Chapter Seventeen

The crack of dawn found Hunter — not the Golden Guard, just Hunter — descending to the edge of Bonesborough on Lil Rascal. He'd left the castle in full uniform on his mechanized staff, making the switch once the castle was out of sight both to keep his cover and because he had come to prefer flying with his palisman.

He took a deep breath of the crisp morning air as Lil Rascal retracted to his true form and perched on his shoulder, warbling to greet the dawn like a cockatrice menor, the tiny, practically harmless cousin of the feared and reviled cockatrice. Hunter straightened the lapels of the knee-length coat he'd donned over the yellow vest, dark shirt and trousers of his uniform before passing the "Now Leaving Bonesborough" sign and entering the city proper.

He picked up some donuts on the way to the library and scarfed them down, tearing part of one to bits for Lil Rascal to peck at, and settled on the entry steps to wait. He checked the satchel full of notebooks and pens he'd brought from the castle before removing his battered copy of "From Bones to Earth" to reread as he waited for the building to open.

He'd made it most of the way through the book, occasionally writing down notes for Willow to pass on to Luz that might help with her glyphs, when the head librarian finally arrived to open the gates.

"What a sweet morning, eh flower child?" the massive winged avian demon, presumably Malphas, asked in the most bizarre accent Hunter had ever heard.

"Uh, yeah," he said cautiously. "It's great."

Hunter followed Malphas into the library, ringing the bell at the front desk. Malphas paused and glanced back with a bemused look. "Sorry," he apologized, "I was just wondering if you had any really old maps of the Isles? As in 'pre-Savage Ages' old."

Malphas's eyes narrowed in thought behind half moon spectacles. "Gotta, like, ask why a kid would wanna know about those grooveless times, man."

"I'm doing some comparative research on settlements," he explained, which was not exactly untrue. "Mostly old ruins."

"Kinda fresh for dull work like that," Malphas commented to Hunter's faint confusion, but shrugged and added, "I'll see what I got, 'kay?"

"Thanks," Hunter replied, removing his coat to drape it upon the back of a chair at one of the back tables and taking the seat to continue his reading. Lil Rascal alighted on the table and spun in a circle before settling and lowering his head to doze. Hunter chuckled and stroked the palisman's feathers before continuing his reading.

And every minute or two, he glanced up in hopes to see Willow coming.

Willow swallowed behind her mask as she landed at the library's entrance on Clover, the bee palisman retracting to her true form and then into her inert form for Willow to tuck into her uniform apron before she entered the building.

Given the time of day, the library wasn't exactly crowded … but the few people who were there looked at her in awe. She caught whispers of "Silver Belle," and "apprentice," and "Lady Feronia," that honestly made her uncomfortable. She made her way with as much confidence as she could to the front desk to find the librarian trying to keep a straight face, but his wide eyes gave away his shock.

"Could I please speak to Master Librarian Malphas, please?" she asked politely.

"Yes, Miss," he said, "of course. I'll have him right out."

As she waited, Willow slowly cast her gaze across the library looking for a particular head of ash-blond hair. Her hands tightened in her skirt as she spotted him in a back table, and he glanced up from his book and flashed her a small smile before appearing to return to his reading.

"Heya, Silver Belle." Willow looked up to find a massive humanoid-bird demon with mustache-like tassels hanging from his long beak, dressed in an encompassing robe and with half moon glasses perched on his beak. He was sitting upon an equally-massive floating book. "Feronia said you'd be stoppin' by, y'know?"

"Yes, she said you had some journals depicting lost plants?" Willow asked.

"Got 'em right here," Malphas said, twirling his finger to summon the books. Willow took them from the air and examined them to find their leather covers battered, stained, and even singed in some places.

"You didn't try to restore them?' she asked in surprise.

"Girl, that is them restored," Malphas chuckled nervously. "Like, magic can only do so much, y'know?"

"I understand," Willow said, bowing. "Is there anything I can pass on to my teacher for you?"

