Breaking Free

United We are Together

Hunter stared at the girl in disbelief. His eyes widened a bit as they darted over to the wooden cardinal.

"I told you to leave," he spoke in a voice filled to the brim with shock.

"Well, Flapjack here didn't want you to be alone."

Hunter watched as the girl went up to him and placed her hands on top of his own, turning them till his hands were the ones on top. He couldn't help noticing the specks of dirt he felt from their hands touching. The feeling wasn't alarming; however, it was just different.

"Do you want to talk now, or do you want to come over to my house and do so?" She asked quietly.

"You- You shouldn't have come," he started to pull his hands back, "It's not safe for you to be here."

"Then we better get to my house now, shouldn't we? Besides, my dads are on a business trip for a while, so they won't even know you're there." She winked.

The girl grabbed Hunter's hand and began to guide the two of them through the woods. The world around them was still dark as night, and the stars shone above them like the light produced by the powers of wild magic. The wind whispering through both teens' ears as the palismen flew above their heads.

Though it was still night, Hunter could see everything about the girl. How her glasses and eyes glistened with the moonlight embedded it's way into them. The way the wind blew her braids to the side. The pieces of hair that didn't stay in please instead flopped around her face, and she didn't seem to have a care in the world about it.

By the time they arrived at her house Hunter snapped back into reality. And upon entering, the atmosphere around him changed for the better.

Instead of the darkness and moonlight surrounding them, golden light bathed them both once the girl turned them on. A worn down couch and stained coffee table sat in the middle of the room. A chest was pushed into a corner of the room, while an open entrance, presumably a hallway, was on the other side of the room. Potted and hanging plants encircled the area, and magic pictures and portraits hung onto the cream colored walls. If Hunter had to describe the room in one word, it would've been 'cozy'.

The girl closed the door behind her before leading Hunter over to the couch. Once doing so, she grabbed a blanket from the chest and laid it across them both. They stayed in silence as their palismen embedded themselves into their owners' shoulders.

"Are you ready now?" She asked him. Her green eyes gazing into his own as she pressed her glasses up against her nose.

"Listen, Captain-"

"Willow," she interrupted him. "My name is Willow, remember? You don't have to call me 'Caption' or anything like that."

Hunter was taken aback by the sudden interruption. He'd nearly forgotten he was older than her, and that they weren't playing Flyer Derby, or any of that. It was just the two of them. And the palismen of course.

"Sorry, Capt- I mean, Willow."

Hunter saw the gir- Willow smile once more; a smile as gentle and soft as a feather. His gaze lingered on her eyes before continuing.

"I- Everything is messed up because of me. Everything got worse because I tried to make Unc- Belos proud of me."

He saw how Willow's face changed when he changed the word 'Uncle' to 'Belos'. She petted her palisman's head. "If this has to do with Belos, then we should probably tell Luz-"

"NO!"

Willow flinched slightly at the yell. Hunter looked down in shame by his own words. The tone was the same as the one he would receive for screwing up a mission assigned to him. It would always cause him to flinch, like how Willow had done the same.