Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It started with a crowphone call.

Darius, despite what everybody believed about him, was a morning person. Which was lucky because two out of the three people he was living with also got up as soon as the sun peaked over the horizon.

Usually, it varied who was awake first. This morning it just so happened to be him.

Darius was in the kitchen preparing food for all of them. He could hear Hunter in his room, and he knew, that soon he would be joining him in making breakfast. And he can expect Eberwolf to get up from his basement dugout to hinder them in their endeavors. Darius shook his head at the thought, he loved the mutt but he was this close to banning him from the kitchen altogether.

That would only leave Raine as the last person still deep in slumberland.

After everything settled down the people of the Isles were turned back from that horrible puppet state Raine found themselves without a home. Of course, they were offered to stay in the Owl House, but they thought they would be intruding and they politely turned it down - and Darius suspected that they were not as ready to merge their lives with the Owl Lady as she was.

It seemed like a no-brainer to take them in as well. Darius was already living with Eber for a while now, ever since they started their rebellion. And Hunter was moving in as well so what was an extra person? Thankfully, Raine agreed with only a little nudging. For the better because otherwise, Darius would have had to drag the idiot in by himself.

"Morning," Hunter said suppressing a yawn.

"You don’t have to get up so early, you know," Darius chuckled. "We have the whole day off, no need to hurry."

Hunter shrugged. "You are up earlier than me."

"Because somebody has to feed you all."

"Yeah, sure," he smiled. "Give me some space. What are we making?"

Darius shrugged. "Just throwing something together. Scrambled griffin eggs with screamer mushrooms. If you want to help chop up those veggies, alright?"

"Sure thing."

They worked easily, side by side. It has become a comfortable routine by now. Darius listened to the knife on the chopping board, while he stirred the mushrooms in the pan. When it turned glassy he poured the already stirred eggs in, listening to it satisfyingly sizzle before stirring it around with the spatula. Soon the smell of fresh griffin eggs filled the kitchen.

Hunter finished cutting the vegetables and set them out on four plates Darius had prepared.

Suddenly the peace was broken by the familiar clamoring of Eberwolf coming up the basement stairs. The door opened with a click and the noises made its way to them.

'Smells really good in here,' Eber chirped as he crawled into the kitchen on all fours. 'Griffin eggs. Always good.'

"And you are not getting any before washing up," Darius said sternly. "Titan help me if you dare to sit at the table."

He didn’t even need to look to know that Eberwolf was giving him a mischievous smirk. Just one morning, it’s all Darius is asking for.

"Wash your hands, Eber."

'They are clean.'

Darius sighed. "Your idea for a bedroom is the hole you dug in the basement. You have no ground to speak on."

'Fine, fine,' they said jumping up to the sink and washing their hands under running water - why is it so hard to do that regularly?

The eggs were ready now, Darius divided it into four and set it on the plates.

"I will go and get Raine," Hunter volunteered and was already on his way.

They would leave the bard to sleep in in the first week of living together. Sure there were a lot of things to do, but they were not in a rush. If Raine needed to sleep, they wouldn’t take that from them. More so, Darius would have loved it if Hunter slept in more as well. The boy still had deep circles under his eyes that didn’t seem to go away and he looked more tired by the day. Darius tried to play it cool, but he didn’t know what was years of bad habits were forced onto him and what was the after-effects of possession. Raine was tried to, more so than Darius noticed back in the covens, they were just more open about it.

While Hunter was gone Darius took out two small vials of potion from a kitchen cupboard. Many more were stashed away in there. Post-possession potion - triple Ps for short. They were prescribed it in a hurry after a healer witch looked both of them over.

He sat them down at their usual places.

The sun climbed over the tree line, casting brilliantly harsh light through the kitchen window. As the light fell onto the vials, the potion colored them a dark orange and scattered them onto the table.

Darius hated it with a burning passion.

'It’s alright,' Eber hummed. He could sense the witch’s turbulent state. 'They are fine. Both are fine, healer said so.'

Darius took a steadying breath. Yes, the healer said that all things considered, they got out better than one could hope.

The calendar is still marked with scheduled visits - once every week, for three months.

It wasn’t reassuring.

That’s when the crowphone came to life. Its screeching shook Darius. Eberwolf waved the crow over before he could collect himself.

He put it on loud and chirped into it. 'Deamonne residence.'

"Hey there, Eber. Is Dari around?"

It was Eda’s voice on the other end. Only, she didn’t sound quite herself, more tired if they had to guess. The two of them shared a glance.

Darius was already dreading what this could be. Surely, surely, there wasn’t another catastrophe on its way. Not after everything - no, don’t think like that. It’s more likely that Eda just forgot about something.

'Yeah,' Eber chirped. 'It’s on loud.'

"Yeah, alright," she paused, sighing and taking in a shaking breath. Darius felt a pit open up in his stomach.

"Listen, I'm not sure that telling you this through crow is a good idea. So get to the Owl House as soon as you can. Uhm, are you having breakfast or- urgh, look at me stumbling through my bloody lines."

Darius glanced at the doorway. Hunter arrived, Raine was behind him and both of them had this nervous energy to them.

'Yeah, we are just sitting down,' Eber continued, Darius wondered what the world came to that the demon is the one taking charge of things. 'We can get there after.'

"Yeah, yeah, that’s fine," Eda said. "Don’t rush, we will wait for you."

'Sure.'

"What is this about?" Darius found himself asking without really meaning to.

"I don’t even know," she laughed bitterly. Hunter and Raine looked at each other in alarm. "It’s better if I tell you in person, anyway. But, Dari, man this is so messed up," another pause. "A head’s up, this is about the Golden Guards."

It was as if the air was sucked out of the room. The already pale Hunter went several shades whiter, and he looked like he was going to be sick. Raine bit their lip and looked between all present in the kitchen.

Darius’ mind was racing. The Golden Guards, what does she mean by that? This is coming out of the blue.

Suddenly, he realizes that she is still on the crow.

"We will be over after breakfast."

"Thanks, Dari," Eda sighed. "And sorry for ruining your breakfast."

'Don’t be,' Eber took over. 'This seems serious. We’ll be there in a minute.'

"Thanks, again."

The crowphone clicked off and flew back to its perch in the living room. The four of them were left feeling as if somebody just pulled the rug out from under them.

Breakfast was, well not ideal. Their usual friendly chatter was replaced by a tense silence. Hunter didn’t want to look anybody in the eyes and eat his breakfast all but hunched over his plate. Darius didn’t have the heart to tell him anything - he didn’t have the guts to console him either.

Eber and Raine kept giving them looks. But they seemed just as lost as Darius felt.

Once breakfast was done they prepared to go to the Owl House.

They dressed and washed up. All of them gathered in the living room, and somehow the nervous energy only grew.

"Are you ready?" Darius asked glancing around. He only got nods. Abomination matter swirled around them and the next thing they knew they were in the living room of the Owl House.

Darius didn’t know what he expected when he arrived but a whole Titan damned committee wasn’t it. Eda and Lilith were given, but Eda’s kids, Luz, King, as well as Camila, and the Collector being there as well was a surprise.

Instantly, the living room felt small as they dropped it. The air was way too stuffy and way too warm - the dust was going to choke him - and all the human… things leered down at him from the walls and shelves and corners. How could one person stuff so many things onto one singular bookshelf was beyond him. The wallpaper is peeling and it is horribly, horribly out of fashion. The carpet is sticky and there is an ancient stain on the floorboard peaking out from under it. And is that spider web in the corner?

Maybe it is rude to come into somebody’s home and the first thing to do is to criticize the state it was in - scratch that, it was extremely rude. And mean. And Darius was done with those things for a lifetime. But he much rather concentrates on stains and dust and crooked picture frames instead of the absolutely awful conversation he will soon have to be a part of.

Camila was the first to greet them. "Come take a seat," she beckoned them to the mismatching seating arrangement of the living room. There were several armchairs and chairs cramped around the couch and the coffee table. Darius wondered if it was always like this or if it was set up for them. Camila offered them coffee and some snacks, they were on the table, but nobody reached for it. They were there more as a courtesy than anything else.

"So," Eda started, since it was her who called them here she must have felt responsible enough to deliver the news. "There is no easy way to say it, so promise me not to freak out too much."

"You said this was about the Golden Guards," Hunter said getting straight to the point.

Darius didn’t like that tone. It was dangerously close to how he was back in the castle. Raine and Eberwolf shared a look, he guessed they too picked up on it.

It was too late to send him away. Hunter would fight him on it.

"It is, and it is not pretty," Eda said. "To be honest, kid. I don’t think you should be listening to this. And that goes for the rest of you."

She gave a look to Luz and King. Darius had a feeling they had this conversation several times before they sat down in the living room. And now Eda was going to make sure they knew how unhappy she was with her stubborn kids. Camila in turn looked uncertain, but she folded her hands in her lap and kept her thoughts for later.

Luz frowned. "You are not going to keep this from us."

Eda was ready to say something, but Hunter interrupted her.

"Can we please stay on topic?"

Eda sighed. "Why do I even try," she let out an exasperated sigh.

"You know they would find out one way or another," Lilith chimed in. "It’s better this way."

"Right. Okay, there is no use dragging this out."

She had already been stretching it too long if Hunter’s tapping foot was anything to go by.

"You already know that this is about the Golden Guards, so you know it’s going to be bad," Eda looked at each of them. "I don’t have a better way to say this. There is a mass grave in the Head of the Titan. Their corpses are there, in a pit."

There. In a pit.

Darius felt as if the rug was pulled out from under his feet and he was free-falling backward into an inevitable breakdown. He glanced over at Hunter.

The boy turned deathly pale.

Chapter Text

Luz sits down next to him.

"Hey…"

"...Hey."

"How are you holding up?" she leaned over a little to look at him better.

Hunter doesn’t know how to answer. He was feeling many things at the moment - mad, devastated, crushed - putting them into words seemed to be near impossible. He is not sleeping right and this isn’t going to help him find peace of mind faster that’s for sure.

What King told them was a lot to take in, but he was not doubting the little guy. The Collector mostly remained silent throughout it all. If Hunter had to guess they were listening closely based on how they paid attention to the people around them. They backed up King’s story here and there, though. Considering how close they were to Phillip, Hunter believed there was no way that the Collector didn’t know about it, - but then again, that was a whole topic that Hunter didn’t know how to address.

The conversation moved to the kitchen. Hunter felt too exhausted to follow so he remained seated. Darius gave him a worried look, but Hunter told him he was fine, he just needed some time.

He didn't need to worry.

With that, Camila took King and the Collector upstairs, most likely to distract them while the other adults discussed what to do in the kitchen. He caught a glance of Camila and Luz sharing a look - he knew then that it would be Luz’s job to check up on him.

So here they were, Luz, checking in on him.

"I’m fine," he says after a little bit.

"Are you sure?" she sounded doubtful, which Hunter understood, nobody would truly be okay after learning something like that. Especially him who has a history of not handling these things well. But he wasn’t lying. He was feeling oddly calm at the moment. So he just shrugged again.

Stringbean jumped off of Luz’s shoulder and into Hunter’s lap. She curled up and chirped at him. 'It’s going to be fine.'

Hunter couldn’t help a small smile. He gave Stringbean a little scratch behind her ears making the palisman purr. He also could see Luz encouragingly winking at the snakeshifter.

"It’s okay to talk about it. It’s just the two of us," Luz said.

Hunter sighed. "It’s just- I expected something, you know," he started. "I mean, it’s not a secret that none of the Golden Guards ever made it to retirement. And after everything…"

"Hunter?"

"I had a feeling that it won’t be the last time we hear from Philip, you know."

She pulled a face, but she nodded eventually. "You know, you don’t need to take part in it," she continued. "I’m sure that if you asked Darius would try his best to keep this from you as much as possible."

"No," Hunter said more forcefully than he meant to sound. "I don’t want to be kept in the dark."

Hunter glanced over to the kitchen. He could hear the discussion going on, - if he strained himself he could make out a few words, but nothing else.

Luz followed his gaze, but she was quick to turn back. "You know that they just want to protect you, right? They just want what’s best for you."

"It’s not what I am concerned about."

"Then what?"

"... You know," Hunter looked her in the eyes for the first time since she sat down. "... That." He didn’t even dare say Grimwallker in case they could overhear them. "The Collector didn’t say anything, but they will find out... sooner or later."

Especially if they are going to look into the whole thing.

Luz bit her lip. "You think it would matter to them?" her voice dropped down to a whisper.

Hunter had a feeling that if they were talking about their friends, she would be swearing up and down that nothing would change their opinion of him. But these weren’t their friends. These were Darius, and Eberwolf, and Rain, heck throw Eda and Lilith in there as well - adults who saw the world very differently than them. If he mentioned anything, Luz would swear that Eda wouldn’t care - she would even try to defend the rest of them too, he was sure. She strived to see the best in people. And Hunter wanted to believe the best of them as well.

But there was more, he just - he didn't know, he just didn't want them to know. Not like this.

The scar on his cheek started to itch. To stop himself from scratching it he returned to stroking Sringbean. The palisman was giving subtle glances at her witch, asking what she should be doing, but Hunter could guess, that Stringbean was confused over the cryptic conversation they were having.

Hunter leaned back on his chair. After a while, Luz does the same.

The conversation from the kitchen is only a soft murmur in the background. As if they feared that they would be heard.

"It’s going to be fine. I'm sure of it," Luz said still barely a whisper.

"Yeah, sure," Hunter said, barely believing his words.

There were too many people for such a small space. Or maybe it was just Darius’ nerves still acting up.

It was hard to believe everything they had heard from the children. But on the other hand, what else was he expecting? That just because Belos was dead they weren’t going to find out about horrible things that he had done over the centuries that he was alive. Yeah, they don’t have that kind of luck.

He should be glad that they learn about the Golden Guards like this. Instead of - oh who knows, maybe some teenagers stumbling onto it and making a big mess of it on penstagram or on the crystal ball. This way they can make sure that they can do what needs to be done without also having to do public damage control.

And, dear Titan, there is a lot that needs to be done.

The light in the kitchen is harsh, falling in a sharp ray onto the countertop and the tiles. Eda and Lilith pulled out chairs, quickly shuffling them into a little circle in the middle of the kitchen. Darius all but falls into the chair.

Lilith puts that hideous birdhouse backpack she insists on carrying around on the counter. That- tube demon- thing, stretches his endless neck out and gets ready to say something. Darius is about to shoot some abomination at him if he opens his mouth. Thankfully, Lilith quickly asked the demon to stay silent - small mercies. The demon went back into his home.

Eberwolf chooses to sit on the other end of the counter where they can keep a good eye on everyone.

They keep giving him glances - all of them. He understood, of course, he was after all the most affected out of them all - with his mentor and now with Hunter as well and he didn’t know how he could even start approaching the topic with the boy. He didn’t seem surprised, at least not to the level Darius imagined he would be. That’s going to be a conversation he is not looking forward to. But right now, he didn’t want to think about how his old mentor might be lying somewhere in a hole with all of his predecessors either. Yet here he was.

Lilith keeps glancing up from her folded hand on her lap. She wants to say something or thinks she should say something. Darius was glad that she decided against it.

"So, what are we going to do with all of this information?" Eda prompted. "I mean, after everything that happened we can’t just seal it up and forget about it. That feels… wrong."

"Definitely not," Lilith sat up straither. "We have a responsibility towards them."

Darius nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment.

"I agree," Raine decided to speak up in his place. "The Golden Guards deserve to be laid to rest. And seeing as we are the people currently in charge of the Island, this is our responsibility."

"I’m still up for rolling a big boulder before the place."

"Eda," Raine chided her with a tired sigh. They really weren’t up for her jokes. Neither was Darius, to be honest - he just wanted this conversation to be over so that they could go back home and lock himself into his room for the rest of the day.

"Right, right," Eda ran a hand through her hair. "Bad joke, sorry. It’s just… nothing can be easy, can it?"

"No," Lilith sighed.

"Alright, enough of feeling sorry for ourselves," Darius said, and mentally he patted himself on the back for sounding so steady. He crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair. "We have much more important things to discuss. Namely our next move."

"Well," Lilith started, seeming a bit grateful that the awkward part of the conversation was over. "First and foremost, we need to go and see the sight for ourselves. Then we need to organize an excavation and recovery. The Collector mentioned that this had been going on for a long time. And… that there are a lot of bodies."

Raine nodded along. "We should leave that part up for the professionals. You have somebody in mind?"

"There should be a list of contacts at the Historical Museum. I’m sure a lot of people would be eager to work on such a find."

"They are not finds," Darius almost wants to shout the words out, but this is a kitchen and he has more decorum than that - and Hunter was sitting just outside, past the doorless walkway. Instead, he glares at Lilith, trusting that to do the work.

And it does. Lilith shuts her mouth with an audible click of her teeth. Her eyes grow huge.

"No, no, of course not– of course, they aren't, uh, I mean some of them would be considered such if our hypothesis is correct, and this would still be-"

Eda graciously jabbed her on the side before she could dig herself into a deeper hole. At this point, Darius would have given her a shovel just to see where she managed to end up.

Instead, she coughs into her hands and puts them back onto her lap like she used to do when they were school children being scolded by the teachers.

"Apologies, that's not how I meant that to sound," Lilith continues but she cannot look Darius in the eyes.

"Of course, sis," Eda sighs and pats Lilith on the shoulder. She blushes, fixes her glass, and turns away even more.

He feels his temper flare again, because really? What was this? The Lilith he knew grew into a bitter and stoic woman who wouldn't have tolerated so much as a wrong sideways glance in her direction. What she says, goes. If she says they are historical finds then they are such and Darius could raise high hell it wouldn't change anything. She wouldn't have given him the time of day, more so, she would have reminded him to stay in his place. But that was then. And whatever happened between then and now changed her a lot.

This was a joke.

Instead of letting anything snarky escape his mouth Darius steels himself and crosses his legs now as well because he starts to feel the urge to tap his foot against the flooring. "Let’s get back to the point," he said with a well-practiced air of superiority. Eberwolf gives him a glare from his spot on the counter. "What I am concerned about at the moment is security. How are we going to stop people who shouldn’t be there to stay out?"

Eda hummed. "Yeah, something like that would fetch anybody a decent fortune on any night market on the Isles."

"We just survived the end of the world," Raine frowned. "Who would care about that? And who would buy - I don’t know, anything they could find there?"

"Trust me, Rainstorm, they will come up with something."

Lilith nodded. "Graverobbing is, unfortunately, still very lucrative."

That’s just what they need right now. What Darius was concerned about was more along the lines of teens looking for penstagram fame or other such thrill-seekers coming in and ruining everything - Titan forbid, even breaking something. Now he also needs to think about some lowlives who want to make a quick buck off of an unattended mass grave.

"Lily, isn’t your buddy, Steve an ex-scout?" Eda asked with a sudden gasp. "Maybe he can get some people to help!"

"I could ask," she brightened. "I’m sure we could put together a little volunteer group."

Raine raised a hand to add their thoughts. "And what about the abomatrons?"

Darius took their hand and put it back down onto their knees. "No."

"I know you hate them, but the Head was crawling with them, there should be some left," Raine said. "It’s better if we use them than let whoever get their hands on them."

"I will not give that hack the satisfaction-!"

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by Raine throwing themselves back against the chair with a loud, dramatic - way too dramatic for Darius’ liking - sigh.

"Not this again," they whined.

Eda snorted out a mean-spirited laugh. "Are you still mad at Alador? He made those things, didn’t he?"

'He never stopped,' Eber growled out.

"Ha, that’s rich!"

"We don’t need them," Darius reassured. "Lilith’s little ex-scouts can do the job just fine."

"We don’t know how many people would be willing to come," Lilith mumbled. "We should use whatever we can."

Eda shrugged. "I can go and talk to Alador. Don’t lose any beauty sleep over it, Dari."

"Don’t call me that."

He didn’t argue more. In truth they really did need all the help they could get, he understood that. However, Darius did have some pride, and that pride dictated that anything involving Alador Blight was the last of the last resorts. At least he didn’t need to do it - small saving grace.

The discussion thankfully took a more productive turn. Lilith took out a notebook and made a list of potential people to talk to - including the museum employees and the volunteers as well as potential suppliers. They will need to find something to identify the Golden Guards, and put names to faces - or well, skeletons at this point. Then they will go into holding until a suitable grave sight can be located.

Darius couldn’t see what she was writing from where he sat but she had turned several pages by now. This is going to be a long month, he can already feel it.

The longer Lilith’s list got the fewer and fewer things were left to talk about. Darius was sure that they were going to remember something along the way, but they had a decent plan at the moment.

Unfortunately, that meant that they arrived at the only other topic in dire need of discussion.

"There is another thing that also worries me," Rainer glanced at Darius for only a moment. "What are we going to do about Hunter?"

Darius hoped nobody would mention it. But then he would have needed to hope for his friends to go dumb, which is obviously not happening. All eyes were on him again, this time more openly.

He did not know, that would have been the honest answer.

Hunter had come so far. He had been working so hard on putting his past behind him - and now he was being comforted by the human girl in the living room. Also, Darius didn't know what he could say to him - what he was allowed to say. They were doing better, their relationship was so much stronger than the shaky i-don’t-even-know-what-is-this before the Day of Unity. But Darius still didn't know how to address what was before - mainly his behavior, but also all of those horrible thoughts he had about the boy he now wanted to keep safe.

Darius breathed in to steady himself.

He needed to step up now and make a decision - hopefully a good one for a change.

"He should know about what's going on," he said.

"You sure about that?" Eda gave him a dubious look. "I mean, you know better than me, but, and this stays between us, he doesn’t seem like he is holding up well out there." She nodded her head to the doorway. Suddenly Darius was conscious about how loud they were talking.

