Re: Hunter CW: familial abuse, minor body horror, spoilers for Owl House season 2
For a fleeting moment, he wondered if panic had just shut his body down, the conflicting signals just making his legs stall and sink.
Except, he felt pressure.
And pulling.
When he glanced down, he thought his uncleās curse encased his legs. That oozing sludge thatās writhe and lash out in the other manās anger. Tugging him down, no matter how much he struggled against it. Traveling farther up his body, but not how the sludge moved in barely held together sinew and vines. Noā¦ noā¦ these were hands grasping and clawing up, clad in all too familiar gloves. He thrashed, trying to yank himself free, his heartbeat thundering in his ears, but still not loud enough to drown out his uncleās voice. Itād always been impossible to actually ignore that voice.
āThe portal is done and Iāll have drained the magic from every witch on the isles in a few hours. With that and the Collectorās help, did you really think we wouldnāt find where you and the human have been hiding? Did you think youād actually be safe? No matter. Youāll join the other failures soon enough.ā
The ground reached past Hunterās waist now, the hands clawing at his chest and back, a stray finger managing to catch at his shoulders once or twice. The fact that heād experienced this before only worsened his panic. The ground swallowing him up as his uncle just watched on. Except he knew more now. Knew the extra unknown insult his uncle intended with returning him to the earth. And no one was here to save him this time. Or try at least. Exceptā¦
Pulling an arm free, he dug his fingers into the dirt. He just needed to focus enough. Luz hadnāt saved him directly after all. It was her glyphs. Just pieces of paper that he couldnāt tell one from the other at the time, but nowā¦ He drew the circle and lines, the glyph thatād become the most familiar with all their work to help out the other people in Derleth. The lines werenāt perfect, but it should be enough. His hand raised, ready to activate the symbol.
But firm slender fingers closed around his wrist before his hand touched the etched ground.
He winced at the familiar grip. Just a bit too tight for comfort. That threat ever present, just like how it weaved within that lilting voice. That cool sensation oozing through his glove that spoke of the curse seeping through the armored edges of his uncleās gauntlet.
āThen again, maybe thereās some use for you yet.ā
Hunter looked up, his uncleās face as unreadable as ever. Yes, contemplative. He could see that. But whether it was good or bad, he couldnāt tell. And even so, he felt a painful, nasty, unwanted surge of hope bubble up in him. His uncle was going to help him. Maybeā¦ maybe thereād been some trick in that mindscape that theyād misunderstoodā¦ maybe that city from last week knew something they didnāt to have come up with that version of his uncleā¦ maybe things would be ok after allā¦
SNAP
Hunter gasped. It was about all he could do through the shock. Shock that should have been from pain considering the swift twist of his uncleās wrist that surely broke his arm. But instead of mangled flesh and bone, there was a clear ragged edge, his arm snapped clean across with glowing green spilling from the break.
His stomach sunk. He mentally begged for the hands to just pull him down as he tried to yank his hand out of his uncleās grasp.
āPlease, please. Uncle, donāt, pleaseā¦ā
He knew what came next. Heād seen it plenty of times. Had helped far too many times and stood by and done nothing as his uncle snapped open the palismen and absorbed the lifeforce from them. Palistrom wood. Had he done this to the others too? Had theyād been in that dark creature theyād mistaken as a monster as well?
A whimper escaped his throat as his uncle leaned in, the green light already wafting towards the man before he could even breath it in.