The last thing he saw speeding towards his face was the open jaws of the monster that is Belos. At that moment, Hunter thought that he was going to die, except that he didn't. When he tried to yell for help at first, he couldn't. Belos' hand covered his mouth. But when he tried again, he managed to yell out.
Oddly enough, Hunter's yell instead broke what sounded like nothing but silence. His body jolted violently out of a bed. He no longer saw the rotting teeth of Belos. Instead, he found himself back in his dark, dimly-lit room back at the Deamonne house. When he realized where he was, he stopped his yelling in an instant.
Hunter woke up with a cold sweat, but weirdly no sweat. His breath was still rapid as when he came face-to-face with a resurrected Belos. Or did he? It felt real. Or so, for Hunter. Maybe it was all just a dream. A really bad, and very real dream. He wasn't in real danger and knowing that, he stabilized his breathing.
He never had a bad dream about Belos ever since his defeat, so why did his mind show him that now? Not to mention, the placement exam that took place mere minutes before he and Gus apparently bought ice cream. 'Was the exam a dream too?' Even if it was, he knew his proposition with Bump wasn't.
Seeing that it's still dark outside, Hunter deduced that the morning hasn't arrived yet, so that would mean he was yet to take the placement exam. He wasn't sure to be disappointed or relieved that he didn't dream what he just dreamt. It would be nice if it wasn't, but then again, he remembered Belos was still alive in it.
"It's just a dream, Hunter. Just a dream." He whispered to himself. He thought it was so foolish of him to dream of Belos' return. It would take the impossible for him to do so. He chuckled nervously before deciding he should return to bed.
A nearby noise of static, being followed by muffled chatter, stopped Hunter from going back to sleep. He almost couldn't hear it. When he maintained his silence, he could hear it better. It sounded like it's coming from downstairs.
'That's odd.' Hunter didn't remember turning on the TV last night. 'Is someone in the house?' He could only assume that Darius Deamonne returned from his business trip with Alador Blight, but Darius himself said that he wouldn't be home for another three weeks, so Hunter had the whole house to himself ever since Darius took him under his wing.
He could be home, which is why Hunter got out of bed to check whatever's going on downstairs. Maybe someone broke into the house. If that's the case, Hunter didn't see it to be a big deal. He sneaked out of his room silently and descended the stairs carefully. Before he walked to the living room, he peeked his head out of a corner. To his surprise, the room was empty.
Dimly illuminated by the light of a turned-on orb that showed a late-night news broadcast, no one was in the living room. Not what Hunter was expecting.
"--the terrifying creature."
Those were the words that Hunter's ears caught while he scanned the room for anything conspicuous. He turned to the news broadcast, seeing a horned demon news reporter on screen.
"Bystanders have reported seeing this unnatural being appearing from under a sewer drain and attacking several civilians," Then the broadcast showed handheld footage of the said creature. Hunter intended to look at it for less than a minute, but what they said next... absolutely shook him.
"Reports suggest that the creature's head vaguely resembles the mask of a former emperor... whose name I'm too lazy to mention."
'That footage.' To his horror and disbelief, Hunter saw himself in the shown footage, fleeing while hugging Gus in a protective manner. He was in complete denial over what he was witnessing, his mouth slowly agape.
"No," Hunter's breath began to go how it was when he woke up. "It can't be. It can't." His jaw startled to rattle.
"Apparently, it can."
Hunter's paranoia was broken by a surge of shock right after he heard the mysterious feminine voice sound behind him. Yet, when he turned, he saw nothing but the darkest corner of the room. From what he remembered, a comfortable chair was there the last time. Maybe it still is, he just couldn't see it because of how dark it was.
His suspicion turned out to be true when he noticed a lamp being turned on, lighting up the corner, and it revealed a figure that Hunter was not at all expecting. The short orangish-red hair, the mint green eyes behind her round glasses. That figure was Lilith Clawthorne, which gave Hunter a more disbelieving look. 'So someone did turn on the orb.'
"Miss Lilith?"
"Hello... Hunter." Lilith greeted with a slight smile. "It's been quite a while."
