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“Hunter, we’re leaving” Luz said, standing in the middle of the living room of the Owl House with an awkward smile.
The teenager looked at her, raised an eyebrow and went back to reading his boring human magazine.
“Have fun you two” he simply commented.
“We’ll be back by nine” Amity added, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand.
The Golden Guard snorted at that.
“Girls, it’s seven thirty, you can’t have a date in just an hour and a half”
“It was my idea” the human commented “I don’t want you to be alone for too long”
“What?” the boy replied, a mixture of curiosity and indignation in his voice.
“I know you don’t enjoy feeling lonely and well, I just want to…”
Hunter cut her off in the only way it was possible: He got up and hugged her tightly.
“We can have our date here, I…” the human insisted.
“Luz, you’ve been preparing for this night for weeks, don’t throw it all away just for me”
“But Hunter…”
“Luz, it’s just one night, I can handle myself, and maybe it’s true that I don’t enjoy being alone, but it’s not the end of the world, believe me”
He opened the door and motioned the two girls to go outside:
“Have a great time, hermanita”
After another hug, Luz nodded and walked outside, when Amity tried to follow her; Hunter put a hand on her shoulder and said:
“Make sure she doesn’t spend the whole night worrying about me”
“She cares for you Hunter, you know we all do”
“And I’ve been thankful for that for almost a year now, Amity. But she needs to have fun, okay? Now go out there, smooch as much as you want and don’t return at the very least, until past midnight, okay?”
“Okay, suegrito”
“Shut up and get out of here, Blight” he said, sticking out his tongue.
For all response, Amity walked by Luz’s side, locked arms with her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, making her laugh. When she looked back, Hunter gave her a thumb-up and a smile, before closing the door.
He spent the next five minutes watching Rascal eating seeds, he was aware palismen didn’t eat, but for some reason the little red cardinal loved to do it, the constant munching made his stomach rumble and he got up to make himself a quick sandwich.
Only to find King on the kitchen table, his little head stuck on a jam jar, with a chuckle, he freed him and when King started to devour the jam again, he questioned:
“What’s wrong, buddy?”
“Dad’s coming!” the little demon squeaked.
“And that’s a problem because…?”
“He’ll take me back to the island where I was born; he’s going to tell me lots of things about my past, many important revelations… But I don’t want to go”
“Why not?” Hunter said, putting some jam on a plate and offering it to the demon, which devoured it before answering:
“I heard your conversation with Luz and she’s right, you shouldn’t be alone”
He climbed to the Golden Guard’s head and plopped there, making the boy laugh.
“The King of Demons will never abandon one of his loyal subjects, he will…”
His speech was interrupted by a loud booming voice coming from outside:
“SON, ARE YOU THERE? WE NEED TO LEAVE”
“In a moment, your majesty!” Hunter shouted, cleaning King’s face and adjusting a little bowtie on his neck, then, in a whisper, he added “You’re not losing this chance just because of me”
“But Luz said…”
“I know, but you can’t waste this just for me, King”
“I want to be a good little brother for you, Hunter”
When Hunter moved to the Owl House almost a year ago, one of the first rules Luz established was to be “always kind with our little bundle of joy, because he deserves it”. He could see now how right she was, so he got up, hugged King and said:
“You’re the best little brother and I want to hear everything about your mysterious past when you’re back”
“You could come with us” King offered.
“Hard pass, is father and son bonding time”
And before he could protest, Hunter carried King all the way to the door, opened it, put him on the ground and kneeled, saying:
“Have a splendid night, your majesties”
“Thank you, minion” King said with a giggle.
“Will do, boy” King’s father said, making a bow, letting his son climb to his back and flying away into the sunset.
“Well, I guess it’s just you and me, Hooty” Hunter said, when he saw the Owl House was sleeping, he snapped his fingers and repeated “Hooty?”
The demon suddenly woke up and let out a long shriek:
“I totally forgot! Today is the third Thursday of the month!”
“And?”
“I’m going out to hunt for firebees with Lulu and Gwengwen!”
“Oh right, don’t worry pal, I’ve got you covered”
Hunter ran back to the house and started to rummage through Eda’s stuff, cursing for her lack of organizational skills, a low whistle interrupted his thoughts and he looked in Rascal’s direction, the palisman happily jumping over the item he needed.
“You’re a life saver buddy” he said, scratching his head and going outside.
“Here’s your porta-hooty, Hooty” he said, dropping the backpack in the ground.
“Yay!” Hooty shouted, twisting its whole body in ways that shouldn’t be possible, squeezing a bit here and expanding a bit there…
“All done” he said after a few seconds, now comfortable in his new space.
