Archive of Our Own ^beta

It had started as a passion project.

After life had finally settled down, Belos dead, Collector returning to the stars, Hunter had found that his life was pretty empty.

Before what had pretty much been the apocalypse, his entire life had revolved around the Emperor's Coven. From the crack of dawn to late into the night, he was working, going on missions, doing paperwork, attending meetings and helping the Emperor. And then the rest of his time was spent sleeping or sometimes researching wild magic when he decided he could afford to sacrifice a small amount of his already limited rest. He had no friends outside the Coven, or even in the Coven for that matter, he didn't have a snail to his name— all his basic needs were provided by the Coven and anything else he was told he didn't need, he only actually left the castle for missions and he didn't even have any personal documents. No birth certificate, no medical documents, no educational documents, nothing. On the paperwork he signed, it was signed under his position— The Golden Guard— not his name. He basically didn't exist in the real world.

And in a way, that actually benefited him now. He had no life to return to which of course wasn't the best, but it gave him the opportunity to finally craft a life of his own outside of the position he'd been forced into since he'd been pulled from the ground, able to do something that made him truly happy, no orders, no punishments, no Belos constantly hovering over every decision he made (which wasn't many). He was free to do whatever he wanted and that was quite a thrilling feeling alright.

The adults around him had offered their help, pointing him in the right direction, but it seemed that at some point they had all mutually agreed to not make any decisions for him. They were aware that before now, nearly every single decision in his life had been made for him and if it wasn't, it was barely even considered his own decision behind all the brainwashing and pressure he was under, so now, they wanted to allow him his own autonomy to decide for himself.

And that was such an amazing feeling.

So with his new decision-making freedom, he had chosen to return to the Human Realm to live with Camila.

Bar the being possession, drowning and losing his Palisman part, his two months spent in the Human Realm had easily been the best of his whole life! There were no expectations, no missions or duties to attend to, no responsibilities resting on solely his shoulders, not even the name of the Golden Guard to identify him by, and best of all, no punishments. Camila didn't raise her voice at him, even when she was stressed, she listened to what he had to say and let him speak freely, never patronising him or reprimanding him for his opinions, and she didn't even hit him! Not once in the whole two months had she even considered raising a hand at him and she repeatedly reassured him that she would never hit him no matter what. He could do the worst thing in the world and she still wouldn't hurt him. And she had been so nice! She spent meaningful time with him, even when there were five other kids in the house that needed attention, she still made sure she could spend some time with him, and she never pushed him; when she had realised that touching his shoulders brought back bad memories of echoing throne rooms and menacing figures, she stopped and didn't push it, when he had shouted at her in the heat of the moment because he was stressed and overwhelmed and everything was happening at once, she didn't get angry, she gave him the option for comfort or just some space and didn't argue with the decision he made.

And maybe the sweetest thing, she had started calling him mi hijo.

It had confused him at first, he knew it was in the language that she and Luz spoke— Spanish— but he had no clue what it meant. So he had gone to Luz and asked her and had pretty much burst into tears when she told him what she had been calling him.

My son.

Choosing to live with Camila had been the obvious choice. Out of all the adults in his life that had teased him and laughed at him and turned a blind eye to all the messed up things in his life, Camila had been the only one who hadn't done any of that. From the start, she had been sweet and gentle and so so kind with him and not once had she turned a blind eye to all his strange behaviour. She questioned it, got to the bottom of where that behaviour had come from, she helped him talk about it and she helped him work through it. So yeah, he had a lot of amazing adult figures in his life who cared deeply about him and he felt the same way but Camila had been the one who had been truly nice from the very start.

Even though he had chosen to live in the Human Realm, he still visited the Demon Realm frequently for school, Flyer Derby and visiting friends. He even spent the night at Darius' a few times and would go over to his house for lunch and sewing lessons.

So he had sorted living arrangements and school— of course, deciding to attend Hexside with all of his friends to finally catch up on all the wild magic learning he had been forbidden from doing all his life— but other than that, he wasn't really sure what to do with his new blank slate life.

In the past, he hadn't exactly been allowed to have his own hobbies and interest outside of work. Hell, he cringed about it now but at one point in time, he had actually considered paperwork to be a hobby. He had been starting to get into sewing but he didn't think he'd pursue it as a career or anything, it was more just a fun little thing on the side, a nice way to help him feel in control of his life again by making his own clothes.

The worries about jobs had been dwelling on his mind for a while. He had always assumed he'd be the Golden Guard until he retired or, more likely, died. Then his life was uprooted and he learned his entire life was a lie and that was no longer an option. And now, despite not being in school very long, it wouldn't be long till he would be graduating and getting a job.

The idea was stressful, having to go back to work. Of course, he knew it wouldn't be nearly as demanding as his old job had been but that trauma still lingered and the idea of having to work for someone else, following their orders and getting good results made him feel sick.

But then, an opportunity had presented itself.

He had become quite familiar with the Owl Lady through Luz, often being dragged around to the Owl House by his little sister so she could show him stuff or just have his company. He didn't mind going with her, he quite enjoyed it actually, he was slowly working on his relationship with Lilith and he really liked spending time with Raine. Back in the Coven, Raine was one of the only people that didn't pick on him or treat him as lesser for his age. They always listened to him, even when he'd go off on a tangent about some random thing he'd been reading about, and really, they'd done just about all they could have done for him back then and even still, they had apologised for not being able to do more to help. Now, they had formed quite a close bond, being the only people who could really understand each other's struggles after having been possessed by Belos which was what had brought them together and even past that, he found them to be nice company, they had even offered to teach him how to play an instrument of his choice! He planned to carve them a Palisman as a gift when Eda could give him a good idea of what they'd like.

On one of his many visits to the Owl House, Eda had approached him and asked to speak to him. Being Hunter, he had of course assumed the worst and worked himself into quite a state wondering what she needed to talk to him about— had she decided she was actually angry at him for all he'd done back as the Golden Guard? Did she want him to stay away from Luz? Was she mad about that time he'd accidentally sworn in front of King because he'd still been working on breaking the habit after growing up around other soldiers?— but in the end, it had turned out she simply wanted to offer him an opportunity.

Her father— Dell— and the Bat Queen had been working on replenishing the Palistrom forests after the wood had become overharvested, thanks to Belos, and they needed an apprentice to carve Palismen for them.

