Chapter Text
...
It was a late night, the full moon shining brightly. Hunter was in his room, not being able to sleep, he just... stared at the walls. He shook his head and looked out the window.
Tonight really is a beautiful night, huh? He thought in his mind. Since he was thinking about all the things with Belos, maybe, going outside would clear his mind, and make him more positive!
He lifted Flapjack off the ground and put him in his cage, sealing the door shut. "I'll be right back." He whispered to Flapjack. Flapjack chirped quietly and nestled its feathery head into its chest, falling asleep. Hunter went up the stairs that led out of the basement and opened the front door in the living room, stepping outside and walking around near the garden.
...
When Hunter looked up at the night sky, he simply gasped. He never saw so many stars in one place... It was quite beautiful, actually. "Oh, wow..." He mumbled to himself, in extreme awe.
His eyes glittered under the thousand stars in the night sky. He sat down on a bench in the middle of the garden, but then, his eyes drifted to the full moon. He couldn't take his eyes off of it, actually.
When he stared at it for so long, he felt..a tingling sensation in his throat. As if... something deep inside of him... was growling.
Hunter's eyes were glued to the moon, it felt as if all he could concentrate on was that. Before he knew it, without even controlling it, he suddenly... howled?
His eyes expanded in shock, and he covered his mouth with both of his hands, even though his mouth was starting to feel numb, but he shook it off.
"Oh, Titan, must be me being a weirdo, heh..." He said worryingly. For some reason, keeping his hands on his mouth was starting to... hurt? He took them off, and out of the blue, his mouth started growing into... a wolf's snout?! He gasped, once again, as his eyes turned a bright, glowing yellow, and his pupils formed into slim black slits. He couldn't help but keep barking and yipping...
After a few more awkward barks and yips later, little patches of fur that were the same color of his grimwalker skin kept appearing. There were fur sticking out of his cheeks, arms... it was growing everywhere! Soon enough, his whole body was covered in... fur! He couldn't even say a word, for his brain felt like it was all turning into woofs and arfs. Some parts of his clothes were ripping, and he had already grown a tail. Slowly, but surely, he turned into...
...a werewolf!
He was on all fours, his tail wagging madly as he didn't have a humane mind anymore, he only had the mind of a savage wolf—he had the looks of one, too. But, you could still recognize that it was him, Hunter. Some other parts had transferred into something wolf-like as well.
...
Back in the basement, Gus shot straight awake when he heard Flapjack frantically chirping. Gus ran over to Flapjack's cage and stared at him in confusion. "Flapjack, what's wrong? Also, where's Hunter?" He questioned. Flapjack chirped nervously back at him. Gus didn't fully understand what Flapjack was saying, but, he knew it was serious.
He knew he should get a authoritative figure to come with him to find out where Hunter went, but who?
Of course, since Gus wasn't thinking about Camila, the only adult in the house, he went to his best friend, Willow!
He slowly sneaked up the stairs and went into Amity and Willow's room, and shook Willow slightly until she awoke.
"Gus, what's up? It's super late..." She whispered at him, her eyes half closed.
"Listen, Hunter's gone, and I don't know where he went! Flapjack was trying to tell me, but, I don't speak bird. Since you're his, like, girlfriend, he'd probably need you." Gus whispered back, still looking quite worried. "Why don't you get a actual adult, like Camila?" Willow questioned, talking at him in a low tone. "No time, let's go!" He said hurriedly, grabbing Willow by her wrist and flinging her out of her bed, out into the living room, and they ended up outside.
...
After some hurrying and running, Gus and Willow were finally in the backyard, where the garden was located.
"Do you see him anywhere?" She questioned, holding his hand tight, as they slowly stepped into the garden. "No, I-" Gus was interrupted by a sudden rustling that came from the bushes. Behind the bushes, of course, was Hunter, busy chewing on a rabbit. Gus and Willow stopped in their tracks, the moment they heard the rustling.
