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fandomsandflyingstingrays · 1 year ago

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Stepping Stones: Chapter 14

And at last we reach the final chapter! I've had so much fun with this series, and I hope everyone who's read it has too. Every single comment I've gotten on it has, without exaggeration, made my day, so thank you thank you to everyone who left one-- and, of course, anyone who read any of the chapters at all. I hope you enjoy the last one!

“All right, kids,” Eda says, looking at them with a glimmer of malicious glee in her eyes. “Who’s going first?”

“Luz is,” Hunter says immediately.

Luz shoots him a look.

“This was your idea,” he points out.

And, okay, he’s not wrong. While Hunter was carving his new palisman, Luz had the idea to draw his old one, sketching out a stylized version of Flapjack next to the tattoo she wants to get for her dad. As she looked at it, she had the thought that maybe it could do for Hunter what she hopes the flowers will do for her, allow him to feel like he’s carrying part of Flapjack with him even as he grows. Hunter agreed as soon as she showed him— and then Willow offered to get one too, and the whole thing spiraled, and now everyone is standing in front of Eda ready for her to draw on their skin with magic. Well, everyone except Vee, who’s just here for moral support, since she can just shift the tattoo onto her skin.

Luz takes a deep, preparatory breath, and thinks of Flapjack. He helped Hunter most of all— but none of them would be where they are without him. Luz might not have entered the emperor’s mind, might not have found out about the draining spell until it was too late. Hunter wouldn’t have caught Willow’s attention with his flying skills, wouldn’t have been there to help Gus fight off the illusionist Coven Head at Hexside. They might have lost the war against Belos— and Gus and Amity wouldn’t have their friend, Willow wouldn’t have her boyfriend, and Vee and Luz wouldn’t have their brother. Flapjack brought them all together; it’s only fair that they honor him together.

So Luz steps forward and nods at Eda. “Okay.”

“I keep telling you, it won’t hurt,” she says, grabbing what looks like a training wand from a shelf beside the couch.

“In my experience, we have slightly different definitions of what hurts,” Luz notes.

Eda snorts. “Fair enough. But seriously, this won’t feel like anything.”

“Do you want me to hold your hand?” Amity asks, seeing that Luz’s expression hasn’t changed.

“Yes please.”

Amity slips her hand into hers and squeezes.

Hunter hands Eda the tattoo design, and she waves the wand over it, then turns to Luz. “Where do you want it?”

Luz points out a spot on the side of her left arm, just above her elbow. Eda waves the wand over it, and she tenses, squeezing Amity’s hand, and feels— nothing. She glances over, expecting the wand not to have worked, but no: an image of a red bird stares back at her.

“You were right!” she exclaims, looking up at Eda. “I didn’t feel anything!”

Eda ruffles her hair. “Were you doubting your wise and infinitely talented mentor?”

“Who always taught me to question authority? Yes.”

“That’s my girl.”

“I can go next,” Amity offers, and Luz gets up, the two of them switching places on the couch.

The door opens as Luz sits back down, letting Raine and Darius into the room.

“We heard you were back,” Raine says, “and— are you getting tattoos?”

Luz proudly shows them her arm. “They’re for Flapjack,” she says, and Raine gives her and Hunter a sad smile

Darius reaches out to ruffle Hunter’s hair, only to jerk back as a little blue bird leaps from his shoulder and onto Darius’s arm. He flinches, then stiffens, visibly using all his strength not to pull away as the bird hops along his arm and comes to perch on his head. Raine’s grin widens.

“That’s your palisman, aren’t they?”

Hunter nods, a smile of his own tugging at his lips. “Her name is Waffles,” he says, and Raine actually hops up and down on the spot in delight.

Fiddlesticks comes out of staff form and Waffles flies down to greet them, the two of them circling each other and chittering happily. It’s so cute that Luz does a hop of her own, clasping her hands together to keep herself from gathering them into her arms and cooing over them at a pitch that would break every window in the house. When she manages to tear her eyes from them, her gaze falls on Hunter, who watches the two palismen with tears in his eyes. Luz reaches out to wrap an arm around him, and Amity does the same on his other side, a red bird now visible on her forearm.

It doesn’t take Eda long to do the others, each of whom come to join the little group hug when they’re finished, until finally it’s Hunter's turn. Gus rests his hands on his shoulders when he sits down, and Willow perches on the couch beside him.

“Where would you like it?” Eda asks him, an extra-gentle note in her voice.

“Could you… is there any way of putting it over my sigil?”

Eda claps once, her expression gleeful. “Now there’s good thinking. We might not know how to remove those blasted things yet, but there’s no reason why we can’t cover them up.”

Hunter lets out a breath and nods. He closes his eyes as Eda waves the wand over his sigil, and when he opens them, the emperor’s symbol is replaced by Flapjack.

Hunter exhales again, only this time, it’s a long, deep sound that seems to echo in the room. When he breathes in again, he straightens, and Luz can see in the set of his shoulders that a weight has been lifted. Willow kisses his cheek, and Hunter smiles, wiping at his eyes.

“Thanks, Eda,” he says, and she ruffles his hair.

“Don’t mention it, kid.”

The door bursts open again, and Hooty comes rocketing through it, sending Luz, Amity, and Vee stumbling backwards to join Willow, Hunter, and Eda on the couch, clinging to each other and making various noises of alarm.

“Hello, Hooty,” Eda says. “Do I want to know where Lily and your backpack are?”

“On the other side of town!” Hooty replies gleefully, and Eda shudders.

“And to what do the people of Bonesborough owe the trauma you’re currently putting them through with your length?”

“The carnival is open for business! And it looks great! Plus I checked on our floats this morning, and they are undisturbed! I even polished mine.”

