Witches, Demons, and Heroes (The Owl House x MHA)

"Come on," Izuku tapped his pencil on his notebook. The page had scribbles all over it, notes crossed out, underlined, and circled to oblivion and back. "It has to work this time." He fidgeted with the magic necklace. "If only this thing could translate written languages."

His cauldron was full of water and set on a firesafe metal plate. He etched the fire glyph onto a wooden spoon, carefully activated it-

whoosh!

"Ah-!" Izuku jumped back but quickly resumed working. "Okay! It's okay!" He took a deep breath. "Now to process the sleeping nettle. I already gave it a quick rinse, and cut the petals from the greens." Uncovering the plants, he pulled the cloak above his nose and mouth. After doing what he thought was the correct procedure, he put them in a separate cloth and set the little bundle inside the bubbling cauldron. "Hopefully it works this time."

"Hey Midori!"/"Ah!"

Izuku almost dropped his notebook but managed to catch it. He saw Luz was outside, hanging onto the bars.

"Oh, hey Luz!" Izuku settled back into his seat. "We still good to meet up at lunch?"

"Ah, dangit!" Luz slapped her forehead. "Knew I was forgetting something! Sorry Midori, I promised Amity we would read The Good Witch Azura together! Maybe another time?"

"Right," Izuku tried not to sigh. "What about after school?"

Luz hissed and pulled her shoulders up to her ears, averting her eyes away from him. "I kinda already made plans with King to hang out with him and he doesn't like sharing attention."

"O-oh." Izuku nodded. "Okay then. Maybe tomorrow, we can hang out-"

"Can't." Luz interrupted. "I'm helping Eda rob a bank!"

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Nope!" Luz held up a wanted poster of herself. The number at the bottom was the same as Eda's! "They got my good side!"

"Luz, this isn't funny!" Izuku held the bars. "How are we supposed to be heroes together if you're a wanted felon?"

"Oh it's fine," Luz waved it off. "Not like we can go home anyways!" She lifted up her foot, showing it was chained to a large, spiked ball. "We're stuck here forever!"

"Wha-!?" Izuku shook his head. This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening. This must be a bad dream. A total nightmare! Wake up, Izuku!

"Wake up-!"

slap!

"Ah!" Izuku woke up, at his desk, the cauldron still boiling, a slight color to it from the sleeping nettle. "Wha-? What happened?" Izuku rubbed his eyes.

"You knocked out again." Luz explained. "Is potions really that boring?"

"N-no," Izuku sighed and yawned. "It's just sleeping nettle. I've been trying to figure out how to make a potion with them, but I can't read a single word in these books!"

"Aww, don't worry, you'll figure it out. You gotta get us home, remember?"

"I will." Izuku sighed. "Somehow. But enough about me. How's the multitrack going?"

"It's great!" Luz jumped away from the window in excitement. "I helped Willow grow a huge mushroom in Herbology! Then, in Showmanship, I made Gus an awesome sign with my handy dandy light glyphs-" she posed like an anime character. "And Puddles only scratched me twice in Beast Handling yesterday!" She showed off a stump of an arm.

"AH!" Izuku flinched back at the sight, falling onto his back. "Owowow!" He pulled himself up. "Luz, are you-!?"

Aaaand he was not at school anymore.

"Huh? Wha-? Where-?" Izuku looked around, finding he was on a couch. He did a double take, seeing a wanted poster. He gasped, recognizing where he was. "The Owl House?"

"Yep." On the other seat with her feet on the coffee table, Eda slammed her book shut and stood. "Welcome back, green human!"

"How did I get here?" Izuku rubbed sleep from his eyes. "Wait! Where's Luz? Puddles didn't cut her arm off, right?" He got up.

"Easy easy," Eda grabbed him by the hood of his uniform. "Luz and her friends brought you here."

"Luz's friends...?" Izuku felt an implication in those words. "Where are they now?"

"What do I look like? Her keeper?" Eda huffed and crossed her arms.

"Last I checked, yes." Izuku muttered. Luz was still on the Boiling Isles despite the villain's words. What else could she be?

