The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

"...And then the next thing I knew I was standing on Grom's face," Luz explained. "It turned into my worst fear after that but helping Amity was more important so I powered through. We talked, we cleared things up, and that's how we started dating!" she finished.

"I can't believe my little girl has her own girlfriend," Camila said with a teary smile.

"And I can't believe you're dating someone who tried to have you dissected," the human teen, Masha, interjected.

Luz looked to Amity, "and I can't believe you brought that up."

Amity shrank onto the couch in the Nocedas's living room. "I wanted to be honest. We... We didn't exactly get off on the right foot and I'm ashamed of that, but that is part of how we... She did say to tell her everything... Please don't hate me," she finished while avoiding Camila's gaze.

"Amity, I don't know what you were like when that happened," Camila replied, "but you seem to have changed for the better and Luz is... I can't remember the last time I've seen her so happy. I will, however," the older woman continued, "be having a long talk with this Principal Bumb."

"For what it's worth, in hindsight I think he was bluffing," Luz defended awkwardly. In response, Camila patted her purse which made Luz blanch. There was... probably some context there that Amity was missing. She was just glad that her girlfriend's mom wasn't angry at her over it. "Anyway um... I don't think Grom counts as a real first date but I do have pictures!" Luz declared to change the subject. "Getting these onto my phone was a real pain, but..."

Luz jumped up from her seat next to Amity and held up her phone so that her mom could see. "Here's a candid that one of Amity's friends took of me and Amity talking right after I sent Grom flying... I think this is right when I asked her out. This one is us finishing off Grom together... Here's us dancing together for the first time. Here's one of the official Grom photos of us together. Here's one with us and our friends, the little one's Gus, this Willow, and the one with three eyes who really doesn't want to be there is Boscha," Luz lectured happily. "She's a friend of Amity's, not the one who took the first picture and honestly I don't think she likes me very much but that's mostly because she's protective of Amity. Ohh, this one is me with King and Eda, I told you about them, right? Eda was chaperoning the dance and..."

While Amity tuned out the happy lecture that her bubbly girlfriend was giving to her exceedingly proud mother, all she could think about was how well this was going. Luz had been so worried about her mom not taking it well, not approving of the demon realm or their relationship, but here she was... Amity was so happy, happy that Luz was happy and happy that Camila had accepted her that she could pur. She was roused from her thoughts by the beckoning of the human teen, Masha.

"So if you don't mind me asking, if you're not an elf then what are you?" They asked.

"I'm a witch," Amity replied somewhat awkwardly. That wasn't exactly a question that was asked in the demon realm, even in cases of where a witch had obvious demon ancestry it was still pretty clear what they were.

"Yeah, you're a witch, but what kind of witch," Masha continued. "Er, um. You're from the demon realm, what kind of demon are you."

"I'm not a demon," Amity continued, "I'm a witch."

This seemed to confuse the human teen until Vee, the basilisk, spoke up. "Masha, witches aren't demons. Witches are uh."

"A species," Luz interjected from next to her mother. "Witch is the name of the species and they're not demons, but they can breed with demons. Witch is also sometimes used colloquially to refer to certain types of demons that can use the same kind of magic, but officially those are biped demons."

"Oh," Masha agreed, "so it's not like with humans where witchcraft is just one kind of magic you can study and... What?" The teen had obviously noticed Amity flinch. The witch silently cursed herself for not keeping a handle on her hangups. "Oh, I get it. It probably seems a bit weird to hear someone of another species use the term for yours for themselves when it's not really what they are, is it?"

"...Let's go with that," Amity agreed. "As far as I'm concerned, the only real human witch is Luz."

"...Girlfriend privelges?"

"Luz came to the demon realm to learn our magic," Amity defended, "she learned, respected, and participated in our culture, and she singlehandedly rediscovered an ancient form of witchcraft. She's earned it, and she did that before we started dating."

"So she's culturally a witch," Masha asked. Amity nodded, that summed it all up nicely, and the teen continued. "...Are these questions rude? I've never really been involved in a first-contact scenario before... Of course, this is more like second or third contact."

"It's fine... I can't act like I'm not curious about The human realm myself," Amity replied.

"Topic change!" Luz declared. "I've been studying really hard, so it's time to show Mami what I've learned!" Luz made a big show of stepping to the center of the room and drawing out her glyph cards. She fanned them out before carefully selecting one and slamming it down on the floor.

...And nothing happened.

