Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 “ughh Eda… I’m supposed to meet up with Willow and Gus for the memorial tonight! Can’t you just make Hunter work? Wait never mind he needs to go too…” Luz complained, lazily mopping the tiled floors.

“well if its so important to you then sure, I’ll close the museum early today. I don’t know how this place gets so dirty anyway… its probably Hooty- or King. And maybe Owlbert too.” Eda said, rearranging some art pieces from its glass container.

Edalyn, Luz’s boss/neighbor owned a small museum dedicated to owls. Now Eda was a mysterious woman, Luz knew she had an abundance of secrets but never seemed to question them, mainly because they never really seemed relevant when it came to getting to know her, but there was always this hole in her past that Luz was always curious about.

Luz continued to work her arms dry as she cleaned the last stain on the floor, Eda chuckled and grabbed the mop from Luz’s hands “How about you go hop around and have fun with your friends, just be careful with strangers and don’t do anything illegal... Wink.” Was all Eda said as she trailed away to her storage closet.

Luz hummed and rushed out of the museum, snatching her jacket on the way out. She ran down a few blocks to arrive at her house, once there, she rummaged through her wardrobe for a suitable outfit for the occasion.

At Glandus they were going to hold a memorial for a girl named Eileen that died less than a day ago in Forearm forest; Now Luz was no stranger to death in her town, it was weird to say it was quite common to see a new headline every 2 days or so about someone in her area meeting their untimely demise. Killer capital: Bonesborough, they say.

Luz settled on a black and white striped turtleneck and slid on her shorts, converse, and green jean jacket, she quickly snapped on her friendship bracelets and multi-colored bead necklace. Once she settled on the look, she scrambled down the stairs and met her sister, Vee, standing by the table with Camila on the other side, cooking what smelled to be chicken soup.

“you headin somewhere Luz?” Vee asked, tilting her head, and leaning forward on the table Luz nodded and skipped over to give her mom a kiss on the cheek “I’m going to meet up with Willow and Gus at the memorial! Hunter will be with me too! Though I think he’d prefer to be around his friends.”

“ok mija! Stay safe and don’t do anything Eda would do, I swear that woman esta loca!” Camila warned, turning her attention back to the food “bye Luz!” Vee said, waving back at Luz as she rushed out the door, giving Vee a brief “byeee” before she shut the door.

Luz rushed down to meet Hunter, her brother, parked by the sidewalk, he was absorbed in his phone when Luz snuck in through the back door and grabbed Hunter by his shoulder.

He flinched and yelped in fright, mission “mess with Hunter for the 789,453,245,679^th time today”: accomplished.

“Luz! Don’t scare me like that! You know I could’ve punched you or something right.”

“naah you were too busy being a scaredy cat. Now onward!! I must reunite with Willow and Gus pronto!!!” Luz hurried, Hunter groaned and let down his phone, he grabbed onto the steering wheel and set off to Gravesfield.

The car ride was silent, the radio was off, and Hunter and Luz never said another word to each other for the rest of the remaining time, the occasional car horn interrupting their peace. But soon enough Hunter would find a parking space at Glandus, and they would set sail.

Luz rushed over to the football field, many students were spreading out lighted candles in red cups, Luz snatched one over and searched the area for the only three friends she was expecting to see.

Willow and Gus stood near the crowd of people, scanning the area for what Luz assumed was herself. Luz rushed over with a big smile and a wave as her friends caught sight of her, Willow and Gus jogged over and hugged Luz with one arm.

“hey amigos! How are y’all?” Luz asked sending them both finger guns.

Willow chuckled and moved her candle to her other hand “well pretty good! After school I bought myself some chia seeds to spread around some new sculptures I bought!”

“that’s so awesome Willow! How about you Gus?” Luz asked, turning in Gus’s direction, “Well today I went with my dad to the café down the street! We talked about some recent news and just generally had a great time, how about you, Luz? You up to anything new lately?”

