Chapter Text
So many things had changed lately.
Not even six months ago, the sound of rain would have her hiding under a bridge somewhere, hoping to avoid both capture and third degree burns. Now, however, the pitter patter on the windows filled Vee with a content peace. The rain, which once upon a time just served to remind her of how she did not have a place in the world, now meant something else:
To Vee, the rain now meant a hot meal. She could already smell the soup Camila was cooking for the both of them. The rain now meant warmth. Though she was big enough to not really be that affected by her cold blood in most circumstances, Camila still made sure to keep her wrapped in soft blankets during storms. The rain now meant company. Documentaries, old movies, and even the occasional novela, if any of her mom's favorites were airing, lit up the two pairs of eyes on the couch, Camila keeping Vee distracted from the thunder, and Vee keeping her distracted from the memories.
To Vee, the rain meant that she now had a mom there with her.
Her mom.
Though she tried calling Camila by her name after the jig was up, habit was a strong force, and once she forgot to correct herself after accidentally calling Camila 'mom' again, Vee realized that no, it wasn't just out of force of habit: Vee did actually start seeing the woman as a mother figure at some point.
For her part, Camila did not reciprocate immediately, though she was never cold or hostile towards the basilisk. The shock from finding Vee was actually impersonating her daughter (who, in turn, was trapped in another dimension) made Camila cautious towards the creature. She dropped all nicknames for a while, but quickly the 'baby's and 'sweetie's and 'honey's came back. After a while, after a particularly bad nightmare, Camila would calm her down and praise her for being so brave. '¿Tesoro?' she would call her, every time she wanted to gently wake the young shapeshifter, be it from a nightmare or a nap. She never called her 'Cariño' again, though. That one was reserved for Luz. Vee was sure of it.
The first time she called her 'mija' after the "incident", Vee tackled her, hugging Camila like a boa, trying to hide her tears as she buried her face in her new mom's chest, and failing almost as badly as she did at hiding her smile. Not even in her wildest dreams did Vee ever think she would find a family, much less one that accepted her for who she was. Her family might be small for now, sure, it was just her and her mother, but the knowledge that Luz might come back at any moment thrilled her (and Camila, too).
Tonight was precisely one of those rainy nights that Vee loved so much.
She sat expectantly by the kitchen table, the heavy rain pounding on the window filling her with a lazy contentment as Camila walked to and from, preparing some hot soup for the both of them. Camila told her about her job, and Vee excitedly recounted how her day in school had been. Camila inquired her about this "frog dimension" she had read about in the news, and Vee told her some tidbits about the Demon Realm. As the aimless conversation went on, the smell of soup wafted around the kitchen, making her mouth water.
It was supposed to be another perfect rainy night.
A loud rapping on the door interrupted their chat. They were not expecting any visitors, and no one in their right mind would just show up unannounced in the middle of a storm (boiling or not). On instinct, Vee shifted to the form she was so used by now, Luz's. She might not need hide her true appearance around Camila anymore, but she still dreaded the thought of anyone else even suspecting she was not human.
Camila and "Luz" looked at each other, confused, before the knocking came again, louder this time.
"Coming, coming!" Camila yelled, "Tesoro, vigila la sopa, porfa..." she asked Vee as she made her way to the front door.
Vee obliged, but her attention wasn't on the soup (as good as the smell was). Instead, she kept peering over the counter, eyes fixed on the door. For some reason, she felt uneasy. Someone showing up unannounced in the middle of a storm was already unusual enough, but there was something else bothering her that she couldn't quite—
As Camila opened the door, it hit her – almost literally, too. The overwhelming smell of magic. "...hey, Mom. I'm back." Though it was trembling and muffled by the sound of rain, the voice at the front door was unmistakable. It was "her" own voice.
"LUZ!" she heard Camila scream. Turning off the stove, Vee ran to the living room, and, sure enough, there she was:
Luz Noceda, in the flesh.
Camila had, against her better judgement, ran into the rain herself, hugging her daughter as hard as she could, as if making sure she was really there. In response, Luz hugged her back, limply. Her smile faltered, tears in her eyes as she stared blankly ahead. Her eyes met Vee's, and Vee's breath got caught in her throat. Luz looked so different from when they first met: her hair was longer an disheveled, a soaked ponytail struggling to come undone. She was beaten and scratched, the sleeves of her jacket torn, and a gash on her left eyebrow still bled lightly, blood mixing with the rainwater and running down her face. In her eyes was an unreadable expression, but they looked just as tired and shocked as the four young witches behind her.
"oh, Dios mio..." Camila shot up, finally taking notice of the kids her daughter had brought home with her, all of them standing in the rain like wet puppies. "come in! All of you, please, come in! You're just in time for dinner! We'll get you all warmed up in a bit..." she ushered them in, her faltering voice trying to sound welcoming as the kids finally stepped inside and away from the thickening storm.
They smelled strongly of magic. Luz had befriended some powerful young witches, Vee noted, but even still, they all looked just as beaten up as her. Whatever they had to go through to finally make their way to the Human Realm was definitely dangerous, and Vee could relate to that. They all looked scared and lost. The girl with glasses rubbed her arm, looking anxious, while the tall blond boy put on a brave face, holding the young black witch close to him protectively. The lilac-haired witch, however, looked more stunned than anything, her wide eyes staring at her, before Vee realized she must be surprised to see someone who looks (almost) exactly like her injured friend.
"Vee!" Camila called her. "Go grab the first-aid kit!"
