An hour after the council meeting, Masha got to one of the more recent parks built and began to look around for Vee anxiously. All she texted them was that she was ready to talk and what park they'd be at. The memory of Vee being so angry at the council and storming off hung in their mind. Everything was fine, but Vee definitely needed to talk to someone.
It was slightly surprising that Vee picked such a popular park with no hideaways or anything, but Masha didn't want to judge as the park was very calming, thanks to the small, slow river that ran through the center of it. Rivers were always soothing to Masha and loved it when parks had them, especially if they had any of the cute little wooden bridges that went over them. They were slightly less relaxing in the Isles than the human realm on account of the boiling waters that persisted everywhere except the few witch-made lakes and ponds, but they were still nice to look at even if Masha was unable to kick off their socks and shoes, roll up their pants, and just let their feet hang in the flowing waters until their toes pruned up like they always did with human rivers.
Masha did eventually spot Vee next to the river, sitting right by the stones that lined the edges of it that protected the grass from any splashes that might happen if the river was flowing particularly violently that day. Boiling rains were one thing but the waters themselves were a completely different heat level, and combining that with how much more coverage a splash got than just drops of water, it made sense Vee was the only one who dared to get so close to the waters.
Masha sat down next to Vee not saying anything at first as they looked at their partner staring at the flowing waters blankly.
"Are you okay?" They eventually asked.
"I punched a hole into a brick wall." Vee said flatly.
"Did anyone see?"
"No. I was in the back of an alley. I had to go somewhere private so nobody would see me in my other form."
"Your true form." Masha said, "You don't need to be ashamed of that. Or who you are."
"But don't I?" Vee scoffed, finally turning to look at them.
She instantly regretted her harsh tone when she saw the pained look Masha gave her. Before she started to panic, though, Masha put a comforting hand on their thigh, a silent gesture showing it was okay. Vee looked back at the water and started to hold their hand.
"I'm just so pissed off. At the council, at Darius, and at all those imbeciles who freaked out when I, Titan forbid, proposed treating basilisks like everyone else. I mean, it's not like we had any say in our creation. We didn't know that the experiments would result in the draining spell being so powerful. And even if we did, our choices were doing what we were told or getting punished. Darius might have seen the coven side of things, but he's too full of himself and stubborn to consider the basilisk side of things. He's just an ignorant, pompous asshat!"
Vee's rant paused when they felt Masha flinch slightly. It was then that they realized they were squeezing their hand way too tight and instantly let go. She mouthed an apology and Masha just reached over and cupped her cheek in their hand affectionately.
"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere private. There's lots of people here and I don't think you want them to overhear you talking about your personal experiences." Masha suggested.
Instead of getting up to leave, Vee leaned over a patch of dirt that had no grass growing and began to draw a glyph combo into it. Once it was done, she tapped it, and Masha felt like a slight breeze just went past them.
"What did that glyph do?" Masha asked curiously.
"Well, Hunter and Gus were experimenting with trying to recreate illusion spells and eventually found this one. It creates an illusion bubble that, to an outside observer, will just look like a still image but on the inside, we can do whatever. It also doesn't let any sound escape. And since it's drawn into something instead of on a piece of paper, it'll last until the glyph gets messed with. So, until we're ready to go, everyone else will just see you and I sitting next to each other, looking at the river." Vee explained, some happiness starting to creep in.
It wasn't quite to the degree of excitement Hunter got, but whenever Vee learned a new glyph combo she was always excited. Masha always loved seeing her go on ramblings about glyphs, especially since Vee was normally the most relaxed, composed, and chill member of the group. It was adorable any time Vee found something that made her so excited. And since she couldn't do magic, glyphs were high on the excitability list. Every time Hunter, Gus, Eda, or someone else texted her about a new combo it made her day.
Sadly, that excitement didn't last long and Vee's expression fell again. She scooted closer to the riverbank and shifted her legs into something similar to the tail of a selkidomus, then let it just hang in the water, unbothered by the boiling temperatures as it would have been if it was her legs or normal tail. Masha moved up to be next to Vee, but kept her legs a safe distance from the water, wary of the waters. Vee grabbed her pen and paper, drew a glyph, and handed it to Masha.
