Willow frowned at her scroll as he read the message again. This was probably the fifth time this week she opened up Hunter's messages in hopes to see a new response. He had told her that he was going to be gone without his scroll for a week or so because of a mission to The Foot. Willow was honestly sad that he would be gone for so long, and wished to have sent him off with a proper face-to-face goodbye. But, in the end, what could she do?

Instead she spent her time planning. She was not one for big romantic gestures, but she felt this would be something very much up Hunter's alley. He mentioned to her before how he had learned ballroom dance without the aid of bard music, and honestly enjoyed doing it but, of course, didn't have a partner. This was before they had become exclusive, though, so Willow was hesitant to offer to be that partner. But now she couldn't get the thought of it out of her mind.

She took time to learn the Light Glyph from Luz, wanting to use them for her plan. She borrowed the human 'Stereo' and a few CDs to pick from before deciding on a few different ones to play. Luz, of course, caught on pretty quickly of what Willow was doing, and her help was a boon to Willow's plans. Soon, everything was planned and set right, all Willow had to do was wait for Hunter to come back from The Foot. She couldn't help but have butterflies in her stomach the whole time she was waiting.

Hunter had locked himself away in his room, claiming that he contracted a rather serious case of The Common Mold to anyone who came and asked. He was relieved that Belos was allowing him the time to recuperate, as always, after the...incident. But of course the reality of the situation was far graver than Hunter wanted. In the week that had passed his eyes had not changed back! He was scared. He didn't want to go to Belos, but if he went to anyone else what would happen?

He spent a lot of hours just in his bathroom trying to figure out ways to get the black to go away, but nothing worked! Hunter was at a loss of what was happening. Lil' Rascal did what he could to comfort the teen, but there was only so much that could be done.

The panic of his situation made it hard for Hunter to think straight. The cardinal had to aggressively baby him so he would remember to eat, to shower, to brush his teeth. But no amount of coaxing was helping Hunter sleep. He was too on edge for that. However, it always caught up to him eventually, and often at times Lil' Rascal would have to muscle his way into making sure Hunter didn't fall onto something that could hurt him, dragging him onto the bed slowly. It was tiring work! But the palisman always made sure it was done.

Over the course of the first week, Hunter had slowly but gradually regained his mind, slowly accepting the fact that his eyes were not going to turn back soon. Perhaps it was a sign of his bile-sac getting worse? Soon enough Lil' Rascal had started to bring his scroll over to him, asking him to talk to someone...but who could he talk to? Willow?

He yearned to do so, but she didn't need to stress out about this...he lied and told her he would be gone most likely for the amount of time until the party happened. He didn't want to go back on his lie, even more so he didn't- he didn't…

The pain in his chest was so heavy. He didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't want to get hurt as well. He was procrastinating the decision he had already made, but didn't have the courage to go through. Hunter kept it so close to his chest, even Lil' Rascal didn't seem to notice.

But as the week turned into the start of a new one, Hunter knew he couldn't keep from his responsibilities. At first, he panicked again when he realized that wearing his mask now revealed his eyes like when Belos' pupils broke through the darkness. He was quickly able to figure out how to fix it by glueing a thin-enough-to-see-through fabric on the inside of the Golden Mask. It hid the glow well enough that Hunter was convinced no one would notice it.

Hunter kept a low profile for the rest of that week, not wanting Willow to find out somehow he was actually at the castle...avoiding her. He needed a plan, but he couldn't figure one out, even with the spare time he had. When night came and Hunter was able to return to his room, every night Lil' Rascal brought him his scroll. Every night Hunter tossed it away.

This night was no different, Lil' Rascal dropped his scroll into his lap as Hunter looked over his eyes in a small hand mirror, feeling dizzy all over again from the dread. Hunter sighed, picking it up and about to toss it away before Lil' Rascal landed on his hand, and glared up at him. Glared? Could bird's glare?

"Rascal…" Hunter sighed, unwilling to fight with the palisman, who chirped and fluttered his wings angrily. Hunter's ears flicked as he retreated his head back slightly in surprise as the cardinal went off, even throwing curse words into the mix of his rant? Wow… "Rascal…" Hunter said again, this time giving a warning in his tone. " I just...can't right now ok-"

Rascal squawked, flapping his wings wildly again before stopping his talon against Hunter's hand. The bird stared up at Hunter expectantly, Hunter furrowing his brow at the bird. He wanted to be angry, wanted to fight and argue...but he just felt too tired to.

'He is right, though, Hunter...If you cannot now, when? You NEED to speak your mind, child.' the voice of his subconscious rang out, causing Hunter to thin his lips. He closed his eyes, before sighing.

"F-fine...I'll...I'll look if she messaged me, but that's it." Hunter opened the scroll, Lil' Rascal moving to his shoulder and snuggling into his cheek, chirping a relieved thank you to the teen. He still wanted to be angry, but… how could he?

'Sorry to hear you will be gone for so long! I'll miss you!'

' You realize you are going to open your scroll up after you return home and be spammed by me, right?'

Willow sent a picture of herself, Luz, Gus, and Amity in front of the boiling sea.

'They miss you too, you know.'

Hunter felt the corners of his mouth turn, before he tried to force them down.

'King is also looking forward to seeing you again. He demands to have 'The Tallest Carriage' carry him around.'

It went like this for...a long time. There were so many messages, pictures, even small clips that Willow had recorded and sent to him of either her in her day-to-day life or of the Hexgang doing something. Hunter felt his ears flatten slowly, he felt the frown on his face form as guilt started to crack him open.

' Oh my titan! You need to see- Wait hold on!'

The next clip opened after, showing Willow's face with a big smile before she turned the camera around. She was in the Hexside Plant-home room, and in front of her was a rather lovely plant that originated from the Left-pit. " We just got this plant in about a week ago," Willow whispered as she leaned over, Hunter noticing now that the plant was in a cage. She extended her finger out using her magic to prompt the plant to lift a leaf slightly. Clinging to the bottom was a frog, four big and adorable eyes blinked before looking up at her, its leathery wings fluttering as its tail swung slightly.

" Isn't she cute?!" Willow whispered, trying not to disturb the frog that tilted its head at her. Hunter blinked in slight amazement...that was a Drakanspringer! They were rare and EXTREMELY hard to find! They could blend into their environments so well that it would only take the most skilled beast-keepers to spot one, and this one had wings, meaning it was female. But this little girl wasn't trying to hide from Willow, instead she blinked up at her curiously before fluttering her wings and jumping to land on the glass, making Willow jerk back slightly with a surprised gasp and giggle. She ended the video there.

'Next we can I am SO coming to show you this! She is so cool!'

Hunter found himself smiling, leaning back into his pillow. He continued to scroll, Willow giving him day-by-day updates on the Drakanspringer now. After a while he soon landed on the last few messages from Willow, only now realizing how relaxed he was feeling from just reading her text. He frowned to himself, the guilt returning into his soul for a minute before he forced himself to read the next message.

'I have a surprise for you in the Grove. I assume you will not make it home before the party, but it actually lines up perfectly! When you can leave, just come meet me here, I will be waiting!'

Hunter swallowed dryly as he reread the message...he lowered his scroll as he closed his eyes, pain ripping through his heart and soul… This offer might be the only time he will get to...do what he needs… how horrifically appropriate he was going to end things where they began.

_AN_

Shout out to my friend from the Huntlow Discord who drew Hunter with the palisman! /OfbalancedstonesHunterPalisman HE LOOKS SO SWEET AAAA I LOVE IT!