Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Run, jump, jump again, dodge, duck head, run. 

Hunter sprinted through the streets of Bonesborough, pushing past civilians and praying to whatever entity was watching him that he didn’t trip on someone’s cloak, falling to his doom. 

There were confused and annoyed noises as he interrupted conversations by shoving through the participants, followed by angry roars as they heard what the mob behind him was saying. 

People could be terrifying sometimes.

The bird- Hunter had never figured out a name for that thing, no time now- tweeted anxiously from his shoulder, claws digging into Hunter’s shoulder in an effort to stay on during the rush. Having it in staff form wouldn’t be helpful- he barely knew how to use it, and flying wouldn’t be any help, especially with people who could do magic without a staff following him. Hunter couldn’t even risk a glance back- any moment of hesitation, any time where he couldn’t see where he was going was bad. 

There were a few coven guards a bit farther up ahead, who, somehow, hadn’t seen him and his followers yet. Hunter gritted his teeth and ran towards them, jumping off a nearby crate at the last second to land on the other side of them. The guards made noises of confusion before they were swallowed by the mob, several people falling over, creating a helpful domino effect. Hunter took a second to steady himself after landing, otherwise he would have fallen right over- the swarm of people knocking each other over helped with his time, however, and barely a second later he was sprinting again. 

He couldn’t risk any more jumps like that- he didn’t know the terrain that well, and he didn’t have the time for mistakes. Besides- right now, no one was an ally, not to him.

Not after what he did.

Hiding a palisman from hi- from the Emperor, seriously Hunter?! Not a good idea. 

He dodged a few more bodies, brushed past a few students who got enveloped by the mob, and ran straight into a coven guard.

Shit. 

Hunter tried to sprint past him after they collided, the time he had made up earlier suddenly nonexistent, but that was when a hand grabbed his arm.

Shit. 

He wrenched it free, but not with the cost of stumbling a little, which then resulted in a hand around his ankle- and, quickly, hands all around the rest of him as he was grabbed by the mob, each one wanting a share of the Emperor’s snails. 

He couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe- 

The bird let out a sharp sound of pain as it was wrenched from his shoulder, likely being tossed elsewhere, and Hunter tried to kick his way out, tried to grab at the hands covering his mouth and nose, but he couldn’t-  

A failure as always, Hunter. 

And then he grabbed something hard, something wooden, something familiar- 

And all the hands let go at once. 

Hunter opened his eyes, not even being aware that he had closed them in the first place, to see a pale golden forcefield just barely surrounding him, the stunned mob starting to pound on the shield barely a second later.

The bird was in his hands, in its staff form, still as always.

Hunter whirled his head around, the golden forcefield cracking as the outside force chipped away at his weak magic. 

He only had a few seconds.

Screw it.

Hopping onto the palisman, Hunter kicked off the ground, floating at the very top of the dome just as it cracked.

Apparently, palisman had an option called “superspeed”, as that was what it felt like as the bird shot off in a random direction, rising far above the street. The mob would be following him in a second, Hunter realized grimly, glancing back to see a few already rising off the ground, more following, a swarm of birds chasing a predator away from their nests. 

Hunter shot over the houses, flying with all the experience of someone who had literally never flown a real staff before. 

Hey, at least swerving all over the place was a good defense tactic.

Though not when it meant he collided with someone who also had superspeed as an option. The man grabbed him, casting an invisibility spell at the same time. There were loud cries of outrage from the air, but they soon faded as the two sped away. 

Hunter struggled, but the man had clearly thought ahead, strong vines binding him to the staff. Hunter couldn’t see his own palisman- the bird must not have been taken with him. He felt a pang of guilt amidst all the panic- but the bird would find him.

It had always managed to before. 

They landed in an alleyway, and Hunter started to run as soon as he was shoved off the staff, but vines wrapped against his ankles, dragging him down. His chin hit the cold, cobble streets and he hissed in pain, the vines dragging him backwards. The invisibility spell had ended, as Hunter could clearly see the man that had captured him. Normal enough for someone clearly in the plant coven- a few vines sticking through his sleeves, a couple leaves in his hair. He did have a really ugly mustache, though, and Hunter was about to insult it as a panic-reaction before he was dragged back against a wall, the vines around his chest readjusting themselves to hold his wrists steady along with his ankles. 

