Chapter Text
Podfic of this chapter:
Luz was straight up shaking. She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t ready to leave.
Time had flown by since her arrival on the Boiling Isles, and just like that, the three months she was supposedly ‘at summer camp’ were over, and her mom was expecting her back at home. In just two days, she was supposed to go back to regular Gravesfield school rather than Hexside, and she was already plagued by boredom just thinking about it. Not only that, but there was also the fact that she had no real friends at home, and that there were quite a few people she didn’t look forward to seeing again.
Luz didn’t fit in at home. She’d never been quite as happy there as she was here. She’d miss everyone she’d met here so much.
She’d miss her comedy hours with King, hanging out with Willow and Gus, getting into all kinds of semi-legal (but awesome) messes with Eda, joking around with the twins, and... Amity.
God, how she’d miss Amity.
The two of them had not started out on the best terms, but slowly, Amity had softened up to her, and hidden behind that mean, cold demeanor was easily the most amazing person Luz had ever met.
They’d all had so much fun together over the summer, and Luz was overjoyed with seeing Amity and Willow starting to become friends again after everything that had happened between them.
But now it was time to say goodbye...
“I don’t wanna leave you guys... I’ll miss you all so much...”
She was full-on ugly crying again, and she didn’t care in the slightest. This was hard. These guys were her best friends— her family. And now she had to leave them. Sure, it was temporary, but she still got to be upset.
“Awww, we’ll miss you too, Luz.” Willow pulled her best friend into another tight hug. She was visibly on the verge of tears . “Promise you’ll visit often?”
“Of course. I promise.”
Luz knew she’d have no trouble keeping that promise. If she could have, she would’ve stayed on the Boiling Isles entirely. Obviously she’d come visit this wonderful magical fantasy world with all of its terrifying monsters as often as she could.
“Good. I’ll hold you to that. This is so you, you know, don’t forget me.” Willow handed Luz a little pot, then held her hand over it to make a small flower grow out of it.
“I could never forget you, Willow. And is that-”
Willow nodded and smiled at her. “The same kind I was healing when we first met.“
Luz beamed. “Awesome! I promise I’ll treasure it forever! And also try to not forget to water it!”
Luz did not have the best history with that, admittedly. But she’d do her very best.
...it was the thought that counted, right?
“I made some more magic letters for our farewell!” Gus smiled at her when she turned her attention to him.
“If it’s another ‘GOODBYE FOREVER’ I swear-” Willow hissed, but her friend lifted his hands in defense before she could finish that sentence, interrupting her.
“Of course not! I promised I’d get rid of them, remember?”
The blue letters over their heads spelled ‘SEE YOU NEXT SUMMER!’, and then he pulled out another sentence saying ‘HOPEFULLY SOONER’.
Willow nodded in approval.
“Don’t you dare forget about us when you get back to your cool human school, you hear me?”
Luz chuckled a bit as she hugged Augustus. “Gus, I’ve told you before, there’s nothing particularly ‘cool’ about human school. And there’s no way I’ll ever forget any of you! I love you all so much.”
“AND WE LOVE YOU, LUZ! HOOT HOOT!”
Luz smiled and gave Hooty a hug.
Then she turned to King. The tiny king of demons jumped into her arms and sobbed silently.
“Awww, I’ll miss you, too, little guy.”
“The King of Demons misses nobody!” he protested, cuddling up to her. Then, he sighed and added, “...but maybe I will miss you,” so quietly that nobody but her could hear it.
She beamed and patted his head.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” He hugged her once more. “And we’ll always be connected through our friendship necklaces, remember?”
“Yeah! Of course! So don’t miss me too much, okay?”
Luz chuckled. She took a couple more seconds to hug him, then turned to her mentor.
This was hard. So, so incredibly hard. She was leaving behind so much here. She didn’t want to leave, not even temporarily. Leaving the Boiling Isles meant leaving behind a part of her.
But she had to go. She missed her mom, and she didn’t want her to be worried. Not that it made saying goodbye any easier...
Luz had thought that saying her farewells to her classmates the day before had been hard, but this was so, so much worse.
With every person she said goodbye to, she felt like she was telling another fraction of her heart farewell. She felt her emotions being pulled in too many directions at once, and it hurt, and she felt pressured because she wanted the last words she said to everyone before leaving to be perfect, despite knowing that they couldn’t and wouldn’t be.
