Hi everyone, welcome back! Last chapter we had Luz integrating more with the other girls, getting to know Anne a little bit more. Now it's Sasha's turn, and you're in store for quite a few surprises here.
With that said, let's get started.
Lessons Through Music
It was a Friday night as the football game for Gravesfield high school had come to an end, with the home team of the wolves winning against some other high school. Anne, Marcy, and Luz had all been there to watch the game, though it wasn't for the game itself, it was to support Sasha and the rest of the cheer squad who were also performing at the game. Though Anne would occasionally watch football herself, mostly if she was bored and there were no other options. Luz and Marcy weren't all that interested in American football either, neither were too into sports. But they could still be there to eat some greasy junk food and cheer for Sasha at the cheer squad.
True to their word, the three girls were able to make many of the games to see Sasha perform this past month and a half, but not all of them. The only games they couldn't make were the away games were both the football team and cheer squad go to a different school, but Sasha said she didn't mind, saying that she didn't expect any of their parents to go out of the way to drive them to something like that.
But this game had come to an end as both football teams were departing, along with many of the spectators. As Sasha put on her jacket over her orange cheerleading outfit, she stepped off the field where her friends were waiting for her.
"Hey, nice job out there, Sash." Anne congratulated.
"That's Captain Sash to you." The blonde said with a knowing grin.
Anne and Luz both looked in surprise at that while Marcy gave an audible "'Captain?!'" She exclaimed with a wide smile.
"Yep. Coach said she was so impressed with my performance, that I made the spot." Sasha said.
"OMG! Sasha!" Anne, Luz, and Marcy all leapt at her in a congratulatory hug, while the blond herself had an unapologetic smile on her face, even as she glanced backwards to see Stacy leaving as well, who glared back at her before walking away.
"Congratulations Sasha!" Luz approved. "You really earned that!"
"Yeah, I did." She replied smugly.
"And maybe Anne could make varsity tennis soon, too!" Luz beamed.
Anne however groaned at that. "Don't count on it. Apparently, freshmen aren't allowed to be varsity. You can only get there if you're a sophomore at minimum." She said the whole thing with repeated air-quotes, causing the other girls to wince.
"Yesh, sorry Anne." Marcy said.
"Yeah, sorry I brought that up." Luz also said.
"Well, the system's clearly rigged cause you got talent with that racket, girl." Sasha pulled Anne in close with one arm, causing Anne to smile once again.
"Thanks, dude." She was cheered up just from that alone.
"But back to me, since I just made captain, how about we all celebrate at my mom's place tomorrow with some tunes?" Sasha suggested.
"Ah yeah! Sounds great!" Anne pumped her fist.
"So, a music party?" Luz asked. "Should we bring our own music or…?"
"No, she means our music with our band." Marcy clarified, much to Luz's surprise.
"Wait… you guys are a band?!"
"Yeah… didn't we tell you?" Anne asked before looking towards Sasha. "Didn't we tell her?"
Sasha thought for a moment. "Guess not… must have slipped our minds."
"So, you guys are a band?!" Now Luz was looking excited. "Tell me everything and don't spare a single detail!"
Marcy laughed at her friend's optimism. "Okay, cool down Luzura."
"Luzura?" Sasha asked Anne.
"It's the nickname Marcy came up for her." She explained. "Since her name works well with that witch from the book series that they both like."
"Oh. That's cool." Sasha didn't pay much mind to it. She never read any of the books that Marcy and Luz were so into, but if they were having fun with it, then she didn't mind it.
"Okay, so our band is called 'Sasha and The Sharps'. Or just 'The Sharps' for short." Marcy explained to Luz. "Obviously, Sasha's the lead guitarist. Anne is secondary guitar, and yours truly is the drummer."
"Cool!" Luz was already beaming with excitement. "So many performances have you done?! I bet you guys are a huge hit in town!"
"Eh… none." Marcy revealed, much to Luz's own surprise. "We tried for a talent show back in middle school, but the judges said we were 'too darn loud'. So we're just a regular garage band and we only get an audience from some people passing by."
"Oh… sorry to hear that." Luz looked down at that.
"Don't worry. We still have fun when we play." Marcy assured. "So, do you play anything?"
"Yeah…" Luz was starting to perk up somewhat. "I know how to play the electric keyboard. I got one at home."
"Electric keyboard?!" Marcy questioned excitedly while also drawing Anne's attention while Sasha raised a curious eyebrow.
"You never really said anything about that." Anne said.
"You guys never asked." Luz replied. "And it's not that big deal. I only ever really play by myself whenever my mom's not home, don't wanna bother her with that sort of thing."
"Well how about you play with us?" Marcy offered, much to Luz's own surprise.
"Really?"
"Totally! What do you think, Sasha?" Marcy asked the blonde. "We don't have a keyboardist, and the electric keyboard could really kick things up for us!"
