It Looks Like the Monkey's Got To You..(Hunter)

Ari was just having a normal day at school. Nothing exciting had really happened, which was weird because exciting things ALWAYS happened to Ari. This was just one of those weird random days when it was boring. She decided to skip outside and hum some disney tunes, when she saw a figure limping it's way up to the school. She looked curiously, and recognized who it was immediately.

It was her one true love! Hunter. Ahhh. Boy did she miss him over the summer. She also felt a little bad for him. With his brother and all. But Ari was there to make everything better. She suspected that she was almost just as awesome as his brother, if not even more. So OBVIOUSLY, her presence would be welcomed.

She skipped over and noticed he was hurt. He almost looked like a band of monkey's attacked him or something! But he was wearing Quidditch gear so she suspected something to do with Quidditch! Maybe he broke an arm or a leg! Probably not a leg, as he was clearly walking. Ari asked, "What's wrong Hunter-kins?! Fall off your broom?"

Aunt Evelyn called her Ari-Kins, and when she asked why, she said it showed a sign of affection. And since Hunter-Kins was her one true love, it just made since to call him that! She then continued, "I'll help you to the Hospital wing Hunter-Kins. But of course, you should be feeling better already since I'm here to help!"

She grabbed a hold of his arm to help give him support and walked him towards the hospital wing. Even if the pack of monkey's got to him, he should be feeling loads better with just her presence.

Hunter really needed to stop practicing Quidditch alone - normally, it was great because it meant he got to fly without anyone bothering him. And it normally put him in at least a half-decent mood - though, anything better than miserable was hard to come by these days. But this time, it wasn't great at all. Because in the middle of practicing his sloth grip roll, he'd lost his grip completely and fallen a good twenty feet, hitting the ground and rolling a few yards before finally coming to a halt. "Ugh," he groaned, rolling over onto his back and wincing as sharp pain shot up through his right leg. "Damn it."

Making a face as he forced himself into a sitting position, Hunter reached down to feel the part of his leg where the pain was emanating from, but instantly pulled his hand away. Definitely broken. Most people might not react so calmly to a mildly serious injury, but Hunter couldn't imagine any physical pain being worse than the mental struggle he was forced to go through every day. Still, it definitely hurt like a bitch. Forcing himself into a standing position on his good leg, he started heading back to the castle. It was a slow process, because he could hardly put any weight on the leg that he'd landed on. But still, it must not have been too bad, because he could walk. He wasn't sure where his broom had ended up but he'd go back to find it later.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he was almost there. He'd just started heading up the steps to the entrance door when all of a sudden, somebody was beside him. Hunter looked over to see who was talking, and then looked down, because whoever it was seemed to be really short - oh, great. It was the annoying girl. "Er, yeah," he replied, his tone clipped. Couldn't she see that he wasn't exactly in the mood to chat? "But I don't have time to talk right now, Ari, I need to get to the hospit - wait, what did you just call me?" Had she really called him Hunter-kins? Maybe he'd heard her wrong. He had an instant flashback to the first time he'd met Vanessa and she'd called Blake "Blakey". Hunterkins was much worse.

Nope, he hadn't heard her wrong, and Hunter shot her the most angry glare he could muster when the words came out of her mouth a second time. "I swear to God, if you ever call me that again, you're gonna regret it," he growled at her angrily, though he didn't have the energy to rip his arm away when she grabbed hold of it. Probably because between the pain shooting through his leg and her general annoying presence, her grip on his arm was the least irritating thing about the entire situation. "I can go myself," he told her pointedly, but somehow had a feeling it wouldn't be so easy to get rid of her.

Ari smiled when he noticed her. Everything was better now. Perfect even! But then her smile dimmed a little bit. She said, "you don't want me?" No... This wasn't how it was supposed to work out. She was a princess and hunter-kins was her prince. That much she was sure about. She said, "But I'm a princess. I got crowned last term! You should've been there! I had this frog and he transformed into a prince, and made me a princess!" She had told her aunt that this summer. She was skeptical about it, but believed her when she showed her the crown the prince gave her, and was treated like the princess she was supposed to be.

He commented on her pet name for him. She said, " I called you Hunter-Kins! DUH! Open your ears silly!"

She looked down when he said not to call him that again. She looked down and said, "sorry."

She then remembered about what she over heard her parents say about his family. She said, "I'm sorry about your brother. I over heard my parents talking about it."

She was genually sorry. She wouldn't wish that upon anybody. Especially her one true love.

Upon seeing Ari's reaction to his words, Hunter almost - almost - felt bad for saying them. Almost. Not bad enough to apologize and welcome her along, but bad enough that he didn't repeat himself and tell her to go away. Instead, he just didn't say anything - he just sighed and continued limping up the staircase. Every step was agonizing, but the hospital wing was only on the third floor. So, assuming the staircases didn't decide to be assholes today, it shouldn't take very long to get there. Though, with the state of his leg, it could take a bit longer than he'd planned. After a particularly painful step, he had to stop and take a minute, gritting his teeth.

For a moment, he considered sending Ariadne off to get someone useful, like Blake, who could actually bear some of his weight and help him. But the idea of having to deal with more people than necessary wasn't a pleasant one, so Hunter remained quiet, trying to distract himself by listening to Ari's ridiculous story about a prince. "Oh come on, you think I'm going to believe that that really happened?" he asked her a bit incredulously. "Nice try, though."

Again, he didn't respond when the girl seemed put out by his anger, but did glance down at her when she muttered an apology. Maybe she wasn't quite as annoying as she seemed, if someone was willing to put her in her place. "It's fine," he sighed, climbing another agonizing stair. And then, out of nowhere, there it was. The exact words that Hunter didn't want to hear - the ones he'd been avoiding his entire time back at school. Instantly, he wished his leg wasn't injured - he'd be gone in an instant. But he couldn't get away from her now, and it was wrong to explode on her - she was only a kid. And it was probably the most genuine he'd ever seen her. So, ignoring the heat in his chest, he replied as civilly as he could. "Thanks," he said, his voice solemn. "I'm sorry, too."

It got awkward. Ari hated those awkward silent moments. They where never her fault of course, always the other person. But the mention of hunter-kins lost brother made their conversation go silent. She didn't even want to fight back when he said her princess title wasn't true. It was.

Ari didn't lie. That was the one thing she frowned upon. Lying. She could spot a lyer too. Her aunt said it was a gift. The were almost at the hospital wing. She smiled and decided to break the silence that he had created. She said, "we are almost there! Isn't this walk a lot better with me here!? You'd probably be on the ground in pain if I hadn't been here to save you!"

She went silent again. She was a princess. So that HAD to make him her prince. She said, "Your a prince! My prince!"

She blushed a little bit but kept moving slowly with him. She was a warrior princess now! She was helping the wounded. This was making her day. She smiled twirling her braid with the hand she wasn't holding onto him with. She said, "one day, we can be rulers of this castle!" She smiled again. The thought of her ruling was probably the greatest thing she could think of.