Heyo, back with chapter 3. But first review replies

Guest: We all know Hunter deserves better. At some point he has to face him though

KaliAnn:Yeah, I'm giving HUnter a slightly softer side in this one

Luz slowly opened her eyes, a fuzzy feeling in her head. Moving hurt her head, as did the light of the sun that came through the window of her room. How long has it been? What even happened? The last thing she remembered was going to the forest, following a hint from her mouse. Bus as soon as she arrived there….

With a gasp, Luz tore the sheets away from her, startling King awake. The small demon gave a sound of protest. Leaning down, the human helped him sit up properly. She hadn't even noticed him.

"Sorry King" she apologized.

Luz smiled and picked him up properly. It didn't take long for him to crawl over her shoulder into the hood of her hoodie. She chuckled. There was no doubt in her mind that this was one of his favorite spots when they were walking around.

Walking down into the kitchen, she found Eda already making breakfast. She looked up from the griffin eggs frying in the pan and Luz immediately saw the relief on her face. Whatever happened must've been big.

"Good to see you awake, kid" Eda smiled, putting the eggs on a plate. There was also some meat, but she didn't even want to know what animal it came from this time. All she knew was that it was not a witch and not a human. Eda wasn't like that.

But something disturbed her.

"You made too much" she said, glancing at the four plates on the table.

"No, I did not" the witch retorted.

She walked to the main room and out of the door. Luz followed, questioning where she was going. Were they eating in the front yard today? Sometimes that happened, when the weather was good.

"Are we eating outside?!" she yelled with excitement.

"Not quite" the Owl Lady smirked.

Her curiosity got the best of her as she kept following her mentor.

"Hey kid, time to eat" she yelled.

Luz gave a sound of confusion. Who was outside? That question was quickly answered when she saw a certain teen hanging upside-down from his staff. Hands behind his head, he pulled himself up every now and then.

When he heard the call, the teen got down, letting his palisman transform back into the small red bird. Who decided to rest on his right shoulder.

"Hunter?" she gasped in surprise.

"Yeah?"

"What in the titans name are you doing here?" she shrieked.

"Ah….. eh…." He blushed, rubbing his undercut.

"You can discuss this while eating" Eda said, shoving them towards the door.

Once they sat down, Eda placed one plate in front of the children, one for King and one for herself. With apple blood of course. Luz wasn't surprised. There was rarely a morning where Eda wouldn't drink from that.

She never let her try though. Said it could be dangerous for humans. And she doesn't want to take the risk of the human getting sick. Yeah right. Luz knew better. She wanted to keep the good stuff to herself. And maybe she was bit too young for it too.

"How long have I been out?" Luz asked as she munched on her eggs.

"Since you came here or since you've been gone?" Eda asked with pure calmness. She didn't seem

upset at all.

Luz raised an eyebrow and looked over at Hunter who was trying to hide himself from her eyesight. He was doing a bad job, covering his face with his cloak. Flapjack was not having any of it though, as he tried to pry the fabric back from his witch's face.

Luz narrowed her eyes at him. She remembered what happened; she just didn't know when it was. Yesterday? The day before that? The time spend in someone's mind can get confusing. And being unconscious messed up your feeling for time even more.

"You were in my head" she said, pointing her fork at him.

"I was" he confirmed, still uncomfortable.

She knew why. She knew that he didn't even want it. That it had been Belos alone who wanted him to do it. There was a lot to explain.

"It was about a week" he said. "A week after we last….met"

Luz growled a bit. There was no reason to ask herself why she was still alive. She was in a realm with magic after all. There was no need for someone to be awake for them to survive, she was sure of that.

"You didn't like….. look around in any personal memories, did you?" she asked slowly.

"Aaaannnd I'm outta here" Eda declared, quickly leaving the room and not bothering to eat further. King followed her.

Luz smiled a bit into her teacup. She knew that Eda wasn't a witch that enjoyed feelings. Well, except towards one specific witch.

