The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

A week or two after 'helping' Amity and Willow mend their friendship, Luz discovered a fourth glyph in the leaves of one of Eda's potted plants and that glyph let her conjure plants, which was cool.

...Then she decided to experiment, and see if her shadow powers had a consistent interaction with the glyphs. They did, they made all of them explode. Ice and Fire blew up bigger than light, while Plant was more of a firecracker than a grenade, but the type of explosion all looked the same and Luz wasn't interested in seeing if they affected magic all the same.

Once she was done with that, Willow and Gus arrived to walk with her on the way to school. Proving that Luz could be somewhat oblivious to things that didn't catch her interest, it was only now the day before that she found out about Grom, the demon world's weirdo version of prom-slash-social event of the season as far as Hexside students were concerned... Despite realizing that there were posters up for it and that Amity had mentioned something about a dance at Hexside this semester when she had her little caffeine high back on the Knee.

But, now that she knew about it, Luz was excited. She'd gotten kicked out of her last school dance for wearing that otter costume she'd let Amity borrow but in a place like the demon realm, a weirdo like her could be Grom Queen.

She'd expressed just that idea and was warned that being Grom Queen wasn't something people usually volunteered for by Willow but before she could ask what that meant someone ran into her.

"Watch it—I mean, sorry!" Came a familiar voice.

"Hey Amity," Luz greeted as she turned to help her friend pick up her spilled books.

"Uh, hey Luz and... Friends of Luz," Amity acknowledged with an awkward grin. From the corner of her eye, Luz could see Willow give a friendly wave and Gus a smile.

Luz picked up a folded sheet of pink paper and held it out for Amity. "Here, your note."

Amity's face flushed red and she quickly reached out to take it, only to stop just before her fingertips made contact. Amity then took a deep breath. "Bite the bullet," she whispered. "Actually," she continued as she pulled her hand back and... Uh oh, she was clutching the hem of her tunic. "The note is for you."

"Okay," Luz said with cheer as she tried to hide that she'd noticed Amity's nervousness. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but what she read made her freeze.

"Luz, will you go to Grom with me? Amity," written in big, fancy letters on pink paper.

Did... Did she mean as friends? No, there would be no reason for Amity to be nervous if that's what she'd meant, or for the note. She could have just asked straight out.

No, the fancy pink note asking one very simple question could only mean that Amity... Liked Luz. Like, like liked her.

Which raised the question... did Luz like Amity back? Like like her?

Luz liked girls. She was Bi. Even if she wasn't out at home, Luz still liked boys and girls, which meant she liked girls. But did she like Amity?

Amity was pretty, smart, classy, sophisticated, and cool. And she was an excellent friend, once you got to know her, even if her mean old mother had tried to make her mean. What wasn't there to like? And Luz liked spending time with Amity, she was fun to be around and they shared interests, and Amity was so interested in what Luz had to say unlike anyone else that Luz had ever liked that way, and thinking back maybe... That impromptu sleepover when Amity had run away from home didn't count as a date, did it? 'focus Luz!'

So yeah. Luz guessed that she did like like Amity.

Which brought her to the final question. Why did Amity like like Luz? Most people thought that Luz was weird, or creepy, or cheesy. She'd confessed to other people she'd liked like that and was always rejected, or made fun of... What was there to like like about her?

Luz was about to ask Amity if she was sure when she realized Amity was gone.

"Luz, you alright? Boiling Isles to Luz," her young friend Gus asked.

"Uh, yeah, what happened?"

"You went perfectly still when you read Amity's note, then Principal Bump went on the intercom to announce that Amity was Grom Queen. She ran off after that."

"Oh, cool, did you see which way she went?" Luz asked.

"I think she was heading toward the gym," Gus replied.

"Okay, thanks, bye!" Luz declared as she sprung to her feet and ran after Amity.

"Okay," Luz muttered to herself quietly as she made it to the gym, "this isn't such a big deal. I'll talk to Amity, ask if she's sure she wants to go to Grom with me of all people, if she is, we'll go, I'll dance with the queen, and we'll figure out where to go from there, I totally won't throw up a tummy full of butterflies," Luz noticed that she was anxiously stamping her feet and made herself stop. That's when she noticed a small podium with a big, shiny red button on it.

"I know I shouldn't," Luz declared, "but if I don't I'm gonna be wondering about it all day and I can't afford that kind of distraction right now so... Boop!" she declared as she pushed the button.