Vee snapped off her stupor. "¡Sí, Mamá!" she said as she bolted up the stairs, thankful for her disguise actually having legs that could carry her upstairs quickly.
"AND GET SOME TOWELS TOO!"
By the time Vee arrived downstairs, carrying the first-aid kit and half a dozen towels, Camila had taken them all to the kitchen, sitting them all around the table as she set five plates down for their guests. Other thank a quiet "thanks" or two, no one spoke a word, the sound of thunder being the only thing interrupting the white noise of the rain.
"Thank you, mi amor," Camila took the towels from her hands as Vee set the first-aid kit on the kitchen counter. "I... don't think we have enough soup prepared for everyone," she said, the ladle scraping the bottom of the pot as she served the fifth portion to Luz. "could you...?"
"On it!" Vee gave a mock salute before running to the fridge to get more ingredients. Her cooking might not be as good as her mom's, but camp did teacher a thing or two about being "self-sufficient".
"Thank you, Mija." Camila said, warmly. Even after all this time, hearing Camila call her that still brought a smile to Vee's face. She looked back as she waited for the oil to heat up before putting on the onions, seeing Camila hand each of the kids a towel as she checked their injuries. Everyone was either staring at their plates or at nowhere in particular, but Luz, she noticed, was staring straight at her, with an expression...
Luz turned back to her plate when Vee caught her staring. Vee turned back to the stove, focusing on cooking.
A few quiet hisses came and went while Camila tended to each of the kids' scraps, but save for that and the sounds of Vee cooking, the kitchen remained silent. No one spoke a word as the witches quickly emptied their plates and dried themselves.
"So..." the lilac-haired girl was the first to break the silence. "Luz, you never mentioned you had a sister...!"
'Ah.' Vee froze. 'so she hasn't told them about the whole shapeshifting-basilisk-secretly-living-in-my-home deal yet...'
Luz stopped eating. "Oh, I..." she gulped, eyes shifting to meet Vee's before quickly turning back to her half-finished soup. "guess it just never came up... sorry."
Silence engulfed the kitchen again. No one seemed to know how to continue the conversation, and half of them looked to tired to even try to come up with a topic.
Camila finished applying a band-aid to the young black witch's cheek before speaking up, "oh! I'm sorry, we didn't even introduce ourselves properly, did we?" she asked, getting a few shy headshakes from the kids in response. "I'm sorry. My name is Camila, and I'm Luz's mother." she beamed in the same inviting and inoffensive tone of voice she used with Vee when she found her locked up in that cage. "and this here is Vee, Luz's... sister."
"Hello!" Vee waved at the table, Luz's friends waved back, a bit less shyly than when Camila spoke to them – maybe it was because she looked so much like Luz? Luz herself only stared at her, though, expression unreadable again. It was starting to unnerve Vee, if she was being honest.
"Welcome to the Noceda household, everyone. It doesn't look like the storm will let up anytime soon, so I hope you kids don't mind staying the night here."
The lilac-haired witch was the first to get up. "Ah, thank you so much for the offer, Mrs. Noceda—" she bowed, before being interrupted.
"Please, you're all Luz's friends, no? Just 'Camila' is fine, thank you."
"O-of course..." the witch blushed slightly. "I'm Amity Blight, Luz's... friend. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, ma'a- Camila!" she introduced herself. Vee had no idea why she was being so formal, but it seemed to get a few chuckles from the other witches at the table.
"Willow Park. It's a pleasure." the witch in glasses said as she returned the towel she was using to dry her hair and glasses.
"Augustus Porter, ma'am," the little black witch said, nervously, before adding, "but everyone calls me Gus."
"Hunter" the blond boy added, curtly. Out of all of Luz's friends, he seemed to be the most uneasy around them. Or maybe that's just how he usually was? "just... Hunter."
Camila clapped her hands together. "I am so glad to finally meet all of you!" she smiled. "Luz told me so much about you guys the last time we talked!"
"...she did?" the lilac-haired witch, Amity, perked up. "...so we already know we are..." she asked, a slight red tinge coloring her face.
"from the Demon Realm? Of course! You don't need to worry, your secret is safe in this house."
"Fr- the Demon Realm! Yes, of course, that's what I was worried about, haha..." Amity laughed, more nervous than before for some reason. Vee guessed that wasn't what she was worried about. This got another round of soft laughter from Gus and Willow. The mood was still tense, but they seemed to be slowly lighting up. Maybe.
After introductions were over and everyone was served another plate of the hot soup Vee had just made, Camila shot Vee a look before placing a hand on Luz's shoulder. "Now, I'm sorry, everyone, but if you could just excuse us for a second? I'd like to have a chat with Luz." she squeezed her shoulder, Luz looking up at Camila. "we have a lot of catching up to do, if you don't mind."
"Uhh, we get it, ma'am. We don't mind." Willow said, looking around to see her friends nodding.
Luz got up without saying a word, looking down.
"Vee, honey, could please take care of our guests for me?" Camila asked her, apologetic.
"Of course, Mamá!" Vee agreed, enthusiastic. Truth be told, she was more than a little excited to meet Luz's friends. Getting to show them around the house was the perfect opportunity for that.
After Camila and Luz excused themselves to Camila's bedroom, Vee was left alone with the four witches. She could talk to human high schoolers easily, which – according to Luz, at least – was pretty impressive, so talking to some scared young witches would probably be easier, right?
"so..." she started, "how did you guys meet Luz?"
