#Ghost Caleb and Hunter

[creativia10]

Hexside Starts and Locker Haunts

Hunter is looking forward to attending Hexside where he can see most of his friends. He didn't expect his new ghostly guardian to look out for him while there.

Warnings: reference to past child abuse

Let me know if I've missed anything

Word count: 3215

Notes: This is going to be the second one of a series about Hunter and Ghost Caleb. I really like this concept. I don't know how many works this series will have yet.

Hunter could hardly believe this was happening. He was going to go to Hexside and learn alongside other kids his age. Including his friends. Well, hopefully he would that was. Apparently, he had to take a placement exam, where enrollment wasn’t guaranteed. At least, not when he wasn’t a full witch like most of the students would be. He knew Luz had to deal with that, they’d talked about it.

He needed to know two spells on his own in order to not be placed at the lowest level in the school, the baby class. He only had one ability on his own, the teleportation and flash step from Flapjack. He couldn’t even use the glyphs that Luz had been able to. Ever since Belos possessed the titan and the battle ended, the glyphs hadn’t seemed to work. He didn’t really understand why. He had a feeling Luz would know more about that, as she seemed to.

He could do more with his artificial staff though, which he would have to start using again. Part of him didn’t want to, but it might be his only option if he wanted to go to this school. And he did.

He didn’t understand why this presentation was like a show for himself on the stage before the principal. He could appreciate the showmanship though. At least, he could have if he wasn’t so nervous.

Darius stood backstage giving him encouraging hand gestures. Darius has been there for Hunter now. More than just giving him somewhere to stay, which Hunter appreciated. It did seem like Darius was stepping into more of a guardian role for Hunter now. If the check-in after Hunter went on his own, the day Belos was defeated, said anything. Still, Hunter wasn’t quite used to a safe guardian who only had his best interests in mind. So, Hunter was having a hard time believing that was going to be the case. For now, he could just accept that Darius was safe and there for him. And really, that said a lot there.

Hunter had his artificial staff off to the side, easy to reach backstage, in case he did need to grab it. He wanted to try on his own first though.

Hunter took a deep breath and walked onto the stage.

“Hey, Principal Bump,” He said a bit awkwardly. Bump’s face was a bit hard to read, but he just nodded in response.

“Yes. G- uh, what is your actual name again?”

“Hunter,” He said.

Hunter’s eyes were drawn to a flash he caught from the back row of the seats. Odd, Hunter was sure it was just supposed to be the three of them in there for this exam.

Hunter’s attention was brought back to the conversation though.

“Yes, Hunter. Given your history in the emperor’s coven-“

Hunter couldn’t help but wince at that.

“-I’m well aware you have the magical abilities to be able to attend here.”

“…right.”

Of course, not everyone knew he was a powerless witch on his own. Only his friends knew that, and he didn’t exactly want everyone to know.

“So by all means, show me what you’d like. To give me an idea where to place you.”

Hunter took a deep breath and then flash-stepped to the side. He also teleported up into the air and then quickly back down, as his staff wasn’t in his grasp to catch him.

“Does that count as two?” Hunter asked.

Bump scratched his chin.

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Is there anything else?”

Hunter hesitated and then walked to the side to grab his staff.

“Well, if I may ask this not leave here, not really without my staff. As the glyphs don’t work anymore.”

Bump blinked.

“What, really? But many have seen you use powers. And you have,” He gestured to Hunter’s ears. Hunter reached to touch one on instinct.

“Uh, yeah. I’m a powerless witch, or I was. Belos gave me this artificial magic staff to be able to use magic abilities.”

Bump hmmed.

“I see.”

“But with it, I can do this!” Hunter held his staff up, making sure not to point it at anyone, and let the staff build up an energy blast at the end.

“I can also move earth with it.”

Bump nodded.

“Well, you have certainly shown you’re magically capable before, considering. Although, you may have some limitations with what tracks you can take though.”

Hunter sighed. “Yeah, I figured as much. I can live with that.”

“Very well. With this in mind, I welcome you to Hexside School of Magic and Demonics.”

Hunter smiled and bowed to him.

“Thank you sir.”

Bump raised his hand.

“That’s not necessary. I’ll let you look over the tracks before you start classes. Let me know if you’ll need any help testing out which ones you are able to do.”

Darius asked Hunter if he was okay while they on their way back home from the entrance exam.

Hunter shot him a confused look.

“Why do you ask? I got what I wanted. I can go to Hexside.”

Darius hmmed.

“I know, but some topics got brought up in there that I could tell you weren’t thrilled about.”

Hunter sighed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. I mean, it was bound to come up. Of course, I’m going to have to consider that I’m fundamentally different from other witches. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. At least I’m able to go to that school at all. Gosh, I need to be able to see my friends there.”

Darius nodded.

“Know that you can talk to me though, alright?”

Hunter hesitated. Trust was a hard thing. He was not used to opening up at all.

“I appreciate that,” Hunter said.

Darius pursed his lips, probably seeing how that was a non-answer. Hunter didn’t know if he was ready yet though. Maybe he could focus on one thing at a time. And at that point, it was figuring out his tracks at Hexside. He was used to working hard, so surely doing so for classes of his own choice would be better. Right?

*

Hunter was surprised that he came to the school his first day with so much trepidation. More than he had the first time he came onto the Hexside campus. Maybe because then he had a mission as the golden guard. And a lot of false confidence for some reason. But this time, he was just Hunter. Not even a full witch. Entering a building of normal witches and demons around his age. Which was something he was very much not used to. It was actually a bit overwhelming.

So he stood there for a moment just staring forward as students milled about the campus.

“Hey, Hunter. Are you alright?” Darius asked. He hadn’t left yet. Hunter took a deep breath. He didn’t know the answer to that. But he didn’t want to worry the other.

He did want this. He just didn’t feel fully prepared.

“Hunter!” Several voices shouted.

Hunter glanced over and his shoulders relaxed some as he saw his friends. Gus, Willow, and Amity made their way over.

Darius shot him a smile.

“I’ll see you later Hunter. Let me know if you need anything?”

Hunter nodded at Darius with a smile, before the other left.

Gus and Willow immediately hugged him.

“You’re finally here!” Gus exclaimed. He let out little illusion fireworks in celebration.

“Yeah, I know right?” Hunter said.

“It’ll be great to have you on the Emerald Entrails flyer derby team full time!” Willow cheered.

Hunter smiled at that.

“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to that.”

They chattered a bit more as they headed into the school. Being among familiar faces did wonders to help Hunter feel more at ease. It was a great reminder of why he wanted to go there in the first place, even if he was different.

A flash of light would be harder to see in the daytime outside. Hunter had a good sense of when someone was looking at him though. That had developed from moments with Belos. Sometimes he didn’t know when his uncle was understanding or in a bad mood, and he needed to be on guard.

But there are a lot of people at school there. He tried to reassure himself that it’s possible it was nothing. He was new after all, and some did know he was the golden guard. Maybe it had been a passing glance. There was a difference between one look and being watched though. Hunter could usually feel it, but that was likely no magic though. Just an instinctive intuition, or maybe even paranoia.

Still, he looked around, not seeing anyone.

“Hunter?” Willow asked. “Is everything alright?”

Hunter turned back to his friend group.

“Yeah, I think so,” He said.

She didn’t seem convinced, but let the conversation continue. Hunter couldn’t shake the feeling though.

-

Hunter went into Principal Bump’s office first, as he was told to. So he could choose his tracks and get to class.

He had been doing a lot of thinking about this. Yet still, he looked over the choices. He understood why Luz had a hard time choosing. Unlike her though, he probably couldn’t do all of them.

Potions was easy to tick off. It was the easiest for a low or nonmagical person to learn.

Beastkeeping. He liked palisman, so maybe he would like working with other magical creatures too. Construction seemed to be the closest to what he could use the earth-moving abilities for.

He pondered Healing, it was an ability he would like to know how to do.

