A/N: Howdy, folks! Yup, surprise! I managed to get this chapter done a lot quicker than I thought I was going to! Although, I will kindly ask you not to expect such quick updates in future 'cause... it depends on what I'm doing. I've slowed down a little on the rewriting and edited chapter uploads for some of my fanfics though, which is the reason for why I got this done this time. Not gonna lie, the editing and stuff has been burning me out quite a bit in terms of my writing, so I thought it made sense to give it a bit of a backseat to focus on other updates for now, namely this fic and Ghost of a Kind, which I shall be working on next.
In the meantime... you get treated to the chapter you've all been waiting for: Grom. It is finally upon us, and as you will come to see in this chapter... it is not going to go how you think it will~. XD Don't worry, though. This isn't going to affect the Lumity dance in the following chapter. That is still happening and I have no plans on writing that iconic scene out! Same with Lizzie's talk with Bump. That's also still gonna happen. But again, if you want to see my reasons for the creative choices I have made in this chapter, then I encourage you to stick around at the end to see what I have to say.
For now, thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. Favourites and follows haven't changed since last time, so I have nothing to say to that. Either way, I hope the little twist I've put on the Grom fight is going to be entertaining for you guys until I can get the next chapter out. 'Til then, enjoy!
Chapter 51: Fright or Flight
Hexside's gymnasium—a wide, long and high-ceiling room supported by towering pillars, lined with stone bleachers along the left and right walls and which housed a high, wooden stage at the opposite end with purple curtains pulled back by yellow tassel ropes, its reflective and squeaky flooring decorated with pink lines and a circle in the middle meant to resemble a sports court. But while this room was usually plain in design and suited for the sole purpose of having student endure short periods of exercise during regular school hours, it had been granted vibrant and haunting ambience to commemorate the annual celebration and upcoming entertainment. Within the flaming torchlight offered at the top of the bleachers and from the artificial lights from the ceiling, purple thorned stems decorated in red flowers curled round the formerly plain pillars. Orange balloons that resembled round ghosts with hole-like eyes and mouths decorated various areas of the gymnasium, including at the sides of the bleachers or over the top in an arch formation and on the ends of the stage.
Upon the stage, a trio of animated musical instruments stood in a line while using their bodies and attached limbs to play an upbeat rockabilly tune while students adorning fancy and formal tuxedos, dresses and other outfits of vibrant colours danced in pairs in front of them. The instruments consisted of a yellow drum set with two purple arms and two sets of purple legs on either side of its bass drum stood to the left of the line and tapped a pair of drumsticks against its snare drums, possessing four drooped and red pupiled eyes with yellow sclera and an overbite on the face of its bass drum; a red bass guitar with one green eye and one pair of purple arms and legs strummed away on its strings in the middle, and a brown violin stood to the right with its eyes closed while strumming its bow against its strings, also possessing a single pair of purple arms and legs.
To the left of the entrance of the gymnasium, Lizzie—still in the dress Eda had given her from Grom and with the addition of her potion-filled satchel slung over her shoulder—observed the numerous activities of the gathered students from underneath a red and purple eyed flowered archway, her arms folded across her abdomen. Eda, also dressed in her Grom outfit, was leaning against the left side of the archway with her own arms folded across her chest, her brows furrowed and her eyes drooped as she stared at the nearby wall. King currently wasn't with them, having disappeared with Gus 'backstage' to prepare for their announcer roles for the upcoming Grom fight. From an outsider perspective, it seemed as if the blonde witch was taking her job as chaperone very seriously in comparison to her technical employer; however, in actuality, Lizzie was attempting to search for Luz amidst the student body (and also try to ignore the brown banner hanging above the stage with 'GROM NITE!' printed on it in gold lettering due to its terrible misspelling).
Due to their roles in the event, Lizzie, Eda and King had had to leave the Owl House a little earlier than Luz, who had still been struggling to choose an outfit to wear. They'd been here for quite a while already, and with the arrival of other familiar faces as the evening had gone, Lizzie was struggling to settle at not having seen a single sign of Luz, as evidenced by her twitching fingers and her green eyes constantly darting between specific people in search of the Latina human. Lizzie spied Edric and Emira talking between themselves standing close to where some students were dancing, with Edric wearing a grey tuxedo, a bright yellow shirt, an orange bowtie and brown shoes while Emira wore a thigh-length and sleeveless yellow dress with a light-yellow bowtie and brown ankle boots. The twins momentarily sideways glanced Lizzie upon catching her looking their way, prompting the pair to smile and wave, the latter of which Lizzie returned. In front of a set of bleachers nearby, Lizzie also saw a smiling Willow—dressed in a sleeveless dress with a white shoulder covering coupled with an orange ribbon round the middle and flat yellow shoes, a dark green top that stretched partway down the skirt, and then a light green skirt hem that joined in between, creating upright and upside down triangles that resembled a leaf pattern—gracefully twirling between a trio of students with her index fingers alighted with a balled and light green glow, flashing different types of colourful flowered corsages onto suit collars or wrists with her magic.
