A/N: Oh my god. This chapter has to be the longest one I've written so far. And my author's notes are only going to make it worse. I didn't intend for the length to get this bad, and yet here we are. I did consider splitting this up into two separate chapters, but it would have been split unevenly and in awkward places, so… yeah. XD It was worth it, though. I'm glad with what I've come up with. Normally, I would discuss what I've done for this chapter here, but because of the twist I've put in, I won't put that here. If you want to see my reasons for doing what I've done in this chapter, you can find it in the notes at the end. However, I will warn you that this twist does stem from canon quite a bit and that it's a very different approach to what other fics in this section have done. So, please keep an open mind when reading. Chapter 21 officially concludes 'Lost in Language', meaning Chapter 22 will be the beginning of 'Once Upon A Swap'. And while Lizzie will be involved in that episode to a degree, I will forewarn you that it isn't going to be like the previous chapters I've written. In fact, it'll probably be very similar to how Chapter 1 was approached. But I'll discuss that the next time I update.
Thank you to everyone who has been favouriting, following, reviewing and reading this story. Your continued support is appreciated. I do hope you enjoy what this chapter is going to have in store, despite its ridiculous length.
Chapter 21: Open Wounds
Lizzie couldn't remember the last time she'd suffered from an emotional war much like the one that was raging inside her right now. It didn't matter how far she walked through the forest, or how many stones and twigs she chucked, or how many tree trunks she kicked, or even how many times she screamed at the sky. The tears wouldn't cease. The ache in her chest wouldn't fade. Her heart refused to stop pounding in its futile attempt to escape from her body. And while she wanted to fool herself into thinking she didn't know the reason why she couldn't deny it; she was beating herself up over her own cowardice. Not that it was the first time she'd done this. Had Eda and King not been distracted by the Bat Queen's spawn, Lizzie knew either one or both of them would have come to find her and drag her back to the Owl House to talk. But since they were preoccupied, she was left alone with her thoughts, which for her was never a good thing.
'He's not even here and yet he's caused me grief once again. I shouldn't have listened to Eda. Going to the library was a bad idea. Because then I wouldn't have gotten so worked up. I wouldn't have encountered Edric and Emira. I wouldn't have taken my anger out on Luz…'
Overtime, the darkness slowly began to seep into her surroundings, blending in to the remains of the daylight and gradually bringing forth night to the Boiling Isles. But Lizzie was too wrapped up in her turmoil to notice, continuing her attempts to calm down and try to get her head straight away from the confines of her safe haven.
'Dang it, Luz! Why couldn't you have just listened to me?! It's like the mess with Adegast all over again!'
Wiping her tears away with her arm and a loud sniffle, Lizzie's nostrils flared as she reached down to grab a stone close to her boot, which she proceeded to toss between a set of trees with a grunt. After watching the stone she'd thrown disappear into the surrounding darkness, Lizzie gulped and tilted her head back, loudly panting and staring at the star scattered sky to give herself a moment of respite. She rubbed at one of her cheeks with a hand while her pulse pounded loudly in her ears, feeling just how sweaty her face had become, along with the remnants of her tears starting to dry. The light from the moon highlighted the evidence of her pain and decorated it with sparkles, even though she personally couldn't see it.
'I watched those two commit all sorts of terrible pranks during my time at Hexside, witnessing the amount of people and creatures they hurt without any regard for their actions or the consequences. I was a school outcast, so it was inevitable. They never did anything to me personally, but only because they saw my potions as an opportunity to further their antics. The only good thing I did was rebuff their attempts to use them. And now they're manipulating Luz…'
Lizzie loudly huffed and allowed her body to fall backwards towards the ground, plopping onto her bottom with a small thud. She kept her gaze on the sky while leaning back, supporting herself on either side with her hands. The only sounds Lizzie could hear was her ragged breathing. There were no other creatures in sight. The surrounding trees were still and quiet, meaning the only presence she had was what little she could gleam from her own head.
… Or so she thought.
A green streak of light soon entered her vision from the right side of the sky, causing Lizzie to gasp quietly at picking up on the faint sounds of high-pitched crying that echoed above her. It was a sight Lizzie couldn't recall she'd seen before, yet it didn't take much deduction for her to figure out what she was witnessing passing over the isles.
'The Wailing Star…'
The blonde's green eyes followed the streak of light closely as it bathed the land in its green glow until it disappeared off to the left side of the sky. It was one of those moments where the young witch was reminded of the beauty of the isles she lived on, and where she found herself forgetting her troubles even if only momentarily. And yet, once the sight had faded from view, she found her eyes drooping at remembering the situation she was currently in and that the Wailing Star was part of the predicament.
'I shouldn't have let her go, but it's not like I can do anything about it now. Luz has probably gone off to Bonesborough by now. It'd be too risky to go after her since according to the twins, he's spread rumours about me. I don't know what he's been saying, but I can bet it isn't good…'
The blonde brought her satchel into her lap and hugged it close to her chest, closing her eyes tight. Slowly but surely the palpitations slipped away, with her breathing beginning to even out. The ache in her chest dulled and the tears had since stopped altogether. Internally, she was still hurting, but externally she was no longer expressing it.
'I still can't figure out why Edric and Emira want Luz to help them 'check out' a book and mess with magic under the Wailing Star anyway. Maybe they've noticed that Luz is impressionable and easily gives in to peer pressure when pushed enough. But I suppose it depends on what book they plan on going after. In the time I've known them, they've never been interested in the library. And according to Amity, they only showed up today because they were asked to, while taking the opportunity to get a dig at her. I can't imagine why; although, given how Amity acts, I think a lot of people probably don't like her, especially since she's the type to report troublemakers whenever she gets the chance.'
Had her current surroundings remained as they currently were, Lizzie would have wanted to stay there amidst the silence of nature and tried to figure this mess out. However, when the cold chill of the night air brushed against her exposed skin, she opened her eyes and let her satchel go, pushing herself to her feet. Not even her own cloak could help fend off the chilly elements of the early morning (Lizzie didn't know what time it was. She was just guessing based on where she suspected Luz was right now).
'I'd better head back to the Owl House. Sleeping this situation off ought to help me craft an apology for Luz for the morning…'
With the moon's light as her guide, the young witch trudged her way through the forest again with her arms hidden underneath her cloak. Luckily, she hadn't stomped off too far from the Owl House, so it wasn't long before Lizzie saw the warm yellow glow of the kitchen's lights past the trees, a sight that never failed to not be welcoming for the young witch. She entered through the back door instead of the front, expecting to be met with the loud shrieks of the baby bats and the screams of Eda and King from the living room the moment she slowly opened the door. However, she paused in the doorway when she was met with silence and stillness, keeping her hand on the door handle for the time being.
'Uh oh. Did those babies take out Eda and King while I was out?'
That was the first conclusion Lizzie came to. After all, the last time she was in here, those bats were causing a lot of chaos, with one of them apparently knowing how to breathe fire (which, from her experiences with Hooty, Lizzie knew was never a good thing in an enclosed space). She wouldn't have been surprised if Eda and King had gotten overwhelmed and wound up at the mercy of those winged children, even with the former's skills in magic.
But that soon changed when Lizzie heard Eda loudly clear her throat, finally coaxing the blonde to gently close the door and step inside the house when the Owl Lady spoke.
"All right, brats. Gather round and shut up." A groan followed along with tiny squeaks and faint flapping, with Lizzie catching Eda's grumble under her breath as she walked with small steps out of the kitchen and towards the living room. "Ugh. I can't believe I'm doing this. It's making me sick."
Upon reaching the living room doorway, Lizzie stopped beside it and poked her head round slightly to get a look at the room, her brows raising at the sight she was met with. Amongst the collapsed furniture, colourful stains on the walls and floor and the assortment of tossed items Lizzie assumed was caused by the infant bats, the young blonde spied Eda sitting on the green sofa with a book in her lap, facing away from where Lizzie was standing. The baby bats were gathered together on the rug along with King holding a plate of apple slices behind them, the four staring up at Eda intently with wide and curious eyes (and in King's case, enlarged pupils).
'Wow. She actually got them to settle down.' A small smile slipped onto Lizzie's face when she heard Eda begin to read from the book she was holding, her gaze focused on the Owl Lady's back. 'I know I laughed at Eda before, but I don't think she realises just how motherly she can be. She has a natural talent for nurturing, even if she doesn't like it.'
"'Otabin spent his days alone, amongst the many books he'd sewn. With needle and thread the pages he'd mend, but all the while he longed for a friend.'"
