Chapter Text
Terror arose as the Hexsquad and Camila raced to meet with the Collector before Belos. They did not know how the Collector would react to seeing them or how he would react when they asked them to return King, but they did not care. They had to do whatever it took to get him back and free the Boiling Isles from the Collector's game.
Camila, Luz, Amity, Gus, Willow, and Hunter were walking in a condensed forest, making their way to the Collector. It was dusk. The sky was painted with beautiful shades of shocking pink, bright oranges, and mulberry purples. Everyone was silent, but tensions were so high it could be cut with a knife.
Amity and Luz held hands as they trekked, Gus stayed close to Camila, and Hunter and Willow stood close to each other. Hunter walked slightly behind Willow, feeling safer with her taking the lead. Suddenly, the ground gave out beneath their feet, causing both Willow and Hunter to fall into what was seemingly a trapdoor. "WILLOW! HUNTER!" Everyone else screamed, rushing to catch them, but it was too late. The trap door closed.
"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Luz shouted. She, Gus, Amity, and Camila quickly ran to where they had fallen. Before tears could fall, desperate attempts were started. With growing panic ensnaring them, they each tried to pry open the trapdoor. Amity formed an abomination glove to punch at it while Luz used her glyphs. Gus was circling the trapdoor, trying to find a way in, with Camila helping him, bat at the ready. Their efforts were unsuccessful, but each failure made them try harder.
They were gone.
Meanwhile, Hunter and Willow were falling into a pitch-black area. They screamed as they fell, and Willow frantically cast a green spell circle, summoning a giant, soft flower for them to land on. This made their landing gentle and painless, but it still stunned them for a moment. Willow cast a small light spell so they could see. "Oh, jeez. Hunter, are you okay?" Willow looked down, seeing the blonde directly below her. Hunter's brown eyes were wide open, and his face was covered in a deep, red blush.
Suddenly, Willow realized what had happened.
She had fallen on top of Hunter.
Willow froze in place, becoming more still than a statue. Time stopped, and her heart pounded as she kept silent. Willow and Hunter stared into each other's emerald and chocolate eyes. It was possibly the most awkward thing in the world, yet neither of them could break out of the trance that had been cast upon them.
Eventually, Hunter managed to break the silence, "W-Willow-"
Willow leaped off Hunter and yelped, finally coming to her senses. "Oh Titan!" she screeched, her face covered in a heavy blush. "Hunter, I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean to- It-It was an accident!"
Hunter felt a sting in his chest at this reaction. He didn't know why he felt such a sting, but he managed to recollect himself regardless. He pulled himself off the flower and dusted himself off. "Willow, don't worry. It's okay. I…well," Hunter paused, chuckling a little, "I didn't mind."
Willow was stunned for a moment. Then she smiled as a warm, fuzzy feeling came to her chest. "Oh, well, that's good."
Hunter and Willow used the light spell Willow had cast to make out their surroundings. When they looked up where they had fallen from, they saw a long tube that was blocked off at the top. There was no chance of escaping that way. They then looked at each other with worried expressions. "...Where are we?" Willow asked.
"I don't know…" Hunter replied. "But it's clearly some sort of trap."
Willow's stomach dropped, "Oh no…" Great. They were separated from everyone else, and now they were stuck in a trap.
Hunter began thinking, trying to figure out why this was here in the first place. "Maybe the Collector put this here for their game?"
"Maybe…?" Willow inquired. "But that doesn't matter. How are we gonna get out of here?"
"We'll find a way out…I hope." Hunter mumbled with a hinge of hesitation. He really wanted to be hopeful about the situation, but after everything that had happened, it was definitely challenging. He didn't know how they were going to get out of this situation. Nevertheless, some tiny, tiny part of him knew that they would and that they would be able to reunite with the group. They would find a way, and Hunter was determined to figure it out.
As time seemed still and everything seemed hopeless, a bunch of lights illuminated a dark hallway, seemingly showing Willow and Hunter the way. They were a bit shocked, as this hallway seemingly came out of nowhere, but this was good news. "Well, I think we know how to get out now," Willow pointed out.
Hunter nodded in agreement. "Let's get moving."
Willow led the way into the hallway, with Hunter following her. Everything seemed to be going fine. After all, they had appeared to find the perfect solution to their problem, but to both of them, something felt wrong. Like it was too easy.
Unfortunately, their fears were confirmed. A rumbling sound emerged from the silence, causing Willow to swing her arm in front of Hunter to stop him from moving forward. Then the walls began to shake, and a magic blast shot directly at them. Hunter immediately dove directly into Willow, getting them both out of the way of the blast. They both fell to the floor. "What in the world?!" Willow shouted.
