Scouts moved from place to place as ordered, while the coven heads all gathered in the emperor's throne room. Rumors of the Golden Guard's disappearance had spread quickly throughout the castle and Belos could not ignore the issue. He needed the situation taken care of.
"It seems that the golden guard has lost his way and is nowhere to be found. If you find him, please do not hesitate to send him back to the castle. I only hope he is safe wherever he is." The emperor announced, feigning distress at the disappearance of his "nephew".
The coven heads all seemed to sympathize, nodding as they left to resume their duties. That is, all except for three. The abomination head was especially expressionless until he left the room, worry falling over his face. He thought a moment before throwing a cloak over his body and leaving the castle, his worry morphing to determination. "I'll find you, Little Prince."
••••••••••••••••
Meanwhile at the Owl House, the rays of the sun pooled through the windows, waking the human from her slumber. She groggily sat up, stretching her limbs with a yawn and a small smile. However, when she glanced over to the side and saw hunter curled in a fetal position, face hidden in his arms, her smile fell.
She cautiously walked over, trying not to startle him, and crouched down beside him. "Hey, Hunter, are you okay?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
The blonde reluctantly looked up, revealing his face, which gave Luz all the answer she needed. His eyes were bloodshot, the bags underneath them somehow worse, and his cheeks were stained with tears .He wanted to speak, to answer her verbally, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. No words came to his mind, and his lips refused to move no matter how much he willed them to. He shook his head and avoided making eye contact. He felt embarrassed being seen in this state.
Flapjack chirped softly to console the blonde.
Luz gave a nod, placing a hand on Hunter's shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" She offered.
Hunter pondered the offer for a moment, before giving a small shrug. He couldn't really think too clearly, his mind still overrun by his thoughts from that night.
Luz nodded once again, giving Hunter a reassuring smile. "That's ok, you don't have to. How about a healthy distraction? Are you hungry? I could make some griffin eggs, maybe some pancakes if I could find the right ingredients?"
Hunter was going to decline, but perked up a bit at the suggestion of pancakes. He still didn't know what they were, but this was a chance to find out. From the context of the suggestion, he could safely assume it was some sort of food. He gave a timid nod, to which Luz smiled.
"Alright then. Is there anything else you need before I do that? Maybe a fluffy blanket?"
He hesitantly nodded, and Luz stood up and left the room to get a blanket. After a minute, she returned with a fluffy blanket and draped it over Hunter's back, earning a small smile. "I'll go get started on those pancakes. Feel free to come down whenever you're ready. If you're not ready by the time I'm done, I can bring them up here for you, Okay?" Once she got a nod, she smiled and left for the kitchen to search for the ingredients for pancakes. She walked in to find Eda with a mug of her morning apple blood. "Good morning, Eda," she greeted.
"Hey, kid. How's Blondie doing?"
Luz sighed. "Not great. I think he stayed up all night. Whatever happened, it left a pretty big scar. Physically and emotionally."
Eda frowned and nodded at what she heard. She didn't know what the kid was going through, but she knew it couldn't be easy. "Well, the most we can do is just try to help as best as we can. It's a good thing he's got flapjack, otherwise I don't know how much longer he could hold on. He's a tough kid, but what he's been through would be a lot for anyone," she said.
Luz just nodded in agreement. "Speaking of flapjacks, I'm making pancakes for breakfast. Hunter seemed happy when I suggested it, so I figured it could help."
Eda smiled. "I'm gonna go check on him, try not to burn down the house," she joked as she left the room.
Meanwhile, Hunter had sleepily gotten up, slipping on his binder before walking out of the room, blanket wrapped around his body, and flapjack resting in his hair, which seemed to be the bird's favorite spot. He continued down the hall until he ran into Eda, who looked at him with a reluctant smile.
"Hey kid. Luz said you're not doing so great, so I just wanted to check up on you. Is there anything you need?"
Hunter shook his head, trying to give a grateful smile, but couldn't show much. His face was still vaguely expressionless and he had to force any sort of change in it.
Eda patted his shoulder and smiled softly. "Alright, we'll, just lemme know if there's anything you need." She turned and headed back to the kitchen, Hunter following close behind.
When they entered the kitchen, Hunter walked over to luz, watching as she began mixing the ingredients in a bowl. He took a mental note of each ingredient, committing them to memory just in case.
Luz noticed Hunter watching intently as she made the pancakes. She smiled as she poured batter on the pan for the first pancake. "Do you want to try?" She asked as she flipped the pancake.
Hunter watched as she flipped the thing with ease, maintaining its regular, round shape. He looked back to the human, hesitantly nodding in response to the question.
Her smile grew, and she moved the finished pancake to a plate, before stepping aside and handing Hunter the spatula, along with a spoon. "Okay, so you're gonna take a couple spoonfuls of the batter and put them on the pan in the same spot, so you get a good round shape," she instructed gently.
Hunter gave a small nod and did as told, spooning the batter onto the pan. He let it sit until Luz instructed him to flip it. He took the spatula and carefully flipped it, struggling a bit, resulting in the pancake's shape deforming a little. He gave Luz a defeated look.
Luz gave him a pat on the back and a sincere smile. "Hey, that's alright, that was a good first try! The first pancake always comes out wonky anyway!"
He returned the smile and looked back at the pan, poking the pastry gently.
"Just wait a bit and keep an eye on the edges. When they stop looking gooey, and start looking fluffy, that's when you know it's done," She instructed.
He nodded and bent down so he was on eye level with the pan, looking at it intently, to which Luz gave a light chuckle.
The two finished making the pancakes and brought them to the table with plates for everyone.
"Dig in!" Luz said happily, taking a seat in her usual spot.
Hunter sat down with his plate and took a pancake, putting it on his plate. He picked it up with his hands and skeptically took a bite. His eyes widened with pleasant surprise as he chewed. He quickly ate the rest, taking a couple more onto his plate.
Luz and Eda watched the scene with a smile. They were glad he was doing at least a little better. "I take it you like them?" Eda said.
Hunter sheepishly nodded, swallowing what he had in his mouth. He paused a second before looking back at his plate. "Thank you," he spoke, his voice hoarse. It was the first thing he had said all morning.
The two smiled and nodded and flapjack finally moved from his place on Hunter's head to the table, where he nuzzled his hand softly. A small smile made its way to the blonde's face.
Just as the calm moment was setting in, King came pounding downstairs, running to the table. "Why didn't someone tell me there were gonna be pancakes!" He half complained, half yelled excitedly. He took some in his little paws and sat in a chair next to Hunter, digging in happily.
Eda facepalmed and gave Hunter an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, doesn't really stay quiet for long here," she chuckled, reaching over the table to pat King's head.
Once they all finished eating, the two teens were on the couch, watching cartoons again.
Hunter looked at the screen, wrapped up in the blanket Luz had given him earlier, looking genuinely at ease. Flapjack was perched on his head, as per usual. The boy had began to doze off, knees to his chest, head resting on his arms.
Once Luz saw, she carefully repositioned him to be laying and draped the blanket over him.
Flapjack happily chirped at her as she left the room. He hopped over and curled up next to him head, dozing off with him.
•••••••••••
Hey everyone, sorry it took me a while to get this chapter out. I went on a bit of a hold due to finals.
I've also been trying to think how I'm going to move forward with this given the new episodes. Keep in mind I started this fic before season 2B started airing, so there's gonna be a lot that's different. This might as well be a full on au at this point.
So anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I tried to make it longer than the previous chapters.