"I don’t want to lie to him," Darius admitted. "I just got his trust and-" he stopped himself, he wasn’t going to have this conversation with Edalyn and Lilith Clawthorne of all people. Raine gives him a small smile that he can see from the corner of his eye.

"I will talk to him," he said. "I don’t want him to think that he is being kept in the dark. And he already knows about it as it is."

"That is true," Raine nodded.

"He deserves to know," Darius added for extra measure. "Just- leave this one to me, alright."

Everybody nodded.

He could feel their judgment, that they are thinking he is going to mess it up. A part of Darius is sure that he is going to mess it up too. He is not one of the most thoughtful people out there, he never was, not even back in Hexside. He became even more of a jerk in the Coven. But the alternative was shutting Hunter completely out. And he didn’t need to be a psychologist to know that’s not an option.

Darius glanced at the clock, it was close to noon already. They should be heading home now.

He needs a bath.

And something to eat before that.

He says so and a round of agreement goes around in their little circle.

"You go home and decompress, and take care of your kid," Eda says, standing up to stretch. "Titan knows, I have to go and have a long talk with my own kid," she glanced up at the ceiling as if it could magically provide her with answers.

"We will be going now," Raine nodded and the two of them shared a fond look. Darius wanted to roll his eyes, but he restrained himself.

They went back to the living room, it was very much how they left it. Hunter and Luz - Darius finally remembered the name - were talking in a hushed voice between themselves. They looked up the moment they entered.

"Come on, Little Prince," he said. "Time to go home."

Hunter opened his mouth to say something, but he thought better about it and nodded instead. He and the girl shared a look before he stood up and followed them to the door.

"Text me if you want to talk, okay?" Luz said. "Or just, for anything."

"Sure," Hunter nodded.

Darius didn’t like the tired energy sneaking back into his voice. He is usually like this on his worst days - when he is remembering the past. When they get home Darius is going to make the boy his favorite Human Realm chocolate drinks, with those little fluffy sugar tubes, and watch his favorite movies until the sun goes down.

All of them took their usual place. Darius spared a glance back into the Owl House. Luz was waiting to see them off, while Eda was giving a hesitant glance up the stairs. Yeah, this is going to be a tough time for everyone.

He teleported all of them home.

Chapter Text

Darius did just as he promised himself. They didn’t have anything planned either way, and if they did the plans long since changed when Eda called them out of the blue.

Raine and Eberwolf were all for the idea and helped set up the living room for an afternoon of lazing about. They deserved it, and to think about the monumental task before them, they needed it.

They set the coffee table up with all sorts of snacks. They had an abundant snack pantry thanks to Eber and Raine. Every time Darius looked away for a moment those two thieves would empty it out and he was left with the task of filling it up again. It was easier now that things were halfway back to normal.

It was easy to choose what they were going to watch. They put in Hunter’s favorite movie - the Cosmic Frontier series. A sizable collection, thankfully Hunter only liked the first five movies and had some choice words for the rest. Especially the serialization.

Darius thought the whole thing was a bit silly, human’s in space, yeah right. Eber on the other hand was fascinated with it, the concepts of ‘alien’ monsters were enough to catch his attention, but they also loved all the imaginative planets the crew found themselves on. Even if it was all fictionary. Raine also found themselves enjoying the movies more than they originally anticipated. They were pleasantly surprised by the plot even if they didn’t understand all the ‘sci-fi’ - whatever that was - aspects of the series. And they also sang praises to the soundtrack.

Raine was sitting on the other side of the couch, arm propped up on the arm and leaning back leisurely. Eber curled up between them and Hunter, and Darius took his usual place on the other side. Thank the Titan for the huge couch he purchased on a whim. Back then it was only him and Eberwolf, he didn’t know that one day they could use the extra space.

Hunter wrapped a blanket around himself like he usually did during movie nights. Darius let him lean against him. He took the bowl of pop-cornteeth hostage, setting it firmly into his lap and only he and Hunter could snack on it. Those two freeloaders can get their own. Hunter had at least three hexmix bags hidden away under his blanket - a precaution since Eber is known to tear the bags apart and be very protective of their share.

They were silently enjoying the movie, only breaking it to have a small conversation here and there.

Nobody seemed to mind.

Eventually, the tense energy that Hunter returned home with seemed to ebb away slowly - letting the boy fully lean into Darius’ arm and relax against him.

Darius listened, he had seen this movie seven times already, but he still listened. Letting the silly little human thing empty his mind and fill it with space adventure and the power of friendship and adherence to the galactical oath numb his brain. There will be enough time tomorrow to fix the huge mess their Isles seemed to have become.

When the fifth movie was over the sun was about to go down.

Hunter sat up, pulling the blanket tighter around him. "Aren’t we going to talk about it?"

'It', as if the whole thing could be quantified as an 'it'. But Darius supposed it was as good of a term as any to use. He certainly didn’t know what else to call it. He sat up to give Hunter his full attention.

"I have to ask, did you eavesdrop on our conversation, back in the Owl House?"

He wouldn't have put it past the teen, heck he would have definitely tried if he was in the same situation. Hunter shook his head.

"I’m not asking, because I would get mad," he clarified, because Hunter can get stuck in his head with his thoughts and convictions even today. "I promise," he added for good measure.

"No," he shook his head again.

"Alright," Darius glanced over at the other for help. Eber gave him a thumbs up, while Raine nodded.

"I- are you guys going to-?"

"Yes," Darius said before Hunter needed to. "We are going to make sure that the Golden Guards are properly laid to rest."

He could see Hunter fidgeting with his fingers, he let the blanket fall off and bunch around him. The teen nods and opens his mouth to speak but no words come out. He gives it several tries and Darius patiently waits, even if his nervousness starts to slowly set him on edge as well. What could be going through his head that has him this nervous? They have had a lot of hard conversations in the past, the possession, losing Flapjack, worries about starting school - not about the Emperor’s Coven, not yet, that would be too much. Darius bit his tongue, he will know in time.

"How?" Hunter finally managed.

"First, we will need to see what we are dealing with," Darius said, "Then we will have to secure the area, and make sure to keep unwanted loiterers out."

"When are you going to go?"

Darius noticed how his ears flicked nervously, it wasn’t the strangest giveaway the kid had, but it was one he hadn’t seen in a long time.

"As soon as possible. Tomorrow, hopefully."

Hunter finally turned to look at him. "But we have the healer's appointment tomorrow."

"I know, and we aren’t going to sit there all day."

"Oh, yeah that makes sense."

"There is also something we need to talk about," Darius continued. "Hunter, you can’t come with us."

"But-!"

Darius put his hand on the boy’s knee, he meant it to be reassuring but Hunter only shut his mouth and furrowed his brows. "I know you want to, and I understand. I really do. But I don’t think it’s good for you."

Hunter’s brow furrowed deeper. "You can’t ban me from it."

"I’m not going to."

That seemed to catch him by surprise. Darius could see Raine and Eber give each other a look, but he was grateful that they hadn’t tried to jump in yet.

"I understand that this is important to you," he said looking the teen in the eyes. "And I am worried over how this will affect you mentally. So how about a compromise?"

Hunter looked at him with suspicion. "I’m not going to like it."

Darius chuckled. "Probably. We will take care of what needs to be taken care of. Then every night, we will sit down and tell you everything."

"Every last detail?" he tested looking him up and down.

"Every last detail," Darius repeated with conviction. He already knew he would regret it. Surely what they are going to find will be horrible, and it’s going to take a toll on all of them - maybe on him and Hunter the most. But there is no going back. This might just be the biggest trial for the two of them. They can trust each other. Darius wants to believe that they can.

Hunter kept looking at him as if he was waiting for a catch. "Can I have a term, too?"

"Sure."

"I want to see it."

"Hunter-"

"I know what you said, I heard," Hunter interrupted and Darius got the impression that if he riled himself up more he might jump up. "But I have to see it. I don’t care what you think is best, or if it’s a bad idea, or if it’s really not what I need now. I have to see it."

Darius glanced over the boy’s shoulder. Raine was shaking their head, frantically mouthing no. Eber only blinked slowly - it’s up to him, it signaled.

"Darius, please," Hunter pleaded. "All my life I was trained to be the Golden Guard. I deserve to see where they ended up… What Belos did to them."

He should say no, he knows this. But then he remembered himself, a younger man, and his mentor just disappeared. So a part of him understood - another part of him wanted to protect the kid with everything he got.

"But we have to see it first," Darius said. "We don’t want any nasty surprises."

"Deal," Hunter showed his hand for a shake. Darius took it.

"Deal."

Back at the Owl House Eda looked up the stairs as if she was waiting for a sign to do something. Luz slides up to her, all but dragging her feet, hand buried deep into the old coat that was very much hers now.

"So?... How did it go?"

"Pretty good," she shrugged. "I think. We at least have a plan and nobody flew at each others’ throats. I call that a win."

Luz hummed.

"You think King is going to be alright?" she asked. "That’s a lot for a little guy."

"Trust me, kid, it’s a lot for us big guys as well," she chuckled humorlessly. "I just- I’m his sort of mom, I should know what to do to comfort him and yet," she rubbed the stump of her arm. "I guess I just feel out of my depth with this one."

Luz smiled at that, she nudged Eda’s arm with her elbow. "I don’t know if you have noticed but you have been King’s 'sort of mom' for a long while now. You will do fine."

"Heh, thanks, kid," Eda smiled. "Come on, let's go then. We have a little titan to cuddle."

"Aww, I knew you would come around to it."

Eda laughed. "Yeah, yeah. The scary Owl Lady is a big softy now, I get it."

"Hey, you said it, not me."

"Start climbing, kid."

Luz going forward made her feel as if the task wasn’t such a gargantuan one to undertake. Still, Eda was terrified to mess this up. She didn’t know what to think since King came into her room late in the evening and decided to dump this into her lap. But she guessed it belonged there rather than with him, all alone, so this was something. And it’s not as if she needed to do this whole thing alone, she had help from Lilith, and the Boiling Sea would freeze over before Darius let anybody but him lead this operation. And she could always count on Raine, just the thought of it made her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside - get a hold of yourself, Eda!

They were here now. King and the Collector were playing with King’s army of a plush hoard. The Collector was using their magic to make the toys walk around - it unnerved Eda a bit, reminding her a little too much of the whole turning everybody to puppets thing. But King was laughing as he tackled one of the bears.

Camila was supervising them, sitting on the carpet next to the Collector, and she seemed unbothered.

"Hiya, room for two more?" Eda grinned down at them.

King’s good mood immediately evaporated. "Uhm, so," he fidgeted with his claws. "How did it go?"

"It’s a work in progress," Eda shrugged, more for the kids’ sake. "We will take care of it, don’t worry."

"Okay, because, it’s a lot."

Eda nodded. "I can imagine it," she said as she and Luz sat down now forming a circle on the carpet.

The Collector pulled up their knees and hugged them close. Eda immediately clocked that something was going on with the kid, and if the look Camila shared with her was anything to go by, she wasn’t the only one.

"Cariño? Is everything alright?" Camila prompted. The Collector hummed but didn’t say anything. On the contrary, they seem to pull themselves in to appear smaller now that somebody mentioned it.

"It’s okay to be upset," Camila continued. "You have been down there as well. It must have been scary."

The Collector mumbled something into their knees.

"What was that? I couldn’t quite hear it?" Camila asked and as if magic it seemed to coax an answer out of the kid.

"Not really," they said. The rest shared a look.

"Uhm, Collector? What do you mean by that?" King asked sitting down beside him. "I mean, it was pretty dark, and cold, and there were a lot of skulls everywhere. It wasn’t really nice down there."

"It wasn’t, I just-..." the Collector agreed, he then unfurled their legs and crossed them. "You promise not to be mad at me?"

Luz smiled. "Of course, buddy. We know you are still learning these things."

The Collector seemed to contemplate what they were going to say. "It’s not that it wasn’t scary, to be down there I mean. I was trapped in the disk and I hated that a lot. And the dark is no fun at all either."

"I’m so sorry that that happened to you, poor little baby," Camila patted them on the back which made the Collector blush a bit, and they smiled shily. Eda is going to praise this woman till the day she bites the dust. She sure as hell wouldn’t have been able to do this without her.

"There are some things that I don’t understand," the Collector continued.

"What is it?" Luz asked. "You know that you can ask us anything. We don’t judge."

"Yeah," King joined in. "It’s fine to not get some things. There are a lot of things that I don’t understand either."

The Collector frowns. "I don’t know. I guess I need to think about it some more."

"That’s fine," it was King’s turn to pat his buddy on the back. "You can tell us whenever."

Luz seemed to be thinking, then she gasped and jumped up to rush to a drawer. "I have an idea," she returned with a spiral notebook and a blue pen. "I doodle in my sketchbook when I need time for myself," she said handing the book over. "Maybe this can help."

The Collector took the book so gently that one might think it was going to break in their hands. They opened it, a blank lined paper looked back up at them.

"Are you sure?"

Luz nodded. "It works for me. And you don’t have to draw. You can write or do whatever. It’s yours now."

They turned back to the blank page, deep in thought. Then they smiled and hugged the notebook close to their chest. "I will give it a try."

"That’s the spirit," Luz gave them a thumbs up.

The Collector summoned a star-shaped portal and let the book and pen fall through. The portal shrunk and disappeared with a shimmer.

"Can we get back to our game?"

"You want to play, Luz?" King jumped up. The Collector seemed to brighten at the idea of her joining.

"That depends," Luz gave them a mischievous smirk. "Are you in need of a villain who kidnaps the mighty King of Demons?"

"I don’t know. I don’t remember about a-"

"Too late!" Luz jumped up scooping King up with one sweep. "I got you now!"

"No! It’s because I’m so tiny!" King shrieked in mock indignation.

"Tiny and cute! You are going to snuggle jail," Luz laughed as she sauntered over to the pile of toys and fell right in as if it were a great throne. "Now, I am Queen of the Demons."

"Treason! Collector, rescue me!"

The Collector looked on with a bit of confusion before they jumped up and floated over to the pair with a wide smile on their face. "Me and Francois will save you, King!"

That left Eda sitting with Camila.

"Hey," Eda turned to her. "Thanks for sticking around. It means a lot."

Camila gave her a warm smile. "Of course, you mean the world to Luz. I’m only happy to help out where I can," she said. "I assume, what’s going to happen next is not going to be easy."

Eda sighs. "Far from it."

"We can deal with it. We came this far."

"Yeah," Eda nodded with more conviction this time. "We have."

Chapter Text

Blight industries fared better in the end of the world than most other places. Maybe, because it is so far out of Bonesborough that most people only stumbled onto it by accident. Or maybe it was because the box-like building wasn't that interesting for the Collection to give it the time of day.

Eda knew little about the place, just what aired on the crystal ball when it happened to be on.

All that she knew was that she was unlikely to run into any witch other than the one she was looking for. Like most factories - and they were few and far between in Bonesborough, but plentiful around bigger cities - would be staffed by abominations from assembly to packaging. However, she also felt that she was unlikely to meet any supervisor for those abominations. After all, Blight Industries conquered the market on abominations - and other knick knacks Eda is sure. And what self-respecting abomination witch would allow somebody else to supervise their creations? Or rather what Odalia would allow that? None, that's who. The factory is self ran and self-staffed down to the smallest screw and lowliest of paper pusher.

Now the question was how many of those abominations would be active and would care if a stranger - with an extensive criminal record - waltzed in like an old friend?

Eda scoffed, that's exactly what she should do. She was overthinking this. Only, she didn't expect to find the thing bustling like it was the height of the market.

Eda poked her head in through an open hangar door. There were abominations everywhere, not the big machine fuzed abomatrons though. These looked normal, average height with yellow hard hats and matching visibility jackets on. They were carrying tools and planks of wood and pipes in every direction. Some climbed ladders to dust off spiderwebs. Others were patching up holes in the walls. It was rather dizzying to watch

Nobody paid her any mind. Eda frowned. Maybe she should have brought Boots along for this, would have been the smart thing to do.

"Looks like Blight Industries is back in business," she said out loud, after all, who would hear her?

"I some ways."

Oh, shoot!

Eda spun around coming face to face with a tired-looking Alador Blight. Jackpot.

"Alador! Just the witch I was looking for!"

"You were looking for me?" Alador raised an eyebrow at that.

Eda took a closer look at the witch. Titan, they hadn’t so much as talked since Hexside. He looked disheveled, hair standing up in every which direction and his work coat was covered top to bottom on abomination sludge and who knows what else. In this sense not much seemed to have changed since their younger days, he was a bit of a walking disaster even back then. But he did look tired, with circles under his eyes and stubbles growing thicker. And she didn’t remember his posture being this bad. Her neck aches just by looking at him.

"Yeesh, you look horrible," she said. Nice going Eda, that definitely won’t get you thrown out.

Alador shrugged. "I didn’t sleep." Then as if to prove a point he covered up a deep yawn.

"For a couple of nights, I bet."

"What do you want, Eda?"

"What makes you think I want something?" Eda crossed her arms. The way her new prosthetic hook was scrapped against her elbow was something to get used to.

"You didn’t come here to chat, that’s for sure," Alador started walking off. Eda guessed that she should follow him.

They were heading to a workbench tucked away in the corner of the factory’s main floor. The abominations didn’t mind Eda, but they also didn’t give a damn that she was there either. She had to duck several times to avoid getting hit on the head by a swinging plank or something much more lethal. If she didn’t know better, she would have accused Alador of doing it on purpose, but the man was already engrossed in some stacks of papers with diagrams and scribbles on them - ugh, work.

"Are you alone here?" she asked glancing around. As far as she could see, there were only abominations in the factory.

Alador hummed, for a moment Eda thought he didn’t hear her. "Yes, Ed is recovering in his room. Em is volunteering. Amity is," he gestured to the side. "Around. She is disposing of some old sludge before leaving to see Luz," he stopped as if he just realized that that meant she would be going to the Owl House. "You can wait for her if you want," he offered glancing in her direction as if gauging her reaction.

She shrugged. "Maybe," she simply said. "And what about Odalia?"

His mouth set into a thin line. "I don’t know," he said a bit too fast. "Hadn’t seen her since we got turned back."

Okay, touchy subject. If she remembers correctly, Luz told her that they had a fallout during the Day of Unity. All the better for it. Odalia was always ambitious. Eda related to that when they were young and the biggest challenge was not getting expelled for all the dumb stuff they managed to pull. But ambition pulled the worst aspects out of Odalia, and over the years Eda wouldn’t have been able to recognize the woman she grew into.

But she wasn’t here to reminisce. All that mattered was that she wasn’t here and that was one less thing to worry about.

"Could you finally tell me what you are here for, Eda?" Alador snapped her out of her thoughts. "I’m a bit busy if you haven’t noticed."

"In fact, I did," she smirked. "Is Blight Industries back in business, already? I can’t imagine there are many customers out there with the whole Isles being in shambles."

"We are not back in business." Aldor took some of the papers he was reading through and put them to the side. His fingers were leaving purple blotches on the pages, so Eda hoped they weren’t that important. "The factory is being remodeled to help with the rebuilding. We will be manufacturing tools and whatever else that’s going to be needed."

Eda whistles. "Look at you, putting your best foot forward."

Alador gave her a look that told her to cut it out. "I have some things to prepare before Mason gets here."

"Mason? Mason who?"

"The Construction Coven-... ex-Coven Head," he said, returning to sorting papers. "He and whoever stuck around in the Construction Coven are starting on the rebuilding shortly."

"And you are working with him?"

Alador nodded.

"With an ex-Coven Head?" she pressed. "I mean, do you know if they are trustworthy?"

"You are dating one?" Alador raised a brow at the.

"How do you know that?" Eda sputtered. "I don’t remember telling you of all people."

Alador smirked. "Are you sure about that?" He drew a spell circle and his scroll popped into existence. He tapped away at it for a bit before showing him a post - she recognized it immediately. It was her and Raine’s last date posted on their penstagram page and - geez, those are a lot of comments.

"Their fans went a bit crazy," Alador said as if it would explain how he knew about it. "It was all everybody could talk about."

"I was under the impression that you live under a rock, Blight," she said when he dismissed his scroll.

"I was bored," he turned back to the bench. "Now for the last time, Eda. What do you want?"

"Okay, okay, fine. Do you still have the abomatrons? We kind of need them. For a thing."

Alador stopped and squinted his eyes at her. "What thing?"

"Super top secret, can’t tell."

"Then the answer is no."

Eda scoffed. "Yeah, and what are you going to use them for? Sell it to the next power-hungry maniac?" she said sarcastically. And maybe it was too far because Alador took the stack of paper and slammed it down onto the desk. He turned around and glared at Eda.

"The abomatrons were made for private investors," he said although he was trying hard not to grit his teeth. "They were meant for security, not to build an army."

As much as she knew that she was here on a mission, she didn’t appreciate being talked about like this. So she scoffed. "Yet Belos ended up just with that? Curious how things come together."

"You think that I knew?" Alador pointed an accusing finger at her. "You don’t think that I would have done anything to stop it if-..." he turned back to the table, losing his newfound momentum. He ran a hand through his hair and hunched over the papers more than before.

Shit, she might have messed this up big time.

"Odalia was delighted when the Emperor wanted our product," he said with his shoulders sagging. "And not everybody has the luxury to say no when the Emperor himself comes knocking."

This wasn’t what she wanted - nor what she believed. Belos played everybody for a fool. He had a way of making people believe what he wanted them to believe in his cause either with promises or threats. And she wasn’t somehow better just because she didn’t want to play by the same rules.

"Listen, Alador," Eda sighed. Why was this so hard? This snarky side of her had the worst habit of showing itself when it was least inconvenient. The least she can do is come up with a decent apology. "I didn’t mean that, I was just being a jerk. I don’t actually think that any of that mess is your fault. Heck, nobody knew anything. Belos played everybody and considering everything, I think you did your best."

