Emira sipped on some juice while Edric pulled out the next Luz before her eyes opened wide. She then slowly turned the straw away from her mouth and asked, “Edric, why does that one not have a bra?”

The jock smirked at the female twin and gave her a wink as Edric shrugged. “I mean, it’s a design we haven’t gone through yet so what’s the harm?”

Emira stood up and turned the newest clone around and pushing her to face one of the walls. “How about the fact that you’re three years older than her and she’s your sister’s friend?”

Edric only grinned at that though as he said, “Yeah, and as my Mitten’s friend, it’ll be all the funnier when we take pictures of it and watch her be extra confused.”

Luz wobbled back to her place in the center of a wide pentagram. She had been voluntold by Eda to help the twins with their newest experiment: Clones. And not just illusionary clones because they could already do that. No, these ones were more authentic. They had properly physical bodies, could be smacked around without going poof, and didn’t have to be commanded on how to act because they had mostly full freedom of autonomy. Their main restrictions were that no one had ever managed to make a perfect clone through the spell, they couldn’t fight their original, and they were mostly inclined to listen to the person who made them. Not made to though.

Luz then yawned as she looked around herself to all of… herselves. It was a little weird having them all there, she wouldn’t lie. But also cool. She’d already thought up of a good amount of games for them to all play and the one got her to say, “So, who wants to play a Grudgby game before we all go back to normal?”

Edric and Emira covered their ears just in time to block out some of the deafening shouts of agreement in the room. This had been happening for a while now as Luz learned how much the others would agree with her on most things. Not all of them of course, like the Luz whose nose was firmly stuck in her botany textbook, but for the most part they all agreed on most things. Because, you know, clones.

Luz patted herself down as some of the magical dust she had on for this scattered off of her. This only get Emira to throw another handful of it at Luz, just like any other time Luz ended up losing some of the protective powder. After all, if she didn’t have any sort of ward against the magic that was passing through her, it was very possible they’d straight up split Luz into two and not in the fun ‘light and dark otters’ way either. Luz just smiled at it though. “So, what design next?”

Emira smirked as she moved to get closer to Luz before stumbling a little. Luz immediately stepped closer to the twin before Edric stopped her from getting out of the pentagram she was on. They didn’t need her Luz’s connection to the spell snapping either because it had taken way more magic than either twin wanted to admit the first time. In fact, if they weren’t sharing the burden of the main portion of the spell between the two of them, they’d have maybe a quarter of the amount of clones around them since the strain of doing that was less than the spell that was making Luz’s being as volatile as it was right now.

The older girl waved any concerns away though as she slowly righted herself. “Sorry. I probably only have one or two left in me before I stop moving.”

Edric snickered at that before saying, “Oh? And here I am thinking I can go for at least another couple hours.”

That earned the male twin a glare from his sister before she hissed out, “Your shirt is drenched in sweat so don’t give me that.”

Luz giggled at the two of them before beginning to rock back and forth on the heels of her feet. “You know, I’m surprised you two are going so far with this.”

Emira managed to get back over to Luz after a few more stumbles before she tried to come up with the next design they’d go for. What next alteration would come out. “Regardless of what our parents think, we’re not bad at this stuff or don’t care about magic. We just don’t try as hard as they’d like sometimes or take it so seriously we stop having a real life outside of it like Amity. Or, well, before she met you.”

Luz blushed under Emira’s smile before looking at Ed. “Speaking of, how’d your make up test go?”

The male twin rolled his eyes before saying, “The professor was a jerk and decided that I could only get up to a C on it because this was the third time he’d had to do it for me.”

Emira’s concentration broke at that before she whipped around and yelled, “Third!? I thought that was the first time!”

Edric blinked a few times before glancing away and saying, “Oh, did I say third? I meant to say, uh.. Blurb?”

Emira narrowed her eyes before crossing her arms and growling out, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think you’d care!”

Emira shut her eyes tight before opening them again to the sound of the door to the classroom they were borrowing unlocking caught her attention. “Careful. Clones in here and we don’t want them getting out.”

There was a brief pause before the door opened ever so slightly and Lilith poked her head in. “I came by to check in on all of you. After all, it’s getting a little later in the day.”

Luz pulled her phone out for a second before her face lit up. “Oh, Amity just got done with her extra classes!”

The three witches all smirked at each other at Luz’s priorities before Lilith opened the door the rest of the way. Much to Ed and Em’s surprise, the clones didn’t race for the door. Not even the more troublesome ones they’d made earlier. Lilith was a little disappointed by it though, even if it was a little heartwarming to her how much it reflected on Luz’s good nature.

