Long awaited(due to forgetfulness) revenge. Edit probably not.
Hunter
Hunter was only half certain what he was doing running from the angry witch behind him and yet he was pretty sure he was more sure of what he was doing than he had been all day. Part of him wondered why he was in this situation. Why he was doing what he was doing but he supposed he knew. It started when he slumped in relief into a sitting position in potions class (there were people sitting down or lying down in the grass) after he escaped Blight. It had been a close call but he was fairly certain that she hadn’t gotten a good look at him.
His reflexes saved him figuratively this time. He had managed to catch the charm that made him look like Luz and slap on his hastily scribbled invisibility glyph (It worked. He wasn’t sure it was going to,) in quick succession.
Now that he had gotten away he didn’t even care he was sitting on the ground. The people who were sitting got up and everyone was giving him odd looks. Apparently from the conversations surrounding him, they had only been on the ground because they had just run a race(they were in a sport called track) not because it was common practice. He had to keep sitting there though because Luz would sit down if she felt like it and she would know whether people usually stood or sat.
He barely heard the instructions. They were fairly self-explanatory: they would test potions they had made and if they didn’t work they would write down ways they could fix them to make them work. He had a decent knowledge of potions and he thought he could make decent notes of what to fix.
He hated that he would be the one to test the potions( though maybe it was good that she wasn't here. No, that was probably Luz years 7 to 11 or maybe twelve. She probably could practice decent potion safety only if she got too excited it could get bad.) instead of Luz. He was sure she loved this part and when they wheeled out the carts it looked like she had tried so hard. She had more potions than most. He would try and test only some of them and work on writing comprehensive descriptions of what to fix on the bad ones. She might be a tad annoyed that he thought she needed help but there was a higher chance she’d like the notes and want to talk to him about his theories next meeting.)
She was excellent at improvisation and creativity in solutions but he was good at fixing problems that had one solution. He hoped he could tell what the potions were supposed to be though. He would only grab a couple at a time instead of grabbing a dozen or so and putting them in a pile near his feet like Luz would.
He scanned the other potions. So many people in the class only had a couple. He paused on a familiar name it read, in the same clear print as all the others: Boscha. He probably mispronounced the name; it was probably something other than he thought. Then he heard it the name aloud
"Boscha you have so many! How did you make all of these" so he hadn't misunderstood the name. It could be someone else? He turned and his doubts were stopped. She stood like she owned the place. She wore a satisfied smile, she definitely looked like a ‘mean girl’(Luz had once described the common description of how mean girls often looked and acted and told him to stay away from them. He couldn’t for the titan’s sake imagine why.)
He could obviously beat any regular student in a fight. He had training speed and determination and he was good at analysis when given proper time and he had after all read multiple books on how to fight in the best way possible.)) and her words proved it
"What are you looking at, freak?" She growled at him. This was Boscha. He remembered. One day Luz had come to their meeting with her hair singed and looking overly a decent amount dirtier than she usually did. He knew from her look it wasn't on Luz what happened. She ranted about the triclops when he asked and she rarely talked about anyone in specific.
He knew Boscha was bad news and she messed with Luz. He had tried to plan something then he thought about how he couldn’t locate her, then he had forgotten.
He was here in a class with her and the best possible opportunity to destroy her. He just needed a plan that would stop it from backfiring on Luz. He had half a shelf's worth of potions but what could he do with them if Luz would get in trouble for any vengeance he enacted? He picked up one of the potions. It had a label that seemed to have been scrawled quickly.
It read: fog brew(now with stronger wind!) he picked up another: fire solid(name revisable this should stop so much from catching on fire) a plan started to form Luz couldn’t get in trouble if he made it seem like an accident… he grinned, the girl had a lot coming to her.
They were spread out on the field and he was ready to take action. He knew when the most students would see. There was a spot where the majority of the plant track kids were(at least he thought that was what he heard) and plenty of windows he just had to make enough noise to get the attention of as many as possible and of course, aim just right. He waited until Boscha had no potions in her hand and then he aimed carefully.