Hunter gave him a smile for all response.
“You don’t seem disgusted by this like the rest” Hooty said, turning his head around.
“I’ve seen worst, Hooty” the Golden Guard said “You look pretty normal to me”
The owl demon was about to say something, when Lilith and her mother came out of the woods. Hunter picked him up and threw the backpack at the women.
“Ready for our monthly hunt, Hootsifer?” the older witch said.
“You bet I am, Gwengwen” Hooty shrieked “Come with us, Hunter!”
“I…”
“It’ll be fun” Lilith added “We are going to look for some stonesleeper reservoirs first, and then we’ll be on our way”
“Stonesleepers?”
“Naturally” Gwendolyn said, showing her knowledge in beast-keeping “Those are necessary if we want to get the bees, without exposing Hooty to any unnecessary injuries”
“I… appreciate the invitation” Hunter said hesitantly “But I prefer to get some rest”
To his luck, none of the other three put any objections to that, they simple smiled at him and flew away in their staffs. Hunter went back to the Owl House with a heavy heart and a memory he knew he wasn’t going to forget ever in his life.
Pages of a book detailing the process of creation of a Grimwalker…
Galderstone for the heart…
Palistrom wood for the skin…
Stonesleeper for the lungs…
His heart, his skin, his lungs.
Hunter suddenly remembered why he disliked being alone, what tricks his mind played on him when he was lonely, and why it was so difficult to cope with abandonment and solitude.
He called for his palisman friend and without a second thought, teleported to Blight Manor.
He needed someone to spend time with, desperately.
“Hey…” he said, appearing just outside Emira’s and Edric’s window and winking at both siblings.
“Hey, you” the girl said, adjusting her hair.
“Hi Hunter” the boy saluted without looking at him, too busy changing the length of his moustache with his illusion magic.
“Is this a bad time or…?”
“We have a date tonight” Both siblings said at the same time.
“Oh! Great, that’s… great” Hunter said, trying his best to hide his jealousy.
“Aren’t you going to make fun of us?” Emira questioned “Tease us with things like ‘who would go out with you two’ or…”
“I’m genuinely happy for you, guys” Hunter interrupted “You deserve a break after…”
“After the shitshow of the last three months” the girl completed.
The Golden Guard simply nodded
“Do you need something, Hunter?” Edric asked.
Always the perceptive one Hunter thought.
“I was about to offer you to come with me to the Conformotorium to torture Kikimora a little, but I see you have better plans already”
“We can totally go tomorrow” both twins said, again, at the same time.
“Good! See you then!”
And before Edric could ask why he had such a long face, the Golden Guard vanished. He spent the next minutes wondering why he was so jealous. He already knew Emira was dating Viney and Edric was seeing Jerbo…
Was he really that desperate for company?
Going to the Conformotorium all by himself didn’t sound fun in the slightest to Hunter, until he had a brilliant idea. This wasn’t the only realm where he could find friends or family!
He returned to the Owl House in the blink of an eye and let Rascal rest on top of the softest pillow he could find, the little palisman seemed exhausted after two instant teleportation spells.
He snapped his fingers and the magical door to the other dimension appeared in front of him.
“Thank you for this, Luz” he said, before crossing over.
As soon as he walked out of the abandoned house on the human realm, he tripped on something and fell to the ground with a loud thud.
“Hunter, are you okay?” a voice filled with concern asked, helping him to get up.
“I’m fine, thank you…”
He stopped talking as soon as he realized Eda was the one talking. And she wasn’t alone.
“Thank you, what?” The Owl Lady questioned, crossing her arms, her two companions snickering.
“Thank you, Mom…”
After another laugh, Camila Noceda grabbed his cheeks and asked:
“How’s my little galán doing?”
“Mamá! Stop calling me that!”
“No can do, cariño”
“You’re not going to say anything to me, Hunter?” the person at her side asked.
“Sorry, I wasn’t ignoring you, Baba Raine”
The Bard laughed at that and said:
“You look adorable when you apologize”
The two women at their side nodded in agreement.
“What are you doing here, you little troublemaker?” Eda questioned.
Hunter did an effort to read the room and took a step back, saying:
“I just wanted to take a walk, explore a little bit of the human realm, I’ll be going now and leave you to do… Well, whatever you’re doing right now”
“Oh, don’t worry Hunter, we were just chatting, having the same old conversation”
“About?” the Golden Guard questioned.
“About how your Mom should take a choice concerning Raine and me” Camila said, with a little frown.