Surprisingly, Amity burst through the door, and was standing right behind them. "What's going on? You all woke me up out of my slumber." She whispered/complained to them. "Well, we heard some rustling, a-"
Before Willow could explain, a blur shot right past them, pouncing onto Amity!
Willow and Gus ducked to the sides, as the blur tackled Amity to the grass, landing with a loud thud. Amity struggled to get the mysteriously fast creature off of her, but then, she concentrated, and looking into the creature's face, she saw him... it was Hunter!
"Hunter, what's gotten into you?!" Amity yelled, throwing him off of her. He only responded with a growl and a high-pitched yip. She took another close look at him, as he slowly got up from the ground.
This wasn't just Hunter... this was wolf Hunter!
She made a giant purple magic ring with her fingers, and a large abomination appeared. Hunter jumped right through the abomination's goo, landing straight back onto Amity. He kept snapping at Amity's face, his pointy teeth snarling right back at her. At this angle, it made her terrified. "Willow, Gus! H-" She tried to call for help, but, it was too late.
While she was distracted, Hunter raised his sharp claws and scratched deep into her right eye, blood dripping down her cheek as she tried to hold her wound. She screamed in unbelievable pain, as the wound kept stinging. Finally, Gus moved out of the way as Willow made a green magic ring, and vines emerged from the garden, slamming Hunter down into the wall and restraining him from moving. Willow ran to Amity, checking her wounds immediately. "Oh, Amity! That's... a really deep scar. We'll get you patched up, alright?" Willow whispered, eyeing Hunter a bit.
Gus hurried off into Hunter's direction, as Hunter was still struggling and nipping at the vines that held him to the wall, yipping and barking and whimpering and making all sorts of canine sounds. "Woah, Hunter got turned into a wolf by the full moon!" Gus whispered in awe, staring at Hunter's black slits in his yellow eyes, his fluffy ears, his wagging tail, and his fangs.
"No wonder he attacked Amity. Poor guy's mind's all messed up, now, he can only act, look, and talk like a wolf." Willow commented silently, still looking at Hunter. Amity inhaled sharply, her scars still stinging as Willow applied a cloth onto it to stop the bleeding a bit. "Titan, he sure knows how to attack... agh, this hurts like a bucket of wasps!" She exclaimed.
"So..." Gus continued, kicking a pebble on the ground to make a bit of noise between the pauses he made. "What do we do with Hunter? If he's gonna stay a wolf like this until we can figure out how to reverse the spell, do we just keep him out here, or-" Gus was pondering, until Willow worriedly interrupted him.
"No, Gus! We can't leave him out here, he'll starve, or, he'll get hypothermia! Something might hurt him!" She exclaimed.
Gus just rolled his eyes.
"Well, how about you carry Hunter to your room downstairs, and lay him in his little bed?" Willow asked of him. Gus perked up and shook his head. "Did you see how he destroyed Amity? He's gonna claw me up bad!" He exclaimed, terrified of the blood still dripping from Hunter's claws, and his snarling, wet mouth.
"Don't worry," Willow reassured him, "I know Hunter. He feels safe around you, he won't attack you. Trust me." Willow remarked, as she picked up a limping Amity and carried her inside. The only two left outside were Gus and Hunter. "Alright, I really hope you don't kill me..." Gus prayed under his breath, as he untied the vines that held Hunter.
Surprisingly, Hunter acted just like a dog that met it's owner. He walked on all fours and curled around Gus' legs, barking affectionately at him, his tail wagging. "Wow, I guess you do like me!" He exclaimed, as he escorted Hunter back inside as well.
Finally, after Willow had took Amity to the bathroom to nurse her, Gus took Hunter downstairs, and pushed him into his bed. Hunter whimpered and yipped, circling around on his bed for a bit, before curling up, putting his fluffy tail on his head, and falling asleep. Gus sighed in relief, collapsing onto the couch, pulling the covers onto him, closing his eyes, and falling asleep, right beside wolf Hunter. While Hunter slept, all of his grimwalker memories were slowly fading into wolf memories...
