Chapter Text
Hunter had felt this before.
The nagging, burning feeling buried deep into his skull the moment someone barked a command.
He had read a plethora of books on beast keeping and abominations, and how abomination witches often described their creations rules as etched into its bones.
Grimwalkers were created by mourning souls and people out for vengeance.
They were created as weapons of war in the dark ages, created from the bones of fallen foes, preying on their loved ones by wearing their skin and then devouring their victims.
Obviously, something like that had to be controlled.
( Sometimes, Hunter wondered if Belos’ treatments were simply keeping such a beast in check. Making sure it doesn’t devour the entirety of the isles. )
Even in the simplest things, like “Hunter, could you hand me that blanket?” Or “Hunter, can you run to the store?” , he felt this nagging, compulsive feeling beckoning him forward.
Even with the worst things..
( Hunter still felt the splinters of palismen spiking out of his hands, the flesh of witches echoing on his fangs, the feeling of a guiding hand on his shoulder as he did unspeakable things that he wouldn’t even trust the void to take to her grave. )
After a while in the human realm, his friends had started to realize how much chores he had picked up around the house hold.
Eventually, they had scrubbed Hunters name off the chore board and took the dishes out of his hands.
They’ve been trying to occupy his time with more…hobby like activities, and while he always did them, it was still odd. They keep telling him to “just rest”, but he could never do it right.
Hunter needed purpose. His original intent carved into his making was, ugh he didn’t know. Protect? Serve? Destroy?
It didn’t matter. He just needed commands.
He had read in his…sabbatical away that if grimwalkers exist without purpose, the very threads of their body with unravel.
Eventually, he started making up his own tasks to scrub the feeling of purgatory out of his mind.
Mrs Noceda had see this anxious feeling in him, gently taking his hands and leading them to the kitchen.
She had gently guided his hands to chop vegetables, cook noodles and rice, simple stuff like that while she handled the rest.
Hunter had liked it. It made at least some sort of difference.
Never enough, though.
⟡
Hunter once again stared at the table as everyone started filling in for dinner.
He had helped cook again, he honestly really enjoyed feeling useful.
“Hunter, you’ve gotta eat something.” Willow gently chided, concern clouding her voice.
“Hm? Oh- I’m not exactly hungry. Thank you, though.” Hunter waved her off, smiling weakly.
“Mijo I can get you something else if you don’t like it?” Mrs Noceda offered kindly, already trying to get up.
“NO-No, I’m completely fine!” Panic filled his lungs, immediately grabbing a small portion of the food.
Hunter stared at his plate, gently taking a bite of it with feigned excitement. “You’re an excellent cook, Mrs Noceda!” He swallowed the food quickly.
Mrs Noceda just smiled shallowly and continued talking, eyes flickering over once more to him.
They cleaned up the meal, Hunter subtly shoving his left over serving in a napkin.
⟡
Hunter draped himself over the counter, coughing up the remains of the dinner into the toilet.
He could keep this up for just a bit longer..right?
Hunter knew just how expensive meat is, and having a group of 7 isn’t exactly easy on finances.
In the coven, he had a supply of raw meat to keep him fed. He didn’t know what he was going to do.
His fingers shook and his stomach rumbled as the lights flickered. Or he was just passing out, Hunter didn’t really care.
As he fought through the black spots in his vision, he caught sight of a rabbit outside the window.
. . .
He wouldn’t, right?
Hunter, ironically, hadn’t hunted in months,
To be honest. Hunter wasn’t even his name, it was his title. He doesn’t remember his actual name, The Hunter didn’t even know if he had one, but, it was as close to one as he got.
The rabbit moved once more.
⟡
The blood washed down the sink with bits of fur. He kept the rabbit skull under a stack of clothes in the far corner of the basement.
⟡
Okay he knew it was creepy, that he was a psychopath and a monster and a freak and-
He took a deep breath.
Hunter had a habit of collecting things. Stones, herbs, bones, shiny things he picked up on missions.
He didn’t know why he did it, it just felt like second nature. Without his hoard, if you could call it that, he felt weird. It felt like homesickness, only more irritable.
Every time someone came down to the basement, he had a spike of adrenaline. Like seeing a stranger in your home. Hunter wondered it if was just the anxiety of the thought someone would find the pile, but it felt worse.
Hunter had done this in the coven at times, when he was stressed. Especially before he had taken the title of Golden Guard, he was more of an assassin than anything. Belos had been angry with him, so he was forced to hunt for his meals.
(Witch blood tasted sweeter than beast blood. Like sugar and vinegar.)
In this time, he had gone a bit..overboard, with collection.