"Well I'm not!" Eda poked his nose. "I'm only tutoring you because she said this was important, and the less I have to see those baby doll eyes, the better. So, potions." She opened her book again. "Ash and bone, silver and gold, a thousand powers a potion holds," she read from the pages, a mystical tone in her voice as she waved and gestured with her other hand. "This book contains hundreds of recipes for just about anything. One sip of these, and you can hear your enemy's deepest darkest secret straight from their own mouth, or better yet, take a peek at them when they're at their most vulnerable."

Izuku gulped. She crouched closer to him, a wild look in her eye, her nails dangerously close to him. Were these recipes she concocted herself? They sure sounded like it!

"But where's the fun in just following a recipe?" She threw the book over her shoulder where it fell to the floor. "Come on, kiddo, we're doing this the old-fashioned way!" She gestured with her arms, and a staff appeared, topped with a wooden owl. She grabbed a bucket and open the door-

"Hoothoot!" Hooty cheerfully hooted. "Nice to see you again, green kid!"

Izuku could only blink in disbelief as he saw Eda step just outside the door and mount her staff. He picked up the book, hoping this one would be written in English-

"Hey, come on, curly," Eda called and waved for him. "You're not going to learn anything being stuck inside all day."

But of course, no luck. Despite its title being in plain English, the pages themselves were still the same blocky runic letters he had yet to decipher. "I prefer books." He set the potions book on the coffee table.

"Uggh," Eda groaned. "Of course you do." She smirked, floating her staff back inside with her sitting on it. "Think of this as a field trip. You get to brave the elements and forage for ingredients like witches of old!"

Izuku looked at her wanted poster. Then to her. Was there really a choice here?

"Fine." He got on.

"Great! King!" She yelled over him. "I'm heading out! Don't raise an army!"

"I can, and I shall!" King's voice yelled from somewhere else. Well, at least he was with Hooty, so technically this was not endangering a minor?

They flew off and up into the sky. It was dusk, the sky turning from pink to deep blue. It had been a while since Izuku got a bird's eye view of the Boiling Isles. After some time trapped in the Demon Realm, he could still feel a sense of unease whenever he saw the bones. An entire skeleton formed the Isles. From how it was positioned, it was almost as if the being had fell back. Or had...yeah, fallen. What could have possibly been able to hurt something this huge?

"Sooo," Eda clicked her tongue. "What's Lily been teachin' ya? Surprised you even need help with potions if you have a Headwitch in your corner."

"She's..." Izuku did not know what to say, "busy with official coven...stuff." Like trying to catch the most wanted felon on the Isles. "I had to ask Darius to help me get into Hexside."

"Be careful getting close to him," Eda snorted. "Might be accused of learning 'wild magic' if you start trying to make abominations."

"At least there's an official curriculum now for learning multiple tracks," Izuku sighed and wanted to look down, but he felt nauseous, so he settled for looking at Eda- "pfft-" and got a mouthful of her hair. "Augh! When was the last time-!?" He pulled out something stuck to his tongue, finding it was a small twig or bit of straw.

"You say something?" She dug something out of her ear and flicked it away.

"No." He mumbled, seeing the blood red grass usually found all over the Isles ebb away to whites and blues. He looked around now, seeing towering mountains of bone above them.

"Ah whatever, we're here!" And they began to gently land down. "Don't worry about getting too chilly, we won't be climbing up the Digits."

"Yippee." Izuku hopped off as soon as he was no more than a few feet off the ground. "Why are we here, Eda?"

"To teach you how to brew potions." Eda slung her staff over her shoulder, the bucket softly clanging as she swung it around. "Unfortunately for you, you're a human, and don't know the first thing about 'proper' brewing." She used air quotes and began to walk away.

"Does coffee count?" Izuku followed, not wanting to be stranded again.

"Don't know what that is. Point is potions are more than just throwing plants into a pot of boiling water. You gotta really think about what you want your potion to do, where you're getting you ingredients, and for some of them, the when is important too." She pointed to the sky. "See that?"

