Welcome to Hexside

"You ready for this?" Boscha asked, guiding Maya through the skies above Hexside as Jasper held onto her middle. She didn't really need an answer, the trembling of his hands against her body proof enough.

"I have to be," Jasper sighed, his tone nervously resigned.

"Wrong answer," Boscha barked. "You are ready. Now say it right."

"Uh-"

"Say it!" she snapped, in her Banshee captain voice.

"I'm ready," he said, his voice unsure.

"Come on! You gotta mean it!"

"I mean it." His tone was firmer.

"Again!"

"I'm ready!"

"Again!"

"I'm ready!"

"Again!"

"I'm so ready for this!" Jasper shouted and jumped bodily off the staff to fall through the air with a drawn-out battlecry. Boscha stared in shock as he landed in a roll to disperse the impact, silently grateful that they were only about ten feet up by now, before directing Maya down to land herself. Maya retracted into her true shape to perch on Boscha's shoulder as her partner ran to catch up with Jasper.

That was admittedly not difficult, as Jasper was hunched over with his hands on his knees, sweat beading his brow. Boscha narrowed her three eyes in a tough look, just enough to hide the concern swimming in them. "Need a medic?"

"Nerves," Jasper bit out, taking deep breaths. "I'll be alright in a minute." He retched and seemed to barely avoid throwing up. "Give it a bit," he grunted, another dry heave wracking him. "Just gotta ride it out."

Boscha's lips curled with distaste, but she lightly patted his back to help him along. And maybe — just maybe — offer support. After a while, Jasper straightened up and they made their way toward the school itself. Luckily, there were very few people around who could have witnessed the grimwalker's mini-breakdown and they strolled through the double-doored entrance with little concern.

Amelia and Cat soon strolled up to them, ostensibly as Boscha's crew and fellow Banshees, but unspokenly as moral support for Jasper. They knew the truth about him, and had for as long as Boscha — both girls were determined to help him however they could, and were a little more open about it than their leader.

"Ready for your first class?" Cat asked, gesturing at Jasper's sleeves and tights. His sleeves were the yellow of Potions, with his tights split between Plant green and Healing indigo. A casual observer might notice that they correlated to the tracks of the Banshees, and they would be right. Granted, as a grimwalker Jasper had no innate magic, but the school had agreed to grade him on theoretical work until he could secure a palisman.

As it turned out, his first class was in Potions with Boscha. The Banshees made their way through the school, running by each of their lockers to retrieve supplies before heading for the Potions lab. Amelia gave Jasper a knuckle bump that made his hand crackle while Cat ruffled his hair as shows of support before they headed for the greenhouse for Plants class and Healing homeroom near the infirmary, respectively.

"C'mon, Newbie," Boscha sneered, flicking his ear with a superior grin. "Let's see what Flint has for your first day."

Mrs. Flint, the Psittacus demon who taught Potions, greeted Jasper with enthusiasm. "If you're half as good at brewing as your brother, you'll do just fine here."

"My brother?" Jasper asked mildly, though his stomach felt like it was sinking to his boots.

"Hunter," Mrs. Flint said, her smile slipping into concern.

"Right, sure," Jasper said, trying to keep moodiness out of his voice in deference to an authority figure. He rolled his shoulders as if readying himself for a fight. "Let's do this."

As students finished trickling in and class time began, Jasper thought back to his entrance exam. He glanced over at Boscha to his left, and to Maya perched on her shoulder. It had been thanks to Maya that Jasper had been able to partake in the exam in the first place, the crab palisman semi-reluctantly allowing him to use her and her magic to perform the two spells necessary to pass and enroll in Hexside. Jasper had never seen Boscha talk Maya into it, but he had a strong suspicion that she had.