Lizzie almost gasped at hearing the familiar name, but she was quick to cover her mouth and pull herself behind the wall before it escaped. The blonde took this as her cue to speed walk back towards the kitchen to avoid disturbing Eda and the babies, yet that didn't stop her from jumping into her thoughts.
'Otabin? Is she reading 'Otabin the Bookmaker'? Why does she have a children's book? There's no way she checked that out of the library recently. Unless she borrowed it ages ago to distract King and Hooty with. They sometimes act like children, and King happily joined the babies on the floor just now to listen…'
Lizzie's train of thought briefly trailed off when she crossed over the threshold into the kitchen, her brow furrowing as a hand reached for her chin.
'Although now that I think about it… isn't that the same book Amity was reading in the library to those children? She did hint that she worked there—'
Lizzie suddenly felt her body freeze over when her last thought properly processed itself, prompting her to recall various parts of the conversations she'd had with Amity, the twins and Luz earlier that day.
'My mom sent them because I forgot my lunch. But once they saw the human, they used her as another opportunity to embarrass me. They're probably taking advantage of her and getting up to all sorts of trouble, especially because they know she's caused me problems.'
'Ed and I were actually thinking of coming back here tonight. There's a certain book we wanted to… check out. But we probably won't get the chance to if Mittens tattles on us.'
'Amity rejected the idea of us being friends. She wanted nothing to do with me.'
'And let me guess: Edric and Emira were there when it happened?'
'They said I was 'too cool' for Amity. Me. No one has ever said I'm too cool for someone before!'
"Oh, Titan…" Lizzie mumbled, her eyes growing wide at the realisation slowly dawning on her. "They're using Luz to do something to Amity." Her hands flew to her mouth as she repeated her own words a little louder, her head snapping up towards the back door. "They're using Luz to do something to Amity!"
'And if they succeed…'
She didn't finish that thought. There was no need to. It was obvious Luz's chances of befriending Amity would be thrown out the window.
Lizzie pressed her lips together and started running for the back door, flinging it open without a second thought and dashing out into the night.
'Rumours be damned! I can't let those two hurt Luz!'
Covering the hood of her cloak over her face, Lizzie ran round to the front of the Owl House and charged towards the forest as fast as her legs would allow, passing by Hooty in the door on the way.
'This is one of those times where I wished I had a staff of my own, but it's too late for regrets now.'
"Hiya, Lizzie!" Hooty greeted the young witch in passing.
"Not now, Hooty!" Lizzie shouted back as she dashed off, which the house demon merely blinked at.
"Okay! See you later! Hoot!"
Lizzie wasn't sure how she was managing to keep going at her current pace the entire time she ran through the forest and towards Bonesborough, but she could only attribute it to the adrenaline she felt pumping through her arms and legs. Or maybe it was the anger she felt in the form of heat rising to her face at finding her mind recalling today like King repeatedly chasing his tail.
'How did I not see this sooner? They only took an interest in Luz when they saw that Amity didn't like her. They gave Luz compliments and made her think they wanted to be her friend to string her into joining their pranks. And when they were sure Luz hanging out with them was going to wind their sister up, they decided she'd be a perfect fit to help them get to Amity. The whole time they were just buttering Luz up and testing her, all the while trying to convince her that Amity was bad and they were good…'
Lizzie's pace stayed the same even when she found herself entering Bonesborough and dashing through the silent streets, her stride failing to break despite knowing where she was. Upon first entering the town earlier that day, Lizzie had been a sweaty bag of nerves, and while that was still the case now, the reason for it had changed. Her clammy palms, pounding heart and gnawing dread weren't concerned with whether her stalker or an associate of his were going to jump out to apprehend her at any time, proven by how she kept her gaze ahead instead of letting it wander. Her paranoia had been conquered by her concerns for Luz, allowing her to push on without distraction or worry towards other factors.
'I knew letting Luz go was a bad idea. I just had to let my anger get the best of me and refuse to admit she was right. If I'd been honest about everything from the beginning, maybe she would have taken me more seriously.' It didn't take long for Lizzie to turn into the street with the library settled at the other end, her chest heaving as she dared to increase her speed and lean forward. 'But now isn't the time to be regretting my life choices. I can still make up for my mistake, as long as I get there before they take Luz too far…'
Lizzie didn't start to slow down until she was halfway up the library's steps, taking the opportunity to rub at her chest and hunch over while gasping for the air stolen from her lungs. Her adrenaline high wore off as she went to approach the doors, exposing her aching limbs and finally forcing her to a complete halt at the slight stumble in her step.
'Whoa. I think I need a minute to catch my breath.'
She listened to her internal advice and took the opportunity to focus on the library's entrance, choosing to get her bearings while she recovered. Compared to when she and Luz had been here earlier, the two wooden doors usually open to allow people to enter were shut tight, each possessing half of a large keyhole on their edges that connected in the middle when placed side by side. A quick glance showed there was no damage to suggest signs of forced entry, with even the literal small green sign on the right door reading 'NO TRESSPASSING' in white capitals still being intact.
'Knowing the twins, they've probably used a method that leaves no trace of evidence. Meaning if I was to guess, I think they've jinxed the doors.' With her chest heaving, the blonde witch moved closer to the doors and raised a hand, reaching it out towards the lock. 'So, if I touch them, then I should be able to enter—'
"What are you doing here?"
The stern, familiar voice sliced through Lizzie's thoughts and stopped her hand when it was inches from the lock. With drooped eyes and shoulders, the older blonde turned her head slightly to glance behind her, her eyes immediately locking with a narrowed pair of gold ones lingering by the library's steps. Amity Blight was revealed to Lizzie taking on a wide stance with her arms crossed, still dressed in the Hexside uniform Lizzie recalled seeing her wearing during their earlier encounter.
'Ah. The tattletale. Looks like I was right.'
Lizzie copied Amity's stance as she partially turned to face her, placing a hand to her hip with a faint frown. "I should be asking you the same thing. Isn't it a little late for you to be sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, little Blight?"
Amity's eye and lips twitched simultaneously, with Lizzie smiling for a few seconds out of amusement at having gotten under her skin a little. "I asked you first."
Lizzie huffed and rolled her eyes in response. "Well, if you must know, I'm here to stop your siblings before they get Luz into serious trouble with whatever prank they're planning to pull on you." The blonde witch caught Amity's eyes widening as she faced the doors again, adjusting her shirt sleeves over her elbows. "If you're here to add to the drama, I ask you wait until I remove Luz from the situation. She doesn't know what they're pulling her into."
"The human's in there?" Amity asked with her voice rising an octave, relaxing her stance and approaching the older witch's side when she pressed her hand against the lock. "How did they convince her to join in?"
"Peer pressure and flattery, probably," Lizzie mumbled, keeping her gaze on the lock when a yellow glow outlined it. "That should have been obvious to you given what happened today."
The blonde witch took a step back as the lock slowly stretched outwards and grew double its size to create a keyhole shaped entrance, with Amity leaning away from it with her legs spread apart and a wide blink. Lizzie clicked her tongue and scowled once the stretching stopped.
"Tch. I knew it."
She walked inside without hesitation then, leaving Amity to delay herself for a few seconds before she shook her head and jogged after the older blonde. Lizzie didn't bat an eye at this and continued inside until she was met with the dimly lit lobby of the library, eventually halting to gauge her surroundings. She had to admit, it felt strange being in the library when there was no one else round and it was too dark to properly navigate its maze-like shelves. And yet there was something oddly refreshing about the silence and the (almost) abandoned building, at least in her opinion.
Lizzie didn't acknowledge Amity until the younger witch eventually stood beside her, with the latter's brow furrowing when she tilted her head at the taller blonde.
"How did you know that was how they'd gotten in?"
The blonde replied without breaking eye contact with the shelves, keeping her focus on searching for Luz. It was difficult for the older witch to place where Luz and the twins could have been when it was too quiet. "I've known your siblings for a while, Blight. I've seen the tricks they've pulled in the past. They're an easier read than most of these library books." She didn't speak again until Amity turned away and followed her gaze towards the empty library. "Speaking of which, you still haven't told me why you're here. I don't recall you being around when your siblings revealed their plan to mine and Luz's faces."
Out of the corner of her eyes, Lizzie saw Amity look at her shoes and rub a hand against the back of her neck, taking a while before she attempted a response. She appeared to be guilty about something, which is what Lizzie suspected until the green haired witch quietly confirmed it for her after a moment of silence.