“Can I add more later?” Hunter asked.

Bump thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Yes. With the new addition of multiple tracks learning, many students have been adding more tracks later.”

Hunter nodded. He held off on that one for then, since he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to do that. Illusion was also a no.

He supposed plants could be similar to earth, but he had moved the ground itself more, not so much growth.

He was almost good with his three tracks, but then he paused on the oracle one. He had read up a bit about that. He was less interested in knowing the future, as it was hard to think about that when you didn’t know how long you’d live. But the pamphlet had said those on the oracle track communed with spirits. He wanted to understand more about that world given recent events. He could at least learn more about the spirits. Besides, he was pretty sure that moment with the ghost of Caleb wasn’t going to be a one-time thing. Even if he wasn’t sure when he would see the other again.

So, he had decided on four tracks for then.

-

 Hunter was surprised he hadn’t seen his friends in classes yet. He supposed they did have different track focuses, and the ones he chose didn’t overlap, but still. There had to be some classes everyone took. He hoped they would have some in common.

Anyways, there was something in the schedule called a break? That was not something he expected. When he trained to become the golden guard, his learning was pretty intensive. He didn’t quite understand why there was a break, and so early. It had only been a few hours. Still, he wasn’t going to complain about the chance to see his friends some more if he had time. He was still figuring out the layout of the school.

As he walked through the halls, he walked past a group of students with a girl in the middle who looked familiar. Boscha he thought? She had been that pseudo-leader when the students hid out at Hexside during the Collector’s games. He hadn’t been able to catch everything that happened. He thought Amity had managed to convince her to go against Kikimora who had been taking over though.

So, that in itself could have meant she was an ally. But the Isles were no longer in emergency mode, at least not in the same way. He had heard his friends talk about this girl before. She was a bully. So it was probably best to steer clear of her. At least, that’s what he tried to do.

He was starting to wish he had asked even more about what to prepare for at this school. He caught her looking him up and down before she scoffed.

“Wow, someone’s a bit ambitious. Try hard much?”

Hunter rolled his eyes and kept going. Honestly, many students were taking multiple tracks now.

“Hey!” She exclaimed. “Don’t ignore me!”

Great. She was an attention hog as well. She then walked over to him and started following him.

“Who do you think you are? You’re not the golden guard anymore, nothing special about you now.”

Hunter paused and turned to her.

“How did you know about that?”

Boscha rolled her eyes and smirked.

“Oh, please. Word goes around fast here.”

He really hoped that didn’t extend to other parts about him.

“So you won’t be able to get away with stuff like before. This is Hexside, my school.”

“Oh please, you’re just a student here,” He said.

Boscha laughed. “Did you ever think about why I was the leader when everyone hid out at the school? People listen to me. And ignoring me isn’t gonna fly.”

“Why do you care if I give you attention? You don’t even know me. If you had as many fans as you imply, there would be no reason to make a scene at me walking past you.”

She glared at him and clenched her fists at that.

“Because you’re not just anyone. Most students here know their place by now, but you’re new. I can’t have you think you’re better than me. I’m most popular for a reason. The losers need to stay down. Especially half-witches.”

Hunter’s eyes widened at that last part and took a step back.

“What?” He asked.

She put her hands on her hips and smirked at him again.

“What, you think I didn’t notice your limited use of magic? And that you always have a staff with you now, even when it’s not a palisman.”

Hunter pulled his artificial staff slightly behind his back.

“Why were you even watching me for that?” He asked.

“I look out for the important things. Such as threats and the wastes of magic that need to be avoided.”

Just after she said that, a nearby locker door swung out and banged her in the face.

“Ow!” She cried out, stepping back and holding her face.

Hunter startled and looked on in surprised.

Boscha continued to hold her face, but glared out and looked around.

“Okay, who did that!?”

Some students fled at her yell. Hunter looked around, but he couldn’t tell. He hadn’t seen any spell-casting circles. His friends didn’t seem to be in the vicinity either.

Just then, he saw another flash at the end of the hallway. Okay, that couldn’t be a coincidence.

A faded figure formed the silhouette of a familiar man for a moment. The figure then drifted around the corner of the hallway.  Hunter sped walk in that direction right away.

“Hey!” He heard Boscha shout behind him, but Hunter ignored her. He went around the corner to a subsection of the hallway off to the side away from things.

The ghost of Caleb reformed to appear as he had when Hunter first saw him. Hunter stared for a moment.

“You found a way to follow me,” Hunter said.

Caleb nodded, “I can’t exactly say I understand why. Perhaps I was able to attach myself to you when my former reason for haunting died. Or it could be because that staff is from the castle.”

Hunter glanced to his staff at the mention then back to Caleb.

“You slammed that locker door into Boscha’s face.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“I said I would look after you. I wanted to protect you.”

Hunter huffed.

“I wasn’t in any real danger. She’s just a brat.”

Caleb hmmed.

“Perhaps. Doesn’t mean you have to deal with that.”

“I’ve been through worse,” Hunter said.

Caleb sighed. “I know. Trust me, I know. I don’t have to like any of it though.”

“So what, you’re just going to try to throw things at anyone who gives me a hard time? I don’t need that.”

“Do you know what you need?”

“Maybe not to be coddled!”

Calen floated back some.

“I don’t think one instance of retaliating against a bully counts as being coddled. She had no reason to be like that to you.”

“I mean, yeah. Of course she didn’t have a good reason. But I don’t need you to do that.”

“I know. I wanted to. She was annoying me.”

Hunter huffed. “Yeah, she was definitely annoying.”

“See?”

“How often are you going to do something like that?”

Caleb shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

“Because, if that becomes commonplace, someone is going to figure out I have a ghost haunting me.”

“Well, it’s more watching over you than haunting. Are you expecting this type of thing to happen often?”

Hunter opened his mouth and then paused. He didn’t really know what to expect if he was being honest. Caleb seemed to sense that. He smiled.

“Well, then I’m definitely not going to stop.”

“Caleb!”

“My brother caused irreversible damage to this world for years. It’s the least I can do.”

“You are not responsible for his actions.”

“I know,” Caleb said. He looked sad now.

“But if I can do something good in spirit after my brother cut my life tragically short, then I want to be able to.”

It was hard to argue against that. Not like Hunter didn’t appreciate this ghostly ancestor wanting to look out for him. He just wasn’t sure if he deserved it. Especially over something like a mean girl. His life hadn’t even been in danger or anything.

“I suppose that’s fair…” Hunter started. He wasn’t really sure what to tell the other. Could a ghost be reasoned with? It’s not like it would do much harm. Hopefully. This was still new to Hunter, so he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Before he could say anything else,

“Hunter!”

Hunter turned to see his friends running towards him. Hunter turned back to Caleb, or where he had been. Caleb had disappeared again. Hunter sighed.

He still had questions about this whole thing. Like, why did the ghost keep disappearing on him like that?

The school bell rang signaling that the break was over. Other students around started to head to their next classes.

His friends were talking over each other. They mentioned how they heard something happened with Boscha. Concerned that he ran away after. He walked with them to start heading to his next class as well. He tried to answer their questions, without mentioning Caleb. He was honestly still in a bit of a daze over what had happened. He was really dealing with a ghost now even with everything else going on? Well, at least Caleb was a nice ghost, but still. He didn’t know anything about this stuff. He supposed he was going to find out.

[vulcan-moon]

tumblr can have a wip, as a treat

[daredevil-vagabond]

I'm only human, I come with knives (and agony)

[lenaellsi]

realistically i know that if caleb is actually a ghost and not a goop-induced hallucination and hunter interacts with him in the finale it will be like. viscerally upsetting for everyone involved. but also. i want them to two spidermans

do u see the vision.

