The light of abyss (The owl house x Marvel)

Luz wasn't sure what exactly blowing up Amity's abomination with her shadow-charged (corrupted?) light glyphs had done to the poor witch but Amity hadn't exactly run that fast or far and between that and the tingle at the back of her neck that was pointing her in the direction of sadness, shame, anger and like, also anger but directed inward, Luz wasn't sure what to call that emotion... Anyway, it wasn't hard to find the green and brown-haired witch.

Luz almost wished she hadn't. She wasn't the best with social cues and stuff but she very much got the feeling that Amity probably didn't want anyone to see her like this, sitting in the fetal position, back against a wall, clearly fighting back tears and of particular concern, Luz felt, she was biting down on the back of her own hand.

Luz approached slowly, not wanting to startle her, but Amity must have seen her out of the corner of her eye or something. She turned away from Luz and choked out, "Come to gloat?"

"No, I—"

"You can be a witch," Amity said, not letting Luz finish.

"What?"

This prompted the other girl to turn around and stare in disbelief. "It was one of the terms of the duel, I have to admit that you can be a witch. We formed an everlasting oath and everything... Am I really so insignificant that you'd forget that?" Amity asked, her voice shaking.

"No, it's just... That's not important right now," Luz tried to deflect. "What's important right now is—"

"Of course it's important!" Amity shouted. "My whole life for as long as I can remember has been nothing but working myself to the bone in order to be the best, then here comes Luz the human, talking about how she's training to become a witch as if it's oh so easy and turns out she's right!" Amity lost her battle to restrain her tears at this point. "If that had been a fair fight I wouldn't have stood a chance and even with... How did? What... Humans don't have any innate magical talent," Amity declared, "you have to have bargained with some spirit or something. Who was it, what was it!?"

"I didn't make any bargains," Luz defended. "I didn't really have any powers until I got here, I swear."

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not! Look," Luz sat down next to Amity and pulled out her notepad before drawing the light glyph. She then tore it from the pad and slid it over to Amity. "I found this while looking through a recording of Eda casting a light spell. Just, give it a touch." Amity seemed hesitant. "It won't explode, I promise." Reluctantly, Amity tapped the glyph with one and quickly withdrew her hand as it activated.

The slip of paper folded into itself and became a ball of light, just like normal when the light glyph was used.

"Eda thinks I might have stumbled into some older way of using magic, like ancient witches used. Figuring out how it works has... Well, that's my only spell so far."

"Then what was the other stuff?" Amity asked incredulously.

"I have no idea!" Luz declared. "As soon as I got here I got this weird anxious feeling all over my body and then when I was trying to lift a lever that was too heavy for my weak nerd arms suddenly URAAAHHH!" she finished while thrusting her arms up. "Shadow aura. A few days later, it happens again, and boom, emotion sensing. Today we learned it makes glyphs explode. No idea what it is, Eda had a doctor do some blood work for me, apparently I tested positive for pure evil but..."

As Luz trailed off, things got silent... Until Amity laughed. It was just a brief thing, but it was better than crying or biting herself.

"I'm sorry, I guess I might have... Made the wrong assumption earlier," Amity admitted. "Every so often we get stories of so-called sorcerers in the human realm getting the power to use magic just given to them by some spirit or by doing something unwholesome and..."

"And you thought I was one of those?" Luz finished. "Maybe... Maybe I should have thought harder about how someone who was born a witch and spent so much time training their magic might react to a human saying that they're trying to become a witch... I could feel how angry you were, I should have—"

"No, it's fine. I shouldn't have crushed your friend's cupcake."

"And um... I'm sorry too," Luz began. "I didn't want you to be... Didn't want to hurt you, either, I didn't know that using the glyphs like that on... Are you okay?" She asked while tapping her chest with her knuckles to illustrate what exactly she meant when asking.

"Whatever that was," Amity began, "it felt like I was punched in the bile sack and now I feel like I've used up all my magic."