The man smirked at him, and Hunter scowled, already wrestling with the vines stopping him from moving. They were unfairly strong.

He was about to resort to biting into one before the man reached into his bag, and-

And Hunter woke up in a cold chair, the room dark. It took a second before the pain kicked in, and then he groaned, the pain increasing with any movement. His chest felt like it had a weight with spikes attached to it digging into his skin, making it hard to breathe.

Broken ribs.

He’d had a few of those before- training and missions gone wrong, but he’d always been able to at least treat himself, if no one was there.

Being tied to a chair severely limited his ability to care for himself. 

There was the sound of a door opening, and light swarmed into his vision, making him squint. The ropes rubbed irritably against his skin- normally he would be able to get out of them, but having broken ribs was not part of his normal life. 

His head hurt, and when he tried to turn away from the light his chest hurt so badly that he opted to stay still instead, but with his eyes closed.

There was a slight chuckle, and then steps coming down the stairs. He was probably in a basement, or some kind of underground room. Hunter flexed his fingers, the built-up scar tissue that practically consumed both his hands reacting poorly to the cold. He opened his eyes slowly- he couldn’t see the man’s face, but Hunter guessed he was smirking. 

“You have a bounty on your head, Hunter ,” the man sneered, holding the poster that revealed the Golden Guard’s name and face to the public to the first time- the words Any amount of snails you request from the Emperor above his face, and the words Wanted dead or alive underneath. “And I intend to collect.” He made a clicking sound with his tongue- just like the one Kikimora always made when she was about to say something stupid and wrong. “But first- I think I might have a little fun.” 

He snapped his fingers, and the ropes loosened- damn plant coven and their fiber-based ropes. Hunter stood up quickly, forgetting about his ribs until a sharp stab of pain forced him to lean against the chair, nearly collapsing onto the ground, the pain and pressure was so bad. He groaned, the pointed wood cutting into his palms. 

The man gestured behind Hunter, and the teen risked a look back- a door, luckily one with a handle. “Run, golden boy. The dogs are coming.” 

His words were elicited by the growls coming from another door in the basement- one that was far closer than Hunter would like.

He turned.

Swung the door open. 

And ran out- or, rather, weakly hobbled out, the pain overwhelming his whole body and making him just want to collapse on the ground and die for a while.

The growls grew louder, and a new rise of panic filled his body, making running seem a little bit more doable.

And then the growls turned to barks, and they suddenly got a lot more clear and there were skitters of paws against the cold floor of the basement and Hunter ran.  

***

There he was again. Running for his life, pushing past people and objects, legs burning and chest feeling like it was about to collapse every time he took a step. But there was a part of him that felt like it couldn’t stop running- like any stop, no matter how slow, was impossible, and that the only solution was running until he stopped, until they stopped, until the world stopped. 

That was, until he ran into a gray-haired woman and was forced to stop, an-

And then he woke up on a couch.

It was significantly more comfortable than the chair.

He moved his tired arms and legs slightly, and figured that this was as good a place to die as any, especially since he wasn’t tied up. 

There was noise, too much noise, too many voices. Arguments and soft voices all at the same time. 

Hunter groaned, and some of the conversations stopped, the argument still going. 

His head cleared a bit, the pounding headache quickly setting in. 

“-n’t just leave him there!”

“You should’ve! He’s the Golden Guard! I mean, he also looks like he’s twelve, but…” 

“He’s got three broken ribs, and besides, those dogs were not nice! Lilith, sweetie, I get where you’re coming from, but… Look, we’ll just figure out what to do with him when he wakes up.” 

“I’m awake,” Hunter said dryly, then coughed harshly, the lack of wet in his throat making it hard to both breathe and talk, the sudden movement of his cough causing the unbearable pain in his chest to return- though, for some reason it was less sharp. 

There was a quiet “oh”, from someone, and then someone else was gently pushing him back against the pillows and pressing a glass of water in his hand, guiding it up to his mouth and helping him swallow. 

He didn’t want to open his eyes.

Lilith- he knew that name. The image of a raven-haired woman appeared in his head, and he scowled. 

“Where am I?”