"I… uh… I may have overheard you mention it when I eavesdropped on your conversation with the human outside the library." Amity's brows and head raised when she heard Lizzie chuckle lowly to herself. "What's so funny?"
Lizzie turned to Amity with a small smile and shake of the head. "Nothing. Just didn't think you were the type to earwig." Amity's lips pressed together in a thin line, but they soon relaxed when Lizzie continued, her smile fading. "Since you work here, you likely know every nook and cranny of this library. You got any ideas for places your siblings might go to if they were thinking of pranking you?"
There was a small delay from the younger witch, but eventually Amity's eyes drooped at this as she released a small sigh, her tone sullen when she answered. "There is one." Lizzie watched the youngest Blight start to walk ahead of her, giving it a few seconds before she went to follow behind her. "I just hope I'm wrong…"
The blonde's brow briefly raised at the latter response, yet she didn't question it any further as she followed behind Amity into the maze of bookshelves. She was probably about to get her answers.
'Please let me get there before Luz does something that can't be undone.'
However, it didn't take long for the two witches with wishful thinking to discover where they currently stood, because right as they were gaining on the romance section (which was hidden among a line of bookshelves against one of the walls of the library), the familiar voices of Luz, Edric and Emira shouting soon reached Lizzie's ears.
"Let go! We need to put this back!"
"But she needs us to do this!"
"It's for her own good!"
Amity and Lizzie gasped quietly, the pair immediately breaking out into a run at hearing the sounds of struggling following. From context, Lizzie could only guess there was some kind of tug of war going on, and that only increased her urgency to reach their destination, allowing Amity to stay in the lead.
'Why can I never be wrong for a change?'
Lizzie followed Amity towards the middle of the bookshelves of the romance section, where she noticed there was a rectangle shaped hole with dim light radiating from it when she was certain there should have been a bookshelf there (according to her memory). Both witches skidded to a stop in front of this hole, prompting Lizzie to freeze up like a statue at the sight she was met with.
There was a small square room with a slanted ceiling apparently hiding amongst the bookshelves, which lacked decoration aside from a circular rug in the middle of the wooden floor and colourful glowing stars and a crescent moon hanging from above by a thin string. The room practically spelled 'secret hideaway' for Lizzie, possessing shelves full of books along the walls, a long wooden desk and chair at the far end, and pillows scattered about the floor for sitting on. For a short moment, the blonde found herself gaping with her gaze fixed on this room, struggling to not admire its simple beauty. But that was quickly ruined when she remembered why she was here, causing her focus to switch to three inhabitants occupying the small space.
In front of the little candlelight from the desk stood a smirking Edric and Emira side-by-side, the pair no longer wearing their Hexside uniforms and were instead dressed in long-sleeved, dark grey underclothes with burgundy tunics. The only differences between them were Edric wearing long trousers and black boots, with Emira sporting shorts, flat black shoes, and a small diamond gem in the middle of her tunic. Kneeling before them on the rug was Luz, who was staring up at the new arrivals with wide eyes and a stack of papers and a green covered book hugged against her chest. There was something on the front of the book that looked hand drawn, but because of its current angle, Lizzie couldn't get a proper look at it. Luz was physically trembling under the shocked stares of the newcomers, her face having turned a ghostly white from fright.
It took a moment for both Lizzie and Amity to properly process what they were seeing, but it was the latter who became the first to break out of her slack-jawed state. With the colour rushing to her face and turning it a bright red, Amity dropped her hands to her sides and clenched them, her face scrunching up like she was resisting the urge to explode.
"A-Amity, L-Lizzie…" Luz stuttered in a small voice as she got to her feet, her trembling hands continuing to hold the scattered pages and book close to her person. "I-I swear it's not what it looks like…"
But Luz's words did nothing to prevent Amity from letting loose, a finger being pointed to the pages and book in Luz's grasp. "Really?! You looked in my diary?!"
"Diary?" Lizzie repeated in a mutter, her gaze focusing on the book in Luz's hands with a wide blink. The word seemed to click inside her head, like she'd been completing a jigsaw puzzle and she'd finally found the piece to slot in to finish it.
'Ah. The book they wanted was Amity's diary. That explains their presence in the library…'
Edric and Emira started to snicker, with the latter elbowing the former lightly in the ribs.
"There it is, Ed! Mittens is mad!"
"Careful! You might pass out!"
Amity's jaw twitched as she reached out to snatch the pages and book from Luz's grasp, causing the Latina to wince and step away while hugging her arms to her chest at the abrupt action. Amity clutched the items together in her arms and opened her mouth to yell again, directing her attention towards her amused siblings.
"You two are the worst—"
However, she was interrupted when an arm stretched out in front of her, as if to dissuade her from saying another word. The arm belonged to Lizzie, who was glaring at the twins with such vitriol they were lucky she wasn't able to literally burn holes through their very souls with her vision.
"Don't waste your breath," Lizzie hissed through clenched teeth, causing the twins' mirth to disappear in an instant.
"Geez, Liz. What's got you so uptight?" Emira asked with a raised brow, crossing her arms. "We were just having some—"
"Don't say it," Lizzie interrupted venomously, causing the three other witches and lone human in the room to gape a little at her uncharacteristic behaviour.
Edric raised his hands and took a step towards Lizzie then, sensing this situation was about to go in a direction none of them wanted. "Whoa, whoa, easy, Lizzie. Just chill out, all right?"
"Chill out?" Lizzie repeated in a raised voice, scowling in a way that forced Edric to back away to his sister's side again. "How can I chill out when you manipulated Luz into stealing your sister's diary?!" She threw her hands up above her head. "What were you even planning on doing with it?! Exposing her deepest darkest secrets to the Boiling Isles?!"
"Close," Emira said with a shrug and no ounce of sympathy in her tone. "It was actually just going to go up around Hexside."
Amity gasped breathlessly at this, with Luz furrowing her brow at her when Edric added on his comments.
"It's not our fault Mittens needs to learn to stop treating everybody so badly. We wouldn't even be here if she hadn't tattled to our mom about us cutting class."
The blonde leaned forward and cupped a hand around one of her ears, her nose crinkling when she spoke up sarcastically. "I'm sorry. You're embarrassing your sister because she told on you?"
Edric and Emira both nodded, with the latter being the one to speak up. "We're her family. It's our job to show her what happens when she messes with other people."
Lizzie stared at the younger witches with a blink before eventually creasing her brow and pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers, oblivious of the speechless look that had befallen Amity. "Dear Titan, you two are terrible!"
Emira frowned and tilted her head. "We're terrible? Mittens is the one who started it."
"That doesn't make what you're doing any better!" Lizzie grabbed at strands of her hair and gave it a tug. "I've seen you do some pretty horrible things during our school days, but embarrassing your sister because you got in trouble with your mom? Those two things aren't even on the same level!"
"It's tough love."
"It's revenge. And it's unnecessary."
Emira and Edric shared a glance and frown at Lizzie's words, with the former addressing the older witch with a slight squint. "So, what would that make your version of 'tough love'?"
Lizzie's brows furrowed at the question, her hands releasing her hair. "Wait. What?"
"Yeah," Edric agreed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You're acting like you haven't done the same thing as us."
Amity and Luz turned to stare at Lizzie with raised brows, with the older blonde looking between the twins as if they'd suddenly fused together. "The same thing as you? What are you talking about?"
"The reason you got expelled," Emira answered, holding her hands out towards the older witch with a wide blink. "Remember? You blew up a potion in your relative's face!"
The moment the words left Emira's mouth, a tense silence draped over the room like a blanket. Lizzie's eyes enlarged as she felt her joints stiffen up, acting as though she'd been turned into a petrified state. If there was a mirror nearby, she swore she would have seen all the colour drain from her face.
'… Oh, Titan.'
Before she knew it, the palpitations were sprouting in her chest, prompting her hands to grip at her clothes as if attempting to stop her heart's violent pounding. Her 'fight or flight' response was up, with her mind already screaming at her to run away and never look back. She felt exposed, especially because of the two clueless teens still standing behind her, who had no idea of what Emira was referring to.
"Relative?" Amity mumbled with her brows pressed together, naturally confused by the revelation.
Luz, on the other hand, didn't take as long to put the pieces together based on what she already knew, so she was already sucking in a large breath in preparation to screech before she remembered where she was. The young Latina quickly clamped her hands over her mouth to cut herself off, keeping her gaze locked on Lizzie's back while waiting for the older witch to react.
