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Once, when he was younger, Belos caught him reading a book on wild magic. He’d known at the time that he wasn’t allowed to read it, but he’d never been told why . Soon enough, his curiosity overwhelmed him, and he stole it from the castle library.
Belos had not been happy.
His… ‘affliction’ hadn’t been so out-of-control then, but that had been enough to set him off.
Afterward, when Belos was bandaging him up, he told him about their family.
Their family had been killed by wild magic, he’d said. That’s why he lost control- you have to understand, Hunter, I don’t want you following down that same path.
It was not long after he’d been sent on his first palisman-hunting mission.
Hunter could barely stomach the thought now.
Hunter had never been close with anyone other than Belos before. And Belos was… Belos. He might as well have been a god to Hunter. The idea of him dying… It never crossed his mind.
Hunter never had to grieve before.
He wasn’t very good at it.
It was easy to push it away before- when they were fighting to free the Demon Realm. But now that things have calmed down… Hunter can’t get Flapjack out of his mind.
Flapjack… He was the first true friend Hunter had. His friendship with Luz had been dubious at first, but Flapjack… There was no room for doubt there. Hunter had tried.
Hunter found he had a habit of staying up too late at night studying, reading, on Pennstagram, anything to occupy his mind. He’d gotten much better at Spanish.
Flapjack used to pull at his ear when he’d get too wrapped up in work or his thoughts. It was his way of telling Hunter to go to bed. Hunter rarely listened. Flapjack would eventually give up and nestle into his hair, and Hunter would wake up the next day slouched over his desk.
“Hunter? You okay?” Luz asked. Ah, shit, he’d spaced out again.
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. I’m-...” fine. He was going to say fine. He could almost hear the bird chirping admonishments in his ear. He looked over to his friends- his family .
Willow, Gus, Luz, Amity- all of them were looking at him, faces all different levels of concerned and curious.
He grew up thinking wild magic killed his family. But it wasn’t wild magic at all. Belos had. All wild magic did…
Well, he supposed wild magic had made his family. It made him, and Flapjack… In a weird, existential way, it made them , too.
You’re family now, Hunter. Tears pricked at his eyes.
“I just… I just really miss him…” Titan, his voice sounded pathetic, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. A droplet hit the ground. Then another. Soon enough, they wouldn’t stop coming.
A hand on his back. He jolted, whipping around to see Luz retracting her hand.
“Sorry--” He practically fell into her arms.
“Hug pile for Hunter!” Gus said, and soon enough it was witch on top of witch on top of human on top of grimwalker. Hunter couldn’t help but laugh, even as he cried.
There would be nothing that could replace Flapjack in his heart. But that was okay. Nothing had to. His heart had room for a few more.
And somewhere, in the back of his mind, he swore he could hear a little twitter of approval.