He had been hesitant about the idea, unsure of how he would feel about the constant reminders of his very own Palisman that he had lost, but after talking it through with Camila and then Dell and the Bat Queen, he had decided to give it a try.

And it had been one of the best decisions he'd made so far.

Because now here he was, sitting in the calm, peaceful forest, listening to the soft rustling of trees around him that would bring forth a new generation of Palismen as he carved away at a little piece of wood.

He'd carved a good handful of them by now if you didn't count the ones carved on normal wood for practice.

Dell had patiently guided him through the process, teaching him all the little tips and tricks he himself had used back in the day until he was happy with Hunter's progress and allowed him to start carving with the real thing.

The first few he had carved with no real goal in mind, just picking an animal that felt right and carving it so he could allow it to run off into the great big world and find its own witch. Then after that, he'd begun doing commissions, getting requests from witches of exactly what animal they'd like and letting them talk him through each little detail to make the Palisman truly theirs.

But today, he was going back to carving just for the sake of carving.

During his time in the Human Realm, he had developed a strong interest in animals, sometimes spending hours straight researching them without even realising how quickly time had passed. Luz blamed it on the autism and yep, he wouldn't argue with that. In particular, he really loved birds (partially influenced by an old friend) and other than cardinals— for obvious reasons— another type of bird had caught his interest recently.

Blue Jays.

There was something about them that he had just fallen in love with. They had such a striking appearance with beautiful blue feathers complimented by blacks and whites. They were also really smart, being corvids which meant they had better spatial awareness than other birds because of a larger hippocampus. They could remember where they'd stashed foods and how long the foods could last before they went bad. They could also mimic hawks to trick other species of birds in the surrounding area into thinking there was an actual hawk nearby.

He just thought they were pretty neat.

And he kept seeing them around town too! It felt like a secret little message to him that they were looking out for him. Whenever he saw them, he'd always stop to look at them, admiring how pretty they were and they always managed to cheer him up on a bad day.

So of course, with his new hobby, he wanted to practice it by carving one of his favourite birds!

He curled up against his favourite tree in the new Palistrom forest with a block of wood in front of him and got to work.

Starting on a new Palisman was always pretty intimidating, he was always worried he'd mess it up and waste the wood and the task just seemed so daunting. But once he'd started, he'd easily get into the rhythm of it and those worries would melt away along with any other worries lingering on his mind. And in the end, if one came out looking a bit wonky, there was always a witch out there who would see the creature as perfect anyway.

Just like the other projects, it was a little difficult to start but the thought of being able to carve one of the birds he was really interested in was very exciting and helped motivate him to get past the initial intimidating stage and once he had, he was able to get to the fun part.

Making intricate little slices with his carving knife was such a satisfying process and being able to watch the little creature take shape was a feeling unlike any other.

In the past, he had brandished knives and other weapons with the objective of hurting others, so it felt good to finally be able to pick up a knife and do something good with it. He was bringing new life into the world instead of taking it.

He had taken so many Palismen to their deaths in the past and although he would never be able to get over that, it felt like he could somewhat atone for it by doing this. He hoped to one day bring more Palismen into the world than those he had killed.

When he had first started learning under Dell, he had been anxious being around the Bat Queen, fully aware that she knew what he had done to her kind— maybe even their kind, he was made from Palistrom wood himself after all— and everyone on the Isles knew of her protectiveness towards the creatures. But to his surprise, she had forgiven him. She told him that she understood that he had been in a tough position, simply doing whatever he could to keep himself as safe as possible because nobody else was there to do that for him. And after all, Flapjack had seen something in him, so he couldn't be all that bad.

She was actually a very lovely woman (bat?) and she had nothing but praise for his continued improvement in the craft. And Hunter loved a good bit of praise.

As he carved out the intricate details of the wings, he wondered who this Palisman would choose as its witch. Someone brave maybe, bold like the vibrant blue feathers that caught his eye from the trees he passed on his walks in the human realm. He'd read that the birds were very intelligent, curious and loyal so perhaps someone with a good imagination who was faithful to what they believed in!

That would be cool.

It was fun to imagine the possible witch that the bird would choose to bond with, there were just so many possibilities for the type of person that would share the wishes and feelings of the Palisman he was currently bringing to life right in the palm of his hand. He hoped that the pair would get on well when they eventually met.

He subconsciously stuck out his tongue as he focused on getting the final little details just right, willing his hand to stop shaking with the pressure of being nearly finished. He really didn't want to mess up now.

Soon enough, he was able to relax and let out the breath he'd been holding because he was finally finished. He held up the little bird he'd been working on for the past few hours and admired all of his hard work.

This had to be one of his best yet!

It had come out looking so neat and just like the birds he'd seen in the Human Realm.

He was quite chuffed with himself for how well it had turned out, looking around at the forest to see if anyone was around to share his victory. He should go show Dell! We would be so proud of hi—

His own train of thought was abruptly cut off when he came to the realisation that the little wooden bird had begun to warm the palm of his hand.

Confused, he looked down at it with a frown, carefully examining the bird, waiting for something to happen.

And something certainly happened alright.

Gradually, colour washed over the bird he'd carved, painting all the little details he'd just carved into its feathers a beautiful blue.

And it moved.

It moved.

It blinked up at him, tilting its head curiously before it nuzzled against his finger.

Hunter was in complete shock, only managing to jump back in surprise, nearly tripping over a watering can someone had left when they'd been tending to the new trees.

And the little blue jay followed after him, fluttering over to him, as happy as anything.

Just when he accepted that things couldn't get any more bizarre, the Palisman transformed into a sturdy staff in a swirl of golden magic and landed straight in his gasp.

It took his brain a moment to catch up with what the hell was even happening and even when it had, he could only gawk at the brand-new staff in his grip.

The weight of it was perfect for the way he was used to training and it fit right in his hand. Flapjack's staff had been brilliant and it had undoubtedly been so much easier to use than his heavy mechanical staff.

But this staff felt like it had been specially made for him.

There was no mistaking it.

This Palisman chose him.

After a minute or so of examining the staff, the Palisman transformed back to bird form, looking rather proud of itself and then rubbed its feathers against his cheek.

An embarrassing yelp escaped him from his utter surprise at the gesture and the bird backed up a bit, tweeting worriedly at him.