Alador lifted a hand to stop her. "I don’t want to hear it."

Eda scratched the back of her neck, suddenly feeling like a damn fool. She had a simple job and she managed somehow to stumble head-over backwards right into failure. And they were having a decent conversation just a moment ago.

"Can I at least tell you why I am here?"

He shrugged.

Well, that was as good as any she was going to get right now. So she took a deep breath.

"We need the abomatrons to secure a specific area. There has been some news and we found a massive project dropped into our laps and, well, we could use all the help we can get."

Alador looked over his shoulder. "What project?"

Eda shrugged her shoulders. "I don’t know if I can tell. To be honest we don’t even know at the moment."

He turned around and crossed his arms. "If you want my help, I need to know," he glared at Eda. "I’m not going to hand over the abomatrons just for any 'project' of yours," he even mimed the quotation at that part. "I am collecting them and breaking them down into parts. So you better be convincing."

"You drive a hard bargain, Blight."

He didn’t look impressed. Which was fair, at this point all Eda managed to do was antagonize the person whose help she wanted to get.

"There is something… horrific in the Head. Something Belos has been hiding for centuries," she started. "We can’t have anybody stumbling into it before we can take care of it."

Alador looked surprised, his arms loosened a bit and he looked Eda up and down as if he was trying to gauge how honest she was being.

"What sort of horrible thing?"

Eda sighed, here goes nothing. "How much do you know about the Golden Guards?"

He shrugged. "Just what we learn in school."

"Yeah, well it turns out that Belos was murdering them whenever it was too inconvenient for him," she said. "So now, there is a mass grave in the Head. Only it’s not a grave but a pit and they have been just, dumped there."

"...What?"

"Yeah, it’s a lot," Eda said. "We hadn’t seen it yet."

Alador looked away, thinking for a minute. He put a hand over his mouth in a sort of contemplating gesture. Eda would give him all the time in the world if, in the end, he said yes.

He finally nodded. "Alright, you can have the abomatrons, but with one condition."

Eda spread her arms. "Name your price."

"I’m looking over them," he jabbed his thumb at himself. "I’m not letting them get out of my sight again. And when this is over, they are getting scrapped."

"Deal," Eda reached her hand out for a shake. "But just so you know, Darius is leading the thing, uhm, more or less. Can you handle him?"

"He can go and grow up," he scoffed.

They shook hands. Man, it felt good to accomplish something, doesn’t it?

"Listen, about what I said," Eda started. "I really am sorry. I didn’t mean half of it."

It looked as if Alador was going to say something, however somebody clearing their throat interrupted him. Both of them turned. Mason, the ex-Coven Head was standing at the same entrance Eda peeked in from. He looked rather displeased to be here but that could be because he just found the infamous Owl Lady around. She wasn’t exactly well-liked among the covens, even with the whole helping save the Isles thing, - eh, she will live. He was clutching a rather thick folder to his chest, some papers were sticking out here and there. Eda was sure that what was going to go down here was going to be very important, and very boring.

"Am I interrupting something?" Mason asked. This was a veiled message, to get this thing moving because he was getting impatient.

Eda waved at him. "Nah, we are done here. Thanks, Alador. It means a lot, I will get in touch."

Alador nodded and that’s all Eda needed to get the heck out of there already. She passed Mason on the way out, giving the guy a look. For his credit, he met her gaze sternly unlike some who would have shrunk away coming face to face with the terrifying Owl Lady - well, that was before the whole losing her magic bit, but that’s what she was going for.

Now, time to go home and prepare for the first inspection.

Man, she is so not ready for it.

That morning, everybody rose in the Deamonne house as if it were a regular day. Darius got out of bed, a couple of hours later than usual, but they stayed up late with the movie night, so it was expected. They didn’t need to be anywhere in a hurry anyway. Hunter followed soon after. It didn’t seem that he had enough sleep, but Darius wasn’t going to send him back.

They made breakfast together and only talked a little before Eber arrived. Raine was last, dragging their feet in with a yawn.

Everything seemed normal, however it sure as heck didn’t feel so. Darius was dreading the afternoon. And he knew that so did the others. But nobody dared to put it into words. Instead, they had polite little conversations about the weather and whatever random stuff somebody saw on penstagram here and there.

This day is going to be a disaster.

Hunter and Raine finished breakfast with their potions. Both of them shuddered at the taste but drank it without complaining.

Darius glanced at the clock. “Alright, we better start getting ready. Appointment is coming up soon.”

It was in two hours. Any other time they would have complained that it’s ages away. Today everybody went on their way without a word.

Darius set an abomination on doing the dishes.

They prepared slowly, extra slowly. As if it was the Healer's appointment that they were afraid of. Darius did his best to hurry everybody along, and for the most part, it seemed to work as the rest of the household fell in line without much protest. Hunter finished brushing his teeth, Raine finally chose a shirt, Eber brushed the bugs out of his fur - with some encouragement, and begging, from Darius.

The minutes ticked by slower than molasses.

When they finally teleported to the clinic they were on the dot punctual. Which is to say that the door opened and Raine was called in the minute Darius dismissed the abomination matter. Raine gave them a little wave and they disappeared behind Healer Lockjaw’s door. The rest of them took a seat among the other patients and waited. Or in Eber’s case sitting by the open window because the strong disinfectant smell was bothering his sensitive nose.

Darius glanced at Hunter. He has been doing it all morning.

"Nervous?" he asked nodding into the door where Raine disappeared through.

Hunter shrugged.

"It’s not that bad, you have been before. I’m sure this will be fine too."

Hunter looked away. "It’s not the healer I am worried about," he mumbled.

Oh, he should have guessed. The hours hang heavy over them. Even in the clinic, the ticking of the clock was ever-present. Darius, not having anything to say, leaned back on his uncomfortable plastic chair.

"The afternoon, you know," Hunter continued to speak quietly as if he was afraid the people around them would be able to guess what he was talking about. His shoulder tensed. Darius could see him looking from corner to corner, sizing up the sick and elderly and their loved ones. They were encircled, in the waiting room with only the wall behind their backs for protection. Darius got a feeling that he would have bolted already if he and Eber weren’t there.

They were getting looks.

Darius, too, took a look around the small and now suddenly crammed feeling waiting room.

Of course, people stared. Because three former Coven Heads and current leaders of whatever-the-Isles-are-right-now just walked in as if it was nothing. Darius knew that they should have opted for private visitation, but the clinic was one of the few operational places at the moment, and it was obvious that they were overwhelmed.

Darius could see a teen snap a photo of them as secretly as he could. His fingers itched to draw a spell circle and snap that gaudy-looking scroll. But he restrained himself.

"Do you want me to go in with you," Darius asked, changing the topic.

Hunter gave him a questioning look.

"You have a lot on your mind," he continued before Hunter could have opened his mouth to protest. "It’s easy to tell. It’s practically written all over your face."

He frowned. "I can handle it."

Darius didn’t doubt it. When everything was over Darius all but dragged Hunter to get his new scars looked at. It didn’t help that the teen meekly admitted that they are from possession which could have its myriad of complications. Then Raine sheepishly lifted a hand telling him that they had been possessed as well and Darius found himself cursing that he was surrounded by idiots - seriously, they should have started with that! 'Hi, Darius nice to see you! We have been possessed, we will go find a healer now, byeee!' instead he has to drag them all the way there.

And he would do it again.

The healer ushered both Hunter and Raine into a quickly set-up tent and refused to say anything to those waiting outside.

Which at that time were Eberwolf and Darius. Eda joined them a bit later, checking up on how things were going. She would have stayed longer, but she had to leave to take care of her kids.

It was nerve-wrenching to sit on a wooden box as a makeshift chair for what felt like hours. All he could do was tap his foot and listen to Eber purring beside him trying to keep Darius grounded.

On the second visitation, Hunter asked him to sit in with him. He was very nervous to go back there, he wouldn’t admit it why and Darius didn’t need to be convinced.

The healer gave them a look. And was about ready to throw Darius out, only allowing him to stay after he signed his name as Hunter’s guardian - still unofficial.

They had only a handful of visits since then, but Darius always asked if Hunter wanted him in there or not. The answer was mostly yes - he must have dreaded being alone with a stranger. Let alone somebody who had an ounce of authority over him.

"You don’t have to handle it alone."

Hunter scoffed. "You know I have been going to the Healing Coven on my own since I was-" he abruptly stopped, biting his lip. "I can do it."

"I know."

"You don’t need to coddle me."

"I know."

"..."

"Do you want me to be there with you?"

"Would you…?"

Darius took his hand into his own. "Without judgment."

Raine comes out the next minute and Hunter - last name was never called because he never wrote down anything there no matter what and the Healer wasn’t going to push it. Darius stands with him and the Healer steps aside and lets both of them in without a word. Raine gave them a reassuring smile before sitting down beside Eber by the window.

'How did it go?' Darius could hear Eber ask before the door closed.

After the uncomfortable plastic chair of the waiting room what awaited them was the uncomfortable wooden chair in the clinic. Darius will never get used to it, he has no idea how Hunter managed to sit so still.

Nothing changed in the clinic. It still had the same flytrap plant in the window, and the same pictures of smiling people hung up on the wall over Healer Lockjaw’s desk. A tattered diploma was shoved into the corner, half obscured by books piled up before it. There the remnants of graffiti staining the wall that has been scrubbed as much as physically possible before.

The disinfectant smell lingers here as well. The window is open.

Healer Lockjaw sits before them on one of those spinning, rolling stools that squeak annoyingly at every move.

He started with the usual questioning - How have you been? Are you sleeping well? Are you taking your potions regularly? Darius is ignored throughout the conversation, only being given sly glances when Lockjaw thinks Hunter isn’t forthcoming with his answers - he would nod then, because yes, Hunter has been taking his potions, he is making sure of it. And yes, he is sleeping horribly, he has been his whole life.

"You should try to rest more," Lockjaw must have seen how the dark circles under the teen’s eyes were dark purple now. "How is your fatigue? Are you feeling any improvement?"

Darius started to listen more.

Hunter seemed to be doing better, especially with Raine moving in with them, Darius saw how much of an impact the possession had on the bard. Healer Lockjaw theorized that this could be because Raine was older, and Hunter while he is not the picture of health, seemed to be more resilient and physically fit. Darius had some doubts, mainly that Hunter was not telling them everything, because - look at him, there is no way he is not exhausted. He certainly looks ready to collapse any minute.

But he wasn’t going to butt in. It wasn’t his place - even if the paperwork he signed said otherwise, even with the looks Healer Lockjaw was sending his way.

Hunter shakes his head. "No, it’s the same."

"The same?" Healer Lockjaw gives him a look that asks for elaboration. All he gets is a nod.

Darius bites the inside of his cheek. No, it’s not the same, not since yesterday, not since they learned about what's waiting for them. And it will definitely never be the same after this afternoon. But how can they tell that to the Healer? Especially now that Hunter nodded and effectively put an end to the conversation.

Healer Lockjaw has a couple more questions, and a few tests to run, and then the conversation is over and Darius and Hunter find themselves leaving the clinic with the instructions to continue with the prescribed medication. Thankfully, Raine and Eber were there to usher them along, out and onto the streets where the piercing gaze of the waiting room turned into passing glances of walkers and window shoppers.

Raine can finally breathe.

Eber snorted, trying to get the last of the disinfectant smell out of their nostrils.

"So, how did it go?" Raine asked. Darius found that they started walking, even if his fingers itched to teleport home and spend whatever hours they had before they had to go and face the afternoon with his face buried in a pillow - ignoring everything until he absolutely had to.

"Like the last one," Hunter said aloofly.

And, oh Darius can feel that he is getting an attitude. He understands, he really does.

Raine shrugs. "The same with me," they smile at the boy. "I can’t wait to not have to drink those potions anymore."

Hunter shrugs. "It’s not so bad. There are worst-tasting potions out there."

"Still, they could at least make them at least decent."

"Some ingredients make that impossible."

"I can dream," they said forlorn.

Finally, Raine managed to wrangle a small chuckle out of Hunter. Darius fell behind, letting the two continue their conversation. Eberwolf falls in line with him, before jumping up and climbing onto his shoulder.

'How are you holding up?' he grumbles out. 'Nervous about going to the Head?'

Darius shrugged. "I’m not going to get myself together any better than this." What else could he say? Eber could absolutely smell the emotional state he was in so lying was useless. If he had to guess he would say that even Hunter - with how often he misinterprets people’s feelings around him - knew that Darius Deamonne did not want to go to the Head this afternoon.

But what else is he going to do? Dip out at the last minute.

He had already committed. And he wouldn’t let anybody else handle this - he couldn’t. He needed to hold this in his hands, as tight as possible, before anybody took it from him.

But who would take it from him? His friends?

Even the idea was insulting.

He glanced ahead. Raine managed to coax Hunter into a conversation about potions. Which is to say Hunter rambled on about some theory he read about and Raine did their best to keep up with him.

Darius felt something in him softening. He will have Raine and Eberwolf here to pick up the slack if nothing else. That was as apparent as the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. They have long since latched onto him - and in an extension onto Hunter as well - and it is impossible to shake them loose by now. What are they going to do if Darius can’t keep it together?

He will not make himself a burden to them. Darius had long since decided - decided in the very moment they arrived at the Owl House and listened to Eda’s child talk about skeletons in a pit with his claws clicking together and tail nervously swishing back and forth - that whatever was waiting for them, he is going to be the one to clean up this mess.

It can’t be anybody else.

For their sake - his old mentor, Hunter, maybe even everyone else who was chosen into the accursed position of the Golden Guard.

Maybe even for Darius’ sake. But that’s going to be another conversation.

They can’t mess this up. They won’t. He will make sure of it.

Chapter Text

Darius will never be ready.

It was just them - him, Raine, Eberwolf, Eda, and Lilith Clawthorne. To his dismay, Alador Blight agreed to help and the moment their merry gang arrived at the Head he was already there setting up top-of-the-line security measures for the entrance. The place was crawling with abomatrons as well as abominations, putting up no trespassing tape and patrolling the premises.

Darius tried not to let his distaste show. He must have failed because Raine elbowed him on the side before he said something rude. They also gave him a look that said 'behave' for good measure.

He scoffed.

Sure, he can leave the Hack alone. He was helping, after all, and they needed all the assistance they could get. Just - why did it have to be him of all people?

This could only be worse if Odalia were to materialize out of thin air, but at the moment she was staying out of everybody's way in hopes that they forget about her involvement in the Day of Unity. Rest assured, Darius will not forget anytime soon. And he was sure neither did several other people. But at the moment hunting down all the wrong dooers was low on their priority list.

Thankfully, Alador didn't give them the time of day. He just waved from afar and headed off in the opposite way they were going, and that was all Darius needed.

"You know, Dari." Eda started - completely unprompted might he add. "You probably should settle whatever problems you still have with Blight. I mean, you guys haven't talked since Hexside. You can’t possibly still be mad at him."

"Mind your own business, Clawthorne," Darius said trying to be aloof.

"Just saying," she shrugged. "In case you didn’t notice, your kids are friends so you might see more of him than you want."

"Eda, not now," Raine said leaning closer to their somewhat-girlfriend-partner, - Darius had no idea what they were now, and until they hadn't figured it out, he didn't want to know.

"Anyway, how was the healer's visit, Rainstorm? Any news?" Eda turned to Raine graciously changing the subject.

Raine shrugged. "Nothing, I’m not surprised," they said. "Neither is Healer Lockjaw. He said it takes time."

He tuned out the rest of the conversation.

Darius glanced behind them. Alador was fussing over an abomatron. He was too far from him to see what he was up to, but Darius would guess that he was tinkering away at the mechanical parts with a screwdriver.

He didn't like those things around.

It was bad enough when they got shipped to the castle before the Day of Unity. Not to mention their landing in the greedy hands of that insufferable Kikimora. Speaking about her, that was another loose thread they needed to take care of, - but one problem at a time.

His gaze followed one of the ambling abomatrons.

The imposing figure of metal and abomination was impressive in a purely technical sense. An abomination, self-sustaining and independent from the witch that conjured it up, armed to the teeth with weaponry and the latest and greatest of sensors. In his honest opinion, the thing could have been a marvel. If only it hadn't turned into the evil Emperor's private army.

And of course, if the Hack hadn't created it.

Yes, Darius was being unreasonable, childishly so. But at this point, he was incapable of looking at anything that was created by Alador Blight and calling it anything but horrible.

That didn't matter now. Focus on the task at hand, Darius.

The entrance to the Head - crumbling pillars, stone and petrified bone of the Titan towered over them.

Is there anything even in there?

The Day of Unity, the reign of the Collector, Belos taking over the Titan's body - the Isles have been through so much that Darius wouldn’t be surprised if all they find was a cave-in.

The conversation died down around him and Darius could feel glances being passed at him.

"So…" Eda started. "Who should go first?"

Darius closed his eyes.

If there was an absolute last chance at turning back this was it.

He drew a spell circle summoning a ball of light. "I will," he said marching forward. The others followed suit with Eda sticking close to Raine with their own light orb. Lilith on the other hand had that horrible owl-tube creature strapped to her back and she was using its eyes like a shining pair of flashlights illuminating her way in the dark. They fall mostly to the back, taking a closer look at their surrounding, followed by Eda and Raine, Darius marching with a straight back on the front. Eber stalked not that far behind him, crawling on all fours, their sensitive eyes didn't need light and their sharp hearing was enough to keep track of the group.

Not as if there was a possibility of them being lost.

A great cavern, once magnificent and holy, carved into the stone that was once the living body of the Titan went only one way - straight ahead. They passed crumbled pillars, one side of the wall collapsed in, and boulders the size of Slitherbeasts were scattered around like marbles on the playground.

Ancient witches considered this ground sacred.

Even today, not many would dare to step foot inside. There was something in the air, something that made the hair stand on the back of your neck and made goosebumps run down your arm. Darius felt like he was being watched - from every crack, from behind every pillar.

He was never religious.

But he felt the Titan's eyes turned inwards.

This was sacred ground.

'What are you doing here?'

It's not too late to hope for a cave-in, he thought. His feet carried him well enough, the tapping of his boots echoed loudly around them. Followed by the softer steps of his team. Yes, of course, he was not alone and the eyes trained on the back of his head are nothing but the figment of his imagination. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The cave opened up wider to the bridge that led to the room that once held the portal Belos built to the Human Realm.

It was destroyed now. The collector patched up the hole they opened on the skull of the Titan when they were released - as a way to apologize for messing things up. Other than that, nobody has been here since.

And nobody needs to, ever again, when they are done.

Darius walked as close to the edge as he dared. By his light, the sharp drop off of the chasm shined like the jagged edge of a knife. Underneath there was only a vast nothingness - darkness in the endless depth. He thought for a moment that he saw something glint down there, but it was only his mind playing tricks on him.

Here was the void.

The horrors waited down below.

Eber found a staircase carved into the stone, snaking its way down into the nothingness. They took it, walking down single file hugging the wall. Each step echoed around them. Somebody kicks a pebble down and it tumbles a long way until silence overtakes them.

"Maybe we should have come better prepared," Raine said and their voice was deafeningly loud. Darius only now realized that nobody had spoken for a long time.

They were out of place - invaders in a place that wasn't at peace but wasn't in chaos either. Darius remembered Eda joking about sealing the whole thing up and never thinking about it again. The coward in him wanted to do just that. He quickly shook it away. They are already committed to doing the right thing - to do right by them.

One step at a time. You will reach the bottom soon enough. Take your time.

They will wait.

But the stairs couldn't go on forever, no matter how endless the pit felt, and how the darkness reached out for him. He kept a hand on the wall running alongside him. It didn't make him feel more reassured.

He was not prepared for what waited for him down there.

They knew to expect something bad - beyond bad if King's recollection was even half accurate. But nothing could prepare them for this. Tentatively, Darius sent the orb of light forward.

Skeletons over skeletons, bones tangled together, collapsed into heaps of horror.

There were so many. Skeletons on top of each other, their empty eyes gazed at them, unseeing yet ever-present. It was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. Some were still in their uniforms, worn by age, grayed capes draped over bones like makeshift shrouds. Most still had their golden masks strapped securely to their heads. When everything was gone that remained, what a cruel joke. Darius wanted to rip those things off and melt them down, destroy them, and make them disappear so that nobody would ever have to look at them again.

So many discarded and forgotten.

They were people. People with hopes and dreams, with wants and needs, and there was so much more to them than just bones and uniforms left in a pile. And Darius feels it all - the anguish that grips his heart - because he had spent years looking at the exact same mask that hid the face of his mentor. Then did the same with the boy who had become so dear to him so fast. It was dizzying.

Darius vaguely remembered that he wasn't alone. But he might as well have been when he noticed a lone skeleton lying on its side. It still had the mask and was dressed head to toe in its old uniform. One arm reached out to him, - as if he knew that Darius was there, beckoning him over.

It looked the least withered. It's uniform uncomfortably familiar.

"Darius, wait." He could hear Raine talk, but they didn't approach, as if their feet were rooted to the ground.

"Hey, buddy, maybe we should leave," that was Eda, she didn't approach either.

Darius wouldn't have listened either way.

It was as if a spell took hold of him, pulling him further into the pit.

He knelt before the skeleton. He knew what he should be looking for.

His hand was surprisingly steady, more than he felt, as reached out to lift the left side of the cowl. On the front a simple stitch work, almost invisible if you didn't know to look for it. That alone would have been enough. Lifting the flap all but confirmed it. On the other side, hidden from view, was a neatly stitched blue bird surrounded by golden stars.

Darius finished the stitch off and then took a good look at his handy work.