Belos, Kikimora, being a Golden Guard...
All he could remember was Willow and Gus, and being a wolf. His tail wagged on the hard floor of the basement, and he made tiny yips and whimpers throughout his sleep, while Gus was out like a busted light. The moon still shined brightly through the dark night sky, scattered behind stars, the window in the basement's curtain was open just so slightly, a little sliver of moonlight could seep in.
Finally, the sun rose, and the sky was painted with orange and yellow hues, mixed with a fading blue. The shining sun rose high into the sky, the sunlight shining through the window in the basement. The beam shined directly on Hunter, and, surprisingly, he... wasn't a wolf anymore?
He had returned to his normal self, and he didn't remember a thing about clawing Amity, or anything that happened that night. All he remembered was that he went outside, and suddenly, his vision went blurry... the rest is history. But, his memories of all his Golden Guard stuff was brought back to him.
Hunter groaned as he put his hand on his head, rubbing it as he crouched up slowly. Gus woke up, staring at Hunter, a bit confused, but still alert. "I'm surprised you aren't a wolf anymore..." Gus exclaimed. "Do you remember anything about it?" He asked.
Hunter just stared at Gus with even more confusion, raising an eyebrow. "All I remember is that I went outside, and now I'm back here somehow. I don't remember anything about this wolf business, and I'm too tired to care!" He yelled back as he got up completely, but Gus hopped off the couch and held him by his arm.
"Wait! Are you sure you don't remember you pouncing onto Amity?" Gus questioned him. Hunter facepalmed slowly, groaning with exhaustion. "I never attacked Amity, and if I did, I don't recognize a single thing of it in my memory." He replied, getting a bit annoyed at Gus for all these assumptions, (which are actually true, but he doesn't know that), heading off to the stairs that leads to the upstairs area of the house. When he got to the top of the stairs, he gasped at what he saw.
The claw mark on Amity's eye was healed, but it looked rugged and severe, and she could barely see out of it. Gus followed Hunter upstairs and poked an absent finger at Amity. "See," he exclaimed, "that's what I was talking about! You did that!" Hunter stared at Gus, worried, and he propped down on a random step on the staircase.
"I did that? I hurt her on purpose, didn't I? And I wasn't even conscious when I was doing it..." Hunter looked at the floor sadly, his eyes twitching madly.
"I'm... I'm gonna go to the bathroom." Hunter rushed off of the stairs and into the restroom, slamming the door behind him and making the walls vibrate as he closed it shut. "Wait, Hunter!" By the time Gus called out for him, he was already in the facilities.
Hunter panicked as he looked in the mirror, his eyes turning yellow again and his skin feeling itchy, as it suddenly got more hairy and more fluffy, gripping the sink counter as hard as he could as he felt his mind going blank again.
"No—what...? what's..." Hunter started growling as wolf ears poked out the sides of his head and a muzzle grew from his face, a bushy tail emerging from his backside as his skin got fluffier, soon turning into fur as he dropped on all fours, prowling like mad on the tiled floor.
Hunter screamed in his thoughts, as his wolf version of himself growled and yipped, bursting through the bathroom door in a commotion.
Camila, who was washing dishes, and was oblivious to this whole thing about Hunter being able to transform into a wolf, turned around and shrieked in shock, her eyes widening and her stance freezing. "L-Luz! What the infierno?! There's a wolf in here!" She cried, as Gus shot up from the stairs, biting his lip in anticipation as Hunter came sprinting towards Amity, right in the middle of this chaos, Luz ran from her room and tackled Hunter to the ground, making him whimper and shuffle as he hit the floor.
"I've got him!" Luz called out to her mother and everyone else, and when she finally focused on the wolf... her face twisted into one of worry.
"Wait... Hunter...? What's going on?" In fear, she released her grip from Hunter being practically stapled to the floor, shooting up immediately in suspense and confusion.
"Wait, no! Keep holding him d-" Before Amity could yell back at Luz, it was far too late.