"This will protect you from the waters." She said, much less excited than she was about the illusion bubble, but still happy.
Masha was grateful as they slipped off their socks and shoes, rolled up their pants, stuck the glyph to their legs, then slowly dipped their feet into the waters. And to their surprise and joy, the water was just really warm instead of boiling, feeling like a hot tub.
"Why do you keep that pen and paper with you all the time? You don't need to protect yourself or anything. You live just fine without needing to use magic." Masha asked curiously, trying to keep Vee's mind off of the meeting and keep her happy for just a bit longer.
"I need it so I always have something to eat. Sure there are the cards in the apartment and during most get-togethers around here I can find something, but just to be safe, I always have this in case I start to get hungry. Basilisks get seriously hangry, and that's something I don't need to have to worry about. This way, everyone will be safe. And I won't ruin the reputation of basilisks any further."
After that, there was another pause in the conversation. The two of them just let the water run past them as they watched it, neither exactly sure how to continue. It tended to happen any time they had a talk about basilisks, which they rarely did because Masha didn't want to force Vee to talk about her trauma and Vee didn't want to weigh Masha down with her trauma. Eventually, Masha did lean over slightly and rested their head on Vee's shoulder.
"Your proposal will get approved. They just need some time to think about it, is all." Masha said.
"They approved part of my proposal, and none of the ones I thought were the most important. They're going to capture the basilisks but not rehabilitate them. They're just going to stick all of them in cages again. I know that if they do, a lot of people are going to get hurt, witches and basilisks. I know if someone tried to capture me, I'd fight back. And I'd do that without draining anyone. A lot of the others, at least last I saw them, didn't have that aversion. They would gladly drain a whole army of witches if it meant not getting stuck in a cage again."
"They might have changed. They could be…magic vegan like you are."
"You don't know what it was like. I saw too many from each generation of us get taken away to Belos' and never come back. There weren't just one of us per number, you know. I was just one of the lucky ten who had good enough traits to be modified for the next batch and good enough behavior to not be a pain. We all lived in fear. For some of us, the only thing we knew how to do was feed on magic. And none of us would want to go back to that. There's a reason why the ones of us who didn't escape chose being killed over going back. That night we got out, there were way more than just ten of us."
"But they wouldn't be going back to that." Masha said, just trying to get Vee to not be so down on herself, not actually reason.
"And they wouldn't know that. In my proposal I'd be able to go as someone they trusted and assure them that they weren't being dragged away to be tested on. But if a bunch of officers go out to capture them…"
"It'll send the wrong message." Masha sighed.
"The message that I don't want to send. To the council, to Darius, their only message is that they're scared of basilisks and want to remove them as a possible threat. Because to people like them, we're just monsters. Not demons, monsters. Vile things created by a vile person. Violent animals that need to be contained and locked away."
Vee pulled the tail out of the water and turned them back into legs, pulling them close to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Masha also removed their legs and turned slightly so that they were facing Vee. Vee spent a few minutes just staring at the water again, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Just as Masha was about to rest their hand on her back, she looked up at them.
"Do you love me?" She asked weakly.
"I-Yes of course." Masha assured, taken aback, "Of course I love you, mi serpiente."
Vee unwrapped her arms from her legs and shifted into her basilisk form, turning so she faced Masha at last.
"Even like this?"
Masha softly smiled, held Vee's head in their hands, and gave her a light kiss on the forehead.
"Yes, I do. I love you in every form, Vee. Frankly, I might love your true form a bit too much."
They both began to laugh and the mood began to relax. They were both happy, and happy to be with each other. When the laughter died down, Masha moved to get up.
"You ready to go back home?" They asked as they stood up.
"I think I want to stay on this side of the realms for a bit longer." Vee said, also getting up and turning back to her humanoid form, "You can go back to the apartment, but I still need a little more alone time. I'll keep in touch and, before you say anything about getting back, I'll just ask Gus to use his portal."
"Will you be gone long?"
"I don't know. There are some things I need to sort out for myself. Is that okay?"
Masha smiled and gave Vee a kiss before stepping back and starting to leave.