The witches shared a look between them. Hunter actually seemed just as interested in the story as Vee herself, surprisingly. "It's not a very interesting story, actually," Gus was the first to speak up, "I actually met her at school! Willow had sneaked her in inside a cauldron of abomination goo."
"Oh, yeah! She was helping me with my assignment before I switched tracks!" Willow reminisced, "that was actually a bit before Amity here tried to dissect her!"
"Willow!" Amity yelped, indignant. "could you just drop that already??"
"I'm sorry, did..." Vee blinked, surely she had heard that wrong. "did you say... she tried to dissect "Luz?!"
Amity blushed madly, suddenly staring at her shoes. "it's... a long story."
"It really isn't."
"Willow!" She hissed, face looking like a tomato at this point. "look, can we just change subjects for now?" she asked, exasperated.
"Right..." Vee made a mental note to be careful around Amity. She didn't exactly have the best tracked record herself when it came to almost being dissected. "right! Uhh, you guys need a place to sleep, right? I don't think there's enough room for all six of us in m- our bedroom, but I could set up some sleeping bags in the living room if you guys want?"
"That would be great, actually!" Willow said.
"Yeah, I don't think any of us wants to sleep alone tonight..." Gus chimed in, "a sleepover sounds great, though!"
"Cool, so... I'll just go grab some sleeping bags upstairs real quick, alright?"
"I-I can help you with that!" Amity offered.
"Oh, there's no need," Vee said, "you guys can just rest here on the couch if you want. I know it's a tight squeeze, but at least you can warm up a bit!"
"N-no, I insist!" Amity pleaded. It seemed like the girl needed a distraction. Either that, or she liked feeling useful, Vee thought. "it's no problem, really."
"well... if you insist, then okay..." Vee motioned for Amity to follow her upstairs. "come on, follow me."
As the others settled on the small couch in the living room, Amity followed Vee to the bedroom upstairs, not speaking another word as she took in her environment, enthralled by the pictures of Luz and her mother hanging on the walls.
As they entered the bedroom, Vee went straight to the closet to search for sleeping bags and bedrolls. Amity, however, seemed awestruck, despite of how modest the bedroom was (truth be told, so was Vee when she first saw it, but before then she had only slept in a cell, outside, or in a cabin with three other teens, so it was understandable that she would be amazed at having a room all for herself).
"so... this is Luz's bedroom?"
"It's our bedroom, yeah." Vee pointed towards the bunk bed, head in the closed as she rummaged for the sleeping bags. She was suddenly thankful Luz had a bunk bed before she came. It certainly made it way easier to pretend that she had always had a "sister" back home.
"Right..." Amity said, quietly, "sorry, it's just... Luz never mentioned any siblings until now..."
Vee turned to her. "Well, I don't blame her, really," she said as she threw Amity a bedroll, "Luz has always been obsessed with magic and witches and stuff. Being in the Demon Realm must have been a dream come true to her... I bet she was just too distracted to talk a lot about home, y'know?"
"That makes sense..." Amity said, picking up a pillow. "I'm guessing all the anime posters are hers?" she asked, pointing to some of the posters Vee had put back on after Luz "visited" her through the mirror.
"Yup." Vee paused. "...wait. You guys have anime back in the Demon Realm??" she asked, incredulous. That was a genuine question. They might as well have, but it's not like Belos provided his experiments with crystal balls so they could keep up with popular media while locked up in their cells.
"Well, no, but Luz told me about all her favorite anime," she clarified, "she said she couldn't wait to show them to me when we finally managed to visit the Human Realm. I just wish it hadn't been... like this, you know?"
"Huh..." Vee didn't know what to say. From the look of things, it seemed like they actually didn't come to the Human Realm by choice.
"Look, could you just..." Amity started. She struggled to get the words out. "could you forget all that that they were saying back there?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know! About the whole... 'dissection' thing?" She blushed again. "I just wish people would stop bringing that up all the time..."
"So you didn't try to dissect my sister?"
"No! I mean, I did, but..." Amity sputtered, "look, it was just a big misunderstanding, okay?"
Vee raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh-huh..."
"I swear! Luz herself doesn't even care about it anymore!"
"And how do you know that?"
"She doesn't! If she did, I doubt she would have—" she suddenly covered her mouth, eyes wide and cheeks red.
Now Vee's curiosity was really piqued. "She would have...?"
"You know..."
"...I really don't."
Now Amity was really blushing. Vee didn't even know witch ears could get that red. "...she wouldn't have asked me out..." she whispered, Vee barely hearing it.
"Oh."
"..."
"So... are you guys, like... dating or something?"
Amity just nodded, staring at the floorboards like they were the most interesting thing in the world.
"Huh. Good for you." Vee turned back to the closet, digging for some covers they could use as a makeshift bedroll. "I mean, I personally wouldn't go for someone who tried to dissect me before, but hey, if that's what she's into, I won't judge..."
"Argh, would you please stop bringing that up??" Amity begged, embarrassed.
"Hey, at least it will be an interesting story to tell at your wedding!" she joked.
Amity almost short-circuited at that, throwing a pillow at Vee's head. "Oh. My. Titan! You are just as bad as Luz!" She said, trying to sound angry, but struggling to contain the giggles that the idea of a wedding seemed to bring her.
Vee, however, did not bother hiding her laughter. "Finally I got you to lighten up! You were so tense i was afraid you were going to snap or something." she said, throwing the pillow back to Amity, "what... happened back there? You guys looked like shit. No offense."
Amity sighed. "It's... a long story. I really don't want to talk about it tonight, if that's okay with you."