After the entrance exam, Principal Bump had asked which tracks he would like to take. Upon receiving his answer, Bump had presented him with a follow-up placement exam to test his prior knowledge of each of his fields. Given who he was and his hobby of studying all forms of magic — he tried desperately to gloss over his ortet being a great, if indirect, source of his knowledge — he scored very well for someone with no formal schooling, to the point of being placed in advanced courses of Potions with Boscha and the other classes with his new … friends? Companions, at least.

Lastly, it was a requirement by law that children enrolling in a magic school have at least one guardian. Given that Jasper had been made by Belos, who was now locked up deep in the Conformatorium and profoundly unfit to act as his legal guardian in any capacity, he had seemed to be in a sticky situation.

That is, until Joen van Aken had appeared at the school with no warning and presented a document claiming Jasper as a ward of the van Aken family. He had signed off on Jasper's guardian form without a word and left, offering only a wink backward at his stunned daughter and new ward.

Jasper shook off his introspection and focused on the class, pairing not with Boscha but with a reptilian demon named Ladon that he vaguely recognized from the assault on the Day of Unity. Ladon was friendly enough and traded pointers with Jasper as they worked through brewing a cloaking potion that was meant to camouflage the drinker.

The next class, also Potions, cycled a selection of new students in, all of them multi-trackers such as Edric Blight and Barcus. Jasper had to forcibly bite back a twinge in his belly at the idea of mixing magic, reminding himself firstly that he himself was a multi-tracker, and secondly that Belos had been a madman obsessed with order.

Jasper was still paired with Ladon as the class began its discussion on potions used in the medical field, digging into the treatments for various diseases or injuries and the resultant closeness of the Potions and Healing Covens in the past. As it turned out, the Potions magic field and its coven were strongly tied in one way or another to every other coven, but that was for another time.

After another hour, Jasper said goodbye to Ladon before Boscha practically dragged him out of the lab and toward the Healing homeroom. Cat met them at the door and teasingly waved Boscha off, the triclops frowning at the antics before rolling her eyes and heading back to the Potions lab.

"Such a mother hen," Cat sighed with a grin. "You know, under all the unpleasant layers." She gestured for Jasper to follow and sat him at her table. A quick glance around showed Viney Primrose and Emira Blight among the attending students.

"Good morning, students," came a melodious woman's voice, and Jasper blinked in faint shock. Dressed in a classical white physician's coat and robes with a leather satchel at her hip, was the Healing professor, Ms. Eir. She was slim and shapely, with alabaster skin, wavy, golden hair, and crystal blue eyes over a delicate nose and full, dark lips. She also had short, sharp spines resembling wild rose thorns in whorling patterns all over her body and sticking through designed holes in her clothing, but they somehow added to her appeal, like dangerous freckles. In other words, she was overall breathtaking. "How are we all today?" she asked.

The class all gave positive replies, and Cat leaned over to whisper in Jasper's ear, "She's really big on mental health, too. She always asks the class how we're doing, and if we have problems she's always ready to talk outside of class."

The class, Ailments and Afflictions, was concerned with all manner of diseases, injuries, infections, or other medical problems, how to diagnose them, and further how to treat them. Jasper listened carefully, soaking it all in like a sponge in preparation for when he might participate.

After they had discussed fungal infections such as the common mold and how direct healing of these was particularly tricky, the class ended and lunch began.

"Jasper, a moment," Ms. Eir called. Cat said she'd wait for him and left to offer some privacy.

"Yes, ma'am?" Jasper asked, hesitantly.

"Have you signed up for a palisman adoption yet?" Mrs. Eir asked, her hands folded before her and wide eyes open and curious.

"Uh, I was gonna look into that during lunch," he explained, and the answer seemed to please her.

"Wonderful," she chirped. Then she dug around in her satchel and offered a few books to him. He looked them over to find titles such as Grim Walkers, Legends of the Grimwalkers, and Grimwalkers Extinction. "I found these in the school archives. I thought you might like to read through them." She gestured at bookmarks. "I took the liberty of sifting through myth and conjecture for what hard fact they have. Though the rest is rather interesting in itself, if not practical."