“Do we really have to have him on our float?” Amity whispers to Luz through gritted teeth.

“Well, he is a savior of the Isles. In his own way.”

It was Raine’s idea to take the idea of the Coven Day Parade and turn it into a way of celebrating the island’s liberation. All of the new institutions put into place over the last year will have floats, including the Council and Eda’s university. And, Raine insisted, they would need to celebrate the people who were responsible for the island’s liberation in the first place, so Luz, her friends, King, Lilith, and Hooty are getting a float of their own.

Hooty will be driving.

Luz has had more than one nightmare about it.

“Let’s just enjoy the carnival while we can,” Willow says with a pained smile. “Camila’s meeting us there, right?”

Vee nods. “She said she’d be by the dunk tank with the Emperor Belos impersonator at noon.”

“It’s quarter to,” Raine says. “We’d better get moving.”

“If you all hop on my back, I could let you ride through the town on me while I retract into the backpack—“ Hooty starts, but the simultaneous refusals that follow are emphatic enough that they don’t allow him another word.

…

By the time the sun dips below the horizon, Luz’s throat is raw from screaming and laughing and her stomach is bursting with what’s probably half her body weight in fried food. She didn’t think anything could top the carnival that comes to the island every so often, but this knocked it out of the park. King got the Collector to weigh in on the planning, and the result was a mix of every kind of game Luz could imagine with a few death-defying rides thrown in. Nothing like celebrating the time she actually died with a roller coaster wild enogh to make her stomach feel like it was about to repeat the experience.

And she knows the others enjoyed it as much as she did. King walks with a bounce in his step— he never talks about it, but she knows he misses the Collector, and thinks that playing some of their games has been good for him. Camila looks around with bright eyes, the festival so far beyond the realm of anything she's used to. Gus and Vee happily compare the photos they took at various booths, while Willow helps Hunter carry some of the small army of stuffed animals she won him. Eda, at some point, turned into harpy form, and flies above them with Raine in her arms despite their laughing protests.

Lilith and Hooty are waiting by the floats, having had what appears to be a picnic at the base of them. Luz takes them in for the first time in all their finished glory, grinning. The Council’s float is shaped like the Titan, of course, with one councilor on each of the limbs and Darius, who will be giving the speech, in the middle. Behind it is the float for the University of Wild Magic, bearing the logo on a proud banner, with a place for each of the faculty to stand. And then there’s the float for the rest of the saviors of the Isles, which is modeled after Hooty’s face, despite the fact that he was a puppet the entire time. If he was going to build the float, he argued, he was going to make sure it “reflected his true glory”.

“Do you think it has the teeth?” King whispers to Luz.

“Shhhhhh.”

Raine gives Eda a kiss, and she sets them down. “I’ll see you after this mortifying ordeal,” they mutter.

“You’ll be fine, Rainestorm. You haven’t tripped in front of a crowd since you were elected.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“You’ll be great, Raine,” Luz says, pulling them into a hug.

“You’re the parent of a Titan!” King adds, climbing up to their shoulder. “Glory runs in your veins!”

“That’s not how it works—" Lilith starts, but Eda elbows her into silence.

She boards the University float as Raine joins Darius and the other councilors. Lilith walks over to Luz’s group.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ride with us?” she asks Vee. “From what I’ve been told, the others might not have been able to go after Belos without your help. Just because you weren’t part of the final battle, it doesn’t mean you weren’t important.”

Vee shakes her head. “No, thank you. I still don’t really like being stared at. Besides, I’ll enjoy sitting with Masha. You know how fascinated they are by magic; they’ll love this.”

“Well, if you’re sure.”

“I am. But I should probably get a move on if I want to meet up with them before the parade starts.”

She hugs Camila and waves goodbye to the others before setting off into the streets.

Luz, Camila, Lilith, Hooty, Amity, Hunter, Willow, and Gus climb onto their float and Lilith directs them to their positions. About five minutes into her lecture on how to wave and smile properly— leftover posturing from her Coven Head days— the Council’s float mercifully begins to move.

Luz has been in and out of Bonesborough for almost a year and a half, and she’s never seen it as crowded as it is today. Every inch of the street is packed with witches and demons shoulder-to-shoulder against the barricades, and plenty have stolen Eda’s idea of perching on the roofs as well. They pass Perry, Harvey, and Gilbert on a balcony, all blowing kisses, and Dell and Gwen below, beaming with pride. Steve, who neglected to join the others on the float in order to keep an eye on Matt, jumps up and down and waves as they pass, while Matt stands with his arms crossed and tries to hide his smile.

And— there’s Vee on the next rooftop over, perched with her siblings and Masha, the latter of who is leaning forward so far Luz is legitimately worried they might fall. Luz lifts a hand to wave— only to find herself flailing it wildly for balance as the float swerves sharply.

“What—“ she gasps, whirling around and finding herself face-to-face with Terra Snapdragon.

“Sorry, sapling,” she hisses, and flicks Luz over the edge of the float with a vine.

Luz fumbles for a levitation glyph in her pocket before she remembers, a scream ripping from her throat even as she curses her own stupidity, and crashes face first into… a puddle of goo?

The abomination lifts Luz back up, setting her into Amity’s arms. “Thanks,” she pants, grabbing her staff and whirling around to assess the situation.

The parade has turned into an out-and-out battle with what looks like fifty coven scouts. “Where did they all come from?!” Luz shouts.

A scout swings their fist at her, and she ducks— only for them to disappear before her eyes. She glances around to find Gus swirling his fingers, his face intense with concentration. Another scout disappears, then another, and then one reappears. Luz scans the crowd and her gaze lands on Adrian Graye, ducked behind a float, concentrating just as hard as Gus is.

