Two Halves Make A Whole | Huntlow

3. On the Rooftops

Hunter POV

As Willow walked towards him Hunter noticed that Willow had her hair down - he had never seen her hair like that before. "You, er, you look, uhm, nice," he stammered.

Willow cocked her head to the side like a bewildered puppy, which made Hunter's ears go warm and he wasn't sure why. "Why thank you Mr Bloodwilliams," Willow laughed and sat down next to him and crossed her legs.

"Snail for your thoughts?" she inquired, as Hunter continued gazing out onto the stretching land of blinking lights and muffled sounds.

"It's just... crazy," he muttered, running his fingers through his sandy-coloured hair. "Everything is just so crazy right now. The Collector has King and all of the Boiling Isles in the palm of his hand and can flatten them in a matter of seconds if they want to, and they probably will. And we're stuck here with no clue what to do and where to go from here in this weird place with loads of loud noises and bright lights and I have no idea what to do," he finished, burying his face in his hands.

Willow contemplated what he just said for a few moments and replied, "You're thinking about Belos, aren't you?" 

Hunter looked up and glanced at the girl. She had a worried look on her face and put her hand on his shoulder. 

"Hunter. He was your only parental figure you had, I understand that. He's gone, Hunter. He's not coming back, and it's probably for the best. Whatever you had for him wasn't love. It was toxic loyalty, sticking with him when you had nowhere else to turn to and turning a blind eye to the sick stuff he was doing. You're free of him now. You're free."

Hunter gazed at Willow. "When the heck did you get so smart?" 

Willow laughed. "My dads know a lot of psycology, so I learned quite a bit from them."

Hunter furrowed his brow. "Psycology?" 

"The study of mind and behaviour."

The two teenagers sat there on the roof for a while in silence, content with each other's company.

"Do you think they have flyer derby in the human realm?" Hunter asked suddenly.

Willow thought for a minute, then said "Luz never mentioned anything about that in the Human Realm, so I doubt it. They will have other sports and activities here though, I believe."

There was so much I could have done back home, thought Hunter. So much I still had yet to do. Why did I waste my life so much? All to please him?

Regret bubbled up inside Hunter. He hurt so many people. He ruined so many lives. Just to make his uncle happy. Just to seek some measly appreciation.

"I'm such an idiot," said Willow all of a sudden, resting her forehead on her legs and curling up in a ball. "If only I didn't lead us through the portal. We still might have saved King, we still might have stopped the Collector. But we can't do that because of me..."

"Wait.. that wasn't your fault! Don't beat yourself up over that!"

"But it WAS my fault. I'll always just be this stupid witch who can't shape an abomination correctly, the weird girl obsessed with plants and not people. I'll always be just boring, stupid Half-A-Witch Willow."

Hunter stopped dead in his tracks, the phrase pumping in his ears, Belos' voice echoing in his mind. Half-A-Witch. Half-A-Which. Half-A-Witch...

"Captai- Willow," began Hunter. "You have no idea how many times I have been told that I have been Half-A-Witch. That I'm no good, a waste of space. And I believed that. I believed that my whole life. And now you, a brave, talented, fearless witch, are thinking that about yourself?"

Willow looked up.

"Beat yourself up all you want, call yourself worthless, knock yourself down over and over again... but every single time I'll be there to pick you back up. We need to stick together, you and me. Because two halves make a whole, right?"

Willow continued to gaze at Hunter as he said that, her eyes widening and her skin turning a light shade of pink, and as Hunter looked at her doing that and realising what he just said, he felt his cheeks burn bright red. 

"UhhhHHh, well don't stay out here too long, okay?" said Hunter, promptly standing up whilst his voice cracks and ears start to burn brighter so that people down below might mistake his face as a fire hydrant.  "I'mmmm uhhh, gonna go to bed now! Pretty tired hahahaha! Well uh... farewell forever C-Captain!" 

And with that Hunter practically hurled himself to his window, leaving Willow in a state of happy confusion and lightheadedness, and launched himself onto his bed. 

Why did I say that, why did I say that, why did I say that?!?! Hunter thought desperately, smashing his face into his pillow and promptly screaming into it. He got up and checked his face in the mirror. His face was so red now that it could fry eggs on it.

As Hunter buried his face in his hands to try and subside the redness.

What is happening to me?!

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Author's Note

HELLO you lovely pastries! Happy pride month for one, and thank you for nearly 300 reads on this story so far! Y'all are amazing *Hugs*

So now we're getting real into the complicated feels of things with Huntlow... now how about a Lumity chapter next, sound good?

I'll see you guys next time!

-mayz