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High above the clouds of the Boiling Isles, with a bird’s-eye view of the Demon Realm’s expanse, Hunter sat atop Waffles’ staff form and idly dangled his legs. The sun had just pushed over the horizon and begun filling the world with its bright, comforting rays.
The streets of Bonesborough bustled in the distance beneath him, its witches and demons appearing as small as ants from the height he was at. The forests outside the city were now dotted with the distinct saplings of palistrum trees. Further down the shores, he could make out a selkidomus family casually coasting along the waves, not showing the caution that had once driven them into hiding.
People were becoming more comfortable with themselves. Nature was healing. The future of the Isles looked bright – and, if anyone asked Hunter why, he would suggest that it was because a certain someone was out of the picture.
Not that things would be perfect on the Boiling Isles. Nowhere was perfect! There would be growing pains that came with adjusting to a world free of Belos’s restrictions. What mattered to Hunter was that the man’s extreme control over the day-to-day lives of witches and demons had ended. People could make their own choices for once, and that included him.
He didn’t have to stomach abuse or go against his conscience by following questionable orders. For once, Hunter was allowed to live his own life. That meant being open about his ownership of a palisman – the thought of it making him smile and gently pet the blue jay part of Waffles’ staff. It also left him with plenty to figure out about himself.
What did he want out of his life? So much had been decided for him up until Luz had shown him the harsh truths about Belos and his own past. He had never planned for the future because his “uncle” had extensively done that for him.
That had been one of the biggest reasons he had taken to the skies that morning, aside from the gorgeous view. Darius had suggested finding someplace quiet and peaceful to get his thoughts together, noting his own positive experiences with mindfulness and meditation. Since the abominations expert had been one of the few adults to give him the time of day, Hunter had figured he should take his advice.
That left him where he was now, sightseeing thousands of feet in the air with little else to do but think. He would have asked for Waffles’ input, but the palisman was too busy maintaining their stable hovering to talk. He’d just ask her whenever they landed – she loved to talk and help him sort out his troubles.
Luckily, as he noticed another staff-riding witch ascending toward him, he realized he would still have the chance to chat with a close confidant. If the short hair and bright clothing of the girl climbing through the skies didn’t give away her identity, her snake shifter palisman staff was distinct enough to indicate who she was.
“Already out bright and early, Hunter?” Luz playfully called out to him. “Can’t blame you – it’s a good morning. Mind if I join you up there?”
“What if I say no?” he asked back, not putting in the effort of sounding serious.
Mock-gasping, Luz clasped her hands against her heart. “How cruel of you! Is this the thanks I get for popping by to visit my amazing boyfriend? I should have listened to my mama about not hanging around the bad boys!”
Unable to keep the act up any longer, Hunter and Luz broke into a fit of giggles over their play-argument. Wiping a tear from his eye, he patted the spot beside him on his staff.
“Come on up. There’s plenty of room in the sky for two.”
Smoothly flying Stringbean around the cloud formations, Luz parked her staff next to Hunter’s. Getting a closer look at her, he noticed that she had swapped out her earrings for a small set of hoops, and that she had added a pair of fingerless gloves to wardrobe. It was an odd setup, but Luz wasn’t known for her typical sense of fashion. She looked sort of tomboyish while still emphasizing her femininity in other ways.
Apparently, he had been staring at her noticeably longer than he had planned, because Luz began to lightly tease him about it.
“Tsk tsk, Hunter.” Wagging a finger at him, she said, “I know I’m pretty, but take a picture if you like me that much!”
“S-sorry,” he muttered, mildly embarrassed over being caught. “You just…look nice, that’s all. I like what you’ve been doing with your looks lately.”
“Aww, thank you! I’m just joking, anyway. It’s nice how interested you are!” Tenting her fingers together, she added, “…Plus, I’d be lying if I said you weren’t easy on the eyes as well.”
Smiling to himself at the compliment, Hunter had nothing to say in return. Just allowing the pleasant silence to linger and soak in was more than enough for him. Things just felt easier with Luz by his side, even if it was for something as simple as an early morning talk. She had a way of brightening up his life, even in his darkest places.
