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“N—No, Flap. I’m— It’s okay.”
Flapjack didn’t halt wailing panicked notes into Hunter’s ears. She was trying to get it through his rich skull that it wasn’t okay. At all .
Hunter looked away from her to find himself hovering his jittering fingers over his shoulder, which was creating a mess on his sheets. If he once believed the Emperor was mad moments before Hunter had stumbled into his room, he would be furious if he were to see the blood trailing from his nephew’s doorway and pooling onto his bed.
Flap continued to scream in Hunter’s ears, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut and lean away from her. “Buddy, seriously—“
She cut him off with a squealing chirp.
The boy sighed and turned away from her. His fingers grazed above his shoulder slightly. Even the smallest touch sent waves of pain through him. He hitched his breath and suppressed a whimper.
“Okay,” he whispered shakily under his breath. “Okay… I need… Bandages— Bandages.”
Flapjack shook her head immediately. Blood! Stop the blood!
Hunter gazed up at her, his vision lost and fuzzy. His eyes drooped. This made Flapjack more wild. She started to loop around him. No!! Get help! Boy, get help!
“I can’t—“ Hunter whined. “Can’t go to healing room.” His words started to slur.
Flap narrowed her eye down at Hunter, flapping her wings right in front of the blonde’s face. Then somewhere else!
“Bud— Where? ”
Flapjack went quiet as her face dropped to a deadpan. It was like she was waiting for Hunter to figure it out. Hunter crushed his eyebrows together in confusion. The cardinal let out a single chirp and then he realized. Hunter’s expression quickly contorted to frustration. “No, no, no. I’m not going there . Literally anywhere else would—“ he cut himself off with a cry of pain when his arm throbbed with agony. He cramped a hand around his blood-soaked navy blue sleeve, squinting away the tears sprouting in his eyes. “Titan, Flap. This is really bad.” He gasped in his breaths. Flapjack landed on his knee, looking at her witch in concern.
“… I don’t think he’s ever gotten me this bad before,” Hunter confessed in a breath quieter than a whisper.
Blood continued to leak out of his body and through his fingers. There was a lot. Way more than Hunter remembered seeing a few minutes ago. He started to feel dizzy at the sight— or at the blood loss. Either one wasn’t a good answer. He tried to take in deep breaths and failed.
In a sudden decision, he stood. He needed to stop the blood, right? His feet stumbled on the floor as he rushed his eyes around for any supplies he could use. The room spun around his swirling head. He could feel himself losing balance. He looked at his palisman with a look of fear and desperation. “F—Flap.” She tweeted immediately back in response, hopping anxiously on Hunter’s leg.
Black started to dust the corner of his eyes.
“Flap, I don’t feel so good. I don’t—“ His body became hot, his head feverish. He squeezed in a few more panicked pants before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he flopped forwards to the floor. The last blurry noise he heard was Flapjack’s screaming song of terror.
——
Luz’s day was underwhelming. Disappointing.
She was leaned into Eda on the sofa in the living room of the Owl House, her brother curled up by her feet. She sighed, closing her eyes and nestling further into Eda’s shoulder. The woman chuckled softly, peering down at her teen. “Gettin’ sleepy, sleepyhead?”
“Hush,” Luz mumbled, keeping her eyes closed.
There were freshly drawn glyphs, unfinished notes on portal keys and an annoyingly silent Echo Mouse sprawled out on the coffee table. They had been working all day only for their studies to come up empty, as always. Luz’s phone pulled a heavy weight in her pocket. She moaned and hid her face between the back of the couch and Eda’s arm.
“Hey… What’s the matter?” Eda’s voice vibrated softly.
Luz just groaned louder.
“Tsk. Don’t be like that. You can’t give up hope!”
“But, Edaaaa. ” Luz sat up a little so she could peek up at Eda’s concerned expression. “We’ve been trying to figure out what we need for a portal for weeks! And there’s just—! Nothing .”
Eda sent her a stern look. “Hey, now. I know that you’re frustrated, but don’t make this sound like you’re just gonna give up.”
