Chapter Text
The sharp smell of blood filled the air as Hunter walked around an all too familiar house. Yet they couldn't tell where the smell was coming from. Only when they paused to look down did they notice they were the one dragging blood around. Looking behind them they could see the trail following where they had been like a small river cutting through the floor. A soft sickening feeling washed over Hunter as they looked back up at the almost infinite hallway. Yet something kept telling them to move forward. Was it the deep sense someone was waiting for them at the end? was it to avoid the blood that trailed behind them? was it the sickly sweet smell of food? or the harsh taste of fine wine on the air? maybe it was a bit of all the above as Hunter tried their hardest to keep their resolve about them. Turning a corner they were met with the back of a figure. He seemed to speak in a tongue unfamiliar to Hunter and yet they could almost feel in their heart what they were saying. Whoever this was had been waiting for them.
Any heat in the air seemed to vanish as Hunter felt a sharp deep seeded anger rising up inside of them. Almost instinctively they crouched down like a cat stalking a bird or a wolf hunting a fawn. Yet, as they moved forward to strike the figure turned around to face them. His face was blurred and almost completely melted into darkness. Yet their gaze pieced into the darkness as it was in that moment they realized they had misjudged the situation, they were the fawn. Shutting their eyes tightly the ground seemed to catch them as they rolled to the side. The harsh sunlight beating down on them as the person seemed to stand in the main booth. Between them and the person was a large figure covered in scars matching theirs and yet the icy blue eyes that stared them down was a far cry from their own blood red eyes.. blood red. Taking a deep slow breath they slowly stood up. Returning the cold glance they headed towards the figure in the box. In that moment only one thing mattered and that was getting to that figure. Walking through the large figure that blocked their way caused them to melt into fire as they made their way to stand above the figure the fire blazing higher behind them. For the first time they felt their body acting on it's own as they raised their hand above their head. Then the hand was down the next second. Red. The only thing they could see was red as they stood above what looked like a dead body. Yet the face kept it's void colour as the body changed shape. Small and slim, tall and lanky, bulky and chubby. It kept changing every time it left Hunters main point of focus. Stepping back they tried to regain their composer and yet a familiar figure took stage, Asra? no their face wasn't there. "what's wrong? can't remember what they look like?" a cold familiar voice sent a chill down Hunter's spine as a familiar body, Muriel's took center stage next to the Asra. Yet similar to the Asra his face wasn't there. Closing their eyes they tried to imagine Muriel's face and while some features stuck out, his green eyes deep enough to make the forest itself jealous others fuzzed together. A scar? did he, did he have a face scar? was that them? His hair his body it was all familiar so why couldn't they remember his face?
A sudden cold hand on their shoulder caused them to tense up as they noticed an orange paw and those all too familiar Icey blue eyes, yet no they were different, they almost felt warm. "it's time to wake up. Sorry about this." The paw suddenly moved towards their back as a sharp pain almost sliced through their back.
The feeling of being held was the first thing to register after the sharp pain in their back. Looking around they were met with a familiar concerned face, Muriel. The familiar scars, the shape of his face, yet they couldn't help but feel a deep chill settling in as they tried to picture Asra's and Julian's faces in their mind. Their hair, their eye color and skin color everything else felt like trying to pick a shape out of an inky darkness. Yet, there was a calmness to being awake, they knew they couldn't remember faces so why was it suddenly getting to them? The feeling of Muriel's large hand gently rubbing circles on their back helped them snap back as the slow deliberate movement helped ground them in reality. "are you okay?" the gentle tone caused Hunter's eyes to start to tear up as the only thing they managed to do was shake their head, as they felt themselves being pulled into an overly cautious hug. Clinging to the familiar texture of his clothes and the smell of myrrh was almost as calming as Muriel there. "...It's going to be alright" deep down they knew what he was saying was true, it wasn't new they had been unable to remember faces since they first woke up and their wounds would heal. Yet, for right then it felt different. Like something had changed and they had no idea what. "I know" they finally found themselves barely able to reply. Their voice felt quiet and yet they felt no need to repeat themselves. Smiling softly at Muriel they leaned forward gently pushing their forehead against Muriel. "can we just stay like this for a bit?" they almost didn't notice the soft shuffle as Muriel gently changed how he was holding them. "I'm not going anywhere." Despite having just woken up the feeling of being held closely by Muriel seemed to bring back their tiredness as they allowed their eyes to slide shut.
When Hunter next woke up it was after a dreamless sleep. Looking up they noticed they were laying ontop of Muriel as they allowed themselves to fully relax again. Closing their eyes they thought back to their original dream as they shuffled a bit. Feeling a large hand move to the back of their head, a few months ago they would've flinched away and yet they found themselves learning into it. "I can't sleep" they softly answered the unasked question. Feeling Muriel's fingers gently scratching against their skull helped soothe them as they closed their eyes. "It's before sunrise" Hunter replied quickly with a quiet humm. "It would be rude to wake up Julian this early, anyway I'm fine to just lay here for a bit. Go back to sleep, Muri." They felt the head rubs grow slightly rougher in the best way. "I'm not going to leave you alone for that long." A part of Hunter couldn't help but feel a bit bad at the idea of keeping Muriel up and yet the rest of them remained quiet as they watched Muriel's face. "not like I can force you to sleep." they tried to softly joke getting a small amused snort out of Muriel in reply. The silence that followed was soothing as Hunter focused on just being there. Or at least that's what Hunter wanted to do it was hard when his mind kept going to how they had picked up the claws and how it had seemed too familiar. Then you had the dream that seemed to haunt Hunter like a forgotten secret. "Are you okay?" the simple question held more to it than on the surface. Their first reaction was to say something like 'I'm fine' or 'I will be' and yet there was something off about it. Trying to think of the 'right' reply left them unable to say anything. Feeling Muriel gently move their head they made no effort to pull away as they looked at Muriel.