"Come on in." Ellaline says to us, inviting into her home.
It's a lovely, sweet cottage in the middle of nowhere. The living room was lit by a harsh warm light coming from the small fireplace. The house had hardly any walls, unlike my home in the human realm. The living room was openly connected to the kitchen where pots and pans hung from hooks on the walls.
"Make yourselves at home, I'll brew you guys some tea or... something. I dunno, what can you humans digest?" She says.
"Only one way to find out," I reply.
"I like the way you think!" She smiles at me with the most beautiful smile.
"Caleb, what are you doing?!" Philip snarls at me when she steps just out of earshot, "She could poison you! She's a witch for crying out loud!" He spits as his eyebrows furrow in anger. His teeth grit and his pupils dilate. Goodness. He must be riled up.
"No way, she's way too nice to be a witch!" I reply, completely aware she's a witch.
Ellaline comes back and hands me a cup. Inside the cup is a neon pink liquid i've never seen before. "It's a tea made from the plants I grow outside. Hope it doesn't upset your stomach." She tells me.
I look up from my drink to meet her eyes. Her beautiful (e/c) eyes. "Why are you so kind to us? We're strangers to you. Yet you invite us into your home and offer us warm, home-made tea. Why?" I ask her.
"Well, I'll be honest with you, big guy.. Living out here, all by myself, gets lonely. But! Now I've got visitors! And potential friends! Who am I to give up that opportunity?"
"You don't live near your family?" I ask, confused. Do the people of this foreign land not live in colonies, like we do?
"Nah, long story." She Dismisses the topic, "Anyways, 'nuff about me, tell me about yourselves."
"Well, for starters, we're human." Philip replies with a rather condescending venom in his voice.
"Mhm, noticed that," Ellaline nods without noticing the passive aggressive comment he'd made.
"Erm, well, I like to cook... I've been cooking for Pip since he was young." I say.
Ellaline looks at Philip with a playful smirk and grin, "Your nickname is Pip? That's my pa-ahem, fox's name! Pip!" She beams with a smile. Gosh, that smile. "What a funny coincidence!"
Philip glares at her, unimpressed.
"Um, and I like to carve.! I carved Philip a mask once!" I say, taking Ellaline's attention away from Philip's nasty glare.
"You do!?" She replies, stamping her hands on the table and bolting up in surprise. "I do too!! But I'm.. not very good at it."
My face lights up in delight. Hardly any women at home knew to carve. All the women at home knew to do was just take care of children and keep the house tidy. That's all they were taught to do. That's all they were meant to do in the eyes of the colony.
I figured that must be boring for them, and they're capable of so much more, but the other guys told me that's all they're good for and that's all they ever could do–clean the house wait to be married and/or have children. Yeesh..
But.. this woman can carve. And she likes to carve.
Something about that makes my heart flutter.
"I could teach you if you'd like!"
______________________________________
"Hey, we're back!" Hunter chuckled awkwardly as he, Luz and (Y/n) walked into the living room, "And we bought some, uh.."
"Cars!" (Y/n) interjected only to be elbowed in the arm by Luz. She didn't know what tf a car was, but it was something from the human realm.
"Luz! We're designing our costumes for the Haunted Hayride." Amity told her as she and the other two looked through boxes.
Gus walked up to Hunter, holding something in his hands with a big smile, "Guess what I've got planned?" He asked, "I'm gonna be Captain Avery and you're..."
"Chief Engineer O'Bailey?!" Hunter gasped as he excitedly asked.
"It'll be fun." Willow smiled at Luz, "We want to experience your weird human traditions." She laughed with a silly tone as she put vampire teeth on.
Amity turned to Luz and brought out a disc for Good Witch Azura The Movie 2, "And I thought you and I could take inspiration from..." She paused as she turned the TV on, "The Betrayanning! I could be the Hecate to your Azura. What do you think?" Amity asked as she approached Luz.
"Oh wow," Luz blinked with tired eyes, "Yeah, let's do it!"
(Y/n) could tell she was excited but too burnt out to express it. Luz's eyes reflected it. Her once naïve, cheerful eyes now sagged with regret and guilt.
"And (Y/n)!" Willow exclaimed, "Since everybody's matching, do you want to match with me?"
"Absolutely I do!!" (Y/n) exclaimed as she ran across the living to kneel next to Willow. "Whatchya got?"
Willow held up a black devil costume and a white angel costume, cliché, but cute. "Whaddya think?" She asked with a smile.
"Yes! They're adorable! Which one's your's?" (Y/n) asked.
Willow held up the black one then tossed the white one into (Y/n)'s lap, to which she eagerly nodded. "I love. it." She smiled as Luz looked at her.
How can she hold it all together so well? Was the thing on her mind. Am I just weak?
~~~
The scene lingered in his mind, it haunted him in the most delightful way.
"I love you, Hunter." She'd told him. Did she really mean that? Or did she just say that in the heat of the moment? Does she love him?
It pecked away at his mind until he couldn't take it anymore.
"Amityyyyyyy!" He called out for her as he defeatedly walked to her room.
"Hunter?" She asked, shocked he'd want to talk to her, considering they weren't very close. Amity was sat on her bed, painting her nails as Hunter opened the door.
"Blight, I need some help."
Amity raised an eyebrow but gestured for him to sit on Willow's bed. "Uh, okay. What's up?" She asked.
"S-so, you know how at the portal-"
"Say less." She interrupted with a satisfied smile. It seemed like she were reading his mind.
