A request from Tumblr
Not connected to other one-shots
AU where the last two episodes of season one didn't happen

Content: Luz does not keep her promise to return to the Boiling Isles, and Amity is determined to figure out why.

The day Luz left the Boiling Isles, she promised to return as soon as possible. She expressed the hope that she could have her first visit over this weekend or the next, but there was still a large chance that she'd have to wait longer. At the latest, she swore, she'd return next summer. It was with these assurances in mind that Amity kissed Luz goodbye, watched her walk through the portal, and returned home to begin waiting.

When Eda's 'Human Trash Day' rolled around that Sunday, Amity made her way to the Owl House to wait with its inhabitants, as well as Willow and Gus. For a while, they all sat around staring at the portal and not talking to one another, which Amity found a bit uncomfortable, but she sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to say anything. The day was only saved once King suddenly ran from the room and returned with a board game, demanding that somebody play with him. In Amity's opinion, the game was a bit childish, but it gave them all something to do while they waited. They played eight times before Eda herded everyone into the kitchen for lunch, after which they played three more times.

Luz did not return to the Boiling Isles that day, which, while disappointing, was not a particular cause for concern. Clearly, she was having trouble convincing her mother to let her come, or was being otherwise held up. There was always next week.

For the next few weeks, the group continued to meet up on Sundays and open the portal. They'd starting trying out more board games, helping each other cook lunch, and swapping stories of the week's events. It was nice to be able to get together and relax for a little while, but there was a constant tightness in Amity's chest, even during these hours when she was happiest. Her gaze often lingered on the portal, but there was never any sign of Luz.

When they hit the two month mark, everyone resigned themselves to the fact that they were probably going to have to wait for summer, but they kept meeting regardless. Human Trash Day had become a sort of personal weekly holiday, and none of them were willing to give it up, especially not Amity. They kept the portal open each time, but it was really more of a just-in-case at this point. Everyone was quite sure that Luz wasn't coming for a while yet.

The first day of summer was a Tuesday, but Eda still called everyone over to open the portal. This was it. This was the day that Luz would return to them. The group was so certain that Luz was coming that they waited two hours to start their games, just so Luz wouldn't have to wait to join in if she walked in during a round. They made one of Luz's favorite human recipes for lunch. They set a place for her at the the table. For an hour, Amity forbade anyone to start eating, lest Luz arrive and realize they'd started without her.

Ultimately, lunch was eaten without Luz, and the group returned to the living room to continue waiting. Games were played, but Amity did not participate. She just sat beside Willow and stared at the portal, swearing to herself that if she waited just one more second, Luz would appear.

Gus and Willow left around the usual time that the portal would be closed, but Amity stayed behind and begged Eda to keep it open for just a little longer. Luz was just late, she was going to come any minute now. Eda gave her a sad look and agreed while King curled up in Amity's lap, giving her arm a comforting nuzzle every few minutes. She sat there, numbly staring into the portal, for what felt like years before Eda let out a loud sigh and snapped her out of her trance.

"Kid, Luz isn't coming today." Eda told her gently. "You should get home before your parents start to worry."

"No, she said she'd be here." Amity shook her head. Luz had made a promise, and Amity had never known her to break promises. She just had to wait a few more minutes.

"I really don't want to have to kick you out." Eda rose from her chair and began slowly walking toward the portal, reaching into her shirt for her key. "But this," She gestured vaguely in Amity's direction. "Is not healthy. I want Luz here as much as you do, but she isn't coming today."

"Then why don't we go to her?" Amity suggest suddenly. She had no idea why she hadn't thought of it sooner. If something was stopping Luz from coming back, then they should go and see what it was.

"I've been to the Human Realm a few times," Eda turned to face Amity, key in hand. "And let me tell you, my pale, bat-eared, giant-fanged self draws some attention. Humans are weird about anyone who looks different."

"Then why don't I go?" In her excitement, Amity tried to jump up, but then realized just in time that King was still in her lap. She ended up giving a weird hop in her seat, earning a yelp from King. "My fangs and ears are small. If I keep my hood up and don't talk to anyone, I'll pass as human."

