Chapter Text
“Did you really kill that thing, or did mom do it?” Minnie asked, adjusting her glasses as she gazed up at the giant buck that hung suspended from the tree by its hind legs before them.
“I… I shot one of the arrows!” Joshua muttered, the way he wasn’t meeting her eyes as he spoke telling her everything she needed to know.
“Was it the one sticking out of its ass?” she asked dryly, earning herself an indignant gasp from her brother.
“I’m going to tell Dad you said that!” he declared, causing such a violent start to run through her that her glasses almost fell off.
“I meant butt! I meant butt!” she began, and when that didn’t work, “I’ll tell him you’re lying first!”
“Ugh, when are we going to get this show on the road? I want to see some blood and guts,” Stormy groaned, her complaints completely drowned out by Minnie and Joshua’s increasingly heated argument.
Stormy rolled her eyes, her attention leaving her bickering siblings to instead watch as a handful of those rippling, undulating little outlines drifted out of the treeline again. They looked almost like when a tiny floating squiggle got stuck in her eye, only she found she could gaze at them directly without them darting away. They were relatively commonplace in her mind, but far more interesting than Minnie and Joshua’s latest fight, and she watched them lazily, absentmindedly working that loose front tooth that had been driving her nuts with her tongue until her mom emerged from the cabin with the good boning knife she had been looking for.
“I finally found it,” Huntress said before shooting Minnie a look so frosty that it caused whatever angry retort she had been planning to throw Joshua’s way to freeze in her throat. “Along with about a hundred under things that have absolutely no reason to be shoved under your bed.”
“Hehehe, oops,” Minnie said with a sheepish smile, her face going red as she suddenly felt the weight of everyone’s eyes on her. “No idea how that got there…”
“That’s how she cleans so fast when it’s her turn! She just runs around the house shoving everything under her bed as fast as possible so she can waste time reading her books!” Joshua said.
“Reading is never a waste of time!” Minnie hollered at him in deep offense. “You’re just jealous because you can barely do it!”
A yellow blur in the periphery of her vision caught Stormy’s eye, again pulling her attention away from her arguing siblings, but with a glance she saw it was just Bonnie running out of the barn to play with the translucent, blurry shapes in the distance. She smiled as she watched her youngest sister jumping around and dancing with them along the grassy treeline, finding it cute.
Out of all of her siblings she had always liked Bonnie the most, maybe because she had been forced to bond with her so much by helping to care for her back when their mom was dead. Things sucked so bad back then, some of the only good memories she had from that part of her life were holding her toddler sister as she slept while Dad stumbled around the house like a zombie robotically going through the motions of keeping everyone fed.
He’d seemed so empty then, and it only got worse after Jay ran off, but things were better now. Dad didn’t really talk about how he was feeling, but Stormy could tell he was doing better by the size of the wood pieces after he was done chopping them up. When he was hurting he would macerate the logs until their woodpile was composed of slivers so tiny she could use them to pick her teeth, but as they had returned to a normal, manageable size since Mom came back to life she assumed so had his pain.
A dull thunk as the knife lodged deep in the buck’s chest pulled Stormy’s attention away from her thoughts as her mom finally lost her patience with her sibling’s eternal bickering.
“Which one of you remembers where the heart is?” Huntress asked the stunned faces before her.
“I… I do!” Minnie said as she recovered from the shock of her mom chucking the knife through the space between her and Joshua’s arguing bodies first.
“Then you can help me extract it,” Huntress said as if it were a reward, making Joshua let out a little noise of disgust that he tried and failed to conceal as a cough.
Stormy had been sitting in the grass but plopped down on her stomach now, resting her head in her hands and lazily kicking the air as the true show began. She watched as her brother’s face grew as green as her mother’s new skin as her mom and sister dissected the buck. It actually looked like he’d get through it this time without passing out, but then when Minnie yanked the heart free, the sight of her standing there holding up the dripping, bloody thing proudly made her brother drop to his knees.
As her mom prattled on about the many nutritious benefits of organ meats, in a clear desperate bid for her approval Minnie took a bite out of the heart right there and then, the lesson quickly devolving into chaos at that.
“Hahahaha ewwwww! Gross, Josh!” Stormy cackled in delight as with a heave her brother began hurling violently into the bushes near the trees.
