The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

As it would cause Amity quite a bit of trouble if she did not comply, and her Mom was still bound by an everlasting oath not to interfere in Amity's relationships, it was determined, reluctantly on Eda's part, that Luz would accompany Amity back home.

While Luz took a quick shower—and Eda brewed some 'coffee' from a thankfully modified version of Luz's recipe—Amity hit up Edric and Emira on Penstagram, checking to see if they knew what the family meeting was about (they didn't) and asking their help to keep Luz safe if this went poorly, which they both enthusiastically agreed to.

Fifteen minutes later, Luz came down, dressed in her normal casual attire, chugged a large mug of 'coffee,' and met Amity at the door.

Lilith and Eda flew them across town. As they landed just outside of the manor., Eda turned back to them: "Okay kids, Lilly and I are gonna be right outside. If there's any trouble at all, call us... In fact," with a flash her staff transformed into an adorable little owl which fluttered to Luz's shoulder. "Take Owlbert with you just in case."

Lilith's elegant staff transformed into an admittedly goofy-looking white raven. "Mike, go with Amity."

The raven nodded and flew to Amity's shoulder and... Lilith was trusting her with her Palisman... Named Mike. "Mike?"

Lilith sighed. "His name is a bit complicated, so he prefers the nickname Mike Socks."

"At least it's not Mike Rotch," Luz quipped. It took Amity a second to get it.

And then they marched into the manticore's den.

...Well, the Blight family's den, but given what Amity's mother was like the effect was the same.

They were, of course, the last people there. The twins, who from their expressions had been waiting there for some time, saw them come in and then slid apart so that Amity and Luz could sit between them on the couch.

"Alright," her Mom began, "now that we're all here—"

"What is this about?" Amity interrupted. "Why did you want me to bring Luz?"

Her mother glared at her. "Tsk tsk, Mittens. You know better than to speak out of turn." Amity wanted to shrink back, but she stood her ground, and that prompted her mother to continue with a roll of her eyes. "So suspicious," she said, "it occurred to me that your human and I may have gotten off on the wrong foot when we first met a few weeks ago and that was... I'm terribly sorry about that," she said turning to Luz. "I'll admit, I was skeptical and I had my concerns but you do make such a lovely match for my princess. she's gotten so much stronger since meeting you and... Blessed by the Titan," Amity's mother mused. "And you chose my Mittens. And of course, with your mentor pardoned after that ugliness at the conformatorium, there's no reason to fear the worst, in fact..." She wrapped her fingers around the oracle focus she kept at her neck. "I foresee only good things for you and Mittens. I asked her to bring you here because I want you to feel like part of the family." She gave one of her fake little laughs, "The odds are good that you will be, soon enough."

...That was... Amity wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand, her mother was approving of her relationship with Luz and had all but said outright that she'd divined their possible futures to find that they'd almost certainly be happily married when they grew up was nice but... There was something predatory in her mother's tone and she couldn't quite get over the feeling that another shoe was about to drop. In the best-case scenario, her mother expected to get something out of this almost like...

"In fact," her mother continued, "there's this old tradition... It hasn't really been done in years, but the oldest and wealthiest families of the Boiling Isles used to arrange contracts when their children paired off..."

...A buisness arrangement.

"Contracts?" Luz asked, sounding suspicious.

"Nothing sordid," her mother said with a sickly sweet smile, "honestly it's an idea I've always thought was something romantic," she said with the tone she used when exaggerating about what a Blight Industries product was capable of. "Just a little piece of paper that says that, well, since you go so well together, that you'll be wed someday. In the future. When you're both of age."

"So... An arranged marriage," Luz acknowledged. "Er, marriage contract? Um... We don't really do that kind of thing in the human realm, I don't even think it's legal where I'm from, and... I've read stories about that kind of thing but they were always just really cringy excuses to pair off characters or justify other... Stuff."

"Odalia," Amity's sad interrupted. "We talked about this. We have to let Amity make her own choices."

"And I'm offering them a choice to make," her mother continued. "Her and her human. There's no pressure," she said, "I just thought that since there's no doubt that you two will be together long term, you might like to make the commitment now, have that security, get the complicated stuff taken care of way ahead of time so that, when you're ready, you can both enjoy your big day properly..."

"What kind of complicated stuff," Luz asked.

"Oh, like... finances, would you prefer to comingle everything or keep some assets separate, negotiating things like a dowry, dower, or bride price, what to do if the unfortunate happens, that kind of thing," Amity's mother lectured... There it was.