But she didn't. Instead, when she finally found the will to move, Lizzie loudly inhaled a shaky breath through her nose, her head lowering. Her palpitations slowly began to cease as she counted to four in her head and then held her breath while mentally counting to seven, only to stop entirely when she exhaled through her mouth and mentally counted to eight.
'Nope. Not here. You are not breaking down here. Stand your ground.'
Lizzie's legs wobbled a little, but after a few seconds she managed to halt them. She addressed Luz and Amity in a low voice without looking up.
"Can you two give me a moment alone with the twins?"
Edric and Emira raised a brow at hearing this, while Luz dared to take a step toward Lizzie out of concern, her brows furrowing into a thin line.
"But Liz—"
"It's okay, Luz," Lizzie's gentle tone forced Luz to still herself, with the younger girl blinking in surprise when the older witch finally lifted her gaze to hers. Outwardly, Lizzie appeared to have a stoic expression, yet Luz could see the slight glint of tears beginning to build up in her eyes. "You two need to talk. I won't be long."
Luz's brows furrowed further and she opened her mouth to interject, not wanting to leave Lizzie alone when she was like this; however, a hand placed on her shoulder was quick to stop her, prompting Luz to look back to see Amity mimicking her current expression.
"C'mon. We should listen to her," she said in a quiet voice, preparing to turn and walk out of the room.
Luz briefly watched Amity's retreating back before daring to glance at Lizzie one more time, fiddling with her fingers. After a few seconds of silent staring, though, the Latina gave in with a small huff, swirling round and jogging after Amity at seeing the other teen was already a small distance ahead of her.
Lizzie waited until Luz and Amity disappeared from her sight and she couldn't hear their footsteps anymore to face Edric and Emira again, thickly swallowing and reaching an arm up to her eyes to dab away the little bit of gathered tears.
"… Did you have to expose me like that?" She asked in a taut tone.
Emira shrugged her shoulders and clasped her hands behind her back. "You exposed us to Mittens. I was just returning the favour. Doesn't change my point, though."
"Heh," Lizzie forced a chuckle while continuing to hide her eyes behind her arm, a faint smile slipping onto her face. "You say that, but you've actually proved my point."
"What do you mean by that?" Edric asked with a hand to his hip, prompting Lizzie to drop her arm to her side and let out an exasperated sigh.
"This!" She held out a hand towards the room they were standing in. "Every time someone gets you into trouble, you always get revenge against them. You see it as some form of 'justice', when in actuality you're attacking people without considering the consequences. Which is also what I did."
"What consequences?" Emira questioned with the tilt of her head, a finger going to her chin. "He bullied you for years. He got what was coming to him."
"Yet look where it got me," Lizzie answered, her voice cracking as she lowered her hand back to her chest. She lightly thumped her fist against it with each word she emphasised. "I was expelled. I got arrested. I almost got put in the Conformatorium. I've been avoiding the law for three years." She stopped at feeling her fist beginning to shake a bit, her tone turning brittle. "And what happened to him? He was injured and suspended for a while. But he's still lived a normal life despite what I did."
Edric and Emira silently stared at Lizzie with a wide blink, which she took as her cue to go on after a quick intake of breath. "You two think I'm being 'uptight' and 'boring', but the truth is there was more than one way I could have handled that situation. I chose the wrong one and it's hurt not only me, but others in my life whom I care about." She paused to swallow thickly and close her eyes. "I've stood by for years and watched you two get away with your antics. However, I can't be silent anymore. Because what you're doing to Amity is no different to what I did to him."
Edric frowned and scratched the side of his head. "How? We're not physically hurting her."
"That doesn't mean you're not hurting her at all." Lizzie opened her eyes and moved her hands to her satchel strap. "You have every reason to be upset with what she did, but posting her diary around the school won't make the situation any better. Not only will you possibly ruin Amity's reputation amongst the student body, but you two would probably get into even more trouble with Principal Bump and your mom. And then there's Luz, who you roped into your heist. Did either of you stop to think of how upset Amity would have been at Luz for her involvement? Or how crushed Luz would have been at realising her hopes of befriending Amity would be dashed once it was known she helped embarrass her in front of the school again?"
Edric's and Emira's shoulders stiffened with wide eyes, the pair turning their gazes to the ground when they tried to respond, only for nothing but stutters to leave their mouths. When the pair fell quiet and simultaneously gripped at their elbows, Lizzie's eyes drooped with a loud sigh.
"I thought so." The blonde witch turned her back to the twins and faced the doorway, deciding she'd said enough and that she needed to find Luz and Amity. "I've never considered us to be 'friends', and I know your interest in me was just so you could try to get my potions, but let me impart a bit of advice: the next time Amity upsets you, talk to her. You might find it'll resolve the issue without you getting your hands dirty."
Edric and Emira slowly raised their heads at this, watching in silence as Lizzie left without looking back. The further Lizzie got from the room, though, the straighter her posture became. She held her head high and squared her shoulders, feeling like a weight had just been taken off her.
'They're probably not going to listen to me. But at least I've said my two cents and stopped them from taking things too far.' Lizzie paused to look round for Amity and Luz, only to turn left and continue in that direction when she didn't see either of them. 'Now, all that's left to do is apologise to—'
Booming footsteps were heard coming from nearby, slicing through Lizzie's thoughts and bringing her to a complete stop. She chose to stay still and listen to try to figure out where the noises were coming from, only for her head to whip to the right when the footsteps stopped and were replaced by two familiar cries of distress; Lizzie's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at one particular cry she knew all too well.
"Luz!" Lizzie said through a breathless gasp, prompting her to run towards the end of the romance section and swerving towards the right.
Lizzie rounded the corner into the adjoining section just in time to catch Amity's diary and its missing pages falling towards the floor, only to skid to an immediate stop and drop her jaw at the large, humanoid pink creature crouched in the middle of the row. The creature stood to be as tall as the surrounding bookshelves, its bony-like appearance failing to be covered by the brown shorts and tiny cape it wore. Lizzie noticed the creature's initial appearance looked a little mismatched, as while its round floppy ears and long tail seemed normal, its long nails, protruding tusks, big thick eyebrows, and its small pupils atop black sclera were glowing a bright blue. But the shock didn't end there, as Lizzie's attention soon became drawn to its hands at hearing her name being called, only to see Luz and Amity clutched in its right and left hands respectively, trying to claw and squirm their way out of its grip.
"Lizzie!"
Luz's cry caused the creature to lock eyes with Lizzie, suddenly speaking to her in a deep, distorted voice with an eerie smile creeping onto its face.
"With claws and fangs and breaking bones, I've found two friends to call my own."
The rhyming briefly caused Lizzie to frown and squint slightly, a sense of déjà vu beginning to creep up on her. The longer she stared at this terrifying the creature, the more she suspected she recognised it. And it was then that the blonde found her eyes drifting towards its throbbing chest, where she saw an opened book hiding amongst the pink flesh keeping it pinned there. She was just about able to see the intricate illustrations on both pages, one of which depicted a familiar pink rabbit clutching a book, its image having been vandalised with pencil over its original features for the eyes, eyebrows, teeth, and hands.
"Otabin…?" Lizzie said with a quiet squeak, taking a step back with repeated blinks to make sure she wasn't dreaming any of this.
But no matter how many times she did, the creature didn't change or go away. Her eyes darted between the opened pages and the snarling creature trapping Amity and Luz in its grasp, the similarities between the two of them quickly becoming obvious.
'What is this?! Since when could characters from books come to life?!'
Lizzie was brought out of her shock when Luz and Amity both screamed at 'Otabin' swirling round suddenly and making to run off, the pair shouting their variations Lizzie's name and nicknames out of desperation.
"Liz!"
"Elisabeth!"
And Lizzie wasted no time in chasing after them and breaking out into a full sprint, her adrenaline activating as if someone had just gone and given her a kick in the back. She didn't know where that creature was going or what it was going to do to Luz and Amity, but she didn't plan on standing around idly to find out.
"Get back here, Otabin!" Lizzie shouted at the top of her lungs, following the giant creature when it veered to the left away from the row they'd been standing in while raising her right index finger to conjure a spell circle. "Let them go!"
"But friends are what I've always sought, and now two friends my claws have caught!" was Otabin's response yelled back, which only gave Lizzie the push she needed to get closer to the mutated rabbit.