A loud stone-grinding noise greeted her in response, and turning back she saw that the gym floor was pulling back to reveal some kind of ancient crypt and two walls of weapons next to the ramp that led down into it. Nobody seemed surprised that it was there, though Principal Bump, or at least that werd Imp Demon he wore as a hat, gave her a slightly annoyed glare before shrugging it off. Okay, so she wasn't in trouble, so...

"So ancient tombs and medieval weaponry are a weird choice for a dance theme but who am I to judge? Maybe all demon realm school dances are like this."

"No, just Grom."

Luz turned to see Amity had come up next to her and Luz immediately realized that something was wrong. If the fact that Amity had obviously been crying didn't tip her off, the waves of sadness her ESP was picking up from the girl were... It was then that Luz realized that her ESP only seemed to pick up bad emotions. Well, that was one way to maintain super-speciation if she and Amity ever formed their own super-team in the future. Uh, Dang it, she kept getting distracted.

"Amity, are you al—" Luz was distracted by something gooey, dark purple, and slithery crawl across the shadowed, far end of the crypt-thingy. "What the heck was that?"

"That's Grom," Amity explained in a shakey voice. "Or Gromethus the Fear-Bringer. It's some ancient eldritch thing that's been trapped here for centuries. It takes the form of whatever your worst fears are. It can't be killed, but if you destroy its body it takes a year to regenerate and try to escape again. As Grom Queen, my duty is to step into that arena and prevent it from trying to escape this year."

Luz blinked. "Why is that a student's job?"

Amity shrugged. "Tradition?"

"Are... You gonna be alright?" Luz asked. She was confused, it didn't feel like Amity was scared, but...

"I'll be fine," Amity insisted. "Grom Royalty is chosen on merit of who the strongest and most skilled fighter is among the eligible students, and my worst fear has already happened so there's nothing that Gromethus can do to hurt me."

"Are you sure?" Luz asked. "Because tradition or not it'll take me like, twenty minutes to pop back into the human realm, call the Avengers Hotline, get in touch with Doctor Strange, and ask him to come back here and deal with Gromethus for you. I know you don't like sorcerers but this kind of thing is like, literally his job."

Admittedly, that would blow the fact that she wasn't at summer camp like she was supposed to be, and revealing to her mother that she'd been lying to her all this time was not something she was looking forward to, but she'd face that music for Amity and... Okay, yeah. For absolute certain, she did like like Amity. That was something.

"That would... Probably not go over well. I'd look like I was running from my duties and... Could he get here by tomorrow night? Maybe talk with Principal Bumb about it after the dance but... I'm sure, I have to face this and I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Luz asked again. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"I'm sure," Amity insisted finality.

"Okay." With that, Luz moved on to a previous topic. Maybe this was a bad time, but maybe Amity would feel better for whatever was making her sad if she knew that Luz wanted to go to the dance with her and would be cheering her on while she beat that monster like it owed her money. "So... about that note...?"

"I should go!" Amity declared. "Grom Royalty gets the day off to prepare, I need to make sure I'm ready."

Amity then bolted, just like she'd done right after asking to hang out on the first day of...

"Wow, I'm dumb."

TLOA

Getting through classes had been hard. Luz normally did very well at Hexside, even with the workload that had come with studying all nine Coven Tracks, but today she couldn't focus, and not for the normal reasons. Luz just couldn't stop thinking about how sad Amity was and how she didn't get a chance to answer the Grom proposal and the general feeling that something was very wrong.

Also, Amity's friend Boscha kept glaring at her in potions class for some reason.

Eventually, the day of classes ended and she started her way back to the Owl House. She wasn't sure what to do now and could really use some advice from a crusty old witch.

"Hey, Luz!" Hooty greeted her as she reached the front door. "How does 'Amuz' sound?"

"Like amuse," Luz replied on reflex. "Could you let me in?"

Hooty swung the door open without further complaint and Luz went in and started looking for Eda, eventually finding her... In a man's brown suit from the human world with King helping her fit it.

"What did I just walk in on?" She asked.

"Oh, Luz, Bumpypoo asked me to chaperone Grom this year," Eda declared.

"And Gus asked me to Co-MC the fight!" King declared happily.

"Oh, cool," she said hesitantly. "So about the fight..."

"Who's the sacrifice this year?" Eda asked.

"Sacrifice!?"