Sasha took a minute to think. Luz was already part of their group, so her joining their band too seemed to fit as well. But she never really saw an electric keyboard work, not to mention she didn't know if Luz was actually good at all with it. Guess she could at least hear her for herself. If she was good with it, then yeah, she could let her in. If not, she would just let her down gently. Luz seemed like she would understand if that were the case. While she may be adventurous, she also seemed somewhat unsure of herself, and not really one to stand her ground when being pushed back at. It was cute at times, but it also made her easy to work with. She was tough on the outside, but not on the inside.
"Alright." Sasha accepted. "Bring your keyboard over tomorrow Luz and we'll see where we go from there."
"Really?" Luz asked. "You wanna hear me play?"
"Sure, why not?" Sasha said. "Unless you don't wanna…"
"No! I mean… yes. Yeah." Luz was getting excited. "I've… never really played with anybody before…! Yeah! I'll bring it over tomorrow and we can have some fun!"
"Great. I'll text you my mom's address and I'll see you there around noon?" Sasha offered as she had already taken out her phone and texted Luz the address.
"Got it. And I'll see you guys there at noon." Luz confirmed as she saw the text on her phone.
"Looks like we may have gotten another sharp." Marcy smiled, looking towards Anne.
"Let's just see how she does first." Anne replied.
The Next Day
"Thanks for the ride, Mom." Luz said as she stepped out of her mother's van and onto the sidewalk, carrying the case for her electric keyboard over her shoulder. "I'll text you when I'm ready to be picked up."
"Have fun, Mija." Camilla smiled before driving away, leaving Luz alone to look at the place of the address that Sasha had texted her the previous day.
It was a relatively small one-story house, with windows along the sides and a front door with a disconnected garage. Luz was actually somewhat surprised. This seemed a bit too humble for someone like Sasha. But then again, it wasn't like she bought the house. It was probably her parents. Sasha didn't mention any siblings or anything, so it was probably just three people living there and not much need for space. Though that was an ironic thought as Luz and her mother lived alone in a two-story house that would have more space. But, it wasn't her place to judge or anything. She was here to play some music with her new friends, and that was what she was going to do.
Luz had walked up to the door and knocked on it. After a couple seconds, the door was answered… but Luz's eyes widened as the one who answered the door was neither Sasha, nor any adult that would be her parent.
It was Stacy.
The same bully at her old middle school, who had also been transferred to the same high school… was apparently living in this house. As she scowled at Luz, the girl had taken out her cellphone to check the address that Sasha had texted her yesterday.
"It's the same address…? Why are…?"
"Maybe it was just someone's bad idea of a joke." Stacy told her. "Or Sasha probably realized that you weren't good enough for her. So why don't you take your garbage and just…"
"Stacy, come on! Knock it off!" Someone else had walked to the doorway, someone that Luz didn't recognize.
It was a young, pre-teen girl with Caucasian skin, shoulder-length blonde hair that was dyed pink on the left side, as well as light green on the bottom. Her attire consisted of a white polo t-shirt with a brown sweater vest and a plaid green skirt, a spiked bracelet on her right wrist, black leggings, as well as dark blue-gray boots with spikes on the back.
"Get back to your room, brat." Stacy told her.
"Sasha, invited her here." The younger girl. "She's fine. Come on, you know the Switzerland agreement: don't cause any trouble at home. Or I might tell Dad."
That caused Stacy to scowl. "Whatever, I was heading out anyways." She left the house, purposely knocking her shoulder into Luz before walking away and down the sidewalk.
"Sorry, about her. I know my sister's a pain." The young girl apologized to Luz with a smile.
"Sister?!" That took Luz by surprise. "I… I didn't know she had a sister…"
"Yeah well, she was the apple that fell far from the tree. I'm Molly Jo, by the way." She offered her hand to Luz. "But you can call me MJ if you want. And don't worry, I don't bite like Stacy does."
Though still surprised, Luz accepted Molly Jo's hand. "Uh, hi. Thanks. I'm Luz…"
"Yeah, I know. Sasha invited you. Come on, in." The younger girl led her inside. "Anne and Marcy are downstairs already, so…" She explained before turning around to see the look of confusion on Luz's face as she still seemed trying to process everything that was happening all at once. "Sasha didn't tell you, did she?"
"Tell me what?"
Molly Jo rolled her eyes slightly. "That's no surprise… Stacy and I might be sisters, but we're not related to Sasha. Our dad is just dating her mom."
"Dating her…" That's when Luz figured it out. "So, her parents are…"
"Divorced. Yep." Molly Jo confirmed. "Our dad started seeing Sasha's mom a little over a year ago. Half of our time we spend here at her mom's place, the other half we spend with our dad and our grandpa. He's a community safety officer in the area, and he owns a junkyard nearby."
"Oh… Mr. Otto? My mom met him a few times, he seems like a nice guy." Luz recalled.
"Yeah, a bit self-centered with his job, but otherwise he's a nice guy." Molly Jo said. "Come on, let's not keep the queen and her subjects waiting." She led Luz around the corner and toward a door, opening it to reveal a staircase that led to the basement.
"Sasha, your friend Luz is here!" Molly called to her.
"Got it!" They heard Sasha's voice call back. "Now you don't come down here! My friends and I got the basement all day, today!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Molly replied in minor annoyance before turning back to Luz with a smile. "Nice meeting, you Luz."
