Amity fidgeted a little as she walked down the trail with Luz. Willow had told the two of them that she’d been working on a project for a while now and that she was excited to show them. Then she didn’t show up where they were supposed to meet. Her text told them that she was just running late and forgot to tell Gus but that they should go on ahead but that meant going to whatever new set of flowers Willow had cultivated alone. With her. With Luz. Who had decided to bring her stupid, stupid cat hoody.

Luz turned to her side as she could feel Amity’s eyes burning into the side of her skull. The day was absolutely beautiful and the late evening sun shone on Amity’s face like she was some sort of radiant onion. Then there were her lips. Were they always so red? They looked like juicy apple slices. She could just lean in... Okay, maybe not that. Definitely not that. Never that. Or, well…

Luz yawned for a moment before smacking her cheeks. She was exhausted but she didn’t want to admit it. Eda and Lilith had been running her ragged for the past week for, as far as she could tell, no apparent reason. Their requests had even been a touch on the insane side, such as clean Hooty. That was a job no one wanted for obvious reasons but they had then claimed to try to get every inch of him. What was the last inch though. He just kept going. And going. And-

“Are you okay, Luz? You’re spacing out more than normal.”

“Yeah, I am.” The tired girl then rubbed her eyes before keeping them up at her face like paws as she went, “I just need a cat nap, nya!”

A long, drawn out, high pitched whine began to escape Amity as she suddenly forgot how to blink or breathe. She wasn’t at her best either admittedly. Sure, she’d done what Willow had asked and put on something a little nicer than her uniform, and so was in a sundress that her mom had gotten her so they could match if Odalia was wearing what she had been the night of the sleepover, but Edric and Emira seemed to have doubled down on their efforts to torture her so she hadn’t been getting much sleep herself. Of course, her mom was pretty good at hiding things like that and had insisted that if she was going to some sort of reveal that she would look proper for it. Not too much of course, but her black eyeshadow and blood red lipstick felt weird on her.

But Luz didn’t look away so maybe she liked it? Or didn’t care. That latter one seemed a lot more likely, especially after she’d been told at the sleepover that the idiot had thought about going to Grom as an otter…

With a dark side.

Amity smacked herself with a groan at the thought before muttering, “You and your dumb otter joke.”

Luz tilted her head before leaning in. She didn’t say anything. Not a word. All she did was hum. That was enough to make Amity’s eye twitch before she turned to the human and shouted, “Do you know how many times we repeated that stupid joke?”

Luz merely grinned as she slipped her hands behind her back before beginning to whistle innocently. “I don’t know. You say that like we were telling a bad joke that night.”

“Saying an otter has a dark side is a stupid joke!”

“And a light side now!”

“Ah!”

Luz giggled as Amity covered her face and stared at the sky. She still couldn’t believe Amity had actually worn something like that, especially on a day like today. After all, she was the one who wore ratty t-shirts, yoga pants, and a hoodie with amazing ears. Amity… Amity made herself look like she wore the sea as the light ran off the silk, shifting fabric of her dress. To say it was to get Amity to simply coordinate with her mom was wrong. More like matched her period. Maybe even beat the older woman. Or, well, Luz supposed that that could just be a her thing.

But if someone asked her right now, she’d say yeah. Then again, even when covered in mud and sticks, Amity usually…

Luz ran forward before turning around and waving for Amity to chase after her. “Come on, last one there is a loose shoe.”

Amity couldn’t help but think back to Kat for a second at the thought of ‘Luz shoe’ before she began running after the other girl and yelling, “Hey, we’re not in a hurry you know!”

“Yeah, but I want to… see…

Amity sprinted up the last hill that the trail crested over to catch up and, instead of taking a few breaths she desperately needed, found she couldn’t. Willow’s ‘project’ had apparently included transforming this edge of the cliff overlooking the sea into what the two of them thought was something out of one of Azura’s books. The view alone was breathtaking with the sun coming down the horizon and casting a long reflection on the water below, but a small breeze made sure that you could enjoy the small ripples of the water better, rather than simply staring at a mirror.