"It's an expression, Luz, calm down and... It's not you, is it?" Eda. "If Bumpikins is making you fight Grom, I'll have to introduce him to my friend Mister Woodchipper."

"No, Amity is Grom Queen," Luz explained.

"Really?" Eda begged with disappointment. "What's the fun in watching a kid fight a monster if it's one of my kids!?"

"And I'm really concerned—Wait, what?"

"Chances are, Odalia's not gonna bend so something's gonna break at Stately Blight Manor," Eda explained. "I've already told Alador that if Boots ends up here looking for a safe place to hide again I'm keeping her."

"...That might get awkward," Luz observed. "But uh... I'm a little concerned. Amity's sad about something and she insists that she's going to be fine, but..."

Eda got down to look Luz in the eye. "Okay kid, Boots is strong. She can handle Grom, and Bump takes all kinds of precautions so even if grumpy old Gromethus throws her a curve ball... well, as Chaperone part of my job will be to finish the creep off if her Highness can't pull it off. I won't let anything bad happen to her."

"Okay, but..." Luz trailed off.

"Would it help if I walked you through how this normally goes?" Eda asked.

"Maybe?"

"Okay, so there's this huge mythology around Grom, but the truth is that it's just a base, hungry animal," Eda began. "I'm not gonna say it's mindless because it can actually be pretty smart... but in the way that crafty predator is smart, not the way a person is. Grom runs on instinct and it likes to play with its food, so it almost never goes straight for a worst fear unless it's forced to go for a new target midway through the fight. You with me so far?"

"Yeah."

"Usually what happens comes in four rounds, rarely it gets to five and if Boots can avoid letting Grom touch her she might be able to cut it short," Eda continued. "It usually starts with something small and mundane, more of an annoyance than a fear like... a food you hate, or someone who likes to start arguments for the sake of starting arguments. Nobody ever falls for it, but Grom doesn't really have the kind of creativity needed to change it up. Round two tends to be more serious, but also kind of fantastical. Maybe something you saw in a scary movie or an intrusive thought you had as a kid."

"Like human souls trapped in cat bodies?" Luz asked with a shudder.

"I suppose," Eda agreed. "Round three is where it gets to the stuff that really gets you, really existential stuff. A parent you don't want to disappoint maybe, or the idea of growing old... It's nasty, but it tends to be abstract enough that you can power through it. The hard part is what happens if Grom grabs you: Grom is telepathic, but it needs to make contact to get really deep in your mind. If Grom gets a good hold on the King or Queen, that's when it becomes what you're most afraid of and that's different for everyone. Cue round four."

"And if it doesn't touch you?"

"Well, if that year's royalty are good, it's because they beat Grom in round three. If not, it'll usually try to go all out with something visceral and terrifying, maybe something from a recent nightmare, and go full-on offensive to try and make contact and then switch to worst-fear mode mid-round. But Grom can still be defeated at this point before that happens."

"Now, a lot of former Kings and Queens have said that facing their worst fears like that actually makes them feel relieved," Eda continued. "Something about confronting the thing that you're most afraid of while your classmates are cheering you on has a healing effect, but if Boots isn't feeling up to it that's where I step in."

"You said that sometimes it gets to five rounds?" Luz asked.

"It's rare, but if the Royalty overcomes their worst fear without destroying Grom's body, it assumes its true form, which is just a big purple goo monster with spidery legs and a gatorlike mouth. Intimidating, but compared to your worst fear it's nothing. That's how you know you have Grom on the ropes, and at this point, despite all its bluster it tends to be wide open for a finishing attack."

Luz wasn't convinced. "And this is how it always goes?"

"Almost always," Eda replied. "Boots is gonna be just fine," she reassured. Eda then looked more closely at Luz. "That's not the only thing eating you, is it?"

"Um, no..." Luz began awkwardly. "Um, before Amity was announced as Grom Queen she um... Asked if I'd be her date."

"Finally!" King exclaimed from his perch next to Eda's dressing mirror.

Luz blinked. "What?"

"It's obvious that she likes you, Luz," the tiny King of Demons declared. "Even I saw it. Hooty's been shipping you two ever since she stayed the night here."

Luz blinked. "Is that why he asked me what I thought about Amuz?"

"Oh, that's better than the 'cute couple name' he came up with last week," Eda quipped. "Luzity sounds like an herbal supplement you'd see an ad for at three in the morning. 'Are you fat and ugly? Try Luzity. We can't tell you it'll help you lose weight but look at this before and after. Did he lose it? Eee-yep!'" Eda finished in a mockery of an announcer's voice.