"The moon?"

"And it's...?" She rolled her hand as if for him to continue.

Izuku looked again. "A half moon...?"

Eda let out a heavy sigh. "Let's just get what we need before some scouts show up. I'm not exactly on speaking terms with the Beast Keeping coven here."

'No surprise there, villain.' Izuku followed her, nonetheless. Just play her game, and he can go back to the relative safety of anywhere but the same vicinity of Eda Clawthorne. Seriously, it was bad enough Luz was still here, presumably still doing 'one little favor' for her, but now Izuku had to be an accomplice to whatever theft she was planning! Lilith might actually kill him! Or bury him alive!

Eda suddenly stopped him, crouching into some bushes and gesturing for him to follow. With a sigh, and trying not to look straight ahead, he went after her. On the other side of the hedge, there was a hilly field. The grass was glowing softly like fresh snow under the light of the moon, only the presence of flowers betraying the real season. Rivers flowed through the field, letting the sound of water trickling fill the air as a result. There was a slight chill to be felt, but not too cold. And all across the plains, were animals. Quadrupedal, with curled horns and giant tails. When one lifted its head, it let out a bleat.

"Goats?" Izuku asked. Some were grazing, some were resting, some were butting heads.

"Close," Eda pointed to a river. From it, one goat appeared to be swimming, stepping onto land and shaking off some water. Those tails were not mammal tails, they were scaly, like a fish! Like some sort of mermaid! "Those are sea goats. They swim up these rivers to eat, assert their goat dominance, and all sorts of other things." She pointed to another few elsewhere. "See those flowers they're munching on?"

"Yeah?" From here, Izuku could not see much, but the flowers were pretty abundant. Some were growing by the bushes they were hiding in. White in color with a deep blue in the center. They were mostly curled up though, so it looked more like a tulip or a rose.

"Moondrops," Eda continued to explain, her staff disappearing with a soft clap, and she picked up the bucket. "They soak up light from the moon and stars like other plants soak up sunlight. Moondrops only bloom during the full moon and when they do, that's when they're at full power." She began walking into the field, not really waiting to see if Izuku was following. "Take a sip of tea from those bad boys, and you'll be up all night with more magic than you know what to do with until it's all out of your system." She paused. "Or until the sun comes up. Whichever comes first, assuming you don't die before that."

"Whoa," Izuku, not wanting to be left behind, gasped. "Wait," he narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"You want to make a sleeping potion, right?" Eda jumped over one of the rivers with surprising agility. "Sleeping nettle's good and all, but all you're doing is making tea. And not a very tasty one either. If we got here earlier in the month, we could take the Moondrops and skedaddle, but since it's aaaaa-" she looked at him, pointing up to the moon again.

"Half moon...?" Izuku squinted at the sky, feeling the gears turning in his head to come to some conclusion he hoped was correct. "That means they're at half power...?"

"Look at you, being a quick learner!" Eda levitated him over the river and to her side, ruffling his hair. Huh. Praise from an adult! A villain, but an adult! "We're gonna need one more ingredient to compensate and make the whole thing taste better."

"And that ingredient is...?"

"Sea goat milk!" She said with an excited whisper. "Great for the skin too. Ask me how I know." She waggled her fingers under her chin.

"Um-" Izuku squeaked.

"Ooh!" Eda gasped and approached one of the sea goats, giving it a pet under its chin. She gestured for Izuku to come closer.

Reluctantly, Izuku complied. Sure, the Owl Lady was not wielding a sharp weapon or anything, but he still did not like the idea of sneaking around. "Wouldn't there be sea goat milk at the market?"

"Oh sure, they feed the sea goats 'healthy food' for better quality, but wild ones eat more Moondrops, which means...?"

Izuku realized it almost as soon as she said it. "More moon magic enhanced milk."

"Exactly! Now, see how the belly is plump?" Eda patted it stomach. "This one's been eating real good!" She set the bucket under its...tail...

"Is this even legal?"