Wham the fog brew exploded against her and she began to cough when it stopped he saw mussed hair and dust on her. It had lived up to its label he thought and maybe even a bit more. He was almost certain the others would work too. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to do that here let me fix it.” I’ve got a potion here to fix it you just need to hold still.
Boscha had no intention of staying still; she marched towards him. Pointing a finger in a way that dared him to throw another potion. Luckily it would still be possible to hit her despite her advance so he threw it.
Blam. He hit the target perfectly. It was, rather than the fixing potion he claimed it to be (he had one to validate his story) the fire potion. The honey was less viscous than he thought it would be (he entirely blamed himself for the lack of consideration of that factor. Luz didn’t need to give an ingredients list for the potions since she knew the ingredients)
The honey contained was made less thick by the temperature but he didn’t think it would do too much more damage. He would just have to hope it didn’t burn her too much more or in the wrong places (it probably wouldn’t but he couldn’t be sure.)
The triclops now advanced on him, her hair and clothes were messed up by it and she was partly on fire luckily the next potion would help with that. “That one was wrong too. I think this one was it.” He threw a potion meant to douse a person at her(it looked like the recipe had called for more than just dousing but Luz had intentionally made it just dousing.)
Most of the fire had been put out( there was a flicker here and there) she was mostly just smoking now (she would smell like smoke for quite a while. Too bad it was the end of the day.
He hoped her family wouldn’t need to buy her a new uniform.) He did his best impression of '12-14-year-old Luz’s trying to fix a disaster I am partly or wholly responsible for'. “
I’m so sorry none of that was supposed to happen. I'm going to go find water to put the rest of that out and wash you off. Stay here I think I saw a hose over there” he pointed and then dashed away he hoped he had drawn attention. When he got around the corner he checked behind him for Boscha.
She was exactly where he wanted her to be and he slapped on an invisibility glyph and snuck back across the yard he came from and around the other side of the building then he started running again. Boscha was still on a wild goose chase running by the other side of the school so he had a momentary head start. He left off the invisibility glyphs after he turned the corner out of view of the potions class.
He kept running until he felt a hand touch his arm. Why was someone grabbing him? It took all his strength not to disarm them but Luz didn’t have that ability. Instead, he turned. Hopefully, he could make sure they knew he wasn’t to be messed with through a look so they’d let him go. “What?” He snapped before he saw who it was. Luz’s plant class friend, the one he still didn’t know the name of. This wasn’t good.
She probably knew Luz wouldn’t say “What?” Like that. He put on a cheerful voice “Hey how are you doing, I need to go,” It probably wouldn’t work but you never know since he never knew with Luz and this witch was her friend he couldn’t be completely sure. "I know you're not luz" So she wasn’t letting him go anytime soon. He probably couldn’t convince her he was but he could try.
"What do you mean? Of course, I’m"
“I know you're not Luz” she interrupted him with her eyes narrowed. He was not going to convince her no matter what he said. He slackened it would make it easier if she wasn’t holding onto him tight if he needed to break her hold. (He could break nearly any hold but not without causing some pain to his opponent. If he did that Luz would probably freak out and give him another lecture on things not to do when dealing with most people(aka anyone he was not actively fighting or anyone he would start fighting soon. She had been the one to bring up the fact it was fine to fight the people he might be fighting soon. He didn’t think it was a great idea to contradict her own point but she could have done worse.))
He hated the lectures because he knew she honestly thought he needed to hear them(which was annoying). They took up far too much time and they would echo in his brain for the next few weeks when he was doing his job. That was incredibly inconvenient.)
He evaluated the witch. Could he reason his way out of this? Probably not because she looked like she meant business. Could he make a run for it? Should he? Definitely, Boscha would be here any moment and he had to be in view of more people before she caught up to him.
Did she have any weaknesses he could take advantage of to escape? Her attire didn’t look like that was the case. What if she turned him in? Then Luz would be in trouble for not being here. All this craziness would be for nothing!
“I’m not going to try and uncover your identity” he blinked he was pretty sure she was trying to be nice with that. She didn’t seem like the type to add a condition to that statement. She continued “I don’t necessarily think you're dangerous like the others do.” The others thought he was dangerous? That was a bit bad but also dumb even though he was dangerous if he had been dangerous to them they would be hurt already.