Despite its gigantic size, its speed didn't live up to the same expectations, giving Lizzie the advantage in gaining on Otabin down the next row of bookshelves. However, before the young witch had a chance to draw a spell circle, Otabin lifted its tail as it swerved to the left, swinging it swiftly in Lizzie's direction. The tail smacked into Lizzie's left side harshly, prompting the oxygen to briefly leave her lungs at being swiped off her feet. She crashed sideways into a nearby bookshelf before rebounding onto the ground with a little roll, coming to a stop on her front. Lizzie gasped for air and clutched at her chest while watching Otabin flee round the corner out of sight, flinching at feeling a couple of books hit her across her back.
'At least it wasn't the side my satchel was on…'
Lizzie coughed and smacked a hand off her chest to try to get her lungs working again, hearing Luz's and Amity's cries for help getting fainter along with Otabin's footsteps.
As Lizzie loudly gasped at feeling the oxygen rush back into her body, however, running footsteps sounded behind her, followed by the familiar voice of Edric reaching her ears.
"Lizzie!"
Before Lizzie even had a chance to process what was going on, two pairs of hands were grabbing her under her arms and gently pulling her to her feet. The blonde saw Edric and Emira standing on either side of her once she was upright and they'd released her, the pair sharing matching frowns when Emira spoke up, followed by Edric.
"What's going on?"
"We heard bangs and screaming."
Lizzie held up a finger and lightly patted her chest with a hand, making sure she'd gained enough oxygen back to speak. When she was sure she was fine, she pointed in the direction Otabin had just ran off.
"I wish I knew! Some storybook character has turned into a giant monster and escaped from its book! It just ran off with Luz and Amity!"
"Storybook character?" Emira repeated as she and Edric gaped and turned to look at one another with wide eyes.
"Didn't we close all the books we were using?" Edric asked, prompting Emira to glance down at her shoes and scratch at her cheek.
"I'm sure we did..."
Edric turned to Lizzie, who was glancing back and forth between the two with a raised brow. "Which character was it?"
"Otabin from 'Otabin the Bookmaker'; although I don't know what—"
Lizzie was interrupted by Emira smacking a hand against her own mouth with a muffled gasp, while Edric winced and sucked in a breath between his teeth.
"Oh… That one… Didn't Luz drop that?"
Emira slowly nodded, leaving Lizzie to finally intervene with a scowl and her hands thrown over her head.
"What are you two talking about? Did you do something?"
"Well, us and the Wailing Star," Edric clarified, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck when Lizzie's scowl deepened. "See, it turns out the Wailing Star's magic makes the books in the library come to life when they're open, and…"
"…that also includes any doodles drawn in the books," Emira finished after moving her hand away from her mouth.
Lizzie's jaw dropped at this revelation, immediately putting two-and-two together without hearing the rest of their story. "… You two doodled on Otabin and never closed his book properly, didn't you?" The two forced smiles from the twins were enough indication to Lizzie that she was right, causing the older blonde to groan and throw her head back while slapping a palm to her forehead. "Dear Titan…"
"But it's okay!" Edric stated in attempt to be reassuring, holding his palms out and waving them around. "It'll all go away once we close the book he's from!"
"And that's the problem," Lizzie grumbled, lowering her head to stare at the twins with drooped eyes. "because Otabin's book is stuck to his chest."
Edric's brows raised. "Wait, really?" Lizzie nodded stiffly, prompting Edric to close an eye and lift his shoulders. "Ew."
Emira rolled her eyes at Edric, but soon relaxed her expression and put her hands to her hips. "The spell will still wear off if we erase the doodles. We just have to figure out a way to get close enough to remove them."
Lizzie narrowed her eyes and puffed her cheeks a little. "Wait. We?"
"Uh-huh." Emira furrowed her brows and glanced at her feet, her shoulders slumping. "This is technically our fault."
Edric slowly nodded, copying his sister with a small sigh. "We never intended for this to happen. But it's like you said: we never considered the consequences."
"And now that we've seen everything go out of control, we realise you're right. If we hadn't broken into the library, Luz and Mittens wouldn't be in danger."
"So, it makes sense that we're the ones to fix it."
Lizzie blinked widely as she processed what the twins were saying, momentarily lost for words.
'Wow. My words actually got through to them. I wasn't expecting that.'
"We already have a plan in mind. Although…" Edric and Emira both raised their heads again, the pair forcing a lopsided grin. "…we'll need to borrow you and your explosive potion."
Lizzie's brows lowered, her hands moving to cover her satchel out of instinct. "Why my potion?"
Emira held her palms up, her grin dimming down into a smile. "We can restrain Otabin and get close enough to erase the doodles. But we're probably going to need someone to knock Otabin off balance, since you said he's a giant."
"And you know how to handle your concoctions better than either of us," Edric added, matching his sister's smile. "They're stronger than the average spell, so it should do enough damage to buy us some time, right?"
Lizzie frowned and turned her gaze to her satchel, bringing it closer to her front as she did so. "I don't know. What if I accidentally miss and end up hurting Luz or Amity? I'd rather not have a repeat of the incident that got me kicked out of school…"
Two hands were placed on Lizzie's shoulders, making her look up to see Edric and Emira now on either side of her, still smiling.
"It won't," Emira replied, giving Lizzie's shoulder a light pat. "Because you won't let it happen again."
"Yeah," Edric said in agreement, removing his hand to gently punch Lizzie in her other shoulder. "Based off what you've said to us, you've clearly learnt from your mistake. We know you'll be fine. You need to believe in yourself a little more, Liz."
Lizzie silently glanced between the smiling twins once and tightened her grip on her satchel. Had this been a different situation, she would have rejected the idea right there and then; however…
'Luz is in trouble. And despite their antics, Edric and Emira are strong and smart with their magic. If they didn't need my help to undo their mistake, they probably wouldn't have asked…'
After a moment of silent staring, Lizzie huffed loudly and raised a hand to her fringe, running her fingers through it with her eyes closed for the moment.
"… All right." She opened them and turned her head between the now grinning Blight twins. "What did you two have in mind?"
Surprisingly for Lizzie, coming up with a plan to tackle Otabin wasn't the difficult part. Having witnessed what the creature currently looked like, her descriptions helped Edric and Emira come up with a coherent plan for the trio to use their magical abilities in taking down and restraining the animated book character. The difficult part came when they had to try to track Otabin down, however. Lizzie had lost Otabin after getting flung into a bookshelf, and due to the uncertainty surrounding what the creature planned to do to Luz and Amity, the trio knew they couldn't waste time wandering round the library listening out for noises from either Otabin or Amity and Luz to guide them to their location. In an attempt to save time, they agreed that applying logic to this situation would be their best bet. And so, with the reminder that Otabin was a children's book character and that Luz had likely dropped the book in the Kid's Corner, that became the destination the three witches decided to try first.
And lo and behold, their assumption turned out to be the correct one when they reached their destination and heard the cries of Luz and Amity. In order from top to bottom, Lizzie, Emira and Edric poked their heads round the entranceway to peek into the room, which was being dimly lit by flamed torches despite darkness mostly shrouding the area. In front of the window to the kid's room was a giant book opened on blank pages, with Otabin standing before it with his back to the trio. Amity was pinned underneath Otabin's right hand against the right page of the book and staring up at him with wide eyes, mouth agape and the colour drained from her face, while Luz was trapped on her front under Otabin's left foot, flailing her arms and legs around to try to escape from the weight keeping her stuck. The giant rabbit-like monster held a large needle in his left hand, which had glowing green thread attached to its bottom end. A giant ball of glowing green thread was placed nearby, obviously indicating that was the source of the thread in the needle.
Amity gasped loudly when Otabin brought the needle's point close to her person, prompting her to turn her head away in the belief she was about to be run through. However, she was soon turning her head back at hearing the needle pierce the page close to her left arm. When Otabin brought the needle back through the page so that strands of the thread loosely trapped Amity's left arm, he gave it a sharp tug to tighten its hold, in turn breaking the rest of the thread off. The moment the strands touched her, Amity watched with a gape as her arm was flattened against the page, shifting from a 3D dimension to 2D dimension. She gritted her teeth and tried to pull her arm free with a grunt, but found she couldn't move it at all. Meanwhile, behind the wall, Lizzie, Emira and Edric watched this happen with wide eyes, exchanging quick glances in the process. None of them needed to speak to know what the others were thinking.
"You squirm and fight, yet scream and shout, but friendship always will win out," Otabin declared in his rhymes, while poor Luz froze underneath his foot to stare up at what was happening to Amity.
