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When Darius had said the kid didn’t deserve to wear the Golden Guard sigil, he didn’t have Hunter’s feelings in mind. All he could think about was the fact that the boy was the replacement for the previous Golden Guard—a replacement for his mentor. He let his grief and bitterness cloud his vision so much he couldn’t see what he was doing until it slapped him in the face.
Hunter was just a child, a child forced into a position that a child shouldn’t be made to do. Not only was he a Coven Head, but he was the right-hand man of the emperor, and that came with its own responsibility.
Darius now knew he was incorrect in his assumptions about the newest Golden Guard, originally seeing a bratty kid trying to command respect and wielding power he didn’t deserve, but now, he’s beginning to think otherwise.
He was genuinely surprised to see that the kid could actually think for himself and show a little rebellion. He had never seen the Golden Guard display such outright rule-breaking acts. Usually, Hunter always did what he was told. When he belatedly disobeyed Darius by protecting those recruits and revealed he had a Palisman of his own, Darius realized that maybe he was wrong in his assessment of the kid’s character.
But repairing his cloak and giving him that Penstagram scroll didn’t mean he suddenly cared about the kid.
RULERZREACHF4N : hI DariUs
He still was annoying.
The next time Darius saw the little prince, they were at a Coven Head meeting, this time the emperor was there to oversee it.
The Golden Guard stood, back ramrod straight next to Belos, hands clasped behind his back. His cloak was clean and he knew the kid was proud of the sigil that Darius had fixed for him. His posture was a little more confident.
Darius let himself smile a little before assuming an emotionless mask. He needed to keep his distance. Technically Hunter was still loyal to Belos; he couldn’t guarantee that the kid wouldn’t run immediately to the emperor if he found out about the rebellion.
He sighed.
“Where are we for new coven recruits?” Belos asked, head tilting forward slightly.
Hunter stiffened.
“The numbers have begun to stagnate for those other than the Emperor’s Coven. We suspect it’s due to the rising amount of publicity wild witches such as the Owl Lady have received in past months.”
Darius sighed again. “It could also be purely because the majority of witches in the Boiling Isles have already joined a coven. The rest are just kids or elusive stragglers.” He made a point to look at the Golden Guard with what he hoped was a friendly expression, but he wasn’t sure it came across that way. It would help if he didn’t have to wear that mask.
Belos stood up, his height looming over the circular meeting table. “I want all witches enrolled in a coven by the Day of Unity. The titan demands we do so.”
There was silence for a moment, and the Coven Heads turned to one another.
Raine cleared their throat. “Are you suggesting we force children to join?” they asked respectfully, voice wavering.
“If that’s what it takes, so be it.”
Darius was stunned. He didn’t realize Belos was going to force everyone to join the coven system. What need is there for kids to make that decision if it was purely to remove wild witches from the Isles? Darius would have to meet with the CATTs. Soon.
The emperor continued, “We will do nothing different for now, but prepare. We shall have to change our…” he swished his hand with a flourish, “tactics in order to remove wild magic from the Boiling Isles.”
The meeting adjourned swiftly after that statement, the Coven Heads' emotions ranging from excited, malicious, neutral, and uncomfortable. Darius could only focus on Hunter’s retreating form getting smaller and smaller in the distance.
It was late at night. Darius walked through the castle halls, trying to return to his room for the night. The bright yellow light did little to wake him up, the sickly color making him want to go home quicker. He couldn’t stand the place after dark.
Turning a corner, Darius sighed, twisting his neck around. After standing for so long he was ready for sleep. For someone as young as he was, he wouldn’t think his work would make him hurt in as many places as it did.
He was about to reach the hall his room was on when he heard muffled yelling.
Titan. Was someone being attacked? It wasn’t uncommon for a fight to break out or a loud argument to occur in the castle, especially amongst the younger EC scouts, but this sounded bad.
Clenching his eyes, he sighed heavily, turning around towards the supposed fight, wishing his eight hours of sleep goodbye. He couldn’t stand by and let that go, especially if someone was being attacked.
