The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

Amity was working in a spare laboratory that her father had given her access to when she asked for a workspace. If the only way to get stronger was hard work... Amity hadn't been sure how exactly she'd use bard magic or how it might be combined with her abominations, she'd wanted to study it because of the BATTS demonstration of how powerful and versatile it was made it look like a good choice for a secondary discipline, something to pull out of her pocket in an emergency and if nothing else it was fun...

But then she'd been introduced to human music. She was a rocker now, and when she'd told Skara about the wonderful music she'd heard in the human realm after her bard class this morning, something clicked in her mind and she was inspired.

She finished twisting one last screw and the bronze frame was finished. Then she walked over to her cauldron to check on her custom batch of abomination slime. Already she'd figured out how to punch up the quality of the slime with a few choice ingredient substitutions and careful application of potion magic, that was a no-brainer after just a few potions classes. Rudimentary experimentation with flowers and plant magic, inspired by a conversation with Jerbo after he realized that he wasn't the only one studying both plants and abominations anymore, had led Amity to find that her constructs were more durable if she added a bit of plant magic and some pollen and petals to the mix as well. For this batch, Amity had recycled the lavender bouquet her beloved Luz had conjured for her the night before Grom. Despite Amity's best efforts, she couldn't keep them alive much longer, and this way they'd live on in spirit through the instrument that Amity was forging and the music she'd play with it, inspired by her beloved's home world.

The brew was nearly done, and then it'd be poured into the frame and the Abomitech instrument would be completed, but one last touch was needed. Into the bubbling cauldron, she added an ounce of dissolved catgut(which was not, as she had been led to believe as a child, made from cat guts,) a pinch of powdered singing seeds and a single siren's feather. As she stirred the bubbling slime, she hummed to herself the melody of the song she'd danced to with Luz and channeled as much bard magic as she could muster into the slime so as to ensure that it'd make for a fine-quality instrument and focus for further bard magic in the future.

Once the slime was as close to perfect as she could make it, she pulled it from the fire(pink, as it was lit with her own magic) and poured it into the frame. Abomination slime cooled rapidly which was good in that it was quickly safe to work with but bad in that she had to work quickly to ensure the fine details of the correct shape, particularly the strings, were correct and the gadgets she was installing in it properly integrated but she was her father's daughter, for better or worse, and managed to get the job done and cast the necessary finishing spells.

She was tired. She'd used a lot of magic this afternoon, but it'd be worth it. Now her creation just had to rest as the finishing spell did its work and it could do that in the security of the pre-prepared carrying case. She cleaned up the laboratory, made sure everything was put away securely, did a last-minute safety inspection, turned off the "lab in use" light when she was done, and finally left.

After ensuring that her creation was secure in her room, Amity snuck down to the kitchens to see if they still had any orange blood.

Returning to her room with her refreshing beverage in hand, Amity found her older siblings standing patiently outside her room, radiating regret.

"Edric," Amity greeted. "Emira." What was this about? She'd already forgiven them... Oh, Titan, what had they done now?

"Hey Amity," Edric greeted. "Can we talk?"

"Um, sure," Amity agreed before letting her siblings into her room. "What do you want to talk about?"

"We've been doing some thinking," Emira began.

"And reading," Edric added. Amity snorted and Eric continued "Yeah, we're surprised too."

"Did Dad ever tell you how we found you up on the Knee?" Emira asked.

"No," Amity replied. Why were they bringing this up again?

"It turns out, Mom had a tracking spell on that necklace she had you wear," Edric answered. "The one that... the one that The Owl Lady is using to blackmail Mom? Anyway, The Owl Lady kind of went on a rant about it, listing off what exactly it does... Amity we all thought it was just a way for her to give you instructions when you were helping with presentations, we didn't know it was... That."

"It's fine," Amity insisted as a bit of heat came to her face. She didn't like that people knew about the necklace or what it was. "It's not like I have to wear it anymore."

"If we'd known," Emira answered... "Anyway, she said that necklaces like that were illegal and had been for a long time and that they were only good for one thing, then asked Edric to guess what that was."

"I guessed it was for berating someone," Edric admitted.

"Well, that is what Mom mostly used it for," Amity grumbled. "Why are we talking about this? The only way it'll come up is if Eda decides to rat Mom out." Something Amity hoped never came to pass. The threat seemed to be at least partially working in regards to keeping Mom from being Mom but actually having that dirty laundry aired was... The thought of it made Amity very anxious.

"Well, according to the Owl Lady, that's wrong," Edric continued. "She said it was only good for abuse."

Amity downed her orange blood in one go. "That's ridiculous," she said. "Mom is strict and, and her expectations are way too high but... she's not... She's never hit me," Amity denied. "I mean, not since I was little but... Lots of kids get spanked for misbehaving, that doesn't make it abuse."

"Amity," Emira began. "When you were six you accidentally knocked over a glass of juice. Even though you cleaned it up and it was on the kitchen tile so it didn't leave a stain, Mom still beat you with a belt."

"She didn't even have a belt," Edric added. "She sent her oracle spirit out with the Abomination buttler to buy a belt specifically to spank you with."

