A/N: This chapter contains SPOILERS for S2E16 "Hollow Mind", so read at your own risk!
Willow found herself texting Hunter soon after he'd left.
Hello_Willow: Hey Caleb!?
Hello_Willow: Let me know when you get off work!
She sent him several pictures of Clover too. For the past few days, it became a thing for the two of them to send pictures of their palismen to each other. Willow's favorite photo of Flapjack so far was the one of him curled up in Hunter's cloak-the cardinal just looked so little and cozy! Clover seemed happy whenever Willow showed her a picture of Flapjack. From what Willow understood, the two palismen had been friends while under the care of the Bat Queen for all those years.
It was really nice seeing him again today, especially since she wasn't sure if she'd see him again for a while. She was hoping she could get him to loosen up a bit more-he seemed awfully uptight about anything coven-related. It was incredibly unfair how he was only 16 and carrying so much weight on his shoulders. It was also frankly a little sad how worried he was about taking a five minute snack break with her and Gus earlier. Not wanting to ditch work out of fear of getting in trouble was completely viable, but Willow knew for a fact that Hunter didn't get any real breaks during the day; he was only free when all his work was completed, and that would often take him into the hours of the night to finish. She genuinely thought a short snack break with a couple of his friends would be good for him, and judging by how much he'd been smiling and even laughing with them, it was.
The morning of the Emperor's Coven tryouts, Hunter was heading towards one of the briefing rooms to give the coven scouts their orders, when he was stopped by a large and stout scout.
"Golden Guard, Emperor Belos requests your presence at once," they said in a low voice.
Hunter, his mask securely on his face, nodded. "Thank you, you're dismissed." The scout walked away, and Hunter was left to wonder what his uncle wanted as he changed directions to go to the throne room.
As soon as he entered, Hunter suddenly felt a shiver run through him. Belos' mask was off (he'd been taking it off more recently ever since revealing his face at the Coven Day Parade), so the Emperor's displeased expression was on clear display.
"Hunter," his uncle began before the young witch had even knelt to the ground. "Kikimora told me a strange thing very recently, do you know what it was?" His tone was calm, almost eerily so. It didn't match the stern expression on his cursed face.
Hunter was very grateful for his mask at that moment. At the mention of Kikimora, his eyes widened slightly, and a slight grimace came to his face. That little snitch. "N-no, I-" he started to say, but Belos quickly cut him off. That wasn't good. That meant that his patience was very thin right now, and it was moments like those that Hunter feared the most.
"She told me that you've been distracted lately. How you were late to the meeting I entrusted you to lead."
"Uncle, I-"
"Not only that, but it seems as though you've been ignoring your duties to the titan to mingle with friends." The Emperor's expression tightened. "The Titan has such high hopes for you, nephew. You don't have time for silly things like friends, especially not ones who've been distracting you. Not until the Day of Unity has passed."
Hunter gulped and lowered his head, choosing to stare at the ground instead of the disappointment in Belos' eyes. "I-I understand, Lord Belos." He had to force his voice to work, as panic rose up his throat. "It-it won't happen again. I promise."
"I should hope you keep that promise, for this is your final warning." Belos' eyes narrowed. "The titan will not stand for any delays in preparations. Now leave, there is much I have to do."
And just like that, with a wave of his uncle's hand, Hunter found himself standing outside of the throne room, mind addled, but also scared. He was right, he thought he was just being paranoid, but he was right. And oh how he wished he was wrong, because now it was confirmed that as things currently stood, Hunter had no room in his life for friends.
And that thought utterly devastated him.
Hunter backed himself up into a corner and took a minute to calm his breathing. He couldn't have friends, he couldn't have friends, he couldn't have-
"Little Prince? Is that you?"
Darius' voice brought Hunter out of the depths of his overwhelming thoughts. He looked up as the Abomination coven head came into view. It also just then occurred to Hunter how he must have looked right now-though his mask was still in place, he was trembling ever so slightly (his hands especially wouldn't stop shaking), and his quickened breathing was loud enough for everyone within 10 feet to hear. He forced himself to still, though he felt choked. "What-what do you want?" he grumbled, not in the mood to interact with any of his oh-so-delightful fellow coven heads. Sure, Darius had seemed…kinder…lately, and he had given Hunter his first scroll and everything, but he still wasn't sure if he could trust him or not.
The smallest of frowns came to Darius' face as he looked at Hunter. Maybe even an ounce of pity, though Hunter was sure he just imagined that part. "Are you alright?"
"M' fine," came the teen's mumbled reply, his shoulder brushing Darius' arm as he pushed past him. He was anything but fine, but what did Darius care anyway? What did anyone in this castle care?
Hunter walked away, trying to pull himself together, as he continued the rest of the day like usual, pressing any emotions he might be feeling away until later, when he actually had a moment alone to process everything. Belos needed him. The titan needed him. Nothing else mattered right now.
He didn't notice, or rather, didn't care at all when Darius watched him leave, a tight expression on the coven head's face.
A day passed. Then two. Then three. Hunter hadn't even touched his scroll, afraid of what he might do if he opened it. Like Belos said, Hunter needed to stay focused, and that meant no distractions whatsoever. No friends.
But-surely after the Day of Unity, when everything calmed down again, he could have his friends back-right? Yeah, okay, Hunter still didn't really know the details of the Day of Unity, but things would calm down after, wouldn't they?
If they didn't, then Hunter really wasn't sure what he would do.
All he could do now was wait. Just wait.
