Chapter Text
Hunter loved his sister. He really, really did. Whenever she got bullied, he would be the first person to jump to her defense. Whenever she thought up some kind of flashy scene, Hunter would be right there with his allowance and a getaway plan. He would die for her. He would kill for her.
But all that love was not going to stop him from sacrificing Luz to Hooty the next time she called him ‘Philip’.
“Philip!” Speak of the devil.
“Luz,” he replied, barely looking up from his juice when his sister skidded to a stop in front of him.
“Good morning!” she greeted cheerily, throwing an arm around him, “Did’ja get any new dreams today? Any new flashbacks?”
“Yeah. I built a house.” Then the house burned down. Then he was in some sort of clearing clutching a knife in his hands.
Then he woke up, a searing pain in his chest. Just like the previous nights. Just like all the nights since a red-faced Luz came home with a mouse in her hands.
“Cool!” Then Luz dropped her voice into an urgent whisper as she leaned closer, “You got, uh, anything about building a portal? Anything at all? You can tell me all your secrets!”
Hunter turned to look at her, face expressionless. Luz’s eyes widened. “Woah, those are some big eyebags!” She exclaimed, poking at them, “Have you… not been getting enough sleep?”
He just shrugged, going back to sipping sullenly at his juice. The answer was obvious enough already.
Eda burst in. “Good morning, knuckleheads!” She bellowed, “Are you kids ready for- dang, Blondie, you look terrible.”
“Thanks,” he muttered, “You look shockingly presentable today.” For some reason, Eda was wearing a black suit jacket over her usual dress. Hunter squinted at it. Wait, was that his Grom suit?
“Looking good , Eda!” Luz finally removed the arm around his shoulders to clap as Eda spun around, showing off her outfit. “What’s the occasion?”
“Weeell,” the witch dragged out as she lightly scratched Owlbert’s head, “Today, Hexside is hosting Pali sman fell from his hands, the pieces clattering loudly to the floor.
“I… I think I need more,” he gasped, his body just barely holding together. You sigh, trying not to look at the broken palisman on the floor. Someone loved that creature. You think of your little red bird, sitting asleep in their nest.
“We don’t have any more,” you said. You stepped closer to him, making sure your shoes clack loudly on the floor of the cave. “We can’t get any more either.”
He turned to glare at you, his eyes glowing brighter. “And why not? It’ll be easy to-”
“I’m not doing that again,” you interrupted, “We can find another cure, something else that doesn’t involve theft.” You didn’t think you could look her in the eyes if you chose to continue stealing and killing palismen.
When he raised his chin in preparation to argue, you pulled him into a hug, ignoring the stickiness of the mud. You felt him relax into you, as if he were still a child seeking comfort after a nightmare. “We can wait this one out,” you said, smiling, “It’s not as bad as your previous curse episodes.”
He snorted. “Easy for you to say, C—--.”
You didn’t hear your name, you couldn’t hear your name. Not over the sudden roar of flame behind your back.
You clutch the knife in your hand, trying to remember what he said. He said
“HUNTER!”
Luz’s voice shocked Hunter out of his trance. He blinked slowly, sluggishly as he met the concerned gazes of the three other residents of the Owl House.
“You’ve been standing there staring off into space for ages!” King exclaimed, his voice muffled by a dull roaring in his ears. The demon scampered towards Hunter, his arms outstretched, only to freeze when Hunter flinched.
…When did King come down? How long had he been zoned out? Why was everything still so vivid ?
He could still feel the knife in his hand, in his chest. He could still feel fire licking at his heels. He could still feel mud clinging to his palms, his arms.
"Hunter?" Eda began, carefully holding out her hand for him to take, "Are you with us?"
"What did you see, Hunter?" Luz asked, eyes alight with an urgency that had quickly become familiar over the past few days.
Hunter stared at her, feeling exhaustion seep into his bones. He shook his head, trying to clear the last blurry vestiges of his dream from his sight. "We'll be late for school if we stay here any longer," he said.
"Hey, wait-"
"Not now," he interrupted, resolutely not looking at her as climbed the stairs, two steps at a time, "I still need to change."
Hunter slammed the door to his room shut, tuning out any protests the others might have. When no one came after him, Hunter took a deep breath and let go.
The juice box clattered to the floor, crushed around the middle by the same hand that once held a knife.
Hunter closed his eyes and focused on breathing, counting up and down from four. Slowly, the pounding of his heart faded from his ears. Slowly, the heated flames faded into the faintest of chills, and the mud on his hands into thick sweat. Slowly, the pain in his chest faded, leaving only a deep feeling of betrayal.
With shaking hands, he crawled forward to the bag at the foot of his mattress and pulled out a worn journal.
He flipped to a new page, intending to record everything he saw while the memory was still fresh. As he pressed a trembling pencil to paper, the squeak of a running wheel alerted him. He looked towards the echo mouse’s aquarium.
“...I wish you hadn’t eaten the diary,” Hunter told the mouse as it continued to run on its wheel, oblivious to the trouble it's brought, “I wish Luz hadn’t found you at all.”
Hunter snapped the journal shut and tossed it onto the mattress. He had enough memories stored in his journal already, and even more were stored within the echo mouse.
Letting this one fade into nothing wouldn’t hurt.