"Yeah, you too MJ." Luz smiled and nodded as the younger girl walked off, while she carried her keyboard case down the stairs and into the basement.
It was rather bare, with a hard concrete floor, save for a carpet with several beanbag chairs in front of a tv stand with a flat screen hooked up to a video game system, but it was also rather spacious. So much so that it could fit all the girls and the instruments they brought, such as Anne and Sasha with their respective guitars and Marcy with her whole drum set.
"Hey Luz, glad you could make it." Marcy waved.
"Yeah, we were waiting for you, dude." Anne added.
"Eh… yeah." Luz smiled as she met up with the rest of her friends before looking to the blonde at the lead, who didn't seem to say anything yet as she was tuning her guitar. "Uh… Sasha…?"
The blonde sighed. "Okay, elephant in the room. Sorry, I didn't tell you about 'Stacy the Gatekeeper.' She said she was going out with her own friends, I figured she'd be gone by the time you got here."
"It's okay… I guess. I was just wish you could have said something first so I wouldn't be too surprised." Luz commented.
"Like I said, sorry. Won't happen again." Sasha replied.
"Molly Jo seems nice, though." Luz said.
"Yeah, and she's plenty smart too." Marcy added. "Heard she's got straight As. She and Stacy are like yin-and-yang.
"Well sure, if 'yang' wasn't a goody-to-shoes know it all." Sasha rolled her eyes. "She might be cute, but she sticks her nose in my business all the time. 'Oh Sasha, you could get in trouble for that'." She put on an impression of the younger girl before groaning. "I already gotta deal with spending about a third of my non-school time with freaking Stacy, I don't need anything else!"
Luz honestly pitied Sasha for that. Dealing with Stacy at school is hard enough, but living with her under the same roof? Even if it wasn't all the time, it must be really hard.
"I'm sorry…" Though Luz also remembered something Molly Jo said. "So… what's this thing about Switzerland?"
"The Switzerland agreement. It's just this deal the three of us made." Sasha explained. "Basically, we can go at each other at school all we want, but when we're all in the same house, we leave each other alone and not cause trouble for the parents."
"And she's okay with that?" Luz asked, not expecting Stacy to compromise with anybody.
"She's not too happy about her dad seeing my mom any more than I am, so we try to at least bear with it and not murder each other." Sasha replied.
"Okay…" Luz seemed to understand as she put her keyboard case down and began to unzip it. "Sorry to hear about parents, Sasha."
"Forget it." Sasha waved off, looking away slightly, trying to act like it didn't bother her. "They divorced when I was three or four, I barely remember. Dad's married to someone else, and my mom is… well, you know. But whatever, I'm fine with it." Luz decided not to press on this matter any further and just resumed her unpacking. "But, on the plus side… my Dad's house has a pool, so there's that. And Mom's working all day today, and she's going on a date night right after. Stacy's going to who-knows-where, and Molly Jo's just gonna be in her room all day, so we got this whole basement to ourselves to rock on!"
"Yeah, enough with all this heavy stuff." Anne got on the literal band wagon. "The only heavy stuff we're looking for, is heavy metal!" She strummed her guitar and played a loud and catchy note.
"That's my girl!" Sasha followed along with a string of her note too.
As Marcy followed their lead, tapping her sticks on the drums and symbols of her set, she saw Luz already her own electric keyboard out. It was a bright purple keyboard with all kinds of stickers decorated on it, many were pictures of Azura and/or her magic staff, along with some rainbows and smiley faces, with the occasional sword.
"Electric keyboard, huh? Gotta say, it suits you, Luz. Just as hyper and fun as you." Marcy complemented.
"Awe, thanks Marcy." Luz smiled as she turned it on, pressed a few keys to make sure it was also tuned. "My mom tried signing me up for piano lessons when I was little. I hated it. It just didn't… feel right for me. So, my dad bought me an electric keyboard instead and it just seemed to click more with me, ya know?"
"So, your dad got that for you?" Marcy asked.
"Yep, this is the same one." Luz confirmed with a somewhat sad smile, caressing her hand on the base above the keys.
"You know… I just realized…" Anne began. "We've met your mom, but none of us have seen your dad around."
"Let me guess, divorced too?" Sasha assumed. "Ha, girl. I feel ya." She said with a slight smile, finding something to potentially relate to Luz with.
"Eh… not exactly." Luz said somewhat hesitantly. Should she really tell them? Why shouldn't she? It's not like it's a big secret or anything? Besides, it happened a long time ago anyway, she should be over it by now. And they were her friends, she doesn't need to keep a secret like this from then anyway. It should be just fine.
"The truth is… my dad… passed away a few years ago…" She revealed in a tone that sounded like she was trying to push the confession out.
The second they heard that, all three girls looked in absolute shock. Eyes widening, pupils shaking, and their mouths hanging open. Anne, Marcy, and even Sasha… all looked to Luz as if she had just told them something terrible. In fact, she did tell them something terrible.
"Your… your dad…?" Anne stuttered while Marcy put her hand over her mouth as she looked to Luz in sympathy.
