thumbs up. Amity smirked, and nodded.
"Alright Grom, show yourself!" The four friends watched as a large blob of black sludge rose up from the ground until it towered over them, growling. "Before we start this battle, let me ask you this, does the fear bringer experience fear itself?" Amity then braced herself before her entire body turned into abomination goop and she tripled in size, shocking everyone. Willow banged her golden gauntlet's together and became covered in what looked like a suit of armour made of tree bark. Luz opened up her shirt and freed her belly, revealing the multiple glyphs she had drawn on it, and Gus got ready to use some illusions. Forming one arm into a scythe and the other into a hammer, Amity sliced Grom in half and then squashed one half with her hammer, while at the same time Willow thrust her arm forward with it both rapidly extending and expanding as her fist slammed into Grom and sent it flying into the wall behind it. Luz followed this up by combining several glyphs to make an ice blast that froze the one half of Grom solid. Gus then ended it by making a giant anvil that landed on the frozen Grom, shattering it.
The remaining half of Grom reformed itself, only now it was half its original size. 4 tentacles shot out of Grom and stuck to each of their foreheads as it read their memories to find out what they were most afraid of. Once it got the information it needed, it retracted its tentacles before splitting into 4 blobs which then morphed into what the 4 friends were most afraid of.
The blob in front Gus morphed into a clown "hey there little guy, how about a big smile for your pal Jingles?" *honk* *honk*
Gus' heart stopped for a second and a cold sweat ran down his face. he closed his eyes and tightened his hands into fists "I choose to respond to this fear with unnecessary force!" he then made a giant fist which slammed into the clown and sent it flying back into the wall. Seeing what he had done he beamed with pride
"now that's what I call a punch line" the clown said before it turned into a puddle of black sludge.
The blob in front of Willow turned into a giant ferocious acid dripping ladybug. The first sight of it made Willow almost throw up in fright. Thankfully she was able to steel herself and rationalised that it was just Grom and not an actual thing. Willow narrowed her eyes and she charged at the giant ladybug spikes then appeared all over her bark armour and she swung her fist at the giant ladybug's underbelly, leaving 4 puncture wounds in its exo-skeleton. As it screeched in pain, she thrust her fingers into the holes, and began rapidly extending and spreading them out like roots. Branches burst out of multiple area's on the giant ladybug before it exploded as a tree formed where it had just been.
The blob in front of Amity turned into what looked like a beachball crossed with a pig. Amity's blood ran cold, her eyes widened, her abomination form went several shades paler, and she vomited before screaming in terror and then fainting, turning back to normal. This had surprised everyone and made some students snicker and laugh. "Seriously, Amity is terrified of Ball Hogs" Boscha snarked before she burst out laughing.
The blob in front of Luz rose up and began morphing while she braced herself for whatever was going to happen next. A million possibilities began running through her mind about what what form it could take. She'd never really been scared of monsters. When she was little she'd even tried to find the one her dad said was under her bed. She didn't really have trouble with heights or the dark. True it could turn into something with a lot of teeth but that wasn't really a 'fear' fear so she didn't see how. finally it stopped as a full length mirror which had one of the kids from her old school in it.
"Ugh. Loser." the girl said
Frost started creeping over Luz's heart, as the image in the mirror changed between various kids at her old school
"What a freak."
"Weirdo."
"Shouldn't she be in the 'special' class?"
"This is why she doesn't have any friends."
"Shut up." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Not this. Anything but this. The image then turned into Amity
"You're not a witch. You're just a fat human. You'll never be like us." 'Amity' said
"No! I'm training hard. I have people who..." the image then turned to Gus
"We don't care about you." 'Gus' said, before the image changed to 'Willow'
"You're a drug. All that matters is putting food in you. I couldn't care less about 'you'." 'Willow' finished.
"Nononononono." she said as she clenched her eyes tightly shut. This wasn't happening. This wasn't...
"Mija?"
"M-mum?" She opened her eyes and wiped them as she saw that her mother was now standing in front of her with the portal door behind her
"What have you done to yourself you stupid girl?"
"I...I've just put on some weight? It's nothing?"
"I can't believe it. After everything I've done for you. This is how you repay me? By turning yourself into this? By running away because people were mad you set snakes loose in the school?!" Her mother shook her head in sheer disgust "Fine. If that's what you want then go ahead stay here. I don't want to see you again."
"No!...mama please I..."
"Don't even bother coming back you..disgusting cow. My house is not your home anymore."
Luz watched as her mother disappeared through the portal door and shut it behind her. Luz sunk down onto her soft knees and started sobbing.
"I...I don't belong on Earth" Luz looked up and saw her doppelganger with her head hung in sadness "I don't belong here." Her doppelganger then looked Luz straight in the eye with her face lifeless "I guess...we don't belong anywhere." Luz then buried her face in her hands and continued sobbing. Luz's doppelganger smirked before they formed one arm into a scythe, as it went to decapitate Luz, Eda came in and gave it a dragon kick to the head.
