The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

Amity, very annoyed that her romantic moment with Luz had been interrupted by someone who clearly had no appreciation for romance or her beloved Luz, turned around to see who it was.

She found three teenagers, about the same age as her and Luz, standing in a group. In the lead was a girl with blonde hair with a pink stripe dyed through it and a build and jawline similar to Amity's own, though that was where the resemblance ended as the girl's skin had a slight tan. To her left was a tall boy with pale skin, brown hair, and blue eyes. To her right was another girl with dark brown skin and tightly curled black hair done up in two buns, with a slim build and wearing spectacles.

The blond leader girl was dressed in what Amity presumed to be normal human clothes, but the boy was wearing what looked like a varsity jacket, albeit without a letter patch sewn on, and the other girl was wearing an outfit with a number of layers terminating in a plain ankle length skirt.

"Hey Clara," Luz greeted awkwardly prompting a response from the blond one. "Scott," the boy. "Suzy," and the dark-skinned girl. "Didn't know you hung out together."

"It's a recent friendship," Clara explained. Hearing her speak, she was the one who had ruined their moment. "So, Luz. Back in town and already trying to be the center of attention."

"Excuse me," Amity interrupted, "but I can see plenty of people dancing to the music." There were, a few people dancing to a song about shouting out loud that Amity really hoped she'd be able to hear uninterrupted later. "Some are even dancing together."

"Yeah, but..." Clara said while waving her hand in a circle. "When it comes to Noceda you just know, you know? She gets so... I'm so sorry that she roped you into this, but you're new in town. You couldn't have known." Amity glared at the girl, but the girl paid it no mind. "She's just so... Extra."

"Dramatic," Suzy quipped.

"Tryhard," Scott contiuned.

"And, of course, who can forget..." Clara began.

"Cheesy!" They finished all at once and made Luz flinch. Now Amity was mad, but she had experience in masking her emotions. Going red-faced and passing out wouldn't help. It'd be hard though.

Ignorant of Amity's internal struggle, Clara continued. "Like, when we were auditioning for the role of Juliet in the school play, she acted out the suicide scene—and got the line wrong, mind you—and then actually cut open her dress and pulled out a string of sausage links to simulate her guts spilling out. Or that gross thing she did with her eyelids at the cheerleading tryouts." She shuddered, and then all three of the jerks laughed.

Amity was about to just grab Luz's hand and leave or something when the lead jerk continued. "Or the time she asked me out."

"What?" Amity felt herself asking by reflex and she immediately regretted it.

"Oh yeah, it was like super cringy," Clara explained. "It was the last year of middle school, a few months after she almost got arrested and that's a whole other story. It was the school talent show... I guess you can say that Luz and I were almost friends back then. We'd been in classes together since she moved here, had a couple of interests in common back then, and she wasn't so... Much when she was younger. Anyway, her performance in the talent show was singing this pop song from the nineties about standing out and getting noticed. I think it was written for a children's movie or something?"

"Stand Out's a solid song," Luz muttered in her own defense, though Clara didn't seem to acknowledge it.

"Anyway, it was very clearly about getting someone's attention and she kept making eye contact with me the whole time. Her singing was... Okay, but then she asked me out right after the show and..." Clara shook her head. "I've got nothing against girls who dig girls, but I don't swing that way and even if I did, I could do better. I might have considered going on a 'just as friends pity date' if she hadn't asked me out in such a cheesy way. I've tried to keep my distance since then to... Mixed success."

Luz was now trying to hide behind Amity.

"She tried to ask me out, too," Scott said suddenly. "It was a few months before the field trip when she almost got arrested. She wrote me this cheesy poem and everything and walked off shaking when I said no."

"She asked me out last year," Suzy added. "Around the time of the fall formal. We were in some classes together and she noticed I didn't have a date—there aren't that many queer girls who are out at our school, you know—and we were kinda sorta friends. I didn't really know of her reputation yet, I only moved here this year, and she was a little annoying but not... Too bad, I hadn't seen her worst yet. I considered it, she is kind of cute, but... I decided I'd rather go stag than have people think I liked a geek. Especially with the cheesy pickup line she used when asking. Good thing, too, since she showed up to the dance dressed like a rat."