"Erm, thank you, ma'am," Jasper mumbled.

"Of course," Ms. Eir said with a kind smile. "I'll see you after lunch."

Jasper left with his shoulders a bit hunched, barely slowing down when Cat fell into step behind him, watching closely behind her glasses. He thrust the books into his bag and closed it tight, tension curling in his belly. Another reminder that he wasn't even a powerless witch, but a creation based on someone else.

He only came out of his head when he'd made it to the cafeteria, glancing over at Cat who had her hand on his elbow. Had she guided him through the school while he'd been thinking so hard?

"There they are," Cat said, gesturing to a table occupied by Boscha, Amelia, and a few other students that Jasper was only partly familiar with from the Day of Unity. Cat guided him along and left him with Boscha before going to get her food. Boscha, on her part, slid a second tray over to Jasper, with stake fingers and fried tater-toes.

"Sup, man?" one of the other students said, a tetraculus demon in the Potions track with his hood up. His four, slanted eyes were narrowed in examination, clearly sizing him up. "I'm Gorey," he said, offering a hand to shake. Jasper took it and shook mechanically, on edge for some trick. His experiences with the coven heads had left him wary of meeting strangers. Gorey, on his part, glanced at Boscha and jerked his hand away with a tense, fanged smile.

"I don't remember you from the Day of Unity," Jasper noted, jerking his chin at the other guy in the Oracle track with a beanie over stringy, straw-blonde hair and too-long sleeves. "Ira, I seem to recall a little."

"I was taking care of my grandma," Gorey said defensively.

"Right, sure," Jasper said with a faint grin before shoving a stake finger into his mouth.

"Knock it off, you two," Amelia said firmly, brandishing a fry at them before taking an aggressive bite from it.

"Eh, go make out with your weird boyfriend," Ira said flippantly with a flick of his sleeve-covered wrist as he checked his Penstagram. He only realized his mistake when Gorey's salad grew a meat-trap flower that launched itself at him to start gnawing at his gangly limbs.

"I think I will, later," Amelia said sweetly, a small spell circle still floating in front of her fingers.

"Boscha, help!" Ira yelped as the flower kept biting at him.

"Don't look at me," Boscha said derisively, decidedly looking away from him. "You got yourself into this."

Jasper couldn't help but laugh under his breath, especially when he realized the meat-trap was giving Ira nothing more than cosmetic damage and some light pain. This was like a much, much lighter take on the scheming and backstabbing of the coven heads. If this was what having a friend group was like …. Maybe he could get used to it.

He stayed quiet as Cat rejoined them and everyone started talking about the latest gossip around the school, content to listen and learn what he could about social interaction and the unwritten rules of the student body in the little time he had for lunch. But all the while, he felt his gaze drawn like by a cobweb at a table across the cafeteria.

At that table sat the "Hexsquad" of Luz the Human and her dear friends, as well as the Troublemakers and the Blight twins. In particular, he couldn't help but observe Hunter Wittebane … his ortet. He watched every now and then as Hunter also seemed to stay quiet in his friend group, but with a small, fond smile as he held the waist of his girlfriend, Willow Park.

Jasper grunted after the dozenth or so time when his teeth started to ache and the wisps of memories not his own began to stir in his mind. He shook his head as if warding them off, gritting his teeth to cancel out the ache. Luckily for him, the lunch bell took that moment to scream and he left the table without a word to dump his tray and trod heavily back to the Healing homeroom.

Boscha and her crew watched with surprise, and the Banshees traded looks of concern before Cat rushed to catch up.

The second Healing class was much more hands-on than the first, covering the direct principles of Healing magic and its use in preventing and treating injury and illness. Jasper spent the time observing mostly as the other students spent time in the infirmary and actively treated fellow students, under the supervision of Ms. Eir. He couldn't help but notice that Viney Primrose seemed particularly skilled, and it brought his last visit to Hexside to mind, the day of the flyer derby thing.

