A/n: HAPPY 200 FOLLOWERS! (face reveal at 350 😌)
A chapter in which the "enemies to lovers" is just beginning
***
You stood by the door, staring at the boy in shock.
Eda made her way around you with King, trying to get through the door, "Ah, ah shit just get an elixir. Ugh, I got into harpy mode and now I can't get out."
"You also ate like...nine voles on the way home, " King added, rushing into the house.
Despite Eda's grunts as she struggled to get through the door behind you, you stood there staring at Hunter.
"Your...hair looks so different, " he finally says as if you were old friends that ended on good terms.
"What is he doing here?" Your stare was piercing, and your tone was sharp and clear.
"Here we go," he mutters under his breath, sighing.
"What do you mean, 'here we go'? You fucking manipulating, evil, backstabbing bitch!" You look to the girl who'd chosen to be there for you only a week ago, "What's he doing here?!" You repeat, trying your best to contain yourself.
Just then, Luz came rushing through the door. She didn't look sick anymore, but she was definitely blind since she didn't see the boy and jumped onto Amity, hugging her.
"I'm so glad my awesome girlfriend is okay!" She knocks Amity down onto the grass due to her affectionate bear hug.
"I Uh...me too!"
You felt bad ruining the moment, but you clear your throat, getting Luz's attention, and gesture towards Hunter in front of you.
Luz jumps back to her feet and grabs your hand. "You! Oh my god, he's found us! Amity, get back," She reaches for her pocket, about to pull out a few glyphs.
"Wait, I'm on your side now!" Hunter exclaims, putting his hands up bracing for impact.
Luz slowly puts the glyphs down in disbelief, "Really?"
"Yeah!" Hunter puts his hands down "Yeah, " he repeats quieter, clearing his throat, "Amity and I talked it out." He stops and sighs, "But I forgot that Y/n would be here, out of everywhere you could've been!"
"What? Where did you think I was then, the fuck?"
He was about to retaliate when Amity interrupted. "If Hunter went back without the Titan's blood, we believe that Emporer Belos would've done something bad to him. We talked for a bit and after some major convincing, he's with us now."
You didn't know how to react, a million thoughts rush through your head. "So you saved him even though he was willing to take my life like nothing? You know what? No. We're talking about this in private."
You called for Hooty and he appeared next to you in less than a second. "What's up?!"
"Do me a favor and keep an eye on the Golden Guard while we talk, " you say, unfazed by his quick appearance.
"Okie Dokie, hoot hoot!"
"I don't believe this, " you say, suspicious of the boy. Of course you were! You were justified! "He tried to hang me two weeks ago and now I'm supposed to believe he's a changed man?! This is bullshit!"
You lean on the wall by the door, occasionally glancing out of the window. Hooty was watching Hunter, sometimes getting too close to his face for comfort.
"This is the thing, when I got to the lake, there wasn't any Titan's blood. The ground was all dry..."
"But?" Luz says, trying to get the sentence going.
"But, Hunter was kneeling at the middle of the Lake, digging."
"For the blood, yeah of course he would. He'd do anything for Belos, what's your point exactly," You ask, still not cooled off from this situation.
"That's what I thought at first, but no." Amity continues, "He was trying to bury himself alive."
Your eyebrows furrow and your attention moves from the window, now completely on Amity. "...What?"
"Yeah, " she responds, taking off her coat, "he was more willing to kill himself then and there, than go back to the castle empty-handed. He was having a full-on panic attack."
"Oh...oh wow, " Luz covers her mouth with her hand.
You bury your face in your hands, thinking hard. "I-," you finally speak, your voice slightly muffled. "I think maybe there's a chance that he wasn't putting on a show, but I don't think he would change his mind that quickly."
"What are you saying?" Luz responds.
You look up from your hands. "I'm saying that he found his jackpot. Listen, here we've got Eda; the former most wanted witch on the Boiling Isles who's getting a different power, you, a human that's getting better at magic, me, currently a wanted human, and most importantly, that key."
You point at Amity's neck, where the key was hanging off of.
"You don't think that he saw it, do you?" Amity furrows her eyebrows, grabbing onto the key with one hand.
"I don't know for sure, I'm just saying it's a possibility."
You glance at the window once more, a red bird had landed on Hunter's shoulder and he was chatting with it like it was a human.
"But he could be helpful to us," Luz chimes in, "I mean, give us insight about what he knows when it comes to Belos."
"Well-...true."
"He's not going to be completely different off the bat, it took me a little time to change, in a good way. All he needs is time," Amity adds.
"Does he really deserve a second chance?"
"He's just 16 Y/n," Luz responds, "a kid."
"I'm 16 too, is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"We can settle this on a vote," Amity suggests, taking off her gloves.
"I think that's a great idea," Luz says, sighing.
"Put your hand up if you think Hunter should stay."
Luz and Amity's hands go up, while you were hesitant, it didn't even matter since the majority voted. "This is really happening...this is really happening." You rub your temples, trying your best not to go batshit crazy.
Finally, you sigh accepting defeat, "Just, please don't show Hunter the key or the Echo Mouse yet, it's too early for comfort."
And just like that, you didn't wait for anyone's response and walked off to the tower in the back of the Owl House to get some air. This time, you'd be able to brace yourself before being in the same room with Hunter let alone eventually being forced to talk to him.