Luz tapped the glyph card a few more times, each becoming more frantic. "Come on, come on!" She insisted. "You worked in the demon realm, why..." Luz trailed off and came to a stop as she began to deflate. "The glyphs only work in the demon realm."

Amity got up and crouched down next to Luz and, experimentally tapped the light glyph card her girlfriend had been trying to activate. No result for her either. "Luz...?"

"If the glyphs only work in the demon realm, then... I'm not a witch."

"Don't say that," Amity insisted. "Power isn't everything. I've seen your grades, between what you're learning at Hexside and what Eda's teaching you, you probably know more about magic than almost any other kid our age."

"Yeah, but..." Luz tried to interrupt.

"And you don't need magic of your own to make most potions, or for a lot of oracle spells," Amity continued.

"...I have gotten pretty good at reading tea leaves."

"And, it might not be that they need the demon realm," Amity continued, "maybe... Maybe they need a source of wild magic to tap. In the demon realm you could tap the ambient magic of the isles, but here... But pretty soon you're gonna have your own palisman, and they're made of powerful wild magic."

"...I was able to cast some spells I knew without drawing the glyphs when I borrowed Owlbert," Luz conceded. "But... You get your own palisman through the schools. Human school should be starting soon, it's not like I can just drop out..."

"Luz, your mentor is Eda Clawthrorn, the most powerful wild witch on the Boiling Isles," even without her magic Amity doubted that would stop the crazy old lady for long. "Even if you have to drop out of Hexside and go to human school I seriously doubt she's going to let you go without a palisman. Especially given, well... Has she told you her family history?" Luz shook her head. "The Clawthorns were the Isles's premiere palisman carvers for centuries. Her dad, Del Clawthorn, carved my Dad's palisman." She'd actually met Del once when she was little. Poor Ratador had gotten damaged in a lab accident and her father had needed help repairing him. "It'd be a matter of personal pride that her apprentice has one."

"Yeah..." Luz agreed. "You're probably right."

"Mija," Camila broached hesitantly, "this... Hexside. Do they teach... Normal subjects? Math and science?"

"Yeah," Luz confirmed. "Math, science, photography, where babies come from... I think magic school did a better job of that one than human school did... There's a magic twist to everything but everything but history is more or less the same as human school."

"And you're getting good grades?" Camila asked.

"I mean, they're not the best but yeah," Luz answered uncertainly.

Amity scoffed. "Don't be so modest, you're doing nine times the coursework of most students, I'd be failing everything if I had your course load."

This made Camila's eyes go wide. "Nine times the coursework?"

"There are nine main kinds of magic," Amity lectured: "Abomination, bard, beastkeeping, construction, healing, illusion, oracle, plant, and potion. Most students at Hexside only study in one track, and the ones who Multi-Track are mostly either dabbling or splitting their focus. Luz is studying all nine tracks equally."

"You're acting like it's a big deal," Luz dismissed. "It's easy enough when it's work I want to do. That was always a big part of the problem..."

"Luz was also the one who convinced Principal Bumb to start the multitracking program," Amity continued. "Before that, you were only allowed to study one kind of magic and in most cases, you could get in real big trouble for studying more than one kind, or mixing different kinds of magic. Luz was the one who convinced Principal Bumb that letting students learn what they want to learn was more important than following arbitrary restrictions like that and honestly, a lot of the kids at Hexside are a lot happier now." Amity had noticed that even kids who weren't multitracking seemed more enthusiastic about their studies as if the fact that they could study more than one made them feel more confident in their choices.

"Luz did all that?" Camila asked.

"And more," Amity added. "Human games and gestures and slang have caught on like wildfire. Three months ago nobody in Bonesborrogh knew what a high five was but you'd never know that now, and, and... I'm a better person for having known Luz. Three months ago I was nothing more than a petty little bully. I was saying and doing cruel things to people, even someone who used to be my best friend for... The stupidest reasons but Luz was still nice to me and she gave me the courage to change, and be the person I wanted to be instead of just another..."

"Amity, you weren't just—"

"Yes, I was," Amity interrupted. "I had my reasons, but they weren't good ones. You helped me realize that, and now I'm friends with Willow again. I'm not afraid of..." Amity hugged Luz. "Since you came to the demon realm, all you've done is make people's lives better. You might not be able to cast spells on your own, but as far as I'm concerned you're certainly a good witch. Just like Azura."

Pulling back, Amity could see that Luz was starting to blush. "Thank you, Hermosa."