He felt a little bad for scaring it but he had to quickly stuff that thought away for another time when he heard footsteps approaching.

He wasn't entirely sure where the thought came from but he was suddenly filled with overwhelming guilt at the idea of being seen with the Palisman so before he could even really process what he was doing, he had snatched the bird out of the air and stuffed it into his apron pocket.

And just as he did, Dell emerged from wherever he had been tending to the trees deeper in the forest.

"Everything alright kiddo?"

Hunter's hand lingered over the pocket he'd just shoved the bird in and prayed to the Titan— or whatever was out there?— that the Palisman had gotten the memo to stay hidden.

"Ah— Yep! Everything's great! Perfectly fine! Haha... umm... just remember that I—... I have to get home for dinner! Yeah! So uh- Byeee!"

And with that, he quickly rushed off past a pretty confused Dell.

Yup. Nailed it.

Thankfully, the Palisman had seemed to take the hint and sat patiently in his apron pocket while he dashed back to the portal door and all the way home.

As he shut the front door behind him, with a little more force than usual, he relaxed against it, letting out a relieved sigh. But then he remembered that other people did in fact live in this house and would definitely react to him running in and slamming the door shut behind him.

Camila poked her head out from the kitchen with a cheerful smile. "Ah, Hunter! How was your day?"

He fumbled, not having prepared for any more interactions with other people and he could only manage a quick "Great! Yep! Mhm!"

Camila was very observant when it came to Hunter and his strange behaviours. But it didn't even take being observant to see something was clearly off. Hunter was not in fact a very good liar.

"Are you sure?" She pushed, her face twisting into a worried frown.

"Yep! I'm fine! Just... tired! So gonna go to bed."

"Alright then, I saved you some dinner for when you want it, and I'll be making sure you actually eat it this time."

There had been several occasions where Hunter had been so busy researching— usually birds— that he had completely lost track of time and forgotten to eat anything.

"Okay, I will. Thank you!"

And after navigating social interaction relatively well, Hunter rushed down to the basement, nearly throwing his apron off before he remembered that there was a little bird in there.

He dug the Palisman out of his pocket and it beamed up at him, twittering softly, just pleased to see him.

When making his mad dash away from the Palistrom forest, he had not actually made a plan on what to do when he got home.

He'd just accidentally made himself a Palisman for Titan's sake! What was he supposed to do now?!

Thankfully for him, he didn't need to make the decision because the little blue jay flew from his hands and plopped itself on the floor of the basement.

It chirped up at him and then observed the area around it, taking it all in. The little bird wasn't even an hour old yet... he must have confused it with all the running around and stuffing it into pockets.

"You can look around if you'd like." He told her.

He didn't know how he'd suddenly gotten the information that the bird was in fact female but for some reason, he just knew it, as if the information had just been in the back of his mind the whole time, only now being pulled to the front where he could understand it.

She tweeted in reply and began hopping around the room, carefully inspecting the different knick-knacks he'd collected and stashed.

Luz called him a hoarder, he argued he was being resourceful.

When you grow up with very limited personal belongings, suddenly being given so many little gifts and trinkets is like entering a whole new world and Hunter just couldn't find it in himself to throw out anything. His friends had either made these things, especially for him or seen them and thought of him, so there was no way he would disrespect that consideration by getting rid of them!

The bird seemed intrigued by them at least so take that Luz.

He did however have to quickly swoop in and snatch away an empty plant pot that Willow had decorated for him when the Palisman somehow got it stuck upside-down on her head and nearly bumped one of the legs of his desk.

After being freed from the plant pot prison, she hopped over to where he was sitting up on the bed, content to watch the bird from a safe distance, and she tilted her head as she gazed up at him.

He had to admit, she was very cute.

So after a small amount of internal conflict, he hesitantly lowered his hand down to her and she inspected it, lightly pecking at his fingers but being surprisingly mindful of the sensitive scarring.

As he spun his hand around to offer his palm to pet her, she seemed to spy his tattoo.

The tattoo was very meaningful to him. It was a simple little design of a red bird that was reminiscent of Flapjack. Luz had designed it and offered for everyone in the friend group to get matching tattoos in memory of Flapjack, and they all had. Well, minus Gus since he was technically too young but he had promised to get his own as soon as he could and would draw it on himself in felt tip pen until then. The gesture brought Hunter to tears simply just thinking about it, the fact that he had a group of friends who cared about him so much that they would get matching tattoos with him in memory of his dear Palisman never failed to make his heart swell with love for his friends.

Where his other friends had chosen to get the tattoo on various places on their arms, he had specifically chosen his wrist for a very special reason. It had been the location of his coven sigil.

That coven sigil had caused him so much pain over the years. Belos had waved it over his head as a taunt, showing him very clearly that the Emperor owned him. He had spent endless, restless nights staring at his wrist in his dark, lonely room that he had long outgrown, feeling shameful that he wasn't able to live up to the expectations placed upon him by one little symbol branded into his skin since he'd first been pulled from the ground. After he'd left the Coven, it had served as a temptation, trying to lure him back to his old life of suffering all for some stupid dream of being important. On the Day of Unity, it had leeched the magic from his bones and weakened him only to stuff absolute agony back in. It had nearly killed him. In the Human Realm, he had been ashamed of it, covering it with his gloves or simply just long-sleeved shirts, and when he did look at it, he had to resist the urge to tear it out with the nearest weapon he could find. And one time, he had. He'd grabbed a knife from the kitchen and sliced it open until he was found curled up into a sobbing on the kitchen floor, blood oozing from his wrist.

Such a little symbol had brought him so much struggle, so it felt symbolic to cover it with the memory of his dear friend that had saved his life.

So when the blue jay rubbed its feathers against the symbol of Flapjack, Hunter couldn't help but jolt back as if he'd been burned.

The bird gave him a sad look, probably upset at his sudden reaction of avoidance when she had been trying to show him so much love. Of course, he'd had to go and screw it all up.

He not only felt guilty for upsetting the Palisman but for countless other reasons on top of that, mostly to do with a little red cardinal.

And that guilt was quickly eating away at him, ready to consume him whole.

He leapt from his bed and dashed upstairs to get some dinner that could hopefully serve as a distraction from the sad little bird on his bedroom floor.