"Oh crap…" Sasha was hit with a truckload of guilt, smacking her hand on her own forehead. "Luz I… I'm so sorry… I didn't…!"
"It's… it's fine…!" She tried to push back all the feelings that were coming up. Why would they come up now? This happened years ago, she should be over it by now.
"Luz, Are you sure…?" Anne asked with honest sympathy.
"Yeah, if you don't wanna do this…" Marcy also said. The keyboard she brought was a gift from her late father, so it's gotta be hard to play now that this subject was brought up.
"Guys, it's okay." Luz insisted, trying to put up a smile as she pushed her feelings back down. "Like I said, it was a long time ago. And I want to play with you. I came here to play music with all of you, and that's what I'm going to do. So, like Anne said, let's forget about all the heavy stuff except for heavy metal, and just play. Okay?"
The three girls looked towards each other with slight concern but decided to accept it. "Alright, if that's what you want." Anne conceded.
Sasha had truly felt sympathy for Luz right there. While it wasn't exactly the same, she had an idea of what it was like to lose parents, or at least lose some kind of connection with them. Her parents divorcing was hard, but she found a way to make it work. She at least had her friends as well, Anne and Marcy, they were part of her world since she was kindergarten, and they haven't left it since. Sasha truly did like Luz. She might be weird, but she was plenty of fun, and rather tough too. Just like she had Anne and Marcy succeed so that they could be happy, she would find a way to make Luz happy since she's not part of their group too.
"Alright Luz, let's hear what you got." Sasha encouraged. "Play whatever song you like."
"Whatever song I want?" Luz asked.
"Whatever you want." Sasha allowed. "Even if it's Azura-related. Just play for us."
She, Anne, and Marcy watched on as Luz stretched her fingers and the palms of her hand. She turned the dial on her keyboard to the right setting and pressed a few keys to make sure it worked the way she wanted before she started playing.
The music she played was already face-past, going at a speed that wound sound like it was being done by a professional pianist, and the tone she had her keyboard set on made it sound like something played at a rock concert. All the notes she hit were dead on, with all three of her friends looking in surprise and amazement, with Marcy having a wide smile on her face and sparkles forming in her eyes. The whole session lasted for about three minutes before it came to a dramatic finish, and it stopped.
Luz took a second to catch her breath, using that session as a way to vent or filter through some of her more difficult feelings and perk herself back up before looking to the other girls.
"So… how was that?"
"That was… wow…! That was awesome!" Anne exclaimed with a wide smile.
"Really?" Luz asked somewhat emotionally. "You think so?"
"Totally! You were rocking it!" Anne agreed.
"Seriously, you were like a professional. I've never seen anyone rock on a keyboard that hard." Sasha granted.
"And that song… that was totally the main theme for Dark Clover!" Marcy pointed.
"Yep. One of my all-time favorite anime series." Luz said.
"No way… you watch Dark Clover, too?" Anne asked, much to Luz's own surprise.
"You watch it too?!"
"Are you kidding, that show rocks!" The Thai girl pumped her fist. "The music is a total bop, the action… and the characters… God! I love that water princess, she's my favorite character!"
"Oh my gosh, she's my favorite too!" Luz agreed. "A total tsunedere, like Sasha here!" She gestured towards the blonde, who merely smirked and made no effort to deny it. "I had no idea you were into that Anne. I didn't think fantasy was your thing."
"Well, I'm not exactly into all those books about Greek gods or wizards or anything like that, but a killer anime is something else!" Anne stated.
As Luz and Anne went on, Marcy smiled towards the pair, happy to find that they had found some commonality with one of her favorite anime shows as well. She knew that neither Anne nor Sasha were always into the stuff she was, like Creatures and Caverns for instance, but at least Anne enjoyed the Dark Clover anime like she did, and Luz did as well apparently. So it was nice to know that they had something in common.
Sasha happened to smile somewhat, it seemed like Luz was getting over that whole thing with her dad a little bit ago and was enjoying herself. But she was also great at playing that keyboard. Listening to her play was something else. She'd definitely fit well in the band. So, let's see how she works with one of their best songs.
"Alright, so you know some anime music." The blonde said toward Luz, getting all their attention. "How about one of our songs?"
Luz gave an eager smile to the blonde. "Bring it on."
After spending a few minutes looking over the notes for the music, and learning the lyrics, Luz seemed to understand all the basics for the song that Sasha wanted them to play together, now it was time for them to actually play it. All their instruments were tuned and warmed up.
"You guys ready?" Sasha asked.
"Whenever you are, Sash." Anne said while Luz and Marcy nodded.
Sasha strummed her guitar, with Anne following right behind her, Marcy and Luz began to tap the drums and play the keyboard respectively.
"Don't mess this up for me, guys." Sasha said as their instruments began to sync and harmonize together. "Here we go."
The blonde then started to sing.
"I'm a heart stomper! Stompin' on hearts! If you wanna get away, you're gonna need a head start!" The music played harder and louder, with Sasha playing her guitar the loudest. "I can keep this up forever, if you're trying to feel better, take it up with someone else! You can call it too cut-throat, I'll stomp a heart like a roach, I'm just lookin' out for myself!"