It was one of his best yet.

A couple of days ago Lucas looked for him to ask for his help. Darius was concerned first, he couldn't imagine the Golden Guard turning to him for anything. After all, he was Darius' mentor, if anything he was supposed to turn to Lucas for help. It made more sense when he showed him his ruined cowl.

A wild witch got the better of him and managed to get in an uncomfortably close slash. The left flap of the cowl was sliced clean through. Thankfully, that was the only damage done. He thought about fixing it himself but he thought better of it and decided to turn to somebody more knowledgeable. 

Darius tried to wrangle a 'please help' out of him. But Lucas only scoffed and said that if he was going to be like that he might just try his luck. He took it then, horrified at what monstrosity he would create.

Then Lucas shyly - uncharacteristically shy mind you - asked if he could stitch something nice for him. Somewhere it won't be seen.

Darius thought about it for a long time. Then he decided on a soaring bird, the design was similar to the one on the Golden Guard's crest, and did it with a beautiful deep, sapphire blue thread. It sparkled if the light caught it just at the right angle. But just the bird itself looked very plain, he had no doubt that Lucas would be happy with it either way, but he wasn't satisfied and his perfectionist nature didn't want to let the cowl out of his hands until he had it just right. Good old golden star details should work fine with the rich blue.

When he handed it over Lucas stared at it for a long time. So long in fact that Darius started to think that he messed up.

"Why blue?" he asked.

"Why not," Darius shrugged thinking that if he played it cool it wouldn't be too bad. "It's a nice color, even if it's not purple. Don't worry, it is quite fashionable. And it goes well with gold."

"I'm not worried about it being fashionable," he said.

"Well, it's not like I know what your favorite color is," he scoffed.

Lucas stared at him for a long time, then he looked down at the cowl. "You know what. I think that I like blue."

"...Really?" Darius squinted at him. "You are not saying that just to make me feel better?"

He shook his head. "No, you don't need my coddling."

That was true. Lucas never shied away from telling Darius what he thought about his performance in the Training Grounds, be that good or bad. So if he didn't like it, he would more than likely tell Darius that he did an awful job.

"You know, I never thought you cared about stitch work," Darius said. "Didn't you call my hobby frivolous once or twice?"

"I did," he nodded. "I might have been wrong."

"Am I hearing that correctly? The great Golden Guard admitting that he was wrong? Color me surprised."

"Yeah sure," Lucas rolled his head in place of rolling his eyes, courtesy of the mask of course.

Lucas once again looked down at the cowl. He ran his thumb over the stitching. Darius thought that he saw something soft in there.

"You know, I never thought about it too much, but I realized that I don't know when my birthday is."

Darius was taken aback. "Really?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure about a lot of things in my past."

Lucas was a privet person, it took Darius years to pry something out of him. And that something wasn't much. All he was told was that before he came to the castle as a young man - twenty-something or so - he was in an accident. It most likely involved wild magic, according to the Emperor, but that was that. Surprisingly little despite what an effect it had on Lucas' life. His whole past was erased. 

It was terrifying what wild magic could do.

"I don't know, I might just be sentimental."

"That's not that bad."

Lucas scoffed. "In my line of work, it's a very bad thing."

Darius laughed. "Keep telling yourself that," he said. "We are witches, Lucas. It's normal to feel things."

"Ugh, feelings," he shuddered and Darius was sure that he was joking, he could have a weird sense of humor. Then he quieted and turned somber once again. "A week ago was the anniversary of my arrival to the castle. I guess it's as close to a birthday as I'm going to get."

Darius frowned at that. "Do you want it to be... your birthday?"

"Well, it's the day the Emperor rescued me and revealed the Titan's plans for me," Lucas said. "It's the day I was set down on a path that brought me here. It's fitting."

"Well, we can agree on one thing then."

"What?"

"You really are sentimental," Darius joked. Lucas laughed and goodnaturedly punched Darius on the shoulder.

"But if that's how you feel," Darius continued. "Then, happy birthday, Lucas."

"Thanks."

"Next time, tell me instead of getting me to make you a birthday gift, okay?" Darius teased. "You know, like a normal person."

Lucas tilted his head to the side. "Would you have made it then?"

"I would have made it fancier."

"It's fancy enough."

"You're welcome, then."

The stitching faded by now, and the shine was long gone. But Darius could recognize his handy work anywhere.

His hands started to shake, and his vision blurred.

He didn't want to fall apart.

But the walls were closing in.

The inevitable crashed into him with full force and Darius cursed that he had to audacity to even think he was able to take it. He deserves to be on his knees.

The next thing he knows is that two small clawed hands pulled him away, turning him away from the remains of his mentor. Then he was crying his eyes out into Eberwolf's mane. In turn, the demon did their best to hug him, their arms wrapped around his chest and their head tucked under Darius' chin. They purred in a futile attempt to calm him down.

Raine lingered in the back, only a couple of steps away. They didn't find an opportunity to step in as well, but they were there if needed.

Eda and Lilith stood by the stairs, silent as the grave.

'It's alright,' Eber crooned loud enough to break through the cries. 'Breath, in and out, slow and steady.'

He tried, - one, two, three, four, just like how they did with Hunter - there is nothing wrong with his breathing, it helps either way and the world isn't spiraling anymore.

'We can go. Should go.'

Eber didn't wait for Darius to make up his mind. They stepped out of the hung and pulled his arms. Darius, like a puppet with its strings cut, followed along. His prideful side told him to suck it up and power through it. That part was thoroughly shut up with Eber's loud purr.

Raine shared a look with Eda.

"Take him home," Eda said inclining her head at Darius. "Take care of him."

"Are you going to be alright on your own?"

She shrugged. "Eh, we will look around then get out of here."

"Alright," Raine nodded. They walked over to Darius and Eber, they gently touched him on the arms to get his attention. "You think you can get us home from here?"

Darius looked and for a moment he wondered if he heard the other witch right. Then he wanted to argue. After all, he was supposed to be the one in charge, and yet here he was, breaking down.

But he agreed. He needed to collect himself. He needed to get out of here.

So he nodded. He summoned his abomination matter and wrapped it around the three of them, and he put all his might into it so that he could drop them in their living room.

"Are you alright?" Raine asked the minute they got their feet on the ground.

Darius pushed past them.

"I need to be alone."

Raine was about to say something when Eber bit into their pants' leg and pulled them back. 

'Leave him be.'

"I don't think that's a good idea, Eber."

'Need time,' Eber growled out. 'Let him breathe.'

For a moment it seemed that Raine wanted to argue. But they eventually bit their lip and nodded. Not as if Darius would have cared, his head was still buzzing with grief he tried to push down. He left them in the living room without a second glance.

'I'll check on you, later,' Eber growled after him. 'Don't lock your door. Or I chew through it.'

Darius scoffed. He would have dared them to do it any other day and see what happens. Now he just wants to get into his room. And he will lock his door, consequences be damned.

A door opened upstairs. They could hear the footsteps rapidly approaching.

As Hunter descended the stairs, Darius almost felt his knees give out again.

Part of him wanted to send him away. He looked so much like Lucas, he couldn't see him like this. More so, Hunter couldn't see him like this, held together by the seams, falling apart under the slightest pressure.

Another part of him just wanted to hug the boy.

"Darius? What happened?" Hunter asked, eyes full of worry. "Are you alright?"

No, he wasn't. He very obviously wasn't with the way his eyes turned puffy, and his face was still wet with tears and his makeup was definitely ruined. Not to mention that his pants were covered in dirt and dust and he couldn't even start to imagine what Hunter must think had happened.

There are so many things Darius wants to tell him. He wants to pour his heart out and tell him everything that he saw - the thoughts that swirled in his head, the pit, his mentor, Hunter and the rocky past they shared together, and all the awful things they were discovering. But he couldn't, he couldn't possibly put the boy through that. 

Hunter needed sleeping nettle potions to sleep through the night. Darius was sure he was going to need them too after this. He couldn't do that to him.

Darius opened his arms, silently asking for a hug. Hunter gave him a questioning look and a once-over before casting an exploratory glance at Raine and Eberwolf who kept their distance from the pair.

Raine nodded encouragingly. Eber kept their gaze fixed on Dariu's back.

Hunter walked into the hug with experimental caution. But the moment Dariu's arms wrapped around him, he all but melted into the embrace. He wrapped his arms around the man, enjoying the moment before it was inevitably over.

"It was that bad, huh?" he asked.

Raine nodded. "We knew it was going to be horrible going in. It was so much worse seeing it in person."

Eber growled in agreement.

"You can't see it."

Darius said suddenly with his face all but buried into Hunter's shoulder as he held the boy just a bit tighter.

"What?" Hunter asked.

"There is no way that I can allow you to see that."

Hunter tried to pull away. Darius held on for just a moment longer before letting him go. He still held Hunter's arms in a weak grip. And Hunter held onto his arms more firmly.

"What do you mean? We had a deal, Darius. You promised."

"And I am going back on that promise," he said, some steadiness returned to his voice. "There is no way I can allow that after what we found there."

Hunter glared at him. "You knew it was going to be bad when you agreed to it. Like it or not I am going to see it."

"Like it or not you are not going anywhere near that pit."

He pulled away finally and stepped back. "No, you can't keep this from me," he shook his head. "We had a deal," he said again as if it was the silver bullet to destroy Darius' argument.

Something protective bubbled up in Darius then. He won't let Hunter end up like he did, he couldn't allow it. And he wasn't going to.

"No, and that is final," Darius said. "Our deal is off."

He could feel that protectiveness harden into something at the sight of Hunter's hurt but also angry expression.

"You can't do that," the boy argued. "You don't have the right-"

"I just saw my-!" Darius put the lid on that particular emotion fast before it could do more harm, suddenly he remembered what he was doing before the Little Prince rushed downstairs.

"It does not matter what I said before," he continued bringing out the stone-cold callous attitude that pulled him through his entire Coven career. It felt wrong to use it on Hunter, but he was holding on to dear life here - or at least if felt like it. He needed to take control before everything slipped out of his grasp. "You have two choices, Little Prince. You either accept it, or I am grounding you."

Hunter looked surprised for a moment. Then his glare returned. He opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and shook his head. He turned around and marched up the stairs, very much like a crossed teenager that he was.

Darius just hoped he could forgive him.

It was deathly silent behind him, but he could feel the eyes on the back of his head.

"Don't you think that you went a bit far there?" Raine asked, tentatively breaking the silence between the three adults.

"You have seen what's down there."

"Yes, but... Maybe you could have delivered that somewhat nicer, maybe?"

"Don't tell me what to do, Raine," Darius scoffed.

"I wasn't-"

'Go to your room, Darius,' Eber growled out. 'Calm down. Speak later.'

Darius wanted to argue. They wouldn't understand. They weren't in the position he was in, they couldn't possibly begin to understand what he was facing. But, he had done enough damage today. He could consider himself lucky if Hunter even looked at him at dinner, he didn't need to fight with Raine as well along the way. And Eber, well he had dealt with more prickly beasts than anything Darius could throw at him. But that didn't mean that he needed to go and push his luck there.

Eber was right, he needed time and he needed to breathe. Clear his head and come up with a way to fix all of this.

So he too went upstairs, trying not to think about how this very much looked as if he was the one being grounded.

Left alone, Raine and Eber looked at each other.

"What now?" Raine asked.

'Dinner.'

Raine sighed. "We might as well start making it. Do you know how to cook?"

Eber shook their head. 'You?'

"It's not something I can brag about," they rubbed the back of their neck.

'It's going to be fine,' Eber said, 'Come on.'

Chapter Text

Hunter was pacing in his bedroom, positively fuming. How could he do this? They had a damned deal! He thought that it meant something. They talked about everything, and Darius agreed, so how could he go back on it so easily?

He sat on his bed, he couldn't pace anymore but he continued to tap his foot.

This was bad. He had no idea how he could convince them - first and foremost Darius - to let him go the Head. Hunter wanted to - no, he needed to witness it with his own eyes.

Sure, it wouldn't be good for him. He knew that. But it was already keeping him up at night.

He keeps seeing it. The broken masks lining the ground, veged between roots, covered in dust and cobwebs, and hidden away in the deepest, darkest crevices of the former Emperor's mind. The torn, ruined paintings hanging crooked on the walls. The claw marks were disturbingly familiar, even as he was ignorant of everything else.

He could never forget it.

And then he was told they were there, in a pit in the Head. He had a good idea where exactly, after all, there was a deep chasm they had seen in the chaos that was the Day of Unity. It had to be there.

He dreamed about it last night.

As dumb as that seemed.

He was back in the mindscape. Everything was gray and washed out, and huge shadows hung over him, locking him in. The portraits of Golden Guards of the past lined the crooked trees. They were larger than he remembered, but they weren't in better shape. The claw marks slashed the metaphorical canvas. Hunter thought he saw dark blotches of something staining the walls behind them.

The ground was soft, and as soon as he noticed this, he sunk lower into it. But there was no pressure there, nothing to hold onto. It swallowed him, pulling him deep into the darkness. There was no fighting it. He couldn't even scream; the sound stuck in his throat, or maybe his ears were stuffed to the point of deafness. All he could do was uselessly try to grab onto anything that could keep him afloat.

He reached up, and a glint of light caught his eyes, but before he could realize what it was, he finally grabbed something solid in the otherworldly nothingness around him. But instead of pulling himself up, Hunter was left falling with a fistful of his lost golden mask.

Hunter recognized it from the scratches, that were visible only up close, and from how the light caught on it.

Still, he had a dead grip on it as he fell back and the dark abyss took him.

Until it crumbled to dust.

He was left there, falling, free-floating as the darkness wrapped around him. Like a puppet whose strings were cut and who now was racing towards an inevitable crash with the floor. That moment of uncertainty between a secret revealed and the fallout, - it was agony.

And it was happening all over again.

So yes, Hunter couldn't let them ban him from the project. If he was going to have nightmares he sure as hell wanted to see what it was about.

And that wasn't the only thing.

It was a horrible thought. But he should be in that pit. Instead, he gets to walk free and make a life past what he was designed for. He was made to serve, fight, and die when he eventually betrayed his creator. With how much certainty Belos claimed so, Hunter had to wonder what he actually considered as a betrayal. All Hunter did was find out the truth and that wasn't even on his own volition, mind you. No, instead, life decided to grab him by the throat and choked him until he had to fight to live.

He cannot be left in the dark again. He refused.

There was a knock on the door, forcing Hunter out of his spiraling train of thought.

Eberwolf walked in before falling onto all four and tentatively approached him as if Hunter was an anxious beast that would bolt the moment he made a wrong move.

'Made dinner,' he purred out. 'Soup, so we didn't burn it.'

Despite his mood, Hunter managed a chuckle. "Are you sure about that?"

He shrugged. 'Left Raine there, so anything could happen.'

"I will be there in a moment."

He nodded, 'Going to Darius. Want to say something?'

Hunter bit his lip. He didn't mean to have an angry outburst, but he did nonetheless. He should apologize, he knew that. Darius only wanted what was best for him. But he also didn't want to, something petty had awoken in him, and he wasn't sure he could brush it off while he was still very much feeling it.

So he just shook his head. "No. It's... Just not now."

Eber nodded then stood to give Hunter's knee a reassuring pat. 'Take your time, no rush,' he said. 'Darius wants the best. It's not against you.'

Hunter shrugged. He understood, on a logical level. But he was not having it right now.

Eber left and Hunter spent some time to calm his nerves before he faced the others.

When the door closed behind him, Darius collapsed onto his bed and thought he might never get up. His bedroom felt oppressively warm, especially after the frigid cold of the Head, so he opened the window with a quick spell circle.

A soft breeze blew in, and on any other day, it would have been a welcomed distraction.

He was still rattled by the revelations of the day. Darius knew that finding Lucas' remains was a possibility, he just didn't think that it would happen like that.

Or, to be honest, he hoped it wouldn't happen at all.

It was a lifetime ago, but he still remembered the Emperor mournfully announcing that the Golden Guard died at the hands of wild witches he was tasked to drag before him. At the time Darius was too shaken to question much of anything. But it was still strange that there wasn't a body, nor a funeral, only a memorial service. Soon enough the Golden Guard was forgotten, only mentioned in passing conversation among the scouts, usually followed by a 'it's a shame that he died'. 

And Darius was left with all of the questions.

He assumed he was out there, somewhere in the wilderness of the Boiling Isles or even further out on the many islands surrounding them. His body was resting somewhere waiting to be brought home.

Doing so always remained in the realm of wishful thinking. Darius didn't have the resources back then to mount a lofty expedition. And when he was older he became wiser. He knew what a foolish attempt that would have been. More so, Lucas would have never forgiven him if he wasted his life trying to find his long skeletal body.

So Darius focused on more achievable goals. He became one of the best Abomination witches on the whole Isles.

Along the way he hoped he became somebody Lucas would have been proud of.

And then, the whole rebellion and the Day of Unity happened and all Darius could think of was that he was glad that at least his mentor didn't have to see what his beloved Emperor had become - was a monster he was all along. That he died a long time ago, blissfully ignorant.

Now, it was impossible to tell what his mentor knew - or what he found out.

All that Darius could be certain about was that thirteen years ago, Lucas was killed. Maybe he found out the truth, maybe he outlived his usefulness, maybe both. A naive little part of him held out hope that maybe Belos' story was true and Lucas did disappear all those years ago in a mission gone wrong. He held onto that hope even when he was standing before the entrance to the Head, or when he was marching down the stairs.

It didn't matter, not anymore, not to Darius. All that mattered was that he was at the bottom of a pit and Darius spent these thirteen years wondering what happened to him.

Then he came home, and there was Hunter. And for a moment all Darius could see was the uniform the teen used to wear all the time. He had no doubt he would have nightmares about him in the pit as well, but right now he was here, safe and sound, and nothing could change that.

Hunter looked so much like Lucas. Give it a few more years and would be the spitting image of his mentor.

It wouldn't be the first time that Darius wondered about it. Nobody needed to point out, especially not to him, that the boy had to be the son of the previous Golden Guard. It was painfully obvious, especially with their unofficial relation to the Emperor being the worst-kept secret in the Castle. Officially Emperor Belos had no family left. In the Castle, he had a brother, and then a nephew. You didn't need to be a genius to put it together. And if there wasn't a secret second brother in the mix, that left Hunter as Lucas' son.

During the years, Darius stubbornly tried to ignore it - deny it on the worst days. Now he couldn't help but think what it would mean for them.

Even if Hunter wasn't his mentor's son, he was still a relative either way through Belos.

Did he even know about him? Hunter always spoke about how his family was destroyed by wild magic - now they will have to reexamine that as well, won't they? The list of their chores just kept growing. Darius never heard him mention anybody outside of his Uncle. And he never asked about the previous Golden Guard, and he doubted that Belos would tell him anything.

He would have been two or three years old. There was a faint possibility that he remembered him. If Lucas ever bothered to visit him. As much as Darius loved and respected his mentor, he couldn't imagine him having a kid. Or being even remotely parental.

What was he going to do now? How could he even bring it up to Hunter?

Before he could get lost more in his thoughts there was a scratching on his door. Had it really been that long?

He glanced at the clock on the wall. Time does fly huh?

The scratching didn't stop.

Let me in.'

Darius sighed. "The door is open," he told them.

He heard the door open and close with a click but didn't even think about getting up. The mattress dipped, and soon Eber's wild mane came into view.

'Hi.'

"Hi yourself, mutt," he said. "I'm not in the mood."

'Can see. Are you in mood for dinner?'

Darius gave him a side glance. "If I tell you no, would you leave me alone?"

They shook their head.

"Then leave me be."

Eber scoffed. 'Come eat. You feel better.'

Maybe if Darius ignores them long enough they would leave.

'Come, get up. It's best for you,' they pressed further. But Darius was having none of it. Instead, he turned on his side, showing his back to them.

'Darius-'

"Not today," he interrupted the demon. "I just need to be alone."

Eber was quiet for a while. If Darius had to say, they were contemplating what to do with him.

'Will you eat?' they finally asked.

"Later," was his simple answer.

He could feel Eber jumping off of the bed. It seemed that he accepted his stubbornness, but he knew that they wouldn't humor him for long. Tomorrow they would be viciously on his case, and probably wouldn't leave him alone until he started to face his problems - or schedule a meeting with a therapist, at the very least. He would deal with it as it comes. But right now he just needed to - he didn't really know. Feel his feelings? Mope? Wallow in sadness? Call it what you will, Darius needed a break before he tried to fix this huge mess.

He could vaguely hear the others around the house. The sound of everyday activity carried up to him and all he wanted to do was to stuff his ears with cotton balls and shut everything out.

He needed to rest.

Darius didn't expect another guest so soon. And this one didn't wait to be let in.

Raine awkwardly maneuvered their way inside the room, a tray with a bowl of something on it was precariously balanced in their grasp.

"Eber said you are going to eat later," they said. "So I decided to bring it up for you."

Darius got up. "I could have gone and gotten it for myself."

"It's better while hot," they argued. "At least I hope so. We aren't chefs like you."

"I'm not a chef, I am simply decent," he rolled his eyes.

"This soup is decent as well. So," Raine handed the tray over, and Darius was forced to take it or risk having it spill on him. He gave the bard a look, and they simply smiled. They knew what they were doing.

"I can't promise it is good, but, try to eat some of it at least. Alright."

They left. Darius stared at the soup he was left with. It seemed like regular soup, although what it actually was, or what they attempted to make was a mystery. But it had a nice aroma and being faced with actual warm food Darius' appetite suddenly let itself known. So he picked up the spoon and took an exploratory sip.

It was good. Decent, but good.

Eda didn't like this place, she was positive that she hated it more than any other place she had ever stepped foot in. But she promised that they could take care of it, and they only needed to look around and then they could get out of here. So it was fine, she could deal with it.