“I’m not— I can’t .”
There was a heavy pause.
Eda twisted her frown in thought. “How about we step away from it for a few days?” Luz started to groan more and Eda quickly cut her off. “I know your restless little mind is gonna implode from impatience. But… Maybe it’ll do us some good? Taking a break might freshen up our beautiful brains.”
Luz smirked. “Psh. Well… Alright.”
Eda let a mushy smile escape on her lips and turned to hug Luz, sneaking a kiss onto the top of her head. She leaned back and was met with the teenager’s delighted look of surprise from the motherly gesture. Eda bashfully jerked her gaze away and swung her legs down onto the floor. “Well! This old woman’s gonna hit the nest. Don’t stay up too late or whatever the good role models say. Night, kid.”
Luz watched with tired eyes as Eda stretched and cracked her bones. Her elder saluted like a dork and Luz giggled while returning it with two tired fingers against her forehead. “Goodnight.”
The girl sighed after Eda disappeared and smeared her hands down her face. Blinking slowly down at King’s calm unconscious breaths, Luz felt like she could fall asleep right then and there.
And she did.
She had no idea what time it was, but the creeping sunset that was there last she was awake was gone. It was replaced with a dark starry sky, creating a midnight purple glow in the living room.
Luz rubbed her eyes and sat up, a yawn breaking her jaw. She glanced down at her side where King was laying on his back, light snores pouring out of his mouth. A soft grin played on her lips at the quiet scene.
So, what woke her up?
She furrowed her eyebrows, peeking around the doors she could see from the sofa. There was nothing. It was a silent, sleeping night.
Save for the panicked tweets coming from right outside the front door.
Luz mumbled incoherent sounds and stood. She dragged her feet to the door, lazily slapping her hand on the doorknob. “Hooty, if someone’s here, why didn’t you—”
Her eyes popped out of their sockets. “Oh…”
Hooty flicked his frightened eyes to her — and if something freaked Hooty out, then Luz was in the storm for something — then down at the boy on the ground who was painting the grass darker with his blood outside the door.
Luz stumbled on her still feet, her hands starting to shake. “Oh… Oh… ”
A ball of red feathers collided with her face. Pleading, screaming chirps buzzed her ears.
“Little Rascal? Wha— What’s… What’s going on??”
The bird flew around in circles anxiously, swarming the witch’s head on the ground.
Luz fell to her knees, hesitantly reaching out for Hunter. He was out cold. She peeked over where the blood was coming from, which was hard to decipher because it was all over him. She peered at his right arm, where his shirt was ripped with swift tear: like he had been clawed at.
She had barely connected the skin of her fingers with his shoulder and Hunter’s breath hitched, soft whimpers escaping his lips. Luz officially felt her heart get demolished, leaving a heaviness with its pieces. She shook her head and joined her gaze with the cardinal’s again.
“What happened?? I don’t… I don’t know what to do.”
The palisman chirped and squealed in Luz’s face, probably telling the tale that the human couldn’t comprehend. Not only was Luz not a witch, but this wasn’t her palisman. She was apparently Hunter’s .
“I— I can’t understand you, Rascal.”
The bird dropped her wings and landed in Hunter’s hair. She looked back and forth from the boy and Luz.
Luz blew a shaky breath from her cheeks and hovered her shaky hands over Hunter. “I need— I should bring him inside. Okay…” She was so frightened she would just make things worse by picking up the hurt teen, but she really had no choice. She wasn’t going to try and patch him up out in the midnight grass nor was she going to abandon him and his bird. No way.
The human slowly slid one arm under his legs, the other to cushion his head. She exhaled deeply and closed her eyes. “Alright… Okay! This is fine! This is perfectly okay and I’m definitely not trying to bring an injured Golden Guard into the Owl Lady’s home!” Luz giggled hysterically. Little Rascal cut her off with a tweet. “Right, right. Whew… Okay.” She balanced herself on the ground and counted down from three. Then, she lifted the bleeding boy up with a grunt.
He was lighter than Amity.
