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‘I can’t disappoint him, not again.’ This very same thought had repeated in Hunter’s head over and over, a droning whisper which reminded the boy constantly of his goal, or what he needed to do if he were to have any semblance of safety. The Golden Guard, with his purpose clear, trudged through a misty forest, his white cloak fluttering behind him as his ever-present reminder pestered him to keep going, to charge forever on to appease his crazed, cursed uncle’s dreams of glory and unity. And he was to be a part of that plan, that was his duty, that was what he could never forget.
As he stomped his way through the forest, lacking much delicacy or grace in his step, he glared through his gold-tinted mask, trying to find the way through the twisting turns of the forest he’d found himself in. He was on a covert mission, and though he was not the best with stealth, he needed to stay focused, as Belos would not likely keep the boy under his roof if he failed another time.
But, as he took another step, he felt his foot buckle as he tripped over a stray root, careening to the ground and landing with a thud, sending the surrounding amber leaves up in a whoosh. He groaned and got up from his abrupt fall, grimacing at his lack of balance, and heard a faint chirp from inside his cloak. He then saw his palisman, or at least, the one that stuck around him so much, fluttered out of the cloak and gazed up at his master, gently resting on his finger. “Hey, sorry, did I wake you?” Hunter murmured in a soft tone, gently patting his palisman’s head. He’d meant for the little bird to stay asleep in his cloak, so that way he wouldn’t fly out and risk getting hurt or be left behind at the castle to be found by anyone.
His palisman merely fluttered onto the boy’s shoulder and nuzzled up against his mask, which got him to let loose a chuckle and smile, hidden by the gaudy helmet which masked his face. “Heheh, sorry lil guy, but I gotta keep going, and you gotta stay asleep, ok?” he explained, and his palisman just looked up at him, chirping in defiance, before Hunter gently lifted the bird and softly slipped him back into a little pocket he had hastily sewn into his cloak for the tiny bird.
Though, his small moment of calm happiness was concluded as he heard a rustling in the trees near him, and he jolted backwards, gripping onto his artificial staff desperately as he charged up a bolt of energy at the staff’s opulent red crystal atop it’s tip. He then stood there anxiously and slowly stepped forward, the red glare lighting the area around him as he surveyed the bushes, his eyes darting around the clearing to see if there was anyone around.
To his relief, he saw nothing but the surrounding shrubs, and let loose a shakily high pitched sigh as he let the energy in his staff softly fizzle out. As soon as he noticed his sigh’s pitch, he clamped a hand over his face, well, his mask, and under his mask, a blush formed. ‘Come on, I thought I’d dealt with this stupid thing already’, he thought to himself, cursing under his breath at the method his brain employed to calm down.
Still, he shook the thought of his coping mechanism away as he often did, and kept on his ever-present mission. He had no time for distractions, and only the mission before him mattered. The reason why he was carefully trudging through these woods was to find his way to that Owl Shack or whatever it was called, and there would be a chance to finally appease his uncle’s aspirations. See, he’d overheard a report that the Boonesborough Gardening Club had been stolen from recently, having lost a chunk of palistrom wood to the Owl Lady and her pet. If he could simply get his hands on that wood, he could calm down Belos and keep him from getting, well… crazed, again, and maybe he wouldn’t kick him out.
Determined to see his goal through, he pushed forward, carefully making his way through the woods at a deft pace, trying his best not to stumble over any other loose roots. To be frank, he wasn’t exactly sure he was going in the right direction, since these woods were quite expansive, but it would be better to be lost in the woods than be a disappointment and be booted into the woods.
Though, unfortunately for Hunter, his brain was lost in more than the woods. As he kept pushing through the thorny bushes and under the ever-expanding web of branches and leaves stretching above him, his mind began to wander. ‘Wait, am I really lost? I swear I saw that rock five minutes ago…” he began, his brain starting to fret. ‘But… if I’m lost, I can’t get to the Owl House, and if I can’t get there…’ he tried to toss away the thought, to not risk turning on his dreaded coping mechanism, but his brain began to fill in the blanks. Slowly, his steps got more shaky, his breaths more staggered, and the whips of wind around him blasted in his ears as his mind found every possible pain that could await his pitiful self should he fail on a mission again.