Waiting was hard though. Even just these past three days had been so incredibly lonely without the Emerald Entrails. It hadn't been long at all, but he already missed sending Willow pictures of Flapjack, or hearing about her day at school, or..or just being friends with her.
"I have to do this," Hunter told himself firmly. "Belos needs me."
Belos depended on him. Belos, who saved countless witches from horrible fates caused by wild magic. Belos, who took him in when his parents were killed. Belos, who gave him, a powerless half-a-witch a staff. Belos, his uncle, who gave him a life and a purpose.
He owed everything, everything to him, so if he had to sacrifice something important to him in return…he would.
It had been days-five days, to be exact-since Willow or anyone else had heard from Hunter. He hadn't even read any messages since his last text.
She was a little worried, to be honest…It seemed weird that he just suddenly disappeared from Penstagram, especially after seemingly having a good time with her and Gus the other day. Willow didn't think he'd just forget to check his now many missed messages, not after how much he'd been texting her ever since he first got his scroll. From what she could tell, he was very eager to interact with other people his age, for once. She didn't think he'd just forget something like that…But she'd give it a little more time until she let her worry grow. She was sure he'd answer her by the end of the week!
Yeah, she'd give it two more days before she started to worry more.
Day seven soon came though, and still no reply from Hunter. It had been a week since she or anyone else had heard from him. Even Luz, who Willow recently found out had been harassing the poor boy using the Owl Lady's account, confirmed that she hadn't gotten any (angry) messages from him (asking her to stop) lately.
A week, and no one had heard a thing from him. Not a single thing.
So yeah, Willow Park was kind of worried now. She'd probably be full-blown worried, actually, if she wasn't still trying to convince herself that he was just too busy to reply. It was just…weird…how suddenly he stopped replying to everyone. It was weird how his last text was an abrupt 'Sorry, I have to go' and that was that. It made her wonder if something was wrong. He didn't get himself into any trouble, did he? She'd seen the scar on his face and the chip in his ear. Being the Golden Guard was surely a very dangerous position at times (and definitely not one a 16 year old should have), so excuse her if she was a little concerned.
She couldn't really do anything about her worry though, except wait. It wasn't like she could just go bursting through the doors of the emperor's castle to check up on him. She knew he was at the Emperor's Coven tryouts that were held several days ago, but that was it. She'd even taken to wondering the streets of Bonesborough for hours on end to see if she could catch a glimpse of him, but nothing. It was silly anyway, assuming everything was perfectly fine on his end, there was no saying where he was at any given time. From what Hunter was telling her last week, Belos sent him on missions all over the Boiling Isles. It was unrealistic to think that she'd just so happen to run into him again while he was out doing whatever it was he did.
Though all of the Entrails were starting to get worried for their friend at this point, Gus in particular shared some of Willow's questions, like what if they accidentally did something to offend Hunter? They were the last two to hear from him, afterall. Or what if they got him into trouble by making him take a break? Willow really, really hoped that wasn't the case, because she'd feel absolutely awful if it was.
The seventh day of Hunter's silence came and went, and still nothing. Willow's worry only grew. She spent the whole day racking her brain for ideas of what to do, but she still couldn't think of how to check to see if he was okay, or if he even needed help in the first place.
You know what really happened, Willow. Stop lying to yourself. You know deep down inside that he just doesn't want to be friends with half-a-witch like y-
No. No. She wouldn't give into those thoughts. Those thoughts were wrong, she trusted that Hunter had a good reason for leaving. There was no way he stopped replying just because he didn't want anything to do with them…Right?
Honestly, Willow wasn't so sure anymore.
As she laid in bed that night, she took out her scroll and tapped Gus' contact. He was always her go-to friend when upset about anything. The two had been friends for quite a while now-best friends-and she trusted him completely.
Hello_Willow: Gus? U awake?
HUMAN_GUS: Yeah what's up?
Hello_Willow: are you worried?
Hello_Willow: about Hunter, i mean
Hello_Willow: i still haven't heard from him :(
HUMAN_GUS: …a little…
HUMAN_GUS: kinda weird how he just stopped responding to us
HUMAN_GUS: not just us but everyone else too
Hello_Willow: I know…Do you th
Before Willow could finish typing out that last text, a very sudden and very frantic banging started at the front door. She sat up in bed in alarm, definitely not expecting that kind of a racket at this time of the night.
HUMAN_GUS: ?
Hello_Willow: sry, finger slipped. I gtg, be back in a sec
She held onto her scroll as she stepped out of bed and into a pair of slippers, before slowly making her way downstairs. Could it be Luz? It wouldn't be the first time she'd tried to get Willow's attention in the middle of the night, though it was usually a little less chaotic than this. Maybe something was wrong with her, was she okay?!
"Willow? What's going on? Who's at the door?"
She turned her head and watched as her dads came out of their room, looking tired but confused.
"I don't know," Willow replied curiously. She gripped the handle of the door. She was expecting Luz, or maybe Amity, or even one of the Entrails, but she was not expecting Hunter to be standing there, looking completely and utterly confused, terrified, and panicked.
"Hunter?!" she exclaimed, eyes widening. She heard absolutely nothing from him for a whole week, and now here he was, looking like he'd just had a panic attack. "Hunter are-are you okay?! What's going on?"
"Who is this?" her papa questioned, looking as confused as Willow felt. That's right, she never got around to telling her dads about her new friend here.
"I-I didn't-I didn't-" Hunter tried to say, but was obviously having a hard time catching his breath.
Willow had no idea what was going on, but her friend was here, and he clearly needed help. Something big had happened, that much she could tell. Something bad.