Luz knew he was scrawny, she could see it. Maybe a little too skinny for the Emperor’s Coven, but muscle would’ve made him a little more heavier, right? He was weightless in her arms. It was easy to carry him very slowly into the house.
Hunter started to choke on whines and he whimpered out in agony. He gripped his shredded shirt and squeezed his shut eyes tighter.
Luz winced nervously. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Hunter.” She tiptoed into the Owl House, and heard Hooty solemnly shut the door behind her. Glancing at King sleeping so unaware, Luz carefully sat Hunter down on the empty space next to her brother.
“Lu—Luz?”
Hunter was squinting his eyes as they opened, his trembling hands jerking to his shoulder. Luz’s eyes brightened. “Yeah! Yeah, it’s me. It—It’s Luz.”
The boy whined and squeezed his eyes shut again. “It hurts . Please, Luz. It hurts…”
Luz’s lungs stopped working. “I—I know. But I… I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.” The human fidgeted with her fingers. She started to shake and flap her hands around. “What happened ?”
It took a pause for Hunter to realize she asked him a question. He gasped for a breath. “I… Uh, I was warned in the wrong place, I g—guess.”
A whining ring bursted in Luz’s eardrums.
“ What ?”
“You know… Doesn’t the Owl Lady ever—“ Hunter narrowed his eyes at her with annoyance. “Just— Hush. Don’t pretend to not know. I’m already confused enough.”
Luz found herself blinking rapidly, shaking her head as she tried to disect everything Hunter was stuttering out of his mouth with shaky words. “You’re… Woah, what—!?”
“Why am I here?” He cut her off. It was like she hadn’t even talked at all. Luz would’ve gotten mad if he wasn’t currently soaking blood into Eda’s couch.
“You— I—“ Luz swallowed and took a breath, finalizing her sprinting thoughts. “You were outside the door knocked out cold. Rascal— Your palisman was screaming at me.”
“My…?”
Feathers slightly flicked Luz’s cheek as Flapjack swarmed past her to the blonde leaning deeply into the cushions. The cardinal tweeted at him. She was flapping her wings so fast, Luz thought they’d fly right off.
“Yeah, yeah. I—I’m good, Flap.”
Luz stomped her foot, gaining the immediate panicked attention from Hunter. “You are so not good.”
The human received a glare in response.
“Dude!” Luz exasperated, flinging her hands out in the air. “You’re bleeding . Which—! Isn’t stopping!” Luz paused and widened her eyes. “Crud,” she muttered with dark anxiety. “It’s not stopping. Holy— Okay, it’s not stopping.”
Hunter groaned, from annoyance or pain, Luz really couldn’t tell. “It’s fine.”
Luz scoffed, crossing her arms. Her fingers immediately started tapping against her forearms in a nervous rhythm. “It can’t be fine if Flap had to bring you here against your will.”
Hunter narrowed his eyes at her darkly. “It’s Flapjack,” he corrected. His cardinal chirped at her.
Luz darted her eyes between Flapjack and Hunter. “Alright, okay— Hey, Flapjack. Awesome, we’ve been introduced,” Luz rambled nervously. “but I really wish you’d stop bleeding everywhere—“
Hunter bowed his head down. “Right. Sorry.”
Luz sighed and reached out for him, where she had noticed all the blood to be sprouting from, only for Hunter to flinch. Hard.
“Hunter?”
He had clenched his eyes shut, jerking his head to the side. When Luz had froze and didn’t lay a finger on him, he peeked an eye open, furrowing his brow in confusion.
Luz stared at him with wide bug eyes. She swallowed nervously. “Hey… Dude. I’m not… I’m not gonna hurt you. I never would. Okay?”
Hunter twisted his mouth around. “Whatever.”
Luz decided it’d be best to push this moment aside, along with her churning gut and dry throat, and fix the more colorful problem at hand. First, she flicked her eyes to Hunter’s. “Is it alright if I touch you? I’m just gonna look, okay?”
Hunter grunted a green light.
