Willow had mixed emotions to say the least. On the one hand, she was upset that Gus, Amity, and Luz had followed her and Hunter to the grove...on the other, she was glad this meant that the trip to Eclipse Lake ended without conflict. But, on the third hand…

"AND YOU ARE SAYING THAT YOU AND HUNTER KISSED AND DIDN'T TELL ME?!" Luz was very distraught. Hooty had, in his shocked state after hearing Amity confirm The Golden Guard as Hunter, and the boy from the Grove, exclaimed the kiss to the room. Eda and King were trying very hard not to laugh, Gus was trying to make himself disappear into the chair he sat in, and Amity was trying to calm Luz down. Willow thought the hell she was in earlier with Luz's mold state was bad, but this new situation…

"Luz, to be fair it sounds like there wasn't time for her to tell you between when the kiss happened and when the mold took hold of your head." Gus reasoned, watching as Luz flopped over in defeat onto Amity, laying still for a few moments before snapping with inhuman speed to look back at Willow.

"Sooooo~ Do you liiiike hiiim?~" She rested her cheeks on her fist, smiling up with big, sparkling eyes at her best friend. Willow stared at her for a few moments, unsure if she wanted to answer before Amity reached out and put her hand on Luz's shoulder.

"Luz, give her a moment. You can ask her all the embarrassing questions you want later, but...I am sure Willow is still processing between us having seen her and Hunter, and what I just said happened at the lake." Amity smiled at Luz, who blinked, then sat back on the couch.

"Oh- OH! I am so sorry, Willow! I got WAY ahead of myself!" Luz waved her hands, before putting them in her lap. Willow smiled lightly, nodding to Luz before looking to Amity in thanks. Willow sighed, closing her eyes as she thought over what she wanted to say.

" I am...a little mad you guys followed Hunter and I, but I know you guys had only the best intentions. And in the end, it sounded like this worked out for the best." Willow looked back to Amity, " Thank you for trusting me to trust him, Amity." Willow smiled.

"Of course...I just hope that he was exaggerating about Belos." Amity's face dropped into a small frown. " I wish there was more we could do. He is in such a rough position, after all, and he only has like, what? Two years on us? Why was he made leader of the coven anyway?"

"I wish I could tell you…" Willow sighed, frowning herself as she looked to her hands. " He doesn't say a lot about his feelings about his position, but I can tell he really hates being the leader." She shook her head.

" Hey, can I throw something out there?" Gus asked, raising his hand. Willow quirked her brow to Gus before nodding. " You said recently he has been able to visit you in the grove more and more, right? Well...if it is cool with him, why don't we meet up with you guys there once a week or so? It sounds like he could really use people in his age group to talk to." Willow flicked her ears, smiling as she thought.

"Hey, yeah! That's a great idea!" Luz clapped her hands together, probably already planning a list of board games she could bring.

"Only if Hunter is ok with it, though." Amity spoke up, smiling to Willow who nodded.

"Next time I see him, I will ask." Willow smiled. " I have been wanting to bring him around you guys for a long time now. Maybe now he will be willing to!" Willow's heart couldn't help but skip at the hope of Hunter finally joining her friend group. Maybe it will even lead to Hunter finally being able to make an escape from the Coven?

"You did well, Hunter!" Belos said as he looked the key over, a pleasant tone in his voice. " I will overlook the fact you disobeyed direct orders because of this, but I am very pleased nonetheless." Belos looked down to The Golden Guard, knelt before the throne, mask on his face. "Tell me again, how were you able to gain the key from the human?"

" The house demon was distracted by something inside it's halls, and forgot to close the window that led directly to the human's room." The Golden Guard said, repeating the story he forced himself to memorize. " It was as simple as slipping in, though in her ill state the human threw the key at me, hence why the eye was shattered."