"It must be for the Collector's game…" Hunter muttered. "The rest of this place must be booby-trapped, too!"
"Oh, well, that's perfect…" Willow groaned.
Suddenly, the floor beneath them began to rumble, "RUN!" Hunter shouted, forcing him and Willow to their feet as spikes shot out where they once laid. As they ran, more and more spikes came from all sides of the hallway, and magic blasts shot all over. It was a miracle they were able to dodge everything.
But the trap still had a trick up its sleeve. Bear traps were now scattered across the floor as if they didn’t have enough to dodge already... It was all so much at once. "Does the Collector want people to die here?!" Hunter shouted. Willow frantically summoned Clover and rushed Hunter onto her staff, and they sped through the rest of the booby-trapped hallway. They landed at the end, where the hallway opened up, and there was a room labeled 'Rest Stop.'
It seemed to be a place where all the traps ended. Hunter and Willow panted after everything but hesitated to enter the rest stop. "It might be another trap! Should we skip it?!" Willow asked.
Hunter was about to respond when a sudden magic blast made a direct hit on his left arm, causing him to scream in pain. The blast had left an open wound on his arm, and he began to bleed. Hunter grabbed his arm, wincing from the pain. "I don't think we have a choice!" Hunter replied.
Willow rushed him to the rest stop. The braided-hair girl pointed her staff in all directions, expecting a fight or trick. Much to their surprise, a party popper went off, confetti floated down from the roof, and a banner came down that read, 'Congratulations! You've completed the loser challenge!'
"The what?!" Willow gawked.
The room offered them a glass of water, which Willow hesitantly took. A sign then came down, 'You will be able to leave tomorrow morning. Thank you for playing Owl House!'
Willow groaned, "Welp, guess we're camping here tonight…" she grumbled.
Hunter went to his knees, wincing and still holding his wounded arm. "Titan, this hurts."
"Oh no, please tell me you're okay…" Willow implored, giving Hunter the water. She caught a glimpse of the wound, "Titan, that was a nasty blow…"
Hunter took the water with his free arm and drank from it. He took a few gulps before stopping, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I've had worse than this back in the Emperor's Coven."
"That doesn't mean it's not a big deal, Hunter!" Willow said, growing more concerned for the blonde by the second, "Maybe you should pour some of that water on it to clean it out."
"That's not a bad idea," Hunter replied, pouring some of it onto his wound. Despite how much Hunter wanted to drink the water, he decided to hand the rest to Willow, "Here, I don't want to hog the water," he told her.
"Thanks, Hunter," she said before she began drinking.
Hunter sighed, looking back at the trapped hallway. It really reminded him of the trapped maze trial he had done in his youth, yet somehow this was even worse. His bottom lip trembled. It was painful to remember that. He didn't want to remember that. He shook his head, trying to snap himself out of his flashbacks. He tried thinking of other things and suddenly realized a massive issue. They were going to be stuck here until morning, and they had no food, "Titan, what are we gonna eat?" Hunter mumbled.
Willow sadly eyed at the ground, shrugging. "Well, if you like eating dirt, there's plenty of food." Willow didn't mean to be blunt, but it was the truth. Hunter let out an annoyed whine in response. He hadn't eaten too much since they returned to the demon realm. That was two days ago. They had been just so busy, and Hunter had often found his appetite spoiled. Of course there was no food the one time he felt like eating.
Willow pulled her knees close, and let out a deep, frustrated groan. She didn't want to go hungry for the night, let alone see Hunter go hungry, but the trap had only offered them a glass of water. It seemed like they weren't gonna get offered food anytime soon. How were they gonna eat if there was nothing available to them?
Hunter scooped up some of the dirt and sighed, “Looks like I’m surviving off the land.” He mumbled. He stuck his tongue out, slowly inching towards the dirt, before throwing it out of his hand, “Ugh! I can’t do that!”
Willow moved the dirt with her feet slowly, sighing, but then a light bulb went off in Willow's mind. "Wait, I can just grow food for us to eat!" She exclaimed.
Hearing this, Hunter perked up, "Oh yeah!" he beamed, chuckling. "You're so smart, Willow."
"Well, what would you like? Your wish is my command!" Willow said with a grin.
"Hmm…" Hunter went, trying to think of what he wanted. He tried to figure out what his stomach craved, but all he got was it whining for anything, "Ah, I can't make a decision. Surprise me."
