Chapter Text
Luz had always told stories of the Human Realm to anyone who would lend a listening ear, as she had a certain love for her home and life there before getting trapped in the Boiling Isles. The wonderful thing, however, was that there was now a connection between the two dimensions of the Human Realm and the Demon Realm. What this meant was all those stories of exciting human adventures Luz had been talking about with her friends could be experienced with her now. That was why this summer was going to be the best summer of their lives, as there were no more worries like last summer.
Last summer was the summer no one would ever forget. That summer changed the Demon Realm and how it ran its system forever. Last summer, Belos, the former emperor of the Demon Realm, died, and the Collector went back to the stars. Belos and the Collector had been two enemies that they fought against in a great battle to save the Boiling Isles, as both of them were causing chaos throughout the land. The two of them had different fates, however, as one was befriended, the Collector, and the other had fallen, Belos. With both of them being taken care of, however, there have been no troubles since.
The Boiling Isles were flourishing now as everything had settled down throughout the past year. Sure, there was still work to be done, but everything was going smoothly. So smoothly, Eda had told the kids they should go explore an amusement park in the Human Realm she had heard about. Eda had suggested this as a treat for their hard work helping clean up the Boiling Isles while also saying that summer was a time to have fun, and what better place than to have fun in the Human Realm? Last year, they did not get a chance to explore the Human Realm as they were too focused on trying to get back to the Boiling Isles to save everyone in the Demon Realm.
Luz found Eda’s suggestion to be a wonderful idea, as Luz had been wanting to take her friends to see the Human Realm to have a better experience than last year. Well, anything would be better than last summer, and an amusement park sounded perfect to take Luz’s closest friends, she thought. Luz agreed to Eda’s idea in front of all her friends and went on to explain to Amity, Gus, Willow, and Hunter what a human amusement park was even like.
Amity was almost as fascinated as Gus about this human amusement park business, though Amity was only interested because of how Luz lit up when talking about it. It did sound found by how Luz was describing it, and Luz at certain parts looked at Amity like she was signaling romantic items for her and Amity to do. Gus was engrossed in listening to Luz, as he had a special interest in the Human Realm and their human ways. He found this to be a great opportunity to learn more about humans while also having fun with his friends. This was two birds with one stone for Gus.
Willow was not interested in human things, but she was always happy to spend time with her friends. Everyone else’s excitement got her riled up, ready to experience something new with her closest friends that meant the world to her. However, there was someone still who was observing everyone else a little more than Willow: Hunter.
Hunter is an observant person, and it probably has to do with his past of being the Golden Guard for the dead emperor, Belos. It was programmed into him to be hyper-aware of everything, though he had calmed down a bit over the past year to at least not be so hyper-paranoid that there was always danger. Watching everyone and going to the Human Realm did not sound too bad to him.
Hunter was not as enthusiastic as Gus about the Human Realm, but he did enjoy visiting it. The Human Realm had books he enjoyed, and it had people he also cherished, like Camila and Vee. Like anything new to Hunter, though, he was probably going to go home and do as much research on this amusement park business. Even though the Demon Realm had an amusement park, he had never heard of it before.
“We’re going to have so much fun!” Luz declared loudly and proudly, as he had an arm wrapped around Amity. Amity was smiling in agreement, or maybe she was just smiling because she was happy to simply be held by Luz.
Plans started being made for how everything would go the following day for the amusement park experience. Luz informed her friends and girlfriend to dress up in human attire—something comfortable but also nice-looking. The summer still had cool breezes in the Human Realm, so they were able to wear whatever they wanted as long as it was not thick clothing, but a light hoodie could work if chosen.
Luz started going on and on after the discussion of the dress code about what possible rides may be there and what her favorite ones were. She went on to list what ones were required on her personal to-do list and spoke of rides that she suspected the others would like. Luz seemed to be able to speak intently about it with Gus, and Amity was infatuated with her words about the great human adventures of the amusement park.
Hunter was also intrigued by Luz’s stories of rollercoasters, drop towers, and Ferris wheels. These rides to Hunter reminded him of the training tests he had experienced before when under Emperor Belos. Tests of courage that challenged your very mind to the ups and downs of survival. Mentally testing the limits of the human mind is what those contraptions seemed to be used for. Why else would humans use such machinery to make themselves spin in circles that were much too fast and drop from far-up heights?
“Are you sure this is safe?” Hunter asked cautiously, not trusting the amusement park given how it was currently being described. Their group had handled worse than what was being told to all of them, but Hunter did not see how this would be considered fun. “I thought we weren’t looking to-”
Hunter was quickly interrupted by Luz. “Trust me; it's fun!” she assured everyone loudly. Luz wanted everyone to not worry about anything, and no one was worried except for Hunter, it seemed. Hunter was the only one with a furrowed brow of concern.
