Grom Pt. 2!!!
Uhhh don't hate me. I love Luz, but I just can't seem to give the girl a break...
It get's DARK!
ENJOY<3
*****
Luz and Amity walk together with their fingers intertwined. Every step towards the doors of Hexside feels like a marathon for both of the girls.
As Luz reaches for the door Amity yanks the human away and turns her around so they are facing each other. Luz is shocked and confused by the witches' actions but doesn't resist. Amity sighs "Luz please just remember it's just a monster. Whatever you see is what you're scared of. It's not real."
Luz smile and lets out a breath of relief "Oh my goodness Ams. I thought you were backing out for a second." She wipes away a bead of sweat and continues "No I know it's just a big glob shape-shifter. Now can we go and enjoy ourselves?"
Amity wants to, she really does. She wants to forget all of her worries and insecurities and just dance the night away. But the witch can't shake the feeling whatever Luz is going to see is going to shake her to her core. The witch forces a smile "Yes. Sorry. Let's go show those witches whose empress!"
With that, the two walk through the doors of their shared school and make their way to the gym where the social event of the season is being held. The hallways were decorated and there were fliers scattered everywhere. Some students were lingering, having small innocent conversations, while Luz spotted a couple of upperclassmen making out in some of the empty classrooms. Finally, the time has arrived.
Luz and Amity walk into the gym, hand in hand, and just smile at the view. As they walked in they see Willow casting plant spells for the students to add to their outfits. Willow even made a flower for Boscha which made the three-eyed witch blush. As Luz's eyes wander further, she notices Gus and King laughing together, standing by the stage. Edric and Emira are standing together by the punch bowl, waiting for their dates to arrive, while also trying to spike it. Luz smiles to herself and sighs in relief and continues her gaze through the crowd.
The human finally comes across the Clawthorne sisters, looking a bit on edge. Lilith keeps looking at the time like a bomb is about to go off, while Eda just crosses her arms and taps her finger rapidly like she's waiting for something. Luz knows that the sisters cant be a bit overdramatic sometimes and just smiles at the fact of how well they get along.
Amity grabs Luz's attention "Hey. W-would you happen to- I don't know- like maybe- Dance?"
Luz notices Amity's nervousness and decides to answer playfully, hoping to show her witch that she can relax. "Wait! Did the Amity Blight just ask me to Dance? I am truly honored! I don't know what to say. The star student of Hexside wants to dance with me!"
Amity smiles and laughs. Luz's plan worked "Ha. Ha. I'm just going to assume that as a yes."
Amity pulls the human onto the dance floor and gains a sudden burst of confidence. She pulls Luz close and rests both arms on the humans' shoulders. Luz goes with the flow and rests her hands on the witch's waist. The two sway to the music, not breaking eye contact for a second. The only expression found on either of the girls' faces was joy.
Emira and Edric watched the two from afar, silently cheering on their little sister and her great romance. Eda and Lilith relaxed a bit, seeing the two girls enjoying their time.
Luz never danced before but wasn't nervous. Not with Amity. She felt safe so close to her. Amity on the other hand had ballroom dance lessons when she was younger, due to Odalia's enforcement. Amity internally thanked her mother for what she thought were pointless lessons. Almost all eyes were on the human and the witch, but they didn't seem to notice or care.
As the two dance together in complete harmony Luz breaks the silence with a genuine question that has been weighing on her. "Ams. I would consider us close right?"
"Yeah of course." Amity laughs at the question and looks into Luz's eyes waiting to see where this goes.
"Ok." Luz continues on with a smile but has a hint of confusion in her eyes "Now I don't want to make you uncomfortable in any way, so at any point, you can doge a question and I won't get offended." Amity nods reluctantly and Luz continues "My father, he was different from every parental figure I've come into contact with so far. And I know he had his ideals, hating fiction being one of them. But I want to hear, like a normal point of view on something. And considering you're the closest witch I'm with I want to ask you."
Amity is trying to keep up with Luz while still dancing "Luz, just ask. I promise I won't get uncomfortable."
Luz takes a deep breath, nervous. Her palms get a bit sweaty and she finally spills "How can you tell when you're in love with someone? I saw how Steve and Lilith acted around each other constantly, but it just seemed like normal interactions."