Willow nodded with a determined smile and then cast a fairly large spell circle, growing a plethora of fruits. She grew dragonberries, sickamore berries, and crabapple-claws. Willow picked off a crabapple-claw, the largest one she had grown, and handed it to the blonde boy, "For you, Hunter," she beamed.
Hunter faintly blushed. "Oh, why thank you," he replied with a smile. He licked his lips and sunk his teeth into it, the appleblood running down his cheeks. His smile grew wider as he chewed, "Mmm!!! Wow! This is delicious! This is the best crabapple-claw I've ever had!" Hunter praised.
Willow chuckled, her cheeks turning a faint red. "Glad you enjoy it." She then began plucking a bunch of dragonberries from the vines and eating them. The two spent quite a while feasting. Hunter preferred to stick to his giant crabapple-claw, while Willow kept eating the smaller dragonberries and sickamore berries. The blue-haired girl noticed Hunter was completely tearing through the apple, and she chuckled. "Hungry, ey?"
Hunter swallowed a large gulp of food. "Oh yeah," he replied. "Hardly eaten recently, and this is so good." He then sunk his teeth into the apple, ripping off another mouthful to chew. Willow smiled at this. It was such a good thing that Hunter finally got to eat. After a while, both of their bellies were full, and they finished their little feast. Hunter patted his stomach. "Wow, Willow, that was so good," Hunter complimented while smiling ear to ear. "You're so talented at plant magic! Only you could've grown such a scrumptious crabapple-claw. I'm impressed."
Willow chuckled, a blush coming to her cheeks. "Aw, you're too sweet, Hunter. You're making me blush." Willow said with a smile. Hunter giggled in response, his ears tinging red. Willow then looked at Hunter's arm, seeing the wound the magic blast had left there. "How's your arm?" she asked.
Hunter looked at his arm, seeing his wound, "It's getting better," he replied. "It scabbed up."
"That's good," Willow replied with a relieved smile.
Suddenly, a cold wave came over Hunter, and he got the chills. He zipped up his O'Bailey costume for warmth, only to find himself still feeling cold. He began shivering quite violently. "I hate how I run cold…" he grumbled.
Willow frowned, not wanting to see him cold. She tried to think of ways she could help get Hunter warm, "Hmm, maybe I can do something…" she said. She cast a spell, summoning a the same flower that she had summoned earlier and then crawled on top of it. Hunter watched her with a raised brow, quite confused about what her plan was. Willow then realized how awkward this would be to ask, but she knew she had no choice if she wanted Hunter to be warm. Her throat closed up, and her cheeks flushed. "Well, if you want, we can lay down on this flower and huddle for warmth."
Upon hearing that, Hunter's eyes widened, he froze in place, and his face became painted red. ‘S-She wants to CUDDLE with me?!’ Hunter thought.
Willow's stomach dropped seeing this reaction, "Y-You don't have to if you're uncomfortable! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"NO!" Hunter shouted much louder than he meant to. He slapped his hands over his mouth, realizing how much he had just embarrassed himself, "U-Uhm, what I meant to say was you didn't make me uncomfortable. I'm… uh… willing to do it."
Willow let out a sigh of relief, glad Hunter was cool with the idea. The blonde crawled up on the flower bed, lying beside her. Then, Willow wrapped her arms around him, causing Hunter to freeze up. He scooted himself closer to her, trying to get closer to her warm, soft body. Hunter curled up into a fetal position, resting his head on Willow's tummy. He was still pretty frozen up and very flustered, but he was indeed feeling warmer in her grasp. Slowly, he began to calm down, feeling comfortable in Willow's embrace. "You're… so warm." he cooed. He curled up more, making himself comfortable. She was so warm, so soft, so squishy. Even if he was no longer cold, he didn’t want to leave her embrace. It felt like he was in heaven. He felt so safe around her, and he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Suddenly, he felt a wave of tiredness come over him. He quickly succumbed to it, taking in a large, deep yawn. He loosened up his muscles, shut his wary eyes, and began slowing his breathing.
Seeing this all unfold, Willow smiled warmly, feeling a faint blush come to her cheeks. Titan…this was so cute. He was just so cute. Hunter was so kind, sweet, strong, and caring. He was beautiful, too. His little face was just so cute. Sometimes she wished she could just pinch his cheeks.
Willow decided to let the poor boy sleep, as he was definitely exhausted after the past two days. She began stroking Hunter's ash-blonde hair, which he very much enjoyed. It helped lull him to sleep even more than before, and soon, he fell into the dream world, softly snoring.