He never would have made it out of Belos’s mind or moved on from Flapjack’s sacrifice without her help. For those two moments alone, he thought the world of her.
“…Soooo…” Luz was clearly trying to act disinterested and casual about whatever she planned to say next. “…A certain abominations witch with impeccable taste in fashion said you were feeling lost and could use some advice. Any truth to that?”
“An abominations witch with good fashion taste? Do you mean Darius or Amity?”
Seemingly ready to give an obvious answer, Luz paused and held a hand to her chin. Her scarred eyebrow raised a small bit.
“…Huh, I never thought of that. Good point – I gotta be more specific. It was Darius, though I’m sure Amity would’ve lent a hand if she had known.”
Darius had taken an interest in Hunter’s life ever since he had freed the Emerald Entrails against his initial judgment. He hadn’t known what to make of the head witch’s attempts to advise and support him initially, but it eventually had become clear that he had shown more concern than Belos ever had. When the dust had settled from Luz’s last confrontation with Belos, Darius had been quick to offer Hunter a place to stay.
Hunter had waited for the other shoe to drop, for there to be some catch to Darius’s offer. Everybody had an angle, Belos had hammered that lesson home during his upbringing. People were always ready to manipulate you when you least expected it. For that reason, Hunter hadn’t been able to let his guard down around the abominations expert at first.
Then the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months. No cutthroat deal or ruthless bargain ever came from Darius. The head witch continued to let Hunter board with him, trying to keep up-to-date on his misadventures with Luz and the others. Heck, he had seemed proud when Hunter had finished carving Waffles from palistrum wood!
The most he had ever gotten from his so-called uncle had been a muted bit of praise for bringing Blight Industries under his regime’s control.
“…Yeah, you could say I’m feeling lost,” Hunter admitted. “A lot’s changed, and I’m having trouble coming to grips with it.”
In an act of equal parts bravery and insanity, Luz hopped from her staff to his, nearly throwing them both off-balance from the unevenness. Yelping, Hunter frantically adjusted the weight distribution while Luz used Stringbean to stabilize it further. When he whirled around to glare at her, she was trying to hide an embarrassed fit of laughter behind her free hand.
“Are you trying to send us both into freefall?” he cried in disbelief. Despite his own efforts to remain serious, he slowly became infected by Luz’s giggling fit.
“No!” she laughed. “I’m serious, I mean it! I thought it’d be cute and perfect for cheering you up!”
The girl was failing miserably at hiding her amusement, and Hunter was being dragged into her shenanigans. Typical. Maybe that was why he liked her so much – she had a way of diffusing situations and creating joy in the most absurd ways possible.
“Well, we didn’t take a one-way trip to the ground, so that’s better than nothing.” He tried hard to flatten the smile on his face and suppress the chuckles that kept escaping through his lips, not succeeding particularly well on either front. “Darius is right. So much of what I learned and took to heart growing up came from Belos, and he wasn’t a role model by any means. He had mapped out my future to the minute…at least, that’s what he made it seem like. No clue if he ever planned anything for me short of dying.”
Mentioning Belos’s abuse was enough to erase any amusement from Luz’s expression. She was all too familiar with his machinations and cruelty.
“He was never gonna win any ‘parent of the year’ awards…” she grimly commented.
“I’m glad he’s gone and all, but now…I don’t know what to do. I didn’t plan for this, all this freedom and all these people who are interested in me for who I am! Like, a few days back, Willow and Amity asked me if I wanted to do some gardening with them! Nobody in the covens bothered to do stuff like that with me, not even when I led the Emperor’s Coven!”
Luz winced at the remark. “Willow mentioned how tough it was for you to blend in with regular students. I guess there weren’t many people your age in the covens?”
“Not just that – there weren’t many friendly people in the covens. Everything was so cutthroat! I tried making friends at first, but everyone wanted to get one over on their competition! It didn’t matter whether it was Kikimora or Terra, everybody had an agenda!”
Curling his legs inward, Hunter continued speaking. “That’s why it was so tough to trust you and the others. I was so used to being manipulated and used for some ulterior motive, so I just assumed everyone acted that way. It took you, Gus, Willow, Amity, and so many other people to break that mindset!”