Luz softly smirked at him. “Got it,” she said quietly. She then, apprehensively, tugged away the strips of cloth of his shirt, which was torn half across his chest from the sleeve. When she slowly folded it open, a large gash was revealed that started from the back of his shoulder all the way to the middle of his chest. Luz couldn’t help the gasp that fell from her lips, her fingers covering her mouth.
“Hunter…”
Hunter whimpered. “Yeah… Yeah.”
“Wha— What happened ?”
The boy scoffed with a wince. “Doesn't matter.”
Luz sputtered. “What— You— Of course it matters!”
Hunter didn’t respond. He found the floors between his feet more interesting. Luz suppressed a frustrated sound.
“Alright.” Luz stood from her kneel on the floor. “I’m gonna grab whatever I can find— I’m sure Eda has first aid somewhere.” A brief nod from the boy set her skidding off— “Just… stay here an—and don’t go anywhere!” Then she was off, her socks sliding on the woodbound floors.
Luz didn’t mention to Hunter she was gonna drag the said Owl Lady out of her nest for much needed assistance. All Luz had knowledge in when it came to injury was the scratches and bruises she came home from when messing around with King. Not ginormous wounds given from whatever Hunter tried to excuse Belos from.
The teen girl ran right into Eda’s bedroom door before remembering to turn the knob. She swung it open, hurrying over to the nest.
“Eda!” She hissed. Luz hesitated her hands above the sleeping woman, a slight twist of guilt rolling in her stomach. She hated to disturb Eda; she rarely slept anymore. “Eda, wake up!”
“Hnng?” Eda’s head popped up, one eye barely peeking open. “Was happenin’?”
“Um, um.” Luz danced her eyes around the walls, deciding how to word her current situation. “Maybe it’d be best to just come with me.”
“Whaghh?”
Luz yanked Eda’s wrist. “Come on. Please, Eda. This is important!”
Eda woke up more alert to that. She blinked rapidly. “What’s wrong..?”
Luz didn’t answer, just pulled the lady out of the room. “Just, ah— Trigger warning, but the sad blonde I mentioned the other day is kinda on your couch.”
Eda immediately awoke. “Huh!? The Golden Guard guy??”
Luz didn’t answer, she just tugged at Eda’s hand as she rush back out. They arrived into the living room, where Hunter was scratching a trembling finger along his cardinal’s head. He jumped when he saw Eda standing in the doorway.
“Luz!” He whispered-shouted. “I thought you were getting first aid. ”
“For what—? ” Eda demanded before then and there she noticed the blood scattered all over her floors and sofa. “Kid?” She traced her eyes around him. “What in the Titan is going on here?”
Hunter stuttered his mouth open, ready to spew excuses out nervously before Luz cut him right off. “I warned you!! Kind of… Just, please. Don’t make it a big deal. We need to help him.”
Eda slacked her jaw and blinked at Luz.
“Please, Eda,” Luz whispered. “He’s my friend.”
Eda slowly started to nod. “Right, right.” She sighed, whistling at the end of her breath nervously. She approached Hunter, causing him to lean backwards into the cushions. “What’s going on here, blondie?”
He stared at her with huge eyes. “I swear, I wasn’t gonna do anything! My— The bird— The—“ he flicked his eyes over to Flapjack, “she—“
“Woah, woah. Chill, okay? I meant where the heck are you bleeding from?”
Hunter just looked blankly, chest heaving with pants. “O—Oh. Uh…” He glanced down at his shoulder, where blood had completely soaked his sleeve, spreading up his neck.
“Titan,” Eda mumbled under her breath. “I’m gonna check your arm out here, alright?” He responded with a single curt nod. Eda reached out for him as if her hands were fighting through mud. She went through the same pattern as Luz did, pulling the shred cloth of his damp blue shirt away, gasping and eyes growing at the sight of the long tears in his skin.
Eda swiveled around to Luz, where the kid was bouncing on her heels and fidgeting wildly with her hands with nerves. “Uh, kid. There should be a first aid kit somewhere . Check the hall closets… I also need a wet cloth— not too soaked, just damp. Can you do that for me?”