He wondered if it was bad that Luz's friends thought he was dangerous but it wasn’t like he was going to ever see them again after today. “But why are you running?” he blinked and then considered. It might be bad to answer that question.
It could end up bad but he couldn’t think of any good reason not to tell her “because someone is chasing me.” she rolled her eyes at that.
"I could guess that. Why is someone chasing you?” That was a question that was not so easy to answer. Either in figuring out how to explain or telling her why he provoked Boscha. Luckily he could get out of answering her easily. He got out of her grip and started running in the direction he was headed.
"I don’t have time to tell you that I have to go."
She called after “I need a better answer to that question” though she didn’t seem like she felt like pursuing the answer to that question. The plant track witch- Plant track! He turned back to her, maybe she would want to help. The enemy of your friend was your enemy after all.
“Someone is chasing me and I intend to make them regret things.” He probably should have told her it was because Boscha hurt Luz but directly confessing he wasn't her probably wouldn’t have been good.. “can you use your plants to trip them up? Then make it look like they tripped on their own?” Having more help in making her look bad would be good.
The plant witch’s brow furrowed; she did not look like she was a fan of the idea. “What did this person do to you to deserve this? I doubt they deserve it.”
She seemed to not be a big fan of embarrassing anyone. Like did draw to like after all and it would make sense that she and Luz were friends if they both had a strong and similar moral code. “You might consider it when you see who it is.” Maybe this witch and Luz hadn’t been friends back when Boscha witch was mean to Luz but hopefully, she was, so the plant witch would be mad at Boscha.
“When and how should I do it?” She looked wary but not like she had fully discounted the idea. He smiled. She was at least keeping an open mind on the subject. He didn’t know how best to answer that question. He didn’t know her level of skill.
"Do it as easily as you need to and when she gets into the eye-line of the most people possible." He didn’t want to set up anything too complicated if the other witch couldn’t do it. She knew the limits of her magic and what she could do with it.
He took off again; and he was still running now. He had to cause enough of a commotion that everyone was paying attention before she got there. He was usually the one stopping commotions rather than causing them but he had watched Luz cause commotions completely on accident enough to know how she rolled. He could do this. He eliminated all doubts.
He ran into view of the plant track students. They were working far more spread out than he expected but also there were far more of them. He darted up near a cluster of them and looked around frantically.
“Where is it?”
“What?” One demon asked,
“The thingy” (he had to pretend he forgot the word in his panic or they might just hand him the hose and then would draw none of the attention he needed.) “The water thingy!
“Ugg where are words when you need them?" he stamped his foot "The thing with water.” He made the most confusing motion he could so they would have no idea if he meant a hose or a sprinkler or something else.
“Calm down,” another student said authoritatively. “what happened?”
“Potions class went all wrong. I accidentally hit someone with a windy potion and when I tried to fix it with a clean-up potion I hit them with a fire potion instead.” One student screeched
“Someone's on fire?” he shook his head. He hadn't accounted for the panic of that statement. Why hadn’t he done that?
“Not anymore, at least not mostly I already put it out with a water potion but they’re still a tiny bit on fire and the other ingredients are going to ruin their uniform and It's all my fault. If I get a hose- that's what it's called- I can fix it.” He tried to summon a manic light to his eyes similar to the one Luz might have in this situation.
He didn’t actually want to use a hose. He wasn’t going to go that far but still, it was the best pretense. He yelled to the entire area as loud as he could. “Does anyone have a hose or maybe two? Two seems good.”
He said the last bit quieter but not by much he had drawn the eyes of the crowd and when he looked up there was even a window open things were going according to plan.
Boscha rounded the corner. “Human!” Someone near Hunter piped up and he nearly jumped. “I have a hose here.” A timid-looking horned demon thrust a hose into his hands.
He smiled at them “Thanks.” This was going to be a huge help.
He waved at Boscha. “See there really is a hose just like I thought. It's great luck.” He grinned hugely at her. She was still advancing. “You just need to hold still and I can hose all the potion off of you. Hopeful the uniform can be saved”
“I’m going to kill you for this. When I get over there I-” She was cut off by face-planting. The plant witch had helped him even though she didn't need to. He didn’t know if it was because she changed her mind and was trying to help him or if she knew Boscha from when she was mean to Luz but either way it was good she helped, so he’d protect her by making sure Boscha didn’t catch her.