"What the," He stuttered. "What are you doing here? What time is it?"
"Eight," Lilith replied.
"Okay?" Hunter raised a brow at her. "That doesn't explain why you're creepily sitting in the corner, here, at this time of night." He said, approaching her. "Why are you here?"
Lilith's eyes departed from studying Hunter's, now looking at the orb. She gestured her head towards it, "That."
Hunter looked back at the news broadcast, seeing another footage of Belos' attack, this time from another angle. It showed Belos still chasing after Gus and Hunter. The two were obscured from the footage, however.
"What even happened?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Lilith reply.
Hunter turned to her again, "'We?'"
"You must be very confused right about now," Lilith said.
"Obviously," Hunter said. "And what do you mean, 'we?'"
"I can explain a few things," Lilith then stood up from the corner chair. "That is if you come with me." She continued, going straight for the door.
"Where?" Hunter asked.
"Out," Lilith summoned her palisman, her staff appearing in her hand.
"Wait," His plea stopped Lilith. "What day is it?"
"Sunday?"
So, Hunter figured that the current day was the same day he passed the placement exam, and the same day he and Gus were attacked by what he remembered to be a resurrected Belos. But if that's the case, tomorrow should be a Monday. He recollected Bump saying that he'll 'start tomorrow,' which would mean that tomorrow will be his first day.
"I can't go now!"
"Why not?" Lilith asked.
"It's a... school night," Hunter smirked nervously.
He noticed Lilith's rapid blink that expressed her confusion, "It's a what?"
'Right. She doesn't know.' Hunter thought. "I enrolled into Hexside."
"Since when?" Lilith asked.
"Earlier today! I passed the placement exam!"
Lilith would understand since Hexside was her primary education until she joined the Emperor's Coven. "Oh," Although slightly dumbstruck, Lilith wasn't at all fazed. She still had her priorities, and she had to focus on it. "Doesn't matter."
"What do you mean?" Hunter raised a brow.
"Let's go."
"Right now?"
"It won't be long, it's just talk!" Lilith assured. "Get dressed and get out. Actually, nevermind, you already are."
Hunter looked at himself, and she was right. Instead of his sleepwear, Hunter was wearing the same light-brown shirt that he supposedly wore during his exam. 'Okay, what exactly happened today?'
-
The cold night breeze managed to send chills down Hunter's body as he maintained his balance on his staff, a few hundred feet off the ground. Flying in the air, he followed Lilith, who was on her palisman staff and leading Hunter out of Bonesborough. Guiding him to the armpit of the Titan, they flew into a port town territory of Latissa.
"Where are we going?" Hunter said, almost yelling because of the loud wind that muffled his voice.
Lilith heard him and pointed to a particular spot in the town, "Settle down there!" She then drifted off, beginning her descent, with Hunter following her.
She guided him down to a building. It was the same building that Lilith used to band together Covens Against the Throne, but Hunter was yet to learn about that. He has heard of it, he just never knew he was arriving at the same building the former resistance made as their headquarters.
The two landed on the massive balcony, each of their staff turning into their palisman form that followed their own masters.
"What even is this place?" Hunter asked.
Lilith planted her palms on the two doors before them, "Our old clubhouse." Then she opened them, revealing the rather wide square interior. The square room had a same-shaped table in the middle to go along with the theme. Hunter eyed a barrel full of swords and other sharp weaponry, which almost distracted him from the fact that there were other people in the room.
"Welcome," Lilith gestured outwards to the entire room, "To the CATs' headquarters." She announced so confidently. "Well, used to be."
Hunter noticed one of the two people in the room, making his eyes light up excitedly. "Is that...?"
That familiar someone being Steve, still sporting his recognizable leather jacket and yellow t-shirt that had his name on it. With his hands in his pockets, Steve greeted Hunter by nodding. "Hey, boss."
Hunter rolled his eyes playfully at that nickname, "Okay. I'm no longer that. You can just call me Hunter. It feels weird now." To that, Steve chuckled.
"I'll do my best not to," Steve added.
