None of the Owl House were comfortable as they watched the bridge to Belos’ castle extend to them. Lilith, Eda, and Luz had all been given personalized invitations to the castle, signed by Belos himself. Each guaranteed them safety for the night and that the law would ignore anything they learned about them or their affiliations throughout the event that was being held. He’d even gone so far as to send Lilith a white version of her robes with silver trims and a silver beak mask to allow her to appear as she would have to high class events like this before her exile.

To say they were all suspicious was putting it lightly. When they’d all received the letters, they hadn’t planned to come. Sure, there was free food, no consequences, and they were being given a ride by Kikimora herself, who had told all of them to not speak to her or she would break Belos’ word because of how stupid all of this was, but that was exactly the problem. It was all too good to be true. Eda might not always care about walking into a trap but she knew better than to walk into one that she could avoid.

But then Amity had come in. Luz was technically not coming on her own invitation after all. She was Amity’s plus one. Luz had tried to stop her when it had come up, but Amity wasn’t only doing it for a date with her crush, who was in her tuxedo sans tutu because Lilith hadn’t let her wear it. No, it was because Amity’s invite had promised a full pardon to her plus one. There would be no more gray area for Luz after this so long as the two showed up, mingled a little, and left on good terms with the emperor.

Essentially, the offer had changed from too good to be true to being too good to pass up. Amity had even pointed out how Kikimora kept talking about how Belos wanted unity between the two of them and while that usually meant weird, dumb, totally not true things, she swore, this would at least let them be friends, no questions asked. And, after two days of Luz screaming into a pillow, she finally stopped asking questions and accepted that she would go with Amity. Of course, Lilith and Eda couldn’t let her go by herself so they agreed at the same time, hence why they were now all stuck here.

And, when across the bridge, let out. Eda stretched herself out before looking around herself. “So, Lilith, bring back any memories?”

Lilith glared at her sister for a second before looking around themselves. There were memories here. So many memories. Almost none of which Lilith ever wanted to think about and so ignored the question as she turned to where their driver had been. “So, Kiki, is there anything we need to-”

The small demoness hopped onto the ground in her uniform but such a reminder of her place didn’t stop her from glaring at Lilith. “I was tasked with bringing you here. Not talking, not explaining, or anything of that sort. If you three cannot follow the rules then that is your fault. Now,” she said as she turned on a heel, “goodbye.”

Lilith pressed her fingers to her temples as she watched her old associate walk away. The two had never gotten along but she wasn’t normally this hostile. Then again, they used to be on the same side at least. “I suppose we’ll just need to hope that he isn’t trying to be that simple in his machinations, as most of Belos’ rules are common sense. Well, that, and what one might expect from him.”

Luz giggled for a second before nudging Lilith’s side with her elbow. “Oh, so no fun?”

“If that were the case, we wouldn’t have risked bringing Edric and Emira, would we have, Odalia?”

The three new arrivals turned to watch Alador and Odalia coming out from the entrance. The two wore what was honestly normal for them. Odalia was in the same cascading layers of purple that she’d been the day Luz had met her and Alador wore a suit, just like Eda and Luz. Okay, a lot nicer than their suits, and his didn’t make him look like some sort of professor like Eda’s did, but it was still just a suit.

The twins came out next with Edric in a variety of greens that made up his suit but with blue trim at his cuffs and tie while Emira was in a dress that was almost identical to her mother’s outside of the slight touches of blue that separated each shade of purple. The two were all smiles right now and chirped, “You think we would have shown up if we couldn’t have some fun?”

Luz laughed for a second as the twins came over and messed up Luz’s hair, which annoyed most of the adults. Alador and Odalia just wanted the human to look presentable, but Eda and Lilith had remembered the five hours it had taken to make it flat and knot-free without magic. The sound of heels against the stone they stood upon silenced them. After all, the Blights knew what was coming and Eda and Lilith had been curious as to what Odalia would put their star of the show into tonight.

And then Luz looked up. Her heart stopped at the sight of Amity, who stood there with her hands closed in front of her as she tried to make herself as small as she could. She wasn’t in green or purple, but rather a long, black dress that Luz would have affiliated with witches before coming to the Isles. When Amity shifted her weight, small bits of crystal made themselves known as small glints of sparkles came off of her like magical dust drifting from her body. Amity’s face then turned a little red as she made a quick circle in the air to show it off, as well as the fact that the crystals changed colors with the speed of her movements to create a whole rainbow of colors along her figure.