“Somewhere safe,” said the voice that had been arguing with Lilith. “We’re not going to hurt you, I promise.” The last word was said a little more aggressively, probably towards Lilith.

“Nice to see you still hate me,” Hunter said weakly, hands wandering around. He needed his staff, where was his staff-

A familiar chirp came from near him, and Hunter smiled slightly.

“Your friend nearly ran into the window before we let him in,” Lilith said, sounding a little exasperated. “Can’t even take care of a palisman properly, can you? Hey, how’d you even get the Emperor to let you have one? Wild magic’s dangerous, after all.” Her words were said with a scoff, and the smile quickly turned into another frown.

There was an angry noise from someone else in the room, and then it seemed like Lilith was being forcefully removed from the room, judging by her sputtered exclamations and resigned sigh followed by the clatter of those annoying shoes she always wore.

Hunter slowly opened his eyes- the room was bright, annoyingly so. He squinted, and barely a second later some of the light faded- probably a light being turned off for- what reason? His comfort?

Weird.

He blinked, and realized he was lying against some pillows- a good position for broken ribs, he acknowledged, glancing around the room. The annoying human was kneeling on the floor at the end of the couch staring at him with a weird expression on her face, and there was a woman with gray and white hair staring at him worriedly. He vaguely recognized her from photos he had seen, but couldn’t quite place her until-

Ah.

The Owl Lady’s mother.

...This was probably not a good house to be lying weakly in.

He tried to push himself up, but the Owl Lady’s weird bird thing suddenly appeared, pushing him back down by the shoulders.

...Hunter didn’t protest, not wanting to get bitten by whatever the heck this thing was. It had apparently regrown a horn since the last time he had seen it.

His palisman was sitting on the coffee table next to him, looking rather content. It was sitting on a tiny, tiny bed, one of those round ones with fluffy sides you get your cat. 

“...Where am I?”

“My house,” the woman said- Gwendolyn Clawthorne, Hunter suddenly remembered. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to turn you in. You’re safe here, don’t worry.”

Hunter worried.

“What… happened?”

Gwendolyn sighed. “Well, you ran directly into me, being chased by dogs. I scared ‘em off, don’t worry. Then I flew you here.” She sighed. “Now, your turn. What’d you do?”

Hunter stiffened. “That’s none of your business.” 

The woman sighed again. She sighed a lot. “It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me what happened with the Emperor-” Hunter tensed at the mention, and the memories started to flood back in about what he did- “but can you at least tell me how you ended up with broken ribs and being chased by dogs?”

Hunter was about to (reluctantly) tell her, but was interrupted by the human letting out a sigh of relief. “Gus and Willow are ok. They were in Bonesborough earlier when your whole fiasco happened,” she explained. “Apparently they were trampled… by a… mob?” She frowned. “...That was your doing, wasn’t it.”

“Oops.” Hunter suddenly remembered the two students who had been swallowed by a crowd of angry people. “Uh, sorry. I, um. There was kind of a mob out to kill me.”

“Oh!” squeaked the human in a not-at-all-cheerful tone. “Oh, that’s not good.”

“And then, uh. I think I passed out. He hit me with a bat.”

There was a slightly quieter, still just as sharp, “Oh!” 

Hunter continued. “And then… dogs. Yeah.”

Gwendolyn studied him for a moment, then sighed again, shaking her head. “Geez, you’re as bad at explanations as Eda was when she was little.” She frowned. “Speaking of which… how old are you?”

“...Sixteen.”

“And how long have you been with the Coven?”

“Lilith said his whole life,” the human interrupted- not that Hunter was going to say that, but still. She revealed his personal information that he was not going to share!

The woman’s frown deepened, and he suddenly felt like he had done something wrong. He was about to apologize, when Gwendolyn spoke again. “So… the Emperor has been using a child soldier to do his dirty work.”

She was scarily calm.

That kind of calm when the Emperor got this morning, when Hunter betrayed him- 

“I didn’t mean to hide him,” Hunter whispered, reaching his hands up to tug at his hair.

“What?”

“The palisman- I didn’t- I was going to give him to the Emperor eventually, I swear- ” 

“Hey- hey.” Gwendolyn walked over to him. “Hey, it’s ok. The Emperor isn’t here right now. It’s ok. You’re safe, you’re ok. You were going to… give your palisman to the Emperor? Why?”

