Archive of Our Own

The sewing machine clicked and hummed quietly as Hunter's hands carefully moved the fabric across its surface. 

The needle passed through the presser foot as it wove a pretty brown thread through the length of the orange fabric in a neat line, sure it wasn’t completely straight but it was much better than what he could do by hand anyway.

Not like it would matter much, the sweater would be flipped inside out after he added all of the final stitches either way, but he still wanted it to be comfortable and from experience he knew that there was nothing worse than a wonky and itchy seam along the shoulder.

His mind wandered as the article of clothing he had been working on for days now started to take shape,

‘I hope she likes it’ He thought to himself while carefully sewing the side together, checking again and again to make sure that everything was combined properly and no rogue bits of fabric or loose threads remained.

It was important that this sweater came out well, because it wasn’t for himself, it was a gift.

Hunter’s eyes closed subconsciously as he pulled the item out of the machine, it was very late at this point, a questionable time to be awake for one and a completely idiotic time to be operating a machine that constantly jabbed a needle near your hands for two. Though the damage had already been done as the many bright, pride flag themed band-aids adorning both of his hands showed.

Slowly he picked the sweater up and reaching inside he pulled it inside out. The colours of the fabric were much more saturated on this side, the orange popping out even in the dimly lit basement he occupied. A cartoonish rendition of an actual Orange was embroidered into the centre of the sweater, the black border around the fruit and a green leaf on top letting it separate itself from the rest of the similarly coloured fabric. Carefully checking the seams and edges Hunter didn’t see any defects.

‘It's perfect.’ He thought to himself, admiring his own handiwork before gently and carefully folding the sweater so that it took up less space on the desk he was sitting at. 

His mind was yelling at him to go to sleep, but he was already up, might as well finish up a couple of other projects right? When he was the Golden Guard he would often only sleep 3 or 4 hours a day, and that was on a good day, this was nothing in comparison! Besides, it was only…. 

….2 A.M….

At least that’s what he thought the digital clock read through his teary and tired eyes.

He’d be fine, just one more, then he’d rest.

Hunter bent down to the floor and picked up a pair of ripped navy blue jeans which he remembered had belonged to Luz. Seeing as he was ‘The Sewing Guy’ in the Noceda household it wasn’t uncommon for his family to request changes or alterations to their old or worn clothing, he remembered Luz wanting some colourful handkerchiefs, which she so graciously provided, to be sewn on the inside of the legs to cover up the holes. It was a simple enough alteration, hell if he got a bit done right now he could even finish them tomorrow.

That was the plan, at least until a peculiar sound caught his ear.

The house had been deathly quiet before, the only sounds being the ones coming from the sewing machine, so it caught Hunter off guard to hear the creaking of floorboards above his head.

As he peeled his ears for any new sounds Hunter could just barely pick up slow and gentle footsteps making their way along the room above him, whoever was making the sounds had obviously been conscious of their noise output and tried their best to walk slowly and methodically as to not wake anyone. It would have been a nice gesture, if only the basement didn’t pick up every individual creak and house settling noise and magnify the volume to a brain buzzing level. 

Either way Hunter tried to ignore it, it was likely that one of his friends woke up in the middle of the night and went down to get a glass of water, there were seven of them in the house after all so floorboards creaking and the sounds of footsteps were inevitable to hear on a regular basis.

What took Hunter away from his work again however was the path that the footsteps seemed to take. They started by the back wall, where Hunter remembered the staircase to the upstairs being, but instead of continuing down through the living room and into the kitchen they seemed to stop in the living room for a while, as if contemplating where to go next.

He didn’t think about it too much, maybe they were just delirious and forgot why they came down, it happened to the best of them.

What Hunter fully didn’t expect however was for the footsteps to take a quick left, placing them roughly by the entrance to Hunter and Gus’s room, also known as the basement, and shortly after for the door handle to slowly start turning.

This set many thoughts ablaze in Hunters mind,

‘What is happening? Who is that? Is Luz playing some stupid prank again? Oh Titan, did somebody break in and is trying to rob the house?!’

He tried to calm himself as he heard the door creak open, letting his logical side take control of his brain,

‘It’s probably just Camila about to complain about the sewing machine being too loud again, or it COULD be Luz playing some lame prank while she thought I was asleep, well she’s about to get a surprise herself.’

Hunter’s heartbeat rose slightly as gentle footsteps made their way down the stairs towards him. He just wanted the person to hurry up and show themselves, to end this stupid trail of anxiety he’s gotten himself worked up in, and as the person's body appeared on the steps he was in fact very surprised, seeing just about the last person he would expect to sneak into his room in the middle of the night.

It was Vee.

She stood there on the staircase, obviously hesitant to make her way all the way down, her flannel orange pyjama pants just barely visible through the bannister along the stairs.

Hunter was very confused to say the least. Him and Vee never really got along well, it’s not like anything bad happened between them, it was just that ever since he and the rest of the Hexsquad came to the human realm Vee had been especially cold to him from the beginning. 

Never speaking to him more than necessary and always finding a reason to leave the room whenever she and Hunter were alone. It hurt him a bit at first but as the month’s passed and everybody got used to their living situation Hunter just kind of accepted Vee’s uncaring attitude as a part of his life.

Hunter didn’t know how Basilisks worked exactly, his uncle had never explained that to him when he was still the Golden Guard, the most he ever spoke about basilisks being that they’re ‘ Vile and Dangerous creatures’ , but a small voice in the back of Hunter’s mind told him that she knew. 