The youngest Blight then took in a long, slow breath in. She held it for a second and then grabbed the hem of her dress so she could perform a small curtsy to her date. “Hello, Luz. I hope I look okay.”

Luz let out a small, strangled gasp as her brain tried to say something. It mostly came up with a slow motion video of Amity performing the twirl again and again but she couldn’t comment on how perfect that had been. How beautiful she’d looked. She looked. Was it getting warm? Just her? Okay. She swallowed hard as her brain finally remembered she had to say something but she couldn’t commont on the dress. Or the light bit of mascara. Or the fact that Amity was wearing lush, pink lipstick that made Luz really wish Cluz was here to make them kiss again. Think, Noceda!

She blinked a few times before finally saying, “Nice… glove?”

Amity blinked a few times before looking at her free hand. “Oh, I hadn’t expected you to notice it so soon.”

Luz blinked for a second as she took in the fact that Amity was in fact wearing a single glove. She’d just randomly picked that to say because she couldn’t let the pause wear on. But, now that she had noticed it, Luz jumped on the out as she came closer and grabbed the other girl’s wrist to take a closer look at the purple, fingerless glove. “It looks like it’s made out of abomination goo or something!”

Amity smiled for a moment before a slight turn of her hand showed that it in fact was made out of abomination goo. In fact, it was made out of the tiny one she normally had perched on her shoulders nowadays. “We’re not supposed to bring creations with us, as their unseemly appearances are usually considered rude, but I didn’t want to leave him behind. Then again,” she said with a touch of red to her cheeks, “I suppose he’s not the only abomination I brought with me tonight.”

Luz giggled before winking at her crush. “Oh, but they’d have to dissect me then when I stopped listening to you, wouldn’t they?”

The two giggled together for a second and the rest of the group sighed in relief. They’d been worried that the more serious atmosphere of all of this would smother the two but it didn’t seem to stop them for a second. Of course, that wasn’t always a good thing for the two staying romantic as Amity asked, “So, no tutu?”

Luz groaned before saying, “Yeah. Lilith said it’d be unseemly.”

Amity stepped to Luz’s side and raised an eyebrow before saying, “I’d have just claimed it was simply what humans deemed as fashionable if anyone thought that. Seems simple enough to me.”

Luz’s small frown slowly began to turn around as she whispered, “Yeah, but do you know what else I considered coming as?”

“Don’t you mean wear-” Amity then cut herself off before walking past Luz to head back into the castle. “Nope. Not letting you do it.”

Luz merely smiled like a cat before racing to follow after the other girl. The two then got to the door leading back into the foyer where the party was and stopped. They were right next to each other. If they walked in right now, everyone would see the two enter together. Assume they were together in some way. The mere thought turned both girls bright red as their hands twitched to maybe hold the other’s.

This continued for about five minutes as the two would look at each other, away, down, up, back to each other, and then repeat. It went quickly from amusing to annoying to the other guests before Emira and Edric let out a groan together and made circles in the air. Luz and Amity were only informed of any of this as the doors in front of them began to open. A look up let them see an illusionary pair of hands pushing against the heavy wood, but that still wouldn’t have explained how incredibly loud the sound of their entrance was. Every creak and groan sounded like thunder and soon practically every guest that was inside was looking at Amity and Luz.

The two were frozen at all of the eyes and both couldn’t help but feel heat rush to their cheeks as their hands twitched towards the others’ to try and get some sort of comfort. Some solidarity at suddenly being put in the spotlight like this. But if they did do that, it would just make the scene before other guests even more explicit. At least in their eyes, even though most of the witches within were quickly turning their attention to wondering why the door had been so loud rather than why the Blight’s youngest girl looked so nervous next to another witch her age.

It was only once Eda and Lilith came behind Luz that some in the crowd began to put together who the Blight’s guest was and then the hall came to life with a heightened buzz. It was the sort of thing that made Odalia briefly scowl at, for many of the same reasons it made Alador smile. They could both remember what it was like the first time their peers thought they had a new scandal on their hands. Odalia’s scowl at the past faded fairly quickly though as she and her husband had a trained ear for such hums. To know what their peers thought just by what the general conversational tone was.

