Archive of Our Own

You held your arms out to me.

“Trust fall?”

- - - - -

No matter how many times he sees it, Hunter will never get used to watching Uncle turn. The sound Belos makes is deeply unnatural, like a phlegmy, rasping roar, followed by a horrible snarl that sounds like churning mud. 

He looks away until it's over.

Hunter pulls a wooden staff from his cloak, which he'd snagged earlier in anticipation of another episode. Belos snatches the offered palisman from his hand.

Hunter takes Uncle's sigh upon absorbing the palisman's essence as a good sign, and relaxes a fraction.

"I need more." Emperor Belos reaches a hand toward his nephew, open and palm up, expecting.

Hunter swallows. "That was… the last from our reserves. The palisdrome wood has been over-harvested."

Uncle gives a grunt of frustration and turns swiftly away. Hunter’s own frustration and worry bubble up to the surface. He follows.

"Uncle, let me help! We can make more palismen."

Uncle doesn't respond or look at him, a sign in Hunter's favour. (And, like he always does, he lets the momentum of his whirring mind get the better of him.)

"Actually, I read about this technique harnessing wild magic to—I, uh." He cuts himself off when Belos pauses and looks back at him. (Even if his mind and mouth are too quick for his own good, he knows when to shut up.) "...sorry." He pulls his arms back into his cloak, looks down.

Uncle Belos comes toward him, sets a hand on his shoulder. "Please, be careful. Our family is gone because of wild magic. I can't let the same happen to you." Belos' grip tightens at the last few words, the fingers of his metal gauntlet digging into his shoulder. Hunter goes rigid in his grasp.

"Find me more palismen. I can depend on you, right?"

Hunter nods, looking up but not quite meeting Uncle's eyes. His reply is quiet, but he doesn’t mumble. (Belos hates it when he mumbles.) "I won't let you down."

- - - - -

You said you wouldn’t leave me to rot

I’d always have a place here

I’d be safe

(I don’t, and I’m not.)

I glued myself back together for you

Fragile but whole

Put my faith in your hands

(Only for that to fail me too.)

- - - - -

Hunter will not let Uncle down. Not even if he has to make sure the stupid human with her stupid wild magic is— "—locked in the dingiest cell in the Conformatorium for rest of your sad little life."

And even tied up, alone, on his ship, the human has the audacity to tell him: "Pfft, whatever, I already broke out there like, twice."

Ugh.

He turns away, regains his composure.

"Then we'll just zap you to dust and throw you into the sea, is that better?"

Luz grumbles, and he marks that as a victory before going back to the wheel, readjusting his course. He'll only be a minute or two behind schedule, and the palismen will more than make up for that.

Hopefully.

(He's heard about the human, the disruptions she's been causing. "Luz." )

(She's nothing he can't handle, though.)

(He'll return home with the captive human and the palismen, and Uncle Belos will be proud of him, and everything will be fine.)

(Everything is still under control.)

"Say, how did you get back on the ship so fast?" 

And, see, Hunter is an idiot and thinks nothing of the question until it's too late. "Staff," he says, the "obviously" left unsaid.

"Cool," the human replies, before he hears an odd cracking sound and—

Clank!

"No!"

His staff goes spinning out into the fog.   

Hunter gives a humorless chuckle as he whirls around to face her. (Everything is still under control.)

"Human, it will take more than than that to thwart my mission—"

And then he's cut off by a snarl , a huge shadow that blocks out the starlight, and then the entire ship is shaking and he's losing his footing—

Shit shit shit shit—

Somewhere between the growling and snarling of the massive attacking creature and the shaking airship, Luz asks "What is that?" 

And honestly, he'd love to know too, but right now what matters is that the giant thing is attacking the ship and everything is not under control and he doesn't have a plan for this —

The creature roars; a bone-rattling, all-encompassing sound, which is followed by—oh Titan , that sounded like a tear in the gas bag—

He topples to the floor at the same time Luz does.

"aAHHHH!"

The ship rocks with the dragon's weight, and Hunter is flung from one side of the deck to the other. He hits his head; the world goes dark.