That was all the backdrop though. What would have been there no matter what. What wouldn’t have been here were large trees that looked like Sakura Blossom trees to Luz. Their petals were even slowly drifting to the ground, which had led to a light scattering of light red flowers across the ground. Then, right at the edge, was a blanket spread out that would be big enough for two people to lay on comfortably, complete with picnic basket.

Luz and Amity simply stared at it all for a moment before Luz leaned towards Amity and whispered, “Do you know what anime is?”

Amity tilted her head a little before just saying, “What?”

Luz only giggled though, which didn’t help Amity’s confusion. However, when the energetic girl grabbed her arm, she did obediently follow after as the two made their way to the blanket. “Come on. No reason to just stand around. We can sit and wait for Willow as easily as we can stand and wait.”

Amity let out a half dozen attempts at words as she rubbed at the place that Luz had gripped her before looking at the blanket and basket. “Um, uh, I don’t know. What if it’s for someone else? Maybe we got the wrong day? Or maybe we should look for Willow? You never know what these Blood Blossoms might do to someone.”

Luz whistled for a moment as she peaked into the basket before opening a small piece of paper. “It’s okay. After all, this says, “For Amity and Luz, sorry for being… Wait, did you say Blood Blossoms?”

Amity nodded as she awkwardly sat down on the ground. She wasn’t too comfortable in a dress, though that was mostly just from not wearing them too much. Too many nights studying rather than dancing with cute Luzs. Or, uh, Cute girls. Yeah, just cute girls in general. Saved it…. Only to herself. Where was she? Blood “Blossoms!”

Smack!

Amity winced in pain but it had been a panic response to the fact that she’d screamed that. Luz, for her part, was being amazing as always as she waited patiently for her to continue. Wait, was this so normal of her that the idiot didn’t think she needed to ask what was up? Oh Titan, she must look so weird! Wait, no, if she spent too much time thinking like this then she’d just end up shouting again. “Um, er, yes, Blood Blossoms. They feed on the corpses that are lost and frozen in the winter. Those that they consume have their thoughts brought into the tree and if you listen really closely, they say you’ll hear what those people were last thinking. However, in the spring, they tend to gorge too much as the bodies become easier to drain and so they make these,” she said as she picked up the petal in front of her that was only a shade or two off of her lipstick, “with the excess. It’s an, um, pretty popular thing for… people to go to. Absolutely normal people. Even alone people. Like, hundreds of alone people. Thousands even! I mean, why would a couple go and watch the sunset while flowers rained on them?”

Luz stared at Amity’s forced smile for about a minute before finally smirking. She always enjoyed watching to see how long it took for Blight to remember to blink and she was going for her record. It was also a lot easier to focus on something silly like that instead of, well, what else Amity had said. After all, she was totally right. Couples never did this sort of thing and Azura definitely didn't do this with Honey Cauliflower in volume four right before they promised to always protect the other. Nope. Totally wasn’t a thing.

The wind picked up a little as Luz managed to laugh at her thoughts and with it brought a new wave of cascading petals down upon them. Not too many of course, but with an easy target like Amity’s wide eyes, it would have been pretty hard for none of them to catch her. “Ack!”

Luz yelped in turn before diving forward but that most just got her a heeled kick to the face. While Amity’s heels were fairly functional, it was still enough to get the tired girl to back off as her head spun. But, just as Amity scowled and threw the petal into the air before incinerating it, Luz couldn’t help but laugh. That only got Amity, who now only had one and a half eyes open, to glare at Luz and turn away. “It’s not that funny!”

Luz let out a small, “Aw,” before crawling over to Amity and sitting next to her. “Hey, if it’s about kicking me, you should know I’m tougher than that. Was bare even a l-”

Nope. Abort. Stop.

“Ike tap?”

Amity’s good eye slowly closed so she now stared at Luz with an entirely unimpressed expression. “Okay.” She then brought a hand up to run her hurt eye with one of her palms. “Why does dumb shit like this have to happen everytime when it’s just the two of us?”

Luz glanced away as a few voices tried to speak up in the back of her head. She was so tired though that she almost didn’t notice them. No, she just wanted to make Amity smile or… something. “Hey, choose another petal!”