Thankfully, Lily and Hooty took the reigns on the first expedition.

Right now Eda couldn't be happier with Lilith's professionalism. She seemed able to put aside her feelings and focus on the task.

It was also helpful that they had Hooty with them. The owl-tube stretched out and surveyed the scene. Then receded into a squishy harmonica shape before returning to normal.

"There is a lot of them, Lulu," he said with concern.

"Could you give us an estimate?" Lilith asked notebook in hand.

"Impossible to tell for sure."

"Could you try?"

Hooty hummed. "If I have to say, a hundred or more would be a good start, hoot hoot," he said. "Possibly more."

Lilith pulled a face. "That's... grim."

Hooty nodded along.

Eda glanced at the skeleton that all but destroyed Darius. The light spell Raine left them bearly illuminated it. From here it was a pale ghost, barely a shape in the dark.

They knew it was going to be bad, and saying that felt like parroting the obvious at this point, but this was something else. She didn't know what she imagined before coming down here, maybe a couple of skeletons, maybe a crude mausoleum, who knows what else. But this wasn't it. This crawled under her skin, and if she hadn't had as good of a grip on her curse as she did now, she would have been covered in feathers by now.

Lilith wrote something down in her notebook and then stashed it away.

"That's all we can do without specific equipment," she turned to Eda. "I was meant to ask, but... how are you holding up."

Eda shrugged. "Better than Darius. But I should be asking that. Didn't you... you know..." she vaguely gestured in the direction of the skeleton. She didn't know how to find her words. Not right now.

Lilith only glanced in the direction. "I worked with him, once or twice," she said. "But I don't know him well. I don't even know his name."

Eda nodded. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You didn't know what was happening."

She took a shaky breath. "Did I? Sometimes I wonder if I should have seen it, put the pieces together. If only I was more curious, more inquisitive."

"Hey, none of that," Eda took her by the shoulder. "Belos had everybody fooled, the whole Isles, us, everybody."

Lilith gave a solemn look to the skeletons. "Yeah, everybody."

"Come on, let's get out of here," she said. "It's getting late. And we still have to talk to Alador about what he set up."

"I'm sure he has it covered."

"Yeah well, I did talk him into it, so I can't leave him hanging," Eda shrugged. "So let's get going."

The sisters shared a thin smile.

"Yeah," Lilith said. "Let's get going."

It has been two hours since everybody went to sleep.

Dinner was a quiet affair. Raine and Eber kept a conversation going, - and trying to keep it mundane, which felt laughable after the crazy days they have been having - Hunter only half listened. He was too lost in his thoughts to join in. They still tried to involve him. Which was a nice sentiment. Hunter appreciated it, even if he couldn't show it at the moment. He will try to make it up to them later.

Hunter was lying in bed listening carefully. He was still wearing his day clothes.

He hadn't made a decision yet. But he was contemplating it.

The night was quiet. Sometimes a single cry from a night critter broke through. Other than that, everything lay still.

Hunter listened carefully. The house was silent.

If there was a time to make a move it would be now. Any other time and the chance of being discovered would be greater.

Something in him still hesitated. He remembered the state Darius was in when he returned. Would that happen to him as well? Most likely. Hunter wasn't going to kid himself into thinking he would be able to take what he was going to find. But if he really wanted to see it, he needed to go now.

Making a decision, Hunter got up.

Wasn't Darius the one who said he appreciated seeing a little rebellion in him?

So he opened his bedroom door and slipped out quietly as a ghost.

It came as second nature.

Down the hallway, down the stairs. Don't get cold feet now. The door was right there.

Hunter slipped on his shoes. One of Darius' boots fell to the side, he gave it a long look, and then he glanced back at the stairs. Darius would have never allowed his stuff to be this disorderly. Hunter gently set the boot upright. He can't linger on any longer.

The door is open, it was always open.

If he was found, he would not be forgiven.

The night was quiet and cold.

Chapter Text

There was a patrol set up around the entrance. Hunter was told they would use the abomatrons to guard the area, but he didn't expect them to be there already. In hindsight, he shouldn't have expected this to be as easy as him walking in as if it were nothing.

He almost ran into one. He dove into the bushes in the very last second, just out of the guard's sight. A minute too late and he would have been seen. It's a good thing he was more attentive than the robotic abomination.

This complicated some things.

It wasn't the abomatrons he feared, but rather the possibility of there being a handler around as well. The last thing he wanted was to get caught and have his little excursion reported to Darius.

He opted to stay hidden in the bushes and wait.

The abomatrons were patrolling around, but none of them seemed alarmed yet. Hunter was paying attention to their patterns and was already mapping out his course to the entrance. He didn't want to risk teleporting and the flash of light being noticed. It was better to be cautious. Even as he felt his nerves rising - blood pumping in his veins, he could feel the thump-thump beating in his ears.

He took a deep, steadying breath.

The minutes passed by, and he glanced up at the sky. The moon climbed a bit higher and peeked down between the branches at him.

He could chance it.

All it would take was three or four bursts of teleportation magic, and he would have closed the distance between the bushes and the entrance. But that magic came with light, although not a lot. He might as well have turned on a spotlight on himself in this darkness. 

Then his mind wandered to what would happen if he were caught.

Realistically speaking, nothing much. He was sure that Darius would be called over, and he would be in trouble, after which a whole lot of conversation would follow that he would rather not have, ever. But he was sure that no matter how upset Darius would be. But he wouldn't punish him, no, not even Hunter believed that he would be treated the same way as back with- no, that won't happen. At least he hoped he wasn't wrong about this one. The most that would happen was him being grounded, or banned from ever setting foot into the Head, and that basically already happened.

It wasn't the punishment he dreaded the most. He had his fair share of them. Whatever people wanted to say about how his former guardian treated him, notwithstanding.

Either way, whatever would happen, whatever he would deserve after this much disrespect, he would take it with grace.

Even as, out of all the possible punishments, he feared disappointing Darius the most.

No handler showed up. They must have gone home for the night, sure that the abomatrons would suffice.

Hunter waited long enough.

As quietly as he could muster, he made his way under to cover the bushes. Two abominations patrolled the path leading to the entrance; at one point, both would leave to make a circle around the path and then return to their positions. Hunter's patience was growing thinner by the second. Still, he didn't move until he was certain that the guards well and truly turned their backs on him.

He told himself that he still had time; the night was young. And he just has to be in and out.

The moonlight hid behind a cloud, passing by at a glacial pace.

The abomatrons stepped forward, scanned the area, and then stood still.

Hunter counted - one minute, two, three, four, five. They should be on their way now, yet they lingered longer than he expected.

Don't panic, he told himself. When you panic, you lose control. So just stay put; they will be moving on soon.

Six minutes, seven, eight, the abomatrons continued to scan the perimeters.

Nine, ten, Hunter felt sweat run down his temple. Was it looking for him? Did they see him? Did he give himself away somehow?

Eleven minutes, he could swear that those beady eyes were looking straight at him.

Then, finally, finally the abomatrons turn. One to the left, the other to the right, and resumed their regular patrols. Hunter felt the tension snap away in a burst of manic energy, it took everything in him not to zip past them the very moment their eyes were off of him. 

He did teleport when they were far away. Then he hid behind a boulder, just by the edge of the entrance, in case they did notice him - in case he finally made a mistake. He listened now in the less never-wrecking minutes, but nobody came for him.

Eventually, he concluded that he had successfully gotten past the abomatrons.

He sighed in relief, leaning against the rock and taking a moment just to calm down.

Hunter felt exhaustion already creeping up on him. He thought he was faring better, but teleporting over the Head took a lot out of him. More than he expected.

The last thing he wanted to think about was the state the possession left him in. He thought he was recovering just fine, even if the Healer was less convinced. If this little mission of his sets back his progress - but it doesn't matter. It's fine, it's going to be fine, he can deal with it later.

First things first, get to the pit.

He quietly crept along the wall of the cavers. He couldn't tell from the outside if there were any guards posted inside, but so far, all Hunter could hear was the silence surrounding him and his own footfall that he tried and failed to make soundless.

After not getting jumped, he relaxed a bit and decided to walk in the middle of the cavern.

Hunter pulled out a small flashlight - a souvenir from the Human Realm - one that he was increasingly happy that he took with him.

Just getting here had been more anxiety-inducing than it had any right to be. Hunter berated himself; if he got so on edge just because of an abomatron, then what was he going to do when- well, there was no use thinking about that. He is going to find out soon enough.

The sacred ground of the Head was only vaguely familiar. They were in a hurry in their first pass through here, and he was also going through the Draining Spell, so he wasn't paying that much attention. Either way, the Collector had shaken up this place well enough; huge boulders were scattered around like a child's lost marbles. He wondered if it could collapse any minute now; probably not, but he still couldn't shake the thought.

Nobody should step foot here. A little paranoid voice kept whispering in his ears. 'You shouldn't be here.'

Alone in the dark, sneaking around - Hunter very much felt like an intruder.

He flicked the light around, then assured that he was indeed on his own, turned the flashlight back to the path before him. Still, even as he made sure of it, he couldn't help the feeling that he was being watched.

It crept up his spine, slithered against his neck making the hair stand on end, and it brushed against his ear; 'turn around,' it said.

He shook his head. He was only imagining it.

It appeared out of the dark like some sort of scarytale creature.

He thought he would have to look for the stairs, but it seems it was his blind dumb luck that he just happened to wander in the right direction.

The edge of a humble stone staircase showed itself under his light. They disappeared into the darkness. Hunter stood at the edge and shined his flashlight down, but all he saw was the light swallowed up in the nothingness. The abyss plugged below, the stairs snaked along diligently.

Leaving the house was the point of no return, he told himself. But standing here, staring down into the nothing, he couldn't help but reconsider.

He could turn back.

Take the coward's way out.

Trust that when he gets back, he will be coddled and shielded from all the bad, evil things lurking down there. Have the wool pulled over his eyes again and willingly tie off the knot.

He makes the first step as if his body moved on its own.

The darkness beckoned him.

He would have screamed if his breath hadn't been stolen away. If the darkness hadn't wrapped its tendrils around him and choked the life out of him.

When Hunter first shined a light onto them, he didn't think they were real. He saw but couldn't - wouldn't believe what was before him. They were only shapes - skulls and bones and masks and uniforms all in heaps, all around, like some horror movie set. 

He thought he was dreaming.

Then, meaning slowly seeped into the shapes. Skulls and masks became people.

Gut-wrenchingly familiar people.

A record spinning over and over again, playing the same tune - created, served, died, and in the end, left here to decompose and fall apart as if nothing ever mattered. Then somewhere along the line, the record skipped a track, and it only so happened that he was at the very end of it and managed to fall loose before he ended up here.

Hunter shined his light over them, he could see so little - he saw far too much. 

Why did this have to happen?

Then his light falls onto a guard. He stands out, at the far edge of the pile, all on his own, with a hand outstretched, as if he were calling for him.

Why?

He couldn't breathe.

Why are you here?

He walls back and claws his way over the ground until his back hits the cold, hard wall.

Why was it you who got away?

His flashlight fell away; it rolled and cast the shadow of a ribcage into the dark.

Hunter learned to breathe again in what feels like an eternity. He buried his face into his hands, then into his knees, because the pressure was not enough, and he found his voice and screamed until he cried. Then he cried until he choked back a sob wrong and had to cough. Then he sobbed some more because, really, what else could he do?

There was no saving them - they are late by years, centuries even.

He didn't know what he expected.

Skeletons and horror? Naturaly. Nightmares to last him till the end of his life? Of course!

His trip into Belos's mind had already prepared him for the worst; however, this surpassed anything he could have imagined.

There were so many of them. He couldn't even see them all. How did Belos manage to do this over and over? How did he get away with it for so long?

It didn't feel real.

This whole ordeal grew to impossible proportions.

But he knew better than to call this a nightmare. It was far too cold for it, far too dark, and he was growing numb here, pressed up against the rock. Now he understood why Darius wanted to keep him as far from this place as possible.

What was he doing?

A chill ran up his spine. He was crying his eyes out like a child. There was no time. He saw what he came for. He should get moving before the dawn found him here, and he will have to explain what he was doing out of his comfortable bed that he so selfishly left behind.

Yes, he should go.

He saw what he wanted to see, he repeated as if he had to convince himself of it. There was nothing left for him to do here.

Hunter reached for his flashlight - then, as if instinct called out to him, he looked up ahead to an innocuous little spot that the light reached.

It couldn't be.

Driven by something, be it stubbornness or a sense of morbid curiosity, Hunter picked up the flashlight and inched closer to the... thing. He shone the light on it. It would have been easy to mistake it for something else, the remains of something, or maybe dead moss or... whatever else. But he knew better. It still haunted his dreams, after all.

It was the green sludge that his Uncle degraded into.

He remembered to breathe this time around.

It has long since dried and cracked in the middle, like a mud puddle under the harsh sun.

Hunter swallowed. Belos had been here, but why? There was nothing here but skeletons and the broken portal on the upper level. So unless there was something else lurking in the dark, there was no reason for him to make the trek down here.

The cruel realization hit him as he lifted the light, revealing the trail of sludge drawing a trail off to the side.

There was something else, wasn't there?

It's never going to end, is it?

One, two, three, four - in and out, just like that. Hunter was grounded now with a feeling of determination he hadn't felt in a long time. And, knowing that time was running out, he marched forward, following the trail as it led him into the unknown.

The unknown, it turned out, was a hole in the wall, the entrance to some sort of secret room that was hidden even beyond the secret mass grave.

Hunter once again hears the blood pumping in his ears. What else could be here? What else was there to discover that Belos wanted to keep from being found? Deep down, he had a very good guess.

He hesitated by the entrance, as if somebody was going to jump out and catch him red-handed. Then he stepped through the threshold.

It was a lab of some sort. It was cluttered, and dirt and dust covered and - there was a skeleton tucked in the corner, half covered with a tarp.

The centerpieces of the lab were strange squares marked on the ground. Tubes were dug into them as if they were great veins driving blood to something down below. The soil seemed softer, dug up compared to the hard-pressed ground around them.

Hunter got this creeping feeling in the back of his neck, climbing up his spine.

He had been here before. He doesn't remember, but he can't ignore the sense of familiarity.

The very air, the smell of dust and staleness, he couldn't put it into words.

Against better judgment, he makes his way further, shining his light onto each square on the ground. One, two, three. An idea started to form in his head about what they could have been used for.

He reached the last spot where his light unceremoniously fell on the half-mummified, half-skeletal remains of a man. He lay there, half emerged from the ground, skin shriveled and grey, long hair ashen and frayed. His face was turned away from him.

Hunter didn't want to see it - Titan, stop, it was enough!

He stumbles back and feels himself ready to faint right then and there.

But the revelations aren't over yet because, in his daze, Hunter stumbled into the desk. He turned around, and the words 'Grimwalker' stared right back at him from atop a page.

He froze in place. For a moment, thinks that this is it. His stupid, fake heart was going to give out, and he would collapse any second because he couldn't take this anymore.

Hunter wants everything to just cease to exist. But the minutes stretch on, and he is staring at ink on paper, eyes running over the words and diagrams without really reading them.

And he realized that this is probably the worst thing the other witches could find if they stumble on this place.

It wasn't really a choice.

He grabbed the book and ran.

Chapter Text

Hunter arrived back at Darius' house in what felt like the blink of an eye.

He did his best to make sure he left the Head unnoticed, but all he really cared about was getting out of there. The book - journal, he corrected himself, it was safer to say that it was a journal, considering everything - was clutched close to his chest. And he teleported until all he could see was the glow of the magic.

Then, just like that. Hunter was back.

He slowed down, only now realising how ragged his breathing was. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as if he had run all the way back.

Calm down, he told himself, it's done, it's over. He counted to four and concentrated on getting air into his lungs.

He had done it. And he came away with more than he bargained for.

But right now he couldn't think about that. He had to get inside, into his room, then he could finally sit down. A shiver ran through him, even with how much warmer the night was compared to… down there.

Hunter absentmindedly rubbed circles with his thumb into the thick cover of the journal. What was he going to do with it?

He quietly cracked the front door open and slipped inside. Then he painstakingly closed it back the same way. He took off his shoes and set them back to their place against the wall with one hand, not letting go of the journal. He was so exhausted he felt himself sway a bit. The floor board creaked under a hasty step. Hunter cringed at the sudden, sharp sound. But considering how late it was, nobody should be awake to hear it.

He only noticed the faint light coming from the kitchen when he heard Darius' voice.

"Hunter? What are you doing up so late?" he asked, his voice tired and scratchy.

Hunter tried not to hunch over the book he now had a death grip on. He turned to look at Darius, the man was standing in the kitchen door, light casting dramatic shadows over him. He was in his night gown, - a beautiful lilac silk cloth that caught the light in intricate little shines -  but if Hunter had to guess, he was doing very little sleeping. In that sense, they were in the same boat. He just hoped he was tired enough that he didn't notice what he was up to.

Darius looked him over, confused about why he was still dressed up. Maybe, if Hunter were lucky, he would think that he was dreaming.

"Have you been outside?" he asked.

So much for that.

"I… had to go for a walk," Hunter said, voice above a whisper. As if he said it louder, he would break something delicate that lingered around them. He hated to lie, but if Darius wasn't jumping to conclusions at the moment, he wasn't about to offer information up on a silver platter either. Although, if he started to accuse him of something, Hunter didn't know if he had it in him to defend himself. So yes, lying it was. He will try not to feel horrible about it later.

"In the middle of the night?" Darius looked him up and down. Hunter could feel the first beads of sweat gathering on his forehead. He felt tired, fuzzy. He could feel a headache coming on. Please, he just wanted to go and lie on his bed.

"Is that a book? You went on a walk… with a book?"

"It is a journal… technically…" Hunter's mouth opened before he could think about it. He clicked it shut so tight that he could hear his teeth clash. Hopefully, he won't blurt out something else.

Darius looked confused. "I didn't know that you have a journal," he said, weak and tired, as if standing there was seeping the energy out of him.

"It's a… new development," he said.

Darius nodded. "It's supposed to be good for you, journaling, I mean."

"Yeah. I heard."

"Right."

Hunter glanced at the stairs. He could feel the hard cover dig into his stomach, he was clutching the thing with such force. He was going to forever congratulate himself if he manages to come out of this conversation on top.

"Just, try not to do it in the middle of the woods," Darius said with a dry, humourless chuckle.

"I will strive to do so," Hunter said, trying to match the same tone.

A couple of days ago this kind of trading remarks with each other would have been seen as good fun. Now every moment of this conversation was sucking the air out of the room. Hunter felt as if he was watching a poor theater imitation of the two of them. Darius, low energy and sleepless, as if he is haunted by ghosts; him high-strung and the pressure building in his head; Hunter had to get into his room and finally just sit down.

"I should probably get back to my room," he said. "It's late. I should, you know… go to bed."

Darius nodded, but didn't say anything else. Hunter took the first steps forward, then stopped. He glanced back at the witch and wondered if he should say something.

"Are you alright?" Hunter asked, once again, his mouth talking on its own accord.

Darius blinked, as if he was lost in thought for a minute there.

"Yeah… yeah, I-… I'm going to be fine, Little Prince," Darius answered a moment later. He tried to sound reassuring, but Hunter got the impression that neither of them believed it.

"... Alright then. Good night."

"Good night, Little Prince."

Hunter walked up the stairs. He still heard how Darius sighed, and he could imagine him running a hand through his abomination hair. He picked up his pace, there was no reason to be careful anymore. He missed how Darius all but fell against the wall, then allowed himself to slide down until he was sitting on the ground. How he buried his face into his hands and tried his best not to break down again.

The sun had no right to shine this bright.

Luz woke with a groan. She was usually a morning person, depending on what she planned on doing that day. This morning, however, she was very much against the idea of ever being considered such a creature. The very notion was lies and slander.

She glanced over to the side. Stingbean was curled up into a lazy coil on the spare pillow.

Well, a couple more minutes wouldn't hurt. That is, until Stringbean woke up and demanded to go on their morning flight. She was very much like an excited puppy in that regard, and just as precious. Until then, she tried to get as much shut-eye as it was possible.

Those couple of minutes were up way too soon when Stringbean started to stir. She yawned with a great stretch, jaw unhinging a bit and flashing a set of adorable cat fangs. She looked out the window, bead tail swinging, then turned to her human with anticipation. Luz, on her part, pretended to be asleep just to gain a couple more minutes before she had to peel herself out of bed.

Too bad that Stringbean wasn't going to allow such luxuries.

'Wake up! Up! Up!' she rubbed her head against Luz's cheek. 'It's morning, we are late!'

"We aren't late for anything," Luz groaned out, and yawned for good measure, but she couldn't help but smile at the palisman's attempt at pushing her out of bed.

'Late to morning flight!' Stringbean clarified.

Luz chuckled. "Ah, I knew I was forgetting something," she joked, earning an impatient hiss from her palisman.

Luz finally sat up and stretched.

She went about her morning routine with an impatient snake shifter hanging off of her shoulder, demanding her to 'hurry up!' and 'you can brush teeth later!' It was all very amusing. Somehow, along the way, she woke up as well.

With Stringbean wrapped around her shoulder, Luz hurried down the stairs. Arriving in the living room she could smell something delicious cooking in the kitchen. Or it could be just a potion - wouldn't have been the first time that she took a swig of something that was decidedly not food - honest mistake, really, even if Eda relentlessly teased her about it for days.

Before she could investiagte, she caught sight of the Collector sitting crosslegged on the couch. The next thing she noticed was that they were scribbling into the notebook she gave them.

It would have filled her with a sense of accomplishment if it weren't for the unreadable expression on their face.

