Chapter Three
"You two know each other?" Willow asked in surprise.
"Uh, well," Hunter said warily, "kind of. We've met a few times and might have brought down a dragon together."
"Heh, heh, yeah, that was fun," Luz said, her delivery stilted. "Speaking of, can I talk to you real quick?"
"Sure?" Hunter said uncertainly before Luz grabbed his arm and dragged him some distance away. "Ow! Hey, that hurts!"
Luz whirled around in clear suspicion. "Okay, what're you doing here? Belos has some serious nerve sending spies after me and my friends at school."
"That's awfully presumptuous," Hunter said, crossing his arms with a faint smirk. "Believe it or not, Human, the Emperor has bigger things to worry about than you and the Owl Lady."
"Like what? Wild magic?" Luz shot back.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," Hunter sniped, his patience starting to fray. Why did this human always manage to get under his skin? He growled and massaged the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache. "Look, if I tell you what I'm looking for, will you promise to keep my cover?"
"That depends," Luz said with a crooked grin. "What are you looking for?"
"Lady Feronia, the head of the Plant Coven, sensed some powerful wild magic in what she calls 'the Green'; the collective plant life of the Boiling Isles."
"So cool," Luz whispered with stars in her eyes before shaking her head and refocusing.
"She asked for some muscle to help figure out the source, and that was me," Hunter continued with a hint of bemusement at Luz's antics. "We tracked it and found you, Willow, and your other friend duking it out with those Glandus kids. Feronia said she was sure it was coming from her." He gestured at Willow, who was talking to Amity.
"So what?" Luz asked heatedly. "Are you gaining her trust so you can petrify her?!"
"What? No!" Hunter said, suddenly angry, himself. "I don't want to hurt her! Besides, if I wanted her petrified I could just arrest her." Luz grimaced and prepared to call him out before he swiped his hand in front of her to cut her off. "Again, I don't want to hurt her! Look, I requested this mission to find out how she's doing this. She doesn't strike me as a wild witch, and if I can help steer her clear of it, she'll be fine."
Hunter ran his hands through his hair before fixing a faint glare on Luz, daring her to accuse him again. What he expected was a look of righteous indignation. What he did not expect was her sly grin and hooded eyes. "Aha, I see what this is really about," she said, wagging her finger at him.
"Would you mind telling me?" he asked. "Just so I can know what totally wrong madness is swirling in that head of yours?"
"You don't care about snuffing out wild magic," Luz accused, more lightheartedly than before, "you just wanna learn more about how it works!"
Hunter's eye twitched and red creeped up from his neck to his cheekbones, marvelously contrasting the green of his school uniform. "I am working to preserve the Isles against wild magic," he bit out.
"Uh huh, yeah, keep telling yourself that," Luz chuckled. She sighed, most of her agitation gone. "Look, I won't rat you out as long as you promise not to hurt my friends." She held out her hand to shake. "Deal?"
Hunter narrowed his eyes, recalling the "too slow" trick she'd pulled on him before. Then he sighed and shook the human's hand. Luz nodded and returned to her friends with Hunter silently following.
"Everything alright?" the girl with pink hair asked. She looked familiar and Hunter suddenly realized she was one of the Blight family.
"Everything's peachy, Amity. I promise," Luz assured with a warm smile, pecking a kiss on Amity's temple that made them both flush as she sat down in her previous spot and Hunter took a spot across the table, next to Willow. "Just had to deal with a little unresolved business from that dragon incident he talked about."
"You never mentioned that before," Gus pointed out, eyes shining with excitement. "How'd that happen?"
Luz glanced at Hunter, whose eyes were wide and pleading in a way she never would have expected from him. Guess having the mask off and interacting with, you know, actual peers was making him less cocky. Luz smiled and launched into a … moderately edited version of the palismen theft.
Hunter was surprised that Luz described him as a visitor to Latissa, a bystander who had personal experience with Kikimora and despised her enough to go along with Luz's plan if it meant making her look bad. She painted their retrieval of the palismen as him unselfishly taking a hit from Kikimora to protect Luz and holding her off so that Luz could escape and bring the palismen home. It was, to Hunter, an impressive display of omitting details and twisting facts to present a compelling story. Something he could respect after some of his interactions with his uncle.
The group was halfway through lunch when a quartet of witches — including the Amelia girl Willow had pointed out in the greenhouse — approached them, led by a pink-haired triclops in a potions uniform. "Well, well, if it isn't the loser brigade. Inducting a new member so soon?" The witch cackled, the other three hanging back and looking uncomfortable.