"As I was going to say," Camila started, "there are... precedents for going to school in other dimensions. I'm going to have to make some calls and file some paperwork for Vee anyway. I was thinking, if you're really doing better at this Hexside, if it's a school that wants to teach you and where you want to learn, I could maybe talk to your school and work something out so you can keep going to Hexside instead."

Luz froze. "Won't, won't Principal Hal be mad that I didn't go to camp?"

"What's he going to do, kick you out?" Camila deadpanned.

This prompted a laugh from Luz. "...You're taking this so much better than I thought you would."

"Mija, Luz, mi cariño, all I've ever wanted was for you to be happy and safe," Camila began. "If you have truly found someplace where you finally feel like you belong, I wouldn't want to take it from you. Did you really think I would?"

"I guess, after everything... I know you worry about me," Luz answered. "And I know I'm a bit of a screwup—"

"No!" Camila insisted. "You are not a screw-up, you're just built differently. You've made mistakes, but everyone does. You know I spent three years selling energy drinks as part of a pyramid scheme? Or when I cussed out your principal when we first moved here?"

"That was actually kind of funny," Luz admitted.

"But the biggest mistake I ever made, was letting people try to talk me into changing you, instead of giving you the support you needed to thrive as you are... I was a lot like you when I was younger, you know," she continued.

"...You were?"

"You should see all the Cosmic Frontier merchandise in the basement," Camila continued. "And I had a hard time, too. And I wanted better for you, and I went about it the wrong way. I don't completely regret it, because you did find a place where you were accepted and Vee found a place to be safe, which might not have happened if I hadn't been talked into sending you to that camp, but I never should have made you feel like I didn't love you, exactly the way you are."

Amity couldn't see Luz's face, as the other girl had turned to face her mother when they began speaking, but her body language made it clear that she started to cry right before she and her mother began hugging. She hated herself for thinking it, but Amity couldn't help but be a little jealous of their relationship.

"So, does anyone else feel like they're intruding on something private?" Masha asked suddenly.

"A little bit, yeah," Vee admitted.

This prompted Luz to explode into laughter.

"Also, there was an alien invasion while you were gone," Camila added. "Worldwide. I didn't find out that the camp was safe until a day after everything was over. So knowing that you were safe in another dimension having PG magical adventures is honestly a relief."

"I missed an invasion?" Luz asked. "Who was it? The Kree. The Shi'ar? The Skrulls again?"

"Symbiotes," Masha interjected. "Like just dragons made of symbiotes flew in from space and started leaking their goo everywhere to take people over. They were led by this blue guy called the King in Black who I guess was their god or something. It was crazy."

"Most of the fighting was in New York City like it always is, but there were major incidents all over the world," Camila continued. "Luckily there were only a few hundred casualties, worldwide. Also, apparently, at some point, President McGucket personally remodeled the White House so it could turn into a giant robot. So the District of Colomba was mostly untouched."

Amity blinked. "What?"

"President Fiddleford McGucket," Luz explained, "he was Loki's Vice President. Everyone thought he was just some random crazy old man that Loki found in the middle of nowhere until he started pulling out super science solutions for problems and people looked into him and found out that he owned the patents for some recent innovations and was like some super genius who disappeared decades ago. He got really popular with the public after one of his inventions destroyed an asteroid that was set to collide with the Earth and when Loki didn't run for reelection two years ago, McGucket stepped up."

"Oh... Kay," Amity replied, having no idea how to respond or even any context for most of what that meant.

"So anyway, the planet was invaded by symbiotes?" Luz asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. The actual invasion only lasted a day though, apprently that Venom character killed their god and then all the symbiotes stopped fighting. Most of them left but a few stuck around," Camila replied. "That awful Friends of Humanity group tried to push for anti-alien legislation but the Avengers released a statement that this 'King in Black' guy was mind controlling them and that this group was the 'good ones' when left to their own devices."

"Also, turns out symbiotes aren't just regular aliens," Masha added. "Turns out they're like, Elderspawn. You know, 'ia ia Cthulhu ftgn' stuff. This King in Black Guy apprently made the first symbiotes out of this stuff that's like unstable molecules if they were refined from the purest essence of anti-life. Honestly, it'd be kind of cool if we found out in any other way."

Luz went stiff. "Tiny Nose was right," she whispered.

"Honestly, once everything was over it was a little nostalgic," Camila continued. "Your father and I were both in upstate New York when the 'Bad Ones' invaded in the 90s. We both got taken as hosts and everything. We woke up in the woods with a heck of a headache when everything was done with."

"Were you alright?" Luz asked though Amity could see the gears turning in Luz's head.