"I am never doing that again," Luz declared, apologetically. "I thought it was just an explosive, not..."

"It's fine..."

"No, it's not," Luz insisted. "I never should have challenged you to that stupid duel in the first place."

"I never should have accepted and I shouldn't have cast the Everlasting Oath," Amity countered.

"But like, I've never had friends before coming to the demon realm, I'm used to people picking on me but I just got so mad—"

"I just get really competitive about being right or the best... You know it turns out the Top Student isn't even an official thing, it's just something that Professor Hermunculous did—"

"And when I get going I kind of just sort of eh and don't really think things through, I'm too impulsive, and—"

"I got so aggressive and freaked out over basically nothing... Yeah, I was sort of disappointed and angry that Willow stooped to cheating, but—"

"I just get too obsessive and stupid sometimes!" both girls finished together.

Neither of them looked at each other for a few moments.

"So... Is there a way to undo the Everlasting Oath?" Luz asked.

"Yeah, but... Why?"

"This shouldn't have... It sounds like we both just sort of got caught up in the heat of the moment, so you shouldn't have to be... Magically compelled to agree that humans can be witches if you feel so strongly about how sorcerers gain their power." Luz explained. "And to be fair, now that I think about it from a witch's perspective it does sort of feel like cheating."

"If... I cast the spell again, or someone else cast it for us, and we shook hands in the spell circle and you, as the winner of the duel, agreed that the oath be undone, then it would be," Amity explained. "But.. I can't cast right now and... Why are you being so nice?"

Luz blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I was taught that everything was an opportunity and that everyone had an angle to work," Amity explained while avoiding eye contact. "But... I can't see what you get out of this."

"Maybe I just want to be nice?" Luz replied rhetorically "But if that's how you feel then why are you being so... Open with me?"

Amity looked away again. "I hate showing weakness but you've already seen me throwing a tantrum so the damage is done."

Well, wasn't that a red flag? "Amity... That didn't look like a tantrum."

"I had a fit when I didn't get my way," Amity countered with a blush. "What else would it be?"

"I mean, you trusted Lilith right?" Luz started. "And then she did... That? If you're her star student she should have known exactly how you'd feel about cheating but she still... How did she even get that thing on you without you noticing?"

Amity looked down. "...She hugged me."

"Hmm?"

"Just before the duel, she told me that she was proud of me," Amity began, "and that I was her best student, and that she knew I could beat you, and that I had nothing to prove, and then... My whole life I've been working hard to be the best but it never felt like it was good enough." Luz tried not to focus on how uncomfortably familiar that sounded. "And... We weren't exactly close, Lilith and I, she was just my teacher but she sounded so... Like she meant it. And then she hugged me. She'd never done that before... Nobody had ever..."

"You've never been hugged!?" Luz asked, incredulously. "Like, not even by your parents?"

"Not like that," Amity clarified, "at least, not for as long as I can remember. But... That's when she must have done it, and..."

"...Would you like a hug now?" Luz asked awkwardly.

"From you?"

"Yeah, that was weird to offer" Luz admitted.

"No, it was..." Amity began awkwardly. "Anyway, even... even if I have a right to be upset I should have kept my composure better."

"Who told you that?" When Amity didn't answer Luz's question, she decided to change the subject. "Wanna hear one of my embarrassing stories?"

"What?"

"I mean, you sort of... It's only fair..."

"I mean... If you want to..." Amity agreed.

"So about a year and a half ago, so halfway through my last year of middle school, my school had a field trip to a museum and I was excited because there was an exhibit on, well, magic stuff," Luz began. "I uh... I've always wanted to be a witch, which... Probably sounds pretty bad to you..."

"It's fine."

"I was especially excited because the museum had replicas of rare artifacts like the Eye of Agamotto and the Wand of Watoomb."

"I don't know what those are," Amity interjected.

"I'll explain later," Luz dismissed, "anyway, uh... This was a public museum, so my class weren't the only people there, and uh... I might have gotten a little too excited... This older woman was there and she apparently didn't know that the magic artifacts were replicas and thought I was a teenage supervillain plotting to steal them."