That she knew his secret. Who he really was. What he really was. It made no sense, they’ve never significantly interacted yet a gut feeling told him that… somehow… she knew.

Hunter was about to call out to the young girl, tell her to scram or leave him alone, before he was surprised for the second time that night as Vee called out,

“ ....hunter?....” 

It was barely above a whisper and the gentleness in her voice at speaking his name was very uncanny.

Thinking quickly Hunter sweeped his left arm along the desk, dragging the sweater as well as a couple of stationery items to the floor with a loud clatter, he spent too much time on that thing just for Vee to waltz in and ruin the surprise.

Yes, the sweater was for Vee. 

Hunter thought that maybe if he went out of his way to do something nice for her then their relationship could be mended, it was wishful thinking sure, but at least it gave him something to spend time on, and even if it didn’t make everything better she would probably still wear it seeing as she couldn’t seem to get enough orange in her wardrobe.

Being so focused on clearing the table of evidence, Hunter had completely forgotten to respond to Vee, he realised that as she called out again, though her voice somehow sounded even smaller and more stuffed than before,

“.... h-hunter? ....”

Her whispering voice filled the room as the boy straightened himself up in his chair, pretending like he had been working on Luz’s jeans instead, before answering in an uninterested tone.

“What.” He said plainly, his voice hoarse and rough as he attempted to speak for the first time in hours.

He could see Vee’s legs shuffling on the stairs as she gathered her words, it was like she was nervous to take another step even though she had scaled half the stairs already. Soon enough she called out again.

“.... are you sleeping?....”

Was he sleeping?

Why yes, he was completely unconscious while not only sewing but also speaking, what a stupid question to ask!

Hunter pushed back his overflowing sarcasm as he attempted a coherent answer.

“What does it look like?” He answered in a monotone voice, turning the sewing machine on again before starting on modifying the jeans. Vee was probably just trying to toy with him and she’d get bored if he started ignoring her, the other Coven Scouts did the same to him when he was training to join the Emperor’s Coven, he was used to it.

Vee paused for a long while, so long that Hunter’s half asleep mind thought she had actually left, but soon enough her high-pitched voice called out again.

“.... c-can I come down?.... ” She asked sheepishly, still not moving further than the step she stopped at before.

Hunter thought for a second. Come down? Why would she want to come down here at this time? 

Sure, the basement belonged to everyone by technicality but it was common knowledge that it was also Hunter's room and a personal space. Camila even made sure to sit all  of them down once the six witches started to live there to have a talk about ‘privacy’ and ‘Respecting people's personal space’, that’s probably why she was asking instead of barging in uninvited like she and Luz normally do, just incase Hunter felt the need to tell on her to Camila.

“Okay.” He responded with a shrug, making a quick movement to pick up the discarded sweater off the floor and to throw it into the closet behind where he was sitting.

Thankfully Vee’s footsteps along the creaky floorboards masked the sound of the closet door closing and after hiding his work Hunter was able to turn around and face his surprise guest.

Except he did not expect to see Vee like… this.

She had a major case of bed head, her blonde and blue hair which blended in with her basilisk ears jutting out in all directions as she descended the rest of the steps and stopped by the opposite end of the room. 

Hunter couldn’t see a lot but the little illumination that his desk lamp brought showed him quite enough. She was in her human form for some reason, even though everybody in the house was perfectly fine with seeing her real form, and wore a set of orange striped pyjamas. As Vee stood by the stairs Hunter could swear she wobbled slightly, like she was unbalanced on her feet and would fall at any second. 

Did it concern Hunter? Not really, if she wanted to be up and about annoying him at 2 A.M. then she would have to suffer the consequences of sleep deprivation, it served her right.

As Hunter tried to keep himself busy, he couldn’t shake the image of Vee’s figure half cloaked in the darkness, why was she just staring at him? It made him uncomfortable to say the least, and after what could not have been 5 minutes of her just standing there Hunter made his thoughts clear,

“What are you doing?” He asked, his voice maintaining that monotone status as he peered at Vee through the cover of darkness.

It took Vee a long time to answer, much too long for a relatively simple question.

“... I-  I…. ” She started before going quiet. What in Titan’s name was wrong with her?

Hunter shrugged off her weird drones and unfinished thoughts as he pointed at the blue couch, the same one that would normally be Gus’s bed.

“You know, you can sit down like a normal person.” He said, emphasising the ‘normal’ due to her strange behaviour.

The girl staggered for a second before moving again, though she didn’t even relatively move towards the couch, instead choosing to walk with what almost looked like a drunken movement towards him.

Once again Hunter chose to ignore it, Vee was weird, lesson learned, besides he actually wanted to get some work on these pants.

Hunter could only stay focused for a couple moments before he shot up into the air when a horrid scraping noise erupted from behind him. He quickly got to his feet, his hands in a combat-ready position as he tried to assess the danger. Thankfully there was no danger, what there was however was Vee, an old wooden chair dragging along the ground behind her causing that awful noise.

Quickly Hunter rushed to the chair, stopping it in its place before turning to Vee,

“What the hell are you doing! You could’ve woke the whole house up like that!” He whisper-shouted at the girl whose hands had long left the backrest of the chair and instead were now clenched against her chest in surprise.

Vee wobbled on the spot, “... s-sorry…” She replied, her voice a bare whimper.