"Amusing… To think that all it took after all these years was just a better opportunity to strike." Belos looked back over the key. " I knew you would do better than Lilith ever could...With the key broken as it is, it might not open the door properly, but this will aid us greatly for when it is time." Belos stood, turning to head to the deeper chambers. " You are dismissed, Commander."

The Golden Guard stood, bowing to The Emperor who soon disappeared from sight, before turning and quickly leaving. He needed to get back to his room as quickly as he could, his bile-sac was not agreeing with him and he knew it was just a matter of time before he couldn't stop his coughing. After closing the door to the throne room, he turned down the hall before stopping.

" I'll blame it on the moon itself if I have to!"

'Great, Kikimora…' Hunter thought. He was able to beat her to the castle, thankfully, and that gave him a huge advantage over the demon, but he knew as well that he didn't want to deal with her.

" I know, I'll blame it on the Blight girl! The Owl Lady and her-her DOG thing! I'd love to see them get petrified!" Kikimora's ranting voice drew closer, but the words she said made Hunter pause. He gritted his teeth, his face pulling into a snarl. It's a good thing he wore his mask today.

"B-but what about The Golden Guard, ma'am?" The captain from the cave asked.

"Yes, what about me?" Hunter asked as the two turned the corner, almost running into him.

"Y O U!" Kikimora held up her hand, starting to draw a spell circle before Hunter kicked her hand.

" I take it the mission was a failure?" Hunter asked, perfect control over his voice to make it sound like he really didn't know the answer.

" Like you don't already know, Golden Guard! I saw you there! I knew you were there-"

" Kikimora, this is pathetic even for you." Hunter cut her off. " If you go to The Emperor himself, he will confirm that I have been on my own little mission. Now, what was this I was hearing about a Blight and The Owl Lady?"

"Hn- Gah- I-" Kikimora stuttered, obviously caught off guard by the mention that the Emperor would confirm that he wasn't at the knee. Hunter turned his eyes to the captain, before facing her.

"Perhaps you can explain, Captain?" He rarely used his 'I am your commander' tone of voice, but in this case he knew he would need it. This captain was loyal to Kikimora, but wasn't about to hang herself for the demon.

"U-uh...Sir." The captain saluted. " The youngest Blight daughter was caught in the caves with The Owl Lady and her demon. There was also a rogue scout that fought us as well, the results of which ensured we were unable to get to Eclipse Lake before they did."

"I see...So, you are saying the elite task force I hand picked for this mission failed because of a child, a powerless witch, and what I can only describe as a living stuffed animal?"

"I-I uh…" The Captain lowered her salute, Hunter could tell she was looking to Kikimora for direction. He smiled behind his mask before turning his eyes down at the demon as well.

" Correct me if I am wrong, Kikimora, but the success rate with my task force has been all green, yes? Even with missions harder than traversing a cave?" Hunter could see the gears in Kikimora's head turning. She knew what he was setting up for, The Golden Guard's personal task force was a power not to be reckoned with. Even before Lilith's betrayal the task force always came back with a perfect score, it made some wonder why The Emperor didn't just task him and his soldiers with the capture of The Owl Lady. To be fair, though, they mostly went after objects, not people. " And you are saying that when you took control of my team, they were defeated easily by a still in school kid, a criminal who so desperately wants to be valid, and a scampering little skull guy?"

"Y-you dont understand, they were CRAFTY! The Owl Lady turned into a harpy!" Kikimora cried out.

" And you act like we haven't dealt with harpies before." The Golden Guard sighed, before stepping to the side and walking past the captain and the assistant. " I'll be honest, this isn't looking good for you, Kiki." He knew she hated it when he called her 'Kiki', but he also knew that she was playing directly into his hands. " Oh well, go ahead and talk with The Emperor. I'll go collect the stories from my task force and go ahead with making a report on what really caused the mission to fail."

With that, Hunter made his way down the hall. He could feel Kikimora's glare, but he could also feel the panic she was trying to keep back. He had Belos' favor right now, she knew that, and she knew that she was as good as toast now if she told Belos what happened. 'That will at least keep Blight and the others safe for now.'