[jc-martin-og]

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

Every time I look at this drawing since I finished it, I keep wondering how deranged my head is to have come up with such an angsty idea at 3 am, while listening to Bohemian Rhapsody on loop 😂😭

I'll be completely honest, while it didn't end up looking the way I had envisioned it, I still like the overall result. I feel like this is the kind of drawing that would've been more visually impacful from a more skilled artist 💛🗡️🩸

[drabbles-of-writing]

Angst be damned, I know in my heart that the Golden Guard ghosts have the weirdest memes known to man or witch and even after four hundred years, Caleb still understands exactly 0 of them. Those memes gotta be passed around via tiny notes or slipped under doorways like bored kids in class

Anyway, I made some

That is all

made more, 3, 4, 5, 6

[amiizuki]

it will be forever funny to me how the flashback portraits of Wittebrothers made Caleb seem like he's had packing peanuts for a brain

(this post ended up becoming quite lengthy, and so did the tags somehow, because I kinda devolved into a rant closer to the end of writing this whole thing, so bear with me here)

so we know that Philip and Caleb became orphans when both of them were still kids. after that, they ended up in Gravesfield and, to fit in with everyone else who lived there, picked up witch hunting and started thinking that witches are pure evil. Caleb knew perfectly well that he's the only family Philip's had left and that he even may be his his only friend, since, judging by the portraits, they've only ever hung out with each other and we don't know if those two ever made any other actual friends.

until one day, during a witch hunt he and Philip were both a part in (something Caleb seemed happy to do, judging by his smirk there), he met a witch – Evelyn – someone he's been taught to hate and want dead by the townsfolk. someone who, again, in his mind, should be evil.

but he just suddenly does a 180 and goes "damn, you can make fire with your hands, you're actually pretty cool"

and then a few days (?) of talking to her later, he's running off to live with her in the Demon Realm, while simultaneously not giving a single fuck about the brother he's abandoning.

(he even runs off with a smile, with a literal :D face, I fucking can't lmao)

Philip ends up seeing Caleb get dragged off through a weird portal and later follows along, thinking something like "no, my brother wouldn't just up and abandon me without saying anything. he probably got captured by that witch we saw together that one time! she probably used some demon magic to bewitch Caleb and took him through that portal to kill him or worse! I gotta go save him!". and, after spending god knows how long in that realm, searching endlessly for his missing older brother, he eventually finds him. but he also finds that Caleb is not only perfectly okay and not hurt in the slightest, he's also peacefully walking together with the same witch who "captured" him, even holding hands with her.

and when enraged Philip tries to attack Evelyn, to protect Caleb from the witch who took him from his home, from his brother, still thinking that Caleb's under her control, Caleb just... gives him a hug and goes on to introduce the witch as his new wife to him (I'm assuming that portrait is the same day as the other three, if not the same scene), also adding on top of that that they're having a child. all as if nothing happened. treating the whole thing like everything's perfectly okay and just another normal day, fully ignoring the fact that he threw his brother away with no care or thought, leaving him completely alone, a full orphan, now with zero actual family left (in TTT, during their backstory, it's said that "Caleb did his best to take care of his younger brother", meaning that either they never got adopted in Gravesfield, or whoever adopted them didn't give a shit about the two, so they still mostly had to fend for themselves), all to go smash some random 5 out of 10 witchussy he talked to, like, 3 times. no fucking wonder Philip killed him!

(btw, jokes aside, it didn't seem like he intended to kill Caleb, because in that portrait where he's ready to kill with a knife in his hand, he's facing forward, while Caleb is actually to his left. so it just looks to me like Philip was gonna try to kill Evelyn again, and Caleb either jumped in front of her to protect her and got accidentally stabbed or he attacked Philip back, to, again, protect Evelyn, and Philip ended up winning that fight. but that's just my theory)

my brother in literal christ and literal titan – why in the FUCK are you just hugging it out with a smile on your face??? you ran off while giving absolutely no warning to anyone, especially your younger brother! why do you think he's here and actively trying to attack you and your new wife? you're not even trying to address the fact that you left him! at least when Luz ran off to a different realm without warning, she had a "I'm still at the camp" cover, so Camila wouldn't worry that much about where her daughter is, and even then she still felt bad for leaving her mother and planned to go back home once summer was over. this chucklefuck, on the other hand, just permanently portaled away to the Boiling Isles, knocked up a witch and fully settled down there, walking around with a big ol' smile and no care in the world. "Philip who? never heard of him"

the only thing that would sorta make this situation seem better (as in, not make Caleb seem like an overly naive ignorant brick), in my opinion, is if they added one more portrait – after the one where he meets the witch, but before the one where he leaves. in that portrait, Caleb would look like he's trying his best to convince Philip that witches aren't actually evil, and perhaps even try to get him to go live with them in the Demon Realm, all the while Philip's looking at him with either disagreement/disappointment/disgust or just rolling his eyes and full on ignoring him, while sharpening his witch hunt tools or something. then it would look like Caleb at least tried to make his brother change his mind, like he tried to offer him a chance to go with them. but no. with the way the portraits look in the final version it just seems like Caleb was fully on-board with killing witches since he was young, even pulling his younger brother along to think the same way, Philip also thought that Caleb was perfectly fine with killing witches, but once he actually meets a real witch (assuming they've never met one before) he instantly pulls an uno reverse card and just runs off with her, without so much as telling his brother beforehand.

I'm not trying to say that "Belos should've been redeemed, because he's the victim here and Caleb is bad and it's all his fault". he still murdered his brother and went on to manipulate everyone on Boiling Isles for centuries, with his end goal being the death of all witches, while simultaneously being stuck in the loop of "denial" and "bargaining" stages of grief – repeatedly trying and failing to recreate a perfect copy of Caleb, but also killing each one that came out wrong or went against him. Belos not being redeemed in the end was the right choice (ignoring the "Belos was always le bad" from King's dad), I agree with that. frankly, if he actually got redeemed in the end, I'd probably be seething for the next 3 to 5 years, like how I did after the Diamonds' "redemptions" in SU (yes I'm still pissed about that lol). I'm just saying that, from what was shown to us, Caleb didn't seem like that good of a person either, not as bad as Belos ended up being, but still not that great. and, once again, seemingly had a raisin for a brain.

(off topic, but during Masha's retelling of Wittebane's backstory, their "sounds like big bro got a hot witch girlfriend and little bro got upset" line was so fucking cringe, it gave me a fever for 3 days the first time I watched the episode)

k, rant over, I dunno what else to add

TL;DR: I think Caleb was dumb as a brick, because, from what was shown to us in their backstory, he seemed to have run off to Demon Realm and abandon Philip without telling him anything beforehand. when Philip came to BI to look for his brother, who he assumed was under control of the witch who "took" him, since he thought his last living family member wouldn't just abandon him, and when he eventually found him, and it turned out he wasn't in any danger at all, Caleb just brushed the whole "I left you for witchussy" thing under the rug and pretended everything was and is perfectly fine, even though it clearly isn't. rip bozo

[silversodas]

The two sides of the Caleb ghost or not thing

1.) essays that are sometimes good points but other times are essays that claim they must be illusions because it would be better writing and try to present that as evidence

2.) CALEB CLAIMS EACH ONE AS HIS SON! THEY BOND OVER HECKLING BELOS AND HATRED OF HIM BEING ALIVE!! THE GUARDS NOW CALL THEMSELVES THE CHILDREN OF THE BONES!!!

[hooterpatter]

Ghost Caleb AU

Caleb is wandering around a ghost after getting murdered by Philip

Something something "probably able to manifest as a ghost for so long thanks to Titan magic" something

Hunter can see and talk to his ghost

Nearly no one else can- and when they do it's very brief and circumstantial- Hunter's the only one who can see/talk to Caleb consistently

Hunter convinced himself that Caleb was an imaginary friend he came up with as a kid, Caleb doesn't have the heart to tell him the truth just yet

As a teenager Hunter definitely catches on that Caleb is more than just some imaginary friend, but hasn't figured out what he really is yet

Caleb really only manifests around Hunter when he's alone, because they're both aware Hunter would look crazy if he was talking to "the air" around others

Belos can sometimes see Caleb's ghost

It Usually Doesn't Go Well When He Does

Belos doesn't know Hunter can talk to Caleb's ghost

Oh yeah this scene is taking place when Hunter gets sworn in as Golden Guard btw- idk he's probably 14-15ish?