- - - - -

He vaguely feels a throbbing pain in his head. It takes too much effort to open his eyes, and he finds that his vision is blury and unfocused. He closes them again.

Void.

- - - - -

How many times will I shatter my bones?

Carve your name into my skin?

Tear out my hair to sew your wounds shut?

How much do I have to give to have a home?

(But I know the answer, don’t I?)

(“Just a little more.”)

 - - - - -

"Wake up!"

There's a stinging pain on his cheek, and a force that snaps his head to the side.

"Gah—What?" He gasps and sputters before he registers the human looming above him. "You-!"

She slaps a hand over his mouth, silencing him. She speaks in a low, hushed tone. "Shh. Listen. You are a bad person, and I do not like you. But, Kikimora is trying to kill you, and unfortunately, I'm too nice to let that happen."

Fortunately, his mind is already running a mile a minute, and he needs close to no time at all to process her words, so he focuses on getting her hand off him.

Luz makes a sudden noise of disgust and removes her hand.

"Ugh, are you licking my hand? I'm trying to help you!" She shoves said hand back in his face.

"Why should I believe you?" Hunter shoves her back, which quickly devolves into a shoving match.

"Because-!"

They both freeze upon hearing a long, low growl .

Luz lowers her voice. "Take off your cloak. Quickly." 

" Why? "

"She gave it your scent and we need a distraction—Just, hurry up and drop the cloak before you get us both killed!" She whisper-yells.

"Okay, okay!" He keeps a similar, hushed tone and fumbles with the clasp on his cloak, because as much as he does not trust he human, he doesn't want to get eaten by that thing .

In the end it's a little close for his liking, but Luz's idea works. The hand dragon… thing is thoroughly caught up in devouring his cloak, so he and the human slip away undetected. Unharmed is another matter entirely—Hunter’s head hurts like hell and he’s certain he has more than a few scrapes and bruises. Regardless, he bites back the pain and continues forward. He’s managed more in worse condition before.

Hunter walks with purposeful strides in front of the human. While he usually wouldn't like having his back to the enemy, Luz… really does seem too nice to actually do anything. She certainly doesn't give him back his staff, but she also doesn't try to use it as leverage, something he would've done the moment they got away from the hand dragon, if not sooner. Instead, the human gushes about how cool she thinks Latissa is and one of the palismen he tried to take—A bright red bird—chirps happily from her shoulder, while Hunter continues to pointedly ignore her. 

He almost loses her when he turns a corner—"Wait!"—but instead she catches up and refocuses her seemingly endless energy on him. 

(Ugh.)

"Where are you going?"

He doesn't answer.

"Hey man, I just saved your life. The least you could do is tell me your name," she says. And it really is a fair point, but the human being logical makes him more annoyed than anything, so he speeds up, half-running toward the guards standing outside Police precinct 206. 

"Scouts! Direct me to your communications room. I need to contact the castle immediately." Hunter pulls down his glove to show his coven brand.

"Cute," one guard of the closest pair says. "Didn't know kids your age were still into temporary tattoos."

"Yeah, show us your badge number," says the other. 

Hunter isn't fazed. "I am your superior and I can prove it." He turns back to the human and holds his hand out expectantly. "Staff."

She freezes for a split second, before quickly hiding said staff behind her back.

"Isn't it a little late for you kids to be outside?" Guard number two says. 

"Yeah, go home before we call your parents," Guard number one adds as they walk off.

Hunter is now officially fazed. And pretty pissed. 

He's going to… well, he doesn't know what he's going to do, but one thing is certain when he turns back to Luz. He's taking his staff back.

He clenches his fists and makes what must be a pretty angry noise, because she books it.

The human runs and the witch follows. He effortlessly leaps over a trash bin she tosses in her wake, and jumps down from a rooftop after her. He chases her down a wide staircase and through the streets, into a dead-end alleyway.

"Ice glyph!" She shouts, activating one of her magic circles and launching herself onto a rooftop with a pillar of ice just before Hunter can grab her.

He stands for a moment, breathing heavily. During this moment, the human peaks her head out over the edge of the building. 