'Oh, Titan. He's going to trap Luz and Amity inside his book. Looks like we'll need to add a little extra to our plan.' Lizzie's gaze quickly darted about the room before it locked with the ball of thread nearby, causing a slight smirk to appear when the metaphorical lightbulb in her head blinked on. 'And I think I know just the thing…'
Lizzie stood upright and reached into her satchel for her fire potion, whispering to the twins as she pulled the necessary vial out. "Slight change of plan: I'm gonna blow up the thread first. If Otabin doesn't have the resources to trap Amity and Luz, it should buy us more time to restrain him and keep them safe."
Emira and Edric straightened out and gave Lizzie a thumbs up, grinning from ear-to-ear as they did so. "We'll follow your lead, Liz."
"We're just glad to finally see your potion in action."
Lizzie rolled her eyes at that and moved to stand in the entranceway, holding her potion vial up in her left hand while twirling her right index finger underneath it to draw a small spell circle. She scowled at Otabin's back when a faint green glow appeared to outline the vial, bringing her right arm close to her front and releasing her left hand's grip on the potion so that it levitated in mid-air. Otabin was already preparing to move the needle point to the area above Amity's other arm by this time, with the young witch hunching her shoulders and turning away again with an eye closed in preparation.
'Sorry, Otabin, but your wish is about to go up in flames. Literally.'
Edric and Emira observed Lizzie with fixed gazes and their fists close to their front, their golden eyes never leaving the vial as the blonde swiped her arm forward without an ounce of hesitation. The potion vial whizzed straight through the air with strong force and speed towards the ball of thread, making a loud glass-shattering sound when it made impact on its side. The gazes of Otabin, Amity and Luz whipped towards the balled thread as a loud explosion followed, prompting Otabin to pause the needle close to the page when he witnessed a flurry of flames spring to life and immediately engulf the thread ball.
"NO!" He bellowed, dropping his needle and lifting his foot free from Luz as he stomped towards his magical thread being eaten by the flames. "My thread!"
Lizzie briefly switched her focus to Luz as she took out another fire potion from her satchel and Edric and Emira used the distraction to dash past Lizzie into the room, deciding to see what the young human was going to do before she fired her next potion. She watched the Latina immediately leap to her feet at noting Otabin was distracted and dash over to where Amity was, preparing to reach up to yank the thread free from her trapped arm.
'All right. They're out of the way. I should be okay to do what I have to, then.'
Edric and Emira stood with their legs spread apart a small distance behind Otabin with matching smirks, immediately drawing light blue spell circles with their left index fingers. Thin glowing blue rope stretched through the middle of the circles and wrapped themselves around each of Otabin's upper arms, causing the rabbit-like creature's body to stiffen and its head to switch back and forth between his arms. Luz had been halfway through with freeing Amity at this time, but she and Amity soon became distracted by Otabin's surprised cry, prompting Amity's brows to raise as she muttered under her breath at sighting her siblings gripping at the newly formed ropes with both their hands.
"Ed…? Em…?"
"It's not nice being on the receiving end, is it, big fella~?!" Emira taunted, with her and Edric eventually tugging on the ropes to tighten them.
Otabin hunched forward at feeling the sudden pull and dug his claws and fingers into the hard floor, growling while trying to fight to keep himself on his feet. Lizzie chose this as her moment to cast her levitation spell on the second vial of fire potion, her eyes locking with the floor in between Otabin's hands.
'I don't need to injure him. One explosion from the floor should be enough to knock him off balance.'
Lizzie narrowed her eyes and raised her right arm again, preparing to toss the potion in Otabin's direction. However, out of the corner of her eyes, she caught Luz glancing her way, causing her body to freeze and her arm to start trembling slightly. Her breathing grew heavy at the reminder that Luz had heard everything earlier, with her other hand reaching for her forehead when she lowered her head. Before she knew what was happening, his voice erupted from the darkest crevices of her mind, screaming in agony.
'AGH! MY FACE! IT BURNS! ELISABETH, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!'
"Lizzie!" Edric's voice broke Lizzie out of her trance with a wide blink, causing her head to raise at hearing him and Emira grunting. The pair were leaning backwards and digging their heels into the floor to resist the pull from Otabin, their soles slipping with loud squeaks indicating the creature was gaining the upper hand. "C'mon! What are you waiting for?!"
"Throw the potion, Liz!" Emira shouted, briefly stumbling forward before pressing her heels down to regain her balance. "Hurry!"
Lizzie glanced between the twins and Otabin as the struggle went on, swallowing thickly to try to calm herself down. After a moment longer of staring, however, the blonde sucked in a sharp breath and straightened her posture, frowning at the resisting animated storybook character.
'It's not the same situation, Elisabeth. You're doing this to protect Luz and Amity. You have to do it.'
With her arm having since fallen still, Lizzie hesitated no more. She flung her arm forward and sent the potion vial soaring towards Otabin, her eyes never leaving it even when it crashed to the floor in the middle of the creature's hands. An explosion erupted seconds after the vial smashed, causing Otabin to screech and recoil with his arms lifted to protect his face.
"Now!" Emira shouted to Edric, the pair stepping backwards in sync and giving the ropes a single tug that made Otabin's back fall towards the floor.
Edric placed his palm close to his mouth and smirked while watching the giant rabbit-like creature go down, waiting until he'd hit the floor with a loud thud that momentarily shook the room and a groan of pain. "Timber!"
Lizzie jogged over to the twins and approached Edric the second Otabin was down, taking the rope from him. In the meantime, Luz shook her head at remembering where she was and faced Amity again, returning to her previous mission of freeing her from the thread trapping her arm against the page.
"Quick, Edric! Remove the doodle!"
Edric twirled his index finger to draw a small spell circle, causing a tiny white eraser to appear in a small puff of light blue smoke. Catching the eraser in his palm, Edric moved to Otabin's left side (where the page with the drawing was) and placed a foot on him to give himself a boost up, allowing him to get close to the book throbbing in his chest. At spying the vandalised illustration on the page, the younger Blight moved closer and quickly rubbed away the added eyebrows, claws, poorly drawn mouth and coloured in eyes, restoring the image back to normal.
An electrifying zap sounded around the area, followed by Otabin's image being overcome by a faint white light. Edric, Emira and Lizzie backed away when the giant monster vanished into thin air and was replaced by the original Otabin from the book, who had shrunk to his original size and was lying on the ground on his back. The burning ball of thread followed suit in the same bright light, along with the large book seconds after Luz had pulled Amity free with both hands clasping her lone one. Otabin's actual book laid beside him on the floor, still wide open on the two pages it had been when it was attached to his chest.
The group of five were silent as they heard Otabin quietly groan and sit up, rubbing a hand against his head. Eventually Amity chose to approach the little creature, prompting Otabin to look up at her when she stood in front of him.
"I'm so sorry," he said in a tiny, high-pitched voice that contrasted the one he'd formerly spoken in. "I don't know what came over me."
Amity gave a small smile at this and got down on one knee before Otabin, rubbing her palm against the top of his head and replying in a soft tone that left Lizzie raising her brows. "It's okay, little guy. We're still friends."
With Otabin briefly closing his eyes in response to the affection, Amity used her other hand to gently grip one side of the storybook and close it. Otabin was surrounded in a bright green sparkly outline, only to slowly grow transparent until he'd completely faded away. It was over. Otabin had been returned to normal and put back where he belonged.
Amity sighed loudly and closed her eyes, allowing her smile to fall as she stood up. However, she was barely able to process a thing before she found a pair of arms wrapping themselves around her and pulling her into someone's front, her eyes growing wide upon realising they belonged to her sister when she spoke up with relief flooding into her tone.
"Mittens! Are you okay?!"
"W-What?!" Amity spluttered, only to flinch at feeling a second pair of arms hug her from behind, the voice belonging to her brother.
"We're so sorry! We didn't mean to put you in harm's way!" Edric briefly paused to furrow his brow at his own words. "Or rather I didn't mean to. I was the one who drew on Otabin."
Amity remained speechless for a few seconds until her gaze locked with Lizzie watching the twins from close by, prompting her face to flush a bright red and her hands to clench into shaking fists.
"Y-You should be! I nearly got stuck inside a book because of you!"
"We know," Emira replied quietly, closing her eyes and placing a hand to the back of Amity's head. "We really are sorry, Mittens."
"And we promise to make it up to you," Edric added, closing his own eyes and tightening his grip a little. "We won't be mean to you ever again."
Amity blinked out of shock at the pair's words. "Is this some kind of trick? Are you plotting something else?"