Another familiar face from the fallen Emperor's Coven emerged from the dark part of the room. A lanky, tall brown figure that is a female demon who goes by the name of...
"Severine?" Hunter said in perplexity as if he wasn't perplexed enough.
Severine had her arms crossed as she walked forward to him, "Hey, Hunter."
"I haven't seen a glimpse of you since the-"
"The incident at Hexside. I remember. Been quite a while, huh?"
"What happened to going back to the Tiny Cat Coven?" Hunter asked. "Subverted expectations?"
"I would, if covens were still a thing to this day." Severine said. "Miss Clawthorne called me after an apparent few of attempts of calling... other associates."
Lilith cuts in, "Yes, yes. So these two, are the only ones available at the time being."
"Once I found out that Emperor Doofus is back, I had to step in. After all, I'm free for the next few weeks, why not try and save the world?" Severine smirked.
Hunter nodded happily, "Glad to see you again." He made one last turnaround of the room, which included another view of Lilith, Steve, and Severine. Although blinded by nostalgia, he didn't forget the reason why he was here, which is also something that he has no knowledge of.
"Um, remind me why are we here again?" Hunter said.
"Excellent question," Another voice, wasn't from either four of them, uttered. As for the source of it, it was within another shadowy part of the room. "Golden Guard..."
The thin male figure, dressed in a brown coat and wearing a red pair of fingerless leather gloves, eventually walked his way out of the shadows. The man held what looked to be a half-empty green jug of apple blood. If Hunter wasn't already staggered by the coven reunion, the appearance of this one figure took the cake.
"Oh, and speaking of the Hexside incident..." Severine rolled his eyes.
Hunter's expression shifted into a temperamental frown when he discovered the fifth and final figure to be the most unexpected of all...
"You remember Adrian-"
"Graye," Hunter's eyes narrowed, lightly backing away from Adrian. "Explain to me why this jerk is here."
Adrian chuckled, "Wow. So, it's that hard you've hit your head." He said, ridiculing.
"I've what now?"
"Wait, you actually don't remember what happened today?"
"What happened today?" Hunter asked.
-
"Impossible."
Those were the last words Hunter whispered before Belos made another angry growl. Belos' mouth opened wide before he thrusted his head towards his prey. That is until a mysterious force interfered that prevented Hunter's head from being bitten off.
A light blue beam hit Belos on the side of his face, the shooter being a sudden appearance of Adrian Graye that startled Hunter and Gus. Adrian was standing on the pavement, shooting an energy beam to at least damage Belos. Feeling the burning sensation, Belos roared in pain, dropping Hunter and Gus.
While the two recomposed, they witnessed Adrian burning Belos's face on the side.
"You!" Gus shouted at Adrian while gritting his teeth.
"You're welcome, you little weasel!" Adrian replied. "Now scurry, let the professionals do their wor-" His insult was cut off by Belos picking Adrian up by his ankle.
While pondering why Adrian was helping them, Hunter and Gus saw the opportunity to flee, and they doubted nothing to take it. "Waffles, come on!" Hunter shouted at his palisman, who flapped her wings beside him, escaping along.
Meanwhile, Belos threw Adrian away into a food stand, breaking it in half and stunning him. With his attacker taken down, Belos reverts his focus to the two.
Hunter and Gus ran through a street covered in terror. Nothing but hysteria filled the air, all thanks to a reanimated Belos, back from the dead and appearing at the worst time. Belos chased after the two boys on all fours, like an animal. Belos' sludgy form made a trail of dark green goo as he ran after them.
"How is he alive?!" Gus screamed.
"How should I know?!" Hunter replied.
A giant shockwave resulted from Belos' landing after a high jump knocked Hunter and Gus off their feet. Belos' left hand molded into a giant blade. When he went to thrust the blade towards them, Hunter already picked himself up. With his lightning-fast reflexes, Waffles turned into a staff, which Hunter used to create a force field to protect himself and Gus.
