The angel of the owl house

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 14: Angel in Love

The weekend after Skara's party passed quickly, with very little happening. Luz had fallen deeper into love sickness towards Amity following her being kissed on the cheek(completely unaware that Amity was in the same boat), and Eda had made the whole situation more embarrassing by teasing Luz, then sitting her down for "The Talk". Naturally, Luz had already had this talk with her Mami, but Eda wanted to make sure Luz knew how things worked for witches and the majority of Biped Demons, just in case it differed from humans and angels. As it turned out, there was almost no difference between the three similar looking races and their reproductive habits, with the exception of witches and demons being able to have children regardless of the genders of the parents, thanks to magic.

Eda had also tried to help be Luz's wing-woman, but the young angel steadfastly refused to even consider pursuing Amity, much to the confusion of the Owl Lady and Luz's friends. Only Rasiel seemed to understand Luz's reluctance, but he refused to tell the others, saying it was a personal affair for Luz and only she could tell them.

After spending Saturday on that, Luz had screwed up the courage to call Amity on Sunday to ask how things were going at home. Willow had assured her that things had been okay, but Luz wanted to hear from Amity herself. The mint-haired girl had sounded flustered when she finally answered Luz's call, and the young angel had been much the same, but they eventually calmed down and got comfortable talking to one another. Despite their mutual crushes making things difficult, the two girls were also very good friends, so they were able to keep their cool so long as neither got too caught up in their hearts.

Amity happily reported that her Dad Alador had talked to her following the party, and had actually reassured her that she'd done the right thing regarding her mother. Things were not going well between the Blight Parents, and Odalia had defaulted to acting like her family were just co-workers and employees, keeping a strictly professional relationship. This meant that Odalia was treating Amity and the twins about the same as always, but was being noticeably more diplomatic and less demanding, offering rewards for obedience rather than thinly veiled threats. It was still an unhealthy situation, but it was better than before. Odalia was also apparently pretending the entire confrontation never happened, and was using a concealment stone to hide her atrocious hair and her injuries (as she was too proud to go to a healer or hairdresser and risk the incident being exposed).

Thinking about Odalia had made Luz think about her own mother, and how much she missed her. Camp Reality Check would be finishing on Sunday in about five weeks time, so Luz would be seeing her again soon, and the girl was both looking forward to it and dreading it. There was no way her Mami wouldn't be mad at her for running away to the Demon Realm… Even if the experience was positive and her Mami ended up being proud of what she'd achieved (like Luz dearly hoped she would be), she would still be furious that Luz had effectively lied about being at camp for three months! As it was, Luz feared that she and her Mami had grown kind of distant; her Mami rarely texted her any more, and Luz felt too guilty to initiate it, knowing she would be lying through text. Lying non-verbally may not burn her throat, but it still made her heart ache with guilt…

Between her feelings for Amity and her fears regarding her Mami, Luz had taken every opportunity to distract herself with studying, working with Eda, or playing with King.

The beginning of a new week found Luz sitting in the Owl House living room with King and Rasiel. King was using her cellphone to watch amusing videos on the internet while Rasiel watched from over his shoulder, while Luz sat on the floor and tried to translate more of Philip Wittebane's diary.

"I've almost got this entry finished!" Luz said happily, "And it's a good one too!"

"Good job, Luz." Rasiel complimented, looking up from the cat video King was watching, "I apologise that I can't be of help. I may be able to understand spoken Common, but I can only read Runic and Angelic Script."

"Wait, you don't know how to read Common script?" King asked.

"No. In the past, the only written language in the Demon Realm was Runic, though when read aloud, it's still basically just Common, though an archaic variant. Common script likely comes from the Human Realm." Rasiel explained. "I've been picking up some Common script with Luz at Hexside, but it's difficult to practice without a physical body to hold books and turn pages."

King and Luz made noises of understanding, then Luz finally translated the last part of the diary entry she was working on. She cheered with delight; "Finally! The last few entries were so dull, but this one is a real doozy!"

"Ooh, what does it say?" King asked excitedly.

Luz picked up her written translation and summarised it; "Philip was trying to find a power source for the portal he was making, and discovered Titan's Blood. He went to Eclipse Lake on the Knee to find some, and after he finished there, he stumbled upon the ruins of Caplacier!"

"The place where we found Rasiel! What else does it say?" the little demon said, abandoning Luz's phone.

"According to this, he discovered the ice glyph in a snowflake and was able to use it to pass the trials in the temple and discover the Black Tomb! But no matter what he did, he couldn't make it react. Even using a glyph on it like King did gave no results." Luz said, before humming; "I guess that confirms it was my angel side and not my human side that the tomb reacted to. Rasiel, do you remember any of this? It would have been about 350 years ago."

The ancient angel spirit tapped his chin; "It doesn't ring a bell. After the temple was abandoned, there were occasional visitors; mostly explorers and teenagers from the nearby city, but none of them stood out."

Luz frowned; that was a little disappointing. She quickly perked up however as she finished her summary with something Rasiel and King were both sure to like.

"While he couldn't get into the Black Tomb at the Caplacier Temple, he wrote that he'd heard rumours of another Black Tomb somewhere else on the island, in an ancient fire temple!"

"Another tomb!? That means another piece of me!" Rasiel gasped.

"And another elemental temple probably means another glyph! I'd wager my good horn that we'll find the fire glyph if we go there!" King added, "Where is it, Luz!?"

"That's where the entry ends. I'll need to keep translating to see if he found the fire temple." Luz said, "But maybe we can discover it for ourselves? The Ice Temple was in a cold place, so the Fire Temple is probably somewhere hot, like a volcano."

That made sense to King, who immediately ran for a book on the Boiling Isles' geography to try and find such a place. He was extremely eager to find yet another new glyph. However Luz was more focused on the glyphs she already had, including the ice glyph she'd yet to master.

She didn't understand why she'd failed to bond with the ice glyph so far; she definitely understood what ice stood for magically; Fluidity, Change, and Protection. She'd never been adverse to change, and liked to consider herself able to adapt fluidly to the situations going on around her! And of course, she understood protection very well! She'd frequently acted to protect her friends from different dangers! In fact, Luz was kind of surprised that she hadn't bonded with the glyph during the whole confrontation with Odalia… Was she still missing something?

Luz wasn't able to think on this for long, as almost as soon as King got back with the book, Hooty suddenly slammed open his door.