"Knock it off, Boscha," Amity scolded.
"Can it, Blight," Boscha snapped. She glanced at Hunter and her gaze softened just a bit. Or maybe … smoldered? "Listen, Blondie," the triclops said coldly, "I'll give you some free advice 'cause you're kinda cute. Ditch these losers. They'll just hold you back."
Hunter gave a moment for drama, then smoothly spun and stood from the bench as Lil Rascal fluttered to his shoulder for moral support. "You must be one of those rule-the-school popular girls I've heard about," he said lightly. "The mean girl, the alpha bitch … I'd add queen bee, but that might be offensive to a certain sweet palisman." Clover trilled in a way that felt appreciative.
The cafeteria had gone quiet at Hunter's words, and the blithe arrogance they were delivered with. Everyone was either surprised that someone had the courage or stupidity to insult Boscha to her face, anticipated what would come next, or both.
Bocha's cheeks turned red with rage and embarrassment. She summoned her staff, capped by her crab palisman Maya, and set it glowing with lurid violet light as a clear warning. "You're obviously a little slow, so I'll spell it out," she said, surprisingly quietly. "No one talks to me that w-!"
She was cut off by a sucker punch from Hunter. And not a quick spell, a literal close-fisted blow to the face. Willow gasped at the sudden show of violence. "Why did you do that?" she asked.
"To establish dominance," Hunter snarked.
Luz dissolved into giggles at the line. "That's what Eda said I should do on my first day. Punch the first kid I see."
Boscha leapt her feet with a furious screech. "You punch like a baby! Just try it again, you son of a-!"
She was cut off by a flash of yellow light that preceded Hunter appearing right in front of her, crossing the distance between them in a split second and glaring at her with chilling intensity. Gone was the snide cockiness from before; in its place a deathly, implacable calm.
"Finish that sentence," Hunter said smoothly, "and I'll roast you above the Boiling Sea." And with that ice-cold glint in his eye, Boscha couldn't help but believe him. She swallowed the dread in her throat and gave a wobbly sneer.
"Whatever, new kid. Don't say I didn't warn you." With that, she turned on her heel with commendable grace and led the way for her posse to leave, each of the girls casting glances back at him. Only when Boscha and her crew had left did chatter in the cafeteria resume, and Hunter relaxed his rigid posture with a heavy sigh.
"Dang, man," Luz said, clapping slowly with a shaky laugh. "That was terrifying." Hunter glanced back at her and recalled using the same maneuver to intimidate Luz on his airship during the palismen raid. He blinked as he realized he hadn't even consciously planned it; it had just happened. And then he realized he was gripping Lil Rascal's staff in his hand. He hadn't even noticed that he'd grabbed ahold of his staff or Rascal forming it and allowing him to use magic.
Hunter settled back into his seat without comment and propped his head in his hand as Lil Rascal stepped off the staff and nuzzled his shoulder. He felt drained after that encounter. Not of magic that he didn't have, but of … his dignity. He shouldn't have reacted like that, the triclops wasn't worth it.
Hunter only looked up at the feel of a hand on his shoulder, soft even through his cowl and sleeve. Willow was looking at him with eyes so … he could only call them soft. "Are you okay?" she whispered. He glanced around to find everyone else talking amongst themselves, clearly giving him some semblance of privacy by not focusing on him. He caught Luz glance over at him with concern and give a brief smile before she looked away.
"I'll be fine," Hunter answered. And he meant it. He gave as close to a smile as he could in return and focused on his sandwich or petting Lil Rascal for the rest of the period.
Lil Rascal tweeted with boredom, trying and failing to tune out the droning voice of the snake-like teacher of history class. Hunter grazed a finger over the cardinal's head crest, which he appreciated. But it wasn't enough to endure this torture. Lil Rascal tweeted at Clover and Gus's palisman, Shimmer, and gestured at an empty bookshelf on the other side of the room. He and Clover flew up and close to the ceiling to settle on it while Shimmer, patterned after a chameleon, camouflaged herself and made her way as well.
"Yeah, go have fun," he heard Hunter remark under his breath, and Lil Rascal chirped with good humor.
When the three had settled, all of their eyes glowed faintly gold as they established connections and began to communicate in the way of palismen. 'How much longer do we have to do this?' Lil Rascal asked.