"C'mon Golden Guard," she taunts. Hunter glares up at her. "Don't you know any like, levitation spells?" She waggles her fingers on the word levitation, and he looks away, taking advantage of her arrogance to formulate a way up. It'll be a close thing, but if he can get a running start and take advantage of that slightly lower rooftop with the wooden pole above it to the right…

"Are you… powerless without this?" The human asks.

Hunter looks up at her once more at these words, clenches his fists, then proceeds to give her the side eye as he turns to walk several paces from the ice pillar. He turns again, takes a breath.

Here goes nothing.

He runs at the wall, first using a bulbous yellow growth to propel himself to a widow's overhang, grabbing on and then kicking off to the lower rooftop. He jumps up onto that pole and uses the height to clamber onto the objective roof. He slips and almost falls, but manages to pull himself up and over the edge, rolling out of the way just in time as the human fires a red bolt of magic from his staff. He dodges two more by simply leaning out of the way, and even though it's a close thing at this range, the human is evidently not used to aiming that thing.

The human's eyes are wide and locked on him, and she seems to make an effort to sound threatening when she speaks. "Back up! Or-or else!" The glowing of his staff subsides, though she doesn’t stop pointing it at him.

Hunter has a theory. He thinks it's a pretty good theory, so he doesn't back up. In fact, he steps closer, and says "Or else what? You're gonna blast me to bits?" When the human doesn't do anything but tense up and stand her ground, he gives another humorless chuckle and smirks. Takes a step closer, then another. “Nah, you’re too nice for that.” (Her expression flashes from determined to startled, as though she wasn’t expecting her own words to be turned on her so quickly.) (Which Hunter finds rather odd; she was the one who exposed her own weakness, her kindness. Out loud. Directly.)

“By the way, you know you can’t do that either.” He crosses his arms, “‘Cause then you’ll be leaving behind your precious palisman. You don’t tend to think things through, do you human?” 

The human in question is visibly nervous now. She wears it on her sleeve like she’s done with everything else so far, apparently giving not a single thought to guarding her expressions more carefully. (It’s more confusing than anything, watching her consistently expose her own weaknesses the moment they surface. Is it a human thing?)

Then there’s a familiar rumble from above, followed by a shadow. Both teenagers look up. The creature from before flies over them, landing outside the police precinct. Kikimora greets it, and Hunter sees the palisman nest next to them.

"So Kikimora was after my catch…"

Luz perks up beside him. "Seems like neither of us want her to win right now. Sooo, let's work together to take back those palismen."

The human seems to have difficulty knowing how stupid her plans are at times. Hunter points out the glaring flaw in her newest one.

"Then what? You think I'll just let you walk away with them?"

" Maybe , you won't have a choice,” the human says, putting a hand on her hip. She twirls the staff in her hand. “I’m more formidable than you think—” The staff hits Luz on the head mid-twirl. She drops it, causing Hunter to yelp and reach out to grab it, but she catches it before it can fall off the building. She laughs nervously.

Hunter smooths over his startled expression as quickly as it came, arms falling back to their default crossed position over his chest. “I doubt that. But… fine. Truce ‘till then.”

“Truce,” Luz says, holding a hand out for him to shake.

He sighs, and just as he goes to shake her hand, she pulls it away. “Too slow,” she says, like a brat, laughing as she runs off.

Hunter lets out a frustrated breath. “Let’s get this over with.”

- - - - -

Trust me, the human says, after telling Hunter to go get some sleeping nettles, “fresh as you can find.”

Is that also a human thing? Is blind trust just something that they do over there? (Or is it just her?)

Hunter has no idea. But between his confusion, the begrudging truce he didn’t shake on, and the fact that he’s out of options until he gets his staff back, he doesn’t question it further.

(The only reason he didn’t just take the staff back is because cooperation under false pretenses is much more convenient and makes much less of a mess than simple force.)

(The truce isn’t the reason. It’s only words, a promise made in good faith, based in trust and naivety. It means nothing.)