But still Lizzie couldn't find the familiar pixie cut, purple-brown hair and hazel eyes of Luz Noceda amongst them, causing the witch's foot to start tapping against the floor as she bit the inside of her lip. She might have been able to have distracted herself if she'd attempted to speak with Principal Bump about the information surrounding her uncle, though due to him being preoccupied with preparations for the upcoming fight (or, as Eda claimed, Lizzie using Principal Bump's other duties to avoid addressing the 'trash slug' in the room that she needed to at some point), she openly left herself at the mercy of her ever growing anxiety.
'Come on, Luz. Where are you?'
Lizzie's uneasiness did not go unnoticed by the eagle-eyed and sharp-eared Owl Lady, whose eyes focused on her technical employee the moment she heard the foot tapping.
"Starting to get worried too, huh?" Eda questioned as her expression relaxed.
"I can't help it!" Lizzie exclaimed through a huff, breaking her gaze away to look the older witch in the eyes with a faint frown and temporarily ceasing her impatient tapping. "Luz has gotten tougher since she came to the Demon Realm, but there's this feeling of dread eating away at my gut!"
Eda smirked faintly and reached a fist over to lightly knock Lizzie's closest shoulder with her knuckles, which Lizzie showed no visible reaction to. "That's your sixth sense talking, Redwood." Her smirk dropped as she retracted with a heavy sigh. "Not that I blame you for letting it bother you."
Lizzie lowered her gaze to her boots and closed her eyes, digging her fingers into her upper arms. She remained unaware of Eda briefly looking off at the rest of the gymnasium, her eyes skimming the crowds for any sign of Principal Bump.
"It's not that Luz can't handle herself in magical fights," Lizzie mumbled. "She's gotten good at using her current glyphs in combat and coming up with creative techniques to boot." The blonde witch opened her eyes and hunched her shoulders a little. "But I just can't shake the feeling that something is bothering her, something that I fear Grom might use against her…"
She felt a gentle pat on her shoulder from Eda, catching the Owl Lady moving to her side from the corner of her eyes and keeping her hand there.
"You don't have to stay, Redwood," Eda said in a low voice, prompting Lizzie to right her posture and lower her arms to her sides. "Just say the word and I'll go get Bumpikins to give you the information about your uncle. You won't have to hang around waiting then."
Lizzie's frown deepened with the slight tilt of her head. "Are you sure?"
"Of course I am!" Eda replied with a wide grin, jabbing a thumb into her own chest and puffing it out. "She's got the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles looking out for her." Eda's posture slumped a bit as she grumbled the next part. "Even though she's gonna have to be rescued on what should have been Mama's fun night off…"
Lizzie had to admit that the offer was tempting, and in the past, she knew she would have taken the Owl Lady up on it within a heartbeat. And yet, as she found her gaze wandering to the stage of the gymnasium, it didn't take long for her to realise that a sense of déjà vu was creeping upon her in the form of clammy hands and a pounding pulse within her ears.
'This is just like the time we stormed the Conformatorium and Eda forced me to leave with Luz. I was worried about Eda back then, but I was conflicted on whether I should go against her. Until Luz changed my mind…'
If Lizzie closed her eyes, she was sure she could recreate the moment almost perfectly from memory—she and Luz hovering upon Eda's staff, surrounded by clouds of black and the violent winds attacking them from all angles, the growl of Warden Wrath resonating from below them and then Luz's concerned voice speaking up loud and clear from the deep crevices of her mind.
'You're worried about Eda, aren't you?'
'What if I am?'
'Well… that obviously means you want to help her. So… why don't you?'
''Why don't I,' what?'
'Help her?'
'And now the roles have reversed, haven't they? Luz is the one I'm worrying about, and Eda's giving me the option to back out.'
Good thing she wasn't the same witch as back then, Lizzie mentally remarked.
"I appreciate the thought, Eda," Lizzie whispered after a long pause, raising a hand to gently flick the Owl Lady's hand off her shoulder. "But I owe it to Luz to be there for her. She wouldn't have hesitated to be here if it was me in her place, so I need to return the favour, don't I?" Eda blinked widely and leaned back with her brow creasing, leaving Lizzie raising a brow. "What?"
It felt like a full minute before the older witch brought herself to speak, narrowing her golden eyes and twisting her mouth as she leaned in close to the younger witch's face.
"… Who are you and what have you done with Redwood?" she eventually questioned sceptically, causing the blonde witch to release a hearty laugh and press the back of her hand against her lips to try to muffle it.
"Blame your apprentice!" she spouted between chuckles while the Owl Lady righted herself. "She regrew my backbone!"
