Chapter Text
It was hard. And Expensive. And time-consuming. But we did it. The chaos that the Collector left behind was finally cleaned up. It actually only took a few weeks to get rid of all the "crazy" and "sparkly" things (thanks to the boiling sea), but most of the time was spent rebuilding the Isles. Houses, shops, and other buildings were in ruin and had to be rebuilt. Food was dangerously low, so until rations could become steady, witches of the demon realm were introduced to human food thanks to the now-permanent portal. But finally, things were stable. Not only were things back to normal, but they were also even better. Housing was ensured for EVERYONE on the Isles, without any more homelessness.
Of course, that included me.
At first, I offered to just stay at Hexside again, but no one was accepting that. People kept asking me where I wanted to stay since I was still just a kid. In all honesty, I didn't want to burden anyone with an extra mouth to feed or my annoying voice so I stated that I didn't mind where I went if someone was willing to let me stay. Eventually, it was ruled down to three options: with Darius in his new apartment, with Eda, Raine, and King at the Owl House, or with Camila and Vee in the human realm. It was very generous of all of them to offer me a place to stay, but I couldn't pick just one of them. They all had different features they offered if I stayed there; familiarity, security, fun, freedom, growth, safety, and love. In the end, I never made a decision so it was decided for me that I would stay with Darius since he had an extra room. After a few days, it was announced that Darius was volunteered by others as one of the witches who would help be in charge. This meant working from daylight making sure that things were in order, helping others with problems, and generally walking around patrolling. Even when he would get off a little after dinner, he would sometimes have hours of paperwork. This was better for me because it left less time for me to get in his way.
All that was left now was to move my belongings from the castle into Darius's place. I assured others that I do it myself so that nobody else has to, but Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, Eda, and Darius insisted that they help. I felt bad since my room had always been kind of a mess, but no one seemed to mind. After the layer of paperwork that could be thrown away and tattered clothes, it was clear that most of what I had was garbage. The only things visible that I ended up keeping were a few plushes, figurines, and books. Although, when trying to move the bigger objects, a bigger problem was found; because I wasn't allowed to have much, I used to hide them under covers, behind dressers, in my closet, in between folded clothes, and even behind posters. Most of it was things that I had found and seen an interest in, but wasn't allowed to tell anyone, such as flyers, brochures, rocks I thought were cool, expired food, and notebooks full of my thoughts. Luz had called it a "diary" and demanded to look through it, but was disappointed to find it was mainly a log about patrols. I refused to read it, knowing that most of the entries consisted of praise of Belos or defending bad things that he did. My friends were able to help me throw away what wasn't needed or put use to stuff I wasn't going to use. Most of the flyers were for events long passed so those were able to go, but Willow said that the rocks I had could be used to decorate gardens.
Eventually, the room was cleared. Actually, it was the last room in the castle that needed to be cleared before the demolition. The castle was going to be gone with something else in its place. So far, ideas for what can fill the spot are a market, a park, a public pool that wouldn't boil, and a graveyard. Darius was able to move all of my belongings with abominations so that it could be done in one trip. Everyone else had to go as well; Luz and Amity were cleaning the spare room for Luz and King while Willow and Gus were helping Camila get rid of old things in the attic and basement now that there would be two kids there. Luz was given a similar scenario to me when it came to where to stay. She decided that she couldn't pick and would alternate between both the Owl House and her home. I thought the idea was great, especially since it meant she would stop whining about it being "for the best" and that she be sad all the time.
"Are you okay?" Darius asks. "You've been zoned out for a while now." I watch as his face morphs from mockery to slight concern. I laugh and rub the back of my neck as I say, "Yeah, I'm fine. I've just been thinking about all that happened." Darius sighs as he replies, "Yeah, it sure was a lot. I don't blame you. But anyway, pay attention now. We're here." He points to the building we are standing next to as he starts to ascend the stairs. I follow behind him, a little nervous about seeing where I was going to stay for the time being; because of course once I turn 18, he would no longer be okay with me taking up space and wasting his food. He stops at room 203 and unlocks it.
It was a much more open floor plan than I was expecting for Darius. The door opened to a wall along the left side with two doors on the left and two doors along the back wall, but the rest of the open space was a kitchen, living room, and dining room. I was surprised that the place was already furnished and wondered when Darius had the time. Of course, I expected the place to be spotless because it was Darius but there were a bit more decorations than I was expecting. In the first room on the left, it was revealed that it was an office with filing cabinets, very soon going to fill up. The next room was the bathroom that wasn't too big, but did have a bathtub (most likely for Darius to calm down from dealing with me). The leftmost room on the back wall was actually empty. It was obvious that it was Darius's room since it was the biggest room in the whole apartment. The last room certainly surprised me. This room already had a bed and all of Darius's things.
"Come on, Hunter. Help me decide where your things are going to go." I must have been zoning out again because Darius was already in the empty room with abominations following him in. "Wait!" I run in after him demanding answers. "This room is MY room? But it's the biggest room?" Darius doesn't even look as he responds, "Exactly, I won't be home much and don't need that much space. You're a teenager with friends and a life. So you get this room. Now, where do you want your bed?"
After some fruitless arguing, it was clear that Darius was not changing his mind about rooms. It only took a few hours to set up things in my room, and as we were finishing up, Luz and Amity arrived to insist that I check out her room at the Owl House. As the three of us walk, Amity and Luz were talking in very hushed voices and kept laughing, so I could only assume it was some coupley thing. At least it allows me the chance to see Bonesburrow now. It was nice to see everyone helping each other out and everyone getting along. Things were still tense, but at least we will all get through it together.