Everything else could wait, she decided. First, she had to check in with the kid.

Stringbean let out a dramatic hiss, as her human turned to face the star child and was pointedly ignoring their mourning routine. 'But flying.'

Luz chuckled and gave her a pat on her adorable little head. "It's going to be just a moment."

"Hey, there, bud, you are all alone?" she asked, walking up to them.

"Uh hum, King is still seelping," the Collector hummed, not looking up from their notebook.

"That's unusual," Luz glanced up at the stairs. "Usually, you two are up early demanding breakfast."

The Collector shrugged. "We stayed up late last night. I told him he was going to be tired, but he said he would be awake before me," that brought a proud smile onto his face. "Now we know he was all talk, heh."

Luz smiled. "Good to see you guys doing well."

The Collector's smile dropped a little. "Yeah, well," they shrugged. "You know, I am still thinking about… that."

"You and me both, buddy."

"Are you going to see them?" the Collector glanced up at her, somewhat shyly. "The bones?"

Luz shook her head. "No, no, and it's out of the question. The grown-ups aren't going to let any of us go and see it," she said. "I think. I hadn't asked out right, but it's the kind of thing that you get told no to.”

For a moment, it seemed that they wanted to say something. Luz contemplated whether she should press, but that's why she gave them the notebook after all. And to be honest, she didn't know how to begin to approach it either. Eventually, the Collector nodded in understanding; at least she didn't have to explain why they weren't going to go to the pit themselves.

"Sooo, I see you are drawing in the book," Luz started in a playful tone, leaning closer in a mock attempt at spying what's on the pages.

The Collector, predictably, pulled the notebook against their chest. "Nuhuh, no peeking! It's not done yet!"

She chuckled. "Relax, you don't have to show it to me. Only if you want, of course."

"...I want to, it's just- it's not ready yet," they insisted.

"Don't worry about it," Luz waved their worries off. "You have all the time in the world, Collector."

"Thanks," they said, although the notebook remained firmly crushed against them.

"I will be off to my morning flight," she continued. "Stringbean is getting anxious, she can't wait to stretch her muscles."

At that, Stringbean nodded enthusiastically.

"Have fun," the Collector waved as she left.

To Stringbean's dismay, they still needed to do one more thing before they could be off. Next, Luz made her way into the kitchen. Eda was leaning over something broth or soup-like, but as previously mentioned, it could still be some mystery potion. Either way, she seemed engrossed in her meticulous stirring and occasionally adding in some ingredient that she didn't notice Luz coming.

Lilith was sitting by the table, staring into a cup of presumably apple blood. She had this hundred-yard stare that could mean that she was deep in thought about some obscure historical tidbit she was currently studying, so much so that the outside world ceased to exist. That or yesterday was rougher than Luz expected, but then again, if it wasn't, Lilith wouldn't have spent the night over at the Owl House.

Speaking of Owl House, Hooty's bird house was sitting on the table, and considering the silence the tube demon was probably sleeping still.

"Good morning, Clawthornes!" Luz stepped in, doing a little flourish with her hands. "How's it going?"

That seemed to have done the trick of snapping Lilith out of whatever thoughts she was having.

"Oh, good morning, Luz," she greeted with a small smile.

Luz counts that as a success.

"Morning, Kiddo," Eda only half turned to her. "Off to your flight?"

"You bet."

"You got half an hour," she said before the pot let out a puff of smoke. Eda coughed. "That lizard tongue must have spoiled."

"Told you," Lilith added while taking a sip.

Eda just shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's going to be fine."

Luz gave the pot a suspicious look. "Uhm, what's that going to be?"

"Breakfast!" Eda pulled herself tall with pride.

She took a step back. "I would like a little less lizard tongues into mine, thanks."

"Eh, you can pick it out if you don't like it," Eda said. "Relax, kid. It's not going to kill you. I'm like eighty-five percent sure about that."

"You better, or Mom is going to come for your hide," Luz added with a chuckle, although she was still apprehensive about trying the soup. As much as she loved the Demon Realm, some things would never grow on her. Stuff that belongs in a Human Realm stereotypical witches' brew is one of them.

"Oh, about that, your mom left for work already. She also wasn't a fan of lizard tongues."

"Or eyeballs," Lilith added. "She left very soon after Eda put those in."

Luz shuddered. "Hmm, this soup is shaping up to be better and better."

Eda rolled her eyes and waved Luz away with her wooden spoon. "Okay, okay, I heard enough, away with you. Go take your poor palisman flying, already."

She didn't need more encouragement. With a salute, Luz was out the door, much to Stringbean's joy.

Bonesborough was slow to rebuild. But that was only expected. There was so much to do that people didn't know where to begin. The cleanup was coming along nicely, teams of witches and demons swept up debris, and what remained of those creepy growths left behind after Belos possessed the Titan himself. Carts of broken planks, stone, bricks, and other various trash lined the streets. One poor witch was viciously wiping off a 'the end is nighe' graffiti from their house's wall. So far, the paint appeared to be winning, but they seemed determined enough to keep up the fight. And they weren't the only people fighting such battles.

Small kids were keeping themselves entertained with their pet beasts, or little games, older kids made sure both kept out of trouble and weren't underfoot. And those who weren't stuck on babysitting duty were helping out their parents and guardians.

In some sense, Bonesborough was just as busy as it always had been.

Lilith made her way through the crowd with the determination of a scout on a mission.

Yet when she arrived at her destination she stood rooted before the door, finding herself unable to just knock.

The door she found herself before was on the top of a narrow staircase, with a mangled iron railing. The house it was attached to was painted yellow, but it might have started peeling even before the end of the world. Like many others in the street, it was an old building. Old and rickety and probably hiding a couple of mold spots in the corners. It probably has seen better years - somewhere in the distant past.

But the door itself is freshly painted a pleasing maroon color. You could still smell it.

Lilith shifted from foot to foot.

She will have to knock on one of these days.

Hooty unfurled from his bird house, giving a passerby a good fright.

"You alright, Lulu?"

Lilith jumped. "What? Yes, I am just," she turned back to the door. "I just hate to have to ask this favor."

Hooty hummed. "It's okay, if they are your friend, I am sure they will at least hear you out, hoot," he said with a wise nod. "And if they won't, I can always make them, hoot."

Lilith laughed a bit. "Let's hope it won't get to that."

"I just want to make sure you know your options. What are friends for if not to threaten your other friends, hoot?"

She takes a breath. "Alright, let's do this."

"You can do it, I believe in you, Lulu," with that, Hooty retreated back into the bird house.

Lilith finally knocked.

With the silence that followed, she wished that she hadn't.

What else could she have done? Should she text him instead? Would that be more considerate than standing on the porch, feeling very much like a child sent to the neighbour to borrow sugar and griffin eggs?

Before she could have reached for her scroll and commit to that idea, the door opened.

"Lilith, what a surprise!" Steve greeted her with a grin on his face. "I haven't seen you since, well, oh just come in, come in."

"Thanks, Steve," she said with significant relief.

"Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess."

Despite that, Steve ushered her inside.

He wasn't kidding, the landing was a narrow hallway leading into a living room, boxes were piled up next to the wall, some open, some labeled with things such as 'kitchen', 'bathroom', 'clothes'. It seemed as if Steve was in the middle of moving in - or rather, had been at it for a while, considering the coat and other clothing items strewn about on the boxes. She didn't have much time to take it in, however, as she was shepherded inside straight onto a couch that must have been just as old, if not older than the one at the Owl House.

The living room wasn't faring any better. The boxes here were shoved into the corner to free up as much space as possible. There were some dishes shamefully stacked on top. It looks like she was right about mold if the patch on the ceiling was anything to go by. The wallpaper was peeling here and there, and lighter spots showed where old picture frames used to be hung up.

There was a cabinet facing the couch that she couldn't imagine in a former scout's house. It was more of a granny furniture than anything else, bearing the style of a bygone time by forty-seven years - give or take - with heavy, now yellowed, white paintings slobbered on top.

A 'bit of a mess' was putting it lightly. Although the graffiti of 'it's all over, bro', above the couch was amusing.

Lilith didn't even realize when Steve disappeared, only when he returned with two chilled cans of apple blood juice.

"Sorry, it's all I have on hand," he said, handing it over with a sheepish smile. "Wasn't expecting visitors."

"You don't have to apologize for that," Lilith took the offered can with grace, although she was feeling very out of place in the cluttered room. "Thank you, you shouldn't have."

"It's the bare minimum when having guests," he said, clicking the can open.

Lilith did the same then looked around for some conversation starter. "You have a… nice place."

Stave snorted into his can. "Please, you don't have to lie," he plopped down onto the just as old as the couch armchair, in return the furniture threteaned to collaps under him with a loud creak. "Won't be doing that again, noted."

"No, I really mean it, it's just," she searched for words. "It's not what I imagined your house to be like."

"I just moved in," he shrugged. "Two weeks ago, in fact. But my Mom and Step Dad needed help fixing up their place." He took a sip of his drink, then before resting it on the arm of the chair. "So this place got a bit neglected."

"A bit?"

"You tell me, the old owner wanted to get rid off it so bad she was selling it at a joke of a price. I couldn't say no, now I know why. There is a leak in the bathroom, somewhere. And there is no hot water, only on the weekends for some mysterious reason. And I think I should consider taking up plant magic, I think I have discovered seven new mold species since I opened the door."

With how vigorously Steve lunched into his complaint, Lilith would have guessed that he was bottling it up for a while. It seemed to be a lot, but if it came cheap, then some problems were to be expected. Although her ears perked up at the mention of an unknown mold species. Her encyclopedic mind was already running through the possible specimens hiding in the corners. But she quickly reminded herself that that's not why she was here, but she would remember it later.

"But at least it came furnished. Although I am only feeding the termites with these things."

"Couldn't you have stayed with your parents instead?" Lilith found herself saying without really meaning to.

Steve's mouth clicked shut, before he swallowed, opened to say something then thinking better of it and staring at the floor. He then repeated this a couple times before he landed on a tired sigh.

"They offered," he finally said.

"Yes?"

"Yeah, and I couldn't impose," he shrugged. "I don't know, I lived so long away I just don't know if I can."

Lilith smiled at him. "You know I moved back with my parents after, and it is all fine."

"It's not that I am ashamed of it," he said quickly. "I just don't want to be a burden, that's all."

"I'm sure they wouldn't think that."

He shrugged weakly. "Yeah, but... I also have my own stuff to figure out, you know," he said. "It's just not the time."

"I understand," she said. After all, it wasn't her place to advise the witch. They might have been friends, but it steered more toward the acquaintance side of things. Although they did catch up during the rebellion, they had more pressing matters to attend to.

They both decided to take a diplomatic swig of their respective drinks and drop that line of conversation and kick it under the couch for good measure.

"But enough about me," Steve said, his trademark easy-going smile returning. "What brings you here? Not as if I don't enjoy a talk. You caught me at a great time, I'm not doing anything today."

There it was, the conversation Lilith dreaded. She brushed her hair behind her ear, but it was too short now to stay there; it was more of a reflex than anything.

"You see, I am here to ask a favor," she said. "Are you still in touch with your scout buddies?"

Steve pulled a face. "Some. Not everybody was a big fan of joinging the rebelion phease of my life."

Lilith looked confused. "But you helped save the Isles."

Save for a few exceptions, most of the Demon Realm considered them heroes.

"And I left them in the same toxic situation I was running from. Some people don't appreciate a quitter who can't stick it out."

"You aren't a quitter, Steve," Lilith frowned. "You realised that you had to leave for your own good."

"Yeah, and I turned my back on years of work, worse, I actively fought against them. You can understand how that burns a few bridges along the way."

Lilith rolled her eyes at that. "If you missed it, I also did those things."

"Yeah, but," Steve sighed. "I'm not saying this to be mean, Lilith, but you were our boss. It's different with you. It's just is."

Her frown deepened.

"I mean, you didn't have this peer pressure on you to fit in with the rest of the faceless-" whatever he was about to say, Steve stopped himself with a deep breath. He put his hand on his chest and just took one breath after another until he slumped back against the armchair. "I think I can get in touch with some of my old friends," he continued, emphasising the 'some' part, the previous conversation thoroughly put to rest. "And they can get in touch with their own buddies and so on. Why do you ask?"

"They have to be scouts," Lilith said. "Or at least people who can keep a secret and follow orders to the letter."

Steve looked confused and a bit taken aback. "Uhm… why?"

It was Lilith's turn to take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

She was sparing on the gruesome details. Not that she thought that Steve couldn't take it, but it wasn't fit for a living room conversation, and especially not fit hand in hand with asking the witch's help. But she needed to make sure he understood how dire the situation was, and how monumental the task before them is going to be.

Once she finished, he looked pale and leaned into the armchair a bit harder. Lilith could only imagine what was going through his head.

"Sweet Mother of Titan."

"Quite."

"And this has been going on- What did you say, how long?"

"A good estimation would be four hundred years. At least that's the close estimate," she said professionally.

Steve nodded absentmindedly. "And you need help with…"

"Excavating the bodies, yes."

"That's going to be a tall order."

Lilith nodded along. "I know."

Steve remained silent for a long time, then he ran his palm down his face, let it rest on his chin before speaking again. "I might know some people."

Lilith immediately brightened. "That means you are going to help?"

"Yeah… yeah, of course I am, you are my friend. Why wouldn't I help," he said, giving her a more confident smile.

"Steve, that-"

"Oh, thank you, other friend of Lulu's!"

A high pitched voice cut through the air. Lilith jumped, for a minute she had forgotten that Hooty came with her for emotional suport.

Steve's face went pale again. "It's the-!"

It was too late. Hooty emerged from his bird house, did a couple of excited loops around the room, knocking some boxes up along the way. Lilith heard something shatter, she just hoped it wasn't something expensive. Or holding emotional value.

Meanwhile, Steve all but scrambled over the arm of the armchair, making his drink fly everywhere on his way. But that didn't seem to matter; all he wanted was the cover of the armchair as the tube demon descended onto him.

"It's the monster!" he screamed.

"No, Hootsifer is not a monster, he is… uhm… just enthusiastic."

"Thank you, Lulu's friend. I, as Lulu's other highly cherished companion, appreciate the effort you put in, hoot," Hooty continued, oblivious to the near heart attack the witch was having. "As my show of gratitude, please accept a humble gift, hoot."

He then proceeded to hack up a hairball and spit it onto the armchair.

"It has a surprise inside," Hooty winked at Steve, who hid further behind his cover.

"Thank you, Hooty, he appreciates it a lot," Lilith said, dragging on the tube demon's body and attempting to show him back into the backpack by sheer force. She gave Steve a pleading look.

"What? Oh, yes! Yes, I appreciate it very much! Very cool! Thank you!"

"Hoot, it's so nice to finally be acknowledged."

Finally, he returned to the bird house without a further peep.

Lilith turned back to Steve with a tight lipped smile. "I'm sorry about that. Hooty is a sweet heart, he is just, well… Hooty."

Steve shuddered. "I will never be able to forget that tea party," then he put his hand on his stomach. "Or that body slam. Head slam? Tackle? Whatever it was, it was horrible."

"I'm sorry about-"

"No, don't worry about it, I will take care of it," Steve shook his head. "But you better go now, before he wakes up again, or something. I have a lot of crow calls to make," he then glanced at the armchair. "And a mess to clean up."

"Sorry," Lilith gave him a sheepish smile.

With a couple more words exchanged Lilith headed to the door. She was going to let herself out, but before she could leave Hooty emerged by the door again.

"You see, you were worried for nothing, hoot," he said. "You got solid friends."

Lilith chuckled. "Thanks, Hootsifer."

While she wasn't looking, she couldn't see that, despite his better judgment, Steve looked at the hairball with contemplative disgust. He was weighing the tube monster's words in his head against the levels of repulsion he was feeling at the mere thought. Eventually, he landed on a 'the curiosity killed the cat beast' option, and snapped on some rubber gloves. Time to pry this thing open.

Lilith was just about to close the door when she heard him speak.

"Is this an actual ring?"

She hesitated to close the door. She turned to Hooty, who was smiling smugly.

"It is, Holy Mother of Titan!"

"What did you give him?" Lilith asked.

"A gift, hoot," he nodded with satisfaction.

"This has to be worth at least a thousand snails!" Steve's voice still could be hears. Lilith closed to door to muffle it.

"Maybe we should tell our friend that his home is not soundproof, hoot."

"Maybe," Lilith said, she then whispered. "Eda doesn't know about this, does she? You know how she is with valuables."

Hooty turned up his beak. "She can get one when she works for it, hoot." He then turned back and gave her a wink. "This is a secret between us girls, hoot."

"Oh, alright," Lilith walked down the steps with some reliefe. It was time to head home and enjoy some well deserved apple blood and a good historical book. She could use a break.

"Also, I just nicked that ring off of some rich-looking lady, hoot."

"Hooty! We don't do crimes anymore!"

The tube demon gasped. "What?!"

Chapter Text

He couldn't get out of bed.

The sun was shining through the window, and birds were chirping outside. He could faintly hear the others moving around, getting up, then going downstairs, starting their morning without any issues. Hunter didn't so much as sleep last night as he fell into unconsciousness the moment his head hit the pillow. And now, he couldn't seem to move his body.

He felt a bone-deep exhaustion spreading through him the moment he opened his eyes. For a minute, he was terrified of what this could mean. Then he realised exactly what it was.

This was the post-possession. He had overdone it yesterday. All that teleporting around, not to mention the stress.

He was such an idiot. The Healer warned to avoid anything that could overextend him. Yesterday, he didn't just go against that warning, but practically laughed in its face. And now he was feeling the consequences. Quite literally. The last time he felt anything coming close to this exhaustion was after the first week of scout training. That was many years ago, and he is still convinced that the captains wanted to kill them through rigorous training and exhaustion.

Only, this was a hundred times worse.

Getting up was out of the question. He couldn't do it, couldn't even force it if he wanted to. And Darius would notice it in a second. So Hunter did the only thing he could think of. He just lay there as if he were made of stone, feeling more fragile than glass, and hating every minute of it.

Soon, somebody would come to get him for breakfast. Until then, he closed his eyes, waited, and tried not to think about how pathetic he felt.

How was he going the explain this?

Darius will have questions. Heck, everybody is going to have questions and worse. They will most likely call the Healer, and he will have more pressing questions.

He couldn't just... give them the silent treatment, could he?

No, that was stupid.

Either way, he couldn't think of anything. He felt groggy, and it hurt to think, and the only thing that was on his mind was how incredibly tired he was.

Maybe he nodded off along the way, too, because it seemed that somebody knocked on the bedroom door the next moment. Hunter glanced over to the clock; it was fifteen minutes later, so yes, he did fall asleep. He tried not to feel disappointed. Usually, he would be up and about by now.

"Hey, are you still sleeping? Darius is making griffin eggs, and you are still nowhere to be seen." Raine poked their head in. They looked tired, most likely they had another awful night, but they still had an easy-going smile on their face. It faltered a bit when they saw him in bed.

Hunter didn't have the energy to try to pretend everything was fine.

"Let me guess, you aren't feeling that well, huh?"

"Yeah," he managed to say, it sounded so raspy, as if he hadn't spoken in months. He cleared his throat then tried again. "I can't get up."

Raine closed the distance between them, then placed their palm against his forehead.

"Well, you don't have a fever," they concluded.

"I'm not sick."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, and it felt as if his brain was sloshing around in his head. He quickly stopped. "Yeah," he said. "It's the... It's the other thing."

"Ah, that," Raine said, voice full of sympathy. They quickly glanced at the door. "Should I get Darius, or do you want me to get you the potion?"

Hunter thought about it. Either way, he needed to eat something. The Healer drilled it in pretty hard that taking the potion on an empty stomach is a bad idea. He didn't want to see Darius, not with yesterday still hanging over them. But he didn't have a choice. Darius would definitely treat this as a medical emergency. And Raine and Eber would most definitely fuss. He didn't need more attention on him lest they figure out what he got up to last night.

"Could you call, Darius?" he finally said, sparing Raine from having to make a decision or from standing there awkwardly waiting for him.

They gave him a reassuring smile. "He will be here in a minute."

Raine left, and Hunter got the feeling that this was going to be a long day.

Healer Lockjaw arrived at his office early in the morning, like he always did. He wanted to be in before visitation hours so that he could catch up on work.

It was still dark outside when he unlocked the door. The closed sign swings from its hook as he closes it. Lockjaw quickly moved through the waiting room and into the office. Only then did he take off his coat and allow himself a tired sigh.

His patient folders lay out on his desk. He had long since run out of space for all of them. In the past, Lockjaw prided himself on his professionalism. It hurt his heart to see these documents - his tool and research in helping his patients - out in the open like this. Piled in a heap with all thoughts of organization forgotten.

His patients, dear Titan, he has been seeing triple the people he used to.

Lockjaw used to be a specialist, focusing on magically inflicted illnesses and injuries. Now he is a generalist, talking up everything and anything because he just couldn't find it in himself to turn anybody away who steps into his clinic. One of the handful of clinics still operating in Bonesborough - you could count them on one hand.

There were so many people needing help. Himself included. This amount of work threatened to do him in if this went on any longer.

But what else could he do?

He used to have an assistant, but the young demon was freshly out of university when the Day of Unity happened. After that, she couldn't return.

She felt like a fraud, at least that's what she told Lockjaw over the crowphone, while trying her damndest not to cry. He tried to reassure her that she didn't know how bad the Covens' were, nor was she responsible for anything that happened or was done in the name of the Healing Coven. Heck, he didn't know either, and he had dedicated his entire life to it. 

He tried his damndest to convince her, even if he didn't believe half the words he said. Lockjaw understood how she was feeling; he, too, thought that everything he worked for was a waste.