And this wasn’t derisive. Not to the extent Alador’s joining of their ranks had been. No, the sight of the human with the Blights had the exact effect the two nobles had suspected. A shock to the higher families that made them realize the sorts of connections and social width that a family as insular as theirs was capable of. A fresh shot of energy into the lifeblood of the oldest surviving family of the Isles. In fact, the two’s satisfaction at the reaction was obvious enough to those around them that the twins giggled at each other before saying, “So, point us?”

Odalia and Alador glanced at their kids before they gave the two of them soft smiles. Neither moved too obviously towards either one, as they needed to still stride back into the hall like the nobles they were rather than a normal family, but they still said, “Good work you two,” in unison. The twins, obviously not so worried about appearing regal as they came in, smirked at each other before fist bumping over their victory, much to the annoyance of their parents.

Luz wished she had her cat hood though as she came in. With everything that happened last time she was here, she couldn’t help but wish she could hide. Then again, the idea she’d get a full pardon after hitting Belos like she did mostly made her think she was going to get vaporized. Then again, if that happened then Amity would blame herself for having had it happen and the idea of her crush sobbing from that... Yeah, she wouldn’t let Belos touch her if he tried something like that. Still, she didn’t want to have to actually figure out what she would do in that case so she would try to simply keep a low profile.

Now if only she could stop fidgeting and looking around and instead act like this was nothing like Amity did. In fact, she looked so cool as she effortlessly waved to other families and gave each that nodded back the barest hint of a smile. An acknowledgement but nothing more. Luz sighed for a second before whispering, “And here I thought you couldn’t get cooler.”

Amity’s hand clenched in mid-wave as her cheeks burned at the statement before she looked over at Luz. “W-What?”

Luz jumped a little as she realized she’d said that out loud. The energetic girl then glanced away with a nervous laugh as she scratched the back of her head. “Oh, uh, just that you’re always seeming to try so hard at school when you’re being all “big, mean Blight,” so to see you actually being that is, uh… Cool?”

Amity narrowed her eyes before saying, “Big, mean Blight?” She then shut her eyes for a second as she tried to relax. She didn’t mean it that way. She was overreacting just because she didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want stuffy old blood looking at her crush when she was looking so good. She wanted to be the only one to see her like this. Wait, no. No, she was fine with sharing Luz. She totally didn’t immediately think of Bosha right now and how she’d tear out her throat if she asked Luz to dance. Nope. Amity shut her eyes tighter for a second before saying, “I’m going to get some water.”

Emira perked up at hearing Amity’s intentions before yelling, “Hey, why don’t you get us all some, M-”

Smack!

Both of the twins winced as Alador lowered his arms after rattling their brains with slaps to the back of the head. It had been a hot minute since their parents had brought Em and Ed out to the public and so they’d been all too ready to need to remind the two of their manners, such as not embarrassing their sister by calling her by their pet name. Of course, even just starting saying it was enough to get Amity to fume for a second before she turned on her heel and marched away. However, in just a half dozen strides, she’d obviously gained full control of herself again. Just as her parents had taught her to in situations like this. Nothing mattered more than the image after all. Otherwise, her tunnel would only crack more.

Amity hard stopped for a second as she thought about how easy it would be to destroy that tunnel to her future by acting like her siblings for even a second. Then she’d be just as dumb and low as Luz… No. No, that wasn’t her. Or, that wasn’t her place. She was a Blight after all. The right Blight for that matter. That was the only reason Luz was allowed to be here after all. If she broke that, they’d just take Luz away as punishment. She had to stick to the plan. The plan she’d had for so long.

A plan that her siblings didn’t much care for. Or, it was on Ed’s mind at least as he kept glancing at the ceiling. He glanced back down though as Luz came up and waved at them. The human then fidgeted for a second before pointing between the twins. “So, uh, who are your plus ones?”

Emira smirked at the question before swiping a few loose strands of her braid behind one of her ears. “Oh, since we’re not seeing anyone we end up putting each other down as our plus ones. That way when they serve dinner, we can ask for seconds. Well, that, and we love seeing people panic for a second when they think the Blights are inbreeding.”

Edric chuckled for a second before wrapping an arm around Emira’s neck as Amity got back with water for her and Luz. “Yeah, but I’m going to have to deal with giving mine up so Em here doesn’t kill me.”

Emira giggled for a second before pausing mid laugh and looking at Edric. “Wait, what? The only reason you’d have to do that is if you didn’t list me as your plus one. Did you forget to tick the box again?”