"Hooty!" Luz shouted at the top of her lungs. "Shipping real people is cringe!"

"Don't care!" the House Demon shouted back. "But is that a no on Amuz!?"

"Am I the only one who didn't know?" Luz asked Eda and King, ignoring the bird tube.

"Eee-yep!" Eda repeated. "Okay, she asked you to Grom, what did you say?"

"Nothing, I read her note and froze up," Luz explained. "My thoughts were going too fast, I was surprised that some—that Amity even liked me that way, I was trying to sort out how I felt about being asked, and once that was done I noticed that Amity was gone and Gus said she'd been named Grom Queen while I was out of it."

"Uh oh," Eda said with a grimace.

"Yeah, Uh oh!" Luz explained. "I went after her and found her but... That's when I found out what Grom was really about and we sort of got distracted talking about that. When I tried to bring up the note she ran off saying she needed to prepare."

Eda looked thoughtful for a moment. "Okay Luz, so Boots asked you to go to Grom with her. So the question is... Do you wanna?"

Luz could only nod.

"You like her the way she likes you?"

"I think so..."

"Then tell her!" Eda declared. "Go to her house and tell her."

"Okay!" Luz agreed. "Where's her house?"

"Blight Manor is on the other side of... Excuse me," Eda reached around the back of Luz's head and pulled back a massive spider that Luz hadn't even noticed was on her. "You gonna eat this?"

Luz shook her head. "You know what, I'll ask directions in town," and fled the room.

TLOA

Blight Manor was... a Manor. Big, but sterile. At first, she tried just knocking on the door, but an abomination in a bow tie answered and moaned "No... Solicitors..." at her and slammed the door in her face.

So then Luz decided to try and go around the house, to see if she could find which room was Amity's, and when she noticed the weird sad feeling she'd sensed from Amity earlier and followed it she found she could see Amity passing back, and forth before a big, open-swinging balcony window.

Luz briefly wracked her brain on how to get the other girl's attention before remembering the Tamagotchi-like devices that she'd found in Eda's pile of unsold junk. She'd given one of the weird symbol texting things to Amity.

So she sent the other girl a message. "NEED 2 TALK LOOK OUTSIDE"

Through the window, Luz saw Amity pull hers from her pocket... Then rush out of sight.

Luz spent the next few minutes alternating between looking at the window and at her... she was just gonna call it an emoji texter, until she was interrupted by a greeting of "Hey, Luz."

Luz turned to see Amity's older sister. "Hey, Emira. Your bruises are healing up nicely."

"Thanks..." Emira acknowledged. "Look, Mittens doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, and she very carefully emphasized 'anyone' so..."

"But it's important!" Luz insisted.

"I know," Emira said with an apologetic grimace, "and I know you mean well, you're a good friend for her, but Ed and I are still on really thin ice with her... I'm honestly surprised that she trusts me enough to play bouncer. If I let you see her... I'm sorry."

Luz glanced back up at the window.

"...You're thinking about scaling the wall to talk to her, aren't you?" Emira asked.

"...No," Luz lied. "...Did, did I do something wrong?"

"No, I don't think you did," Emira insisted, "but Amity's not in a good place right now. I think this whole Grom Queen business is getting to her more than she wants to admit."

"Something's wrong and I don't know what," Luz insisted. "But she... She asked me something and I think she might feel a little better if I give her my answer."

"The way she is right now," Emira explained, "I don't think she's ready to listen. It might be best to wait until after Grom."

Luz wanted to shout that it would be too late by then, but... "Okay. Just..."

Luz texted Amity another message. "SORRY TALK WHEN U R READY"

"Um, you wouldn't happen to know what Amity's favorite flowers are, would you?" Luz asked Emira while holding up one of her new plant glyphs.

TLOA

Naturally, Luz told Eda that just telling Amity had not worked out and why, and Eda's response had been a grimace and a note to try and be there for Amity if the other girl would let her, then said something about having to make a couple of crow calls in private.

That did not, in any way, leave Luz feeling any less concerned. She spent the rest of the evening and much of the next day glued to her texter waiting for any sign of Amity until finally, just an hour before the dance she got a message. "THANKS 4 FLOWERS" followed shortly afterward by "SEE YOU AT GROM"

That was encouraging, but it wasn't an "I'm ready to talk."