The shield prevented Belos' hand blade from striking them. When Belos lost his momentum, Hunter dissipated the force field and warped to a certain height that overwhelmed Belos' before, summoning an energy blade attached to his staff, striking Belos on the arm using it, cutting off his sword-shaped arm.
Belos roared. Hunter thought disarming him once wouldn't be enough. He thought now was the time to 'disleg' him next. Warping under Belos and sliding across the street, he swung his staff to dismember Belos's legs. Succeeding on that, Hunter briefly stopped while Belos was disarmed.
"This can't be happening. This can't be-" Hunter kept on stammering in pure disbelief before he interrupted himself with a frustrated yell.
He teleported above Belos, in an effort to go for the head. It didn't go as easy as he thought as Belos' head turned inside out, his face appearing on the back of his head, and his right hand reversing to catch Hunter's staff. Then, Belos threw Hunter away in a random direction. Unlucky for Hunter, he was thrown into a metal sign of a tavern before falling flat on his face.
Belos reverted his body back to normal. When he did, he spotted a knocked-over Gus. His severed limbs started to mold back together like sentient clay while he crawled towards Gus, who backed away in dread.
"S-Stay back!" Gus pleaded.
Belos' reforged left arm turned back into a normal-shaped arm. His fingers extended and grew sharper as he crawled towards Gus. When he is close, Belos lets out a powerful growl while raising his arm, ready to attack Gus with his claws.
Just before he could do any harm, someone else interfered. Adrian. He appeared above Belos, his fist gripped tightly as a faint light-blue aura covered it, shaping it to be a sword. Landing on the sludge monster's back, he stabbed the sword into Belos' throat, causing him to stop any motion. Adrian finished it by lifting the sword to Belos' head, slicing it into two halves.
The glowing blue eyes across Belos' now-lifeless body suddenly shut off, and his goo-like body turned limp. On the floor, he slowly yet visibly melted.
Adrian was already out of breath, so he stood still on Belos' back while being eyed by several people, including Gus, who was still intolerable to see Adrian that day out of all times.
"You owe me one now, Augustus." Adrian smirked arrogantly. Gus replied to his comment by smacking his lips and rolling his eyes.
Meanwhile, Hunter was still winded on the floor, but slowly and steadily he rose back. He looked through the white smoke that obscured the scene, though his ears heard crowd murmurs and chattering, commenting on the event. After all of that, he still couldn't process what actually happened right in front of his eyes.
"Hunter!" Gus called out from afar, still lying on the floor catching his breath. "Are you okay?!"
The circular metal sign that Hunter hit, that was right above him, began to break. The screws and its skeletal structure loosened after he came into contact with it, harshly. Hunter didn't at all notice this.
"Yeah," Hunter said as the metal sign detached from its place. "I'm oka-"
Hunter might have fast reflexes, but not ones that are capable of sensing danger as the metal sign completely detaches, falling on his head and immediately knocking him out cold, not to mention the hard surface of the pavement that his face landed flat on right after.
-
Realizing that everything he witnessed was real, Hunter's eyes turned blank as he recalled the rest of the incident. His confusion turned into embarrassment all the while Adrian laughed at him.
"You have got to be kidding me," Adrian's wheeze was unstopped. "Out of all things that could best you, it's a metal sign."
Hunter scowled peevishly at Adrian's ridicule.
"Graye, can we please focus on the matter at hand?" Lilith rubbed her nose bridge.
Adrian stopped chuckling, taking a chug on the apple blood jug. He wiped the residing liquid on his lips, "Right, right. More important matters remain."
Hunter raised a brow, "Matters? You're saying there's more to this?"
"It's more surprising than you may expect," Adrian replied.
"Wait, wait. But you... killed him? I saw it, with my own eyes. Before that sign defeated me." Hunter said.
"If only it would be that easy," Adrian said. "I didn't think he would manifest right there, in the middle of town."
"What were you doing there?" Hunter said. 'And what does he mean, he didn't think so?'
"Merely a morning stroll through town, out to buy this," Adrian raised his apple blood jug. "Suddenly, I heard commotion unfold. And then that's when I saw you. And Augustus." He explained. He set down his drink, with a quarter remaining in the jug.