"...Was an otter."

Amity forced herself to take a deep breath before turning back to Luz. "These are them? Aren't they? The ones who made you feel like no one would ever like you?"

"It wasn't that bad," Luz insisted. "It's not like they were mean about it, it's just..."

"They sound pretty mean to me," Amity insisted.

"Clara rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. What, do you think she's entitled to a date because she asked?"

"No," Amiry clarifed. "No one is entitled to the affections of a specifc person. But Luz clearly put her heart on the line. She sang you a song," Amity id to Clara. "She wrote you a poem," to Scott. "And your rejections hurt her."

"It was her own fault for being so frickin' cheesy," Suzy countered. "And like Clara said, she's not even into girls so even if Luz had been a perfect Lady asking her that wouldn't have gone anywhere."

"Still, she could have been nicer about it," Amity insisted.

"It wasn't that bad," Luz repeated. "Clara could have outed me after turning me down. It could have been a lot worse. All they did was say no and why, I'm just a little thin-skinned is all."

Now? Now Amiy's blood and bile were boiling. Before she could act on it, however, Clara stepped around her and tussled Luz's hair.

"Aw, don't worry. If you keep trying then someday someone will know who you are and still like you," she condescended in an uncomfortably familiar tone. The same way Amity used to 'encourage' Willow. "If you manage to tone it down enough, you might even get someone to love—"

Clara did not get to finish because Amity smacked her right across the face.

"Do not." she insisted. "Talk. To my girlfriend like that."

Clara seemed shocked that someone had struck her, her first action being to raise a hand to her cheek, but after a moment Amity could see that what she'd said had caught up with the girl. "Wait, girlfriend?"

"Yes," Amity insisted while grabbing Luz's hand. "Girlfriend. Luz is a wonderful, kind, loving, creative, and optimistic person and my life is better for knowing her. I love her, just the way she is, and I will not tolerate people talking down to her." Amity almost considered pulling Luz into a kiss to punctuate her statement but decided against it. Their first proper, for real on the mouth kiss needed to be at a suitable romantic moment, not an impulse done to get one over a jerk.

"What do you know," Clara defended while stepping away, the other two jerks moving to back her up. "You're probably just some other weirdo she met at freak camp. How much did it cost to have that done to your ears?"

Amity responded by flexing her ears to show that no, this was cosmetic surgery, she actually did have pointy ears. Then she gave a toothy grin and ran her tongue across her teeth to emphasize that yes, she had fangs, and they were bared.

This prompted the three to go wide-eyed. "You're a mutant," Suzy declared.

"That, that explains it," Carla. "You're not... Look, Gravesfield is good to mutants. You don't have to settle for someone like Noceda."

"Funny," Amity deadpanned. "I can't help but think that she could do better than me. She's so kind and compassionate and brave and funny. Me? All I have to offer is my love and my family's immense wealth. What's that worth in comparison?"

The three jerks looked at her with a bewildered expression. "Are, are you serious?" Carla asked.

"As a heart attack," Amity replied. "Before I met Luz I was just another little rich girl going through life conforming to the expectations placed on me. I was awful to people because that was what was expected of me. Luz helped me be the person I want to be, someone respectable. Someone worth loving and I can never repay her for that."

"Amity, that's not something you have to pay back," Luz insisted.

"I know," Amity replied, "but I want to try. Anyway, when I asked Luz out she froze up. I thought she was trying to figure out how to let me down gently until we finally talked and she told me about how she'd been rejected and made fun of and was convinced that no one could like her like this. That... That was you three, wasn't it?" Amity asked while glaring at the three jerks. They avoided eye contact. "Apologize. Apologize for making her feel like that. And for anything else, you've done to make her feel bad. Right now."

"And if we don't?" Scott asked definitely. Amity kept glaring.

"Do you seriously want to turn this into a fight?" Suzy asked.

"Do you?" Amity asked back.

Carla glared back at Amity. "The abandoned graveyard in Old Gravesfield. One hour." The three jerks then turned and walked off. None of the other parkgoers seemed to have paid much mind to the confrontation.