He didn’t bring up Flapjack. He had accepted the cardinal palisman’s death, but it still hurt to bring the inquisitive little bird up. He had been Hunter’s first true friend and confidant. As much as he loved Waffles, he still trembled a little when he thought about Flapjack’s sacrifice.
Luz seemed to catch on to his line of thinking. She sympathetically laid a hand on his shoulder, smiling in that subtle and reassuring way that made his heart melt.
“Healing takes time, Hunter. Nobody expects you to instantly get over how Belos or the covens treated you! We all move on in different ways. What matters is that you’re talking about how you feel; it lets your friends know how you’re doing and how to help you.”
“You sound familiar with that,” he noted.
“Yeah, you could say that.”
Luz shifted in place, seemingly uncomfortable by the change in topic. Before Hunter could try to correct the issue, she spoke up again.
“You weren’t around for it, but after getting back in touch with my mom for the first time…I made that same mistake. I kept a lot of problems bottled up, thinking it was better not to worry Amity or the others about them. It hurt, but I was convinced I was doing the right thing.”
“I’m guessing you were wrong?”
Sadly nodding, she said, “It just backfired in the end. The others forgave me, but I brought on a lot more heartache than I had hoped. I should have been more upfront about the stuff bothering me…I’ll never make that same mistake again.”
Hearing Luz become so somber and regretful was a rarity for Hunter. The girl was like an eternal ball of sunshine that brightened an entire room when she was around. He had heard bits and pieces about her past drama from Gus, but he hadn’t realized how badly it had stuck with her.
He didn’t like the idea of her falling into that same pitfall of regrets and remorse he often delved into. New priority: cheer up Luz before she dwelled too hard on her past.
“But everything worked out in the end, right? Like you said, they forgave you. They even helped you put an end to the Day of Unity!”
Cracks formed around Luz’s morose expression. She seemed to lighten up at the mentions of those positive memories.
“It did…I couldn’t have asked for better friends. Or a wiser mentor.” Glancing at Hunter, she quietly added, “Or a more wonderful boyfriend.”
The compliment was enough to make his cheeks warm and his pulse quicken a little from glee. If Waffles was in her palisman form, she would have gushed about the outpouring of love and the pure romance Luz shared with her master. In a way, it was a good thing the blue jay was in her staff form, because she would have gotten livid at him for preparing to ruin the moment.
“Ah, you’re too kind.” Ruffling Luz’s short hair, much to her amusement, Hunter took advantage of her distraction to slip in a snippet impending cheesiness.
“In fact…” he slowly began saying, hoping to draw anticipation from her, “…you could say that the real Day of Unity…”
Luz’s eyes widened with recognition. In mock-horror, she accusingly jabbed a finger at the former Golden Guard.
“Oh no, don’t you dare…”
“…Was the friends you made along the way!”
Descending into faux-outrage, Luz undid one of her sneakers and began playfully thumping him with it. She cursed at him in Spanish with every tap, though her insults and cries of heresy lacked any venom to them. Laughing with every light bump, Hunter weakly tried to fend his girlfriend off with his free arm.
“You jerk!” Luz giggled. “That’s the dumbest story trope around, and you know it!”
“Azura did it first! You can’t blame me for stealing from your favorite series!”
“That was in the worst spin-off book, The Good Witch Azura Helps Hecate Do Her Taxes, and you know it! The mainline stories were never polluted with that garbage!”
Lighthearted yelps and exaggerated cries of pain came from every blow. Luz was truly merciless with her shoe, Hunter thought throughout their play-fight. Not even Warden Wrath had committed such acts of cruelty! The Human Realm had truly trained her well in the ways of warfare.
“Someone, help me!” Hunter jokingly cried out to nobody in particular. “This evil wild witch is attacking an innocent citizen of the Boiling Isles!”
“Oh, stuff it.” The blows stopped, though Luz’s fit of chuckles never quite ceased. “It was self-defense. I was making sure you didn’t kill me with unbridled cringe.”