"You mean the one you've always had but I've never seen 'cause you stayed out of my antics until recently?" Eda jested with a smirk and a hand to her hip.
This made Lizzie laugh harder and clap her hands together once upon recognising the older witch was paraphrasing her. She didn't try to stop, though. It was a welcomed distraction, and for a moment Lizzie felt her worries get swept away like a wave retreating to the sea.
Of course, the two witches' mirth didn't last. The artificial lights in the gymnasium suddenly flickered off, silencing the pair and the music suddenly while promptly drawing their attention to the stage at the two spotlights flashing on to highlight it within the now dimly light room. Gus could be seen in the middle of the stage in a light blue tuxedo and a dark blue bowtie, gripping a microphone between his hands and a persistent wide smile on his lips.
"Ladies, gentlemen and assorted demons!" he began in an upbeat tone, his voice booming and reverberating throughout the gymnasium due to speaking close to the microphone. "The time for our main Grom event is almost here!" He removed one hand from the microphone to gesture towards a set of bleachers to his right. "Please take your seats and remember that the first three rows are designated splash zones!"
"Splash zones?" Lizzie repeated under her breath amidst the loud and collective cheers from the student audience. She looked at Eda with a crinkled nose, her subtle request for confirmation to her disbelief prompting the Owl Lady to respond with an open-armed shrug.
"Yeah, it can get messy," she stated casually, which did little to change Lizzie's current expression.
'Should I even ask what she means by messy or am I better off not knowing?'
Eda beckoning Lizzie to follow her with the wave of her arm as the students on the dancefloor dispersed and filed towards the bleachers answered her internal question for her, preparing to walk ahead of the younger witch. "Let's go, kid."
Lizzie followed behind Eda with a stiff nod once she'd passed her, only to gulp thickly and rub at her throat at the lump she could feel forming. The event hadn't even started yet and already Lizzie was being seized by her nerves.
Eda led them to a set of bleachers on the left side of the room and chose one closest to the middle, plonking herself on the third row from the top with her arms crossed and one leg crossed over the other. Lizzie seated herself beside the older witch with her own leg crossed, resting a cheek in her palm while supporting her elbow with her other arm. Gus' commentary continued in the background, with the young illusionist taking on a wide stance and pressing his weight onto his left leg while pointing towards a set of bleachers to his right.
"Well, folks, it looks like we have Principal Bump with us tonight!" he announced, causing a spotlight to flash on in the direction he was pointing in to reveal Principal Bump in his usual uniform sitting in the middle rows. The aging Principal straightened up and stiffened his shoulders with a wide blink at realising the spotlight was literally on him, causing Gus to stand up straight again and grin. "Now, sir, I must warn you that we're going to raise the roof up in here this evening!" He paused to give Principal Bump a sly wink. "So, please don't throw us in detention!"
Gus' joke caused numerous students to laugh, which quickly devolved into a round of applause and cheers from the student body towards the principal (barring Lizzie and Eda, who watched without making a single movement or sound). Bump responded to the clapping with a bashful smile and waving off with one of his hands, turning his head away slightly as he did so. But Lizzie's attention was more focused on Gus, who eventually brought a smile to her face at seeing him bouncing between the soles of his feet and motioning upwards with his palms to keep beckoning his audience to continue with their encouragement. It reminded her of the act he'd put on at Covention when introducing the Illusion Coven to them.
'Would you look at that. The little guy is really in his element, huh? Truly a born showman.'
A sharp elbow in her left side from Eda brought Lizzie out of her thoughts with a flinch and wide blink, her head partially turning to the Owl Lady as she leaned in with the back of her hand close to her mouth.
"Redwood," she whispered and pointed in the direction of the entrance to the gymnasium, jerking her head towards it for good measure. "Looks like Miss Bossy-Boots is looking for ya."
"Huh?" Lizzie uttered as she followed where Eda was pointing, only for her brows to raise at spying Amity lingering in the doorway towards the left door, looking directly at where she and Eda were sitting. She beckoned Lizzie to come down with the wave of her hand, making the blonde witch frown and look towards the older witch beside her as she sat up again. "What do you think she wants?"
Eda shrugged her shoulders and folded her arms again, her gaze returning to the stage. "No idea. Better go see and make it quick, though. The fight will be starting soon."
"Right."
As confused as she was by the situation, even she knew it was unusual for Amity of all witches to want her for something, so it only made sense that she should go and find out what it is. Yet as Lizzie jumped up from her seat and moved down the bleachers as quickly as she could while muttering 'Excuse me!' or 'Pardon me!' as she slid in between students, it didn't stop her mind from conjuring up potential reasons for her 'summons'.
'Why do I get the feeling this has something to do with Luz?'
Once Lizzie was on the ground and jogging over to the doors, she got a better view of the outfit that Amity had chosen for Grom, which consisted of a high-collared dress with a black body and matching slight-heeled shoes, short and light pink puffy sleeves and matching coloured ankle socks and a knee-length pink skirt.