His heels clicked across the floor, increasing in speed. The yelling was getting louder, but the closer he got the more dread pooled in his gut.
It sounded like Belos.
More than that, it sounded less like a fight and more like a one-sided assault.
Darius almost didn’t want to find out.
By the time he reached the place he knew he would, the sounds stopped. Almost as if they never were there in the first place. Slowing down, Darius stepped further down the corridor, attempting to at least inspect whether or not someone needed help. He didn’t know what he would do if he encountered the emperor mid-battle.
To his surprise, the Golden Guard entered his vision, clearly just leaving the throne room as there wasn’t any other room down this wing. Darius’ blood turned cold.
“Golden Guard?”
“Good evening, Darius,” the kid said monotoned, his mask set in place and his hands hanging down his sides, fingers twitching. His clothes were covered in mud, the cloth leaving a trail of soil on the floor. A sad chirping cried from the boy’s cloak.
Darius knew he had to be the one at the other end of the emperor’s wrath, there was no one else it could have been. He felt his heartbeat quicken. “Little prince. Where are you heading so late at night?”
“Back to my room. My… meeting with Emperor Belos took longer than expected.”
Darius knew something was wrong. Obviously, the sounds he heard were from Hunter and Belos. His stomach twisted at what he assumed happened. His concerns were further validated when the kid took a step forward, his left leg flagging with a limp.
“Are you okay, Hunter?”
Hunter turned back to him for a moment, pausing before continuing down the corridor. “I’m fine,” he said. “Took a tumble on my mission today.”
The kid turned the corner, leaving Darius alone.
Did the emperor do that to him?
Hunter sat at the edge of his bed, trying to slip out of his pants and into something more comfortable. His leg throbbed with each movement, the joints flaring with pain.
Titan, it hurt.
Tenderly pulling down his pant leg, he saw his skin was mottled with bruises, some of them turning dark purple already. His knee was swollen and red. He didn’t know how to take care of an injury like this so he opted just to prop it up during the night, hoping it got better by morning. That would probably work enough to keep him from appearing weak and useless.
Uncle never usually hurt him badly enough to warrant medical help. He deserved all of it anyways, so why would this particular instance be different? Uncle always told him he had to bear the pain on his own, that he was teaching him, helping him; that meant no running to the Healing Coven whining.
He just needed to stay useful. He couldn’t get replaced. He didn’t know what would happen if he disappointed Uncle that badly.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
The appearance of Darius after his meeting with his uncle was a surprise, to say the least. The Abominations Coven Head rarely roamed the hall at night of his own free will and he hardly ever ventured to the emperor's throne room without being called there. The man liked his sleep, but he also liked his alone time.
The Coven Head seemed interested in what happened to Hunter, most likely because of his ruined clothes (Darius was sort of a clean freak), for he couldn’t stop looking him over. He got it, he wasn’t clean. That’s why he was returning to his room.
When he asked if Hunter was okay, he was thrown. No one had ever asked him that before.
Was Darius mocking him? Did he think Hunter couldn’t take care of himself?
Hunter growled softly, face planting his pillow. He pulled up his Penstagram and opened up the Emerald Entrails GC. He wasn’t sure what “GC” meant, but he was able to text the entire group at once instead of individually.
RULERZREACHF4N: How wouLd somone lOok at you if yu were Full of mud?
GRIFFINLOVER001: Disgust?
GUS_THE_ILLUSIONIST: I usually make a “\:|” face
HELLO_WILLOW: Did someone say something to you?
RULERZREACHF4N: I’m noT sure- Darius gave me a werd look in tHe hallway. Then aSKed if I was ok?
SKARA_GRUDGBY: For being dirty?
HELLO_WILLOW: ARE you okay, Hunter?
RULERZREACHF4N: Yea
Hunter closed the scroll sighing, curing up as small as he could without hurting his leg. He wasn’t useless…right?