"A donation to the library would be, like, totally rad, right?" Malphas asked the other librarian, who agreed while apparently working on some paperwork.

"I'll let her know," Willow said, smiling behind her mask. "Might I also ask for the nearest ladies' room?"

"That way and to the left," Malphas said before floating away and returning to the massive doors of the Forbidden Stacks that closed behind him with an ominous boom.

Willow nodded and headed for the bathroom with her hands folded behind her back, ignoring passersby who whispered to each other as she passed. She entered and grew a grasping creeper vine to grow up the crevice between the wall and the door to reach the ceiling, its unparalleled strength sealing the door as tightly as any deadbolt.

With that, she traced a circle that summoned a satchel containing her casual clothes, Clover peeking out of her apron and flying to perch on the sink. Willow smiled and stroked her abdomen before pulling the net of pearls from her hair and shaking it out and stripping out of her uniform before folding it and placing it into her bag, along with the journals she had come for. She pointedly avoided looking in the mirror — something about changing in a public restroom was kind of unsettling — as she slipped into her leggings and her dress, tied her tie, and slipped on her boots. She straightened her dress and nodded for Clover to join her before bracing herself for the hard part.

Willow pulled a vial from a pocket on the front of her bag containing a faintly yellow liquid: a fog brew, courtesy of her papa. She smashed the vial against the ground to produce a thick cloud of obscuring fog. She traced a circle that retracted the grasping creeper and stepped back to open the door and let the fog billow out. After a count of five, she stepped out and made her way through the fog and to a series of bookshelves, taking a random book and flipping through it to blend in.

She glanced up at the sound of murmuring and found the fog thinning to reveal people looking into the ladies' room to presumably find the Silver Belle. She giggled behind her hand and replaced the book she hadn't even looked at to approach Hunter's table from behind.

"Is this seat taken?" Willow asked into his ear.

Hunter flinched, and then snorted a laugh. "Only if you're an adorably bespectacled sweetheart," he replied.

"Did you plan that line in advance?" Willow giggled as she took the seat beside him.

"I've been sitting on it for a while now," he admitted, closing his book and putting it in his own bag.

Lil Rascal twittered quietly, the palisman showing his manners in a library, and Clover trilled and buzzed to hover and settle beside him, their eyes glowing as they communicated in their own way.

"I really wish I knew how they did that," Hunter commented.

"Amity says Oracle magic can allow speech between minds," Willow said, her smile dimming. "Her mom used some amulets to keep her in line."

"Sounds like something that bitch Odalia would do," Hunter snarled, and Willow had to cover her mouth to stifle her sudden giggle. "I'm actually pretty good with Oracle magic, but telepathy is really hard without a medium, hence the amulets."

Willow sighed and wound a lock of hair around her finger. She really did like it when he got all expository with her. Strange as it may be, she found his brain attractive. "What else do you know about Oracle magic, stranger?"

"Stranger?" Hunter asked with teasing affront, even clapping his fingers against his heart. "Have we been apart so long that you've forgotten me?"

"Never, Love," Willow whispered and kissed his cheek.

Hunter's cheeks burned and he glanced shyly away. He drummed his fingers before he took Willow's hand in his own, weaving their fingers. He winced at the gloves blocking the warmth from her hands, but he'd never been willing to remove them in front of her unless he had ample time to cover them with concealer such as the times at the hot springs. There were too many scars that turned them, in his mind, into hideous things. It was the same with his chest and back, which was why he wore a swim shirt.

Then again, Willow was … Willow. Would she be able to look past even these flaws?

"Do you have more books?" Willow asked innocently, though her eyes glittered behind her spectacles.

"A few," Hunter said. "Why?"

"I've heard of a really good place to read," she said with a grin, pulling him from his chair almost too fast for him to grab his bag and coat and leading him deeper into the library. They soon arrived at the romance section, and Willow looked around before pulling a certain book, The Lonely Witch and the Secret Room, until it clicked and the bookshelf opened to reveal a hidden study.