Landing on her feet, she twirled her staff and slammed it on the ground "don't worry kid, I've gotcha" she said as the doppelganger turned into a blob of black sludge again. "Remember me Gromy" a gargled growl came from Grom "awe you're not still mad that I made everyone laugh at you the last time we rumbled" Grom roared and recalled all the bits of itself, even the frozen parts. Remerging into its full form it reared up and got ready to attack Eda "I think it's time to get rid of you for good" she then made a large spell circle before twirling her staff behind it sending out a tornado of yellow light. When she stopped, Grom was now green and transparent. Eda looked around and grinned. Raising her staff up, she began swinging it around, which sucked up Grom and spun it around above the pit until it turned into a green ring. Finally she banged her staff on the ground and streams of green shot out from the ring and went straight into the mouths of only the fattest students. This continued until Grom was completely gone.
"Emira! Are you okay?!" Edric asked his now extremely bloated sister
"I just wish it was strawberry flavoured" she replied, much to his relief. Boscha was furious at what Eda had just done to her, though she did have to admire her creativity in killing a monster.
Using her magic, Eda made a platform under herself and rose up into the air while also making 2 spotlights shine on her "that students is what all of you have the potential to do and more if you DON'T join a coven, magic shouldn't be something that's limited to one type, it stunts your growth as witches and demons, I never joined a coven and look at what I could do, when it comes time to graduate, don't lets that blowhard Belos control your futures with this stupid coven system, be free to perform any type of magic you desire and not be limited to just one type." Eda declared and she lowered her platform back down before quickly making her way to Luz's side where she began comforting her "It's okay Luz it wasn't real, none of what that creep just said is true"
"Kids have been saying that kind of stuff to me for years" Luz said quietly
"well even if kids did say those things, do you honestly think that Goops, Willow and your mum would say or even think things like that?"
"I...I don't know"
"come on Luz, give us a little credit" Gus said as he and Willow walked over, the latter of the two now carrying the unconscious Amity, Eda then raised her staff, creating another platform, only this one was big enough for all of them, and she lifted them all up out of the pit before Principal Bump closed it.
After regaining consciousness and getting cleaned up Amity as well as Luz rejoined the dance, hand in hand. They could see that Willow was dancing with a boy who looked like a witch, only his skin was slightly red, and he had two large horns coming out of his head. Gus was chatting with Skara, both sporting light blushes, something that Luz planned on teasing him about.
"may I have this dance" Luz asked Amity with a bow, Amity giggled and the two began to dance. As they danced Luz could see Amity seemed extremely awkward "what's the matter Amity? Still shaken about Grom?"
"no, embarrassed is a better word. Everyone found out what my biggest fear is"
"and what caused this fear?"
"well when Willow and I were younger, we used to get up to a lot of trouble, one time we went into the dark forest just outside town. When we were playing around there, we were attacked by a herd of Ball Hogs, they bit us, tore off our clothes trampled and rammed us. We were thankfully saved by a passerby. I don't know why Willow wasn't affected, I couldn't even look at a ball for years after that" she was now shaking as she recalled the traumatic event, though she quickly calmed down as Luz brought her into an embrace and held her firmly, but also gently. The two stayed like that for a bit, until Amity spoke again "Luz, you were completely right, I was only interested in your body than you as a person, but after all of the stuff we have been through, it's made me see you for the kind of person you are, and its someone that a really want to be with" Luz's heart was pounding hard at this point "so would you like to go out with me?"
"Amity, I would love to go out with you" there was a pause before they leaned in and kissed each other, which resulted in cheers and Gus making fireworks.
Eda, Luz and King returned home via Instant Transmission Spell "whoo! Watch out for this, human! Oh, you did good, kid." Eda said proudly
"Did good? I failed at defeating Grom, and broke down in front of the whole school"
"yeah, but I was more referring to you getting the girl" and she gave Luz a few nudged, making the girl blush slightly
"Thanks, but... I'm gonna go to bed." Luz said, sounding completely drained, before she teleported up to her room. When she appeared in it she gave a tired sigh. Making her way over to her window, she opened it and stared out at the stars "Would mum really react like that if she saw me the way I currently am?" she said to herself as these thoughts and more swam around in her head. Her phone then vibrated. She turns it on to find two texts from her mum: "How was your day? ❤, Mamá!" and "Miss you mija"
She typed a duck emoji and was about to send it when she stopped and deleted it. She was tempted to ask her mum what she thought if she gained weight, but then chose against it and simply typed out: "Miss you too, Mami" and sent it, she paused for a bit and continued typing: "I won't lie. Today was kinda hard. And I don't always feel like I'm supposed to be here. But when things get tough, my friends help me out. I think you'd like them." and she sent it before sighing again
"Te extraño también, Mami. One day, I'll tell you all about this." she said quietly, she then looked out on the sea and smiled. She then received another text from her mum.
It read: "can't wait! P.S. love receiving your letters!"
Luz raised a brow at this before smiling "aw. That's a cute way of saying "text"." she said, not knowing that back in the Human Realm, her mother had been receiving frequent letters from 'Luz'.
Author's Note: And another chapter done, and yes this chapter confirms that Vee will indeed be showing up later. leave reviews and let me know what you think, and if you have any idea's feel free to tell me either in reviews or even just PM me. Until the next chapter, peace!