Darius didn’t see Hunter for another week, the kid leaving on missions the instant he returned to the castle. The only reason he knew that was because Raine mentioned that fact to him, for they were more observant than him. To be fair, he hadn’t paid much attention to the boy before the whole scout recruitment fiasco.
“The emperor always sends him off. The Golden Guard doesn’t usually stick around the castle,” they had said to him, sighing.
Darius found that odd. Why would the emperor send his nephew on so many dangerous missions? Any other scout could be sent with lesser odds of failure. Not that the little prince usually failed. To his surprise, Hunter almost always succeeded with flying colors.
Still, it seemed strange to endanger your family like that, Golden Guard or not.
“Isn’t a lot of that stuff really dangerous?” he asked. “You know, collecting palisman, palistrom wood, stonesleeper lungs, selkidomus scales…” He lifted his hand with a flourish. “A lot of that stuff is rare, and it definitely isn’t easy to get unscathed that’s for sure.”
“Yeah…wait did you say stonesleeper lungs?”
Darius looked over at them. “Yes?”
Raine stood, staring past Darius’ shoulder, thinking. “It’s probably nothing…”
“Go ahead and say it anyways. I’ve got time.”
“Well…I read about it in an old book, a book about ancient wild magic.” they said, leaning in to speak softly. “It contained spells from the savage times. I can’t remember what the spell was called, but it was used to create something called a ‘grimwalker’...”
“A grimwalker?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure what it is, but it can’t be good if that’s what Belos is making Hunter collect those items for.”
Darius made a noise of discontent. “I’ll try to look into it.” He stood up from his chair, gesturing to Raine. “You make sure to keep up appearances. Don’t go snooping around for information. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” they chuckled dryly. “You make sure Hunter doesn’t die before he can join us.”
Darius scoffed, leaving the room and stepping into the corridor.
The kid better not die. He won’t allow it.
Hunter's hand shook, tremors rippling throughout his body. They were in the Emperor’s mind. They were in Belos’ mindscape .
Nononononono Belos knew they were in there. He gasped rushing to his feet, nearly tripping, his cloak around his—The Golden Guard sigil. The cape immediately clutched his neck too tightly, squeezing him. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe.
The graveyard of masks—
“I hoped you would last longer than your predecessor.”
“Out of all the grimwalkers… you looked the most like him.”
Hunter gasped for air, ripping his cloak off his back and throwing it to the ground. He needed to leave, he needed to run—Unc- no, Belos was going to find him. He was going to kill him.
Ignoring the voices calling for him, he bolted out the door, rushing to the forest. His feet pounded unevenly with the terrain. Where would he go? He couldn't go back to the castle—the thought of returning made his stomach churn painfully. He didn’t want to die. He needed to get away.
He ran and ran, ignoring the pain in his lungs. He didn’t know where he was going, only that he was getting away from Belos. He cried. Belos would search for him. The emperor would hunt him until found, then he would kill him. He was a traitor.
Turning over his shoulder, he realized that Flapjack hadn’t followed him into the woods. He clenched his eyes shut, tears cascading down his cheeks. It was what he deserved. He wasn’t real. He didn’t deserve a palisman. The bird was better off finding a different witch. One that actually can do magic, one that was a real person, not a copy.
A copy, a traitor, a monster. That’s what he was.
He deserved to die in this forest.
To say Darius was worried would be an understatement. They had gotten innocent CHILDREN stuck in the emperor's mind due to their carelessness. He should have known that Hunter would have tried to confront them. He should have known better than to believe that the kid wouldn’t have followed them.
He, Raine, and Eberwolf stood at the edge of the forest, waiting to see if Whisper’s “flowers” had been received and if the Owl Lady was successful in retrieving Hunter and the human girl. Darius had his doubts about what a magic-less witch could do, but Raine told him to have faith.
“She’s a talented witch, even without magical abilities, Darius.”
“So you keep saying,” he replied with an eye-roll. It wasn’t that he necessarily didn’t believe in Eda’s abilities, he just couldn’t help but feel helpless on the sidelines. This was his fault, he wanted to assist the process.
