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Hunter had found a new hobby. Since he was no longer the Golden Guard, his life had no purpose, no meaning. Continuing training or studying the things his Uncle- no, the Emperor, had imposed on him would be stupid now. It had no use anymore. A grimwalker had no use, as Hunter saw it.
So, one day, while hiding in Hexside he’d figured he would read something. For fun. You know, to kill time. He’d checked the school library but there were only educational books there and he had read most of them already, anyway.
He started looking through people’s bags and lockers to find something interesting, but beside those books about a witch Luz and the youngest Blight liked to read, no one seemed to bring anything else interesting to read at school.
That was, until he found a book about plants in the human realm in the school bag of Luz’s small illusionist friend. Augustus or something, right? (He was bad at names, okay? He never had to remember many names before!) He probably got the book from the Owl Lady a while ago, he assumed.
At first, he wasn’t very interested in it. But he opened it out of curiosity and the photos and fun facts about flowers spiked his interest. The flowers were very pretty, vastly different than most flowers here. They had vibrant colors, various shapes and they seemed pretty harmless. Well, most of them. That venus fly trap thingy looked like it could be from The Isles, it just needed eyes or fangs.
He stole the book. He would return it eventually, of course. So it wasn’t stealing at all! He was just borrowing it without the owner’s knowledge, no big deal. It was for a good cause, even. Said cause being not dying of boredom.
It was strange to think that plants in the human realm use rainwater to feed off of, since here in the demon realm it’s quite the opposite. Plants had a thick surface that worked as a shield to resist the boiling water.
He also learned a bunch of useless facts that were fun, at least. But the more he learned and watched the pictures, the more he wanted to see them for real. The photos that had big landscapes, like green forests and flowery meadows, seemed so welcoming and serene. In a weird way, it felt like home, which made no sense because he didn’t have a home. Maybe he never did, maybe he never will.
He checked out the plants in the plant track to at least compare types, but obviously, most of them were nothing like the human plants in the book. And the ones that did look a bit similar from afar, were very different when inspected closely. Most plants and flowers in the demon realm were carnivores. Big difference there.
His brain came up with a dumb idea. I mean, it would certainly work, but it was stupid, so he tried to ignore it. He wasn’t sure if someone from the plant track could make a flower like that, an illusionist certainly could, but he wanted the real thing.
Instead, naturally, he thought of Luz. She must know stuff about the flowers in her realm. She could certainly cast a spell using glyphs to make flowers. Too bad he didn’t keep any of her glyphs and he didn’t know how to draw more. He would have to go to her, which he dreaded after what happened in their last little adventure.
Had she looked for him? Was she worried? Or was she disgusted now that she knew what he really is? That he isn’t real? That he’s just a copy of someone else? Maybe she didn’t want to talk or see him ever again. But that was a dumb idea too, it was Luz, she was nice to everyone.
“What do you think I should do?” he asked Flapjack. The palisman tweeted in response, in agreement he should go see Luz. “It’s settled, then. I guess I have no more excuses,” he sighed.
He left his hideout, bringing his few important belongings in a bag, palisman in hand, finally leaving the school behind after some rough couple of days. Luckily, it was nighttime, so he wouldn’t be easily spotted if some guards were still looking for him.
When he made his way to the owl house and it was in sight, he realized he might have used the flower thing as an excuse. He wanted to see Luz. She was different. Special. He didn’t understand these feelings, not yet, but he was nervous now. He summoned some courage. He had done way less scary things in the past. How many beasts had he slayed? More than he could count, for sure. He could do this.
“Yeah, I got this,” he said to himself.
He went to the side of the house, peeking through the windows that had lights turned on. He didn’t know which one was her room, until he saw her silhouette passing near the window frame. She was pacing back and forth, actually, for reasons only the Titan knows. But there she was. She was home, indeed. Certainly, he had no excuses to turn back now.
He flew to the window, because there’s no way in hell he’d knock on the front door, especially with that demon bird attached to it. He threw some pebbles at the window, because he didn’t want to risk her screaming in surprise at a flying figure right outside. She opened the window to check what it was.
“Luz! Don’t scream, it’s me,” he warned her.
In response, she gasped in surprise. Well, it wasn’t a scream.
“Hunter?” she called, panic in her voice. She rushes to open up the window and peek outside.
“Hi,” he answered. “Can I come in?”
“S-sure!”
