Chapter Text
It took four days for Raine to break.
Hunter had been sitting at the kitchen table, letting the hustle and bustle wash over him. The Owl House, albiet the lack of time he'd spent there previously, was a lot noisier these days. Mornings were always filled with chit-chat, yawning witches having mugs of coffee and hot apple blood thrust into their hands. A routine had begun to form around him, a routine where they all seemed to be pushing in their own distinctive ways to move on, and he was grateful for that. Grateful for a chance to start pushing too.
Until Raine's hand had twitched when they reached for the tea kettle. It was a random muscle spasm, everyone who had had a coven sigil at the time of the petrification ceremony got them, including himself. It was another thing they had all become accustomed to, including himself.
But Raine simply froze, eyes widening as they stared at the kettle, at their reflection in its surface. Their breath stuttered in their throat.
Eda, who had been sitting at the counter and laughing, paused in her mirth and glanced towards her beloved.
"Rainstorm? Everything okay?"
Raine gritted their teeth and started shaking, hand still outstretched for the kettle. Hunter glanced up. Just thirty seconds ago, the bard had been bantering with Eda over her utter defiance to drink the beverage, and laughing awkwardly at her outlandish flirts. Now, their eyes were blown wide with the force of unwelcome memories, of cold chilling imprisonment, of slime crawling under their skin, of years of self-inflicted torment to better a world they didn't get to see.
"I..." Raine stammered. "I-"
Their other hand shot out and grabbed their wrist, the one with the sigil, the one that was still reaching for the kettle. Eda stood up, her chair knocking to the floor, silencing everyone else.
"It's okay." She soothed, coming over and placing her remaining hand over Raine's. "Just breathe."
The hustle and bustle in the kitchen simultaneously got louder, and faded away. Everyone averted their eyes, pretending like Eda and Raine were alone and had privacy, turning to talk to each other about nonsense in hushed tones. Hunter couldn't look away. His eyes burned as he watched Raine's hand slip down and clench against their sigil like it was a poisonous thorn they wanted to rip from their skin.
He felt it then, a burn inside his chest. The draining spell as it ate its way up his limbs, the sticky mould sensation as Belos ate his way through his body. His scars still burned occasionally, though not with the fiery ache they had at first. A numb, muted throbbing. He expected it would fade away eventually, it had only been a few days after all, but for now, it was here, and it burned like the boiling rains.
Eda slid her arm around Raine's back, and Hunter saw the twinge of annoyance that she couldn't simultaneously hug Raine and hold their hand. Raine leant into her, sagging like they could no longer hold their own weight. Eda threw a glance back at them, the message of 'get on without me today' completely legible in her eyes before she led Raine upstairs and out of sight.
Hunter stared down at his now cold coffee, examining his reflection. The noise around him turned into a low hum, wrapping around so thick and heavy he couldn't move. Just like that, the routine was shattered, and he could think about it again, the aches and pains, the stuttering breaths, the nightmares.
All the days he'd been living here, he'd been trying to figure out how to talk to Raine. He'd known them as a coven head, one of the polite ones, agreeable, not patronising, but not quite a friend. He'd tried to keep their relationship at that level, occasionally touch base when there was an important discussion to be had but not-
Not emotion. Not sitting down and sharing, sharing their memories of HIM.
Hunter gritted his teeth. Toast was being served in a big stack, but suddenly, he wasn't hungry anymore.
______________
That night, he had another nightmare. He shot up at one am, heart pounding in his mouth, legs bound by his blanket. Instinctively, he pressed a hand to his lips to stifle his screams. He always tried to be as quiet as possible, out of instinct. In the palace, you could never know who was listening in, their influence slithering through the walls like a snake, hunting your weaknesses.
Hunter blinked the tears out of his eyes and lowered his hands, grabbing his shaking wrist. The sigil there burned his eyes like acid, and he released a low growl from his throat, looking away. His chest burned. He felt lonely and vulnerable, here in the dark. He wanted... someone. He wanted comfort, something as delicate and charming as a flower.