Amity stopped working. All of her dance movement came to a complete halt at Luz's question. Her face has never reached this level of red before. Emira takes a glance at her sister making sure everything is alright, and witnesses her sister crashing "Oh no! Edric! She's stiff! She's going to faint if we don't step in." Edric gives his twin permission to leave and help Amity. Emira makes her way through the dance floor why Luz looks at her date quizzically. The human waves her hand in front of Amity's face trying to get her to blink again. Emira steps up "Luz, I'm so sorry but I need to grab Mittens for a quick second, you know sister stuff." Emira grabs her sister away from Luz, leaving the human alone on the dancefloor.
The bathroom door flings open and the older Blight yells "Alright girls, get out. This is Blight territory right now!" Every girl in the bathroom shuffles out and Emira leads her buffering sister to a sink. Emira runs the faucet and splashes cold water on Amity's face, basically restarting her. Amity shakes her head and turns to her sister "Emira? What happened? I blacked out!"
Emira facepalms her forehead and sighs "Mittens, you gay panicked. You looked great one minute, and the next, you were a red statue."
"Mmmm..." Amity nods like she expected this to happen "Well better luck next year! I'm just going to go home and never leave my closet. BYEE."
Amity goes to walk out when her older sister grabs her wrist and leads her back to the sink "Nope! Talk to me. Tell me the run down."
While Amity gives her sister a second-by-second rundown of her conversation, Luz makes her way to Eda and Lilith. "Hey, kiddo. Everything alright? Where's greenie?" Eda looked genuinely concerned.
Lilith raised a single eyebrow with a smirk "Edalyn. Are you... concerned? Is that, emotion I see?"
Eda rolls her eyes while her sister laughs. Luz smiles "Good one Lilith. Amity got pulled away by Emira for some sister stuff. Anyway enough about my night, how are you two holding up?"
"Kid, I'm falling apart here. I can't believe Principle Bump appointed you Grom queen! I knew he was stupid, but this is a new level." Eda scolds Bump while Lilith agrees.
"Eda, Lilith, I'll have you know that I have been training to use my magic. So there is no need toworry!" Luz says confidently.
Lilith and Eda share a confused glance and turn back to the human. Lilith doesn't remember any magic lessons Luz has been taking "Luz. How have you been training?"
Eda has an idea but doesn't want to suggest it. Luz realizes the mistake she's just made and tries to change the conversation topic "When does this fight start? I just want to get this over with."
Eda stays silent and starts to grow angry, knowing what the answer is. Lilith asks again, holding on to hope that Luz wouldn't result to whom she thinks "Luz! Answer me!"
Luz continues to avoid eye contact "You know I think I'm going to go say hi to Willow. I've been a terrible friend, not even saying hi." Luz starts to sweat and goes to walk away when Eda steps in front of her with disappointment in her eyes. "Um, Eda you happen to be in my way."
Eda closes her eyes and takes a massive deep breath and slowly exhales "Luz." The wild witch opens her bright yellow eyes and stares at the human. "Tell me you didn't."
"Ok, I didn't! Now if you'll excuse me!" The human tries to maneuver her way around but Eda persists.
"Answer me now!" Eda now has raging eyes, scaring even her sister. Luz looks around frantically trying to get herself out of the situation, but it doesn't seem like she's getting out of this one. Out of fear her eyes begin to glow red. Eda's eyes widen and she grabs Luz's arm and drags her under the bleachers to hide her change. Lilith looks to make sure no one noticed and follows the two "Luz! After everything! You went to him!!!"
Lilith begins to notice Luz's eyes glow brighter and tries to alert her sister "Edalyn!"
However, Eda is blinded by her anger to notice Luz's struggle. "I mean really kid that is stupid! He tried to possess you forever and kill all of us! But what do I know right?!"
Luz's eyes are now bright red, resembling the Titans when he was angry. Lilith steps in between the two and calms her sister down "EDALYN! That's enough!" She signals Eda with her eyes towards Luz, who's now in a panic attack. As Eda calms down Lilith turns to consol the frantic human "Luz, you have to calm down. I'm going to notify Bump you're not ready for this."