So, Luz got ready for the dance. She wasn't sure whether to go with the 'quirky girl tux' or a proper dress, so she split the difference with the shirt and coat from a tux with purple tights, the skirt from a tutu, and a practical pair of boots. She also slicked her hair back.

The plan was to try and talk to Amity before she stepped into the arena and just give the other girl her support. Apparently, the real party didn't start until after Grom was defeated so there'd be time to talk to Amity after she sent the monster packing and thus when things were calmer.

In the early stages of the dance, she just loitered near the door. Partially because Grom Royalty supposedly always made an entrance right before the fight, which meant loitering outside the door, and so that was the best chance she'd get to talk to Amity and partly because Boscha was still glaring at her, and boy, that girl was mad about something.

"Hey Luz," rang out a duo of voices, and Luz turned to see Edric and Emira.

"Hey Ed, hey Em," Luz greeted. "You two get stood up?"

"No," Edric declared with a defeated tone, "we never had dates in the first place."

"Turns out nobody wants to go out with the jerks who tried to publically humiliate their baby sister," Emira added.

"Speaking of," Luz changed the subject. "Where is she? How is she?"

"She'll be here in a second," Edric declared. "She's trying to do a little last-minute psyche-up."

"As for how she is," Emira began, "well the flowers helped a little. She told Ed and I what her problem was..."

"...and?" Luz asked.

"She made us promise not to tell anyone," Edric answered. "Especially not you," he said with a weird emphasis, "and even if we think a few other people knowing might be for her own good..."

Emira elbowed him in the stomach. "The last time we thought that... Well, you saw how that turned out." What Luz was pretty sure was shame and guilt radiated off of both twins.

"We managed to talk her out of her worst-case scenario, then Dad came in, said he'd heard about her being Grom Queen, and asked her how she felt about it," Edric said while rubbing at his belly.

"He told her that he was proud of her regardless and said that if she didn't feel up to facing Grom he'd back her up. That he'd call the school and say she'd come down with a sudden case of the common mold or something," Emira continued.

"Mittens said she'd sleep on it, and after talking it over a few more times today said she wanted to go through with it," Edric finished.

"That's good," Luz said.

"What's good?" Came a familiar voice.

Luz turned to see Amity who... Was she always that pretty? She was wearing a lilac-colored dress with matching socks, a black vest, a knee-length burgundy skirt, and black heels.

"Just that... Just that you're here," Luz answered with a smile. She could feel that Amity was... less sad, but she looked nervous. "How are you?"

"Better," Amity admitted. "Thanks again for the flowers. How did you know I liked lavender?"

"Lucky guess!" Luz declared while very carefully not looking at Emira, who had said not to say where she'd learned it from.

"So... About what you wanted to talk about...?" Amity started awkwardly.

Luz held up a hand. "Hey, if you're still not ready it can wait. You've got a monster to slay, Queen."

As if on cue, the noise in the gym went silent and Gus, working the mic, could be heard. "Alright everyone, it's time for the main event. Everyone clear the floor as we open up the arena and now I'm gonna hand things off to my co-host King!"

Stepping closer to the door, Luz could see King take the stage as Gus walked off and the area she'd gotten a peak at the previous afternoon revealed itself.

"Um, Hello Hexside... How is..." Kind audibly gulped and... Wait, did he have stage fright? "Excuse me a moment," he begged and then walked off stage, returning moments later with the 'crown of power' that Luz had helped him retrieve from the Conformatorium. "Alright Hexside, I'm King, King of Demons, and I'm here to give you a play-by-play on how this is going down... Going down like Glandus and St. Epiderm come Gudgby season, am I right?"

That was lame, but it got the expected cheers so if it works it works.

"In a moment, your chosen champion is gonna step down into the arena and show mean old Grometheus the Fear-Bringer not to mess with Hexside!"

More cheering. Maybe that crown did give King power... Did confidence count as a power?

"So without further ado," King declared, "you all know her, some of you love her, some of you hate her, but it can't be denied that whatever it is, she's got it, your Grom Queen... Amity Blight!"

"Wish me luck," Amity whispered before making her entrance.

"You've got this," Luz whispered just before Amity got too far to hear.

Once Amity made it to the walls of weapons, Luz and the Blight twins followed in and took position to see the fight. Amity selected a large, double-bladed battle axe before stepping onto the ramp down and Luz felt the heat rise to her face when Amity took a moment to mug for the crowd with her choice of weapon.

