The trio stayed a distance behind Willow and the mystery boy, making sure to be out of their sight. Gus, Amity, and Luz kept their voices hushed, trying to strain their ears to hear what the two they were following were speaking of. It was too hard at times to make out what the two chatted about, at one point the boy took Willow's bag so she could hold onto the Memoria Bonsai better, but the way Willow kept smiling up at the taller individual at least helped ease Luz's worries. Soon, the two diverted from the set path, the hooded boy took lead through the brush, gently taking Willow's hand in his to help her through the patches better.
"Should we really follow them through the bushes?" Gus asked in a hush tone, trying to keep his eyes on the two as they made their way deeper into the forest.
"I-I don't know...I just want to make sure Willow is actually safe with this guy." Amity rubbed her arm, before looking to Luz for her opinion.
"Maybe they are going to the grove Willow was talking about? It...wouldn't hurt to just at least make sure they get there safe, right?" Luz shrugged, before taking head into the bushes, trying to be quiet to not alert the duo that they were being followed. She knew deep down it was more than just making sure Willow and Hunter- er..the boy with her were getting to where they were going safely. Luz wanted to really know if her hunch about the boy being The Golden Guard was correct, as well as finally see the stone towers and vine flowers Willow talked about. There was not much Gus or Amity could do to disway her now, even more so since Amity set them on the path to begin with.
After a short amount of time, the trio arrived at the edge of the forest, peering into a decently large field covered in balanced rocks, being helped to stay steady by thick vines and beautiful blooming flowers of multiple colors. One of the rocks had a lovely flower-crown nest mix on it, resting inside was a golden bird. A thick mist covered the ground, and the forest was unusually quiet for The Boiling Isle's. 'Willow was not kidding that she felt it was a paradise.' Luz thought, 'It's beautiful here.'
Luz forced herself to focus on the two figures who were standing, looking around the grove. Willow went to set the tree she carried down, the boy following with her bag. The unnatural quiet of the place carried the two's voices to the trio, making it perfectly easy for them to understand.
" Just know, though I am a bit...upset...I am not mad, Hunter." Willow said, standing as she looked up at the boy.
'Oh no way.' Luz thought, covering her mouth to keep herself from making a noise. She felt Amity shift next to her, a reminder they needed to be as quiet as possible.
" Y-yeah. I'll do better next time…" Hunter rubbed his arm, his face felt so red but his shoulders had such a giant weight lifted from them. He told Willow what he did to Boscha, and she didn't get mad! She didn't scream, or yell, or use harsh tones. His face grew redder when he felt the girl's hand on his chin, forcing him to look at her.
" And in the end, I know you just wanted what was best for me." Willow smiled gently up at him. " How could I be mad at that?"
Hunter's ears flicked and wiggled as she gave her a returning smile, finally reaching up to lower his hoodie off his head. " So, we are good?"
Luz turned to face Amity, nodding rapidly at her, before turning to Gus and making giant hand motions, though she, surprisingly, was able to keep quiet enough not to alert Willow and Hunter of the trio. Amity reached over, putting her hand on Luz's shoulder and a finger to her mouth. Gus, blinked a few times, before nodding in a 'Yeah that actually makes a lot of sense' way. Luz could barely contain herself. She knew the Lil' Rascal palisman seemed very keen on The Golden Guard, and when she went to check up on the palisman the school day after the incident and found him missing, she knew deep down the little cardinal had gone to Hunter.
And now look at him! The Golden Guard was looking as red as Amity from Willow's soft and caring nature, not that she could blame him. If anyone was going to get through Hunter's rough exterior and find the dorky nerd that laid beneath, it would be Willow.
"So...now what?" Gus asked in a whisper to the other two.
" Maybe we should leave them alone now?" Amity asked, looking keen to get out of there before Willow, in particular, discovered them. Luz nodded rapidly again, though it was obvious she wanted to stay and watch the two longer because she could not force herself to look away from the couple. They had laid out the blanket Willow started carrying and were now sitting on it, the two of them looked very happy to be in each other's company.
" So he really thought Belos was going to go to his birthday party?" They heard Willow asking, making the trio go silent for a moment.
" I know, right? I haven't seen him leave the castle since...well...forever." Hunter shrugged. " It's been at least a little over a decade. I mean, he doesn't really have reason to, after all."
" The abomination coven-lead sure sounds like a piece of work." Willow opened her bag to pull out the candy jar, opening it and setting it in between her and Hunter.