The other four were pumped. Gus had fists in the air to show his enthusiasm for being able to go to the Human Realm tomorrow and learn about the human ways of entertainment. Amity was easily thrilled to be going to the Human Realm because of Luz’s attitude. Luz was confident and joyful to be going home to her original realm, and she was not alone at that. Luz would be able to show them what the Human Realm was actually like instead of being scared and hopeless, as they had tried to open a portal to the Demon Realm last year.
Willow noticed Hunter’s anxiousness, as she was sensitive to the feelings of her friends. Moving closer, Willow looked up at the taller boy. His blond hair was reflecting the sunlight to bounce off it, and from where she was, he looked to be practically glowing. Hunter’s demeanor did not match his appearance; however, Willow was ready to change that. She gently placed a hand on Hunter’s shoulder, taking her hand to dispel his fears of the amusement park.
“Oh, Hunter, you know Luz wouldn’t put us in danger on purpose,” Willow affirmed in an attempt to cool Hunter’s nerves. This worked as expected, as his troubled expression disappeared. Willow always just knew what to say when it came to Hunter. Her comforting tactics always affected him more than he would probably like to admit out loud. “So let’s have fun tomorrow, okay?”
With his captain, Willow, relaxed, Hunter could not argue with her. The captain’s level-headedness and being the most reliable person in the group made Willow the most trustworthy person. She could calm anyone with how truthful she was and her positive attitude.
However there was another thing, Hunter was feeling warm feelings on top of feeling soothed. In his chest, he could feel the heat build up slowly as Willow went through each step. First when she touched him softly; next when she spoke rationally about Luz’s habits and how Luz would not deliberately put her friends in danger; and lastly, the question she asked Hunter. Maybe the captain had not meant much about it, but it felt nice having someone who cared about his feelings genuinely.
“Yeah,” Hunter agreed with Willow, his chest warm for some reason he was not aware of. Sure, Hunter was aware it had something to do with what Willow was doing, but he did not know why. Why did her words and touch affect him so much? It was quite a mystery to him, but he did not question himself further, as this feeling was much more comforting than being worried.
Luz quickly interrupted Hunter’s thoughts, though he did not mind when she announced a time they would meet at the portal door to head to the Human Realm. Hunter was one to always be on time for things, so stuff like this was information he liked to know. It gave him time to schedule his whole morning for tomorrow. He could figure out what time he needed to brush his teeth, comb his hair, and get his clothes. Not to mention helping him to plan all the other little stuff like making his bed, eating breakfast, and what time to walk out the door.
With the group ironing out most of the major details with each other, they were ready for tomorrow. Eda was gleeful for Luz and Luz’s friends to love Eda’s suggestion she had brought up. Amusement parks were something Eda liked herself. She had often visited them in her early years when she found the original portal door. The Human Realm was Eda’s favorite place to blow off steam, so seeing Luz’s group feel the same reminded her of her youth.
Thinking of her youth made her also think about Raine. Oh, how Raine would either hate or love an amusement park. Raine had strong opinions on matters they found important, which Eda found to be adorable. Seeing that mint-haired witch rant made her heart feel warm.
“Alright, kids! Let’s keep up the great work so tomorrow feels worth it!” Eda cheered as she directed the group of teens to get back to what they had come to do. The five of them were picking up bricks and stones from what possibly used to be old homes. Magic was assisting all of them except for Hunter, who was doing the work by hand. He made a pile in his arms slowly before carrying it away into the even bigger pile they were making together. This huge pile was going to then be looked through by a different set of witches. The other witches would be the ones to determine what would be salvageable and what would be broken down.
After a hard day’s work of continuing to do this, of course, the most exhausted was Hunter. Luz also had to do some manual labor, but she also had not done as much heavy lifting as Hunter had. Hunter had tried moving as much as he could at a time multiple times, while Luz had sort of picked up a few at a time.
Huffing, Hunter had been chugging water since he had departed from his friends to be on his way home. Without a palismen like everyone else in his group of friends, he was unable to travel as quickly home, so he had started heading home earlier than everyone else. No one complained, however, as Hunter looked sweaty from the physical labor. Hunter was a hard worker, but sometimes he was too much of a hard worker.
Trudging through the thick forest, Hunter knew Darius would be waiting for him. After everything that had happened last summer, Darius had taken Hunter into his home. Hunter was still only a teenager after all, and having learned from Hunter himself where he had been staying, Darius simply would not have it any other way. In Darius' opinion, spending nights at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics was not a way for a teenager to live the rest of their days.
