Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

On a typical day, Hunter was an early bird. He always woke up with enough energy to immediately get up and start the day. This time was different. He’d been in a deep, heavy sleep for a long time. He woke up slowly, barely even able to open his eyes as he regained consciousness. All he could really see was that the sun was shining brightly through his window. As the gears in his mind began turning again, he started to make sense of things. It must have all been a dream—he thought that he’d betrayed his uncle and was taken in by the residents of the Owl House. He was relieved to know that everything was normal. He must have been more exhausted after the mission at Eclipse Lake than he initially thought, if he had a dream like that afterwards. 

Hearing a small chirp to his right, he turned and squinted at his new Palisman, who was snuggled up next to him. Hunter gave them a small smile. 

He sighed and laid fully on his back, facing the ceiling. He’d surely woken up late, with how long it felt like he’d slept, but he was sure he could catch up on his duties later. For once, he felt relaxed, and he wanted to savor it. He relished in his comfort as he stared up at the familiar ceiling… which sure could use a deep clean. Wait, since when was his ceiling old wooden planks and beams? His eyes went wide with realization.

Oh. Oh no.

Hunter jolted up and quickly felt the stinging pain of regret. He was injured, and the wounds were relatively fresh, judging by how harshly they retaliated to his movement. He looked down to study them, but was immediately distracted. The blanket—it wasn’t his. The bed he was laying in wasn’t his, either. It wasn’t even a real bed; it was a cheap cot with layers of blankets laid on it to resemble a mattress. 

Having not learned his lesson from his last attempt at moving, he scrambled to get out of bed. As soon as he stood, he felt another sharp pain shoot through his right leg. He involuntarily cried out from the pain as he retreated back to his sad excuse for a bed. He looked around the room, praying for evidence that he was still at home, in his old room. This room was tiny compared to his old one. It was all wood with a single stained-glass window. There were unfamiliar crates and chests stacked against the walls, an old dusty coat rack standing in a corner next to the door, and his single bag of luggage laid at his feet.

He pressed his fingers to his temples and groaned. He could feel a headache coming on—probably from stress. He didn’t want to believe it was real, but all the evidence was right there. No matter how much his Palisman friend snuggled up against him, or chirped at him with sympathy, he didn’t feel any better. His entire life as he knew it was over, and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

So much had changed in the past 24 hours.

A little over a day ago, Hunter had been at Eclipse Lake. He’d gone through the efforts of going against his uncle’s orders and sneaking out, disguising himself, teaming up with enemies, and even surviving a dangerous minecart chase with Kikimora. This was his chance to redeem himself for failing his last mission. He was going to bring Belos enough Titan’s blood for a thousand portals, and he’d finally be useful again. But it was all for nothing. The lake was dry, and as far as Hunter knew, he was a complete and utter failure.

And so he laid face-down in the dirt. He couldn’t even dig his own grave right in a fit of despair—how pathetic was that? His Palisman chirped at him and tugged at his cloak, urging him to get up. He groaned as the little guy sat on his back. This was the end for him. Decaying in a dry cavern, a failure at life itself, and utterly miserable. He was so caught up in his misery that he didn’t really pay attention to that Blight girl approaching him. But he listened to what she had to say; it wasn’t like there was much else for him to do, anyway.

The girl kneeled down next to him. “You know, you were right. We do have a lot in common. I grew up thinking that everything was an opportunity to justify… existing, but there are people out there who won’t make you feel worthless. You just have to let yourself meet them.”

Hunter hadn’t meant to actually pay any mind to anything she said, but he found himself paying attention anyway. For the most part, he didn’t want to admit to himself that his way of thinking might be wrong—or even just kind of messed up. But a small part of him knew she was right, whether he realized it or not. He turned to look up at her. She was reaching a hand out to him. Hunter slowly sat up, wiped some of the dirt off of his face, and tentatively took the girl’s hand. With some help from her, he stood up. His Palisman flew to him and landed on his shoulder, happy to see him back on his feet.

Hunter dusted himself off and turned away from the others. I should leave, he thought. Even if it means I have to return empty-handed again. As if they’d read his mind, the Palisman shifted into their staff form. He didn’t know how he could tell, but Hunter knew they were ready to take him back home. With a sigh, he mounted his staff and got ready to take off… but he didn’t leave just yet. 

He turned to the Blight girl, clearing his throat to get her attention. When she turned to him, he looked at the ground. “Uh… Thanks. For getting me out of my ‘grave’.” He paused. He still wasn’t eager to admit this. “…And for what you said. I’ll think about it.”