It took you about three minutes to get to the top of the small tower, but it felt like forever as your thoughts took over.
He's going to try something eventually.
Why do they trust him?
Is he genuinely good now? No, that's impossible.
Keep an eye on him.
You sighed as you reached the tower, a soft breeze blowing over your face. This is exactly what you needed, a breath of fresh air.
"Whatcha up to?" Hooty appears next to you with a small smile on his beak.
This time you slightly flinched given that you didn't know that Hooty would be there.
"...Just...getting some air I guess." You lean your arms on the ledge of the tower, putting all your weight onto it. You closed your eyes inhaling and exhaling deeply.
Hooty hesitated before responding, tilting his head sadly at your state. "I haven't seen you this bummed since you first showed up here Hoot-Hoot."
Usually, you'd find Hooty's voice annoying or anger-inducing, but right now it was comforting. Luz and Amity knew to give you space at a time like this, but despite that, you still wanted someone to talk to. No one wants to be left alone with their own thoughts for too long.
"Yeah, I know," you say, eyes still closed. "I just don't understand how they could let Hunter have a second chance so fast...Maybe I overreacted, I-" you sigh deeply, rubbing your eyes, "I don't...know. Do you see where I'm coming from?"
"Ye-" Hooty was about to respond, but you cut him off.
"I mean, they know how I feel about him. How much damage he did to me. And now! Now, he comes into our home as if he belongs here because 'everyone deserves a second chance.' I stopped giving bad people second chances a while ago and I'm not about to start up again."
You paused, looking at Hooty again, "You know what I mean?"
"Totally girlfriend," the house demon says, nodding. "I definitely checked his attitude when you three were talking earlier Hoot-Hoot."
You chuckle softly, smiling for the first time in an eternity. "I bet you did Hooty."
At that moment, you saw Willow and Gus leaving the house together. You put two fingers in your mouth, making a loud whistle noise to get their attention, which works. They stop, turning around slightly confused from where the noise came from. You wave, allowing yourself to catch their eye. They smile waving back.
"Don't forget to give me the recipe for that soup, Willow!" You yell, giving them finger guns.
"Will do!" She yells back, mirroring your movement.
"See ya Y/n!" It was Gus this time.
"See ya!" You respond, putting your hands down. "I try my best to do the right thing," you continue in a regular tone, going back to chatting with Hooty. "I don't want to be the aggressive person that only acts off of emotions. But when it comes to people like Hunter, I can't help it. Being the bigger person is so much easier said than done, but what if I wasn't the bigger person to begin with?"
The house demon nudges your face reassuringly as you vent. "Y/n, you're a witch- I mean human being. You have feelings Hoot-Hoot. You're not a machine that has buttons to make the perfect decisions and feel the perfect emotions at any given time. You have every right to feel what you feel and do what you do in this situation."
"Lilith is so lucky having such a great emotional support friend, I swear to god." You rub your neck as a self-soothing gesture, another aftereffect from your close to death experience.
"Well!" you sigh, "If I don't go now, I'll probably never leave this tower...ever," you say "ever" in an overdramatic English accent, like Mother Gothel. "Thank you for the talk though, it's really helped."
Hooty gives you one more reassuring smile before you disappear into the stairwell.
***
You slowly walk through the halls, dragging your fingertips along the walls. Finally, you reach the living room.
Now let's play: Who Does Y/n find in the living room?!
A) Luz
B) Eda
C) Hunter
D) King
E) Amity
If you guessed C, you'd be right! ...Yaaaay
You try your best to keep calm, keeping your attention off of Hunter. You close your eyes, turning to the leave the room, when he starts to speak.
"Luz just left to take Amity home."
You stop slowly, resting one hand on the doorframe, not bothering to turn around.
"K."
"'K'? Ah, you're mad at me aren't you?" His voice is nonchalant, that's probably set you off.
You turn around, facing the boy who was just across the room from you. "Mad, is that the word you're going with? Mad?!"
"Woah, you're, what? One sentence in, and you already look like you want to kill me? That has to be a record somewhere," he responds, crossing his arms.
You chuckle out of pure anger and annoyance, "You've got the wrong one." You begin to make your way across the room, leading Hunter to trap himself against the wall.
"I promised myself that I'd be the bigger person in this situation, but I'm gonna pause this for a minute. I'm going to say this once so you better get this through your fucking skull before you try something."
You put your hands on either side of the boy, resting them on the wall. "The rest of the group may believe that you're on our side now, but I'm not buying it. I'm only keeping you here for your information regarding Belos, or else I would've kept arguing until they decided to leave you on the street. We're not friends, we're not even companions, so don't think that we can just go back to normal. Keeping that in mind, for as long as you help us, I will protect you with my life. But if I find out you were tricking us and betray, not only me, but my friends this time, I will kill you. That's not a threat, that's a promise."
Hunter was trying his best to come off as unbothered, but you could tell from this close that he was tensed up. You put your hands down from either side of him, resting them on your hips.
"Got it?"
"Alright Human," he responds, looking you up and down.
"Good."
A/n: From now on, Hunter's gonna have a fuck ton of screentime, I swear y'all! Also sorry for the slow update, summer's coming to an end and school's starting in six days for me so everything's been hectic.
(Also this chapter was kind of rushed, so I'll probably go back and edit it later)
Until next time