“The scouts aren’t real!” she yells. “They’re illusions!”

“Hunter, did you hear that?” Willow asks, and Luz looks over to find her crouched beside Hunter, who had his hands over his ears. He just shakes his head.

“They’re coming to take me away, Belos wants me back…”

“No, they’re not, you’re not part of his coven anymore!” Willow takes his arm in her hands, gently pressing his tattoo. Hunter takes a gasping breath, his expression clearing, and then his eyes fix onto something over Willow’s shoulder and he lets out a warning cry.

Before Willow can turn around, Luz is there, stopping the Construction Coven Head’s hammer with her staff. He lifts it, preparing to strike again, and she stabs at his eye with the back end of her staff, making him reel backwards. Luz draws a spell circle in the air, preparing to blast him with a jet of fire, only to feel something cold wrap around her stomach, squeezing the breath from her lungs as it yanks her backwards.

“No,” she wheezes, “let go—“

The pressure around her middle is relieved so quickly she wonders if the Coven Head actually listened. But no— she looks up to see Eda grabbing the Oracle Coven Head from above and unceremoniously dropping him off the float.

“Stay away from my kid!” she yells.

Another harpy joins her in the sky: Lilith, with Hooty still attached to her and biting as many Coven Heads as he can reach. They give Luz enough breathing room to scan the area again. The Coven Heads shouldn’t be winning, and yet Willow and Hunter are nearly doubled over from the exertion of fighting off the Construction Head, and Gus and Amity lie in a heap at the base of the float, and Raine is firing note after note at Adrian without any of it seeming to touch him, and Camila is punching vine after vine with Terra just creating more and more to take their place.

Why isn’t this working? Luz thinks, and then, why isn’t anyone doing anything? Where is the crowd that was packed so tightly? Why aren’t they helping? Have they run?

Some of them have, she sees. But enough of them remain, only— they’re frozen. And that, she realizes, is where the Coven Heads’ power is coming from. It’s not that they are powerful; the terror of what they represent is.

Luz fears it too. And without her glyphs, she can’t bring herself to believe she’s strong enough to defeat it.

At least: not alone.

She raises her staff and fires a jet of light up into the sky, so brilliant and piercing that for a single second the fighting stops.

“This isn’t their world anymore!” she yells. “This whole night, this whole celebration, the whole reason we’re here is to acknowledge that we are more powerful than them! I know you’re afraid, I know your minds want you to believe this attack means we’re going back to the old way of doing things, but we’re not! This isn’t the start of a war, this is their last stand!”

The Oracle Coven grabs Luz again, but this time, she doesn’t fight it. She’s said her piece. She’s done what she can. She closes her eyes, praying that someone heard-- no, listened.

And oh, thank you, thank you, the hand around her stomach releases. Luz looks up to find a blue mist trailing over her head, and she follows it from the Coven Head to Vee, who’s draining his magic with a defiant light dancing in her eyes.

A strangled gasp draws Luz’s attention to the Construction Coven Head, who’s frozen above Willow, his magic trailing away from him in a steady stream towards Wynne. Terra falls to Gemini next, then Adrian to Rhee, and then the Potions Coven Head to Ivy.

Eda lets out a piercing cheer. “Those are my students!” she yells.

And this— this first act of true defiance by the beings Belos used and discarded, the ones the covens mistreated and hid from the world— is enough to empower the people that Luz’s words couldn’t. With a rallying cry, the crowd storms the floats, and in no time at all, the Coven Heads are in chains and being escorted by Eda and Lilith into a cart that will take them to the Conformatorium to await trial.

Darius folds his arms, shaking his head. “Fools,” he says. “We couldn’t prosecute them without evidence, and now they’ve staged an attack with the whole island as witness.”

“Except for Hettie,” Raine points out. “She was smart enough to stay out of it, and you know she’ll do everything in her power to talk them out of trouble.”

Eda snorts. “She’ll have a pretty tough time of that.”

Darius heaves a long-suffering sigh. “Either way, I should probably get up there and thank the crowd.” He takes a step towards the Council’s newly-righted float, only to stop as Raine puts a hand on his arm.

“I’ll do it.”

And they start up the stairs without a backward glance, summoning a microphone as they go.

“People of the Isles,” they call. “Could, uh, could I please have your attention?”

Their voice is soft, but it carries power, and a wave of silence falls over the crowd. Raine takes a breath, and Luz can hear how it trembles. They glance back at her, and she beams, giving them two thumbs up. Eda blows them a kiss, and Darius gives them an encouraging nod. Raine turns back to face the crowd with a small smile on their lips.

“Thank you for your help in averting this threat,” they say, their voice still shaking but their words clear. “I know the shadow of the covens still looms over our island. We are still afraid of exploring magic beyond the boxes we were taught to keep it in. We are still weak and drained from the strain of fighting to break free of the confines of what we were taught. But Luz Noceda is right. We planned today’s celebration to acknowledge a year in which we re-shaped our government, our system of learning, our way of being into one that is tolerant, curious, and safe. With every day that passes, we face our fears of the old regime, and we take a step beyond them. Seeing what all of you just did tells me that those steps have taken us very far indeed. This new world would not be possible without the bravery of each and every one of you. I want to thank you for that. I want to thank the last basilisks on the Isles, who showed that bravery to a degree I can't imagine, and to the witches and demons who fought for their— and all of our— freedom in the first place. And—" Raine turns to Luz again and smiles at them, the love in their eyes eroding any leftover fear— “I want to thank the very special human who has, at one point or another, inspired all of us to be more than we thought we could. I— and the Council, and the Isles— thank you, and celebrate you.”

