Better Together | A Winter Story

Fresh Start

Hunter woke up to the smell of something, it sort of smelled like batter, but he couldn't tell because he'd never smelled it before. He sat up and had a long stretch, he wondered what time it was. Hunter fixed his hair and put his boots on, "Morning, Flapjack" Hunter looked over to his left and expected his palisman to be there, but he wasn't. Hunter left the room and heard people talking downstairs, he headed down there and followed the aroma towards the kitchen.

"Good morning, Hunter! Did you sleep well?" That was the first thing Hunter heard as he walked into the kitchen. Willow was helping with breakfast while the others sat there in silence. "Y-Yeah! I hope you don't mind that I uh... slept in. I'm usually supposed to be awake at 6 AM" Hunter looked over at the clock and noticed it was way past that, it was 9:30 AM. "Don't worry about it, Mijo. You're just in time for breakfast!" I... I didn't get yelled at for sleeping in. Hunter thought to himself as he sat down next to Gus, he put his arm around him. "You okay?" Gus looked up at Hunter and nodded. Camila gave everyone pancakes, "Is Luz not awake yet?" Willow shook her head, Amity wasn't down here either. The only ones here were Willow, Gus, Hunter, and Vee. "Ms. Noceda, what are these?" Hunter asked, "they're pancakes" They don't seem that threatening as I thought... I wonder how they taste.

Amity was sleeping next to Luz after what happened last night, all Amity remembered is Luz sobbing in her arms as she kept blaming herself for what happened. Amity woke up, her hair was messy. She looked over at Luz and smiled, she gave her a kiss on the forehead and got up as she put her boots on. Amity got up and quietly left the room as she fixed her hair. She headed downstairs to where she heard the others speaking and laughing. "Morning, Amity! How did you sleep?" Amity yawned and stretched, "Morning Ms. Noceda, I slept pretty well..." Camila asked Amity if she was hungry, to which Amity replied with a "No thank you!" Camila smiled at her and told her to make herself at home. Willow and Hunter were helping Camila with dishes, well it was more like Willow was teaching Hunter how to wash dishes. "You have to put the soap on the sponge, and then-" "What's a sponge?" Hunter replied, "Oh, it's this yellow and green fabric I'm holding in my hand!" Hunter was admiring Willow whilst she explained what a sponge was, he felt his ears getting warm. "A-And... how do I wash dishes?" Willow smiled as she showed Hunter a step by step on how to wash dishes, he slowly got the hang of it and wanted to try for himself.

Hunter took his gloves off and Willow gave him the sponge with soap and a mug, he began scrubbing the mug as he looked up at Willow a few times and asked if he was doing it right. Willow nodded and told him to keep going and that he was doing a great job, that made Hunter smile. Willow noticed the several scars on Hunter's hands, she debated on whether to ask about them or not. Both of them eventually finished and stored all the dishes away, "Hunter, do you want to talk about those?" Willow said as she signaled to Hunter's scars as they were helping clean up the table. Hunter didn't say anything as he nodded slowly. They both sat down next to each other, and Hunter began speaking, "These scars are from missions I've gone to do while I was the Golden Guard. My companions and I were headed towards where Belos' believed there would be Palistrem wood, unfortunately, there wasn't any, and when we were heading back to the castle, we fell in a hole that wasn't there before. Some of my comrades were injured, but not severely. It seemed like there was no way out of the hole, I lost my staff so I couldn't fly out of there. So I decided to make some sort of stable bridge with a few sticks and rocks I found that were down there. That's where my scars came from. When I came back to the castle and told Belos that there wasn't any wood he-" Hunter paused, his eyes were watery, he looked down at his hands, they were shaking. Why am I crying?

Willow gently placed her hand on Hunter's shoulder, "Can I take a closer look at your hands?" She asked, Hunter nodded as he showed his hands to Willow. She held them as she traced the scars with her fingers, "C-Captain?" Willow began speaking, "I don't know what Belos did to you while you were in the Emperor's coven, but you're free, from him, and from the trauma he caused you. We're in the human realm now, it's time for a fresh start," she looked up at Hunter "you have freedom here now, you don't have anyone to boss you around. And more importantly, you have us to count on, okay?" Hunter silently teared up again as he Willow pulled him in for a hug, she stroked his back. The poor boy was shaking, she's right... I'm free from him... I don't have to deal with his punishments any more. Captain's hugs are warm and comforting... Willow was about to pull away from the hug, "C-Can you hug me a little longer?" Hunter requested. As Willow hugged him again, he hugged her back, and they stayed like that for a while, not saying a word to each other while Willow heard Hunter sobbing in her arms. "It's okay, you're going to be okay."

Luz woke up, it was about 12 PM now. She hadn't slept for a few days, so she felt relaxed. She noticed Amity wasn't next to her, Vee was nowhere to be seen. Luz looked in the mirror as she fixed her hair, she looked at her outfit. Eda... King... I miss you. She headed downstairs, to her right she saw Hunter and Willow, and ahead of her she saw Vee, Amity, and Gus. "Hey... how did you guys sleep?" They were watching TV, Gus seemed more energetic than last night which was good, Vee was telling him about the human realm and what she learned when she got there. "Oh, hey Luz! I slept well!" Luz smiled at him, she looked over at Amity who looked like she was scanning every photo that was in the living room. Luz sat next to her, "You okay sweet potato?" Amity nodded, "Hey, Luz?" Amity looked over at her, "Eres muy linda" Luz looked at her while blushing, "Did I say that right? I asked your mom about it and-" Amity was interrupted by her girlfriend kissing her on the cheek, "You're also really beautiful."