“Unbridled cringe? I swear, you have the weirdest lingo sometimes…”
Sighing happily, Luz leaned her head against Hunter’s shoulder, careful not to tip the balance too far on Waffles’ staff form. Glancing up at him, she fluttered her eyelids slowly.
“…Thanks for that. I know what you were trying to do, and it helped.”
He could get lost in those brown eyes of hers. She was just too loveable for her own good, if such a concept was even possible.
“Anything for you,” he warmly said back to her.
“I should return the favor, though. Coming here was all about us talking out your problems together! Thankfully, you gave me the perfect idea for following up on that.”
Sitting herself up, Luz gently cupped Hunter’s head with her hands. She kept their faces mere inches apart, just enough to let him feel the warmth radiating off her skin. As tempted as he was to close that narrow distance, he held back for the sake of her idea. Steadying himself, he held onto her waist in a mirror of her own position, making her redden a little more from the hug.
“I’m all ears, Luz. Let’s hear your plan.”
“Okay, okay. Clear your head – no thinking! Just be in the moment for this.”
Pausing for effect – and adorably mimicking the sound of the wind blowing around them – she gently lowered Hunter’s face and planted a kiss on his forehead. With the affection leaving him flustered, he was powerless to resist Luz’s scheme.
“First thing that comes to mind – what do you want to do with yourself?”
“Do with myself? You mean right now, or in the future, or-”
“-Ah, ah, ah!” She cut him off, removing one of her hands to playfully wag a finger at him. “Don’t overthink it! The very first thing that you think of, no matter what it is, say it! You can do it!”
One idea immediately popped up before any others. He didn’t hesitate to vocalize it.
“I don’t want to be the Golden Guard anymore!”
Luz’s face scrunched up slightly at the comment. “That’s a good one, but Belos has been gone for a few months now. Safe to say you won’t have to worry about being the Golden Guard again. Anything else?”
Again, without relying on his usual filter, he put his next idea into words.
“I want to study magic at Hexside!”
“Alright, good, better!” Luz nodded approvingly at her choice, clearly proud that her school of choice was being represented. “We can work with that! What kind of magic?”
No time to think. Just speak.
“I don’t know! Beastkeeping seems nice, but Willow makes plant magic look really useful. I could see oracle magic coming in handy, also. Can I go multi-track like you?”
“You bet your bloomin’ onion you can!” she happily said.
“My what?”
“Ehm, sorry. Just human slang. Don’t think too hard about it.” Recovering quickly from her odd choice of words, Luz encouraged him further. “Alright, that’s an immediate goal we can work toward. We’re making good progress! Now, got any long-term goals you’d like to go after?”
Long-term? He was still figuring out his day-to-day life. Outside of some existential dread, he hadn’t really considered what he would do with his post-Belos existence. Having an overbearing, abusive guardian had a way of stunting future ambitions. Darius was still learning how to be a parent, but at least he was trying to be a supportive, compassionate figure that Hunter could rely on. That put him leagues above where Belos had been.
Though, the memories of Belos and his abuse definitely raised some concerns that Hunter wanted to address.
“…I hated how my ‘uncle’ treated palismen,” Hunter admitted. “He did so much damage to them when he was in power. I want to make up for that somehow, whether it’s looking after them with the Bat Queen or growing new palistrum trees.”
Luz seemed to brighten up even further at his suggestion. “Hey, yeah! You’d do a lot of good helping with palismen. You’re a natural with ‘em, after all!”
“I wouldn’t go that far…” he bashfully said back.
“Hey, who was the one to bond with a palisman the very first day we all met? You or me?”
“…Me?”
“Exactly! Don’t look down on yourself – the little guys love you. Considering how well you’ve taken care of Waffles, I bet you’d be a great palismen caretaker. Besides, if you’d rather make sure more of them come around, I’m pretty sure Eda’s dad would love the help with planting new palistrum trees!”