And then, as though it was planned, the fireworks that were meant to be launched after Darius’s speech at the end of the parade burst into the sky, and the crowd erupts into cheers so loud they drown out the crackling.

Luz feels someone’s hand in hers and turns to see Amity stepping up next to her. She squeezes her hands and looks back at the fireworks, and as she does, a memory comes to her: sitting with Amity on a rooftop during the Coven Day Parade, both of their hands ice cold, trying not to shiver as they watched the crowd cheer for Belos and the sick game he had in motion. It’s hard to believe that was just over a year ago. It feels impossible to be in such a similar position, but with the context so completely different. Not so long ago, it would have been impossible to imagine that change took place because of her.

But it did. She set the draining spell into motion, yes— but she set all of this into motion, too. Eda and Lilith standing with their wings spread, Eda’s hand in Raine’s. Vee with her siblings and her mom and her partner, all of them leaning over each other to point out their favorite fireworks. Hunter with his arms around Willow and Gus, Darius and Eber beaming at him from behind. Amity, her smile unrestrained, her hand in Luz’s. All possible because she loves these people and they love her, and they take what they’ve given each other and paid it forwards, taking steps and pulling each other along. And if this is what they’ve accomplished in a year, who can say what they will in two, three, five?

Luz presses a kiss against Amity’s cheek and leans her head against hers, turning her gaze up to the fireworks and letting the bursts of light make imprints on her vision, and she feels herself glow just as brightly with the possibilities.

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avatarmerida · 1 year ago

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This is inspired by a tweet I say awhile ago that I can’t find anymore (but when I do I will link it here) with the idea of Darius brining in Willow as Hunter’s personal trainer. It’s just goofy and cute I think.

“Based on the less than satisfactory results of your last mission, I’ve made the executive decision to get you a personal trainer,” said Darius with a smirk as he walked the young boy out to the training area. Hunter was less than thrilled about the idea and made no effort to hide it.

“Seriously?” He scoffed, crossing his arms. “I’m hardly the coven head who needs a personal trainer! When’s the last time Terra did laps? I’m positive that any trainer you could find would just slow me down.”

“I think I’d meet the trainer before speaking so harshly, little prince,” said Darius. “You may find that they do in fact have a few things to teach you.”

“I highly doubt that,” he continued, rolling his eyes. “Honestly, this whole idea is a waste of time and a load of-.”

“Hi Hunter!” Came a bubbly, bright, and familiar voice. Hunter’s blood froze as his cheeks reddened, thinking her an illusion at first.

“C-Captain!” He croaked, both delighted and mortified. Had he known it was her he would’ve been on time and he would’ve made more of an effort with his appearance. “H-hey! Hi! How are you?”

She giggled. “I’m great,” she said with a smile, using a vine to slide closer to him. “You ready for some training?”

“Yeah! Totally! Haha.” He responded nervously. “I’d do anything with you! For you! Uh, I mean, yes I am ready for training.”

“Smooth,” said Darius and Hunter shot him a glare over his shoulder. Willow didn’t seem to notice.

“So uh, I didn’t know that you were uh… coming today,” started Hunter, not knowing how to say what he meant. “I mean, I-I’m happy to see you! Again! I just uh…”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you,” said Willow with a smile. “It was kind of last minute and Darius wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Oh he did, did he?” Hunter said between clenched teeth. He wondered what kind of ‘surprise’ Darius intended it to be. It would explain why he kept asking about her with a knowing smirk lately.

“Have fun, you two,” Darius said with a wave as he disappeared around the corner. “You can thank me later, little prince.”

“Okay! Haha! Byeeee!” said Hunter forcefully before turning back to Willow, hoping she could tell he was genuinely delighted to see her, despite the ambush of it all. She was wearing a yellow tank top with striped green shorts, and Hunter wondered if she had come prepared or if she had been interrupted by Darius’ request. Surely she was being compensated for her time, there was no way she’d be willing to give up a whole afternoon to help him. He had told her about the castle’s training facility and the equipment, maybe she just wanted to see it for herself. For some reason he couldn’t allow himself to believe she’d come all this way because she liked the idea of spending time with him.

“Where’s Flapjack?” she asked, interrupting his mental spiral. He didn’t realize he had been staring.

“Oh, uh…” Hunter quickly looked around before stepping closer to her to whisper. “I’m uh technically not supposed to have a palisman so he’s taking a nap in my room.”

“Oh, gotcha,” she whispered back. Clover flew onto her shoulder and buzzed something into her ear. “Yeah, good idea,” she said to the little bee. “You go find him and you two can play, so long as you stay out of sight, got it?” Clover gave a little nod before flying away.

“Looks like it’s just you and me,” said Willow softly and Hunter knew his face envied the grass beneath their feet. It was odd seeing Willow here, she seemed so out of place yet she brought a warmth the castle needed that made him wish she’d stay forever.

“Yeah,” he said, unable to stop his smile. “Looks like it is.”

“Okay, so how do you normally warm up?” she asked as she stretched her arms.

“Oh, I’m always warmed up,” he said quickly. “You never know when an attack might come so I make sure I’m always, ya know, ready to go.”

“I figured as much,” she giggled. “Well then, do you mind helping me catch up?”

He smiled. “Lead the way, captain.”

“All right then,” grinned Willow, grabbing her ankle to stretch out her legs. “Let’s see if you can keep up, golden boy.”

She took off and Hunter knew that realistically they should be doing more of a jog, something to keep a steady pace and regulate their heart rate but Willow ran free as though challenging him to catch her. He didn’t know why he thought of catching her not beating her but he started running nevertheless. Willow turned around, delighted to see him running after her as the two soon ran side by side. Usually Hunter didn’t find running enjoyable, but Willow had a habit of changing his perspective fairly easily.

