Chapter Text
Darius raised his arm that was transformed into an abomination above his head with Eber and Raine standing next to him in an abandoned alleyway. However, before he could bring it down onto the vial, his ears picked up an all too familiar voice.
“Halt! For crimes against the emperor, you are under arrest!” Why? Why does Hunter have to follow them today of all days? How did he even catch wind of their plans anyway? However, he did it, the three of them needed to get away before their plans were ruined.
Before any of them could respond, another voice made its owner known. “Hunter!”
Of course. Of course, it had to be Eda’s kid. Her kid decided the best way to gain the Little Prince’s attention, was to pounce on top of him. The combination of her weight and momentum caused him to topple over on top of the vial. Darius could only hear Raine’s sharp intake of air before they were all covered in a bright, yellow glow. Hunter and the human screamed in surprise as they all were launched into the sky toward Belos’ mind.
…
When Darius came to, he was surrounded by Raine and Eber, who luckily had their hoods up as well, and the sound of Hunter and the human arguing. “You want to prove that my uncle is evil, and you thought I would help?”
“Well, now that I’m in his mind, I can learn the truth for myself!” The human huffed before a smirk graced her face. “Besides, the three of them thought so too, because why else would they do that spell?”
The three rebels all froze when Hunter’s attention snapped toward them. His face was scrunched up in silent fury as he strutted towards them. “You three! I order you to get us out of here-“
“You know… It’d be weird though. I’ve been in Willow’s mind once, and it had more, uh, trees.” Darius let out a breath he didn’t notice that he had held on to as the boy’s attention was once again focused on her.
“Seems like you were right,” whispered Raine as they elbowed him playfully. “The ‘Little Prince’ does have a rebellious side after all.”
Blood pooled into the abomination coven head’s cheeks at Raine’s usage of his nickname for the sixteen-year-old. Before he could respond to the taunt, Hunter let out a gasp and started excitedly explaining the tyrant’s memories to a confused human. Not wanting to listen to the boy praise Belos, he took in his surroundings.
The mindscape itself reminded Darius of the castle they reside in. Dimly lit corridors with red carpeting clashed with the color of the walls. Large paintings of Belos’ memories at least hide the majority of the horrid paint job, but the sight of them made him feel a bit unnerved at the perfectly captured memories.
“Oh! This is when I inherited my staff!” The boy all but squealed as he ran towards a painting that the older witch knew about all too well. “You know… I’m the youngest scout to become Golden Guard! I… never did find out what happened to the previous one.”
Darius knew what happened to him. So did Raine and Eber and everyone who was in the emperor’s inner circle knew what happened to the previous Golden Guard. Belos sentenced him to death because he rebelled against the tyrant. Now, his mentor was a part of the many unnamed faces of those who were petrified. The screams he heard that day were now ringing in his ears, but when he felt a tiny paw grip his gloved hand, that is when he was brought back to reality. The familiarity of this action calmed his racing heart and pushed away the blackening of the edges of his vision.
“Thanks, Eber,” he thanked before the Little Prince spoke up again.
“Huh, why does Darius look so sad here? You know, I don’t think I’ve seen him like that for as long as I’ve known him. Normally, during our-“ Hunter’s face turned bright red as he caught himself, barely avoiding mentioning the time they spent together with Darius teaching him how to sew. He brought up his closed fist to his mouth and cleared his throat.
Although, the soft snickers behind Darius told him that both Raine and Eber knew what the boy was talking about. Oh, how he would string the both of them up by their fingers once they all got out of here.
“I-“ She was cut short when the echoing sound of a child rang throughout this particular corridor. Turning around as she ran past them, he noticed a hidden translucent child hiding behind one of the pillars embedded into the wall. The child was wearing very outdated clothes and a wooden mask that reminded him of Belos’ mask. However, it couldn’t possibly be the emperor cause a) it was a child, and your inner self should represent what you look like currently, and b) the child was crying. No way that any iteration of that madman would ever cry.
“Belos?” The human asked cautiously, catching Hunter’s attention, or what he thought was his attention.
“Emperor, you’re here!” That got their attention. They all snapped their heads behind them and saw what looked like Belos, but something about him was off. This version didn’t have any noticeable features. In fact, upon looking at him, it looks like you can see the night sky through him. “We beg for your assistance to return to the physical world, so that I may capture your enemies! And so, she can ruin someone else’s day and so that I can arrest these traitors.”
The blue-tinted child randomly appeared and shook his head while crossing his arms. Not long after, the unnerving version of Belos started to twist and contort into a monstrous creature. Antlers protruded from the sides of his head and his limbs became elongated. He hunched over and the piercing blue of his eyes caused Darius’ blood to chill.
“Hunter! Watch out!’ The human girl shouted, surprising the blond as she shoved him out of the way. She reached into a familiar grugby jacket and pulled out a few sheets of paper. Once they were out, Eda’s kid slapped her hands together.
Heat radiated from the following explosions, throwing her and Hunter through one of the walls of the mindscape. They could hear the two children scream as they fell deeper into the confines of the emperor’s mind.
The Belos stopped at the hole before his gaze fell upon Eber, Raine, and him. For a few moments, no one moved, but Raine being Raine, ruined the silent standoff by asking him if they should follow the children.
The Belos screeched and lunged at them. Dropping and rolling out of the way, Darius made a spell circle to throw abomination matter at it, effectively pushing him back far enough that they were all able to throw themselves through the hole.
To say they had a rough statement would be an understatement. The abomination coven head used the goo to cushion his fall as he went through first. However, Raine and Eber decided that he was a good substitute for a cushion. Thankfully, he didn’t pull away from the matter as he felt a large mass fall upon his shoulders. The weight caused his knees to buckle from underneath him and his upper half fell not too long afterward.
