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Alright, so, this is a sequel to Already Over (Now), and it won't make a lot of sense if you haven't read that one first. Just like that fic, this fic will contain potentially-triggering content, though probably not as much (?). This story is a lot lighter than the last one, but it WILL still have some of the same kind of content as the last one. So, just be prepared for that, and as always, read the trigger warnings.
I know it took me a while to actually get around to writing/posting this. I'm not gonna get into all the reasons here. Please keep in mind that I wrote the last story and a big chunk of this one before season 2B came out, so I am more or less disregarding anything that happens after season 2A, including Flapjack's actual name.
This chapter's song: Chemical Insomnia by Epica.
Here we go:
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"This Endeavor is Causing Fear;
That's Why I Can't Explain;
This is Stabbing Pain.
It's Time for Me to
Roll the Dice."
.
.
.
Hunter had been living at the Owl House for a little over two months now, and it had been a few weeks since his uncle showed up and tried to take him back. Part of Hunter was still unsure about his decision to defy his uncle, but a bigger and bigger piece of his mind was becoming convinced he'd made the right choice. His uncle was wrong, and he was really starting to understand that now.
Not that knowing that really made things much easier, but at least he could reject some of his guilt about betraying the emperor (sometimes). Sure, that guilt just got replaced by the guilt from his own mistakes, but he was trying to become a better person. At least that guilt wasn't misplaced and he could do something about it.
"Hey, Hunter!" Luz called out. "Can you toss me that bottle of nemafrogs? I need them for school today."
Hunter turned toward the bottle she was pointing at. It was filled with milky, murky water and a mass of squiggling… things.
"… I am not throwing that," he denied as he moved to pick up the bottle and walk it over to the girl. "It's made of glass, and I really don't whatever those… things are to escape."
"Aw, I would've caught it," Luz brushed it off. "Besides, they're just some worms. You'd think you'd be used to worse, what with living in the Boiling Isles your entire life."
"… Yeah, that's not reassuring in the slightest."
"Oh, boo."
Hunter rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. You should probably get going, though, or you're going to be late."
"Aw, nuts!" Luz cursed as she checked the time. "You're right. Bye, Hunter! Tell Eda and King I said bye too!"
And with that, Luz was running out the door.
Now alone, Hunter sighed and returned to his breakfast. He poked at it before shoving another spoonful in his mouth.
He was bored, and he felt useless.
Before, he'd spent most of the day fulfilling the missions given to him by Emperor Belos, and when he didn't have missions, he trained for them. During his free time (or when he stayed up way later than he was supposed to), he would read and theorize about wild magic. But now, he had no missions, and he had no training. He could still read and theorize, but at a certain point, he was going to run out of Eda's books. And beyond that, he felt totally useless, like he wasn't even doing anything. Even when he tried to help out with chores and cleaning, he still felt idle.
Eda still wouldn't let him join her when she went bounty hunting, either, even when she let Luz come along. Well… she had. Once. The first and only time she let him go, he'd almost gotten captured by Kikimora when she randomly showed up, and then he had a panic attack when they got home, so Eda concluded that he should wait a while longer before joining them for stuff like that. Which sucked, because he still didn't have anything to do half the time. And to make matters worse, any time he complained about it to Rascal, Hooty would burst in and try to comfort him by telling him about how he was usually excluded from adventures, too (and okay, fine, maybe he could commiserate with the demon worm for a few minutes, but sometimes Hooty would talk for hours, and no matter how bored Hunter got, he was never that bored).
He had just about finished his breakfast when Eda stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
XXX
Eda yawned, stretching her arms above her head with a pop.
"Yeesh, it's early."
"… It's 8:30."
"Like I said, early," Eda repeated as she dug through the fridge.
She pulled out a bottle of apple blood and joined Hunter at the table, who raised an eyebrow.
"But not too early for apple blood?"
"Exactly!"
She could see Hunter smile just a bit before his mouth returned to a thin grimace.
"So, have anything planned for the day, kiddo?"
Unfortunately, that question just made Hunter frown harder.
"… No," Hunter sighed. "I guess I could try to reorganize another closet."
"Geez, kid, at this rate, things in this house are actually going to be tidy," Eda cringed.
Hunter just shrugged his shoulders sullenly.
"Well, it's not like I have anything else to do."
Eda sighed mentally, deliberating with herself for a moment. Oh well, she was planning on bringing it up soon, anyway.