"Just keep me posted. Love you Vee."
"Love you too!"
They waved to each other, then got back to doing their own things. Masha texted Gus asking for a portal back and Vee got rid of the glyph on the ground. Once Masha was far enough away, Vee took a deep breath and started to walk into town. She wandered around for a while, just looking like she was going for an evening stroll, when in actuality she was looking for a very specific place. She eventually found the right alleyway, went down in, and lifted off the cover of the manhole that was back there. She went in, covered it back up, and climbed down into the sewers.
Everything was well marked and fairly upkept, but barely anyone ever went down there so thankfully it was empty. Vee carefully traversed along the edges of the massive drainage pipe, staying close to the wall as she watched the water flowing through it, going through the cooling process before it went to be filtered. She went through twists and turns, going over metal bridges and ducking under low hanging pipes. It didn't take too long before she found what she was looking for.
At the end of one of the tunnels was a steel door that hadn't been opened in what looked like ages. That was mostly due to the warning signs on the door, the police tape in front of the door, and the scratches digging into the metal on and around the door. For any regular passerby, it was simply a foreboding door leading into a closed off area. But for Vee, it was an old hiding spot she had made right after escaping Belos so long ago.
The door was fairly stuck and took lots of work to open, even with using shapeshifting to give herself more muscles, but the door did eventually unlock and open. Vee slipped inside, closed the door, and sealed it shut behind her.
Vee looked around the room, the setup reminiscent of an abandoned makeshift bedroom for a child. Because that's exactly what it was for the year between escaping Belos and going through the portal to the human realm. There was ventilation that kept the room from getting too humid or too hot or cold, was well sealed, had plenty of space, was isolated, had an easy way to get out to get magic, and had just enough background noise to keep focused without being distracted. And as a happy bonus of having a phone that could contact between realms, it also meant having a phone that could get service wherever.
"Well, I'm back." She sighed, talking to herself.
Vee sat down on the old mattress that she used to use as a bed, and after checking for any parasitic bug demons, laid back and looked at the ceiling and shifted into her true form. Memories slowly came back to her of when lived in this place, imagining a world where basilisks wouldn't be hunted anymore, where they wouldn't be in danger. She once imagined that they'd be safe when Belos was gone, but the sad reality was even a decade after his death, she and all the other basilisks were still not safe.
Vee sat up and looked over at the wall across from her, one with drawings scribbled all over of happy imagery like being with the other basilisks and Belos being overthrown, one with half-baked ideas on how to find the other basilisks, how to escape, and how to take down the covens, as well as a list of magic alternatives that didn't require draining. It was completely covered with things she had imagined, planned for, and hoped for all laid out in messy drawings with stolen crayons and chalk. Vee could even see the progression of her younger self getting better and better at writing. All she had to work with was some lessons from that one nice guard and a few books she managed to steal, but over the year of hiding she learned to read and write.
And, at the top of everything, was drawings of all the surviving basilisks, all numbered 1-10. Vee could tell by the more fine work, the attempts at trying again, and the ability to stay inside the lines that this was her most valuable drawing she made as a kid. And in the back of her mind, she remembered thinking of it as such. This drawing was the only tangible memory she had of all the other basilisks, with who they were and what they looked like. This one was made specifically so no matter what she went through, she'd always remember who they all were.
Vee smiled to herself, thinking about how hopeful she had been. She wondered what her younger self would think of her now. Having friends, having a partner, passing as a witch and a human, being able to freely travel between worlds, being able to talk to the people in power instead of just being some lowly prisoner. Things were better, better than they ever had been. Better than Vee could have ever imagined as she lived in the sewers.
But there was still more work to do.
Ve stepped back, grabbed her phone, and took a picture of the wall, basically a mural of the most uncertain year of her life. For a moment, as she stepped forward again, she lifted up her arm to try and get rid of it by rubbing it off the smooth bricks. But…she couldn't. She wouldn't dare touch this wall. Instead, Vee moved to a different wall, grabbed an old stolen roll of tape that lay on the ground, grabbed her pen and paper, and sat down.
"Okay, time to get to work."
