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Hunter wasn’t entirely sure how his individual mission ended up like this.
It was supposed to be a fairly simple task. He wanted to learn more about the previous Golden Guard and the only person who knew him was fairly reluctant to share any information with him.
“I don’t need you comparing yourself to yet another person, little prince,” he had said. Hunter wasn’t quite sure if that reason was completely truthful. He tried to ask other people about his predecessor, but Lilith had only talked to him once, Eberwolf only ever saw him and the only other person who knew practically anything was long dead.
So, Hunter had decided to take some drastic measures.
It was, admittedly, wildly stupid and keeping secrets from both of the people he lived with for as long as he needed to gather the ingredients was extremely difficult. Eberwolf had sniffed the ingredients from a mile away, quickly inviting himself to join the mission. Raine was informed soon after since they could help gather ingredients and since they couldn’t keep a secret from their girlfriend or kids, Eda, Luz and King knew of the mission now too.
King was thankfully not interested in the slightest, but both Luz and Eda insisted on coming with. He had tried to stop them, but it was a losing battle. He was at the very least grateful the rest of the friend group hadn’t gotten roped in too. They already didn’t hold Darius in high regard and Hunter was sure this could easily damage his reputation further. As sure as he can be, anyway, which is never completely.
So here he was, with four extra people following him into what was supposed to be an independent venture.
”So this is goo-boys mindscape?” Eda asked once they were transported.
It was pretty much everything Hunter expected it to be. An expanse of jacaranda trees, most in full bloom that scattered purple petals throughout the floor. He would’ve expected something more cleanly but trees seem to be a constant theme in mindscapes, so it fit right in with those he read about.
“Remember, we’re looking for any memory that has the Golden Guard,” Hunter spoke up, ignoring the question. “Also, try to avoid the inner self.”
He was sure Darius wouldn’t take very kindly to knowing they invaded his mind, though at least this time it wasn’t life threatening if he did find out.
The five of them quickly began walking through the forest, trying to catch any sign of the familiar mask. It was more difficult than expected, the memories appeared more like stained glass windows than photos and any bit of yellow got his hopes up before he looked closer at the memory.
It took nearly five minutes before Luz called them over to a memory.
Thankfully, it was exactly what he was looking for. The dying jacaranda tree held a stained glass image of the Golden Guard mask, a gloved finger at the bottom of it. The rest of the memory was muddled with a grassy red.
Hunter practically leapt into the window-photo, hearing the others follow suit soon after.
They all stood in a field that he quickly recognized as the training field outside the castle. Usually scouts used it for some light sparring but he didn’t spot any around.
What he did spot was the Golden Guard on the grass, staff a ways away and abomination around his wrists and ankles. He donned the same uniform Hunter had, but the cape was missing, revealing the shoulder-length blond hair that was significantly lighter than his own.
A much younger Darius stood above him, spell circle hovering in-front of his finger as he smiled down at the Guard. His appearance was both wildly different and very similar to his one now. He had his natural hair instead of the abomination that usually replaced it and donned a hexside uniform with pink sleeves, though his signature shoulder cape hung over it.
“The student has become the master,” the memory-Darius boasted before letting the spell circle drop and helping the man to his feet, handing the staff back.
”Sure he has kid,” The Golden Guard replied and Hunter startled at how similar their voices were. Near identical, but the Guard’s was ever so slightly lower than his own.
“Now you uphold your end of our little deal,” He teased back, flicking the one out of place hair that hung in front of the gold mask. Hunter instinctively reached his hand up to mess with his own. So they both had that stubborn piece of hair hanging in their face.
It wasn’t exactly important information, or helpful to knowing who the Guard was as a person, but it was a reminder of how similar their appearances were. He tried to ignore it.
The Guard sighed before reaching up to his mask and taking it off, throwing it to the grass.
Hunter quickly seized the opportunity to move to the other side of the Golden Guard to see his face, studying his appearance closely.