"Sorry for calling you down here," Amity apologised as Lizzie slowed to a stop in front of her.
"What's up?" Lizzie questioned, prompting Amity to gesture to the darkened corridor outside of the gymnasium with a furrowed brow.
"Luz wanted to talk to you," she answered lowly and turned her golden eyes to her shoes. "I've already given her my pep talk, but she wanted some encouragement from you too. She's a little nervous."
A forced chuckle from Luz sounded behind the youngest Blight then, causing Amity to peek back over her shoulder and Lizzie to lean round a little to see the Latina human standing by a row of lockers with a twitchy smile in line with the light coming out of the gymnasium, her arms wrapped round her stomach and her knees slightly bent.
"Either that or I accidentally drank some milk when I shouldn't have," she joked with a slight squeak in her voice, an indication that Amity was right about her being nervous.
Luz was dressed in a black jacket with dark blue lining the collar and sleeves atop of a white buttoned shirt, along with dark blue leggings, brown boots and a pink tutu. Luz even appeared to have made up her hair, which Lizzie noticed looked like it had been combed back to neaten it.
The blonde smiled slightly and placed a hand to her hip, replying to Luz's remark in kind. "Well, considering you have a history of stage fright from your Hexside entrance exam, I think it's safe to say it's the jitters." Luz's smile dropped after a few seconds more and she lowered her head to the floor, causing Lizzie to tilt her head out of concern. "Are you having second thoughts about fighting Grom?"
"A little, yeah," Luz murmured with the hunch of her shoulders, her hazel eyes drooping. "I was so sure of myself before, but now that it's actually happening… I can't help wondering if I've made a huge mistake."
Lizzie frowned and gave Amity a sideways glance, who returned the frown with the shake of her head. Lizzie's mind was screaming at her to talk Luz out of this, as she couldn't help noticing the similarities to the fight back at Covention, mainly Luz's visible discomfort before her fight with Amity—the hunched posture, the cowering under the spectators' judging gazes and words…
'But I can't do that. It'll make Luz's fears worse if I place my doubt in her now. She's already worse off because of Eda…'
Which meant she needed to do the next best thing: give Luz encouragement and support.
Several seconds passed before Lizzie brought herself to walk over to Luz and place a hand on her closest shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze as a (hopeful) act of reassurance.
"Do you remember what I said to you at Covention, just before your fight with Amity?" Lizzie asked, not even daring to glance back at said 'Amity' behind her; she didn't need to see her reaction to the reminder.
Luz lifted her head and pressed her lips together with a squint for a few seconds, taking a brief time to ponder Lizzie's words. "If you don't feel comfortable, you don't have to do this, everlasting oath or not," she replied slowly, with Lizzie nodding to confirm she was right. Luz tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes further. "So… you're telling me to back out of the fight?"
"Far from it," Lizzie answered with the shake of her head, giving Luz's shoulder a little shake and edging closer to her face to look the Latina human directly in the eyes. "It's okay to feel the way that you do, Luz, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. We can't handle all of our problems alone sometimes." The blonde paused to place a hand to her own chest and roll her eyes with the widen of her smile. "No one knows that better than I do, as you should already know." She earned a small chuckle from Luz with that (and Amity, apparently; Lizzie thought she heard the younger witch's titter quietly from behind her). "So, if at any point during your fight with Grom you become overwhelmed and think 'I need help!',"—Lizzie scooted to the side and pointed in the direction of the bleachers where Eda was sitting—"call for me and I'll come to your aid."
"And I shall offer the same," Amity chimed in with the raise of her palm, making Lizzie stand up straight again and let Luz go as the pair turned to the greenette with simultaneous blinks. "It's the least I can do, considering you did replace me as Grom Queen."
"Hah!" Luz forced a laugh and cocked a brow with a smirk, leaning back a little and crossing her arms before her chest. "Are you goin' soft on me, Amity Blight~?" she teased, causing Amity to laugh and place a hand to her hip with a mirrored smirk and raised brow when she replied in kind.
"Only in your dreams~!"
Luz's expression softened to a genuine smile upon returning her focus to Lizzie, though, her hazel eyes glistening a little under the light seeping into the darkness shrouded corridor from the gymnasium. Lizzie expected Luz to give her thanks and then let her get on her way. What she didn't expect, however, was for the shorter human to throw her body towards her in a blink and trap her in a tight embrace, burying her face into her closest shoulder.
"Thank you, Liz," Luz said gratefully, partially muffled by Lizzie's clothing. "You might have been against me staying on the Boiling Isles in the beginning, but you've been there for me since day one. Your support really means a lot."
Luz's words left Lizzie frozen to the spot with wide eyes for a moment, despite her arms instinctively raising themselves to loosely return the hug given.