As Lilith goes to exit from underneath the bleachers, she is stopped by Luz "NO!" Lilith couldn't move. She was engulfed in Luz's spell and was completely frozen. Eda stepped back in fear, not knowing what to do. Luz's eyes were still glowing and she began to walk towards the coven leader "You will do no such thing Lilith. I am the empress and I can make my own choices!" Luz levitates Lilith back next to Eda a puts her down gently and releases the spell she cast "You two don't know how to control this magic. But he does. How dare you judge me in this situation when you have no place." Luz takes a moment to look at the fear in the Clawthorne sister's eyes. Luz steps back and her eyes go back to her normal chestnut brown. She stares at her hands in disbelief and back at the two before her. The human is utterly shocked at the power she just presented. Luz stands in silence for a moment, processing what just happened. She decides to turn away and exit from underneath the bleachers, leaving behind two friends.
Luz walks out to only be blinded by a spotlight. The room was silent and all eyes were once again all on her. The silence is broken when Gus comes on stage and announces the fight is about to begin. Luz looks for Amity and Emira, but no luck. She puts on a fake smile and walks towards a big red button. She hovers her hand over the button reminding herself "None of it is real." She presses the button to reveal a wall of weapons on each side of her, and a ramp leading down into a basement with what seems to be a lot of black goo moving around. Luz balls both her hands into fists and walks past all of the weapons, choosing not to use any.
As Luz walks slowly down the ramp, Amity and Emira enter the room to only realize the fight is about to begin. "Come on. Let's go stand near Lilith." Emira drags Amity to her mentor while her eyes stay glued to her human. "Why doesn't she have a weapon?" Amity thought while she was being dragged. The three Blight siblings reunite and make their way to the two Clawthorne's who seem to be a little out of it at the moment.
Edric breaks the awkwardness "You guys nervous too?"
Eda and Lilith, not breaking their gaze towards Luz, answer "You could say that." But they didn't mean they were nervous about the Grom, but what the human will do.
Luz reaches the ground. All eyes are pinned to the young human empress. She stands tall, waiting to face the monster they call Grometheus. Luz waits patiently, not moving a muscle, listening and watching for the monster to shift into its first form. Right as Luz began to get bored, a figure began to form in front of her.
"Luz, you're such a burden. I don't know why he took you in but if you ask me, it was his greatest mistake." Kikimora appeared with her arms tucked behind her back. "I really pity those who spend their free time with you."
Luz scoffs and casts a spell at the petite form Grom decided to shift into first "This is going to be a breeze." Luz thought as she got rid of the fear.
As Luz discards the first fear another familiar voice appears next to the human. This time a little more personal "Kiddo. I needed you for one thing and you just stuck around. Jeez I see why now my sister seems miserable all the time. You're exhausting." Eda appears and laughs while another figure forms next to the wild witch "Tell me about it sister. I signed up to be a respected guard of the coven, not a babysitter! And to think we actually enjoy her company. We have to or we'd be petrified!" The two figures of Eda and Lilith Grom produced laughed together at Luz.
That one got to her a little, but Luz shook the nasty remarks and cast two powerful fire spells the monster formed into. They disintegrated into ash and Luz got ready for the next task.
"She thinks she all mighty and cool when she's just weird. I mean look at her!" Luz turns to see three witches laughing at her. She squints to see Willow finishing the sentence next to Gus and Amity. Gus continues to roast the human "I know right! I'm just friends with her because she's human. If she didn't have those round ears, I wouldn't even remember her name!" Willow and Gus laugh while Luz reaches for her ears and actually ponders on Grom's insult. Amity scoffs "Your telling me! I only hang out with her because she's empress! As soon as I'm in the emperors' coven, she can kiss our friendship goodbye. And to think anyone could actually love her!" The three witches continue to laugh.
Luz steps back. That last sentence really left the human heartbroken. "No. Th- that's not why. They like me! I know how to love! I can be loved for who I am!" Luz says out loud, but to where only she can hear. She tries to reassure herself by this. Grom notices it struck a chord and the three witches' laughter became louder. Luz smacked her own head and reminds herself of the fight. Luz conjures up a big spell to get rid of the three figures in one blast. The human's eyes show a hint of red hue, but Luz closes her eyes to make sure they stay brown.