Hunter felt a pang of guilt in his chest, she sounded like she was about to cry. He quickly controlled his voice, picking the chair up off the floor before gently asking,

“...where did you want to take this?” He tried his best to keep his voice chill and calm though he couldn’t really tell how he sounded. It was like he was talking through a large metal tube that made his voice echo inside his own mind.

Vee shakily pointed over to a small empty spot by the sewing desk, the light from the table lamp blinding Hunter as he hauled the large piece of lumber and placed it by the side of the desk, not far away from his own chair.

Thinking the job to be done, Hunter resumed his sitting position behind the desk, and though it took her a second, he could see from the corner of his eye that Vee did the same. The light from the desk illuminated her body for the first time that night. Even with Hunter being very dedicated to finishing his work, he couldn’t help but to step back from the machine at what he saw.

Her hair was even worse now that he could see it clearly, knots and strands coming off in all directions like a tornado had just passed over her, her expression was a mixture of exhaustion and numbness that definitely didn’t suit her. What suited her even less were the dark eye bags slowly showing themselves below her golden eyes. 

Hunter was shocked, he had never seen Vee look this… defeated . What could have done this to her?

Slowly he turned his body towards the girl, a tinge of worry making itself known in his gut no matter how much he tried to suppress it.

“Vee?..” He asked, his voice considerably more gentle than moments before.

The young girl wearily turned her head towards him, her exhausted face meeting his gaze as his eyes opened wide with shock.

“Why are you here?” Hunter asked, this was all starting to get too suspicious for his liking, something was going on he could feel it.

Vee’s gaze turned to the sewing machine on the desk ahead of Hunter, her usually expressive eyes looking grey and empty, ‘ dead’ was the word that came into Hunter's.

  “... n-no reason. ” She barely managed to breathe out, still not holding any kind of eye contact with anybody but the sewing tool on the table.

“That’s a lie.” Hunter responded before Vee could even finish. “You’re here for a reason, just tell me.” 

He crossed his hands across his lap as Vee continued to barely hold herself in the sitting position. Hunter was very good at knowing what people were really like, how they would act, what they were feeling, being an Emperor’s Coven Scout for his entire life taught him a lot of people skills like that and, though he would never, ever support his Uncles Coven after all that has happened, he was glad to have skills like that for situations such as this.

Vee paused for a while, catching on that this wasn’t a topic Hunter would just skip over, processing what she was to say.

What Hunter would have never expected at that point was for Vee to start crying .

He barely even noticed the tears rolling down her face before she already had a wet patch on her pyjama pants, the tears rolling down to her chin before dropping below once they became heavy enough. It was strange, she wasn’t sobbing or breathing hard, there was no exterior clue to show that she was crying other than the hot liquid streaming down her cheeks.

That tinge of worry in Hunter's gut only grew at the sight, and he wasn’t about to push it down anymore, something was wrong, and he would be forced to change his attitude.

Hunter almost missed Vee’s response as his brain calculated what to do, though his ears just barely managed to catch her trembling voice, her simple response shedding some much needed light on the situation.

“... I-I…had -a n-nightmare…” She choked out, her voice disturbing the silence that the room had fallen into once again.

Nightmares…. Hunter knew them well.

His training to join the Emperor's Coven, the hell that he was subjected to seeing while working under Unc-, Belos, and all the crazy scenarios he managed to get himself in with this friend group, truth be told it was mostly with Luz. Lets just say that his past experiences visited him frequently in the late hours of the night when he could do nothing else but… think.

His gaze softened further as he gently pulled his chair slightly closer to the girl, his voice calm as he asked the question that he would never want to hear for himself,

“...what was it about?”

The question rang out between the concrete walls, the entire room including Vee’s breathing falling completely silent. Hunter tried to get a better look at her face, to see any indicator about how upset she could really be due to this nightmare, however he couldn’t get more than an inch closer before Vee jolted forward with a heartbreaking sob. 

As another sob followed, Hunter noticed Vee’s upper body starting to give out before with another jolt she started to fall over. Reacting quickly Hunter reached out his arms, ready to catch her in case she were to fall off the chair and onto the ground, luckily she managed to catch herself as she pushed her head in between her knees. Her two hands were placed on top of her head pushing it further down, like she wanted to become as small as possible.

And then the real sobbing began.

Hunter could do nothing but watch as Vee’s small figure thrashed and jolted in place, the loud sobs escaping her lips being muffled by her legs. She shuddered and bounced one leg on the floor as sharp inhales followed heart breaking cries, and at that moment Hunter felt… something , something he had only felt a few times before but the unique feeling made itself known. 

This sudden urge, no, this need to protect Vee, like she was the most vulnerable thing on the planet and he would be willing to do anything, everything to make sure she was safe.

‘ This is stupid!’ he thought to himself as the feeling became more prominent the longer he stared down at Vee’s shaking figure. ‘ She hates you! She made you feel like an outcast in this home!’ his thoughts screamed, and yes, their relationship was… rocky, but everybody he loved today was an enemy in his past. He was their enemy for the longest time, yet through sheer belief in him and the stupid stubbornness in their hearts they managed to forgive him, to let him become someone new, someone better, become himself.

That’s why, against all of the contradicting voices screaming in his head, Hunter reached out his left hand and gently placed it along Vee’s curved back. She stiffened slightly at the touch as Hunter gently rubbed along her spine with his thumb, Vee’s cries only came harder and louder, and just as Hunter started to panic that he made the situation even worse, Vee brought her head up and leaped at him.

Yes, leaped at him.