“Joshua! Not on the blueberry bushes, the acid will kill them!” Huntress said in alarm before hurrying to his side, but before she could get to him the taste and texture of the raw mouthful of heart became too much for Minnie.
With a loud wretch Minnie dropped down to her knees as well, her glasses flying off and breaking on a rock as she puked and puked.
“Hahahahahaha!” Stormy laughed and laughed, her eyes filling with so many amused tears at what she considered to be the pinnacle of quality entertainment that she barely noticed the watery outline in the distance of her periphery that was little Bonnie chasing the floating shapes into the trees.
“Not the both of you!” Huntress said, and while from her perspective already having two puking children, one of which was now blinded, things didn’t seem as though they could get any worse, but then a sudden elated gasp from Stormy got her attention.
“Oh, cool! Mom! Mom! Look, Mom! My loose tooth just came out!” Stormy hollered, holding up her baby tooth with a wide smile and making no effort to staunch the flow from the hole in her gums that was freely bleeding and dripping all down her front.
The only silver lining on this highly unfortunate situation was that Finn thankfully returned home from trading at the marketplace bazaar just a few moments later, so Huntress was at least not alone in tackling the mess. Finn scooped up the still heaving Joshua while Huntress, leading the blind Minnie by the hand, handled the girls. Her grip on magic wasn’t perfect, but it had grown stronger with time, and while a feat such as repairing Minnie’s glasses was beyond her current ability she could effectively heat a very large quantity of bath water in seconds.
This was quite the luxury as in a world without running water this would usually take no small amount of effort, and Huntress’s mind spun as she developed a renewed appreciation for how hard Finn must have had to work to keep the family going without her. He was naturally so good at caring for all of them, and it seemed she couldn’t even survive an afternoon without his help.
The thought of being too incompetent to properly care for her own children was… more horrible than words, and once it had taken root in her mind Huntress couldn’t seem to shake it off. Was it the part of her essence that came from her body in Ooo that was hindering her ability to care for them, or had she always been this hopeless? She remained in the room she shared with Finn long after she herself had finished bathing, sitting on their bed in just a towel as she grappled with these dark thoughts until the creaking of the door opening drew her attention.
“Nice,” Finn said with a little smirk before his eyes drifted up from her towel to take in the look on her face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Huntress quickly said before clearing her throat uncomfortably. “Er, how’s Joshua?”
“He’s resting, he’ll be fine by dinnertime,” he said before shutting the door to their room and walking over to join her on the bed. He put an arm around her shoulders and she melted into his side, unable to deny herself the comfort of his body when she was feeling so miserable.
“And the girls?” she asked.
“Still splashing around and having fun in that big tub of water you warmed up for them out by the barn,” he said before giving her a little squeeze. “It’s so amazing that you can do that for them.”
“It’s just some warm water, Finn. It’s nothing,” she said with a frown. “The only amazing one here is you. How did you manage for so long on your own? I can’t even handle an afternoon without disasters.”
“I had plenty of disasters,” he said after a moment of thought. “But kids are… incredibly forgiving. Watch, by the time we put them to bed tonight I doubt they’ll think of today as anything other than a great day because they got to spend it with you.”
“You’re so sweet,” she said, looking up at him with a little smile despite herself at the way he always seemed to know just what to say to soothe even those fears she didn’t voice out loud.
Huntress wanted to just slump bonelessly against him and forget her problems. Her concerns of inadequacy suddenly felt like a very small thing when faced with the temptation of reveling in his warmth, but then another thought had her back straightening in alarm.
“Oh, but Minnie’s glasses!” she said with a groan. “Is there any chance you can get her another pair? I can try to encourage the soil to grow whatever you need in order to make the trade.”
“Well, that might be difficult as the gangs around town have been in an uproar since Big Destiny died,” Finn said with a frown. “His son took control of his old gang and seems to be intent on causing as much mayhem as possible. The marketplace won’t be safe enough to bring Minnie to get fitted for another pair until he either relaxes or gets killed. It was hard enough to get my hands on everything we needed, it seems most people are hiding.”
“Hm,” Huntress said before squirming in his arms to be freed. He uncoiled his arm from around her shoulders and she hopped out of bed before grabbing her good knife off the dresser where she had deposited it and making for the door.