He gasped “Oh no, I’m so sorry” he yelled and ran over to her. The hose stretched. I can’t believe this happened. This is so.” He paused for a second and Boscha looked up. “Wait a second I get it now this is karma”
“What is that?” Boscha growled.
“Karma is a popular concept in the human realm. It has its origins in a human religion but now It's popular all over the human realm. Karma means when you do cruel things things, bad things happen to you.”
“Shut up about this karma stuff you did this”
“I didn’t do it on purpose” “It was a complete accident. Karma isn’t something anybody does on purpose; it simply happens when you do too many nasty things.”
“That’s nonsense, I'm going to get you soon I have gotten even better with my fireball than last time.” Hunter saw the plant witch sneaking around. He blinked why was she doing that when he looked at Boscha’s feet instead of seeing a vine she saw her shoelaces tied together. That explained things. The plant witch must have used her plants to tie the laces but now she couldn’t see them to untie the laces. He could keep Boscha distracted a while longer; it wouldn't be too hard.
“If you didn’t want this to happen you shouldn’t have said stuff like that.” He paused. “Actually, you probably shouldn’t say it anymore. The bad karma is probably over now. That or it will be over later today(he was not opposed to other people using this to prank her.) Maybe tomorrow at the very latest.”
“Once bad karma is gone there is room for good karma to come in its place”
"Stop your gibberish."
"No, this is incredibly important for you to know. Karma means bad things happen to jerkish people and good things happen to nice people. If you stop being a jerk nothing like this will happen again.“
“Are you threatening me? '' he blinked. He hadn’t been. He had been hoping he could get her to turn her act around but she seemed to think it was a threat.
“Why would I threaten you? This looks like it sucks and though this same thing happening again is very unlikely, something else bad might happen if you keep being mean.” “If you can't be nice that’s ok as long as you aren’t being mean you won’t get bad karma instead you’ll just get neutral karma.
Probably. I think it works that way. I've only ever heard of good and bad karma but if there is good and bad karma there is likely neutral karma too.”
He hadn’t noticed he’d been gesticulating with the hose. Had he done it like Luz would? Probably no one would notice if he hadn’t.
"You did this to me human.”
”I didn't do it on purpose! The first was on accident and the next two were to try and fix things! I have a clean-up potion back on our side.” “Our side" he pretended to realize something: we have to get back to class. Things will be worse if we don’t. He looked down at her shoes. They were untied again. We have to get back to class.
He knelt and offered her a hand. He didn’t love touching strangers but it would be worth it. She knocked his hand out of the way. She got up “I didn’t do it on purpose. I’d swear it” he could have Luz swear it when she was better since she actually hadn’t done anything unlike him. “I’m so sorry” He got up and started to walk away before pausing.
“Wait for a second, do you want me to help you ask around to see if anyone else has an extra uniform?” He looked around and saw there was a decent number of potion class students on this side. That was good, it meant more people bore witness to this. He kept looking around like he was searching for someone with an extra uniform.
“Get away from me human”
“Okay Sorry again. If you want I could spend the rest of this class helping you with your potions” If she accepted(which he doubted) he would make sure she knew in no uncertain terms it wouldn’t happen again he wouldn’t let that happen to Luz.
“Leave me alone!” She growled.
“Okay bye see you later in class.”
He would have to head back; he was a little worried about all he had to do in class. Then he heard the bell scream
“Schools out! Bye, everybody. Bye, Boscha.” He ran off when he got far enough away he put on an extra invisibility glyph and jogged to the owl house.
It took him almost half an hour to get to the owl house (20 minutes wasn’t making good time!) and it took about 10 minutes to get inside. He had to debate his options but he made it in alright. He didn’t get in through Luz’s window but through the window of an empty room he snuck out of the other room and opened Luz’s room’s door
“Hunter” she almost yelled and then she smiled.
He curbed his own impulse to smile too.
“Luz shush not so loud,” he said walking in the door.