Amity raised an eyebrow before sighing and reaching for the nearest one. “Okay, but I don’t see why.”

Luz thumped her chest with one of her fists before shouting, “My name is Luz Noceda and upon my honor, for having hurt you, I shall now have this evil plant serve you!”

Luz. Oh Luz. Amity’s cheeks burned at the declaration and the heat on her face wasn’t helped by Luz accidentally bumping her shoulder as she sat back down. “That’s sweet, but if you’re going to try animating one, don’t. My mom has spent a good bit of time looking into the concept herself and they’re simply too stubborn.”

Luz shook her head as she shuffled herself off the blanket and placed one of her plant sigils on the ground. The petal then went on next before Luz looked up. “I was just thinking that if it was going to be dumb and make today a little uglier, I’d make it make your nights better by growing one you can take home.

A flower. A flower from Luz. That will be right next to her. Each night. That almost never dies and she could water with blood to keep getting beautiful buds from it. Wow. That… “Heh. Hehe.” Amity then blinked a few times before grabbing Luz’s arm. “Wait. No. I don’t need that. It was nothing after all. The thought is enough.”

Luz stopped as she looked at Amity’s hands before sliding her own to be able to squeeze the small, trembling, pale fingers. She then looked at Amity. At those beautiful yellow eyes. That pale as a ghost skin that haunted her mind. Those red lips that begged her to come close. It took no effort for her to adore every inch of that and to never want it to go away and she was way too tired to think of why she shouldn’t.

“Amity, the thing is, it made my night uglier. I don’t like seeing you hurt after all. And, um, well, I mean, I don’t like seeing anyone hurt. I’d punch Bosha in the face if she tried anything again and…” Luz blinked a few times before waving her hands and saying, “I’m getting off track. The important part is-”

Vvvvvv.

The two girls blinked at each other at the sound before they looked down and saw that Luz had flattened her hands on the ground. On her sigil. For a moment, all was still. Luz even tilted her head as she thought it might have failed.

It had not.

The plant rose up as Blood Blossoms looked in Winter, which was most just dark, almost black wood and spikes. One of the spikes grazed Amity’s cheek as she tumbled away from it but it did a much better job grabbing Luz as the tip of the tree managed to try and choke the poor idiot. Amily let out a squeal of horror before she sprang to her feet and summoned fire to her hands. “You put down my otter!”

“Wi’ a ‘ark shide!”

Amity blinked a few times at the sound before taking in the fact that the tree was only about as tall as either Luz or Amity. It had just felt bigger in the moment. Then again, the moment had felt more important than it probably had actually been… She shook her head for a moment before coming around to where Luz, who was on the tips of her toes, waved at her. There was some blood coming down from where the tip of the tree had her. Amity crossed her arms as she mumbled, “good,” and tried to fight back the tears that had started to come the moment the idiot had brought up Willow of all people.

“Wat?”

Amity blinked a few more times before seeming to remember the whole ‘trapped’ part of Luz’s predicament, “Um, uh, oh no! I-I’ll go get help!”

The wind stopped immediately as a figure erupted from the bushes and Gus ran out and yelled, “No, you’re not allowed to leave!”

Amity and Luz paused as they stared at Gus and then watched Willow emerge shortly afterwards, the two love birds unaware of the fact that Eda, Lilith, Edric, Emira, and Odalia were currently holding their breaths behind some of the normal trees down the path. Amity then looked back at Luz, looked at where her dress was ripped and the still lightly oozing cut that dripped blood down her leg.

If she had wanted to leave before people were here, she definitely was now. Gus and Willow yelled after her but she didn’t slow. They would have to deal with making sure the tree didn’t properly plant itself into Luz and they wouldn’t be able to easily separate the two. She could have her time. That was all she needed after all. Time to… to cope with having let herself come way too close to a mistake.