"It's not." Edric pulled away and moved to step around Amity so she could see him standing beside Emira, holding up his right palm. "Scout's honour."
Amity crossed gazes with Lizzie still standing nearby, clearly looking for confirmation of some kind. But when the older blonde responded with the shrug of her shoulders, the younger Blight frowned and directed her gaze to her shoes, grumbling her next words despite not fully understanding her siblings' sudden shift in behaviour.
"W-Well, good. You can start by helping us clean up then."
A faint smile slipped onto Lizzie's face as she let the Blights have their little moment, finding it to be endearing despite the circumstances. Yet it wasn't long before the blonde witch found herself stumbling back a couple of steps at someone flinging themselves into her front, suddenly trapped in an embrace of her own from none other than Luz.
"…!"
Lizzie gaped down at the shorter human at seeing the Latina burying her face into her shoulder, her arms clutching at her back. After a moment or two of staring, though, the older witch's smile soon reappeared and she returned the embrace without a second thought, her own eyes closing. Lizzie knew there was still quite a bit for them to do before things properly settled down, but for now at least she had the unspoken acknowledgement that the former fight between her and Luz was long forgotten.
Lizzie wasn't sure how much time had passed since they'd been in the library. Yet despite there being very little mess to actually clean up even with the rampaging Otabin and the admittance from the twins that they'd been playing with a lot of books, the sun was slowly beginning to rise over the isles by the time Lizzie was making her way outside the library. Luz and Amity had already gone on ahead, as the latter wanted to get some breathing space from her siblings due to their sudden 'clingy' behaviour. This meant that when Lizzie stopped at the top of the steps and momentarily squinted at the bright light now flooding the town of Bonesborough, she could just about make out Amity and Luz standing together at the bottom of the steps. As the blonde witch rubbed at her eyes to adjust her vision, she heard the twins approach her from behind, eventually seeing them stand on either side of her when she moved her hands away from her face.
"Whoo," Edric breathed and stretched his arms above his head, sending a cheeky smile towards Lizzie and Emira. "What a night, huh?"
Lizzie rolled her eyes at this, instinctively gripping at her satchel. "Oh, yes. Let's be thankful the effects of the Wailing Star only last until the sun comes up. Otherwise you wouldn't be saying that."
"I thought it was still fun," Emira commented with a slight smile. "It probably would have been better without the rampaging bookmaker, though." Emira chuckled at her own joke, only to reach out a hand for Lizzie's closest shoulder. "I have to say, what you did back there was impressive, Liz."
Lizzie raised a brow at Emira and tilted her head, with Edric copying his twin and prompting her gaze to switch to him with a blink when he commented too.
"Oh, yeah! That was some cool potion work. I wish I could create stuff like that."
Lizzie slowly shook her head and huffed. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't recommend it. You'd have to become the school's outcast first and then upgrade to a fugitive."
Edric chuckled at Lizzie's sarcasm, with the twins both patting her shoulders before seeing Amity beginning to walk away from Luz. "We should get going. We'll see you around."
Lizzie nodded and watched the two of them start heading down the steps, deciding not to say anything in favour of letting them go. However, Emira soon stopped when the two were halfway down and turned to face the older blonde.
"And Liz?" Edric copied Emira when he got a couple of steps ahead of her, with the latter smiling widely and giving her a wink. "Just for the record, we really did think you were cool back then, even if everyone else didn't. And we still do."
The blonde witch couldn't stop her jaw from dropping at this revelation, which Edric took as his cue to continue from his sister with a grin. "You've got guts we wish we had. Make sure to use them more."
Lizzie didn't say anything to that, acting like her whole body had been frozen over because she'd been hit with an ice spell. She stayed that way even when the twins turned away and followed after their little sister, with Luz making her way back up the steps to join her at her side again, clutching at the strap of her bag. Apparently, she'd brought it to the library when she'd left the Owl House and had taken it off while she and the twins were playing with the books under the effects of the Wailing Star.
'Did those two mean that? Do they actually…?'
It was the slight frown on Luz's face and the human's drooped posture that eventually brought Lizzie out of her shock.
"You okay, Luz? Was Amity upset with you?"
Luz slowly shook her head and turned to look in the direction of the Blight siblings, who were walking with Amity now between Emira and Edric and something gripped tightly in her hands (which Lizzie struggled to see from her current angle).
"Actually… I think we're okay. She accepted my copy of 'The Good Witch Azura' Book 5 as a peace offering." Luz turned to Lizzie with the tilt of her head. "Did you know the Boiling Isles has copies of 'The Good Witch Azura'?"
Lizzie's brow raised with a blink. "It does?"
"Apparently. Amity had books one through four in her hideout."
"… Huh." Lizzie scratched at the back of her head and looked up at the sky when she started walking down the steps, with Luz automatically following close beside her. "I don't think I've ever seen them around here. I wonder why."
Luz shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows." The Latina's frown deepened when she reached a hand to rub at the back of her head, glancing down at her shoes as she followed Lizzie from the library. "I'm sorry, by the way. For not listening to you before."
Lizzie gave Luz a sideways glance before sighing heavily, her eyes drooping. "Well, I'm sorry too. If I'd been honest with you to begin with, you would have listened to me."
"Is it because you don't trust me?"
"Of course not." Lizzie slowed to a stop at this, with Luz doing the same after lifting her gaze to the witch just a few seconds after. The older witch quickly shook her head and faced Luz with slumped shoulders, folding her arms across her front. "I just have a hard time opening up to others, Luz. It's my problem, not yours. But I promise I'm working on it. I can't guarantee it'll happen soon, but I will try to be more honest with you in future."
Luz gave a wide blink at this, reaching a hand to grip at her own elbow. Lizzie could see the younger human's mouth twitch and her feet fidget, as if she was on the cusp of wanting to ask something but resisting the urge to do so. Eventually, though, Luz gave a stiff nod and ceased her involuntary movement, her usual cheery smile spreading across her face.
"I'll take your word for it."
Lizzie soon returned the smile and reached out to give Luz's hair a quick ruffle, nodding once out of acknowledgement. "Good." The pair resumed their walk into the streets of Bonesborough now bathed in the early morning light, with the older witch letting out a small yawn and stretching her arms above her head. "I don't know about you, but I'm heading straight to bed when we get back."
Luz chuckled and rubbed at her eyes with a hand, her other one covering her mouth when she was briefly interrupted by a small yawn of her own. "Yeah. I think I'll join you. That was one crazy night…"
Returning to the Owl House during the hours when she knew most of the Boiling Isles were waking up was certainly an experience Lizzie never thought she was going to experience. And yet here she was, slowly lagging behind Luz as the young human jogged her way up to the front door of the cottage, her body partly hunched forward from the effects of her exhaustion beginning to catch up with her.
'Sheesh. Where has Luz gotten this sudden burst of energy from? She's been running around all night!'
Luz slowed her pace as she pushed the front door open and loudly announced their presence without a second thought, with Lizzie trailing in close behind her.
"Hey, guys! We're—"
The pair paused in the doorway when their gazes immediately flitted to the green sofa, with Lizzie having expected that to be the place where Eda and King would be based off the last time she'd seen them. And while she was correct in her assumption, nothing could have prepared Lizzie (or even Luz, for that matter) for the current scene she was met with: Eda lying on her back fast asleep with a wide smile, with a snoozing King draped over her lap and the trio of infant bats gathered in her arms and snuggled to her chest, all of them lying amongst the mess still littering the living room. 'Otabin the Bookmaker' was also conveniently about, opened out flat against the side of the sofa.
Lizzie and Luz both blinked twice to make sure they weren't seeing things before they exchanged silent glances, neither of them sure of how to react in that moment. But soon they broke out into amused smiles, their telepathic agreement set. They didn't need to say anything for the other to know to leave Eda and King be. The silence spoke volumes.
'Well, well, well. Looks like we weren't the only ones who had quite a night.'
But the peace didn't last as long as Lizzie and Luz had hoped, as proven by Hooty proceeding to suddenly screech out of nowhere and startling the witch and human enough that they stumbled forwards and backwards, his voice passing straight through them.
"DING DONG!"
"Hooty!" Lizzie and Luz both hissed at the house demon as they whipped their heads towards him, the pair scowling in the belief he was being a nuisance at an inappropriate time.
