Happy day before Halloween!
Not sorry I wrote another one of these (I've got like 3 more of these different takes on this episode brainstormed and somewhat outlined but I'm not positive I'll atctually write them). I like this one because Flapjack DOES NOT die, I'm giving Hunter a bit more 'sticking it to Belos' talk, and more Huntlow. 'Thanks to Them' takes place during Halloween so that's good enough for me.
I'm referring to 'Hunter being possessed by Belos' as 'Belos/Hunter' when describing what he's doing and/or saying.
She thought it was over. She thought Hunter was finally free of their so-called beloved Emperor. He had suffered so much in the past and now he was finally happy because that horrible man was gone. Flung effortlessly into a wall by the Collector and reduced to nothing but a dripping splatter of goo.
But that goo had somehow followed them through the portal, entered the Human Realm, and had taken control of Hunter's body.
It wasn't over. But by the end of the night, Willow would make sure that it was.
With Belos inside of him, Hunter's face and arms were covered in marks that matched the sickly dark green goo that the monster was made of. It covered his arms, giving him clawed fingers and allowing his arms to extend very long to grab at them and attack from a distance.
There were also antlers coming out of his head that reminded her of the Emperor's signature mask, his eyes were glowing bright blue, and his hair was somehow a bit longer. At least longer than it was originally, before it grew out over the summer and she then helped him cut it.
And his voice came out as a terrifying mix of both Hunter's and Belos's.
Willow wanted to sob at the sight of her dear friend like this. But she wanted to save him and kick Belos's ass even more.
As his long arm swung out and tried to hit Gus, Willow grabbed the arm and forced it downward, pinning it to the ice bridge.
"Hang tight, Hunter!" Vee cried as she ran over the ice bridge, leap over Willow as she continued to hold him down, and opened her mouth wide. She fed on magic, so she might be able to weaken Belos without hurting Hunter if she sucked some out of his body.
It did disorient him for a moment and sucked him in closer to her, but he soon regained enough strength to move his other arm.
"Vee, watch out!" Amity yelled, swooping in to grab the basilisk just before the bridge she had been standing on was destroyed.
As this happened, Willow flew off on Clover, moving out of the way, off to the side.
After dropping Vee safely on the other side of the pond, Amity and Gus flew back toward their opponent. Wanting to help, Flapjack transformed into his staff form and allowed Luz to use him. Luz mounted the staff and flew in to, dashing forward in a yellow blur, trying to get close enough to help her friend.
With Belos/Hunter distracted, Willow flew around the side of the small island, out of sight for a moment. She got off Clover and let her hide behind a grave stone to keep her safe.
She had a plan. She just wasn't sure if it was a good one. But it's what she thought she had to do if she was going to get her friend back.
Belos/Hunter swatted his long arm again, knocking Luz, Gus, and Amity out of the air and back over to the over side of the pond with Vee and Camila.
Belos/Hunter stood there for a moment, looking smug, until his wrists and ankles were suddenly grabbed. He looked down and saw thick vines coming up from the ground and wrapping around his wrists and ankles. He sharply looked around until he saw Willow, eyes glowing green and circles around her wrists.
She slowly approached him, holding her magic firm.
"I know you can hear me, Hunter. Fight him off!" she pleaded.
"Ha," Belos/Hunter chuckled. "You think my nephew is strong enough to resist me?" he sneered while pulling on the vines. "I created him. Taught him everything he knows." Eventually, the they snapped. Belos/Hunter's long arm struck out at her again but Willow blocked with another vine. "Caleb betrayed me, now the least my Grimwalkers can do is make it right."
"He's not Caleb!" Willow shouted. She was so sick of his guy comparing her dear friend to the brother he blames. As his arm came at her again, she trapped it with another vine around the wrist and held it there. "Caleb saw the truth, and so did Hunter. That witches are not evil and that you're the one who's evil! And you refuse to admit that you've been wrong all these years!"
As soon as those words left her mouth, Belos/Hunter's other hand sprang forward, wrapping long-clawed fingers around her throat.