“Wow, wait! What are you doing?” Finn asked, jumping up and making a desperate grab for her hand to stop her. She hesitated when she felt his hand on her just long enough to shoot him a bewildered look, holding up her knife in explanation.
“Killing the son,” she said when this for whatever reason didn’t seem to get her point across to him. “What? Why are you looking at me like that? You said it’s what needed to happen for it to be safe enough for you to bring Minnie into town.”
“You’re really going to set out to murder a man dressed in only a towel just so I can get Minnie another pair of glasses?” Finn asked.
“Well, I suppose I can throw a dress on first,” Huntress said, her next words silenced as Finn’s mouth came crashing down against hers. While unexpected, the gesture was not unwelcome, and after a start of surprise her lips began moving against his in turn. His human hand drifted up to grasp the back of her neck and hold her in place, and he lingered there for a long moment thoroughly ravaging her mouth.
“You’re such a good mom,” he said when they parted for air, her ears faintly registered a dull, metallic clink as his robotic hand closed on the blade of the knife before he gently pulled it from her hand. “But nothing good will come from seeking out problems. It’s not our way. Let the gangs figure themselves out, and the moment it’s safe I’ll take her to town to get another pair.”
“But… but, she likes to read by the fire every night before bed,” she protested, making a feeble grab for her knife, which he tossed back onto the dresser to keep it well out of her reach.
“I’ll read to her until then,” he said, and she would have argued more against this, but then his hands found their way to the hem of her towel and she somewhat forgot what she was going to say.
With a single tug her towel became nothing more than a puddle on the floor, and then his mouth was back on hers. Step-by-step he used his body to gently guide her back to the bed before kneeling down to the ground, and well, she really, really liked the sight of him on his knees. It had to be one of those universal constants of her being, because she felt such a visual would appeal to every manifestation of her.
No matter how much Huntress liked the sight before her, she knew it was nothing compared to how much she’d like what followed. She was eager for it beyond the fact that their busy lives left them with very few opportunities to enjoy each other's bodies during the day, and so she wasted no time in opening her legs for him in offer.
Her thighs found a new home resting on his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around her front to drag her bottom closer to the bed’s edge. Although they really didn’t have the time for it, Finn didn’t seem capable of resisting planting a few slow, soft kisses against the flesh of her belly before working his mouth lower. Although technically speaking this wasn’t the body that had carried his children, he still seemed to appreciate it with the same reverence as her old one.
Huntress thought it was sweet, especially as she had the memories of the many times he had done the exact same thing throughout her past life’s pregnancies, however sweet affection was not what her body currently craved. She wanted to feel his mouth lower, and so she allowed him to place one last kiss on her stomach before placing her hand on the top of his head to encourage him down.
Finn understood, reaching between them to part her labia with his human hand, his next kiss landing right there.
Her head fell back and she let out a happy sigh as he placed a series of kisses against her clit. The wet, soft drag of his lips against such a sensitive place filled her with such a sweet, warm pleasure that she felt he could kiss her here until the end of time and it would never grow old to her. It didn’t seem to ever grow old to him either, as since her rebirth in this world he had barely let a day go by without dropping down to his knees to intimately reacquaint himself with this place.
Guided by the grinding of her hips his open-mouthed kisses gradually turned to little sucks and firm drags of his tongue, and by the time two of his fingers slid their way inside her she was already coming. Her legs locked tightly around his head, forcing his face closer as she shuddered against him and tried to stifle her moans.
It was a good thing his mouth was so skilled, as they truly didn’t have the time for this. They were racing the clock until their absence was noticed after all, and as he always ensured she orgasmed at least once if not twice before him, already the occasions he had missed out on getting off himself had begun to add up.
Their kids would need them soon, in fact it was a miracle they hadn’t been interrupted already, and as Finn was as well aware of this as she was the moment her thighs relaxed around him his mouth left her. Her inner walls were still faintly pulsing, and while she wasn’t ready for the loss of his fingers as he pulled them out of her she knew she wouldn’t have to remain empty for long.
He stood up, yanking the front of his pants down just as far as was necessary before lining himself up, and then he was burying his cock inside her. She hadn’t recovered yet from her orgasm and while she absolutely didn’t want to be empty, her body felt far, far too sensitive for this. Being penetrated so deeply by such a thick, hard cock was a pleasurable torture due to her state of oversensitivity, but as she wanted him to get off too she forced herself to endure it.