Ed shook his head as he looked up right when the lights in the room flickered. “No. Just came up with a different trick to pull. Speaking of, that’s my cue to meet with him.”

Emira scowled for a second before crossing her arms. “Don’t try to pretend you’re cool or something. If you had something planned, you would have told m-”

Clap, clap!

Emira was cut off by her brother raising his hands and smacking them together. The moment the second clap was done, the lights in the hall went out and left only the crack left in the front doors to illuminate a small section of the party. Otherwise, they were plunged into darkness as Luz went, “Oooh, clappers.”

Amity looked over at her crush before simply saying, “Luz.”

“Oh, right. Magic.”

Clap, clap!

A spotlight came down upon the dance floor that was in the middle of the hall and Edric was standing tall and proud there. He smiled at the crowd before taking a deep bow. “Hello, everyone. My name is, as I would you hope all would know, Edric Blight. When I heard this party was being held, I couldn’t help but be inspired to try and give our emperor something unique to remember tonight for.

Odalia and Alador paled in the darkness at the words before beginning to look around for any sign of what the young man had planned. They both knew it had to be nothing good but in the darkness they couldn’t make out a thing. Even worse, they couldn’t stop him because it would be admitting that he was doing this without their permission.

“However,” Ed said as he stood back up and brought his hands back up to be next to his head, “I couldn’t have done this by myself so please let me introduce you to my co-star.”

Emira narrowed her eyes as she wished she could drink some of the alcohol that she knew was being served here. Then again, Ed was probably just going to show off that he’d cloned himself or something. There was no way he found someone else without her help after all.

Clap, clap!

Luz and Amity’s eyes went wide as a second spotlight came down upon Edric’s partner. The second showman was a good bit shorter than Edric but no less knew how to bow just as well as the Blight beside him. The dark skinned bow then looked up with a large grin that didn’t match his well made suit, even if it was obvious it was probably a hand me down with how poorly it fit him. “Welcome one and all. My name is Gus Porter and I hope to give you all a performance you won’t forget.”

Edric crossed a foot behind him before bowing slightly and extending his hand to Gus. “Then, shall I have this dance?”

Alador and Odalia sighed in relief. It was just going to be a dance. Maybe a bit of an exhibition. Of course, that was surprising in and of itself as Edric had never kept up with his dance lessons but they hoped that maybe he’d surprise them. Meanwhile, Belos, from where he sat above them all, tapped his staff on the ground to add some magic to the runes that Gus had come in to lay long before any of the other guests had arrived. In fact, Belos and Kikimora were the only two who had any sort of notion of what to expect, though even he didn’t know what the finale was. He just knew that he was intrigued as to just how good the two young witches would be at fulfilling their ambitious project.

Which all started with Gus grinning, performing a similar bow, before reaching up and high fiving Cedric. “Totally!” Upon contact, sparks flew from both boy’s hands and spread away from themselves. Those were simply to prime the runes that were placed across the dance floor as the two formed three circles, one with each hand and then together with their feet, as they spun each other as they now came together properly.

The magic pulsed before extending away from themselves. In one corner of the dance floor, a band made up of Guses and Edrics appeared with drums, horns, everything. They even had an illusionary Kikimora as their conductor, though if you looked closer you could see a music player that was actually playing the songs. The next spell lit up the stage and for now made it appear like classic marble as the two boys grinned at each other. Finally, Kikimora raised her hands, paused for a second, and then pointed to the drums to start a quick, driving beat before bringing the other instruments.

The second the music began, the two were off. They started with a quick push forward with Edric appearing to lead in the steps. It was no simple waltz though as his parents had expected though as the two quickly crossed the dance floor and came right up to the two elder Blights in a classic Quickstep. Edric even gave his parents a wink as him and Gus transitioned into a quick spin turn before beginning to continue to slide across the edge of their stage.

However, anyone who was looking for errors could catch them. Catch how Edric would blur from time to time and his confident, wide grin would lapse and switch to a stressed, nervous frown with a furrowed brow and eyes cast straight down at his feet. Gus had no such hesitations as the trained dancers amongst the nobles could tell the young boy was gently pulling against his partner. They couldn’t have the Blight appear to be the inferior dancer after all but to the experts, it was obvious who was actually leading.

