Work Text:
Vee sat up in her bed, wincing as it responded with a loud creak. Well, loud by middle of the night with three other people who were asleep, standards. Luckily, aside from some stirring from Luz in the bunk below her, everyone seemed relatively unbothered.
Vee breathed a silent sigh of relief, she knew that all of her newfound housemates had been up late experimenting with ways to build a portal back to the demon realm. She still shuddered at the thought of that world.
She knew there was more to it than the tortuous Emperor’s Coven but she’d never gotten a chance to explore it while she wasn’t running for her life. The human realm was where everything good she’d ever experienced was. Where everyone she loved was.
Vee didn’t plan to dwell on her thoughts. She had awoken with a racing heart at some vague dream of her old life. She figured that it would be best to simply get up, and watch something calming on tv. Perhaps one of those animal documentaries that Camila liked so much.
She shifted to her more humanoid form, so she’d actually have legs to climb down the ladder with, and was careful not to rock the bed too much.
She quietly walked out into the living room, and jumped at the sight of a dark figure with piercing pink eyes looking back at her.
The lamp next to said figure clicked on, revealing Hunter there with some sort of Deer in the Headlights expression.
Vee released the breath she was holding in.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Hunter said, lowering his head in an apologetic manner.
“No, no need to apologize.” Vee said with a nervous chuckle, “I was just…” Vee glanced at her surroundings as subtly as she could manage, and spotted a glass on the counter, “Getting a glass of water.” She smiled as she went to chug down a glass.
She made a show of finishing the water, and placing the glass back down on the counter, “Well, goodnight!” She waved to Hunter before starting on her way back to her bedroom.
In the midst of her exaggerated march back, she tripped herself up, and ended up face first on the floor.
“Vee! Are you okay?” Hunter asked, quickly coming to her aid. He reached down to help her up, “Here, let me-”
“No!” Vee said, admittedly much louder than she had intended.
Hunter recoiled at the shout, a look of hurt in his eyes.
“I- I mean, no… Thank you.” Vee said, softer as she stood up.
“I’m sorry, I-”
“No, I'm sorry I shouldn’t have shouted, I just…” She didn’t want to say it out loud, but she couldn’t deny that she’d been avoiding being alone in the same room as Hunter since he’d arrived half a month ago.
She realized that her gaze must’ve lingered on the reason why for too long when Hunter gripped his wrist with his other hand, hiding the golden sigil on his wrist.
“Like I said… I’m sorry but… I understand your apprehension.” Hunter said softly before walking back to the couch.
“...Wait.” Vee said, following him.
He turned back to her and watched as she took a seat on the couch, and allowed for him to take a seat beside her.
“I know that it’s not your fault that everything that happened… Happened. It’s just kind of weird to be living in such close quarters with someone who worked in the Emperor’s Coven. Someone that I’m assuming personally met with… Him at some point.”
Hunter turned away once she finished speaking, “Right… Met with him…” He tugged at the stand of hair that hung down in his face.
Vee looked at Hunter, slightly confused by that point.
“Vee, I’m so sorry but I didn’t just personally meet with him, I was… Pretty much his right hand man. The Golden Guard.” Hunter admitted, now ashamed of the title he used to hold so proudly.
Vee’s eyes widened to befit a terrified expression, “You’re the Golden Guard?” She asked in disbelief.
Hunter looked back to her, and held his hands up, “I was. I promise I’m not working with him anymore! I don’t want to hurt you. Any of you!”
Vee stood up and backed away from him, “Then why were you working with him in the first place!” She asked, starting to shake.
“I didn’t-” Hunter stood up, then paused and looked away, crossing his arms, “I didn’t know he was hurting so many people… And he never told me he was… Going around, and bringing people to life to do his bidding.” He chuckled in a sad tone. Vee almost thought she saw tears in his eyes. If she did, he blinked them away too fast for her to tell.
He turned back to Vee, “I know that sounds like a bad excuse but… I always believed in what we were doing. Belos… Always taught me that we were helping people, and sometimes that required drastic measures but it was always for the greater good. It doesn’t make it better, I know, but… If I knew he was lying I…”
Vee thought for a moment, processing Hunter’s words, “...So you’ve been in the Emperor’s coven a long time, huh? A lot of time with Belos…” She asked, slumping down in the chair across from Hunter.
“My whole life… He was… The only family I’ve ever known but… I don’t think he was even that anymore.”
“He hardly ever came to the conformatorium. I was terrified of him whenever he did though… I can’t imagine spending so much time with him. Seeing anything in him other than the suffering he’s caused. I guess it was different for you though?”
“... He was in… Some ways…” Hunter replied quietly before speaking up again, “He didn’t like me… Socializing with the other scouts before I became Golden Guard. So that left him, and the coven heads but… Pretty much all of them hated me so… Yeah, I was with him most of the time… Knowing how he treats his allies… I can’t imagine what you must’ve endured being held as his prisoner.”
Vee shuddered, once again remembering her time in the Emperor’s Coven, “Well, I escaped that’s… All that really matters now…How did he treat his allies, anyway?”
Hunter turned to face Vee for a moment with an expression that Vee had felt herself make only a few minutes prior. Brow furrowed, and eyes wide with fear from the distant past. Hunter opened his mouth to respond but no words came out.
He turned his attention to a loose thread at the end of his sleeve, fiddling at it as he waited for the words that wouldn’t come to him.
Vee’s attention shifted to the right side of Hunter’s face. She hated that she recognized its jagged edges, especially with the new context Hunter had inadvertently given her, “Did he… Do that to you?” She asked, pointing to the spot the scar would be on her own face.
“I-” Hunter flinched, caught off guard by the way his voice cracked as he tried to speak.
“I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that.” Vee waved the question away, “... Sounds like we might’ve both been prisoners, huh?”
“... I guess you could say that. We do have a lot in common.”
“Yeah?” Vee said in a tone that offered for him to continue.
Hunter took in a breath before doing so, “Well, we both ended up isolated from pretty much everyone. Luz talked about how… Being in the Emperor’s Coven meant I didn’t get the childhood I should have. Which applies to you too.”
Hunter was quiet for a moment, he looked like he was contemplating something. Vee took note, and allowed him the time he needed to do so before responding to him.
Hunter began again with a half-hearted chuckle, “We were both… Made by Belos to help him hurt people. Technically not supposed to exist.”
“Wait. Wait… What do you mean made?”
“... Belos has been… Making copies, called ‘grimwalkers’ of… Someone for years, and… I’m just the latest in his line of puppets.”
“Grimwalkers…?” Vee said to herself, processing the information Hunter had just given out.
“They’re… Some sort of legend, or extinct species I guess. But they’re created, and supposed to be someone who’s already existed… I don’t know who that is in my case but… It seems they were close to Belos.”
Vee was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say, what to do with this newfound knowledge, she ended up going with her first instinct.
She stood up, and took a seat right next to Hunter, “That is a lot in common… Supposed to be dead. The last of our kind. Created by him to do his bidding. No real childhood… But we found people who make us feel safe… Who want us to feel safe. That’s a pretty lucky find, huh?”
A tired smile reached Hunter’s lips, “it is.”
Vee smiled as well, then leaned her head against his shoulder, “We were both made by Belos… That kinda makes us family… It’s kinda… Nice to have someone around who gets it. I’m glad you’re here.”
Hunter looked down at her, taken aback by the sudden warmth with which she addressed him, then found that he shared her feelings of gratitude, “Me too.” He said, leaning his head back. SItting there together, both of them felt more peaceful than they had in a long time.