Huntress couldn’t keep herself from letting out several loud moans as he set a brutal pace, and for some reason his hand appearing on her mouth to muffle her noises only aroused her further. She sunk her teeth down into the side of his hand without even meaning to, the unexpected shock of pain causing him to let out a moan of his own.
She absolutely couldn’t orgasm again, however her inner walls broke out in several series of incredibly pleasurable pulsations around him as he repeatedly pounded himself in and out of her. Although there was little romance in being on the receiving end of such a fast, raw pursuit of pleasure the way he kept panting her name under his breath satisfied the new, increasingly pressing need of hers for his emotional closeness until it felt as though her heart would burst.
“I-I love you,” she moaned, her lips moving against his hand until he moved it away to replace it with his mouth.
He kissed her deeply as his erratic rhythm broke, and within a handful of hard thrusts he was burrowing himself inside her for good. She felt as a shiver ran through him as he came, the warm rush of it causing her inner walls to pulse and squeeze around him as he emptied himself out. It was great, every moment they could sneak away together was great, and while her heart wanted nothing more than for her to wrap her arms around him and force him to cuddle with her, as soon as they caught their breath with another quick kiss his mouth was gone.
“I love you too,” Finn said, and although his feelings were more than apparent from his actions she still found for whatever reason it was nice to hear. He took a moment to slide his hand down her front to tenderly clutch the skin of her lower belly in an affectionate, hopeful little gesture before pulling out, and she gazed at him sadly as he tucked himself back into his pants.
“You should know, I’m not sure whether or not this body can conceive,” Huntress said, speaking each word with care, as although she was satisfied with the number of children they currently had, she was respectful of his heart’s clear desire for more. “The magic… it might have made me too different.”
“The magic made you perfect,” he said, and although she felt she was above such things as flattery, the knowledge that his words were not mere empty compliments made her face flush.
“And if I never get pregnant?” she asked, the logical part of her mind eager to poke holes in his theory of her alleged perfection. “You can’t pretend that isn’t something you want.”
“I do want that,” he agreed before taking a moment to consider this further. “But it’s just a want. The only thing I need is you.”
“Finn, that’s… that’s ridiculous,” she said, and if her face was warm before, it was positively burning now.
“No it isn’t. I mean it, Huntress. Things weren’t the same without you, I was so lost when you weren’t by my side. Having our family together again is the only thing I need.”
“I… I think that’s the only thing I need, too,” she said, the stupid human part of her taking over at the thought, overwhelming her with emotion until amber tears leaked from her eyes. “I can’t stand it, I miss Jay!”
“I miss him too, but if you think about it, he’s the same age we were when we ran off together,” he said gently. “He’s where he wants to be, and as long as he’s happy, I’m proud of him. You should be too.”
“Yeah, I… I guess I am,” she admitted as she wiped at her eyes, still faintly uncomfortable with the sharp, human edge her emotions had taken.
It wasn’t that she had been unfeeling before, but since her rebirth she often found herself in a state of overwhelm by the sheer power of her own feelings. It gave her a new perspective for how deeply every version of Finn must experience things too, and although she was well aware her original Finn was happy in Ooo with the bulk of her essence she had splintered off from she wished it were possible for her to see him one last time just to tell him how much she loved him.
She… hadn’t realized the depth of what she had been hiding from back then, and now that she knew how good it felt to truly love and be loved, she feared she had severely hurt him by keeping this from him. The new, frequent urge to ruminate on her regrets were, as she was learning, another frustrating side effect of the merging of her essence that took her one step closer to humanity.
Multiverse access was frustratingly still well out of her reach, and as she couldn’t do anything to change the past, she was left with no other option besides to trust the version of herself that had remained found a way to make this up to him. That, and to never miss an opportunity to tell the man before her the way she felt.
“I love you,” Huntress said as that thought crossed her mind, making Finn give her one of his very rare smiles. While the Finn she had known in Ooo used to smile freely, life had dealt this one a far harder hand, and so it felt really, really good to be able to say something to him that made him smile.
“I love you too,” he said before finding her discarded towel on the floor and handing it back to her. “But if you don’t cover yourself up, we’ll never make it out of here.”