'Luz is right. It's strange to think that despite my resistance to Eda bringing her into the Owl House… I've supported Luz with so many of the things she's done—learning magic, attending Hexside, fighting other creatures alongside her. Three years ago, that would have been unthinkable!' The blonde witch gave the back of Luz's head a brief sideways glance at feeling the Latina's grip tighten round her shoulders, as if she didn't want to let her go. 'Even now, the only reason I came to Grom was for Luz, not myself, and it's because she's helped me rediscover my true self again. I really do owe this human a lot, don't I?'
Gus' voice echoed from the gymnasium behind them, prompting Amity and Lizzie to look back towards the stage at the cheery announcement he gave.
"Ladies, gentlemen and assorted demons, it's time to introduce our Grom Queen and get this upcoming showdown on the road! Please take your seats if you're not already in them!"
"Guess that's my cue…" Luz mumbled as she released Lizzie and slowly pulled away, only for one hand to take a loose grip on one of Lizzie's dress sleeves while the teenage human gave her a weak smile. "Wish me luck."
Lizzie's eyes focused on Luz's hand for a few seconds, her brow furrowing at the obvious hesitation she was displaying when she saw it shaking slightly. Luz was reluctant to let her go. In the end, though, the blonde witch forced a smile and gave the shorter teen's closest shoulder a rough pat, the action prompting Luz to finally release her sleeve.
"Good luck," Lizzie said in a low voice, swirling around on her heels and heading back inside the gymnasium to return to her seat.
"Good luck," Amity repeated in a sombre tone as she quickly turned to follow Lizzie inside, with the blonde witch catching the younger witch's eyes drooping and a hand gripping at her upper arm from within her peripheral vision.
'I wonder if Amity is regretting her decision to let Luz take her place…'
Lizzie hurried back to her seat and plopped herself down beside a still droopy-eyed and arms and legs crossed Eda, giving the stage a glimpse to see Principal Bump was now standing to Gus' left with his arms behind his back. By the time Amity had caught up and seated herself on Lizzie's other side, a wide smiling Gus was continuing with the show in a jovial tone.
"Now then, folks, the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived!" He pointed towards the audience on either side of him while slowly moving his finger from left to right. "Our chosen champion is someone you know, someone you love…" Gus trailed off and gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "…and maybe someone you've at least heard of." He paused to gesture towards the gymnasium doors. "Let's give a big hand for this year's chosen Grom Queen, Luz the human!"
Lizzie, Amity, Eda and the rest of the audience turned towards the gymnasium entrance the moment a spotlight flashed on, highlighting Luz taking on a wide stance in the doorway with a determined scowl and her hands clenched into fists at her sides. The audience wasted no time breaking out into resounding applause, loud cheers and a few whistles here and there, while the trio of witches seated amongst the excited and encouraging atmosphere could only exchange frowns between each other, their uncertainty of what was to come showing clear as day. From the stage, a black stand with a red front and a red button atop it scurried onto the wooden platform from the right with its two pairs of spider legs, coming to a stop beside Gus to allow the young witch to slam a fist down hard on the button without an ounce of hesitation.
Loud rumbling soon followed from the middle of the gymnasium, immediately silencing the students and drawing Lizzie's attention to it at the tremors she could feel shaking the bleachers underneath her. The floor between the bleachers parted, eventually revealing a long and rectangle shaped hole and the slope opposite the gymnasium entrance that led down to it. It was hard for Lizzie to see clearly through the dim lighting, but she could make out the bricked floor and columns supporting the rest of the gymnasium flooring underneath the bleachers from within the hole, and it made the blonde gulp thickly at the sweat drenching her forehead.
'King wasn't kidding. They're treating it like a bloodbath, all right.'
Two thick rectangular stone walls displaying a variety of weapons also rose from the floor before the hole's entrance, aligned with the double doors of the gymnasium. Luckily for Luz, they were weapons she recognised from the Human Realm, so she could easily select the one she thought she needed with very little guesswork. Luz waited until the walls stopped moving to approach the middle, her eyes darting between the different weapons in search for what she felt she needed. A chained flail with a wooden handle to her top right soon caught her eye, prompting her to reach out to grab it with one hand while her other one went into her jacket pocket to pull out a prepared glyph. Lizzie couldn't see what glyph Luz had chosen, yet as she watched the young human hold the flail up and stick the paper onto its spiked ball, she was left literally nibbling on her fingernails at taking a guess to what it was, especially when she saw Luz's triumphant smile at the brief circular green glow that was emitted from the weapon.
'Oh, Titan, Luz…'
With her back straight, her head held high, and the flail clutched tightly between her palms, Luz Noceda marched down the slope with her smile still intact and her brows furrowed, giving off an aura that suggested she was prepared for whatever Grom was about to throw her way. And yet, when Lizzie dared to look away in favour of sideways glancing Amity, she spied the younger witch with her golden eyes widely fixated on Luz's descent into the hole, her clasped hands visibly trembling in front of her face.