Amity blinked. "That is the stupidest thing I ever heard... What's a supervillain?"

"Someone who uses superpowers to commit crimes in a flashy costume," Luz explained, "usually with a gimmick. The costume and gimmick are important, presentation is what makes them super, not superpowers. And uh... It might not have been as stupid as you think, because I was in handcuffs by the time someone took a good look at the situation and realized how silly it was."

"That's just... That's not fair," was all Amity could say.

"That's what my mom said," Luz replied, "along with a whole bunch of words that I'm not allowed to repeat. But I guess the school thought differently. They made me get tested for a whole bunch of stuff, to see if there was an 'explanation for my behavior' or 'mitigating circumstances' or the like and they threatened to kick me out if I didn't."

"Anyway, that's how I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and 'High Functioning' Autism Spectrum Disorder," Luz finished, "which would have been a good thing if there were any resources for that kind of thing where I live. They wanted to give me medication to help me focus better but the the drugs for that are pretty harsh and after talking it over my mom and I agreed that it might be better to try and manage it on my own first. You know, make sure I need it before going on that stuff. Some people do need it, but... You know, it can be a little scary to think about."

"I'm sorry," Amity said quietly.

"It's fine," Luz replied with surprising cheer given how serious the topic at hand was. "Coffee helps. Black as night, and with lots of sugar."

"No, I mean I'm sorry that something like that happened to you," Amity clarified, "and that your school assumed that you were the problem, and that when you actually did have problems you couldn't get help."

"I mean, they're not problem problems," Luz corrected. "They might be called disorders but there's not really anything wrong with me, I'm just built differently. It can be hard sometimes but I've done some research on it and I know how to manage... Most of the time."

"...What's it like?"

"So I'm simplifying here, but ADHD is like... Like my thoughts are going a bit too fast. I get a little excited and it can be hard to focus on only one thing unless it's something I'm really interested in and then I focus on only that which can be a bit of a problem when I have homework that needs doing but I then I start thinking about something I want to draw or something like that. Autism is... complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"Well, everyone with it is different," Luz explained, "it's mostly about communication. I mostly just... Don't nessesarily know where the lines are, socially, but a lot of people get exhausted just talking to people because of how hard it is to understand other people and some people just flat-out can't talk. Some people aren't good with expressions like, in the human world we have the phrase 'off your rocker' which means that someone is you know, crazy, but someone with autism who isn't familiar with the phrase might assume that they're talking about an actual rocking chair. You following me?"

"I think," Amity replied.

"But then there's a bunch of other stuff that someone with autism may or may not have. I don't really have sensory issues but a lot of people on the Autism spectrum react poorly to loud noises or bright lights, or certain smells or flavors or are just really picky about food."

"So... Would someone on this... Spectrum maybe like the taste of skullapeño peppers but having an actual piece of one in their mouth makes their skin crawl?" Amity asked.

"Yeah!" Luz replied. "Or like, apparently some people can't eat meat off a bone because eating that way makes their faces feel greasy and icky but again, don't really have issues like that. Again, everyone is a little different. Another thing is stimming."

"What's that?"

"It's auh, like, stimulating your senses by like uh... The stereotype is flapping your hands but there are a lot of different ways to do it," Luz started, "like, it's not just an autism thing, lots of people do stuff like this but it could be fidgeting with something or the like. With autism, it usually happens when you're anxious or excited. I usually stamp my feet and I don't always notice I'm doing it at first but it could really be anything."

Amity hummed and tugged on the hem of her school uniform.

"Another big thing is... Hyperfocusing, which kind of overlaps with ADHD for me... If I like something, I really like it. If it's important to me, it's very important. It sort of ends up being my whole life for a while. Or forever," Luz admitted. "It's also pretty common for interest to be uh, above or below your age demographic."