"Of course! No pressure! You can talk about it whenever you're ready," Vee assured her, "um. How long do you guys plan on staying, by the way?"
"Oh." Amity startled, "about that... uhh... we are kind of... stuck here...?" her voiced trailed off.
"...you're what?!"
"We're stuck. The portal between our realms was destroyed. We're totally cut off from the Demon Realm. We can't return there, we can't contact our families, and... and we don't know how to build another portal. N-not in the Human Realm, anyway..."
Amity held the pillow in a vice grip, her hands shaking as she tried to control her breathing.
"Amity, I'm..." Vee was at a loss for words. It's true she didn't have many good memories of the Demon Realm (or any, for that matter), but she could sympathize with the feeling of being trapped. Besides, with no access to the magic-filled dimension, Vee was bound to run out of magic to shapeshift eventually, unless she absorbed some of the witches' magic, which she absolutely did NOT want to do. "I'm so sorry. What are you guys going to do now?"
Amity hesitated, "I... I don't know. I guess... we'll just sleep here for tonight, since Mrs. Noce- since Camila gave us permission but..." she didn't want to complete the thought. Vee could see that this conversation was only tiring the already exhausted witch out. "we'll just have to figure out where we'll go tomorrow, I think..."
This wouldn't do. Camila offered her food and shelter and love when she had nowhere else to go. Vee couldn't just turn away someone in the same position now.
"Why don't you guys just stay here, then?" she offered.
"Huh?"
"Yeah! You don't have anywhere to go, and you're Luz's friends! I know she would love to have you all here with her, and Mom t-" Vee paused for a second. She almost implied that Camila had taken her in. She couldn't blow her cover. Not yet. "...a-and, I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind you guys staying!"
Amity started at her, eyes welling up as she searched for any hint of insincerity in her face. "Do... do you really mean that...?"
"I do. You guys are Luz's friends, so that means you're my friends too." she winked, offering the witch her hand.
"Vee..." Rather than taking her hand, Amity tackled her in a bear hug instead, squeezing Vee so hard she feared her spine might pop. "Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you..." she whispered on her shoulder.
Vee was stunned frozen. The smell of magic coming from the witch was overwhelming. Tired and spent as she was, Amity's smell was still strong enough that Vee had to control herself to keep from absorbing the witch's magic right then and there. She couldn't tell if this reaction was due to the fact that she has been basically starved of magic for the past months, or if Amity is just an unusually strong magic user. '...is this how those vampires from Luz's cheesy romance novels feel?'
As suddenly as the hug started, Amity pulled back, blushing, immediately ending the spell her scent had over her. Vee made a mental note to not be too touchy-feely with Luz's friends on an empty stomach in the future.
"I'm so sorry about that, I-" Amity stopped, her blush intensifying as she looked at her face. It was only then that Vee noticed that her own face felt quite hot, and she realized what this might look like the witch. "I was just... relieved. Sorry." she added quietly, looking away.
"I-it's fine..." She had to defuse the situation. This was not a misunderstanding Vee wanted to go on. "you just... surprised me, is all," she added, awkwardly, "um... I think we got all the sleeping bags we need, actually!"
"Oh, right!" Amity exclaimed, seemingly remembering what they were doing in the bedroom in the first place. She gathered the pillows that she had forgotten about during their conversation, before stopping in her tracks, "wait, we only got five...?"
"Yeah...?" Vee was confused. "There's four of you, and I figured Luz would want to sleep with you guys tonight, no?"
"No, I mean..." she considered her next words carefully, "I thought you would also want to sleep downstairs with us? I mean, you're seeing your sister for the first time in what, half a year? I thought you two would want to catch up or something? Though I guess you have your own bedroom, a-and you're the one that offered us a place to sleep, so maybe me offering you to sleep with us is weird? Or, or maybe I'm out of place and this was a mistake and, it's not like you have to sleep with us, just... I'm rambling, aren't I?"
Vee couldn't help but laugh. Amity looked absolutely mortified. The girl seemed to get embarrassed very easily, and, if nothing else, it was a bit endearing.
"Yup!" she picked up all of the bedrolls and sleeping bags she had found, kicking the closet shut with her foot. "Don't worry, I would love to sleep with you guys! I just thought you would all like some privacy or something, after, you know, whatever it is that happened to get you guys all beaten up like that."
Vhe guided Amity outside, struggling to close the bedroom door behind her with the pile of sleeping bags, bedrolls and covers she was carrying. "Tell you what: if everyone else is okay with it, I'll just grab some covers for me too, deal?"
Amity smiled back at her. "Deal!"
"—and the bathroom is just under the stairs!" Vee finally finished her impromptu house tour to their unannounced guests. Well, a tour of the first floor, at least. Truth be told, the house wasn't actually that big, and pushing away the couch and laying down the bedrolls, sleeping bags, covers and pillows took more time than the actual tour itself. Still, letting the guests know where to get some water at night or where the bathroom was seemed to comfort Amity's friends, who were being awfully quiet (not that Vee could blame them, really). "Now, if anyone needs anything, feel free to call me or M-"
Before Vee could even finish her sentence, everyone turned their attention to the stairs, where Luz and Camila were finally coming back down.
"I see you're all set for bed!" Camila said, her tone motherly. But Vee could see it in her expression. The woman had been crying. Her eyes were red and her smile didn't quite reach them, and, overall, she just looked a lot more tired than she had been not even two hours ago. This was a look that was unfortunately all too familiar to Vee.