I haven't thought this au through so whatever questions you have I'm sure I don't have the answers to yet

Hunter thinks Caleb's a bit of an annoying nuisance but deep down appreciates having company that isn't constantly pushing him and is actually nice to him

Caleb definitely sees Hunter as a younger brother/son type of figure and tries his best to support him emotionally

That being said, Hunter inherited Caleb's chaotic genes

Shenanigans ensue

????????

Step 79: Profit

[trashdorito]

Hunter you might wanna watch your words

[creativia10]

Retaliation and Discovery

Trouble finds Hunter again. Yet this time, his friends notice the ghostly intervention. They want to talk about what this means now and what they should do about the situation.

Warnings: canon-typical violence (a fight of sorts), mentions of prior death (from ghost)

Relationships: (mostly) Platonic Hunter and Everyone

Wordcount: 7138

Notes: This one is longer than the other two in the series.

Things weren’t back to normal yet. Even though school was back in session for young witches and demons on the Boiling Isles. Really, they were lucky that Hexside was in such a good state. Many other areas and buildings were not so lucky. It was pretty common for the residents to work together to rebuild around the island. Even Luz, who lived back in the human realm again with her mom, came as often as she could during the school term to help out.

Even with the glyphs no longer around, she still managed to do a good amount with the help of her staff. This was another such occasion. Many of them who were part of the resistance worked together to help rebuild another part of the island. The citizens who were most affected seemed very appreciative of what they were doing.

Although, Hunter supposed he should have expected this. Not everyone would be receptive to his help. Especially given what the Isles had just gone through.

Their group walked up to a row of vendors, or what used to be.

“We’re here to help!” Luz announced. One of the vendors, who had been rummaging through the remains of his stand looked over to them. His shoulders slumped and he gave them a tired smile.

“Oh thank goodness. I wouldn’t have known where to go with this.” He stood up and walked over to them.

“Please tell me at least one of you works with magic that would help me reconstruct this,” He said.

They nodded.

“Yep,” Willow stepped up.

“We have plant magic and construction magic here to assist you,” She said.

Mat stretched his fingers and smiled smugly. Gus rolled his eyes at the gesture but didn’t say anything.

The vendor nodded.

“Okay, good.” He turned to look at what was left of his stand again and gestured.

“I think the big thing we need to do first is sort the scrap-“ He stopped when his gaze happened to stop on Hunter’s staff. The one with artificial magic.

Hunter shrunk in on himself a bit, and slightly moved his staff behind him. Not that it would be hidden from view.

The vendor’s face pinched up.

“That strange staff, there’s something familiar about it,” He continued to stare for a moment when realization came across his face.  

“That’s like Emperor’s Belos’ staff.” He looked up at Hunter.

“You’re the Golden Guard, aren’t you?” He asked with a scowl.

Hunter swallowed,

“Uh-

“Was the golden guard,” Darius bit out.

The vendor huffed and looked over to the adults in the group,

“What’s he doing here with you all?”

Darius struggled to hide the way his fists clenched at that. Raine smiled a bit nervously,

“He volunteered to help rebuild the isles,” They said.

“He was also a big help with the fight against Belos,” Eda said, crossing her arms a bit.

Hunter wasn’t too sure about that.

The vendor scoffed.

“I don’t need him doing nothing anywhere near my stand. It’s damaged enough as is,” He said.

Hunter’s eyes widened.

“I just wanted to help,” Hunter said.

“He’s not the only former member of the emperor’s coven helping either,” Lilith said.

“Yeah, well the golden guard was Belos’ right hand man,” The vendor said, “He’s done enough.”

“He’s just a kid!” Darius exclaimed. Hunter winced at that.

The vendor was still scowling.

“I-it’s okay,” Hunter said. The others turned to him with varying expressions.

Hunter shuffled in place. “I get it, really. I know what I did as the golden guard. You all go ahead. I’ll wait until we get to the next person willing to let me help.”

Darius gave him a concerned look. He definitely didn’t want them to just give in.

The vendor went ahead and started telling the group what he would need to get done first. Some of them listened. But Hunter’s friends looked at him for another moment.

Hunter tried to smile to reassure them.

“I’m okay, really. There will be other times I can help. Go ahead,” He said. Then Hunter crossed the street and sat on a step.

Hunter could tell his friends didn’t want to leave him like that.  It didn't take long though for other vendors nearby to start asking for their help. So they were hustled into removing the debris. The last one to linger looking at Hunter was Willow.

Hunter sighed and set his staff down. Stupid artificial staff. It was the only way he can do some witch things now but he hated using it. The thing felt cold. Not like physically though, it was hard to explain. It felt almost unnatural. Using that staff never used to bother him. In fact, in some ways it was still more powerful than a palisman staff for a powerless witch.

But compared to using a palisman staff, the artificial one felt so disconnected. Like there was a stutter upon every use. Hunter figured it was more his personal feelings that it wasn’t flapjack. The bird meant way more to him than power strength any day.

He got lost in his thoughts and didn’t notice the strangers approaching.

“Hey check this out.”

Hunter looked up to see a large boy, maybe his age, grab Hunter’s staff.

“Hey!” Hunter shouted. He sprang up.

“That’s mine! Give it back!” Hunter reached to grab it from the boy’s hands, but the larger guy held it up fast and moved away. The guy laughed as his friends quickly restrained Hunter from behind. Hunter growled and flash-stepped side to side. But the guys held on, gripping him harder despite the move bringing them side to side with him.

“Careful now,” The one with the staff said. He moved his hands to the middle of the staff, holding it horizontally, and mimed a breaking motion.

“Else I’ll break your only chance of having power like a real witch,” He said.

Hunter paused and grit his teeth. It was possible he could get it in time with his flash step, but Hunter was too afraid to chance it in that moment.

The large guy smiled.

“Ha! That’s what I thought.”

“Why do you want that anyways?” Hunter asked.

The guy shrugged.

“I figure it’s the least I deserve after what the emperor did to me. To get more power.” After he said that, the large guy rolled up his sleeve. He showed Hunter the sigil with scar marks around it from the day of unity.

“I never wanted to join a coven. My whole family was wild witches. But unfortunately, too many in one place stuck out too much to the coven guards. I managed to keep my younger sister away from them, she was a bit young after all. But I was forced to join a coven if I wanted to stay with her. I didn’t even get to choose the one for my best magical skill. Apparently, they took away my choice for that because of my family association.”

Hunter winced at the story and looked down.

“The Emperor hurt a lot of people for a long time. I know that.” Hunter then looked back up at him.

“But I know some of the former coven heads are already working on a way to get rid of the sigils-“

The large guy scoffed.

“And who knows how long that will take. I still have to live with this. Stuck only using a weak magic.”

He tossed the staff up in the air briefly.

“This outta give me some attack abilities at least to help me protect my sister. There’s no way to know who to trust now,” He said.

“Wait!” Hunter exclaimed. “There’s gotta be people who can help you. You don’t need to take that. The rebellion-“

“The rebellion worked too late,” The guy seethed out.

And with that, he turned around and started to walk away. Hunter continued to struggle against the guys holding him in place.

“Enough!” The dude on the right shouted, shoving him roughly into the other one holding him.

“All it takes is one holler and our guy breaks your precious staff.”

 That got Hunter to pause,

“Wait, if he wants the staff, what good would breaking it do?”

The left dude shrugged. “It wouldn’t exactly be a loss cutting power from the golden guard,” He said.

“But I’m not-“

The right dude punched Hunter’s face to the side.

“I said zip it!”