Comfort was a routine as well, a less favourable one, and one he had evolved over the last few months of his life. In the palace, nightmares were to be brushed off, pushed to the floor like lead chains. He had always taken a few deep breaths, before rolling over and going back to sleep. He had no choice, there was a schedule to keep to, and he got little enough sleep as it was.
After the palace, it had been different. He kept quiet in the cupboards and halls of Hexide, hands clamped to his mouth, screaming into his skin but begging himself not to make a noise. A warm, feathery presence pushing itself into his lap, cooing until he could breathe again-
Sharing a room with Gus had been a strange start. Gus didn't particularly mind if Hunter woke him up. He was a master illusionist, but he was also a little kid, and would cheer Hunter up with a pillow fight, or put on a movie for them. Sneaking around behind his dad's back, not because he feared him, but because it was more fun that way.
While staying at Camila's house, he had woken Gus up sometimes too, but mostly just let the other witch sleep, pretending he didn't notice the circles forming under the young boy's eyes. He would creep upstairs and watch the sun rise from the kitchen, a pair of clawed feet on his shoulder, or if it was really bad and he couldn't trust the lingering shadows, he would head up to the upstairs corridor and sit outside Camila's room, listening to her breathing. Poke his head round the door to the girls' room and watch them for a bit. Seeing that others were safe and healing... it made him feel like he was healing too.
The Owl House was a different breed, quite literally, but that was beside the point. Willow was the only member of their elite little squad whose house hadn't been completely massacred in one way or another, and there was room aplenty on their Park's couches for Gus and his father, so they were staying there. Everyone else had sort of... stuck around. There was a surprising amount of room in the place. Raine slept with Eda, King slept with whoever's bed was the comfiest that night (occasionally that torch fell to Hunter, and he pretended not to be pleased to have a late night companion again). Amity's siblings had taken over the top floors of the tower itself, stringing up a canvas in case it rained and enjoying the freedom to just be teenagers again. Amity and Luz shared Luz's little closet of a room, and Lilith and Camila both had their own.
(Darius and Eber had crashed upstairs for a night or two, before being called away to survey the damage across the isles, along with Alador. Hunter still touched base with him through penstagram, but it wasn't enough).
And Hunter?
Well, he had crashed on the couch on the first day, and never really moved. He had no doubt there was a spare nook or broom closet somewhere that would take him, but that would be moving in, final and permanent. Moving on.
AKA far too nauseating to consider.
As Hunter brushed a hand over his face, grimacing at the drying tears on his aching cheeks, he wondered what he could do now. Going back to sleep wasn't an option, his body had lost the ability he had so rigorously trained. Should he... talk about it? The Owl House was full of people he could go to for comfort, in fact many of them had made it quite clear that they wouldn't be angry if he did, would be honoured in fact, he he were to choose them for his reoccurring nightmare trauma companion.
It would be so easy to slink upstairs to find someone. Join in on Amity and Luz's cute little sleepovers, offer himself up as a bed for King, knock on Camila's door. But the idea of doing it again after all the many times, it made him feel bone weary. It was a routine that he hated, the vulnerability of it. He was older. He should be comforting them. He'd been dealing with all this for longer, after all.
Raine's trembling hands and the distraught look on their face... Hunter bit his lip, and rolled off the couch in resolve.
No. No seeking out comfort again. No sleep either. So what?
Hunter stretched and went over to the window, resting his forehead against the glass. It was cold, soothing against his scars. It made him think of his old helmet, soothing metal against a fresh scrape, the cold distance he got to feel. Back before he was Hunter, the traumatised teen, or Hunter, Gus's big brother, or Hunter, a member of the squad that talked about their problems over and over the way he had never learned how to.
Back when he was the golden guard. And nobody pitied him. They respected him. Everything had been simple behind that mask.
String out at the cold wilderness beyond gave him an idea. Suddenly, the living room was too stuffy, the house was too stuffy. He wanted to go out on a walk, breathe fresh air. He wanted to feel.