The circles around her wrists disappeared, making her vines fall. Willow struggled the take a deep breath as she was lifted up a few feet off the ground. Her hands flew up to try to pry the fingers away, but they didn't budge much.
She looked down and saw Hunter's possessed face, glowing blue eyes staring up with at her with distain.
"Just like Evelyn. Another witch trying to fill Caleb's head with evil filth," he sneered before tightening his grip on her a bit, making the young witch cry out. "You'll not have him again. He's mine," he growled menacingly.
"Hunter…belongs…to no one," Willow was able to choke out, trying to sound defiant to the man hurting her and her loved ones. Only for him to tighten his grip again, making it that much harder for her to breath, let alone speak.
Watching her gasp and struggle made Belos/Hunter smirk. "We will finish what we started together. By destroying every last witch and your precious magic," he sneered with manic glee. He had the Titan's blood. He could go back and find another way to end all of witchkind for good. Such was the dream of every dedicated witch hunter. Belos/Hunter shortened his arm, pulling Willow in closer. "Seeing you die by his own hand will surely make him see."
Soon, Willow was roughly a normal arm's length away from Belos/Hunter, still dangling from her neck with her feet hovering off of the ground.
Belos wanted Hunter to see her parish up close and personal. And he wanted her 'dearest friend's' face to be the last thing she sees.
Luz and others watched from the other side of the pond. The ice bridge was destroyed but they could still fly over on their palisman. But with Belos/Hunter holding Willow hostage, there wasn't much they could do without hurting her as well. Not to mention that any direct attacks could hurt Hunter himself.
As Willow struggled to breath, she tried using her magic but it wasn't working right while she couldn't focus. She was scared and panicked and couldn't breathe.
Although it was scary, she couldn't help but look down at Hunter's face.
Even possessed, she still believed that Hunter—her Hunter—was still in there. And maybe he was just as scared as she was.
She couldn't stop fighting. And neither could he.
She couldn't stop Belos this time. None of them could. But he could. She believed that too.
"Hunter…please…" she gasped out. Belos/Hunter's face didn't flinch. "I know how strong you are…You were strong enough to break free of his control before…you can do it again," she said between pauses she couldn't help due to lack of air. "Don't let him hurt us…you'd never hurt us…" She paused again as some tears burned her eyes. "…you'd never hurt me." Just when she thought that her efforts were in vain, she swore she saw a flicker in his eyes. The glowing blue of his irises went out for a moment. She couldn't give up now. "You are not his puppet…you're not his Golden Guard…you're just Hunter…" Despite being choked, Willow managed to smile at him. "And we love you just the way you are."
One of her tears rolled down her cheek and landed on his sickly green hand.
As soon as she uttered those words, the cruel grin on Belos/Hunter's face fell. His eyes closed and his hand holding her throat trembled. His opposite hand sprang up and grabbed his extended one, grunting like he was in pain. The next second, his fingers finally released Willow's neck.
The young plant witch fell to the ground, landing on her bottom, gulping down and exhaling franticly while rubbing the skin of her sore throat.
Meanwhile, Belos/Hunter's left hand continued to hold his right arm firmly. He walked around a few steps back and forth, all while grunting in frustration. Then his left arm came up and punched him right in the face. Like he was fighting himself.
Or Hunter was fighting Belos.
Still despite the pain she was in, Willow smiled.
Eventually, Belos/Hunter tripped and fell to the ground on his hands and knees.
Willow crawled backwards a bit away from him. She still had faith that Hunter was fighting, she was just giving him some room without going too far. Willow looked over her shoulder and saw the others on the other side of the pond. They were all watching with baited breath. Scared but also hopeful that Hunter was getting control back. Amity summoned her abomination magic to recreate the bridge with chunks of the broken ice and some mud. When the new bridge was formed, she and the others finally started running toward them.
Belos/Hunter panted heavily. His eyes closed again in pain. "I…like…who I am…too," he uttered but it wasn't both their voices this time. It was Hunter's, and only his. When his eyes opened again, they shifted from the glowing blue of his uncle's back to his normal wine red. Hunter—now mostly back in control of his own body—panted before his face scrunched into a determined sneer. "Belos…" he grunted angrily. "You can't…control me…ANYMORE!"
