Chapter Text
Hunter tended to avoid interacting with people whenever possible, but in his line of work, it was inevitable. His uncle would often send him out on expeditions, secret missions and the like. Normally, it was just rounding up wild magic users and finding things he needed for the Day of Unity.
But this newest trip was more of a quality-of-life situation. The Emperor’s Coven was having difficulty overpowering the enemy recently, and some rumours of a secret auction had been floating around. Blight Manor, home of those abomination inventors, was supposedly dabbling in an abomination-robot hybrid - Abomatons, they were called. And Belos wanted in on the bidding. So, Hunter had been tasked with making the journey down there and taking their entire stock.
As soon as the mission had been given to him, he rushed down to his room to prepare. He donned his cloak, then caught sight of himself in the mirror as he reached for his mask. The sight of his scar made him frown. It was red, jagged, hadn’t healed properly… he pulled his mask down.
“This is something I can get right,” he whispered, “And he’ll be proud of me.”
The halls were lit by scarce candles, the flickering flame of each one barely doing anything to penetrate the darkness of the late evening. Hunter sped up his walk. It was silly, but he’d always been scared of the dark as a child. He’d often spent nights alone in his room, not daring to call out for anyone but still desperately trying to stay awake as he watched the shadows crawl up the walls.
Now, fear worked for him. He used it to make others do his bidding. And no one could use it against him.
Well, except for his uncle. But that was to be expected, really. The mighty Emperor needed intimidation on his side. Hunter understood.
He reached the front entrance and saw two scouts waiting to accompany him. Hunter was grateful that the mask hid his scowl. He didn’t need their help. Did uncle not trust him to do this alone?
Nevertheless, he addressed them with a polite nod as they prepared their staffs. He, too, prepared his own, getting the idea that they were going to be flying there, even though he could easily teleport. But these guys clearly couldn’t, so they would do it the slow way.
As they got going, Hunter had to admit, there was something nice about just flying through the Isles. The cool wind was a refreshing contrast to the stuffy sanctum. He let his mind wander as they soared through the skies and streets.
He’d done his research on the Blight family. There was the matriarch, Odalia, who ran their business. Alador, the father, who did all the inventing. The youngest Blight, (he was sure her name was something like Uppity? Enmity? Animosity?) who he’d seen training under the disgraced Lilith Clawthorne. And then there were… the twins. He knew the least about them. They were supposedly illusion prodigies, but they had no interest in the Emperor’s Coven like their sister, and likely weren’t inventing useful robots either, so he had no reason to know them anyway.
Eventually, they landed outside the manor. As planned, the auction attendees were piling out the doors, with the twins seemingly acting as greeters. Hunter frowned. He didn’t really want them there, to witness the plan, but there was little he could do about that.
Hunter and the scouts stood out of sight in the trees as the guests left through the grandiose gates. Better not to draw any attention. This was supposed to be a top secret auction, after all. It was also… somewhat… not allowed. They were building their own army here, and what for? Profit? A wild witch with snails in their pocket could have gotten a hold of one, and then what?
Once everyone was gone, they made their way up the path. The twins seemed to be chatting, clearly waiting to be let back inside and relieved of their duties. Hunter took a breath, filling his chest with confidence, and hoping some of that would undo the knot in his stomach. Why were the simplest of interactions always so dizzying? It wasn’t like these twins could do anything to him; he was the Golden Guard, for Titan’s sake…
Upon his approach, the twins turned to them, confused. Hunter looked the pair up and down. There was a boy and a girl, mostly identical, save for the hairstyles. Hunter found he was quite jealous of how effortlessly the boy styled his emerald-green cut - personally, it took him far too much hair elixir to achieve the half-messy half-spiked effect…
He’d been staring too long. It was speaking time now.
“The Blight twins, I presume?” he said, speaking with as much authority as he could muster.
“Yes…?” the boy said, only to receive a whack to the head from his sister.
Hunter wanted to laugh. It seemed his reputation hadn’t preceded him, for once.