“Well not exactly, I’m usually working at the museum with Eda! She got some new paintings today and they look spectacular! I should show you guys around again!” Luz finished, Willow and Gus nodded “I’ll trust your judgement, Luz.”

A squeak interrupted their chatting, they all looked up to see Mr. Wittebane tapping onto the microphone, he stood atop the podium and cleared his throat.

“good evening students, I hope all is well.” He greeted, scanning the crowd with a smile, two tapestries were set at each side of him, with a triangular symbol, a sword crossed through the center, along with two sets of wings emerging from it.

Phillip Wittebane came from a prestigious family; he was the head of the police force and so was every man in his family tree leading up to him. Eda taught Luz about their corrupt system, but never elaborated on it, only giving her certain instructions to avoid the law.

“I come here today to appreciate the memory of Eileen Smith, known by her family and friends to be shy but outgoing blah blah blah…” Luz tuned him out, she looked around the crowd, right in front of her she could see the classic mean girls of her school, Amity, Boscha, Skara and Amelia all bunched together.

“pssh, just one less loser to bully, am I right Ams?” Boscha commented, leaning over to the purple haired girl “Boscha, that wasn’t funny. That  could’ve been any of us.” Amity argued, shifting further from Boscha, who just huffed and frowned “as if you know anything about humor Amity, you’re literally the definition of fun police on urban dictionary.” Boscha joked, jabbing her with her elbow.

Amity huffed “still wasn’t funny. Eileen didn’t do shit to you but of course you acted bitchy around her.” Amity retorted, crossing her arms.

“yeah right, can’t believe you are calling me bitchy; little miss perfect.”

“you already know what’s going on.”

“yeah, but that’s not my fucking problem.”

Luz groaned internally on their useless bickering, everyone at school knew that Boscha and Amity had some deeply buried issues with each other, Luz just had a front row seat to what seemed to be a rising fight between the girls.

“I trusted you with everything Boscha, can you at least be respectful for once.”

“again, not my fault you couldn’t stop running your mouth about issues nobody asked about.”

Amity opened her mouth, but closed it right after, Luz could see the hurt in her eyes “i-I’m going home. See you at school Boscha.” Amity said before shoving through the crowd in a hurry, Luz’s eyes trailed after her as she rushed behind the locker rooms.

Luz huffed and turned her attention back to Phillip who seemed close to ending his speech. Luz sighed and returned to her thoughts, she could feel a twinge of pity settle in her stomach, she couldn’t imagine having a friend like Boscha. Yeah, sure Amity still sort of bully her, but Luz had always felt this weird need to befriend her, especially considering that she would catch Amity staring at her and her friends every time something cool happened.

Amity Blight was an enigma to Luz, nobody seemed to know much about her, except for Boscha apparently. But Luz had no idea how Amity would be as a friend, she didn’t seem like someone cheerful or energetic, but who knew if she was just suppressing that. Luz excused it as trying new things, but some voice in the back of her brain told her otherwise. Enough of that though, the moment of silence just ended, and students started walking back to their cars.

Willow and Gus walked over to the bus and waved back to Luz; Luz enthusiastically waved back as they walked in.

Hunter approached Luz with his hands in his pockets “you ready to go Luz?” Hunter asked, Luz paused and looked back to the locker rooms, “uh… just wait here for a minute or so.” She instructed, Hunter silently agreed, and Luz ran to the small building, twirling past the edge of the sides of the building.

She quickly pulled herself back as she saw Amity still sitting there, quietly sobbing into a torn piece of cloth, Luz frowned and creeped out of her hiding place.

“Amity?” Luz asked, slowly approaching the pale girl, Amity gasped and quickly rose to her feet, swiping away her tears, “what are you doing here.” She asked- or demanded, her voice cracking. Luz tried to look at her in the eye, but Amity kept on looking elsewhere, anywhere other than her own eyes.

“I saw you running away, I just came to ask if you wanted a ride home.” Luz said, placing her hand on her stomach, Amity didn’t respond for a second, shoving the cloth in her dress pockets.