The girl nodded. “Sure thing.” She went quiet for a moment, but it seemed like she had more to say, so Hunter waited. “…We can’t be friends. I think that goes without saying. But it seemed like you really needed to hear that. There was a time when I did, too. And you wouldn’t pass up on helping your past self, would you?”

Hunter answered with a slight shake of his head; Amity would’ve missed it if she wasn’t looking at him. Lips drawn in a tight line, he hesitated. He wanted to say more, but no words left his mouth. So with that, he flew away.

He knew that next, he had to deal with the hardest part of his night: delivering the news to his uncle.

Hunter limped down the nearly empty hallways of the castle—he’d run if there wasn’t a deep gash in his leg. A gash that was bleeding through his clothes quickly, along with his three other major injuries. When he got to his room, he shut and locked the door. Sparing no time on treating his wounds, he started packing his things. His Palisman chirped incessantly, warning him that he’d regret ignoring his injuries. Hunter, who apparently had no sense of self-preservation, ignored them to focus on packing. 

He laid a large traveling backpack out on his bed. It was usually reserved for longer missions where he’d have to travel far, but this was a unique situation. He packed his essentials, along with anything there was even a chance he might end up needing, and filled the extra space with books and any other luxuries he didn’t want to lose forever. Once he was sure he was done, he shut the clasps on the bag. It was sort of heavy, but he had to be able to handle it. He didn’t have a choice. He considered double-checking that he had everything, but as he looked out his window, he saw that the sun was about to rise. He was already out of time.

It was a struggle to squeeze the bag through the window and mount his staff at the same time, but he managed. He had to, before anyone saw him. Wasting no more time, he pulled his hood over his head and flew away from the castle.

A short while after beginning his journey, Hunter began to feel light-headed. He gripped his staff tighter to prevent himself from swaying. Ugh… Why do I feel like shit?

Maybe it was because of—oh, who knows—his untreated injuries, perhaps? The Palisman had communicated something along those lines. Hunter rolled his eyes; he didn’t exactly need their sass at the moment. 

“I’m fine.” He’d gotten the impression that he didn’t need to speak for his Palisman to know what he thought about that, but it felt weird to talk to them in his head.

However, he clearly was not fine, and his Palisman made that clear. Hunter sighed. He was too tired to deal with this. “I’m fine enough to do a little flying. Just focus on that for now. Please.”

After that, his Palisman remained silent. But a few hours later, when Hunter started to feel dizzy, they landed despite his protests. They ended up in a quiet little forested area; a great place to get some rest, the Palisman told him. Hunter acted as if he hadn’t even heard that. He immediately started setting up camp. He hadn’t come up with a plan yet, but living like that as a start didn’t sound so bad. It wasn’t like he had a choice; even if he did have the money to stay in a town somewhere, it would be risky to show his face where he could be found. Anyway, it could be worse; he could be put in jail, or kidnapped, or lured in by a cult. Camping was fine. He could survive camping. He hadn’t really done it like this before, but it couldn’t be that hard, right? Right??

Setting his bag down against a tree, he started looking around. First, he’d need to find shelter. Ideally, he’d find a cave or something someone had already built, but that was unlikely. He started gathering any large sticks and branches he came across. He’d probably have to build something of his own. His Palisman started shouting at him again—and Titan could birds be loud. They kept reminding him of his injuries, insisting that he should immediately tend to them.

“That’s not important right now,” he said, despite clutching his side, limping, and still feeling light-headed. “I need some kind of shelter first. I can’t just leave all my stuff out in the open.” He continued his gathering while his little friend chirped at him, tugged on his cloak, bit his ear—whatever they could do to try and slow him down. But if Hunter was anything, he was stubborn. Or, in his own words, ‘determined’.

As his symptoms slowly worsened, he managed to gather enough timber to build something. The task sounded easy—he figured he just had to pile up some sticks and leaves and stuff against a tree. But it wasn’t that simple. Several times throughout building it, the shelter fell apart. Hunter tried to make it structurally sound, but he just kept missing things that would make it collapse. And his head pounding was making it hard for him to focus.

After a couple hours of work, he finally managed to get it sturdy enough to withstand a light kick. Hunter was relieved to finally be done, and so was his Palisman. They urged him to tend to his wounds before he passed out, or worse. Somehow, he’d almost forgotten about his injuries. That explained why he felt so awful.