In the end, he wasn't successful, and she said her goodbyes.

Lockjaw carefully tucked his diploma out of view that night.

Speaking of frauds, he took the one folder into his hands that managed to stump him for what seemed like forever.

It was a young witch's folder whom Lockjaw was threatening with post-possession.

To say that possession cases were rare would be an understatement. Oftentimes, good old-fashioned body swapping or other shenanigans get mistaken as such. When he was first called over to see two witches who had been possessed, he thought it was the same case. Seeing their fresh scars quickly convinced him otherwise.

Possession was violent; it destroyed the body. And in the very worst cases, it left behind only a husk. The fact that these witches were seemingly fine, let alone that they walked themselves to the Healer tents, was a miracle on its own.

Lockjaw ushered the teenager forward first, making the older witch sit and wait for their turn. After making sure that they weren't the boy's guardian, of course, he wouldn't want to separate family, especially not after something so traumatic.

His worry had only increased when he did the first scans. Then it only grew with the second scan.

The spell came back slightly off in the weirdest ways. The vitals themselves were fine, but the feeling he got from them was as if he wasn't scanning a witch but something entirely different. Something strange and foreign.

For a moment, he thought that it was the effect of being turned into a puppet for so long that had his magic acting up, but no. He had cast this spell without a problem earlier that day.

The young witch didn't want to meet his eyes, but after some coaxing, he did manage to say that 'it was normal.' Before Lockjaw could argue, he quickly added that it was 'normal for him, probably,' that he shouldn't worry about his scan being off. Lockjaw couldn't get more out of him, so instead he focused on the immediate issue at hand.

Later, he would pore over all the books he could get his hands on. All in vain.

He hoped he would stumble onto some very specific condition that the boy might have. Something that slipped under the radar until now for some reason.

He came up with nothing.

Lockjaw contemplated, no, he wanted to interrogate the boy's guardian about it once they showed themselves- and what a surprise that it was none other than the Abomination Coven's Head himself. But the teen begged him not to tell. He swore up and down that it was fine, and Lockjaw vowed to put his patients first, no matter what. So he agreed and promised his silence. If not for anything else, to spare the kid's blood pressure.

Also, the boy was old enough to have some right to some privacy.

But that didn't mean that he wasn't concerned.

So far, everything seemed alright. The scanning spells, while strange in a way he couldn't quite put his fingers on, were consistent. So he noted them down as the baseline and hoped he hadn't made the worst mistake in his career - if it was still worth anything.

When the crowphone came flying into his office, he almost jumped out of his skin.

Lockjaw snatched the bird out of the air and answered it immediately. As far as he knew, it could be an emergency.

"Healer Lockjaw." It was Darius Deamonne, he recognized the voice instantly.

"Yes, Mr. Deamonne, correct? What can I be off assistance?" he stared with his usually well-practiced formality. He glanced at the folder on his table. This could be only about two things, or rather two people. Either way, it didn't sit well with him, and he got the feeling that he won't like what the man would tell him next.

Luz would never get used to flying.

She meant that in a good way. The air was so nice and refreshing as it swished across her face. And Stringbean didn't care if she swung her legs back and forth. Luz wasn't really paying attention to where they were going; this was for her palisman, and Stringbean was only going to make circles around the Owl House anyway. Maybe fly in Bonesborough's direction, but that was it. They will get back for breakfast in no time. She could close her eyes and let her palisman carry her.

It was amazing.

She needed a little time for herself, anyway.

The last couple of days were rough.

Eda and Lilith hadn't said a word about their trip to the Head. Eda seemed fine, or at least brushed off any concern sent her way with ease. But based on how pale Lilith seemed and the faraway stare she had in her eyes, it probably wasn't good. Luz tried to ask, but Eda shrugged her shoulders and said that they only 'glanced at it'. 

King seemed to be doing better. He hadn't asked about the pit or the guards further. The Collector, on the other hand, was acting oddly silent throughout the day.

Her thought wandered over to Hunter. She couldn't stop worrying about him. This was going to affect him horribly, and she couldn't help but think that a mental breakdown was just around the corner.

And she didn't know what to do.

Luz wanted to help, of course, she did, but she didn't know how to go about it. She thought about pulling Eda aside and just confessing her thoughts to her. But she had enough problems already. They didn't need something else to worry about that could very well not happen at all.

And hey, maybe she was worrying too much, maybe it will all turn out fine. Maybe she is making a big deal out of nothing.

At least she dared to hope. You couldn't fault her for that.

"Luz!"

Stringbean stopped in her tracks at the mention of her human's name. Looking down, Luz could see Amity waving at her from the path leading up to the Owl House. Mood immediately lifting, she took a downward turn and slowly glided to a stop before her.

"Sweet Potato! What are you doing here?" She didn't get off her staff but leaned over and wrapped her arms around her in a big hug.

"I was on my way to see you," Amity said. "Dad and I have been so busy, I thought it was time for a little break."

"Aw, and you thought of little old me?" Luz cooed.

"Of course," Amity pressed a kiss on her cheek. "I always think about you."

She couldn't help but blush, which got a little chuckle from her girlfriend. They broke the hug, and Luz got off of Stringbean, making the palsiman turn back to her usual form. She wrapped herself around her human's neck and looked at Amity expectantly. 

"Sorry, Stringbean, Ghost is not with me today," Amity said, giving the palisman a little scratch behind her ear. "She found the perfect spot in the workshop for a nap."

Stringbean made a sound that sounded like a scoff. But ultimately, she nodded; she could understand the importance of a good napping spot. Especially if the sun shone just right.

"You know, if you were going to come over, you could have called me," Luz started.

Amity shrugged. "I tried." She pulled out her scroll and showed the screen. All Luz could see was a wall of emojis being spammed. Even as they were speaking. "King said you forgot your phone, and he has been at it since."

"Looks like he finally woke up. Anyway, now that we met so fortuitously, would you care for an escort to the Owl House?" Luz twirled her hands and bowed in jest.

"How chivalrous, I would, of course," Amity chuckled. The two wrapped their arms together and started walking.

For the first couple of minutes, the couple was content to spend their time in comfortable silence. Then Amity suddenly turned to Luz.

"I don't mean to ask this soon, but is everything alright?" she asked. "My Dad, he didn't quite say what was going on, but Eda visited him and asked for a favor. Do you know anything about it?"

"How much did he tell you?"

"That he has to go to the Head. And take the Abomatrons with him. Then he came home pretty late last night."

"So nothing." Now it was Luz's turn to sigh.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?"

Luz shrugged. "I can't really tell. An eleven, probably. Or twelve, if any more surprises happen?"

Amity frowned. "Which would be?"

"I'm worried about Hunter," Luz said, mostly because with everything going on, that was on the top of her head.

"Did something happen to him?" Amity asked with a hint of worry.

"No, yes, ugh, it's complicated." She shook her head. "Let me start from the beginning."

Luz explained the whole mess the best she could. From King and the Collector talking to them, - which in this case could be categorized as the inciting incident, if she wanted to get analytical about it. Then the conversation with Darius, Raine, Eber, and Hunter. She finished with her conversation with Hunter after the adults went off to talk. She told Amity as much as she could, which in retrospect was not a lot.

Amity listened, taking it all in.

"So this is about the..." Amity took a minute to find her words. "Grimwalker thing, as well as the Golden Guard thing."

"I think those are the same thing."

Amity frowned.

"They go hand in hand," Luz said, then slowly dawned on her that Amity and the rest of their friends didn't know what she did. "I will probably have to explain it later."

Amity sighed. "Well, I suppose we should have known better than to think we won't be finding something horrible that Belos is responsible for."

She couldn't help a humourless laugh. "You tell me."

"And you are worried that Hunter won't... take this well?"

"Oh, I am not worried. I know he won't take it well."

"Yeah," Amity agreed. "If this is going to be tough on anybody, then it's going to be him."

Luz's gaze turned to the ground. "I wish I knew how to help."

After a moment of contemplation, Amity perked up. "I have an idea."

"What?"

The Owl House was well within reach by this point. Any minute now, they would be walking through the front door.

"We are his friends," she started. "He is going to get our help, whether he wants it or not. Let's call up Willow and Gus and head over to his place."

Luz's eyes lit up. "You are so right. We should go right now-"

She was stopped by a magical tug on her shirt. Luz turned around to see Eda at the front door, spell circle dissolving soon after.

"You are not going anywhere before breakfast," she said with a smirk. She must have caught the tail end of their conversation. "You're hungry, Boots?"

"I just ate like an hour ago, thank you."

She waved. "Ah, everyone can fit a spoonful more. Come in and take a seat."

Luz all but pulled Amity inside after her.

King and the Collector were already sitting by the table, huddled over Luz's phone. When they saw them King waved as if it wasn't her precious, precious phone they had commandeered.

"Hi, Luz!"

"Give that back, you little thief!" Luz jumped and half slid on the table to swipe the phone out of his little paws. Lilith had to jerk her plate out of the way. Unfortunately, King managed to lift the phone out of reach.

"Nah-ah! Finders keepers!"

"Losers weepers!" the Collector added, although they didn't join in to help their friend.

Stringbean flicked her tongue, then, with lightning reflexes, she surged forward and snatched the phone out of King's claws. Then she floated back to her place on Luz's shoulder. She held the phone triumphantly in her mouth and was purring loudly.

"Nice job, Beanie!" Luz praised taking the phone and trading some well-deserved chin scratches for it.

"Now that that's over." Lilith fixed her glasses. "Please get off the table."

"Sorry." Luz blushed as she noticed that she was kneeling in the middle of the set table.

The soup, despite previous expectations, was great. Luz still refused to try the lizard tongue, no matter how much playfully teasing Eda sent her way. On some things, she refuses to change her mind, thank you very much. At least King liked it a lot, so she just snuck the offending ingredient into his bowl while he wasn't watching. He probably caught on, but he ate it up eagerly.

The Collector has been watching this from the corner of their eye. Then, taking a look at his own lizard tongues, they carefully scooped some out with their spoon and plopped them into Lilith's bowl.

Lilith glanced at them with some surprise, but said nothing as her mouth was full. The Collector just shrugged and returned to eating. Lilith, judging that it's probably fine, returned to her soup, too.

Amity was coaxed into eating half a bowl as well. Although she didn't seem to mind it that much.

Then Lilith left. She said that there was something that she needed to take care of, and she took Hooty with her.

"We will be going to," Luz announced.

"Yeah, yeah, have fun!" Eda called after them as they hurried out the door.

It only took a quick text message for Willow and Gus to join them on their way to Hunter's house. It took a significantly longer time to explain the events of the last couple of days.

"So what are we expecting?" Willow asked. "You said that the last time you talked to Hunter, he was... broody?"

Luz nodded. "But with good reasons, mind you."

"Yeah, I can't imagine that this is going to be easy on him."

"You guys hadn't heard from him?"

Willow and Gus looked at each other, then they slowly shook their heads. That didn't bode well. The group picked up their pace, eager to get to their friend's place and see how he is holding up.

"Should we text him or something?" Gus asked. "You know, to tell him we are here. What if he isn't home?"

Luz had once been at Darius Deamonne's house to pick up Hunter for a friend get-together. So she led the team up to the front step and knocked.

"If he isn't home, we can ask where he is," she simply said.

The door opening caught everybody's attention.

"Darius, you are back already?" Raine was on the other side. They seemed surprised to see them, which was fair, but they still smiled even if it seemed a bit tight. "Oh, hi there, Luz, children. We weren't expecting you."

Luz gave them her cheeriest smile. "Hi, Raine. Is Hunter home? We hadn't heard from him, and we think it's high time for a little good old-fashioned hangout." She gave them her most genuine, easy-going, I-have-totally-not-been-worrying-about-something smile.

Although Luz imagined that they wouldn't meet much resistance, if any at all. With everything going on, the adults would jump at the opportunity to distract them with something, especially Hunter. And hey, this was Raine she was speaking to. They were practically unable to say no to Eda's kids.

Yet, Raine's expression turned to worry, instead of the expected happy, possibly relieved that they are here to distract Hunter. Which, in turn, made Luz worried. Because what could have happened in such a short time?

"Is something wrong?" she ventured forth, asking. Luz could almost feel the others behind her share a glance.

"No, no, there is nothing wrong," Raine quickly said, "Well, uhm... this is not a good time-"

Suddenly, they could hear a commotion behind them. Turning around, Luz saw Darius arriving via his abomination teleportation, along with a slightly dizzy-looking old witch.

"Just a minute, let me gather myself," the old man groaned.

"Easy there," Darius told the witch, ready to catch him in case he swayed a bit too much. "Teleportation is something to get used to."

"What's going on?" Luz asked.

Raine ushered them out of the way while Darius seemed to be on a warpath to get the old witch into the house. They almost passed them by without a second thought, only for Darius to stop at the threshold and look back at them.

"What are they doing here?" he asked, not unkindly, but certainly made them feel how little patience he had for them at the moment.

The question was directed at Raine, but Luz stepped up instead.

"We are here to see Hunter."

"Can't do. Leave."

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Luz protested, but it was as if she were talking to a wall. All Darius cared about was seemingly getting their guest inside and keeping them outside. The door closed, and without any better options, Luz turned to Raine.

"What was that about?" she asked. "What do you mean we can't see Hunter?"

Raine looked guilty, probably because of their housemate's behaviour. "Hunter is sick at the moment."

Willow, who up until now had remained silent like the others, stepped beside Luz. "What do you mean that he is sick?"

They sighed heavily. "His post-possession symptoms are acting," they said, then quickly continued, seeing the alarm on their faces. "It's probably going to be fine, he is just very exhausted and he will probably going to need to rest. A lot."

The friends shared a worried glance.

"The Healer is going to look him over now. We will know more then," Raine tried to reassure them. "I can call Eda if that's okay. I'm sure you guys can hang out soon once he gets better."

"Can't we at least say hi?" Willow asked.

Raine bit their lip and glanced at the door. "I'm not sure when the Healer would be finished," they said. "Or what Darius would say."

"I see."

"I'm sure Hunter is going to be up and running in no time."

Luz looked from the witch to the door and back. It was clear that Raine wasn't going to let them in, not now at least. And even if they got in, there was a Darius-shaped obstacle in the way still. And they aren't going to sweet-talk their way around him, that's for sure.

Looking at Raine, it was clear that they were worried. And tired, as if they hadn't had a good night's sleep. Which was also concerning.

They could still dig in their heels and demand to see their friend, but if the situation was so dire that Darius couldn't wait for the Healer to get here on his own two feet, then Luz didn't want to be in the way.

"If you could call Eda after the Healer leaves...?" Luz offered up the sentence like an olive branch.

Raine was visibly relieved. "Of course."

They watched as Raine went back inside while they stared after them for a minute.

"What are we going to do now?" Gus asked.

Luz shrugged. There was very little they could do, and so much she wanted to. But Hunter had all the help he could need in there already.

"Let's go back to the Owl House." She finally said.

The others nodded. What else could they do?

Chapter Text

It came as a surprise when Hunter asked to be left alone with Healer Lockjaw.

While he liked to think that he had managed to build some trust between them, Lockjaw was more than understanding if a patient asked for a loved one to stay for an examination. He was fully prepared to soothe an anxious Darius Deamonne in the corner throughout the whole thing. The poor man looked as if he hadn’t slept a wink last night. So the request caught him by surprise.

Darius looked ready to argue, but then he sighed and told them to call him if they needed anything.

Hunter was in his bed, still in his pajamas. He attempted to sit up once but only half managed before he slumped back down.

That was concerning, but Healer Lockjaw was certain that a quick scan could reveal the cause. With Hunter’s permission, he performed the spell. He must have cast this particular spell a thousand, if not a hundred thousand times in his career. It hummed in his fingertips, steady and familiar, like an old friend. Then it came back with the same slightly off readings, something he had come to associate with the boy now; he still felt a little betrayed. At least they were consistent.

It was exhaustion, but he could have told that without the scan. Everything was fine otherwise.

Still, he was hesitant to call this magical exhaustion - that would require a bile sac for a proper diagnosis, and considering that the boy was born without one, he wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions. But he did possess some unorthodox magical abilities so it couldn't be discounted. Post-possession left him tiring quickly, which could have played a part.

He ran a couple more tests, all of which yielded the same results. As much as it pained him to admit, they were in uncharted territory with this one.

"Aside from the obvious, you seem fine." He concluded. "Are you experiencing any other ailments? Nausea? Dizziness? Any pain anywhere?"

"I have a headache," Hunter said quietly.

The Healer nodded and wrote it down in his notes. "That might be just a regular headache. But it's best to keep an eye on it."

Hunter nodded but remained quiet.

"Anything else?" He tried pressing.

The boy shrugged.

"How's your appetite? Have you had breakfast this morning?"

"Yes."

"Last night?"

"Yes."

"You are keeping up with your potions?" He already knew the answer to that. Hunter wouldn't have been able to get away with not taking his prescription with somebody like Darius around.

The answer was another half-hearted. "Yes."

The healer scratches his head. Despite his current predicament, Hunter wasn’t in worse health than Lockjaw last saw him. He frowned when he told him that.

"Then why can't I get up?" He asked, trying hard not to sulk.

"I have a theory," the healer hummed. "Tell me, did you overexert yourself yesterday? Used too much magic, perhaps?"

A guilty expression appeared on Hunter's face. "I might have done something like that…"

"Some details might help." Lockjaw prompted. Although he already had an idea what the answer would be. "But, of course, that's up for you to share."

Hunter let out a long-suffering sigh and stared at the ceiling. For a minute, Lockjaw thought that he wouldn't be answering.

"I went on a walk yesterday," he finally said.

Lockjaw nodded. "Go on."

"It might have been in the middle of the night."

"It's a bit unusual, but still, nothing wrong with getting some fresh air."

"... And I might have overexerted myself by teleporting a bunch."

The healer mulled that information over in his head. So far, this was adding up with the diagnoses. It must have been an excessive use of teleportation. A couple of spells wouldn't do this much. Which left the question of why?

Lockjaw looked the boy up and down. His face was still turned to the ceiling, but he was watching him from the corner of his eye.

He had to tread carefully.

"And may I ask, why you would do such a thing?" He asked.

As expected, the boy didn't answer. Instead, he went back to his ceiling-watching. Lockjaw resisted the urge to show his frustration. Working with teenagers was hard. They generally did not want to be in his office, or in his presence, or be told what to do and what was best for them. Hunter seemed like an odd teenager, more on the shier side than most of his peers, but he, too, had his hang-ups.

Lockjaw didn't expect that to change.

Then the boy sighed.

"I argued with Darius," he said. "Then I couldn't sleep and went out."

Lockjaw nodded and hummed in understanding. He waited for a minute, just in case the silence managed to fish something more out of the boy. But it was clear that Hunter was done talking, and in fact, his jaw was set tightly shut.

"I see," he said, measured and understanding. "Well, you don't have a fever, which is good. But the possibility of catching the common mold is still on the table."

The boy's eyes were back on him.

"Now, considering your state, I want you to rest."

Hunter let out a sarcastic laugh. "As if I could do anything else."

"We will get there soon enough," Lockjaw said jokingly. "But one thing at a time. Until then, take frequent naps, maybe read to pass the time, or watch a crystal ball movie."

As if on cue, the scroll that was resting innocently on the drawer by the bed buzzed to life with an incoming message. Then another, and another, each time Hunter gave it a guilty side glance.

"I recommend little screen time." Lockjaw quickly added. "It can worsen your headache. But you can talk to your friends, if you want."

Hunter looked at him with surprise, and perhaps something vulnerable - he hoped he was reading it wrong, but he got the idea that he didn't expect to be given permission.

"Really?"

"As long as you are getting plenty of rest."

The boy nodded and tried not to look at the scroll with giddy anticipation.

"Unfortunately, they can't come over just yet."

"What? Why?"

Lockjaw gave him a sympathetic look. "Catching a sickness is the last thing your system needs on top of all of this." He gestured vaguely at him.

For a moment, it seemed that Hunter was going to argue, but he gave a longing look at the scroll, and then he nodded.

"Alright."

"Give it some time," Lockjaw said. "A week and we will see how you are doing."

"Then they can come over?" The boy's eyes lit up with a hopeful shine.

"If you are doing better." He agreed.

That did the trick. Hunter relaxed into the bed and seemed to be already thinking about all the things he could discuss with his friends, which is why Lockjaw already felt guilty for what he had to do next. But as a healer, he wanted to do his job right; he had to ask the hard questions.

"I still have something to ask. It's about your mystery condition. If there is a chance that-"

"It's not that!" Hunter said immediately. Worst yet, he attempted to sit up, then fell back onto the bed with a huff. He scoffed with frustration, but turned back to the healer. "It has nothing to do with it."

"And you would know?"

"I know. Just trust me on this one." He insisted.

Lockjaw couldn't resist sighing. "I need to know these things. I have been lenient until now, but I am really at a loss." He confessed with some frustration. The boy pulled in his neck, and his ears drooped down. Lockjaw's heart wasn't made of stone; he hated this just as much as his patient did. But what he hated more was not knowing what to do.

"I'm trying to help, Hunter," he said with as much gentleness as he could muster. "But I can't if we aren't working together."

Hunter bit his bottom lip.

Lockjaw waited a moment, but the kid just sat there, silent as if that was enough to make him go away.

Well, he couldn't force it. He wanted answers, but... He turned back to his notes instead.

"If you are not sleeping well, I can prescribe sleeping nettle," he said. "At least until you recover."

"I would appreciate that," Hunter said, visibly relieved that the previous conversation was dropped. Somehow, it only made Lockjaw more frustrated. He pushed it down with professionalism.

"Right," he noted it down. "I will have to have a conversation with your guardian, of course. I will be back in a couple of days and see how you are doing. Hopefully, you will be on your feet by then."