He was so focused on the endorphins, he didn’t notice Willow slyly glance at him from the corner of her eye. She was grateful he didn’t see, so he wouldn’t suspect it was because she thought the way he scrunched his face as he ran was terribly cute.

After a few laps around the area, the two were ready for Willow’s lesson plan.

“Alright, so what did you wanna work on first?” Willow asked brightly, looking around the outdoor gym and the wide array of tools at their disposal. There were weights, weapons, obstacle courses; only the best for the Isles’ best. It was like being in a candy store.

“Oh, uh ya know whatever you wanna do,” Hunter responded, attempting to be nonchalant. “I-I’m totally chill, totally like not even like… ya know just whatever you think I’m sure uh…”

“Well, Darius mentioned you were having trouble with one on one stuff,” offered Willow, cutting off his rambing despite finding it endearing.

“Well I normally use my teleporting, so I-,” before Hunter could finish, Willow took the staff from him.

“But what if you couldn’t?” Willow said mischievously.

Hunter smirked and went to take his staff back but Willow whisked it out of reach at the last second. “Okay,” he said, her mischievousness spreading as she twirled his property behind her back. “Worried I’m too quick for you captain?”

“Mhmm, not exactly,” she chuckled. “But my dads were telling me about drills they used to do for flyer derby. See, using magic is great but sometimes when you’re in triple overtime you start feeling drained and your magic can get sloppy or weak.”

“Yeah, but mine is artificial so I don’t have to worry about that,” he countered.

“You do when you’re unarmed,” she said, swiftly bringing the staff out from behind her back and sweeping him off his feet with it. He didn’t land on the hard ground, as she had a large soft flower ready to catch him.

“Fair enough,” he said from the comfort of his personal flower. “But is playing keep away really part of your curriculum?”

“I know it seems a little silly,” she said as she walked around him. “But that’s what flyer derby is, the winner isn’t always the one who delivers the hardest blow, it’s usually the one with the most endurance.”

“Hmm, yeah I get it,” he said. Hunter had become accustomed to dodging blows and only striking when necessary, and a part of him lit up at the thought of getting to impress Willow by executing her vision perfectly. “Sounds like a good plan Captain, but then shouldn’t I have something to defend too? I mean, if my objective is to retrieve my staff and your only objective is to keep it from me, in a battle you’d simply need to find a way to escape to win. Doesn’t seem like a believable scenario for you to fight me without cause of your own.”

“Hmm, okay far enough,” she said, seeing his point. “I don’t know if I have anything with me to try and- oh! What about my glasses?”

“Your glasses?” said Hunter, as he finally stood up. “But you need them to see.”

“And they get knocked off all the time in practice,” she said. “I cast a protection spell on them before each practice so I'm not worried about them breaking but when they fall off they slow me down and other teams try to do it on purpose if the match is close enough. It would be a good challenge to try and heighten my other senses.”

“You want me to take your glasses?”

“They won’t break,” she assured him as she removed them, shaking her head as she did. The motion made Hunter’s heart flip a little bit, the way she subconsciously flipped her hair. He liked her glasses, he viewed them as frames like her eyes were watercolors on display. But without them he could see her eyes even clearer and even better she wasn’t able to see him stare.

“Here,” she said, squinting as she handed them to him. “You can put them on the front of your shirt, it’ll be just like in derby practice.”

He held up her glasses to see how they altered the scenery. “Oh wow, you really can’t see anything, huh?”

“Oh stop,” Willow teased back. “As if you can see any better in that mask of yours.”

“Excuse you, I can see just fine,”

“Suuure you can,” scoffed Willow, walking over to the bench to pick it up. She observed it for a moment, somewhat taken back by how it wasn’t as shiny up close. She didn’t think too much about the dents and scratches she could tell he had attempted to buff out as she placed it on her face, trying to line up her eyes. “Oh wow, you really can’t see anything in this.”

“What? Yes I can,” laughed Hunter at her dramatics. “You just can’t see anything because you took off your glasses.”

“Even so, the eye thing is so small,” she continued as she continued to turn to try and make out her surroundings. “Plus it’s so echoey, how can you hear anything in this? Is that why you do the voice?”

“‘The voice?’ What voice?”

“Ya know, your serious voice,” she said as though it was totally obvious. “When you’re all ‘here’s how things are gonna work, I’m the Golden Guard, bow down to me har har har.’”

“‘Har har har?’” Hunter repeated, unimpressed as he crossed his arms. “When have I ever said that?”

“Well, I dunno you don’t do the voice to me,” admitted Willow. “It’s mostly an impression of Luz’s impression of you.”

He couldn’t say he was totally clueless to what she meant, the mask gave him the opportunity to be taken seriously. But he liked that Willow knew a different side of him, that she could see through his act. Had anybody else done an impression of him, it would be to try and make him feel small or less than but when she did it, it was funny. Because he knew that she knew he was so much more, that the mask truly was just something on the surface.

He couldn’t help but smile as she went on to create her own character with his mask, inventing her own version of the voice and her own crime fighting backstory. She was silly, and he wasn’t used to having silliness in his life. She was genuine and kind and strong and pretty and… Titan, when he started thinking about all the things she was, it was like he couldn’t stop. He had never had someone in his life like her and he was convinced it was because there was no one out there quite like Willow Park. But he didn’t think too much into his overthinking, he assumed everyone felt this way about her.

Right now he was trying not to focus on the fact that her lips were touching where his normally did and how it didn’t seem to bother her. He knew he’d think about it every time he wore the mask from now on.