Hunter crawled into his little shelter and slumped against the tree with a heavy sigh. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a medical kit. It wasn’t stocked with everything he might possibly need, but there hadn’t been any time to restock it when he was packing his things. Taking out some wipes and a roll of gauze, he started to clean himself up. He was a little sloppy with it; he still felt light-headed and dizzy, and his vision was starting to blur, but he pushed through like always. He wrapped up the two slashes on his torso, the slice on his shoulder, and the gash on his thigh. He started to bleed through his bandages, and he could even see a few gaps where his injuries were exposed, but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything else.

Leaning his head back against the tree, he looked up at the ceiling of his shitty little tent. The sun shone through the gaps in the sticks and leaves. It must have been around midday by then.

He wondered why he felt so exhausted. His head was still hurting, and it was hard for him to breathe right.

He realized his Palisman friend had been chirping at him for some time now. They were calling out to him, urging him to get help. They tugged at his sleeve in a feeble attempt to pull him up. But he didn’t move. All he could do was sit there and breathe. His breath was all uneven, and no matter how much he tried to fix it, it wouldn’t change. How annoying.

He started to feel a pain in his chest. He slowly looked down at his chestplate. When was the last time I took this thing off…? He thought back, which made his head hurt a little more. It was some time before going to Eclipse Lake. He frowned. I’ve been binding too long…

He slowly lifted his hands up to the clasps on his chestplate. He didn’t even manage to grip the first one before everything went dark.

When Hunter opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the woods. He slowly sat up. He felt groggy, and there was a dull ache in his head.

Wiping the weariness from his eyes, he looked around the room. It looked like he was in someone’s living room, though he had no idea whose. Whoever it belonged to, though, they sure did have a lot of stuff. Every surface had at least something on it; most of it was random junk. There were unusual trinkets that looked like they came from pawn shops, items that looked like they’d been picked up off the street, and several strange and completely unfamiliar objects that looked like nothing he’d ever seen in the Boiling Isles.

Looking down, he realized he was on a couch that was made up with a blanket and a pillow as if it was a bed. As he lifted the blanket, he caught a glimpse of his bandages. They’d been replaced. That was odd. Who on earth would pick up a random guy in the woods and take him to their house to heal him? Come to think of it, he wasn’t in very much pain anymore. Was he on a painkiller? He frowned at the thought. There was a reason he hadn’t taken any.

As Hunter continued observing the room, his eyes landed on the wall behind the couch he was laying on. More objects were hung up on the wall as if they were prized possessions, but Hunter only had his eyes on one of them; a giant, framed wanted poster of the Owl Lady, with a bounty of one trillion snails.

Hunter felt as if his soul had just left his body. His gaze trickled down to the bottom of the frame, where there was a small carving of an owl. Oh Titan, no.

Whipping his head around fast enough to give himself a migraine, he frantically re-examined the room. Inscriptions on the ceiling, an ornament on the door, carvings on the frame of the mirror above the fireplace—there were owl motifs everywhere. Needless to say, Hunter knew where he was. Well, not exactly where, but he knew whose house he was in. And he thought he knew how he got there, too.

“…I’ve been kidnapped. And by the Owl Lady, no less.”

Hunter then realized he was completely alone—his Palisman was nowhere to be seen. The panic started to set in. He was trapped in the dwelling of one of the most wanted criminals in the Boiling Isles, he was injured, and he didn’t have his staff or his Palisman with him.

Surveying the room again, he searched for his bag. It was slightly uncomfortable to do so, but he turned around so he could look behind the couch. He didn’t expect to find it anywhere nearby, if he was being kept prisoner, but it was worth a try. It was all he could do.

“Oh, you’re awake!”

He was so preoccupied with trying to find a solution that he hadn’t even noticed someone entering the room behind him. He yelped when he heard the voice. Falling off the sofa in the process, he scrambled to get as far away from them as possible. He was surprised to turn around and see that human girl. He couldn’t recall her name, but that didn’t matter right now. He hadn’t expected her to do him dirty like that; but if she was an associate of the Owl Lady, he should have seen it coming. Yet another mistake to add to his list. She took a step closer and Hunter felt his back hit the wall—or rather, some junk piled up against the wall.

“Get away from me, human!” He hated the way his voice cracked when he said that. He didn’t want to be scared. No—he wasn’t scared. He couldn’t be. He puffed out his chest, despite literally cowering on the floor. “You and your boss made a mistake capturing me! You can’t keep me here forever, and when I escape, you’ll regret having ever provoked the head of the Emperor’s Coven!”

The human raised her hands in defense and cautiously stepped closer. Her voice went soft. “Alright, calm down. I’m not here to hurt you. So just take a minute and breathe.”