Not that it really hurt the performance. In fact, many of the nobles were far more impressed by how clean their magic was at hiding Edric’s faults and making the simple version of the dance appear to be effortless for both of them. Regardless of the preparations helping the two illusionists set the stage, stuff like fixing the less experienced dancer’s moves had to be done in real time. In fact, it let Gus even further show off his skills as he wasn’t showing any stress in doing so while leading the dance.

The two didn’t keep up this portion for too long. Not only was it too advanced for Ed, who had only learned the dance existed about three days ago when Gus and him began practicing the routine, it wasn’t what they were here for. Instead, after about a minute of the two giving the crowd smiles up close, they glided to the middle.

Gus and Edric stomped on the floor and the music halted instantly. Slowly, a spanish guitar began strumming and the two let go of each other. Alador and Odalia looked at each other and sighed in relief. There was one dance Ed did know, because of course him and Emira did. It was the most monocle popping the two could do without devolving into styles that their parents would never allow. It only made Emira cross her arms tighter before glancing away and hugging herself. After all, Salsa Dancing was their thing.

That didn’t seem to matter to the two performers though. Instead, Gus grabbed the sides of his tux’s jacket popping his hands forward. A shower of blue sparks came off of him as the space beneath him glowed. There were a few gasps from the spell he’d cast but Edric wasn’t waiting for their reaction to get change for the dance either. He placed his hands on his hips before beginning to sway his body quickly and bringing up a whirlwind of magic up from his feet before running his hands, and therefore the magic, up his body before flicking it up and off of his head.

A wardrobe change, or even a spell to simulate it, would have been entertaining enough. What they had actually done was mortifying to Edric’s parents as they quickly went from excited to very, very scared. After all, Gus now looked exactly like Odalia while Edric was the spitting image of his father.

And the music didn’t slow for any sort of waltz. No, the music only picked up from its interlude as the two began their own routines. This was a lot less about the two working in tandem though as they simply showed off the forms of Salsa they did know. Which was a touch of a problem that Alador had to pretend he didn’t care about. After all, in classic twin fashion, Edric had decided in the past two years to focus on learning his sister’s part and the reverse went for Emira.

Fortunately for the two, that meant that Gus was kept in his element. They didn’t have to fight over roles, even if they did add a bit of fun with them showing off as the other gender than what their moves were naturally meant for. Edric had also been kind enough to Gus not to push him out of his comfort zone. After all, the older boy was just that, older, and so was a lot more comfortable getting up, close, and personal with other people. At least, in his dreams. That just wasn’t Gus, at least not yet, so the two played it chaste. To say Edric’s parents were relieved by this was an understatement. But they couldn’t help but glance at each other and smile back to the days when they would meet in secret and Odalia would teach Alador everything she knew to do on the dance floor. It felt like it’d been so long since they got to do that…

However, the two wouldn’t ignore the nature of the dance and it was obvious that Edric was going a little off script. The touches on Gus’s chin, sliding behind him and blowing into his ear. Holding one of the spins for a little extra long and holding the other boy a little longer than Gus expected. There was no smoothing either on Gus’ stumbles from this. In fact, Edric was showing off how Gus was supposed to be moving in slight outlines on the other boy, which only flustered him more.

It sold something though. Something that lit Amity’s face up like a Christmas tree. A spark that she wanted so badly to be able to show Luz. After all, she knew how to dance too and while Salsa wasn’t really her style, she had other tricks. Other ways to bring them closer than she’d be comfortable with. But they’d be dancing. Just dancing. But Edric was a troublemaker. Everyone knew this sort of thing was a part of him so no one batted an eye at him getting too close to another boy. Judged him for choosing someone who was more middle class. Especially while they showed off just how capable they were as witches.

But all good things have to come to an end and soon enough Gus and Edric brought each other face to face. They stared into each other’s eyes for a second, placed their hands on each other’s cheeks, and stopped. Their faces were barely an inch apart and the audience stopped as they held their breath to see if they would do it. That made Luz slowly turn to the crowd and take in the fact that they hadn’t reacted like any of this was wrong. Not for a second. The thoughts in the back of her mind tried to say that their opinions didn’t matter, but they’d stopped working on attacking the Boiling Isles ever since she’d been robbed by them by Cluz. She just had to watch as two guys, even if they appeared as other people, were almost encouraged to do this.