"Whoa," Hunter said as Willow led him in and let the door slide shut, "that's a good book."

Willow laughed quietly and led him inside before sliding the secret door shut. She traced a circle for a light spell before rounding on Hunter and wrapping her arms around him. She sighed at the feeling of him returning her embrace with equal fervor and they sank to their knees in perfect sync, content for now to just soak in each others' presences.

After some time — who knew how long? — Hunter pulled away a bit and brushed the backs of his fingers against Willow's cheek, his lips pressing together. "Willow, I-" He swallowed and Willow tilted her head in question. Hunter set his jaw and deliberately removed his gloves, tossing them aside.

Willow blinked in shock and took his hand in hers, shuddering at the warmth she felt there. And then she gasped at what she saw: scars. Scars, over a dozen of them each, long and short, thick and thin, cross-crossed his hands, a few even looping around entire fingers. Willow brushed her thumbs along a few, her heart aching at the sight of them. Of undeniable signs that her love had been put through so much pain.

"I know they're not pretty," Hunter said softly, "but-"

He was cut off by Willow lifting his hands to her lips to plant a soft kiss upon one of the scars. She moved to the other hand and kissed another. And then another. And yet another. She kept kissing each and every scar, soft and unhurried, until each and every one of them had been marked by her lips.

Hunter's throat tightened as Willow looked back up at him, her hands still holding his and her eyes shining with unshed tears behind her glasses. He couldn't help but think of a goddess deigning to grace his mangled flesh. Or a syphara.

"Willow-"

He was cut off once again by her lips, this time pressing gently against his own. The kiss was as unhurried and soft as the ones placed on his hands. She pulled away and kissed his cheek, over the large scar there.

"How many more?" she whispered in his ear.

"What?" he asked, the heat between them addling his brain.

"How many more are there?" Willow asked, emotion thick in her voice. She released his hands and carefully ran her own hands over his shirt, pressing close to feel his muscles and ribs. "What has he done to you, Hunter?"

"It wasn't all him," Hunter protested, weakly even to his own ears. "A lot of it was from missions or training accidents."

"But not all of them?" Willow asked.

Hunter was silent for a while before admitting, "No. Not all of them."

"I'll kill him," Willow whispered softly. She drew her hands away and balled them into fists, so tight her nails drew blood. "I'll kill him!" she snapped, eyes glowing green, and tried to surge to her feet.

But Hunter wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close, pressing his cheek into her belly. "Willow, don't," he said harshly, though anyone could have heard him begging. "Please don't. You won't make it past his forces."

The glow faded from Willow's eyes as reason reasserted itself. He was right. The Emperor was the most well-protected individual on the Boiling Isles. And even if the scouts and guards of the Emperor's Coven were mostly unprofessional morons, there were many of them … whereas she was simply one.

"He can't get away with this," Willow said, and even she heard the pitiful whine in her own voice as she held his head in her hands, pressing him closer to her. "He hurt you, Hunter."

"He loses control sometimes," Hunter tried to explain, his grip tightening as unwilling flashes of such episodes raced across his mind, his nerves stretching and his grip on Willow tightening in response. "It's not his fault."

Willow wanted to argue, to rage and scream and and tell him that nothing could excuse this. That what he had been through was beyond unhealthy, it was dangerous. But she knew in her heart that her words would fall on deaf ears, at best. At worst it would anger Hunter and ruin this time they had together.

Hunter tried to draw her back to the ground with him and she acquiesced, settling back to her knees and returning his embrace, their hands rejoining. They pressed their foreheads together, Willow's glasses sliding to the end of her nose, and they looked into each others' eyes — emeralds meeting rubies.

"What is the point of strength if I can't protect the people I love?" Willow asked aloud.

"You've protected us just fine so far," Hunter whispered back. "The petrification ceremony, the Scarbury, apprenticing to Lady Feronia …" He chuckled and moved to press a kiss to her forehead. "You've protected us, Willow."