Hunter hadn’t realized he’d just about been hyperventilating. Forcing it to stop, he opted for shallow breathing instead. His gaze drifted to the human’s shoulder, where his Palisman was perched. Somehow, he could feel that they were there willingly. Hunter narrowed his eyes at them. Traitor.

Kneeling down in front of him, the human kept talking. “First of all—”

“Stop! I demand to know your intentions with me. What are you going to do? Threaten me for information? Put me up for ransom? …Kill me as a warning for the Emperor? Or are you just going to sell me in a disreputable market for a hefty price?” He curled up against the wall, since he was unable to get further from the human. Maybe his anxiety was spiking up a little, but he didn’t care. If he could figure out their plans, maybe he could figure out how to escape.

“Dude, chill. We’re not trying to do anything shady.”

“Then why the hell did you kidnap me?”

The human raised an eyebrow. “What? We didn’t kidnap you. You showed up on our doorstep.”

Hunter squinted at her. As if he’d believe that. But the human looked genuine. And it seemed like his Palisman believed her, too. “…Elaborate.”

The human girl sat down in front of him with her legs crossed. Hunter remained tense, continuing to pin himself to the wall. “A few hours ago, you just appeared at our door. Lil Rascal here was with you.” The Palisman flew down from the human’s shoulder and rested at Hunter’s side. They were clearly trying to comfort him, but he couldn’t let himself relax in a situation like this. The human continued. “It looked like he brought you here himself. He was fine, but you were in a horrible condition. You were unconscious; Eda said it was probably from blood loss. You were bleeding a lot. So we brought you in and fixed you up. And you’re still here ‘cause… well, we couldn’t leave you out in the forest like that.”

Hunter looked down at his Palisman. Is that true? he thought. They gave an affirmative chirp. He frowned. He almost would’ve preferred to be kidnapped. At least then he’d know what to feel—this just left him feeling confused.

“So, how are you feeling?” the human asked. “Any better now? You look a little better. Less pale than before. I almost thought you couldn’t get any whiter.” She chuckled. Hunter scowled at her, and she stopped and looked down. “Okay, no jokes, then…” she muttered.

“I feel fine, human. Well enough to leave.” Using the junk against the wall as support, Hunter got up off the floor. He stood too quickly and it made him dizzy. His Palisman gave a concerned chirp, and the human reached out to help steady him, but he backed away from her. “Where’s my stuff?” His eyes widened. “It’s not still in the woods, is it?”

“Oh, the big backpack? We have it. Lil Rascal brought it here after we started patching you up.” The Palisman flew onto the human’s shoulder. He supposed ‘Lil Rascal’ wasn’t only the human being affectionate, but a nickname she was using to refer to them with. He couldn’t help but feel a little offended. If anyone should give them a nickname first, it should be him.

“Well, where is it? I need to get out of here.” Hunter pushed himself off of the wall, but quickly regretted it. His right leg gave in, and he would’ve fallen if the human hadn’t caught him. He groaned at the fact that she was touching him, but didn’t move away, because he knew he’d fall if he did. 

“Are you sure you should leave? You can’t even walk. How will you get anywhere?”

He thought for a moment, before reaching a hand out. “My Palisman.” On cue, the Palisman transformed into a staff. He leaned on it for support, moving away from the human in the process. “You don’t mind being used as a walking stick, do you?” They were fine with it, if that was what he needed. Hunter turned to the human. “See? I’m all good. So just get me my bag and let me leave.”

She crossed her arms, clearly unconvinced. “Alright, I’ll hand you your bag. After you walk across the room.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Walk across the room and I’ll give you your stuff. You said you’ll be fine, so walking a few feet shouldn’t be so hard, right?”

Hunter let out a deep groan and rolled his eyes, but ultimately complied. If I have to deal with the human’s bullshit to get out of here, so be it. He stood up as straight as he could, and started making his way across the room. His walk was quite pathetic. Even with the help of his staff, he still couldn’t put very much pressure on his leg, so he was essentially limping across the room. He even stumbled when he tripped over a bump in the rug. But despite the obstacles, he survived the measly 10 feet. He turned to face the human once again. “There. Can I go now?”

“Hmm… Nope!” The human placed her hands on her hips.

Hunter was getting very sick of this. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why not? I did what you wanted. I walked across the room. Give me my stuff, human.”

“No. Not yet, anyway. You can’t go out like that. You couldn’t even walk ten feet without tripping.”