"It's only illegal if we get caught." She winked. "We just give the darling a gentle squeeze aaand-"

And Izuku instantly wished he did not have eyes right now.

"There we go!" After she finished...squeezing, she held up the bucket and its content sloshed around a bit. "Ha! Look at that! We got some eggs in here too! We can make some fine cheese with it! Ah, but Luz is lactose intolerant."

"That's enough for a potion, right?" Izuku tried not to gag. Fundamentally, he knew where milk came from. Milk came from either cattle, or by processing certain plants. Why could they not use plants?

"Hmmm," Eda sloshed the bucket around a bit. "Ehhh, a little more wouldn't hurt." She set the bucket back down and squeezed-

'baaaaah!'

The sea goat bleated, jerking its head and kicking around.

"Whoa-!" Eda quickly casted a spell, hoisting the sea goat into the air. "Uh-haha," one hand kept the spell active, and she tried to pick up the bucket, but her hand was a bit too far away. "Guess this one's all milked out. I'mma just set her down nice and-"

'BAAAAAAH!'

Izuku turned, letting out something between a gasp and a shout upon seeing a larger sea goat with darker colors and four large curved horns running towards them.

"Herd Queen!" Eda, surprisingly gently, set down the sea goat she had, and picked up Izuku, slinging over her shoulder.

Izuku, unfortunately, had a good view of the incoming danger. "You crazy-!" No! No swearing! "First you kidnap Luz, now you try to get me killed!?"

"Kidnapped!?" Eda hopped over a sea goat. "I may be a criminal, but I have standards! I never kidnapped anyone!"

"You sure kidnapped us when we first came to the Boiling Isles!"

"I saved you guys from those guards!" Eda slid toa stop, careful with the bucket in her hand as she casted another spell. "Spicy toss!"

The sound of water splashing was enough to tell Izuku the spicy toss did not work. The fact they kept running had also been a pretty good clue.

"If I had left you guys behind, those guards would have thrown you into the Conformitorium and threw away the keys!" Eda dropped down, digging her heel in the dirt to create a larger circle. A deep hoot rumbled through the earth, an earthen effigy of Hooty emerging from the ground, striking the Herd Queen into the air.

Izuku kicked and squirmed out of her grip, landing roughly on the grass. "You said if we helped you with your 'little situation', you'd let us go home!"

"I did!" Eda set the bucket down, twirling her hands to make her staff emerge from wherever it disappeared to. "How is it my fault you guys decided to stick ar-!"

thunk!

"Ah!"

And it clattered to the ground after she accidentally hit her own head and lost her grip, the staff getting dangerously close to the water.

'BAAAAAAAH!'

The Herd Queen was staring them down, lowering her head while taking some steps back.

"Why is Luz still here then!?" Izuku stood up, getting between Eda and the Herd Queen. "If you were good on your word, she would home right now!"

"No she wouldn't! She'd be at some boring camp!" Eda made a wincing sound and groaned. "Doing numbers, and papers, like some goody two shoes nerd!"

"But she'd be safe!" Izuku stared down the beast. Those horns would hurt if the Herd Queen hit him straight on. They would hurt more if she pierced him with them. "She would be safe from these crazy monsters!" The Herd Queen reared up on her hind legs. "And safe from villains like you!"

The Herd Queen charged forward.

Izuku recalled his hero notebooks. Specifically, Notebook 11, page 42. Cow Lady, the Pro from America!

'Ultimate Move: Bull Rush!' His best war cry was tearing through his throat, every step taking him forward, the ground beneath his feet crunchi-why was he no longer on the ground?

As the yell died down, Izuku realized he was now floating in the air, legs still running, but it felt silly now with no leverage to work with. He saw the Herd Queen was kicking around in the air as well, bleating all the while.

"Yes yes, dear," another older woman's voice gently soothed the beast. "I know you don't like trespassers."

"Ugh," Eda groaned and wiped her face. "This is why I wanted to make this quick."

Looking down, Izuku saw a granny-aged woman, her hair gray and white, wearing a fur-lined dress.