But much to his dismay, there was only so long that he could linger upstairs, trying to find excuses to stay there until Camila, Vee and Luz grew suspicious. He wasn't exactly known for being very social or leaving his room all that much. He eventually had to accept defeat and return downstairs when Camila told him she could check his room for any goop if that's what he was worried about.

He had totally never refused to sleep in his own bed because one time at three in the morning when he was incredibly sleep deprived, he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye that hypothetically could have been goop. Nope. That had never happened.

So he braved the stairs back down to the basement and brandished his metaphorical sword for any birds that could possibly emotionally wound him.

Okay, he was being dramatic now, the Palisman had just been sitting patiently in the corner the whole time.

It was getting late by now and he was now discovering a problem. He hadn't actually considered where to keep the bird or organised any place for her to sleep.

In the end, the best he could think of was scrunching up one of his blankets on the floor to form a makeshift nest for her. At least it would be comfortable.

And he had an abundance of blankets. Blankets were one of the many things that he had found out he loved after leaving the Emperor's Coven and then everyone he knew proceeded to gift him with new ones at any opportunity they could find. He had an impressive collection! And he piled them all up on his bed to curl up in like his very own makeshift nest!

Could you tell he really liked birds?

Luz often compared him to one, usually thrown in with a playful insult about his tendency to hoard shiny things and the embarrassing amount of times he'd walked into glass doors, but hey! He'd take it. He loved birds!

And he also loved blankets!

The closest he'd had to a good blanket back in the Coven was probably his cloak. He had treasured his cloak as if it had been a gift from the mighty Titan himself. That was sort of how Belos made him feel about every tiny little thing he received, accusing him of being selfish if he asked for more even if it was simply more socks because all of his had worn holes from the amount of time he spent on his feet. The cloak was nice though, it was a comforting weight on his shoulders, not too heavy like the suffocating weight of the Emperor's gauntlet, it was just right. And more times than not, he'd end up falling asleep in his uniform, stealing as much time as he could to nap after a busy day before he'd inevitably have to drag himself back to work at the crack of dawn to do it all again. So when he'd fall asleep in uniform, he'd usually curl himself up under his cloak for warmth and back then, that had been one of the most comforting things he could have done.

After he'd admitted that to Camila one night over hot chocolate, she'd found a nice fluffy red blanket for him to curl up under and they'd watched Cosmic Frontier until they both fell asleep.

The red blanket was his favourite and still sat up on his bed for him to curl up under when he went to sleep.

However, the Palismen did not appear to share the sentiment of his love for blankets and when he directed her to rest in the nest he'd constructed with his expert abilities (Luz was always the creative one, not him) the blue jay had just chirped back at him and went back to pecking persistently at the threads in the carpet.

He figured that she knew where she could sleep and when she got tired of exploring, she would settle down so he turned his back on her and went to his own bed.

He surrounded himself in his pile of blankets and stuffed toys, kindly gifted by friends (mostly Luz, she had an impressive collection that she refused to share with anyone other than her brother) he pulled his favourite soft red blanket over himself and curled up to get some sleep.

But his eyes were forced open once again to the sound of fluttering wings as the little bird flew up to land on his pillow and began pecking at his hair.

Too close.

He sighed, dreading having to get back up after making himself comfortable but he did it anyway, scooping the Palismen into his hands and depositing her in the makeshift nest.

There was a sad demeanour to her once he'd done that, but he tried to push his feelings on that away, clenching his fists and sighing.

"You stay there, I stay here."

He gestured between the pathetic little blanket on the floor and then his own bed, piled high with blankets and suddenly felt a little selfish. But he just wasn't ready for that...

Thankfully though, she took what he'd said seriously and settled down to finally sleep.

Seeing her give in, Hunter returned to his bed and repeated the process of organising all the items in his bed to his liking before curling up under the red blanket and his space-themed bed sheets.

He took one last look at the Palisman, curled up cosy with her beak tucked safely under her wing.

It was so familiar it hurt...

He turned over to face the wall and tried to get some sleep.

A chill seeped so deep within his bones that he felt as if his body had been frozen over, reduced to nothing but an ice statue.

But he'd done the right thing. This was right.

Because he was being selfless instead of selfish for once.

No matter how badly he wanted to curl up on the couch in the Noceda house with his friends, watching silly human movies that Luz thought would cheer them up, throwing popcorn at each other and laughing like kids.

He couldn't have it.

Because he'd made his decision, if what it took to get rid of that monster for good was to go down with him?

He'd do it.

In a way, it was fitting.

Going down with his creator, dying with the man that had constructed him from stolen lungs and scales and wood and bone.

He'd been so loyal to such a monster for his whole life.

He deserved to die with him.

As the thing infecting him slowly gave in to the cold depths of the lake, his eyes began to slip shut and he knew it was the end.

At least he'd finally done something good with his life...

But then there were strong arms wrapping around him, dragging him through the water and heaving him up into fresh air.

He was pulled up onto something but he was still too shaken to properly process all that was happening.

There was a slight warmth by his head, someone's hands cradling him. Sturdy, calloused hands from wrangling unruly plants, hands that could hold their own in a fight. But hands that could also love and care, bring new life to nature, hands that could wrap him up and keep him safe from the cruel world they lived in, hands that could trace each of his scars with such care that he couldn't possibly find them ugly if they could be looked at so fondly by someone like her.

He felt the fear that had been swirling in his gut all night finally settle down and fade away with the knowledge that Willow was there to keep him safe.

Even when the infection pulled itself from his body, ripping apart his skin as it went, pain shooting through him with so much force he felt as if he would throw up, he still somehow managed to cling to the reassurance that Willow was there.

He could tell that something was happening around him but whenever he tried to latch onto it and attempt to process it, it would slip through his grasp like the water he'd just drowned in.

Was he dead?

But when a familiar weight climbed onto his chest, soft feathers rubbing against his tear-stained face in a feeble attempt at comfort, he knew what was happening.

And when that weight settled on his chest and he felt warmth flood his body, rushing through his bones and dispelling the chill that had tried to claim him, he knew what was happening.

And he was powerless to stop it.

He wondered briefly if this was hell. The horrible plane of non-existence that Belos had threatened him with if he disobeyed the Titan, didn't follow orders, didn't do as he asked like a good little soldier.