"So Mom's a little free with the punishments," Amity denied, "that doesn't mean she's abusive, it just means that... She was always super lenient with you two, so—"

"She isn't lenient with us," Emira interrupted. "She just doesn't care. You know, a few years ago we were jealous of you, we thought you were the favorite, but..."

"But now we know better," Edric finished. "Look, Amity, we didn't want to believe it either but... That's why we did the reading, and it all fits."

"You're uh," Amity observed awkwardly, "you're not calling me 'Mittens.'"

"I mean," Emira began, "it started out as a bit of affection, you know? You were five and your hands got cold so Dad made you those abomination mittens and you were just so fascinated by them that he started calling you Mittens but..."

"Then Mom started using it to uh, what's the word? Condescend to you? And we realized that we were doing that too, so..."

"I... I don't mind it when you or Dad do it," Amity confirmed. "I wish Mom would stop, but... You can... No, please, call me Mittens."

"Okay Mittens, if you're sure," Emira agreed and Amity suddenly felt less anxious about this conversation. "But, still..."

"According to this book that we found," Edric began, "abuse is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally or... some other ways, in order to get something out of it. Especially when it's someone dependent on you or who can't get away, like, like your own kid. And that's... Mittens, that's exactly what Mom was doing. She wanted you to be a perfect little puppet and she'd yell and punish and threaten if you said or did anything that showed you weren't just an extension of herself."

"Making you break things off with your best friend at your own birthday party?" Emira questioned.

"Threatening to make you quit your job at the library if your grades slipped?" Edric added.

"Forcing you to host parties for people you don't even like in order to network?" Emira brought up.

"Literally threatening to have bad things happen to people you like if you don't behave?" Edric supplied.

"That whole mess where she tried to guilt trip Luz into breaking up with you?" Emira finished.

"That's all textbook emotional abuse," the twins concluded together.

"Okay," Amity replied with a gulp, "I... So maybe Mom was abusive but... Between Eda's threat and the Everlasting Oath that I tricked her into she's backed off... She even likes Luz now, ever since the... he emperor's claim that she's blessed by the Titan... Should probably figure out what she expects to get out of our relationship but... Why are we talking about this now?"

"Because Mom came within a hair's breadth of it working," Edric explained. "Just a few months ago, you were acting just like Mom." The remainder of that hurt.

"And we let it happen," Emira added. "We're your older siblings. We're supposed to protect you but instead..."

"We were abusing you, too," Edric finished sadly.

Amity got indignant at that: "Oh, that is a load of snorse—!"

"No, it's true," Emira interrupted. "The book we found, it... IT said that sometimes victims of abuse or neglect—"

"That's when you ignore the needs of people dependent on you," Edric clarified, "so what Mom was doing with us, emotionally—"

"Victims of that stuff will sometimes adopt the mannerisms of their abusers, or become abusers themselves," Emira continued, "and... Mom was trying to make you like her, and we ended up..."

"The pranks," Edric mentioned. "They started out to... We were jealous. We thought you were the favorite and tried to punish you for it instead of realizing that Mom was hurting you, too."

"Eventually e realized that it wasn't your fault," Emira continued, "but by then you were turning into Mom's mini-me and we tried to stop it by getting you to 'lighten up' as if you were doing it on your own instead of anything to stop Mom from..."

"And then there was your diary," Edric said with shame.

"I already forgave you for that," Amity insisted.

"Did you really?" Emira asked. "Or did you just say you would so we'd help you steal those memory tweezers?"

"I meant it," Amity insisted. "I... Maybe holding that over you instead of just asking your help was a jerk move, but..." Amity took a deep breath and decided to show her siblings a great deal of trust. "I have an abnormal oracle talent. I can sense emotions. I know you feel bad about what you did," she confirmed, "I know you love me. I know you're trying. I needed a little time to heal, but... You're forgiven. I mean it."

"You... Have an abnormal talent?" Edric asked.

"Yes," Amity replied. "And the only people in all of the demon realm who know are you two, Eda, and Luz. I haven't even told Willow or Boscha. If Mom ever found out, she'd force me into the Oracle Track in a heartbeat, so I'm showing you a great deal of trust when I say not to tell anyone. Does that prove that you're forgiven?"

This was, as Amity soon learned, something of a mistake. Tears came to the eyes of both twins and the next thing Amity knew she was the meat in a hug sandwich.

"Too tight, too tight!" Amity exclaimed with what little breath remained in her after being crushed as so.

Edric and Emira gave her one last squeeze before letting go. "Thank you, Mittens," Edric said.

"It means a lot to us for you to say that," Emira finished. "But... Forgiveness doesn't erase that deed. You weren't acting the way we thought you should be acting and instead of talking to you, we tried to hurt you. What we did was just as bad as what Mom does and... We're sorry."

"We should have been protecting you," Edric repeated. "But... We'll never do anything to hurt you ever again. And we'll do our best not to let Mom hurt you, either."

"We love you, Mittens," Emira finished.

"I know," Amity replied. "I love you guys, too."