“On it!” Luz bursted, darting down the hall.
Eda turned back around at the look of terror spread on Hunter’s face. She curled her brow in worry. “…Kid?”
It took a second of him sitting there opening and closing his mouth for a response. He didn’t really have one. His voice squeaked when he finally said, “I’m, I’m really sorry for showing up here. I was… uh, I was unconscious when the palisman brought me here. I’m sorry.”
Eda immediately hated how it sounded like he was giving her a status report. Like she was Emperor Belos. She shook her head to fling away the nauseating thought.
“Wha… The palisman?” She found herself questioning. A chirp had her swinging her head over to the red cardinal clawing into Hunter’s knee. Eda looked back at the blonde. “Is he yours?”
Hunter grimaced. “She…” He looked at the bird with a long, hard thought. “Yeah, she is.”
Eda smirked softly, moving a cupped hand to Flapjack. The bird tweeted highly and bumped Eda’s hand for head rubs. “She’s a cutie.”
Hunter curled his lips into a smile he was trying to hide. “Mmhm. She… She is.”
Eda heard Luz’s pants and stomps on the wooden floors before she saw the kid sliding to her, first aid handle gripped hard in her hands. “Here’s the— The… The kit!!” Luz said in between gasps. She also handed over the damp cloth Eda asked for.
Eda chuckled, taking the kit. “Thanks, squirt.” She blew air from her lips and flipped open the box. She grabbed a bottle of antiseptic and carefully dripped it onto the cloth.
She moved towards Hunter. “This is probably not gonna feel the greatest, bud. But I gotta clean it... Is that alright?”
Hunter gulped and nodded, eyeing the damp disinfectant cloth in her hands widely.
Eda opened the shredded part of his shirt once more and gently pressed her firm hand down on his shoulder.
Hunter yelped out and slammed backwards into the sofa. He squeezed his eyes shut, his mouth twisted into a frown. He flapped his hands around to try and cope with the agony beating into the wound.
“I know, I know,” Eda tried to comfort. She blinked over at Luz’s wild, worried expression. Eda breathed deeply and pushed a little more into Hunter’s shoulder.
“Sto—Stop!” He shrieked, finally moving his hands to Eda’s as an attempt to yank them off. “ Please! It hurts!”
“Bud, I can’t. It’ll just hurt worse if it gets infected—“
Hunter just cried out more, battling at her fingers.
“Okay! Okay…” she pulled the cloth away and Hunter immediately curled up on to his side, his hands pressed over his wound. Eda sighed, tilting her head up at the ceiling and closing her eyes. She peeked at Luz. She had her hands over her ears. Her eyes were blown wide and glistening with tears. Eda shakily reached over to rub her shoulder. “I’m sorry, baby.”
Luz shook her head sternly. “I’m not the one who deserves an apology,” she whispered.
Eda furrowed her eyebrows. “Whaddya mean?” she responded back in a quiet voice.
Luz glanced at Hunter quickly — his whimpers were probably loud enough to drown out their side conversation — “I’m pretty sure Belos did this.”
Eda felt the world pause. She looked at the kid, the Golden Guard , on her couch, his hands grasping over his bloodied and torn clothes, eyes clenched with tears he was trying to suck back into his tear ducts, and whines stuttering from his lips.
Eda knew the Emperor was a sick man. Luz even knew and it only took one not so peaceful confrontation. They both knew that he didn’t care for anyone but himself, no matter how lamely he tried to convince otherwise. But— this? Deep, deep wounds in the young kid’s skin, so deep and creating so much blood that a palisman, his palisman, that Luz had said he wanted nothing to do with had to get him here? And how did the little bird do it anyway? There was no way she was capable of dragging him onto his staff, or even Flapjack’s own staff. Did he collapse onto her staff form?
The woman swallowed thickly and set the pinkened cloth down away from her. She searched her hand around for bandages, causing Hunter to peek open an eye at her.
“The best I can do now is try to wrap it. Will you let me do that?”
Hunter just stared at her.