“Oh please, not this again” Eda complained “I said it once and I’ll say it again, choosing means I’m winning someone and losing someone else at the same time”
She wrapped her arms around both Camila and Raine and said:
“And I have no intentions to losing anything”
The human and the witch turned around, blushing at the same time.
Meanwhile, Hunter simply smiled, the way her found family worked never ceased to amaze him.
“If you really want to explore the human world” her Mom said “You should look for Gups, he’s right at the end of the street with his boyfriend”
“Matt’s not his boyfriend, Eda” Raine said.
“Of course he is, those two are made for each other”
“Edalyn, querida, not everyone in the Boiling Isles is gay, you know?” Camila commented.
“Yes, everyone is, actually” the Owl Lady said “I established that rule as soon as we dethroned Belos”
At that, Raine and Camila started to laugh and Hunter simply waved at them and walked away. The three of them didn’t deserve to have their special night ruined with his problems…
Localizing Gus and his date (or not date, whatever was the case) wasn’t particularly hard, the only thing Hunter had to do was reach Camila’s house, cross the street and follow the sounds of excitement and wonder. And then he found them.
“Um… What are you doing?” the Golden Guard inquired.
Gus and Matt poked their heads out of a trash container and the first explained:
“Researching human culture”
“You’re digging through trash, guys”
“Well” Matt said “Human’s say one man’s trash is another one’s treasure”
“Exactly!” Gus cheered “Someone has been paying attention in human appreciation classes!”
“This is a disgusting first date; do you realize that, right?” Hunter insisted.
“We’re not dating!” Matt shouted angrily “Why everyone keeps saying that?”
“Maybe because you two spend too much time together?” Hunter suggested, crossing his arms.
“Hey, spending time with Matt is super fun” Gus commented.
“Thank you” the other boy said and Hunter pretended he didn’t saw the blush on his face “And also, Gus is my only real friend”
“Awww…”
Hunter rolled his eyes at the obvious display of affection and left the place, those two definitely needed some time to sort out their feelings.
But now, he was alone again…
Wait, not yet! He had another chance! Or most specifically, another sister, a kind younger basilisk that would surely be excited to spend the night with him watching cartoons, playing videogames and eating junk food.
So he returned to Camila’s house, searched for the spare key on his pocket and opened the door.
“Vee!” he said, wondering why all the lights were turned off “How’s my favorite basilisk doing?”
His only response was a giggle that clearly didn’t belong to his sister.
Great, Clara was here too.
That shouldn’t be a bad thing, though. Vee obviously had feelings for the cheerleader (and it seemed to be reciprocated if he trusted in Luz and Amity’s gossiping), but none of them made a move yet, so they were basically trapped in the same ‘we’re just friends’ limbo as Gus and Matt.
When he entered the living room, Hunter’s heart suddenly stopped. A manticore was standing above Clara, its massive wings covering her entire body. The Golden Guard barely had time to wonder where the creature came from and got himself ready to defend the human, until he remembered he left Rascal back at the Owl House, he was powerless right now.
Well, he would have to use his physical strength to…
“Now do a vampire!” Clara shouted and the teenager realized she didn’t sound scared in the slightest.
The manticore blinked and transformed into a vampire in just an instant, the cape was a stereotype though, but Clara giggled nonetheless.
Oh, so it was only Vee showing her shapeshifting powers to the other girl, Hunter concluded, remembering the basilisk had access to more magical resources since a few months ago. The idea to test his little sister’s abilities sounded fun and the boy was about to reveal himself and ask for a sphinx when the cheerleader said:
“Now I want a basilisk”
Vee obeyed and gave the other girl a shy smile.
Well, that was stupid, why would she…
Oh.
Before anyone could say anything, Clara grabbed the basilisk by the shoulders and pushed her to the sofa, giving her such a kiss that made the human look like the savage, ferocious creature.
Hunter definitely wasn’t going to stay now. He turned away from the scene to…
“Now I want a tail hug!” Clara said excitedly.
“Nope, nope, nope, nope, so much nope…” Hunter thought, trying to ignore whatever thing was happening right now in the living room and exiting the house.
He rushed back to the forest, thanking no one was on the porch of the abandoned house anymore and crossed back to the demon realm.
He was alone, at least right now. For tonight, he felt like he was back at the Emperor’s Castle, back to square one, back to feeling like he didn’t belong anywhere.
He had to accept it, everyone had their own plans for today and he, always the lonely, solitary Golden Guard, wasn’t included in any of them.
He felt a rush of guilt when he thought, just for a moment, that he could have someone to go if Emperor Belos would be alive, but dismissed the thought, after all, what did humans say?