The Guard certainly held a resemblance to Hunter, that much was undeniable. Same nose, face structure, slightly awkward smile, gap tooth… pink eyes. But there were some small differences.
The pink of his eyes was significantly darker, leaning more on a red than his used to. The gap between his teeth was smaller, nearly unnoticeable if he wasn’t looking for it. His ear didn’t have a notch in it and the scars across his face were wildly different from Hunters.
The scars were more similar to Raine’s, vertical slashes on each of his cheeks, though they were obviously claw marks. A small line ran across the side of his mouth too, cutting into the lip and looking like it made it painful to hold the smile that was on the man’s face.
“I don’t know why you cared about this so much, I’m not much to look at,” The Guard remarked, scratching at the scars on his left cheek with his gloves.
”First of all, I thought we agreed no beating ourselves up,” Memory-Darius replied, tugging away the hand scratching at the scars. “Second of all, I cared because I know you hate that mask Jasper. Now you don’t have to wear it around me.”
The Golden Guard- Jasper, Hunter mentally corrected- rolled his eyes but smiled wider and in a familiar gesture, brought his hand up to lightly tap Darius’ hair with the side of it before getting into a fighting stance.
”Now let’s see if you can beat me at my full power!”
”Oh you’re on!”
The memory fizzled out after that, sending them back to the purple forest.
”So his name was Jasper, he doesn’t look exactly like me, he trusted Darius enough to show him his face and he used the same head tap Darius does,” Hunter mumbled to himself, ignoring the others looking at him.
”Are we gonna go look for more memories blondie?” Eda asked, interrupting his mental noting.
”Yeah, yeah,” He sighed. “Maybe look for more of the dying trees.”
It was sad to point out that the memories, even happy ones like the one they just witnessed, would be held in the dying trees. That the brain likely recognized all the memories of Jasper as sad now.
Thankfully they stumbled upon another memory with Jasper in it sooner this time. The window to it showed the artificial staff the Guards relied on for their magic and the surrounding red was the color that used to appear when he flash-stepped.
Hopping into the memory, they were once again greeted with the training field near the castle. Jasper stood in the middle of it, mask, cape and staff nowhere to be seen. He was tapping his foot impatiently, continually glancing around the fields.
”Aren’t these Darius’ memories? Where is he?” Luz asked, looking around like Jasper was. The others quickly copied her.
Hunter was about to go onto a rant about how sometimes the subject of the memory can appear later if they were observing a scene while being hidden before a flash of red appeared.
Darius appeared behind Jasper in an instant, hitting him on the head with the artificial staff and disappearing in a flash of red before the man spun around to catch him, appearing closer to where the five of them were observing the memory.
It continued like that for a while, Darius flash-stepping to poke at Jasper and then disappearing before he could be spotted.
“Since when could he do that?” Hunter asked, looking at the adults. He’d only really known himself to be able to flash-step, he had assumed it might be a kind of Grimmwalker specific thing.
”I’ve only ever seen him do it once before, during Covenhead tryouts. I think the sigil blocks it,” Raine answered, watching amused as Jasper kept spinning wildly to try and catch Darius to no avail.
Hunter nodded. Yet another thing sigils ruin, huh.
Eventually, Jasper did manage to catch his mentee, grabbing him suddenly by the wrist when he wasn’t fast enough to flash-step away.
”Maybe I should start calling you little prick,” He grumbled, though there was a hint of amusement in it.
”I think little prince is better,” Darius replied, wiggling out of the man’s grasp. He twirled the staff subconsciously at his side, grinning at his mentor like he won a prize.
”Where did you even get your hands on my staff?” He asked, grabbing for it. It switched between Darius’ hands before he managed to grab it three times until he seemingly gave up and stopped grabbing for it.
”I snuck into your room,” He casually replied, continuing to spin the staff in circles in Jasper’s face as if to taunt the fact that he failed to get it back.
