Chapter Text
The screams were deafening.
Distant but a constant ringing in his ear, muffled only by the pain surging through his body. It had been a laborious flight, trying to hold onto his staff as best he could despite the numbness that was overtaking him. Hunter tried to pay attention, he did, but it was getting harder and harder. He barely reacted when Amity cried for her father, when King seemed to be unconscious after they fell from the airship, when they saw the sprawling grounds of the arena.
There were gasps once it came into full view. Bodies everywhere, wailing and trapped within the dome. He tried not to look, eyes forward, mind concentrated on their goal but how could he avert his gaze? This was his fault as well, wasn't it? Hunter had believed the drivel his uncle spouted about the Titan, about some higher destiny he so desperately wanted. They all had believed it. It was easy, it was comfortable and those who questioned are not even alive to witness this. The Golden Guard had made sure.
A Golden Guard who could now barely stay conscious to acknowledge his own foolishness. Hunter did not want to worry his friends but he could feel it more and more. This bone-deep hurt, one that took all rhyme and reason from his mind and left him seeking only a good place to die. He wanted to lay down, to try and forget the numbness but he couldn't. He had to save Luz, to repay her sacrifice and thank her for the rest of his life, that she saved him from a gruesome death.
That was his goal, that would ward off the pain. He was the Golden Guard, he could not allow himself to falter and fail such a simple mission. Belos' disappointment he could barely handle but Darius'? Who placed so much trust in him, who saw something in him that Hunter could not yet understand? He could not fail him too, not again.
"Is that Eda?! There, on the platform!" Gus' shout snapped him out of his stupor and his gaze drifted toward the center of the arena.
He clenched his staff at the sight, feeling a pang of hurt separate from the sigil currently destroying his body. He saw the Owl Lady, Raine, Eberwolf, and….Darius. All unconscious, dead, gone. Hunter did not realize when he phased the rest of the distance, landing clumsily on the platform. It did no good for his condition but he had to get to him, to see for himself.
Hunter tried his best to steady himself, leaning on Flapjack like a lifeline and stumbling desperately to where Darius was. He heard his friends calling out for him, landing on the platform themselves but he paid them no mind. Right at this moment it was just him and the man that laid so still in front him.
A man who Hunter considered untouchable much like his uncle. Strong, reliable, one who made his own rules. And yet he now lay defeated, taken by the curse that was his sigil which siphoned all the life away from him. Hunter could not take it and with what was left of his strength, he shook Darius desperately as if his pleading would right this wrong.
“Darius? Darius? Darius, wake up! Please!” he tried to shout, his voice hoarse and quiet. Tears were threatening to spill and his damaged arm had already grown completely numb. Darius was not waking up, it was hopeless and the only thing Hunter could do was lean on him, forehead on a too-cold arm, trying to catch whatever breath he had left.
He could barely even hear the wails of the crowd anymore or his friends surrounding him, talking to him, trying to help him get up but he felt heavier than the Titan. The draining spell had taken its final toll on him, this was the end of the road. Hunter could barely feel his body moving, trying to grasp Amity’s hand as he looked at her with tired eyes, “You…you h-have to go. I can’t continue and Luz h-has no time. He will kill her…”
Amity looked at him with wide eyes, surprise, sadness in them but something else as well. She knew he was right, they understood each other in this way, a connection left unbroken ever since their confrontation at the lake. Not everyone could understand the burden of a complicated relationship with your parents but she did, better than anyone else, if what happened at the factory was anything to go by. And yet she looked like she wanted to cry again, already having lost so much, so she squeezed his hand tightly and gave him a small nod.
Willow and Gus were far less inclined to accept this as both tried to lift him up again.
“Hunter, we can't just leave you here alone! We’ll think of something!” Willow grabbed him desperately, trying to tug at him to no avail.
“Yes, Willow can-”
“No! You don’t u-understand. You don’t know him. Y-you don’t know what he can do. What he c-can do to her….And even if y-you bring me with you, he’ll just use me a-against you,” he leaned away, not looking them in the eyes, not daring to see any more of their sadness that permeated so deep into his heart. He had to let them go, “I’ll be fine, I promise. I p-promise...”
Hunter knew he sounded pathetic, unconvincing, and barely there at all but it had to be enough. Luz was more important, she was the one in the claws of the beast, the one who was feeling cursed blades across her skin and drowning in the smell of rot and decay. Hunter was fine, this was nothing. Incomparable to the days in the freezing mountains or the broken bones, badly healed, which he had to nurse to health while working. Or to anything Belos had…
Suddenly there was warmth surrounding him, breaking him out of those thoughts, as Gus, Amity, and Willow quickly embraced him. He could feel himself melting in the comfort, the pain disappearing even for a bit as he tried his best to return the gesture. He would miss them and he wished he had the time to get to know them better. To know Luz and her unwavering compassion, Willow and her strength that guided him, Gus and his bright mind, Amity who first offered a hand in understanding, and King so unlike and alike to him.
