Mentally and Physically Tearing Him Apart

Chapter 3

Hunter awoke with a gasp as he quickly sat up, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. He put a hand up to his scarred cheek and sighed a breath of relief.

"Just a dream.' He said to himself. Except that it wasn't just a dream. Those events that he dreamed of were real, and they happened two years ago. Hunter failed a mission, and he had a scar as a result. And now he has failed again.

Suddenly a realization occurred to him, he wasn't outside. He frantically looked around and found himself inside the Owl House! Wrapped in a blanket on their couch in their living room! Hunter looked down at himself, he had bandages wrapped around his arms and torso, and he could feel smaller band-aid's on his face. His cape was now also gone. Hunter tried to push himself off the couch in panic, resulting in him tripping and falling on the floor and hitting his head on the table. He shouldn't be here, he couldn't be here! Hunter heard footsteps coming closer to him as he struggled to get back onto his feet.

"Woah- Woah! Calm down, man!" He heard a somewhat high voice say. Oh god no, He turned his head to face the person standing over him.

The human.

Luz grabbed his arms gently, trying to help him back up but Hunter pushed her away.

"Get away from me!" He yelled, pushing himself farther away from her and towards the door. Hunter felt completely vulnerable, not having his mask on, not having his artificial staff nor his palismen who didn't seem to be here, and being so incredibly weak. He didn't think Belos's staff had affected him so great up until now.

"What's all the ruckus about?" Hunter heard another voice of an old woman who was coming down the stairs.

"Yeah what's going on?" Said a smaller, squeaker voice.

The Owl Lady and her dog.

"Your bird- tube kidnapped me!" He shouted at Eda as he finally managed to get on his feet leaning against the door. Eda couldn't help but chuckle at his outburst,

"Kidnapped you? Kid if anything you should be thanking him because he saved you. If he didn't get you inside any quicker you would've been burned by the boiling rains."

Hunter hated to admit it, but she was right. If he hadn't gotten to shelter any earlier he would be in way more pain than he was now. But the question that stirred in Hunter's mind was why did they let him stay the night? Why didn't they just convince the bird worm to let him go and let him suffer out in the forest? Hell, why would they even bandage his injuries while he was unconscious?! He was the enemy of them, so why did they help him?

Hunter noticed Eda and Luz exchange a glance and nod at each other. Eda left the room and went into the kitchen as Luz made a step closer to him,

"So... what happened to you that got you so outta shape?" Luz asked while tilting her head a bit and clasped her hands together behind her.

"It's...It's none of your business."

Luz shrugged and nodded, "Hey, you should sit back down. And you must be pretty hungry, Eda's going to go make breakfast, in the meantime maybe we could-"

"I don't want your poisoned owl food!" Hunter shouted, cutting Luz off.

"Eda doesn't make poisoned food! You should try her amazing fried bat eggs" King added, nodding his head.

Hunter rolled his eyes, infuriated. "Look Human and dog, I'm not staying here long enough to try the Owl Lady's food because I'm now leaving. Now tell me where my cape and staff are!"

Luz sighed and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it again thinking better of it. "Hunter tries and is more reasonable, you're hurt and still in no condition to leave on your own."