"Of course not" Hunter mumbled. "I wouldn't do that. Besides, Belos was interested in the portal, not your crushes" he smirked.

Luz felt herself blush. Yep, she had crushes alright. Every girl her age did. But having a boy in her head was a different thing. Though Hunter wasn't the kind of person to brag about it with friends, mostly because Luz was sure he didn't have many, it was still a weird thought.

Anything could happen in there while she hadn't been around to watch him. And it took some time for her to accomplish that. Though her senses did tell her something was wrong, and the trip to Willows mind certainly helped her realize that, she had to track the intruder down first.

It had been fun, actually. Like a maze of her own mind to which she didn't even have the map. Why didn't she get a map for her own mind? That wasn't fair.

"Okay then, let's get down to business" she said, standing up and placing her plate in the sink.

"Why did you do it?"

The witch hummed, seeming to sink into thought. Luz herself could think of a lot of options. But they all ended the same way. Belos wanted to do something that Hunter wasn't okay with, and he finally snapped. Bailed out of there with her.

She knew that the Emperor was the source of Hunter's pain. He was everything bad in his life, even if he thought otherwise. And as much as Luz had been scared to tell her mother the truth, she knew that her mother would never hurt her or even hit her. She wasn't like that.

"Let's just say that he wanted to do something I wasn't okay with" Hunter finally said.

"Not okay with?" Luz raised an eyebrow. "You were fine with stealing the palismen. We both know

what he does with them" she hissed.

"It's different" he muttered.

„How can it be different? They are just as alive as you and me" the teen said.

"Well, they weren't for me" he shot back

Hunter felt Flapjack chirp in protest on his shoulder. And man, that made him feel bad. "Not back then" he added.

Luz huffed. She had always hoped that she could help him out of the situation he was in. That she could somehow convince him of who Belos really was. Even if she had no answer to that question herself. The battle in the castle hadn't been proof for anything.

All she knew was, that he was hiding something. Something big. And he didn't want anyone knowing about it.

"Okay" she breathed. "And what are you going to do now?"

At that, Hunter looked lost. He didn't know what to do now. "I'll go back. Tell them you escaped me and that I've been searching for a few days" he shrugged.

"Just like that?" Luz raised an eyebrow. "I don't think anyone will buy that one."

"No probably not" the teen chuckled. But it didn't sound amusing to her. "But it is the only thing that I can do right now."

Luz hummed. "You could stay here" she said.

"Here?" the witch raised an eyebrow himself. He was skeptical of that option. If he did, and anyone found out about this, he'd be screwed.

"Yeah, you helped me, so you're good in Eda's book! And you can help me figure out new glyphs" she said with way too much excitement.

He shook his head. "I can't. If I'm caught here, then everyone will be in trouble."

"Dude, everyone knows where the Owl House is. My friends have been here, just like Lillith. She could've done so much more already. And nothing happened" she pointed out.

Hunter sighed. "That's not it. I didn't get you out of there just for them to come here and try again. And this time, I wouldn't be able to get you out. You'd never go home again."

The grip around his cup tightened. It was ready to shatter, Luz could see that. What she didn't know, was why he cared so much. And how he could be so sure of things. Hunter didn't see the future. But he knew something.

"What happened?" she asked.

The teen looked at her again. Confused at what she meant.

"What happened for you to do this? To get me out of there? And why did they really kidnap me?"

With a strangled noise, Hunter looked at the other wall, away from her. She could see that he was debating with himself whether he should say something or not. The way his finger tapped against the cup. If he should leave and take the punishment.

Luz knew as much as him that there would be one. He failed. And that never ended good. Belos wasn't the man Hunter thought he was. And Luz was ready to convince him of that fact.

"You know it, don't you?" she put a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away. "Hunter?"

Now she was really concerned. Not just about the things that happened. But what he actually knew. Flapjack tweeted with concern too. They understood each other. But Luz didn't. She would never know what the cardinal said.

"I-I was supposed to find out everything you know about the portal" he finally said, still not looking at her.

"I know" she nodded. "I remember that conversation."