The boy couldn’t react before Vee’s previously crumpled body collided with his own, her arms wrapping tightly around his stomach as the rest of her fell to the floor with a thud from the miscalculated jump. The chair Vee was once sitting on fell backward from the movement but with his quick reaction time Hunter was able to reach it with his hand, slowly bringing it back onto all four legs before turning his gaze back to Vee.

Her blonde and dark blue  hair covered her face completely as she pushed her head into Hunter's stomach, the grip around his body only getting tighter as loud sobs echoed from her mouth.

Now this came with a problem,

Hunter hated hugs.

For reasons he didn’t care to admit, he despised the act of hugging people, thankfully back at the Boiling Isles getting a hug at the Emperor’s Coven was less likely than winning the lottery so he rarely encountered such act, unfortunately that also meant he didn’t really know how to react to such gesture.

Instinctively his hands raised up in an uncomfortable manner, freezing at his own shoulders like he was stuck in quicksand, and before he could even realise what he was doing his arms reached down to Vee’s shoulders trying to push her away.

The girl didn’t budge though, her embrace only tightening around Hunter as he tried and failed to make some space between them.

“ P-Please… ” She murmured through a faceful of Hunter’s pyjamas.

“ I-I don't want to be alone right now… ” 

All the strength in Hunter’s arms fled at that statement. 

He peered down at the young girl, she was still clinging onto him like it meant death to let go and her legs and a majority of her torso were splayed out across the cold floor. Hunter thought for a second, a treacherous thought entering his mind, he couldn’t bring himself to do it, nope, he wouldn’t, he refused .

…

…

… Fine. 

Hunter bent down, one hand grabbing at the back of Vee’s shirt and the other scooping her up from beneath as he raised the girl’s body up off the floor and to his level. It took Vee no time at all to adjust her embrace to a higher point across Hunter’s chest and for her to sit herself firmly down on Hunter's lap, her body still facing him.

Vee had not stopped sobbing at any point during that exchange, and Hunter was unsure of what to do. ‘ What do you do when someone is crying?’ He asked himself, it’s not like working under Belos made him very in tune with caring about other people's emotions.

Slowly he let his left hand drop down to Vee’s lower back where he gently wrapped it around her, his hand grabbing onto her opposite side as he stroked his thumb up and down. His right hand almost subconsciously reached up to Vee’s back, right between the shoulder blades where he gently started to rub her back in a circular motion, he learned from Luz that apparently it was a comforting human gesture, she better not have been lying about that. 

A muffled sob caught his attention as he looked down to see Vee’s face still buried deep into his chest right below his neck. He didn't know what caused him to do it but Hunter slowly adjusted Vee higher up his body before gently and slowly placing his chin on top of her head, a hot puddle of her tears beginning to flow down his neck before getting caught by the neckline of his shirt.

The two sat there like that, Hunter gently and carefully trying to comfort Vee as she cried and shuddered, trying to get as close to him as possible. It was strange, seeing the predicament they’ve found themselves in now Hunter would’ve never guessed that they hated each other in day to day life, but that didn’t matter right now, that voice in the back of Hunter’s head was still screaming at him,

Protect. Protect . Protect.

He barely realised when Vee’s crying had slowed, instead being replaced by wet gasps for air. As her breathing slowly levelled and her grip loosened ever so slightly, she attempted to speak, her voice still muffled against Hunter’s neck,

“... I-I’m sorry, L-Luz and Camilla were a-asleep and I didn’t w-want to wake them up. I-I t-thought you still m-might be up so I-I, I’m sorry, I d-didn’t w-want to b-be alone.” Her voice turned into an incomprehensible mixture of sounds and slurred vowels as she tried to explain herself.

Hunter raised his hand from Vee’s back to the back of her head, gently stroking it as he listened to the young girl's words.

“It's okay.” He spoke gently, the words coming out foreign and distorted as the idea of sleep pushed itself to the front of his mind. No, he couldn’t, not now.

“It’s okay,” Hunter repeated, he often heard Camila console Luz after a bad day and it always went something like this, “It’s okay, you’re okay, I’m here.” He continued, digging his hand through her hair.

Vee seemed to calm down at his words, her grip loosening ever so slightly more as she fell more into Hunter, and as Hunter gently calmed her down a question came to his tongue.

“Can you tell me what this nightmare was about?” He asked innocently, Camila mentioned before how when Luz was little and had a nightmare, talking about it and explaining how it wasn’t real calmed her down a lot. It was worth a shot anyway, something told Hunter that he wouldn’t be moving from this chair for a long while.

Vee tensed at his words, like the question itself brought back bad memories, slowly she lifted her head from Hunter's chest just enough for her words to be heard clearly.

 “I…” She paused as soon as she started, a small whimper leaving her mouth instead.

“Y-You don’t have to of course, I just heard that-” Hunter started, maybe it was private or embarrassing, he didn’t have to or want to hear everything that could’ve possibly made Vee cry.

Quickly Vee shook her head under his chin.

“No. I should talk about it. It can help.” She responded, her voice finally stabilising though it still sounded wet and nasally.

Hunter let go of Vee slightly, not completely, he knew that she wouldn’t allow that right now, but enough so that she could have some space to talk about her unpleasant dream without drowning in his shirt. His hands however stayed firmly on Vee’s shoulders, just so she knew that he was closeby.