But then two thin long and pale arms stretched themselves through the doorway, revealing two lone sharp black claws that dug into the doorframe. Lizzie and Luz immediately backed up with wide blinks at the sight of a large humanoid head pulling itself over the threshold and into the Owl House, despite the fact it was a little bigger than the entrance. It just about managed to squeeze its way through before releasing its hold, straightening out to reveal a feminine face with narrowed eyes with tiny red pupils, a wide nose, and black lips contorted into an almost unsettling smile with two exposed fangs, all of which was surrounded by the flowing black hair atop it while being supported by a pair of feet with four black claws. Underneath the arms was stretched skin that seemed to resemble a pair of wings, possessing a purple colour on the inside that contrasted its pale colour along the outside.
It took Lizzie a couple of seconds to recognise the familiarity in the creature's appearance, prompting her to give the sleeping infant bats in Eda's arms a brief sideways glance.
'Oh. She must be…'
It was Luz who finished Lizzie's train of thought out loud as she recoiled and moved closer to the blonde witch's side, bringing an arm across her chest.
"Whoa… You must be the Mama."
The creature's expression softened at this, turning the former eerie smile into a warm looking one. "Yi, yi!" She said in a thick accent Lizzie didn't recognise. "Mama is I, and I is the Bat Queen."
Lizzie relaxed her stance at getting the necessary confirmation, choosing to give the Bat Queen another look over from head to toe. This probably would have been the moment where Lizzie pinched herself and tried to poorly convince her mind that she was having a weird dream. Yet she knew from the familiar resemblance and the strange dialect that this was, indeed, the Bat Queen who'd written that note.
'Wow. Her children are tiny compared to her. I didn't think she was going to be much bigger than Eda. Or show her face to us.'
Before either Luz or Lizzie could say anything, the Bat Queen let out a loud high-pitched whistle, causing the pair to wince and cover their ears with their hands. Flapping wings drew their attention back to Eda and King, where they witnessed the three infant bats (now wide awake) flying up out of the former's arms and towards their mother with a chorus of high-pitched squeaks. The three children hovered over their mother's head before proceeding to land and bury themselves partly into the Bat Queen's raven locks, their eyes alighting in a bright yellow glow as they curled their wings round themselves.
"Ah, my snuggle dumplings," the Bat Queen cooed as she gave the infant bats a quick look before switching back to Lizzie and Luz.
When the Bat Queen proceeded to open her mouth wide, Lizzie was under the impression she was going to speak. But that assumption quickly flew out of her head when the Bat Queen suddenly lurched forward with loud coughing and gagging noises, forcing Lizzie and Luz to stumble backwards to avoid the large wooden saliva covered chest that came tumbling out onto the floor. Lizzie briefly looked away with an eye closed and her lip curled, until the lid of the chest sprung open to reveal a pile of glittering gold coins and a skull shaped whistle atop it, which prompted Luz's and Lizzie's jaws to slack.
'Holy Titan, that is a lot of gold…'
"For troubles," the Bat Queen stated, keeping her smile on her face as she slowly turned to face the doorway. "Eda is owed one."
Lizzie quietly gasped at this, her gaze dropping to the whistle on the chest while the Bat Queen tried to shove herself back through the doorway.
'Eda's owed a favour too? She's struck out.'
Lizzie's gaze only returned to do the door at hearing the creaking caused by the Bat Queen forcibly squeezing herself back outside, her feet briefly slipping against the wood until she'd gained enough momentum to move. The blonde witch remained where she was even as she witnessed the Bat Queen's elegant take off into the air, with Luz proceeding to approach and close the door seconds after.
With silence returning to the living room once more, Lizzie faced the opened chest in front of her with crossed arms, her eyes drooping at the amount of gold practically close to spilling onto the carpet.
"I can't believe they actually pulled it off. Eda's going to have a right field day when she sees this."
And, as if on cue, Lizzie heard Eda quietly mumble behind her, followed by the sounds of her body shifting against the sofa.
"Aw, sweet babies…" Lizzie turned just in time to see Eda bring her arms closer to her person, only for the latter's eyes to snap open at realising the babies weren't there. The Owl Lady sat up suddenly with wide eyes and her head turning in all directions, her movement inevitably prompting King's eyes to open at being disturbed from his slumber. The moment Eda's gaze locked with Luz and Lizzie by the door, the older witch questioned them in a panicked tone, with pushing himself up from the witch's lap at coming to the same realisation of the missing babies. "Hey, where are the babies?!"
Luz and Lizzie jabbed a thumb each towards the door behind them, with the latter elaborating for the worried Owl Lady's sake. "Mama just picked them up."
Eda's and King's shoulders immediately slumped at this revelation, their faces sinking as Luz indicated with her hands towards the chest with a bright smile. "But hey, your night was a success! Look at all the money and the whistle she left you!" Luz squinted a bit and chuckled nervously. "I'd wash everything before touching it, though."
Lizzie smiled widely at seeing Eda and King hang their heads after the pair moved to sit on the sofa properly side by side, their eyes drooping at the blonde's forced sweet tone; Lizzie knew karma had come and hit them hard, and she couldn't hide her amusement of that. "After all, you did it for the snails, right?"
Eda weakly nodded and focused on her clasped hands in her lap, responding in a downhearted tone. "Yeah. For the snails…"
Lizzie's smile softened when she saw King's jaw quiver, only for tears to spring to his eyes as he swivelled towards Eda and hugged her tightly, breaking out into wails. "I miss them already!"
"Then it's a good thing Luz and I predicted this would happen." Lizzie glanced back at Luz and tilted her head in the pair's direction, as if signalling her.
Luz nodded stiffly and walked over to stand before Eda, reaching a hand inside her bag to pull out a small green book with an illustration of a blackbird sitting in a nest, ironically titled 'Coping with Empty Nest Syndrome' in red lettering. "I got this for you while we were at the library."
Eda readily accepted the book into her hands with a small smile and a quiet snort, with King pulling away from her after wiping at his eyes with his paws. "Thanks." She glanced between the witch and human when Luz backed up to stand beside Lizzie again. "So, how was your night? You're both looking a little worse for wear. Must have been something, huh?"
Luz clasped her hands behind her back while Lizzie folded her arms, the two girls sharing a glance when the former spoke first.
"It was… good. Then bad. Then maybe good again. But…"
"I think it's safe to say things worked themselves out in the end." Lizzie gave Luz a small smile and a wink. "And we may have bonded a little bit."
Luz's eyes briefly widened before she mirrored Lizzie's smile, her head tilting a little to the side. "Yeah."
A loud creak sounded behind Luz and Lizzie, followed by Hooty speaking up without warning.
"Anybody wanna hear about my night? Boy, was it a hoot—"
"And I think that's my cue to head to bed," Lizzie abruptly interrupted and started to speed walk out of the living room. "Goodnight!"
"Wait for me!" Luz shouted after the older witch and ran after her with her hands over her ears, causing Eda to chuckle at them as she watched the two go.
But even though she'd said it as a joke, Lizzie could feel the throbbing aches in her joints beginning to creep on her, her body practically screaming at her to rest. It was a convenient excuse to avoid Hooty's shenanigans this once, yet one she was thankful for. Because after the night she'd had, she knew she was going to be getting a well deserved sleep.
A/N: I'll be honest in saying that I didn't like how Ed's and Em's 'redemption' was handled in the show. From going to antagonistic to supportive between a few episodes without actually undoing the mess they caused in the library really bugged me. I know the episode's focus was supposed to be on Amity and Luz bonding, but I really do think they should have been there to help them with Otabin, even if they appeared at the last second. And given the plans I have for Lizzie's backstory and character, it made sense to have them work together in this scenario. This meant taking a lot of the attention away from Luz and Amity, but that's why I tried to use Lizzie's and Amity's conversations to make up for that. I did honestly feel Lizzie's presence would have helped Amity warm up to Luz a bit, even despite Lizzie's personal feelings on the subject. I also thought Lizzie being the calm voice of reason for the twins made sense to her character and the situation as a whole, given she is older than Ed and Em and has naturally matured because of once being in a similar situation to the Blights. A lot of other fics made Ed and Em out to be evil and had their OCs use violence to 'teach them a lesson', but the truth is the twins aren't like that. They're just immature and need someone to knock some common sense into them. Also, given what we know about Odalia and Alador now, it wouldn't surprise me if their behaviour was influenced by their upbringing, and that this is how they were taught to deal with situations like this. So, Lizzie using herself as an example probably would have made them realise that what they were doing wasn't normal. Some of you might have been expecting Lizzie to really lay into them for what they did, but I like to try to be as realistic as I can about things, and this is how I think it should be handled.