“Golden Guard,” the girl said, taking a knee, “I’m afraid the auction just ended. How can we be of service to you?”
The boy clumsily copied his sister. Though he could tell they were only performing the gesture out of custom and not respect, he had to fight back a smile.
“What are your names?” he asked them.
“Emira,” said the girl, “And this is-”
“Edric,” the boy said.
Hunter could feel the scouts getting impatient behind him. True, the question hadn’t been relevant to the mission, but he was allowed to be curious.
“Hexside students, I presume?”
They nodded in sync.
“I’d like to have a… conversation with your parents. Please refrain from interrupting us.”
“Of course,” Emira said.
They kept their heads bowed as Hunter and the scouts walked past them, and into the manor. Hunter cast one last look at Edric as they strolled in through the double doors. Strangely enough, he was looking back, despite the fact that his sister had kept her head down. Edric smiled. Hunter raised an eyebrow, then remembered no one could see it under the mask.
Whatever. It wasn’t every day he encountered an interesting person - someone who wasn’t instantly on-their-knees-grovelling, or patronising, or afraid. This was a nice, if fleeting, change of pace.
Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, they strolled into the main hall. A few abominations were sweeping the place, and Odalia and Alador appeared to be in conversation, not yet having noticed the intrusion.
“Oh, despite the spectacle, this was quite a successful sale! Excellent job on the 2.0, dear,” Odalia said.
“Yes,” Hunter cut in, “Your abomatons are quite extraordinary. Too bad no one will be receiving them.”
Odalia gasped, then immediately took a knee. She grabbed her husband and made him do the same. Hunter nearly laughed again. That was where Edric got it from, then.
The best approach was getting straight to the point. Intimidation would end this quickly.
“The Emperor will be buying every one of your Abomatons, and will personally fund research into making them stronger,” he said.
Odalia looked up, a half-smile on her face. “Th- That's great news! We are honoured to have-”
“You should be. Emperor Belos doesn't take kindly to citizens making a... private army.”
With that, he turned and left, flanked by the scouts. Quick and painless. Honestly, there was no point in them coming with him.
It was obvious that the twins had been spying - Hunter wasn’t stupid. While Emira stared at the ground in an unbothered manner, Edric whistled in the most conspicuous way possible. Hunter gestured for the scouts to go ahead as he turned to the pair. Then he removed his cloak and inspected it before them.
Just as he’d thought. A note - or an illusion of one - that read, “HEX ME.” He’d heard the unmistakable poof at his back when he walked in.
Emira’s eyes widened and she elbowed her brother. He responded with a betrayed whisper; “Narc.”
“Good one,” was all Hunter said.
He took his staff and waved it in a small circle. An unmistakable poof sounded at Edric’s back. Then Hunter climbed aboard and took to the skies.
He could hear them launch into squabbling as he flew off.
“Oh my Titan, I can’t believe that,” Edric said, “I thought he was going to kill me. What does it say?”
“Hold still!” Emira said, “It says… ‘bye?’ But with a lot of Es?”
“You mean, like byeeeeee~?” Edric said, with a bit of a flourish.
Hunter snorted, half-hoping they didn’t hear.
“Sure…” Emira said, baffled.
*
It didn’t take long to get back. He could’ve teleported, but now he found that he didn’t want to. Not just because it would have spoiled his dramatic exit, but because it gave him a moment to think.
Hunter didn’t have anyone his age in the Emperor’s Coven to interact with. It had always been just him, the kid that no one could tolerate, alone in his room, trying to stave off the shadows. Interacting with the Blight twins had been a much needed breath of fresh air. Even being pranked like that… he felt… so… normal. A normal teenager.
Why did that thought bring so much comfort and terror simultaneously?
He sighed to himself. As long as all this stuff stayed in his head, it wasn’t hurting anyone. His uncle wouldn’t know.
That Edric boy was cute. He wanted to see him again. But not in this uniform, not with all the status and drama.
How could he pull something like that off, though?
Well, if no one recognised him without the mask...