"About that," Eda spoke, catching Hunter's attention. "What do you think about starting school?"
Hunter blinked at her.
"What?"
"You know, the big building where you learn stuff?" Eda teased.
"I know what school is," Hunter huffed. "But… I thought it was too dangerous for me to go?"
"Well…," Eda hummed. "Honestly, it is kind of dangerous. But. It's probably not much more dangerous than being here, especially since the Emperor knows we have you. And he hasn't tried to capture you again yet, so he might be waiting for something."
It went unsaid that whatever the emperor was waiting for, it probably wasn't something good.
Eda sighed.
"And honestly, it's probably not too much more dangerous than Luz going either, and the principal likes her. Something about the school being 'too boring' without her," Eda laughed. "So I figure, we can enroll you with a fake last name and disguise you a bit, and chances are, no one will even think to turn you in. Luz and I have been tearing down your wanted posters, and they haven't been replaced. And they didn't look exactly like you, anyway."
She could visibly see Hunter perking up as she spoke, and she couldn't help but grin at him.
"Really?" he asked for confirmation, not wanting to get his hopes up.
"Really," Eda confirmed. "I know you've been going stir-crazy, kid. So. If you're in danger either way, might as well let you have some fun with it. Though school isn't exactly my idea of fun, but you're a nerd, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
Hunter didn't even seem to react to her playful name-calling. Instead, he was now beaming at her, giving her the brightest smile she'd ever seen from him. He jumped up from his chair in excitement.
"Thank you!"
Eda was still worried. But, it was nice seeing the kid happy for once.
"Don't sweat it," she replied. "Now, we're going to have to set up a meeting with the principal, but a new semester is starting soon, so you'll probably start after the break."
At that, Hunter deflated a little.
"Ah, come on, that's only, like, 2 weeks from now. And it'll give you time to decide which track you want to study in."
Hunter was just a pinch less excited than before, but even still, he was practically bouncing on his heels.
"In the meantime, you can go play around in whichever closets you want," said Eda. "I'll ask the principal about a meeting when I pick Luz up after school today."
Hunter nodded, and with that, she watched him gather up his bowl and bring it over to the sink, and Eda let herself hope that she made the right choice.
XXX
"YOU'RE GOING TO ENROLL AT HEXSIDE?!"
Luz charged into the house yelling in excitement, and Hunter almost dropped the vase he was holding. Even still, he shot her a grin.
"Yup."
"Oooooooo, that's great! I was hoping Eda would let you enroll at some point!" Luz cheered. "That means we're going to go to the same school now! Oh, what track do you want to pick? I couldn't pick, so I chose all of them! Maybe you can do that, too! Oh, what grade are you in, actually? I'm pretty sure you're older than me, so we're probably not going to be in the same classes…"
"One question at a time, Luz," Eda reminded her. "I don't think he can keep up if you ask him that quickly."
"Right, right," Luz nodded. "Actually, that does bring up something important. I don't actually know how old you are."
Luz tilted her head, her eyes squinting at him in consideration. Hunter rubbed the back of his neck.
"… I'm 16."
Luz blinked.
"Oh, wow, so you're 2 years older than me! I guess that means you'll be a junior."
"I guess so."
"So, do you know which track you want?"
"Uuuuuuum. Not yet."
"Well, you still have time to decide," Eda cut in again. "Now, throw that vase back into whatever closet you found it in. We have some things to discuss."
"… Why do you guys always want me to throw breakable objects?"
"Because life's more fun that way!"
XXX
The three of them settled at the kitchen table, with Luz vibrating in her chair, and Hunter in good spirits for once.
"Alright," Eda announced. "So, first things first: I scheduled a meeting with the principal for a few days before school starts back up, since classes end tomorrow and he isn't going to be around during the break. He mostly just wants to know where you are with schooling and what track you'll be in, and you're probably going to have to take some placement tests, so… be aware of that, I guess."
"Wait, I didn't have to take any tests except for the whole 'you have to be able to cast two spells' thing," Luz spoke up.
"Well, he's gonna have to do that too, but Luz, you had a human education before going to Hexside, so you wouldn't have really known most of the Hexside curriculum. You just got put into normal-level classes. But since Hunter's a witch, Bumpykins wants to make sure he puts him at the right level for what he can do. He's also older than you, so he'd usually be expected to know more than you would have been expected to."