Luz, too, looked like she had been crying. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was red, a frown etched on her face. The girl looked exhausted, stressed, and despite them being supposed to look identical to each other, hair and wounds aside, Luz simply looked older than her now.
"Luz was just telling me how you kids can't return home for now," Camila started. Vee could feel the anxiety emanating from the witches as they hoped they weren't about to be kicked out or something. "there's no need to worry, I promise. You are all welcome to stay with us for as long as you need! You've been taking care of Luz here for all these months... the least we could do is repay the favor." she said, squeezing Luz into her side. Other than a faint, quick smile, the girl offered no reaction to the news.
A collective sigh of relief passed through the living room. "I told you." Vee mouthed silently at Amity.
"Now, we can figure out a more... permanent arrangement than this later," Camila said, gesturing towards the floor, which looked more like a slumber party than a living room at this point. "but I know you must all be tired, so I think we should all just go to bed for now."
From the look in everyone's face, going to bed and putting an end to this night seemed like a more than appealing idea. Even Hunter, who had been trying to look intimidating basically the whole night, looked like he could barely keep himself standing any longer.
"If there's anything at all that you need, don't hesitate to ask me," the woman offered them all a warm smile. "or Vee here, okay?" she asked, glancing towards Vee.
"Of course, Mamá!" She replied. Feeling like Camila trusted her was perhaps Vee's favorite thing in the human world.
"...this goes for you too, Cariño, okay?" Camila told Luz, so quietly that Vee could barely hear it.
The girl looked up at her mom and nodded slowly in response.
"Good. Do you want to sleep with your friends tonight?"
"...yeah." Luz nodded again.
Camila hugged her tightly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she whispered her 'good night's to Luz. Luz hugged her back just as hard, her face buried in her mother's chest, holding her mom in silence for a few moments.
Finally letting go of Luz, Camila turned towards Vee, walking towards the girl and embracing her in a hug as well, though less smothering than the one she gave Luz.
She pressed a kiss on her forehead and whispered: "Gracias, Mija. Por todo."
Vee smiled and closed her eyes as she rested her chin on her mom's shoulder. "De nada, Mamá."
"Buenas noches, Tesoro, y buenos sueños."
"Buenas noches—" as Vee replied, she opened her eyes and saw Luz staring at her, eyes red. Unlike the other other times, though, Luz did not avert her gaze. And, in her eyes, she saw...
Vee finally understood the looks Luz had been giving her all night.
Camila pulled back, and gave everyone a tired – but kind – smile before making her way back to the stairs. "Goodnight, everyone. Rest well!" She said, climbing up the stairs and leaving the teenagers alone.
"Goodnight, Mrs- C-Camila." Amity stuttered.
"Goodnight, Camila!" Gus and Willow said in unison.
Hunter, for his part, grumbled something that might or might not have been "goodnight".
The living room was, save for the sound of the rain, silent now. The "beds" were ready, the tour of the house was done, and Luz was back. All that was left now was actually going to sleep.
Instead, Vee was just standing there. Now that there was nothing she could actually do to help, she felt like staying would be intruding into the group. After the way Luz was staring at her earlier, she wasn't exactly inclined to ask to stay either, so she decided to just turn around and follow Camila upstairs. It would be better if she just kept to her room, she thought.
"Aren't you going to stay with us, Vee?" Willow was the one to ask her. Vee turned around to see most of them glancing back and forth between Willow and her, while Amity stared expectantly at her.
"Well... if everyone is okay with it..." she said, not wanting to impose herself.
Rather than replying individually, everyone just looked towards Luz instead, as if she was the leader of their little group (was she? Vee really didn't know a lot about any of them, and she really didn't know what their group dynamic was. Luz might as well be their leader, now that she thought about it).
Luz hesitated for a second. Vee was sure she didn't actually want her here. She wouldn't blame her.
"...yeah. Sure," Luz agreed. It was hard to tell if she really wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea or if she was just tired. "it's fine..."
"Well, then I guess I will!" Vee smiled, though she didn't really mean it. It was settled, then.
All she had to do was get a sleeping bag for herself, and then they could all go to sleep!
She couldn't sleep.
As the storm progressed through the night, the pitter patter of rain on the windows intensified, and the frequency of thunderclaps grew. Even to Vee, who usually loved the sound of rain, this felt like a bit too much, but this wasn't the cause of her insomnia. Still, the rainstorm did seem to bother the witches, as used to the boiling rain of the Isles as they were.
At some point, the younger witch, Gus, had broken down in silent sobs, though Vee couldn't tell if it was due to whatever they had gone through the previous day, the unrelenting storm, or both. Hunter, the oldest one, sat up and beckoned the young boy to come closer. Willow followed Gus, and held his hand in comfort, while Hunter threw an arm protectively over both of them, pulling them closer.
Luz, upon noticing that her friends were awake, sat up as well, sitting besides Hunter but keeping a small, but noticeable, distance between herself and the three witches.
Amity quickly, and silently, followed her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around Luz's, resting her cheek on Luz's shoulder. Other than shifting herself to let Amity get comfortable, she didn't give any reaction or reciprocate. Instead, she simply looked down, a frown etched into her features, not paying attention to her surroundings.
Noticing that Vee was the only one still in a sleeping bag, despite clearly not being actually asleep, Amity shot her a glance and patted the spot besides her, beckoning the girl to sit besides her, but not waiting to see if Vee would oblige before closing her eyes and nuzzling into Luz.
Vee obliged.