Hunter's eyes glowing completely golden yellow, followed by the rest of his body that wasn't covered in Belos's dark green streaks. Hunter got up from his knees and back onto his feet.
Flapjack quickly flew ahead of the others coming over.
His owner needed him.
Seeing his palisman fast approaching, Hunter held out his left hand and allowed the red cardinal to transform into his witch's staff.
Grasping his staff, it too glowed with golden light. Activating his power, Hunter dashed in Willow's direction in a yellow flash, breaking away, leaving the gross, lumpy goo of Belos behind.
When he was clear of the monster that had possessed him, Hunter's eyes closed and he collapsed. Luckily, Willow was right there for him. She sprang up from the ground and caught him before slowly lowering him down to lay on the ground with his head in her lap.
His hand released his staff so Flapjack reanimated himself once again and landed on Hunter's belly, chirping at him with worry.
"Hunter!" the others cried out as they reached the two. His eyes were closed but Camila felt his pulse in his wrist and he was breathing.
Other than that, his hair was still slightly longer and there were reddish scars on his face and arms from where Belos's goo had once been.
While all their attention was on Hunter, they didn't notice as Belos reformed into the monstrosity they had fought on the Day of Unity. He crawled over to the edge of the pond and retrieved the vial of Titan's blood.
It wasn't until the creature was approaching the graveyard's archway that Luz finally spotted him out of the corner of her eye.
"Belos!" she called out.
The ghoulish creature with antlers turned around and faced them. Amity and Gus both stood between Belos and the others, holding their staffs, ready to fight. Luz's palisman was in her fanny pack but was still inactive. She did however have plenty of glyphs still in it too, so she armed herself with a handful of those as she stood with them. Although Clover had flown over and landed on her witch's shoulder, Willow refused to let go of Hunter while he was unconscious. Camila and Vee stayed back but the basilisk still held her baseball bat at the ready, just in case.
"Caleb!" Belos growled, glaring down at the boy. Willow's caressing hold on his head tightened protectively as she glared at the monster. "You'd still cast me away?!"
"He's not your brother!" Luz hollered back at him. Hunter was his own person. He was more than just a copy of his deceased brother. The brother they now knew did indeed used to be a witch hunter too but apparently changed after meeting the witch, Evelyn.
Instead of replying, Belos hissed before turning away from them and headed back toward the archway.
"He's got the Titan's blood!" Amity cried, seeing the vial in his enormous slimy hand.
"Let's get him!" Gus added, ready to hop on his staff and fly at the monster who hurt his friends.
"No," a weak voice uttered from behind them.
Willow looked down with a start seeing Hunter's eyes slowly opening. Everyone turned around and saw as well.
"Hunter?" the plant witch said, overjoyed but still cautious as he started to sit up.
The blonde boy grunted in mild pain as he held his head.
"Sit up slowly, baby. Are you in pain anywhere?" Camila said, kneeling by his side.
Heeding her words, Hunter slowly sat up while holding his head. Willow helped by gently pushing his upper body forward. "I'm okay," he sighed. When he was in a sitting position, Flapjack chirped with joy. Hunter glanced down at his beloved palisman and smiled, picking the red cardinal up in his hands. His friends all smiled too, happy that he was okay. A noise redirected everyone's attention to the archway. Belos had smashed the vial of blood onto the top of the arch and it was spreading on its own down both sides, then meeting again threw the grass across the bottom. Hunter's eyes narrowed. "Belos," he sneered. His former uncle/emperor was trying to get away. His palisman chirped more, making Hunter look down at him. Understanding what he said, Hunter nodded. "You're right, Flap."
And with that, Flapjack transformed back into his staff-form for his witch to use. Hunter, body still a bit sore, grunted as he stood up on his feet, using his staff for extra stability.
"Hunter?" Gus asked.
"He won't get away with this," Hunter said, mad but controlled. This man—who now looked more like the monster he truly was—had possessed him and almost made him kill Willow.
His sweet, strong, wonderful Willow.
