This Isn't Home (Amphibia x The Owl House)

Summary:

Hunter has a panic attack. We get to see more of what's happening on Earth. Sasha finds some new friends and discovers a secret about Anne and Marcy.

Hunter was sweating when he woke up, still somewhat asleep and in pain. 

He was terrified, his mind not recognizing he was awake and forcing him into another dream. 

" YOU !" a familiar voice roared, and dream Belos rose from the ground, racing towards him. Hunter yelped and ran, dodging horrid crumbling trees and jumping over burning and dying palismen.

"Leave me alone!" Hunter cried, feeling hot tears flow from his eyes in fright.

He felt hands on his shoulders and panicked, shoving them away as he woke up for the second time, panting. His arm stung like fire and in his haze of panic he accidentally moved it a bit, resulting in pure agony.

"Hunter?" It was Luz.

Hunter's eyes were wide with fright, and he couldn't seem to catch his breath, just shaking and gasping for air, his good hand on his chest.

He could hear his thundering heartbeat, and he shivered, suddenly cold to his bones.

"Hunter! Hey, breathe. Breathe. Take a deep breath." Luz gently placed a hand on his, letting him grab it and squeeze.

"It's okay."

Hunter forced himself to breathe deeply, feeling calmer already. He shuddered, the cold air blowing into his face like a bunch of tiny stinging needles.

He shielded his head with his good arm, a deep breath shaking him.

"It's over. We're safe." The light of the morning sun was shining behind Luz, making her look majestic.

Hunter looked at his injured arm, seeing a green kind of bandage wrapped around it. It still hurt a bit, but looked much better.

"...How long was I out for..?" he rasped, voice dull and cracking from disuse.

"Amity said you were unconscious for at least two days." Luz answered, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

All the memories of before were coming back to him now, trying to flee from the bug-manipulated bear, Luz and Amity finding him a few days later, watching them both jump off a cliff and… then he had passed out.

"So that makes it… a week. We've been here over a week," Hunter struggled to a sitting position, being aware of his injury and carefully moving as to not budge it.

"Do you think Eda is trying to reach us?"

Luz thought about this for a moment. "Well, of course she is. She's one of the greatest witches I know." She sat back on her heels, "I'm sure Eda's currently working harder than ever to get us back. She's saved us before, she can do it again."

Hunter could remember the time he and Luz had been accidentally trapped in the Emperor's mind. That day had revealed Belos's true nature, and Hunter was forced to run and hide for months after.

He brushed some tears from his eyes, trying not to spiral into another panic attack.

"I…" Hunter cleared his throat. "I'm scared…" he admitted in a whisper, his voice cracking.

"I'm scared the bug thing will come back… I'm scared it will hurt you guys… I'm scared Belos isn't really gone and the Boiling Isles are too busy fighting him to save us… oh, Titan, what if they can't save us?!"

"Hunter, calm down ." Luz squeezed his hand again.

"W-what if we're stuck here forever?!" Hunter couldn't breathe. He couldn't stop himself. He was shaking and sweating and gasping.

"If they never- they won't- what if they don't come back for-" 

He felt dizzy, the world was spinning in front of him, "I don't want to- to be alone- not again, not again, not again…" 

Luz's panicked shout of his name was the last thing he heard before passing out.

"I'd like to report a missing person's file." Oum slapped her hand down on the desk in front of her.

"Another one?" The policeman looked up, his brown eyes curious and concerned.

Oum hesitated, unsure of what to say.

The man seemed to notice her confusion and said, "or we could put up some more flyers for ya."

Anne's mother nodded, her curls bouncing gently. She forced a smile on her face, feeling the same dread as before deep in her gut.

"Alright. What was his name? Annie?" The man took a pen and notepad, flipping to a random page and waiting.

"Just Anne." She saw him write down 'Anne Boonchuy' on the paper before he placed down the pen for a moment to grab a donut.

"That's a strange name for a boy."

Oum froze. She glanced away before looking back, feeling guilty. Anne had always been different from the boys at school, she chose to hang out with girls and wear feminine clothing.

Her parents hadn't been against it, but they had been suspecting some things.

She had come out to them when she was in grade five, at the age of eleven, and spoke about how she was tired of pretending to be a boy. Oum and Bee welcomed their daughter with open arms, helping her with anything she needed.

She hadn't wanted to confess to the entire town at once, but the kids at school had gotten the idea to use the right pronouns. Sasha had helped with that part.

"What does he look like?"

Oum blinked, coming out of her thoughts. "Oh. Dark brown curly hair, brown eyes, tanned skin." The man wrote down these things.

"I'm sorry you've lost yer son." 

"I hope we find her-" She cleared her throat, "- him soon."

The word felt like acid on her tongue, she felt so bad, but this was what it would take to save Anne.

Oum still felt like she was betraying her daughter by the time she walked out of the police station.

Bee was waiting in the car, and it seemed he had fallen asleep on the steering wheel.

Anne's mom looked down at her hands. They were shaking a bit, and she was nervous she wouldn't find her daughter this time.

Little did she know, on the other side of the country, in a small village, a woman named Camilla Noceda was having the same problem.

Sasha skewered the last fish and passed it to Hunter, who took it gratefully. He still hadn't grown to trust her very much, but was kind enough to at least treat her like a person.