"Oof. That…was certainly a lot." Matt chuckled awkwardly, "Uh, you don't have to do recess supervision today, there's plenty of teachers. You need a break. Can you finish the school day or should I get a sub?"
"I'll be fine, really." Amity assured, wiping her eyes from the tears, "I just need some lunch, some me time, and a chance to redo my makeup."
"I'm honestly surprised you wear makeup. I really thought that the stone on your bracelet was a concealment stone."
"Oh I wouldn't use something like a concealment stone just for makeup. I like doing it myself, actually. Anyway, I should head back to my classroom. It's where my lunch is after all." Amity said, standing up from the front steps.
Matt nodded and they both walked inside. Matt going to continue his rounds and Amity going to her classroom. She grabbed her bag from behind her desk and ate her lunch, listening to the happiest songs she had saved to her scroll. It was pleasant, and a glance out the window to the recess area showed what looked like kids teaching each other some hand clapping game like that human song, Patricia Cake, or whatever it was. Amity was able to mostly relax, but what she saw still stuck in her mind. She hadn't even told Matt about it so she wouldn't sound crazy. The image of that…that monster with Luz's voice stuck in her head. It felt so real, but it couldn't possibly be.
Luz was dead, she was just stressed from the story. Completely understandable.
It was just something to talk to Willow about after work.
When Amity was almost back to her normal self, the recess bell rang loudly and it was time for the kids to come back inside. As she normally did after recess when she didn't have to supervise, Amity stepped outside her classroom, propped the door open, and stood in the hall, making sure kids went to the classes they were supposed to, had left all the recess toys outside, and other things like that. As the flood of kids came down the hall, Amity noticed lots of kids humming or mumbling a similar tune, though it was unfamiliar to her, likely the song that they were singing during recess. This made Amity crack a smile as she loved when the students got creative like that. Seeing them make up games and songs and such was always a delight to see. The mind of a child knew no bounds, and with covens gone that only proved to be more than true.
Eventually all the kids got to where they had to be, all of Amity's students were back in class and on their carpet spots, and Amity could finally do something normal and go on with her day, unplagued by thoughts of what she thought she saw.
As Amity went back over to her desk to get all the abomination goo needed for the days lesson, she noticed some of the students humming the same tune she heard in the halls, a few even singing it to themselves quietly, though Amity could only make out a few words. Once she passed out some abomination goo to everyone and sat on her stool in the front of the room, keeping some abomination goo for herself to demonstrate, her curiosity got the better of her.
"What's that little tune you're humming?" She asked.
"It's a song we made to go with a hand clapping game." A student that had been mumbling the words said chipperly, "We based it off the history lesson we learned today."
There was a pang of worry for just a second, but Amity brushed it off. They learned plenty about the Head. There was nothing to worry about.
"Well could two of you demonstrate it for me?"
After some minor bickering between students on who would get to show her, two of them got closer to the front, sat in front of each other, and started clapping and hitting their hands in a pattern, and began to sing.
And within the first few words, Amity was frozen in regret and the nerves she had felt earlier came rushing back as the children sang the song.
Little Human Luz, came to be free
Learned magic and left, but what did she see?
First there was wild, then her own
Then she went crazy, never came home
Little old Luz, she went mad
What did she see, that was so bad?
Learned from Belos, then killed her friend
Got killed back, but it didn't end
Little witch Luz, party of one
Beat bad people up, against who had she won?
Scared the Trappers, Titans safe again
Tricked the Collector, but lost her friend
Rest well Luz, now that you're dead
Saved all of us, so relax your head
No more magic, no more curse
No friends left, that you can hurt
When they finished the song, they turned back to Amity, beaming in joy at their little ditty. After all, Amity was the one who taught them the history, so of course she'd love it. She always encouraged them to get creative when it came to education. They were so excited they didn't even notice Amity's expression that was distinctly not her usual happy look, but instead a mix of horror, regret, and so many other emotions that couldn't even be described.
"T-that was great, kids." Amity managed to say, cracking a forced smile, "But now, we need to get to work. You remember how to turn the abomination goo into shapes, right?"
All the students nodded happily.
