Here to Help

Chapter 14

"Are you comfortable, Luz?" Amity asked softly as the human buried her face deeper into the crook of her neck.

"So comfortable," Luz muttered, voice muffled just enough to elicit a small giggle from Amity. It was a rainy day on the Boiling Isles, Amity and Luz having made themselves comfortable on the couch as they enjoyed the tranquility of being home alone while avoiding the acid falling from the sky. Since Amity had been hurt, the two found little to no alone time together, Eda and King staying home most days to help the injured teens. However, as bones began to mend and the teens found themselves more and more capable of caring for one another, Eda slowly grew more confident in the idea of leaving them alone while she and King went to work. Knowing that due to the rain, Eda would likely not be home until it passed, Amity and Luz opted to take advantage of their time alone, cuddling up as they watched a just about all of the anime Luz had saved on her phone before the pair opted to take an afternoon nap.

"Amity," Luz spoke softly, as she felt the gentle touch of Amity's fingers running through her hair. "You know, I love you right?" the brunette sleepily mumbled much to the green haired girl's amusement.

"Of course I do," Amity smiled. "It seems like you're always telling me that right before you fall asleep," she hummed.

Laughing at the remark, Luz smiled as she thought back to the first time those three words left her mouth, unintentionally, but true nonetheless as sleep had taken ahold of her. "I'm not falling asleep," Luz groaned, nuzzling Amity's neck with her nose.

"Oh, so this is an awake, 'I love you' is it now?" Amity retorted, a sly grin on her face. "What a privilege to get one of those," she teased.

"It's an I love you, I love you," Luz chuckled as she sat up to meet the green haired witch's eyes.

"Haven't they all been, 'I love you, I love yous?" Amtiy questioned, a slight look of confusion on her brow.

"Of course they have," Luz laughed, "but... but after this, I want the next one to be different."

"Different how?" Amity replied, no longer following the path Luz was on.

"Well..." Luz began tentatively, her brain making a pitstop at her heart as she searched for the right words to say. "It's just that, its been awhile since we first said those words to each other, you know? And so much has change - has happened since then. We're completely different people now than we were then if you think about it."

"Yeah, I suppose we are," Amity mumbled apprehensively, unsure where the conversation was headed. It was true. Since the first time the pair had uttered soft "I love yous" to one another, so much had changed. In a matter of weeks, the pair had been forced to grow up faster than any kids should have to, holding one another's hand as each tackled demons from their past and present, a journey of healing Amity never anticipated to embark on, let alone with another person. Holding the human in her arms, the green haired witch couldn't help but feel grateful at everything Luz had done for her - taking her in, tending to her wounds, listening to her cries - all of so deeply meaningful yet seemingly provided with an ease in which she didn't even have to try to be kind; she was kindness embodied. Never in her life could Amity recall feeling so unconditionally loved and accepted, the feeling of which was so new that it was at times overwhelming. As such, logically the witch knew that whatever it was Luz was building up to, surely it was with her best interest in mind; so why then did she feel so scared?

To her recollection in that moment, every romance novel Amity had ever read had never characterized change between lovers as a good thing. Though change in any relationship was something the witch knew to be inevitable, in the stories she read, it was always a factor that existed
to grow people apart. Cliche phrases, "You've changed. It's not you, its me. We're different people now," pulled from the paper of her mind's eye as fear built in her heart, hanging on the human's want for the words that had meant so much to the witch to now be different. Maybe this wasn't love like the witch had thought it to be; maybe Luz just loved her like a friend. It had been several weeks since the words had left the human's lips with a conversation around exactly what they meant having never been had. Perhaps she was a fool, Amity began to think, preparing herself for the worst possible direction this conversation could turn; a direction she was intimately familiar with. There was no way the human could really love someone like her; someone as cruel as she had been. It was impossible, after all, who would ever want to -