Amity was about to open her mouth to tell her mother off, but Luz cut her off. "Do you think I care about your family's money?" She said and Amity could feel in her bones that Luz was hurt by the insinuation. "That... I love Amity, and she loves me. That's... That's all that matters right now. I couldn't care less about finances and... If this works out and we do get married when we grow up that's the time to talk about this stuff. Not now, we're just kids..." Luz then muttered to herself that this was "just like those cringy fanfics."

"...What's her name?" Amity asked her mother.

"What was that, Mittens?" her mother asked back.

"What's her name?" Amity asked again. "When I brought her over the first time, you asked her name. You even asked her what it meant but... You're not using it. You're just calling her 'my human.' What's her name?"

Her mother put on an overly wide forced grin. "Luuu~cy?"

"Wrong answer!" Amity declared. "And there it is, Luz," she continued, "she doesn't actually care about you, or our relationship. She's looking at this like a transaction, in terms of money, in—" Amity quashed a thought about how part of her felt like it was a transaction and that she should be doing services in exchange for Luz's love—"Because that's all she cares about. She thinks she can profit off of this, somehow, and wants to lock it down and control it. You, you..." She said to her mother... "I hate you!"

At once, Amity felt two things. the first was relief, that she'd finally admitted it, that she'd finally put her true feelings about her mother into words. But she also felt fear. Fear at how her mother would react, fear at what she was going to do, and... She could run again? Eda would let her stay at the Owl House or... Maybe Willow's parents would let her hide there if she explained the situation just right, Gilbert and Harvy were good people they wouldn't... Worst case scenario, there probably wasn't anything living in that cave in the woods she'd been hiding in the first time she ran away.

Her mother walked over to her and raised a hand and suddenly Amity felt small, as if she was a child again, but... The next thing she knew Luz and the Twins were standing up between her and her mother.

"Just let it go, Mom," Edric began.

"They don't want a contract like that," Emira finished.

Odalia sniffed. "Fine. But Mittens, that was a very hurtful thing to say," she sounded sad, but even if Amity couldn't feel the anger radiating off of her she would have been able to tell it was fake. "Despite what you think, everything I do is for you. I just want what's best for you, you know that, don't you...?"

Amity didn't answer as her mother walked back to her seat. Mike Socks nuzzeled her face, and when Luz sat back down she curled her arm around Amity's and... This was wrong. Today was supposed to be about Luz, not Amity's drama. She's not supposed to be the one getting comforted, Luz is. But her mother just has to go and ruin everything.

"Which brings me to the other topic I wished to speak about," her mother... Odalia, began. "Not too long ago, I made the acquaintance of a wealthy demon and we very recently signed a deal that should provide Mittens and.. Luz, with everything they need to thrive and reach their full potential."

"Unfortunately," a new voice called out as someone else appeared in the room, "you didn't read the contract all that closely." ...What smelled like rotten eggs?

Turning to the door, Amity saw what appeared to be a red-skinned witch with a massive widow's peak, dressed in a black leather coat and carrying a cane topped with a silver skull.

Luz groaned. "Not you, anyone but you!"

"Luz," Amity asked, "who is that?"

"Please allow me to introduce myself," the newcomer began, "I'm—"

"Mephisto!" Luz interrupted. "Remember when I told you about the Civil War and how one of the senators who started it was possessed by a petty loser of a devil who wanted to break up Spider-Man's marriage? This is that loser."

"Strong words from one of Knull's bastards," the man named Mephisto declared. "Your great grandpappy on the eldritch side might as well have been a whining toddler compared to me."

"Why are you here!?" Luz demanded. "Shouldn't you be off... Losing Fiddle contests?"

"I'm here to collect what I am due," he said while conjuring parchment in a burst of flame. "You know, for a businesswoman Odalia sure did fall for a lot of older tricks. Just ply her with a bit of expensive wine and she'll sign whatever you put under her nose. Like here, 'I, lord Mephisto henceforth known as the contract holder, and Odalia Blight, henceforth known as the contractee, do enter into an agreement as such: The contract holder shall henceforth ensure that Amity Blight and her human are awarded every opportunity to excel and achieve their full potential and in exchange... The contractee and the remainder of her family shall forfeit their immortal souls'" He laughed dementedly as if he'd just told the most hilarious joke. "Gotta say, Odalia, tricking you was easier than getting Eve to eat the fig."

"You're not the actual Satan, stop acting like you are!" Luz shouted quickly.