"I still don't know why you've decided to come to our rescue," Hunter said.
"Believe me, kid, as much as I despise both of you, I despise Belos more," Adrian remarked, his cornflower eyes bitterly glaring at Hunter's brown pair.
Lilith stepped forward, "Would you like a little background from Mister Graye being in the team?"
Hunter nodded, "Please do."
Hearing that, Lilith nodded to Adrian, who rolled his eyes. He then created a spell circle before opening his fingers outwards, summoning a mix made of bright blue light and smoke that flooded the room.
"Belos was never destroyed. Both from the result of your human friend," Adrian glanced at Hunter. "And the Collector's."
"The Collector?" Hunter asked for the latter's significance.
"He obliterated Belos with zero effort, right?" Lilith asked.
"With the flick of a finger. Literally." Hunter replied.
Adrian's illusion display showed the Collector vanquishing Belos without even trying, throwing him into a wall and turning him into a formless sludge, which Adrian couldn't take his eyes off of. "Yes. Well, not even that could stop him from coming back."
Hunter's eyebrows narrowed, an intertwining mix of questioning, suspicion, and chariness on his face.
"Although his body was destroyed, bits and pieces of the emperor survived. I witnessed it firsthand when I searched the tomb that used to be the Emperor's Castle." Adrian started to circle the table. "It wasn't long after the isles were officially safe. There I was, walking through the ruins, high hopes of finding the throne that once belonged to the emperor."
"Huh. Definitely sounds like something you'd do." Hunter remarked, which Adrian tried to ignore.
"Then I saw him. Just a sliver of his goop self. I didn't know what it was at the time, but it tried to attach to me. So, I simply... blasted it, and carried on."
"You just disintegrated it? That's it?" Steve asked.
"Yes," Adrian said. "And then five months later, when I least expected it," He said with a tone sounding displeased. "He came back, and even tried to kill you as his first move." Adrian gestured to Hunter.
"What are you saying? There's more of him out there?" Hunter said.
"I believe so." Adrian said.
Lilith cleared her throat, "Yes. So, Mister Graye's claim of encountering a reincarnated Belos is the reason why he is in our little group. I tried contacting a few of our remaining allies but... all of you are the only ones available." She explained.
A heavy exhale left Hunter. If Belos coming back wasn't already a dire situation, multiple versions of him are obviously ten times worse. Adrian's illusion changed again, showing what appeared to be several pieces of Belos' disintegrated corpse, all of them growing into a more recognizable shape of the emperor, in his monster form.
"If these... small pieces of him can grow bigger, we can expect there will be more attacks stemming from it." Adrian said.
Steve, with his arms crossed, spoke up. "Are we able to track his attacks? Maybe a pattern will appear from it?"
"I'm not sure. But, if I do notice it, I will inform you all."
Hunter made a disconcerted grouch, a bit hesitant of Adrian's determined behavior. Probably it's because he seldomly heard the former Illusionist Coven head so serious of his tasks before.
"Good." Lilith approved.
"And what do I, Steve, and Severine have to do with any of this?" Hunter asked.
Lilith turned to him with a testy look, "It isn't clear enough for you?"
Adrian chuckled again, "Typical. So gullible as usual." He insulted, which peeved Hunter off.
"Do you want a punch in the face?" Hunter said in a threatening manner that didn't faze Adrian at all, it seems.
"Enough," Lilith spoke. "We have bigger problems on our hands and this is what you both are going at?"
Hunter turned to Lilith, "You're saying that as if I'm a part of this."
"You are." Lilith said sternly.
"Wait, what?"
"We have a new mission, and you're coming with us." Lilith said convincingly, walking past a distraught Hunter. He was genuinely delirious over what she said about him being a part of the strike team.
"Wait, wait, wait. I can't do that!"
"Why?" Lilith asked.
Hunter groaned, "May I remind you that I've enrolled into Hexside,"
"You got accepted at Hexside?" Adrian interrupts.
"Yeah?" Hunter questioned his doubtful tone.