The music then played a bit softer while Sasha was the sole singer.
"I'm a heart breaker! Breaking those hearts! You can tell me that's not me, but I'm perfect for the part!" Once more, the music played harder and louder, with Sasha once again taking the lead as the main guitarist. "I can keep this up forever, if you're trying to feel better, take it up with someone else! You can call it too cut-throat, I'll stomp a heart like a roach, I'm just lookin' out for myself! Woo!"
"Come on, Anne!" Sasha told her as they were in the instrumental phase of the song, with Anne's notes somewhat lagging behind. "On the beat please, Marcy!" She also told the drummer, who was a bit off beat, but got back on soon enough. She took a quick glance at Luz and noticed how she was pretty much on-beat the whole time, impressing Sasha even further. Luz saw the smirk of approval from the blond, earning a smile from Luz as they continued to play.
"I can keep this up forever, if you're trying to feel better, take it up with someone else! You can call it too cut-throat, I'll stomp a heart like a roach! I'm just lookin' out for myself! I'm a heart stomper!"
The song then came to an end. "Woo! Alright, nice job girls." Sasha told everyone as they rested for a bit. "But Anne, you slowed down a bit in the instrumental phase."
"Sorry, Sash." Anne apologized.
"Marcy, you were a bit off beat on the same place." Sasha told her.
"Yeah… Lost track of it for a second." Marcy gave a wincing smile.
"Luz, you were like a machine during the whole thing. Don't change anything." Sasha said to her.
"Got it." Luz nodded with a slight smile.
"Alright, so what do you girls wanna do next?" Sasha asked.
"Well, I've got a song I'd like for us to play." Luz offered, much to the other girls' surprise.
"You got your own song?" Anne asked as the Latina girl went over to her keyboard case and unzipped a pack on the side to pull out several pieces of paper, all of which had music notes and lyrics written on them.
"Yeah, wrote it myself. Here, take a look." She handed all her copies to each of the girls as they took a second to look over them. Aside from the cartoonish drawings of hearts and rainbows on the side, as well as the multiple colors the notes and lyrics were all written in, the song itself seemed very impressive.
"Did you… seriously write all this yesterday?" Sasha asked, looking stunned.
"Well… not exactly." Luz began, looking away with some embarrassment. "I actually wrote that a couple years ago when I was practicing with my keyboard… I just didn't have anyone to play it with. And when I heard you guys were a band, I pulled it all out again and did some editing. So… what do you guys think, wanna do it?"
They all looked it over before Marcy spoke up. "Oh my god of thunder and fire… this looks awesome! You seriously wrote this when you were a kid?!"
"Yeah…" Luz's excitement began to perk up again once she saw one of her friends had taken a liking to her song. "A bit of a mess before, but now I think it looks okay."
"Okay? Dude, this looks awesome!" Anne stated. "I mean… it's obviously magic and fantasy, but that's your thing. This has got Luz written all over it. Literally." She commented, looking at the title of the song that read 'World of Magic by Luz Noceda', with each word written in a different color.
"So, you guys wanna do it?" Luz asked.
Marcy and Anne seemed excited enough, but Sasha took a minute to look it over again. Aside from the obvious colors of the writing, this music was a bit 'softer' compared to what they had just played. It wasn't quite her style. Though Sasha had to internally admit that she was impressed if Luz wrote this when she was a kid. She did overhear Luz saying she wanted to be a writer someday, but that was mostly for books. Writing music wasn't quite the same. Still though, this did impress Sasha enough that she was at least curious.
"Alright. Let's try it out." The blonde accepted.
After a little more than an hour of working through the lyrics, setting the right tone with their respective instruments, the girls decided to go through one whole run of the song Luz had written and see what might need improvement afterwards.
Luz was the first to play, starting with a soft yet somewhat electric melody with her keyboard, giving of a mystical sort of vibe. Anne and Sasha both came in, playing their guitars simultaneously, with Sasha playing hers at a more vibrant and active tone, contradicting the softer one that Anne was giving, and Marcy came in with the drums.
All four instruments began to harmonize together between the softness of Luz and Anne, which balanced out with the more active and harder sounds of Sasha and Marcy until they all came together at a single note, prompting Luz to sing.
"Let's go on a journey! It's now or never. Let's take this quest and be changed forever!" She sung like a slow melody as they continued to play their instruments the same way. "There's a whole new world! A world of magic and wonder! Let us face the fire, the wind, and the thunder!" As she sang that part, Marcy played extra hard on her drums with Sasha being louder on her guitar. "But as scary as it might see, we'll make it through as long as we're together!"
Marcy and Sasha toned down their instruments as they let Luz and Anne take the lead with their softer notes, but at a much faster pace this time.
"Forests of elves, caves of dwarves, skies of dragons, it might be scary, but it could be fun! We'll enter this new world together, so we might as well have some fun!"