“We can’t let her become involved. It would put her at risk,” they added. “I’m not willing to compromise her and her kids.”
Darius scoffed. “You call this not involved? Belos will most likely know that the human was in his head and he already knows where she lives!” As much as Darius didn’t want their cover blown, he knew it was already a hopeless cause. There was no way the Owl House wasn’t compromised at this point.
Eberwolf growled, running in a circle around the bard, claiming Raine just wanted to protect their girlfriend.
Raine blushed, turning bright scarlet. “She’s not my girlfriend!”
At that exact moment, a large commotion could be heard from the inside of the Owl House and a familiar figure came barreling out the door followed closely by a red bird. Darius immediately knew it was Hunter. He looked to Raine and Eberwolf for a moment before starting to run after the boy.
Darius hated the forest. It was dirty and disgusting—but he needed to make sure that Hunter was alright. The thing that worried the coven head the most wasn’t just the fact that he was running away, but that his signature cloak was missing from his form. Hunter never purposely went anywhere without it. It was a sign of his accomplishments in his eyes.
He didn’t know what Hunter saw in the mindscape, but obviously, it wasn’t good.
Darius could hear his companions behind him, but he was only interested in catching up to Hunter, running faster after the kid despite leaving the others in the dust. He caught up to Hunter’s Palisman first, grabbing it and placing it on his shoulder before continuing, the bird chirping in his ear and flapping its wings wildly.
Heaving for each breath, he almost regretted running so fast as his lungs ached, but he was closing in on the boy.
“Hunter!” he yelled out, trying to reach for him with his abominations but missing him.
The boy flinched, tripping over the terrain and falling to the ground with a sick thud.
Darius rushed over to him, making sure to keep his distance despite wanting the opposite. “Little prince…” The kid was shaking so badly Darius was worried he would pass out.
Hunter looked up and immediately started to try and push away from him, gasping for air. “Nonono Darius—you can’t. He— You can’t take me back.” He grasped at his chest weakly, clawing at it with both hands. "He's going to kill me. "
Hesgoingtokillmepleasedarius
.”
The coven head was in shock and held his hand out to try and comfort him. “Hunter, I'm not going to take you back.”
The kid tried to look up at him but he couldn’t seem to lift his head high enough, his body wound into a tight ball as his chest heaved. Darius tried to inch closer but stopped when Hunter’s breathing worsened further. The palisman flew onto the kid's head, nudging his scalp with its beak. Hunter didn’t seem to acknowledge the bird’s presence.
“ Please . He’s going to kill me—he’s going to replace me!”
Panicking slightly, Darius tried again to calm him down with his words. “Hunter, I’m not taking you back to Belos. I’m a rebel. My companions and I were the ones you were trying to catch at the Night Market!” He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to him, but it was clear Hunter was scared Darius would send him back to the castle.
At that moment, Raine and Eberwolf caught up and came to a halt behind Darius, faces still concealed by their hoods. Hunter saw them approach and pushed himself farther away until his back was pressed against a tree, eyes widening.
“It’s okay, Hunter. We aren’t going to hurt you.”
As if on cue, Raine pulled down their hood and knelt next to Darius. At the same time, Eberwolf rushed forward and climbed up the abomination coven head’s back, making Darius cringe at the dirt.
“You don’t need to worry, we are against Belos,” Raine said smoothly.
Their soft words seemed to calm the boy down somewhat and he wasn’t hyperventilating as badly. “W-why are you helping me?”
Darius paused for a moment.
“Take care of the next Golden Guard, Darius…please.”
“More people care about you than you think.”
All at once, Hunter ran to him, planting his face into his chest as he sobbed , his body trembling horribly. Darius stiffened at first, but then relaxed into the embrace and put his arms around the boy. The touch on his shoulders made Hunter lean in closer to him, grasping his shirt with a tight grip.
He let himself smile slightly, happy with the knowledge that Hunter was safe.