'To be fair, we don't have to do anything,' Shimmer replied. 'Only our partners do.'
'Oh, don't be like that,' Clover scolded lightly. 'You know what he means. And to answer the question … another hour, I think.'
Lil Rascal sighed and tried to get comfortable. The stone shelf wasn't much better than the slab of stone that served as a desk, but he was determined to make it work until his partner was free of this madness. 'Why do they have to know this stuff?' he asked. 'What good would it do for becoming a witch?'
'Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,' Clover replied. 'At least, I think that's why.' Clover trilled and glanced toward Shimmer before looking at Lil Rascal. 'Rascal, I realize it is none of my business. But your chosen partner, is he-?'
'Yes. He was the one who tried to take the rest of us away from the Bat Queen,' Lil Rascal cut in.
'Then why choose him?' Clover prodded, fluttering her wings with curiosity.
'Because I saw myself in him,' Lil Rascal said. 'The same as you and your Willow or Shimmer and her Gus.'
'What did you see?' Shimmer asked, suddenly very curious herself.
'What did you two see?' Lil Rascal shot back.
'The will to protect,' Clover answered promptly.
'The desire to connect with others,' Shimmer said.
'Well I saw the urge to know,' Lil Rascal said. 'I saw someone who loves to explore and learn and understand the world. Someone who has been told the world is dangerous but still wants to understand it.' He tweeted sadly and ducked his head to rub his scar against his wing. 'And I saw someone who had been hurt. Who was being hurt. And I hoped … still hope, that I can help him.'
Clover and Shimmer looked at each other again. 'Why is he here, then?' Shimmer asked.
'He hopes to protect Clover's partner,' Lil Rascal said sternly. 'Clover, have you noticed anything strange about Willow? It would have happened yesterday.'
Clover was silent for a moment before answering. 'I have. Sometimes she channels the power of the Isles directly. It has only happened once when she was awake; the other times it is when she has a nightmare.' She inwardly worried about her partner having several nightmares in the two weeks they had been bonded. 'In those times, her body thrums with the Titan's power. And she draws it from around her and not just her bile sac.'
'Wild magic,' Shimmer said with surprise.
'That is why we are here,' Lil Rascal explained. 'The leader of the plant witches sensed her power. And Belos despises wild magic. But Hunter hopes to help her, to hide her power so that a child will not be harmed.' He twittered in humor, like a laugh. 'But deeper than that, he wants to understand. Even with Belos condemning it, Hunter wants to learn.'
Clover would normally roll her eyes at Lil Rascal's desire to explore, but his words frightened her. Belos had his sights on her Willow? Her sweet, tender, caring Willow?! She buzzed with agitation and subtle fury, and darted into the air to warn her partner!
But Lil Rascal cut her off, flapping furiously to stay in one place. 'No! Don't tell her! I know we can't stop the wild magic, but Hunter can help her!' Clover darted to the side to try and get around, but Lil Rascal blocked her again. 'Please, Clover! She won't accept him yet if she knows!' Clover tried again and again to get past him, buzzing furiously.
"Willow, Hunter!" the teacher shouted. "Would you get a handle on your palismen, please? They are disrupting class."
Willow whistled twice to summon Clover, and Lil Rascal let her pass before settling on Hunter's finger he held out as a perch. "I'm sorry, sir," Willow said. "It won't happen again."
The teacher nodded. "See that it doesn't." With that, he launched back into the lecture.
"Is everything alright?" Willow whispered to Clover. The bee glanced at Lil Rascal, who looked at her and begged with his single eye for her silence. Clover shivered and buzzed to communicate. "You're sure?" Willow asked. Clover nodded. "Alright, but please don't do that again, Clover. I know you're both bored, but you can always go back on the staff if you wanna sleep through class."
Lil Rascal tweeted with relief as Hunter looked between him and Clover with a calculating eye and settled the bird on his shoulder. "You want to tell me what that was about?" he asked.
Lil Rascal glanced backward to see Boscha and her crew sitting behind him, the triclops glaring at Hunter and Willow in equal measure. He twittered that Clover had been concerned about Boscha acting out and had overreacted. Hunter seemed to take this at face value and returned to listening with a bored look. Lil Rascal settled onto his partner's shoulder, knowing full well that Hunter was bored because he already knew most of this.
As the lecture continued, he looked at Clover sitting on Willow's shoulder. The bee fluttered her wings and narrowed her eyes in a clear message. She would do what she had to to protect her partner; if Hunter hurt her, he would pay dearly for it.