Throwing on the nearest sweater (wool woven into an exquisite shade of gold), Hunter stuffed his feet into boots. He opened the door, gently as not to wake Hooty, who had been delightfully reunited with his old perch, and relaxed once the cold air hit him.
There it was. Relief.
Hunter walked off into the woods, walked until his limbs ached, and kept walking still. Shadows loomed around him, and he let them, stuffing his fingers into his armpits. The minutes ticked by, the night stretching endlessly before him. Hunter shivered, feeling tiredness tugging on his chest, lack of sleep making his limbs weary. He shook his head violently of the thought of going back to the couch, and kept walking, stepping carefully over tree roots and avoiding the rustling in bushes from night-time critters. He had no idea how far he was, where he was, until he heard a voice boom out at him through the trees.
"The competitors are set, Witches and demons, are you ready to rumble?!"
The shouts and shrieks of an excited crowd turned his head, heart still thumping in surprise. As if drawn by a siren's song, he crept closer.
The woods opened out into a clearing, onto what had used to be a town, but was now a heap of ruin and loss. There were still some colourful remnants of the collector's reign sticking out of ruined walls. The rubble was stacked around the borders of the town, creating a knee-high barrier, over which Hunter swiftly stepped.
In the middle of the old town, there was a crowd, witches and biped demons wrapped in cloaks, all cheering. Several of them bore fresh scars, several of them twitched as they shouted. Hunter shrank into his sweater as he wandered through. He kept his head bowed, and nobody paid him any attention. He was just a face among many.
The crowd was gathered around a raised platform - a makeshift fight ring, like the Bonesbourough Brawl, but smaller. Thick cords had been tied from trees to ruined houses to section it off, and in the centre, two witches were pacing around each other. One was part demon, and had a curved snout through which they growled and snapped. Their opponent was a gristly old witch with a pebble shoved into the socket where she was missing an eye. She clenched her fists, red sparks flying from her hands. Hunter watched in awe.
The biped demon roared, and drew out a palisman, a cobra, which promptly shot out a staff. Swinging it in an arc, they threw themselves at the witch, glowing with pale green magic. The witch raised her fist, crackling with red lightning, and blasted her opponent back. The biped demon groaned as they slammed into an old wall, which promptly crumbled on top of them. The witch reared up, still scowling. When her opponent didn't get back up, she spat on the floor.
"Another win for Maleficent the Murderous! That makes it a five day streak! Who will be the next challenger to take on our local powerhouse?"
Hunter blinked. They had been doing this for five days? A town, lost and ravaged, just beating the crap out of each other?
He looked again at Maleficent the Murderous. Her eye glimmered with pain and hatred, but it wasn't hate for her opponent. It was hate for everything around them, the world they had lost, the eye she had lost, the way she twitched painfully as she climbed down from the ring, bard sigil glimmering on her wrist in the torchlight. It was a burn inside her chest she was desperately trying to quench.
The entire crowd was seething with it. Hate for themselves, taking it out on each other, when their opponent was clearly just another broken witch, another victim.
What they wouldn't give for a real opponent, someone who deserved that kind of hatred.
What Hunter wouldn't give to climb into that ring and feel the burn of respect, a staff in his hand once again.
He thought back to the cupboard in Hexide, what he had left there. Maybe it was time to pay the school a visit...
______________
Luz awoke to warmth and smiled, eyes still closed, face nestled into the crook of her arm.
She and her mother had imported a few belongings from the human realm as soon as they had been able, (as well as checking in with Vee) but not yet furniture. Luz spent her nights snuggled in her old bedroll, taking comfort in the warm weight pressed against her side. Amity was still getting used to sleeping on the floor, but that didn't stop a smile from gracing her lips in her sleep. Luz shifted up, and smiled in return, pressing a kiss to her girlfriend's forehead.
The house came awake around them, calls of good morning from Hooty, King's scampering feet, yawns as the adults trudged downstairs. Amity sat up, rubbing her eyes, and smiled the way she always did when she saw Luz.
