Better Together | A Winter Story

Familiar Feeling

Hunter and Willow were chatting outside, "So Captain... what do you like so far about the human realm?" He asked with curiosity as he glanced down at her. "I guess it's the life on Earth, the trees are nice and green, and the rain doesn't boil here. It also smells good." She smiled as she glanced up at Hunter, his face turned red as he looked away. Willow chuckled and got closer to Hunter, she asked the same question. "Well... I like how I get to sleep in sometimes... there's so much life here.. and it's nice because you're here as well", he smiled as he leaned closer towards her. They both got startled as they heard the back door open and saw Amity standing in the doorway.

"I'm not gonna ask what's going on here... but Hunter, Ms. Noceda wants to speak with you."

Hunter and Willow both headed inside where they met Camila. Willow and Amity went upstairs to give them more privacy. "Luz has been... acting weird. And I don't blame her, but I just feel like somethings going on. Can you try and speak to her? She seems to view you as an older brother." Hunter nodded, "Of course" he replied. Camila thanked him as he went upstairs to Luz's room. "Is my annoying but favorite sister in here?" He said as he knocked on the door. He heard someone giggling inside and went in. Luz was in a burrito blanket with her phone, she looks like she had been crying. Hunter frowned and sat down next to her. "Are you okay?" Luz looked over at him, she knew her mom must've said something.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine!" Hunter could tell that she wasn't fine, he sighed. "I know you're not fine..." Luz looked at her phone, she put it down and just hugged Hunter while she sobbed quietly. This feels... why does this feel so Familiar? Hunter looked down at Luz and hugged her back. A flood of feelings came back to him, like he's been in this situation before. Why is this so Familiar? He closed his eyes, ignoring the thoughts in his head. He just warmly embraced Luz, rubbing her back. When he opened his eyes, instead of Luz, there was a little kid whom he was hugging. The kid sobbed in his arms, Hunter looked confused, until he saw his outfit. What is this? Where is Luz? He thought to himself as he held the boy in his arms. "Hunter...? Hunter!!" Hunter gasped as he realized he was in Luz's room. Luz looked at him, she gave him a look of confusion. "Are you okay? You look... confused" she asked, waiting for an answer from him. Hunter looked at Luz and nodded.

"Sorry... I just spaced out, that's all!" he replied whilst looking at her. She was about to ask another question when he interrupted her. "Think you'll be okay now?" he looked at her as she answered with a small nod. "That's good... I'll let your girlfriend sleep with you now, she didn't appreciate the time I stole her spot-" Hunter ruffled her hair as he left the room. Amity was standing outside, not that it surprised him. He stepped inside as she went in. Hunter thought about what he saw earlier, he decided to forget about it in the meantime and just went to his room. He hasn't slept there in a while, and he wasn't sure if Willow was awake so he didn't sleep with her. He closed the door behind him and took his boots off, it took him a lot of courage not to cry, he missed his palisman. He laid down and closed his eyes, sighing loudly.

He heard someone laugh... almost like a child laughing.  He opened his eyes to see the child again, except Hunter was carving a mask for the child. "I'm so excited!! I'm gonna look so cool with it!"  the child said with enthusiasm in his voice. "You'll look really cool, Phil" The other voice said, it was similar to Hunter's voice, but it wasn't Hunter speaking. Hunter gave the child, Phil, the mask. Phil put it on as he laughed with joy and hugged Hunter. "You're the best brother, Caleb!!" Hunter felt his heart drop, "Who's Caleb?" he asked Phil. The boy didn't reply, he began to morph into something strange "Oh dear, it seems I have messed up, haven't I?" Phil replied, with a more distorted voice, almost sounding like Belos. "N-No... No! We saw the Collector murder you!" Hunter had a hard time breathing, he looked around for any sign of Belos. "Oh but that's where you're wrong, you might have saw him turn me into goo, but that doesn't mean I'm not here" Hunter felt chills down his spine, he then felt something goey touching his right shoulder, followed by a hot breeze. "You can't see me, but I'll make sure you and your little friends are done for. Bye bye, Hunter." The voice faded as Hunter panicked.

He woke up startled, unable to process what just happened. "No... No!!" Hunter was shaking uncontrollably, tears started streaming down his cheeks, he was unable to control his breathing. "H-He isn't back... h-he can't be back!!" Hunter heard the sound of his door opening, and standing in the doorway was Willow. She looked worried, and approached Hunter with caution. "W-Willow..?" He said with a shaky tone as Willow pulled him into a warm hug. "Shh.. it's okay.. it's okay." The tone of her voice seemed to calm Hunter down a bit. How did she know...? "You're safe here... no one is going to come hurt you, I'll make sure of that. Breathe with me, okay?" Hunter slowly nodded as Willow began counting using her fingers. Hunter took deep breaths and managed to somewhat calm down, he looked up at Willow with tears in her eyes, and all she did was smile and rub his back. "Feeling better?" She asked, to which he nodded. She put her hands on his cheeks and used her thumb to gently massage the scar he had on his cheek.

"Now that you're here... yeah I'm.. I'm doing better" he replied, his voice still remained shaky, but not as badly as before. "I'm glad I was awake... I'll sleep here with you if you'd like", Hunter nodded whilst looking up at Willow. As Willow was about to lean in to give him a forehead kiss, Hunter gently placed his hands on her cheeks and leaned closer into her face "Thank you... Willow" he placed his lips onto hers. Willow felt a swarm of butterflies in her stomach as her face turned bright red. Hunter was kissing her, and she liked it, so much that she had no choice but to kiss him back. The kiss lasted for about another 5 seconds as Hunter pulled away and realized what he did. His whole face turned as red as a tomato, "I-I'm so sorry!! I-I shouldn't have done that!! I'm so dumb!" He covered his face with his hands as Willow laughed. He looked up at her with confusion in his eyes, "Why are you apologizing silly?" She held his hands, "I thought I would have been the first one to kiss you... turns out you're braver than me." Hunter looked at her as he smiled, a soft smile appeared on his face. That was more than enough to make Willow blush. She liked him, a lot. And he did as well.