“Better alone than in bad company”
Walking through the forest in the middle of the night, Hunter realized he didn’t know what to think. He faced the Emperor back then, broke that cycle of abusive, unhealthy relationships he had with him and Kikimora and decided to forge his own path.
And now, that path directed him right back to the beginning, alone, cold, afraid to ask for help, too scare to tell anyone he felt lonely in fears of being rejected or mocked.
He knew it wasn’t like anyone decided to leave him alone, but his brain stopped to listening to reason and he kneel into the floor, sobbing.
Everyone has someone who could spent the night with, everyone has someone to call upon if they felt lonely or desperate or sad, but right now, he didn’t have anyone. And it wasn’t fair, not after everything he did to fit in this world, to make himself useful to others.
Even those stupid little pink flowers that grew in the forest seemed to have some sort of company, all of them growing next to others, not a single one isolated from the rest. In an attack of unjustified rage, he got up and kicked some of the blossoms away, despising them for having what he clearly didn’t have.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” a voice shouted at him.
Hunter turned around angrily; whoever was addressing him in such a matter would succumb to-
His vengeful thoughts disappeared as soon as he saw the face of the kindest and one of the most powerful witches in the Boiling Isles.
“I’m sorry, Willow” he said, sitting on the grass.
“Damn right you are” the plant witch said, twisting her hands and returning the flowers to their rightful place, before showering them with a wave of revitalizing magic “What did these little things ever did to you?”
“Nothing” Hunter confessed and then added “What are you doing here?”
The smile she gave him caused a really weird sensation on Hunter’s insides.
“You know me; I just really like flowers, what about you?”
“Just brooding” he replied, without extending his explanation, there was no point if she had things to do like all the others, but Willow simply walked to him and sat at his side, whispering:
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Why do you care?” he replied, not even regretting how harsh he sounded.
But Willow just shrugged and said:
“A friend of mine once told me it’s important to talk about your feelings”
“Sounds like something Luz would say”
“It was Camila, actually” the plant witch responded.
“Must be a human thing”
“I’ve seen the way humans act and not all of them are like her and Luz, so I would say it’s a family thing” she countered.
“In any case” the Golden Guard insisted “No, I don’t want to talk about it”
He supposed now came the part where Willow kept nagging him, until she pried every single piece of information she could out of him, but instead, the girl got up and extended her hand towards him. He stared at it for a long time, without understanding.
“Take it, silly” she said “We should get out of here quickly; this part of the forest gets really wild after midnight”
“I can handle on my own, thank you very much”
“Without your palisman?”
Shit.
“I don’t see your palisman around here either”
“I wouldn’t dare to interrupt Clover’s beauty sleep” Willow replied with a grin.
And just to illustrate the point of how powerful she was even without her magical companion, the girl kneeled down and lifted the Golden Guard bridal style, the teenager removed uncomfortably and she simply drop him to the ground.
“You are… surprisingly strong” he said, making his biggest attempt to hide the blush that was suddenly covering his cheeks.
The sly smile that Willow gave him in response told him that those efforts were in vain.
“Gwendolyn Clawthorne’s bootcamp” she explained, flexing her arm and Hunter’s mouth opened in surprise “You should try it some time, you look too skinny”
He got up from the ground and adjusted his clothes, ignoring the comment.
“See you around, Willow” he said after an embarrassingly long time, walking away.
“Are you sure you know how to get out of this forest?” she questioned in response.
“Of course I…”
Again, shit. Of course he had zero sense of direction in this pitch-black place.
“Just say you need my help, Hunter” Willow teased, her face a bit too close to his own.
“Lead the way… please” he stuttered (Why the hell was he stuttering?)
The plant witch smiled at that and took his hand, starting to walk. Hunter’s body froze at the contact and he looked down, at their interlocked fingers.
“Oh, sorry” she suddenly said, breaking contact and looking away with a blush very similar to his own.
“No, it’s okay Willow; that felt…”
He took her hand and waited a second, expecting a rejection, but instead, Willow surprised him once more by tightening her grasp.
“That felt?” she questioned.
“Nice” he said.
“Belonging” his mind supplied, while he and Willow walked back to his adoptive home, hand in hand.
“Once we’re back at the Owl House, would you mind…” he coughed, this was stupid, she would probably say no, and surely she had something else to do somewhere else.
And still, he worked up the courage to finish the sentence:
“…making me company for a little bit more time?”
“I’d like that, Hunter” the plant witch said, squeezing his hand again.
The Golden Guard smiled fondly at her, failing to notice the multitude of little pink flowers that were spontaneously growing behind their backs…