As the inside of his gilded mask got coated in glistening tears, his knees buckled and he fell to the ground, dropping his staff and banging his knees on a sturdy root as he let out a loud whimper. As he lay there, curling up into a ball, the world around him towered above, every sense overloaded as the terrifying situation was thrust into him, his brain instinctively turning on its solution to calm the crying boy.
As he lay there, he felt his palisman softly come out of the pocket in the boy’s cloak, gently chirping and trying to get the boy’s attention, but Hunter was far too stuck in his head to notice his scared bird’s attempts to speak to him. To try and soothe himself, Hunter softly tried to pull his hand up to his mask to suckle on his thumb, but rather than his mouth, his gloved hand was met with the reminder of his duty, that gilded mask that hid his face to all but very few.
Frustrated, and realizing he was slipping again, Hunter let out a growl and threw off his hood before tearing the helmet off of his head and chucking it into the woods as far as he could muster, tears charting his face as he again collapsed to a sobbing, curled up form sat on the muddy, splotched dirt beneath him.
He sat there for what felt like an eternity, his sleeves becoming coated in tears as his palisman tried desperately to calm it’s master, but to no effect. The boy rigidly sat still, letting out whimpered, high-pitched sobs as he shook from the cold winds around him, the cold frightening the boy more and more by the second.
But, finally, his shaky sobs had gotten someone’s attention, for a figure slowly emerged from the woods, glancing curiously down at the boy. “Hello?” the soft voice asked, though Hunter did not register the noise at all, for he was far too entranced in his sorrow to notice any of the world around him beyond that it was horrifying and that he had nowhere to go. The figure then cautiously approached closer, seeing the red palisman resting on Hunter’s shoulder paired with a mop of slicked back blonde hair, and she put the pieces together in her head.
“Hunter?” Luz softly asked, stepping back from the crying boy, aware that this could be merely a trick to lower her guard. But the girl’s fears of having to deal with the grizzled, angry teen dissipated as Hunter darted his gaze towards Luz, showing his crying face and trembling lip, and her look softened.
As Hunter realized who was before him, he let out a whimper and began to crawl backwards, trying to reach for his staff but not finding it, tears quickening as he shook, his small form demonstrating in vibrant colours how terrified the boy was. He then backed further away until his back was met by another tree, and he let out a shaky cry, hiding his face behind his scraped knees in an attempt to hide from her.
Luz, shocked to see the usually stoic golden guard so fearful, let her empathy shine through as she tried to make herself less spooky to the boy by crouching down to meet his level. “Hey, hey, it’s ok, I won’t hurt you,” she assured, trying to reach to put a soft hand on the boy’s shoulder.
As she reached out, Hunter’s instincts kicked in and he slapped the hand away, whimpering as he let out another shaky sob. Suddenly, he realized his situation and did his best to pry himself from his littlespace, standing on his scraped legs and trying his best to deepen his voice to it’s normal tone, with little effect.
“G- Get away from me, Human!” he shouted, his voice cracking as frustration mixed with an unhealthy dose of fear overwhelmed him, and yet he still tried desperately to make himself bigger. He’d thought he’d finally escaped this, escaped his little self, erased it from his mind, but it caught up to him, and no efforts could keep him as the big and scary Golden Guard. Unfortunately for Hunter, the big bad Golden Guard was replaced with a whimpering, scared little boy who was lost in the woods.
Luz, however, also seemed to catch on as to how the little one was doing, and softened her voice further, trying her very best to comfort the sad and scared boy. “Hunter, pequeño, it’s ok, really, you’re safe here,” she promised, coming closer to him slowly.