"Ooh, Look's like Amity's gone with an old favorite, the two-handed battle axe is the perfect blend of efficiency and brutality!" King cheered. "Grom won't know what hit it!"

A figure emerged from the shadows at the far end of the arena.

"Ooh, looks like the battle's started folks," King narrated, "and it appears that... Is that a skullapeño pepper?"

It was, in fact, a pepper the size of Amity. It resembled a jalapeño, but black with a stylized white skull on the front. The skull animated, like a projection on a screen.

"The chips you like were discontinued," it spoke with a voice like a stereotypical moaning ghost. "Now to get that delicious flavor you have to actually put pieces of us in your mouth, ooooooh!"

Amity's body language emitted rather strong 'are you kidding me' energy before she took her axe in both hands and splintered the offending vegetable with a single chop. The resulting chunks melted into goo and retreated into shadow.

The crowd cheered, and Luz threw her own voice in. "Woo, Go Amity!"

"So I don't know what that was about but it looks like your Queen is off to a good start," King declared.

There was movement in the shadows as a large figure emerged this time. A very large figure.

Like, 'barely fit in the arena' large.

Soon afterward the movement stopped and it became clear that the figure was a massive, bluish-purple serpent.

"Alright folks," King narrated, "if I recall my roommate-slash-major general's reading-slash-raving correctly, Grom has taken the form of the Gildersnake, the main bad guy of the first book in the Good Witch Azura series. I know he looks scary, but the Gildersnake has one weakness..."

Amity responded to Grom's new form by repeatedly blasting it with her fire-conjuring spell not unlike Azura in the climax of the book in question.

"...Dying!"

It took only a few blasts before Grom retreated into the shadows once more, to the cheers of the crowd.

"Since when can Mittens conjure fire?" Emira asked.

"Since the Knee," Luz replied.

"She learned without a training wand?" Edric asked.

"Eda thinks she just needed a boost in confidence."

"Looks like Grom is coming back for round three!" King declared as a witch stepped out of the shadows.

The witch in question was vaguely middle-aged, slightly heavily built, with green hair done up the way Amity's hair had been before she ran away.

"Now Mittens," the witch declared but... There wasn't the affection in the nickname that was there when the twins used it. In this witch's mouth, it sounded condescending. "You're making a fool of your—"

Whatever the witch was going to say, she didn't get to finish because Amity charged and smacked her with the broadside of her axe, sending her flying into a wall where she slumped down and melted back into Grom's purple goo.

"So, I'm not sure who that was but Amity looks like she enjoyed giving her the old what for!" King quipped.

"Okay, so... That was round three and Grom didn't get to read Amity's mind," Luz started muttering, "so round four isn't gonna be her worst fear, it'll be like... a bad dream she had..." That's what Eda said, right?

The pile of Grom-Goo didn't retreat this time, but shifted into a shadow form and took a new shape. Or rather, several shapes.

One by one different shadows cleared revealing... Bodies.

Badly injured, not alive bodies, with thick red fluid pooling around them.

Edric's body. Emira's body. Amity's Dads's body, Boscha's body. Willow's body.

Luz gulped as she noticed her own body which seemed to be particularly bad off.

Amity stepped back and one last shadowy figure took shape, the darkness clearing to reveal a tall figure in blood red marbled with inky black. Not just tall, but lanky, with long, sharp fingers and a pair of two large solid white eyes and a lipless mouth full of daggerlike black fangs.

The biped reached down and dipped its fingers in the red fluid that was pooling around it, and turned to smear a message on the wall of the arena.

Carnage Rules!

The figure's proportions were off, and it wasn't wet-looking the way a real symbiote was. It was less like Carnage and more like...

The sketch of Carnage that Luz drew when she was telling Amity about different heroes and villains from the human realm.

"Oh, I screwed up," Luz declared.

"I have no idea what that is," King declared nervously, "and it looks pretty serious, but I have complete faith that your Queen can handle it."

In the arena, Amity drew a large spell circle and declared "Abomination, rise!"

From the ground formed an Abomination about the size of the one she'd summoned back at the Covention. There were some "oohs" from the crowd and Amity made a point to flip her head forward and pull back her hair to show that there was no construction coven power glyph on her neck this time.

"Abomination," she commanded, "attack!"

The giant figure of mudlike purple slime lept forward with surprising speed, attempting to tackle Grom's facsimile of the human realm's most prolific murderer.