Que the guitar solo from Sasha. She knew which notes to play and how loud to make it. As much credit as she liked to give Luz for her creativity as well as writing this song all by herself, she didn't quite like the whole fantasy and magic tone she was giving off. Despite that, she did agree to try it out, so she might as well see it through to the end. She then stopped her solo as it was now Luz's turn to do one with her keyboard. She happened to look towards Marcy first, who was bopping her head toward it with a wide and excited smile, clearly enjoying herself. Even Anne found herself tapping her foot along with it before all four resumed their playing and Luz sung once more.
"Now we're on a journey, one that could change us forever! But it'll be fine, as long as we're together! Together forever in a world of magic and wonder!"
The song then came to an end with most of the girls taking a minute to breathe before Marcy cheered loudly.
"Woo! That was awesome!" The most hyper of the girls raised her hands and drumsticks up high.
"You really think so?" Luz asked with an elated smile.
"Totally! That rocked!" Marcy went on. "I mean… the way you and Anne balanced out with me and Sasha was great! And the lyrics…! Oh, they were just beautiful!"
"And you actually wrote the whole thing yourself?" Anne asked, to which Luz nodded as her eyes widened with happiness and she barley contained her own squeal at the happiness of her friends enjoying what she wrote for them. "Damn Luz, you're really something else."
"Okay, I'll admit. I'm impressed." Sasha granted with a nod and a seemingly neutral tone. "Not exactly a magic fan or anything, it was easy to see your inner fantasy nerd coming out here… but, the fact you actually put this song together by yourself is very impressive. Guess there's more to you than just fantasy books and stuff."
"Thanks guys…" Luz felt her eyes water.
"Whoa, are you seriously crying?" Sasha asked skeptically with Anne and Marcy looking in surprise and concern.
"I'm okay! I'm okay!" Luz wiped her eyes with her arm before speaking a bit more clearly. "It's just… I haven't really met anybody who… really enjoys the things I like… or appreciates the stuff I do. I mean, I'm not expecting us to play at the Super Bowl with this or anything… but the fact you guys actually had fun with my stuff… that means a lot to me."
They were once again reminded that Luz didn't have any friends at all prior to meeting them. But that was then, and this was now. Now she had real friends, friends who accepted the nerd in front of them for who she was.
"Awe, come here Luzura!" Marcy hugged her first, which the girl returned without hesitation.
"You might be a huge fantasy nerd, but you're our fantasy nerd." Anne said as she lightly punched Luz's arm, causing her to laugh.
"Yeah, you're one of us, alright." Sasha affirmed with a small smile of her own. "And if anybody says otherwise or tries to take you away… they are in for a world of pain!" She clenched her fist tightly.
"Okay… no need to get violent but… thanks. All of you just… thanks." Luz smiled. She truly felt happy to be a part of this little friend group of hers. Luz was certainly no stranger to any of their flaws; with Anne being somewhat lazy and easy-going, Marcy being totally clumsy, and Sasha being aggressive and assertive, she knew that she herself was very flawed…
"…Let's be flawed together." However, Luz's eyes widened in shock, realizing she just said that aloud. "Wait… did that come out of my mouth?!" She covered her own mouth in surprise and embarrassment.
"Yes, it did." Anne confirmed.
"And who are you calling 'flawed', girl?" Sasha questioned in a joking tone.
"But, we're still together." Marcy pulled all of them in. "And nothing's gonna change that."
"Yep, we got a new Sharp in the band." Sasha said, looking to the happily smiling Luz.
"Hey uh… Sasha… any chance we could change the name?" Anne asked, much to Sasha's own surprise as the group broke off their embrace.
"What?" The blonde questioned.
"I mean, Luz isn't exactly 'sharp'. No offense, Luz." Anne said.
"None taken." She replied.
"It's a metaphor, Anne." Sasha said with lowered eyelids.
"For what?" Anne herself asked.
"For…" Sasha tried to think of an answer but drew a blank. Honestly, she never really gave the title much thought, other than having her be in the lead. "Okay… forget that. Why do we have to change our name? What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing's wrong exactly… I just… I don't know… with Luz being part of the group now… maybe it's time for a change?" Anne couldn't quite explain it, but ever since Luz entered their lives, things have been different for them. She didn't see anything wrong with how things used to be, such as their band name, but it just felt like it was time for something new.
"Well, if you got any ideas, I'd love to hear them." Sasha suggested in minor sarcasm, crossing her arms and looking toward Anne questionably.
"Uh… well… maybe the 'She-Beatles'?" Anne shrugged unsure of it herself. "Cause there's four of us now, and the OG Beatles had four members too?"
"Oh yeah, real original there, Anne." Sasha clearly wasn't impressed.
"Well, how about the Neotles!" Marcy offered. "Short for Neo Beatles!"
"First off, that's basically the same thing, and it sounds terrible." Sasha replied. "Second, you think we need a new name too, Marcy?" Anne was one thing, but now Marcy was starting to question this?
"I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved our old name… but like a caterpillar shedding its cocoon to become the mighty monarch butterfly, the time for change is upon us!" The imaginative girl said dramatically. "Oh, how about the Monarchs? How does that sound?"