Now to ruin that.

“Actually, about that. I think I saw Amity on the way here. She was looking kind of sad-” All of the clones perked their heads up in concern at that, just like Luz did. They were primed to act and Lilith stepped to the side as she finished her statement to indeed get them to act, “and talked to me about how much she’d appreciate getting invited to for a sleepover tonight by you.”

The clones all looked at each other, at Luz, and then back at the door. Emira caught what was about to happen a second too late and tried yelling before they began moving. It didn’t matter though. Even when she did manage it, they didn’t listen and shouted back with things like “We’ll be right back,” or “We’ll see you at our place,” before scattering to try and find Amity.

Which left the four non-clones alone. The circle for the cloning spell was sparking from so many people having run across it all of a sudden and Luz had been knocked around enough to have one foot outside of it. Not that anyone got a chance to see as she stepped back into the circle with a laugh. “Oh man, I wish I could see Amity’s face when she’s surrounded by them.” She then giggled before lowering her shoulders and putting on a sour face. “Oh no, now I’m surrounded by dumb.”

Edric and Emira looked at each other before looking back at Luz. They could just say nothing but since the clones were technically theirs they would be blamed for any trouble they got into. So the female twin coughed and said, “Yeah. I just hope they don’t say anything too stupid. Afterall, they might have different priorities than you. Different reservations too.”

Luz went from laughing to a choked breath in the space of a heartbeat. The girl just stared into space for a second before finally shouting, “We need to get them back right now!”

The twins laughed while Lilith glared at the two but she didn’t say anything. After all, Edric almost faceplanting when he got up was enough to get him to have to admit a small problem in Luz’s statement. “Um, well, I’d love to, but I can barely walk.”

Emira glanced away, a little afraid of what would happen to Mittens if one of them acted all romantic and did say something but then she found out that it wasn’t the real Luz who admitted her feelings. “It’d be best for us to stay here anyways. Clones instinctively know they can’t go too far from their creator or the magic that keeps them together will start becoming unstable. That should keep them in Hexide.”

Luz looked between the twins in a panic before looking at Lilith. The elder Clawthorn held up a hand to stop her though. “Unfortunately, I overestimated how these old joints of mine were doing today and I really need to rest before we head home, let alone running around and trying to pin down your clones. Besides, you’re the only one that can get rid of them.”

Luz groaned as she hung her head down. Em and Ed could technically get rid of them by destabilizing their magics and anything lethal would make the clones melt but she could actually reabsorb the essence of the clones. The minor pieces of her that had created them. If that wasn’t returned to her, she could end up damaged in someway, though Edric and Emira claimed that they’d been careful in not even trying to make anything close to a perfect clone of her, which was when the risk really came into play. That was why Luz felt like herself even after being divided so many times already.

But catching up to so many of her without help was going to be hard. Next to impossible probably for before at least one of them hurt Amity. Luz then gasped slightly before saying, “You two said you had one more clone in you each, right?” She waited for Ed and Em to give her a nod before continuing with, “Then we’ll just make one more clone! But we’ll see about making them mature so they understand not to harass Amity and how dangerous a dozen mes is!”

Edric chuckled before smirking at her. “We need a base to start with, Luz, so I don’t know if we can do mature off of you.”

Emira giggled and then added, “And even if we did, maybe she’d just think the mature thing to do was check on Mittens, hmm?”

Then a different voice mumbled, “What would it matter? Even if they say what we’re afraid of, it can’t go anywhere. You know that. So why worry about it being ruined when it already is?”

Lilith and the twins turned to the voice and none of them liked seeing who it was. After all, it was a clone. Specifically, the emo Luz with excessive eyeliner, slumped shoulders, all black clothing, and even had one of her eyes covered by her hair. The twins internally told themselves that it was just an emo being an emo but, well… They had to work off a base.

Luz hung her head at the words as the clone came up to stand behind her and whisper, “It’s not like she can actually like you after all, can sh-”

Smack!

Luz was shaking as tried to calm herself. As she tried to make sure she didn’t cry in front of everyone. Her hand trembled as the clone, which she had backhanded as hard as she could, faded into blue energy before racing around her arm, running up to her shoulder, and then finally disappearing into Luz’s heart.

Lilith stepped closer to the young girl and whispered, “Are you okay?”

Luz sniffled a little before bringing an arm up and rubbing her eyes. She then took a shaky breath in and turned back to them all. She didn’t even try for a smile before she whispered, “Yeah.” She then rubbed at one of her eyes again but with one of her palms this time. Finally, Luz managed to look up and say, “So, can we make me some help?”