The hard part was over. Now, it was just joyous bliss.
She and Amity arrived in the kitchen, hand in hand, where they were greeted by Camila flipping pancakes. Also, to Luz's delighted surprise, Gus and Willow were sitting at the counter.
"Guys!" She exclaimed, wrapping them up in a hug. "When did you get here?"
"We promised we'd help out with the renovations to Bonesbourough today." Gus explained, rubbing his hands eagerly at the smell of the pancakes. "So we thought, free breakfast! Our dads will be along later."
"We wanted this morning to be just us." Willow said with a sunny smile. Luz beamed back, and sat down next to her, Amity on her other side.
"It's like old times." She said happily, then glanced around. "Hey, where's Hunter? He loves pancakes."
She was jolted by the realisation that Hunter loved pancakes because they were like Flapjacks, and Flapjacks reminded him of, well... She gulped awkwardly. This was bound to be a conversation.
"I think he's still asleep." Amity answered.
"On the couch? He's not, we checked."
An awkward silence glistened into existence. Camila paused her flipping of the pancakes. They all looked around awkwardly. Luz felt a tiny spark burn in her stomach, an inkling of fear and worry.
"That's kind of weird." She said. "He's normally-"
The back door creaked behind them. Luz whipped around at the sound, Stringbean tensing at her shoulder, ready to break out the last of her magic. All around her, she felt her friends stiffen, reach for palismen and glyphs. It had been a while since their last fight... but still, the instinct remained.
Hunter had the door half open and stared at them with wide eyes, glancing awkwardly round.
"Um, expecting someone else?"
They breathed a sigh of relief and lowered their weapons.
"No." Willow said, and Luz didn't miss the note of endearment in her voice. There was a soft light that seemed to shine from her face when Hunter was in the room, a flower unfurling that nobody else could get to bloom the way he did... Luz didn't miss a thing.
She grinned at Amity, who squeezed her hand back, and made a shushing motion.
"Where were you at?" Gus asked as Hunter shut the door and approached them. Luz's smile began to fade. There was something odd in his demeanour, a change in the light behind his eyes. A jaggedness to the way he walked. Was he... hurt?
"Eh, just went on an early walk." Hunter said, with so much casual conviction that Luz almost believed him. "Couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get some exercise in."
"Are you bleeding?" Amity asked, leaning forward. Hunter flushed, and his hand shot to a dark red stain at the elbow of his sweater.
"Haha, yeah, accidentally walked into a tree! It was dark." He rubbed the back of his neck, and immediately winced when he moved his arm.
Camila, who had been watching from the stove, turned down the heat on the pancakes and came over, taking his injured arm. Hunter didn't resist, but his eyes darted with anxiety as she rolled up his sleeve.
There was a poorly bandaged gash around his bicep. Must have been some tree.
Camila sighed. "Sometimes I forget how vicious this place is. Come on, I'll clean you up. Would you like some breakfast?"
Hunter glanced at the pancakes, and a shadow loomed over his face.
"I'm good." He murmured. As Camila helped him from the room, Luz saw his shoulders sagging with the missing weight of a tiny bird that should have been perched upon them.
______________
Over the next few days, Luz continued not to miss the little signs with Hunter. He seemed more sluggish, slow, consumed more caffeine. The trenches around his eyes opened up again. He wasn't sleeping.
She and Amity tried to keep an eye on him as the five of them helped rebuild Bonesbourough, piece by piece, brick by brick. It was a fun project when they took their time with it, when they tried to pretend that the rubble they were picking up was something akin to Jenga or Lego, and not the remnants of near-ruined lives. They kept the mood light, laughing and joking, brainstorming the things they would do when Hexide reopened.
There were the injuries too. Every morning as the residents of the Owl House congregated for breakfast (Eda had been bringing Raine breakfast in their room and eating with them there for days now, and Luz knew now wasn't the right time to comment on that), Hunter would appear, either from his set up in the living room, or through the backdoor, sporting a new bruise or scrape. Once, Gus walked in on him trying to pop a dislocated shoulder back into place.