Because only in a place as cruel as that would he be forced to lay there, unable to move but fully aware of the fact that his best friend, his first friend, that had saved his life was giving up his own for someone as selfish as him.

He felt the weight lift from his chest and he wanted to sob, he wanted to scream and kick and fight and stop all of this.

But there was nothing he could do.

Hunter jolted awake, scrambling to do something with his newfound consciousness before he was slapped right across the face with the realisation that it had all been a dream and the only thing he was really fighting right now was his blanket.

He went limp against his pillow with a sigh before realising this position was a bit too reminiscent of that memory for his liking so he flipped onto his side instead.

And came face to face with the blue jay Palisman, fast asleep on his pillow.

She must have flown up sometime in the night...

He hadn't actually gotten a proper up-close look at her after initially carving her so he took the chance to admire his hard work in its living form.

She was really cute, curled up all comfortable like that.

A smile worked its way onto his face before he was hit with an overwhelming wave of guilt.

How dare he be smiling at this Palisman when he'd killed the first one.

He felt sick.

Forcing himself up out of bed, he scooped her up in his hands and deposited her back in her makeshift nest on the floor.

And he left to get some breakfast.

One thing Hunter really enjoyed about his new daily life in the Human Realm was the little morning routine he and Camila had started.

He'd always been an early riser, waking up at times his friends considered ridiculous so he could attend to his duties back when he was the Golden Guard. Even after that, insomnia and the fear that someone would catch him and send him back had him jumping awake at the slightest chirp of the birds outside. Then in the Human Realm, after the Day of Unity, it had become a little sense of familiarity he could cling to and built the rest of his routine off of. It was familiar, it was normal, it was good.

And Camila had been patient. Despite her concerns about his unhealthy lack of sleep, she didn't pressure him to change his established routine. She met him where he was at and she helped him gradually work the ridiculous time down to a much better six o'clock and then she had stepped back and left it at that.

Not only that, but she started getting up at six too, even when she didn't have work, so she could keep him company in the early hours of the morning and they could eat breakfast together before Luz woke up and turned the meal into chaos.

It was the simple things like that which made Hunter happy to wake up in the morning. There were things in his day to look forward to and enjoy, even if it was just a quiet breakfast with Camila.

Today's breakfast was waffles, served with a large dollop of syrup because Camila insisted he try them the 'proper' way.

He'd admit, she was right as always. They were very nice.

Camila's cooking was always amazing and he loved trying whatever new dish she'd made for him to try.

All of his friends and Camila had found childish enjoyment in feeding Hunter whatever new food they could find to get his reaction. Back in the Emperor's Coven, he had been kept to a strict diet of bland scout rations that could barely even be classified as a proper meal. So upon coming to the Human Realm, he had gotten the chance to try a plethora of new flavours that he'd never even known existed! And his friends got a good kick out of feeding him super sour sweets to get the extreme reaction of someone who'd never had something even mildly sour before. They were lucky he loved them so much!

"These are really good," Hunter exclaimed through a mouthful of waffles.

"You say that about everything I cook." Camila laughed.

"'Cause it's true."

He stuffed another forkful in his mouth which probably wasn't much of a good idea when he already had enough packed in that he was still in the process of chewing but oh well.

"How's the Palismen carving going?" Camila asked, kicking off the conversation.

Hunter decided to swallow his food this time instead of trying to speak with his mouth full again.

"It's really nice actually!" He admitted, "It feels right. Plus, it's cool to get to carve all the animals I'm researching and the ones I see in the documentaries we watch."

He didn't mention the fact that he felt like he was finally making up for even just a portion of the harm he inflicted on the species.

"Well, I'm glad you've found something you're passionate about mijo."

Yeah. It was nice to have something to enjoy.

There was a small pause in the conversation that Hunter assumed was just Camila taking the time to eat her breakfast first before she finally spoke and he realised she'd probably been weighing the pros and cons of bringing up the topic.

"Have you thought about carving one for yourself?"

He very nearly spat his food out all over the kitchen floor.

Instead, he ended up choking a little and covering his mouth to cough.

Did she know?

He quickly smothered that though. Of course, she didn't! How would she?

But maybe she'd seen the bird poking out of his apron pocket yesterday when he'd rushed through the house, or maybe she'd gone through with her word and tried to check his room for goop and found her instead, or maybe she'd tried to check on him in the middle of the night and noticed the little bird curled up on his pillow.

Seeing his reaction, Camila jumped in to do damage control. "Sorry cariño, I know it's a sensitive topic... I shouldn't have brought it up, I'm sorry. We can move on if you'd like?"

He considered her offer for a few minutes and she patiently waited for his answer. She always was very patient with him.

"It's fine." He decided after some thought. "I'm not sure. It feels like it would be disrespectful..."

"How so?"

He had to take a moment to formulate his reply because there were many reasons.

"Well, Flapjack did so much for me, he even gave his life up so I could have mine. It just feels insensitive to move on and replace him, like I'm just forgetting about him."

Camila frowned one of those frowns that Hunter knew meant she was about to tell him exactly why he was wrong and being silly and shouldn't think like that.

He'd heard it plenty of times before.

"But that's not the case. You're allowed to move on, that's what Flapjack would want you to do, and there's no way you would ever forget about him."

Hunter looked down to scoop more food onto his fork so he didn't have to make eye contact. He really hated eye contact and had decided he despised whoever had declared it a social norm. He could communicate just fine without having to focus on someone else's eyes boring into him thank you very much!

"Maybe, but I still feel guilty." He mumbled.

"That's understandable. You should take some time to think about it properly though. I know Flapjack would support whatever decision you make."

And he knew she was right... Flapjack always had supported him. Even when he'd done objectively bad things, Flapjack had still stuck by him and kept him safe.

But still...

Once he heard Luz thundering down the stairs, he took that as his cue to leave before he'd inevitably end up with chunks of her breakfast tangled in his hair because she got distracted and flicked her fork again, forgetting about the food she'd scooped up on it.

And so, he found himself sitting on the basement floor, rolling a stress ball Luz had given to him across the carpet.

The Palisman chased after it, fluttering over to stop it before it could collide with the wall and then nudging it back to him so he could roll it again.

The action was simple, repetitive, calm. And he was definitely not getting attached and in no way replacing Flapjack.

See! He was keeping himself at a safe distance.

But she gazed up at him with so much love for such a small bird and it made his heart ache.