Eda and Luz nodded approvingly at the blatant disrespect for authority as Hunter, Eber and Raine looked on in mild shock. The Golden Guard’s room was hidden away, as if to forget about them. Not only that, it was usually protected by a few scouts scattered throughout the halls leading to it to protect the Guard incase of an assassination attempt. It was near impossible to get to without clearance or status, which in this memory Darius had neither.
”Everyday I wonder why I train you of all people,” Jasper sighed, making one more grab for the staff that was yet again unsuccessful as Darius flash-stepped to be beside him.
”Because I’m incredibly powerful and the only person who would dare to steal your staff?” Darius suggested, bopping him on the head with it another time.
“I don’t think you stealing my staff is exactly a good thing,” He shot back, waving away the staff now continually hitting him on the head.
“I think it’s a fantastic thing,” Darius smirked, hitting him on the head with more force before flash-stepping away. “Especially if you don’t have the guts to take it back.”
Jasper lunged for the staff, nearly grabbing it before abomination blocked his hand. He tried grabbing another spot, and the same thing happened. Abomination blocked every attempt he made at grabbing the staff.
“That’s cheap and you know it,” Jasper spat, trying to force his hand through the abomination unsuccessfully.
”You could always take over the abomination,” Darius suggested, seemingly genuinely confused at his mentor’s struggle to get past the simple spell. “I thought you were supposed to be good at abomination magic.”
It was seemingly a light tease but Hunter saw the embarrassment and hurt flash across Jasper’s face. Hunter remembered Darius telling him that the man was the strongest witch he’d ever known. Jasper must have never revealed he was magic-less without the staff.
He didn’t reply to the taunt, instead ducking as he swept out Darius’ feet and caught the staff as he fell, resting the end of it on his chest.
“And I thought you were supposed to be more prepared,” He finally responded, the air of teasing more serious than it had been previously. He didn’t offer a hand to his mentee, instead turning back towards the castle.
”And I’m the cheap one,” Darius mumbled, sitting up as he caught his breath after being winded. He glanced at Jasper leaving. “Jasper! We still have an hour of training left.”
“I’m cutting training short today,” He replied, waving his staff to replace the cape and mask that had previously been missing.
“Are you really that upset about me stealing your staff? I won’t do it again! Can we just finish training?” Darius called after him, standing quickly and starting to follow him before Jasper blocked him with his staff.
”Training is done for today,” Jasper said more firmly. “Go back to your quarters and remember who is the more powerful one here.”
With that, he disappeared in a flash of red and they were back in the mindscape.
“He sounded like you after I took your staff,” Luz remarked, lightly elbowing Hunter as he started to mumble to himself.
“I resent that,” He replied, though it wasn’t entirely inaccurate. He likes to think he wasn’t quite as upset as Jasper was.
Luz opened her mouth to say something else before Eber growled low, ears pinned back against his head.
”Danger,” He hissed, clawing at Raine’s shoulder to get them to move. They all quickly retreated behind the memory they were just in, peaking out from behind the tree.
Quickly after, what Hunter recognized as Darius’ abomination form appeared. It looked off from what he remembered. More eyes, less solidity in a witchoid shape. There was also a bright red string around its neck, trailing off to a different part of the forest.
“Is that the inner self?” Luz whispered. They both knew what happened last time they mistook an intruder in the mindscape for the inner self.
”No,” Eda whispered back, surprisingly. He didn’t take her for one to know anything about how mindscapes functioned. “That,” she pointed at the wandering abomination “is a curse.”
Ah, that made more sense.
Eda knew curses, and she knew what they appeared as from her dreams. The Owl Beast must appear in her mindscape similarity, though Hunter wasn’t sure if it would be the harpy form she tended to take or another embodiment of the curse.
”Is it aggressive?” Raine asked, eyeing the curse warily. They’d heard about the palismen curse in Belos’ mind, and how the owl beast tormented Eda before she had come to terms with it.
”If he’s come to terms with his curse, shouldn’t be,” Eda replied. “Up to you to take the chance to see if he has or not.”