This was when Eda noticed Hunter was no longer smiling.
"What's wrong, kid?"
"I can't do any spells."
"Sure you can," Eda reassured him. "Yeah, you won't be able to use your palisman for the entrance exam, but the principal has been allowing glyphs since a while after Luz enrolled. And you have those and some combinations memorized, right?"
Thankfully, Hunter looked relieved, his tense shoulders dropping down a bit from their raised position.
"Yeah."
"Good," Eda nodded. "Also, you're going to have to think about what tracks you want to be in, so make sure you think about that over the next couple of days."
Hunter nodded.
"Alright, now onto some fun stuff," Eda proclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Do you want to dye your hair?"
That, clearly, had not been the question Hunter had expected.
"Well, you need to disguise yourself a little just in case, and your roots are growing in," Eda pointed out. "So I figured you might want to dye your hair."
"Wait, you're not really blonde?!" Luz exclaimed, making Hunter's cheeks turn pink and then cringe as she pulled his hair apart to look at the roots. "How have I not known this before now?!"
"… Eda's been helping me bleach the roots while you're at school," Hunter explained. "I don't know, I didn't think it was that surprising."
"Yeah, I mean, have you seen his eyebrows, Luz? They're practically black."
"So you're telling me your hair is naturally black?" Luz asked for confirmation.
"… Dark brown."
"Huh. Never even considered it."
Hunter shrugged.
"So, do you want to dye it or nah?" Eda repeated.
Hunter crossed his arms as he thought for a minute.
"Sure," he accepted.
"Any color you have in mind?"
"… It's probably easier to just dye it back to its natural color so we don't have to cover the roots all the time," Hunter decided. "Plus, all the posters had me with light blonde hair, so that'll trip people up more than it being obviously dyed. Especially since it's a little longer now."
"Eh, alright. But we could do a color if you wanted."
"Yeah, Amity dyed her hair purple, and it looks really cute!"
"… Yeah, no, I don't want it to look like I'm copying your girlfriend's hair."
"… I didn't mean the exact same color…," Luz grumbled.
"Well, now that that's decided, you should also think about what else you want to do for a disguise. You don't have to go too crazy with it, but I'd definitely suggest leaving your coven cloak at home," Eda told him.
"I haven't even worn it in forever."
"Not the point," said Eda as she held up a finger and pointed it at him. "This is going to be a new place, and very few people know who you are or what you look like, so you can have some fun. Just tell me if you need help with any of it."
"Okay, I will," Hunter agreed. "Thanks, Eda."
XXX
Hunter was sitting in his bedroom, thinking about whether he would actually be able to fall asleep at a normal hour, when he heard a knock on his door.
Standing up, he opened it to find Eda on the other side.
"Eda?"
"Got a sec?" She asked.
"Sure," Hunter shrugged.
He stepped aside to let her into the room before looking at her expectantly, waiting for the woman to begin.
"So, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about, but I didn't want to ruin your excitement, and I wasn't sure if you'd want to talk about it with Luz there," Eda started.
"Oh."
Eda sighed, rustling her hair.
"I just wanted to tell you that I found a therapist that would probably be able to take you on as a patient," Eda told him. "They're… well, they're against Belos, so you wouldn't have to worry about them turning you in. And they know how to make the kinds of medicine that might help you."
Hunter wilted a bit, his feet shuffling awkwardly on the floor.
"… Oh."
Eda tried to give him a reassuring smile, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's nothing to be ashamed about, Hunter. Plenty of people see a therapist," she told him.
"… I don't know…"
He really didn't. He was already surprised at how much he'd opened up to the other residents of the Owl House, and he wasn't so sure he'd even be able to answer whatever questions a therapist would ask.
"That's okay. It's just another thing you're gonna have to think about, and I'll check in with you later," Eda reassured him. "But I do think it'll help. You've been doing better, but I don't want you to slip back."
Hunter sighed.
"I should start making a list for all the things I have to think about."
Eda snorted.
"Yeah, it's a lot," she agreed. "But there's a lot of decisions you have to make with big changes like this."
"I still don't like when things change."
"Well, going to school is a good change, right?"
"… Maybe."
"See? Now, you should probably get to bed. It's getting late, and I need to make sure Hooty doesn't stay up all night watching those soap operas again."
XXX
Me, staring at Hunter's eyebrows: Hmmmmmmm…
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