“What the-“

The three of them looked up to see the large guy had stopped abruptly. The large guy tried to step forward again, but the arm holding the staff stopped in place. Like something was keeping the staff from moving.

“How is it doing that?” The guy asked.

Hunter stared on as well. He’d never seen that happen before. Then the staff started to shoot upwards. The guy held on hard, his arm being pulled up more as the staff kept going. The guy grit his teeth as it kept pulling. He tried to reach with his other hand to get a better grip, but the staff was already too loose in his hand by them. So the shift allowed it to pull free from his hand, dropping him hard on his back. He groaned at the fall.

Then the staff went back to Hunter and the other dudes. It went back and forth whacking the dudes who were still restraining him.

“Whoa!”

“Hey!”

They both flinched back, getting hit by the thing. They continued to try ducking away from it while still holding Hunter.

But after enough whacks and fails at evasions, the two let go. They ran off muttering, ‘wasn’t worth it’, and ‘stupid staff’.

Hunter continued to stare as the staff then landed back to rest against his typical grip.

“Okay, I know there’s no way this can do that on its own,” He muttered. Then,

“Look out!”

Hunter jolted and turned to where the shout came from.

Back across the street, the vendor’s sign that had been hanging, had come loose. It fell right where the vendor from earlier had been.

Amity held up abomination goo that caught the sign. Willow was also hovering to the side on her staff with the vendor caught.

Darius then assisted Amity with raising the sign back up to where it was using abomination goo. A couple of the others in the group got to work re-securing the sign.

Willow let the Vendor back down, who was still staring at where he had almost been hit a moment ago, with wide eyes.

Wow.

He knew it was certainly possible for things to fall when they were working around debris like this. But Hunter also knew this group. They wouldn’t have let any bystanders near the reconstruction unless it was safe. That combined with the weird thing that had just happened with the staff made him wonder.

Of course, it was possible he was being paranoid, but this staff had never acted on its own like that. It wasn’t a palisman. There was no attachment to the wielder. Hunter looked around. He wasn’t sure. He wanted to investigate what happened by the stand though. Hopefully, the guy would let him at least come over.

“Nice save girls!” Hunter exclaimed as he walked back over.

Amity and Willow both looked at him and smiled. Amity for only a moment since she was still partially holding up the sign.

“Thanks, Hunter!” Willow exclaimed. He smiled at her back, feeling warm and light all of a sudden just from her grateful look at him. Then he carefully stepped closer to the stand, trying to be subtle about it. Avoiding looking at the vendor. Everything else about the stand seemed fine. Their group worked well and quick it seemed.

“Hey what held up this sign anyways?” Hunter asked.

He glanced to the side as Luz, who was the one right there, shrugged.

“Don’t know. They probably do,” She pointed to the group members re-securing the sign,

“But they’re a bit busy at the moment,” She said.

“Right, right,” Hunter said with a nod.

The vendor huffed and threw his arms up, “I wasn’t even in the way!” He exclaimed.

“I’m telling you, someone must have pushed me,” The vendor continued.

…okay, that was a little harder to pass off as a coincidence.

Hunter sighed. His friends looked at him. Then Luz gasped.

“Hunter?” She said.

Hunter looked at her.

“What?”

She pointed next to him.

Uh oh.

Hunter looked to where she pointed. Just behind and to the side of him. The figure was a bit more faded, most have been the sunlight. But it was the very light figure of the ghost of Caleb, again.

Hunter narrowed his eyes at him. He knew it.

Caleb smiled at him, knowingly.

“Cal-” Before Hunter could finish, Caleb disappeared again. Hunter growled out in frustration. Why did he always do that?

Hunter puffed a sigh and then turned back to his friends. They looked on with wide eyes in concern.

“What was that?” Gus asked.

“Was that the ghost of Caleb?” Luz asked.

“Caleb?” Willow asked. “As in the Caleb who Bel-“

“Yes, that Caleb,” Hunter cut in. He rubbed his temples.

Hunter’s friends looked at each other.

“I think we need to talk about this,” Willow said.

*

A good amount of the group still stayed to help the other vendors with their stands for the day. But Hex squad, Darius, and Eda all met at the Owl House to talk about what happened.

“Okay, so do you know anything about what happened there?” Eda asked.

Hunter sighed.

“So, ever since I went off on my own after the final battle with Belos, I’ve been visited by this ghost. Caleb. The one who Belos based the golden guard grim walkers after. I guess he had been haunting Belos after getting murdered by him. But he still stuck around because he felt responsible for me after what Belos did to me. He considers us family or something, which I guess in a way we are. He said he wants to look out for me. The sign thing was probably in retaliation for the way the vendor treated me as the former golden guard.”

“So, you have a ghost hanging around you that gets back at people that are mean to you? Did I understand that right?” Amity asked.

Hunter shrugged. “I guess that’s what’s going on. I didn’t want him to do that. I even said I didn’t need it. Last time, he slammed a locker door in Boscha’s face for giving me a hard time at school.”

Willow tried to cover a snort at that. Luz looked at her. Then Willow looked down.

“Sorry. She probably deserved it though,” Willow said.

“I mean,” Hunter started, “I’m not gonna say she didn’t, but I still didn’t need it. I can handle a mean girl. And a vendor who was rightfully upset with the golden guard.”

“Hunter…” Luz started. Hunter waved a hand.

“It’s fine, really. Anyways, he seems to always disappear on me until the next time. Probably because last time I told him I didn’t want him to do these things. I certainly didn’t want a sign to fall on that vendor. “

Luz hmmed.

“It is kind of cool that you almost have a guardian ghost though,” She said.

“Yeah well, I don’t need it,” Hunter grumbled, “and I especially don’t need ghostly retaliation to happen every time I’m in a situation. It’s not like I can always predict when I’ll run into trouble.”

“That’s probably why he’s doing this,” Gus said.

Hunter huffed at that.

“So what do we do then?” Amity asked, looking around.

“Maybe we can just ask him to tone done his methods of protecting you?” Luz suggested.

Hunter sighed, “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that. But I don’t really know how this ghost thing works with me. I don’t know where he goes, or if there is a way to get him to come out  and talk.”

Darius hmmed.

Raine then said, “Hey Eda, haven’t you worked with ghosts before?”

“Ehh,” She said, “I set some loose in the girl’s locker room when I was in school. I didn’t exactly have conversations with them.”

“Where did you even get them then?” Gus asked.

Eda thought on it, “Probably from something related to the oracle classes.”

“Oh right,” Luz said, “Oracle magic wielders can summon spirits, can’t they?”

Eda nodded.

“So perhaps,” Darius began, “We should ask the Oracle professor at Hexside. See if she knows anything that could help up communicate with Caleb.”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”

Darius nodded, “Yes well, in the meantime. Let’s try and keep you out of trouble. Although we really should have been doing that anyways.”

Hunter rolled his eyes in response to that. Then he stood up and followed Darius to the door of the Owl house.

“You all can get back to helping if you like. But I think we’ll head home for now, as we’re figuring this out.”

They nodded. Amity decided to go back out and help with repairs. The others decided to stick around. So they could see if they could do some research on their own. To find anything else about ghosts from Eda’s resources. Willow went with Gus to the library to scour those books for help.

They didn’t have to do that. But Hunter appreciated having such good friends.

Darius teleported the two of them home, or to Darius’s house using his abomination goo.

“Hunter,” He started, getting Hunter to look at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were dealing with this?”

Hunter shrugged and looked down.

“At first I was still reeling from the odd experience. It’s one I wouldn’t have expected after all. Plus…it’s hard to talk about the whole grimwalker thing. I didn’t know how much you knew, and I didn’t want you to think any differently of me. And I also didn’t want to worry you.”

Darius sighed and bent to his level. He put his hands on Hunter’s shoulders,

“Hunter. I’m the one who looks after you now. It’s part of my job to worry about you. You don’t need to avoid telling me things. In fact, I would like to know what’s going on in your life. Okay?”