As Hunter walked past them, the others looked like they wanted to interject but Luz raised her arm out, stopping them.
"Guys," she said, glancing back at them. "He needs this." Although she was concerned too, she understood. Hunter needed to face his uncle. And by face, she meant face-to-face.
It was the only way for him to truly be free; physically and mentally.
Hunter took a few more steps away from his friends. They stayed put, giving him room but ready to step in if he needed them to.
"Belos!" he shouted. The oozing creature turned around from the portal that was almost open. Hunter stared at his unrecognizable, monstrous face and felt no hesitation. "You're going to leave without saying goodbye?" he said with a wry smirk.
"Hunter…my dear sweet boy," Belos spoke with what Hunter could now tell was fake care. "Come back with me. We can still do what we set out to do." Belos raised a slimy hand out, offering for his nephew to take.
Hunter scowled at the gross hand. "No!" he shouted. "I'm not your loyal lap dog anymore. I thought you were good, I thought everything you did, no matter how dark it seemed, you always meant well. That you cared about our home and our people, but it was a lie!" It felt good getting all this off his chest. But it wasn't enough. He wasn't done yet. "All along, it was your goal to destroy them. But I never wanted to hurt anyone."
True, he had helped detain wild witches—witches who didn't conform and join covens—but he only did it because he thought that wild magic was evil and that all witches is covens would make everything better for them all.
But it wasn't true. Witches didn't need covens or sigils to live peaceful lives.
Wild magic wasn't evil. His uncle was.
Belos made a low growling noise.
"You were always too soft, Caleb. They are evil and don't deserve your mercy," he hollered. It was similar to something he had said a long time ago to the original Caleb. "These witches have turned you against me! Again! Me! Your own flesh and blood. I thought you'd be different."
Every time he created a new Caleb—a new Grimwalker in his brother's image—he thought he'd finally keep this one. This one would stay by his side, stay loyal and obedient, and they'd finally complete their lifelong mission together; to destroy all witches and magic.
And yet, every time, he had been proven wrong. Caleb always betrayed him. Caleb always chose the witches over him.
"These witches are my family!" Hunter yelled back, gesturing to his friends still loyally behind him while taking a defensive stance with his staff. "They have never made me feel like I had to constantly prove that I was worthy of their love. They have never been cruel to me and told me it was to make me stronger. And they've always asked me what I wanted instead of ordering me around. What I'd like to do and who to be." And it wasn't just the young witches behind him that he had come to love. Vee was sweet and a good friend. Camila was like a mother to them all ever since they arrived; kind, patient, and caring. Things he didn't know he needed in a parental figure. And Luz, since the day they were forced to work together to rescue palisman from Kikimora, she has always tried to be his friend. Belos wasn't anything like them, despite being human himself. Hunter gripped his staff a bit tighter. "For example…" Hunter grunted before dashing forward. He was in front of Belos before the monster's very eyes. "Uncle, I'd like to leave the Emperor's Coven, and never step foot in that throne room again," Hunter said calmly before swinging his staff, engulfed in an aura of yellow magic, hitting Belos in the side. Belos was flung over from the force. On the ground, he looked down and saw a chunk from his side was missing. Before he could regenerate himself, Hunter came at him again. "I'd like to study wild magic, and learn how to carve palisman," Hunter said, a bit louder before raising his staff again. This time, when he brought it down, it was on Belos's left leg. The monster cried out in pain with a deafening roar. With one of his legs mostly loose goo, Belos could only attempt to crawl away toward the arch. With his back to his nephew, Hunter continued. "I'd like to attend Hexside as a regular student, and play Flyer Derby with my friends." Hunter struck again at his back. Belos cried out in pain again, feeling his body slowly deteriorating. Belos flipped his body over, facing Hunter. Stepping closer, Hunter pressed the end of his staff to Belos's chest, pinning him down. "But most of all…" Hunter raised his staff again, yellow magic radiating from Flapjack at the top. "I'd like to make sure you never hurt anyone again!"
Hunter swung downward, but Belos raised his slimy and huge hand in time to grab the staff.