Luz opens her eyes to a hand on her cheek. Luz looks up and is stunned "STEVE?" Tears were now rolling down the humans' cheeks "Steve I'm so sorry! I never got to apologize!" As Luz looks at her deceased friend, two other figures shift next to Steve. Luz looks with more sadness to follow. The two forms Grom takes were Luz's two fathers. Her biological and her foster father stood silently behind Steve. Steve removed his hand from the human's face and spoke "Everyone who loves you dies Luz. You're a plague that needs to be eradicated." James Noceda stepped forward, coming shoulder to shoulder to Steve "He's right. My life was perfect with your mother before you came. I could still be alive if it weren't for you." Then finally emperor Belos steps up "We'd all be alive if it weren't for you. You're only going to cause death and pain to those who come close to you."
Luz is spiraling in her emotions. The three forms Grom has taken surround the heartbroken human. Luz can't bring herself to look at any of them. Deep down she knew they were right. She killed the three men who stand before her at this very moment. Out of fear and pain, Luz loses control and her eyes glow a bright red, shocking the crowd observing her.
Emira and Edric hold on to their little sister for comfort, trying to calm her and themselves down. Eda turns to Lilith "Lilly, we have to do something!"
Before Eda can take out her staff, Lilith grabs her sister and talks sense into her "Eda we can't! She won't be able to tell it's actually us. We have to hope she can overcome this on her own." Eda looks at the human below, and back at her sister with pleading eyes. Lilith stands her ground and turns her attention to the fight.
Luz is now struggling to breathe when a sudden voice appears in her head "Luz! Luz get up! Use all the pain as strength!" The Titan is now yelling in his cage, trying to help the human take hold of the situation "Get up and show Grometheus the fear bringer who Empress Luz is!!!"
Luz squeezes her eyes shut and begins to control her breath.
A deep breath In.
A deep breath out.
Luz opens her eyes only for them to still be glowing a bright red. She takes a moment to see Steve standing in front of her one last time. Luz then screams out of anger, conjuring a huge spell to wipe out the three figures altogether, overcoming her three greatest shames.
As the humans' eyes continue their glow, the crowd cheers. All of the students are jumping up and down at their fellow classmate's accomplishments.
As Luz turns to leave the arena, Grometheus takes one final form. Luz's eyes do not falter their glow. She groans aloud and faces its morphing goo. "LET'S FINISH THIS!!! EMPRESS STYLE!!" The crowd goes nuts for the human.
Eda and Lilith hold on tight to each other, hoping Luz can face Grom's final stage.
The final shift took a moment, but Luz stood tall ready for what's to come. A female emerges from the goo and stands before Luz. Luz's jaw dropped. Her eyes immediately went out and dulled. "H- how. W- what?" Luz uttered, not knowing how to react to Grom's final form.
It was Luz with beating red eyes in her empress gown, with her staff in her hand. She stood with authority, smirking like she's already won the battle. "Hm. Weak. Pathetic." Grom's final form as Luz began to take menacing steps towards the human "You think you're all high and mighty. You think you're a hero?" The form continues its pace like a predator about to pounce at its prey "You can't even look at yourself in the mirror without knowing what you truly are."
The human stares in complete horror, shaking at what she's about to hear Grom say. She's always had a fear of what she'd become, but seeing what Luz actually looks like in her official wear with her red eyes, shook the girl to her very core.
Grometheus continued to carefully maneuver its way to the frozen human, knowing it struck the jackpot of fears. The Grom Luz eyes glow a brighter red and it shines through the whole arena "You can't even think about what you are."
Eda looks at Lilith in fear "Lilly, she can't do it! Look, she's completely frozen of horror. I don't know what she's seeing but I can tell it's the big one."
Lilith looks at the situation unraveling before her. The witch is having a war inside her head. Does she help and jeopardize Luz's reputation, or does she just sit back and watch be torn apart. "We'll go to the ramp and try to talk to Luz first. We can't get involved!" Eda nods agreeing to her sister's terms and makes their way to the ramp.
Luz is now talking to Grom's final form as if it were really her "No! You're not... you're not real!!"