When the last bell finally screamed, Willow stored her books in her locker before meeting her friends outside. Oddly, Hunter had been in all of her classes except for gym, which was divided by gender. But maybe Principal Bump had just felt lazy that day; he'd definitely earned a simple task for once.
Willow smiled and waved as she ran down the steps to her friends, trading a hug with Luz, another with Amity, and a side-hug with Gus — mindful of the hormones from witch puberty. Hunter made his way over to them, casting a glance back at the school. "I don't know how you guys deal with this every day," he groaned. "It's so boring!"
"Gotta be better than homeschool, though, right?" Luz said, a cheeky glint in her eye.
"I have to get home," Amity said. "I promised my dad I'd help him with his latest project." She kissed Luz on the cheek and nodded to the others before heading off, joined in the distance by her siblings.
"That looks like Eda," Luz said, pointing at a speck in the distance. "I'll see you guys later! Love you guys! Good to see you again, Hunter!" She ran off to meet the Owl Lady, Hunter looking away from the scene.
"And I've got a meeting with the Human Appreciation Society," Gus piped up.
"I thought you were banned from the HAS," Willow noted. Hunter arched his eyebrows at the mention of such an odd club.
"Mattholomule talked to Principal Bump and convinced him to let me back in, since it's a new semester," Gus explained. "I'll see you guys later. Hunter, nice to meet you, man." He ran off back into the school, leaving Willow and Hunter alone as students milled about.
"You want me to walk you home?" Hunter asked.
Willow blushed a bit at the unexpected offer and gave a shy smile. "I appreciate it, but I'll fly on Clover. I still need practice flying with her." As Hunter opened his mouth to probably offer an escort, she held up a finger to stall him and giggled. "And I'm going to meet my dads. I don't know how they'd react if a boy they didn't know showed up with me."
Hunter coughed to hide a laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, good call." Lil Rascal peeked out from his cowl and extended into his staff form, which Hunter took and mounted. Clover did the same for Willow and both of them hovered above the thinning crowd of students.
"See you tomorrow?" Willow asked.
"You know it," Hunter said with a crooked grin before shooting off into the distance. Willow watched him fly away for a moment before turning her staff and making her way toward Bonesborough and eventually her apartment. She landed lightly and scratched Clover's head as the palisman detached from her staff and settled on her head, nuzzling into Willow's hair.
"I'm home! Papa, Dad!" Willow entered the kitchen to find her dads hard at work preparing dinner.
"Welcome home, Willow," her papa, Eun, said, eyes twinkling behind his glasses.
"Do you want veggie duty?" her dad, Gilbert, asked, handing her a knife.
"Of course, always," Willow said with a smile, looping an apron over her uniform before taking the knife and deftly slicing vegetables into fine, neat piles. Eun was mixing the broth, heating it at the same time with a magical flame sustained by the spell circle around his wrist. Eun was a member of the Potions Coven, and his skills shined in the kitchen as well as the lab. He sipped the broth and hummed with delight. "Is the meat ready?" he asked.
"Almost," Gilbert replied, gracefully slicing the last of the schvine demon roast into inch-wide strips. Gilbert was a member of the Beastkeeper Coven and worked in a small butcher shop in Bonesborough, mainly in transporting animals. But he'd picked up a thing or two over the years from the elderly demon who ran the shop. As soon as the meat was prepared, Eun spinkled spices over it and levitated it into the pot to simmer.
"Veggies are done," Willow said, cleaning her knife and sheathing it with a confident flourish that left Clover buzzing with humor. She levitated them into the pot in a specific order timed by Eun, who then stirred the soup and tasted the broth. "Wonderful," he said, tilting his wrist to shrink the flame. "Give it about thirty minutes and it'll be ready."
"In the meantime," Gilbert said as he took off his apron, "how was your day, Willow?"
Willow took a seat on the couch and began to tell them about the new friend she'd made today, about his clear intelligence, his sweet relationship with his palisman, and even his confrontation with Boscha.
"Should we be concerned about this boy?" Eun asked cheekily. "You know, as your fathers?"
"Papa!" Willow protested, blushing hard and trying not to giggle. "It's not like that!"
"That's good to hear," Gilbert said with a worried frown. "School is for studying, young lady. Those friends of yours keep you busy enough as it is."