(He recalls one of Belos' lessons. His hand drifts to his right cheek, fingers grazing the scarred strip of skin there. Promises are the currency of children. )

- - - - -

There's an important distinction to be made between the two people Hunter exists as.

The Golden Guard is a perfect teen prodigy, Emperor Belos' right hand man, and a powerful witch who is second to no one but Belos and the Titan himself.

Hunter is a sixteen-year-old with no biological family to speak of, exactly twenty-nine scars, and several questionable skills he'd picked up from his time before Belos.

Hunter has no mask or cloak to hide behind disguise himself, so he falls back on the orphan boy in him and street-urchins his way into snagging a pot of sleeping nettles from a flower shop. Judging by the run-down look of the place, the owner probably hasn't been paying their taxes regularly anyway.

He slips his questionably acquired goods into a burlap sack and makes his way back to the meeting spot.

- - - - -

 Luz seems to have just finished drawing some strange chalk symbols on the wall when Hunter comes to stand next to her. He looks up at the drawings.

“Huh. I’ve… never seen magic like this. What will it do?”

Luz turns to face him. “Well, we don’t want to spook Kikimora’s steed because it might drop the nest and hurt the palisman. So, using these fire and ice spells,” she gestures at the two circular symbols, “I can command the glyphs to produce a thick mist.”

Hunter reaches into his sack. “And the sleeping nettles?” he asks, handing Luz the potted nettles. 

“They’re essential. Combined with the magic mist, it’ll create—”

“—A sleep-inducing smoke, forcing Kikimora to land!”

Hunter only realizes he finished her sentence when the human looks at him strangely. He suddenly feels compelled to explain himself, so he does.

“Oh, um, I—I read a similar spell, in the book ‘From Bones to Earth.’” He scratches at his scar absentmindedly.

Luz smiles then, and leans forward on her hands. “‘A Study of Wild Magic!’ Eda once pickpocketed the guy who wrote it,” she says and sits back on her knees, as though that quite explains how she ended up with the book.

Hunter, of course, is fascinated, despite the more rational part of his mind that nags at him for it. He finds himself smiling and talking before he can think it through. “I’ve never seen glyphs before. But, it seems very similar to the elemental magic practiced in the Savage Ages,” he says. Luz’s eyes light up with curiosity, and she leans slightly closer. “Really?”

Hunter nods. “Actually, not many people know this, but—” his brain catches up, and he switches tracks. “No. Nononono, this stuff is restricted for a reason. You should forget about it before you’re hurt.” (He’s not quite sure why he phrases it like that. It’s not like he cares about the human.) (It’s not like the truce means anything. He only needs his staff.) (Promises are the currency of children.)

Luz gives an unconvinced “Uh-huh,” before mercifully changing topics. “Other than Lilith, I’ve never spoken to someone inside the Emperor’s Coven. What made you want to join?” (Nevermind, that’s not a merciful question. But… it’s been forever since he’s actually had someone to talk to like this. So maybe it’s not a bad one.) 

The staff is on the ground by Luz’s feet. (He’s ashamed to admit, even to himself, that he hadn’t noticed when she set it down.) She’s so obviously bad at keeping her guard up, and she’s been weirdly genuine so far, and blind trust probably is a Luz thing, so… so he sighs. 

He sighs, lets his arms drop from where they’re crossed over his chest, and sits down against the wall.

“You were right before. I’m a powerless witch. A lot of my ancestors were. I never thought I’d have a future in a world like this.” He looks away from Luz, down at his gloved fingers, rubbing them against each other in a way that relieves the energy, the incessant need to move and fidget. (He feels a familiar pang at his own words, a reflection of castle rumors, older kids’ taunts, the things and people that visit him in his nightmares.) He continues.

“But then, Belos found me, and gave me a staff with artificial magic. Said the Titan had big plans for me.”

“At least you have your future figured out now,” Luz says. And he knows he’s supposed to be happy, grateful, because he still would’ve been a worthless orphan boy if it weren’t for Uncle Belos. But the human girl’s words only draw out a deep-seated bitterness.

“At least you can figure out your own,” Hunter replies.

There's a moment of silence between them, followed by a chirp, a flurry of red to his left, and tiny, sharp talons digging into his arm. Hunter startles.