Luz wasn’t as fortunate as she had to put on a brave face both through getting her face free and then everyone checking on her. However, when Eda and Lilith ‘arrived’ Luz put a hand up. “Guys, calm down. We all know how Amity gets when she’s embarrassed. I bet you she’ll be a lot madder if we run around the forest looking for her than if we just message her. Speaking of…”

Luz paused for a second as she popped open her messages only to see that Amity had messaged her. Not only that, but right about when she was freed.

Hey. Sorry for running. You know me. Should I come back or would you rather just see each other tomorrow at class like nothing happened?

Luz was quiet for a second before looking up and smiling at everyone as she rapidly tapped out, Nah. Not like anything too special happened anyways. Don’t forget your tree though!

Just like she would for anyone else. Just like she should have before her spell woke her up.

It was only about twenty minutes later that Amity slipped out from behind the tree that she’d been watching everyone from. She then placed a hand on the ground and took her time making the circle she would need for an abomination. After all, she was going to need a pretty strong one to bring it home. Or destroy it. Boy did destroying it sound nice.

When she got to it though, she saw that it had managed to form a single blossom. She reached out and slipped a hand underneath it before tugging a little to pull it off. The sun was almost down now so it was hard to make out much in the way of details on it, but it did mean it was quiet. No illusionists to make the wind blow in. No Willow to get extra petals to come down. No parents watching to see if it worked. Just her and Luz’s gift as she raised the blossom to her ear.

And then she smiled.

======+++++======

Luz groaned as she pressed her head against the seam between her locker and her neighbor’s. She’d learned at this point not to just lean face first into her locker because that was how things got very dark, damp, and screamy very quickly. She wasn’t too against the idea of just shoving herself in and seeing how long it took for the weird flesh wall to chew through her neck. It sounded a whole lot nicer than having to face Amity.

“There you are.”

Luz whimpered for a moment. She’d done so well so far today not to have thought about Amity because she knew this was coming. It seemed to just match her luck for this week if she were honest. Still, she couldn’t just run off like Amity would. She was Luz Noceda! She could face anything! Even a girl who she almost confessed to but then impaled herself in front of.

“Luz?”

Luz looked up and found herself eye to eye with Amity, who must have moved around her while she’d tried to muster the courage to turn to face her. She began to fall back in her shock as she let out a yelp but Amity was quick on the draw today as she grabbed the idiot’s arm. “Oh no you don’t.”

Willow and Gus quickly joined the fray as they pushed up on Luz’s back to get her upright. No one really wanted to see her on the ground today after all. In fact, she had been excused when Willow and Gus had forced her to see Principle Bump about the fact that she was still recovering from being hooked up to a blood sucking tree for three hours. Luz just kept talking about how it’d look too weird for her not to show up today though so here she was.

Plus side, it meant that when she recovered her brain was too tired to not let her mumble out, “You’re pretty,” as Amity and her stood face to face properly now.

Amity’s cheeks burned at the sudden comment but she merely swiped at her left ear and seemingly managed to calm herself before she sternly asked, “Is that all you have to say to me?”

Gus and Willow glanced at each other before both took a long step back from Luz. They assumed this was either going to go great and Luz would say what she should have yesterday, or that Amity was about to make Noceda Soup. For her part, Luz didn’t run or turn away. Sure, she might have had trouble doing so, but she could have at least tried. She didn’t though. Not when she knew she fucked up. “Hey, look, I’m sorry. I let myself get way too out of control back there and, well, you know how dumb I can be. Just another set of human mistakes, right?”

Amity smiled as Luz swayed on her feet after attempting… something. The serious girl suspected it might have been just a few dance steps to make herself look silly but Luz didn’t have the balance for it right now. “I’ll admit that yesterday was… odd. I actually wanted to apologize though. I shouldn’t have run off like I had, especially when your gift was so nice.”

Luz’s face lit up at the last part and she leaned in slightly before Amity pushed her back to keep her in check. “Did it work? Did it start blossoming like a pig in a griffin’s talons? Wait, um, er-”

“Fitting for Blood Blossoms, but the tree is still pretty bare. No, it was your other gift that I liked more.”

Whoo. Bad analogy d- “Other gift?”