Once she had dressed Huntress roused the napping Joshua from his bed while Finn wrestled the wet, slippery girls out of the large outdoor tub she had warmed up for them. As the girls were having the time of their lives and Joshua was still complaining of a stomach ache, getting everyone to the table for dinner was not a very pleasant affair. After much arguing and whining from the children they finally got them all seated at the table…
Well, almost…
“One, two, three…” Huntress murmured under her breath as her eyes scanned the seated children’s heads. “Finn, where’s Bonnie?”
“What?” he asked before shushing Minnie and Joshua, who were eager to pick up their latest fight where it had left off over their bowls of stew. “Oh, Bonnie? I thought you said you were getting her.”
“I thought you said you were getting her,” she replied with a frown as she tried to remember just when this had been said, but she couldn’t. “You didn’t see her outside when you rounded up Minnie and Stormy?”
“No, I didn’t,” he said before glancing over at the girls. “Did you see her in your room when you were getting dressed?”
“I didn’t see anything at all,” Minnie said, pointing up at her lack of glasses. “Promise.”
“No, she wasn’t in there,” Stormy confirmed.
“She must still be playing in the barn,” Huntress said, remembering this as the last place she had seen her before the deer carving disaster.
“I’ll go get her,” Finn said, and although there wasn’t anything particularly unusual about their youngest daughter losing track of time as she hopped and danced around the barn, living out her wild, imagined scenarios for hours on end Huntress still followed him out to check.
An uneasiness had settled in the pit of her stomach at the mention of her name from the realization of just how distracted she had been with the other children today. She was only one person after all, and as Finn had been away most of the afternoon she had been hopelessly outnumbered. She didn’t think anything was actually wrong however, that was until they got out to the barn just to discover Bonnie was not there.
If Huntress had thought the emotions she had felt before were overwhelming, it was nothing compared to the absolute tidal wave of cold, frantic fear that this discovery brought forth inside her.
“Bonnie?! Bonnie?! Bonnie!!” Huntress shrieked, her voice echoing off the barn’s walls and frightening Bar Bar into letting out a series of jarring brays.
“Huntress, relax, I’m sure she’s just out trying to dress up the chickens again,” Finn said, and despite the way he tried to keep his tone even in a clear attempt to calm her he could not hide the tension in his movements as he took her hand to lead her over to the chicken coop.
Bonnie was not there, and from the way their chickens were squawking and pecking around without any outfits or homemade make up slathered on their feathers it didn’t appear she had been, either. This only somehow deepened the same fear that had just had her screaming until somehow she became too frightened to speak. She didn’t think she could even move, the fear was so paralyzing. Her daughter, their littlest, sweetest, most imaginative girl was…
“Bonnie’s missing,” Finn said, voicing that one, horribly unfathomable word she couldn’t even bring herself to think.
“Finn… what do we do… I’m… I’m so scared…” Huntress breathed, and although she knew it wasn’t possible for her heart to physically stop, for a second it felt like it actually might have. She wasn’t accustomed to such fear, even her distress at the thought of losing Finn paled in comparison to the sheer terror of losing a child, as although she never wanted to part with Finn, he had at least gotten an opportunity to experience his life… Bonnie hadn’t yet had even that.
“We find her,” he said, and while this was obviously the only viable solution, it still grounded her somewhat to hear it spoken out loud. “You said you last saw her playing in the barn, right?”
“Yes, she was having so much fun playing by herself I didn’t want to make her stop to watch us process the deer… oh no Finn… I’m horrible-”
“Focus,” he interrupted, and with a hard swallow she nodded. “She knows better than to just run off, but she’s small enough a coyote-”
“Absolutely not, I’d know if anything dangerous came too close,” she said quickly before further elaborating when he shot her a skeptical look. “I’m not human, Finn. I’d be able to sense a dangerous animal.”
“How about a dangerous person?” he asked, and she hesitated. For whatever reason, her sharp senses that gave her an edge on a hunt or allowed her to forage with ease did not seem to directly extend to humans in quite the same way.
“Are you trying to say you think she was kidnapped? Like, by one of the gangs you were talking about?” Huntress asked, her brain struggling to wrap itself around the concept of this. She was, of course, unfortunately very aware of all the horrible reasons out there that some evil person might want to steal a little girl, all of which were too terrible to put into words. If possible the thought only made the well of her cold fear deepen, to the extent she had to make a conscious effort to even remember to breathe.