Shivering, Hunter seized up, holding his arms up to protect himself, but rather than punishment for being little, like what he expected, all he was met with was a warm hug and his palisman softly nuzzling up against his face. He simply stood there, shocked, unsure as to what to do. Normally, Luz was to be his rival, who he desperately fought in order to stay afloat. But now she was comforting him, whispering sweet nothings to him, as if he wasn’t the one who threatened her and her girlfriend.
Still, overwhelmed and in need of a good hug, Hunter’s little side gave into the hug and he rested his head on Luz’s shoulder, whimpering and softly hugging back tight. As he relaxed slightly, he let himself simply sink into her arms, not worrying about expectations or any fretting over the Emperor’s Coven. For now, lil Hunter just wanted to relax. Luz smiles as she notices Hunter’s breath slow down and as he relaxes, she poses a question. “How old are you right now, cariño?”
Taken slightly aback, since he didn’t really expect anything like this, Hunter thinks for a moment before mumbling “f… fwee…” in a tiny voice, barely a whisper.
“Aww, such a big boy!” she mused, tickling his back a little, which made the boy giggle softly, “Do you want me to carry you? Since you don’t look like you should walk with those ouchies on your knees,”
Hunter’s face went a faded pink as he got a bit flustered, his bigger side still trying to resist regressing, and for a moment, he tried to turn big, focusing on staying focused, but he then heard a soft chirping. His palisman, who he’d expected to be defending him from the apparent ‘threat’ of Luz, was instead softly nuzzling up against his cheek as it sat on his shoulder. Seeing his palisman’s assurance that this all was alright, he hesitantly shook away his worries and let out a tiny “Mhm...”
Luz then smiles softly and, with her ‘weak nerd arms’, gently scoops up Hunter, cradling him in her arms, finding he was rather light considering his height. He was decently strong, so you’d expect him to be heavier, but this was most peculiar. Not only that, she wondered why he would even be here, since he had never seeked out any of them before. As she saw the boy blush further and try to hide his face under his hood, she shook away her thoughts of worry and simply cooed at the tiny boy in her arms. “Aww, you look so precious, cariño,” she commented, booping the little one’s nose.
The little one then let out an adorable giggle, relaxing in Luz’s arms and looking up at her with his tiny, innocent eyes, their normally deep red hint being fixed in an angered glare, but now all that could be seen in them was the eyes of a mildly scared child.
Seeing how precious he was, Luz lets out a soft chuckle and takes a second to survey the area, quickly checking to see if there was anyone or anything else around. Her eyes then quickly found his artificial staff, which had been dropped a few feet away, and she hesitated to do anything, since why would he bring it if he had his palisman? Before she could consider the implications, she then saw something further away, a yellow gleam poking out of a tall bush. She then slowly stepped forward, looking into the bush and her heart sank. There was the Golden Guard’s glistening helmet, shining and brand-new. She then put the pieces together, and it seems what she thought may have been a friendly attempt to reach out was an impossibility, for Hunter had not come here as himself.
He came here as the Golden Guard. And now, she was holding him in her arms, comforting the jerk who hurt her and her girlfriend, and threatened to…
Threatened that he could come attack her if Amity hadn’t given away the key.
She was really comforting the brat who served Emperor Belos, his right-hand man, the one who tried to kill the Selkidomus, stole the abomatons for the Emperor’s Coven, tried to steal all of the remaining palismen from Hexside and took the key from Amity after threatening to attack the Owl House. He’d done so many awful things for the Emperor’s Coven, and could have been en route to the Owl House just to hurt her or undertake some other scheme. Her empathy led to her holding an enemy in her arms.
But then, as she realises this, Hunter’s eyes follow Luz’s gaze, and falls on the helmet, which makes the little one let out a tiny squeak and hide his face in Luz’s shirt. Luz takes notice and is snapped away from her trance, “Oh? What’s wrong?” she lightly ponders, rocking Hunter a little to help him relax a bit, still wanting to help him, since he was little, after all, and her natural empathy, right or wrong, took over.
