The Market

At a local restaurant, a very worried looking Amity and a baggy-eyed Luz sat down on a table, waiting for their drinks. The former stared at her girlfriend's almost drunk-like stupor, with her constantly closing and opening her eyes as though she was in a trance and could collapse any minute.

"You look terrible, Luz," said Amity as she watched Luz struggling to keep her eyes open.

"I'm fiiiine," said the human, reaching over to her water cup and dabbing her fingers in the icy drink and placing it on her eyes to keep her awake, "sleep deprivation won't stop me from attending this date."

Amity smiled at that statement, but it quickly faded away, "I appreciate that, really. But you need to take care of yourself, Luz. I'd rather you cancel a date than deprive yourself of a good night's sleep."

Luz blushed at this, "awww," she then rubbed her eyes with some more water, "thanks, babe,"

Amity then stared at her menu while Luz proceeded to do the same. The former hearing the latter mumble something about the food not being edible for her. It wasn't long before Luz put down her menu and spoke again, a sudden burst of energy in her nearly lifeless eyes, "soooo… how's life?"

Amity put down her menu, raising a finger to trace the rim of her drink, "it's alright. Dear old mother has been giving me crap about my hair, but I ignore her complaints."

"Nice."

Amity smirked, taking a sip of her iced tea, "what about you?"

Luz looked to her sides, before leaning in close and cupping her mouth, "We made a working portal."

Amity almost choked on her iced tea hearing this and needed a moment to recompose herself as she caught her breath, "you what!?"

Luz put a finger to her lips as she noticed a few other eyes at other tables glance at the sudden raising of her girlfriend's voice. She then proceeded to speak in a low voice, "I'm serious. We made a working portal! It didn't last long, but it worked!"

"That's great news!" Amity also lowered her voice, but her excitement could still be shown, "and you did it with some old recordings!?"

"And garbage," Luz sheepishly said, an arm behind her head, "lots of cobbled together garbage that miraculously didn't blow up in our face."

"Knowing you guys, I'm surprised it didn't."

Luz giggled, "same here."

As both ladies finished their laughs, a waitress arrived, blinking her many eyes as she held up a pencil and notepad, "what will it be, ladies?" She asked in a husky voice.

Luz spoke up first, "yeah, I'll have the…." She then glanced at the menue trying to find what she was looking for before she pointed to it, "the calamari."

The waitress nodded and turned to Amity, "what about you, sweetheart?"

"Pill Bug, please." Amity responded.

With their orders written and the menus given, the waitress left the two by themselves. Luz gave Amity a confused look, "Pill bug?"

The witch responded, "what? They're delicious and very high in protein," she then placed a hand under her chin as she collected her thoughts, "anyways… So what was it like?"

"Hm?" Luz asked, raising a brow.

"Going through the portal. What was it like? Did you see your home again? What's the human realm like? Is it true that humans shed their skin?"

Luz raised her finger to her lips again, "keep it down!" she whispered, "and one question at a time, please."

Amity nodded, then proceeded to ask the first question, "what was it like going through the portal?"

Luz looked to the side, remembering the strange dimension she visited that was beyond description and comprehension. She settled on an answer that wouldn't make her sound crazy, "it was a blinding white and I felt tingly."

Before Amity could ask the next question, Luz pointed up a hand, "by the way, humans do not shed their skin."

Her girlfriend looked defeated at this statement before continuing, "what's the human realm like?"

Luz thought of a response. Eventually, she came up with one, "green trees. Red roses. Blue skies and white clouds. Friendly faces that walk by….", She seemed lost in memory as her face had a smile that spoke of nostalgia, "and the rains don't burn and boil your skin."

"The rains don't boil?'' a bewildered Amity asked, which Luz replied only by nodding, "it sounds like a truly wonderful world."

"You have no idea. It's easy to take it for granted…."

Amity saw that Luz's tone and face changed from a reminiscent happiness to a melancholic mourning. With a slight bit of hesitation, she asked the next question, though she felt it was going to hit a sore spot, "did you find your home?"

Luz's demeanor didn't change as she answered, "something like that." And that was all she would say on that.

"Luz…" Amity said in a low tone, "are you ok?"

Luz nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel homesick, I guess."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Luz shook her head, placing a hand underneath her chin as she responded, "I'm fine. I'll get over it."

Amity reached over and grabbed Luz's hand, holding it tight, "Luz, if this is gonna work, you're gonna have to be honest with me. You can't hold secrets like this."

Luz looked at her held hand for a second. She then took her free hand and wrapped it around Amity's own, her smile slowly returning, "I'm fine. I promise."

The purple haired witch smiled before turning her head to see the waitress arrive with the food in her hands, "one fried pill bug and one calamari," she said as she lay down the trays on the table, "enjoy, sweethearts."

Amity rubbed her hands with delight at the sight of the giant rolled up Armadillidiidae on her plate while Luz's pupils shrunk seeing the still wriggling cut up tendrils on her plate. The human looked to the waitress and held up a hand, "uh, isn't calamari supposed to be fried?"