"Hoot hoot, Luz! Time to fill up that darling little head of yours with…" he began to retch, eventually vomiting up Luz's school books and satchel, "… Mm-mm, delicious knowledge!"

Luz sighed; she really needed to find a way to keep the excitable House Demon from eating her things…

Willow and Gus, who'd come to get her so they could walk to school together, then peeked through the open door, both looking disturbed by Hooty.

"Please hurry!" Gus urged.

"The more I look at him, the more uncomfortable I get." Willow shuddered as Hooty hooted again.

"Be right there!" Luz promised. "Sorry King, but I better get going. See if you can find potential temple locations while I'm gone, okay?"

King nodded, then giggled as Luz kissed his head. She then gathered her books into her satchel and called Rasiel back to her ring, before joining her friends and leaving for Hexside. She was a little nervous since it would be the first time she saw Amity since the party, but she was also looking forward to seeing the girl again.

She and her two friends chatted casually as they walked, and when the arrived at Hexside, they found gold banners and balloons shaped like yellow abominations everywhere. Luz oohed and ahhed at the decorations; "What is all this? Is there some kind of occasion I don't know about?"

Willow gasped; "Oh yeah! I always forget that you're half human, so you wouldn't know!"

"Know about what?" Luz asked eagerly.

"Only the social event of the season!" Willow grinned.

"Yeah! Welcome to your first-" Gus began, only to be cut off by a pair of medical workers suddenly rushing past with a stretcher, making siren noises with their mouths. Everyone turned their attention to the two as they ran over to Rogier and put him on the stretcher.

"You need to come with us!" one of them said, "Your disease is advancing!"

Luz gasped softly and began preparing a Healing Lotus to try and help, but Willow pulled her hand back with a smile, gesturing for her to keep watching.

Rogier said; "Is there a cure, Doc?" with fake worry.

"Only one." The doctor said ominously, before his entire demeanour went from serious to cutesy; "Finding the perfect date to Grom!"

Luz blinked in surprise, as Rogier was wheeled over to Skara. "If that's the cure then…" he pulled out a literal beating heart with the word "GROM" written on it in what appeared to be blood. "Skara, will you go to Grom with me?" he asked, smiling with a faint blush.

Skara screamed with happiness, tossing her books into the air and jumping onto the bat-like boy's lap; "Of course I will! Or whatever." she said, adding the last part to not seem too eager. Obviously the scream right before kind of undermined that, but it was still sweet and the rest of the watching students smiled and cheered for the pair.

Luz cheered too; it was kind of an elaborate proposal, but it was still adorable! And given that Skara had spent half of her birthday party dancing with Rogier, it wasn't too big of a surprise either. As the excitement began to die down and everyone returned to their business, Luz turned back to Willow and Gus.

"Wow, you guys have your own version of Prom on the Boiling Isles? That's so cool!" Luz smiled. She'd never attended school dances back in the Human Realm, though she had helped prepare a few of them (some of them even without mishaps!) Luz always liked the idea of them, but they were always the kind of events that one was expected to take a date to, and Luz simply never felt comfortable doing that. While she had found plenty of boys and girls attractive, she'd never felt the urge to do more than look at them or be their friends; something like a date was way different, and not something she thought should be done casually or with someone you didn't really like.

"Yep! It's always a pretty fun party! Even I had fun at last year's Grom, and I was still considered a loser!" Willow smiled.

"Really? Who did you go with?" Luz asked.

"No one, silly! Grom isn't just for couples! Everyone goes and has fun!" Willow explained, before grinning coyly; "But I bet you have someone you want to ask to Grom, don't you?"

Luz blushed; "I… uh…"

As if summoned by the universe to make Luz's blush intensify, Amity suddenly walked around the corner and accidentally crashed into Luz, sending them both sprawling to the floor. Luz ended up flat on her back, and Amity landed on top of her, her books scattered around them. Both girls groaned, then looked into one another's eyes and blushed bright red. Their brains froze as their hearts sped up to supersonic speeds, and while both girls knew they needed to get up, neither truly wanted to, instead wishing to continue their contact. However once their brains started working again, both panicked.

"L-Luz! I'm so sorry!" Amity cried, leaping off of Luz as quickly as she could. "I can't believe I fell for you… I MEAN ON! I CAN'T BELIEVE I FELL ON YOU!" she yelped, somehow getting even redder.

"N-No, it's fine! It was great actually!" Luz blurted out, before realising what she'd said; "I MEAN! GREAT THAT I CAUGHT YOU! NOT THAT YOU FELL!"

Willow and Gus watched the two with big grins; they wished they had popcorn. The two girls blushed and giggled nervously, then stooped to pick up Amity's books together. They accidentally bumped heads and that started a full minute of panicked apologies and reassurances from both of them, before they stepped back and tried again.

As Luz was picking up the books, she noticed a small pink note amongst them and grabbed it. It had been a bit crumpled by the fall, so Luz was able to see the last few words written in Amity's elegant handwriting; "to Grom with me? Amity."

Luz felt her heart lurch painfully, which only grew worse when Amity spotted the note and snatched it back. So Amity had someone she wanted to ask to Grom… that realisation hurt Luz more than she ever would have imagined. Still, she forced a smile on her face and tried to assuage the bitterness growing inside her by jokingly saying; "M-Man, you've got some quick grabbers!"

"Sorry, it's just… it's… private." Amity said, averting her eyes before shyly adding; "Um, how much did you see?"

"Just the bottom bit. You want to ask someone to Grom, right?" Luz asked, her smile becoming even more forced.

Amity blushed and nodded, still unwilling to meet Luz's eyes. The poor angel's guts twisted; so Amity already had someone she liked… that was an unpleasant revelation, but Luz should have known. A girl as amazing as Amity probably had every cute boy and girl in the school clamouring to go out with her; someone like Luz didn't stand a chance.

"T-That's…" Luz struggled to find the words to say without lying or hurting Amity's feelings. "… I hope you get the answer you want. You deserve it." she eventually settled on.

Amity finally looked Luz in the eye, and the sparkle of hope Luz saw there just tore at her heart. But she swallowed that pain down; Amity was one of her best friends, and Luz would always support her, even if it wasn't her who held Amity's heart! Besides, Luz had already decided not to act on her own feelings, so she had no right to get in Amity's way.

Before Amity could verbally reply, the sound of the school intercom silenced everyone.

