Reprogrammed (Hunter Angst)

The Boundaries Between Reality and Imagination

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Amity and Luz were on a brunch date. It was Amity's turn to pick what they'd do, and she'd chosen to have the two of them go to one of her favorite spots around her parents' mansion. It was beautiful, wooded with tall oaks, and the ground was littered with wildflowers. One of the only things that Amity's mother had ever done right was choosing to preserve this area instead of renovating it. The adults of the Blight family had destroyed so much of the nature around the house in favor of developing it for their Abomination business.

They ate brunch while they talked about anything and everything. Amity reveled in the way that her girlfriend smiled and laughed. A warm breeze snaked its way through the trees, ruffling their hair and sweeping fallen leaves skywards. This beautiful moment really made Amity grateful that her friends were alive and well. It had been a few months since the fall of Belos and the death of the Titan, and things had been really hard for everybody in the recovery.

People had lost a lot; their homes, loved ones, pets, businesses, livelihoods. But they'd also gained the freedom and support of their community. Amity smiled as she thought of how wonderful it was that so many witches and demons had come together to help each other for the greater good. Under Belos's rule, the residents of the Boiling Isles would have been too scared to do that, too afraid of wild magic. But things were healing... mostly.

I should ask Luz about Hunter, Amity remembered. He had been, well... not healing. She knew he was getting worse, and she also knew that Luz knew about his situation more than anyone.

"Earth to my girlfriend, anybody home?" Luz waved her hand with a smile. Stringbean snaked her way out of Luz's shirt and nuzzled her head against Amity's cheek.

"Sorry," She said with an uneasy laugh. She brought her hand to pet Stringbean, stroking the snakeshifter's cheek. "Guess I must've spaced out."

"Well, I was gonna tell you about the art project I'm making for one of my classes, but it seems like you've got something else on your mind." Luz said sarcastically, shooting a clever smirk in Amity's direction.

"Ah, sorry! Please, tell me about your art project, I'm sure it looks great!" She said, blushing.

"No, but actually you look like you've got something on your mind. We can save my art project for later. What's up?" Luz pushed.

"Um... I hate to change the mood, but... Willow, Gus, and I are really worried about Hunter, and we were wondering if you knew anything about what's going on with him. If you don't feel okay with talking about it, I totally understand!" Amity prompted. Luz sighed, and Stringbean drifted back over to her witch to wrap her body around Luz's arm.

"You're his friend too, and I think you should know what's going on. I've been kinda avoiding telling everyone since we're all so stressed with school and rebuilding the Boiling Isles, but maybe we can work together to help him." Luz began to explain. Amity nodded in understanding, anticipating rising uncomfortably in her chest.

Luz told her everything that she knew about Hunter's situation. He went to therapy with Camila and Darius, was taking a couple different kinds of medication, and had been experiencing a lot of terrible anxiety, panic attacks, and general aftermath of the trauma from Halloween Night, as well as his time in the coven.