"But I can't help you," Willow shuddered.

"You have," Hunter stressed quietly. "You've shown me how to live, Willow. To be more than just the Golden Guard. Luz may have cracked the shell, but you drew me out. You've shown me what love is like, something I never even considered to be within reach."

Willow looked down at his hands again, and her focus settled upon the sigil of the Emperor's Coven tattooed onto his wrist. No, not tattooed. According to Luz … they were branded. Willow bit her lip and moved her hand upward to cover the brand with her palm.

"Does that mean you'll try to figure out your own future?" Willow asked.

"What?" Hunter asked.

"Luz told me the story of how you really met," Willow revealed. "She said that Lil Rascal started to bond with you when you said … something about wanting to figure out your future."

"I forgot about that," he admitted.

"So will you try?" Willow asked, looking into his eyes.

"You're never going to let this go, are you?" he asked wryly.

"Never," Willow whispered fiercely, cupping his cheek with one hand and brushing the pad of her thumb along his cheek. "I will never stop trying to protect you, my Love."

"Guess that means I'll never be able to stop trying, either," Hunter admitted. Part of him was writhing with self-loathing, screaming at him that even thinking such a thing was betraying his uncle, the man who had saved him from the streets, raised him, trained him, and given him magic. But being here with Willow, that voice was quieter. And he could bring himself to promise.

"You know," Willow said, her tone edged with a teasing grin, "you never did answer my question."

"What question?" Hunter asked.

Willow lowered her hands to run them down his sides, drawing shivers at the touch. "How many more are there?" she breathed against his lips.

"Well, I- Um-"

Willow toyed with the hem of his shirt under the vest, drawing it up so she could pass her fingers over the skin of his stomach. "Maybe I should count them myself," she purred, hands flashing to undo the ties of his vest and peel it away from him before resuming her exploration.

"Whoa!" Hunter gasped in shock, taking her wrists in his hands. "Easy there."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Willow said, guilt and regret flooding her. "I guess I got carried away, and-"

"Don't apologize," Hunter said, his tone soft as it was unyielding. "I was just caught off-guard."

"So … I caught the Golden Guard off-guard?" Willow teased.

"Something like that," he chuckled, then bit the tip of his tongue. His fingers twitched and he placed his hands at Willow's sides, fingering the hem of her dress. He looked into her eyes and she blushed and nodded as she braced her hands on his shoulders. With that, he moved his fingers under the hem of her dress to feel her skin in turn. He huffed a breath at the warmth of her body, his bare hands extra sensitive without his ever-present gloves.

"Hunter …" Willow sighed, her cheeks flushed.

"Willow …" he smiled, settling his forehead against hers.

They leaned closer and their lips met again … and the tension in the reading nook swelled.

"I'm glad we have time for the book club today," Luz said, her cheeks rosy.

"Me too," Amity said, her face beyond rosy and into new heights of scarlet. "Between my job here, my new 'job,' and you gathering the materials for the portal, we really haven't had much time together."

"Guess now we know how Willow and Hunter feel," Luz commented sadly.

They stopped before the back wall of the romance section and glanced around before Amity grabbed the book to open it and slid the door open. Both girls took a step to enter … and then froze in place with looks of shock.

Willow and Hunter separated with a wet smack, both of them red-faced and breathing heavily. Hunter was on his back on the ground, his shirt gone to showcase the collection of ever more scars that cross-crossed his torso. Willow was on top of him, her dress discarded and leaving her in her leggings and a light chemise.

"Willow?" Amity squeaked, her blush turning from infatuation to embarrassment.

"Uh, hi Amity," Willow said, smiling awkwardly.

"Hey Hunter," Luz said, her voice strained.

"Luz," Hunter replied, his tone forcibly even.

Luz, the one of the group least likely to sit still, jerked Amity into the nook and slid the door shut for privacy. She glanced back at her friends, Willow slipping her dress back on and Hunter buttoning up his vest, and snorted as she tried to contain sudden laughter.