"Ahhh-!" Izuku made some noise when he saw the other older woman had a brand on her inner wrist. The same as Eberwolf's! "M-Ma'am! We didn't mean to-! Er, Ididn't mean to cause you any trouble! It was all her fault!" He pointed to Eda. "She's the real villain!"

"Hey!" Eda shouted at him.

The Beast Keeping witch gasped and set down both Izuku and the Herd Queen, well more like dropped in his case.

"Oof!" Izuku landed on his face.

"Oooh my darling little witchlet!" The Beast Keeping witch headed right to the wanted villain. "Come to visit your dear old mother?"

"Mother!?" Izuku picked himself up, spitting out dirt.

"No, Gwendolyn," Eda sighed. "I was just here to pick up some-"

"How are you feeling? Are you eating well? Drinking your elixirs?" The Beast Keeping witch, Gwendolyn, started fussing over the Owl Lady. "Oh, how horrible it must be-!"

"I'm taking care of it!" Eda stepped away, fixing her hair.

"Oh don't you worry dear," Gwendolyn continued to smush Eda's face. "I'm close to finding a cure for your curse! You won't ever have to take those nasty things ever again!"

'Curse?' Izuku recalled his past encounter, back at the Covention. Eda said her curse was catching up to her. But it could easily be a lie. But if Eda's mother was worried about it too-no. No! Eda was many things, a thief, a swindler, a criminal who evaded law enforcement, a villain, why not add habitual and compulsive liar to the list? But...

"You say the same thing every year," Eda crossed her arms. "First it was a bunch of crystals straight from the Titan's veins which turned out to be polished soda cans. Then it was 'healing water' from the Swampy Toes, oh sorry, I mean 'Skull Lake', even though no one lives at the Skull-!" She kicked the bucket, spilling its content. "Dangit! Now I gotta milk another one of these things."

"This time for sure, Edalyn!" Gwendolyn grabbed her daughter's hand. "I am on an epic quest to find sacred artifacts! I just needed a little more travel money, so I picked up a little gig here to-"

Eda held up her free hand, interrupting her. "Whatever it is, I don't want it." And pulled her held hand away. "I have my elixirs, I'm managing my stre-" and winced again, clutching the gem on her chest, Izuku realizing it looked darker. "My stress." She looked far more tired and exhausted. "I'm being a woman of my word and keeping my promise. I can't afford to waste any time of so-called cure-alls that don't work for diddly-squat." She picked up the bucket and grabbed Izuku by the arm. "Let's go."

"Oh. Okay." Gwendolyn looked hurt. "I'll visit soon, witchlet! Mommy's going to make everything better!" She called after her.

A curse. Eda was cursed. Eda was a villain. A cursed villain. No coven brand, so she was a wild witch. Was it wild magic doing this to her? Is this why Lilith was so adamant about getting Eda to join a coven? Would a brand help seal whatever this was?

"Wait-!" Izuku pulled away. "Uh-yoink?" He grabbed the bucket from Eda's hand and went back to a surprised Gwendolyn. "M-Miss Gwendolyn-"

"Oh, please, call me Gwen!"

"Miss Gwen, I-I'm Izuku Midoriya, and I'm a human, a-and Eda was-was-" come on, Izuku, feet do not belong in mouths! "She was helping me make a sleeping potion. She said sea goat milk was one of the ingredients-"

"Shush shush shush," Miss Gwen patted his head. "No need to say anymore. I can see you're a good and kindhearted soul eager to learn."

Izuku looked at Eda, seeing her turn away sharply. "Yeah. Kindhearted."

"Let me see that bucket." Miss Gwen set it under the Herd Queen's...rear and squeezed. "Don't worry about the whole sneaking around. I know my Edalyn's gotten herself into some scraps, but it isn't her fault." She sighed. "It's that curse. It's caused so much trouble. And as a mother, I can't stand by and watch as my little girl suffers. Which is why I-" she flexed her surprisingly muscular arm, "-will never stop looking for a cure!"

Izuku smiled tiredly. "Sounds pretty heroic."