Settling against Amity, the potent smell of magic was threatening to overwhelm Vee again. Not only was she close to the unusually strong lilac-haired witch again, but now she could clearly smell the magic emanating from the other three as well, the smells mixing into a concoction of aromas that electrified Vee in such a way as to make her feel like a person who had never had coffee before suddenly downing a dozen shots of espresso. It filled her with an anxious energy she couldn't actually describe.
But this, also, wasn't why Vee couldn't sleep.
One by one, the kids started losing their battle against exhaustion. Amity must have been the first to go, just being near Luz seemingly bringing her enough comfort to be able to sleep. Gus's silent sobs eventually halted altogether, the rain that scared him so much now lulling him to sleep as his heavy breathing turned to quiet snoring, and after he was finally asleep, Willow soon followed suit. Hunter, seemingly used to sleepless nights – if his heavy eyebags were any indication – stayed up later than his two friends, keeping watch over them. But soon, he too ended up succumbing to slumber, his eyes drooping as his head leaned to the side, before finally falling asleep with his head atop of Gus's. As for Luz...
Luz kept looking down, a stony expression on her face. The frown she wore did not falter for a second. The girl seemed lost in thought, and though she did not look at Vee, Vee couldn't help but keep stealing glances at her.
Luz was the reason Vee could not sleep.
In hindsight, it was obvious to her. All the looks Luz had been giving her ever since they arrived were starting to make sense to Vee now: despite her wishes to finally "reunite" with her "sister", in truth, Luz and Vee were nothing more than strangers. They barely spent one afternoon together months ago, and then neither saw or heard from the other again until now. It might have been even worse for Luz, as while Vee did get to learn a bit about Luz from Camila, basically all Luz knew about Vee was that she was a basilisk, and basilisks could be extremely dangerous.
And now Luz, after months away from home, finally comes back, tired and obviously hurt, and this almost-stranger basilisk is now living in her home with her mom.
'This must be it,' Vee thought. Luz was clearly displeased with having to share her home, her mom, and now her friends with this stranger. Vee was right, she was intruding.
The thought was upsetting, but what was more disconcerting was the fact that Vee did not know what to do. A few months ago, had Luz came back to the Human Realm, Vee could simply shapeshift into someone else and move on with "her" life. Now, though? This was her life. She may not have lived her entire life here like Luz did, but this was also her home now, and she may not have known Camila from birth, but now she was her mom too.
Whether Luz liked it or not, she and Vee were part of the same family now. Though she wished that Luz could accept this as easy as she herself did, Vee knew that the other girl had just gone through a lot, and this all must be hard for her to swallow. She couldn't exactly force Luz to accept her, and even if she could, Vee never was one to enjoy confrontation.
Still, that left her without knowing what to do. The gears turning in her head kept Vee awake, the sound of thunder and the smell of magic the only things to keep her company through the night as she occasionally looked towards Luz. The other girl was so still she might as well be sleeping, with only the flashes of lightning occasionally illuminating her angry, tired eyes proving otherwise.
And so, just like that, they both stayed. In silence, neither of the girls openly acknowledged the other. In fact, Vee wasn't sure if Luz had even noticed that she was also awake.
She didn't know if it took thirty minutes or two hours, but, eventually, the storm began to let up. The beating of the rain against the windows became less of a constant distraction and more of a background noise, and the thunder became less and less frequent, now only coming once every few minutes or so. It was one of those lightning flashes that revealed Luz's closed eyes. Finally, she was asleep.
With the quiet movements that only someone accustomed to having three roommates could make, Vee slowly and silently got up from the sleeping pile on the floor, careful not to wake Luz or any of the guests. She needed to get away from them as quickly as possible.
Tiptoeing up the stairs, Vee soundlessly scuttled back to her room, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding after getting away from Luz and the intoxicating aroma of magic.
Vee turned on the light as she entered her bedroom, coming face to face with "her" visage in the closet's mirror. Slowly walking towards "herself", placing her hands in the mirror as she inspected "her" face.
It wasn't her face, obviously. It was Luz's. But she didn't really look like Luz anymore. Not exactly.
When she came to the Human Realm, Vee took Luz's appearance. An exact copy. After that first roadtrip with Camila to the Reality Check Summer Camp, though, Vee was no longer an exact copy of Luz.
Slowly, but surely, her hair, her outfits, it all began to change, all on top of the canvas that was Luz's original face. When Luz wasn't here, that was fine. She "was" Luz, after all. It was fine for "her" to change, right? Luz herself would change if she were in her place, of course. Maybe it wouldn't be in the same way, but Luz would also change. She did change.
They still looked extremely similar, sure, but now there were two of them. The Luz that changed in the Boiling Isles, the Demon Realm, and the "Luz" that changed in Gravesfield, Connecticut. When Luz was trapped in another dimension, this was not a problem for Vee. To everyone else, she was "Luz", for all intents and purposes, but, now, the original Luz was back, and what was Vee supposed to do? What was she supposed to be?
Camila herself always called Vee "Luz" when they were in public, only using the girl's real "name" at home. How would that change now? Would Luz and Vee never be able to be seen at the same time? Would Camila be able to trick everyone into believing that Luz always had a lost twin sister that just returned home? Or even that she suddenly adopted a girl that just happened to look exactly like her biological daughter? Maybe Vee would have to change form again? As it stood, she wasn't really Luz's "sister" now, she was merely her... doppelgänger.