They all stayed put, waiting for the curse to leave. It seemed quite content with staying in-front of the dead tree it had stopped at, all eyes focused on the memory. Waiting game it is, then.
None of them moved for an entire five minutes, watching the completely still curse for any signs of it leaving. The only thing happening was the red string around its neck moving around until it laid next to them. Luz reached towards it but Hunter quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her.
”The strings not gonna bite.”
All of them startled at the new voice, violently whipping around to look behind them instead of at the curse.
The true inner-Darius stood there, eyeing the intruders. He looked near identical to the one outside the mindscape, only his natural hair was replacing the abomination and a red string was looped around his neck.
“Hey Dar,” Eda greeted as the rest of them tried to recover from the scare. Once recovered, Eber jumped from Raine’s shoulder to his.
”Hello criminal,” He responded, ignoring Eber chirping at him. “I’m assuming breaking into my domain was your idea?”
”No,” Hunter answered before she could. “It was mine.”
His glare disappeared as he flicked his eyes over to Hunter, smiling ruefully.
”You’re finally learning rebellion, little prince,” He ruffled his hair, per usual. “Though I would have been happier without all the extra people.”
”It was supposed to be just me,” He explained, annoyed. “Everyone else found out and decided to come with themselves.”
Inner-Darius nodded, seemingly expecting the explanation. “So what exactly brings you to my forest?”
Hunter took a deep breath to steel himself. “I wanted to learn more about Jasper.” He was given a sad smile. “I know you told me not to worry about him but I really needed to learn more about the other Golden Guards and-“
The inner-Darius held up a hand and Hunter quickly shut his mouth. “I understand. For future reference, tell him about that before you invade his mind.”
Hunter felt the tips of his ears burn red as he nodded to the criticism.
“Can you show us more of the memories with him?” He asked, tugging at his gloves.
”I’d love to.”
He led them out from behind the tree, leading them to a surprisingly flourishing one. The window-photo showed a beach, two pieces of glass a familiar purple and gold.
The six of them stepped through it, a wave of heat quickly flowing over them. They were on the beach at the right pinky, familiar for its deep red sand and bright yellow bird demons flying around.
Jasper and memory-Darius were by the shore, both in more casual clothing than in previous memories. Yellow and purple matching tank top and shorts, though Jasper was in purple and memory-Darius was in yellow.
They were sitting on towels, watching the sun set over the boiling sea.
“He was supposed to be on a mission but decided to drag me to the beach instead,” The inner-Darius said fondly. “He was always ignoring missions up to the last minute to go on stupid trips.”
”Do you ever wish you could swim in the boiling sea?” Memory-Darius asked, eyes locked on Jasper instead of the sunset.
”Don’t need to wish,” Jasper replied, smiling mischievously. “I could do it.”
Memory-Darius rolled his eyes. “You’re so cocky sometimes.”
“For good reason, I’m awesome,” Jasper replied, ignoring the others gesture of ‘see what I’m saying’. “I am serious though, I could swim in the boiling sea.”
“Mhm, and how exactly do you plan to do that?”
Jasper shrugged before standing and winking at the witch before running towards the sea. Memory-Darius blinked in shock before he followed, stopping short of the water that Jasper was now standing in.
”The waters nice!” Jasper called, ignoring the absolute bafflement on his companions face.
”He never told me how he was immune to the boiling water, just that it was because he was so much better,” Inner-Darius said, rolling his eyes.
”It’s a Grimmwalker thing, our components allow us to resist the oppressive heat,” Hunter quoted from a book he had read.
”How would he have known that though?” Luz asked. “Wouldn’t he have to have known he was a Grimmwalker?”
A silence fell over the group as they digested the question. The memory ended as they were doing so, sending them back to the mindscape where the previously healthy tree began to wilt.
Hunter looked over at the inner-Darius, seeing his crestfallen expression as he came to the same conclusion as the rest of them.
Jasper knew he was a Grimmwalker.
Eberwolf chittered something that he didn’t recognize, gently pawing at the inner selves face.