Her concern for Luz was more than palpable, which gave Lizzie the impression that Luz's demeanour did not, in fact, indicate she was ready for what was to come.
The moment Luz's foot touched the hardened floor inside of the hole, Lizzie and Amity moved forward in their seats with their hands close to their mouths, the pair anticipating the appearance of the human's opponent as soon as possible. But the further Luz walked into the hole and continually glanced around at every dark nook and cranny within her line of sight, the longer the appearance of Grom seemed to drag out.
'It's probably hiding somewhere waiting to strike,' Lizzie thought to try to reassure herself against the faint pounding of her pulse in her ears, even though a brief glance at a narrow-eyed Amity beside her seemed to prove how wrong her assumption was otherwise. 'Yeah! That has to be it, right?'
A full minute passed by the time Luz stopped in the middle of the hole with a faded smile and frowned when there was still no sign of Grom, with students in the audience starting to murmur amongst themselves. On the stage, Gus raised a brow and placed a hand over the microphone to lean close to a frowning Principal Bump to enquire something inaudible, with the aging Principal responding with a small shrug and shake of his head to show his confusion on the situation. Even King (who had worn a red bowtie round his collar for the event) ended up joining into the discussion when he climbed up the front of the stage and scurried his way over, waving his furry little arms about wildly and repeatedly gesturing towards the hole (though Lizzie guessed King's involvement had less to do with what was happening in the hole and more to do with his announcer role).
That was more than enough of a prompt for Lizzie to turn to Eda still on her right side, the sight of the Owl Lady using her hands to raise herself from the bleachers a little with a scowl on her brow only further hinting that there was something wrong.
"Eda," Lizzie squeaked. "you're more familiar with Grom than I am. Is this normal?"
Eda didn't answer her straight away. Her golden eyes remained locked on Luz below, eventually narrowing towards the darkness on the far side of the hole, as though she were a predator who had lost sight of their prey. It felt like forever before Eda seemed prepared to give her a verbal response. But right as the Owl Lady opened her mouth to speak, her eyes grew wide with the sharp raise of her brows, a breathless gasp escaping instead.
Lizzie whipped her head back to the middle of the gymnasium out of alarm and lifted the side of her hand close to her forehead to try to follow where Eda was looking, daring to stand up a little as she did so to get a better look. Within the shadows cast from the dim lighting, the blonde witch could just about make out the misshapen outline of a sludge-like cloudy blob blending into the darkness, its presence exposed by a pair of round and white glowing eyes.
It didn't take much for Lizzie to work out who it was lurking back there.
With widened eyes, Lizzie instinctively leapt to her feet and cupped her palms round her mouth, yelling at the top of her lungs to get the Latina's attention.
"LUZ!"
Luz whirled round at hearing Lizzie's shout and looked up just as Amity and Eda also stood up out of alarm, the two witches respectively yelling their own warnings and copying Lizzie's stance.
"Luz, behind you!"
"Watch your back, kid!"
"Huh?" Luz uttered with a forced blink, only for her shoulders to raise at hearing a guttural growl close by.
The Latina human whipped her body round and twisted it a bit with the flail poised behind her, preparing to swing it and launch an attack. But Grom was faster. Before Luz even had a chance to move, a thick black tentacle shot out of the darkness in a straight line and slammed into the middle of her forehead, the sudden force knocking the teenager backwards onto her bottom with a pained gasp. The flail slipped from her hands and clattered to the ground close to her feet, leaving her gritting her teeth and squeezing her eyes shut with a quiet hiss.
A chorus of gasps echoed throughout the audience at this display, with Eda and Lizzie gaping and Amity smacking her hands to her mouth at seeing Luz's eyes shoot open again, revealing them to be the same glowing white as Grom's.
"That sneaky blob!" Eda growled with the twitch of her lips, her hands balled into fists at her sides. "It wasn't this clever back in my day! Looks like someone has gotten smarter!"
Several seconds later, Grom's tentacle withdrew and returned Luz's eyes to normal, retreating into the shadows while Luz shook her head about and gripped at its sides to regain her senses. A small light blue glow flashed up from where Grom was still hiding and suddenly grew in size to envelop the Fear-Bringer's entire sludge body, forcing Luz and most members of the audience to avert their gazes with surprised cries with some using their arms to shield their faces, Lizzie, Eda and Amity included. No one dared to return their gazes to the arena until they heard an electrifying noise from below, with Luz taking a few seconds longer to do the same.
A familiar wooden door bathed in a faint yellow outline and with a large yellow eye, slitted pupil and golden doorknob placed in the door's centre is what they were greeted with, prompting numerous students around the gymnasium to make inaudible and hushed remarks and comments amongst themselves. But when it came down to Lizzie, Luz, Eda and King, the four in question were left staring wide-eyed at the object Grom had turned into, their jaws loosening to the point that they were close to hitting the floor.