Something was going on. But the moment Luz opened her mouth to ask, he would suddenly be skirting away to somewhere else.
"I'm worried about him." Luz told Amity for the forth time that day, as they headed over to a deserted corner of the square for their lunch break. Just a week and a half on from the destruction of Belos and the end of the Collector's reign, and they were still mostly picking up the pieces, literally. Bonesbourough was almost entirely clear of the ruined houses, and now that was being sorted into what was salvageable to rebuild, what had to be scrapped, and what were people's possessions and should be returned to their owners. It was hard, emotionally and physically, so Eda (who had somehow ended up in charge and excelled at it) demanded they all take frequent breaks.
Amity just rubbed Luz's shoulder as they both sat down, settling against a half crumbled wall with a sigh, smiling as their shoulders brushed. It was easy to fall down a well of dark thoughts after all they had been through, but Luz knew she would always have her guiding light.
"Man, I am starving!" Gus exclaimed, skipping the middle man and throwing himself down to lie on the floor. "What did we pack for lunch?"
"Griffin egg salad sandwiches." Willow announced, bringing over their shared lunch pail. She was tugging Hunter with her, who smiled as their arms linked, his ragged long hair tied back. He looked bright and happy with his shoulder brushing Willow's, so Luz didn't question it. Willow winked mischievously at them all. "But my dads packed us some scream cakes, as an extra!"
"Ooh." Gus sat up, clapping his hands. Willow and Hunter sat down and Willow started dolling out the sandwiches. Gus devoured his in seconds, while the rest of them took more leisurely bites.
It was nice, the sun shining down at them. These were days of peace after all. All their problems were over, for the most part. Never mind what brewed underneath the surface.
When the sandwiches were finished with, Willow dolled out the scream cakes, and Luz confirmed that they were delicious. Willow only smiled sadly at her. "My dads have been baking a lot these days." She said. "I think it helps them cope, ya know."
Gus shrugged from the floor. "Whatever works. My dad's trying to get the news going again. Maybe something like that will give people something to focus on. What do you think, Luz?"
Luz had been halfway through her scream cake, a pastry filled with delightful tasting cream that yelled at you with every bite. She choked unprepared to speak. Amity patted her back. She choked some more, and swallowed.
"That could be cool." She said. "I'm all for people coping in healthy ways."
"You're one to talk." Amity scolded her gently. Luz stifled a laugh and leant into her girlfriend's shoulder gratefully, but her eyes were on someone else.
Hunter was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Willow, and their hands were resting millimetres apart, not quite touching, but too close not to be intentional. Even as she watched, Willow's fingers were shuffling closer to Hunter's gloved ones.
"They're actually starting run out of ingredients." Willow was saying. "I was thinking of going to the fairy grove to wrangle up some fresh ingredients, but I could use someone to watch my back. What do you think, Hunter?"
Hunter choked. Willow just smiled and waited for him to recover. Luz just smirked, and nuzzled into Amity's shoulder.
"That sounds great!" Hunter spluttered eventually, beaming and blushing at Willow. Luz felt some of her anxieties settle... some of them. Willow was carefree, leaning into Hunter, but Hunter...
Hunter was sitting with his back straight, shoulders tight. There was an air of dignity to him, even in his scruffy handmade wolf shirt. It wasn't the Hunter she had marched into that old house with, rake in his hand. Alarms rang through Luz's head, like the clang of metal on gold.
Those bells only got louder when their lunch break ended, and they hauled each other to their feet. Hunter moved to get up, and flinched suddenly. It only lasted about half a second, but for Luz, it was impossibly to un-see. The cringing, his gloved hand drifting to his ribcage. A bruise, or worse?
It was clear, Luz had to do something. Not just for Hunter's sake, but for Willow's and her bright eyes. Her hand drifted into Amity's. Tonight. They would take care of it tonight, hopefully before it was too late.