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You’d heard it often. Whether it was coming from kikimora, the coven heads, the guards or sometimes even from Emperor Belos himself.
It confused you, you couldn’t hear anything wrong with his voice. If anything it was kind of, pretty?
Anyway, you couldn’t think about it now, you were on a mission with kikimora and the golden guard. You didn't have time to think about it.
Since the golden guard had begun actively participating in and leading missions Kikimora had become jealous, bordering on paranoid. It made sense, you thought. In the short amount of time he’d been leading missions he’d, without a fail, successfully complete them. Kikimora was jealous, she was no longer the emperors right-hand woman.
You pushed all these thoughts from your mind as the golden guard began to speak.
His voice clear and commanding.
“Half the scouts will stand guard as Kikimora and I lead the remaining scouts to retrieve the titans' blood, do not fail me” He began walking towards the woods, his white cloak disappearing into the trees.
That left the rest of you and Kikimora to sort yourselves out.
“Ugh titan, that voice droning on and on” Kikimora muttered. Scattered laughs ran through the guards.
Your group had been selected to accompany Kikimora and the golden guard.
You were trudging through snow, struggling to keep up.
“Ma’am how do we know when we’re in the right place” a scout spoke up.
It was at this point the golden guard appeared behind you, he was silent and unnoticed by the others.
“Just listen for an annoying voice, and you’ll know we’re there,” She said. Again laughter ran through your group of scouts, no one noticing the golden guards presence.
“Why does everyone say that” you heard him mutter.
With a grunt, he shouldered his way through the group. He was so much smaller than some of the scouts.
“If you’re all done. The titans' blood should be through that cave” He said, stretching his arm out behind him to point at the entrance of the cave.
In either embarrassment or fear, the scouts rushed to work, setting up machines and beginning to dig.
Kikimora set off to yell at the scouts, commanding orders and such while the golden guard supervised from the back.
You watched as he leant against a rock and folded his arms, his gaze kept straight ahead.
Maybe you were dumb or maybe you just had a death wish. Or maybe you just felt really really bad for him.
But nevertheless, you slowly began to inch your way closer to him. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible you sidestepped until you were stood beside him.
Neither of you said anything. Glancing up at him you wondered how old he was. He was slightly taller than you. Which made sense. You were one of the youngest members of the coven. Everyone was taller than you. “Is there something you need, scout.” he said through grit teeth, not even looking at you.
His voice startled you, you flinched embarrassingly and definitely did not squeak.
Gathering up your courage you squared your shoulders and turned your whole body towards him.
“I don’t think your voice is annoying,” You blurted.
He remained silent, but his mask had turned a fraction towards you now.
“I think your voice is nice” This time your voice was softer, more confident.
Unfolding his arms, he turned to face you fully. You now had his whole attention.
Oh god, why had you said that? Behind your mask, your face was heating up. For once you were glad to be wearing it. You were either going to die, or you were going to be killed.
His mask turned to the ground and he awkwardly shuffled his feet. His demeanour completely changing from the commanding one he had worn just a second ago.
“Oh.. thank you,” he said quietly.
Not knowing what to do you nodded stiffly and quickly walked back to your station. That had gone better than expected.
It was late into the night when you had all been ordered to head back, you were now all making your way through the woods and back to the emperors' castle.
Once again you struggled to keep up, now with the added tiredness you lagged behind even more.
But strangely the golden guard stayed a few paces behind you, even though you were certain he could easily overtake you.
Gathering up your courage, you spoke up.
“Hello”
He took a few quick strides to be beside you.
'stupid long legs' you thought.
“Hello,” he said back.
The rest of the walk home continued in silence, you awkwardly stumbling through snow and him walking gracefully next to you.
Eventually, you made it back to the castle. The golden guard was still hovering awkwardly. He fidgeted next to you.
Turning to him again you waved as you began to walk off.
“Goodnight” he blurted out before all but running away.
You smiled all the way back to your room.
-
The next couple of weeks fell into a sort of routine.
You’d wave when you saw him, say hello if he was around and in turn, he’d stick by you if you ended up on his missions. Which were becoming more and more frequent.
He'd Awkwardly wave back to you before continuing to order around the other coven members. Then he’d walk you back to the emperors' castle, say Goodnight and run away.
You’d also begun noticing him hovering around you more often.
If you were in the dining hall you’d see a glimpse of gold by the door, if you were in the training yards he’d be close by and sometimes he’d even attend Kikimoras debriefing meetings much to her displeasure. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he was following you around like a lost puppy, though he always made sure you were never alone together.
But today was different.
It was just you, the golden guard and a pilot.
You were accompanying him on a quick mission to locate something for the emperor.
Right now you were sitting awkwardly across from each other in his ship. He was sitting stiffly with his hands in his lap looking anywhere but at you.
The pilot was out on the deck, steering you to your mission.
Today his hood was down and the mask was still on, but now his ears were visible and you could see tufts of blonde hair.
You held your hand out to him and introduced yourself. He paused, warily looking at your gloved hand before shaking it.
“I’m-“ he paused.
You waited patiently.
“Hunter”
“It's nice to meet you,” you said. He nodded stiffly.