They could all recognise the portal to the Human Realm from a mile away.
'What in the Titan…?'
Before any of them could utter a word to express their shock or confusion, they saw the golden doorknob turn with a loud click, swiftly followed by the door gradually creaking open. From the rectangular and blinding white light that lingered on the other side of the portal, a familiar-looking woman with tan skin, her dark-brown hair tied into a bun and round ears took two steps into the arena, keeping one hand clutched on the portal door. She was dressed in a blue, short-sleeved shirt and matching coloured trousers, accompanied by flat and plain white shoes. Brown eyes widened directly at Luz from behind the thick, red rimmed glasses she wore, leaving Luz struck speechless at the confused and motherly voice that left the woman's mouth.
"… Mija?" the woman said with a hint of a thick accent, one which left Lizzie rubbing at her eyes with her hands to make sure she'd heard her correctly.
She could immediately guess from the setup and the sight of the woman's ears that she was human, but she was also quick to pick up on the thick accent that she recalled Luz sometimes used when speaking in 'Spanish', as the young human had told her once. And that was without factoring in the human woman's close resemblance to Luz in appearance—
"Oh, Titan…" Lizzie cursed breathlessly, grabbing Amity's and Eda's attention instantly by the time her hands flew to the sides of her head. "This is bad…"
"Who is that?" Amity asked with a raised brow, daring to give the woman below a sideways glance when Luz recoiled her body away from her. "She looks a lot like Luz…"
"That's Luz's mom," Lizzie replied in a tremulous tone while digging her fingers into her scalp, making Amity gasp and whip her head back to the arena. "Grom turned into Luz's mom!"
"But why would Luz be afraid of her—?" Eda began to ask, only to cut herself off midsentence with a wide blink once realisation hit her. "Oh…" The Owl Lady faced Lizzie as the blonde witch hid her face behind her hands, unable to watch what was about to unfold down there. "This is related to your conversation this morning, isn't it?"
"And now you know why I'm worried!" Lizzie shrieked, keeping her face behind her hands for now. "Why does my gut always have to be right about the bad stuff?!"
Meanwhile, in the hole, Luz remained frozen to the spot as she watched her false mother slowly walk towards her with her hands clasped together against her chest, her gaze wandering round the arena they were currently standing.
"This doesn't look like the camp I sent you to," Luz's fake mom continued, eventually stopping before the shellshocked Latina human as her mouth repeatedly twitched, the urge to speak there but with no words able to leave her tongue. Luz's fake mom faced her with a frown of concern. "What is this terrible place, Luz? Have you been here all this time?"
Upon finding the will to move again, Luz's breathing quickened as she leapt to her feet and held her palms up in surrender, taking shaky steps backwards to create distance between her and her 'mom' while doing her best to ignore the perspiration forming and dampening across her forehead. She only came to a stop at feeling the side of her foot brush against the flail lying on the ground, which she momentarily glanced at.
"Y-You're not my mom!" Luz stuttered upon managing to find her voice again, her raspy and wobbly tone prompting Lizzie to splay her fingers to peek through the gaps between them. "H-How dare you use her against me, you monster?!"
Luz's fake mom narrowed her eyes at this 'accusation', her cracking and pain-filled voice not matching with her current expression at all.
"Cariño… how could you say that…?" she started. But then she paused when her eyes took on the same glow as Grom's, her next yelled words becoming distorted and possessing an underlying growl. "You're breaking your mother's heart!"
Within the blink of an eye, the bottom half of her fake mother's body was engulfed by black and cloudy sludge, rising and twirling clockwise in a black whirlpool that also raised and twirled the upper half of the human woman into the air. The sight prompted Luz to snatch the flail from the ground and leap backwards with her legs spread apart, clutching the weapon close to her chest as she watched the whirlpool contort towards the ground. The sludge spread out wide and morphed into an oval-shaped body with four thin legs and paws, completed with a long, flowing tail behind it. Luz's 'mom' sat atop the creature's back with her eyes still glowing white, all the while the creature stared menacingly at Luz with its four, green-pupiled eyes and three horns atop its head, its pointy-teeth maw releasing a gremlin-like hiss.
But this sight only made Luz scowl and clench her jaw out of anger.
"You don't scare me, Gromarama!" she screeched. Luz swung the flail above her head three times and whipped it downwards at the ground, shouting a battle cry at the top of her lungs. "It's time to finish this!"
The flail slammed into the ground so hard it created a cracked dent upon contact with an echoed thud, the spiked ball attached landing just below Grom's face. Luz had been expecting the plant glyph to activate and launch an attack upon doing this, but when a few seconds passed and nothing happened, the Latina human's eyes almost bulged from their sockets out of disbelief, her mouth falling open slightly. Meanwhile, in the stands, Lizzie, Amity and Eda were left watching on with gapes of their own, with Lizzie's brow furrowing at processing what had just happened.
