The Owl House (Hunter x Reader)

Chapter 7: Property Damage

Y/n bundled her jacket around King as he slept peacefully in front of the fire. She ran her finger through the still damp ends of her hair as she let the heat from the fire counteract the chills running over her skin.

"I sentence you, Colonel Buzzy, to death, for the betrayal of your king~" King murmured in his sleep, wiggling around in his blanket nest. "mhm~not so powerful without your army~"

Y/n chuckled as she stoked the fire, then added a couple more branches. She looked from their dwindling supply to the dark midnight woods, then stood. "I'll be back soon, buddy," she whispered, patting King's head affectionately.

She wandered through the foliage, leaning down to pick up fallen boughs and logs, holding them securely under her arm. 

A twig snapped in the distance and her ears pricked to attention. She squinted to get a better look, her eyes straining against the darkness.

Moving forward slowly, she brushed aside branches to get closer. Her foot suddenly halted, and she looked down to see a large, tentacle-like vine wrapped around her knee. 

"Goddamn it!" she hissed, squirming to pull herself away. From further away, a ridiculously huge pitcher plant had curled its' appendages around her limbs, slowly dragging her towards the sharp-toothed opening that served as a mouth.

Her breathing became erratic has the vines tangled around her arms, binding them down and keeping her from thrashing. And here I thought my death would be a little more dignified then a bondage vegetable, she thought, as the plant pulled her closer.

"Hey mutt~"

She looked up to see the Golden Guard watching from further behind, watching smugly. 

"Now is not the time, Goldie," she groaned, still caught in the vines.

He snickered. "You know, I thought you wouldn't be able to survive out here on your own," he boasted, "Looks like I was right."

Y/n rolled her eyes. "Brave words for someone who's got his foot caught too."

As he looked down frantically at his foot, the plant yanked him off his feet, quickly tying him in a similar fashion as Y/n. "Ugh! Stupid plant," he sneered, trying in vain to fire a blast of magic at the vegetation. 

"Clearly you don't know what you're dealing with!" Y/n shouted as the plant's jaw opened wider. "This is a rabit omniaus! Its' leaves are too thick for your magic sparkles!"

"So then how do we kill it, genius?" he yelled back, fighting the plant as it held him upside down. The plant shook him, causing his staff to fall from his grip and bounce against the grass. 

Y/n watched as it rolled away, and stretched her leg as far as it could go towards it. "What are you doing? Get your weird little paw-hands away from that!" the Golden Guard sneered. Y/n ignored him and pushed the staff towards her. 

"You just said magic wouldn't work on it! How is this your plan?"

Once it was in her reach, she dragged it into her hand, holding it close against her bound arms as the plant held the two of them above its mouth. 

Rows of teeth glinted up at them, shining eerily in the pale light. "Eat that one first!" he shouted, nodding at her. "She'd probably taste a whole lot better!"

The plant seemed to look between them as it took his words into account. "Thanks a lot!" Y/n called, as the plant stuck her over its maw. As she got nearer, she let the staff drop from her grip, and kicked it with all her strength into the throat.

Shrieking with pain at the lodged staff, the plant let its grip loosen enough for them to wriggle their ways out of the vine. "Do you know how rare that staff is?!" the Golden Guard accused incredulously, as the tendrils set to the task of trying to pull the bar out.

"It doesn't matter anymore!" Y/n bit back. "We only have a couple of minutes left before it~"

The plant snapped the staff in two, devouring the now separate pieces.

"~breaks it," Y/n finished nervously. "Run!"

"If you hadn't given my staff to the plant to use as a chew toy, I could have flown out of here by now!" he panted as they sprinted in the opposite direction. "Less yelling, more escaping!" Y/n snarled, the vines snapping at her ankles.

"If we get out of here alive, you are so dead," the Golden Guard hissed, as the leafy tendrils tore at his cape. 

"If we get out of here without dying? Bold of you to assume I won't kill you first." Y/n gasped as she dodged a swinging plant stem. He scoffed. 

"The only reason you haven't been killed yet is because the Emperor needs you alive! Or I would've strangled you already!"

"Is that a promise?" she retaliated, as he ducked behind a tree to avoid getting caught. He looked back at her, and she could feel the glare from behind his mask. "Well since you broke my staff, I'll have to get you to the Coven some other way," 

Y/n laughed, moving away from her hiding spot. "Yeah? Good luck with that."

She broke into a run, hearing him curse and chase after her from behind. "You can't keep getting away!" he shouted. "Why not?" Y/n chuckled. 

He cut through a hedge, jumping over logs in his haste to catch up to her. She swerved, letting him trip and fall forwards. Giving a shout of surprise, he reached out and encircled her waist as he fell, bringing her crashing to the ground with him.

"Let go, Goldie!" she snarled, trying to kick her way up. He held tight, the effort of holding her protesting form down knocking his hood halfway off his head.

"I can't go back unless I've captured you, and I am not spending the rest of my life running around the Isles for your little game of chase," he sneered, standing up.

"How exactly are you gonna take me with you, then?" Y/n teased, propping herself up on her elbows. "I don't think you can fly or alert more guards without your staff, can you?"

He readjusted his hood and yanked her to her feet. "Either I drag you around until we find the closest village, or I drown your little cat beast myself instead of letting a bug illusion handle it."

Y/n tensed when he threatened King, and stopped fighting when he pulled her along. "So then. Let's go collect your little supplies. We've got a long trip ahead of us."

==================

"It's been days, Emperor Belos, and still no word of the Golden Guards' progress," Kikimora said, stifling her excitement at the prospect of his failure. 

Belos waved a hand dismissively. "I have faith in him. He will not fail me."

Kikimora bowed her head, bitterly respectful as Belos left her alone, standing small amid the grand hall. She summoned a guard to her side with a snap of her finger.

"See to it that our beloved Golden Guard doesn't reach this palace alive."