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Hunter looked off into the distance at the edge of the ship with his mind racing. They were going to Belos. Luz sacrificed herself for him. They were going to Belos–
He felt his chest start to tighten. Every bone in his body just wanted to run away. His hands ached more than usual and had started to shake as well. He stuffed them into his pockets, not wanting anyone to ask questions. He continued to get wrapped up in his thoughts, feeling his stomach churn with each second they got closer to Belos. He couldn’t do this. He was going to kill him. He was going to make another grimwalker– and even thinking of that word in that context made him gag. He covered his mouth as his shoulders tensed. He looked down at the world, trying to find some peace.
“Hey, I’m happy you’re okay…” He immediately recognized Willow’s voice, waiting for a second to turn and look at her. He probably looked like a wreck.
He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing. “Oh- uh… thanks.”
He watched Willow’s expression soften, and then she hugged him tight. He immediately tensed, feeling his heart race (though, he couldn’t tell if it was in a good or bad way). Willow pulled away before he could do anything, blushing slightly.
“Ah– sorry. I shouldn’t have just suddenly done that.” She laughed, looking away.
Hunter frantically shook his head. “No! It’s okay! I’m just not used to it–” he blurted out.
He saw Willow’s expression immediately turn sad. Hunter sighed and sat down on the corner of the ship. Willow joined him, then looked over at his hand closest to her.
She gently took his hand, then looked up at him. “Is this okay?”
Hunter was sure his face was bright red at this point, but slowly nodded. “Yeah, yeah it is.”
The two sat in silence for a bit, watching everyone else conduct the ship. Gus and Amity were talking about something by Amity’s dad. Willow looked at Hunter again, seeing that it almost looked like he was in another world.
“ Are you okay?” she asked quietly. “I mean, I don’t think any of us are right now but… y’know.”
Hunter thought carefully about his words, not wanting the dam of emotions he had been keeping in to rush out. “Just… thinking about stuff.” He glanced away. “I… don’t know if I’m ready to see Belos– but I feel like I owe it to Luz since I was supposed to protect her and then she ended up protecting me–”
“Hunter– even if you were supposed to– Luz made her own decision. It’s not your fault,” Willow tried to explain.
“But– if I hadn’t frozen then she would still be here!” Hunter’s voice gained volume, and for a second Willow could see him tear up.
Willow sighed, trying to keep her cool. “You can’t blame yourself. Luz is strong, she’ll be fine until we get there.”
Hunter let out a pained chuckle. “You don’t know Belos. He could kill someone in an instant if he wanted to…”
Willow didn’t know the whole story, but based on the clues she picked up from Hunter just now, she knew he shouldn’t see Belos. But, she also knew that she shouldn’t and wouldn’t force him to say anything about it. So, instead she tried to give a warm gesture to let him know that she was there for him. She gave his hand a squeeze, weakly smiling at him. She was going to say something but…
Hunter yelped and pulled his hand away, staring at it as it started to shake. Then, he looked at Willow in terror, and turned his head away as it turned bright red.
Her eyes widened and she subconsciously scooted a bit closer to him. “What happened? Are you okay? Did you hurt your hand when we were fighting?” She shot out the questions rapidly.
“No! No– it’s fine.” He tensed up, somewhat cradling his hand.
“Please, I can check it out,” she said with worry in her voice.
As if Hunter wasn’t already overwhelmed with the situation, Gus looked over at them and came over. “Is everything alright?”
Willow paused for a minute, looking over at Hunter’s desperate look. The two of them just sat silently, until Hunter finally broke the silence. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
Gus looked at him with plenty of suspicion, but nodded anyway and went back over to Amity.
Hunter made eye contact with Willow for a second before he broke it. “I just… have a thing where my hands hurt sometimes. It’s fine…”
Willow hesitated for a second, then gently patted him on the back. He knew that she could see through the lie, even if she didn’t know what he was actually hiding. “You can tell me whenever you’re ready.”
She pushed herself up and offered her hand to Hunter. Reluctantly, he took it, standing up and grimacing at the pressure that had to be put on his hand. It shook a bit, and he put his hands behind his back. They went to the front of the ship together, finally gathering with everyone.
“I hope you guys are ready, because we’re about to go into the belly of the beast,” Amity said, staring off the front of the ship.
Hunter tensed, biting down on his lip. Willow looked at him and sighed, hoping that, maybe one day, he’d open up.