She stepped away from the window and he carefully came inside. She seemed alarmed by his tattered clothes, the scratches on his face and probably because he really needed a shower, too.
“I have like- a million questions,” she simply stated.
“I’ll answer them, I promise. But I- I was wondering if you could help me with something first.”
“Anything. What do you need?”
“You’ll probably think it’s stupid or that I’m out of my mind, but I know you’d understand that I needed something to keep myself busy with, right? Given... everything that happened.”
“Uh-huh?” She nodded.
He looked through his bag and reached for the botany book. He opened it, trying to ignore Luz’s confused and worried stare.
“I have a newfound interest in plants from the human realm. I think they’re fascinating,” he explained. She just looked at him blankly. “So I was wondering if you could conjure some of them with your glyphs. So I can see them for real.”
“Just to check that I heard right. You’ve come here to ask me for… flowers?” she questioned.
“Yes. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“... Fine. Y-yeah, of course.”
She still looked confused. He couldn’t blame her, though. Perhaps he wasn’t acting totally like a sane person would. (But hey, when you find out you’re a grimwalker, your mind goes to weird places. Don’t judge).
“Which flowers do you want?” she asked while grabbing pen and paper from her desk. While he thought about it, she started drawing a few plant glyphs.
“How about, uh, violets first?” he said, passing through the pages of his book. Well, Gus’s book, technically.
“Okay.”
She touched a glyph and a single violet popped right up.
“Wow.”
In awe, he came to her side, grabbing the flower she was handing him. He inspected it closely, as if looking for something unusual. For him, a harmless flower was almost like a miracle.
“Smell it,” Luz advised.
Trusting her, he did so, delighted. “Cool! Can you do a rose now?”
She nodded and did as told. “Careful with the thorns.”
After a while, Hunter had collected a bouquet of different flowers, basically.
“I didn’t even know, like, half of the names of these flowers that I’ve seen like a million times. I mean, who decided to name a flower thimbleweed? What’s that even supposed to mean? It’s an awful name,” she laughed.
“I tried not to judge them by their names, but yeah.”
“Let’s see, what do we do next?” Luz asked, flipping the pages of the book. “Ah, yes, a flower with a normal name,” she said, pointing to a sunflower.
“That’s a normal name for you? Why is it called sunflower? Does it shoot fire or something?” he genuinely questioned, while Luz burst out laughing.
“No! Read the fun facts, come on.”
“Each sunflower is actually thousands of teeny flowers,” he read out loud.
“Keep reading,” she encouraged.
“Each sunflower can contain from one thousand to two thousand seeds?” he continued.
“Didn’t know that one. Go on.”
“Sunflowers track the sun throughout the day,” he read.
“That’s the one, go on.”
“As the sun moves across the sky, the sunflowers face it. In the morning they face East, and by the end of the day they face West.”
“See! They always follow the sun. That’s so cool, right?” Luz asked, actually excited for once. His joyful attitude towards flowers had finally rubbed off on her.
“Huh. That’s smart.”
“Yep.” She touches a glyph and a sunflower pops up. “There you go. Hey, look, it matches with your hair!” she pointed out and put the flower next to his hair for comparison, placing it in his ear.
That interaction is enough for Hunter’s system to shut down. He had a funny feeling in his stomach. Not knowing how to react, his first instinct is to leave before that feelings becomes too much.
“W-well, thank you, Luz. It’s been fun, but it’s getting late. So if you just excuse me, I- I should head out,” he said and turned towards the window.
“No-oh. You promised you’d answer my questions. Besides, where have you even been staying? I’m not letting you leave this time, Hunter,” she declared firmly with her chin up. She closed the window and extended her arms, blocking his exit plan.
“What, you want me to stay here?” he asked, incredulously.
“Dude, obviously. Where else?”
“But I-”
“No buts! You’re staying here. You need a hot meal. And a shower," she joked light-heartedly. "And a friend,” she said after a pause, her arms wide open for a hug.
Before thinking about it for a hot second, he decides to hug her and tries not to cry. He fails, because some tears escape his eyes and he tries to hide them. Luz doesn’t seem to mind her shoulder getting watery, though. He's thankful for that.
“Thank you,” he uttered between a hiccup.
“Anytime, sunflower boy.” She gently palms him on the back, not letting go of him, trying to make him feel comfortable and safe.
"I have so much to tell you."
"I have so much to hear," she conceded.
It was going to be a long night.