Grom Luz laughs "Haha! I may not be the real Luz, but that just makes it ten times worse! You see I'm Grometheus the fear bringer, shifting into you Luz! I admit that I am a monster. But you, you pose as an innocent human girl. I admit what I am, while you hide behind your fake brown eyes." Grom finally comes to a halt, inches away from the human "Look at me Luz! This is what you look like to others! This is the true you! ADMIT WHAT YOU TRULY ARE!"
Luz falls to her knees and cries out for everyone else to hear "I'M A MONSTER!"
"YES!" Grometheus' eyes glow even more "You terrify people just as much as I do. But I only do it once a year. You, on the other hand, do it every day. In a way, you're more of a monster than I will ever be!"
"I only hurt people." Luz begins to sob, ignoring the Titans screams inside her head, trying to snap her out of it "I only bring death to those I love." Eda and Lilith are on the bottom of the ramp trying to get Luz to overcome her fear "I'm no different from you, or even Titan Belos!" Luz looks at the copy of herself "I'm worse than the emperor before me!" Luz takes a step up and rises to her feet. Grom looks at her confused as to why she's walking towards him "So I might as well embrace it!" Luz's fists are now engulfed in red magic, and she punches the figure that took the form of herself straight in the face. Grometheus disappeared into thin air, going back into its dark abyss for another year.
Luz stands panting with her glowing hands, still furious about what just happened. A crown appeared on the human's head and Luz just stood, staring at the ground Grom stood on. The human did not smile and did not notice the cheers of her fellow classmates. Eda and Lilith stood at the bottom of the ramp, not wanting to push their boundaries. Luz looks up and turns towards the ramp. She pays no mind to the Clawthorne sisters and just walks past them. As the party starts up again Luz walks out of the gym and away from making any contact with another living soul.
Emira turns to Amity "Hey Mittens I don't think we should chase after her. We'll save the bet for another time."
"What?" Amity looks at her sister in disbelief "No I have to make sure she's alright." Amity tries to walk away but Edric grabs onto his baby sister.
"Amity we're serious. After what we just saw, I don't think Luz wants to be bothered." Edric looks at the exit of the gym, honestly afraid of what he witnessed in that arena.
Amity rips her arm from her brother's grip and makes a run for the door. She's caught in a second by both her siblings "Let go of me! She needs someone to be with her!"
Emira and Edric only have pain in their eyes doing this "Amity we're serious. We can't let you go after her. She could hurt you."
Amity cast an abomination spell to grab the twins. She turns to them angry "No! She wouldn't hurt me! She's just scared and confused!" Amity turns and leaves her siblings behind and bolts for the exit. The young witch jogs frantically down the hallway looking for her human. "Luz!" She calls but gets no response. The Blight reaches the entrance of Hexside but catches no sight of the human. Amity starts to panic and her mind goes all over the place "What if she does something she'll regret?" Then a lightbulb went off inside her head. She might just know where the human ran off to hide.
Luz holds herself in a ball while trying to settle her breathing. She couldn't show her face at school again. How could she after showing everyone who she really is? The human grabs the crown on her head and stares at it. The crown gives her nausea. She throws the crown as far as she could and continues to focus trying not hyperventilating. Everything seems to be spinning at a hundred miles per hour, and Luz couldn't seem to slow down even a little bit.
As Luz sobs, a distant voice appears from behind "Thought I might find you here."
Luz picks up her head and lands her sight on a certain green-haired witch. Luz thinks back to when Grom formed as Amity and cried more, but managed to form a sentence "P- please. J- just g- go aw- away!" Luz wipes away her snot falling out of her nostrils and puts her head back into her ball "I know you don't care."
The scene is heartbreaking. Amity wants to run up to her human and embrace her in the most passionate kiss ever. She wants to show Luz how amazing she is and how grateful the witch is that she walked into her life.
The witch walks slowly up to the human, trying not to alarm her, and places her hand on her back while kneeling down "Don't be silly. I asked you to Grom, to spend Grom with you. So that's what I plan on doing."
Amity keeps her hand on Luz's back while the human continues to sob. They're currently on the grudgeby field alone. Luz muffles out "Don't lie! I know you stick around so you can join the coven in the future. Well, guess what you're in! You can stop pretending now!"