Principal Bump's voice then filled the school; "Attention Hexside students, this is your Principal speaking."

"Oh man, this is it!" Gus whispered fearfully.

"He's announcing who'll be this year's Grom Royalty!" Willow added, looking just as apprehensive. In fact, as Luz looked around, she saw that everyone was tense and nervous. This didn't feel like excitement or anticipation; it felt like dread!

"This year, I have the privilege to bestow our highest Grom honour to… oh dear."

The dread felt across the school grew even worse, to the point that even Luz was beginning to feel it, despite not understanding what the big deal was.

Principal Bump eventually composed himself and continued; "This year's Grom Queen will be… Luz Noceda!"

Luz gaped; "Me!?"

Willow, Gus, and Amity all gasped and looked at Luz with horror, while the other students around began muttering as they looked at her. Luz was really starting to freak out.

"Why do I get the feeling that being Grom Queen is something bad…?" she asked shakily.

"Luz Noceda, please report to my office so I can inform you of the… situation." Bump finished, before turning off the intercom.

Luz didn't even have a chance to react before Amity grabbed her hand. "We need to get you to Bump NOW! Hopefully he'll be able to sort this out!"

Any protests or questions Luz had died in her throat at the feeling of Amity's soft hand in hers, and she allowed herself to be dragged off to the Principal's office, with Gus and Willow following closely behind. They arrived in record time, and Amity didn't even bother to knock before barging in.

"We're here, Principal Bump!" Amity said, notably not releasing Luz's hand.

Principal Bump looked up from the strange black crystal ball he'd been staring at to face the four students with a regretful expression. "Very good. Now, would I be correct in assuming that you've got no idea what's going on here, Luz?"

"That's right." Luz nodded. "I only heard about Grom a little while ago. What's the big deal with me being Grom Queen? And why me anyway? Was there some kind of vote I didn't hear about? That's usually how it works with Human Proms or Homecomings."

Principal Bump sighed and used a cloth to cover the crystal ball on his desk, then invited the students to sit. Once they took their seats, Bump began to explain; "Grom is not a simple party, young Luz. It is a tradition dating back to the day my classmates and I destroyed Fibul Academy and rebuilt Hexside on top of it. The dance party is something I added after becoming Principal, to make the whole affair less… upsetting for the student body."

Luz frowned; "That's ominous. But I still don't understand."

Bump nodded; "Allow me to start at the beginning. When my classmates and I attacked Fibul Academy and proved too much for the students and staff to defeat, the Principal of Fibul did something drastic. His name was Grometheus, and he used a combination of experimental beast-keeping, abomination, and oracle magic to transform himself into a shape-shifting monster. He hoped to use that power to take on the form of our worst fears and drive us away. Unfortunately he lost his mind instead, and we were forced to seal him away where he stood. Now, every year on the day of the Summer Solstice, he leaks out of his seal and must be beaten back. But Grometheus appears to be totally immortal; he will reconstitute over and over, no matter what we do to him. The only way to defeat him is to beat him at his own game, so each year a student is selected to fight him and drive him back into his seal. This year, it's you."

Luz went pale; "I'm going to get eaten by a horrible monster again, aren't I?"

Her friends exchanged worried looks, while Principal Bump shook his head; "I don't believe that is the case. I think you may even be the one to finally destroy Grom for good."

Luz groaned and rubbed a hand down her face; this day couldn't get any worse! First she finds out Amity has someone she likes, and now she has to fight yet another evil monster!? Life really had it out for Luz today!

"How was I even chosen to be Grom Queen? You seemed surprised before." Luz asked.

"I don't understand the specifics, but Grom himself choses his target." Bump gestured to the black crystal ball on his desk "As Principal of the school and keeper of his seal, I'm able to see his choice, and this time it was you. I believe he chooses the opponent that will be the biggest challenge to him in his escape. If he can't beat them, he'll retreat to recover his strength in the seal for another year. But if he can, he knows the other students won't stand a chance." Bump explained.

Luz blinked, then looked to her friends; "Wait, I'm the biggest challenge to his escape?"

"Grometheus is partially made of oracle magic powered by his own spirit, and angelic magic can banish spirits from the living realms. It's why the spirits are so afraid of you." Amity explained, still holding Luz's hand. Neither girl were in a rush to change that arrangement.

"Which is why Principal Bump said you might be able to put Grom down for good!" Gus realised, "If you bust out that angelic power of yours, Grom will bite the dust and no one will ever have to fight him again!"

"That's true! Maybe it's not such a bad thing that Luz was picked." Willow added, now feeling a lot less worried. "Plus its the oracle magic that lets Grom read your mind and find out your deepest, darkest fears; since you're immune to it, you just have to fight a big black blob! You'll vaporise it in no time!"

Luz smiled, feeling a little more confident; "Y-Yeah! I can do that! I'll put Grom's spirit to rest and save the school! That's what a proper angel would do!"

Principal Bump smiled, glad that Luz was getting motivated. Sadly, he had to burst her bubble…

"Actually, Luz is immune to oracle magic because the spirits fear her and won't go near her for fear of being exorcised… but Grom has no emotions of his own any more. He is focused solely on the goal he had in mind when he transformed himself into his current monstrous state; namely hunting down and destroying every Hexside student. And since it's his own spirit that powers his oracle magic, he may well be the only creature in existence who can use oracle magic to effect Luz."

That put a dampener on Luz's enthusiasm; "Oh…"

Rasiel emerged from his ring with a frown, making Principal Bump gasp in surprise. He knew about the angel spirit (though not his true origins) as Luz had told him about Rasiel after the Basilisk incident. She'd told him so she could entrust his ring to the Principal during tests, so Luz couldn't be accused of using him to cheat.

"You've failed to explain why you even allow this blood sport to take place. You sealed Grom once before, why not do it again?" Rasiel demanded.

"We tried! During the first few years after his creation, we would send entire groups after him! Adult witches of great skill! But Grom FEEDS on fear! The more fear he faces, the stronger he becomes, which means he is at his strongest when fighting large groups. There were many casualties, and eventually it was decided to play along with Grom's strange instincts and send only its chosen student to beat it back. Against a single student, whose fears are usually limited and childish, Grom will be as weak as we can hope for." Bump explained. He honestly hated the battle part of Grom, which was why he'd started the tradition of hosting a dance around it; getting everyone in a good mood not only lessened the trauma, but also helped to keep Grom weak.