He was weak, but, using the last of his strength, he threw Hunter and Flapjack back away from him. Hunter was sent rolling down the hill of the island until finally stopping just at the edge of the water.
The others worriedly glanced from Hunter—who was slowly raising up onto all fours with Flapjack hovering close by—back to Belos, who was making his way toward the glowing portal.
Belos looked over his shoulder at them. "This is for the good of your souls. You'll thank me later," he said before crawling through, disappearing into the Demon Realm.
With their enemy gone, the group breathed a mild sigh of relief. They were safe, for the moment.
"That's the Belos you've been fighting this whole time!?" Camila hollered, gesturing to the portal, completely bewildered.
"Hunter!" Willow cried. Worried about her dear friend, she ran past the rest of the group and over to him at the edge of the island. They all followed half a second after her.
When they got to him, Hunter was still on his knees, bent over with his elbows propping him up. His head was down so they couldn't see much of his face, but they could hear him making a strange noise. Was he crying? Hyperventilating?
"Mijo, are you okay?" Camila asked, trying to look under to see his face.
Soon, the sound he was making became louder. He wasn't crying or struggling to breath.
He was laughing.
Everyone watched, concerned and slightly weirded out, as Hunter slowly raised himself up until he was sitting on his knees, a hand covering his eyes. His laughter grew a bit more manic the louder it became.
When Hunter lowered his hand, they saw some tears coming out of his eyes. Then his laughter started to calm down. "Sorry-I…" the blonde boy gasped between his crazed chuckles. "I just…" Hunter stroked back his slightly longer hair with both his hands. "That was…you have…no idea how good that felt!" he laughed. Finally standing up to his former Emperor, guardian, mentor, and abuser had been extremely satisfying for the young lad. He didn't care if he looked insane. He was just so happy, he could hardly contain himself. Hunter took a few deep breathes to really settle his laughter as he turned his head and faced the group. When his eyes landed on the girl in the green and black costume, all the humor in his face was gone in an instant. "Willow," he uttered before scrambling up to his feet. Hunter stood in front of her, frightened and at a loss for words. "I…I didn't…that wasn't…" he stuttered. How did one apologize for what he had done to her? Or what he almost did. Glancing briefly at her throat, he could see some light bruising. Hunter felt bile in the back of his throat. He had done that. "Are you-?"
Willow shut him up right away by wrapping her arms around the taller boy and holding him close.
"I'm fine," she said into his shoulder.
More tears fell down Hunter's cheeks. A light sob escaped his throat as he wrapped his arms around her back. "Oh, Willow, I'm so sorry!" he cried. "I-I swear, I tried to-"
Willow immediately pulled back from him but still kept him close by cupping his face in both her hands. "No, no, stop. Stop that right now," she told him gently. "It wasn't you."
Hunter sniffled and took a few calming breaths before placing one of his hands on top of hers—still on his face. "You know I'd never hurt you. Ever," he said, not just as a reassurance, but as a vow.
Willow grinned at him and nodded. "And you didn't. That was all Belos."
"Yeah," Hunter nodded back with another sniffle. He then took both of her hands and lowered then, but continued to hold them up in his. "You were right. I was strong enough to take back control," he said, grinning at her.
"I'm so proud of you, Hunter," Willow said, squeezing his hands.
"We all are," Luz added from beside them, smiling at Hunter too.
As Hunter and Willow hugged again, Luz wrapped her arms around the two of them. Followed by Gus on their other side, Amity joined in by hugging closer to her girlfriend. Then Vee came in behind Willow, and Camila from behind Hunter.
Flapjack landed on top of his owner's head. Hunter felt his feathered friend nuzzle his hair and smiled ever bigger.
Their group hug was cut short, however, when they noticed the light of the portal starting to dim.
It was going to close soon. They had to go.
Back to the Boiling Isles. And after Belos.
I went to the trouble of clocking the times in the episode from the portal opening and then the moment it closed.
According to this episode, the portal was open for a total of 4 minutes and 11 seconds.
Hope u enjoyed this, please follow, favorite, and review ;D
And Happy Halloween!