Why him?

Why did this Palisman have so much love for him when all he'd done to her so far was stuff her away in his pockets and force her to sleep on the floor?

"Why did you choose me? Why me of all people?"

Not that he could even be classified as a person.

She just chirped at him.

He still couldn't understand her. With Flapjack, his chirps and whistles that had sounded like nonsense to everyone else had formed words in his mind for just him to understand. The words had been jumbled and not always grammatically correct but he could still get the point across. With this Palisman, this time he was the outsider who couldn't understand her.

Maybe that was for the best, even if it hurt just a little.

"It would be best for you to find a better witch to be with..."

Not that he could be considered a witch either.

That seemed to get a reaction from her as she puffed up her chest and let out a firm chirp at him. To emphasise her point, she flew over and gave a sharp tug to the strand of hair that had always stubbornly fallen in front of his face.

Just like...

Suddenly, he was hit with a whole other kind of guilt.

He felt bad for comparing her to Flapjack...

Because he knew first-hand how much it hurt to be compared to someone you weren't and could never be, to have those expectations put on you when you were simply trying to live your life.

It wasn't her fault she was made and happened to bond with him, so it was unfair that she had to be pushed away like that and compared to her predecessor.

He didn't want to keep hurting her like this...

The next few days were some of the most painful he'd had in a long time.

Although the new presence of a bird in his life was sweet and he'd find himself with a smile on his face whenever she'd be there to greet him when he came back downstairs, the memories she brought along with her were twice as painful.

His nightmares had gone from scary sludge monsters and evil Emperors to still, motionless little birds being cracked apart and drained of their magic.

And the guilt had continued to gnaw away at him the entire time, the guilt of replacing Flapjack, the guilt of possibly allowing himself to be happy with another Palismen after all the ones he'd harmed, the guilt of distancing himself from her and subsequently hurting her, the guilt of comparing her to someone she'd never be able to be. All of it festered in his gut and grew the more time he spent with the bird.

But she was so damn patient with him, looking up at him with hopeful eyes, wondering if this time he would let down the barriers he'd built up and finally love her... But he just couldn't and it was breaking him.

He wanted to love her, she was a sweet little bird, she clearly cared a lot about him and out of every possible witch— or grimwalker— she could have chosen, she chose him. For some reason or other, he was special to her and he wanted her to be special to him too.

But it just hurt.

He looked down at her snuggled up sadly in her makeshift nest on the floor.

"One day, things will work out..."

It took him a few weeks to work up the emotional strength to go through with it, but eventually, he decided to consult an old friend about his worries.

Sitting down in the fresh, newly grown grass, he took a deep breath to calm his racing heart.

"Hey, Flap..."

The gravestone sat unmoving just in front of him.

He'd worked on making it with Gus' boyfriend Matt. Although he quite enjoyed construction magic, he was in no way talented at the craft and he had wanted this to be perfect so Gus had asked Matt to help him with it and the two of them had spent a week getting it just right. Once they were satisfied with their work, Willow had helped them to secure the stone in the ground using her plant magic. And with that, they'd created a memorial in the new Palistrom forest for the friend that inspired him to start this new passion in the first place.

"I wasn't feeling great so I wanted to come talk to you. You always had a way of cheering me up when something was on my mind."

He could hear the precise chirp Flapjack would have responded within his mind. How he would have rubbed against his cheek to reassure him and then nestled in his hair as a comforting weight to keep him grounded.

"I didn't mean for her to pick me."

"But I'm actually sorta happy about it... she's really sweet and she loved me. I think I could really love her too."

"But I feel like such an awful person."

No matter how much he'd been trying to keep the bird at arm's length over the past week, she'd still managed to work her way into his heart. So much love radiated from such a tiny animal, he wondered how it was even possible, and all for someone like him too.

"I feel as if I'm just replacing you. And because of my emotions, I'm hurting her too."

"She really wants to be close to me, she's been trying to but all I've done is shut her out because I feel too guilty to let myself care about a Palisman that isn't you. And that's hurting her."

He felt his heart shatter into smaller and smaller pieces every time she'd give him that sad look after he'd move her back to the floor in the middle of the night or stumble away from her when she'd try to rub against him.

"I don't know what to do... I'm sorry."

He let his gaze drop down to the tattoo on his wrist, too guilty to look at the gravestone after what he'd just confessed. The red ink really did the tattoo justice, it was just as vibrant as Flapjack's feathers had been. It had turned out beautifully.

He was tracing the shape on his wrist, admiring it when he heard something plop on the ground in front of him.

Puzzled, he looked back up to see... a single goreberry, split perfectly in two.

He'd been carrying out his Palismen observations for two whole weeks now.

He just knew there had to be something more to the bird calling itself 'Flapjack', uncle would lie to him about something so serious after all.

Wild magic was dangerous, so therefore this Palisman, made of wild magic, had to be too.

So to prove that, he had decided to put Flapjack to the ultimate test!

A change in routine...

The worst possible thing...

He knew that if anything would get this creature to reveal its true evil intentions, it would be the anger at Hunter for deliberately changing his routine.

Normally, he would give him a handful of crabapple claws in the morning, but instead, he was giving him a single goreberry which he was aware Palismen hated!

With his expectations ruined, routine completely broken, who knew how he would behave?

Hunter had expected him to become enraged! Peck at him! In fact, he'd worn his armour for just that reason.

What he hadn't expected was for Flapjack to split the goreberry in half and share it with him.

Back then, even when he'd doubted the bird's choice when he'd decided to bond with him and been afraid to get close to him, Flapjack had still stayed.

He'd split the goreberry to share it with him.

To share...

It was a message from Flapjack, he was sure. How could it not have been?

He received it loud and clear.

And everything clicked.

Sharing.

So he rushed home, goreberry in hand and yet again probably gave Camila quite the fright when he burst through the front door and barreled down the basement stairs.

Waiting there patiently was the Palisman, his Palisman.

He knelt down in front of her, not backing away when she curiously hopped over to investigate. He moved a hand away from where he'd been cupping them together to reveal the split goreberry, only slightly crushed which was a miracle from how many times he'd nearly tripped over himself on the way back.

She eyed the berry before tilting her head at him, showing her confusion.

To that, he picked up one of the halves and tossed it in his mouth before taking the other and holding it out for her. She opened her beak and allowed him to place the berry half in it.