... only to be slashed in half by the bladed tentacle that was once the faux-Carnage's arm.

The whole crowd gasped. Amity stepped back, and now it was Grom's turn to go on the attack.

It hadn't just recreated Carnage's power, it was fast too. Grom had Amity by the throat in less time than it takes to blink, the axe clattering to the floor. From the corner of her eye, Luz could see Eda preparing to jump in but it was too late, 'Carnage's' arm had transformed into a shadowy tentacle and both Amity and Grom's eyes flashed with a white glow.

The glow faded and Amity seemed to regain some of her strength. She jammed two fingers from her free hand into her mouth and whistled loud enough that a lot of the audience had to cover their ears, which disoriented Grom enough that it dropped her. Without even getting off the ground, Amity blasted the facsimile of Carnage with her fire-conjuring spell, which seemed to destroy it outright and caused the message on the wall and most of the bodies to dissolve into Grom Goo.

Most of the bodies. the fake dead Luz was still there... and it was sitting up.

"What could Amity be afraid of that's worse than giant snakes, her mom, and the worst serial killer in the human realm?" Luz found herself asking. Edric and Emira gave her a worried look.

It was then that Luz realized that her doppelganger wasn't changing into anything. The wounds and blood that had helped sell Grom's impersonation of Carnage were gone, but it was still just Luz.

Creepy-Luz reached into the pockets of her shorts and pulled out a pink note... And crumbled it up.

"You just had to go a ruin a good thing, didn't you?" It asked in Luz's voice. "You had to get greedy." It laughed, a cruel mockery with more bitterness than had ever crossed Liuz's lips in her life combined. "Had to reach for something you didn't deserve."

Amity looked down in defeat.

"I mean, maybe if you'd asked to go as friends I would have considered it, but no. You had to put me on the spot and let me spend half a minute trying to come up with a way to let you down gently," Creepy-Luz shrugged. "Probably for the best that you ran off after being named Queen, there's no way I could have come up with something good on such short notice."

Amity shuddered.

"Oh, don't give me that, you knew the answer was going to be no before you ever wrote the darn thing," another cruel laugh. "I mean, come on, who could ever love you? You're mean, you're weak. You're a coward. No one even likes you. Boscha admitted that you're only friends because your moms made you. Willow only forgave you because she was sick of being angry... And me? We're only friends out of pity. Or did you believe those stories I made up when I found you having a little tan—"

Luz wasn't sure what happened. One moment she was standing at the edge of the arena, the next her shadow aura was up and her boot was planted firmly in her doppelganger's face.

Grom wasn't down yet, however. A hand wrapped around Luz's ankle. A flash of memory and Grom dissolved into shadowy goop and reformed in front of Luz.

"Luz, what is this terrible place?" Grom asked in her mother's voice while wearing her mother's face. "This isn't camp. Have you been ly—"

Grom didn't get a chance to finish. Luz slapped a fire glyph into it and it was sent rocketing back into the shadows. She'd deal with her baggage once she was sure that Amity was okay.

Luz then turned and walked toward Amity. "Are you okay?"

Amity neither got up nor looked at Luz, so Luz kneeled down in front of her.

"Come on, you know that none of that is true," Luz insisted. "Your friend Boscha has been mad at me for two days and I think I know why now, and Willow forgave you because you meant it when you apologized... And as for me... Let me tell you a story," Luz continued, "one I promise isn't made up." Amity looked up at Luz, so Luz continued. "I've had crushes before, and I've confessed to them before... and I'd always get rejected. And made fun of. And it hurt, every time."

"Who... Why would anyone ever reject...?"

"Who wouldn't?" Luz asked. "I'm weird, I'm creepy, and all of my confessions were cheesy."

Amity sniffed. "I like cheesy."

"The point is, I never wanted to make you feel that way, and I'm sorry," Luz continued. "The truth is, when I read your note, I was just... I think that part of me, on some level, just... Get the idea that no one ever.. Could, like me like that, after all those... And, again, I never wanted to make you feel like that, I know how bad that hurts."

"I know," Amity agreed. "You were... You were going to let me down easy..."

"No," Luz denied. "The thing is... I was trying to talk to you yesterday so I could tell you that... At first, I wanted to ask you if you were sure, but... Amity, it took me a bit to process how I felt but... I do like you, like that. I wanted to tell you... Yes."