"Luz, how do you know so much about this guy?" Amity asked.

"I've read the literature the Avengers put out," Luz explained, "every aspiring witch needs to know how to protect themselves from evil spirits."

Mephisto hummed. "Someone's aiming for Sorcerer Supreme."

"How dare you!?" Amity declared. "Luz would never hunt down and eat dozens of witches and sorcerers to build up her magical power."

"Okay, Amity, we're going to have to fact-check your sources on human magic later," Luz said as an asside, "but right now we kind of need to stop him from dragging your family to eternal damnation."

...Oh. That... That was what forfeiting their souls meant, didn't it... Amity was suddenly filled with immense terror... Not even Odalia deserved that, uh... "How?"

"Yes, how?" Mephisto mocked. "Are you going to fight me? I do have to admit that under normal circumstances, the transcendent slaying properties of your little slimy half might let you stand a chance. I'm a few steps outside my own realm, my powers aren't that strong here. A lucky blow outta do it... But right now, you're tired. You're weak. After what happened last night, we'd go one round before you were dead on your feet. You don't stand a chance."

"A challenge," Luz declared confidentially. "The limits on your ability to act are vague, but two things set in stone are that you have to obey the letter of any deals you make and that you have to abide by any fair challenge in exchange for souls under your dominion. So I challenge you."

"We challenge you," Amity declared, finding her voice through her panic. "I'm not letting Luz deal with this alone."

"Fine, what sort of challenge?"

Amity looked to Luz and... Luz seemed deep in thought. "Amity?" She whispered, "How have you been doing in your bard classes?"

"I'm okay at it, I guess."

"Good enough," Luz finished. "We challenge you to a musical battle: We perform in front of a panel of neutral judges, and whoever is judged best wins. Or if one side forfeits, or if you leave the venue you concede automatically."

"Alright," Mephisto agreed, "now... What are your terms? What's the catch?"

"If we win," Luz began, "you must take your sorry butt back to the bad place, and also you will have to void the contract and release the Blight Family's souls."

"And what if I win?" Mephisto asked smugly.

Luz paused for a minute, "Then you can take me back with you..."

"Luz no!" Amity shouted.

"Amity, it's the only way," Luz countered, "to take the Blight's place."

"Fine!" Mephisto declared. "And since you're being such a good sport about it... I'll even throw in the traditional reward for defeating me in a musical battle. Be back here in... Six hours!"

The devil snapped his fingers and Amity's family flew from their seats to the center of the room before being trapped in a cage of fire. At the same time, a gust of wind picked Luz and Amity up and blew them through the halls of Blight Mannor and out the door where they crashed into the waiting Clawthorn sisters.

"Amity," Luz began after everyone untangled themselves (and a very distressed Lilith's head was paced back on her body,) "this is—"

Amity cut Luz off by kissing her. "You beautiful... stupid... Self-sacrificing... Wonderful... Idiot!" she declared as love and frustration warred within her. "What possessed you to agree to that!?"

"...This is my fault," Luz finished. "Mephisto's a threat from the human realm. And if he was active here before now, you would have heard of him, so... He must have followed me here or something... It's okay, I have a plan, but..."

"The plan is to win," Amity insisted. "He's not getting my family and he's not getting you, I'll, I'll..." Amity drew a spell circle with bard magic and her instrument case appeared in her hands.

"Okay, what's going on?" Eda asked. Then Owlbert and Mike began hooting and cawing at their respective partners. Both looked shocked for a moment and then Eda smacked Luz across the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for!?" She whined.

"For being an idiot," Eda declared. "Now, there's gotta be some way to weasel out of this..."

"There isn't," Luz insisted. "Devils are tricksy types, The only winning move is to beat them at their own game, and..."

"I wanted the first song I played on my instrument to be a love song," Amity admitted wistfully. "This... This is a good alternative but..."

"...Then we'll play a love song," Luz declared as if she had a sudden epiphany. "Devils like Mephisto... They can't stand love. Or goodness. Or purity. It hurts them, badly... If we play a song that's an expression of pure love then, then he'll be in so much pain that he'll have to flee and forfeit the contest."

"Great!" Amity agreed as she felt relief at the realization of a workable plan. "Do you know any songs like that?"

Amity's relief turned back into panic and Luz bluntly admitted "I do not."

"...I do," Eda said after a moment. "And a bit of bard magic that goes with it. If we get going now, I should have just enough time to teach it to you."