They didn’t kiss though. Instead, they both brought a hand back, paused, and then smacked the other as hard as they could. Both fell to the floor in a shower of sparks before hopping right back up. Only this time, they were Eda and Lilith. The younger Clawthorn sister snickered from the sidelines before elbowing her sister. “So, what do you think? Some stomp on my part while you try to keep things classy?”

Lilith looked back before raising an eyebrow at the other witch. “Oh yes, because you could jump more than twice before hurting yourself.”

That jab was a little more prophetic than either would have liked as Gus, who was pretending to be Eda, rubbed her shoulder before pointing at her sister. “Hey, don’t you know how easily I bruise nowadays?”

Edrick swiped back his now long, black hair before putting the same hand on her back. “You think you get to complain? Do you know how long ago my back broke from carrying Kikimora everywhere.”

Belos glanced down at his assistant as her eye twitched for a moment before tapping his throne in amusement.

Gus turned away from his ‘sister’ and crossed his arms before summoning a fireball, though it was purely illusionary. The boy hadn’t really learned much in the way of proper, offensive magic yet. “Oh, I can help you ignore that you know.”

Edric meanwhile summoned some crackling lightning that matched the runes on the ground that began to glow and spark as the two of them charged their next trick. “Oh, I assure you I know. You’ll need to be able to stand after what I do to you though.”

Luz and Amity then had to jump as a brief puff of blue smoke appeared as Gus spun his free hand in a circle. A clone of him shook off the dust before yelling, “This isn’t funny! Where’s the dancing?”

The two performers glanced at each other before grinning and saying, “You want a dance, we’ll give you a dance!”

The two then slammed into each other and a giant wave of illusionary wind went through the hall. It then swirled around the dance floor in a blue dome that continued to spark and blow dust over the crowd. At the edges though, people began noticing flowers beginning to appear to bloom as the illusionary band began to swap out drums and guitars for pianos, brass, and more classical strings.

They only began to play though as the wind began to dissipate. The two performers could only be seen through small cracks at first, but it was enough to give an idea of who they may be. After all, one brushed some light green hair behind one of her pointed ears. The other pulled at a pink tutu that was obviously over some black outfit. A pair of boots on one while the other wore heels. And then, finally, the final piece as someone gasped from seeing a round ear.

Amity and Luz. The real ones both felt their heart stop as they flashed back to Grom, as the two on stage were wearing the exact same outfits they had back then, complete with crown. At how magical that night had been, both literally and figuratively. How it was the first time Luz realized just how beautiful Amity was, even if she didn’t realize until she was home and the adrenaline of it all had faded. The day when Amity was shown a glimpse of something between them being possible, even if Luz had called her a friend that night. The fact that she didn’t hesitate to say she’d go to Grom with her…

Amity smiled a little at the memory of her letter. At least, until she looked at how the dancefloor had changed. One the edges there were beautiful, exotic flowers and vines that made a great border for the two performers. However, the majority of the floor was now pink. Bright pink. Just like a certain note. Of course, that could just be in reference to it. Yeah. Neither Edric or Gus saw the proper letter. Just what Luz had seen. Of course, missing the name could mean they might put someone else and then Luz might think she liked someone else which would be the worst. No! Best. She’d lose all suspicion…

The amount Amity hurt herself with that last thought as she glanced at Luz made her almost happy when she turned back and saw the two performers beginning a waltz. Everywhere ‘her’ right foot slid across though, a black line followed. And the movements were perfect. No jokes, no blurring, nothing except the dance. The two had practiced this one more than any other part of the routine of course as they saw it as the most important portion.

It also helped the crowd lose themselves in watching the two. They didn’t think about the magical prowess this would take or that the two weren’t the girls on stage. Not when Gus mimicked Luz’s mannerisms perfectly and Edric couldn’t have been a more perfect, blushing Amity. The only thing they could consider was what was being written, which was in fact not the Grom letter.

No, it was something that, as it became clearer and clearer, made more and more of the other guests look at the real couple that were in plain view now that people had moved out of the way. They were both bright red and they wouldn’t dare look at each other. Not when they were too focused on what their friend and sibling were putting down.

After all, Amity couldn’t refuse anything they were putting down. It was a declaration of love after all, even if by the end of the dance they never put the word down. No, instead they seemed to simply pluck thoughts right from her head. How Luz was unique. How she was beautiful. How she was cute. How she was the best thing to have ever happened to her. And how much she could just muster up the words to say it. Ask her to dance.