The waitress shrugged, "you got complaints? Tell 'em to the chef."

In response to this possible threat, Luz just grabbed one of the tendrils and put it in her mouth, chewing for an uncomfortably long time before swallowing with immense visible discomfort, "no complaints here," she said weakly as she struggled with a thumbs up.

The waitress then left the two to their meals. Luz watched Amity tap the rolled up bug on her plate once, letting it open to reveal its steaming, gooey undershell meat, "alright," she said as she grabbed a straw and stuck it in the meat, "my parents would throw a fit if they caught me eating this."

Luz watched in revulsion seeing the insides of the bug shrinking as it was being eaten through a straw. Amity had already finished the insides when she noticed the human stare at her, "what? You want some?"

"... No." said Luz as she grabbed another cut up tendril and dipped it in the sauce before proceeding to chew it for a solid six seconds before swallowing, "I'm good."
The witch shrugged, "more for me then," She then grabbed the bug and bit into what remained of the softshell meat.

When the paycheck came through, Luz took her order to go. For some strange reason, she had lost her appetite for the evening.

"Are you sure you don't need me to fly you home?" Amity asked, holding onto her palisman as Luz stretched her arms..

"Nah, I'm fine," Luz replied pointing to Owlbert, "but thanks, anyways."

Amity smiled before leaning forward to kiss Luz on the cheek, "take care, ok?"

Liz just blushed in response to the kiss, "I will."

"Goodnight, Luz. I love you."

"I love you too, Amity."

With that, Luz watched her girlfriend hop on her palisman and fly off into the dusk sky. She waved bye as she saw her figure slowly shrink off into the horizon beyond the city. Soon, she stopped waving and sighed to herself, walking down the stone path of the closing market, instead of flying back to the Owl House.

What am I going to do? She thought to herself, her demeanor changing from happy to stressed in seconds as she continued down her way. She was so caught up in her head, she didn't even notice that the setting sun had long passed over the horizon. By the time she realized it, the dark of night took over, with the only signs of life and activity being a lone amphiptere, wrapping its body around a lamp post and swallowing a vole, watching as the human passed by as it finished its meal for the night.

"'Be honest' she said," Luz mumbled to herself, slumping to the point of almost dragging the owl palisman on the floor beneath her, "fat good my response amounted to."

She sighed before walking to a nearby alley, slumping against the wall. She was tired of walking and needed to rest her body. If only she could rest her head.

Ever since she exited the In-Between Realm, she was unable to sleep properly. Overcome with millions of thoughts rushing in her head. Millions of scenarios. Millions of dreams at once if she was lucky to get some shuteye before waking up thanks to the millionth bad dream in a row.

She thought about all the people she met and made close connections with. Eda and Lilith were like the cool aunts, the former being a second mother, even. King was so lovable like the little brother/dog she never had. Gus and Willow were her bestest friends she had in a long time. Hooty was… Hooty. And Amity…

Amity may be the first person she was honest with in regards to her feelings that cared back. Too many times has she bottled up her feelings for boys and girls, ending in disappointment when they ended up going for someone else or flat out embarrassment when she did confess her feelings. Amity was the first person that she truly felt connected to in a long time. When she confessed to her, she didn't laugh at her, she didn't run away, she didn't stare in dead silence. She was willing to go out with her.

They were so close to making a working portal. She knows the time to say goodbye is drawing closer. She can't bear the thought of saying it, knowing she may never come back. If she said it ahead of time, she could already see the reactions. Eda and King would beg her to stay, Hooty would fall into a sobbing fit, Lilith, Gus, and Willow would solemnly accept that their lives would return to their dull state before she showed up, and Amity… She would cry and run away.

But what about Vee and Mom? Will Vee return home or stay in the human realm? Will her mom ever trust her again? More and more of the worst case scenarios played out in her head like an overload of information. A small part of her knew this wouldn't happen, but that small part of her was overtaken by everything else telling her it would.

She couldn't take it anymore. Her eyes felt watery and her lips trembled, "why can't things ever be easy," she said, her voice cracking as she spoke aloud one last time before burying her face in her knees and sobbing. No longer was she the brave human who stood up to bullies, monsters, and tyrants. No longer was she the quick thinker who could slip past and outwit even the mightiest foes. Now she was just an overwhelmed, scared, confused, and alone child.

Almost alone. Owlbert detached himself from his staff and leaned his body against Luz's head. He didn't understand what she was going through, but he wanted to help her in the littlest ways anyways. If all he could do was offer the tiniest bit of comfort, he would give it to her without a second thought.

Sadly, this act wasn't noticed by the human as she continued to sob into her knees, her cries echoing across the alley. That's all she heard and noticed.

She didn't even notice the red cloaked figure standing in front of her, casting a shadow over her as he blocked the moonlight, staring with a curious gaze.