~Placebo~ [Owl house]

~Trapped~

"It's Locked"

Luz and Amity had quickly found the two places farthest away from each other within Amity's room, clearly trying to avoid the thick tension in the air.

It had been half an hour and neither of them had said anything yet.

"..."

There silence.

"...We have to talk about this at some point."

Luz was the first one to speak.

"..." Amity didn't respond.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk to me, and you hate me or whatever, but we need to talk about this at some point, we're soulmates after all, and we're trapped, so this is a better time than ever."

Luz attempted to start a conversation once more.

"..." Amity remained silent

"God, will you just say something? Why do you refuse to talk to me-" Luz was cut off

"Why do you insist that I talk to you?" Amity spoke.

"Wha- I just told you why! We're soulmates! And we're trapped! We have to talk about this!"

Luz was happy that Amity responded, but frustrated with her complete disregard of their situation.

"...Stop saying that..." Amity spoke in a soft but bitter tone.

"Stop saying what? That we're soulmates? Does it upset you? Well too bad, cuz we're soulmates-"

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Amity yelled, interrupting Luz.

"..."

Luz was shocked that Amity, the calm and collected rich girl, had shouted at her, and her mouth hung open in disbelief.

"Don't you dare say that again! I refuse to believe that someone like you could be my soulmate!" Amity hissed.

"...Someone like... me...?" Luz asked, confused and hurt.

"Yes! Someone like you! A loud, obnoxious, annoying, naive, reckless, worthless good-for-nothing like you!"

Amity's words stung.

"There's no way that you could possibly, in 100 years be my soulmate, you're the exact antithesis of me, we have nothing in common, and I harbor disdain for you with every fiber of my being! There's no way that I will ever recognize you as my soulmate!"

"..." Luz couldn't respond, feeling every word Amity spoke stabbed her a million times.

"...There's no way that you could be my soulmate..." Amity had stopped yelling, and she sounded less sure of herself.

"...there's... no way..." Amity had fallen to the ground with her hands covering her face.

Luz was still in shock from Amity's outburst, but she heard something faint coming from Amity.

Faint crying.

"...Are you... crying...?" Luz asked cautiously.

"N-no! What would I have to cry about?"

Amity's sobs were apparent in her voice. Luz usually knew how to comfort people who were crying or upset, but this was Amity. The girl who supposedly hated her and always would. It was different trying to comfort a soulmate who apparently wasn't meant to be.

"...I'm sorry that I'm your soulmate..." Luz spoke softly.

"W-what?" Amity raised her head, her tearstained face aimed at Luz.

Luz tried to speak with strength, to show Amity she wasn't scared of facing her, but she felt the weight of the situation on her shoulders and instead crumbled.

"...I insisted that you talk to me because... well because... I wanted someone to love me..."

Luz spoke with her eyes aimed at the ground. Her tone was much softer than before.

"..." Amity remained silent.

"I've always wanted someone to love me, not in the familial way, someone who loves me in a romantic sense, and someone that I can love back. A soulmate is exactly that, and I was so excited to finally have a soulmate that when all of this happened and I found out you didn't like me, I didn't really want to believe it. I wanted you to talk to me because I wanted to fix this, and I wanted to have a soulmate who loved me."

Luz wiped a few tears from the corners of her eyes, catching Amity slightly off guard.

"...But you don't want that, and making you love me would be unfair. So I won't make you talk to me anymore."

Luz turned away from Amity.

"...I wanted a soulmate as well..."

Amity responded.

"...I wanted to love someone, and for someone to love me, same as you. But I just... I didn't want to believe it when I saw you, because I can't stand people like you."

Amity's words still hurt.

"...I just wanted a perfect soulmate, I just- I wanted something, someone, who could truly love me. Who could love me more than a friend could, because that love will always be mutual as long as it stays..."

Amity paused for a moment.

"...But that's not something that I'll ever get."

"..." Luz remained silent.

"...And hearing what you said, I guess we have more in common than I thought..."

Amity took a deep breath. It was apparent that she was attempting to gather her thoughts.

"...I'll try, for both of our sakes..."

"Try... what...?" Luz asked.

Amity grabbed Luz's shoulder and turned her to face her. Luz reddened at the girl's touch, not used to such a friendly gesture after how cold Amity had treated her.

"I'll try to be your soulmate."

Luz's eyes brightened for the tiniest moment. There was the hope she'd been looking for.

Amity reached out a hand.

"So... for now... we tolerate each other... and we act like soulmates... Shake on it?"

"Mhm" Luz nodded, Amity's words from earlier still slightly stinging. It was a good agreement, but to just act like soulmates would take some getting used to.

But I won't know if I don't try.

And with that, Luz grabbed Amity's hand and shook it.

Just then, the two girls heard the door's lock click.

Amity and Luz both stood up and walked over to the door, Luz grabbed the handle and turned it, and attempted to open the door.

"It's unlocked!"