Adrian scoffed, "Can't say I'm surprised." With how much Hunter and the school have connected since their folly against him, he couldn't express that he was.
"And what does that supposed to mean?" Lilith asked about Hunter's enrollment.
"Listen, I'm shook about Belos' reincarnation as much as you guys are, and I would be a part of it just because of how much I resent him, but if the school finds out I'm out at night fighting these things... I'll get into deep trouble," Hunter explained. "Bump and I, we made a proposition that I won't cause any trouble that'll draw attention. And don't forget, the school knows that I used to be the Golden Guard."
"He's right," Adrian spoke up. "We don't need him. We have everything we require right here. Competent people."
Hunter's eyes rolled at that, "Way to discourage me off the team, Graye."
"Hunter," Lilith's hand landed on Hunter's shoulder. "Think of the greater good here. Please, you're the last person that I have on my list of friends."
"No, no, no. There's no way," Hunter backed away. "There's has to be other people you can get. What about um, Raine? Where have they been?"
"Busy reworking the isles' infrastructure," Steve spoke up, raising a hand.
"Okay, um... Eda? Eda's available, right? I saw her yesterday."
"Eda? Eda's been collaborating with the Boiling Isles' new education ministry. Said they're planning to open a school specializing in wild magic. So... she's very, very busy, from what I can tell."
Hunter makes a deep sigh, looking back and forth between Steve, Severine, and Adrian. "Look, Miss Lilith, If I wanted to be a part of this misfit group, I would. But I'm done fighting. I'm done with that life. I promised... to give up that life. And this is my chance to find a normal one. So, from here on out, consider my butt retired."
He started to walk to the balcony door, and no single one of them tried to stop him as they felt a sliver of sympathy for him. Hunter summoned his staff as he walked out, "Now if you'll excuse me... it's a school night. Best of luck to you all."
Hunter cut his goodbye short and launched into the air, a bit of the shockwave of his departure entering the room and blowing everyone's hair backwards. They fell silent pondering over his strong decision to leave and not be a part of it. Even though they were a little shaken by his harsh reaction, they still respected his choice.
Lilith turned to Adrian, who had an unsure look on his face. "Give him a break. He's been through too much." She leaned against the table, placing her palms on it.
"I can tell," Adrian smacked his lips. "I was one of them." His joke made Lilith's stern face return.
"Can we focus now?
Later that night, Hunter flew his way back to the Deamonne house alone. He crawled through the window into his room upstairs, like a teenager silently returning home after sneaking out at night. Hunter had to admit, that's probably what could happen in the future since he's enrolled to school and all.
Crawling inside, Hunter loses his balance, slipping in too fast and falling face-first on the floor. Waffles chirped in worry at his misery, but Hunter sighed, telling her that he's still alive, to Waffle's satisfaction. Hunter turned over his body, his face now looking up to the ceiling, lost in a mind full of conundrums. 'Belos is back.' His own voice then echoed in his head and kept on repeating itself. Hunter's paranoia grew critically. He only wished everything that happened earlier that day was only a long nightmare that he had yet to wake up from. How was it even possible that Belos returned? And why now, out of all times?
A small part of him wished he didn't enroll into Hexside and join Lilith in securing the Boiling Isles of any more potential threats, but another told him that this was his inevitable path, to live a normal life rather than a life of a fighter. He's been through it once before, and it resulted in the death of a dear palisman...
That was exactly the reason why he chose to abandon that life. If he were to accept Lilith's recruitment, who knows what resides in his path that could be threatened? He had a lot on the line, and he couldn't abandon that just because of his hatred and will to annihilate Belos once and for all. After all, there are already people who are up for the job.
Finished pondering around while lying down, Hunter picked himself up. On his nightstand was placed a framed photo of him, Gus, Viney, and Skara taking a selfie together, with Willow being at the very front taking the picture. All of them had matching green face paints, branding them as the Hexside Flyer Derby team, the Emerald Entrails.
Hunter smiled at the framed picture. Gazing at it, he was more than eager to continue his life as a normal student at Hexside.
