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Willow tried to replay the events from today that led up to this moment as she stood next to Gus.
The airship (piloted by Alador who was trying to teach Amity how to fly it) and the crew aboard it were on their merry way to the head of the Titan to rescue Luz.
“You ok?”
Willow turned her head to look at the inquisitive illusionist beside her. He still looked tired, and understandably so, especially after keeping up so many illusions today.
‘I’m just a bit- well um, in shock I guess.’ Willow explained. It’s been a really long day, and everything is about to get a lot harder… I just don’t know how to process all of this.”
Gus began to smirk. “I think I know something that could take your mind off everything.” Willow looked at him, confused by his playful tone.
Gus turned to face away from the edge of the airship and gestured to a certain blonde leaning back against the railing on the opposite side of the ship. While his body faced them, his face looked beyond the front of the ship to where the crew were headed.
“How’s Hunter supposed to distract me?” Willow asked, quite confused as to what Gus was plotting. Gus crossed his arms “You really haven’t noticed have you?”
Willow looked from Hunter to Gus over and over, until she finally shrugged. Gus slapped his hand against his head. “Remember when Kikimora almost crushed us when she tried to grab Hunter?”
Willow scratched her head. She remembered watching Odalia and Alador fighting. She was so focused that she didn’t even notice the giant abomaton coming down on them at full speed.
She remembered a blur of yellow and Luz pushing her out of the-
Willow gasped in realization.
She was positive that the sudden flush of her cheeks was noticeable. “Yeah, you remember now,” Gus smirked.
“Oh my Titan,” Willow groaned “I never even thanked him for saving my life! How did I not realize it was him?! Luz can’t teleport!!” Gus laughed at her struggle.
“Don’t sweat it, Willow. My illusions are just too good to see through.” The illusionist chuckled but quickly dropped his smile upon noticing that his best friend was staring red-faced at the boy across from them.
Gus decided to take matters into his own hands. He knew what he had to do. He walked past Willow over to Hunter “Hey man, Willow wanted to talk to you.” He said without skipping a beat.
Hunter broke out of his trance with a shock, he quickly turned his head over to look at the embarrassed Willow who was currently staring daggers at Gus, who was in turn flashing her finger guns and a winkie face.
Hunter rolled his eyes at the illusionist and bashfully walked over to his captain, who was mentally kicking herself for letting Gus get in her head. “Hunter!” She said a bit too loudly. “Hey, captain” Hunter replied distantly.
Willow took notice of this and tried to calm her brain down. “Is… is everything OK?” She said reaching out to touch his shoulder. He moved away just a little, which in turn caused Willows’ hand to shoot back a bit. “Just peachy, thanks.” He said sarcastically as he turned to peer down over the moving landscape below them.
Willow mimicked his action. “Listen, I may not know exactly how you’re used to handling deep emotions, but being all distant and sarcastic shouldn’t be the go-to.” She said calmly.
Hunter flinched in guilt. He knew she meant well but… “I’m sorry, I just… I hate this. I hate this feeling deep in my gut. It’s like… squelchy, but it makes me sad? I just….”
He looked at Willow, her piercing green eyes staring kindly back at him. He felt safe here. Like he could tell her anything.
“I don’t want to feel happy about what Luz did, but I’m so glad she did it. And I know that makes me sound like a bad guy but,” He took a couple of seconds to collect his thoughts
“I never want to get caught by Belos. I don’t know what he’ll do to me but, I have to assume I’ll meet the same fate as the other golden guards,”
Willow remembered that day after Gus’ illusion covered the school. After telling everyone about the day of unity, he asked Gus, Amity and Willow to stay behind.
Hunter then told them about how there were at least a dozen predecessors to the current Golden Guard. He’d mentioned that they were all killed by Belos, but he never mentioned how. She couldn’t help but assume that it wasn’t painless.
Willow didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to help. She slowly slid closer to Hunter until she was right next to him. She could’ve sworn that the blonde’s cheeks turned a dark shade of pink but she’d never know for sure as Hunter quickly turned his head the other way to hide it.
“Can I... touch you?” Willow felt her face heat up but she didn’t care. Hunter gave a light nod but avoided meeting her eyes. Willow wrapped both of her arms around Hunter’s right arm which was leaning against the rail of the ship. She decided to rest her head on his shoulder.
Hunter thought at that very moment that he might die.
He’d felt a certain way around Willow for a while. People don’t give him much credit when it comes to knowledge of his emotions. He knew what “the feeling” was from the books he read in the castle library, what he didn’t know was how to handle the feelings.
He didn’t want to ruin the moment so he decided the best thing for him to do was to lean into her side a little. A soft whisper interrupted his thoughts.
“I never got to thank you.”
Hunter was confused. “For…?” Willow spoke again, this time a bit louder. “I thought it was Luz who pushed me out of the way of Kikimora, but it was you. You saved me, and I never thanked you because I was too focused on saving… well… other you.” She let out a soft laugh after the last bit.
Shit. He did do that.
Hunter had completely forgotten about it. He thought back to that 10 seconds of chaos. He remembered seeing Kikimora coming in from above, and seeing Willow in his peripheral vision.
“I just wanted to protect you, captain.” He spoke softly. He felt Willow stiffen up a little and then he realized what he'd just said. “Oh, Titan- did I say that out loud?!” He cursed at himself ‘Great job Hunter you ruined the moment.’
At that moment Willow relaxed into him a bit more. “Why do you think I ran to the airship so fast?” Hunter snapped out of his thoughts. “I wanted to protect you too.” Willow moved a bit to look up at him smiling.
‘I swear I could just look at her smile forever.’
Hunter, having no clue if it was the right thing to do, moved his left arm to place his hand atop Willows, which was resting on his right elbow. The two couldn’t think of anything else to say. They just wanted to enjoy the moment while it lasted.
The quiet before the chaos.
Gus marvelled at his handy work from the other side of the ship. “Just another day in the life of the greatest wingman who ever lived,” he muttered.
“I HEARD THAT!” Willow shouted.