The Red Bandit

"Hey, what have you been up to lately?" Other Willow cheerfully asked.

The alternate timeline still checks in on the couple daily. It's obvious that they want to make sure that they stay within their own timeline. Usually, Hunter is the one that talks to them, but tonight she needs to tell someone about today. It also means that Other Willow needs to know about the past two weeks.

"I've located another Luz in this timeline," Amity started to explain.

Willow gasped inside the crystal ball. Excitement was all over her face. "Really? How did you meet? What is she like? What did you talk about?" the questions rolled in.

"Wait, I haven't talked to her yet," Amity pointed out. "I can't get near her. She'll fly away and I'll have to chase her."

"Chase her?" Willow repeated her words. "Don't do that. She probably thinks you're trying to arrest her."

Amity realized that too. "I tried to say that and not wear my uniform, but she won't respond to me. Today, I think she had a decoy for me to go after instead."

Willow paused to think. It's frustrating that Amity is blowing it before their first conversation. "Next time she sees you and flies away, DON'T CHASE HER. Seriously, you're making her hate you."

Her last words ignited fear in her. Amity felt like she was stuck in a cycle with no way out. "But, how do I get her attention?" she asked.

"Trust me, you already got it. She needs to know that you're not a threat and should apologize to her," Other Willow said with a stern voice.

"Okay," Amity weakly agreed.

Alright, it is finally time to implement Other Willow's advice. Amity arrived at the next sighting of the three bandits in casual clothing, blue jeans & a green hoodie, and clasped her staff to ground herself. She calmly walked to the scene while hordes of witches ran in the opposite direction. There they were. They were not hurting anyone or looting; they were defacing the Emperor Belos statue in Central Park. The end result was amusing.

The Emperor's troopers marched into the chaos to quell it and offense spells started to be used. Amity realized how easily the Emperor's Coven was being wiped out. Weren't we supposed to be the best?

Eventually, the Red Bandit noticed Amity's green hair from afar and darted off in a random direction without hesitation or notifying the other bandits. Mission accomplished. She walked away from everything. She found an undisturbed spot on the sidewalk to sit down and rest her head on her knees. It was taking all of her willpower to not go after Luz, but that tactic doesn't work, and had to think of something else.

A soft poke on her side interrupted her thoughts; it was probably a trooper. Without looking up, she responded, "I'm fine."

The poking became more frequent and trailed up from her side to her shoulder than her upper arm. "Give me a minute," she said.

"You're not going to chase me today?" an enticing voice asked.

Amity's head shot up to face who said that. To her complete shock, the Red Bandit was standing beside her. She had both hands on her palisman ready to take off at any second. Amity tightened her grip around her legs; fighting the urge to lunge up. This was the closest she's been to either Luz.

The Red bandit started to move again. She used her palisman's staff to poke the Golden Guard's wife in the arm again for a reaction. When that didn't work, she repositioned her staff to poke her cheek. Her expression changed from bewilderment to annoyance. "What are you doing?" she asked.

The bandit applied more pressure to her cheek and answered, "Just returning the favor. You're been really annoying lately."

Her voice is different than Other Luz's. it was more somber and Amity could hear her frustration. "I'm sorry; I won't chase you anymore," Amity sincerely apologized.

The staff moved back. "Why did you target me?" Luz asked.

"I thought you were the leader," Amity said truthfully.

The random compliment came out of nowhere. "Uh, no. We work as a team," she stated.

"I want to help with the revolution," Amity said truthfully again.

Luz weighed her options. The Golden wife seemed genuine and she would be a great ally, but that can't be everything. "You didn't have to arrest me to say that," Luz said.

"I would have let you go," she admitted.

Something feels off. It could be a trap orchestrated by Belos and the Golden Guard. "Now's not a good time, but I'm curious why the Golden Wife wants to rebel." Luz darkly said.

Her skepticism is reasonable. "Come to my apartment!" Amity blurted out.

"What?" she exasperated.

"It's private,"

"What about the Golden Guard?"

"I'll send him away,"

"Alright,"

"Just you,"

"Fine,"

Luz can have the others on standby and she knows that she could escape if anything happens. Recruiting one of Belos's most trusted subordinates is worth the risk. Still, Luz can't shake the feeling that something is off. It didn't help that someone with her reputation was staring at her with wonder in her eyes. However, a meetup was set and Luz hoped to hack on her palisman and vainly threatened, "Try anything and I'll trash your place."