Now Sasha was getting annoyed. Monarchs? Sure, that might sound cool, like they were the queens of the world or something. But it was a bit too nerdy for her. That aside, she didn't quite like how everyone was wanting to change things when how their old name seemed just fine. Granted, with Luz part of their group, things were obviously different. But there was no need for everything to change. Wait… what would Luz think? She wasn't the pushy type and she seemed content with how things operated in their group, so maybe she'd be fine with their old name too.
"Well? What about you, Luz?" Sasha asked, "You got any note-worthy names? Cause these two are coming up dry." She pointed both her thumbs to Anne and Marcy respectively.
"Me…?" Luz wasn't quite expecting this. Change the name of their band? Were they considering it because of her? She didn't want to inconvenience them by doing so. Though, Anne and Marcy both seemed interested in that… and Luz herself admitted that being a 'sharp' didn't quite suit her. But since they went out and asked her, she may as well think of an idea anyway. The odds of them using it were low, but she should still think of something good to impress them.
Hmm… since there was four of them, perhaps the number itself could be a part of it? Maybe like the superhero team, the Fabolous Four from the comics? No, that would be like with the Beatles were they would be copying. Something original would be best, maybe a shoutout to something else or a homage, but nothing that seemed like a copy of somebody else. She wanted to do something fantasy-related, something that she and Marcy would like. But, since Sasha or even Anne weren't all into that, there should also be something that has a kicker to it, something that sounded powerful and strong. There were four members of their band… what fantasy quartet was out there that was powerful and strong? Four… four… four…
Luz snapped her fingers as an idea came to her.
"I got it! The Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse!"
That got all their attention, with even Sasha looking surprised, not expecting Luz to come up with something like that.
"Horsewomen?" Anne asked. "But none of us ride horses."
"It's a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Ya know? Pestilence? War? Famine? And Death?"
"Oh, you mean like that cool video game?" Anne realized. "I've played it… But aren't two of them supposed to be different?"
"Actually, Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death are the original interpretations from the bible, though there has been debate about whether Pestilence or Conquest came first." Marcy pointed out. "As awesome as the video game was, they probably changed two of them to make it sound more 'combat' related to better suit a hack-and-slash game."
"Oh." Anne said, apparently understanding it. "I still like the game though."
"Yeah, I do too." Luz said. "That game series is awesome! They were even supposed to have one game be four-player where you and your friends can play as all the Horsemen. But the developers had financial issues and the whole series was almost canceled after the second game… but fortunately it got bought up and it's still alive."
"The fourth one had the co-op mode with two of them." Marcy said as well. "So maybe that was them testing out the idea to see if it works. But it got good reviews, so here's hoping we get that soon."
"Okay, video games aside, how'd you come up with this idea, Luz?" Sasha questioned.
"Well… there's four of us, I wanted to do something that felt original… while also something that other people might get and make us sound cool…" Luz answered somewhat shyly. "I mean… if you don't like it…"
"Are you kidding?! That sounds great!" Marcy exclaimed excitedly. "The Four Horsewomen? Name one other group that's actually done that!"
"Yeah, I gotta admit, it does sound cool." Anne agreed. "I wouldn't mind being called that from now on."
"You guys really think so…?" Luz asked before looking toward Sasha, with the other two girls doing so as well.
Sasha contemplated it for a minute. Honestly, she had expected Luz to say something witch or fantasy related, like the 'Witches of Gravesfield' or something lame like that. But, she had to admit, 'The Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse' did sound cool. It sounded very intimidating, like a name for a group of people you don't want to mess with. As much as she wasn't a fan of changing the original name, this did have some merit. Hell, if their whole group was called this in general, and not just a band name, it would definitely give them quite the reputation. Aside from how cool the name sounded; Sasha still felt some kind of pity to Luz after learning that her dad was dead… so she could throw her a bone this one time. But it won't not happen again.
"Alright, I guess we can make it work." The blonde said in acceptance.
"Really?" Luz couldn't be any more surprised. They were actually accepting her idea for a new band name? She honestly didn't expect this.
"Yeah, it sounds badass enough." Sasha confirmed.
"I like it too." Anne said.
"Maybe we can do costumes or stuff to make us look like the actual riders!" Marcy offered. "I can come up worth the designs for you guys in no time at all!"
"Let's not go too overboard though. We don't wanna look like Comic-Con geeks or anything." Sasha quickly said.
Luz's smile only grew. Not only did they like her song, but even her idea for a band name. It really felt like she was truly accepted as one of them… and that made her so happy.
"Alright… we still got hours before you guys gotta go home. So, let's keep rocking it! You girls with me?"
"Yeah!" Anne and Marcy both hollered.
"Yeah… Yeah! Let's rock!" Luz soon joined in along with them as they continued to play their instruments, having as much fun as they could in the time they had together.
Later That Evening
The sun was just about to set, the sky turning orange as Luz, Anne, and Marcy had already packed up their respective instruments and left Sasha's basement. They all stepped out through the front door, though when Luz turned around she saw Molly Jo smiling and waving her goodbye, to which Luz waved back with a smile of her own before meeting her friends at the curb.
