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“We have to go!”
The words felt foreign in his mouth, as though they were somebody else’s. Hunter had suffered enough concussions over the years to know this was probably the result of one. There was no time for yet another crisis, nor was this the place for one.
He grabbed Flapjack and set off for the platform. The emptiness in his head was familiar. All he cared about was the task he was assigned, as if there was nothing else in the world.
It struck him by surprise as another Abomaton tried to fire his way, only for him to dodge and for the ball of abomination goo to fly past him. How did something like that manage to catch him unguarded?
Without a word, he looked back for the quickest of moments, only to make sure the rest of his brigade —his friends— were safe. They were.
Once he was sure, his eyes fixated back on scanning the air in front of him, as well as the land beneath him.
It would be only a few more minutes of flight before they landed, so he began searching the ground for a place to land.
The air brushed every inch of his being, and he noticed a wave of coldness washing over him, as if he were struck by a wall of snow. Hunter didn't recall the air in the area being so cool, especially not by the very end of the season.
Something was wrong. Something felt wrong, and he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.
Looking back was no help, as he only confirmed his friends were in good condition.
Staring ahead, the spell was starting. Streams of bright golden light began slithering towards the very skull of the Titan.
Someone behind him pointed it out. Hunter wasn't sure who it was.
"Hunter, your arm!" Gus yelled.
Breaking out of thought, he looked down. It hit him all at once.
He had a coven sigil too.
With the realization came awareness of the escalating sting in his arm. In an attempt to manage the pain better, it evolved into a clenched jaw, just like he had done so many times before.
Suddenly, the pain and light around stopped, replaced by ominous clouds of grey. Just as quickly as they left, they came rolling in again. Now, his arm felt like it was on fire but it was beginning to spread and-
They had arrived.
One, two, deep breaths, and a furtherly clenched jaw was enough to keep him moving, to know that finding Luz was the priority and get it done quickly.
“I’ll go down first! Willow, follow me, and Gus, make sure King lands safely!”
If the panorama as seen from above was worrying, with every moment of closeness to the ground it became worse and worse. Witches and demons alike dropped to the ground as the streams of magic turned to flowing rivers, each sporting the same horrific webbed patterns. The closer they were to the stage where the Coven Heads were, the quicker Hunter felt that icy hot stinging turn to burning, to every single fiber of his body begging him to stop, to drop to the ground and bury himself in it to see if it would ease it in the slightest.
He made a dive for the ground, landing face towards the crowd, and only allowed himself to shut his eyes for the briefest of moments when his feet touched the ground.
In that pithy instant of darkness, his mind allowed itself to waver, to feel and agonize over it. He allowed himself to long for comfort and relief, to want them and miss them before coming back to reality and clenching his jaw for the thousandth time.
Any trace of relaxation left his system, so quickly it numbed him with horror. Hunter knew it was to be expected, a logical part of the plan, but there was something wrong, and if the plan had gone wrong-
“Darius? Darius?”
He didn’t respond. Was it because of how in the open they were? Hunter didn’t think anybody would be able to report him back to Belos even if they wanted to. Not in that condition. Everybody was on the ground, Darius was knocked out and he wasn’t responding, but surely he had planned something to help in case the Owl Lady was caught, right? Surely he had been cautious, and he had to keep acting so everything wouldn't fall apart. Hunter was probably dooming the Isles with that moment, but he couldn't bring himself to leaving just like that.
“Darius, wake up!”
He was probably ruining whatever backup plan Darius had come up with, but something about his acting did not feel intentional to Hunter at all. That was the mark of a great actor, but Darius wasn’t responding and he wasn’t waking up and every witch and demon with a coven sigil was on the ground knocked out or close to be and Darius was not waking up-
In a desperate attempt, Hunter tried shaking him. Surely he would make his abomination hair subtly push him away so the illusion to the other Coven Heads wouldn’t be broken, right? Maybe side-eye him to leave? As dangerous and selfish as it was, Hunter wouldn’t say no to him breaking character, doing anything to prove he was only acting for the sake of a backup plan he was not told about. It was stupid and risked the entire rebellion, especially so close to Belos, but then Hunter would know he was okay. As much as he had been terrified for months on end of it, Hunter would give anything for Darius to wake up and shoo him away, tell him what he was doing was stupid and reckless.
If he said he didn’t want to give Hunter sewing lessons anymore, if he said he didn’t want to see Hunter anymore after such a ridiculous stunt, Titan, even if he raged and slashed Hunter to pieces with his abomination form, at least Hunter would die knowing Darius was alive and well.
By the looks of it, Hunter was going to die anyway. He had narrowly escaped death, only to encounter it again. A tiny portion of his brain wondered if this was his punishment for betraying Belos. He lived, only to see the one who cared for him, who offered him more than he would ever be able to repay, die before his eyes. Die right before he did as the draining spell advanced and crept across every single one of his limbs, making them ache as if burning. And still, Hunter knew it would never hurt more than the realization Darius’ abomination hair had turned static as energy kept flowing out of him.
He couldn’t even allow himself to lie there and hope for peaceful last moments. Hunter never prayed as much as Belos would have liked, but if the excruciating feeling would spare his thoughts for long enough, he would have prayed for such. Instead, he had to get up. Get up, find Luz and keep praying to the Titan on anything he had ever held dear that Darius would wake up some day.
In the meanwhile, he just had to keep going.