So after Belos’ death, Darius was the first to offer Hunter a home. Sure, Hunter had other offers, but Darius was the right choice, in Hunter’s opinion. Darius was someone who made Hunter the most comfortable, as he had been raised around the blobbed, purple-haired man, and he also did not judge Hunter as some of the other adults in his life did. Hunter also preferred to stay in the Demon Realm. Camila was nice but not the perfect fit for him.
Maybe he would be able to at least visit Camila when he was over there in the Human Realm tomorrow. Luz had been hopping back and forth through the two realms, so Hunter was not so lucky to be able to see Camila every day like Luz. It was for the best, though, as he enjoyed just visiting the Human Realm, not living there. The human school system did not at all sound fun from the stories Luz told.
Yeah, he would stick to attending Hexside and living with Darius. Besides, he was not alone in attending Hexside, as Amity, Willow, and Gus were still part of that school system. Hunter would admit that he was not that close to Amity, but they were friends. The four of them would hang out at lunch, telling each other what they had been doing on their tracks that day.
The tracks everyone was on in the group were different. Amity, Willow, and Gus were still doing the tracks they had picked before, but Hunter was the one who had to pick something at the beginning of the school year. Hunter had gone with potions and beast keeping. It was obvious why he picked potions as he had a lack of magic, but beast keeping was the one usually people asked about.
Hunter liked the idea of beast keeping because of the time he had Flapjack. After having a palismen, he found out that he was really into taking care of creatures. The idea that he was still alive because of Flapjack’s sacrifice made him feel like he needed to help and make palismens. He learned his love of animals because of Flapjack, and he felt like he should continue to love beasts in the spirit of Flapjack.
If Hunter had more knowledge of creatures, then he knew he would be able to help what he felt had saved him twice. Flapjack had saved him once from falling into complete disrepair after learning Emperor Belos’ true plans, and the second time was when Flapjack revived Hunter from the dead. Oh, how he missed Flapjack. The cardinal had given its life just for him, and he knew that he could never repay his debt to the little red bird. Going into beast keeping and learning how to take better care of beasts felt like the only way he could ever make up for Flapjack’s death.
Seemingly having gotten lost in his thoughts, he realized he had finally made it home. Thank Titan; he was ready for a shower. Heading inside, he greeted Darius as he did every day after coming home and then headed upstairs. He was planning on telling Darius about the Human Realm later. First, he wanted to wash up after the day he had just had. Titan, he felt so gross, as he had dust, dirt, and sweat all over his clothes and even his skin.
Getting cleaned, Hunter then started setting clothes for tomorrow. What had Luz said before? Something nice but comfortable, if he remembered correctly. How hard could that be? Apparently very.
While Hunter was trying to find an outfit to wear, he heard someone gently knock on his door. It must be Darius was Hunter’s first thought, so Hunter spoke up. “You can come in,” he stated, as Hunter was too focused on figuring this outfit out. Luz had told him before not to wear certain things, but her advice is still not helping him here at this moment.
Darius had come in while Hunter was thinking and looked at the mess Hunter had made of his clothes around the room. The father figure looked slightly disgusted, as he did not approve of a bedroom in this kind of shape. “What are you doing, Hunter?” Darius questioned as he gradually got closer to see what Hunter was staring at down on the blond’s bed.
Oh, Titan, this was horrific. Well, it was for Darius. What lay on Hunter’s bed was a… Titan, Darius would not even dare to call that an outfit. What was Hunter doing? If this was supposed to be an outfit, why were there mismatched colors, and how could an outfit be made for winter and summer at the same time? Cringing hard at Hunter’s attempt at an outfit, Darius picked up the shirt that was on the bed to examine it.
“Getting ready for tomorrow. Everyone is going to the Human Realm to see a… Oh Titan, what was it called again?” Hunter started mumbling as he thought. Thinking of what he remembered about the place, he described it. “It’s a human entertainment park.” Looking at Darius to see if it made sense to him, Darius nodded. Darius was still questioning the outfit based on the look Hunter could see. “It’s bad. I know!” Grabbing the shirt from Darius, he groaned and flopped onto his bed.
Darius blinked and waved his hand around. “It can’t be bad when you haven’t even put anything together,” Darius remarked, starting to look around at the clothes that were mostly scattered around the room. “I came to check on you because you were late for dinner, but I see now you were waiting for my help.” Darius started to pick up some pieces of clothing. He was known to be a fashionable man. He was sure he could help Hunter with this task of making an outfit. “When you say human entertainment park, does that mean you’re going to be outside?”