"Hey!"

He waves his arm and shoos it away, causing the palisman to flutter and land on the ground next to him. It twitters, hops toward him and pecks at his boot.

"Stop, get away from me!" Hunter shifts away from the bird, trying to shoo it with his hand. The bird decidedly does not shoo, and in fact, continues to hop toward him.

"He's just being friendly," Luz laughs.

"I don't care!" His voice cracks horribly on the 'I.' He pushes the palisman away with his foot. "These things are made from wild magic. It's dangerous." 

"And does he seem dangerous to you?"

The bird chirps innocently  when Luz indicates it. But Hunter barely gets time to process the human's question before they hear a familiar, draconic rumble.

"Here," Luz says, holding out a grey cloth. 

"What—"

"So we don't breathe in the smoke," she says, pulling out an identical cloth of her own.

Hunter takes the cloth and nods.

They move to the edge of the building. Sure enough, in front of Precinct 206 below, Kikimora and her dragon monstrosity are getting ready to fly.

"Masks on," Luz says.

They put on their masks.

Luz positions herself in front of the glyphs, and Hunter follows suit, though he's not quite sure what he needs to do. "Once they're surrounded by the smoke, we'll need to stay close to see where they land."

Hunter nods, looks up at the glyphs. It really is fascinating—he's never seen spells cast like this. He knows he's meddling with wild magic, but if the human can use glyphs despite having no bile sack and therefore no magic, couldn't he..? 

No. He can't. It's wild magic, there's a reason they call them the 'Savage Ages.' that would be dangerous, and wrong, and treason —

There's movement in the corner of his eye, and Hunter looks back to the human. The human, Luz, who's holding his staff out to him, like she's offering… 

Hunter reaches out to take it, then pauses. What if it’s a trap?

… 

What if it’s not?

"Are you… sure?" 

“Just take it!” She thrusts the staff toward him, and Hunter vehemently does not flinch . He takes the staff.

Another growl from above signifies Kikimora’s departure. Luz takes a deep breath, and slams her hands against the glyphs. Hunter thinks nothing happens for a second, but then the chalk lines solidify and start glowing. Red on one side, blue on the other. (Corresponding to the fire and ice glyphs, he thinks.)

The smoke billows rapidly from the glyphs after they've been activated. Hunter gets on his staff, looking back to Luz as she does the same. She nods once, features set in determination, and with that, they take off.

It's not long before they notice Kikimora's mount begin to sway dangerously in the air, having a harder time keeping up with the wind resistance. Hunter can't see Kikimora from where he is, but she should be experiencing the effects of the smoke by now. The creature seems to struggle to maintain its altitude, and drifts downward somewhat.

"I think it's working," Hunter says. Luz nods and takes a paper square from her pocket. She taps it, and the paper seems to be consumed to create an orb of light. Hunter realizes she means to lure the dragon, and wills his staff forward, faster.

The creature rumbles, when they come into its field of view, and Hunter knows they've got them.

(It's actually pretty interesting, how the light glyph consumed the paper but the ice glyph didn't take out a chunk of the airship's flooring or the two large chalk glyphs didn't seem to affect the wall. Do light glyphs work differently? Or would a piece of paper be consumed by an ice glyph too, making the material the cause?)

( No. He shakes his head, tries to clear it of his stupid, curious, treasonous thoughts.)

(He has more important things to worry about.)

It isn't hard to lure the creature until it crashes to the ground. The thing is big, but stupid and not very maneuverable, allowing Hunter and Luz to land behind it.

"The palismen!" Luz says, practically launching herself off the staff and running towards the now freed nest. 

Right.

Hunter has his staff now.

Luz has exhausted her usefulness.

He… this is the part where they're enemies again.

He should probably do something about that.

The human has taken off her cloak, wrapped it around the palismen.

"—we'll get you home warm and safe and—"

Hunter points his staff at her, activating it before he can have second thoughts.

The human freezes, then gives a nervous laugh. "Right. I didn't think this through. Again."

She shuts the hatch door on the nest with a slight creak. 