"Please don't mention the... You know." The nervousness returned.

"Yes, yes, I understand."

"...Thank you." He sounded genuine.

"Just doing my job."

Lockjaw left the room, closed the door with considerable gentleness, and then promptly smothered the urge to scream out his frustrations.

Darius was nervously tapping his feet.

He wanted to argue, to stay in the room by any means necessary, but as per Hunter's request, he left. Which he couldn't lie, hurt. And now he was left to sit in the company of Raine and Eberwolf, in the living room, in a silence that made him want to turn his hair back to normal just so he was able to tear it out. He won't actually do that, but at the moment, he needed to think about something other than what the healer and Hunter could be talking about upstairs.

'It's going to be fine,' Eber finally said, the silence also getting to him. 'Calm.'

Darius scoffed. "And how do you want me to do that, hm?"

'Healer is doing his job.'

"And he is taking his sweet time."

Raine chimed in. "That's probably a good thing, right?" they said. "I mean, you want him to do a thorough examination."

"Or it could mean that there is something horribly wrong."

"He seemed fine when we talked," Raine said, thinking back to their morning conversation. "Or he seemed fine to me. Did he tell you something else?"

Darius sighed. He leaned over and ran his hands through his abomination hair, then let them hang from his neck.

"I barely managed to get a full sentence out of him," he admitted. That in itself felt like a huge defeat. They were doing so well up until now. If only they didn't have that stupid argument.

If only there wasn't a pit full of dead people he had to return to.

'He had to say something,' Eber pushed. 'Why is Hunter sick?'

"I don't know," Darius shook his head, and decided to lean back against the couch again. He hadn't slept well, and he won't be sleeping well tonight either. "But I can guess that something happened last night when he went out."

Raine and Eber shared a look.

"Hunter went out last night?"

'Why?'

"I don't know!" He cried. "Apparently, Hunter decided that the middle of the night is the best time to go on a walk and write in his journal."

'Hunter has a journal?'

Darius could only shrug, aggressively, because he honestly had no clue, and the last thing he wanted was to be quizzed while a healer was looking over the boy he was supposed to keep safe.

Raine hummed in thought. "Are you sure about that. That doesn't seem like a very Hunter thing to do."

Darius raised an eyebrow. "Has he stopped surprising you yet? Because he still tells me the weirdest things, sometimes."

Eber nodded. 'Hunter is weird child.'

"Thank you."

"I still think it is strange," Raine continued.

Darius sighed this time. "Can you let it go. Just for now. I have enough things to worry about as it is." He rubbed his temple. If he was lucky, he wouldn't be developing a headache - although he didn't like his chances.

"About that..." Raine started with an apologetic little smile. Eber glanced over but didn't stop them. His sharp demon eyes were trained on Darius instead, and he could tell that he wouldn't like what he was going to hear next.

"Eber and I have discussed what would be the best for-" They tried, but Draius raised a hand.

"No, out of the question."

Eber huffed. 'Hear us out.'

Darius turned his head away, not even looking at the two. "I don't need to listen to a single thing if I don't want to," he said. "And I know both of you well enough to know I want nothing- nothing to do with whatever you came up with."

When he turned back, Raine had their arms crossed. They were giving him a not-quite-pissed-off, but definitely displeased look. Eber's ears flicked, and Darius waited, hoping that he was listening to the ealer upstairs. With any luck, Healer Lockjaw would be done soon, and Darius could be out of this horrible conversation.

No footsteps coming down the stairs. He was still stuck.

"Would you at least listen, before you decide you hate it with a passion?" Raine asked.

Darius sighed, but knew better than to hope theatrics would make Raine back down.

"Go on."

Eberwolf let out a satisfied little purr.

"As I was saying," Raine continued, with a subtle smile. "Eber and I talked about what's best for all of us, and we think that it would be best if you... stepped down... from leading the excavation of the pit."

Darius opened his mouth.

'Before you say no again.' Eber interrupted him. 'We do not mean permanently. Just now. 'Till you - and Hunter - are well.'

"My answer is still no."

'Listen-'

"And who is going to lead the thing if not me?" He didn't mean to snap. But his words came out harsher than he meant to. Thankfully, neither witch nor demon so much as flinched. "You know how important this is to me, you know how- you... Who else could take care of it if not me? Who?" He threw his hands up as if to emphasise his point.

Eber scoffed. 'What are we? Leftovers?'

Okay, maybe it wasn't the best excuse. Both Raine and Eber were more than capable and competent to head a project of this size. Not considering the subject matter, because Darius was sure that there wasn't a soul on the Boiling Isles who was prepared for the nightmare that was down there.

"Darius, we know that this is personal," Raine started. "But we also think that it is a bit too personal."

'You need a break. Recoop. Come back stronger.'

"And with Hunter sick, I think you don't need all this stress."

'One thing at a time.'

"Exactly, take care of one thing at a time." Raine smiled with more reassurance. "And it's not as if we are kicking you off the project."

Darius scoffed. "You try that."

'Leave it to us. For now,' Eber said.

"You can trust us."

'Yeah. Count on us!'

Darius looked between the two. He was not as closed off as he wanted to pretend; he knew that he could lean on, if on nobody else, then on these two. Titan knows that Eberwolf had stuck beside him through some of his lowest times, and this one is not going to be an exception. And Raine had grown on him quickly, despite his best efforts to keep his old childhood friend at arm's length. For better or worse, he is stuck with them. And that, it felt warm in an annoying little way.

"So what? I am taking a vacation?" Darius asked, and hey, he felt proud of the humour he managed to muster up.

Raine grinned. "Does that make me the boss then?"

Darius was about to retort with something witty, probably about how he couldn't count on Eber not to shirk their duties, but then, they heard the door upstairs opening. All three of them looked at the stairs, then shared a final look.

'It's fine,' Eber said, placing a paw on Darius' arm. 'Sure of it.'

"Yeah, alright."

Eber patted his arm, then pulled back.

The stairs creaked behind him. Darius took a steadying breath. Right, time to have this talk now. He stood up to face the approaching healer. The old witch already had parchment and pen summoned, held up by a spell, as the pen was scribbling away.

Healer Lockjaw looked both tired and frustrated, and if that wasn't something that Darius could relate to, then he didn't know what was.

It wasn't clear if he managed to have a more productive conversation with Hunter, or if patient-healer confidentiality allowed him to tell Darius. Probably not. So he wasn't going to pry; he promised himself that he wouldn't. He just really wanted some good news at the moment.

He put on his sternest, 'I mean business' face. "So, what can you tell us?"

"I have written down my recommendation," he said, waving at the levitating parchment. "The good news is that what he has is nothing serious, just exhaustion. An extreme form of it, yes, but ultimately that's all."

Darius frowned. "That can't be it. Hunter can barely get out of bed. You can't tell me that it's just simple tiredness."

"That is true," the healer said. "I suspect that it has to do with the nature of his unusual magic, with it being contained in his body as a whole instead of a bile sac."

"So this is magic exhaustion?"

"No, no, that would require a bile sac, for a proper diagnosis, at least. No, I think this has more to do with the post-possession. I suspect that his... unusual type of magic would have drawn energy from his body as a whole, and in his current condition, that resulted in, well, what we are dealing with at the moment."

Darius debated letting the healer see his frustration, then he decided he might as well, so he sighed freely and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"So what are you telling me?" he raised a hand in a questioning gesture. "There is nothing you can do? No potion to prescribe? Aren't you supposed to be a professional?"

He could hear Raine shifting around behind him in discomfort.

Lockjaw scoffed. "Rest assured, Mr. Deamonne, I will come up with a new treatment plan," he said, glaring at him. "I will not neglect a patient just because the answers aren't apparent."

That was precisely what Darius wanted to hear.

"Good." He nodded. He would hold the old man to it.

"Until then, follow these instructions." Lockjaw had the parchment hover before Darius, getting closer than it was strictly necessary. Darius snatched it out of the air, and the magical glow ceased.

Healer Lockjaw walked him through his recommendations - they are to continue with the post-possession potions as before, one in the morning on a full stomach. Then he also prescribed sleeping nettle for insomnia, and a general pain potion for headaches. He recommends that Hunter rest as much as possible and avoid stressful situations. However, when his strength returns, he should get up and either walk or do light exercise. Supervised. And absolutely no magic until he was better. He will return in one week to assess the progress. Darius was warned against visitors to avoid catching any sickness. That also meant no going outside for the time being.

Lockjaw's frustration was gone by the time he finished. Darius listened carefully and read along. He made sure to commit everything to memory, even with it being helpfully written down for him.

"Also, before I go. I wish to examine Mx. Whispers, if we are at it."

"Me?" Raine, whom Darius imagined was paying just as much attention to the healer's instructions as he was, sounded surprised by this. "But I am feeling fine."

"Of course, you are within your rights to refuse. But it would be reassuring to know that my other patient's health hadn't also taken a turn for the worse."

"I'm sure that's not necessary." Raine tried to protest, but there was something in Healer Lockjaw's disapproving look that made the other witch cave in pretty quickly. Darius thought about asking for some pointers.

As the healer ushered Raine off to a downstairs room for some privacy, Darius headed for the stairs.

'Don't push him.' Eber barked after him.

Darius sputtered. "I wasn't going to!"

'Don't push him.' They simply repeated.

He sighed. "I won't," he said, indignant to the demon. In response, he got a satisfied purr.

Chapter Text

Hello_willow to RULERZREACHF4N

Hello_willow: hi hunter!
we heard that you are sick
luz told us what was going on with the
whole thing
what king and the collector found
and
well, i think you know more about it than we do
we wanted to go and visit
see how you are holding up
and cheer you up! :D
then we saw darius bring a healer over and raine sort of sent us away :/
i hope you are doing well
you are probably with the healer now, so text back when you can! no pressure

RULERZREACHF4N: don’’t, worry
Captain. I’am doing,f ine

Hello_willow: that’s good! :D
could we, maybe come over
i miss hanging out

RULERZREACHF4N: .
Ican’t.

Hello_willow: why? what’s wrong?

RULERZREACHF4N: i’m te,chnically,
Doin.gg fine,
I’mm just,too
Tired, to hang o ut
Healer say s,i should
Rest.

Hello_willow: ┗ i’m te,chnically,
Doin.gg fine,
you understand how that could make somebody just a little worried, right?

RULERZREACHF4N: sory.
I,really am
Fine.
Truly
I just,ove r did,my magic
Yesterday,and it.
Messed,me up,,

Hello_willow: okay, i believe you

RULERZREACHF4N: .
Thank,s

Hello_willow: you really need to start taking better care of yourself
especially while you are still recovering
sorry
didn’t mean to sound like i am lecturing you :/
its just
you know
i care about you

RULERZREACHF4N: .
Yeah,.
I,get it.
Sorry.
Again.

Hello_willow: you want to say something to the others?
we are at the owl house hanging out! :D
they are kind of worried about you
they try to keep it cool, so nobody is saying it
but you know how our friends can get

RULERZREACHF4N: tell,the m, hi from,me :)

Hello_willow: will do! :D

Hunter felt a little envious pang deep in his chest. If he hadn't gone out and gotten himself bedridden, he could be over there as well. Part of him craved the distraction. Something to get his mind off this tangle of dread his life seemed to have become.

But that wasn't anything new, now was it?

He might have gone soft. And in such a short time as well. Only a couple of meager months, not even a year yet, since he gave- escaped his former role as the Golden Guard, and he went and messed up so spectacularly.

Not as if messing up is a foreign concept to him.

Hunter frowned. He can't afford to think like that. His mind wandered to the journal he had hidden away under his bed, mixed in with innocent books of magical studies and some volumes of Cosmic Frontiers that he borrowed from Mrs. Noceda. Aside from the little hiccup from last night, nobody knew that he had it. Or that it even existed.

He didn't dare to open it yet.

But it was something he needed to do sooner or later.

It's safe there for the time being.

Instead, Hunter glanced back at his scroll. Willow was still read as 'is typing'. If he knew them even a little bit, the others were probably bombarding her with all sorts of questions to ask him.

His attention was torn away from the screen by a knock on his door. He quickly set the scroll down - a feat in itself at the moment - as if it were wrong for him to use it. Well, Healer Lockjaw did say to keep screen time to a minimum because of his headache, and he probably should listen, but he needed to hear from his friends.

The chances that this was Darius were high. The chances that this was going to be an awkward conversation were also pretty high.

Darius carefully opened the door.

Hunter's feelings turned suddenly nervous.

"Hi," Darius spoke as if he expected to find him asleep, and now he didn't quite know how to approach him. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Hunter said, because what other answer was there? 'No, go away' was too mean.

Darius walked in with carefully measured steps that set Hunter on edge.

"I spoke to the healer." He started, somewhat awkwardly.

Hunter nodded along; he expected that much. He didn't know how much he trusted Healer Lockjaw's discretion. But Darius hadn't kicked down his door, demanding to know what he was hiding, so at least he had that going for him.

"He probably told you the same things," Hunter said with a shrug.

"Most likely. How are you holding up?"

"Despite this," he gestured down at himself. "At least I can move my arms somewhat."

Darius chuckled. "Look at you being optimistic."

Hunter sheepishly shrugged, a movement he immediately regretted when his muscles did not agree with him. He thought that he managed to hide his reaction, but he must have made some face because Darius immediately looked worried and stepped closer.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes," Hunter quickly corrected. "Just moved wrong. That's all."

"I should call the healer back-"

"No, don't!"

"Little Prince..."

"I'm fine, really, Darius. I'm just sore. It's fine. You don't have to do anything."

Darius made a pained face, as if he was caught between listening to Hunter and going right ahead, doing what he thought was best. Hunter cringed at that thought. It was unfair, as his guardian, it was Darius's responsibility to do what he deemed best for him. Despite his little stunt that landed him here, Hunter understood that. And he knew that he was in no position to demand things, not after putting himself into this situation and making Darius worry.

He had dark circles under his eyes. On any other day, Darius wouldn't have been caught looking anything other than perfect.

He hated to think that he might have- definitely added to it.

"Sorry for, you know, causing trouble," Hunter said. It was a lame half-apology. He wasn't going to feel bad for sneaking out last night. It was his right to know, and he wasn't going to talk himself out of it. Not with the journal hidden under the bed. But he did feel bad for making him worry. Darius didn't deserve that. He had been nothing but kind to Hunter, inviting him to his home, making sure that he was well fed and taken care of.

Darius gave him a tired smile. "Don't apologize, Little Prince. You probably didn't intend for this to happen." He said, then he chuckled. "Unless you did, in that case, job well done."

"If only." Hunter congratulated himself for only pulling a slightly nervous face.

"Little Prince, listen," Darius suddenly started, with what sounded like not negligible resignation. "Contrary to popular belief, I can admit when I am wrong, and I have to say that banning you from going to the Head straight up might not have been one of my best decisions."

Hunter felt himself tense up, despite how his muscles protested.

If he was honest, that wasn't what he expected to come out of Draius's mouth. Not after the argument they had. Then the next thing he felt was a pang of sudden anger. If all it took was a little healer visit to change his mind, Hunter could have gotten what he wanted much easier. And he wouldn't be bedridden for who knows how long now. But then again, he couldn't have known that his excursion would land him here. And then there was the book. He might never have found the lab, or worse, somebody else might have found it before him.

With that, he felt his anger melt away. He just hoped it didn't show on his face.

"It's fine," he managed to say - it tasted like ash in his mouth. "You were just doing what you thought was best."

"Be that as it may, I hadn't taken you into consideration."

Hunter raised an eyebrow at that. "Go on..."

The corner of Darius's lip curled up in a fragile smile. "I was trying to protect you." He said it seemingly easily, and for a moment, Hunter couldn't help but think back at all the times his Uncle said such touching things so readily at just the right moments to twist him around and firmly into his hold. But there was also something vulnerable there, the slightest tremble at the end of the sentence, the curve of his eyebrow turning up into worry. It seemed so genuine.

Hunter was afraid that he couldn't hold this apology at arm's length.

"So... does this mean that I can go?" he decided to ask. Not doing so would have been suspicious.

"I'm not saying that I want you to see that," Darius quickly said. "Or that I changed my mind on the matter."

Hunter scoffed.

"Just hear me out for a moment, Little Prince."

"Alright, fine."

"Thank you." Darius took a deep breath. Great, now Hunter felt like a jerk. He knew that Darius was not handling this well either, and here he went to make it worse. Nice going, Hunter, very nice.

"It's not something that you can prepare for," Darius continued. "I could have never imagined that-" He interrupted himself and closed his eyes for a moment. "I don't want you going there."

Hunter looked at him, how tired he looked, and how awkwardly he was standing there.

"But I failed to realize that while you are young and your safety is my responsibility, you are not a child. There are certain decisions that I cannot and should not make for you."

"...Alright."

Darius sighed and rubbed his temple. "I am really trying here, Little Prince."

"Why are you telling me this? You are not going to let me go just because you thought about it." Hunter retorted, and he couldn't help but let some of his frustration seep back into his attitude. He didn't want to have another fight. But he didn't want to have this conversation either. He wished that Darius would tell him what was going to happen so that they could get it over with.

"Unless you are saying that I can go...?" He challenged.

"No. I still think you shouldn't witness that."

He groaned. "Then what are we talking about?"

"I will take you there."

Hunter thought that he had misheard him. But Darius met his eyes and turned to a serious neutral expression.

"When you are better," he continued. "And the whole place doesn't look like a horror show. When it is more... palatable."

He didn't know what to say to that. On one hand, 'not looking like a horror show' could mean anything from a neat freak like Darius. For all Hunter knew, he could only allow him down there when everything was swept up and boxed away, or whatever they were planning on doing with the bones. On the other hand, that was better than the definite ban he had received yesterday.

Deciding that this was as good as it was going to get, Hunter nodded.

"Alright."

After all, Darius had gone back on an agreement already. Who is to say he won't do it again?

Darius nodded too, but uncertainly, as if he had prepared further arguments that were useless now, and he didn't know how to finish the conversation.

"You should probably get some rest, Healer Lockjaw said to-"

"-take frequent naps. I know."

"Right." He hesitated, then cleared his throat. "I will bring you something to eat later."

"Okay."

Darius turned to leave, but halfway out the door, he stopped and turned back. "Oh, and I almost forgot," he said. "While you recover, I am stepping down from the project."

Hunter blinked. "What?"

"Raine and Eberwolf will be taking over in the meantime. Or just Raine. I suppose Eber will take all the opportunity to slack off."

He wanted to ask if Darius was for real, but exhaustion set in, and Hunter felt himself running out of his ability to care. They exchanged a couple of words, and Darius finally left.

He felt... drained. He didn't know why; it was only a simple conversation, but it took so much out of him.

Hunter glanced at the scroll. He was sure that if he looked, there would be more messages from Willow. Maybe even from the others if they decided to pry more than the Captain was willing to allow them. The thought brought some amusement. But not enough to get him to pick it up.

A nap seemed nice right about now.

Eberwolf stretched.

Darius was with Hunter, and Raine was with the healer. For a minute, they can have a little breathing room. However, it appeared that Darius would be coming back sooner than they would have liked. Eber doubted that was enough time to apologize properly - they strongly hoped he was doing that.

The witch walked down the stairs as if it were a chore.

Eber rolled a growl in the back of their throat.

"Don't start."

They rolled their eyes. 'How did it go?'

Darius sighed. "Honestly, better than I hoped."

'Come, sit.' They patted the cushion of the couch.

He gave them a flat look, and for a moment, Eber thought that Darius was going to turn around and go hide in his room. But then he blew air out of his nose in place of a sigh and shambled over. He fell onto the couch with enough force to bounce the demon up a little.

They let him just sit in silence for a while. He needed it, based on how he was staring at the ceiling.

"Am I doing this wrong?" he suddenly asked out of the blue.

'Yes.'

Darius sputtered. "Just when I wanted a little reassurance-!"

Eber shrugged. 'Would you believe if I said no?'

He sighed in defeat. "No." He covered his face with his hands and leaned as far into the cushion as it allowed him.

It wouldn't be the first time that Eberwolf likened his friend to one of their prickly, hard-to-manage beasts in their care. Witches and demons, too, were delicate creatures - once bitten, twice shy. You needed to know when to push, not to upset the tender parts. And while there weren't many people, Eber kept close contact with - the obligatory relations in the Coven were enough to last them a lifetime - Darius had a special little place inside their heart. One, they are not going to let him wriggle out of it easily.

'You messed up. That's fine.'

This was the push part. Eber had allowed enough time for the witch to sit in his silence, soak in his feelings.

"No, it's not."

Eber made a low, disapproving growly noise.

Darius gestured at the stairs. "You would call that fine? Eber, be serious for a moment."

Unlike beasts, witches and demons fought back with words and stubborn denial. Eber would much rather take the claws and spitting. 

'You are fixing it.'

"I don't know if I can." He sighed.

Eber shook their head. They know that Darius would be outraged if they, or anybody, tried to coddle him. It was already a miracle that they managed to convince him to step down from the project and not stress himself into an early grave.

'You are fixing it.' They repeated and will continue as long as it is necessary. 'You can, better, you want to.'

Darius scoffed. "Of course I want to, I'm not a jerk. I know when I messed up."

'There you have it.' They purred.

"Don't act so satisfied about it," he glared at them. "You would have annoyed me into it whether I wanted to or not."

'Good thing you want to then.'

Eber playfully pawed at his pants while Darius tried to bat him away.

"Stop that! I swear if you so much as nick it, you clawed beast!"

Eber laughed a purry, gurgully laugh. An annoyed Darius was better than a moppy Darius, so they can be satisfied with themselves.

They fully intended to take care of him. But they, too, need to take their own advice and take things one step at a time.