And then Amity looked around. Looked around at how everyone was looking at her and Luz. At how they smiled. At how it looked almost like they were curious about what a dance between the real ones would look. Almost like they… They would accept the two of them.

Luz was sharing the same exact thought, though for wholly different reasons as she took in the strangers. People who had zero reason to lie to her and tell her that no one would judge her if she decided to be with Amity. People who would maybe encourage it. And not just other weirdos like her. No, these were Amity’s people. Judgemental, high society jerks. The same exact people who would demonize her the most at home. But here, they looked almost like they were inviting her into their circles.

The two girls only looked back to catch Edric throwing Gus up into the air. They had wanted to mimic exactly how the Amity and Luz finished off Grom, but the younger boy simply didn’t have the strength. Besides, this was the finale and they thought it was okay if they embellished it a little. After all, it’s not like Amity had spun in the air with magical energy after they’d leapt off of her abomination.

That some energy came down like a crashing wake when Gus came back down. Edric’s knees almost buckled as he caught his partner, the two now back to appearing as themselves as the rest of their magic was dispelled with the end of their dance. The two then paused for a second to look at each other before Edric put down Gus and they both stood up and faced Emperor Belos.

Edric bowed first as he said, “I hope that was all that we had promised, my lord.”

Gus then bowed as well. Instead of thanking him for the chance to have performed for him though, the poor guy fell face first into the wood beneath them. Edric jumped a little at the thud before hastily bowing again. “Um, uh, thank you for letting us perform and,” he said with a pause as he looked at Gus before saying, “I hope you liked our last joke.”

Belos tapped the arm of his throne for a moment before extending a hand to them with a nod. “You two were quite entertaining. I hope you only get better so you may perform for me again after you graduate. And without collapsing.”

Edric’s face lit up at the praise before looking back at Gus and chuckling to himself as he pulled his co-star up off the ground and began to drag him away. After all, he could only imagine how the younger boy would lose it at the praise.

Belos didn’t watch the two leave though. Instead, he looked directly at Amity and Luz. They both looked back before remembering what Kikimora kept saying. That he wanted unification, especially between them. Would… Would dating Luz be accepted so much that it would make Belos want her to be even closer to him? Perhaps even take Kikimora’s place? Was that why she always seemed so angry? Luz couldn’t help but wonder if Belos himself would act on any hate she might get from others who tried to hate Amity and her for both being girls. He talked a big game about wanting the best for all who lived under him but she would have assumed that bi girls like her would be thrown into the Conformatorium if she showed anything other than the straight side of her sexuality. Did he not consider being gay to be deviant? Was it allowed, even at the top?

It was enough to get Amity to look at Luz. She just had to ask her to dance. It wouldn’t be that weird with how the floor was now primed for anyone to dance, let alone the two of them. Besides, Luz never had minded being the center of attention in the past. Yeah. It would work. She just had to say ‘Care for a dance?’ and maybe… Maybe she would tell Luz how she felt then? Or maybe once they went home and were less in public? Amity, why are you wasting time thinking about this when you need to say something? For once in your life, just say something!

But Luz beat her to it. The human couldn’t quite make the leap after all. Not all at once. So she looked at Amity for a second, whispered, “I need to go breathe,” before walking away. Nothing more. No more words. But at least she said something…

Amity lowered her hands to her waist as she simply stared after her crush. If she hadn’t wasted any time asking the same stupid questions that she always did then she could have finally done it. Gotten an answer. Make the questions finally stop. Her hand moved to her ear but for once the blossom hurt. After all, maybe if she’d brushed it first she’d have gotten the push she needed. But instead she was the same, stupid girl that she always was.

It made her almost happy when she was reminded that she was a Blight by another head of an old family coming up and asking to talk with her. Anything to distract her from this. To distract her from another screw up on a pile of mistakes. She did pause though to take her glove off and leave it at the table her family was seated at but then moved to follow the other guests to wherever they would be more comfortable at.

No one else noticed the little creature though. Instead, when Edric got back he got scowls from not only his parents but Eda and Lilith too. Okay, he kind of got it with the Clawthorns. After all, Gus and him hadn’t made them look the best. Still, he wasn’t about to let the stupid grin he’d been wearing since he’d gotten off the stage go just because some old farts didn’t like his show. “Alright, hit me.”