"Ugh, you have no idea. If I had to rank him on a 'Best to Worse' coven-leader scale, he would definitely be on the bottom for me." Hunter took out one of Willow's candies, and in his usual fashion, unwrapped it before handing it over to the girl. " He takes his work seriously, at least, and that's all I can really ask for. I just hope that being his 'Guest of Honor' will not mean I'd have to bull through a speech or something." Hunter rolled his eyes, already imagining Darius trying to set him up on a microphone.
" You really do not like public speaking, hu?" Willow quirked her brow at Hunter, before putting the candy in her mouth. Hunter groaned, flopping onto his back as he nodded.
" It is the worst part of my job." he stated, matter-of-factly. The teen rested his hands on his belly, soon feeling Lil' Rascal land on his chest and chirp a few times. He smiled, moving to pet the bird before looking over to Willow. "So...If you had a chance to go to the party, though...Would you?"
"Oh...titan, I have no clue!" Willow looked away from him, her cheeks blushing lightly. " I am not too good with large crowds, and this sounds like it will be a rather big party."
"Well...if you want, I can put your name on the list."Hunter rolled to his side, propping himself up on one of his elbows. " No pressure, though. It would be a bit weird to plan, too, considering I have to do my whole 'Golden Guard' thing, then leave, then come back as 'Hunter'. I'd rather not leave you fending for yourself in such a place."
"Hmm...I'll think about it." Willow smiled at Hunter.
Luz, Amity, and Gus all looked at each other, the three feeling they were now in way over their heads. Amity made a motion to leave, which Gus nodded to. Luz looked between the two before her, then to Willow and Hunter, then back to her girlfriend and one of her best friends before nodding. It was best to leave now before they did get caught or listen into something they shouldn't have heard.
As the trio finally made it back to the path, a branch full of fungus hitting Luz on the way back causing her freak out slightly, they breathed a sigh of relief before setting their path to head in the direction of The Owl House. They had a lot on their minds, now, that was for sure. And they needed a plan for how to approach the new information.
"I don't know...maybe we should keep it between ourselves that we know of uh...Hunter?" Gus scratched the top of his palisman's head, " Willow looked really content with him, and if she isn't really to introduce us then.." he shrugged, giving a sigh.
"Surprisingly, I am in the same boat." Amity said, rubbing the back of her neck, " Since he is The Golden Guard, that does explain why she kept who he was pretty hush to begin with. It might make things harder for the two of them if she knew we knew?"
" But...We can't just lie to Willow about this! This is HUGE, guys!" Luz turned on her heels, facing the other two. " If Willow knows that we know about Hunter, we could help him!"
" Really, I don't think it's any of our business, Luz." Gus frowned as Luz slumped her shoulders, before moving to pat her. " Look, we know you mean well...so maybe instead we don't lie, we just don't tell the truth unless Willow asks?"
"I don't know, I'd rather come clean to her." Luz sighed, before pouting at Gus and Amity. " They were so sweet to each other, too!" Amity couldn't help but smile, moving to rest both her hands on Luz's shoulders to make her stand back up straight.
"Your heart is in the right place, Luz. And we can talk to Willow at another time. Right now, it might be best for Willow and Hunter to come to us first. We wouldn't want to accidentally push him away from her, you know?" Amity put her hand on Luz's cheek, smiling at her girlfriend.
"...Oh, alright. But you both have to listen to me fawn over how cute they were for the next few hours!" Luz pointed at Amity and Gus.
"A-ahh uuuh...Oh look at that, I am suddenly being pulled awaaaay!" Gus started back peddling, his palisman turning into its staff form before he turned and quickly flew off.
"GUS!" Luz cried out after him, before laughing and looking at Amity, smiling with big puppy-like eyes. The purple-haired girl sighed, before holding her hand out for Luz.
"Alright...go on."
Meanwhile back in the grove, the two were unaware of being found out. Instead, Hunter had pulled his hood back on his head, and was now laying back on the blanket with his eyes closed, feeling relaxed as Willow read a book beside him, occasionally flipping to the next page. He smiled to himself, feeling her weight pressed against one of his legs. He never felt quite so relaxed.
As he opened his eyes to look over to her, he was met with a white void. He blinked a few times, sitting up and looking around.
"Willow?" He asked, before shuffling to his feet. Where was he? He was just at the training grounds, right? Wait...no that wasn't right. He was at the castle. He was walking down one of the corridors. He had to get to her room before...he didn't know what. Uncle wasn't clear on the details of what was going on, other than it was 'time'. Time for what?