At the Owl House, things are still very hectic. Partially because Eda was forced to get rid of over half the stuff she hoarded and also because both Luz and Raine are moving in. Once inside, Luz immediately lead me to the room that she was sharing with King. There were some very clear changes right off the bat. The first being that it was no longer a spare room with a sleeping bag in the middle. All of the junk was either moved to the basement or gotten rid of. Construction was and a closet was added to the left side of the room right next to the door against the side wall. To the right of the door, there was a pretty big dresser that was split into two sections. There were two beds, one in the left corner with the long side running along the side wall, and the other in the right corner with the long side running along the back wall. Above the bed on the right, there was a hammock-looking space hanging against the two walls. I could only assume that it was a small bed for Stringbean, but curiosity got the best of me and I decided to ask, "What's that mess in the corner?" If it was anyone else, I would have asked in a nicer way, but this was Luz. Where was the fun if I couldn't tease her? I turn to look at her and realize that she and Amity have these big, dopey grins on their faces. "That's King's bed, but he also likes to sleep at the foot of my bed." I raise an eyebrow at them as I point to the room, "Then whose beds are those?" Luz skips over to the right bed and jumps on it, "Well, this is my bed, and that's yours."
"What do you mean that's my bed? Did you not hear that my stuff was already moved into Darius's place?" I try to rationalize why they would waste space on a bed for me when they already knew that I wasn't staying there. Luz scoffs and replies, "Well, we know that Darius isn't going to be home a lot and we didn't want you to be too lonely. So, I talked around and both Eda and Darius agreed that you're going to have a spot here too. Of course, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. I know that I'm pretty annoying and King and Eda can be loud and Hooty is in a whole other category, but it will be here if you would like." I was in complete disbelief. Even though Eda didn't have to even deal with me, she offered a place for me anyway. I didn't know how to feel; no adult had ever been this nice to me before. I could feel my eyes start to blur with the telltale signs of crying. Luz noticed and stood up and walked closer as she started rambling on saying, "Of course, if you don't like it we can get a different bed for you or you don't have to use it or anything. We just didn't want you to be lonely all by yourself and we thought that you could bounce between the two based on how you feel, like what I'm doing with home and-" She was cut off when I threw myself at her in what I was told is a hug. I didn't even know if I was doing it right, but she returned it so I must have done it right. "thanks, Luz."
It took a few minutes to regain my composure and I completely forgot that Amity was still there, but I was eventually shown how I would fit into the room. The dresser was split in half for the both of us but wasn't that big knowing that we both had another room for clothes. The closet was also shared but had more room on Luz's side since she had more clothes. At one point Eda had walked in asking if I was told whose room this is yet. I smiled as I nodded, "Yeah, and I wanted to thank you! I hope I don't become too much of a burden when I'm here." Eda crossed her hand with half of her other arm, clearly still new to it being gone. "Kid, you could never be a burden to anyone. You're too awkward and self-conscious. That's why you're here! We gotta get you some backbone and confidence!" "Don't make me regret this already."
After a quick tour of the rest of the Owl House, we spent a few minutes going over how things would work. Would Luz and I need to knock when we came over? Could we leave whenever or have to inform an adult? What chores would we be required to do each day? What time do we have to get up? At that question, Eda had just responded, "In time for school." which lead me to realize that I was going to go to school. Like, ACTUAL school with Luz and Willow and Gus to learn about magic and such! It made me more excited than I would like to admit.
At one point Willow and Gus arrived stating that Camila's house was all cleaned up for Luz and Vee to both stay and Camila invited us all over for dinner tonight. They also stated that Luz and Vee's room is ready if we wanted to go see it. Walking to the portal, I am still very much in shock at what had just happened. "Is everything alright?" I heard from my left. I turn to see Gus there with a concerned look. At the same time, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I didn't have to look to know that it was Willow, but I looked anyway because I wanted to see what she was thinking. I smiled at them and responded, "Yeah, I'm alright. Just a little overwhelmed I guess. I didn't expect anyone to want me to stay with them, let alone two!" Gus and Willow smiled at each other as Willow noted, "I don't think you give yourself enough credit. You're a good person and fun to be around! Anyone would be happy to have you with them!" I felt my face heat up as I mumble a thanks to her. I knew that she had meant staying with someone, but the way she worded it made it sound more intimate.
When we arrived at Camila's house, Vee was there to greet us at the door. She goes in for a hug with Luz as she excitedly leads her to their room. A part of me was hoping to see another extra bed in the room for myself, but I knew that I was pushing it. After all, I already had two places for me to stay that I could call home. Just as I thought, when the door opened, there was no third bed, just the bunkbed that Luz and Vee had. Although, there was another desk now for Vee to use. Since Vee could shapeshift clothes on, there was no need for another dresser, but there were tables for knickknacks and such. After the two had gushed to everyone about how cool their room looked, Camila had called us from downstairs to come help make dinner. We weren't much help, especially when we didn't know what we were doing, but Camila appreciated it. Once it was almost finished, Camila turned to me and said, "Mijo, can you grab some mas platos, por favor? They should be in the basement," I stood up and responded, "Of course, Ma'am."
Walking down to the basement, I didn't look up at first since I was on a mission. Although, where there were supposed to be shelves, there was a mostly empty bookcase. Remembering that the basement was cleaned, I looked around to see where the storage was moved. There was a bed in the corner with a poster of my name on the wall behind it. The sewing machine was moved onto a table with more space and the couch was now in front of a tv. An old tv, but still a tv. I couldn't help myself anymore as I fell to my knees and sobbed.
I heard a muffled voice from upstairs say, "I told you he would cry." And I didn't even care that I was embarrassing myself, because I felt wanted, for once in my life. I had three different families and friends who all loved me.