GOLDRIC

Chapter 2

Hunter walked with a pep in his step, which felt unusual but really uplifting. Before now, there was nothing to look forward to, only his next assignment for the Emperor.
But this? The mere idea of being a student made him giddy.

"Hi, Hooty!" He waved from nearly a hundred feet away from the house.
Hooty stretched out of the door and tucked himself under Hunter's arm.

"Hey, pal, hoot! You look like you had a great adventure."

Hunter grinned at the demon. "I sure did. I'm going to tell Eda that I want to be a student at Hexside!"

Hooty wrapped himself around the boy. "Woah, HOOT! Stop right there! You do know you're kind of a CRIMINAL, hoot? Principal Bump would never let you in."

Hunter tried to wriggle free of the owl's grasp. "HOOTY! I am not a criminal! I was doing my job, and I don't even like Belos! Come on, I should at least try!"

Hooty finally dropped Hunter and he brushed off his shirt. "Plus, I don't even have to tell anybody I was the Golden Guard. I can just be Hunter."

He didn't want to be connected to that identity anymore, anyway.

Hooty slid back into his door spot and let Hunter in, where he immediately started searching for the owl lady. He speedwalked down the halls, peeked around every corner, and finally found her in a closet, digging around.

"Hi, Eda! I'm back!"

Eda jumped nearly two feet in the air.
"FUCK! Hunter, kid, you scared me. Give an old lady a few extra feet of space."

Hunter sank in place. "Sorry..."
Eda cupped his shoulder. "It's fine! No worries. Did ya make it to Hexside alright?"

Hunter nodded, straightening back up. "Yeah, it was great actually. I wanted to talk to you."

He hesitated as they walked back to the living room. Hunter was expecting a long speech on how being a Hexside student would be unsafe, or a bad idea, or anything.
He thought that maybe it WAS a bad idea. He would be exposed to the world, no longer hiding in the walls of the Owl House or behind a mask. It was a little bit terrifying, he had to admit.

But it couldn't be more terrifying than the things he experienced under the command of the Emperor.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about--"

"You saw the school, loved it, and wanna get out of this house and learn some shit." Eda interrupted. "I think it's a great idea. Let's get that Emperor crap out of your head and get you on a track you actually like. Life's too short, kid, you need some real info up there." She tapped lovingly on the top of his head, indicating his brain.

"I-- what?" He stammered. Hunter was speechless. He thought that Eda would put up a fight, kind of like how she did with Luz. She had told him the ups and downs of her Hexside experience, starting with how hard it was to actually get in.

Eda smiled softly. "Hunter, I think you deserve way more than what this life has given you so far. And if school's what you want, we can go to Principal Bump when we pick up Luz today."

Hunter was overcome with joy. He subconsciously flung his arms around Eda in a hug.
"Thank you." he said, and then started to cry a little. He didn't feel like crying a lot, but just enough to feel a little more deflated.

Eda didn't stop him. She just held him close and let him be. She got it. She didn't understand, but she knew what a pained soul looked like, and his eyes told a thousand stories that she knew he never deserved to experience.

Eda had grown quite fond of Hunter, and quickly found that she saw him as her own child, just like Luz. Something about these two made her feel whole.

She looked at the boy. "I believe we had some plans today? You need some new clothes."
Hunter nodded, wiping away a tear and smiling widely. "Yeah. I kind of want more colored shirts." He looked down at the fading grey shirt.