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Hunter wiggled his fingers. He had no reason to do this, it was just because he could. He did it again with his other hand, just to further prove his point.
He rubbed his hand against his now cold shoulder his best friend used to sit there. It was never cold. This was his body and he could do whatever he liked with it.
“Luz! Luz that’s not me! Get away from him!”
“Oh, no. Just my imagination playing tricks again. Why don’t you find the Titan blood, while I find my Palisman? Little guy got spooked off.” His body walks away, but Hunter doesn’t want his body to walk. Or do anything really. He manages enough strength to raise his right hand, but Belos uses his other to stop him in his tracks.
”Get out of me!”
“Have you found the blood yet?”
Like now, he’ll use his hand to grab his shirt and he’ll blink the dirt out of his eyes that’s not dirt . All because he could do so. And now, he’ll kick a rock, once again just because he could. Nothing more than that. You’re afraid he’s still here.
He’ll use his breath to practice the breathing exercises Gus taught him, and he’ll rub his thumb against his forefinger to distract himself from Flapjack everything.
Hunter doesn’t allow himself to view how the Collector changed things, but he knows they are indeed changed. He’s quiet as he follows Luz to what he assumes is to the Owl House.
Surprisingly it’s still intact, and so is the Owl Lady (which is somewhat less surprising). By the time Ms. Camila and the Owl Lady are aquatinted, he is in a small closet with his back to the wall.
His knees are up to his chest and his head is on his knees to block out all the sounds. His hand is clutching his shirt where his best friend used to sleep and he’s trying to keep himself calm.
“That’s right. You wouldn’t want me hurting your precious Palismen, would you?-“
“No! No! Stop! Let him go!”
“-But then again, I don’t care what you want.” He can feel his grip tightening. “Goodbye, Evelyn.”
Because it hurts, Hunter cries. The grip on his shirt becomes tighter and he sobs quietly. Sometime later, Ms. Camila will sit in the closet with him, she’ll hold him and whisper soothing words. Rub his back and let him cry his heart out.
If he were in the Emperor’s Coven, they’d tell him to stop being weak. It was just a stupid little bird and he needs to get over it. Belos was bound to kill him away, so be thankful he didn’t eat the bird’s soul.
But I’m not in the Emperor’s Coven anymore.
It hasn’t even been a full day, and Hunter misses Flapjack his best friend as if he’d been gone for years. He tells this much to Ms. Camila and she responds with, “It’s okay to grieve, baby. What happened to Flapjack-“ (Hunter chokes on a sob when he hears the name) “-wasn’t your fault. You did everything you could to protect him.”
“A-and look where that got him!” He cries and buries his head into Ms. Camila’s shoulder. Ms. Camila rubs circles into his back. He wants to say something else, but the lump in his throat prevents that.
“You gave that bird the best time of his life, and in return he did the same for you. You protected him and he protected you. That’s how family works, mijo.” There was that word again; family. Before … everything, Hunter thought he only had one family member left.
But now he knows that was a lie. Now his family is bigger than he’d ever expected it to be. For some reason, that makes him cry harder, but Ms. Camila still holds him. She doesn’t even tell him to stop, like Belos would’ve done. Instead she says, “It’s going to be okay, mijo,” she rubs his cold shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault.”
For a while, the only noises are his sobs and sniffles, but even those begin to quiet as time goes on. “Feeling better?” Ms. Camila asks.
He’s not ready to face her, so he keeps his position, “A bit. I-I’m tired.”
Ms. Camila hummed, “Would you like to come outside?”
Hunter doesn’t have enough energy to say anything, so he nods. And he’s helped to his feet and is led to the couch. His friends are sprawled out on various spots on the floor, all asleep expect for Luz who sits on the opposite end of the couch.
She gives him a tired look, “You gonna be … okay?”
Hunter sighs, clutches that spot on his shirt. Distantly, he wondered what Darius would say about it. Would he be proud that he knows how to sew? “I think so. I just- I just miss him.”
Luz is sudden with her movements, she comes over and wraps her arms around Hunter. He does the same after a moment of shock. “Me too. But it-it’s gonna be okay, Hunter. We’ll fight back,” she looked at him, and it’s only now that he realizes that there are tears in her eyes. “For Flapjack?”
Suddenly there’s a familiar weight on his shoulder, his eyes widen a bit and perhaps he’s starting to cry again. He wasn’t sure. Nonetheless he releases Luz to wipe his eyes and he nods, “For Flapjack.” He automatically pats his shoulder, but is quickly reminded that there’s nothing there.
Hunter’s shoulder, for once, is cold and there is no bird to warm it.