Rasiel didn't like that answer, though he was at a loss as to what else he could do about it; "Is there really nothing that can be done?"

Bump shook his head; "I'm sorry, but no. If Grom doesn't get his chosen opponent, he'll rampage and attack everyone and everything. The only exception is if someone volunteers to take the chosen opponent's place. I think Grom accepts that because he considers the substitute to be the chosen opponent's "Champion" who fights in their stead, and why would someone have a champion weaker than themselves?"

Amity frowned; so the only way for Luz to get out of this was to have someone volunteer? It was a terrifying prospect, but maybe she should take Luz's place! Sure she had fears she didn't want exposed, but Amity could handle that! She'd helped beat her mother! She'd made amends with Willow! Luz considered her one of her best friends! Most of Amity's fears were things she'd already overcome! The only one she hadn't was…

The note in her pocket felt like lead all of a sudden, and she hesitated.

When Luz had seen the note, she had smiled kindly at Amity and wished her luck… Amity had seen no signs of disappointment or jealousy. Luz had been happy for her… and if Luz was happy at the idea of Amity finding a date other than her, then surely that meant Luz wasn't interested. It was a crushing realisation that made her stomach twist and her heart ache; it felt like she'd failed before she'd even begun.

But even if Luz didn't share her feelings, she wasn't the type to scorn her for them! Luz was an angel after all, and Amity's best friend! And she didn't deserve to go through such a horrible experience.

"I-I'll volunteer to take Luz's place!" Amity said, cursing herself for stuttering.

Willow and Gus looked shocked, while Rasiel and Principal Bump looked intrigued. However Luz shook her head vehemently.

"No, Amity. It's got to be me. Even if its scary and terrible, if I win then Grometheus will be no more! I've got to do this! For Hexside and its future generations, and for you too!" Luz said determinedly, pushing back her fear as she gripped Amity's hand with both of her own.

"M-Me too?" Amity blushed.

Luz swallowed thickly as she fought back her own blush; "Y-Yeah! After all, if you take my place to fight Grom, you won't be able to ask that special person to Grom. You deserve to be happy, Amity; I want you to have a great night! So I'll be your wing-woman! I'll kick Grom's butt and you can get romantic with your crush!"

None of what Luz had said was a lie, but it still managed to physically hurt her to say it. Meanwhile Amity felt her spirit drop; so Luz was just being a good friend… she felt stupid for briefly getting her hopes up.

Literally everyone else in the room could see the reality of the situation, but none of them said a word; it felt wrong to intervene in the girls' affairs, especially to out them to their crushes. No, as infuriating as it was for them to watch, they would let Luz and Amity work things out for themselves.

Principal Bump ended the meeting there, and told Luz that Grom was that night, so she had the rest of the day to prepare for it. He even gave her the option to get out of classes for the day to prepare, but Luz had declined, reasoning that Hexside was probably the best place to prepare to fight Grom. Despite not viewing herself as much of a fighter, Luz was fairly confident in her actual prowess in battle; she'd held her ground against plenty of monsters since coming to the Demon Realm after all, and she was getting pretty good at magic if she did say so herself. But it was the "fear" part of fighting Grometheus that worried her. Luz knew she was afraid of a lot of things, but she had no idea what her greatest fear was. The unknown was almost the scariest part.

The fact that Luz was now Grom Queen had rapidly spread through the school so even those who'd missed the announcement soon found out, and whispers followed Luz for the rest of the day. In her bard classes, Skara, Jerbo, and Viney had promised to help her train, and had even tried to psyche themselves up and offer to replace her in the fight, though they were ultimately too afraid to follow through, not that Luz would have accepted anyway. They instead spent the morning filling Luz's head with as much battle magic as they could, with Skara teaching Luz a song that could help boost her courage, while Jerbo taught her about different plants that might be useful for her in combat.

During her construction track classes, Luz found herself being aided by the entire class, thanks to how tight-knot they'd all become while working together on the repairs and expansion. The repairs to the school had largely been completed, and what was left Mattholomule decided to handle on his own so the rest of the class could focus on helping Luz learn to fight. They tried to teach her how to make walls and barriers with stone to protect herself, but Luz still couldn't handle construction magic of that level, so they instead taught her how to create Power Glyphs. Again, her limited skill in this area of magic meant she couldn't produce very potent Power Glyphs, so her classmates ended up stuffing her pockets with ones they'd made themselves.

Then there were her Beast-keeping classes, where Viney focused on teaching her the weaknesses of some of the most horrifying beasts and demons on the Boiling Isles. She was also aided by Rogier, Skara's date to Grom, who was willing to help out his date's friend, and focused on teaching her how to use other beasts to her advantage. He offered to lend her some of his pet Marrdregs so she'd have an advantage against Grom, but Luz politely declined; she had strong feelings about making animals fight for her, and also worried that Grom would consider this an attack by a group and go on a rampage.

During breaks and lunch, Luz's three best friends, as well as Skara, Amelia, and the Multi-Trackers all came together to help Luz train some more, and by the time school was done for the day, Luz was feeling fairly confident. After school, her friends promised to stop by the Owl House to continue helping her after dropping their things off, giving Luz some time to talk to Eda and King before they arrived.

"I'm home!" she called as she walked into the house. Getting no response and seeing no signs of Eda or King, she began searching around. Rasiel popped out of his ring and phased through the ceiling, then came back down.

"They're in Eda's room." he told her.

Luz nodded gratefully and ran upstairs, knocking on Eda's bedroom door to announce her presence. She was answered by a yelp from Eda, making her frown and go inside. There she found Eda dressed in a brown tuxedo while King stood on her dressing table, using some pins and tailor tools to help fix the old tuxedo up a bit.

"Careful with those pins, King!" Eda frowned, rubbing her arm.

"Why am I doing this!?" King snapped back, a little green apron on that held his tools, "I don't even normally wear clothes!"

"You totally should. You're adorable." Luz smiled as she made her presence known; "Nice Tux, Eda. What are you getting all dressed up for? Got a hot date with Raine?" she grinned, waggling her eyebrows.

Eda snorted; "Nah, I'm chaperoning Grom tonight. So I have to look sharp."

"You always look sharp, Eda. Your usual red dress is killer." Luz complimented, giving Eda the finger guns.

Eda chuckled and ruffled Luz's hair; "Flatterer. I'll admit this thing isn't my usual style, but I can't stand out too much or all you kids will start feeling underdressed." she smirked.

