"Aren't you-Darius?" Willow squeaked. She pointed her staff at him and glared. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

Hunter brought a hand up to cover his mouth right before a gasp escaped, eyes wide. Darius? As in Abomination Coven Head Darius? What was he doing here? How did he find him-shoot, he saw him in the woods last night, didn't he?! He should've been more careful-Oh no, no, no, no…He was here to arrest him, wasn't he? He was going to bring him back to the castle and make him face Belos, who would try to kill him again, and-

"Relax witchlet," Darius' exasperated voice said. "I'm not here to hurt anyone. I just want to talk to Hunter."

Willow's eyes narrowed and her glare intensified. "How do you-"

Darius casually pushed Willow aside and stepped into the house with a roll of his eyes. He met Hunter's gaze, who found himself stumbling back in alarm, waving his arms like a madman and pointing his staff at the older witch. While it was true that Darius had been acting kinder to him for the past two weeks or so, after what happened last night, Hunter didn't trust anyone at the castle. He couldn't.

"Hey!" Willow angrily exclaimed, her staff glowing. That's right, Willow was here. Maybe she wouldn't last long going toe-to-toe with Darius, but together, maybe…He wasn't alone right now, at least.

"What-what do you want?" Hunter stuttered as his back hit against the wall. Calm down, calm down, he told himself. He had to act rationally about this…That was much easier said than done, though. His hands trembled as he gripped his staff. His legs felt weak too, and it took a lot of effort to not drop to the ground in a heap. He was still recovering from his panic attack last night, not to mention the little freak-out he had in town earlier this afternoon. He already felt completely drained before Darius got here, so neither his mind nor body was handling this extra stress very well right now. There was only so much one person could take.

"Calm down, both of you-honestly, must I repeat myself?" Darius pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply, before continuing. "I only want to talk." Something in his expression softened, and he held up both of his hands to show that he meant no harm.

Hunter glared at him, trying to appear fierce despite it all, but then hesitantly brought his staff down. He wasn't one to deceive others. If he wanted to capture him or attack him or something among those lines, he would've already done it. Willow still held her staff pointed at him though, obviously not trusting him.

"Talk about what?" Hunter narrowed his eyes. "Are you planning to hand me over to Belos?"

Now that Darius was standing in front of him, Hunter could see that the older witch had a very serious look on his face. The shadows under his eyes signaled that he probably hadn't gotten much sleep, if any, last night. He looked uncharacteristically disheveled, and that was saying something since he was usually a stickler for tidy appearances.

"No," Darius said gravely. "But there are scouts out looking for you as we speak. That's why I'm here, I came to warn you and get you to safety. You're only putting yourself and-" he glanced at Willow. "-Your little friend in danger by staying here."

Hunter knew he should say something, but all he could do was stare at Darius. His mind suddenly went blank, and the right words just wouldn't come to his mouth. He was an idiot, a complete idiot. He thought he had more time, just because he didn't see any wanted posters up earlier. He went into town, and even with the cloak, what was he thinking?! Oh, and the lack of scouts in town? Idiot, idiot, that was probably because Belos sent a good number of them after him and Luz…Oh Titan, Luz! She was all wrapped up in this mess too.

Hunter really should have thought this whole thing through more. Of course Belos would want him and Luz captured right away-they knew his despicable plans for the Day of Unity, and he couldn't have them spreading those plans around, now could he? He'd been so panicked for the past 12 hours that he didn't consider the consequences of coming here to Willow's house. She'd been completely innocent in all of this, and now he just put her directly in harm's way. What an idiot he was.

After a minute of standing there speechless like a fool, he shook his head and snapped himself out of his thoughts. Foolish as he'd been, he couldn't change his past actions. He had the present to worry about. "Why-why do you even care?" he asked bitterly. "Why are you-" Then his eyes widened again with realization. "You-you were one of the witches from last night at the market…You were the ones planning to attack the Emperor's mind!" He sounded borderline hysterical right now, but he didn't care. He was so angry-angry that Darius and whoever was with him got Hunter into this mess. Sure, Luz was the one who screwed everything up and actually got them trapped there, but none of this would have happened if those three hooded witches would have surrendered-none of this would have happened if not for Darius! Because of him, Hunter knew things that would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. Things directly affecting him. Life changing things.

"How could you?!" Hunter practically yelled at Darius. He felt tears spring to his eyes, but he didn't bother brushing them away. Let the coven head see his frustration, let him see what he'd done. "Do you-do you know what you've done?" Did he know how he basically just ruined Hunter's life? Did he even care? "I-I can't go back because of you! Belos knows, he-he-he…" He shook his head furiously and gritted his teeth, eyes flashing at Darius "He tried to kill me!"

Then the most unexpected thing ever happened. In the span of three seconds, Darius walked over to Hunter and embraced him in a tight hug. Hunter stiffened for a moment and tried to push away, but the older witch held him there. "I'm sorry," Darius whispered. "I'm so sorry, you were never supposed to be pulled into any of this."

And that was when Hunter's dam broke. Before he even realized what was happening, he buried his face into Darius' chest and started sobbing. He went limp, and probably wouldn't have stayed standing if Darius' arms weren't securing him. He wanted to pound his fists against Darius, he wanted to do something, anything, to relieve his anger, but then his anger just…washed away. Instead of anger, he just felt sadness…A deep, deep sadness that took over every inch of his being. Because this was all too much, it was all way too much.

