First time writing for this fandom, so please be kind to me and my trashy sense of taste.
Hunter was furious.
He'd been lied to. His whole life, as long as he could remember, he'd been lied to by Belos. And that shouldn't have surprised him but it did. Belos had lied about who he was, how they were connected—they weren't family. Not in the slightest. The Emperor had never once treated him as family but claimed they were. It had been a Titan-damned lie the entire time and that hurt. It hurt him deeply.
Eda said he had a right to be angry, to be upset. She and Luz had left him alone in his room (his new room in the Owl House) so he could think and be angry without taking his anger out on anyone who had done nothing wrong. He was grateful for that. Neither of them deserved his wrath towards the emperor being directed at him.
As he curled up on his new-ish bed, his mind drifted. He knew now that he had no connection to Belos outside of the man raising him, and that the truth of his heritage was more complex than simply being that of witches without power. And more than anything, he knew now that he was going to stick with Eda and Luz, wherever that would take him and Rascal.
"Hunter?"
He lifted his head slightly to see Eda in the doorway.
"Yeah?" he mumbled. Being angry had left him exhausted, along with the rapid flight to the house in the first place.
"Just wanted to let you know that dinner's going to be ready shortly, if you're going to join us."
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry."
"If you change your mind, Luz has a couple fire glyphs you can use to heat up your food." Her eyes softened—one lacking the golden color of the other. "Get some rest. You deserve it."
He pulled the blanket over himself as she closed the door behind her.
Neither of them meant to find it.
It had been pure dumb luck while they were poking around in the attic, trying to find the escaped Echo Mouse from Luz's room that held the secrets of the only other human who'd ever come to the Boiling Aisles. But he found it anyway, a journal covered in dust with Eda's name scrawled on the cover in her messy cursive. He opened it out of pure curiosity and found that it was from seventeen years earlier, full of entries detailing dealing with her curse. Luz had managed to catch the mouse, but she was just as fascinated by the journal as he was.
The first entry was telling.
I can't believe it's already been four years since I was cursed.
I've been trying to find ways to manage it, and it's getting worse all the time. I remembered that Lily used to keep a journal when she was having problems and I thought hey, why not give it a try? After all, books can't spill all my dirty secrets unless someone reads it, and I'm keeping this baby in my hair until it's full. Then I'm chucking it into my junk pile where it won't be found for a long time.
"Sounds like Eda," Luz chuckled.
More entries detailed her trying to find ways to break the curse, to manage it, and none of it seemed to work. Then something made both of them freeze and stare at each other.
Went to a healer today to try and find out if this sickness I've been having is related to the curse. It's not. It's related to me being an idiot because now I'm going to have a little owlet to take care of. I'm pregnant.
Out of shock, Luz slammed the journal shut.
"Eda had a kid," she whispered. "Before me and King, she had a kid!"
"You didn't know?" he asked.
"No! Where are they? Where's my kooky adoptive witch sibling to go with my crazy adoptive witch mom and moody adopted brother?"
"King isn't moody."
"You're moody." He shoved her and she shoved him right back before he snatched the journal away to read more.
I thought it was bad enough that this kid's gonna have to deal with a mom who's cursed. Now I'm being told that there's a significant chance they might not be able to do magic because of the curse's properties. I feel so horrible. It's not fair. But they're my responsibility, and I'll be damned if I let anything bad happen.
More entries, all talking about her curse or the pregnancy. He kept reading, even when Luz slipped out of the room because it was getting late and she had school in the morning. Several of the entries were long and rambling, full of guilt and confusion and the musings of a cursed pregnant witch.
Well, it's a boy.
He's not born yet, but the healers tell me that it's going to be a boy. A new Clawthorne. Titan, I haven't even told my parents yet. I don't think I'm going to tell them, actually. They'll tell Lily and she'll be demanding I settle down even more than she already has for the sake of the baby. She's no fun anymore, and she always looks at me with these eyes that are all full of pity. I don't need her pity and I don't need to join any covens, no matter what she says.
I just need to find a place to live, a place where me and my boy can be safe.
Oh, and a cure for this damn curse. That would be nice, too, but I think a house is an easier feat.
He kept flipping pages, and then he found an entry that made his heart almost stop.
He's here. My son is here.