“Eda...” Luz didn’t even know where to start. There were so many things she wanted to say, so many things she wanted to thank her mentor for, and the reality that she was leaving now made her so emotional that all of it stuck in her throat and refused to come out.
Thankfully, Eda did know where to start.
“So... you really made it through the summer without getting lost or eaten, huh? Color me impressed!” Eda grinned as she ruffled Luz’s hair. “Seriously though... you did good, kid. You’re one of the toughest witches I’ve ever met. I’ll miss ya. See you soon, okay?”
“Yeah.” Luz wiped some tears off her cheeks, then pulled her mentor into a hug. “And... thanks, Eda. For everything. This might sound a bit silly, but... you’ve kind of become like a second mom to me. You know, the weird, criminal kind.”
“So, the best kind, right?” Eda chuckled, but was visibly tearing up when she hugged Luz back. “Now come on, kid. Hurry up with the rest of your goodbyes before your human mom reports you missing. It’s time to finally make good on my promise to get you home.”
Luz nodded and sighed as more tears streamed down her face. Just Amity and her siblings left.
Luz wasn’t sure why, but something inside her told her she should save saying goodbye to Amity for last. The thought of leaving everyone here hurt, enough to make her unable to sleep... but when she thought about leaving Amity and not seeing her again for several months, she felt like all air had been sucked out of her lungs.
‘Come on, Luz. This is the last time you’ll see her in a while. Don’t make an idiot of yourself for once, okay?’
She sighed sadly as she walked up to Amity and the twins.
Edric and Emira were giving their sister extremely weird glances time and again, and Amity looked like she was about to implode.
“So... this is it, I guess? Edric, Emira... you guys are pretty cool. Thanks for, you know, helping me to train for Grom and stuff. I’ll miss you. See you guys next summer!“
“We’ll miss you, too, Luz,” Emira said, looking at her brother expectantly as if she was waiting for him to add something—which he immediately did.
“But not as much as Mittens will miss you, right baby sis?”
Amity went bogbeet-red. She was pretty much convinced the only reason her siblings hadn’t just said goodbye to Luz at school the day before was because they were determined to embarrass Amity to death in front of her crush one last time before Luz left for the human realm.
...and maybe also to make sure Amity actually went through with the confession she had planned.
Oh, how she regretted asking Emira for advice and thinking for even a single second that this could end any other way than it had. Why had she done that again?
‘Right. Because Emira is the only one of us that’s somewhat functional enough to actually ask someone out.’
Amity send death glares in both of her siblings’ directions and growled. “Shut it, you two!”
“We didn’t say anything, Mittens, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Emira replied with a grin.
Amity groaned.
Luz looked up at the twins.
“Oh, and one more thing before I leave... please be nice to your sister, okay? I know you guys can be pretty cool, but what you did at the library was taking things way too far, and if you ever hurt Amity again, I’m going to stop being friends with you.”
“Yeah, yeah, got it.”
“Hear that, Mittens? She’s super protective of you! That’s adorable,” Edric teased Amity, winking at his little sister.
Amity could feel her cheeks heat up even more.
“I said shut it.” She sighed. “Sorry about that. They’re a nuisance. Anyway... Luz, I’m... really going to miss you.”
There was an instant change in the tone when Amity said Luz’s name, switching from her being annoyed at her siblings to an incredibly soft voice in a matter of seconds.
Luz pulled her into a bear hug.
“Me too. I’ll miss you so much, Lemon Drop. Especially our book club.”
Amity melted into the hug and never wanted to let go again. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink at the new nickname that Luz had just blurted out without thinking.
Meanwhile, everyone around them was exchanging weird looks.
“Did Luz just call Mittens ‘Lemon Drop’?” Emira whispered to her brother.
Edric nodded. “And Mittens didn’t even kill her.”
“Luz, listen, I-” Amity swallowed hard. “There’s something that I need to tell you before you go.”
Wow, Luz smelled really nice.
‘Focus, Amity!’ She commanded herself, taking a deep breath.
Luz was looking at her curiously. “What is it?”