He didn’t like to think of it.
Anyways, the rabbit skull had been picked clean of fur and skin, shoved under stacks of dusty old hoodies and sheets. It felt..easier.
After shoving his newly acquired trinket into the pile, he headed upstairs, ignoring the pain racing up his arm.
The mechanical lines tracing from the center of his sigil ached.
They had mostly scared over by now, only a bit creaking up his jaw.
It made his fingers ache and twitch as if though he had been electrocuted.
Sometimes, Hunter graces himself with easing the burn under cold water, but it only helped for a moment.
Hunter was used to working in pain, but at least in the castle, the prince could mix pain relief potions. Here, though, he just sits against the cold glass of windows and prays to the Titan that the pain would just make him pass out already.
“Oh, hey.” Luz greeted as she stepped down the flight of stairs. It was far to early for her to be awake, normally it was just him up at this hour.
“Hey.” Hunter stared at the unusually deep eye bags on Luz, emotion aging her 20 years.
Luz simply put the kettle on, dumping a hot chocolate packet into a chipped mug.
Hunter had realized this habit of hers. Retreating into herself and looking for cheap serotonin in whatever way it might be. Today, her choice seemed to be marshmallows and chocolate dust.
Her stance had swayed as she moved for a spoon, Hunter immediately jolted up from the table and grabbing her before Luz’ head hit the floor.
Luz didn’t even seem phased. She only blinked wearily.
Hunter sat her down on the couch, feeling her forehead with a cold hand. She was burning up.
“Titan..” He flicked the fan on, walking back to the kitchen and taking the kettle off the stove. Hunter poured it into the ungodly mix of sugar and cocoa, placing it down on the coffee table along with a glass of ice cold water to cool her down.
Hunter quickly grabbed the thermometer, something Mrs Noceda had tested on all of them when they first arrived to test if they were sick.
“Open up?” He handed it to her, only being greeted with a tired glare and a pinched face.
“Im fine, Hunter, you’re overreact-“
She then threw up.
“Yeah you’re staying there, this temperature stick is useless now.” He placed it back in the medicine cabinet, grabbing cleaner from under the sink and pulling a bucket up to the couch.
Luz only groaned, swatting his worrying hands away. “Im-AGCKAUGH” a cough ripped out of her throat, sounding like she swallowed a bucket of gravel.
“Really not helping your case here. What’s the human equivalent of fire flu? Or a local elixir merchant?”
Hunter was only greeted with a groan.
He had assumed Luz had worked herself sick, she was constantly working on the portal and coming up with new ideas. Everyone saw how stressed the human was.
Hunter ignored the burning lines etched into his arms in favor of raiding the medicine cabinet.
He examined the bottles of elixir and..herb capsules..? He couldn’t tell. The words on the bottle blurred together.
………….
Okay he would never admit this, but he didn’t fully speak/could read common tongue.
His mother tongue was rarely spoken at this point, it had been burned out of the isles. Hunter constantly stamped down his accent as much as he could.
Common tongue was…confusing. Words were switched around and butchered beyond comprehension, so as garnet eyes scanned over the bottles, he eventually gave up and simply hoarded them into his arms and brought them to Luz.
“Which one of these do you take?” Hunter shook the bottled infront of her gently, wiping sweat off her forehead with the cold towel he had gotten.
Luz blearily blinked at the bottles, half heartedly swatting at a red potion.
He sat the hoard of bottles down on the coffee table, struggling with the child proof cap before handing her the bottle.
Tired, puffy eyes stared at it.
“Luz you gotta finish the bottle. That’s how these things work.”
“Dude Im not drinking-“ CAUGH COUGH- “an entire bottle of cough syrup.”
“Girl that’s how potion work.”
“…..Who taught you ‘Girl’?”
“Shut up, you gotta finish the bottle.”
“This is like 80 servings of-“
“I swear to Titan Luz, you need to get better.”
Luz simply grabbed the bottled from his hands, pouring it into the cup and downing the shot with disgust. She coughed it down, washing it out of her mouth with the now cold chocolate.
“Happy?” Luz flopped back down onto the couch, pulling the thin blanket over her and sighing into the pillow.
“Indubitably.” Hunter scooped the bottes back up, shoving them into the medicine cabinet.
“Indubitably heh..” a mocking voice came from the living room.
“I heard that.”
“Nuh uh.”
⟡
As the day went on and more people came down, she simply stayed on the couch. Mrs Noceda had called into the human school to let them know Luz was staying home that day.
Blight had completely freaked out when she came down the stairs, immediately making her soup (dont drink that.) and holding her on the couch as they watched ridiculous movies.