"...Like a teenager liking a flowery fantasy novel with convoluted backstories aimed at ages six to eleven that no one else she talks to about it seems to like or even know about?" Amity asked with an awkward smile.

"Yeah! Wait," Luz said as the gears turned in her head. "You have Azura in the demon realm?"

"I'm surprised you have it in the human realm," Amity admitted. "So, if you didn't know... Just to be clear, you weren't... Trying to make fun of me when you paraphrased the defeat of the gildersnake, were you?"

"Of course not!" Luz declared with a bit of panic. "You... You just said I was kind of cool, I had to follow that up and... Oh, that's why you got so angry after I...?"

"Yeah, sorry," Amity apologized. "Is there anything else that's important?"

"There's a lot of stuff, and not everyone has everything, but the last big one is... Meltdowns."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's when you get overwhelmed with emotion, or in a stressful situation, and it all sort of comes out at once whether you like it or not," Luz finished. "I haven't really ever had to deal with that one either but..."

"Like losing your head about a stupid badge and getting violent?" Amity asked. "Or... breaking down crying with your back against a wall when you find out that your mentor has no faith in your abilities and you were just humiliated in public?"

"The biting your hand bit was a bit of a tip-off, too. Sorry, I didn't want to assume, but..." Luz said with a grimace.

"It's fine... When I was younger, after a routine checkup at the healing coven the healer talked to my mom about taking me to see a mind healer but mom just called him a quack and changed caregivers," Amity said with a shrug. "I'm just... a lot of what you just said sounds and feels familiar."

"So I'm not a psychiatrist," Luz said quickly, "I can't diagnose you but..."

"Just knowing that it might be something that has a name instead of just being... Weird," Amity began... "I'll take that hug now if you're still offering."

Luz threw her arms open, "Always!"

Amity leaned in. "It's weird, I... This morning if you told me this was how I'd be spending my day I wouldn't but... I don't know, I just have this strange feeling that I can trust you, and the more you talk the safer I feel with you... That probably sounds crazy."

"Hey," Luz said as she embraced the green-haired witch, "I'm perfectly cool with crazy."

Both girls were suddenly startled by a declaration "There you are!"

They jumped apart and turned to see Eda standing over them, an overdressed King carrying multiple tote bags waddling behind her.

"Luz, we need to get out of here. Sort of got into a duel with my sister after you and Baby Blight ran off, long story short we have maybe five minutes before she managed to unglue her feet from the arena floor and... Wait, are you two friends now?" Eda asked changing tracks.

"I don't know," Amity said, "are we?"

"I mean, I'm not gonna say no to more friends," Luz said proudly as she turned to Amity, "so if you want to be—Amity your nose is bleeding!"

The young witch lifted a finger to her upper lip and felt the hot, red fluid pooling above it. Pulling her hand away to look at her blood-stained finger, her only response was "I should probably head to the Healing Coven's tent. Luz, I'll see you around."

Amity started to walk off before stopping and turning to the diminutive demon buried under a pile of swag. "King was it?" She began, "I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have crushed your cupcake."

"Oh I'm over tha—" King began, only to pause, "I mean, the King of Demons graciously accepts your humble apology!"

Amity blinked. "Okay then, bye" She finished as she rushed off toward the healer's tent.

Eda then led the kids that she totally had not adopted out of the covention at a brisk pace. "You're really something else, you know that Luz?"

Luz could only nod, the butterflies of worry were playing havoc with her stomach.

AN: So we have our first major deviation: Luz and Amity are friends a few episodes early due to a handful of factors resulting in a longer heart-to-heart. Also, getting mistaken by a supervillain by an ignorant Karen resulted in Luz having an actual diagnosis for her neurodivergence in this reality.

Speaking of which, the talk of Neurodivergence is based on a combination of my personal research and my own experiences as someone on the Autism Spectrum, do not use these simplified, incomplete descriptions of ADHD and ASD as a tool of diagnosis for yourself or others as I am not a mental healthcare professional and may have gotten some details wrong.