"It still didn't work…" Luz uttered in a weak and brittle voice, releasing her weapon the moment her eyes started to well up and glisten with tears. "But why—?"
Luz was silenced by a black tentacle emerging from the right side of Grom's body and curling around her middle within a matter of seconds, squeezing her arms against her sides and causing her to let out a rasped cry at the oxygen leaving her lungs. Grom belted out a defiant roar shortly after and bounded for the slope, moving so quickly that it was nothing but a black and blue blur to the naked eye. By the time the audience witnessing this spectacle realised what was going on, Grom was out of the hole and dashing out of the gymnasium doors, a sight that soon brought Lizzie and Amity back to their senses with wide blinks.
"LUZ!" The two witches shouted simultaneously, soon followed up with a scowl from Amity.
Next thing Lizzie knew, the younger witch was seizing her by the wrist and pulling her harshly through the sea of students littering the bleachers, not once looking back or acknowledging the shocked and annoyed cries of the students they shoved passed as she yelled to the older witch.
"Come on, Elisabeth!"
The moment they reached the floor of the gymnasium, Amity released Lizzie and drew a large purple spell circle with the top of her foot. Just like she'd done at Covention, the youngest Blight held her arms above her head with a deep frown and bent her fingers towards the middle of the circle, bringing forth crackling and glowing streaks of light.
"Abomination, rise!" she commanded.
Lizzie felt a moment of déjà vu at the sight of the humanoid creature covered in purple goop gradually rise from the spell circle, its emotionless and gaping holed face and three yellow glowing eyes once again causing her to go slack jawed while the surrounding students were left gasping and shouting inaudibly at what was going on. But once the abomination's shoulders were visible, Lizzie saw Amity move towards the left shoulder and grab onto it, reaching out her other hand for Lizzie to take as it began to tower over the blonde witch.
"Quick! Climb on!" Amity instructed, snapping Lizzie back to reality with the shake of the head.
The blonde witch took the offered hand and allowed herself to be pulled up to the abomination's right shoulder, which Lizzie tightly grabbed onto as the creature continued to rise. The abomination stopped moving once its height had reached just under the height for the gymnasium's entrance, which Amity and Lizzie took as their cue to hoist themselves up and sit on each of its shoulders.
"Follow that monster!" Amity ordered to her creation while pointing at the gymnasium doors, prompting the abomination to groan in acknowledgement.
With thudded and heavy steps, the abomination dashed forward and started to run in the same direction Grom had gone in, causing Amity and Lizzie to hold onto the sides of its head to prevent themselves from falling off. Out of the corner of her eyes, Lizzie caught Eda slipping onto her staff and preparing to launch herself after them, seeming to get the same idea as they were.
As for everyone else in the gymnasium, the situation was yet to fully settle in. It was only once Lizzie and Amity had charged out of the gymnasium atop the abomination with Eda speeding after them on her staff that Principal Bump found the will to take to the stage's edge and snatched the microphone out of Gus' hands, his panicked announcement reverberating around the gymnasium for all to hear.
"Students of Hexside, Grom has escaped from the school! This is not a drill!"
A/N: *ahem* So... yes. I shortened the Grom fight. Why did I do this, you ask? Because after thinking about it, I realised Grom was made fairly simple-minded throughout the episode. I mean, you have a creature who's been stuck in a hole for centuries and never once managed to escape until Luz comes along? Nah. You'd think it would have learnt from its mistakes and attempted to mix up its tactics by jumping straight for the jugular instead of luring Luz into a false sense of security. Sometimes, it's best to end things quickly, so that's what I went with. I gave Grom a brain and decided to have it get the drop on Luz before she even got the chance to fight. Makes Eda's warning all the more plausible and impactful. Plus, I realised Lizzie has some spells at her disposal that could have subdued Grom if she'd reacted quickly enough to stop it escaping, so... I had to make sure she wasn't given the opportunity by taking her by surprise. Including having Luz get snatched. XD Lizzie's more reluctant to attack straight away when other targets are involved, so it made sense for this to happen.
Also, you guys may have noticed a lot of references to previous chapters in this one. This chapter was filled with quite a bit of nostalgia not only to mark how far Lizzie has come as a character since the first chapter, but also because there were quite a few moments in Episode 16 that I felt were similar to previous ones. So, consider a lot of these references call-backs to those as well.
And lastly: the For the Future reference in Chapter 49 (since no one bothered to speak up in the end) was Lizzie mentioning Luz forcing them to wear matching sweaters for a photo. Eda has both golden eyes in that picture, so we can naturally assume it was taken sometime during the first season. Thought it would be funny to hint at. XD