All that praise, so genuine and sincere coming from Luz, flooded Hunter’s chest with warmth. He wasn’t as embarrassed over her kind words as much as he was relieved. He didn’t consider himself to be a braggart or someone with an inflated ego, but he really needed to hear some genuine praise. Years of being put down by Belos followed by months of uncertainty – relearning who he could trust, what he could do with himself, and what really mattered – left him questioning what sort of skills he could bring to the table beyond fighting.
Leave it to the light in his life to remind him of his true worth. It was too easy for him to doubt himself after all he’d been through. Luz had a way of grounding him in reality and keeping his intrusive doubts from overwhelming him.
Titan above, did he adore her…
“I’ll have to give those ideas a shot. Thank you – for bringing them up, coming to visit me this morning, and just…being here. It does a lot of good.”
“Aww…it’s no problem, Hunter. You’d do the same for me, I know it.”
The two pulled each other into an affectionate, supportive hug that lingered longer than any friendly embrace would. Around Luz, Hunter could lower his guard. He could leave the glyphs behind and not have Waffles ready to morph into her staff form. He felt safe around her in a way that no other witch or demon could mimic.
Slowly shifting away from each other, but leaving their hands linked, Luz grinned happily at her boyfriend. The joy in her expression was truly infectious – before long, Hunter’s lips were curved in that love-drunk display of happiness.
“So, what now?” Hunter asked.
“Now? Hmm, let’s see…”
Placing Stringbean’s staff form beside Waffles’, Luz gently let Hunter’s fingers slip through hers. She hovered closely beside him.
“It won’t be long before the day’s in full swing. How about this – let’s pay Eda a visit and get the ball rolling on that palistrum tree project of yours. After that, we’ll grab Amity, Willow, and Gus so you can learn more about their tracks. And, when that’s all done…who knows? Adventure has a way of coming for us when we least expect it.”
“Sounds like a plan! Things usually pan out nicely when we’re together, anyway.”
“Can’t deny that!”
Eyeing the Owl House in the distance, Luz exchanged a mischievous look with Hunter. He could already sense a competition brewing in the girl’s chaotic, endearing thoughts.
“Wanna race to Eda’s place?” Luz asked him. “First one there gets dibs on the griffin eggs!”
His competitive streak and tendency to showboat hadn’t quite been undone since abandoning the Golden Guard role. If anything, it had given him an appreciation for theatrics and insight on creating fun drama.
“You are so on, Noceda.”
“Just remember not to cry too hard when I leave you in my dust,” she jokingly added.
Smugness found its way into his voice. “You’re forgetting who’s been using staffs longer between us. Don’t worry, I’ll save an egg just for you!”
With a cocky salute, he sped off with his staff, not bothering to wait for Luz’s go-ahead. Far behind him, he heard her cries of dismay and frantic accusations of him cheating. Laughing at her half-serious insults and rants, he kept his nose to the ground and blasted ahead with Waffles’ help. He’d have to win now, or he’d look really silly for starting early with nothing to show for it.
It would take time for him to figure out what he wanted to do with himself. Maybe the palisman-related ideas would be the right path, or maybe he would find some other calling. Going multi-track at Hexside felt like a good start, though. It had helped Luz become the brave and compassionate witch he had fallen for, and to Hunter, she was the perfect role model to emulate.
He just needed to be patient with himself. Slipping up wouldn’t mean falling back into his bad coping habits under Belos or losing sight of his goals. In the same way that Darius gave him space to find himself and encouragement to do so without reservations, he would need to continue trusting others. The people in his life didn’t have ulterior motives for caring about him – they just did it because they genuinely liked him and wanted to support him.
Eventually, he would make something of himself. Waffles would be by his side for that milestone, as would Darius, Eda, Willow, and so many others. Of course, he would want Luz to be there as well. She had given him the benefit of the doubt first, and for that, he truly loved her.
Beneath the racing silhouettes of the young couple, life carried on in the Boiling Isles. It had its own healing process to go through, but the initial months without Emperor Belos had already been promising. The days seemed brighter, and the nights looked fuller. Witches and demons carried themselves a little less cautiously, as if they all knew that their world was a safer place now.
The Demon Realm’s future had plenty of “what-ifs” and uncertainties in store, but for the time being, everything was okay. To Hunter, that was all that mattered.