Ed and Em slowly got up from where they’d been sitting, not watching as Luz jumped to recollect herself and shake it off what just happened, just like she was with the protective dust she had on her. Or, used to once she finally settled. They were more focused on their concern for the girl’s head than they were her body. Emira placed a hand on Luz’s shoulder before whispering, “Are you sure? I mean, after that, I would think you wouldn’t want to risk another clone.”

Luz shrugged as she finally managed the smallest of smiles. “Come on, it’s not like it was right. It was just being emo. No reason to listen to it.” She then paused and looked up at the two with tears at the edges of her eyes before whispering, “Right?”

The twins glanced at each other before Edric cracked his knuckles. “Right. So, two mature Luzs, right?”

Luz nodded for a second before frantically shaking her head. “No! I was actually thinking you two would make one together. After all, we need to make sure this one is just right or it will run off like the others.”

None of the witches looked comfortable at that idea. Luz was emotionally unstable, Edrick and Emira were exhausted, and those were reasons enough to be concerned without the things they didn’t notice like the lack of dust on Luz or the fact that cracks were forming in the pentagram on the floor. But that same instability made it really hard to say no to the human amongst them. Lilith was the voice of reason this time as she stepped forward. “That could be extremely dangerous, Luz. It’s hard enough to make sure two people have the same idea of what they’re making, let alone three. Not only that, but witches casting spells together can get… messy. At least so long as they’re not used to it.”

The twins smirked as their brains skipped worrying about what they were about to say to just wanting to brag about their unique skills. Emira even purred a little as she started with, “Now now, you have two masters of combo casting right here,” and Edric finished with, “and we love getting a new chance to strut our stuff, don’t we Em?”

“Then what do we have to worry about?”

Emira and Edric looked behind themselves and back at Luz before smacking themselves. There wasn’t any taking it back though, not without looking like fools. So the two turned to Luz and smiled at her before saying in unison, “Well, will we get started then?”

Luz nodded before trying to settle herself down. She couldn’t move too much, though Emric and Emira squeezing one of her shoulders each helped her stay in place. The two then closed their eyes and she heard their suggestion. Mature, responsible, understanding. Yep. That was right. Someone who would get this. Get that they needed to round up all the clones. That it did matter. That they could do damage.

The circle for the spell began to radiate electricity as the twins shut their eyes and began channeling what they had left into the image forming inside of Luz. A poke there, a shift there, everything that went into making it just right, just like with every other one they’d made. The two also showed off why they were so good at this sort of thing as they never got in each other’s way. Edric added a left eye. Emira painted the left leg. And so they continued before something seemed to cause a hiccup in it.

Said hiccup was a tear coming down Luz’s face. After all, the clone had to get it. Couldn’t be like the last one. That even if it couldn’t go anywhere, it would still hurt Amity because she might think something might be there. Something was allowed to be there. That the two of them would ever be allowed back where Luz lived. That Luz wasn’t just some freak who still needed to be put in a camp to be fixed. That this all wasn’t just a lie.

Lilith stepped closer to the circle before an errant bolt of lightning almost caught her. That’s when she noticed the magical problems. The cracks in the floor, the fact that there were no stars of dust connecting the strands of magic that were wrapping around Luz. She could also see the separate Luz’s that were forming at once as Emira and Edric’s legs began to shake. None of them looked happy. They all looked scared, in pain, or devastated by something.

Neither of the twins could hear any warning Lilith might give them. They had noticed something was going catastrophic but to simply stop could be as dangerous as going on. The two grabbed the slowly slipping apart form they were working with and magically forced it back together. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t finished or if the process might create some sort of gooey mess. If they didn’t keep it together, that was how you ended up with two halves of a person rather than two people.

Luz felt none of this. She was just beginning to wish the voices would stop. That something would be done about it. That she could just have the version of her who wasn’t such a coward already. The form of her that extended her hand to her. The one whose hand she grabbed.

And in that moment, the room exploded. Everyone was thrown back and crashed against the walls as the desks were splintered by the force of the fracturing. Ground where the circle was was a complete mess of scars and burn marks and where Luz had been was simply a large, glowing ball. It stuttered and sparked, with the odd bolt of magic flying off and striking the ceiling or floor.

Until, finally, the light began to smooth out. Extend. And slowly but surely, begin to take form. Two long lengths of straight hair that escaped a loose, cotton cap on her head. A loose, army green jacket that was a little longer in one arm than the other and missing a few buttons. A raggedy t-shirt that had some rock band on the front. And finally, a set of baggy jeans that were cuffed a few times around the ankles to make sure this Luz didn’t step on them.