“...Uncle needs the power,” Hunter muttered, hating the words that were slipping so easily out of his mouth in his distress, hating that he felt safe enough to say them here- 

“Lilith said she saw him drain a palisman once,” the human said quietly, and Gwendolyn sucked in a sharp breath. 

“That- ok. Ok,” Gwendolyn said shakily, “ok. The Emperor’s your uncle?”

Hunter simply nodded, no longer trusting his mouth. Oh. Shit. Couldn’t trust his entire head, apparently. 

Gwendolyn leaned on the couch, sighing shakily. She did that a lot . “I hope you don’t mind being temporarily kidnapped, Hunter.”

“I- what?” He nearly sat up, but his ribs resisted. 

Also.

Titan, he was tired.

Hunter let his head fall back. “What, you gonna torture me for info?”

“I’m going to get you something to eat, first of all. And then I’m going to give you another elixir that should help with your pain- I already gave you one, earlier, but I didn’t want to risk giving you two when you couldn’t swallow on your own.” Gwendolyn bustled off, likely to the kitchen, and Hunter was left alone with the human and whatever the hell the Owl Lady’s pet was.

“...Hi,” said the human. “I’m Luz.”

“...Hunter.”

“I know.” She was silent, for a moment, before saying, “Hug alert.”

“What-” Before Hunter could finish, there was a slight pressure and a fuzziness on one side of his head. He looked over.

The Owl Lady’s pet was attacking him with a hug.

“...Ok,” Hunter said slowly, reaching his arms up to remove the thing from his head. It didn’t move. It was surprisingly strong. “Can I leave now?”

“Nope.” Luz pointed to the tiny, tiny bed. “Not without Lil’ Rascal!”

Hunter glanced over to the table, the thing still attached to his head. The little palisman was nestled up in the bed, looking very comfortable. 

Hunter sighed, though he didn’t really mean it irritably. He let his head fall back onto carefully placed pillows. 

This was a problem for tomorrow’s Hunter. Today’s Hunter was tired, hungry, and in a lot of pain.

Today’s Hunter was probably about to be force-fed until he threw up. 

Tomorrow Hunter could goddamn deal with it. 

Today Hunter was gonna actually live. 

Chapter Text

Tomorrow’s Hunter had not left, though that was pretty much just because he kept being repeatedly shoved back into pillows by… pretty much everyone. The Owl Lady, Luz, and the dog-thing (who was apparently a king?) had left around a week later, promising to visit soon.

So far, they hadn’t come back yet. Hunter was fine with that- the more quiet there was, the less horrible anxiety he had about the coven. Gwendolyn still asked him questions every day, almost as many as Luz had, though at least the old woman’s were actual witch questions, and not Luz questioning him about Everything Personal That Had Ever Happened To Him. 

Hunter was still planning on going back to the Emperor, of course. He voiced that practically every day, but he was starting to think the others were believing him less and less.

He just needed to wait until his ribs were fully healed, and until he could find something to bring him back into the Emperor’s favour. He had tried grabbing Lilith’s and Gwendolyn’s palismen and sneaking out, but his own palisman reminded him with a peck on the ear that the last time the Emperor had seen him with a palisman, it had not gone well.

Also, Lilith noticed him about to sneak out and locked him in a closet for four hours. That also happened. 

Gwendolyn had not been happy with either of them- well, mostly Lilith. She had said something about Hunter being “so badly traumatized he’s trying to go back to his abusers, Lilith, he’d rather go back to a hellhole than be safe”.

Whatever that meant. 

Hunter wasn’t really paying attention most of the time, more studying Lilith, Gwendolyn, and their house for info. 

His ribs had started healing at around a month of this, and he still didn’t have any ideas. Gwendolyn had started taking him on walks, and though he had thought that she would be an easy target, her skill in magic quickly disproved that. 

Also the whole parenting thing. She kept touching him at first, ruffling his hair, rubbing his back whenever he sat up to eat, squeezing his shoulder gently. 

She stopped after a few days of him flinching to any touch.