Vee took a deep, rattly breath before breathing out, it reminded Hunter of that breathing exercise that Gus taught him, and from experience he knew that it worked quite well. Soon after the disguised basilisk sat up more straight before starting to speak calmly,

“I was back in the Boiling Isles,” She began,

“I remember being underground, at least I think I was. The walls, roof and floor were made of cold stone, but on one wall were metal bars. It was a cell.” Her voice was low and quiet but she continued.

“I wasn’t the only basilisk there, there were two more in the room with me, at least I think there were two. I tried to move around but there was something tight around my wrists, I could barely move.” 

Hunter listened attentively, that was the least he could do right now.

“I-I heard footsteps, then there were two cloaked men on the other side of the bars, a big one and a small one. They also had weird beaked masks…” She started again, Hunter knew that description far too well.

“Coven Scouts.” He absentmindedly spoke out loud, Vee only nodded before continuing.

“T-They opened the cell door, and the small one came in. There was… something in his belt.” She continued, her voice trailing off when mentioning the object that the scout had.

“H-He walked over to me, a-and unlocked the things around my wrists. T-Then he brought me up to the bars. The other man passed him a box and he opened it.” Her voice sped up.

“H-He opened it a-and t-t-there were mice, little m-mice with skulls on t-their heads. He t-threw them onto the ground a-and…” Vee stopped, Hunter couldn’t see her face but he could tell that she had started to cry again, the small jolts from her body making that very clear.

“H-H-He told me t-to e-eat its magic….” Her voice became more and more tearfilled but she did not stop. 

“T-The mouse l-looked at m-me, and I, I-I, I just couldn’t…. ” She pleaded, her voice growing more faint as sobs took over her throat.

“T-The b-big man s-said something, a-and the s-small one nodded, a-and h-he pulled s-something f-from his b-b-belt.” 

Vee paused for a long while, a hiccup escaping her lips as she avoided Hunter’s gaze.

“ ...H-He h-h-hurt m-me.” She trembled as her head fell forward into Hunter's chest, he immediately wrapped both arms around Vee again as she began to sob loudly.

Hunter knew what cruelty the Emperor’s Coven were able to get away with, he was a subject of the Scouts’ torment for years when he first joined, and it didn’t slow down until Belos appointed him as the Golden Guard. He couldn’t even imagine how the scouts treated ‘Lesser Life Forms’ , as Belos called Demons, behind closed doors. It was disgusting, and seeing someone like Vee get hurt by Belos’s lackeys only fueled his hatred for that slimeball even more.

Maybe it was selfish to feel this way, but Hunter was glad that Vee came to him with this instead of anyone else. He knew what the Emperors Coven was like, how they acted, what they were and weren't supposed to do. They hurt him too, he knew how it felt, and he didn’t want anyone to feel like he did during training ever again .

Hunter gently stroked the back of Vee’s head, letting her cry into his shirt as she embraced him tightly once again.

“T-They hurt me because I’m a monster…” Vee called out unexpectedly, making Hunter look down at her in surprise and shock.

“I-I don't want to be a monster…” She sobbed louder, shaking her head from side to side.

Monster.

The word echoed in Hunter's head as he held Vee close.

Monster.

They made Vee think she was a monster. 

The thought that those privileged Scouts who spend their whole lives lying to people, forcing them into locking out their own magic, trapping and experimenting on demons who just want to live their lives, and licking Belos’s shoe would dare call Vee the monster?

It filled Hunter with an indescribable amount of rage, he had to remind himself not to squeeze Vee too hard just in case he hurt her by accident.

“You are not a monster, Vee.” Hunter spoke simply, causing Vee to raise her head slightly.

“You are not a monster, demons aren’t monsters, nobody on the Boiling Isles is a monster except Belos. He’s the one that should be locked up and…” His Uncle's name flowed off Hunter's tongue like venom, that man, if you could even call him that at this point… he was a monster.

“Please…” He pleaded, his voice dropping significantly as he returned his head to its spot on top of Vee’s head.

“Don’t call yourself that ever again. ”

The two of them held each other close, and by the pattern of Vee’s breathing Hunter could tell that she was close to falling asleep in his arms. He didn’t blame her, after getting all of that off his chest Hunter would gladly sleep in until 7 A.M.

Hunter gently continued to stroke Vee’s back in circles as he cupped her head in his other hand, her breathing became even slower and deeper, her grip around Hunter's body getting less and less until her arms were barely around him anymore. But just as Hunter thought Vee would fall asleep she lifted her head up, her gentle voice whispering into his ear.

“ I know you’re a Grimwalker.” 

Hunter's body went cold, his eyes opening completely in terror and his hands stopping any type of caring gesture.

His suspicion was right this entire time.

She knew…

Hunter didn’t know what he was expecting, all of his friends rushing downstairs to call him out, the human police breaking down his door to arrest him, maybe if he was lucky a swift dagger in his back to end it all. What he definitely didn’t expect was a sudden warmth around him, the tightness around his back becoming strong once again as Vee pushed her body into his as close as she could.

Before he could question what was happening, Vee spoke again,

“I’ve known from the beginning, we basilisks have a keen sense for magic since we feed off it, and you always gave off a strong scent. Stronger than the rest.”

Her voice was comforting yet Hunter felt every emotion but comfort, where was she going with this? Was this a lead-up to some betrayal? Was this strangely comfortable night going to end sourly? AND WHY WAS SHE STILL CUDDLING UP TO A CLONE MADE OUT OF PALISTROM WOOD?!

The next words out of Vee’s mouth shocked Hunter out of his internal monologue.