With her eyes squeezed shut, munching happily on her half of the berry, she warbled and nudged her face against his finger.

And he pet her back.

He brushed his fingers over the soft feathers on her head and she began chirping with excitement.

"Shhh!" He giggled, worried that someone upstairs might hear her but barely even able to contain his own excitement.

He scooped her up in his hands and held her close to his chest. She was content with this and curled up against his chest with soft warbles.

"I'm sorry for being so distant. I needed some time to think."

"I had a Palisman before, but he's gone now... And- I didn't want to feel as if I was replacing him with you. But then, I just started feeling guilty about avoiding you, you didn't deserve that. I was stuck and I didn't know what to do."

Flapjack had listened to him and in reply, he had sent Hunter a message. A message that meant so many things. A message that meant he wanted him to go through with this like he'd gone through with bonding with Hunter despite how closed off he'd been.

"But I've made up my mind now and I understand."

He brought her up to his face to look at her properly, all the intricate details in her vibrant feathers and the love in her eyes on full display.

"How do you feel about the name Waffles?"

Waffles and Flapjack.

Similar, yet different.

She chirped enthusiastically which Hunter took as a resounding yes. He couldn't help but giggle when she began rubbing her face against his nose as she twittered loudly at her new name.

And surprisingly, when he focused, he could just about make out what she was trying to say.

'Waffles.'

"Waffles." He parroted— pun intended.

He was overwhelmed by so much love and care all coming from his little Palisman— Waffles. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a while, the feeling of such a pure, innocent creature focusing all its care solely on him. The love of a Palisman was like nothing else.

For the first time, he didn't protest when she hopped up onto his pillow after him and he even allowed her to snuggle up against his face.

And although a dull ache remained in his heart, along with it brought genuine happiness and compassion for the little bird that had managed to worm her way into his heart even after he'd put up fortified walls in an attempt to keep her out. She hadn't been put off by his distant nature and she had persisted.

And now, curled up in bed under his cosy blanket, with his little Palisman by his side. He felt safe.

"Luz."

"What."

"Luz."

"Whattt."

"Luz."

Finally, his sister turned away from her recent art project to face him with a very unimpressed look on her face.

"WHATTTT." She shouted.

"Cool, anyway."

"Why did you have to keep saying my name? I'm busyyy" Luz whined, gesturing to her art project in case he was in fact stupid and couldn't tell she was busy.

"I know. I just needed to make sure you were paying attention." Hunter replied.

She did have a tendency to just block him out if he tried to speak to her on the rare occasion she was actually focused on something.

"Anyway, can you invite everyone over?" He asked.

"Sure," She sighed, fishing her scroll out from her pocket. "Why?"

"Don't tell them I'm asking though, say you want to hang out."

"Why?" She repeated.

"Because when I ask to hang out, everyone assumes it's bad news."

"Is it?"

He hated the fact he actually had to think about it for a moment.

"No."

"Lovely. For once."

She made a fair point.

"What is it then?" She asked.

"Not telling you, you can find out with everyone else."

"You're the worst."

"I know."

Luz sighed dramatically and leaned back in her spinny chair, tilting her head so far back she could see the other side of the room.

"Was that all you needed?"

"Yep. Goodbye."

"Going back to rot in the basement so you can read Wikipedia pages on birds again?"

"Yep. Goodbye."

And he did, in fact, go and read Wikipedia pages on blue jays while Waffles investigated the laptop, more interested in pecking at the keys rather than reading the information with him but oh well, it was still quality time and they were bonding.

And it was great fun, thank you very much, Luz.

It was only the next day that his friends were all gathered in the living room thanks to Luz. Trust his sister to be an expert at last-minute plans.

He seriously had no clue how she could cope with last-minute planning. He had to have at least a week in advance which he would use meticulously planning every little detail and conversation in his mind so he knew what to expect.

Everyone in the house had soon learned about his disdain for last-minute plans when Camila had invited some family over to get to know her new kids and catch up with Luz and because he hadn't had his week in advance to plan, he'd frozen up when asked a question and had then hid in the basement to read his Wikipedia pages for comfort because that was something more routine and routine was safe.

That had been around the time that Camila had started leaving not-so-subtle hints in the form of books on autism on the stairs for him to read.

But at least this time he'd had a night to think it over and he'd already been planning the conversation in his head for weeks, figuring out the right way to phrase what he wanted to say.

He didn't think he could have been any more prepared.

So once he heard all the voices upstairs in the living room, he made his dramatic entrance from the basement and they all did that silly thing they did where they cheered his name whenever they saw him like he had just won a race or defeated a slitherbeast. It was actually pretty funny though.

He kept his hands cupped behind his back as he walked into the room and kneeled down on the floor with Luz and Willow— since all the spaces on the couch were taken— and when Camila finally came through to join them, he took a deep breath to begin with his announcement.

With his thumb, he gently rubbed the feathers on Waffles' head to reassure her. He had sat down with her last night and explained it all to her but who knew, she was his Palismen so maybe she was just as anxious with last-minute plans as he was? But she seemed relatively fine right now.

"I've got something I'd like to tell you."

Everyone's heads swivelled around and suddenly all eyes were focused on him. He quickly found a good spot on the carpet to inspect so he wouldn't have to look at any eyes. He did notice out of the corner of his vision that Luz had turned to look at the table instead. Trust his sister to understand.

Regaining his bearings, he started again.

"I've been pretty nervous to tell everyone actually and it took a while to figure things out but um... I think I'm ready."

Now or never he supposed.

Before he could back out, he forced his mind to think of something else so he didn't get stuck in one of those loops of indecision and he brought his cupped hands out to show everyone.

"Her name is Waffles and she's my Palisman."

With those words came a rush of pride. Yeah! She was his Palisman! And he was finally telling that to the world. But he also found himself bracing for a reaction, the accusations he'd been throwing at himself for the past few weeks.

But they didn't come.

What did come was an ear-piercing squeal from Luz as she rushed over and began cooing at Waffles.

"Oh hi there Waffles! Who's just the cutest little baby ever? You're so adorable! And you're perfect! Oh! Oh! I should introduce you to Stringbean! One sec-"

And with that, she had dashed up the stairs before anyone had even had the chance to process what she'd said.