“Why would I need to walk when I can fly?” He gestured to his Palisman, who he was still using as a walking stick.

“I already told you, I’ve seen what the Emperor does with Palismen. There’s no way I’m letting you go back to the castle with Lil Rascal out in the open like that.”

Shit, she’s right. He looked at Lil Rascal—that nickname was starting to catch on. He hoped they had some sort of solution, but they didn’t have any ideas, either. He wasn’t actually going to return to the castle; that was absolutely not an option. And there was no way he was going to explain any of that to the human. But if he didn’t, she wouldn’t let him leave with them until he could walk…

The human must have seen that he was troubled, because she spoke up again. “Hey, you should be able to walk again in a couple of days. Why don’t you just stay here? Just while you heal.”

Hunter scoffed. “And why should I trust you?”

“I dunno, maybe ‘cause I didn’t take advantage of you when you were passed out and severely injured?”

Okay, that’s a good point. He tried to think of another excuse. “What about the Owl Lady? How do I know she won’t try anything funny?”

“Oh please, she won’t hurt you. She’s the one that healed you.”Hunter put a hand on his stomach, feeling his bandages through the fabric. That was the Owl Lady’s doing? …That wasn’t enough to convince him. He continued to glare at the human. She sighed. “Oh, come on. She’s not as ruthless as you think she is.”

“She’s a wanted criminal. Why should I trust her?”

“She just has a different lifestyle than yours. She’s not cruel. If she was, she wouldn’t have taken you in and patched you up. And if you think about it, isn’t she trusting you by letting you into her personal space?” She gestured to the whole room.

That was another good point; he couldn’t imagine the Owl Lady would let just anyone into her home, especially not her enemy… But that didn’t make much sense, either. “Why would she let an enemy into her house?”

“Um, because it would be awful to just leave you to die? I mean, think about it. You wouldn’t let that happen to any of us if the roles were reversed, would you?” The human paused as she processed what she had just said. It seemed like she remembered that the Emperor was not a merciful man. “Actually, don’t answer that. But you get my point, don’t you?”

Hunter looked down as he processed it all. He didn’t have much of a choice; the human wouldn’t let him leave unless he stayed for a while. He could try to escape, but he couldn’t leave his stuff behind, and trying to escape with or without it would prove difficult due to his injuries. After giving it some thought, he looked back up at the human. “…How long did you say I’d have to stay?”

She gave him a smile that annoyed him. He didn’t want her to get cocky over being right. “Just two days. Then we can see if your leg’s doing any better, and if it’s healed enough, you can go. Eda said it should be better by then, so you shouldn’t have to wait any longer than that.” She held out a hand. “Deal?”

Hunter hesitantly moved back over to her and shook her hand with his gloved one. “We’ve got a deal, human.”

“My name is Luz. You don’t have to keep calling me ‘human’.”

“Whatever, human.”

Hunter took back his spot on the sofa, and grimaced when the human—Luz—sat down next to him. Now that he was awake, and seemed to be feeling well, she wanted to make conversation. She tried asking him more about himself, but he practically bent over backwards to avoid giving her any straight answers. Lil Rascal seemed disappointed in him for that. They urged him to trust her and be more honest with her. But they knew how he felt about her. They weren’t friends, they were enemies. This was just another truce. It was temporary.

After a while, their mostly one-sided conversation was interrupted by a voice at the door to the hallway.

“Hey, kiddos. How’s it going in here?”

“Eda! Hunter woke up!”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

Despite Luz’s reassurance, Hunter couldn’t let his guard down around the Owl Lady. She was an enemy of the Emperor, and a threat to his plans. He’d been taught for the past several years that she was a dangerous criminal, a threat not to take lightly. There was a reason she’d evaded capture for so long. Even if she was powerless now, he was in her territory. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had a myriad of traps laying around for him to fall into.

While he was busy feeling threatened, Luz gave the Owl Lady a recap of what had happened since he woke up. He didn’t appreciate her descriptions of his cowardice, but that wasn’t important right now. He had to keep his eye on the Owl Lady; that might keep her from trying anything right away.

The Owl Lady had been focusing on Luz while they talked about him as if he wasn’t there. Then her gaze turned to Hunter, and he froze. She looked him up and down, then raised an eyebrow.

“You can relax, kid. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Luz stopped talking. Hunter’s glare only hardened. “Yeah, right.” He figured he was digging his own grave by insulting her, but he wasn’t going to let himself appear any weaker than he already did. “You may have trapped me here, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be trusting you anytime soon.”