“I don’t care, Hunter. Yes, I didn’t want to be around you before, I’ll admit it, you scared me, but if this is what a Grimwalker is, then I’ll take my chances.” She continued calmly and clearly, only adding to Hunter's confusion, why was she so calm about this? She said it herself, he scared her, so why was she so quick to get over her fear all of a sudden?

Thankfully Hunter didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

“You didn’t ask to be this, just like I didn’t ask to be a basilisk, we were both unwillingly placed into these lives, and I can tell that if you got the choice you would have never chosen to be a Grimwalker. Neither of us can change what we really are, but we can choose who we want to be, at the end of the day that’s the more important choice isn’t it?”

Hunter found himself speechless, someone finally understood.

Vee was right, if he ever got the choice he would have never chosen to be a Grimwalker, but he never got that choice and ended up living his life as Belos’s stress toy. He never got the choice to choose his own being, first he was a Scout, then he was the Golden Guard… then he was Caleb. None of those facades were who he really was on the inside, and that’s why he was so happy in the human realm, because nobody knew him, because nobody could tell him what he was and what he wasn’t, he could choose his own destiny and be around people who didn’t care about ‘What he was supposed to be’ .

Finally after all these years somebody understood him.

And Hunter Cried.

He didn’t cry for long, his body didn’t really know how to cry for an extended period, but he cried, the tears falling down his scarred face and onto the top of Vee’s head as the two teenagers held each other as tightly as they could. Hunter silently weeped to himself as he felt Vee slowly let go again, this time it didn’t seem that she had enough strength to fight herself awake as she slumped down against Hunter, her arms falling to her sides as her head continued to rest against his chest. 

Hunter wiped the remaining tears from his eyes,  and looking down at Vee he could feel his eyes beginning to close as well, crap what time was it? His vision was too blurry to see the digital clock but he assumed it to be close to 4 A.M. at this point, he needed to get to sleep, but remembering about the gently sleeping child in his arms, that meant he needed to put Vee to sleep first.

Slowly and carefully Hunter wrapped one arm around Vee’s shoulders and another one under her bottom, gently scooping her up enough to be able to get up off the hard wooden seat. Ignoring the pain in his back Hunter raised himself fully to his feet, making sure to not make any sudden movements that could disturb Vee’s sleep, and one step at a time he moved towards the staircase leading to the ground floor.

The living room was colder than it was in the basement, chill air hitting Hunter’s nose as he creaked the door open and stepped out onto the carpeted floor. Taking a quick glance around the room he noticed two figures sat on the large couch, their heads slumped on top of eachother as the T.V. flashed with colourful lights and animations portraying the human understanding of witches, pointy hats, flying broomsticks, the whole lot. 

Hunter was thankful that somebody had put the television on mute before he came out as the noise would have definitely been loud enough to wake Vee up, as he passed behind the couch Hunter could make out the faces of his friends, Willow and Gus, their heads unconsciously pressed against one another as they slept peacefully. Hunter smiled gently, they looked cute.

The sight of the two once again made Hunter’s lack of sleep loud and clear and he had to fight against the urge to fall unconscious right then and there, he was barely able to keep a hold on Vee as he started ascending the steps upstairs. Vee’s arms swung by her sides with every step he took, and Hunter had to be careful to avoid the annoyingly creaky set of steps that Luz had warned all of them about when they first arrived, but after a short yet draining climb Hunters feet reached the flat landing of the first floor.

Thankfully it was all going to be smooth sailing from here…

Or so he thought….

With quiet steps Hunter traversed the upstairs hallway, making sure to be especially careful while passing Camila’s bedroom, the last thing he wanted right now was to wake up a Dominican mother in the middle of the night. Thankfully the walk was short and before he knew it the two of them had reached the door to Luz’s room.

Hunter hesitated at the door, he didn’t want to intrude on his sisters personal space, that was very much against his goal, but, what else was he to do? He wasn’t just about to leave Vee at their doorstep and leave to go sleep soundly himself, that wouldn’t help anyone, so beyond his better reasoning Hunter gently pushed the door open before stepping inside as silently as the wind.

It was much warmer in Luz’s bedroom, even warmer than in the basement. Every window was closed and covered with a blind leaving everything except the small area in front of the door almost pitch black. As Hunter moved forward towards where he remembered their bed being, his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and soon later the large double decker bed came into view, looming ominously over him. On the bottom bunk however he could just barely make out a mass of limbs, too many limbs for one person or witch, and as he closed the distance to the bed Hunter quickly recognised what he was looking at. 

Luz and Amity were cuddled up in Luz’s bed, their arms wrapped around each other and their bodies pushed in close to one another, apparently the ‘ one person per bed’ rule that Camila put into place didn’t reach the two lovebirds, or they actively chose to ignore it as Amity’s mattress layed abandoned on the floor beside their bed. Hunter couldn’t help but to exhale from his nose in a silent laugh as his lips curled up in a gentle smile, ‘ at least the two of them are happy’, he thought to himself before quickly snapping back to reality and remembering what he was here for. Turning his body to face the bed Hunter examined the large piece of carpentry before noticing a fatal mistake in his plan, the smile completely wiping off his face as he realised,

Vee slept on the top bunk.