Ok, so maybe Hunter had some issues. But they weren’t because of the Emperor! They were just because of the missions that kept going wrong, and all the attacks on the castle since the human had shown up. 

His issues were his own fault, obviously. The reason he got his scars was because he didn’t listen, he explained when asked about it. Gwendolyn kept talking about the Emperor being a “monster” and “abuser”, and that was wrong . 

Belos wasn’t in the wrong, Hunter was.

He had to be.

Right now, present Hunter was on a walk with Gwendolyn, not telling her about the sharp pain in his ribs every time he stepped off a rock or a log, and not about how his hand he was hiding in his pocket was bleeding from a sharp rock earlier.

He could deal with it himself.

“So,” the woman asked, “what’s your favourite food? I can make it.”

“Don’t have one,” Hunter grunted.

“That’s your answer for basically everything,” she retorted. “You have to like something .” 

“Dunno. I don’t really eat that much.”

“Clearly,” the woman murmured, eying his stomach. She sighed. “Seriously, Hunter. Any food you want.”

He shrugged. “I’m good with anything.” And he meant that, too. “There aren’t really… favourite things in the Emperor’s Coven. I mean, the whole point is that you get access to every kind of magic.” Not that he could do any without a staff, Hunter added mentally. “I did want to be in the Beastkeeping Coven when I was younger,” he added quietly, “but…”

“But you can’t do that, Hunter. I need you, after all. Besides, why would they want you in their coven when you can’t even do magic of your own?”

“But?” Gwendolyn questioned, interrupting Hunter’s thoughts. 

“But there was no point,” Hunter continued. “I mean, why would I want to be in one specific coven when I could be in all of them?” 

Gwendolyn frowned- she seemed to do that whenever Hunter talked about the coven. “Did you get taught any beastkeeping magic?”

No, because he couldn’t do any. “No.”

She smiled. “Do you want to?”

Hunter paused in his walking, Rascal shifting on his shoulder slightly and nuzzling his cheek. Ignoring him, Hunter turned to the woman beside him. “What do you mean?”

Gwendolyn raised one of her sleeves, revealing the tattoo of the Beastkeeping Coven on her wrist. “I could teach you some.”

Hunter froze, staring at the tattoo on her wrist.

He wanted to.

Titan, he wanted to. His interest had never quite faded- not even with all the Emperor’s warnings about the animals being wild magic along with palismen, Hunter had still snuck into the castle library at night and spent until morning reading about them. 

His sleep schedule was already fucked, might as well get something useful out of it, right?

“...I can’t,” he said eventually, curling back into himself a little bit. 

“Why not? There’s nothing stopping you.” 

“I just…” I can’t do magic. Not without a staff, so any real coven magic isn’t possible. My mechanical staff is still at the castle. I’d be betraying Belos more than I already am. I’m a powerless witch.

Hunter swallowed. He wasn’t about to do this, right? “...Can I tell you a secret?”

Gwendlyn stopped, kneeling slightly. “Sure- I swear on the Titan that I won’t tell anyone unless you want me to, okay?” 

“I just-” Hunter paused, glancing at the ground. “...I can’t do magic without a staff,” he muttered. “I- I’m a powerless witch.”

Gwendolyn’s eyes widened slightly and then she paused. “Can I touch you?”

Hunter thought for a moment, then nodded. There was a gentle hand on his shoulder, and she gave him a squeeze. “Is that all? Don’t you worry one bit- I can get the local animals used to you pretty quickly. They love kids- and, if you have a palisman, that’s even better. It’s practically your own little spawner of Beast Coven magic- having a palisman means that one trusted you enough to bond with you.”

“I’m not a kid,” Hunter muttered. “But… thanks. I- I do want to, but- maybe not today? I mean- not like I’m gonna stick around here much longer- I’m not really trustworthy, I'll probably kidnap one of the animals and bring it back to Belos.”

“Then why are you telling me that? You’re basically warning me. You seem pretty trustworthy to me.” Her voice softened. “You’re just a kid, Hunter, no matter what you and Lilith say. Let me know when you want to learn- I’m free anytime.” She frowned. “Also, when were you going to tell me that you were bleeding?”

Hunter glanced down at his bloodied hand- he must have taken it out of his pocket at some point. “Oh.”