“Anyway,” Willow wrapped up her impromptu performance, realizing she had gotten carried away. “We should probably get started, huh?”

Hunter didn’t realize he had been staring and had to shake himself out of his daze to answer her. “Oh, yeah! Sure, o-of course.”

“Okay then,” Willow smiled, handing him his mask back. “Derby rules: first one to get their item back wins.”

“Alright,” agreed Hunter, making sure her glasses were secure hanging from his shirt. “So since you have my staff, I’m guessing no magic then?”

“Weeell, I mean I still have my magic,” Willow teased and even without her glasses she could tell Hunter was lovingly rolling his eyes. “Fine, no magic. Just good old fashioned hand to hand combat, for now at least.” She gave him a wink.

“Fine,” said Hunter as he watched Willow tighten her braids. The idea of competition brought out a certain light in her eyes and it made Hunter excited. He knew Willow liked his competitive side, but usually they were on a team together. Competing against her was different.

“I mean, if you need to use magic I-I don’t mind,” he said quickly.

“I’m okay,” she assured him. “Besides, I don’t wanna do too much damage to your field here.”

“Yeah, yeah totally,” said Hunter, clearing his throat. “I just don’t want to uh…”

“Oh,” said Willow, seeing the hesitation in his eyes. “Hunter, it’s okay if you beat me ya know.”

“You… won’t be mad?”

She shook her head. “Of course not,” she smiled sincerely. “Knowing your strengths will help me help you. And you not holding back will help me get better too.”

“It’s just that… when I spar with the other scouts they always get upset when I win and then they don’t wanna… uh.”

“Ohhh,” she said, really understanding. “Hunter, if we spar and I win will you stop being my friend?”

“No!” He responded immediately. He remembered the utter euphoria he felt when Willow had referred to him as her friend when they were messaging one night. He had been asking about her day, simultaneously vicariously living through her and wishing he could be there in person when she mentioned her dads asked about him and wanted to have him over for dinner as they did with all her friends.

He waited for her to unsend or correct the message but she didn’t. She meant it. He was her friend and she wasn’t afraid to let everyone know. He was beyond honored to be considered her friend, and he would do absolutely anything to make sure he did not lose that title.

“Of course not,” he said with conviction and Willow nodded.

“Exactly, so if you win I’m not gonna stop liking you or anything I’m just gonna try harder next time,” she said as though it was truly so easy. “I mean, if you win. I don’t plan on going easy on you.” She spun his staff around herself as though to emphasize her point and the light in her eyes was contagious as Hunter felt motivated again. He donned his mask and took his usual fighting stance, waiting for her to deliver the first blow as he prepared his strategy in his head.

Hunter was quick but Willow was tricky. Both their strategies revolved around defending and similarity made it difficult to properly start as neither of them wanted to strike the other. But once they prioritized the task at hand (retrieving their items) they became more comfortable with the idea.

Willow made the first move, using Hunter’s staff to launch herself towards him to try and snatch her glasses from him. But Hunter quickly countered and leapt over her, getting his hands on his staff but not succeeding in removing it from Willow’s grasp. She used the momentum to send him flying toward the ground, but he was able to rise to his feet no problem. Hunter knew he had the upper hand, he knew the area better and he had a bigger target to claim. But Willow was true to her word about not making it easy for him. She didn’t play dirty as many of the scouts did and Hunter was giddy at the idea of truly getting to test his skills.

Willow couldn’t help but think of it like dancing. The way their steps complimented each other, the way they’d get just close enough to hear the other person breathing. Every so often she’d get bold enough to tease him.

“Tsk tsk tsk, you really thought I’d fall for that?” she asked when he tried to fake her out and his ears would get red and he’d come back at her with more determination. She had nearly forgotten she was trying to get close to him to retrieve her glasses, she was more focused on getting close to him so she could see his reaction. She reached for them once and he grabbed her wrist to stop her, but he quickly retracted it. Willow wanted to point out that he should;ve sed that opportunity to disarm her but she decided against and tried to think of something cheeky to say the next time it happened.

She was excited to be able to have someone who took this as seriously as she did but still managed to have fun. Amity was serious but was still so worried about hurting her and Luz and Gus were fun to train with but sometimes were too silly and couldn’t keep up with her when she got in the zone. Hunter was the perfect opponent.

Hunter observed the way Willow moved and while he found her to be a remarkable force, he felt he had discovered his way to victory. As agile as she was, she favored her right side. If he wanted to catch her off guard, he would need to approach her from the left and grab the staff while she turned to her less dominant side. He sprang into action but Willow anticipated this and as he went to turn, she stuck out her foot accidentally causing Hunter to lose his balance. He managed to grab his staff but Wilow did not let go and so they both ended up hurtling to the ground. Willow had shifted the staff behind her head and landed atop it with it resting behind her neck. Hunter in turn landed atop Willow, his hands catching him, placed on either side of her head as his nose was mere inches from hers.

Their breathing lined up as she stared up at him, close enough where he was in focus. His face red and his eyes wide as he waited for her to say something. She knew his mind was shouting a thousand apologies, that he was deciding what to be embarrassed about first, but he didn't need to be. She carefully removed her hands from the staff and reached up to grab her glasses as they dangled above her.

“Not bad,” she said smugly. “For a first session, that is.”

“Ha, uh thanks,” he said, praying that the sweat he knew was collecting on his brow wouldn't fall onto her. But he was paralyzed. He was hypnotized. He was utterly captivated by how picturesque she looked, her frizzy braids sprawled out on the ground like a halo. She made no attempt to move either, likewise captivated by the way the sunlight above him outlined his frame. He truly was golden and she thought about telling him so but she was hoping he would have something more to say first.