The problem being that the only way to get to the top bunk was by a small ladder at the end of the bed. Now Hunter could easily climb a ladder, even with an entire person in his arms, his Coven Scout training allowed him to do such physical tasks with little worry. The real problem was getting Vee into the bed. There was no way he could climb that ladder and place Vee safely in her bed without one of two things happening;

1. Vee waking up and possibly falling back into another nightmare episode.

Or

1. Luz and Amity waking up to the ruckus and chasing Hunter out of the room while simultaneously calling him a creep.

As Hunter tried to rationalise any possible way of getting Vee into her bed without waking anybody, he couldn’t think of anything, the closest idea he came up with being tossing Vee into the bed from the floor like a basketball and fleeing the room quickly before anyone realised who he was, and for obvious reasons he would not be following up on that idea.

Sighing in defeat, Hunter’s plan seemed to fall short, but just as he was about to face his fear of waking up Camila a thought came to his head. Like a guiding voice telling him a plan so simple that he would’ve never thought of it himself.

Gus was asleep in the living room.

That meant… 

Quickly and quietly shutting the door behind him, Hunter left Luz’s room and traversed the house, walking back down the corridor and down the stairs, his head seemed to be in another place altogether though as while me made his way back down the stairs he forgot which step was the one that creaked. 

A loud, shrill creak echoed throughout the house and Hunter froze in place, completely unable to move, turning his head in Gus and Willow's direction Hunter could see Willow’s head begin to stir.

He held his breath.

Please Capitan, don’t wake up…

The girl didn’t stir for long however as a moment later her head returned on top of Gus’s and her deep breaths signified that the coast was clear.

Being VERY careful as to not draw any more attention to himself Hunter quickly passed through the living room, Vee still tightly in his grasp. It honestly surprised him how the girl hadn’t woken up at all with all of the movement he was subjecting her to, she must have been really tired. Hunter wondered how many nights in a row these dreams had been tormenting her for her to be out cold like this.

Slowly closing the basement door behind him, Hunter scaled the steps down into his and Gus’s room. The table lamp was still shining on the table, the unfinished jeans also laying forgotten in the sewing machine as Hunter approached the blue sofa that acted as Gus’s bed whenever he slept down here. 

Slowly and carefully Hunter bent over the sofa, gently pulling Vee away from himself as he laid her body out on the soft cushions. It took some time and a lot of concentration as Vee had begun to stir again during the trade-off but after a stressful couple of minutes Hunter took a step back, admiring the fact that he managed to essentially scale the entire house twice without waking her up. 

Hunter could feel the warmth leaving his chest as he stood with his arms empty for the first time in hours. He didn’t like it but it's not like he was going to hold her the entire night. Vee’s sleeping body rested comfortably on the sofa, but something was missing, he could feel it.

Blankets.

Turning on his heel Hunter made his way towards the closet behind the sewing desk where they kept pillows and blankets, slowly opening the door to find something to cover Vee with. As he grabbed a comforter, a spare blanket and a pillow, Hunter turned to leave before his eyes fell on another item, a certain hand crafted piece of clothing that he had completely forgotten about in the fiasco of the night. 

Shuffling all of the items that have begun to collect weight in his arms, Hunter reached down and picked up the sweater, the soft material soothing his hand as he examined his stitching and decoration. It was some of his better work, he wasn’t in the slightest ashamed to admit that, and turning back to his friend's sleeping figure on the couch he realised how much she really deserved it, especially after tonight.

Closing the distance between the two of them again, Hunter gently placed all of the bed accessories on the floor with a small thud, and so he began to make the bed. 

It was slightly tricky to make a bed with someone laying in it but Hunter managed, placing a soft comforter over Vee’s legs and stomach and a fuzzy zebra print blanket over her upper body and up to her neck. Putting a pillow under her head was a bit more difficult but with slow and careful movements he just about managed to do it without waking her up. Vee looked a lot more comfortable now, a small smile curling up the corners of her lips, and seeing Vee so snug and comfy hit Hunter with a wave of exhaustion, like every unslept second in the past eighteen hours had made itself known all at once. It was probably time to hit the sack himself, but before that he had to finish just one more thing….

Carefully and precisely Hunter folded the sweater, leaving the collar and the illustration of the orange facing up to the ceiling. Quietly he took the soft fabric into his hands and draped it over one arm of the couch Vee was occupying, the arm on the side where Vee’s legs reached to, and with a finishing touch he placed a small, yellow piece of paper which humans apparently called ‘ Sticky Notes’ on top of the sweater. A small but personal message scrawled across it in the nicest handwriting he could muster at this time. 

With all of his work done, Hunter took one last glance at Vee, just to make sure everything was in order and that she was sleeping peacefully, and thankfully she still was, her body tangled gleefully in the blankets.

This time Hunter couldn’t suppress his exhaustion, it was about time for him to go to sleep. Anything else he would deal with in the morning.

Now where was his sleeping bag…. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Hunter woke up to the sound of sizzling and scraping from upstairs.

The soft material of his sleeping bag contorted under his weight as he pushed himself up on his arms. He didn’t remember what time he’d fallen asleep but the digital clock in the room read ‘ 12:31 A.M. ’ so he must have slept for at least a couple of hours, thankfully that was all he needed. 

Quickly getting to his feet and flattening down his sleeping bag, Hunter took a look around the room. Apparently he had turned off the table lamp before passing out last night so at least he didn’t have to worry about racking up Camila’s electricity bill, and the mass of handkerchiefs and denim still laid across the table like it had the night before. What even happened last night? Hunter tried to make himself remember but all of his memories of the night before just faded into one large mess of sounds and colours. He turned his head towards the couch, the two blankets he faintly remembered taking out last night now laid neatly folded and placed on top of a pillow.