Hunter asked Mrs Noceda if there was anything else he could do to help her get better, and unfortunately other than waiting it out and giving her love, that was it.
Restlessness still filled his chest, covering his burning arms with a deep red sweater, insanely oversized.
“Im glad Luz has all of you. It’s nice to see her with friends.” Mrs Noceda commented as they prepared dinner together.
“She’s a bit hard to shake after she adopts you.” Hunter remarked mindlessly, freezing his chopping once he registered the words.
Mrs Noceda only laughed good heartedly like she understood. “Yeah, hah, she’s always been like that!” Her eyes lit up fondly, smile gracing her face as the group in the living room laughed at something on the crystal ball.
“I think you all are good for her.”
“I hope so.”
“You are.”
They fell comfortably back into silence as they prepared the nights meal.
Fire raced up his neck.
The knife clattered to the counter.
“Dios- Hunter?” Mrs Noceda ran over to him, noticing electrical lines lacing his fingers.
“I-Im fine-“ Hunter grit through his teeth, wanting to roll up his sleeve to ease the threads touching skin but refraining.
“Mijo what-“ She gently took his hand, pulling it over to the sink and rolling up his sleeve with feather soft touch. Mrs Noceda gasped at the grizzly sight.
“Jesus- what is going on?”
“It’s not normally like this. I can still function-“
“Hunter, bebè, I don’t care about dinner, you’re in pain. How do we fix this?”
Hunter bit his tongue with fangs piercing through flesh. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to be truthful. Eventually in the next wave of pain, he rested his forehead against the cold counter.
“It’s from the sigil, can’t exactly get it out.”
“Sigil!?” She almost shouted before keeping her voice down at his worry look to the living room.
“Please don’t tell them, Mrs Noceda, I don’t want them to worry or-or think im wea-“
“Im gonna stop you there, hijo- How can I help?”
Titan, Hunter wish he knew. He just put his arm under the cold flow of water from the sink, relishing in the minute relief.
Mrs Noceda ran over to the freezer, pulling out a colorful, cold block and wrapping it up in thin towel before handing it to him.
Hunter pulled his arm out from the sink, turning the knob off and pressing it to the sigil and his neck.
Mrs Noceda went on about how she wish she could do more and that this was only a temporary fix, how theyd find a solution and the pain elixir he could take.
It meant the world to him.
She cared.
And for a moment, his chest felt lighter beyond the pain.
Hunter rolled his sleeve back down, tucking the ice pack inside the oversized fabric before continuing chopping.
He still couldn’t eat much, and had to eat a crow later that night, but it was nice.
He felt normal.
⟡
The moment Luz had gotten better and had an extensive talk of working herself to the bone and setting boundaries for herself, She continued working on the portal.
Hunter had taken it upon himself to make sure she doesn’t work herself into the ground.
They had worked day and night drawing up new blueprints and such.
The others did as much as they could as well, but only a few of them had any engineering knowledge.
Hunter had to keep working both to keep the feeling of purgatory out of his mind, and to keep his thoughts away.
Luz had forced him out of the house after he had worked tirelessly on the portal. He, begrudgingly, complied.
Hunter laid on the dewy grass, allowing himself solace in the forest near the abandoned house.
The thoughts came back immediately.
As he picked through organizing wild flowers by their color, thoughts ate at the back of his mind.
The dead don’t die.
Hunter could fill a library with how many times he’s died.
No matter how many bones snap, no matter how much blood fills his mouth, death has rejected him.
Of course, He’s never explained this macabre nature to his friends.
The hungry growling of a beast filled his ears.
Hunter quickly forced himself to his feet, staring at a..wolf..?
He had seen these creatures on the crystal ball, something called a documentary Mrs Noceda had showed him.
They were fascinating creatures. They cared for their children, feeding them and loving them.
A small, impulsive part of his mind wanted to pet the beast.
It would be fine, right?
Hunter reached a hand out to the beast, retracting his claws as he went slowly.
The beast snarled, not backing up.
Hunter slowed, getting down to her level.
….
Teeth sunk into flesh.
Hunter felt his stone slow as the wolf fed.
He’d come back, he always did. Hunter was just glad the wolf didn’t go hungry tonight.
He wondered if she had pups to feed, if they would be grateful that he had died.
It would be fine.
⟡
Hunter blearily awoke, horrified gasps filling his ears. Figures crowded his vision as he felt bones snap into place, wounds stitching themselves up into fresh, angry scars.
“Hu..er..?”
“..t..r!?!”
“HUNTER!!”