Amity's eyes sparkled. She blushed tomato red, and Luz helped her to her feet.

"So the only question left," Luz finished, "is... Amity Blight? Do you still want to go to Grom with me?"

"Yes!" Amity replied with no hesitation. This was met with the loudest cheers of the night.

Luz's face heated up. "I... forgot they were there."

"So did I," Amity admitted sheepishly.

Before the two girls could figure out their next move, they were interupted by a loud roar.

"Oh come on, still!" Luz screamed as Gromethus emerged from the shadows in its true form. "Okay, Eda says that it's just blustering at this point, we can finish it off easy."

"Luz?" Amity asked. "Please... Dance with me?"

This was neither the time nor the place, but Luz wasn't about to say no. The two girls immediately fell into each other's rhythm and performed an improvised tango that allowed them to easily dodge the Fear-Bringer's desperate attacks.

Then, without a word to each other, they began their finishing move. First, they shifted from tango to a waltz.

Then Amity surprised Luz by speaking. "Do not underestimate us, Grometheus the Fear-Bringer!"

Luz picked up what Amity was putting down, and so continued, "For we are the good witches Luz..."

"And Amity!"

"Warriors of peace!"

Grom turned to charge them, so they moved into the final act: First, they traced a large spell circle in front of them, then pulled their arms to the side so it was like one 'hadouken' pose hugging another. As the big spoon in the arrangement, Luze slipped a fire glyph into each of Amity's hands while palming a pair herself.

"Now eat this, sucka!" They declared at the same time as they thrust their arms forward, innovating both Amity's fire-conjuring spell and the glyphs.

An absolutely massive, spiraling ball of pink and orange flames tore clear through the space between the two girls and the charging monster and blasted a hole clear through it.

Grom moaned, then collapsed into globs of goo and fled back into the shadows from where it came. A pair of tiaras adorned with pink gems magically formed upon Luz and Amity's heads.

"There you have it folks," King announced, "Gromenthus is down, I repeat, Grometheus is down, so why don't you all give a big hand to this year's Grom Queens!?"

The applause was nearly deafening as Luz and Amity climbed from the arena. Amity replaced the axe she'd wielded and the weapon walls retracted as the arena was resealed.

The next ten minutes or so were a blur of back pats and congratulations as last-minute set up for the actual dance part of the dance was conducted. At one point Eda came over and offered to teach Amity and Luz about moonshining. It was only a matter of time, given that she'd taught Luz about bootlegging back when she'd gotten the restrictions on multitracking overturned.

But then things quieted down, and King abandoned the stage and mic when he noticed that they'd brought out the snacks.

"So who was that?" Amity asked Luz once they got a quiet moment. "That woman that Grom turned into?"

"My Mom," Luz admitted. "I... I'm supposed to be at a summer camp where they teach weird kids how to better fit in but... I'm really not looking forward to telling her where I've been or what I've been doing."

"...She'd be upset that you're getting good grades and making friends?" Amity asked, dumbfounded

"It's more um... Where I'm doing it," Luz answered. "There are 'demons' back in the human realm and they're nothing at all like the people here. More like Evil Spirits and stuff, and I don't know how to explain to her that..." Luz had to stop and breathe.

"What if... I came with you?" Amity asked.

"Huh?"

"You've been a very good and supportive friend to me, Luz," Amity began, "so I'd like to be a good and supportive girlfriend... I mean, we are... Um..."

"After all that we better be dating," Luz insisted. "I don't think my heart can take doing that again."

There was an awkward pause, then both girls laughed and held hands.

"...Why is this scarier than fighting Grom?" Amity asked.

"No clue," Luz replied. "But we'll figure it out together. But we can't tell Hooty."

"...Why not?"

"He's been shipping us for weeks," Luz declared with a shudder. "And trying to figure out cute couple names."

Amity blinked. "What would that even be for us... Like, Lumity?"

Luz blinked. "Lumity? I like it!"

Amity blushed again. "If you like it then we can use it."

"Alright folks," Gus declared having reclaimed the abandoned mic, "it's time to get to the actual dancing part of this dance so everyone take to the floor. I just talked with the DJ and in honor of Hexside's newest Power Couple we're gonna start with something slow and romantic so get ready for Wholesome Magic Steady."

"May I have this dance?" Luz asked as the song began to play. Amity smiled and gave Luz her hand. The song was slow and the lyrics were kind of cheesy, but Luz could tell that Amity was happy.