A Valeween Night To Remember

By Our Tree

The calm beauty that surrounded Amity was in stark contrast to how she felt inside.

Behind and above her, the Grom tree, that had been the result of both Amity and Luz's Magic combining as one to defeat Grometheus, stood as strong and as tall as the day that it first came into being. Pink leaves that, when so much of the wildlife on the Isles had turned charcoal black and grey, remained bright and colourful, immune to the effects of the Cherubim's peering due to its magical properties.

Around it, the auburn and oranges of the trees and flora accessorised the Grom tree, making it stand out that little bit more in a wonderful bright contrast, and the sight over the Boiling Seas was as wonderful as it ever had been here, the way the water reflected the light and seemed to make it all sparkle...

All of it radiated calm. Contentment. A certain peace with things just... Happening as they happened, like it was in the very nature of the season of Auburntide. None of this was here by conscious choice, aside from the Grom Tree. Nature had fallen where it had fallen. The result of just letting things play out, and seeing what happened.

Nature could just allow itself to see what happened naturally, without the fear of what would happen, needing to take external influences into account, or be fearful about the seventeen different ways that it could go wrong somehow. The tree didn't need to worry about what the ground would think or feel towards it once its leaf hit the grass. It just would, and whatever happened, happened.

It had been this combination of observations that made Amity come here.

That and the sentimental value that the tree had to her. And it had plenty of sentimental value to her.

This wasn't the first time that Amity had come here when she needed time to think, or time to herself, ever since the tree had sprung to life. There were times when she needed a place to herself to study, away from anyone else, including her friends and her siblings. And sometimes, it would bring her a feeling of comfort. More often than not though, it was times when she needed to think, without the risk of interruption.

These reasons had helped it to become something of a favourite spot of hers. Where the tree had come from, when it had been born, and just how it had been brought into the world... There were a lot of feelings associated with this place, and a part of her had hoped that it would help her to feel... Some sense of courage, or some sense of peace.

Both of which were, if she were being honest, failing her right now that things were actually in motion.

As soon as Amity sent her message to Luz, a part of her regretted sending it.

Deeply regretted it.

Anxiety spiked up in her chest, and she bit her lower lip, harder than was healthy. Her hands fell to her sides, and she took a few deep breaths, trying to make herself relax, at least a little. Her hands grabbed patches of grass, pulling a few up from the ground as she did so. Having something to grab hold of like that helped her to feel like she wasn't falling off a cliff - It was a hard feeling to explain, but it helped her as her mind began to go into overdrive, thinking of the dozens of ways this could end up going.

She was terrified of what Luz was going to say.

And she wasn't even going to pretend that that wasn't the case. She was terrified of what Luz would say when she inevitably got here.

Titan - damned terrified.

And that fear made her want to run - It really, really did make her want to run. Because if she didn't hear it, that small little part of her heart that was still holding onto hope that maybe Luz might be willing to give her a chance could keep on holding on, because right now, it felt like that was the only thing that was helping her wake up in the morning. And perhaps that too wasn't healthy, but Amity couldn't help it.