-
That morning, Hunter was thrilled to finally join Hexside as an official student. He was well dressed in his very own iconic Hexside uniform, but the sleeves of it, which usually implies the track a student takes, were still colored light grey. He didn't choose a track to study in yet, but he knew he'd be a multitrack student just like Luz, in order to study everything Hexside has to offer.
He arrived at the front of the entrance, noticing two of his friends there. He saw them first before Willow and Gus spotted the latter. Their faces glimmered as they realized Hunter arrived on time.
"Hunter!" Willow and Gus called out collectively, rushing to him with the intent to crush him with a double hug.
Hunter smiled widely as he opened his arms outwards in a welcoming way. He anticipated what the two were going for, so he caught them both in his arms once they reached him. The three of them crushed each other with hugs as if they hadn't seen each other in centuries.
"Welcome to Hexside, buddy!" Gus said as Hunter let him and Willow go. "Are you okay? You hit your head pretty badly yesterday," He said. "You couldn't wake up so Miss Lilith came by the scene and took you home."
That explains why she was in the house that night, Hunter's lips smacked at that.
"What was that yesterday?" Willow spoke up. "It's all over the news."
Hunter didn't think that Willow would bring it up the second he set foot on Hexside grounds, so he had to erase that topic somehow. "We'll talk about that later, okay? Right now, I just wanna..."
"Okay. Sorry," Gus rubbed the back of his head. "Good to see you okay, Hunter."
"You too," His gaze shifted to Willow and the moment he did, his smile softened. "And... it's good to see you again, captain."
Willow was almost flustered at what he called her, but she kept herself together. She literally is his captain. In Flyer Derby terms, of course.
"You too, Hunter." Willow held her other arm tight, averting her eyes from him.
After a brief moment of silence, Gus breaks the moment. "So... shall we?"
"Heck yes, we shall!" Hunter thrusted in excitement.
The three of them walked through the doors of Hexside together. Sparks emerged in Hunter's eyes as he feasted his eyes upon the first hallway he walked into. Dozens of students were already in view, giving away just how crowded the school was already. Hunter was pretty sure he saw a couple of students playing catch on their palismen, flying through the halls.
Impressed, Hunter lets out a laugh. "It's kind of refreshing to see Hexside this lively again."
"Again?" Willow asked while the three of them walked through the hall together. She and Gus escorted Hunter to the principal's office for him to choose his track, or in this case, tracks. "Were you secretly a student here once before?"
"No, but I sneaked in here once, remember?"
"Twice, actually," Gus corrected. "Remember the day Adrian Graye came here?"
Hunter almost lost his smile after the mention of Adrian. He was the only one who knew that he saw Adrian face-to-face last night. "Yeah... I remember."
"Ugh, that jerk," Willow muttered.
Hunter didn't expect that kind of reaction from Willow, but he kept quiet about it. "Anyways, I was just saying, it's nice to see Hexside being... well, Hexside."
"It sure is," Gus said. "And it's been heavily renovated after the Collector's invasion that almost destroyed it!" He gestured at a hallway to the right that's been reworked, shown by the amount of scaffoldings placed there. "Now, it's back to being your fun youthful adventure that is the School of Magic and Demonics! Where knowledge is literal power!" He rambled, quoting the acceptance pamphlet's words on the front cover.
Hunter laughed at Gus' enthusiasm. He was excited to be here as much as his friend was for him to be. He realized where they currently are. "Oh, we're here." The three make it to the principal's office. Hunter stepped forward to the door. "Won't be long." He said before entering, leaving Willow and Gus to wait, leaning against the walls beside the door.
"So, which track do you bet he's going to take?" Willow asked.
"At this point, it could be anything," Gus said. Willow initially haven't had a thought, but after he said 'anything,' she instantly knew. "But my wild guess? Potions."
"Wonder what made you say that." Willow knew exactly why Gus thought that. The day she and Gus met the undercover Hunter, they noticed the colors of his fake uniform which was yellow.
"So, you have any ideas?" Gus asked for her opinion.
"I would say multitrack."