“I’m not sure, but the Destiny Gang in particular has always had a problem with me,” he said, his brow furrowing as he spoke. “If the rumors I heard in town today were true, they’ve been doing a lot worse than just kidnapping people… but doing it in broad daylight isn’t really their style. Maybe we should- Huntress? Huntress, are you okay?!”
“I… I don’t know!” she yelled back louder than she intended through the amber glaze of her tears as she slumped into his arms, her knees giving out on her completely. She held up her hands as he supported her to see the blurry, shaking outlines of them, her breath coming in shaky gasps as she struggled to understand what was happening to her mind and body. “I… I feel so terrible… I’m so scared… I don’t know what’s happening to me!”
“I… think you’re having a panic attack,” Finn said slowly, the term faintly registering in her frantic mind as some old human malady she had only known from faded recipes in potion books back in Ooo. While she was vaguely aware some lesser wizards still occasionally suffered from them, it had always been a very minor, likely fictional, almost laughable thing in her mind. She… wasn’t laughing now however, as she was finding the acutely panicked state to be both very severe and very, very real.
“What do I do?! How do I stop this?!” she gasped out, her legs shaking as she tried to force them to support her weight. “I… I can’t help Bonnie like this!”
“You can’t,” he agreed before tightening his hold on her in the best semblance of a hug the position allowed him to give her. “Let’s get you back to the house. You can lie down, and I’ll-”
“No!” she interrupted, already aware even through her panic of what his next words would be. “You’re not going anywhere without me, they might kill you!”
“Maybe, but she’s worth it. She’s my daughter.”
“She’s my daughter too,” she said defiantly, a bit of anger at the pathetic, weak shortcomings of her own state trickling in to mingle with her panic.
“But you can’t do anything for her until you get a grip on yourself,” he said, and although his tone was not unkind the truth behind his words made them sting.
This influx of overwhelming human emotions had rendered her into such a disgustingly weakened state at the worst moment possible, and despite how badly she wanted to take the reins from the human portion of her essence due to the strength of her feelings she could not gain control. She wasn’t equipped to calm herself down from such a state, but as it was looking like her options were to either quickly learn how or collapse worthlessly in bed, the choice was obvious.
“How do I… get a grip on myself,” Huntress asked, borrowing his term for lack of a better phrase to use. While it at least seemed adequate to describe the loss of control over her own body she currently felt, it did not seem a strong enough term for the raging turmoil she held within.
“Breathing helps,” he said before giving her another squeeze. “You should start there.” She hadn’t realized her breath had still been coming in irregular shaky gasps until he pointed it out, and so with great effort she forced herself to slow down and take very measured, deliberate breaths. Eventually she found she didn’t have to force herself anymore, and only once her breathing came more naturally did she find she actually did feel just a small bit better.
“Okay, I’m breathing,” she said. “Now what?”
“Now, and this is important, you need to take a second to figure out what you’re feeling. If you don’t know what’s causing you to feel this way you can never accept it, and if you never accept it, you can never move past it and do what needs done.”
“I guess I feel… scared it’s already too late… terrible that this happened on my watch… unworthy of the responsibility to care for any of the children… and… and,” she hesitated as she struggled to find a word to describe this horrible, nagging emotion that had been hovering over her head in some capacity since the day she had woken up here. “Guilt. I feel… so much guilt… all the time.”
“Being a parent, you’ll always feel at least a little guilty… even if you didn’t actually do anything wrong,” Finn said. “Holding yourself to such an impossible standard isn’t entirely a bad thing, though. It means you love your kids, and want to always do what’s best for them… you just can’t let it consume you like this.”
“I’m… trying to accept it,” she said, and amazingly, with the new perspective his words gave, somehow the concept of the guilt didn’t feel entirely terrible anymore. It was still crushing however, to the extent she didn’t know how she’d ever move past it. “But I don’t think I can ignore it.”
“I never said you needed to. I think just accepting the reality of it is enough, or at least for me it’s always been. I know it’s overwhelming, but our daughter needs us to keep it together until we find her. Once she’s safe and back home with us is the time to break down, not right now when we can actually go out and do something about it.”
“Okay… you’re right…” Huntress said between a few more calming breaths. She didn’t need to ask how Finn had gotten so good with dealing with the strong surges of overwhelming emotions that humans were so susceptible to, as she had seen for herself everything he’d been forced to move on past.
