Amity Blight always followed the path others chose for her. But when the opportunity of a lifetime comes in conflict with her feelings for Luz, she has to make a choice.
After a long, tense journey through the halls of the Coven building, Odalia and Luz made their way down a dark and winding staircase into a part of the castle that Luz was not aware existed. She knew the elaborate structure must have had more rooms than she had been in, but she had never even seen the staircase when she explored before. She shivered at the thought of what was at the bottom. A beast? An ambush? Some other eldritch horror that would fit right into the established rules of the Isles? Only one thing was certain to be found at the bottom, she reminded herself: Amity.
Eventually, Odalia's fire spell she had been using as a torch illuminated a floor. "She's waiting for you in here," the witch grumbled. "You have ten minutes to say your goodbyes." It was hard to see in the dim light, but Luz was sure she could see the hint of a smirk on Mrs. Blight's face. Odalia released her fire spell, which split apart and attached itself to a number of torches lining the walls, revealing a spacious chamber that was a little bit bigger than the Emperor's own throne room. A catwalk lined three of the four walls, making Luz feel as if there was a possibility someone was watching from above. But the most prominent feature of the room was the large, high-tech gold and white structure that seemed anachronistic in the world of the Boiling Isles, until she noticed the centerpiece of the machine: the reconstructed portal. Suddenly, she knew why she was here. She turned to confirm this with Odalia, only to see the older witch was no longer there. She was now alone, all except for... right.
Luz searched the room for her friend, her eyes catching on a slumped figure wearing a cloak sitting in a far corner. "Amity!" The human's face lit up as she ran towards the figure, beaming with relief. "I'm so happy to see you! Are you okay?" She reached the cloaked humanoid, which didn't move, and laid a hand on its shoulder, but it didn't feel nearly firm enough to be a real shoulder.
A voice called down from a catwalk behind her: "Abomination, rise."
Before Luz knew what was happening, the figure stood up, and the cloak fell off to reveal that it was an abomination. The girl prepared to grab a glyph from her bag, but the monster grabbed hold of her in a massive hug-like grip and walked her over to the middle of the room. Luz squinted in the dim torchlight to see Amity leap gracefully from the catwalk and walk over to meet her. "What the heck is going on?" demanded Luz through grunts of struggle, "Why did you trap me? I gave myself up, I'm just here to say my goodbyes!" The human's face burned as she wondered what sick form of punishment this was.
"Shut up, human," Amity barked in the performative way that one does when they are told to do and say things that are antithetical to their true feelings. Although this behavior was familiar, after becoming accustomed to a much friendlier dynamic for so long it pained Amity to act this way to Luz again, but not as much as it hurt Luz to hear it.
"Not until you tell me what this is about! I thought you would be happy to see me!" Luz was genuinely angry at Amity for the ambush, and rightfully so. But at the same time, she just wanted this to be cleared up so she could tell her how she felt before the chance was gone.
The witchling began to continue the plan, but she couldn't bear to continue with the act, not when it affected Luz like this. "I... I am glad to see you, Luz. But I need to end this." Amity stepped closer, looking around subtly and lowering her voice to a whisper, "Follow my lead. This is part of my audition, so he's watching. I'll let you win, I don't want to hurt you. But you have to trust me." She looked down, reminding herself of the worst part. "And no matter what, don't come back for me once you escape. I can't come with you."
"Why not?"
"Because!" Amity snapped, "I have everything riding on this. You have Eda and King and Willow and Gus and a whole life that you can go back to from this. Everyone I know is expecting me to do this. If I don't make it in, I'm as good as destroyed for life! Just take my offering and leave, okay?"
Luz knew all of this before, but nonetheless a wave of pity rushed over her. She considered there was pressure, but never had she thought of just how much Amity had staked on the Emperor's Coven. Still, she couldn't let herself give up. "No, I won't. You can come live with us! I know Eda would love to have you stay with us. This isn't the only option, Amity. Please," she wriggled her arm out of the abomination's grip and reached out towards the witchling. "Come with me. I'm not leaving without you."
Amity's expression softened at the sight of Luz's kind face. She stared at the hand, the thought of grabbing it and running away with the girl of her dreams tempting her. It was so enticing, the thought of it almost seemed too good to be true. But the more she considered it, the more plausible it seemed. Her hand slowly and carefully started to reach towards Luz, and their hands almost touched when Amity felt a pulse of the Emperor's presence course through her body, reminding her that he was watching, he was always watching, and that if she accepted the girl's offer it would mean the end of both of them. She yanked her hand away and stumbled back a step. "If you won't leave, then I have no choice."
Luz's eyes grew wide and she called out to her love, "No! You don't have to do this! I know this isn't what you want!"
"You don't know what I want, human!" The young witch cried out, her eyes soaked with tears. She clenched a fist and a spell circle appeared around her wrist. "Abomination, take Luz to the portal!"
Luz protested once more, but it was clear that she was not going to change Amity's mind at this stage. With her trapped hand, she reached into her bag and pulled out a fire glyph, slapping it against the arms of the abomination and melting herself to freedom. She leaped swiftly from it and reached into her bag as she landed. With one arm she flew a light glyph into Amity's eyes, stunning her, and with the other she turned and launched an ice glyph at the abomination, causing it to freeze over. Seeing the opening, Luz stood up and turned to the blinded Amity; "I'm sorry I couldn't help you," she lamented, before making a break for the exit.
The witchling rubbed the light from her eyes and noticed Luz running for the stairs. She grunted and made a circular motion with her finger, causing spell circles to form around her ankles. The speed spell took effect, and she dashed towards the frightened human, tackling her and pinning her to the floor. Both girls stayed there for a minute, staring into the tear-filled eyes they each loved so much, gasping for air. The two of them both wished they could stop right then, end the fight, and stay together like this forever. The air between them was full of exhaustion and desperation, each fighting for a contradicting but somehow similar outcome to the whole situation. They just wanted it to be over.
"We don't have to keep doing this," choked Luz, her pleading eyes locked onto Amity's, "We can fix this together, like we always do." Her soft hand reached up to touch the witch's crimson streaked cheek, causing her to flinch slightly at the sudden affectionate touch. "Please."
Amity begged herself to reconsider. All she could do was stare at this human, this visage that has haunted her dreams for months, and resist the urge to kiss her. She could have given in, but the whispers around her reminded her that she was being observed. Not just that, she was being judged. The whispers swirled around her, growing louder and louder until she broke the silent noise with a pained scream, punching the cobblestone floor as a spell ring cast around her arm. Luz dodged, but the floor below them shook and cracked, and a giant abomination rose up below them, engulfing Luz as Amity flew to the ground, landing on her feet but falling to her knees shortly after, failing to stifle the violent sobbing that now took hold of her.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