“N.. nu, I don’ wanna…” he mutters, his tiny voice barely audible as his face was nuzzled into Luz’s shoulder.
To continue to try and calm the tiny one, Luz softly used her thumb to rub Hunter’s back, doing a soft circle motion. “Don’t want to what, sweetheart?” she pushed, trying to not be too harsh but also understand what was going on. As she knew with Amity, littles often had trouble communicating what they needed, so she wanted to make sure she understood him.
Hunter simply whimpered and pointed at the helmet, shaking his head vigorously. After a few seconds, Luz let out a small “oh,” as she began to understand what was going on. She wasn’t really holding the Golden Guard, she was just holding the tiny version of the one who’s supposed to be the Golden Guard, whether he wants it or not. Sure, when he’s big, he can be mean, blunt, threatening, a right-hand man to a tyrant, but he doesn’t want that right now. He just wants to take a step back from being the ‘big, bad Golden Guard’.
He just wanted to be a kid.
After that realization, Luz shook away most of her doubts that her empathy was wrong before gently assuring him, “Don’t worry, Hunter, it’s ok, you don’t have to be the Golden Guard today,”
That immediately calmed Hunter down, and he lifted his face from Luz’s shoulder to look up at her before giving her a smile and tight hug. “F... Fanks chu,” he babbled, extremely happy to have some support, since it was not often he got to have hugs like this.
Luz then returned a gentle smile and softly rubbed his back, “Any time, cariño,” she assured before turning her gaze back to the staff and helmet. “Do you think you could walk, little one? I need to carry a few things, but I can hold your hand if that makes you feel better,”
Hunter softly nodded and Luz set him down, with him softly holding Luz’s hand to make sure he didn’t fall over, since he didn’t have the best balance while little. As he stood on his own, his palisman then softly perched up on his head, leading to the little softly giggling at his tiny bird friend. Luz then carefully scooped up the helmet and staff, stashing the helmet away in a backpack she had on and holding the staff in her free hand. Seeing her hold the staff, Hunter winced, but was quickly assured, “Don’t worry, I won’t use it, I promise,” using her very best mamí voice to calm the little one.
Hunter then calmed down a bit and followed as Luz began to walk through the forest, content to have a hand to hold to keep him from falling. Honestly, this was going far better than he expected, since he’d expected Luz to call him pathetic and take his staff away, but thankfully she was far nicer than what his brain thought was true.
After a few minutes of walking, Luz saw the Owl House was close, and then pulled an invisibility glyph from her pocket, “Hey, we’re going to go inside to get you some bandaids for your boo-boo’s, and I’m going to need you to hold your breath and hold onto this tight, mmkay?” she softly asked him, and Hunter gently nodded as he took the glyph, and after Luz showed him how to use it, he slapped it against his chest and then went invisible, causing him to let out a tiny squeak, and the glyph faded and he reappeared along with his palisman.
“Hey, shh, it’s ok, it’s just that we’re… um,” she thought for a moment before coming up with an idea, “getting cookies from the cookie jar, and if Eda, King or Hooty sees you, then you won’t be able to get the cookies!” she explained, getting another invisibility glyph. Hunter, at the promise of cookies, lit up and silently nodded, using the glyph with a burst of determination.
Luz then softly smiled and led the way inside, but Hooty blurted out, “Hey Luz, you were out on your walk for an awful long time… I can smell that you’ve got secrets!” he mused, twisting his owl tube head and smirking.
The young witch then shook her head, “Nope! I just found this... cool stick! That's all,” she lied, referring to the staff she held in her hand. “And, you don’t have a nose, so you can never smell my secrets!”
Hooty then extended out of the door, his odd, unending form, squinting at the staff before giving it a poke with his beak. “Hmmmmmmmm…” he murmured, poking the staff a few more times and glaring it down to try and pry secrets from it. “You sure you don’t have any secrets in the stick…? Since if you do, you’re gonna have to pay if you don’t want Eda to find out...” he coerced, forming a wide, mischievous grin.