He's so tiny. So fragile. I never knew that babies were like that. He's completely dependent on me, but he's a tough little bugger. He also really takes after his dad, as much as a baby this young can take after anyone. I love him so much. He's my little owlet and I'm going to do my best to raise him. He deserves better but I'm the best he's got for now. Oh, and Owlbert is completely infatuated with him already. It's adorable.
I think his eyes are my favorite part of him so far. They're this deep purplish color and it's nothing like what you'd expect on a baby.
Hunter closed the journal and quickly looked in the mirror. His eyes… they were exactly like Eda described. Was it possible he was…?
Introduced him to Mom today. She was mad at first that I didn't tell her, but then she held him for five seconds and suddenly she was the most calm I've seen her since before I got cursed. He's always getting bigger and stronger. I wish I knew what to call him.
He flipped to the next entry.
Mom gave me a suggestion, and for the first time, I like it.
Hunter. Hunter Clawthorne.
His heart was pounding now. He hoped it was true, and at the same time he prayed it wasn't. Because if it was true, and Eda's journal entries were true, then… something had happened. Something had taken him from Eda.
He got his answer near the end.
Today is the worst day of my life.
He's gone. Hunter's gone. I slipped up and the curse got me. By the time I snapped out of it, he was gone. I don't know what happened, or who took him. I just know that I need to get my baby back. He's too young. I don't want to be alone again. I don't want him to be alone. He's a powerless witch right now. Nobody's going to want him but me. I want him because he's my son and I love him.
I don't care what I have to do. I'm going to find him.
He took a deep breath and turned the pages. There were more entries detailing Eda's frantic search for her lost son, of her finding his baby blanket ripped and torn on a tree with no blood to be found, and more than anything, her despair and determination ringing through with each word. The final entry was what got to him, though, and made him cry.
It's been a year now since I lost Hunter.
I have no idea where he is. I don't know if he's even still alive. But I'm going to hold onto the hope that he is, and that I'll find him one day. Or maybe he'll find me. At any rate, I need to focus on breaking the curse so that if I do find him, maybe this time I won't lose myself and lose him again. I'll be free, and he'll have his mother back in earnest. Then maybe he can meet Lily and she won't try to brainwash him into joining a damn coven. A mother can dream, right?
I will find him. That won't change.
But I will change.
That was it. That was the last entry.
He felt his tears dripping down his face and onto the paper. He wiped them away and he could feel Rascal rubbing their head against his cheek. That was when he noticed sunlight was starting to stream through the window and that he'd pulled an all-nighter.
That didn't matter right now.
Hunter swung his legs over the side of the bed after drying his tears and headed downstairs to find Luz making herself breakfast while Eda poured a cup of apple blood. He had the journal in his hands and he set it down on the table while keeping his eyes on the Owl Lady. Eventually Eda turned and her eyes went to the journal. Involuntarily she threw her cup in the air.
"W-where did you find that?!" she asked.
"In the attic yesterday. It's a fascinating read." He tried to hide the fear and slight hope in his voice. "I didn't know you had a son."
"It was a boy?!" Luz gasped. Eda let out a sigh.
"Yes. I did have a son, once upon a time. But he disappeared."
"His name was Hunter. Like me." Luz's eyes widened and she got an excited look on her face, her cheeks puffing out as she looked from him to Eda.
"It was." She bit her lip. "I know where you're going with this. And yes, it's entirely possible and very likely that I might be your birth mother. But…"
"I know." He sighed, and he handed her the journal. "Can we pretend? At least until we can find out if it's true?"
Eda smirked.
"Kid, you were already basically adopted the minute you moved into this house. You being blood-related to me isn't going to make a lick of difference."
Luz glanced between them again, and then she let out a frustrated groan and pushed Hunter into Eda.
"Now hug!" she demanded.
Awkwardly, they put their arms around each other and Hunter felt strange. Not because he was hugging his false uncle's worst enemy, someone who'd been his enemy until not too long ago, but because it felt right. Hugging Eda felt right and he wondered if this was what it was like to hug your mother.
Then it was over, all too soon, but he would remember.
A little all over the place, but forms the basis of my take on the "Hunter is Eda's Son" theory. Might do more with it later.
So long and thanks for all the fish!