(Hunter could knock her out right now. He should.)

(What is he even waiting for?)

Do it, he tells himself.

… He doesn't.

She stands slowly, turns to face him.

"So you're really gonna do this? You're just going to hand all these little guys over to Belos? I know what he does with them."

Yes, I am, something screams, internally.

Externally, he narrows his eyes at her. (Externally, he's rooted to the spot and he clutches his staff so tight his hands hurt.)

"I thought you might've been a good guy. But I guess that was just wishful thinking."

He's going to do it. He has to. Knock her out, incapacitate her, something .

(He has to.)

"You're not my friend. You're just… the Golden Guard."

Hunter can't breathe. 

Luz doesn't sound mad, just… disappointed. Almost sad. And somehow, that's worse. Like he could've been better. Like she expected something more. Like this wasn't the deal, like the truce was anything but a promise, because promises are the currency of children.

He wants her to yell, to scream, to fight. Make it easy to hate her so he can do his fucking job. Anything but this.

He can't-

And before he knows what he's doing, he lowers the mask. 

"My name is Hunter."

Luz gives a small gasp, and he's about to make some sarcastic quip about it when there's a bright, pink-tinged flash to his right.

“Agh!” He lets out a yell that's more startled than pained as the bolt of magic glances off his head. He looks over at the source of the projectile, dropping into combat form.

Kikimora is on the ground, decidedly hanging onto consciousness by her nails. “I can't tell who's there… but I know I've got you..!” She throws out three more sporadic bolts of pink lightning, Hunter using his staff to block one that almost hits Luz. 

(Wait, why is he protecting her?)

(… He'll figure it out later.)

He pulls up his mask and runs at Kikimora.

Hunter dodges between more bolts of lightning, teleporting off to Kikimora's left. He successfully baits a lightning bolt, giving him time to teleport behind her and strike her over the head with his staff.

This works, except he accidentally ends up knocking Kikimora right in front of Luz, who would've gotten blasted if Hunter didn't wack her hand away with his staff first. He forces her back with another strike aimed at her head, but she raises her arms and he hits her claws with a metallic clang instead.

“This—is— treason against a coven official!” Kikimora punctuates her statement with another, larger blast, this time managing to catch a lock of Hunter’s hair on fire. “I will have your head!” Her spells are powerful despite her sloppy spell circles, only coming slightly slower than usual. Hunter has to block her next bolt with the length of his staff.

They trade several more blows, Hunter teleporting for good measure, though Kikimora’s crazed and erratic spells are otherwise easily dodged. Eventually, Hunter spins his staff and deflects a bolt right back at her, which hits her in the head. She makes a choked sort of noise as she slumps to the floor.

Hunter turns and lowers the mask once more. The human is making her getaway on Kikimora’s dragon. He looks at the staff in his hand, the growing distance between him and the human, him and the palismen, his objective, the entire point of this mission.

Chase her.

He doesn’t.

He can’t bring himself to.

Weak, hisses the thing in his ear. Idiotic. Failure.

That’s it, isn’t it? 

He chose this. He’s a treasonous failure.

Uncle—

Shit. Fuck, fuck oh Titan why did he do that? He’s fucked. He’s dead, he’s so fucking dead, he let Uncle down, Uncle is gonna be so pissed.

Hunter’s knees buckle. He doesn’t fall, he’s holding onto his staff too tightly for that, but the pain and exhaustion of today catch up to him. His head hurts and he’s scraped up and bruised, the burn on his forehead stings and he’s so, utterly, boneachingly tired. He doesn’t have the energy for a panic attack or a mental breakdown right now. So he stays, leaning heavily against his staff, pressing his forehead against the cool metal. He shivers slightly. It’s morning by now, and a damp chill seems to permeate the air, his clothes, his boots and gloves and skin. He… he needs to get going.

So, Hunter stands. He straightens, sets his jaw, draws up his shoulders and drags his feet under him, forcing them to support his weight. Piece by piece, mechanically, he fixes his posture into that of the Golden Guard, the soldier, the perfect teen prodigy, Emperor Belos’ right hand man. He takes a deep breath.