He nodded. "Yes, I told Belos that. That you didn't know anything else. He wasn't surprised. By now I'm convinced that he just wanted to make sure he didn't make a mistake with what was about to come" he whispered.

"What? Hunter, what was about to happen?" she asked.

The teen finally turned back to her. Tears briming in his eyes. Was it really that bad? Luz couldn't imagine that Belos planed on killing her. He wasn't THAT evil. Well, there was the petrification with Eda but….

"He wanted to erase your memories."

"What!?" she screamed. "Why!?"

"To make sure you couldn't work with Eda anymore. To be a soldier, just like me."

Luz stumbled back, completely caught off guard. But it was fine, she was safe here. He didn't get her out of there and tell her everything just to get her trust and betray it again. No, Hunter wasn't like that.

"Belos knew that binding you to a circle wouldn't change anything" the teen continued. "But he thought that you're talented with magic. That it could help the other soldiers."

Luz held her head. She searched every memory to make sure nothing was missing. Roamed every corner of her own head in order to find everything she should remember. Hexide was still there, along with her friends. Eda and King too. She would've noticed that one right away.

Her fight with Belos, the day she found to the boiling isles. And-

She choked at the last memory that came up. It was good that it wasn't missing. Because that was someone she never wanted to forget. Even if it hurt.

"But- but why me? I can only do magic with paper. I have nothing to give, even without my memories" she choked out.

"I don't know" Hunter shook his head. "All I know is that he wanted to do all this. It was too much. You don't deserve that and-" the teen stopped himself before he could finish. No, she really didn't need to know that.

"And what?" she asked, tears starting to show.

Hunter kept quiet. He stared back at her with a blank face. Every emotion hidden beneath, just like he had learned.

"And what!?" Luz screamed.

"And I didn't know if you would survive!" he yelled back.

Luz was silent. How could he not know?

"This spell! It's meant for witches only. For small parts of memories to fade. Those who are too painful. No one ever used it for every memory available, Okay?!"

"Why would he do it then?" she asked with a shivering voice.

"He didn't care! He said that if you couldn't take it, then the problem would've been taken care of another way. I couldn't let that happen" he confessed.

Silence rang between them. Luz didn't know how to react to this. She was more than grateful by now for what Hunter had done for her. She didn't want to forget. She didn't want to help Belos in any way. And most of all, she didn't want to die.

"I-I know this is a lot right now. But I got you out of there. He never completed the spell" Hunter said, trying to comfort her.

"Completed? Does that mean he started it!?" she shrieked.

"NO" Hunter stood up, holding his hands up. "No, no he never started it. It was meant to be some sort of potion. It would take a week to finish it. I had more than enough time to get out of there with you."

Luz took a deep breath. Okay, that was fine. Nothing was gone. "You are not going back there" she said.

"I already told you that I must. Otherwise-"

"That wasn't a request, Hunter. Take it as an order if it makes you feel better, but I'm not letting you leave" her gaze was firm. She meant it. There was no way she was letting him go back there. Not with that information.

"You think you could stop me?" he huffed; a bit amused.

"I know I can."

Both stared at each other for a while, eyes narrowed. Luz knew she could beat him if she had to. Could even fly after him if needed. There was no way he could escape. And if there was trouble, she could count on Eda and King.

And maybe Hooty.

Finally, Hunter gave a defeated sigh. "Fine."

Luz smiled. "Great!"

Flapjack tweeted something and Hunter gave a weird noise. "I am not telling her that."

Luz smirked. "You better say it. I can always ask Eda to translate it through Owlbert."

Hunter moved his lips into a thin line, his eyes practically screaming with annoyance. Even if he knew when he was defeated. He gave a slight grumble running a hand down his face.

"He wants you to make sure that I don't run away during the night" he sighed.

Her smirk didn't falter. "Really now? I think that can be arranged."

Now it was Hunters time to smirk. "Oh? Tell me Noceda, when was the last time you shared your bed with a guy?"

Oh…