Amity felt angry that Luz could think of such a thing "Luz how could you think that? I don't care about the coven. That's my parents' dream for me. I don't care if you're the empress of the Boiling Isles, or if you're a normal human girl who just happened to wander to this realm. I love being around you."
"Oh please." Luz raises her head, but avoids eye contact "I'm a monster. I know I'm terrifying. I saw for myself what I am tonight. You're only afraid of me." Luz wipes her tears away but stares into space, trying to wipe the memory of herself Grom showed.
Amity grabs Luz's chin so that the human stares into her yellow eyes "You are many things Luz. But a monster is not one of them."
Luz jerks her head out of the witch's grasp and stares back at the empty field. "Please. You get red every time we're together. I didn't know why but now I know it's because you're afraid of me."
Amity then bursts into laughter. Luz turns to the witch and looks at her like she's insane. Amity keeps laughing so hard, to the point where she produces a tear of joy "Luz! That's not why I get red! I get red because I get flustered so easily!" She continues to laugh and falls onto her back while holding her stomach.
Luz continues her stare at the witch. The human has seemed to stop crying but is very confused "You get red... because you get flustered?" Luz now feels the heat rising to her cheeks.
Amity wipes a tear away and sits up. She regains her composure and just smiles with all of her heart. "Just like that!" Luz turns her head away and tries to hide her blush, but Amity grabs her chin once more and makes her face her "You asked me before, how can you tell if you're in love with someone." Luz's eyes widened and Amity just smiled.
"When you are in love, you would literally do anything just to see the person you love most smile. When you're in love with someone, the whole world falls away, and it feels like..."
"Like you're the only two in existence." Luz speaks like she already knew the answer "and just your company is enough fulfillment for a lifetime."
Amity and Luz lock eyes. At that moment, the world fell away. All titles, and problems, were washed away. And for that moment, Luz and Amity were enough.
No star shined brighter than either of their eyes. No drum beating louder than the rhythm of their hearts. No fire hotter than their spark. Finally, it was just a human and a witch in love under the night sky.
Amity gets up from her spot and walks over to retrieve Luz's tiara she'd previously thrown. She picks up the trophy and brings it back towards the human. The witch offers out her hand, motioning for Luz to take it. Luz follows Amity's lead silently and stands up. Amity brushes the tiara off, as well as Luz, and breaks the long-awaited tension "Now that you defeated Grom, it's your duty to dance as queen." Amity places the trophy on the human's head.
Luz wipes her eyes and nose once more "I- I can't." But a smile begins to form in the crooks of her mouth.
"Nonsense." Amity pulls the two close, one hand on Luz's waist, another intertwined with the human's hand. "What kind of date would I be if I end off the night on a bad note?"
The two sway gracefully around the empty field. Laughing and basking in each other's emotions. The moon illuminated their dance floor with the help of some glowing mushrooms planted around in the forest. They're in sync with each other, forgetting about every event that previously occurred before. Luz is now laughing, and the sound alone gives Amity a chill up her spine. Luz was a masterpiece in the witch's eyes and thought she should be praised for her looks alone.
The two finally settled down and smiled deeply at each other. No word needed to be said. Their eyes alone said it all. Amity began to lean in, and Luz reciprocated. The two were now nose to nose, both not faltering, but not closing the distance. All of the sudden, Amity takes a leap of faith and seals the kiss. It was magical for the human and the witch, being both their first kiss. At first, the kiss was a little stiff, but as moments passed by, it softened and began to feel more natural and comfortable. It was a simple kiss but meant more to both girls with each passing second.
After a few amazing minutes, the two pull away and feel like they're in a sauna. While blushing Luz breaks the silence with a goofy smile spread across her face "Wow... That was nice."
Amity, who was surprisingly functioning, also smiles at the human "Oh... kissing... wow..."
The two realize their awkwardness and laughed at themselves. Maybe this night wasn't so bad after all.
********
I poured my heart and soul into this chapter!!!
It took many hours and many rewrites! Please lmk what you guys think!
Also, I think this fic is coming to an end soon, but don't worry! I have another one cooking up...
Happy Easter<3