What about her friends from camp and school? Vee knew that Luz didn't really have any friends in the Human Realm, but Vee did. Unfortunately, none of those friends knew her as Vee. To them, she was simply "Luz". But the real Luz didn't know them. Would Luz "inherit" her friends? Or would she be able to convince them that she was never actually Luz this whole time without freaking them out? Would her friends even accept this? Or would she be seen as a pranking freak, much how Luz herself was seen before she became "Luz"?
Her appearance... what would she do about it? Vee inspected "her" face. Other than the gash on her eyebrow, the scratches on her face, and the tired, serious eyes, they looked exactly identical. Vee could easily pass for Luz's twin. Her hair was longer than Luz's was when she first copied her, but since she always wore it with hairclips outside (though it was loose and uncombed now), it wasn't that noticeable, and Luz's hair was longer now too, anyway.
Vee wasn't really fond of Luz's purple hoodie and shorts, so she was wearing her favorite yellow and red sweater and black pants instead, but their differing wardrobe wasn't too much of an issue, really. Vee hadn't really thrown out any of Luz's clothes, but they were now buried under her own. She wasn't expecting to have to buy many clothes, but using her shapeshifting to swap outfits would eat too much into her limited magic reserves.
Now that Luz was here, they had to figure something out. If they were to pretend to be the same person – as Vee had been pretending to be her this whole time – would Vee have to change "her" form again, to match Luz's current look? She could easily change her hair and put a scar over her eyebrow, and though she wasn't a fan, dressing like Luz wouldn't be an issue either. But, now that she thought about it, wouldn't it be better for Luz to change her style to match Vee's instead? After all, everyone that knew "Luz" in the Human Realm knew her as the version of Luz that Vee had been interpreting for the past month.
Honestly, Vee didn't want to force Luz to do that. She wanted to finally give Luz her own life back, but... hadn't Luz thrown that life away anyway? Luz gave up on her life when she ran away, and Vee was the one to pick it up and keep that life going as normal. Really, at least her social life was going better under Vee than when Luz was the one in control! This life now belonged to both of them, and untangling it now wasn't going to be easy.
But she would only need to consider that if they were to share the same life. Vee and Luz could still exist as two separate people, but that wouldn't depend just on the two of them. Camila would have to find a way to explain away the fact that she was taking care of two kids now, and Vee would never want to force her mom to lie (anymore than she already had to). Although... Camila did introduce her as "Luz's sister" to her friends, so maybe she was also thinking of that?
Vee sighed. This was too much for her. She was tired, and her head was beginning to hurt. This wasn't supposed to be this complicated. Ordinarily, if a shapeshifting impostor's disguise was threatened, they could abandon the life of their original and take over someone's else. But this wasn't just Luz's life that she was living anymore. This was her life as well, now. Her home. Her mom. She couldn't just abandon it and move on. She had to figure something out.
Pushing herself away from the mirror, Vee rubbed her eyes, taking one last look at her tired visage, before noticing someone standing over her shoulder in the reflection.
"Luz!" Vee spun around, startled, facing her mirror image. She thought that she might be able to smell the residual magic lingering on Luz, but the smell of magic emanating from downstairs actually covered Luz's own scent, making the girl basically invisible to Vee's nose, allowing Luz to catch her by surprise. "Hey..."
"..." Luz stared at her. She didn't know if it was because they were alone now, or if it was due to the thoughts still lingering in her head, but Vee thought Luz's gaze was particularly... hostile, now. A thunder clapped, reminding her of the storm still going on. "...hey."
"I..." Vee gulped, "I thought you were sleeping...?"
"...kinda hard to sleep with you staring at me." Luz said, carefully closing the door behind her.
"Oh..." She averted her eyes, looking anywhere but at Luz, "I... didn't think you would notice. Sorry..."
"I did." Luz replied, curtly.
Vee didn't know what to say. The air felt heavy in the room. "So... are you... doing okay?" she asked.
"Mhm..." Luz hummed her non-answer. Instead of looking at her, Luz was inspecting the bedroom decor intently. "...you changed up my bedroom?"
Her bedroom.
"I... did, yes," she admitted, "I've been living here for the past months, after all..." Vee hesitated, before adding: "I did put your posters back up, though!"
"...thanks." Luz didn't sound particularly thankful.
"I..." Vee started, but couldn't find anything to say. The air was stifling her, and it felt like she could barely breathe under Luz's gaze.
This wasn't how she imagined finally meeting her "sister" in the flesh would be like.
"You... didn't tell your friends about me...?" Vee broke the silence, but instantly regretted her choice of topic.
"I didn't," Luz confirmed, "we had more urgent things to worry about, and I didn't know how they would react to me telling them I had a basilisk living back home, considering that the only basilisk they've ever met almost killed everyone in school." she explained, her tone not really apologetic.
That comment hurt, basically confirming her fears that Luz saw her as a dangerous being, but Vee tried not to let it show. "I see..."
Silence reigned again.
"So... are they all your friends?" Vee asked, trying to get more information on the people that were now staying in her (their) house, "I mean, I know Amity is... y'know..."
"...what?" Luz inquired.
"Your girlfriend...?" Vee could feel this conversation going downhill already.
"...how do you know that?" Luz asked, voice low.
Vee raised her hands, defensively. "She told me!"
"..." Luz stared at her, intently, scrutinizing her expression for any traces of lying, "...don't say anything to Mom. Not for now, anyway." she warned.
"I wouldn't tell M-" she caught herself before she could complete that thought, "...I wouldn't tell Camila." she corrected herself. Vee didn't know how Luz would react to her calling Camila 'Mom' (but she is my mom!), especially when she wasn't pretending to be her sister.