"Yeah?" Masha added. "Like, they published that study last year about once a symbiote's been in you, the goo just never leaves and you'll have it in your cells forever."

"That explains a lot!" Luz suddenly shouted.

Which in turn prompted another rant: Luz had mentioned that discovering her powers had been a factor in her decision to stay in the demon realm but didn't go into much detail about them. Now she explained them, even demonstrated her symbiote form which had prompted a squeal from Amity and a 'bi-colors, nice' comment from Masha, and that ended up being a whole thing.

"Okay. That is...Something I'll have to adjust to," Camila finally said after a moment. "But that does not change anything I said earlier. I love you, Mija, unconditionally. Now, I need to make some calls so I can get started on formalizing things for Vee and maybe handling your transfer, so... Why don't you take Amity out and show her around town? And vee? If you're going to be living here you should probably also have an idea of what the town is like."

"But... I still need magic to transform," Vee argued. "If.. If I'm going to be staying here as me, I need to not look like Luz and... I don't want to stand out, either," she finished with a gesture to the pale splotches on her face.

Amity sighed and braced herself. Having her magic sucked out by the greater basilisk had been most unpleasant, but she could already tell that Vee was different and Amity could afford to give the poor demon a little of her magic.

Just as she was about to offer, however, Masha jumped up. "I got ya."

"What?" Amity asked.

"So Vee already knows this," Masha began, "but I've sort of... always been fascinated with the occult. What got me sent to reality check was my parents walking in on me performing a ritual to try and contact a sponsor..." Amity wasn't sure she liked where this was going. "Jokes on them though, because my incomplete ritual did get someone's attention, not a sponsor but former President Laufeyson liked the chaos I caused, and a week and a half into my stay at Camp he paid the camp a visit." Masha began performing a few gestures, including one where their thumb, index, and pinky fingers were extended while their middle two fingers were folded against their palm. "They said they liked my spirit and taught me a couple of basic spells with the offer to take me as their apprentice once camp was over."

"...You're a sorcerer," Amity observed.

"I actually prefer the term wizard," Masha corrected, "but yeah."

"So in the demon realm," Luz explained, "a wizard is just a weird old man in a bathrobe with pockets full of glitter."

"Urgh," Masha responded. "Here a wizard is a sorcerer with a hat. But I don't have mine on me. Why?"

Amity didn't answer.

"Amity?" Luz "It might be best to just, you know..."

Amity sighed. "For a witch, magic isn't... It's part of us. Our flesh and blood—"

"And bile!" Luz interjected.

"Especially bile," Amity agreed, "but that doesn't mean it comes easy. We have to work for it and... My... Upbringing has sort of given me a... complex about working hard and being the best. I know that it's not a healthy attitude and I'm trying to change, but... I have hangups about things that seem like cheating, and what I've read about human sorcerers making deals for power, or doing unwholesome things... Feels like cheating." Amity swallowed. "But... You seem like a good person, and my hangups shouldn't be your problem, so... Sorry."

"Oh no, I get it," Masha agreed. "For what it's worth I haven't cut any deals yet. President Laufeyson actually said I should wait until I complete my training before doing anything like that because lots of hedge sorcerers end up making bad deals because they don't know better and the end results aren't pretty. I'm mostly tapping the ambient energy in the environment right now," they explained, "and none of the spells they taught me invoke higher beings for their effects, the closest I know to anything like that is... Well, what I'm casting right now," the finished.

Gestures done, Mahsa held out their hands and declared "The Flames of the Faltine!" suddenly between their two open palms appeared a ball of brilliant flame. "From the Faltinian dimension, the flames of the Faltine are renewable, ethically sourced, clean, and pure magical energy that pretty much everyone and their grandma knows how to invoke. Mostly as an attack, but also when making artifacts that need fuel," Masha continued. They then had the fireball out to Vee. "So I don't know how you—" Masha was interrupted by Vee opening her mouth wide and sucking down the fireball. "Wow, just like Kirby."

Vee shifted first into her true form, then into a form that was identical to Luz except for the bandages that Luz wore to help her resist scratching at her coven sigil. "I don't think I've ever been this full," she said sheepishly in her own voice. "So now I just need to... Is there a mirror?"

"Upstairs!" Luz declared while grabbing her doppelganger by the wrist and dragging her away. "Masha, you're her friend so we need your opinion too."

The sorcerer laughed and followed after, presumably to help Vee come up with a human form that was uniquely her.

"Aye, this has been a very long afternoon," Camila said. "But... Amity? I'm glad my Luz found you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Noceda."