"Humans don't have green hair and yellow eyes." Eda pointed out.

"Okay, first of all, the dye is pretty obvious." Amity jabbed a finger at her brown roots. "And second, I'll keep my head down. Luz said the portal opens like, right behind her house, so I probably won't even run into many other people."

"Mmm," Eda said to herself, considering. She tucked the key back into her shirt and grabbed her staff from where it rested on the arm of the couch. Slowly, she began to unscrew her palisman from her staff. "Alright, fine. But you have to take Owlbert with you. He's been to the Human Realm every week for years, he can be your guide."

"Thank you so much!" This time, Amity lifted King from her lap and placed him beside her on the couch before jumping up.

"Just be careful out there, alright?" Eda opened her hand to allow Owlbert to flutter out of it and onto Amity's shoulder. Amity winced as the little owl's small talons pierced through her sleeve.

"I will." Amity nodded, bringing a hand up to stroke underneath Owlbert's beak. "I promise I won't be long."

---------------

Luz had grown to enjoy sunsets. Even back in winter, sunsets had always given her this warm feeling, but now that it was getting into summer, the feeling was tangible. She'd taken to sitting outside with her sketchbook until it was too dark to see what she was drawing.

She'd been drawing a lot more, too. Her psychiatrist had advised drawing out her fantasies, so that she could put them down with her sketchbook and not let them seep into the real world again. After her three month delusion last year, Luz had been spooked enough to finally put in the effort to reel back her fantasies.

It still scared her to know that there was an entire summer of her life that she didn't remember, replaced with memories of a world she'd invented in her head. She drew that world a lot. She'd drawn out the Owl House itself a few times, but mostly, she drew characters that she remembered. Eda the Owl Lady, with her adorable demon friend, King, dominated many of her pages. She drew them together most of the time, for some reason disliking the idea of separating them. A few weeks ago, she'd sketched out Eda as a monster, but looking at it was upsetting, so Luz had hastily erased it and scribbled normal Eda over it.

Then there were Gus and Willow, who she also liked to draw together. The first time she drew them, they were on either side of a drawing of herself, but her psychiatrist, upon seeing the picture, had insisted that Luz not draw herself with her characters.

Usually, Luz didn't have a problem keeping herself out of her drawings, but she hated drawing Amity alone. Amity, she recalled, was a girlfriend she'd created for herself. She adored drawing the character, but it didn't feel right to keep her by herself. She looked better grouped with Gus and Willow, but Luz could never shake the feeling that Amity probably still wasn't happy.

"Idiot," She muttered to herself, lifting her pencil from the notebook in her lap. She'd been drawing Amity again, pondering how to make her happier. "She's just a drawing."

Luz let out a sigh and placed her sketchbook beside her on the front step where she sat. That was enough remembering the Boiling Isles for one day. Maybe she should just stop drawing it. It might be better to forget.

She looked out across the front yard and into the street. With such nice weather, a lot of people were out for evening walks, but there was one girl in particular that caught Luz's attention. She was on the same side of the sidewalk as Luz's house, staring around with wide eyes that, with the dimming light, almost looked yellow. Through the hood pulled over the girl's head, Luz could see a hint of green hair.

Wait. Yellow eyes, green hair. Luz grabbed her sketchbook and began frantically flipping through the pages. After a moment, she landed on a colored illustration of Amity, Gus, and Willow. That girl on the sidewalk kind of looked like Amity.

"Luz!" Luz jumped at the sound of her name and looked up. The girl was staring right at her now, and Luz realized with a jolt that there was a tiny owl sitting on her shoulder.

"What?" Luz said under her breath. How did this girl know her name? Why did she look so much like the character on the page beside her? Why the hell was she running across Luz's front yard?

"Where have you been?!" The girl was right in front of her now, smiling. Were those fangs in her mouth? "You said you were coming back. We've all been waiting for you."

"A-Amity?" Luz asked tentatively. Was this actually happening?

