It was a dark night in Bonesborough. Luz Noceda, in her Grom dress, rode through the sky on her Palismen Stringbean while Amity Blight, her girlfriend, held onto her stomach, resting her head on her back.
They landed near the Blight Manor after a few minutes. They got off Stringbean, who turned back and rested on Luz’s shoulder, while she turned to Amity.
"Thanks, Skara."
"Amity" gave a warm smile and took off her concealment stone. With a small POOF! and some aqua smoke, Skara stood in her place.
"No problem Luz." She replied, dusting off her dress. "Just wanna help you with whatever is going on between you and Amity."
Luz rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Oh yeah, That. I'll get right on it."
"Okay then!" replied Skara, bringing out her pallimen and flying away.
Just then, a clump of bushes moved near her, Luz spun, Stringbean popping out of nowhere. The bushes parted revealing-
"King?"
King Clawthorne picked himself off and shook himself.
"Sorry Luz. I didn't-"
"Were you... spying on me?" She asked as Stringbean once again turned back into an animal.
“No! Amity invited me!”
King showed a piece of paper to his sister.
Luz took it and read the contents.
“Why did Amity invite you?”
“I don’t know,” He replied, shrugging his shoulders. “She said she wanted to take care of me for some reason.”
They went to the Blight Manor door, which after knocking on, was opened by Emira, Amity's sister.
“Hey Luz!” Emira said, taking off the necklace beads that she was wearing.
‘Hi Em, can I speak to Amity?”
Emira’s face fell soft and said, “She’s taking a walk in a cave near the manor. She didn’t want to be followed.”
”Thanks!”
“Sure!” Emira said, undoing her hair.
A few minutes later, King and Luz were in a cave, lighting the way with Luz’s phone in an attempt to find Amity.
King then accidently stepped on a sharp rock, causing him to stop and whimper in pain.
Luz sighed and stopped, shining a flashlight on King's foot.
“Thanks L.” He said as Luz took out some Bandages to fix it.
Despite the situation, Luz smiled warmly and said, "Well, you're my Brother. I can't leave you hanging!”
After she was done, she stood up and leaned onto the wall. Suddenly, she pushed over Some loose rocks, causing an illusion to vanish. She fell flat on her face.
She looked up.
They were in a large stone room. On the right side was a visual list of victims, including former Coven heads, Titan Trappers and Emperor's coven members, along with countless other innocent civilians.
At the far side of the room, a black haired figure wearing armor was fiddling with a banana. Next to the table they were working at was a cage, with a white haired boy, unconscious, gagged and tied up.
"Collector?!" King whispered.
The woman hummed to herself as she fiddled with the fruit. She turned around, but suddenly stopped dead, looking into Luz's eyes, which looked horrified.
Due to her dreadlocks hybrid look and mouth being covered by a bandana, it was hard to tell who it was. She looked to be around Luz's age.
"Oh!" She said, becoming nervous and trying to explain her situation. "I-I Was Just trying to -uhh - well I was trying to make a gift for you!"
Luz took a small step back.
“That's never gonna work, is it?"
Luz shrugged awkwardly.
“No?”
“Fair enough." She pulled out a small white crystal.
It emitted a bright light that enveloped the cave and caused Luz and King to cover their eyes.
As the light stopped, Luz saw that the skeletons, table of tools, victim board and the Collector had vanished. The fugitive pur the crystal away and grab a long metal Spear, running to a small in an attempt to escape.
"Oh no you don't!" shouted King. He sprinted towards her and lept, his mouth wide open and his teeth showing as he bit down hard on her leg.
The fugitive let out a huge scream of pain, dropping her spear and. whacked the ground, trying to get the baby titan to let go. Luz, seeing her chance, ran towards her, raising her staff to strike.
CLANK!!!
Stringbean hit the metal gauntlet of the fugitive, who had blocked the attack effortlessly.
In a split second, she flung off King, reached down and stabbed Luz.
She picked up and threw Luz away, leaving the blade in her.
Luz painfully sat up, clumsily reaching for the knife and pulling it out. It was covered in blood. There was silence. Then-
"You nearly stabbed me."
Luz looked back at the fugitive with a look between disbelief and anger.
"WHO STABS SOMEONE?!?“
The fugitive let out an inhuman roar at the question. It retracted its gauntlets and ran to the exit, kicking King aside as she went.
"King!" Luz ran over to her little brother and picked him up, rubbing his wounds.
“Stop him!”
Luz picked up her little brother and took out Stringbean.
“Gun it Magic Staff!”
Stringbean zoomed towards the entrance of the cave, where the Hunter was standing still.
Luz grabbed the fugitive as they zoomed out of the cave, placing them onto the staff.
WHAM!
She punched Luz across the face. Luz started to throw her own punches, the staff zigzagging all over the forest.
Luz grabbed one of their fists, only for the fugitive to whack her with their satchel, causing several small bottles to fall out over the forest.
King punched onto her chest and started to bite and claw. As he did, Luz put them in a headlock.
“Who are you? What do you want?!”
"Luz…help…" The Fugitive had suddenly pleaded in a gagged, but still familiar voice.
Luz’s mouth opened.
“What the-”
“I’m sorry…I-I love you.”
The Fugitive fell from the staff and fell onto the cliff where the Grom once was, skidding until they hung over the edge.
Luz landed halfway, only a few meters from the fugitive, holding her shoulder, which felt broken. She saw that the Fugitive's mask had fallen during the fight, having been found laying next to her.
She began to stir, getting to her feet. Some of her armor was gone and she held an unconscious Stringbean in her hands, which were now covered in some yellow liquid. She turned around.
Luz gasped.
She had black hair, grey bags under her eyes and with skin the colour of pasty skin. But her eyes were a horrifying yellow and orange, yet Luz could recognize them anywhere.
“Amity?”
She walked towards Luz and kneeled down until their faces touched.
“I don't know what my future holds. But it would be so cool if you weren’t in it.”
And with a flash, she vanished.
Luz fell onto her stomach, tears falling down her face as she looked in astonishment at where Amity once stood.
“Amity…”