“If you need to take a few more minutes to get yourself together that’s fine, but I’m going to head back to the house now. I need to ask the other kids if they saw anything and to let them know the two of us will be heading out to try to find Bonnie.”
“I’m alright,” she said, and while this wasn’t exactly the truth, she could now at least stand on her own and think somewhat logically outside of the haze of her fear. “And I’ll head back with you. I need to grab my good knife.”
“Well, I’m sure Stormy’s at least on my side. Right, Stormy?” Minnie asked before shooting a pointed look in the wrong direction, as she couldn’t actually see exactly which seat her sister sat in at the long table.
“Sorry, Min. I actually think books are kinda lame,” Stormy said apologetically, causing her brother to let out a whoop of excitement.
“See?! She agrees with me!” Joshua said happily, making Stormy scoff into her bowl of stew.
“Sheesh, I wouldn’t go that far,” she said. “I don’t want to be on either of your shitty sides.”
She smiled at the loud, affronted noise her swear caused her brother to let out before the sound of the door opening caught their attention.
“Dad! Dad!” Joshua began only to hesitate when he caught sight of the deathly serious look on both of his parent’s faces.
“Bonnie’s missing,” Finn told the children by way of greeting before sitting at the table with them as Huntress disappeared down the hall into their room to retrieve her knife. “I need you three to tell me anything and everything you saw earlier today that might have something to do with this.”
The three siblings just gaped at him in stunned silence for a moment before they all began hollering over each other at once.
“One at a time!” Finn shouted, tapping into that strange power that a dad’s angry voice contained to silence even the most distressed child at once. “Starting with you, Minnie. Tell me what you saw.”
“I didn’t see anything! I couldn’t even if I wanted to!” Minnie wailed before breaking down in tears.
“Joshua,” Finn said, his gaze shifting to the next child at the table as his human hand absentmindedly reached out to pat the sobbing Minnie on the back of her head to silently console her. “What did you see?”
“Nothing! I barely even saw Bonnie today. She wanted to go out hunting with me and Mom earlier, you know when we went out this morning before you left for town. We didn’t let her of course because her singing and junk always scares off the animals. I haven’t seen her since then, honest!”
“Stormy?” Finn continued, his eyes landing on her.
“I… I don’t know, let me think,” Stormy said, her mind racing as she tried to rapidly recount the day’s events for anything out of the ordinary. “I… I played with her in the barn for a little while-”
“Was she acting strange? Did she say anything odd?” her dad interrupted, and she frantically shook her head.
“No! She was totally normal!” Stormy said.
“Listen all of you, and this is very important,” he said, his gaze flitting over the three children before him. “Do any of you know anything at all about any outsiders coming onto the farm today?”
“Someone came on the farm and took Bonnie?!” Joshua asked, his face a mask of horror at the thought.
“I didn’t say that,” Finn said quickly. “But it’s possible something like that could have happened while you were all distracted processing the deer.”
“Oh no, not Bonnie! Why couldn’t they take Josh instead?!” Minnie wailed, earning her a scolding from her father.
“Minerva! We don’t talk like that!”
“Sorry, Dad…”
“Hey, why does Mom have a knife?!” Joshua asked in alarm as his mother reappeared from down the hall holding her favorite blade. “Are you guys gonna go chop up whoever took Bonnie?!”
“Yes,” Huntress said.
“No,” Finn said at the exact same time before shooting her a look over his shoulder.
“What?” Huntress asked with a little shrug.
“We can’t let the kids know that’s what we’re doing-”
“No! Wait, you guys!” Stormy interrupted with a gasp. “That couldn’t have happened! I saw Bonnie playing in the yard while Mom and Minnie cut open the deer, like before Josh started barfing everywhere and Minnie broke her glasses!”
“What?! Where exactly in the yard was she playing, what exactly was she doing?!” Finn asked.
“She was down by the treeline!” Stormy said. “Just jumping around and playing with those weird shapes that float out of the trees sometimes.”
Everyone fell into silence at that for some reason, and Stormy looked around the room at all the confused faces staring back at her questioningly.
“You know, the, um, mostly invisible outlines?” she tried. “Those things that come out of the trees and hover around from time to time? Er… why are you all staring at me like that?”