“Hey, you’re the one who wants to stay here.”

“I don’t want to stay here—your human tricked me into a deal.”

“A deal that you agreed to,” Luz pointed out. “You already shook on it. It’s too late to back out.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to regret that. I’ve traveled with worse than a limp.” That statement was meant to assure them, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

“Speaking of, how’s that leg of yours doing?” The Owl Lady stepped closer so she could get some kind of look at it, but Hunter backed away as soon as she moved. He was basically sitting on the arm of the couch.

“Stay away, Owl Lady! How do I know you won’t pull something?”

“Well, I haven’t pulled anything yet, have I? Besides, how am I supposed to know your leg’s getting better if I can’t even look at it?”

Hunter tried to think of a way around it, with no luck. Lil Rascal, now out of their staff form, gave him a chirp of encouragement. He crossed his arms and let out a groan that was a bit exaggerated, if we’re being honest here. “Fine. But no touching.”

Keeping at least a foot of distance between them, Eda gave Hunter a quick look over. His pants were torn where his leg had been slashed, revealing the injury, so the bandage had been wrapped right over it with no hassle. Same with his shoulder. It was then that Hunter realized the left strap on his chestplate was tearing. That must have been from when his shoulder was hit; he’d have to deal with it later. His other two injuries were on his stomach and his upper hip; thankfully below his chestplate, so it didn’t need to be moved. After having the bandages examined, he was asked a few questions about how he was feeling, and it was over.

“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” The Owl Lady stood up and stretched. “Now if you excuse me, I have a cup’a apple blood to tend to.”

As she walked off towards where Hunter assumed the kitchen was, her dog… rat… bird?? Her pet creature thing entered the room.

The thing yawned as it walked in. It seemed clueless to Hunter’s presence until they made direct eye contact. The creature took on a defensive stance and pointed at him accusingly. “You!” Hunter half-expected it to attack him like it did at Eclipse Lake, but instead, the creature scuttled over to Luz and clambered up onto the sofa to sit beside her. It leaned towards her like it was going to whisper, but it used its normal speaking voice (which Hunter found loud and, frankly, annoying). “Since he’s awake, does that mean he can leave now?”

Hunter shot a glare at the tiny demon. It squinted back, but sort of hid behind Luz as it did. As if she hadn’t noticed, Luz patted the creature on its skull-head. “Not yet, buddy. His leg’s hurt and he can’t walk much, so he’s staying here until it heals.”

It huffed and crossed its arms, looking unimpressed. Just then, the Owl Lady re-entered the room. She leaned against the frame of the hallway entrance as she cradled a colorful mug. The creature continued on. “Fine. Where’s he staying?”

The Owl Lady raised an eyebrow. “Uh, right here. Where else?”

Hunter barely took a breath before the skull-dog interrupted him. “What?! He can’t stay here!”

“Why the heck not?”

“Because this couch is in my top three nap spots! This loser’s already been hogging it for half the day—I’m not letting him keep it for who knows how long!”

“You really can’t give up one of many nap spots for a couple days?”

“Multiple days? Absolutely not!” It turned around and pointed at Hunter again. “You take my bed and you’ll feel my wrath!”

“Well, if he can’t be there, where’s he supposed to sleep?”

“That’s not my problem! He can have his own room, for all I care!”

The Owl Lady snorted, as if it was a serious suggestion. “We can’t exactly do that. I mean, if he’s gonna try to escape, giving him his own room is just giving him a window to fall out of.”

“Don’t you mean climb out of?”

“Please. With that leg, he’s not doing any climbing anytime soon.”

The dog laughed, while Hunter scowled at the jab towards him. He tried to speak up again, but Luz cut him off. “Why don’t we just have Hooty keep him from leaving? I mean, if he can keep people out, he can keep someone in, right?” He didn’t appreciate being talked about as if he wasn’t sitting right there (again), but it wasn’t like they noticed. Or cared. But he did wonder who this ‘Hooty’ was.

“That’s… actually a pretty good idea.” The Owl Lady took a sip of her drink.

The rat nodded. “Yeah, why didn’t you think of it?”

She shrugged. “I forgot he existed for a sec. Hooty!”

The Owl Lady had shouted, but it wasn’t necessary. ‘Hooty’ was a monstrosity of a demon that was attached right to the front door of the Owl House. He was nothing but an owl’s face on a long, feathery, squishy tube that stretched in a way which was unholy. Despite what a vile sight he was to behold, the worst thing about him so far was his shrill, abhorrent voice that felt like it pierced Hunter’s eardrums.