"Oh I don't know about that," Miss Gwen waved it off, finishing the squeezing, and the Herd Queen let out a huff. "But helping is what heroes do, isn't it?"

Izuku blinked, and looked at Eda again. She was listlessly picking Moondrop flowers, twirling them in her fingers.

"Here you go sweetie." Miss Gwen presented the full bucket.

"Thank y-whoa!" The bucket was heavy!

"You done?" Eda tossed a Moondrop flower over her shoulder.

"Y-yeah," Izuku did his best to not drop the bucket.

Eda set her staff in the air, taking a seat, and the bucket. The bucket hung on the front, and Izuku sat on the back end, taking off almost as soon as he sat down.

"This time for absolute sure, Edalyn!" Miss Gwen waved after them. "I'll have your curse cured in no time!"

"Ugh, moms." Eda hissed under her breath as they flew into the sky.

It was a quiet ride back the Owl House. There were some lights from the town, but over all, the only illumination was from the moon and stars, and they seemed dark tonight.

The Owl House came into view, and they landed on the front lawn.

"Hey, green kid! How was-" Hooty was interrupted when Eda kicked the door open. "Ow!"

Inside, Izuku saw King had crafted figures from cardboard, traffic cones, metal traffic signs, and other trash.

"Oh, hey guys!" King was climbing over one. "How's this for an army, Eda? I have crafted the mightiest warriors the Boiling Isles has ever see-whoa-whoawhoa-!"

He would have fallen if not for Eda quickly catching him, putting him on the couch.

"You guys are back!" Luz popped out a pillow fort, also wearing makeshift armor. "How'd the field trip go? Did you learn some magic? Fight a dangerous monster? Find a new glyph?" She held up her notepad. "I need details!"

"Uh, good!" Izuku lied. "Yes. Sort of? And no."

"Aww." Luz sounded disappointed but perked up immediately. "It's okay! Maybe another field trip will-"

"Luz, mama's tired." Eda rubbed her temple, setting the bucket onto the coffee table. "Can you two do your excited nerd thing more quietly? Or maybe tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, Eda." Luz saluted then gasped. "Your gem got dark! Don't worry! I'll go get some elixir!" She picked up King and rushed to a room further inside. "Midori! Don't stress her out!"

"Okay!" Izuku held up his hands in a placating manner. He was now alone with...Eda. She had casted a spell, changing her outfit from the red dress and heels to baggy pajamas, looking even less like her wanted poster than before. He remembered Lilith saying Eda was gifted with magic, but if her magic was hurting her...

"And for your information,"

Izuku gasped, hearing Eda's tone.

"Luz chose to stay in the Boiling Isles." Eda reached into her hair, pulling out a bundle of Moondrop flowers and tossed it over her shoulder to Izuku. "Call me a villain all you want, but I sure as heck don't see anyone in the Emperor's Coven, including my oh so perfect sister, helping you out."

She did not even look at him as she went further into the house, cushioned footsteps going up some stairs, presumably to her own room.

"I got the elixir!" Luz ran back in, holding an armful of small round bottles with a glowing yellow liquid. "No owl beast toni-" she looked around. "Oh no no no! Where did she-?"

"Upstairs-!" Izuku quickly answered. "She, uh, kinda had to protect me from a demonic water goat."

Luz huffed and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like her. You know, just the other day, Amity and I-"

"Luz! Hurry! She's growing feathers!" King's voice shouted.

"Right! No time for slice of life stuff!" Luz adjusted her grip on the elixirs, running halfway up the stairs before stopping herself. "You wait right here while I get these elixirs to Eda-"

"Don't worry!" Izuku interrupted, somewhat following, unable to bring himself to go up farther than the first step. "I'll just text Darius to come pick me up!"

"You sure you don't want to work on the potion together? We've barely been able to hang out and-"

A thud interrupted them.

"Luz!"

"Coming!"

Luz disappeared upstairs and Izuku...stayed put.

Some hero he was.

He sighed. "You're doing this for Luz." He grabbed the bundle of Moondrop flowers, tucking them under his arm. "Hooty, can you-"

"Say no more!" Hooty opened the door. "You sure you don't wanna sleepover? I promise to let you win some games!"