Luz caught her slip up, though. Squinting, Luz took a step towards Vee. "...okay, what's your deal here?"
Vee was caught off guard. "...what?"
"What's your deal?" she repeated, "What are you doing here? Are you really just 'pretending to be me'? You seem way to close to my Mom." Luz integorrated her.
"...she's my mom too." Vee mumbled. She knew that Luz was struggling, and was trying to keep it in mind, but it was hard to keep the edge off her voice. She loved Camila, and the implication that she shouldn't irked her off more than she dared to admit.
"...what did you say?" Luz asked, incredulous of if she had heard her right.
"I said, she's my mom too." she repeated, more assertive, "Camila took me in when I had nowhere else to go. She treated me like her own daughter even after she found out I wasn't you. She took care of me. I know we haven't known each other for long, but Camila is my family." Vee said, trying and failing to not get worked up.
"..." Luz said nothing to that, going back to scrutinizing Vee's face, her expression unreadable. "...where did you learn Spanish?"
"...huh?" the question disarmed Vee. She wasn't expecting Luz to ask her this, her Spanish sounded mostly perfect after all. As a shapeshifter, Vee had a great memory for details. This helped her quickly mimic not just the appearance and mannerisms of her "victims", but it also helped her quickly get the hang of Spanish in the language classes offered by the Reality Check Summer Camp, something she thought would be important to properly impersonate Luz. "...in the Camp, why?"
"Your accent is wrong."
"What?" Vee didn't understand where Luz was going with this. "What do you mean, 'wrong'?"
"You sound Mexican," Luz explained, as if it was obvious, "you speak too slowly, and your 'S's are too... there." she said, vaguely.
"I... don't understand what you mean by this."
"What I mean is," Luz continued, irritated, "if you're going to pretend to be my sister, it's going to be weird if your accent is different from ours. I doubt most people around here would notice, but if we're around anyone who knows anything about Spanish, they could notice that we didn't actually grow up together." she explained her thought process.
Though she didn't want to admit it, Vee hadn't even thought about that during all this time she had been speaking Spanish around her mom.
"...are you trying to help me keep up the whole 'sister' charade?" Vee hoped she was, but if that were the case, Luz's whole demeanor sure as hell did not match her words.
Luz stared at her. "...do I even have a choice?" she asked, the question piercing Vee like a hot iron.
Vee had spent all this time thinking about how things would be different for her, but she had't really considered how they would be different for Luz. Luz didn't have any choice this, Camila was the one that took Vee in while Luz was stuck in another dimension, and now Luz had to deal with this stranger in her home, this whole new family dynamic that she had no say in creating – save for the fact that she was the one who chose to run away.
"Luz..." she didn't know how to answer that. Instead, Vee chose to ask her a question of her own: "...do you... resent me?"
"I thought you were the one that resented me," Luz retorted, bitterly, "you said so yourself, didn't you?"
"I didn't mean it!" she did. "it's just... you had everything here! And you still chose to run away! I had nothing! I grew up in a cell eating eye rats! I just... couldn't understand you..." Vee whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.
"You're right, you can't understand me." Luz spat, "There was nothing for me here. You should know that, since apparently you did a better job fitting in with other humans than I ever could. They hated me! They all did!" Luz took another step, getting face to face with the girl currently wearing her own. "All I've ever had was my mom, and I would never leave her behind! Do you think I chose to get stranded in the Demon Realm?! I always planned on returning before she even realized I was gone! I kept trying and trying and trying, every single day, to get back to her!"
Luz was breathing heavily. Vee could only stare, vision swimming in tears, as the girl who she had been copying, the girl that she thought was meant to be her new sister, grabbed her by the collar of her sweater. This wasn't supposed to go down like this.
"Just because you stole it, it doesn't mean you actually understand anything about my life!" Luz growled at her. The lights went out for a second as a lightning hit, illuminating the angry tears rolling down her face. "Don't pretend you know me just because you took my place!! You don't understand me."
None of this was supposed to go down like this.
As the lights came back on, Vee saw Luz's eyes widen as they locked on the tears flowing freely down her face. "Luz's" face.
Looking startled at her own actions, Luz released her, taking a step back. She was still breathing heavily after her outburst. Vee, for her part, couldn't say anything at all. Her chest felt heavy and she couldn't try to speak for fear of letting out a sob instead.
"...I don't know if I resent you," Luz said, quietly. Her eyes couldn't meet Vee's. "I just... I don't know how to feel about you. This is too much." she admitted.
Vee tried to compose herself, but she couldn't find the words to speak. She couldn't find it in herself to say that Luz was wrong about anything she just said. It was true. She inserted herself in the place of Luz without ever asking her. Vee made several assumptions about the girl and her motives, but all of those were nothing but excuses to make herself feel better about taking Luz's place. She had no right to be upset at Luz.
"...I'm going to bed," Luz finally said, "I'm tired, and we all have more important things to worry about without geting into... whatever this whole situation is." she said, gesturing vaguely to both of their faces.
Luz turned around and opened the door, stepping out of the bedroom. "Goodnight, Vee. Feel free to sleep in my room tonight." she offered, but her intended message was crystal clear to Vee: 'don't follow me.' and 'this room is still mine.'
Vee was left alone in her (Luz's) bedroom, the sound of the rain the only thing to keep her company.
To Vee, the rain meant many things. Hot meals, warmth, nature documentaries and lazy nights with her "mom". But, right now, it only meant something else:
This wasn't her home. Not really. Not anymore.