Luz giggled and rolled her eyes, then looked to King; "Hey little bro, how did the search for hot places for the Fire Temple go?"

"Kinda meh, to be honest. There are tons of places like that on the isles, and trying to find one with ruins is hard. Plus none of the ones that do have ruins mention anything about temples or Black Tombs!" King complained. He then perked up; "But Gus called earlier! He wanted to say something to Eda, but he got distracted when I showed him my awesome glyph skills, and now he's asked me to Co-MC the fight with Grom!"

He held up a little poster he'd made of himself and Gus, standing back to back and wearing sunglasses, which advertised the fight with Grom. "We're gonna turn this blood-bath into a fun-bath!"

Luz smiled "Oh, so you'll both be there tonight? That's great!"

"Yep! And this'll be your first Grom! You'll get to see someone else being eaten by a monster for once!" Eda grinned, "So, have they announced the victim yet?"

Luz chuckled awkwardly; "Yeah… it's kinda… sorta… supposed to be… me?"

Eda and King both froze; "You!?" they cried together.

"Yeah, me." Luz said, crossing her arms as she felt a bit defensive over their reactions.

Eda frowned severely; "Oh no, we are not having that! We're going back up to Hexside to tell Bump and that sludge monster to pick someone else!" she said, beginning to march out of the room. She grabbed Luz's wrist to pull her along too, but Luz pulled free.

"But why, Eda? Don't you think I'm good enough?" Luz asked, feeling hurt. After everything else today, she didn't think she could handle her mentor thinking he was useless…

Eda hesitated upon seeing Luz's expression. The girl's self-esteem was dangerously low, so she had to tread carefully not to hurt her apprentice. The wrong words could crush her…

"Luz, I honestly think you could kick Grom's butt to kingdom come! I don't see that thing being stronger than Arboriel, and definitely not the Ice Wyrm. But it's not a matter of how strong or skilled you are, Luz." Eda said, kneeling down and putting her hands on the young angel's shoulders. "Grometheus is the Fear Bringer for a reason. He can and will bring out your deepest, darkest fears. It's what makes him so formidable! Without that power, I bet half of Hexside could beat him! But with it… there's no telling what he'll become. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you, okay? I mean what's the fun of seeing a kid get eaten by a monster if they're my kid?"

Luz felt a wave of warmth as Eda said that last part with a fond smile. "I-I appreciate that Eda, but I was the one chosen and I can't let anyone else suffer in my place. Besides, if I win then no one will ever have to face Grom again!"

Eda sighed; "I can't talk you out of this, can I?"

Luz shook her head; "I'm sorry, but I've got to do this. It's my duty as an angel to help others!"

Eda gave her a long look, before closing her eyes and admitting defeat; "Fine. Give me a minute to change, then meet me out front; I'll give you as much training as I can before the big fight!"

"Thank you, Eda!" Luz beamed, hugging the Owl Lady before rushing outside. Eda watched her go, then groaned.

"Today is going to go either really well or really badly… probably both." she complained.

"Do you really think Luz will have trouble? She's saved our butts multiple times y'know." King pointed out.

"Luz is a good girl, but I don't think she realises that it means to face your greatest fear. This isn't spooky or gross haunted house level stuff; this is true, paralysing primal fear!" Eda said as she began to anxiously change out of her Tux.

Eda had dropped out of Hexside while there were still older and stronger students there, so she'd never been selected to fight Grom herself, but she still remembered what it was like for those that were chosen. Back under Faust's time, it was treated more like a day at the gladiatorial games than a dance party, and it made the entire school anxious for days before and after. The fights themselves were always grim affairs; amusing to watch from a blood sport point of view, but the champions weren't the same for days, if not weeks, after the fights. Plus since it was a public affair, a lot of them had their most embarrassing moments shown to the entire school. Luz finally had friends and was starting to get confidence in her abilities and helpfulness, and Eda didn't want to see all that be broken by Grom. The memory of when she'd made Luz cry during the whole Tearful Tonic escapade still burned in Eda's mind; she couldn't bare the thought of something like that happening again!

Putting this out of her mind, she changed back into her signature dress and went outside with King, where she found Luz already in a kind of pseudo training with Hooty (in reality, she was just playfully dodging his attempts to hug her). At about the same time, Luz's friends arrived as promised; Amity, Willow, Gus, and Skara had shown up, as had the Blight Twins and the Multi-Trackers.

"Alright Luz, the battle with Grom starts at 7pm. It's now 3:30, so we have about 3 hours to train before we need to start preparing for the dance. Are you ready?" Amity asked.

Luz nodded; "I am! But Amity, should you really be spending this time with me? I'm grateful to you, but shouldn't you be asking your crush to Grom?" she asked worriedly.

The others all hid their expressions of amusement/exasperation, confusing Luz, while Amity blushed faintly.

"A-Actually… I basically got rejected." Amity admitted.

Luz gasped, and felt a surge of both joy that Amity wasn't going with someone else, and terrible guilt that she was pleased about that fact. "That's awful!" she eventually said, struggling to find the words to say that wouldn't be lies.

Amity averted her eyes; "I didn't get to really confess or ask them, but they made it pretty clear they weren't interested."

"That jerk! Want me to beat 'em up along with Grom?" Luz scowled, pumping her fist.

Gus had to cast an illusion over everyone just to hide the fact that they all face-palmed at her obliviousness. Amity giggled; "No, it's fine. They're a really nice person, and would never do anything to intentionally hurt me. They just… weren't interested in my like that."

Eda groaned again; "By the Titan, these two are killing me…" she muttered out of their ear shot.

Both girls were completely oblivious to the other's feelings! Luz couldn't believe that someone as amazing as Amity could be interested in her, so assumed Amity had a crush on someone else and was trying to be a good friend by supporting her! But Amity in turn thought that Luz was so willing to help her ask out someone else because she had no interest in her! After all, Amity couldn't comprehend why someone would be so willing to help their crush ask out another person, therefore Luz must not like her like that! Eda felt it would have been almost funny and cute, if her little apprentice wasn't essentially sabotaging her own happiness due to her poor self-esteem.

"They may be a good person, but they've gotta also be kinda blind if they don't see how amazing you are!" Luz frowned. Then an idea came to her; it was a horrible idea that filled her with guilt over her own selfishness, but the longing in her heart made the young angel shove that guilt aside.