Hunter hesitated but then nodded slowly.

“Okay,” He said a bit quietly.

Darius smiled at him and squeezed his shoulders. Then he stood back up and let go.

“We’ll figure this out,” He said.

Hunter hoped so.

*

The Hex squad went with Hunter the next time they had school to go see the Oracle professor.

Luz had wanted to come to, but she still had classes in the human realm. Her mom didn’t want her to skip. They reassured her that Hunter would be okay with them there and that she would be updated on what they learned.

Their group went early before classes started for the day. Darius came with them as well.

She seemed surprised to see their group there.

“Uh, hello?” She said.

Hunter smiled and gave a little awkward wave.

“Hi, Professor. Sorry to bother you, but uh I’ve been dealing with something we were hoping you may be able to help with.”

She looked confused, as she glanced over the group again before looking back at Hunter.

“Alright?” She said.

Hunter sighed, “So uh, I’m being followed around by a ghost. I was hoping you’d have some insight about what to do about it?”

The Oracle teacher blinked and then looked around him. Hunter followed her gaze, but nothing was there.

“Uh, he’s not always there. Or, at least he doesn’t always appear to me that is,” Hunter said.

The oracle teacher hmmed. She walked over to a crystal ball she had on a table at the front of the room. Then she waved a hand over it. Inside the crystal ball started to swirl a cloud shape that began to glow a light purple. She waved him to come closer. So he took a cautious step towards it and looked on curiously.

She kept her hand just above it. No one spoke for a moment. Until she nodded and looked back at him.

“Yes, I can sense there has been spiritual energy around you,” She said.

Hunter’s eyes widened, “Really?”

“Mhm,” She waved her hand over the crystal ball again.

“So what can you tell us about this?” Willow asked.

The oracle teacher glanced to her then back to the group.

“Well,” She started, “That is not such a simple answer.”

“What do you mean?” Amity asked with narrowed eyes.

The oracle teacher sighed.

“Our interactions with spirits as witches and demons are limited. Therefore, so is our understanding of interacting with them.”

She waved a hand up and produced a spirit that resembled a mummy floating above the crystal ball. She held her hand up towards it in a stopping motion,

“Wait,” She said, then looked back to the group.

“I know more about communicating with spirits for the sake of foresight, and to command them to fight for me. Like this one is ready to do. We don’t typically teach on how to trap spirits that are already out in the world.”

“Whoa, what?” Hunter said. “I didn’t say I wanted him to be trapped.”

She gave him a look at that.

“You said you wanted the situation dealt with,” She said.

“That doesn’t mean I want to trap him in a crystal! He said he wants to look out for me. I just don’t want him to keep randomly attacking anyone who gives me a hard time. I was hoping for a way to maybe summon him enough to talk about it or convince him to change how he is protecting me. Something like that,” Hunter said.

“Ah,” She started, “So you have actually communicated with this spirit in a normal way? No summoning involved?”

“Uh yeah, I think so,” Hunter said.

She hmmed.

“Yes, I think you would know if you were summoning him. Especially considering your own limitations involving magic,” She said.

Hunter blinked at her.

“How-“

“Principal Bump informed all your teachers of your situation, to a certain extent. So we could adapt to teaching you,” She said.

Hunter frowned at that. He supposed that should have been expected.

“Well regardless, conversing with a ghost the way you mentioned is not something I hear of much,” She said.

“Oh really?” Hunter asked.

She nodded.

“Yes. I mean, clearly, we do have ghosts around here. Most students here have seen them. But this is quite a specified agenda connected to you. Do you know why he is doing this?” She asked.

Hunter hesitated. He knew telling her as much as possible could help her understand enough to maybe help out. But it was still weird to talk about for him. Especially around people he didn’t know very well.

“He considers us family,” Hunter said.

The oracle teacher pursed her lips, probably suspecting there was more to it. But she didn’t push.

“Well as I was saying, many of the spirits we encounter don’t talk about their former lives or connections. We believe many of them forget. Either that or their time as spirits fades their personal connection to how they were before. That is, their memories fade. They don’t appear distressed by this. At least, it’s not clear when we interact with them for summoning purposes. I can talk with colleagues and try to find more information. From the oracle cov- or, the former members of the oracle coven that is. I will get back to you if I find anything.”

Hunter nodded.

“Thank you,” Darius said in response, putting his hand on Hunter’s shoulder.

She nodded.

“Of course. But until then,” She walked back over to her desk and pulled out a drawer.

“I don’t have enough of these for all my students, but I thought it could be of some use.”

The oracle professor pulled out a necklace with a circular clear ball as the pendant. It reminded Hunter of a necklace he used to see Amity always wearing. Amity gasped when she saw it.

The oracle professor walked back over to them and handed it to him.

“If we do eventually aim to have this ghost trapped in a crystal ball, it should be your own.”

Hunter looked back up at her.

“I don-“

“I know you said you don’t want to do that to him,” She interrupted, “But we’ll have to keep in mind how destructive he could end up being. This ghost sounds unpredictable.”

Hunter frowned and looked back down at the necklace in his hand. Hunter didn’t want to believe that Caleb could be dangerous. But he understood where she was coming from. This situation made him nervous after all. Even if knowing the other was looking out for him felt nice. He wished he had more control over it, but he didn’t want to control Caleb. Moreso he wanted the ghost to listen to him about his preferences.

“But that’s not the only use for this, though,” the professor continued.

 Hunter glanced up at her again.

“This crystal ball gives you a stronger avenue to connect with the spiritual world. It’s a more powerful tether between worlds. Seeing as it’s designed for such a purpose unlike the person he is haunting, you,” She said.

“Would this help him to appear more? Since he would often disappear on me,” Hunter mentioned.

She hmmed again, “It’s more likely at least. If it’s unintentional. This might depend on how much control and motivation he has on his end to reach you enough to become visible. You may need to assert more force on your end in order to summon him the way you want to, if talking to him is what you wish for. And who knows. Maybe you can convince him to go into the crystal of his own accord.”

“Is there a way we can ask other spirits you already have access to more? About understanding their world and other spirits. That seems like it could help us,” Gus said, gesturing at the spirit the oracle teacher still had floating over her own crystal ball.

She glanced at the spirit in thought.

“It is certainly something we could try. Not with this one though.” She twirled her hand, and the mummy-looking spirit went back into it’s crystal ball.

“I’d still rather communicate with my fellow oracle witches first. Communing with spirits the way witches and demons like us do are already a delicate balance as is,” She said.

“Why are you so afraid of doing anything different from the norm?” Willow asked as she crossed her arms.

“Willow,” Amity hissed. Willow didn’t back down though.

The Oracle teacher huffed at that.

“It’s not that. I can’t expect any of you to understand. There is intricacy to maintaining careful control when interacting with spirits. That is, with summoning."

“Is there any reciprocity with these summonings?” Gus asked. He seemed to understand what Willow was getting at.

Hunter understood where they were coming from. But he was afraid upsetting her might wreck his chances of getting help.

She frowned at him.

“I don’t like your tone, young man. In fact, Hunter is the only one of you who should actually be here since he is the only one who is my student. Well uh, that is-“ She paused when she remembered Darius was there as well.

“Of course you can be here as well, not that you need my permission, coven leader Darius.”

Darius put a hand up to get her to stop.

“There is no need for that, professor. The coven system is no longer around after all. And I will respect a teacher’s authority in her own classroom.”

“Yes, I know,” She continued again, “But I know you’re here for Hunter, as his…” She hesitated as though unsure how to refer to him.

“I’m his guardian, yes.”

Hunter and Darius hadn’t quite discussed how Hunter wanted to refer to Darius yet. Hunter felt like Darius was his dad, but he hadn’t ever referred to anyone in that way. The emperor was his ‘uncle’. He wasn’t sure what Darius would want to be to Hunter either.