"Okay, great. What I want you to do is practice making things with it, okay? Try to see if you can make more complex shapes or even something like an abomination. That'll get you nice and warmed up for the lesson on basic commands. I just need to step into the hallway for a second to check something. Will you all be good?"
After getting some nods and yeses, Amity got up and tried to walk over to the door as calmly as possible so that the kids wouldn't get concerned. However, right before she touched the handle, the door flung open.
"Hey Ms. Blight can you-oh. You're here." Matt said, having not expected Amity to have been leaving, "Look, just letting you know that after your trip the students-"
"I know." Amity interrupted, "I know, and I already heard it."
"Are you okay?"
"No."
"Do you need a sub?"
"No, but if you could watch them for a few minutes so I can calm back down?"
"Absolutely. And if you change your mind just let me know. I can get a sub here and you can go home. Today's been-"
"A lot. Yes. I'm going to go into the hall now before I break down in front of these children."
"Of course, of course. Go ahead."
Matt stepped out of the way and Amity went into the hall and leaned against the wall as Matt walked inside and closed the door. After a few seconds, Amity slid down the wall and sat on the floor, breath staggered and hands shaking. She couldn't even think straight with the words of the little song repeating in her head over and over.
Little Human Luz, came to be free
Learned magic and left, but what did she see?
That was the question, wasn't it? What happened after Luz left? What happened that made Luz leave for good?
First there was wild, then her own
Then she went crazy, never came home
She didn't go back to either of her homes. She could have come back to the hideout, she could have stuck with the people she freed, or even tried to figure out a way back to the human realm on her own. But instead she sailed off into the sunset and died.
Little old Luz, she went mad
What did she see, that was so bad?
That was a thought that had plagued Amity's mind for weeks after Luz went missing and eventually exiled herself. What was the line that got crossed that she couldn't come back from? I clearly wasn't killing Hunter because she stuck around after that to free everyone from the Collector.
Learned from Belos, then killed her friend
Got killed back, but it didn't end
Of course it didn't end. That would be simple. But things were never simple with Luz. Ever since she set foot in the demon realm she made everything so much more complicated. But how she somehow didn't die after the fight with Hunter or died and came back was an enigma.
Little witch Luz, party of one
Beat bad people up, against who had she won?
That one was the one rhetorical question. People knew who she beat. But it was true that she was alone. Well, besides Belos, but he could hardly be counted as good company.
Scared the Trappers, Titans safe again
Tricked the Collector, but lost her friend
Belos again. Sure Luz and he had gotten close, so of course the kids would call that enough to be friends. But nobody in their right mind who knew Luz would think that Luz and Belos would actually be friends. Even in the letter to Hunter where she was so sure about Hunter's purity, she was clearly being tricked and used by Belos into thinking that they were close and he was good.
Rest well Luz, now that you're dead
Saved all of us, so relax your head
In the letters she seemed so relaxed. So at peace. But she didn't die like that. She died after being eaten by a selkidomus. And what the afterlife was like was a mystery. The belief most people had was that when you die you go back to being part of the Titan, but Luz was human. She had a bile sack, sure, but she was still a human biologically, genealogically. And according to a conversation her and Luz had when they were trapped in the human realm, nobody there could agree what happened when humans died.
No more magic, no more curse
No friends left, that you can hurt
She really was alone for so long. Stuck with Belos in her head for months while isolating herself, then it was just her and Belos through no fault of her own, then her and the Collector, then she died. But it was also true that in death she lost all the problems she had. Getting the ability to naturally do magic caused everything, and that was caused by using glyphs. The curse was what made Luz hurt people and ultimately drove her away from everyone. And in the end while she was alone, she didn't bring anyone down with her. She exiled herself to not hurt anyone and died in a way that wouldn't hurt anyone. The only one that was hurt was the Collector probably dying with the disk getting shattered, but that was negligible as they were a sociopath.
In just 24 hours so much happened. In just a day there were so many reminders of the past Amity thought she had moved on from. The past she should have moved on from. She had had a full decade of time to move on. But she hadn't. She couldn't. And between the dream, the statue, the hallucination, and the song it was abundantly clear that she was far from moved on.