"I'm sorry Little Prince," Darius whispered, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "I'm so, so sorry you had to go through that."

Hunter barely even registered his words, but he knew Darius was being completely sincere right now. There was no way he'd ever let his outfit get covered in tears and snot otherwise. Somehow he seemed to know what Hunter and Luz saw in Belos' mind…Or at least had a good idea. He wanted to ask how, how did he know, but he couldn't stop sobbing long enough to get a coherent sentence out.

The two of them stayed like that for what felt like an eternity (but was probably only a few short minutes) until Hunter's tears slowed and he was able to calm down enough to get ahold of himself. If he had any energy, he definitely would have felt embarrassed about that whole display, but he just felt completely drained and exhausted right now. He eventually pulled back from Darius' embrace and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He turned his head to look down, not wanting to look Darius or Willow in the eyes right now.

He had so many questions for Darius. What made him rebel against Belos, who else was with him, why was he helping him right now instead of worrying about himself--but he couldn't voice any of those thoughts at the moment, still feeling too choked up. Luckily, Willow came to his rescue and asked what he could not.

"You made the spell to the emperor's mind? The one that Hunter and Luz got trapped in?" Her voice was quiet, and she kept casting worried glances at Hunter.

"That's correct," Darius replied, sounding regretful. "Things…unfortunately did not go how we planned. Those two were never meant to see the things they did."

"So…You're part of a rebellion against Belos? You really are here to help, you don't want to turn Hunter in?"

"Of course not-I would never dream of it. I promise you I truly only want to help."

"But…why? Hunter said you-"

"That's a story for another time," the coven head interrupted. "I'll explain everything later, but we have more urgent matters to deal with first. The Emperor knows Hunter was in his mind, and he sent quite the large task force out to capture both him and the human. Scouts are probably surrounding the Owl House right this very minute, but they don't know your whereabouts yet, thankfully." He paused for a moment, casting his gaze upon Hunter again. "Though it's only a matter of time until they do find him."

"Who's leading the task force?" Hunter's quavering voice finally managed.

"Kikimora."

"Oh." Then it was true, he really didn't have much time until someone found out he was here. Kikimora probably got the thrill of her life when she was given the order to capture him, he wouldn't be surprised if she was personally looking for him instead of letting her scouts do all the work. It was no secret that she hated him, she would revel in the thought of delivering him to the Emperor herself. If she was involved, there would be no rest until he was found.

"She's the one who tried to kill you that time, right? In…In Latissa?" Willow asked hesitantly.

"What?!" Darius exclaimed, looking as if that was news to him.

"Yeah, that's her," Hunter said, his brows furrowed and tone sour. "Darius is right, it's not safe here anymore…I wouldn't put it past her to check every house in Bonesborough for me, and I…" He looked at her, a pained expression on his face. "I can't put you in danger for harboring me here. Thanks Captain, for-for everything."

Willow looked upset, and Hunter hated to see her that way. He wished he never had to get her involved in this, she was too kind and amazing to get in this mess. She clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes, before shaking her head in denial. "N-no…I can't-there has to be something else I can do!"

Hunter's smile was sad and half-hearted, but it was there as he met Willow's eyes. "You've already done more than enough. I don't know what I would've done if you didn't let me in last night."

And then, for the second time in ten minutes, he was being hugged again. Willow's embrace brought warmth and the comfort he so desperately needed. "Keep me updated, 'kay?" she asked in a small voice. When she looked at him after pulling back from the hug, a gentle smile was on her face. "Text me as much as you need to. Just…Let me know you're safe."

"I will," Hunter replied, the corner's of his lips twitching in a poor attempt of a smile. "I guess I'll, um…See you later then."

"Yeah," Willow said, taking his hand and squeezing it. "I'll see you later."

Hunter took a shuddering breath and looked back at Darius, who had been watching this whole exchange with an oddly sad expression on his face. "Where will we go?" Where would he be safe until this was all over?

"We'll go to my house," Darius answered. "You'll be safer there. As far as I'm concerned, Belos isn't aware of my betrayal, so no one should suspect you're with me. Even when he does find out, which is inevitable, I won't let anyone lay their hands on you."

Hunter only nodded, not sure what else to say at the moment. What could he say? This was a situation in which he didn't have very much control over. He was just…glad he had allies still. Despite his initial mind-boggling panic, it was such an incredible relief to have a powerful witch like Darius on his side. He thought he would be alone, besides Willow and perhaps the Owl Lady. But he wasn't now, was he? There seemed to be more people against Belos than he'd initially thought, and that begged the question, how many other coven heads were secretly against Belos?

"Are you ready to go, then?" Darius asked Hunter, raising an eyebrow.

Hunter went to the window and opened the curtains an inch to peer out into the street. At the end of the block, he could see several scouts come into view. It looked like they were stopping at each house. They were here already.

"One sec…" Hunter muttered as he gathered what few things he had-his bag of new clothes, boots, and…That was really it. As he slipped his boots on though, Willow picked up the green cloak he wore to the market and handed it to him.

"Don't forget this," she said, eyes shining. "You might need it again."

"Thanks," Hunter whispered. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing out through his nose, then turning back to Darius. "I'm ready."

And with that, he and Darius were swept up by a swirl of abomination goo, vanishing from Willow's living room.