“Right, yes,” The teacher continued, “You have the right to come to me with concerns that affect your, uh, Hunter. That I would be able to help with.”

Darius nodded.

“I know.”

The bell rang. Occupants of the room looked up.

“Well, I suppose we should leave you to your classes then,” Darius said, as he lead their group out of the room. Hunter didn’t have the class til later.

“I’ll keep you updated!” She shouted to them over the sound of the students bustling about.

Upon leaving, their group dispersed to go where they each needed to.

Hunter quickly put the necklace on, hiding the pendant under the neckline of his robes. He would think about that later.

*

Hunter wasn’t able to stay with his friend group the whole school day. They did have different course studies. But that hadn’t gone as poorly as it did his first day at this school. Even though he passed Boscha on occasion, she hadn’t made a stink about him anymore. She actually ignored him. Or when she did see him, she just frowned and went back to her friends. There was no way the locker door incident alone was enough to get her to stop being annoying. He had a feeling there was more going on. Maybe he could ask his friends what they thought about it another time. Now though, he was preoccupied with other things.

He was thinking a lot about the last encounters of Caleb retaliating on his behalf. And also what the oracle teacher said to them that morning. He wasn’t really sure what to expect from this. But he wanted to try the crystal pendant later. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to focus otherwise. Since Caleb felt so unpredictable with things.

Hunter never thought he’d wish for bad things not to happen to him solely to avoid ghostly retaliation. It never felt deserved. Even if the other person was a jerk. There was still times he really was saved, while being in danger, such as the incident with the staff thieves. But that didn’t feel right either. He should have needed that. It still didn’t feel deserved.

Hunter really hoped one day of distraction wouldn’t wreck the track he was on with his schoolwork.

-

They met back at the Owl house later after school. Apparently. Luz couldn’t wait. She practically fled to the collector’s portal almost as soon as she got home from school that day. She nearly knocked Hunter over on her palisman when they both got there.

“Whoops! Sorry, Hunter. I just really wanted to get back as soon as I could, to find out what you all learned from the oracle teacher.”

Hunter sighed and made his way over to the couch. Their group who went to the teacher, now along with Eda, Raine, and King sat around him.

“We didn’t find out a whole lot,” Amity said with a sigh. She sat down on the couch as well. Luz sat between them and leaned into Amity.

“I guess she wants to talk with other oracle witches to learn more,” Darius said as he came into the room behind them. Eda may need to get more seats if having a gathering of this size was going to become more common.

“She did give me this though,” Hunter said, as he brought out the pendant from under his shirt. Luz gasped,

“Is that-“

“Yeah,” Amity answered her. “Just like mom’s.”

Hunter blinked. He didn’t know about that.

“I’m not entirely sure how I can use this to be able to talk to him yet, but I figured I should at least try.”

The others nodded.

“How do you want to try this?” Willow asked. She was sitting on the armrest next to him on the couch.

Hunter sighed as he stared at him.

“I’m not sure,” He said. “I have tried telling him I don’t him to do some of the things he has been. So I’m not sure how this time will go any different.”

“You said he’s really only appeared to you on your own, right?” Eda asked.

Hunter nodded.

“Well, even if you summon him by yourself, doesn’t mean you have to deal with him on your own. We have your back,” Eda said.

Hunter shot her a smile.

“And besides,” Luz added, “Maybe hearing from us how he’s affecting others around you might get him to see some sense.”

Hunter hmmed and then nodded.

“Okay. I’m going to try this on my own first. Then I’ll see if I can bring him out here to you all. Is there anywhere around here I can go for some privacy?”

“You can try in my room!” Luz exclaimed with a bounce. She lead him there. Once they both went in, Luz gave him a hug.

“Good luck,” She whispered, and then left the room. Hunter smiled after her. Then he closed the door and walked inside more. Hunter stared down at the crystal pendant. He held it in his hand and tried to remember what the oracle teacher had said earlier.

Even if he didn’t have the powers for it, his connection to this ghost him could still aid him to summoning the other.

Hunter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he focused on drawing the ghost to him.

Caleb, come here. We need to talk.

“Whoa!”

Hunter jumped and immediately opened his eyes. He hoped the abrupt change wouldn’t affect the summoning, but no. Caleb was still there. Clear as day.

Caleb had wide eyes. He looked over his own ghostly arms and then looked around.

“How did I get here?” He asked.

“Uh,” Hunter said, because he wasn’t quite sure how this worked.

“Didn’t you say you were always following me?” Hunter asked a bit awkwardly.

Caleb hmmed.

“Yes, but…uh I don’t even know how to describe it. When I’m not choosing to appear to you, I’m almost in a different plane of existence? I hope that’s the right term. So I can feel the difference. I haven’t been brought to your plane so suddenly before though,” Caleb said.

“Oh,” said Hunter. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“Could it be because I summoned you?” Hunter asked. Caleb gaped at him.

“You did? I didn’t know you could do that,” Caleb said.

Hunter rubbed the back of his neck.

“Yeah, well, it was my first time doing it.”

Hunter hesitated. The conversation with the oracle teacher made him feel a bit more cautious about this. But, he wanted to trust Caleb. So he carefully showed the ghost his pendant.

“I got this from my oracle teacher. Apparently crystals like this have a higher connection to the spirits’ world? Witches and demons will often use them to summon spirits for fortunes and to assist them in battles.”

Caleb looked at it curiously.

“How interesting. I’m not sure if I’ve seen such a thing before,” Caleb said.

Hunter tilted his head.

“Really?” Hunter asked.

Caleb shook his head.

“It’s possible I have had a one track mind as a ghost. And Evelyn never showed me such a thing.”

“Who-“ Hunter started to asked but then stopped. He had a specific reason for summoning Caleb here. He didn’t want to get too distracted. He could ask more questions later.

“Nevermind. Caleb, do you mind if I introduce you to some people?” Hunter asked.

Caleb drew back a bit.

“What?”

Well, that didn’t seem good.

“It’s okay! They’re friends who I trust. It’s just that, they saw you. After you retaliated near the reconstruction of the vendor stands. They are understandably concerned that I have a ghost attached to me, and wanted to meet you. And make sure everything is okay.”

It wasn’t wrong. Hunter’s friends were concerned about the ghost situation.

Caleb pursed his lips at that.

“Are they going to try to do anything to me?” He asked.

“What could they do? You’re a ghost. But I’ll make sure they don’t try anything as long as I’m okay.”

Caleb blinked at him.

“Of course you’ll be okay. I’ve been protecting you,” Caleb said.

Hunter sighed at that. “Yeah, but they’re protective of me too. So they’ll want to be sure of that.”

Caleb smoothed his face.

“If we’re on the same page, then of course. I don’t mind showing them so,” Caleb said.

Hunter nodded slowly at that. He still wasn’t sure about this.

“Okay. Just wait until I say I’m ready to show you, okay?” Hunter asked.

Caleb nodded.

“Will do,” He said. 

Hunter went back to the main room of the Owl house where everyone was waiting.

“Well?” Darius asked.

Hunter smiled a bit nervously.

“It worked! I told him to wait for my okay before coming in here with me. You all ready to meet him?”

They all looked at each other first before nodding at Hunter.

Hunter exhaled.

“Okay.” He looked over to where Caleb was just off to the side in the hallway.

“You can come in now,” Hunter said.

Caleb phased through the wall and floated beside Hunter for a moment.

“Uh, hello?” Caleb said a bit nervously. Everyone stared.

His form flickered a bit.

“Whoa, is everything okay?” Hunter asked. Caleb leaned over to him,

“I think so…It’s just been a while since I’ve been seen by so many people before,” He whispered.

“Wow…” Luz said. “You really are Caleb.”

Caleb straightened up and looked to her.

“You know of me?” He asked.

“Uh, well,” Luz hesitated. “I remember seeing your image the time Hunter and I were in Belos’ mind. Plus, they sort of have a memorial with images of you back in the town I’m from.”

