Chapter Text
After waking up, now back from The Astral Realm and having returned to his body, Hunter allowed himself a few more minutes with his uncle before finally making the rest of The Emperor's Coven aware of his passing. He sat next to Belos' still body, holding the singular flower in his quivering hands. The silence in the room was deafening, nearly unbearable. He finally decided to leave the room once he felt himself beginning to choke up again, not wanting to be in tears when he alerted the guards.
Hunter first snuck into his room, immediately slipping into his Golden Guard outfit without much hesitation. Despite having gotten closure, he was still absolutely terrified. What would the rest of The Emperor's Coven think? How would they react to the news? What was next for him? It was all so uncertain…he shook his head, clearing it of any clouding thoughts. Once he was ready, he exited his room just as discreetly as he had entered it. Then, pretending like he had just discovered Belos' corpse, alerted the guards nearest to The Emperor's Quarters.
Hunter approached them, appearing eerily calm, "Guards…" Hunter started, his voice flat, pausing to take a grounding breath, "...I'm afraid that Emperor Belos' curse has finally gotten to him. The Emperor is dead…" Hunter barely managed to make this announcement without bursting into tears once again, and the rush of guards after hearing the news didn't help much. Thankfully, the guards were too busy panicking to pay much attention to him.
Strangely enough, and to his utter surprise, everyone seemed to treat Hunter with a bit more kindness than before after the news got out. It spread like wildfire, but that didn't surprise Hunter. Belos was The Emperor, after all. What did surprise him, however, was that many members of The Emperor's Coven gave their condolences, though Hunter tried not to let it get under his skin. He had no time to think about that.
The worst part was whenever he was brought in for questioning while Belos' body was being embalmed. They were sewing his mouth and eyes shut, and dressing his wounds. He knew that he could very well be a suspect, but they were much harsher on him than he originally expected. He knew that the suggestion that Belos had taken his own life would sound just as ridiculous to anyone else in The Emperor's Coven as it had to him when he had first discovered his uncle's body, so he didn't even bother mentioning it as a possibility, despite how much he wanted to. Instead, he went with what he had first assumed himself; that The Emperor had been assassinated. This seemed to be enough to convince the guards to get off of his case, to his relief.
Thankfully, his status in The Emperor Coven didn't seem to be affected much by Belos' death. He was able to ward away most of those who attempted to pester him with empty threats, questions or promises. He would've felt bad for doing so if he wasn't basically drowning in grief. It was all that he could think about. His head constantly ached, and he was always exhausted. He always felt like he was on the verge of tears. He had no time to cry, however, he was next in the royal line for the throne.
Many things that belonged to Belos in his time as The Emperor were quickly passed down to Hunter, including The Emperor's outfit and his throne. He remembered wearing this at least once when he was younger, and the fond memory managed to bring a bittersweet smile to his face. He was extra careful with everything that he received. Some brought good memories, while others…not so much. Regardless, he took everything without much thought.
To his surprise, Hunter felt a wave of relief wash over him when he first laid his eyes upon Belos' grave. It had been beautifully decorated. Once he had managed to find himself being left alone for the first time in multiple days after the public announcement of The Emperor's passing, he finally visited Belos' grave by himself.
He sat down next to the headstone with a book that he had gotten from the local library, "You know, Uncle Belos…" He opened the book, turning to a page that described a scene of someone visiting a loved one's grave in the rain, "...a lot of human books describe visiting graves in the rain. Do you think it's a human tradition of sorts? I'd like to do it, have you?.." After a long, drawn out moment of silence, Hunter laughed bittersweetly, realizing how ridiculous he must’ve sounded, talking to a grave. That didn't stop him from doing it again, though.
Another difficult part was getting through the constant nightmares. He had already had them frequently before Belos had died, and they had only become more common since then. Nightmares of failing to save Belos just moments before he brought his own demise down upon himself, nightmares of never having received closure, nightmares of what was to come next…they haunted him. Even if most of his nightmares had been centered around Belos himself, Hunter would always come running to Belos' room for comfort and end up falling asleep in his uncle's arms. Now he couldn't do that. Instead, he would often leave The Empire under the blanket of darkness, late at night and visit Belos' grave to talk about whatever had caused Hunter panic that night. Despite how strange it was, Hunter found that it made him feel better regardless. If he was unable to leave the empire for one reason or another, he would use an old music box that Belos had gifted him when he was significantly younger. Belos had told him that it was from the human realm, and that the music that it played was sacred and beautiful. Hunter recalled Belos having to show him how it worked, and thankfully, this allowed him to still remember how to work the contraption. He nervously wound it up until the handle became stuck, nearly impossible to push any further. Hesitantly, he let go of the handle, watching in awe and wonder as the handle turned backwards, a soft melody ringing out from the small box. Despite all the years that had passed, it still managed to work wonders to help him sleep, even when he had nightmares.
Hunter didn't want to become the next Emperor. His whole entire life he thought that he would want to, but now that he finally had the chance…it just didn't feel right. Belos told him to do whatever felt right. Not to mention that if he became The Emperor, he'd have to play his part of the deal that he made with The Collector.
Hunter was beyond torn. The endless stream of unanswered questions often kept him up at night, whenever his nightmares had decided to leave him alone. There were multiple occasions where Hunter considered digging up Belos' grave, reviving him somehow, one way or another. Although he knew all to well that not even his superior status in The Coven would protect him from such a crime.
….but it's not a crime if you're not caught, right..?