She failed.

Luz laughed so hard she curled in on herself, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. She babbled something in that other language of hers that would probably have been incomprehensible even to a native speaker.

"Willow, what are you doing here?" Amity asked, her voice high-pitched from trying to remain quiet while dealing with such intense emotions.

"Isn't that obvious?" Hunter asked.

"I'll get to you in a minute," Amity snapped. Hunter glanced between Willow, who offered him a strained smile, and Luz who was still laughing. He rolled his eyes and lifted his hands palm-out, taking a step back for good measure.

"Willow?" Amity prompted.

"I was spending some alone time with my boyfriend," Willow explained. "What else could it be?"

"In my secret hideaway?" Amity asked, askance.

"You said we could use it," Willow replied. "And we don't exactly have other options. We can't spend time like this in my house; my dad would have a heart attack if he caught us. And Hunter's place is out of the question."

That sobered up Luz very quickly and she straightened with a thousand-yard stare. "Yeah, that would be a bad idea." She shook her head. "And that's coming from me."

"What's so funny, by the way?" Hunter asked.

Luz snickered and took a deep breath before answering. "Just the whole 'caught in the act' trope," she said. "I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've read fanfiction that used a premise like this for humor."

Willow giggled at Luz's explanation. "Well, at least it was people we trust who caught us."

"And as for you," Amity said, pointing at Hunter. "How dare you take advantage of Willow in this, the most sacred of places. A library!"

"Hey!" Hunter protested. "No one 'took advantage' of anyone."

"Pretty sure Willow was all for it when we got here," Luz interjected lightly with the feline grin of hers.

"Not helping, Luz," Amity groaned, rubbing her forehead with her fingertips.

"Look, Amity, I appreciate that you're trying to look out for me," Willow said, her voice even and her eyes hard, "but I can take care of myself." She laced her fingers with Hunter's. "And I was definitely here by choice."

Amity was silent for a long moment before sighing through her nose. "True enough," she said quietly.

Luz leaned her head on Amity's shoulder with a smile, drawing a small smile from her girlfriend.

"And, uh guys," Luz said, "you know I'm not one to judge or whatever-"

"Why do I feel this will sound judgy?" Hunter groused.

"-But aren't you going a little fast?" Luz finished as if Hunter hadn't spoken. "I mean, you've been dating for about two months and you've got half your clothes off?" She shrugged. "Granted, I don't know anything about this stuff, but still."

Willow blushed and leaned her head on Hunter's shoulder. "Yeah, I have to agree there," she said, tightening her hold on Hunter's bare hand. "We just don't see each other often anymore, and we had a really vulnerable moment, and things just …" She trailed off and closed her eyes.

"We got carried away," Hunter picked up, leaning his head on Willow's.

"That's so cute," Luz cooed. Then she held up her fifth volume of The Good Witch Azura. "So, you guys wanna join us for book club?"

Willow winced at the book, but Hunter seemed somewhat intrigued. "Don't think I've heard of that one," he noted.

Luz gasped and grabbed Hunter by the shoulders to drop him down into Amity's desk chair. "We have a lot to cover in a short time," Luz said, the gleam in her eyes almost manic.

"I don't think you'll get him back very soon," Amity quipped with a faint smirk.

"Yeah," Willow said. "I guess I won't."

Chapter seventeen! I hope this was as much fun to read as it was to write! It got a little emotional, but the last scene was one I've been aching to write out forever!

*The most recent episode strongly hinted that Willow's dads were in the Construction and Abominations tracks in school, but for this work they will remain in the Potions and Beastkeeping covens. We also got their canon names from Rebecca Rose - the fair-skinned dad is actually named Gilbert while the dark-skinned dad is named Harvey. For this work, they will remain Eun and Gilbert respectively.

*If you'll recall, Luz learned about the EC brand while in Eda's body back in s1.

A fluffy chapter for all of you! I hope you liked, leave a review! Before we go, I just have to say: As always I hope you have a great day!