As soon as Hunter closed the door behind him, he turned and collapsed onto his floor, not even bothering with taking his mask off. He felt so drained that even the burning inside him seemed to be too exhausted to make the black-tar. His palisman russelled in his hood, the bird soon jumping off the back of his shoulders and to the floor next to him, staying quiet for a few moments before chirping. Hunter sighed before looking over to the bird.

" It's...what I had to do. I couldn't let Kikimora even think for a moment to try and throw Amity under the egg like that." Hunter finally pushed his mask off his face, before shifting around to sit. The cardinal jumped onto his leg, chirping up with a smile at his witch, making the boy pause and flick his ears. " ...thanks, Lil' Ras- uh...sorry, I am still trying to get used to your name."

The little bird chirped again, tilting his head.

"Are you sure?"

The bird nodded.

" Alright. Lil' Rascal does seem like a fitting nickname, doesn't it?" Hunter smiled as he pet his friend. He soon glanced over to the bonsai on his desk, its ethereal glow bringing warmth to his room. He picked Lil' Rascal up, forcing himself to his feet, and went over to the desk to get a closer look at the tree. Still in perfect condition, and the soil appeared moist enough that it didn't need to be watered yet. Hunter sighed in content, his mind going to Willow. He wondered if Amity had told her already what had happened. Should he be nervous about how Willow would react?

The teen moved to it on his desk's chair, crossing his arms and resting his head in them as he stared over the smaller details of the bonsai. It's bark really did look like it was made from a jewel, carved with care and detail to make it look like the shape of a tree. But as he grazed his fingers on its surface, it still felt like rough wood.

"You know...I should have realized sooner that this bonsai actually looks like a willow tree." Hunter said, amused at himself. Lil' Rascal chirped and bounced over to look over the tree as well. The leaf vines were so long that some of them had rested on the table, shimmering with the same bright, iridescent colors. " It really is fitting, hu? I wonder if she did that on purpose?"

Hunter pushed himself back up, carefully repositioning the tree so its longer leaves would dangle beautifully off the edge of his desk. He wished he could put it in the window so that the light would filter through it and reflect its colors across his room, but that would draw too much unwanted attention. After stepping back to look over the bonsai again, admiring it, Lil' Rascal chirped and jumped over to where his scroll was.

"Right..I should check in on her." Hunter picked up the scroll, opening it up as he turned to crawl into his bed. Lil' Rascal flew over to nestle down next to him, cooing in content as Hunter loaded the messages from Willow.

' Trying to make soup for Luz. Bit difficult between finding human-safe ingredients and Hooty and Gus constantly pestering me'

She had followed this text with a picture of a pot, inside of which was the beginning of said soup. Hunter shivered, she probably didn't realize she caught the house demon's reflection in the liquid.

' Gus found a lot of human music and a CD player for them!'

'I am going to ask Eda if I can borrow this so you can listen to some of this stuff!'

'Welp….I burned the soup.'

She sent him a picture of the mess, with who he could assume was Gus with a rag, helping clean the door of the oven and the house demon who was...licking the floor? Gross.

'Luz is better!'

Hunter smiled at the last text, and looked at the time it was sent a few hours ago. He pondered if he should wait for her to message him again, or if he should message her now. He wanted to, but has Amity told her what happened in the cave yet? He leaned his head back on his pillow in thought, about to mule over his options when he heard the notification sound. Willow beat him to the punch, it seems. He quickly looked at the message, swallowing hard as he read it.

'Amity told me what happened. Please, can you come meet me at the grove?'

Hunter read the text over, then turned to scoop up the almost napping palisman before tripping over himself to his window.

_AN_

Thus ends the 'Eclipsed' arch! But stay tuned, coming next is some cute scenes and... When do I know I should change the rating?...