"What do I do?! She told me she loved me, but does she really? Or was it a heat of the moment kind of thing???? Ugh!! I don't know what to do?! What do I doo?" Hunter clamped his hands over his red, blushing face.
"Well it's obvious you like her... Why not ask her and get the answer for yourself?"
"Ask her what?"
"Ask her if she meant it, stupid!"
"O-oh!" Hunter nodded, feeling a little dumb. "How did you and Luz do it?"
"Uh, Hooty actually helped us..."
Hunter raised an eyebrow, "Hooty?? Eda's owl snake??" To which Amity nodded her head. How the hell did that thing help..?
"He set us up on this tunnel of love thing and it prompted us to ask each other out..." Amity smiled, reminiscing. "But.. Luz has been acting weird, lately, right? You've noticed it, right? Do you know what happened? I- I don't know why she's suddenly so distant from everyone... especially me. I'm her girlfriend. Shouldn't she be able to talk to me?"
She found out she aided Belos in the Day of Unity... "No, I don't know. Maybe She's just still taking in everything that's happened."
"How're you holding up? With him being your uncle and all.?" Amity hesitated for a minute.
"Um... I've uh- I've had time to get over it, hah." Hunter croaked out, trying to play it off cool. "How about you? How are you holding up?"
"I'm.. scared." She admitted. "I don't know if my family is safe. I miss my siblings. And my dad... Do you miss anyone?"
"Not really... Everyone I'd ever cared about is here. Maybe the rest of the flyer derby team... But other than that no."
"You don't have any family outside of Belos?"
Hunter hesitated. "Uhm.. n-no." But was Belos really family? His family was here, in the Human Realm. Luz said it herself, you're family now. "My family is here." He told her.
"Yeah. Me too."
~~~
(Y/n) and Hunter sat in the living room, shrouded in darkness as the sun had set long ago. The only light seeping in through the window from the street lamps and moon outside. "(Y/n)?" Hunter asked as he laid his head on her shoulder.
Why they were in the living room at 11pm, a mystery they both didn't know the answer to. Maybe they just missed sleeping next to one another. It was anyone's guess, really.
"Hm?" She hummed in response.
"Did..." Hunter hesitated, trying to take Amity's advise. "Did you mean what you said at the portal?"
(Y/n) felt her blood run cold as her face began to light up. "Um, Why- why do you ask? Haha." She asked with a grating laugh.
"I'm.. just curious. And...
I think I love you too." He said.
"..what?" (Y/n) felt a surge of butterflies fly through her stomach as she looked down at him. The silver moonlight danced on his face as it shone through the tree branches outside. It felt like a dream, but when she felt his head move ever so slightly on her shoulder, she knew it wasn't. She looked down at him, his cheeks were bright red as his magenta eyes looked up at her. "You- you do?"
Hunter hesitantly nodded. Why was his heart beating so damn fast? And why were there so many butterflies in his stomach?
"I- I did mean it. And I still do." She said, not breaking eye contact with him.
His magenta eyes seemed to glow and shine when she spoke. "Really?" He asked with an adoring smile.
"I love you, Hunter." She said again with a smile this time. Hunter felt infinitely more butterflies and smiled back.
He wanted to kiss her so badly, "Can.. can I kiss you?" He asked on a whim.
(Y/n) felt her face burn up as she nodded, yes as Hunter sat up from her shoulder and took her face into his hands.
When their lips met, it was much more pleasant than the last time. (Considering the last time they'd kissed was when their lives were being threatened and they thought they'd be separated)
And when they parted, they looked at each other, both wanting to kiss again. "So... does this mean we're in a romantic relationship?" Hunter asked. "..we're boyfriend and girlfriend.?"
"I guess so." (Y/n) replied with a smile.
They leaned in to kiss again, but heard a voice coming from the kitchen. "Mamá says I have to learn from my mistakes. So, I know what I have to do now.." Said a muffled voice.
"Is.. is that Luz?" (Y/n) asked as Hunter let go of her. She stood up, her legs asleep, and walked into the kitchen.
Luz finished talking and closed her laptop. Tears pricked her eyes as she tried to hold them back.
"Luz?" (Y/n) asked quietly in a low voice, trying not to startle her.
"Cousin (Y/n)?!" Luz shot up and dried her tears.
"Hey, what's wrong?" (Y/n) immediately ran over to her, and put her hand on Luz's back.
"How can you keep it together so well?" She croaked out, her voice hoarse. "I- I can't believe how naïve I was to help him..."
(Y/n) took her into a hug, making her feel safe. "You did nothing wrong, you didn't know. He tricked you."
"I've doomed everyone on the Isles. It's my fault everything happened!" She cried.
"Let it out. It's okay."
Hunter stood ajar from them, watching in the dark from the hallway. He stared at Luz, feeling empathy for her. They were just pawns, weren't they.
"How can you keep it together? You.. you found out you're a grimwalker and-"
"-and found out I was just leverage to make Hunter obey? Yeah. It... was a lot to take in, but Hunter helped me. A lot. It helped that I could talk to him about it all. Why don't you talk to Amity?"
"She'll hate me. She will."
"Are we talking about the same Amity? The one who loves you unconditionally?"
"I'll.. I'll tell her.. eventually."
"Okay, take your time. When you're ready."
"Thank you, Cousin (Y/n)." Luz smiled at her cousin.
(A/n): The confession's not extremely climactic, but does it really have to be? It's the calm before the storm and I figured I'd finally give it to you guys before the long hiatus for ep 2.
Hope you liked it
<3