“I’ll go, only because the streets are dangerous at these hours.” Amity said quietly, Luz nodded and starting walking back to Hunter, Amity followed, her steps going slower than Luz’s energetic ones.

Hunter looked up from his phone and narrowed his eyes at Amity, he looked back at Luz for reassurance, Luz only nodded and rushed over to Hunter’s car, slipping into the back seat, Hunter sat down on the driver’s seat and looked back to make sure that Luz had her seatbelt on while putting his own on.

Amity came in last, sitting down in the passenger’s seat, Hunter huffed and ignited the engine, following the road the bus drove off to. Luz looked up at the rear mirror, sensing the tension between Amity and Hunter, they would often glance back at each other, glares clear on their faces.

Luz huffed and sat back, continuing to stare at the mirrors, at least Luz knew Amity was safer.

Their car got closer to the school bus, its red lights shining over them.

…

“ugh, that brat! I can’t believe Amity walked away like that.” Boscha snarled, pacing along the free space between all the seats, Skara sighed and looked behind the bus in boredom, but something caught her attention, making her frown and looked back at Boscha who was just about to turn back.

“uhh Boscha- you probably won’t want to look behind you.” Skara said, pointing to the end of the bus.

Boscha rushed over and leaned onto the glass to the back door, there, Amity Blight sat next to Hunter, and behind her, Luz Noceda.

“fuck!” Boscha yelled in rage “that BITCH!! Of course she leaves me for her stupid boyfriend and the super-nerd!!” Boscha shrieked, looking back at Skara who winced, and moved to pull Boscha back, but unfortunately, something else caught Boscha’s eye.

“Boscha- I don’t think this is a good idea-“

“GRAB THE BOWL SKARA!” Boscha commanded, kicking open the bus door, Skara came back, dragging the heavy container behind her, Boscha helped her in a rush, dragging it closer to the door, red dripping down her nose.

And before she could stop herself, the container slipped out of her arms, screams about stopping the bus echoed through Boscha’s mind as she watched the car disappear within the trees.

Chapter Text

Amity groaned and opened her eyes, smoke filled her vision, and she could hear some coughs from around her, she weakly reached over for an escape, she pulled onto the door handle and stumbled down. Her palms assisted in her movement as she crawled forward, her hands disappearing within the red moss that surrounded the crash, her ears rung the more she moved forward on her knees.

She could feel her hands brush over something rough, she felt it more and red flashed before her eyes, whispers corrupted her mind, and blood trailed down her nose. Once the visions ended, she could feel her brain go numb, her eyes ached, and she brought a hand to hold her head from the pain.

She could feel someone cup their hands by her shoulders, she took a brief look at them, but she couldn’t help it.

Amity’s blood flew out of her nose, smearing all over their white shirt. Once her vision focused, Gus Porter recoiled and pulled his shirt apart from his chest in disgust.

Blue and red flashed near, the police had arrived. She could see Hunter and Luz being assisted from a nearby ambulance, Gus helped her stand up and lead her to the back of the ambulance, she could feel the nurses search around her body, the only thing she knew was that she had a minor nosebleed and bruises around her body, this was not how she expected to end her day.

“can you tell me what happened?” officer Phillip asked, breaking her from her thoughts, Amity silently looked up to see Boscha casually talking to her friends.

“I- I was in the car with Hunter and Luz because I needed a ride home.” Amity started, noticing how her voice was hoarse and quiet “I would’ve gone on the bus if I didn’t have a disagreement with Boscha, and all I remember was seeing a yellow container hit the windshield and Hunter trying his best to stay on the road, after that I don’t remember much.” She finished explaining, Phillip scribbled over a tiny notebook and walked away, nodding.

She looked down and patted down her pockets, each touch becoming more frantic, she reached into it and frowned, her piece of cloth was gone.

Someone else seemed to notice this however, Luz walked in her direction and searched her own pockets, bringing out what she was looking for.