With a wave of realisation, Hunter remembered.

Vee.

Hunter moved past the couch, noticing the lack of an important piece of clothing that he had placed there the night before, before quickly scaling the stairs up to the ground floor.

As he reached the living room, Hunter's nose picked up the smell of sizzling fat and a scent he recognised as human eggs, that being eggs from the human dimension not eggs laid by humans, Titan knows he’d gotten that factoid wrong on multiple occasions.

Following the sound of chatter and movement, Hunter walked into the kitchen, the faces of the Noceda’s turning to shine at him brightly in the morning light.

“Good morning cariño,” Camila’s voice rang out sweetly, “Would you like to sit down? We’re just about to have breakfast.”

Hunter muttered a quiet ‘ good morning’ to nobody in particular as he moved towards the dinner table, the light from the windows making him traverse the kitchen half blind.

Scooting into his seat at the table, Luz’s easily recognisable voice called out to him as his eyes adjusted to the sun,

“It’s not often that you’re the one to wake up last, what did you get yourself into last night?” She joked through a mouthful of bacon, her mouth full like a chipmunk as she attempted and failed to swallow.

“Oh you know, had a party, the usual.” Hunter responded with a joke, though it was only then that he understood what Luz had just said.

‘ Last one to wake up.’

That would mean…

As Hunter raised his arm from blocking his eyes, he could start to make out shapes and people in the sunlit kitchen. Somehow he successfully managed to sit down at one of the many chairs by the table, Luz sat on his left, Camila was up by the stove on the opposite side of the room, and as Hunter’s eyes scanned the room he noticed one more figure. A comparatively small body hunched over her own plate of bacon and eggs with a piece of paper adorning a fire glyph on top, her scaly head turned towards him and her golden eyes staring into his own, a familiar Orange embroidery on her new orange sweater. 

The two stared at each other, uncertain of what to do, any other day they would pretend like they didn’t exist but, seemingly after last night, there was a new glow in Vee’s eyes, and Hunter could feel a similar one in his own.

A smile curled up on Vee’s face, and not the kind that she normally had when looking at Hunter, not that fake, sickeningly sweet smile that she was made to put on whenever he entered a room. It was a real smile, a genuine smile, she was happy to see him, and he was happy to see her too.

“Would you like some eggs Hunter?” Camila asked from behind him, making him break eye contact.

“Y-Yes please.” He stammered politely, turning to face Camila in response before turning back to Vee.

Even though she was in her basilisk form Vee still wore the sweater, Hunter didn’t know why but that little gesture made his chest grow very warm.

“Where is everyone else?” Hunter asked casually, trying his best to keep his voice calm and stable.

Luz managed to swallow her food, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she responded,

“Well Willow and Amity are gone on a ‘ Team Bonding Mission’, I was too scared to ask what that entailed so they’ll probably be gone for a while,” Luz said putting air quotes around ‘ Team Bonding Mission’ . Knowing those two Hunter would have also been scared to ask.

“And Gus is in the bathroom, he’ll be down soon.” Luz finished before engulfing half of her egg in one bite, disgusting.

Hunter started at his own food as Camila moved over to Vee, asking if she wanted any more glyphs to eat. Ever since Vee became a permanent resident of the Noceda household Camila had started to keep a small container of different glyphs by the spice rack in the kitchen, thankfully glyphs didn’t work very well in the human world otherwise it would’ve been a major fire hazard. Vee politely refused.

“Did you sleep well mija’s? I heard one of you walking around your room during the night.” Camila’s words made Hunter’s blood run cold, apparently he hadn’t been as quiet as he had hoped.

“Yea I heard it too, I slept fine though, maybe it was Willow or Amity?” Luz offered.

‘Oh yea suuure it was Amity. There was nothing else she could’ve been doing last night.’ Hunter saw through Luz’s lie as he desperately hoped that nobody would ask him about what he was doing.

“Oh, that was me actually.” Vee spoke up to everybody’s surprise.

“Aw mija are you okay? Are you sick?” Camila worried as she immediately started taking Vee’s temperature with the back of her hand, much to the resistance of Vee herself.

“I’m okay! I’m okay,” She giggled, “I just couldn’t sleep so I went for a little walk around the house, really everything is fine.”

Hunter was quite impressed at Vee’s ability to lie on the spot like that, she sounded so convincing, he wondered how many times she had completely made something up on the spot and convinced him of it being the truth.

Camila settled back in her chair, her face not dropping that worried expression. She responded with a click of her tongue,

“Alright, what time did you fall asleep? Mi corazón you must be so tired.” She gently stroked Vee’s face, another giggle escaping the girl's mouth.

“Actually I slept fine!” Vee exclaimed, her eyes meeting with Hunter’s once again as she uttered the words,

“In fact, that was the best night’s sleep I've had in a very long time….”

Hunter couldn’t help but to smile widely at that, acknowledging the silent ‘ thank you’ only known between him and Vee. Vee smiled back in understanding before continuing with her food, her orange themed sweater illuminated by the sunlight.

In a way, Vee reminded Hunter of an orange. Yes, she seemed bitter and unpleasant to him on the outside, but once he got past that bitter skin, he had the pleasure of meeting a sweet, nice and loveable girl.

After that night there was an unspoken understanding between the two of them. They never mentioned what had happened to anybody but themselves, and all the months before that night seemed to slip away from their memories,

They were family now…

…and they understood each other like nobody else could.