“C’mon,” she sighed, “let’s go fix that up. We’ll ride back,” she added, “you think I didn’t notice you wincing for the past ten minutes?”

Hunter shrugged, gingerly slipping onto Rascal, who had turned into his staff form. Gwendolyn sat atop her own staff, and the duo flew slowly back to the house, the woman pointing out where some of the animals liked to hide on the ride back, a couple small animals riding on her shoulders for a few minutes before hopping off. 

This was nice.

***

Apparently, not drinking water for a day and a half was not a good self-punishment for messing up.

Gwendolyn sighed, handing a shaking Hunter over to Lilith. “Take him outside to rest while I clean up, will you? Bring water.”

Hunter wanted to protest, say he was fine, but judging on the fact that he had just thrown up violently, the only thing he could say was a shaky, “‘m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Gwendolyn said, “it’s not your fault. Just… please don’t blame yourself for mistakes, ok? And drink liquids.”

Lilith returned a moment later, leading Hunter outside onto a log and pressing a big bottle of water in his hands. “Drink,” she said briskly. 

Hunter obeyed almost immediately, raising the water to his lips and chugging half of it before stopping, still dry in the mouth but knowing that if he drank any more without sipping he would puke again. 

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Lilith said, exasperated. “Did the coven teach you nothing ? Self-punishments aren’t supposed to inhibit your performance ability.”

“I know,” Hunter grumbled, “I wasn’t thinking.”

Lilith was silent, for a second, before sighing. Hunter took another sip of water before he had to listen to her crap. “It’s not fair, you know.” She glared at him out of the corner of her eye. “Everything was perfect, and then… you. I mean, I’m still not convinced this isn’t you being a spy. The Emperor’s hurt us for stealth missions before, I don’t see why he wouldn’t do that now.”

“I’m not a spy,” Hunter snapped. “Seriously, what’s with you? You’ve hated me from the beginning! What, can’t bear to think that anyone’s better than you?”

Lilith glared at him, standing up from the log and stalking off towards the woods. Hunter followed her, a little shaky. “You’ve always been the golden boy,” Lilith hissed, “getting special treatment!” She ran a hand down her face in anger. “I thought I would be noticed,” she spat, “but you were there just to ruin it for me!”

“Hey, I-” before Hunter could snap back, Lilith hunched over slightly, an animal-like keen falling out of her mouth. “...Lilith?”

Feathers were starting to sprout out of her clothes, and Hunter took a step back. “Hey, Lilith, calm down-”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” she yelled, whipping around. A ring of feathers had sprouted around her neck, and her fingers were starting to turn into long talons. “You’ve been there since day one, being nothing but a nuisance, and I’m sick of it! You’ve always ruined everything for me, it’s all your fault!” 

Hunter froze as Lilith hunched over, and a split second later she- or something- stood up, hissing and clawing at the air. 

Hunter took a step back, eyes wide at Lilith’s beast form. “Lilith, I-”

The raven beast locked its eyes on him with a sharp cry, and a split second later he was on the ground, another few seconds and he processed the wet feeling on his face as burning pain, eye feeling like it was on fire and torn flesh feeling dry and soaked at the same time. The ground was hard underneath his back, and Hunter squirmed back as soon as he was able to, shoving away the pain for now and gasping for breath through the blood flowing past his nose and into his mouth.

He crawled backwards, damnit where was his staff- and was forced to stop as a long claw attached itself to his right shoulder, pressing hard. He managed to crawl back a bit more, but that made the claw slip, the full weight of the raven beast’s body on his arm, and-

And his arm split with a white-hot pain, a cold, internal ache spreading across his entire right arm, an incredible numbness so bad he wanted to cry. 

Hunter cried out, left arm reaching wildly around, finally landing on a round thing. He tore his non-blood-covered eye away from Lilith, and to the round vile he was grasping. It took a second to process it, but the golden-red liquid was recognizable enough. 

He pulled the vile close to his chest, attempting to kick the raven beast back, its full weight still on his already-broken arm, and he tore the core out with his teeth, spilling just a bit of the liquid on his chest before steadying it.

Leaning his arm back, Hunter put the remaining strength he had into hurling it at the screaming raven beast’s mouth.