Her response was a short chuckle and fought back a smile. She's weird. This is weird. Luz thought to herself as she flew away.

That night, Luz was having second thoughts while she floated outside of the bedroom window. It's a little too late because the Golden Wife already saw her and opened the window for her. She glanced back at Willow and Gus who waved and gestured to go in. If this is an ambush, they're right there. Luz held on her red mask up and stepped into the marital bedroom of the Golden Couple. A place she never thought that she'll be in.

"Hello? Who's there?" a soft voice called from a crystal ball.

Leaving a crystal ball on was a bad sign. Still, Luz crept closer, because the voice sounded extremely familiar. "Hey, I know you're there. Come on, I wanna know what the surprise is," the voice called out.

Luz recognized who it was. She pulled her mask down, leaned into the frame, and murmured, "Willow?"

Luz stared at the crystal ball perplexed because Willow is waiting outside with Gus. The woman looked and sounded exactly like her longtime friend except her hair was braided into two hoops and wrapped in white lotus flowers.

The Other Willow couldn't contain her excitement to her. She bounced in her seat, smiled, and waved. "Oh my gosh! Hi! This is so cool! Hi! I love the color!" she gleefully said.

Lost for words, Luz sat down in the nearby desk chair. Willow noticed her distress. "I know you're confused," she said.

Luz nodded in agreement.

"So basically, I'm another Willow from another timeline. A portal came out of nowhere and connected ours to yours. But it sounds like we're close friends in both realities," Willow asked hopefully.

"Yeah, we are," Luz confirmed to Willow's delight. "My Willow kept her hair short. Yours look pretty."

Flustered, Other Willow pinched one of the hoops. "Thanks, but I don't know. Hubby's been experimenting with new hairstyles lately." Willow trailed off for a second.

"You're married?" Luz swiftly asked.

She answered just as quickly, "Yeah and so is my Luz is married to Amity."

That name sounded familiar, but Luz can't pinpoint where she heard it before. "Who?" she asked out of curiosity.

Other Willow paused again. She realized that this Luz still doesn't trust her Amity yet. Instead of telling her about Amity, another idea popped into her head. She reached out to make another call and answered, "I'll introduce you to her."

"What? I didn't mean that," Luz stammered out her words.

"She'll love to meet you," Willow encouraged.

Luz didn't have time to protest. Suddenly, another screen popped up and displayed a woman with long purple hair facing away from working. "What's up?" she casually said.

"Amity, look," Willow boldly said.

She glanced over her shoulder and responded, "Look at what?"

Amity took a long gasp and hastily took off all of her PPE equipment; purple gloves, matching apron, and goggles. She held her hands as she stepped closer, smiling shyly, and saying hi. Willow spoke up, "Amity, this isn't…"

She waved her off and clarified, "No need to explain. I can tell."

Luz locked eyes with another Luz's wife. She tried to imitate her pleasant smile. It doesn't seem like either of them realizes how bizarre this scenario is. The woman came closer and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Amity Noceda."

Luz repressed her reaction. "Luz, nice to meet you," she lied.

"Wow, that's a nice color on you," Amity complimented her.

"I thought the same thing," Willow agreed.

"Thank you," Luz said with a polite smile.

Luz glanced back and forth at the two struggling to hold her smile up. Somehow, Purple Amity noticed and her expression changed. She asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No, this is just very awkward," she sugarcoated the reason.

Other Willow and Amity shared a concerned look. They exchanged a few faces, then grinned at each other. The nonverbal exchange gave both of them the same idea.

"Hey, I'm not the best at this kind of stuff either. It's really hard to make an awkward situation more comfortable," Amity said in a more casual tone; unaware that's exactly what she is doing now.

But Luz regretted taking her eyes off of Other Willow, when another screen popped up. No one was present, it showed an empty office desk and chair. Willow groaned and called out to the receiver, "Come to the screen."

"No, I'm still mad at you," a voice denied the request.

Luz recognized her own voice, but her actions didn't make sense to her.

"Batata," Amity called out next.

A hand grabbed the crystal ball and lifted it upside down. The screen was unstable and constantly moving, but there was another Luz's smiling face. "Hey Mariposa," she greeted back.

"You're not mad at Amity?" Other Willow sarcastically asked.

"Of course not, she's mi bella esposa," Other Luz snapped back.

The distracted party didn't notice that Luz ended the call.

Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffhanger. The chapter was long enough.

The reasons why I wrote this story were for Other Luz and the next chain of events. A. Leaf