Luz then sighed and pointed off into the forest, “Alright, I saw a whole pack of voles over in that tree,” she whispered, and Hooty took the bluff, shooting off into the tree at lightning speed, his tubular form darting through the forest like a beam of brown, feathery light, just barely grazing Hunter as he zoomed past with no hesitation or remorse. Hooty would get those voles at any cost.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Luz bolted inside while still holding the invisible Hunter’s hand and after she realized neither King or Eda were home, she nodded at Hunter and he let out a sigh as the invisibility dissipated. “There, now, wanna get those boo-boo’s patched up?” she asked, softly patting Hunter’s head.
He then giggled and nodded before then remembering something, “Wait, but what about da cookie jaw?” he asked with a soft lisp.
Luz then smiled softly and conceded, “Alrighty, we’ll get you your cookies,” before leading him into the kitchen and hopping up on a step-stool to get a jar of cookies that was normally just out of reach, (so that Amity and King couldn’t get to it). She then reached into the jar, pulled out two cookies and handed one down to the very giddy Hunter while snacking on the other one. “Here you go!”
The little one jumped up and down happily before chomping down the cookie and letting out a giddy squeal. After their small cookie break, Luz then held Hunter’s hand, led him upstairs and reached into a corner to uncover a small backpack, (full of little items normally used by Amity), and zipped open one of the pouches to find a collection of coloured band aids.
“Now, which colours do you want, little príncipe?” she asked softly, pulling out a catalogue of bandaids. After a few minutes of deliberation, Hunter pointed at a cute orange one with a cute sun design for one of his knees and a little red one with a sword design on it, which he claimed was “Super duper mega cool!”
After cleaning up the boo-boo’s, Luz smiled at the little one, “Alrighty, now that that’s all done, would you like a plushie to cuddle with?” she softly pondered, standing above the little who was currently sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce on the floor. Hunter quickly nodded his head and made cute little grabby hands which made Luz chuckle at how adorable he was, and she then quickly handed him a small stuffed giraffe, which he happily hugged.
“Fanks ch-” he began, giggling happily before a sound startled the two, being the noise of the door slamming open.
“Hey Luz! We’re home!” Eda hollered, her voice blaring and scaring Hunter into skittering away into a corner, even though Eda was still downstairs. Luz, seeing how startled he was, quickly rushed over to him,
“Hey, cariño, don’t worry, it’s ok, I’ll make sure they don’t see you, you don’t have anything to be scared of,” she assured, wrapping him in a quick hug before pulling away, “Sorry, but I’ve gotta go distract them, so that way they don’t see that we went into the cookie jar!” she added, trying to lighten the mood a bit to calm the little one down.
Hunter hesitantly nodded, hugging the stuffed giraffe tight before sitting on the floor, curling up in a little ball as his palisman stayed softly nested on his head, cuddling up in between his bushy hairs. As he sat, he then got curious and began to look around the room for a pacifier, since he loved having something to suck on to soothe his nerves but had never gotten one himself. He then shakily got up on his feet while clutching on the plushie for comfort, and began to toddle around, since he was feeling a little smaller than how he usually regressed. He meandered around the room for a time, seeing a vast array of things all strewn about, including the echo mouse, which was softly sleeping, and then finally, something caught his eye.
Propped up in a small cyan bag under the echo mouse’s cage was a semi-thick log of wood, deep aegean blue in hue, which easily blended in against the baggie that held it. As his eyes fell to the wood, his body jolted forward as he realized what he’d found. The stolen palistrom wood. It was right here, right in his reach, and nothing could stop him from getting it. Slowly, his littlespace fell away as he let out a cheery cackle, reaching to the wood like a lifering, desperation oozing off of him like a desperate soul left wayward at sea.
Finally, it would be his. He could get someone to carve a palisman, and then Belos wouldn’t have to… absorb… his palisman, and then he wouldn’t be lonely or a dissapointment! Finally, he would do something right!