“I-” Her words got stuck in her throat. What was she thinking? She couldn’t actually believe she’d be able to go through with this, could she? What if Luz didn’t like her back? What if she told her right now and messed up their entire relationship and when Luz came back she wouldn’t want to be friends with her anymore? “I can’t do it,” she mumbled to herself, just quietly enough that Luz didn’t hear.
“What is it, Amity?” Luz repeated worriedly.
Amity was obviously nervous and hesitant about something, but why? Was everything alright? The longer she stayed quiet, the more concerned Luz got.
Amity bit her lip and pulled her friend closer. “I just... Promise me you’ll be back soon, okay?“
Amity never wanted to let go again, because letting go meant Luz would actually leave, and then she’d be gone, and then...
Tears started streaming down Amity’s face.
“Of course. I promise.” Luz audibly gasped when she lifted her head to see her friend cry. “Amity...”
“Sorry, it’s just...”
“You really are going soft on me, huh?” Amity didn’t know how to reply to that, so she just nodded. “It’s okay. No need to apologize. I’ve been bawling my eyes out all day, after all.” Luz smiled at her, then lifted a finger to her friend’s cheek and gently wiped the tears off Amity’s face. “I’m going to be back as soon as I can. And I promise I’ll miss you all an unhealthy amount in the meantime.”
Luz’s smile felt forced. Her heart was aching, and a part of her wanted to stay right here in this spot and just breathe in Amity’s nice magic perfume forever... but she had no choice.
She had to go.
When Luz finally let go of Amity, she did it slowly and reluctantly.
There was a heavy numbness in her heart when she opened the portal door, Willow’s flower pressed to her chest and other memories of this wonderful place safely packed away in her bag as she readied herself to return to her normal life with her mom.
She took a deep breath and turned towards her friends one last time. They were all smiling and waving, and Luz waved back, not even bothering to hold back her tears as she looked at the most incredible people she’d ever met for what would be the last time in a while.
“Goodbye, terrifying fantasy world. I’m really going to miss you!”
She’d be back soon. That was her only consolation.
“AND WE’LL MISS YOU, LUZ!”
She smiled at her friends—her second family—once more, and then she closed her eyes and stepped through the door.
Emira put a comforting hand on her sister’s shoulder when Luz went through the door, back into her own world.
“Couldn’t tell her, huh? It’s okay, Mittens. There’ll be other opportunities.”
Amity didn’t even reply. She was too focused watching Luz leave... and when the door shut behind her, Amity suddenly awoke from her trance and abruptly started moving.
It had finally hit her that Luz would be really, actually gone now—out of reach for her, for all of them—and that it might be a really long time before they’d see each other again.
What if she didn’t find any opportunities to come visit them before next summer?
A lot could happen in a year. A lot could change...
What if Luz came back and didn’t like Azura anymore?
What if she came back and had fallen in love while she was away?
What if Amity had missed her one chance to tell Luz how she felt about her?
Maybe it was the overthinking that made her do it, or maybe she just wasn’t thinking at all—but Amity went and grabbed a hair clip from the pile of human items splayed out on the table from the last Human Treasures Day and ran after Luz.
Gus watched her run for the portal in confusion. “Uh... what are you doing?”
“What does it look like? Luz forgot her hair clip. I’m going to give it back to her!” Amity replied with a grin as she reopened the portal door and disappeared through it.
Edric started after his sister in disbelief and whistled. “Whoa. Bold move, Mittens.”
Emira nodded. “But I get it. She’s a little shy. It’s probably easier to do if she doesn’t have an audience.”
Gus just looked around really confused.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that hair clip didn’t actually belong to Luz.”
Willow just smiled. “Amity knows that.”
“...huh? But why did she go after her, then?” Willow couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at the big question mark on his face. “Am I missing something here? Can somebody explain to me why all of you are looking at each other so weirdly?”
“Oh Gus...”
Luz was still staring at the door of the small wooden cabin that had brought her into the magical world so many months ago, trying to tear her eyes from it so she could head back to her house before her mom started to worry. It was hard, because she felt more like she wasn’t heading home but actually leaving it. She’d barely left the Boiling Isles and was already starting to feel homesick.
It took all of her barely existent self-control and a heavy focus on how much she missed her mom for her to keep herself from stepping right back through the portal.