Without a palisman or artificial magic, he could do nothing to directly participate. Which didn't help his mood.

After the class was over, it came time for his third round of track classes: Plants. He followed Cat to the greenhouse, offering a tense smile when she said goodbye, and entered to find Amelia also in his classes. Amelia waved at him and gestured to a long work table with herself, a lanky boy in a two-colored uniform, and a furred biped demon with long tusks and large paws.

"Good afternoon, class," the teacher — another pretty woman, though in a more wholesome, relatable way than Ms. Eir, with a lean build, tan skin, and long, tangled dark hair with twigs in it — greeted merrily. "We have another new student today." She gestured at Jasper. "Everyone say hello to Jasper."

The class clapped and said hello, and he looked around, unable to keep himself from hunching himself into his shoulders. At least until his head shot up in shock at the sight of Willow Park near the back. She saw him looking and offered a wave of her fingers … that made him irrationally blush as his teeth hurt again. He scowled and turned his back on her.

The class was first involved in learning about the various motile fauna of the Isles, the plants that moved with a will of their own and often could bite or cut passersby. Another class of mostly book work, and so one that Jasper felt more comfortable in. He was able to chat with Amelia and the lanky boy, her reportedly "weird" boyfriend Jerbo, enough to calm down. It turned out that Jerbo was fairly easy to talk to, although seeing him stammer his way into a blushing mess when Amelia flirted with him made Jasper's eyes roll.

The class ended and some students left, while others arrived. One more class and his first day was over without a major incident. That thought made him smile just a little and he braced himself for the next phase of the class: learning about how plants were used in Boiling Isles infrastructure.

"Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Kissiae!" called a very familiar voice.

"It's alright, Hunter. Take your spot," the teacher waved off.

Jasper tensed and slowly looked over his shoulder to find Hunter approaching the work table Willow was sitting at. They blushed with identical warm smiles and kind of … nuzzled each others' foreheads as Hunter put down his satchel and took a seat. Jasper grit his teeth, once more aching with the presence of his ortet.

'Why? Why, Titan, why?' he wondered bitterly. 'Why couldn't he have a different class?'

It only got worse as the class went on. Jasper couldn't focus on whatever Mrs. Kissiae was talking about as his teeth grew from aching to outright throbbing, the sensation spreading through his jaw and towards his ears. Even worse, the throbbing made his ears ring … and in that ringing, he heard more foreign memories.

All of them were connected to Willow Park.

He heard sweet nothings they had spoken to each other, declarations of protection and love that would have made him weep in any other circumstance, panicked pleas to explain from Hunter, and much more. His belly roiled and his cheeks burned as tears pricked the corners of his eyes. His grip on the work table — when had he gripped it? — grew tighter and tighter until his hands trembled.

"Jasper?" Amelia asked quietly. "What's wrong?"

Jasper looked at Hunter, their eyes meeting … and Jasper reached his limit. He bolted from his seat and fled through the greenhouse's exterior door, racing across the grounds of Hexside until he reached the far woods and stumbled to a halt under a croak tree. Dry heaves wracked his frame as he fought the urge to break into tears. He sat with his back against the tree and hugged his knees, wayward tears escaping.

He had no idea how long he was there before a voice asked, "Jasper?"

He looked up and found Hunter Wittebane standing before him, eyes wide and unthreatening … and filled with concern. His palisman Flapjack was settled on his shoulder, and whistled in a way that somehow sounded supportive.

"Go away," Jasper spat, his teeth already hurting.

"I'm not going anywhere," Hunter said. "You think I haven't noticed those dark looks you've been throwing at me? Or those weird, reluctant looks at Willow? Even in the cafeteria."

Jasper said nothing as he buried his face back in his knees. His ears twitched as he heard Hunter approach and settle beside him at the tree.