But once she had, it was like everyone had been snapped out of a trance as they all followed suit and crowded around to meet Waffles, ranting about how sweet she was.

In response to all of the sudden attention after being holed up in a basement for the past few weeks, Waffles snuggled up close to Hunter's chest and he could draw a distinct line to their shared feelings.

"She's shy around other people and it's a bit loud." He laughed anxiously.

The others thankfully took the hint and backed up a bit, lowering their voices to be not as painful but they still continued to rant excitedly about the bird.

Camila came to kneel down beside him, eyes almost glittering with enthusiasm. "Another baby!" She cheered.

Waffles observed her for a moment before fluttering over to sit on her knee, even letting Camila pet her.

Like him, when she was nervous she went to find comfort from Camila. She truly was his Palisman huh?

Luz was back downstairs in record time, cradling a still half-asleep Stringbean in her arms who had probably just been rudely awakened from her nap.

She brightened up a bit, however, upon seeing Waffles and slithered over to join her on Camila's knee. The two seemed to take to each other immediately as Waffles pecked at her tail and Stringbean gave her face small licks.

As if on cue, the other Palismen emerged from their respective witches and came to join the party, each hesitantly inspecting the new addition to the group but inevitably accepting her and including her in their games.

Vee shuffled over and hugged Hunter from behind, hooking her hands together over his shoulders. Usually, he didn't like it when people touched him from behind but Vee had always been an exception. There was something about her demeanour and the way she would hug him that made it impossible to mistake her for anyone other than his little sister.

"What made you think to carve her?" She asked.

"It was sorta an accident really, but a good one." He admitted, "I was carving her for fun, I'd been researching about blue jays because I thought they were cool and I wanted to try out carving one. I didn't expect her to wake up and chose me."

Waffles hopped back up onto his lap and nuzzled against the Flapjack tattoo on his wrist.

"But I'm glad."

"She's perfect for you!" Willow commented, "Just as cute too." She added with a cheeky wink.

He didn't need to look in the mirror to tell his face had flushed bright red, everyone else's laughter was enough of a hint.

The next few days were cheerful.

Waffles accompanied him throughout his day and he finally got to show her the world.

He fed her parts of his breakfast— waffles, ironically enough— and she twittered joyfully, waddling about the table as she ate.

He took her on his morning walk through the Human Realm and pointed out all the other blue jays perched high up in the trees. He giggled when she tried to start up a conversation with them.

He brought her to work and finally showed her off to Dell who gave him a proud pat on the back, complimenting how much his carving skills had improved.

And he took her to Flyer Derby practice where she got to meet Viney and Skara and could fall in love with the sport just like he had.

For once, he didn't need to awkwardly borrow a shaky broomstick, he could fully embrace the freedom of having his very own Palisman to fly with who he could work with instead of against.

And of course, at the end of the day, he curled up in bed in his nest of blankets and she joined him, curled up against him and chirping softly in her sleep.

It was wonderful. It was like discovering the world for the first time again, everything felt so much brighter and happier and having the reassuring presence of a cheery little bird on his shoulder once again was amazing.

But there was still somebody left he needed to introduce her to.

"Hey again, Flap."

The new scarlet colour flowered Willow had grown blew softly in the breeze, almost as if they were waving to him.

"I've got a little friend who would like to meet you."

Waffles took her cue and hopped out from behind him, doing a little bow with her wings that had Hunter die a little inside from how utterly adorable she was.

"Flapjack, this is Waffles."

Waffles chirped afmitivaley and waddled her way over to the gravestone. For a moment, Hunter held his breath, expecting something. What that was? He wasn't sure but it was making him nervous.

But those nerves melted away in an instant when Waffles began rubbing her head against the grave and cooing softly.

Through the barrier of the Palisman's language, he could grasp only a few things she was saying but the word that stuck out struck him straight in the heart.

'Friend.'

"Yeah, friend." Hunter agreed.

"I'm sure he would have loved you. You're similar in a few ways but very different."

Flapjack had stuck right by Hunter's side until someone else entered the picture, then he'd carefully inspect them to make sure he didn't have to peck them away before declaring them a friend and leaving Hunter's side to explore a bit more. Waffles liked investigating but would ultimately rather be cuddled up as close to Hunter as possible, especially in the presence of other people. Flapjack had thrived off of others' attention, gladly seeking out pets and scratches. Waffles got nervous when crowded and only let a select few pet her. Flapjack had been loud and talkative. Waffles conveyed her feelings much better through actions than words. But something they both had in common was their strong love for their witch who they would do anything to keep safe.

"You two would have been great friends."

It ached to not be able to speak to Flapjack properly but Hunter knew that if he could, he'd be listening.

'Great friends,' Waffles copied, 'will protect our boy.'

Hunter laughed.

"What do you think of that Flapjack?"

And in reply, a goreberry plopped down in front of them, causing a smile to spread across Hunter's face.

Of course he was listening.

"I think it's safe to say he agrees." Hunter chuckled, giving Waffles a nod.

Waffles picked up the goreberry in her beak and hopped over to Hunter's open palm, pretty much falling into his hand in the process but ultimately delivering the berry safe and sound, giving a little nudge to the Flapjack tattoo as she did.

Hunter thanked her with a head pat and brought the goreberry up to get a closer look.

Using his nail, he made three incisions on the berry before pulling it apart into three more or less equal pieces.

He placed one in his own mouth, one in Waffles' beak and left the final piece just in front of the gravestone.

They each enjoyed their pieces of the berry and Hunter pictured Flapjack enjoying his too wherever he'd ended up. He hoped somewhere with Caleb and Evelyn, that would be fitting but he guessed he'd never know.

He placed a gentle hand on the gravestone and appreciated the warmth of it from sitting out in the sun for so long. Flapjack had always loved curling up on his windowsill and letting the sun wash over him. Waffles rested against the other side of the stone and gave light pecks at it, almost like little kisses.

Even with his new Palisman, he'd always remember Flapjack. But that didn't mean he couldn't love both of them just as much as the other. Nobody had to replace anyone or try to live up to what the other had done, he loved them both for different reasons but loved them all the same.

And he was thankful they'd both found him.

He ran his hand over the stone, imagining he was stroking the vibrant red feathers on Flapjack's head once again.

"Thanks, buddy, love you."

'Love you.'

"Love you both."