Not long after she gave an answer, the principal's office door swung open again. Hunter was revealed, walking out of the office. His uniform which sleeves were colored light grey, turned into a multicolored one. His left arm was purple, and the right one colored green. His left leg was filled with red and the other was blue colored.
Willow smirked at Gus, "You owe me five snails, Augustus."
"You didn't say anything about an actual bet!" Gus retorted.
"What were you guys talking about?" Hunter asked.
Before he could be answered, the bell screamed loudly, signaling the first period to start, which ordered all of the students to rush to their track classes immediately.
"We'll talk about it over lunch," Willow said. "So, what class are you taking first?"
"Well, since I chose to be a multitrack student, why not try the Plant track for a start?" Hunter asked teasingly.
Willow's eyes slightly expanded in surprise. She nervously smirked, "What made you choose that one?"
"Last one to reach class pays for not dogs later!" Hunter said quickly before he warped forward while running, boosting his speed in sprinting through the hallway to the Plant class.
"Hey!" Willow shouted playfully, giggling as she summoned her bee palisman, Clover, who turned into her staff form for Willow to hop on.
Hunter was the fast one as he teleported from wall to wall, rushing quickly to class before he got branded as the one who buys the not dogs. He playfully raced against Willow to class. He looked back to see a view without Willow, meaning that she's far behind. Chuckling presumptuously, he didn't pay attention to what was he running into.
He crashed into another student, causing them to drop all of their books and notes. Hunter hit his head again, but he recovered quickly and realized what he had done, and that was crashing into another multitrack student.
"Oh, Titan!" Hunter exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!" He crawled to the female witch student. "Here, I'll help." He started picking up the scattered papers as the unidentified student, whose face was turned from Hunter, got up. "Are you okay?"
The green-haired student finally spoke up, "Yeah. I'm fine." She turned her head. Emira Blight, the student whom Hunter accidentally struck, had her golden eyes widen when she came into a gaze with him.
Hunter wasn't sure why the reaction, but his eyes correspondingly embiggen on hers. His head twitched a little. "Is everything alright?"
Emira blinked out of her trance, "Um, yeah. I'm alright."
"O-Okay. Uh," Hunter stuttered, Emira's books in his hands which he handed to her. "Here."
"Thanks." Emira smiled briefly before it faded, taking her books back.
Hunter shared the same caring smile at her before waltzing past Emira was Willow, "Keep up, slowpoke!" She said.
Hunter eyed Willow with a worried face, fearing his defeat. So, he turned to Emira to part with her, despite his strong feeling to stay, he wasn't sure why but he just wanted to.
"I'll... see you around." Hunter said nervously before he picked himself up and continued to warp through the hallway.
Emira couldn't help but stare at the obviously anxious Hunter as she got up on her feet. While she did, she fixed her ruffled hair. There was something about Hunter that made her have butterflies in her stomach. That feeling made her smile tenderly that sadly Hunter didn't notice. She understood that he was in a rush. To be fair, so was she, but she knew she was going to see him again.
"See ya." Emira whispered before she returned to her tracks, on her way to the Healing class.
Later, Willow stood proudly by the door of the Plant class before eventually Hunter joined her, the blonde boy exasperated by how much he ran. Almost made him wonder why he didn't just use his palisman.
"Took you long enough," Willow remarked playfully. "What was that about not dogs?"
Hunter was holding himself by the knees, breathing heavily. "Fine," He rolled his eyes. "My treat, later." He said, unhesitantly accepting his defeat.
"Thank you for your generosity." Willow sarcastically said before walking into class, Hunter following behind her.
Like the rest of the class, the two of them took a seat next to each other, their tables joined together. Hunter set down his belt bag next to his chair, while Willow put her messenger bag next to his. Their actions made their arms accidentally touch. They flinched collectively, which they noticed and blushed at together.
They faced away from one another, preventing the other from seeing their face redden. Although they were obviously embarrassed by it, they didn't care to show a little bit of their affection for each other. Their hands were still close next to each other. Both of them thought of the same thing, that is to take each other's pinky fingers with their own. So, they did, and they held them tight.