"H-How about I go with you to Grom? Y-Y'know, as best friends!" Luz offered, her face getting redder by the second. She felt like scum using Amity's rejection like this, but this might be the only chance she'd have! A single fun night where she could pretend for a few hours that she was the one Amity wanted to be with.

"I-I'd like that. Let's go together! A-As best friends!" Amity agreed, a bright blush on her face to match Luz's own, as her heart was doing cartwheels of joy in her chest. Sure Luz was just being a good friend again, and Amity felt bad for taking advantage of that to go to Grom with her, but she still couldn't help but be thrilled. For one night, she could pretend that Luz really did return her feelings! Now if only they didn't have to worry about Grometheus…

With both girls feeling both overjoyed and guilty, and their audience ready to keel over from the spike in blood pressure they were getting from watching the two, the conversation finally turned back to what they were supposed to be doing; namely preparing Luz for Grom.

"Now, in pure combat skills you're probably as prepared as you're going to get. We're not gonna be able to make you much stronger in only a few hours, so we should instead focus on getting you mentally prepared." Eda said, taking charge.

"Right. So how are we going to do that?" Luz asked, still partially riding high on the knowledge she was going to Grom with Amity.

"Grometheus can read your surface thoughts and take on the form of what you're afraid of. But if it touches you, it'll be able to dive deeper into your head and pull out even your deepest, darkest fears. The most successful past Grom Royalty have beaten it before it got close enough to touch them, so we should aim for that too." Eda explained. She really didn't want to see what Luz's deepest fears were, especially since there was a good chance they might expose her identity in front of the whole school.

"So we basically need to start with your small fears and how to combat them." Amity continued; "What are you afraid of?"

Luz blushed a bit; "Some of them are kinda silly…"

"Then why don't we share our fears too?" Willow suggested, "That way you're not being embarrassed. For example, I'm afraid of Ladybugs."

Everyone gave her a strange look, especially the animal-loving Viney, making Willow add; "When I was four, I fell asleep with flower nectar on me one night and it attracted aphids. When I woke up, a whole swarm of Ladybugs were crawling all over me, eating them. You try waking up covered in little skittering beetles and not be freaked out!"

That explanation made her fear make more sense, and she got some sympathetic nods and a few cringes from those imagining the feeling. Luz felt a little more confident, so gave one of her own fears; "I'm freaked out by the idea of people's souls being trapped in animal bodies, especially cats." she said shyly, "It's from some really old Horror movie I saw in the Human Realm as a kid… Mom was watching it and I was supposed to be in bed, but I secretly spied on the movie."

"Oof, seeing scary movies and stuff when you're a little kid is rough." Viney said. "For me, I've got Claustrophobia."

From there, they each took it in turns to reveal some of their minor fears. Amity and the Twins shared the fear of their mother. Gus had a fairly standard fear of clowns, which were the one thing from the Human Realm that he couldn't stand. Barcus was afraid of thunder, and Jerbo was scared of spiders. Skara revealed her fear was disappointing her Dad and failing to become a great bard, as well as a lesser fear of needles. King confessed a fear of the boiling rain and the Owl Beast (having been partially traumatised by his experience during Eda's last transformation), and Eda herself also admitted being afraid of the Owl Beast, or more specifically, having King or Luz be hurt by it. Even Rasiel, who had once again hidden in his ring since Skara and the Multi-Trackers still didn't know Luz's secret, decided to reveal one of his own fears; the Divider, who had ripped him apart and sealed him away.

Thanks to their encouragement and sharing of their own fears, Luz was able to confess more of her own. Besides her fear of possessed cats, she was also afraid of Human Realm Dairy, since she was Lactose Intolerant and it made her really sick, and having all her friends see her as a screw up and abandon her. She was also afraid of a few other things, like her identity being revealed, but Luz couldn't reveal that fear without it coming true, so she kept it to herself.

"Okay, if those are your beginner fears, then let's start with those! Gus, you and the twins will make illusions of Luz's fears, while the rest of us will help encourage her to face them. Got it?" Eda said.

Gus, Edric, and Emira saluted and began creating illusions, conjuring images of weird tormented cats with human faces (which Barcus had to resist the urge to chase), abominations made of milk and cheese that tried to lunge into Luz's mouth, and replicas of all of Luz's friends, which insulted Luz as "Useless" and "a Screw-Up" as they gathered around her.

Luz found it strangely effective, if disquieting.

"Ugh, if you're not gonna be useful, then just disappear." taunted an Illusory Skara.

"Don't listen to that thing, Luz! You know I've got your back girl!" the real Skara countered.

Luz shot a light blast at the fake Skara, destroying her. The next illusion took the form of King, who was juggling the three glyphs he knew.

"If you don't hurry up and find me more glyphs, I'm going to find myself a better big sister!" Illusory King threatened.

The real King stomped his little foot; "I would never say that! Luz, destroy the fake!"

Luz did so obediently, and the fake was replaced by an image of Principal Bump.

"I knew it was a mistake letting someone like you into Hexside! I'd expel you, but I think it would be more fitting to feed you to the new Detention Pit!"

The young angel didn't even hesitate before destroying that illusion. This process repeated itself over and over, until Luz began to feel desensitized to the illusions. Sure the dairy and haunted cats were creepy, and the words of the illusions of her friends were unpleasant, but the knowledge that it wasn't real and her friends didn't think that way made her feel like she could power through it! The second hour of training was spent with Jerbo and Amity making abominations that Gus and the twins could cast the illusions over, meaning they could now touch Luz, giving her the goal of destroying them before they could touch her. She had a few close calls, but by using an illusion to give herself flying red boots then hovering with her invisible angelic wings, Luz could avoid just about everything, and use vines and other plants to help bind the abominations and slow them down.

It was surprisingly satisfying training, and Luz actually began to feel really confident! So long as she didn't let Grom touch her and discover her deeper fears, she'd be fine! The third hour of training was basically a big game of keep-away, with Luz dodging, diving, and pulling out every trick she had to prevent her friends from tagging her, since any Grom versions of them would have the same physical abilities, so she need to be prepared. She was just barely able to reliably avoid all of them by the time they needed to begin heading home to prepare for Grom, so Eda declared it a success.

"Well, we're pretty much out of time, but I'd say you're as prepared as we can make you. If you hit hard and fast, and avoid Grom touching you, then you'll win for certain!" Eda smiled.

Luz panted, slightly winded, "Thanks Eda. And thanks to you guys too." she said, smiling to the others.