“Yeah,” Hunter acquiesced, remembering Luz saying it was outside. This had Darius through some clothes back into Hunter’s closet. Darius was carefully looking at what would match and what would be good for the outside weather. “What are you-?” With Hunter having started noticing Darius’ movements, he tried asking but got interrupted by a hand being put in front of him.
Darius stared as he judged the outfit he put together for Hunter. Looking at it just at a glance, you could tell there was much more thought put into this. Darius was holding onto a pair of tan khaki shorts and a tropical short-sleeve button-up, taking inspiration from the human shirt to make a human outfit. Hunter perked up when he saw the outfit, as he always liked dorky things like tropical human shirts.
He also liked this shirt for a different reason, though. That reason was the flowers that were on the tropical-themed shirt. The flower's name was Chilopsis linearis, but it was most commonly known as a desert willow. The shirt had originally caught his eye because of the weird shape the flowers were, making the print very unique compared to the other tropical printed shirt options, but something about learning the name just made him have to purchase the human clothing.
Hunter grabbed the outfit out of Darius' hands and pressed them up against himself to check it out on himself like Darius had been doing. “This could work!” Hunter cheered as he looked up at Darius with stars in his eyes. Once again, Darius knew exactly what to do when Hunter had been having trouble for an hour.
“What can I say?” Darius cockily spoke with confidence, having an eye for clothing. Would Darius ever wear what Hunter wanted to wear? Oh Titan, no, but he knew how Hunter’s mind worked. This was not about what Darius wanted, but what would make Hunter happy while also making sure Hunter did not look like a complete dork. Come on, he could not just let Hunter go out looking like a toddler who just dressed themselves for the first time.
With Hunter satisfied with his outfit for tomorrow, Darius got to see a toothy grin from the teenager. It was great to see Hunter in a much better state than he had been a year ago. Ruffling the blond’s hair, Darius found himself smiling back, though in a much cooler manner than Hunter. With Hunter getting up, he went to his desk to fold his clothes neatly and left the outfit on his desk so it was ready for him to grab in the morning.
“Alright, Hunter. Let’s go eat now,” Darius instructed, not wanting the food he made to get any colder than it already was. The two of them headed out of Hunter’s room for dinner. Hunter enjoyed the homemade meal; the flavors made his mouth water more, making it easier to swallow what he was chewing. While at the table with his father figure, Hunter explained the events that were going to take place tomorrow.
Hunter went over what he had mentioned before to Darius about going to an amusement park in the Human Realm but included many more details. Certain details that paternal figures would want to know. What time Hunter would be home, what time he was leaving, explaining that he had human cash to spend and how much he had of it, who was going to be there, where they would be exactly in the Human Realm, and even what Hunter’s plans on what specific rides he wanted to try out were all explained to Darius in detail by Hunter. Hunter felt it was best to dump all the information he knew on Darius in one go, as Hunter did not want to forget anything.
Darius did not seem to share this sentiment with so much information being thrown at him, but he did appreciate Hunter’s efforts in communicating with Darius. It made Darius feel proud to have Hunter express himself.
Once dinner was over, Hunter was ready to head to bed. Hunter made sure to wash his dishes and finish his chores, like organizing his messy bedroom. With everything back in order, he was able to get in bed and get comfortable. Hunter knew he should go to bed as soon as possible for his Human Realm adventure to the amusement park tomorrow, but he found he had some energy. Maybe scrolling through Penstagram would help burn the little energy he had left. Hunter was physically tired after all that laborious work of cleaning up the Boiling Isles, so exercising his mind felt like the best course of action.
Logging into Penstagram, Hunter pressed his finger into the magical scroll and flicked his finger up to move what was being shown on the enchanted scroll. He repeated this same movement with his finger, scrolling the bewitched social media. Seeing picture after picture, he could feel himself becoming entranced. His eyelids were starting to feel heavy like sandbags, and he was struggling to keep them open. Well, that was until he got a ping.
Hearing the noise broke Hunter from his trace of doom scrolling and had him look up at the top of the scroll to see he had a notification. Hunter recognized the simple username that had popped up and clicked the notification without much hesitation. Clicking the notification sent Hunter into an already chatted-in direct message with the username Hello_willow at the top of the screen. There was a new message bar that separated the previous conversation from the new conversation that was being started. Seeing the dates above the messages, he could see that the last conversation with Willow on Penstagram was about two days ago.
Adjusting himself, he sat up on his pillow to try and keep himself awake. Getting his eyes to focus, he read what Willow had written to him.