“Ugh,” Darius groaned into the goo as Eber followed afterward. He was going to kill the two of them for this when they got out of this.
“Luz, where are you?” Eda’s voice asked, but that can’t be possible. The Owl Lady wasn’t with them.
“Get. Off. Me,” he grunted at his fellow rebels. Raine laughed awkwardly as they got off of him, but Eber decided to get off him by jumping off of his head, effectively pushing his face deeper into the abomination. “Ugh! You mangy mutt! You’ll pay for this!”
“Oh, wait. Hey blondie, your friend wants to talk to you.” Darius noticed Hunter’s furrowed brows and slightly ajar mouth as he finally stood up. Then, through that pink device, Eda’s kid was holding, the sound of a bird twittering was heard.
“Flapjack!” Hunter gasped, snatching the device from Luz. “Are you okay? Have they hurt you?”
“Give me that! So, Eda…”
He couldn’t help the corners of his mouth lift upwards. He’s seen the blond and his palisman interacting during their sewing lessons and it made him happy to see the boy so carefree.
“I didn’t know he had a palisman,” Raine stated, slightly surprised Hunter was able to keep the creature made of wild magic a secret from Belos.
“How in the world did you-“ Eda gasped. “No, we don’t have time for that. Has the inner Belos spotted you yet?”
“Yes, but we were able to get away… with help. Also, Hunter and I aren’t alone. Three others are here as well. They made the spell circle,” Luz informed the wild witch.
“Let me talk to them.”
Hunter huffed and crossed his arms as he and Luz waited for the tallest traitor to finish his conversation with the Owl Lady. The middle one was whispering to the short one. What could the three of them possibly be talking about?
“Can there be two inner selves,” Luz asked him.
“It could be his curse manifesting,” he theorized as he bit his gloved thumb. “It could be from- No. It can’t be.”
“What?” She turned towards him, her eyes wide open and getting uncomfortably close to him. His eyes narrowed and shoved her face away from him.
“I’ve said too much, human.” She opened her mouth to protest, but she was interrupted when the ‘walkie-talkie’ was returned to the human. The Owl Lady and her pet rat informed them about how they’ll figure out how to transport the five of them. That the traitor’s potion was only enough to transport three people.
“You got it, Owl Lady. Over and out “
“Wait!” He cried out and grabbed the device. “I’ll be home soon, Flapjack. Stay safe.”
“Chirp! Chirp!”
“I love you,” he whispered. “Over and out.”
Darius chuckled softly at Hunter talking to his palisman that he loves him. Seeing the boy with his palisman made him happy. That bird was the stepping stone of Hunter’s rebellion, and he could tell with each sewing lesson that the stone becomes bigger.
“I’d never thought I’d see the day where Darius Deamonne acted paternal,” they snickered. Heat rushed to his cheeks. He didn’t get the chance to retort when Luz exclaimed about child Belos being here. She kneeled in front of him thanking him before a loud shriek could be heard.
“Let’s go, go, go!” Young Belos grabbed Luz’s hand and pulled her towards a memory painting. The Little Prince follows her soon after, while he, and the rest, ran after them.
Hunter was hesitant to enter the memory, but Darius scooped him up into his arms and jumped through the painting. It wasn’t like the boy weighed much. If they weren’t running from that monstrosity, he would be more focused on how little Hunter weighed. Right now, Hunter struggled in his arms, yelling to let him go and hitting him in the chest. They weren’t at full force, however, because the older witch has seen what happens when he punches at full force.
Adrien had to have multiple sessions with Hettie to fix the damage to his nose and the surrounding area.
Once Darius felt the solid ground underneath his feet, he gently placed the blond down on the ground. The memory surroundings were that of an alleyway that was out of the way of the main street. Perfect for hiding but hiding didn’t matter considering they can’t be seen anyway.
The Little Prince scrambled away from him and brushed the nonexistent dirt off of himself. While he did that, the green-eyed man couldn’t help but notice the red dusting his cheeks and the tips of his ears.
He couldn’t help himself and, before he could stop himself, chopped the boy softly on the top of his head. As soon as his hand made contact, time seemed to stop. Neither of them moved or even took a breath of air.
“Hunter! Come on! We have to follow Kid Belos!” Luz exclaimed, grabbing the blond by the wrist, and yanking him away from Darius.
“Darius,” Raine hissed, pulling his shoulder towards them. “Did you just do something to the Golden Guard that only you do?”
He refused to make eye contact with the bard and hurriedly followed the two kids. Ignoring the heated stare radiating off of Raine. As he made his way into the plaza, he noticed the two standing in front of the poorly built stage that Belos occupied. Other witches and demons surrounded the two, all stating their skepticism about how Belos could talk to the Titan.
“Fellow citizens…” Belos started rambling about the evils of wild magic and how the titan told him to divide magic into nine different paths. Darius' eyes narrowed and his fists kept clenching and unclenching. Hearing Hunter praise the emperor didn’t help either.
Then explosions rang out from behind the so-called Titan Whisperer, causing the ground to become unsteady. The man cried out about wild witches before running down a random alley as the attack took everyone’s attention off of him.
“Follow him!” Darius ordered and forced himself to stay upright as he ran after him.
Hunter followed Luz down the alley, not realizing that the rebel trio was coming after them.
“You incompetent fool!” Belos familiar reprimand causes his gaze to land on him and another Golden Guard. “You nearly took my head off with that blast!”
The Golden Guard apologized and then asked what he should do with the rest of… the rest of the explosives. What his uncle said next caused his eyes to widen and for him to bite his bottom lip. Belos wanted him to ‘put on a bigger show’. Whatever that meant. He wasn’t able to figure it out by the time a familiar gloved hand was placed on his shoulder.