As his grip finally reached the log, he saw a form flutter on top of it, as his palisman stood atop his hand, spreading its wings in defiance. Hunter, startled, jerked back for a moment, shaking out of his desperate trance. “Hey, I need that!” he insisted, trying to pull it away, but his palisman stood firm and stayed on the wood, clutching to it desperately. As he tried desperately to cling to the log and yank it, he made short eye contact with his palisman, enough to make him hesitate.
In that eye, he saw genuine defiance, and desperation. As if a reflection of himself, he saw the clinging to be an act to try and defy his order, but also the fear of retaliation, of being wrong, of being punished for going against orders. It was not a look he was unfamiliar with, for often, it was his very own.
That was enough to make him loosen his grip, and as he slipped away from his trance, he began to fully realize his situation. Luz let him in. She comforted him, the Golden Guard, her enemy, out of caring. She never insulted him, or called him weak for being little, she simply took care of a beat up blonde who needed help. She saw him as a human, not a tool, where if it doesn’t work correctly, you simply replace it.
And with that, Hunter heard soft footsteps coming upstairs, and he began to panic. In a hurry, and now with his big self at the helm, he hastily put back the palistrom wood in the bag and softly picked up his palisman, softly petting him, and then began to gather his staff and helmet.
“Hunter, I’m going to come in, ok?” Luz softly announced, standing at the door and expecting to find a cute, lispy answer, but was met with not a peep. As she creaked open the door, she saw the room was as it normally was, though, with a few things strewn about due to being stepped over, with the only differing detail being a stuffed giraffe tossed to the floor. Finally, Luz’s eyes fell on a much stranger sight, as hovering just outside of Luz’s open window was Hunter, sitting carefully on his artificial staff, with his palisman sat carefully on his shoulder and the Golden Guard helmet held securely in his lap.
She let out a gasp, but before she could speak, Hunter spoke up. “I… look, I know this seems like a jerk thing to do, and I know, it is, but I can’t stick around here.” he admitted, looking her dead in the eyes, with remorse in his eyes, since he did desperately want to stay, want to fix what he’s done and patch things up with Luz, but to him, that was impossible.
“Hey, you can’t just go!” she blurted out, stepping forward as Hunter began to back away himself and float off of the edge of the roof below Luz’s window. “You clearly don’t want to go back, and you’re a little, so being the Golden Guard won’t do you any good!” she continued, trying desperately to help, to try and convince him to stay, to leave behind the Emperor’s Coven.
Hunter, hesitantly, then took in a breath, “Luz…” he began, his voice panging with regret. “I know you want to help me, and fix what I’ve done, but if Belos finds that I abandoned him…” he choked out, desperation stinging down every word.
Luz followed to the edge of the roof, standing just at the tip of it, trying to reach out to the wayward teen. “Hunter, we can help you, you’ll be able to be little, and I’ll protect you if Belos ever comes to find you,” she promised, and as Hunter tried to turn to fly away, she pulled a plant glyph from her pocket and tapped it against her hand, causing a vine tendril to snake up to the staff and tug against it, stopping him from going any further.
Then, as he was rattled with indecision, with the literal tug of Luz’s compassion keeping him from going, he made one final conviction; “Luz.”
“If I stay here, it’ll only make things worse. Belos would come for us, you all would be hurt, and once he got me back I’d be done for.” he proclaimed, tears stinging his cheeks as he turned to look at the young, aspiring human witch.
“And you don’t deserve to be hurt.” he finished, using all of his strength as the red crystal on his staff bursted with energy, using it’s unnatural burst to blow away the tendrils of vines and send him shooting off away from the Owl House.
Luz then fell forward, barely catching herself from falling off of the ledge, and she let loose a sigh, sorrowfully glancing at her friend as he blasted away towards a house that could never feel like home. He was willing to give up being little simply to keep her safe. And now, knowing for sure that there was a caring young blonde behind that gold-tinted mask, Luz knew what she had to do.
She was going to give that little one a proper home.