Caleb blinked at that.

“Interesting. I’d be curious to see such a thing. Well, the monuments that is,” Caleb said.

“Maybe you can come with me to the town some time,” Hunter said. “So far it seems like you can go where I can.”

Caleb hmmed.

“Perhaps,” He said.

“Alright,” Eda cut in. “Let’s get into the whole reason we’re doing this in the first place.”

Hunter gave her a look, but she was focused on Caleb.

Caleb blinked to her and seemed to pause. His eyes widened.

“…Evelyn?” He asked.

 Eda blinked and leaned back.

“Um, what? No. Name’s Eda,” She said.

Caleb shook his head.

“Right, no of course not. My apologies. That had been a long time ago.”

The room sat in awkward silence for a moment.

“…anyways,” Eda continued, “The kid says you’ve been messing with stuff that happens around him. We don’t need you to throw wooden signs at anyone who gives Hunter the wrong look. Not that there’s anything wrong with defending him of course, but Hunter doesn’t want anyone hurt. Not more than they need to be,”

“Eda!” Hunter exclaimed.

“What?” She asked.

“Ah,” Caleb said. “I see. Perhaps you are unaware of the unfair things that man said about Hunter-“

“No, it’s not that,” Eda cut in. “I was there. I heard the jerk. But Hunter doesn’t want you throwing signs at people for him.”

Caleb frowned and crossed his arms.

“No one should mistreat him though,” Caleb said.

“I’m not disagreeing with you there,” Eda said, raising her hands. “But he doesn’t need every jerk to be hit in the face.”

“Why not?” Caleb asked.

“Were you this vengeful when you were alive?” Luz asked. Eda shot her a look, as though willing her not to get involved.

Caleb drew back a bit and thought.

“…I suppose not. I feel different now though. It’s not like turning to a more peaceful nature saved my life after all. I’m not going to let another innocent of my blood be taken down from my own inaction again,” Caleb said.

“I wouldn’t exactly say I’m innocent…” Hunter muttered.

“In every wrong thing that has been done to you, you are,” Caleb said firmly.

Amity sighed.

“There’s gotta be a way we can compromise here,” Amity said.

“How about this,” Luz started, “We are all protective of Hunter here as well. Maybe follow our lead for what he’s okay with?”

Caleb hmmed. “But sometimes none of you are there. That’s why I started acting in the first place.”

“Then do what we would do,” She said.

“How am I supposed to know that?” Caleb said, “I just met you all.”

“You could come get one of us then?” Willow suggested.

“But if I’m already there, I may need to act,” Caleb said. “After all, none of you noticed when Hunter was attacked across the street from the vendor stands.”

“You were attacked!?” Several of them exclaimed at Hunter at once.

Hunter winced at that.

“I wasn’t necessarily attacked. A large guy took my staff when I was distracted. Then his buddies restrained me so he could get away with it,” Hunter said.

“You are not easily subdued,” Raine said.

Hunter sighed. “Yeah, I know. The guy threatened to break the staff, and I guess I panicked.”

“See?” Caleb said. “I had to act quickly in that case.”

“Well, you definitely protected him well in that instance,” Darius gave him.

“Maybe you can at least agree to wait before doing anything unless Hunter is in any physical danger?” Eda suggested.

Caleb hmmed.

“Alright, I suppose that is fair enough to attempt,” Caleb said.

Hunter let out a breath of relief at that.

“Thank you, Caleb. I really appreciate it,” Hunter said.

Caleb nodded.

“Of course,” He said. “Thank you for believing in Hunter enough to let me be here,” Caleb said to the room.

They seemed a bit confused at that, but nodded nonetheless.

“If you don’t cause harm, there isn’t a reason you can’t be here,” Eda said.

And with that Caleb winked out. They all jumped.

“Is he ?” Amity started.

Hunter put his hand to the crystal pendant again and focused on the ghost.

Caleb?

“I’m still here.”

Hunter heard him whisper near his ear. Hunter looked in that direction but still didn’t see him.

“It just takes a lot of energy to appear to humans.”

“Ah,” Hunter said aloud. “Apparently it takes a lot of energy to appear to us.”

The group hmmed at that.

“Hopefully we’ll get to learn more about why that may be,” Willow said.

“Yeah,” Hunter agreed.

Hunter had a feeling everything wasn’t resolved yet. But at least this seemed like a start.

[teartra]

Well I hope this scene aged well

[innytoes]

Jukebogs (Julie/Luke/Reggie/Bobby), Ghost Hunters AU

"Like every episode of Ghost Bros," Luke was giving his usual spiel to the camera. "Reggie and I will be doing our investigation in the house, trying to capture evidence. Then, our resident psychic Julie will tell us if this place is actually haunted, or if our camera man Bobby used his weed dealer's connections to find another random creepy abandoned house with no ghosts."

"Stop antagonizing him!" Reggie said nervously. "Last time you antagonized him, he nearly made me pee myself during the solo investigation."

Bobby turned the camera around to film his own unimpressed face. "Luke was supposed to find that ventriloquist dummy with the knife covered in ketchup, not you," he deadpanned, before swinging the camera back around to Luke and Reggie.

Julie sighed. She knew the boy's shenanigans was part of the draw of the show, but she was the one who usually had to deal with Reggie clinging to her all night, before ghosts generally listened when she told them to buzz off. Not that they usually slept in haunted locations, except for the season finale.

"Sooo," the cute boy in the crop top who hadn't been there two seconds ago started. "Can I mess with them? Please tell me I can mess with them."

"We are not messing with them!" Another boy in a pink hoodie said. "If we mess with them, we're going to have every ghost hunter with a shitty Youtube Channel clamouring through our house, messing with our stuff. Do you have any idea how long it took me to get that dent in the couch right for my ghost butt?"

"Don't worry," Julie whispered, as to not alert the (alive) boys. "We never give up our haunted locations unless the ghosts ask us to."

"Holy shit she is psychic!" Crop Top whispered gleefully.

"Tell them to stay off my couch!" Hoodie said urgently.

"I will," Julie promised. She could let Bobby know, and he'd keep them off. "But only if you promise to go easy on Reggie."

"What about the camera man?" Crop Top asked.

Julie blinked. None of the spirits had ever really interacted with Bobby before. The ones who knew what a camera was respected his position, and the ones who didn't were usually distracted by the two idiots loudly asking questions and waving around various gadgets and asking them to touch flashlights.

"You should totally mess with the camera man," she decided. Bobby was not so much a skeptic - none of the boys were, they believed in what Julie could do- but he was pretty un-phased by pretty much everything. "That would make a great season finale."

(Send me an AU and a Pairing and I'll write you a thing.)

[beetlesanbutterflies]

so....This was terrifying 

[welcometogrouchland]

Find it funny how willow very much WAS the voice of reason a lot of the time in the demon realm but then she gets to the human realm and is so confused and scared that she sort of just sits back and tries to have fun and make memories where she can. We love a self care queen. Being stupid is good for her <3

[drabbles-of-writing]

you know the ghostwalkers were OUTRAGED at hunters name. roast material for centuries; real bottom of the barrel stuff. at least the puritan names were unique! (or if we are going with word of god/post hoot: collective sigh. the grimwalkers welcome hunter #21 to the world)

You sent this. Like an hour after I just finished writing the first part of a fic where the ghosts of the guards heard Hunter's name for the first time and immediately bullied Belos about being the most uncreative mf alive. It's not even finished with editing yet but you sent it somehow on the exact day it was made. How

But yeah they mocked his ass into the dirt for that one. Like oh, I'm sorry, you can bust out the infuriatingly tragic names like Make-Peace or Forgiveness, the old normal ones like James and William, but you went with Hunter? Hunter? Of all the fucking names? How ironic that the last Grimwalker he ever made had the second most uncreative name they ever heard, beat only by the Grimwalker he had the depressed obsessed balls to name Caleb.