He wanted to but just as he went to open his mouth, his attention was diverted by a new voice.

“Yeah, Golden Guard!”

“Smooth move pipsqueak!”

“Looks like the private lessons are going well!”

Hunter’s eyes shot up in horror as he saw a collection of scouts had gathered on the balcony above and had been watching him and Willow spar. It was then that he realized how… compromising their current position looked.

“Uhhhh let me get you a water,” Hunter offered as he leapt away from her like she was on fire.

“Okay, thanks,” said Willow with a smile as she sat up. “But hurry back! We’ve got a lot to get through.”

“Haha, totally,’ he said, giving her finger guns in a panic response as he speed walked up to the balcony.

“Having fun, little prince?” asked Darius, sipping a cup of tea as the scouts offered a series of whistles and comments as he walked past them, his face hopelessly flushed.

“What are they doing?” Hunter whispered in a panic. “I thought this was supposed to be a private instruction.”

“Oh, is that so?” Darius said with a smirk.

“You were the one who arranged this,” Hunter hissed, his eyes darting down to Willow who thankfully seemed unaware of their audience.

“Fine, fine, “ he said. “Come now scouts, let’s give the Golden Guard some privacy.”

“Ohhh, you wanna be alone with your plant girlfriend?” teased a scout as the scouts tried to suppress their giggles.

“Yes, thank you,” said Hunter, not missing a beat.

“Okay, okay, just to be clear, you and your plant girlfriend want to be alone,” asked another.

“Yes, that’s an order!” said Hunter, feeling his authority was being honored. But just as he went to leave, the scouts burst into laughter. This was nothing terribly new, they often found ways to undermine him. But he failed to see what was so funny about-

Then he saw Darius was also suppressing his laughter and suddenly the words caught up to him. Hunter’s face turned a deep shade of crimson and he felt like steam was coming out of his ears. “Oh… shut up!” he demanded as the room erupted into another round of prepared remarks.

From the ground, Willow could just barely make out the faint sounds of laughter. As she strained to hear any specifics, Clover flew down to meet her buzzing with news from Flapjack having not gotten to see her best friend in awhile. She nuzzled her owner who was eager to hear about her day. Willow quickly looked for something to do, trying to look busy like she wasn’t overthinking what was taking him so long. Not because she was nervous, but because she didn’t get to spend much time with him as it was. She wanted to try and squeeze in some time to talk to him in person instead of texting.

As Hunter marched back with water for Willow, he could feel the scouts still watching him. He didn’t call up to them because knew making a scene would only embarrass him in front of Willow, or worse make her feel uneasy. He just hoped they’d keep quiet.

When he came back to Willow, she was balancing a free weight on the tip of her finger. “Hey Hunter,” she beamed, her eyes darting between him and the weight. “Check it out!” she carefully lifted her hand and threw the weight into the air, it flipped and then she caught once more with apparent ease.

“Impressive,” he said as he handed her the water bottle and offered her a smile, which quickly dissolved when he heard the collective sounds of over dramatic kissy noises coming at them from the balcony. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, there was no way Willow didn’t hear them this time.

“Ugh, I’m sorry, please ignore them,” Hunter pleaded. Willow couldn’t care less about what the scouts thought, she only cared about what Hunter felt. The notion that they were bullying him sent a sharp chill up her chest, and she had to take a deep breath to steady herself before responding.

“Okay,” she said, her eyes momentarily darting to them anyway trying to get a quick read on their intentions. “But is everything alright? Did they say something to you?”

“No,no… well yes,” he admitted, unable to convincingly lie when her eyes caught his. “But it’s nothing bad, just teasing.”

“Hunter, it’s not nothing if it’s bothering you,” she assured him. “I can say something if-.”

“No, no it’s stupid,” he cut her off, starting to feel nervous and twisted. “I mean, it’s not stupid it’s about you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “But it’s nothing bad about you, because you’re amazing. It’s just… I’ve never had a friend over to the castle before.”

“Oh,” she said, hoping he’d elaborate.

“Yeah and so I guess they thought… and it’s my fault because I didn’t even think about it, that you were my… more than a friend.”

“Oooh,” Willow fully understood now. “I see.”

“And it’s totally my fault because of how I described you so I-.”

“How did you describe me?” she asked almost breathlessly.

“I uh, well after the whole… kidnapping thing, they would talk about you sometimes,” he began. “And they asked if you were my plant girlfriend and I said yes.”

“Okay,”

“And I know there’s so much more to you than just plants,” Hunter went on. “But you are on the plant track and so it seemed like a suitable identifier at the time but it wasn’t until just now that I realized that the words ‘girl’ and ‘friend’ were not separate so they weren’t saying that you were a plant girl who was my friend but rather you liked plants and you were my… uh…”

“Don’t even worry about it,” said Willow sweetly. “I get it; my dads like to tease me too.”

“They do?”

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “Whenever I bring someone cute over to the house they can’t help themselves. But it doesn’t last very long.”

Someone cute, someone cute, his mind rang out. His mind quickly bounced back when he realized she was the someone cute in this situation. Because she was very cute. Had he always thought that? Pssh, everyone thought that. Willow was objectively cute, it was a fact. It made sense the guards found the notion silly that someone so cute would associate with him.

“I mean, if you ever came to my house it’d be the same thing,” she continued and before Hunter could offer a response, his heart stopped. The way it did when she had pinned him down. Her fathers would consider him cute enough to tease? More importantly, she considered him cute at all? Even hypothetically?

“Yeah, Darius keeps telling them it’s not like that,” said Hunter. “He said I wouldn’t even know what to do with a girl like you and the scouts said I have no game anyway, but I didn’t bother debating with them since training is serious and not about games.”