Hunter had already sprung up onto her and threw her on the floor, yipping and barking and growling and snarling at her, snapping his jaws and releasing his claws, digging them deep into her wrists.
Amity shrieked and yelled and rolled around as Hunter kept digging his claws even deeper into her wrists, making blood ooze all over her fingers and onto the floor, and once tears started running down Amity's cheeks due to the immense pain, he relaxed his death grip and opened his jaw up as wide as he could, then pounced down and locked his teeth deep into Amity's hollow throat, making her cough up specks of blood into the air, screeching a horrific scream.
Finally, before this werewolf version of Hunter could do even more damage to Amity, Vee jumped from the shadows and tackled him off of Amity, wrestling him before she got a good grip on his fur, and looked back at Amity in suspense. Amity grasped her shirt hard and backed up to the wall, panting and heaving like mad, as red gushed from her throat and her wrists, a flood of tears dripping down her face.
In the midst of the moment, as Amity's back was to the wall and she was desperately attempting to catch her breath, Luz, Camila, and Vee were trying their hardest to understand the situation with Hunter right now, but they couldn't stand to see Amity like that. Vee immediately hopped off of the wolf that represented Hunter and slithered on over to Amity as quickly as she could, using Amity's shirt as something to catch the blood dripping from her throat.
As Vee wasn't suspending Hunter to the wooden floor, he got up, shook his fur off aggressively, and turned around to face Camila, a river of blood dripping from his teeth and claws as he prowled towards Camila. She was frozen in fear, her hands trembling as she grasped onto the wet pan that she was holding in her arms from washing the dishes, and, once she caught a quick glimpse of Hunter releasing his suspension of the floor and leaping up into the air, gravity pushing him up...
SLAM!!
Camila swung the metal pan into Hunter's jaw, making him fly across the kitchen and hit a cabinet with a hard bang, landing on the floor with a whimper as he collapsed with his own blood dripping from the top of his head, some from his mouth, and a lot gushing from his nose. He desperately tried to push himself up, but, he finally gave in, and lay unconscious.
...silence filled the room.
Everyone stared in horror, shock, and almost complete, absolute confusion.
Camila gasped and clasped her hands on her mouth, shaking in terror and fear of what she'd just done, straight out of being terrified.
"Oh, my God..." Camila whispered under her breath, as she kept gazing at Hunter's body against the cabinet, as his wolf features slowly grew smaller, and disappeared—all that was left was a trembling Hunter, blood dripping down his face, his eyes closed as he lay as still as a stone statue.
Amity was on the other side of the room, gasping wildly, Vee still holding her shirt to keep the blood fountain restrained.
"Oh, my God, Luz! What just happened?! I-I... What's happened to mi hijo?" Camila looked at Luz in terror. Luz only responded with a quick glance of fear, and mostly confusion.
Gus retreated back down the stairs, as to not get caught up in the chaotic mess that was currently happening.
After for what seemed like forever, Willow came running out of her room and ran straight towards Hunter, completely ignoring the bleeding Amity by the wall, crouching down instantly to check if he was okay.
"Holy Titan! Hunter, are you okay?" She put her hands on Hunter's arms lightly, giving him a slight shake. "Hunter! Get up!" she frantically cried. Hunter responded to Willow's shaking by opening one eye slightly, gritting his teeth in pain as he immediately drew his hands to his head, holding it tightly as he groaned horribly.
"Oh, Titan! Holy fucking mother of Titans, shit, shit, shit!" He cursed under his breath, slowly moving up from the floor as Willow raised her hand and put it softly onto his cheek, the blood from his head running between her fingers. "Hunter, calm down! Are you okay? You're... bleeding... all over the floor... and my hand." She stuttered.
Hunter blushed at Willow, then went back to holding his head in pain. "I-I'm fine... What... happened...? And... oh, damn it... why in Titan's name do I feel like I have a concussion?" He sprawled.
Willow grinned awkwardly and shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure, but, we've..all got something to have a meeting about."