“Or maybe he accidentally fell into the water one time and it didn’t burn him!” Luz added, panicked. “Or got caught in the boiling rain!”
The rushed other explanations didn’t seem to change the inner selves opinion, even if the others nodded along to them. He just waved a hand and a frame rose from the petal filled ground.
”Yknow, I’ve never seen a witch with pink eyes before.”
It was Darius’ voice, but the frame only showed a stained glass version of Jasper.
“I’ve heard about them in fairy tails about made up demons but you’re the only witch with them.”
The stained glass morphed into a memory, Jasper smiling nervously.
”Well maybe I’m one of those made up demons, did ya think about that?” Jasper teased, but there was real fear in his eyes.
Both people in the memory laughed, but it sounded fake coming from Jasper. “Sure, you’re the horrifying Grimmwalker tough guy.”
The flinch was unmistakable and the expression of guilt that was quickly replaced with one of too-quick laughter afterward practically cemented it.
Jasper absolutely knew he was a Grimmwalker.
The group didn’t get much time to think about it before the curse appeared, the eyes scattered across its body looking at a different person.
Hunter grabbed Luz, ready to bolt at a moments notice before the inner-Darius just stepped in front of the curse, holding the red string that tied around both their necks in his hand.
As he spoke to it, he gestured to the group to go. Eber jumped off his shoulder, landing on Eda’s and quickly pointing in the direction of the memory the curse had been guarding previously.
Hunter flash-stepped towards it, Luz in tow and the rest of them following after.
There wasn’t a chance to look at the stained glass before he dragged Luz into the memory, quickly turning to see the others appear shortly after.
”Eda, tell King to get us out of here,” Hunter said, wildly out of breath. Relaxing for a couple years meant getting wildly out of shape.
She was already on it, pulling out the recognizable walkie-talkie to talk to her son.
While she was telling King to bring them back and explaining exactly how to, they looked around the memory.
They were in the throne room, at the doors next to a somewhat recognizable abomination form. Infront of them was a small crowd, of which Hunter recognized Terra and Hettie in.
Belos was there and Hunter could feel his breathing quicken at the sight of the man. In one of his arms was an infant with a recognizable head of blond hair and pink eyes.
The other arm was morphed into a scythe, hovering over a kneeling figure on the floor.
They weren’t transported back fast enough to avoid seeing Belos kill Jasper.
“I did it!” King exclaimed as they re-appeared in the Owl House.
Silence hung over all of them before Eda congratulated her son and helped Raine up from the heap on the ground. Eber was now in Hunter’s lap, paw on his face as he counted to four with the other to get Hunter’s breathing back to normal.
It took a long time for it to steady, even with Eber’s help. When he finally calmed down as much as he was able to, he released the white-knuckle grip he had on Luz’s hand and shakily stood up, Eber moving to his shoulder.
The others looked at him with a mix of concern and pity as he turned to leave the house, but none of them stopped him. Hooty just swung the door open for him and told him to get home safely.
He vaguely recognized that Eber called a ratworm for them to ride home on, flash-stepping up to its neck once he realized it was in-front of him.
The ride home was uncomfortably silent save for the sounds of the ratworm. Eberwolf gently ran his claws through Hunter’s hair in an attempt to comfort him, though it didn’t work much.
They were home in what felt like no time at all and years later. Hunter stumbled up to the front door and lightly pushed it open, hoping that the loud creak didn’t wake the inhabitant.
It was a pointless hope, he quickly realized, as he was enveloped in a hug the second he stepped inside. It wasn’t as comforting as it usually was and he vaguely felt the far colder temperature of the arms around him.
After he was released, he saw the abomination curse staring back at him before it morphed into Darius.
”Let’s get you to bed,” He mumbled, leading Hunter up to his bedroom. He obediently laid in the giant bed, Eberwolf quickly curling up on his chest.
Darius kissed his forehead before leaving the room.
Hunter had a nightmare about being in Jasper’s place that night.