And that was in spite of the fact that she was about a foot taller than the Luz that any of them knew. In fact, she looked to maybe be as old as her early twenties, but bare minimum would have been a senior, which now made her older than the twins. And, as everyone slowly picked themselves up, the new Luz finally moved.

And just yawned and stretched before slumping forward a little and smacking her lips tiredly. “Yo.”

Lilith was the first to get up, as Edric and Emira were barely conscious after the exertion of the last of their magic being spent like this, and looked at the older Luz. She couldn’t believe her eyes for so many reasons but the important stuff had to be covered first. “Luz?”

The older Luz looked over at her before smirking a little. “Na, mama cita. I think,” she said going to the side where a pile of wood and metal had begun to shift and shake, “I’m right here.” She then reached in and indeed yanked their little idiot out from the pile.

Lilith ran over to Luz as the older version of the human stepped out of the way. The witch immediately began checking her student for any signs of damage or missing limbs but no matter where she checked, nothing seemed out of place except for the fact that she was taking her time to wake up from the explosion.

Once she was standing on her own though, Lilith finally asked, “Luz, are you okay?”

Luz groaned for a moment before yawning and stretching in the exact same fashion as the older clone before looking at Lilith. “I think? Did it work?”

The older Luz came over and ruffled her younger self’s hair for a second before saying, “I think it did. How about you?”

Luz looked up at herself before her jaw dropped. She. Looked. So cool! “I love your hair! And this jacket? Where can I get one? Oh, and what about that chill slouch? Everytime I do it I end up just hurting my back.”

The older Luz chuckled as her younger self continued to zip around her. She then shot an arm out and stopped the energetic girl on a dime. “It’s a learned skill, but I think one I’ll need to teach you another time, don’t you agree?”

Luz gasped at the question before turning to Lilith and hissing, “Mature.” She then looked back at herself and tried to put on a serious voice. “Okay, clone me.”

“Please, call me Cluz.”

Luz blinked a few times before squealing out, “Clone Luz! That’s perfect!” She jumped up and down a few times as she continued to yell, “This is great! You’ll be able to help me round up the other clones no problem! Then we can find Amity and make sure that they didn’t mess anything up.”

Cluz raised an eyebrow before smirking in a way that immediately made Lilith groan. “Oh, so we’re doing this to help out Amity, are we? Well, I can definitely help you round up the rest of us.”

Luz’s eyes shined brightly before going to hug her older self. Instead, Cluz spun around her while hooking one foot around Luz’s leg and tripping her. The clone then walked over to the doorway before leaning against it as she looked back at herself. “But I’ll do it once I’ve scored a kiss from our crush.”

Luz’s face turned bright red and began to smoke as Cluz slipped out of sight. The young girl turned to Lilith though and began to babble out, “Crush? What? No. I mean, have you seen Amity? Who would want to kiss that? Me? No. Never. Nev…” She looked back at the doorway before shouting, “I gotta go,” before becoming a smoke cloud with how fast she ran off.

Lilith walked to the doorway as she rubbed her temples from it all. Theoretically, this was all going according to Eda and hers’ plan but seeing Luz that upset was always distressing. Not to mention the fact that this Cluz was trouble. She almost certainly knew it.

“You know, I was made from her asking for help, so I promise that’s what I’m doing.”

Lilith jumped slightly as the older Luz came out from behind the door where she couldn’t have been seen without being careful. In other words, a perfect place to get away from Luz after the state she’d been put into. It made the elder Clawthorn less than believing in the clone’s words. “I’m sorry, but if you’re formed out of whatever was making Luz cry, I don’t know if I trust your definition of ‘help’.”

Cluz moved over to a broom that had been left out in the hallway and turned it to a forty five degree angle. She then curb stomped it right above the head before popping the impromptu staff up so she now held it in the middle. Finally, satisfied with her new acquisition, she turned away from Lilith. “Trust me, if anyone knows Luz’s problems, it’s me. Besides, all of the clones are going to be lacking what I got so,” she said after a slow, calm breath in, “I know what I’m doing, promise.”

Lilith glared at Cluz, especially as she held the makeshift staff behind her with both hands like it was natural. Eda had let Luz practice with Owlbert more but she wasn’t a natural with staffs. There was barely a base for this.

Then again, the idea of a grown up clone was supposed to be impossible. After all, while the body could remember what it was like when it was smaller, it had no way of knowing what it would be when it got older. However, Lilith thought as she grabbed her side, her lie had become the truth when she’d gotten slammed into the wall so she wasn’t in any sort of condition to chase. Not only that, but she had to make sure the twins were okay.

So, for now, all she could hope for was that Luz could take care of herself.