The awful creature had said something, but Hunter wasn’t listening. Despite how horrible it was to look at, all he could do was stare. The more he looked at him, the more uncomfortable he got, but he couldn’t look away. Thankfully, the eyesore was soon sent out of the room. 

Hunter felt like he’d need a while to recover from that.

With that settled, he was sent up to a room somewhere upstairs. He was hesitant to delve further into the Owl House, but with Luz there to help him walk and carry some things up for him, he didn’t really get any chances to hang back. Not to mention, with Lil Rascal on his shoulder, they might try to stop him. For some reason they seemed pretty intent on having him stay there.

The room he was given was pretty small—he was pretty sure it was just a big closet, with the way boxes and chests were stacked against the walls, and old junk sat upon the shelves near the ceiling. There was a single stained-glass window at the end of the room. Hunter walked up to it and dragged a gloved hand across the windowsill. It was coated in a heavy layer of dust. Ugh. Gross.

As he took a seat on an old chest to give his leg a break, Luz entered the room with her arms full. She took what looked like a broken cot without any legs and set it on top of a few chests that were lined up next to one another and almost level on the top. She dropped a bedroll and a few blankets that she was holding on top of it, and laid them out so they were evenly spread over the surface. Setting a pillow on one end, and giving the pile of blankets a pat to make sure they were soft, Luz turned around to face Hunter. She spread her arms to present… whatever that was. “Tada! You’re all set up now!”

He raised an eyebrow. “…What is that supposed to be?”

“Your bed!” She took a seat, testing it again. “It’s pretty comfy, actually.”

“That’s a pile of junk. Don’t you people have any actual beds here?”

Luz laughed, but he wasn’t joking. It was a serious question. “Nah, I checked ages ago. This is about the best you’ll get.” Hunter grumbled and Luz moved over to sit beside him. “Hey, it’s not so bad. You’ve got the best setup in the house if you ask me.”

“Yeah, being trapped in enemy territory and forced to sleep on top of boxes in a dingy, dusty closet is just how I wanted to spend my weekend.”

Luz went quiet and looked down at the floor as she fidgeted with the hem of her shorts. After a few moments, she stood up and opened the window. She walked towards the door, but stopped before she left. “You seem pretty tired. I’ll get out of your hair so you can get some rest.” She walked out and closed the door behind her.

Hunter took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. He was grateful she’d opened the window; it was pretty musty in there and the fresh air was nice. Lil Rascal, who was still on his shoulder, tweeted something critical of what he’d said to Luz.

He rolled his eyes. “Well, I didn’t exactly ask to be here.”

The bird flew down to his lap and twittered some more.

“I don’t care if I don’t have anywhere else to go. I’d rather live in a cave than be here.”

Lil Rascal let out a string of chirps, followed by a trill.

“How would you know that? You can’t know them any better than I do.”

They chirped more, and Hunter frowned.

“She may be nice, but that doesn’t mean she’s trustworthy. If anything, I’d say she’s just dumb.”

Hopping towards his hand, the bird bit down on his finger, letting out a harsh tweet as they did. The bite wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but it was enough to let him know how they felt about that insult.

Hunter scoffed. “I’m not mean. I’m realistic.”

Picking up his little friend, he moved to sit on the makeshift bed. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it actually did feel okay. As okay as it could, anyway. He never really took naps, but taking a nap on it might not be so bad, he thought. The thought of sleeping made him yawn. Lil Rascal hopped out of his hand and towards the pillow. They liked the idea of a nap; he still needed to rest. 

“I don’t need to sleep, buddy.” He laid down as he said this. “I’m fine.”

They curled up against his neck, as if they were getting ready for a nap themself. Hunter chuckled and relaxed into his position. He didn’t really know how he was going to get out of there, but he wanted to lay down while he still had something soft to lay on. So he let himself stay there. Just for a few minutes, he told himself.

It only took that long for him to fall asleep.

It was only a couple of hours before he woke up, and Lil Rascal was already prepared to make a smug comment. He hung out in the room for a while, not doing much other than trying to think of ways to escape. At one point, the human girl brought him some food. He only ate some of it—he was hungry, sure, but he wasn’t in much of a mood to eat.

When he heard a knock on the door sometime later, he thought it might be someone coming to collect his plate. He’d refused to leave his room since he got there, so it was a possibility. He was disappointed to see the Owl Lady open the door, and surprised to see her holding his backpack. He perked up at the sight. She set the bag down at the foot of his ‘bed’.