Hunter shot up, neck snapping into place. Air filled his lungs, blood still staining his skin.
He choked air into his lungs, finally opening his one eye to see the group in-front of him with both terrified and relieved expressions.
….
Oh, shit.
They were going to hate him, weren’t they?
They’d throw him out into the woods, or bury him in the dirt where he should’ve been ages ago, or look at him in disgust as they locked him in the basement-
“..Hunter?” A choked voice asked. Willow. Oh Titan she’s probably disgusted..
Hunter quickly smeared the blood off his neck-
Shit he’s probably staining the couch, Hunter tried to force himself off so he didn’t cause further damage, already trying to apologize before soft hands forced him back down.
“Sit sit sit-“ “I’ll go get him some food and water-“ “Do we still have the first aid kit?” “ILL GET IT-“
A cacophony of worried voiced filled his ears,
Already wiping closed wounds with antiseptic uselessly.
After settling down, their faces filled with confusion and worry.
“Mijo, are you in pain anywhere?” Mrs Noceda smoothed his hair down as he stared at the peeling paint on the wall.
“I am functional, Ma’am. I apologize for wasting your resour-“
“Hunter, cariño, we’re gonna stop right there. We love you, and we’re just worried about you. Mierda, we really need to go over animal safety with you lot-“ Mrs Noceda whispered that last part, but there was no anger in her tone. Gus kept looking at him like he was a ghost, tugging on his sleeve, poking and prodding ivory skin until he settled into just holding his hand.
Oh, Titan. Hunter remembered Gus’ voice in his ears as he died, looking down to see dried blood under the younger boys nails.
He should’ve been stronger. Gus shouldn’t have had to see that, Hunter knew he could hold his own but he couldn’t help feeling like he needed to protect a younger brother.
Hunter entangled his fingers with the younger boys, gently rubbing the blood off his hands.
“sorry.” He quietly uttered to Gus.
The younger boy flinched as his index finger snapped back into place with a sickening crunch.
Hunter almost pulled away at the flinch before Gus only held on tighter, inching his body to sit closer to him.
“How are you not..?” Amity uttered breathlessly.
Titan, how was he going to explain this.
Hunter was NOT explaining his origins. No, never, not even the Titan herself could convince him to do such a thing. Luz already knew, but. Luz was different, she saw spider otters and thought they were adorable even as they ripped apart their prey.
He could just lie right? They would hate him less for lying than if he told the truth.
Hunter took the deepest breath, picking blood out of the younger boys nails.
“I think Belos got sick of finding new Golden Guards and having to train them. I mean, I’ve died hundreds of times and he didn’t have to find a new one. Could you imagine? Hah, they’d have to find a new one every month.” Hunter attempted to joke, no one ever got his jokes. This time was no different based on their expressions and the air stilled in the room.
“Im sorry you had to..see that. I promise I’m fine.”
They stayed silent.
“So you’re immortal? Like a vampire?” Luz gently smacked her mother’s shoulder even though her question was well intentioned.
“Woah woah Mrs Luz’s Mom not cool-“
“He’s just got fangs, you can’t just go around accusing-“
Mrs Noceda immediately backed off, apologizing profusely.
“Nono, it’s alright. Luz showed us what Vampires are considered in this realm, I understand. And no, not exactly. I can still die and need to eat, I just..come back. I think it was a spell Belos preformed.” Hunter averted their gaze.
The room still went silent.
…………..
“You wanna watch a movie?” Hunter broke the silence, accent ever so slightly slipping through.
“Hell yeah” “oh we SO are.” “I’ll get snacks!”
Their voices sounded lighter, but it seemed feigned. Truthfully, Hunter wasn’t quite fond of movies, he just wanted to switch the topic.
They turned on some sort of animated movie, the art was astounding and so was the bards, but he mostly ignored it. Willow wrapped her hand with his free hand, running circles therapeutically into his sigil. Hunter thinks she noticed the scars.
Most of them fell asleep, accept Hunter and Luz.
They quietly untangled themselves from the gaggle of limbs and headed to the kitchen.
Luz stirred hot chocolate packets with dried marshmallows into two mugs. One was filled with kinds of birds, (flapjack was specifically fond of this one, Hunter had caught him napping inside of it multiple times. Luz had dumped red feathers out into the sink.
The other one was Mrs Noceda in an 80s style futuristic outfit printed onto the front of it, it always made Luz smile.
“Are you like. Actually okay?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah.”
“You’re kinda lethargic.
“Oh, that’s normal. This happens every time I revive, it’ll pass before dawn.”
“..please don’t do that again.”
“..I wont.”
He lied once again.