A light green van was the first to pull up. "Oh, that's my mom." Marcy said as the side door opened, where Luz and Anne helped Marcy get her large suitcase that held her whole drum set inside. "I'll see you girls on Monday at school."
"You too." Luz nodded.
"Later, Mar-Mar." Anne said as Marcy herself stepped into the van, the door closing before the vehicle drove off, leaving the two before Anne felt a buzz on her cellphone and saw the text. "My dad's gonna be here soon. You need a ride, Luz?"
"Nah, my mom's got me covered, but thanks for the offer." Luz said before smiling. "I had fun today."
"Yeah, same here." Anne agreed, though her smile did fade slightly. "Hey uh… Luz. About your dad I… I'm really sorry."
"I-it's fine." Luz tried to shake off the feelings that were coming back up somewhat. "Like I said, it was a long time ago."
"Right… but really. I am sorry." Anne said sincerely, putting a hand on Luz's shoulder. This caused the Latina girl to sigh slightly as she put her own hand on top of Anne's and looked to her with an appreciative smile.
"Thanks… and hey… can we uh… not talk about this at school?" She asked. "I don't want to make a big deal out of it."
"You got it. No problem." Anne assured, to which Luz appreciated with a nod just as a red minivan pulled up, this vehicle one being driven by Mr. Boonchuy, and Anne quickly got in. "See ya later, Luz."
"Yeah, see ya." Luz waved off. Right as they drove off, Luz felt her own phone buzz and pulled it out to reveal a picture had been texted to her by Marcy. It was a group selfie that Marcy had taken of their whole band earlier in the day, all four of the girls having their respective instruments as they squeezed in together with wide smiles Though there were several emojis in the picture, such as rainbows, hearts, and fireballs. Another text came in that read 'Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse', each word being written in a different style starting from fancy and bold pink cursive with the word 'four', followed by 'Horsewomen' written in bold straight colorful letters, the words 'of the' being written in simple white, and the last word of 'Apocalypse' being written the largest in bold black and surrounded by flames, with a skull serving as the O.
Luz smiled once again, the feeling of acceptance filling in her once more as she saved the photo into her personal album and texted a thumbs-up emoji in response.
Done.
As you can see, I got a little creative with this specific chapter. It's never confirmed in the canon Owl House that Luz plays any musical instruments, she probably doesn't. So, I decided to have her play the electric keyboard so that she can fit into the band, and the electric keyboard does seem like the kind of instrument that suits her personality.
She even wrote her own original song "World of Magic" (technically I wrote it as the writer for the story, but I'm not much of a song-writer, so I'll let your imaginations come up with the instrumental music), showing once again her own creative talent.
We saw in the canon Amphibia show how Sasha's parents were divorced, with Matt Braly confirming that Sasha's dad had re-married, and her mother had started dating a man with kids of his own. Though we never met any of them in the canon show, I went ahead and expanded a bit myself by having Molly Jo from Amphibia and Stacy as the children of Sasha's mom's boyfriend. There was a lot of talk about Sasha and Molly Jo being related, with some people suggesting to me that I make them cousins or something… but the Matt Braly never confirmed any of that, so I decided to go along with something like this. I really like Molly Jo's character myself, she's a nice girl whose also not afraid to put her foot down if need be (you'll learn more about her and Sasha's relationship as this story goes on). And of course, there's the bully Stacy, whom Sasha now has to spend some of her time with off-school, though they have that 'Switzerland agreement' to leave each other alone, it's still gotta be rough. It's never expressed too much in the show, but a lot of Sasha's controlling and manipulative traits can probably stem back to her parents divorcing when she was around three or four years old. When you're that young, your parents are your whole world. So having them split up like that at that age has got to be really rough. Sasha felt her whole world had been ripped in half when that happened, so she tries to be in control with her friends out of fear that if she's not, she would lose them too. It's no excuse for her actions, both in this story and in canon, but it does provide some context and reasoning behind it.
And even if Sasha is still the controlling and manipulative person that we all know before going on her little saga in Amphibia, she does care about her friends, including Luz here, as she does feel sympathy toward her in hearing about her late father. And while we didn't see a whole lot of Sasha's negative qualities here (just a glimpse of it), that will come to light in the next couple of chapters when we get into all the drama.
Now, regarding Luz's father, and how easy she brought it up (or tried to make it sound easy) compared to the canon Owl House show… Luz had a hard time bringing any of that up in canon because there was already a lot going on at that time, and she probably didn't want to add more to anybody else's problems with her own. But here, the situation is different. She's not trapped anywhere or dealing with any other problems, so there's no reason she has to hide it, or rather that's how she feels. We all know how hurt she is over her father's passing (something like that leaves scars), but due to being a bit of a people-pleaser, Luz probably feels she has to put on a front and say that she got over it in order to avoid causing people any problems she feels are unnecessary.
I hope that all makes sense.
And yes, their new band name is now 'The Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse'. I hope you like it.
And with this chapter, we've reached the half-way point of the prologue arc. Up next, we're going to have a Marcy-focused chapter, one I'm very eager to write, and there are more than a few surprises in store there.
Until then, peace out.