The curtains were suddenly pushed aside, and he could now see the witch that laid in the bed before him. Her long, pastel purple hair was tied into a braid, it looked unnatural for it to be like this. She had dark and deep circles under her eyes as she sweated bullets out of her. She was too weak to open her eyes and look at him, but still held her hand out to him.
"Hunter…" She said. He was scared, she looked to fragil. " Hunter…" She repeated, her hand suddenly brushing his hair back away from his eyes. " Hunter, wake up…" Wake up? What does she mean wake-
Hunter slowly blinked open his eyes, looking over to Willow who had concern written on her face. "...Hey." He said, stretching his arms before sitting up. " What's got you on a mope?" He yawned, looking at her with a tired, still half-asleep smile.
" You were crying…" Willow frowned, tilting her head at him. " Are you...Are you ok?"
Hunter reached up, feeling the wet of tears on his face, but was glad that when he looked at his fingers they were not stained black. "Hu...that's weird. Maybe it's just allergies?" Hunter shrugged, trying to brush it off.
"You were breathing pretty heavily as well...I assumed you were in a nightmare?"
"I uh…" Hunter rubbed his chin. He definitely was dreaming, but for the life of him couldn't remember what it was. " Yeah, I cannot remember." he gave a weak smile to Willow, who still looked concerned. " Hey, don't worry about me, Flower-cake. Dreams are just that, dreams." He shifted around to better sit in front of her properly. "At anycase, it seems to be getting pretty late. Don't want your folks getting worried, right?"
Willow furrowed her brows at him, obviously still concerned, but he was right. It was getting pretty late. She sighed, moving to bookmark and close her book as Hunter went to close the jar and put it away in her bag. After the two folded the blanket together and put it away, Willow picked up the Memoria Bonsai and turned to smile at Hunter.
"Remember I said I had a gift for you?"
"Yees?~" Hunter remembered, he had been pondering over what the gift could be for a while, and had hopes on what it was...even more so after the kiss she gave him. Willow offered out the shrub for him to take, making Hunter tilt his head. He slowly accepted the small tree, looking it over before looking to Willow in surprise. " A-Are you sure, Willow? Memoria Bonsai are really hard to find!"
Willow smiled, and gave a nod. " So, you do know what kind of plant it is?" She teased, making Hunter blush. " And of course I am sure...you do know what the particulars of this particular bonsai are, right?"
"Y-yeah. They are difficult to grow, but once they have bloomed all you need to do is general management. Occasionally clipping the branches down, picking dead leaves, watering it of course.." Hunter rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the tree. The bark was a milky white, with a tint of pink, some colors reflecting through to give it an almost opal like appearance, with the leaves themselves being iridescent, some shining green and purple, others red and orange. This type of plant was not extremely rare, but it was hard to come by considering how desired they are by upper-class witches and demons, as well as the knowledge forgotten about the plant.
But what made Hunter's heart flutter was the message behind Willow giving him the plant. He didn't want to say anything out loud, half in fear of assuming, and the other half in fear of, well, assuming more. Before Belos took control the gifting of Memoria Bonsai was commonplace. It took a lot for the plant to grow because you had to grow the Bonsai with intention. Even faltering in your thoughts of whether or not you should be growing such it could damage it beyond repair. If Willow was giving this to him, and in such a perfect condition that meant a lot.
The colors reflected what the person felt, as well. But, on the top of his head, Hunter couldn't remember what the colors meant. After Belos took control, however, the practice was next to forgotten behind the coven system, and that's why the plant became viewed as 'Rare' and 'Exotic'.
"Well…" Willow's voice cut him from these thoughts as he looked back at her, he knew he was blushing again. She moved closer to him, gently moving his arms around the pot in a way to have him better hold the plant, " They are also good messages." Willow smiled up at him again, his heart was going leaps and bounds in his chest. " I uh...I am honestly not too good with words, Hunter… So, I thought that maybe I can show you how I care for you in my own language."
Hunter knew his face was probably the reddest it has been since she kissed his cheek. He could only stare at her in a love-struck awe, the back of his mind screaming for him to 'SAY SOMETHING, IDIOT!' But he couldn't find the words.
His actions felt like they were not his own, moving the plant to the side so it wasn't between him and Willow. He wasn't sure what he was doing, his heart felt like it was about to explode from his chest as he gently reached his hand to the side of her face. Her own cheeks started to reflect the red of his as her eyes widened slightly at the realization of what he wanted, but she didn't pull away. She brought her hand to his, staring up at him for a few moments before leaning in and closing her eyes, a hint of her giving him the ok. Hunter followed suit, closing his own eyes, as he leaned down.