He might be weak, but he isn’t a coward. So, he gets on his staff, and begins the journey back to the castle.

- - - - -

Somewhere else, a red flurry of feathered, animated wood and bird song conversates with their protector.

“You found someone after all this time?”

The palisman confidently chirps their farewell. They go.

- - - - -

“So you return with nothing.” Belos stands when he says his next words, and the shifting of cloth makes Hunter’s stomach churn. “Is this the thanks I get for taking you in?”

Hunter is a lot of things, but ungrateful isn’t one of them.

“Of course not!” (Hunter is a lot of things, including stupid and insubordinate, because he runs his mouth for just a little too long.) “I want to help—a-and if you told me how wild magic did this you I might be able to find a—”

Hunter flinches out of the way and screws his eyes shut as a sharp, muddy green appendage shoots toward his head. It misses, but takes a few hairs of his undercut with it. His chest tightens, and he quickly and carefully resets his demeanor. The words are out of his mouth with little strain or force, like clockwork. “My apologies. I spoke out of turn.”

Uncle Belos makes a strained sort of noise, clutching his side for a moment. “These outbursts are… painful. And so is watching you fail.” And just like that, the moment of vulnerability is gone, replaced with the flat, metallic-tinged tone that speaks of corrections and consequences and disappointment. Then, near-imperceptibly softer, Uncle says “I know you can do better, Hunter.” The relief is so palpable that Hunter smiles slightly, though the tension in his chest remains.

He almost whispers his next words, but he knows Uncle can hear them. “I will,” he promises.

Belos dismisses him, and he exits the throne room.

- - - - -

You let me fall

That’s okay

I’ll fall again

Again

And again

Some day I’ll be good enough for you to catch me

(Some day I’ll be brave enough to accept that you never will.)

(Today isn’t that day.)

(Maybe tomorrow.)

- - - - -

Hunter enjoys annoying Kikimora, if only because she’s pretty annoying herself, but right now he’s just tired. Well, frustrated too, maybe, if his unconsciously clenched fists are anything to go by. It’s after sunrise when he finally makes it to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him, sitting on the end of his bed. He flops backwards unceremoniously and continues to stare at the ceiling.

“I can help,” he thinks out loud. He digs the heels of his gloved palms into his eyes. “If I just knew a little more.”

At that moment, there’s a strange chirping noise coming from his window. He abruptly sits up. There, in the window, is a small red bird. A bird that’s oddly textured like wood—wait. “Palisman!” he exclaims, snatching the thing up in his hands. He squeezes it, can feel the wood creaking with the pressure. It gives a distressed chirp, and without thinking, Hunter releases his grip. “Oh, sorry.” He sits back on his bed.

Give it to Belos.

For some reason, the human’s words echo in his head.

“He’s just being friendly!”

He starts petting it instead.

He… He’d done a good job at pretending they weren’t friendly, until this point. Pretending they weren’t sentient, living beings.

He’d done a good job at justifying their destruction—death, slaughter—and maintaining that it was ok. They’re not even animals. Just wood. And they help Uncle Belos manage his condition.

He can’t pretend or justify anymore. Not with this one, which is almost certainly alive as he is. Sentient. Friendly, even though he tried to kidnap it. Can palismen understand kidnapping?

He doesn’t turn it in, continues petting it. The feathers feel strangely silken, like real feathers and not ones magically transfigured from wood.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he says, eventually. “It’d be bad if Belos saw you.”

The bird gives a couple of chirps in response, and then—

There’s a sudden glow highlighting the palisman, and it—

“Oh,” Hunter says as he catches the newly-formed wooden staff. “I was… not expecting that.”

It feels… right, somehow, holding this staff, and that scares him more than anything. He stands up, walks to the window, willing the thing in his hands to change back and fly away. It doesn’t.

He looks out the window at the sun, risen and casting is rays over the castle, everything awash in orange-yellow light.

Titan, he begs, if only to be ignored for what won’t be the last time. He feels faintly ill. What do I do now?

- - - - -

You hold your arms out to me.

“Trust fall?”