Strangely, accepting that fact was calming. Amity took some deep breaths, centered herself, and mostly calmed down. She would have a lot to talk about later with Willow, but for now she just had to make it through a few more hours then she could have the weight off her chest. Once she was sure she'd be fine, Amity got up, went into the classroom, and saw Matt currently on the floor and covered in abomination goo while half the students laughed and the other half kept manipulating the goo any time he tried to get up so he just slid around on the floor. Amity sighed, chuckled, and drew a spell circle, cleaning up all the goo from the floor, and Matt, and putting it back in the storage jug. Matt quickly stood up and walked over to Amity while all the kids waved goodbye and tried to act innocent.
"Oh thank the Titan, you are a saint. I take back every time I've said you should teach older students, you are incredible with kids and I could never replace you." Matt said slightly out of breath, before pulling himself back to his normal work demeanor, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. But next time maybe don't have me in charge of the field trip that takes me to the memorial of my ex 10 years after she vanished and nearly 10 years since she died. Okay?"
"I admit that wasn't my best idea." Matt sheepishly said.
"All the power you want, but some part of you still longs for the drama." Amity sighed jokingly, "Now, I'll let you get back to work."
"And I'll let you do the same."
Matt left and Amity sat back down to actually do the lesson, after a light discussion about how even when things are funny that doesn't mean they're okay, though she did compliment them on how they worked together to do their goal and that their skills with abominations are improving. She also told the kids to keep that song to themselves because they don't know how everyone will react to that story, as it was a very serious event and making a happy tune out of it isn't okay. The lesson went perfectly and so did the rest of the school day after that. When the school day ended, Amity made sure that all of the kids got picked up by their parents, cleaned her classroom up, put away the abomination jug, got some setup for the next day done, said goodbye to her coworkers who were still there, then got on her staff and flew to the boardwalk to meet up with Willow.
Amity landed and began to walk around, looking to see where Willow was. She found her sitting at an outdoor table in front of their favorite cafe in the area. Willow noticed Amity and waved her over. Amity sat down but didn't even get a chance to glance at the menu before Willow began to talk.
"I have a lot to discuss." She said, a sense of urgency in her voice.
"I do too, actually. But this was your idea so you go first." Amity said, wanting to talk about the hallucination but also wanting to help her friend.
"It's about what I found in the alley. Before the council meeting?"
"You mean the alley I told you not to go down?"
"Yes, that one. It was because I heard something. Well, I may or may not have been blasted by hallucinogenic pollen and saw the Collector hanging out in the alley."
"Wait, what?!" Amity gasped, almost yelling her exclamation.
"Yeah I know, then when I went to the greenhouse I heard the Collector laughing, found a poorly drawn light glyph on the ground, and was blasted by the light when I touched it."
"I can't believe you saw something too." Amity said softly, in disbelief.
"Wait, too? You also saw something?"
"On the field trip, yeah. The trip was to the remains of the head and well, you know what's there. When we were heading out I heard something behind the statue and when I went behind it, I saw Luz in her fully cursed form, only this time it was even more horrific. But it was just me seeing things. That trip was…a lot. And you said that stuff about the pollen. We're just having some bad days."
"Okay, sure, but you actually saw Luz?" Willow questioned, ignoring Amity reasoning out both of their experiences.
"Yes, I did, but that's besides the point. We were both clearly going through stuff. I mean, last night I had a dream of when Luz left."
"And two nights ago I dreamed of when Luz killed Hunter."
"Exactly. We're going through a lot. It's weird how we're having these around the same time but…it's nice to be able to talk about this. Both of us were close to Luz. You were her first friend in this world and I was her girlfriend. I'm glad we're able to talk about this. And since we were both seeing things it's not like we'll call each other crazy."
"I think you're ignoring the important part here." Willow said firmly, "It's just a few weeks shy of the ten year anniversary of Luz's defeat of the Collector. Luz's leaving anniversary is in what, four days?"
"Something like that." Amity said awkwardly, not liking where this conversation was heading.
"Well imagine Luz didn't die. Wouldn't this be the perfect time to come back? An opportunity to screw with us all. Make us think we're crazy. Gaslight us without saying a single thing. Then, she strikes when we're most vulnerable."