It split open on one of its teeth, the liquid spilling mostly into its mouth, glass bits falling onto Hunter but luckily not piercing his skin. The raven beast took a second to recover, licking up the liquid around its lips. 

And then it cried out with a sharp yell, receding in on itself until Lilith was standing there, holding her head amidst a shower of feathers. 

Hunter lay there, heaving, head already in splitting pain from not drinking water for a day and a half and now from having what felt like half of it peeled off. 

Lilith raised her head after a moment, looking around confusedly. Her gaze shifted to Hunter lying on the ground in front of her, and her eyes widened. “Hunter? Wha-” her gaze turned to one of her arms, where some of the feathers were still stuck in her shirt. Her mouth made an “o” shape, and she froze up slightly, reaching down. Hunter flinched away, breathing ragged, and she quickly retracted her hand, glancing around the area. Finally, her eyes landed on a spot, and she glanced back to Hunter. “I- I’m sorry, stay here, ok?” She sprinted off, calling for Gwendolyn, and Hunter breathed . 

And then he pushed himself up with his unbroken arm, swayed a bit, and ran off into the woods.

***

Lilith practically ran while leading her mother to where she had left Hunter, the feathers and blood covering the ground signifying where he had just been a moment ago. “Damnit,” she hissed, and glanced at the woods. “He has to be in there somewhere- in the Emperor’s Coven, when he was younger, he used to hide a lot when he thought he was in trouble. Stealthy and annoying as shit when I had to watch him- this could take ages. And I- the raven beast hurt him badly.”

There was a chirp from beside her ear, and Lilith glanced up to see Hunter’s palisman flapping urgently beside her head, pecking at loose strands of her hair angrily. “You- you can find him?”

The palisman took off towards the woods, which Lilith took to assume as yes. She sprinted after it, her mother following. 

Lilith dodged past some trees, noting the bloody handprints on some with a sickening feeling in her stomach. The palisman stopped abruptly a minute or so later, and Lilith nearly kept running.

Hunter was sitting against a tree, eyes wide and arm twisted a strange way, a ridiculous amount of blood on the clothes Gwendolyn had given him- they used to belong to Eda, Lilith remembered. Half his face was covered in blood, and his right eye was twitching, something clearly wrong with it.

Lilith dropped down to his level instantly. “Hey- hey, Hunter, you’re ok, it’s ok, you’re gonna be ok-” the teen flinched away from her, but Lilith held him still as her mother kneeled alongside her, already uncorking a potion to help him with the pain. Hunter allowed her to pour it into his mouth, the blood dripping into his mouth turning the near-clear liquid a light pink. 

His cardinal palisman landed on his lap, nuzzling into him. Hunter unconsciously pressed it closer to him, and Lilith reached out to squeeze his hand. His hand grabbed hers, probably without him even realizing it, and she let him squeeze it almost unbearably tight as her mother carefully wiped the blood away from parts of his face.

“We need to get you back to the house,” she said eventually, calm enough for someone who was cleaning a large wound. “I have more supplies there, and we can clean it easier. Are you okay with riding on my staff with me? Rascal can stay with you the whole time.”

Hunter nodded, jerkily, and Lilith helped him stand up, letting him lean against her, the shock causing his legs to wobble. 

A few minutes later, they were out of the forest, Hunter having nearly collapsed halfway out and currently riding on Lilith’s mother’s staff, head drooping every few seconds and Rascal urgently chirping to keep him awake. He didn’t seem to have a concussion- but head wounds bled a lot, so it was hard to gauge how bad the injury actually was. It had seemed pretty bad when Lilith first saw it, and based on the fact that Hunter was not having trouble opening his right eye, it was likely worse than thought. Besides, it would be easier to keep him awake so he could tell them what hurt. Not that he would, Lilith reasoned, but maybe a mild truth potion mixed in with a painkiller potion would help.

She turned her focus back to getting out of there, letting her mother lead the way out.

***

Hunter kept his right eye closed, the bandages being wrapped around his face applying a pressure that wasn’t entirely bad, but wasn’t that great feeling either. 