"You're gonna kick butt!" Willow grinned.

"I can't wait to MC your fight! King, get your A-Material ready! The fight'll be over too fast for a slow build up!" Gus said, giving finger guns to King, who returned the gesture.

"All my material is A-Material! I'm the King of MCs!"

"Break a leg, Luz! I've gotta run! Rogier and I will be cheering for you!" Skara said as she left. The Multi-Trackers followed soon after, each wishing Luz luck too.

"The three of us are going to Grom together as friends, so we'll be there to cheer you on!" Viney said.

"Grom's got nothing on you after that fight with the Basilisk!" Jerbo added.

Barcus merely woofed, and Rasiel translated it as "I predict victory in love and battle."

Edric and Emira said there farewells by hugging Luz between them, then whispering in her ear; "Be good to our little sister, Luz." Emira began.

"You're more important to Mittens than you realise." Edric finished. Luz blushed and nodded, silently promising. The two then smiled at her, ruffled her hair, and left with the others, leaving only Amity and the residents of the Owl House.

"S-So… I guess I'll meet you outside the gym right before Grom starts?" Amity said nervously.

"Definitely! What colours will you be wearing? So I can dress to match." Luz asked.

"Dark purple, and a combination of light pink and reddish pink." Amity answered, already mentally picturing her and Luz as a matching set. She'd hated being made to match with her mother and siblings in the past, but she really liked the idea of matching with Luz.

Luz smiled; "Got it. And don't worry; once I beat Grom, I'll make sure you have the best night ever!"

Amity giggled; "I'm sure you will. I can't think of anything I'd rather do then spend the night with you, Luz."

With that, she gave Luz a kiss on the cheek just like she'd done after Skara's party, then promptly fled before anyone could see her scarlet cheeks. Luz watched her go for a moment, a luminescent blush illuminating her skin, then she turned to Eda.

"Eda, can you help me get ready? I want to look the best I can." Luz said in a small voice, feeling choked by too much emotion to speak louder.

Eda nodded; "You've got it kid. Let's go upstairs."

The Owl Lady then directed Luz up to her bedroom and locked the door, ordering King, Hooty, and Rasiel to stay out so they could have some "girl time". She sat Luz at her dressing table and began loosely brushing her curly hair.

"So, how do you want to do this? Boots is probably gonna go feminine; she's a girly girl, so do you want to go feminine to match her? Or do you wanna go masculine? You've got a cute tomboy thing going which I bet Amity loves, so it'd suit you. Or perhaps you want to mix 'em up? Hit her with the best of both worlds?" Eda asked.

Luz hummed in thought. She tended to go for both styles; she preferred girly clothes for the looks, but liked more tomboyish styles for comfort and practicality. The young angel had always been comfortable in her skin, and felt pretty lucky about that; she was a girl through and through, but also considered herself a tomboy. She never struggled with any kind of body image issues except for her wings, which had been a source of discomfort for her when they'd been the tiny wings of a cherub. But while she was comfortable in most things, she wasn't dressing up for herself, but for Amity! She needed to think what Amity would like best!

"It would help if I knew who Amity's crush was… then I could sort of copy their style." Luz whispered to herself.

Eda frowned, but shoved down the urge to just tell Luz the truth; it'd be better if Luz came to the truth on her own. The road of true love never did run smooth.

Instead, she decided to be indirect; "Let's go with mixing masculine and feminine. If you can pull off both, you might as well flaunt it, eh?"

"Okay; you're the expert so I'll go with your choice." Luz smiled, leaning into Eda's touch on her hair. If she closed her eyes, then it almost felt like the days she'd sit with her Mami and have her hair brushed.

Eda began happily working on Luz; she didn't have a lot of time before Grom was due to start, but the good thing about magic was that it made a lot of things very convenient, and hair and make-up were a part of that. As she worked, she found herself unconsciously humming a song that Raine had written years ago, which went by Raine's Rhapsody.

"I've heard that song before." Luz said, eyes still closed. "Raine was humming it at the party, while we were getting ready to sing our second song on stage."

"That's not a surprise. Raine wrote it when we were young adults. While we were dating, I played it with them from time to time. It's got some nice memories, and some not so nice ones too." Eda said wistfully.

Luz nodded silently; now that she'd met Raine and knew a little of their history with Eda, she understood why Eda had always been reluctant to talk about them and bardic magic. "This is kind of a personal question but… were you in love with them?"

Eda paused in her work for a moment, then nodded slowly; "Yes."

"Are you still in love with them?"

"That's… a difficult question to answer. My first instinct is to say yes, but… it's complicated. I miss what we used to have, but I don't know if I want to go back to that. We're both different people; 15 years changes a person." Eda answered honestly. She found it strangely easy to speak from the heart with Luz; the girl had a talent for touching people's hearts. But on the flip side, it was also easy for those that knew her to see her heart too.

"You're asking these questions because of Amity, aren't you?" Eda asked softly.

Luz finally opened her eyes, and the sheer vulnerability Eda saw there made her want to hug the girl. The little angel blushed sweetly and nodded; "I-I don't understand why I've become like this. I've been attracted to other people before. Other girls before. But I've never felt like this… Willow says its because I have a crush on Amity and I'm worried it's the truth."

"Worried?" Eda frowned.

Luz nodded, careful not to jostle her hair too much; "Angels aren't like humans or witches. Love for us is… different. Mami fell in love with Papi, but I don't know how it's supposed to feel, or how it's supposed to work."

"Well, how do you feel?" the Owl Lady asked gently. "Think about Amity, and tell me how you feel."

Luz put a hand against her heart as she pictured the mint-haired girl; "My chest feels tight, and my heart is beating so fast that it almost hurts. My tummy feels like I just chugged a gallon of milk, and my face feels hot like I ate the spiciest dish Mami could cook up! Being around her feels like flying through the air, then free-falling and catching yourself right before you hit the ground; it's stupid, and crazy, and dangerous but I can't help but love the thrill. I keep wanting to go back for more, even though it feels so overwhelming."

Eda chuckled; "Yep, I'm no doctor but I've got to officially diagnose you; Luz, you're definitely in love."

An almost imperceptible shudder went through Luz's body, and she only managed to reply "Oh." in an impossibly small voice.

Eda leaned down and hugged her from behind; "Being in love isn't a bad thing, Luz. I don't know why it's different for angels; but I'm guessing it's why you didn't want to pursue these feelings. But it's not bad. I'm sure of it. You should be honest with your feelings and ask Amity out."