"I'm fine-" Izuku did a sort of awkward waddle out the door. Just a few more steps, do not think about how the handle was digging into his fingers. One more step, do not let the bucket fa-and he tripped.

Every muscle in his body clenched, dropping just as quickly, his center of gravity awkward and unbalanced, the bucket slipped out of his hands! After all that effort-!

"Whoop!" A red aura surrounded the bucket and its contents, righting itself mid-air. "That would have been a mess."

"Hunter-!" Izuku dropped the flowers. Again. "I mean, er, Golden Guard!"

"Hey, I'm off the clock, sort of." The older boy laughed it off. "So this is where you ran off to, huh?"

Izuku looked back at the Owl House. Then to the Golden Guard. He was standing in front of a criminal's house. With a guard. "Uhhhh..."

"Like I said," he lifted his mask just a bit to show his face, seeing pinkish eyes and a scar. "Off the clock." And put it back on.

Izuku let out the biggest sigh of relief he could muster. Between the sleeping nettle mishap, Eda's tutoring, and feeling a world apart from Luz again, he realized just how much he had been holding in. "Right."

"Come on." The Golden Gua-er, Hunter, offered a seat on his staff. "I'll give you a ride."

"Thanks." Izuku hopped on. "How did you know I-?"

"I have my ways." Hunter shrugged, slipping the bucket over the tip of his staff. "Oh, you can hold onto me if you want. Don't want you falling off."

Izuku felt his face heat up a bit. But it was a very compelling point. If he fell at the usual flying height, broken bones would be the least of his worries. Not to mention all of the dangerous monsters wanting to gobble him up the second they could. It would be just awful if he fell and-

"Any day now."

Hunter's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "R-right!" He grabbed the Moondrops and held onto Hunter as best he could.

"Ooh! Strong hold!" Hunter laughed. "Gonna need it! House demon." He said to Hooty.

"Gold Guy. See ya 'round, kid!"

The sensation of flying with Hunter felt different compared to Eda. The Owl Lady eased into the speed of her flight, steadily, precisely, and she was equally as careful in the descent. With Hunter, there was a sudden lift. The breath in his lungs disappeared in a snap, erupting in a cough. His chest tightened, his head swirled, the wind screamed in his ears. There was a warmth all around him as they flew through the air.

And just as suddenly as they were in the air, they dropped.

"Welcome back!" Hunter must be used to this feeling, as he hopped off without nearly as much difficulty as Izuku did. "You know, it's been a while since we hung out. I've been studying here at the castle, and I heard Darius donated a not so insignificant sum of snails to Hexside for your enrollment. So I was thinking we can compare notes-"

Izuku had his eyes squeezed shut, trying to find his breath again. He opened them, seeing Hunter's hand was holding his, leading him down the immaculate halls of the castle, talking about something or another. In the other, the Moondrops. Half bloomed, plucked from the earth, and Izuku did not even know what to do with them because he was too busy fighting with Eda instead of listening to her expertise. He could have sworn he could hear the giant heart beating, drowning out Hunter's voice. He could try brewing these flowers like he was doing with sleeping nettle, but what if it did only make a tea? How would he even know it was a proper potion? What if he used them all without figuring out how to-?

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, seeing some sort of pattern in the veins of the petals. Starting from the center, a single line went up, branching out slightly to either side while the middle line went up.

"And figure out how to safely harness wild magic once and for all!" Hunter's voice became clear again. "What do you think?"

"I-" Izuku hoped he was not visibly blushing in embarrassment. "I'm kinda tired right now, Hunter. Got some homework to do and all."

"Oh." It was hard to tell his tone with the mask. "Right. School work. I'll let you get to it then. But think about it, okay?"

Izuku did not even know what Hunter was talking about. "Okay."

His feet led him to a guest room far comfier than the little cell he had first been dropped off in some time ago. Looking at the Moondrops again, he found he can still see the pattern. All he needed to do now was find out what it meant.