“Hey, kid. Here’s your stuff. We almost forgot we were keeping it from you.” She ran a hand through her hair and put the other on her hip. “I think King went through it when we weren’t looking. My bad.”

Hunter frowned at the weak apology, but for once, didn’t make a retort of any kind. He just quietly looked at his bag. He wanted to go through it and make sure everything was there, but not while she was in the room. He still couldn’t relax around her. 

The Owl Lady sighed and leaned against the doorframe. “Listen. I don’t know what those other Emperor’s Coven dweebs told you about me, but you don’t gotta be scared of me. I just want you to heal so you can leave and get on with your life. I mean, I didn’t exactly invite you here.”

He glowered at her. “I’m not scared, Owl Lady.”

“Yeah, try telling me that when you get better at hiding it.”

He looked at the wall, unable to face her after a callout like that. She sighed again and he heard the door close. He’d never admit it, but that sound made a feeling of panic start to bubble up in his chest.

But the Owl Lady didn’t move any closer. She just stood there, leaning against the door. “Okay, kid, I’m gonna get straight to the point. I came here to ask you a question. Why in the world was the Golden Guard alone and injured in the middle of the woods with nothing but his Palisman and a bag of his personal belongings?”

Hunter kept his mouth shut. There was no way in hell he’d tell her what happened just for her to do a 180 and start brewing up some malicious plan that would make his life worse than it already was. He couldn’t tell her anything she could use against him. He tried to keep up his poker face, but he was used to wearing a mask all the time. Some of his stress slipped through the cracks—the corner of his mouth twitching downward, his brow furrowing a little more, his eyes having that despondent look behind them. She noticed, but she didn’t comment.

Seeing that he wasn’t going to respond, the Owl Lady shrugged. “Alright, whatever. You’re entitled to your secrets.”

Noticing the cold plate sitting on top of a box, she walked toward it to pick it up. Hunter flinched slightly when she moved closer to him. She hesitated for a moment, but picked up the plate anyway. Seeing that it was only half-finished, she frowned, but didn’t say anything.

She walked back to the door and opened it again. Before she left, she stopped and turned back to him. “Well, uh… sleep well, I guess.”

The Owl Lady turned back around and shut the door behind her. Hunter heard her heels click against the floor as she walked down the hall. 

With her out of the room, he felt relief wash over him. He hadn’t even realized just how tense he’d felt. Lil Rascal hopped up to him and sat on his leg—the one that wasn’t injured. They cooed at him, clearly an attempt to help him relax. He smiled just slightly and gave them a gentle scratch on their tiny head. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the way their feathers fluffed up when he did. He was still getting used to having this little fella as his friend, but he already cared about them. That was a fact he couldn’t deny.

Unable to hold it back any longer, Hunter let out a deep yawn. Lil Rascal yawned in tandem. They wanted to sleep. More so, they wanted Hunter to sleep. He shook his head.

“I shouldn’t. It’s still early.”

It was late. At least, it was late in their opinion. Hunter looked out the window, which was still open. It had gotten dark outside a couple of hours ago. He supposed it was around 9pm, maybe 10pm. For Hunter, that was early. He went to sleep at midnight at the very earliest; usually it was closer to 3am.

Lil Rascal frowned—at least, as much as a bird could. Either way, Hunter could tell they were upset by that. They wanted him to sleep now. They insisted it would be the healthy thing to do.

Before he could protest a second time, Hunter yawned again. He was getting too tired to argue.

“Alright, fine, I’ll sleep. But I’m getting up extra early tomorrow.”

Lil Rascal chirped cheerfully and flew up to the beams near the ceiling as Hunter got up to close the window. Digging through his bag, he took out the only sleepwear he brought. As he changed, he realized that would be just about the only familiar thing about falling asleep that night. It was a struggle to change, with his injuries, but he managed. He had to.

Soon, he slipped into the makeshift bed that had been prepared for him, tucking himself under the unfamiliar blankets.

On a typical day, Hunter was a night owl. He’d work late into the evening and only sleep when he was absolutely too tired to physically or mentally function. This time was different. It was only 9 or 10 in the evening and he was already settling in for the night. It would’ve been funny, if it wasn’t sad to him. He never slept more than he had to. He felt like that would be a waste of time. But now he didn’t have a choice; if he tried to stay up much longer, he’d just pass out in the middle of doing something. So there he was, laying in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar house, in a life that he no longer recognized as his own. It usually took him a while to go to sleep for the night, but this time, he was out in a matter of minutes.

He succumbed to the first full night of sleep he’d had in years.