It would take time to get him to know her, but she was willing to wait. Six months ago, she would have been different. She still cringed remembering that time she had fought Anne, one of her best friends, out of spite. Sasha had pretended to be emotionally hurt when her friends didn't do what she wanted them to do. She had been used to bossing everyone around, and if Anne hadn't stood up to her, she wouldn't have been different today.

She just hoped she wasn't the cause for another one of her friends getting hurt…

Sasha shook her head, clearing her thoughts and passing out the rest of the skewers to Luz and Amity.

"Don't let these ones burn please. I'm going to go get Anne and Marcy." Sasha stood and stretched. Her friends had gone to see the sunset an hour ago, asking her to come and get them when the food was ready.

Luz nodded, stepping up to rotate the skewers on the homemade grill.

Sasha was proud of that grill. While she and Grime travelled, he had taught her many survival skills. One of them was how to make and cook food while in a forest. He'd mainly used supplies only in Amphibia, like giant beetle's legs to make the grill, but Sasha had figured she could use stone and wood for the same result.

Long story short, it had worked.

"I'll be back soon. Promise." She said, brushing past the overhanging leaves and vines, and making her way towards the cliff on memory alone.

It would be a bit different without someone to guide her, but she'd marked some places with a large 'X' to know where she was going.

She passed a decayed stump with a carved 'X' on it, and grinned knowing she was making it so far. Now just a few more steps, and-

The second Sasha emerged into the clearing with the cliff, she froze, mouth agape in shock.

Marcy saw her arrive and shoved Anne away from her, face completely red.

Anne wiped at her lips with her shirt, equally as red and looking down in embarrassment.

Sasha was speechless. She felt a mixture of shock and… jealousy? Course through her veins.

Why am I jealous? She wondered, glancing between the two.

She snapped her jaw shut, realizing it was still open, and decided to just leave them be.

"Dinner's ready," She mumbled, turning and storming away.

Why were they-

-How long have they been-

-Are they-

Her thoughts raced as she stalked through the forest, heart pounding.

Why hadn't they told her something? Like, perhaps, a warning ?!

Sasha was beyond surprised.

She'd just seen her two best friends kissing on a cliff.

Her thoughts were still spinning when she was closer to the camp entrance. She took one look at the vines that marked the entry way, and turned left, racing through the woods. With almost a week's practice, she was getting pretty good at running on this uneven ground.

Sasha felt her ankle catch on a root and grunted as she fell in the dirt. She struggled upwards again, and suddenly realized she didn't know where she was. She was lost.

A small slope was just in front of her, and, feeling hopeless and betrayed, kept running. She slid down the hill and into an even thicker piece of forest none of the group had discovered yet. Her blonde hair was shining gently in the light of the afternoon sun.

It would be dark soon.

Sasha blinked and looked around. It was almost night and she had run away from her only chance of survival. And for what? Attention?

She facepalmed, hissing through her teeth.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She groaned, kicking a tree nearby.

She screamed when that tree said "ow!" and bent over.

Sasha grabbed the nearest sharp object she could find and held it in front of her threateningly.

"Woah! Don't hurt me!" The tree slowly began to glow softly in a blue light, and the illusion was broken, revealing a short boy with curly deep brown hair on his head, and pointy ears.

He had his hands raised in a surrender, and he looked terrified.

Sasha's body relaxed a bit, confused. What was he doing here?

"WILLOW! NOW!" The boy shouted, hiding himself behind another illusion as vines came up from the ground and grabbed Sasha's arm, pinning her to the spot while also making the weapon fly from her hands.

Sasha cried out as more vines rose, grabbing her other arm and forcing her against the flat side of a boulder.

From the shadows, green eyes glowed, and a girl about her age appeared.

"Who are you? What do you want?!" She hissed, the green flickering ever so slightly.

Sasha panted, out of breath from struggling to get free.

"What do you want?!" She retorted, "I was just surprised that a tree started talking!"

The girl's braids swished in a cold night breeze. It was getting dark, and fast. The green hue from her face gradually faded, and it was replaced by scared wide eyes.

"Oh no. It's coming." She took a step back as a creepy howling began to fill the air, one voice after another.

"Gus! We have to leave!" She whisper-shouted, and the boy from before (Gus?) broke out of his illusion.

"What- You can't leave me here!" Sasha protested.

The girl gave her a plain look, but she had a bit of hesitation in her body language.

"Willow, I know she tried to kill me, but I don't think she'll do it again!" The boy murmured, "We both know how deadly those things are, we should at least take her with us!"

Willow narrowed her eyes but agreed with a nod and a sigh. 

Sasha nearly fell forwards as she was suddenly let go of her restraints.

The howling was growing closer and louder, and she shuddered.

"Quick! This way!" Gus grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him away in the way she had come from.

The three of them ran, it seemed they were unsure of where to go.

"I know a place!" Sasha said, recognizing an area closer to the camp. "Some of my friends are probably there, they can help us!"

Willow looked skeptical of this plan, but agreed quickly once the howling turned to snarling and creatures began to crash through the woods towards them.

"Follow me!" Sasha led the way, grabbing Gus by the hand and helping him leap over some roots. The three made it to the camp and sprinted inside.

Willow quickly turned and blocked the entrance. Gus panted and gasped for air, looking exhausted.

Sasha saw movement in the corner of her eye and turned to see the rest of the group staring in a mix of confused and excited faces.

"Uh… Hey guys."