So, I originally wanted to leave the aftermath of "What if Luz was a Vecna Victim" ambiguous, but then I came up with the idea of "What if Belos didn't possess Hunter", so I thought, since the former ends with Belos getting trapped in the Upside Down before he even has the chance to possess Hunter, I'll make this fanfiction a continuation of that one.
Enjoy.
After dealing with the demo-bats, Hunter, Willow, and Gus ran into the Creel Mansion. They were on a mission to save their friend, Luz, from the villainous Vecna, so they and a few new allies came to the Creel Mansion to search for Vecna. They made it into the attic and saw something they weren't expecting.
The figure looked like a monster made of black goo and there were a thousand glowing eyeballs all over its body. It had long white hair and antlers on its head.
"Hello Caleb, hello witches," he said, menacingly.
Hunter couldn't believe what he was seeing. The man whom he thought dead, the man that used and abused him for so many years, was somehow still alive.
"But… how?" was all Hunter could say aloud.
Suddenly, all of Hunter's trauma came flashing before his eyes. The day Belos first gave him the scar on his cheek, and all those times he threatened Hunter and harshly punished him for every failed mission. Then there was the memory of when he was in Belos' mind, when he learned the true purpose of his existence, the fact that he's a clone meant to help Belos destroy the Boiling Isles, and when Belos straight up tried to kill Hunter.
Since Hunter was so focused on these traumatic memories, he didn't notice Belos coming for him.
"HUNTER, WATCH OUT!" Willow shouted before pushing Belos out of the way.
Hunter snapped back into reality and saw what almost happened to him. He sees Belos get back up and head for Willow, so Hunter dashes in between them and fires a blast from Flapjack that shoves Belos against the wall again. Willow took control of some nearby vines to keep Belos tied to the wall.
"You know what I'd like, Belos?" asked Hunter. "I'd like to leave the Emperor's Coven, and never set foot in that throne room again! I want to study wild magic and learn how to carve Palismen! I want to attend Hexside as a regular student and play Flyer Derby with my friends! Best of all, I want to make sure you never harm anyone again!"
"No," said Belos as he bursts free and morphs his arm into a scythe. He slashes Hunter in the stomach with it. He falls to the ground in pain.
"NO!" Willow and Gus shouted in unison.
Gus ran to tend Hunter's wounds while Willow continued to fight Belos.
Willow sends some vines to Belos, but he instantly cuts them.
"Are you seriously gonna risk everything for a grimwalker that's clearly a lost cause?" Belos asked Willow.
Willow was shocked to hear what Belos called Hunter. A grimwalker. She quickly brushes it off and shouts, "He's not a lost cause! He has a good heart and worked so hard to change! He's around people that actually love him and don't just use him as a tool to meet their ends!"
Willow summons some plants from the ground and holds Belos down. She was about to hit him in the head with Clover, but something pulls her into the air and throws her onto Gus and Hunter, sending them all rolling across the attic.
Vecna reveals himself and approaches the three unconscious teens, lifting them up and carrying them away.
After the fight against Vecna and Belos in the Upside-Down…
Everyone was back at Hopper's Cabin in the woods.
Willow and Gus approached Hunter.
"We need to talk," said Willow.
"About what?" asked Hunter.
"Belos said that you're a grimwalker," Willow replied. "Is it true?"
Seeing no way out of this, Hunter confessed. "It's true. I'm a clone of someone that Belos was once close to, and was quite possibly a Witch Hunter that worked alongside him. I totally understand why you don't want to be my friend anymore because of it."
Hunter was about to walk away when Gus took Hunter's shoulder.
"Hey, we don't care about what you are," he told him. "We still care about you, and besides, I kinda knew you were a grimwalker for a while now."
"What?!" Hunter shouted, shocked to know about this.
Willow finished with, "It doesn't matter what you are. Witch, human, clone, it doesn't change how we see you. How I see you."
Willow pulled Hunter closer to her and kissed him on the cheek. Hunter pulled away instantly, shocked about what Willow just did.
Willow assumes that her crush didn't like the kiss and instantly starts apologizing, but Hunter pulls her closer to him, and they share a tender kiss.
1 Hour Later…
Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, Hunter, and Camila were preparing to head back to Gravesfield. Beforehand, they waved goodbye to their new friends and then they took off for Gravesfield.