“It… It might sting a little, but I promise it’ll be quick.”
The boy sniffled and flicked his eyes to Luz. She gave him a small trustworthy grin that gleamed in the darkened room. “It’s okay, Hunter. She wouldn’t hurt you on purpose.”
Hunter sighed and sat up. He kept his hand on his wounded shoulder, eyeing Eda hard. He scooted towards the edge of the couch and turned to the side, giving the Owl Lady access to it.
She hover the bandage above him and smirked. “You’re gonna have to let go, kid.”
He side glanced at her, then shakily peeled his hand away from his chest. Eda laid down the bandages slowly, which held healing magic inside. Hunter reacted with a hiss through his teeth, eyes screwing shut again.
“I’m sorry, kid. It’ll be over fast, I swear.” And it was. Eda had been able to clean the majority of the blood up, leaving the healing magic to close it up to a scratchy scar as she wrapped his shoulder. She couldn’t really do more than that; it was really deep.
When she was done, she pulled away and smirked at him. “Well, Nurse Eda is off the clock.”
Hunter bristled his fingers over the bandaging before jerking his ripped shirt over it. “…Thank you.”
“Of course, kid.”
The group huddled in a moment of silence.
“So… what now?” Luz spoke.
“What do you mean, human?” That was the first time Hunter didn’t sound like he was using the title in offense.
“What are you gonna do now? You… Are you gonna go back there?”
Hunter averted his eyes.
“How about this…” Eda announced, causing Hunter and Luz to look over at her. “Blondie stays here for the rest of the night. Get some sleep for those poor eyebags.”
Hunter started to protest, squeaks leaving his mouth as he tried to conform words to storm at Eda.
“You can leave in the morning if… if you really have to,” Eda said over a lump in her throat. She breathed and shook her head. “You get comfy here and I’m gonna make you dinner. You’re too skinny.”
When she stood, she heard Hunter continue to stutter. “In, In the middle of the night?”
“Sure! Well— Did you even eat dinner?”
Hunter slowly shook his head.
Eda winked at him. “Exactly.” She disappeared into the kitchen. Hunter could only stare at the doorway she walked into with an open mouth of disbelief, confused eyebrows raised on his head.
Luz stood up from the floor as well. “I’m gonna get you some blankets!! I can steal some of King’s stuffies if you want, too.”
Hunter blinked and just then noticed the ball of fur curled up on the other side of the sofa. “Did he sleep through all of that?”
Luz followed his eyes and giggled. “He could probably sleep through a hurricane.”
“A what?”
“Nevermind that. I’ll be right back!”
Hunter called out to her, “that’s not necessary—!” But it was too late, Luz was already scampering down the hall.
Collapsing back into the couch, Hunter let out a deep sigh to untangle the knots in his chest. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to ignore the pulsing pain in his shoulder.
When Eda returned with steaming soup and a potion of painkillers and Luz hopped back with blankets, a pillow and a stolen plushie, Hunter swallowed around a lump in his throat and took the offerings with thank you’s on his lips.
Eda twisted her mouth around, eyes softening at Luz who climbed up next to him and curled up to lay her head on his lap — like how King does onto Luz. His palisman fluttered up to nest in his hair. “Of course, Blondie. We don’t mind at all.”
Because Titan knows no one else will give him simple comfort without a will to earn something back from him in return. And he deserved it, without question. Eda met the Golden Guard, the mask that concealed all his strong facial expressions. She met the stern tone that echoed underneath the metal on his face, but that also underlyed a childish attitude and wonder. And it really was a child because Luz had told her when she met Hunter in Latissa. “Eda, he looks like he could be going to Hexside. He was just so… beat up and sad.”
And now Eda met Hunter. On her couch, using his jittery nervous hands to eat the mediocre soup she made— she was a wild witch, not a chef. Hunter was just a kid, a teen who should be doing normal teen things. Not sneaking out because he couldn’t handle his own wounds. Eda sighed, moving over to pet Flapjack and ruffle around Hunter’s hair. “I don’t mind one bit.”