Once they were clear, Luz very quickly pulled Amity into a very tight hug. "¡Gracias mi heroína! ¡Mi hermosa heroína! ¡Mi heroína favorita e intrépida! ¡Te amo! ¡Te amo mucho!"

"Luz, what's the... I love you too," Amity answered to the part of that exclamation she understood clearly. She could guess at the rest when she had time to process it. "I was just—"

Amity was cut off by Luz smashing her lips against her own. It was awkward at first, Amity was taken by surprise, but after a few seconds, she leaned back into it kissing Luz back. After a moment, they pulled apart for air.

"Oh wow," Amity felt herself saying as her mind caught up to what just happened. "Kissing."

"I can't believe I just did that," Luz declared and Amity could feel that she was somewhat surprised at herself.

"I can't believe I just said that," Amity admitted. Still, as far as first real kisses went that was... Perfect.

"That was... So cool," Luz said. "Whenever I'd think about being in a story it was always as the hero but I think I like being the maiden whose honor is defended by a brave, dashing hero." Amity immediately made plans to acquire a dueling saber, a wide-brimmed hat, and a cape.

"Thanks, Batata," Amity. "But, Luz... I have to ask... You're normally so..." Amity thought back to their talk after the duel at the Covention. Luz had said that she didn't mind it when she was picked on but hated it when her friends were... and yet here she was, clearly minding being picked on.

"Yeah, uh... I guess being back here is bringing up so old..." Luz scratched at the back of her head and laughed nervously. "Um..."

Amity replied by pulling Luz back into a hug and kissing her forehead. "Luz, you're so brave when standing up for others. I don't know why you can't stand up for yourself, but I'll always be here for you when you need me."

"Amity," Luz gushed.

"After all," Amity continued, "we already agreed to protect each other." Amity might not be strong enough to protect Luz from the horrors of the human realm, but protecting her from jerks who put her down like that was well within her power.

"...Are we really gonna do this?" Vee asked, speaking up for the first time since the jerks got there. "Fight those people who were mean to Luz in an old cemetery?"

Amity blinked. "We?"

"I mean, yeah," Masha added. "You weren't expecting to fight three-on-one, were you? I mean, none of them really look like fighters so they're probably not even gonna show up," They continued, "especially since they think you're a mutant, but I just kind of assumed."

"No, I wasn't... I was just speaking for me," Amity clarified. "I wasn't expecting anyone else to..."

"Well, that's just silly," Masha declared. "I know you've got this whole chivalrous romance thing going, but you can't expect me to just sit back, right? Friends help each other."

"...If I'm gonna be living with Luz and M-Camila then, that sort of makes us family, right?" Vee added hesitantly. "Aren't families supposed to protect each other?"

"Now come on, just on the off chance that that wasn't bluster we've got an hour to prepare to rumble with Luz's evil ex-crushes," Masha concluded. "I know where the old graveyard is and a quick way to get there. We get there first we can scope out the terrain."

Masha led them through town, into "Old Gravesfield" where the buildings were noticeably older, with some reminding Amity of Bonesborough, and then into the woods.

Halfway along the path they stopped, because Luz noticed a creature thrashing about in a cage.

"Okay, seriously," she muttered to herself as she crouched down. "All we have are rabbits, foxes, and possums, nothing big enough to justify a cage this size..." After fiddling with the cage for a moment Luz got it open and the large, white-faced rat-shaped animal dashed off into the trees.

"Was that a possum?" Amit asked, bewildered. "Possums are real?"

"Yes and yes," Luz replied. "Why?"

"Um... Possums are considered a cryptid in the demon realm," Amity continued. "There are books on it and everything."

"Well, now you can tell people that you saw one with your own eyes and not be lying," Luz said happily.

"Um, not to uh, be a burden," Vee interrupted, "but... The further into the woods we go the more things are starting to smell like the Boiling Isles."

"I have noticed that the ambient magic has been getting denser," Masha admitted.

"You can sense that!?"Amity explained. "Without specialized equipment?"

"You can't?" Masha replied. "How... Oh, wait. You said your magic is part of your body. You wouldn't need to learn how to sense it. For sorcerers sensing and tapping ambient magic is one of the first things we learn."