With that out of the way, you began to unlatch your mask and make yourself comfortable, it would probably be a long flight.
“Woah- you can’t take your mask off in front of me. I'm your superior” he said offended.
“Yeah. But your also my friend” you said, kicking your legs up on his seat.
His ears drooped at that, the ends colouring lightly.
“Oh,” he said fidgeting with his glove.
“What exactly do friends do” he mumbled.
“Y’know, hang out, talk and do..friend things?” you said. You were confused, had he never had a friend before?
“But you don’t even know me. How could we possibly be friends” He said, folding his arms.
“Maybe not. But I could if you wanted me to” you let a small smile form across your lips.
His ears stood up and tinged pink.
He sat up straighter.
“I suppose that wouldn’t be too bad,” he said slowly, reaching for the clasps of his mask.
A smile lit up your face.
“Boss! We’re here!” The pilot yelled, ruining your moment.
You groaned but began getting ready.
“I’ll- see you out there,” He said. He was trying.
The mission was not simple, it had not gone as planned. You were entirely unprepared.
A group of bat masked wearing witches using bard magic had ambushed you, one of them looked suspiciously like the infamous owl lady.
The pilot had been knocked out and was lying somewhere unconscious, Hunter was taking on three of them while you were taking on the last two.
From the corner of your eye, you watched him fight. He fought effortlessly and gracefully.
You would be envious if you weren’t so in awe of his beauty.
But, It was cold and you were tired, really you should have been focusing.
A blast of magic hit you straight to your forehead, blurring your vision and immediately causing a splitting headache.
With a cry, you dropped to the floor as the world began to blur. You heard your name being yelled and vaguely remember seeing a blur of gold running towards you.
When you regained your consciousness you were lying in bed.
Jolting upright you frantically looked around. You were back at the emperors' castle.
It was dark outside, you must’ve been asleep for a while.
Touching a hand to your forehead you felt a bandage, the skin around it was tender.
Groaning as you stood you changed into your pyjamas before laying back down.
What had happened?
For a while you went over scenarios in your head, trying to figure out how you could have ended up back in your room.
All you remembered was talking with Hunter, exiting the ship and then nothing.
'Oh shit. Hunter!' you thought.
The creek of your door snapped you back into reality.
You feigned sleep.
Light poured through the small crack left by your door before your room was shut in darkness again.
You felt your mattress dip as someone sat at the end of your bed.
They groaned painfully.
“Shit” They hissed quietly.
You knew that voice.
“Hunter?”
Sitting up slowly you drew a small circle beside you. A blue flame erupted from it, coating the room in soft light.
“I- I’m sorry, I’ll go” He moved to stand but you grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.
He looked utterly wrecked, you couldn’t even see his face and you knew something was wrong. A little trickle of blood ran down his throat from under the mask.
Now sitting beside him you moved your hands to his mask, beginning to unlock it.
To your surprise, he didn’t stop you.
The first thing you noticed was he was young, the second was the cut across his cheek and his bloody nose.
He was beautiful, you felt your cheeks heat up.
“Your face-“ you began.
“My face what” He spit, growing defensive, already reaching for the mask again.
“It's nice, your face is nice” You finished lamely. He met your eyes briefly before his cheeks coloured and both of you looked away.
“Are you okay?” You asked softly.
After placing his mask beside you, you brought your hands to his face and cupped his jaw in your hands, angling his face so you could see his wounds better. He still wouldn’t meet your eyes. “Uncl- Emperor Belos wasn’t happy with my failure” he muttered.
Furrowing your brows, you examined his wounds.
“Come one, let's clean you up,” You said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the bathroom.
His cheeks and ears remained stubbornly pink.
You began gently wiping the blood away. Once you were happy with your work, you drew a small circle with your fingers and healed the cut.
He gasped in surprise once it had closed.
“You- your magic. It feels.. different” he noted sceptically.
“I haven't given up my magic yet. It's still wild” you said hesitantly.
He opened his mouth to speak but you interrupted quickly.
"Emperor Belos said once I was of age he'd take it from me, but for now please. Don't tell anyone"
He nodded once. You smiled and held his eye contact.
“I guess I’ll be going now,” He said, reaching for his mask.
Chewing on your lip you blurted anxiously.
“Or you could stay”
He stared at you blankly.
“Y’know we could do friend things, like have a.. sleepover?” This time you were the first to look away.
He was quiet for a bit, the silence hanging heavy.
“Yeah. Yeah okay. A sleepover” He held a hand to the back of his neck sheepishly.
A soft pink tinged his cheeks and ears.
“Alright,” you said sitting back against your headboard.
“Alright,” he echoed, awkwardly moving to sit next to you.
"Do you really like my voice?" he said anxiously.
Your cheeks reddened as you remembered your awkwardly blurted confession.
"Yeah, I do. I think it's pretty"
'why was this so scary?' you thought.
After a beat he leaned against you, his shoulder and arm pressed firmly against your own.
“So how did you know which room was mine,” you asked.
You watched in amusement as his cheeks and ears coloured darkly. Panic spreading over his face.
“You been watching me, golden boy?” You said slyly, nudging his arm.
“Shut up,” he said smiling slightly, nudging you back as laughter wracked your body.