This was the last time and it made him want to cry. But he couldn't. Not while they are here, embracing him and unwilling to let go. The last thing Hunter wanted is to guilt them into staying no matter how much a small part of him was crying and begging them to stay. He silenced it.
And pushed them slightly away, urging them to finally go. He mustered all his false bravery, a mask so familiar it slipped on immediately and he watched as they flew away.
Left alone without the distraction of comfort, the pain caught up with him again. He winced, trying to breathe but he knew it was useless. This was not something to be fixed, hoping it will get better. It was consequences and Hunter couldn’t help but let out a morbid chuckle. He just wished for the innocent and those who tried to prevent it, to not have to pay the same price.
He looked at Darius again and any desire to laugh at his own predicament turned into sorrow and regret. The man had always seemed larger than life. Someone whose will would never bend to the whims of fate; he created his own path, one Hunter would have loved to walk beside him. But now all his hopes for friendship and then something more, this connection never to be properly fulfilled, caused his face to dampen with hot tears. He hadn’t cried in this way in a long time and never for a reason such as this. Flapjack tried to console him, his little head nuzzling his cheek but it was of no use. Nothing could fix such a hurt.
And there was no need since soon it wouldn’t even matter.
Maybe it was the pain, maybe it was the finality of it all, but as he looked at Darius once again, only one thought crossed his mind. Hunter did not want to die alone. He never wanted to be alone ever again. And with what was left of his strength, he crawled to Darius and settled himself between his arms. It was a mockery of a hug, it made him feel desperate and foolish, a child. But that's all he was, wasn't he? Darius had made sure to remind him but not in mockery, he had just wanted Hunter to be safe, away from it all. It was care, pure and simple.
And it was far better than anything he had imagined as he always thought he would die alone. On a mission, a dangerous one, that would finally have the elements of the Isles claim him. And later, when Belos sank him deep into the crevices of his mind, where the unwanted and unloved resided.
Now he was in the embrace of someone who seemed to like him, at least tolerate him. Darius saw something in him, wanted to spend time with him, and had promised another sewing lesson after all this was over. It was such a simple and mundane thing but at this moment, Hunter desired nothing more. He wanted to hear Darius’ voice, he wanted the man to call him ‘little prince’ and return this hug, instead of being limp, dying beside him. Hunter could feel Darius' body getting colder, colder than it had any right to be and yet, nested in this embrace, Hunter felt warmer than he had in any other. Not that his uncle ever offered that much with his light, calculated touches and hands encased in cold metal but back then Hunter had craved them. Now they seemed shallow in comparison. The smallest thing Darius could offer was better than the best Belos had given him.
Too bad it took him this long to realize it.
Hunter let out a pained exhale, consciousness starting to leave him. He didn’t even feel the pain anymore. Anything but Darius’ presence seemed distant, even Flapjack’s mournful chirps. He wondered how long the bird would stay by his side. Nested in dead bodies was no place for a palisman, he would have to leave at some point. And Hunter loathed to leave him alone, he did, but fate hadn't been kind to any of them. The only thing he could do was hope that Flapjack would find a kind soul to claim as his companion. If there was anyone left to claim after this was over.
As if he sensed those morbid thoughts, the cardinal tucked himself further between him and Darius, entirely set on spending this eternity with them. Hunter’s heart cried at this gesture and despite it all, he felt content. This was what family feels like, he thought. Life hadn't been kind to him but at least death was, giving him a taste of this love, letting him leave this existence content and not alone, scared, yearning for something that would never come.
But no, he would not think of Belos in his last moments. His uncle did not deserve a claim over this, he had taken enough already. So Hunter closed his eyes and at that moment he was but a child, feeling safe and protected, imagining all the things he and Darius could do, imagining this was just them sleeping in each other's embrace.
Darius had not given him permission for this hug, he couldn't and he never would be able to. But Hunter felt selfish for the first time in his life and despite what uncle had said, it felt good. It was rebellion and isn't this what Darius had wished? In a sense, in his last moments, Hunter felt like everything Darius wanted him to be. He would at least die as Hunter and not as the Golden Guard. That's more than he ever hoped for himself and he hoped Darius would be proud.