Eda reached forward and yanked on Edric’s shirt so that the two were face to face properly. “Are you insane? What did I tell you and Emira about going off and doing your own thing?”

Alador stepped forward and looked his son down next. “Didn’t Odalia have to talk to you two last time you decided to act outside of Eda and Lilith’s orders?”

Emira looked up before growling out, “Don’t bring me into this! I didn’t even know he had come up with some dumb idea before tonight, didn’t I brother?”

Edric looked at his sister. Her being mad at him genuinely hurt, especially since he had no idea why she was so mad. He thought she might like getting surprised for once. Besides, he’d needed a partner who knew how to make some real choreography which had led him to Gus rather than her. He wasn’t about to be cowed though. Besides, “It wasn’t just my idea! Gus came to me about two weeks ago and shared that he found a human magazine that talked about some weird thing where humans apparently don’t like gay people? I’ve been looking for a way to maybe show Luz that we weren’t like that ever since and we thought this was perfect!”

“I get if you can’t accept that.”

“Not only that, but you saw everyone else? They loved it, especially when we were Mittens and Luz! Who knows how long that has been weighing on both of their minds but I guess that was just something I imagined, wasn’t it?”

“You aren’t a part of the abomination track!”

“So I was thinking about them! I’m just sorry I was brave enough to actually go big or go home with a plan for once. Nothing else has gotten Amity to finally say something!”

The adults were all quiet as Edric panted as he finished his rant. They then heard a small pop. When they looked down, they saw a small stain of abomination goo that was sizzling still from how much energy had been pumped into it just now. That usually only happened if their owner got too angry to function. Just like they all knew one witch here was capable of. One that had a small abomination at her side at all times..

It was only maybe half a minute later that the same guest that had taken Amity away came up to them. He didn’t look exactly happy and his tone was just as harsh as he pointed at Alador. “Did you not teach that young girl of yours any manners?”

The two elder Blights couldn’t help but look at Emira for a second before looking back at the other noble. “I’m sorry but did Amity do something wrong?”

The man turned his nose up to the other man before scoffing out, “Wrong? She seemed to entirely ignore me while her face just turned red. She then yelled out a curse before storming off while rambling something about talking. Doesn’t she know how rude it is to run off to talk to someone else when she had already agreed to talk to me?”

Alador didn’t have time to deal with this. He simply stepped forward and towered over the smaller man as he coldly said, “Are you saying you are worth so much of the Blight family’s time to deserve it undivided? I’ve never even heard of you. But please, keep insulting my daughter’s priorities. I would be happy to become intimately familiar with what you do and make sure you keep doing it and only it for the rest of life.”

The man turned deathly pale before letting out a cough, mustering the best indignant look he could manage, which was pitiful compared to the cold fury that Alador emanated, and then turned away while muttering less than flattering things about the older family. It was nothing the head of the Blight family hadn’t heard though. He then turned to Odalia and said, “Come. We should go and make sure Amity is okay.”

Eda opened her mouth to second it but Lilith and Emira actually stopped their respective families. “Wait.”

Emira took over first as she gestured to the rest of the crowd around them. “We agreed to be here and we all know that if we all run off now, it’ll look worse on Edric than anything we could say to him. It’d be as if we told them they should hate his show. And,” she said as she looked at her twin with a sigh, “if this is the sort of thing he wants to do, we can’t risk that.”

The elder Blights didn’t like hearing Emira for once showing that she understood what their name meant, but they couldn’t say she was wrong. Lilith nodded in relief at the help before turning to her sister. “And I know what you’re thinking. We need to go talk to Luz about all of this. She could probably use a few hours alone right now though and, well, just imagine how much a visit from Amity might tell her that what she’s thinking right now is right? Or,” she said with a glance away, “what I hope she’s thinking.”

Eda scowled for a second before turning away. “Fine, but if you think I’m going to enjoy being here you’re wrong.”

Lilith smiled a little as she placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Edalyn, you were never going to enjoy being here.”

The two sisters shared a forced laugh before both families looked to the front door. They managed to catch a few sparkles and a heeled foot with purple goo sliding onto it before any trace of Amity disappeared. The conspirators then all looked at each other before scattering to mingle. After all, they didn’t want to let on that anything was wrong, mostly because they really didn’t want to believe that they’d ruined things themselves.