"Willow, Luz is…she is dead. Long dead. And even if she wasn't well…what would you even do?"
"What would you?"
Amity went silent. She never actually gave that much thought.
"If she did come back, I'd make her leave all over again." Willow said firmly, "And it's okay if you wouldn't, but I'm just letting you know what I plan to do if she does."
Amity sighed, nodded, then stood up from her seat.
"I missed hanging out with you Willow, really I did. But I can't talk about Luz right now. Okay? I'm going home. But you should really let go and move on." Amity said as she slowly walked away, still facing Willow.
"I will once you do."
Amity just turned away, summoned her staff, got on it, and flew towards her apartment, leaving Willow.
"I missed you too." Willow said softly.
Once Amity was out of sight, Willow got up and began to stroll around town, figuring she needed to get her mind off of things. It was nice. The sun was heading towards the horizon so it wasn't in Willow's eyes as she wandered. She slowly walked down the sidewalks, past the buildings, and just taking in the familiar sights. Her mind wandered as she realized it had been such a long time since she let herself do this while alone. Her and Hunter went on walks frequently, but it had been too long since she had done it herself. She had finally cracked a soft smile as she passed by the edges of one of the parks, beautiful trees growing just beyond the fence that surrounded the edge when she heard an almost familiar sounding voice screaming.
"Help! Please help!" it screamed.
Willow immediately stopped walking, summoned a few vines from the ground, and jumped the fence. Her relaxing stroll could take a break if someone was in trouble. It wasn't an unbelievable thing, the Isles were still dangerous, even for well trained witches. Between various beast demons and some occasional criminals, there were a variety of reasons why someone would be screaming for help.
Willow rushed through the forest, trying her best to dodge the branches and sharp foliage of the mini forest of this particular park. As she ran, the voice only got clearer and clearer, and thus the strange familiarity became even more weird. Willow continued to run, despite nearly tripping a few times over unseen rocks, practically getting tunnel vision for finding the voice of the person in trouble and helping them.
Willow eventually skidded to a stop as she got to a clearing around a small pond and hit the actual hiking trail of the park that went around the witch-made water feature. There weren't many people around, which would be surprising considering how novel non-boiling water out in nature normally was, but considering the time it wasn't too weird. Willow stood in the trail, trying to catch her breath and also listen for the voice but heard nothing. She groaned and walked up to the edge of the pond, thinking she was either just hearing things again, or that whoever was screaming was helped by someone else first. She sat down by the edge of the pond with a huff, not even caring about the mud that got all over her pants and shoes.
Willow just stared at her reflection, her breath slowly coming to a normal level and relaxing again. Water was always soothing to her. Maybe it was just how connected to nature she was, but it was always relaxing to just look into stagnant water. Willow grabbed a dead leaf off the ground next to her and dropped it in the water, watching it spin as it floated down then looking at the ripple in the water as it landed and slowly floated away.
As the ripples began to clear, Willow noticed a figure behind her in the reflection of the water slowly becoming more clear, though she didn't hear any footsteps. Willow slowly turned around and felt all the color drain from her face as she saw the figure behind her. They were definitely far more grown up, but the person behind her was definitely Luz. Just taller and with longer hair, but no other real differences from how she looked last time she saw her pre-curse and no signs of the curse visible either. Willow opened her mouth to speak, scream, do anything but nothing came out.
"Hey." Luz said, smiling just too wide and sounding just too happy.
The mud beneath Willow suddenly gave away and Willow toppled backwards into the shallow waters of the pond. Willow quickly got back up and stood up, coughing and hacking as she got any water out of her lungs and taking off her glasses to wipe her eyes. She was completely soaked and, after putting her now extremely dirty glasses back on, she saw nothing. She was alone. Just like after seeing the Collector, just like after seeing the light glyph.
"I know you're not a hallucination." Willow grumbled to herself, "I know you're back. And I'm gonna prove it all on my own."
Amity pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the door to the apartment. She slipped inside then locked the door behind her. She kicked off her shoes, put the keys on the key hook by the door, set down her bag, and let Ghost off her staff. She stretched as she walked from the entryway into the living room and flopped on the couch. She heard footsteps and when she glanced up, saw Boscha walking in from the kitchen. She sat up and made room for her on the couch, who happily sat next to Amity and snuggled up next to her.