Suddenly, the door opened again—entirely without Luz touching anything—and a second later, Amity ran out, barely managing to balance herself in time and not trip down the small flight of stairs.
“Luz, you forgot-” Amity flushed when she regained her balance and realized that there had been no need for running or yelling after her friend, since Luz was still standing only a couple of steps from the door. She facepalmed. “Oh great, now I look like an idiot. So much for not embarrassing myself during our goodbyes.”
She closed the door behind her. The last thing she wanted for what was about to follow was an audience of curious friends and family staring at them from the other side of the portal.
“As someone who’s an expert at looking like an idiot, believe me, you didn’t. I’d absolutely have tripped down these stairs if I were you.” Luz chuckled. Amity smiled at her as she walked down the stairs towards Luz. “And I’m not complaining, but... what are you doing here?”
Amity shyly touched the back of her head. “You... forgot this.”
She handed Luz the hair clip she’d grabbed from the table. This was the first time she actually looked at it properly. It was small and v-shaped, with a silly pink flower glued onto the broad part.
“Oh.” Luz put her bag down for a moment and looked at what she was being handed. “Amity, that’s super sweet of you, but... this isn’t actually my hair clip.”
“Really?” Amity asked, trying her best to sound surprised, as if she hadn’t been almost certain that was the case anyway. “Oh well. Now that I’m here...”
Luz interrupted her and pulled her into a hug.
“But... I really appreciate you doing this. Even if it’s not really my clip, that you came after me for something as small as this is really cute.”
Luz felt her heart flutter the way it had for a bit now whenever she was around Amity. There was something about her that made Luz feel comfortable and weirdly happy whenever they were together, so much that even the smallest gestures suddenly became extremely meaningful and that she couldn’t help but smile just thinking about her.
Even though the clip didn’t actually belong to her, at that moment, Luz was very glad about the mix-up.
Maybe one more hug would make the final goodbye a little easier. Maybe if she hugged her long enough, Amity’s magic perfume would stay on Luz’s own clothes for half a day, and she could pretend Amity was there with her when she closed her eyes. The thought was nice.
Amity would gladly have remained in this position for another two hours, but that wasn’t why she’d come here. The hair clip had just been her excuse in case she’d chicken out again, after all. But she wouldn’t. Not this time.
She was still freaking out for the same reasons that had stopped her from confessing her feelings before... but seeing Luz close the door behind her had made Amity realize she might regret it for the rest of her life if she didn’t act now.
As nice as Grom had been, she still wished she’d actually found the courage to properly ask Luz out. And if she still regretted that so deeply several weeks later—despite the fact that this specific story had had a happy ending—how much would she regret not confessing if Luz actually ended up falling in love with someone else?
That wasn’t something Amity wanted to think about, now or ever.
She slowly moved out of the hug and locked gazes with Luz. “Anytime. But... Luz, I need you to forget about the hair clip for a second, okay? There’s something I need to tell you, and I have to do it now, because who knows what will have changed between us by the time I see you again. It’s... really important.”
She was nauseatingly nervous, and a part of her wanted to either run away or at least quit looking at Luz and start staring at her own shoes instead.
“Hey, is... is everything okay?” Luz looked genuinely concerned. She’d never seen Amity this nervous before, and she seemed so serious. “You don’t look so good. You’re not...” Luz bit her lip. She was really, really worried, and the thought of voicing her concerns out loud made her even more worried, but if something was wrong with Amity, she needed to know right away. “You’re not dying, are you?”
The thought alone almost made her knees give out.
“...what?”
The look of genuine confusion in Amity’s face lifted a huge weight off of Luz’s shoulders.
“Oh thank god. It’s just, you looked so pale, and-”
Amity chuckled. “Nope. Definitely not dying. Except maybe of nervousness.”
Luz being so concerned about her because of a detail as small as slight paleness was adorable and made Amity’s heart leap way more than it should have. And the dumb misunderstanding had taken away at least a little bit of her nervousness.
She took a deep breath.
‘Come on, Amity Blight. You can do this. You can do this.’
She took Luz’s hand.
Alright. This was it. No chickening out this time. She was ready.
“Luz, listen, I think I-“
A deafening explosion from behind Amity cut her off, and then a wave of pain washed over her as the shock wave slammed her right into Luz.