"Yeah?" Amity's expression grew concerned as she lowered her hood to reveal small pointed ears. "Are you alright?"

Luz squinted at Amity, trying to figure out how she should respond to this situation. She stood and made eye contact, her prolonged silence seeming to confuse Amity. This didn't feel like her imagination. Tentatively, Luz reached out and poked Amity on the arm, probably a little too hard. Part of her had been expecting her hand to pass right through, but she was met with solid flesh. Startled, the owl left Amity's shoulder and fluttered off to a nearby tree.

"Ow!" Amity yelped and gave Luz a disgruntled look. "What is the matter with you? First you break your promise, and now that I'm here you just poke me instead of talking to me."

Her eyes narrowed and her ears drooped, a sure sign that she was starting to get agitated. Luz clearly recalled kissing the tips of those ears every time they drooped just to get them to perk up again. She distinctly remembered the genuine little giggles she'd get from Amity every time. She kind of wanted to do that again.

"Are you... real?" Luz asked quietly, giving Amity another, gentler poke on the cheek.

"What?" Amity asked incredulously. "What the hell are you talking about? Of course I'm real!"

"And the Boiling Isles?" Luz went on, suddenly excited. "They're real?"

"Luz, you're freaking me out." Amity took a step back, her ears twitching even farther downward. "What happened after you got back?"

"I told my mom about everything, but she didn't believe me." Luz explained. A part of her was still wondering if Amity was actually there, or if she was talking to empty air, but the rest of her thought that a hallucination could never feel like this. Amity being here brought a warm that the sunset could never hope to best. She had to be real. "She took me to a psychiatrist. They said that I'd blocked out my memories from summer camp and replaced them with the Boiling Isles."

Luz wasn't entirely sure what reaction she was expecting, but she did know that anger was not in. Amity's ears were nearly all the way down, and on one side of her mouth, her lip had moved up a bit to expose one of her fangs. A soft growl rose from somewhere in her throat.

"So that's why you haven't been back?" She demanded. "Because they had you thinking you were crazy?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Luz struggled for the words to defend her mother. She knew that her mother had only been trying to help her, but if she was being honest, she was mad too. For months, she'd had different people telling her she was insane, to the point that she'd been doubting her own memory of the only place that had ever made her truly happy. "My mom was just concerned. It did sound pretty crazy."

"We spent a year waiting for you!" Amity exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," Luz put her hands on Amity's shoulders, gently squeezing. "But I'm here now."

"Will you come back with me? Everyone wants to see you."

"Yeah," Luz nodded. She wanted nothing more than to return to the Boiling Isles. "Just for a little while though, or my mom will start to worry. Maybe tomorrow I can introduce you guys to her. She'll have to believe me if she sees you for herself."

"I'll meet her, but only so she stops thinking you're insane." Amity decided, a small hint of aggression still lingering in her voice.

"Thank you." Luz said with a smile, pressing a kiss to Amity's cheek. Amity let out a soft huff, adorably trying to hold onto her irritation. "C'mon, let's see those ears perk." Luz cooed as she began repeatedly smooching Amity's left ear.

Amity lasted about five seconds before she dissolved into light giggles, gently shoving at Luz's chest.

"Quit it!" She said through her laughter. Luz continued to pepper her face with kisses until a shrill hoot interrupted them.

"Oh, right, you brought Owlbert!" Luz held out one hand as Owlbert flapped his way over, landing in her palm. "I missed you, little buddy." She chuckled he nuzzled against her thumb.

"We should probably be getting back now." Amity pointed out as Owlbert jumped up and found a comfortable spot on Luz's shoulder. "Eda told me not to be too long."

"Right," Luz set her took one of Amity's hands in her own. "Let's go."

Together, they began walking away from Luz's house. She knew her mother would worry if she came outside and found that Luz was gone, but it would only be a few hours. Besides, she'd have an explanation, proof included, by tomorrow. Luz chuckled to herself as she imagined her mother's reaction to see witches and demons for the first time. She was going to freak out.

But that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that Luz was finally going back to the Boiling Isles. She was finally going home.