"I seem to remember we had time for books and romance," Eun said warmly. "Sometimes at the same time, hmm?" Gilbert blushed so hard you could see it against his dark skin.
"Eww!" Willow giggled, covering her ears. "No one wants to hear about their parents' childhood romance. Blegh!" The family dissolved into laughter as Eun snuffed out the cook fire and doled out the soup into bowls, the chatter flowing freely and warmly as their meal. Clover even took a sip of Willow's broth alongside her dads' mama bear palisman, Needa. Clover shivered with pleasure at the flavorful soup and danced for the family, to tender applause.
It was evenings like this that Willow appreciated more than any others. Surrounded by love, she wished everyone on the Boiling Isles could experience it.
Hunter kicked the door to his temporary room closed and locked it before removing his hood and mask, tossing the latter onto the bed he had requisitioned. After he'd parted from Willow, he'd made his way to the local Emperor's coven outpost and conjured his regalia, the memory of being turned away for his youth and lack of gear still fresh after a mere two or so weeks. He'd been given the best the outpost could offer without even asking and had somewhat savored that kind of respect.
Respect he would never receive if anyone knew he was a powerless witch.
He sighed as he placed a tray of food from the cafeteria onto the room's desk and settled to eat. Schvine demon roast with gravy, mashed foe-tatoes, and boiled scream beans; fairly typical stuff, and almost tasteless from the mass-produced "tender care" of the outpost cooks. He shrugged and dug in, his teenage appetite overpowering any reservations he may have about the food.
As he took his first bite, Lil Rascal shimmied out from under his cloak and cheeped curiously at the food. He chirped at Hunter and fluttered up to his shoulder to nuzzle his partner's neck. "Yeah, yeah, thanks," Hunter drolled, his dry tone masking the sincerity of his words. As he continued to eat, he felt a familiar ache deep in his chest. One that had dulled but never vanished completely since … that day.
Had he been more willing to introspect, he would have realized it was loneliness.
Lil Rascal chirped and nuzzled harder, unconditional love emanating from the cardinal like warmth from a candle. Hunter quirked a faint smile and stroked his palisman's crest in return. "I'm alright, Lil Rascal. I promise." It was a hollow promise and they both knew it.
As he finished off his meal, Hunter thought back to a time so long ago when he was … maybe not happy, but happier. Sure, he hadn't had magic, but he'd had family besides his often cold and distant uncle. And not for the first time since being taken in, trained hard, and joining the Emperor's Coven, he wondered something. What would it be like to feel that again?
As he prepared for bed after finishing his homework with relative ease, the question continued to buzz in the back of his mind. And as he looked at Lil Rascal curled up in the nest of fabric he'd fashioned for him and finally began to nod off, images of a cheerful human and a cute, bespectacled witch floated across his mind's eye.
To have that again …
I have been blown away by the positivity this fic has garnered! Thank you all and I hope this chapterl ives up to the standard I seem to have set.
*For those who are curious, in my mind the palismen have their own voices: Clover is voiced by Willa Holland as Aqua from Kingdom Hearts: BBS and onward; Lil Rascal is voiced by Jesse McCartney as Ventus and/or Roxas from the same franchise; Shimmer is voiced by Tara Strong voicing Raven from Teen Titans.
*My interpretations of Willow's dads were influenced by a previous fic of mine, "Switching the Tracks." It was written soon after "Escape of the Palisman" premiered, back when all we knew about Willow's parents was that there were two of them- the fact that she has two dad's didn't appear until "Understanding Willow." I tweaked and built upon the details I had made up for them and I like how it turned out. Also, Gilbert is the dark-skinned dad's canon name; my name for the Korean-coded one, Eun, is Korean for "kindness." I think it's fitting.
*"Schvine" demons are basically the Boiling Isles equivalent of pigs; it comes from the German word for pig. I used that term originally in my "Talus Falls" fic, a fusion of Gravity Falls characters with the Boiling Isles setting. Give it a read if you like.
*Gilbert and Eun's palisman (who I'm assuming is shared between them due to Willow's throwaway comment in "Escape of the Palisman") is named after Needa from "Brother Bear 2".
*We haven't really gotten a demonstration yet in canon if palisman create their staff or the staff is carved from regular wood for them. The adopted palismen all conjured their own staves, but I'm not sure if that is typical for a fresh one. So for the purposes of this fic, the palisman all create their own staff from scratch and are connected to it, then can separate and reattach at will.
I hope you all enjoyed this! More to come!