He kept mostly quiet throughout it, squeezing aggressively on a stick he had picked up in his hair while flying out of the woods. He had woken up more once Gwendolyn had started cleaning out his wound again- his arm was already wrapped tightly, the bone having split clean through, some bits of the bone a bit more crushed than others. Definitely worth a trip to the Healing Coven, Gwendolyn had murmured. They were going to have to take him anyway in the next day or so as soon as Gwendolyn could get an appointment in- apparently, this didn’t count as an emergency, since he wasn’t dying. 

Finally, when Gwendolyn had disappeared into the house to get more bandages, Hunter temporarily released the stick, grabbing with a shaky hand onto the water bottle Lilith was offering him. It was the same one from earlier, he noticed, taking small sips of the water. 

He sighed, setting the water bottle back down onto the ground again. “...Why do you hate me?” he asked. He hadn’t meant for the words to slip out, but they did. 

Lilith sighed. “I don’t hate you,” she admitted quietly. “I just… I don’t know. You reminded me of Eda, I suppose. Even before I… cursed her, Eda was always the center of attention. Not her fault, entirely, but she did keep getting into trouble, which caught mother and father’s attention… most I got was praise for being a perfect child, and then I got ignored.”

“But you hated me from the beginning.”

Lilith shrugged uselessly. “I… I don’t know. You were the Emperor’s favorite, his successor, even at a young age. I was young, and impressionable. Kikimora didn’t like you for whatever reason, and I guess I caught on.”

“Kikimora’s a bitch,” Hunter muttered.

Lilith laughed. “Yeah, she really is, isn’t she? Luz told me she shot you down over Latissa- and that she seemed obsessed over you when you were trying to get Titan’s Blood. What’d you do to get on her bad side? I always stole the books from her room. She took the best ones.”

Hunter giggled, slightly. “Dunno. Existed, I guess. I think she was supposed to be the next coven head before I came along? And then you came after me, so…” 

“That bitch has issues,” Lilith sighed. “Look, Hunter, I- I’m sorry. I… The Emperor is a horrible man.” She raised a finger to stop him from speaking. “I know you’re going to argue with me, since he’s still whispering into your ear, but… just let me talk, ok? You don’t have to agree with me, but… this is just something I need to say.

“I know the Emperor hurt you- I know he still does. He hurt all of us, and we thought it was normal . God, I-” she ran a hand down her forehead- “earlier, I basically admitted that I still administer self-punishments. No access to the food I want to eat, only the stuff I don’t want to. Do tasks I hate. I don’t read the books I want to read, I just ignore them. I just… I’m trying to get better. I don’t want to be doing this. 

“But my point is- you, Hunter. The Emperor’s been using you like a puppet. I noticed. I knew. I just… ignored it. And I am so, so sorry. I’m sorry that I ignored it up until now, I’m sorry that I ignored what it meant when you hid when you were younger, I’m sorry that I ignored the fact that you were actively being hurt. But there’s nothing I can do about that now- except be better. I can’t change the past, no matter how much I want to. I- I know you’re gonna ignore eighty percent of what I just said, but… I just needed to say it.” She turned to him, a kind look on her face for once. “Can you stay for a while, please? For me. Just so I can feel better.”

Hunter considered it- she was using manipulation tactics in an almost kind way, clearly. But the rest of it… sounded sincere. Of course, Hunter was also probably a bit delirious from blood loss and wasn’t thinking straight, but most of what she was saying made sense. Even the bits about the Emperor hurting him. 

Non-delirious Hunter would probably disagree heavily with delirious Hunter, but non-delirious Hunter could suck it. 

***

Lief entered his house to his elder daughter tackling him in a hug. He laughed, hugging Lilith back. “Hey, sweetie,” he smiled. He glanced beside her, seeing his lovely wife and-

A blond kid, staring wide-eyed at him with one maroon eye and one eye that was slightly lighter than the other, a sharp scar running down the right side of his face that looked like some of it had been torn open at some point, leaving a jagged scar running down all the way to his chin.

Lief grinned, stepping forward after Lilith had stopped hugging him. The kid continued to stare, and Lilith grinned, walking over and gently leading away. Before he could go, Lief called, “Hey!”. He pointed to his own mildly-discoloured eye with a scar running through it- it was harder to see, but he wasn’t totally blind. Probably the same situation with the new kid, too. “Scar buddies!”