"So how was work today?" Boscha asked, a refreshingly chipper tone in her voice considering the day Amity had just had.
"It was fine. Field trip went as well as it could go, taught the kids some history and some abomination spells, and while they did do something…unexpected, they were mostly well behaved."
Amity didn't like the fact that she was leaving out everything having to do with Luz, but she just wanted to move on from all of that and didn't want to bog down Boscha when she looked to be in such a good mood. Thankfully it didn't phase Boscha because she was normally pretty vague about how her days went.
"Maybe you should have taken up the offer to work with teenagers." Boscha chuckled, "They're way more predictable. Plus you'd be able to do so much more complex abomination stuff."
"You know how much I like working with kids. Besides, I'll get to really show off my stuff at this year's Magic Exhibition. I'm one of the people who will be showcasing stuff for abomination magic after all." Amity said happily, "You know, I remember how excited I used to be whenever I went to Coventions, and now I get to showcase my magic at the propaganda free version of that!"
"I know! It's amazing that you got picked. What are you planning?" Boscha asked curiously.
"Well most of the time people show off more attack-based spells at these things, and I can't blame them that's exactly how Coventions were, and that's really common for abomination magic demonstrations, so I'm going to show more defensive spells, and some practical ones."
"Think you'll show off that teleportation one?"
"You know how exhausting that one is." Amity chuckled, "No way I can show that off. Besides, it's way too complicated. It took tons of practice and being personally taught by the one who invented the spell to be able to do it."
"You know it's kinda funny how you used to be forced to showcase your parents' mechanical abomination weaponry, but now you can show off all the defensive spells used with regular old abominations. And I don't mean that in a mocking way, abomination magic is definitely one of the most powerful, even with those who aren't masters at it."
"Don't act like potions aren't amazing too."
"Amazing at giving you a sore elbow and wrist. In an attack, unless you have prep time, abominations are just better."
"Potions are so powerful for things outside of fights though! Abominations are limited outside fighting and servitude." Amity insisted.
They both started laughing at how passionate they were getting about such a meaningless debate, smiling at each other lovingly. As their laughter died down, the conversation she had with Willow began to creep back into Amity's mind and she looked away.
"Hey, are you okay?" Boscha asked, immediately switching from laughing to being concerned when she noticed Amity's shift.
"It's just…" Amity began, looking back at Boscha, "What would happen if Luz came back? What would you do?"
"Oh. Well, I'd obviously challenge her to a witches duel to fight for your hand." Boscha said, hamming it up and doing an overly dramatic voice.
"Be serious. What would you do?" Amity sighed.
"Well," Boscha said, dropping the jokes and becoming sincere again, "I guess I'd do whatever you wanted me to. You knew her longer than I did and were objectively closer, not to mention being the leader of things is overrated. So, I'd follow your lead. And I'd support whatever decision you made. What would you do?"
"I don't really know." Amity admitted, "But I think I'd forgive her for what she did, then just see what happened next. Let whatever could happen, happen. And I wouldn't try to stop it."
Boscha smiled at her and took Amity's hands in her own and looked her in her eyes lovingly.
"Then I'd stand by your side, hold your hand, and stick with you as karma took its course."
Amity smiled back and the two kissed. Amity got comfortable on the couch and snuggled into Boscha.
"You hungry for anything?" Boscha asked.
"Not really. It's been a long day. Think we could just stay here for a little longer? And maybe go to bed at some point?"
"Of course. I already ate before you came home anyways. Thought you'd be out longer hanging out with Willow."
"I did too. But this is nicer."
Boscha pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and laid it over her and Amity as they got comfortable laying on each other, Amity emotionally exhausted and Boscha there to help in any way she could.
It was nice. But deep down Amity knew that it was going to be one of the few nice moments she was going to get in the coming weeks as the hallucination of Luz, the approaching anniversary of Luz's death, and the coming Magic Exhibition loomed in her head.
So she had better enjoy this peaceful time while she could.