"I know what panic attacks look like," Hunter said. "And I know that that was not a normal panic attack." He sighed through his nose. "Look, I saw all that messed up stuff in Belos's head, remember? So what's going on?"

Jasper remained quiet for a while. At first it was out of spite, since he was too tired to just walk away. But as his thoughts settled, even with that stupid toothache coming back, he realized that he was being unfair. Hunter didn't even know what was happening.

"We're connected," Jasper finally said. He began to explain what he could about the resonance between a grimwalker and their ortet, something he didn't fully understand himself. As he talked, he got more emotional and began explaining the different incidents of it all, how it made his teeth hurt because that was the piece of Hunter that Belos had used to make him, the bizarre dreams that grew into auditory hallucinations and even visions sometimes.

Eventually, Jasper ran out on steam, his head throbbing. Hunter was quiet for a while before saying, calmly and reasonably, "That's rough, buddy." Jasper couldn't help a cough of laughter at the ridiculous understatement. "But that's not all, is it?"

"No," Jasper admitted. "The memory thing scares me to my bones … because I'm worried the new stuff will eventually overtake the old stuff." He snorted. "Not that there's much to overtake. Technically, I'm less than a year old." He sniffled as his eyes burned with more tears. "Everything about me is borrowed," he said, his voice hoarse as he looked at his gloved hands. "It terrifies me that soon 'Jasper' will fade away … and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

Hunter remained silent for some time as he gathered his thoughts. "Believe it or not, I kind of know how that feels." It seemed that it was his turn to bear his soul as he told Jasper about the revelation of his true history. How his mother had been murdered on Belos's order, arranged to look like a wild witch attack, and Hunter had soon been brought in to serve as the Golden Guard. How Hunter had found out the truth and defected. Then how Jasper and Luz's vision of Belos's memories had shown him that he was, in essence, a Clawthorne, too.

"The Day of Unity gave me something else to focus on for a while," Hunter said, "but after it passed, I had to really examine who I thought I was. I now knew that I was a descendant of Caleb Wittebane, Philip's actual long-lost nephew. I wondered what that meant for me acting as Caleb's legacy, or as an extension of Belos." He shuddered at that idea.

"But you seem so calm about it," Jasper said, almost in wonder. He looked at Hunter, his eyes almost pleading for answers. "How?"

"My friends," Hunter said simply. "My new family. Willow, Luz, Gus, Eda, Lilith, King, Dell and Gwendolyn … They have helped me along. They hold me up when I feel too tired to keep going on my own. They've comforted me and told me I'm not Caleb or Philip. I'm Hunter, and only Hunter." He looked to meet Jasper's eyes. "I'm me, and that's all there is to it." He smiled just a little. "And the same goes for you."

"But the resonance-" Jasper began.

"Do you feel it right now?" Hunter asked. Jasper blinked and opened his mouth to answer … and realized that his teeth weren't hurting. He closed his mouth and began wondering about that.

"This is resonance, too," Hunter said, gesturing between them. "We're talking, bonding. We're learning about each other and becoming more alike on our terms, not magic ones." He chuckled. "I think that the best way to not be me …. Is to be you. Choose to be Jasper instead of Hunter." He shifted to rest his arm on one knee. "One way or another, we're going to be alike, Jasper. Kinda like twins or whatever." He paused and added, "But alike does not have to mean identical. Just-" He barked a laugh. "Just be yourself."

"I'm not even sure who that is," Jasper admitted feebly.

"Then find out," Hunter said sternly. "Discover who Jasper is." He raised a fist. "Build Jasper from the ground up if you have to." He huffed. "You've got your own set of friends, so that's a good start." He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

Then Flapjack, who had been patiently silent throughout the conversation, whistled something. Hunter's ears perked up and he smiled a little. "Hey, Flapjack asks if you've chosen a name."

"Jasper works," he replied.

