You Will Be Found (A Lumity AU)

There For You

There is no song for this chapter, just so everyone knows.

Chapter 22

Things were starting to look up for Luz. She had friends, an awesome girlfriend, and was doing well in school for the first time in her life. It was two weeks after the competition when she received a text from her mom.

Mamá: Luz, I have the night off at last! Can you come home tonight? I want to see you.

Luz: Yea! Could Amity come? I have something to tell you.

Mamá: Por supuesto!

Luz: Gracias. Te quiero.

Mamá: Yo también Te quiero.

Luz smiled and tucked her phone into her hoodie pocket. As she entered the school, she saw Amity standing with a bunch of other girls. They were all talking excitedly about something. Luz slowly approached them, feeling pretty brave. Amity saw her and waved her over, she grabbed Luz's hand and brought her into the the group. What happened next made her nervous. One of the girls squealed loudly when she saw their conjoined hands, making Luz hunch her shoulders nervously and shut her eyes, waiting for the insults. But none came.

"Amity! You and Luz are together? That's awesome!" Luz opened her eyes. Amity was blushing. The conversation continued on, with the other girls telling Luz and Amity how much they liked their performances at the battle. Luz stayed silent and just stared at the floor. She felt extremely awkward right now, so she squeezed Amity's hand and left. Amity carried on talking to the other girls as Luz walked away. She exited through the front doors only to hear a certain snide voice across the courtyard.

"Look who it is. How's it going, Noceda?" Please no. Not here. Jared stood leaning against the wall next to the entrance. He was alone, but that wouldn't make much of a difference. He pushed off the wall and strode over to Luz, a menacing grin on his face. Luz slowly backed away but he pulled her back by the front of her hoodie aggressively. She could smell his rancid breath.

"I heard about your little 'battle', that's how I found you. Where the hell have you been, freak? You owe my pals and I some money." Luz started to panic. Her vision blurred, and her breathing started to come in short gasps. She could only hear white noise. People were surrounding them, but no one was doing anything to help. She felt a hard blow to her face and her head snapped to the side. Jared let go of her and she fell and smacked her head into the pavement. He stomped on her arm as hard as he could until he heard it snap. Luz shrieked in agony. He pressed a knee into her back.

"Luz!" A familiar voice cut through the noise. Amity. But Jared's insults overpowered her.

"Come on, Noceda. Fight back. You don't want to embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriend, do you? You don't want her to think you're weak, huh? She's gonna leave you once she sees how worthless you are. And if she stays with you, then she's not worth anything either." That did it. Luz saw red as she yelled and tried to push Jared off of her. Unfortunately, she didn't weigh much and her attempts to fight back were useless. Jared grabbed her head and ground her face against the cement leaving streaks of blood on it. She screamed as blood mixed with tears.

"Get away from her, asshole!" Luz heard a thump and felt Jared's knee leave her back. She laid there until she felt someone softly turning her over. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a pair of golden eyes staring down at her. Her face felt hot, like it was burning. Her arm was worse though. Amity whispered to her.

"I'm so sorry, Luz. I wanted to help, but Ed and Em held me back. Boscha knocked him out." Luz was barely processing Amity's words through the pain. Suddenly, the corners of her vision started to blur and the world went black.

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Amity paced back and forth in the ER waiting room. Her and the others had driven to the hospital as soon as the ambulance had taken Luz. Jared had been taken by the police for questioning. Boscha was been given ice for her knuckles after punching Jared as hard as she did.

"Amity, why don't you calm down. Luz will be okay, but you'll exhaust yourself worrying so much." Willow's reasoning made sense. Amity nodded, and sat down in one of the plastic chairs across from her friends. A woman walked into the waiting room. She was wearing scrubs and had short brown hair. She looked distraught. The woman stopped a passing doctor.

"Where is my daughter? Where is Luz?!" Amity looked up.

"Ms. Noceda?" She said. The woman turned to Amity, who stood up and approached her. "My name is Amity Blight, I'm Luz's girlfriend." Camila's eyes widened, then she smiled kindly. But it was obvious she was worried about Luz.

"It's so good to meet you, Amity." She shook Amity's hand and turned to the others. She knelt down by Boscha.

"Can I see your hand?" She asked. Boscha looked at Willow, who nodded. She sighed and held her injury out to Camila.

"It's nothing." Boscha said. "The guy was hurting Luz so I punched him." Camila nodded, and her eyes narrowed.

"I knew that someone was hurting her." She said to them. "Luz always comes home injured, but never tells me what's going on." Amity sighed and placed a hand on Camila's shoulder.

"That's Luz." She said, then chuckled. "Too stubborn for her own good." Camila nodded.

"I'm glad Luz has such good friends." She turned to Amity. "I'm glad she has you. Welcome to the family." Amity smiled.

"I'm glad I have her too." Camila then walked over to the desk.

"I'd like to see my daughter please. And I'd like to have her friends come as well. Her name is Luz Noceda." The secretary tried to protest, but Camila shot her a glare. This shut the woman up.

"Room 107, ma'am." She said. Camila thanked her and strode past the desk. Amity and the others followed her. Thankfully, the room was very close by and wasn't very hard to find. Camila opened the door.

"I think you all should go in first." She said. They nodded, and all went inside. Luz was sitting cross legged on the bed staring at the tiny TV on the wall, watching a cartoon. Her forearm was in a cast and the right side of her face was bandaged. Amity could see all the scars on her neck and arms. A wave of sadness washed over her. Luz was so focused on her show, though, that she didn't realize they had come in. That is, until Boscha cleared her throat loudly. Luz looked up and blinked, her brown eyes hazy.

"Hey, guys." She said, then turned back to her show. Amity snorted and rolled her eyes, slightly amused at Luz's lack of social skills. Willow and Gus laughed while Boscha huffed in annoyance. Camila then came into the room.

"Hola, mija." She said. This got Luz's attention. She looked at her mother and smiled but winced when it hurt her face.

"Mamá!" She exclaimed. But then her face fell. "¿Estás decepcionado conmigo?" Amity kind of understood what they were saying, but the others looked on in confusion. Camila smiled sadly but shook her head. She sat down next to Luz and stroked her daughter's hair.

"No, of course not. I'm only sad because I couldn't help you sooner." Luz nodded.

"Mamá? Can I talk to Amity alone for a minute?" Camila smiled.

"Of course." She motioned for Boscha, Willow, and Gus to follow her outside and shut the door. This left Luz and Amity alone. Amity took Camila's former spot next to Luz.

"What's up?" Luz looked at her, her eyes vulnerable.

"I hate him." She said. "He said that I'm worthless. I know in my head that I'm not worthless, but I can't help but feel like I am. But when he said something about you, that made me angry. It made me want to fight back and protect you." Amity listened, hanging on her girlfriend's every word. Luz continued.

"You are so amazing, Amity. I want you to know that. If anyone like him ever says anything otherwise, it could never be true." She used her good hand to brush her fingers against Amity's cheek. Amity closed her eyes and leaned into Luz's touch.

"Thank you for being there for me."