With that, they continued further into the woods, eventually stumbling across a flooded clearing with a lot of gravestones just barely sticking out of the water, some dry land with an arch over it on the far side, and an old sign saying 'danger, deep water.'

"Wait, if the old graveyard is flooded," Amity began, "why did they want to fight here?"

"Probably just pulled a random location out of the air," Masha concluded. "If they show up at all the fact that we can't really fight here will make it pretty easy to talk them into standing down."

Vee was sniffing the air. "The magic. The thing that's making his part of the forest smell like the Boiling Isles, it's on the other side of the water."

"Swimming in a flooded graveyard is probably a bad idea," Luz observed.

Amity had a thought. "Luz? Try one of the glyphs."

"But they don't work in the human realm."

"I have a theory," Amity explained. "Please, just humor me."

"Alright," Luz agreed. She took a moment to look through her glyph cards before selecting one, clapping it between her hands, and setting her hands on the ground at the edge of the flooded section of the cemetery. Suddenly, a bridge of ice formed starting from her hands and rapidly spreading across the water to the far side.

"Wait, so if the ambient magic around here is so much denser..." Masha began.

"...And it smells like the Boiling Isles's magic..." Vee continued.

"...and the Glyphs work here but not in the rest of the human realm..." Luz added.

"Then something here is bringing in the same magic as the Boiling Isles," Amity concluded.

They marched across the ice bridge, finding more graves on the other side and a stone structure behind the arch. Vee sniffed the air again and approached one of the graves. After a moment she called back, "I found something!"

Reconvening in front of the arc, Vee held out a large vial, with an owl-shaped stopper, filled with a viscous cerulean liquid and Amity's heart nearly stopped. It couldn't be, could it? Here.

"Okay, if that's the source of the magic then... Hmm, here's a chance to practice with that one spell." Masha started making gestures again, including making that horned shape with their finger, before exclaiming "The Third Eye of Agamotto!" Wait, wasn't that one of the artifacts Luz had mentioned?

Regardless, a large third eye appeared on Masha's forehead. They looked at the vial with it, and then immediately fell to the ground clutching their face and shouted a long string of profanities that made Amity's ears burn.

"Oh Goddess, it's like looking right into the sun," they finally declared after a moment, blinking and standing back up, the third eye gone. "Okay, so what the crud is that stuff."

"I think," Amity began hesitantly, "I think it's Titan Blood."

Vee gasped and started holding the vial a lot more carefully.

Masha, however, was confused. "And that is?"

"The Boiling Isles are formed around the remains of a dead titan." Amity lectured. "We don't know its name, or even if it had one, so so we just call it 'The Titan.' Titans are extinct now, but beforehand they were like, the most powerful things ever. Every inch of their body was saturated with magic. All other complex life in the demon realm was originally born from the decaying flesh of titans, and the blood of The Boiling Isles Titan is the most powerful source of magical energy known to witch kind. Powerful, but rare," she finished. "I can't imagine how such a large vial of undiluted Titan blood ended up here."

"I mean, the building the portal door opens up in looks pretty old," Luz observed. "Maybe whoever had it before Eda came here and hid some for some reason?"

"Maybe," Amity agreed. If It was Titan blood, and it was letting Luz use the glyphs... Then that meant that the glyphs were powered by the Titan's magic. Combined with how she'd gotten them and Eda's theories about the ancient wild witches, this... This confirmed it. The Glyphs came from the Titan. Obviously, Luz wasn't some chosen one, those didn't exist outside of children's novels, but... The Titan had to have let Luz find them for a reason, right? Applied theology continued to be hard. "Luz, you should hold onto the vial. that way, you'll be able to do magic wherever you are."

Vee dutifully handed the vial over to Luz, who hid it on her person.

Then they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, after a long time, the three jerks from earlier approached from the same direction the four of them had come from.

"So, you actually showed up," Clara observed while examining the ice bridge. She tapped it with her foot before the three jerks crossed.

"I'll give you one more chance to just apologize to Luz," Amity declared.

This was met with a moment of silence, in which two things became apparent. Scott's eyes were glowing white, and Suzy's clothes were moving in the wind even though there was no wind.

Finally, Clara answered in a voice loud enough to echo slightly, "No, I don't think we will."