Amity’s slowly growing smile sent a chill down every person in the hall’s spine. Those that actually looked at it took at least a step back, with one student deciding that it was going to be better on the first floor than anywhere near the third and swan dived over one of the banisters nearby. Gus and Willow both turned pale and tried to stand firm but this was… different for Amity. The closest it came to anything the two had seen from her was anytime she had obviously ensnared her next victim in her schemes and was going for the kill.

For Luz, she just got to enjoy the smile as Amity stayed weirdly quiet and the overwhelming presence brought only one real thought to Luz’s mind. “Hot.”

Amity's smile vanished into sucking her lips in hard enough to almost create a black hole before she covered her face with her hands and let out some sort of muffled scream. Luz blinked a few times before her eyes shot open and she said, “I-I mean, I’m hot. In the hot seat. Even though I’m standing. Actually, do you think we could sit? I…”

Luz blinked a few times as Amity slowly calmed herself. Part of that had been to swipe at her left ear again. The excitable girl had noticed that she had something there now though. It looked almost like a hearing aid for a second before Luz shook her head and looked again. No, it had a small chain piercing attaching a small, glass globe of some sort to her earlobe. The globe itself sat nestled into Amity’s ear like some sort of glossy earbud. One that Luz noped out of when she saw that it was half filled with what looked like blood and a flower.

Wait, flower?

When she looked back at Amity, that smile was back and this time Luz felt a bit of that danger everyone else was. “No, I shouldn’t hold you for much longer. I just wanted to say that what the flower on your tree had to say was very…” Amity’s smile turned more sincere for a moment before she whispered, “Nice.”

Luz bit her lower lip for a second as her body tried to make her blush before it remembered that they were running a bit low on that thing called blood. So, instead, she just smacked herself against the wall she was beside for support before saying, “Wait, it speaks?”

Amity nodded as she took a single step past Luz. “I told you, didn’t I? It absorbs the thoughts of its victims and, if you listen closely enough, you can hear what they were thinking while they were being consumed.”

What little color Luz had left in her face promptly left as she began to desperately get herself steady enough to be able to tackle Amity if she needed to. “Uh, hey, um, you wouldn’t happen to be willing to, I don’t know, tell me what it says?”

Amity looked over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised before asking, “They’re your thoughts, aren’t they? What do you think it said?”

Luz was quiet for a moment as a billion thoughts crossed through her mind before she said, “I was pretty delirious yesterday so I’m going to hope it’s just a confusing mess.”

Amity giggled before sighing. “No. It only said one thing, but it was exactly what I needed to hear after yesterday so…” Amity ran an arm across her eyes as she finally felt her shell cracking. She started properly walking away this time as she waved to her idiot and said, “See you around, Luz.”

Willow and Gus stepped to either side of Luz before looking at her. Gus was the first to act when he managed to pull out some gum. “It’s cinnamon. Might pick you up?”

Luz nodded as she reached past the strip that he offered, grabbed his entire pack, and popped it into her mouth before throwing her cloak over her face and began screaming until Willow and Gus managed to point her back to home. She was just a little tired and would stop when she got some sl-

======+++++======

Lilith took a long, slow deep breath before looking at Eda. “It. Has been. Seven hours.”

Eda turned the page on her book before dryly saying, “Yeah, kid sure does have a pair of lungs, doesn’t she.”

“And we don’t even know if it’s just panic or something having actually happened.”

Eda smirked and showed off her fang before looking over the top of her book. “With how confident it sounded like Amity was, I’m going to bet it was a bluff. I mean, come on. Luz was quiet for most of those three hours and a mess afterwards. I doubt anything that blossomed from that had anything good to say.”

Lilith tapped the table next to her before she looked up. “Oh, she st-”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“I… I shouldn’t have said anything, should I?”

Eda looked up before sighing and looking at her book. She didn’t like the screams. She’d let herself get captured to protect Luz, not to put her right back into danger. Maybe… Maybe no more plans that required the poor girl to be delirious to function. Even if it had almost worked, it wasn’t going to be worth it if something happened to the kid.

Now if only she hadn’t been the one to suggest that part so she could blame someone else for it.