"No, not like that," Hunter deflected. "I mean a surname. After I left the castle, I decided on a family name to separate myself from Belos." He scoffed lightly. "Turns out I chose Caleb and Philip's name. I can't imagine how that happened." He leveled a knowing look at Flapjack, who innocently preened his feathers. "But I kept it to honor Caleb, my ancestor who was brave enough to embrace the Boiling Isles." He turned his head to face Jasper. "So what about you?"

"Uh, I dunno," Jasper said. "Um … Grimm?"

"Pass," Hunter said. "I know you don't like being a grimwalker. Probably not a good idea for that reminder."

Jasper mulled it over, and nothing came to mind. He didn't want to name himself after Hunter, or the Clawthorne clan. He considered van Aken, as their ward, but shook that away with a blush. Then he just started glancing around hoping for inspiration. He thought so hard that he bit his tongue with a hiss and removed a glove to touch and draw away blood. He blinked at the red fluid and something came to mind.

"Bloodwilliams," he said.

"Huh?" Hunter asked.

"My name," Jasper said, rising and standing tall, "is Jasper Bloodwilliams."

Hunter grinned and stood, too. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Bloodwilliams," he said, removing a glove to hold out his bare, scarred hand. "I'm Hunter Wittebane."

Jasper regarded the hand and offered a small, cautious smile as he took it and they traded grips. And Jasper's teeth didn't even throb. Not once.

They returned to the greenhouse and Mrs. Kissiae fretted over Jasper before thanking Hunter for going after him. Class resumed and Amelia kept a close eye on him throughout the rest of it. After school finally let out, Amelia kissed Jerbo goodbye and guided Jasper to the grudgby field where Boscha was directing practice.

"Hey, guys!" came a chipper voice.

Everyone turned to find the Hexsquad — Luz, Willow, Gus, Amity, and Hunter — gathered on one side of the field. They approached and Luz held out a fist towards Jasper, who looked at it with confusion.

"Just punch it," Hunter said blaisely.

Jasper did, and Luz winced and shook out her hand. "Welcome to Hexside, Jasper," she said, and the rest of the Hexsquad said the same.

Jasper felt affection rise in his chest and he glanced back at his own group, Amelia and Cat smiling warmly while Boscha tried to look indifferent … but could completely hide a smile.

"It's good to be here," Jasper replied.

Hey, hey everybody! It's been quite a while since I presented another Tale. Work has been kicking my butt and inspiration has been fickle at best. But I'm happy to have finally posted this story.

*Jasper's "Just gotta ride it out," was pulled from Gravity Falls. Dipper is my favorite character for a reason.

*Mrs. Flint, as stated early in "Marigolds," was named after the parrot Captain Flint in "Treasure Island." Her demon species is now named for the Greek word for "parrot" that leant itself to the taxonomic order for parrots.

*Ms. Eir is named after a Norse figure related to healing, either a minor goddess or a valkyrie. Her appearance is derived from my own thoughts of the Healing teacher resembling an angel, and my brother's idea of her being covered in spikes as a bit of irony of a healer's touch being dangerous. It brought to mind a character from The Dresden Files: Thorned Namshiel, who is a fallen angel covered in either bony spikes or spines resembling rose thorns. Weird coincidence, huh?

*I searched high and low in this continuity for a name I had assigned to Boscha's four-eyed crony from "Once Upon A Swap," but only found the demon species title I'd assigned him. Now he has a name! And it's a macabre pun on Corey.

*If you'll recall from "Strength," Hunter's last class is in the Plant track.

*"Everything about me is borrowed," is a line itself borrowed from "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" from the Riku Replica. That character was a big influence on Jasper.

*Jasper's chosen surname is the final piece of Hunter's fake name in "Any Sport In A Storm." I thought it was a great way to reference that.

As always, I hope it was a fun tale! Leave a review if you like! And may your own works be fun to read and to write!