“Oooh,” said Willow once more, as the narrative shifted again. They weren’t teasing him like assuming parents, they were teasing him like obnoxious siblings. Her mind pulled up all the times Ed and Em had evoked the same response in Amity. She knew the best way to combat this was confidence, and to make them eat their words. She was positive they couldn’t hear them, as they seemed to not be whispering and Willow could not hear them from where they stood, so she made sure to have her actions speak for her. She reached out and touched Hunter’s arm.

“I bet they tease you all the time, huh?” She smiled. “I mean, you’re the Golden Guard. I'm sure plenty of teenagers have crushes on you.”

“Uh, not really?” Said Hunter, unable to focus for a moment when he registered her touch. He was grateful to have learned the definition of a crush so he didn’t embarrass himself in front of Willow the way he had when he misunderstood the word when Darius used it. “I mean, I wear my mask most of the time. I don’t know how you can have a crush on someone you can’t see.”

“Hmm, yeah I guess seeing does help with that,” she said softly and Hunter knew he’d be thinking about the way she said that sentence all week. It was like she knew something and she let a clue dwell just under the surface of the words. He had never heard the assumption that his position would make him attractive to his peers (respected and feared, yes but not admired). He wondered why Willow would assume it. He dared to hope she’d relate.

“C’mere,” she said, moving closer to him.

“W-what are you doing?” He nervously chuckled as she pretended to dust something off his shoulder.

“Let’s give them something to talk about,” she said with an innocent shrug. “Something I’ve learned is that when you’re in on the joke, it’s not as funny anymore.”

“O-okay?”

“Trust me,” Willow said with a wink. “This is the kind of teasing I know how to stop. Now, I’m gonna laugh really loud like you just said something funny and then I’m gonna lightly shove your shoulder and when I do I want you to take my hand, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I can do that,” he said, thankful his back was to the scouts and they couldn’t see him sweat. Even worse though, Willow could see. But she somehow didn’t seem to mind, keeping her cool as she kept smiling at him like it came naturally to her.

She threw her head back and let out a light, airy laugh. Hunter knew it wasn’t genuine, but it would fool most anyone else. She flipped her braid before shoving his shoulder as she said she would, lingering there a moment to remind him to take her hand. He somehow knew what to do with it, bringing it down to their sides as he had seen teen couples do when he went into town.

“Okay good,” she whispered. “Now lean against the wall and I’ll pretend you said something cool.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno, just say anything and I’ll pretend you told me something cool.”

“What about how the venomous fly trap can live in below freezing temperatures if it’s watered with as little as two ounces of boiling rain once a year?”

“Oh yeah, that is pretty cool,” she said. Hunter could tell she genuinely meant it and he smiled, having memorized that fact solely because he thought it would interest her. His smile inspired hers to linger and they stood in comfortable, smiling silence for a few moments.

Out of the corner of her eye, Willow saw one scout nudge another, as though impressed and Willow knew her plan was working. She was doing this to help improve Hunter’s cred and for no other reason, right?

Okay, maybe it was a little fun.

Maybe it was a little easy.

Too easy.

She rose onto her tiptoes, placing her hand delicately on Hunter’s chest to steady herself as she went to whisper in his ear.

“Okay, now walk me to the gate and when I leave don’t look up at them,” she instructed. “Take out your scroll or something, act totally casual.”

“Okay,” he said, a chill running down his spine as her breath hit the side of his face. “But why?”

“We want the scouts to think it’s no big deal,” she explained, as they began to walk hand in hand. “Because you totally have game.”

“I’m sorry, I still don’t understand,” he said as she lead him to the gate. “What kind of game is it exactly?”

Willow chuckled and tucked her hair behind her ear, having reached the exit. She didn’t have to try hard to make it look like she was dreading having to leave. “Hmmm I think we’ll make it part of next week’s lesson,” she said, biting her lip as he continued to offer her a look of confusion.

“Well, alright then,” said Hunter. “Looking forward to it, Captain.”

He waved to her until she was completely out of sight, watching as she soon flew away on Clover.

“Sir! Here’s that water you asked for!” came a voice from behind Hunter. He turned and saw Steve running out with a large, overflowing jug.

“Oh, uh thanks Steve but we’re okay,” said Hunter, feeling like he was leaving a fence taking his eyes off where Willow had last stood. “But I gave her one of Darius’ fancy waters.”

“Oh, okay,” said Steve, dropping the jug without a second thought. “Did you two have fun?”

“Yeah,” said Hunter, smiling in spite of himself. “I did. I hope she did too.”

“Oh totally sir, I watched the whole thing,” assured Steve with a thumbs up. “She was definitely feeling the vibe, she was seriously flirting with you.”

“Huh? Oh, that,” Hunter sighed. “No, between you and me she was just pretending so they’d stop teasing me up there.”

“Really? It was pretty convincing,” marveled Steve.

“Really?” Said Hunter, trying to hide his excitement. “You uh, really think she’d laugh like that at something I said for real?”

He had never dreamed he’d be considered amusing but he had to admit her adored the sound of Willow’s laughter.

“Uh, well I don’t remember her laughing at anything,” said Steve, thinking. “But I left to go get water when you said you needed a water. I was mostly talking about how she smiled when she saw you walk in, I didn’t know you guys planned all that in advance.”

“We, uh w-we didn’t,” said Hunter, clearing his throat.

“Oh,” said Steve, not totally understanding. “Well then, you guys are pretty in sync with your improv.”

#huntlow #huntlow fanfiction #toh #toh fanfic #the owl house #Willow park #Hunter toh #winter toh

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