"But she likes somebody else…" Luz said dejectedly.

"Maybe, maybe not. But she's not going to Grom with somebody else; she's going with you. I'm telling you Luz; if you confess your feelings to Amity, I'm sure it'll all work out." Eda said.

Luz wasn't so sure; she already felt guilty for taking advantage of Amity being rejected by her crush to swoop in and take her to Grom.

"Maybe…" Luz mumbled, not sounding too sure, but feeling too conflicted and embarrassed to want to continue the conversation. Eda accepted that with a sad smile, and chose to finish with one last statement.

"I know it can be hard to talk about your feelings. Titan knows that I was the worst at it before you came along and made me go soft!" Eda smirked, nudging Luz and making the girl grin bashfully, "But trust me on this; things fell apart between me and Raine because I couldn't be honest with them about my feelings and problems. I kept hiding parts of myself from them, and they couldn't take it any more. All relationships need some trust, even friendships. Think on that a little, okay? I don't want to see you turn into a lonely old lady like me."

Luz nodded slowly; "O-Okay. I'll try… but if I confess to Amity, then you've got to talk to Raine! Deal?"

Eda hesitated, then sighed and nodded; "Deal. The things I do for you kid… Speaking of, let me introduce you to the world of make-up! Mama's gonna make you look like you got promoted from angel to goddess!"

For the rest of the time before Grom was due to start, Eda worked on Luz's hair, make-up, and dress, and got her looking as gorgeous as she could. When she was done, King and Hooty both gaped at Luz's get-up, and Rasiel sincerely complimented her and called her beautiful. Luz thought Eda had done wonders and she looked great, but it was seeing how impressed the boys were that really lifted Luz's spirits; she was ready to face Grom and Amity!

Using a minor illusion to disguise Luz's outfit so Amity could be the first to see it, Eda quickly changed back into her suit then grabbed King and Luz and flew them to Hexside, leaving Hooty to watch over the house. Eda also took Rasiel's ring, so Luz could have some alone time with Amity without the ancient angel watching over them.

They touched down at Hexside and immediately headed to the gym, where they arrived just in time. They spotted Amity outside, and Eda and King hurried past her to get to their chaperoning and MC duties, each giving Amity a little salute and a quiet; "Go get 'em Boots!" as they rushed past. Luz slowly made her way over to Amity, her heart pounding like never before as she took in Amity's outfit.

Amity's Grom outfit consisted of a very dark purple waistcoat over a smart, pale pink blouse with short, puffy sleeves, and a dark, reddish pink skirt that went down to her knees. Her shoes were modest heels in the same colour as her waistcoat, and gave her a little bit of extra height. She also wore a new necklace shaped like a golden crescent moon on a lavender coloured stone, as well as her signature onyx earrings. Amity had a little make-up in the form of light mascara, very light purple eyeshadow, and some clear lip gloss. However her hair was completely different; instead of the mint green hair tied up into a partial ponytail that showed her chocolate brown roots at the front, she now let her hair fall naturally, and had dyed it an adorable shade of lavender, with a few visible strands of brown by her ears. On the right side of her hair was a small golden hair clip that had Luz's angel feather attached to it, sweeping back along the slope of her pointed ear. It had been turned pale pink with a mini-concealment stone embedded in the clip so no one would realise what it really was, but seeing Amity wearing her feather was doing something strange to Luz's insides. Amity looked absolutely gorgeous, like a cotton-candy haired goddess, and Luz could barely pick her jaw up off the ground.

"Whoa… it's different…" she said, completely stunned. "It looks really, really good!"

Amity blushed; "T-Thanks. Mom always liked it green, so I'd match her and my siblings, but I thought I could use a change. I've already reinvented myself a lot since meeting you, so I thought tonight was a good time to go that extra mile." she then noticed Luz was wearing what appeared to be her normal casual wear, and fought back a feeling of disappointment; "I guess you didn't get time to change with all the training?"

Luz smirked; "Oh this? It's just an illusion. Eda insisted that you should be the first one at school to see my outfit. Speaking of..."

She drew a spell circle to remove Eda's illusion, and the instant her true outfit was revealed, Amity felt her blood pressure skyrocket.

Luz's Grom outfit consisted of a pale cream version of Eda's signature red dress, only a tad looser at her hips and below, and without the torn skirts. It also had a purple rose in place of Eda's Bile Monitor. Over the top she wore a purple blazer, the same shade as her favourite cat hoodie, and for shoes she wore a white ballet flats with soles that Eda had turned the same colour as her blazer. The outfit's colours were a complementary contrast with Amity's; the light colour of Luz's dress contrasting the dark colour of Amity's waistcoat, while her more blue shade of purple blazer contrasted with the more red shade of pink of Amity's skirt. Finally, Luz's outfit was finished by some very light make up (mostly just a little mascara to bring out her eyes and foundation to give her face a healthy glow), and her hair (which remained the dark brown of her witch disguise) was given some magical extensions so it could be tied into a loose ponytail that cascaded over her right shoulder. Depending on the expression Luz pulled, the outfit and hairstyle would make her look like an innocent maiden or a suave and chivalrous noble; and Amity was greatly admiring both.

"Y-You look wonderful!" Amity smiled brightly, a faint blush on her cheeks. "You've never looked bad, but this is… you clean up nice!"

"Thanks! You look beautiful too." Luz replied, thanking her foundation for hiding her own crimson blush; "I didn't think you could improve on perfection, then here you are doing it. Fighting Grom is worth it to see you like this."

Amity nearly choked at that compliment, "Y-You can't say things like that while dressed up as nice as this! You're going to give me a heart attack!"

Luz giggled at what she assumed to be a joke from her best friend, "Hey, somebody's got to make sure you know how great you are! Might as well be me!" she said, before gently taking Amity's hand and using plant magic to give her a corsage of a purple rose, like the one pinned to Luz's chest.

"Thank you, Luz." Amity said softly, already making plans to have this rose join the one Luz had given her during the Inspection two weeks ago in being preserved between the pages of a book. Feeling like she had to give Luz something in return, Amity used abomination magic to make a little hair clip shaped like a crescent moon, which Luz placed in her hair on the left side of her head to mirror Amity. It would only be temporary, but Amity was already planning on constructing a permanent one as a proper thank you gift later.