Amity slowly looked up at her and put her hand over Luz’s, pulling her hand back, this time with the tiny cloth.

“may I ask…” Luz said, sitting down beside her, “why do you keep that around?” she asked, bringing up her legs and crossing them. Amity looked back down at the cloth and back at Luz “its was from my favorite toy when I was a child. It was destroyed but I keep this around for when I’m feeling… overwhelmed.” Amity said, caressing the smooth blue button lazily stitched on the dirty pink fabric.

Luz nodded beside her “what was its name?”

“Otabin, it was from my favorite book.” Amity explained, fiddling with the loose threads, Luz shifted closer and looked over to inspect the cloth.

“cute.” Luz unconsciously whispered; Amity’s head shot up “huh-“

“uhh, I meant the thing!! The uh Otabin thing is cute! Not you- I mean you’re still cute! Wait no I got confused- you’re still cute though!! Not in like a creepy way haha!!…” Luz rambled, making harsh hand movements that made her wince and hold her shoulder.

“you got hurt?” Amity asked, tucking back Otabin in her pocket. Luz nodded and pointed to the bandages bunched up by her shoulder. “the glass made a long cut back there. But like its fine, at least imma have a cool scar! I think Hunter is gonna be enraged about his car though.” Luz explained, pointing at a red-faced Hunter behind her.

“Boscha’s rich, she can get him a new one.” Amity joked, Luz let out a tiny chuckle “my mom saved a lot of money to give it to him on his 18^th birthday, so I guess it means a lot to him.”

Amity looked down and fiddled with her fingers “sorry, by the way. If it weren’t for my fight with Boscha you two would be safe at home by now.” She said, looking back up at Luz.

Luz smiled and nodded “Don’t worry about it, Boscha is the only one who should be sorry, really.”

Amity looked forward to seeing the officer and Boscha approaching them “speaking of the devil.” Amity mumbled, Luz frowned and leaned back, crossing her arms.

“I swear I didn’t do shit, maybe Hunter is just a lousy driver and got distracted by the bus lights.” Boscha lied, rolling her eyes, Phillip scribbled down some information and shoved it in his pocket.

“Luz, was it?” He asked, Luz slowly started narrowing her eyes and shook her head “my names Lucia.” She said holding herself tighter.

“Lucia, you’re our last eyewitness, so may you explain to me what happened?” He asked, looking between the group of girls.

“I was sitting in the backseat, and I didn’t see much up front, but I do remember seeing someone with pink hair throw a punch bowl at us.” Luz said, leaning forward to glare at Boscha.

“that’ll be all, Boscha, I’m taking you with me.” Phillip said dragging her to a police car as she yelled out objections, beside Luz, Hunter came around, glaring at Amity.

“I swear to god Blight, you always find a way to mess shit up.” He snarled, moving Luz out of the way. Amity huffed and crossed her arms, “listen, I didn’t do anything to make this happen.”

“this only happened because Boscha saw you!! If you guys could have  just cut the girl drama, maybe I’d still have my car!” He shouted, clenching his fists.

“you don’t understand nothing about my “girl drama” Hunter, so stop being such a bitch about it!” Amity shouted back, Luz quickly intervened and pushed them away from each other “can you guys stop being at each other’s neck for like one second-?! This-“ Luz said gesturing at both of them “is girl drama.”

“I’m not a girl.”

“doesn’t matter cause Amity’s probably a girl so it counts as girl drama.”

Hunter rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “I don’t think its physically possible for me to not hate Amity Blight.” He said, glaring back at Amity who glared back again, “god, you act just like a child!” Amity said, smirking.

“ok, Amity I need you to stop insulting my brother- but he does act like a child right-??” Luz said, whispering the last part in Amity’s ear, Amity giggled and smirked back at Hunter.

“whatever, we should get home Luz, we have to break the news to mom.” Hunter said, the mood quickly dying down “Maybe we should wait though? She should be asleep by now if the police haven’t called her.”

“Ok, but we tell her in the morning. Mom doesn’t like it when we lie.”