Hey
Hunter read the short message before trying to answer back. He slightly wondered why Willow texted him, but he also did not find it weird. The two of them would text each other occasionally. Not too often, though, as Hunter sort of still sucked at this whole texting thing, but he did like texting with Willow. Willow was always patient with Hunter, which he appreciated because he had to fiddle with the keyboard a lot to be able to try and vaguely type what he was trying to respond with.
HI
What are you up to?
LayinG in. bed
Oh, sorry. Are you heading to bed?
No juSt layiNg
I just wanted to make sure you were okay.
You did a lot of heavy lifting.
So that’s why she was contacting Hunter. To check up on him. For some reason, that made his face a little warm. Willow was so kind and caring, even to him.
Im fiNe.
I’m glad to hear it. You’re really strong,
y’know?
Ugh! Hunter was feeling that incredible feeling again. His flustered form sat up, not using the pillow for support anymore. He may have been sleepy not so long ago, but he is sure awake now. Life felt like it was being breathed into him when Willow spoke to him like this. Even though he could not hear her, he imagined her saying the words she was texting. It made his heart feel weird like it had just leaped. Hearts could not do that, however.
It would have beeN easier if I were a
stRong witch. like you
Yeah, but physical strength is also
important! One is not better than
the other when both can help in flyer
derby!
Hunter smirked as Willow texted about something important to her. Flyer Derby, as Willow had described before, was for the best and the brightest, so comparing the importance of Flyer Derby to the qualities he had was a huge compliment. Willow loved Flyer Derby and had even started a club that Hunter had been invited to when he was accepted into Hexside. The Flyer Derby’s team name was one that Hunter had suggested last year: Emerald Entrails. He liked being able to be a part of something, especially a team that worked together. The success of a game of Flyer Derby was not determined by one person’s skills and talents. It took everyone working hard to make a championship-worthy team. However, Hunter could not join due to not having a palismen, so sadly, he had to decline the offer Willow made him.
Willow was such a wonderful captain for the Emerald Entrails. Her leadership skills were like none Hunter had ever seen before from anyone else. It was probably because Hunter did not have much experience, though. Gleefully typing back to Willow, Hunter tried to show the same admiration Willow had shown him.
You should kNow. from beinG the
BESt flyer derBy player. ever
Willow read the message Hunter had sent her, looking down at her scroll to read it while brushing her navy blue hair. The female witch felt flattered by the male witch’s praise through the words written on the scroll. “He’s so sweet,” Willow hummed gently as she sat her hairbrush down to respond. She was a faster typer than Hunter by a long shot, only taking a few seconds to respond with a thank-you message.
Giggling, she watched as the three dots popped up on the scroll to show that Hunter was typing back. Knowing it would take a few minutes for him to respond, she picked the hairbrush back up and looked in the vanity mirror. Seeing herself, she looked at her freshly dried hair that she was combing through so it would not be tangly. It was always helpful for her to brush before and after sleeping since having a short hairstyle made it more difficult to keep her hair in place, so having it brushed often made it easier to correctly style.
Tomorrow Willow wanted her hair to be close to perfection. Luz had told everyone to put effort into their looks, so Willow was trying. When the girls had separated from the boys during clean-up, Luz explained to Amity why everyone should be a little more fashionable than just everyday clothes. Luz went on to explain that amusement parks were known to be a major dating spot, so everyone at amusement parks usually dressed to impress more than usual. If the witches wanted to blend in and seem normal, this was their best bet to dress like everyone else.
Willow had heard all this, and she knew she wanted to blend in. She was fine with attention, but not the bad kind they get sometimes when they do not know something that all humans just know. Willow had gone on to ask Luz what the normal dress code was and how to dress only slightly better, and Luz seemed more than happy to explain.
“Think of someone you would really like—or even have a crush on! How would you dress for them?” Luz tried explaining it simply through visualization. This helped Willow only slightly. She had not been sure, but Willow told Luz she got what Luz had meant anyway.
Looking at the scroll again, Hunter was still not done typing yet. No worries. Willow could wait forever if it meant she would get a single text from him. With Hunter not being a part of the Emerald Entrails and them not sharing any similar tracks, Willow did not get to see Hunter like she used to. She was not afraid to confess how she missed Hunter and his lighthearted, gaping smiles constantly thrown at her throughout the day. This small adventure they were all going on may allow her to hang out with Hunter instead of only seeing him when they were both on duty helping rebuild the Boiling Isles.
Willow got to socialize with her other friends outside of school and duties, as Luz and Amity loved hanging out after school, and Willow got to practice Flyer Derby with Gus and her team every other day. This left Hunter to be one of her only friends, whom she never saw as much as she would like. It felt like the only time she ever saw Hunter was when the whole group got together.