Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hunter knew the truth nobody else on this island did.

There was no Titan, well there was the Titan they all lived on, but there was no all seeing and knowing entity behind that, it was just a corpse. Just a giant fucking skeleton.

This realization wasn't something he just knew one day, no it was something he slowly realized over time, slowly learning of this truth as time passed and Hunter was raised in this hellhole to believe his uncle was the prophet of this supposive Titan.

For the first few years he truly did believe. He believed his uncle when he said his creation as a grimwalker was the Titan’s will. He believed when he was told that it was the Titan's will he had to earn his right to exist more than anyone else, he believed when he was told the Titan had big plans for him, he believed he deserved any punishment the great Titan deemed necessary whenever he messed up. He believed that as a creation of his uncle, he was destined to be nothing more than an extension of him. He believed his uncle was a holy presence that deserved nothing but respect.

But all it would take was one moment for that unwaivering faith in the Titan to slowly begin to crack.

It all started the day he was sent out to kill a basilisk that had escaped the experiment chambers underneath the main building of the island, and as a way to prove his loyalty to the Titan his uncle sent him to take care of it. To prove he was worthy of the life his creator and uncle had bestowed onto him.

So at the young age of 8, he had been sent to find a horrible and dangerous creature said to be nothing more than a mindless and evil beast that was by the Titan's will brought back from extinction for the sole reason of experimentation under the Emperor's Coven.

Hunter had been training to fight since he could stand, and his uncle told him he was to kill the horrible demon, now that it had been exposed to the outside world

So with nothing more than a few weapons, medical supplies, and a map of the island he was raised upon, he went up on his quest to find and kill the beast.

Except...

Hunter watched as clouds gathered around the forest he was within, it was already nightfall but Hunter had always been very good at seeing in the dark. It seems it'll start raining soon. He glanced at his clothing and sighed, he was immune to the boiling rain due to the scales he was built with, but his clothing... not so much. He looked around and eventually fell straight into a burrow, so well hidden he would never have noticed it if not for falling right through. It was very large, with the packed dirt floors and large area likely being for a creature that had long left the burrow behind, and he fell just in time too. Hunter soon watched as boiling rain started falling through the hole he fell through after standing up.

Guess he should make camp for the night.

But as he started setting up he heard the unmistakable sound of... a little kid crying. He shot up at the sound as horror filled him. What was a child doing down here instead of at the town!? But as he stood there the sound disappeared as soon as it came. Was it... all in his imagination?

"Hello, is there someone there?" He asked hesitantly and he heard the unmistakable sound of a gasp. He immediately started walking in the direction of it as he felt worry start to fill him.

"What are you doing down here instead-" He started as he rushed towards the sound... only to freeze up on the sight in front of him.

The basalisk. The beast he was here to kill was sitting a few feet away from him, suddenly he was very aware of the supplies he had left at what was supposed to be his camp. Very aware the only weapon he had was the knife around his waist, a knife in clear view of the basalisk who was staring at him with its unnatural glowing eyes. Yet... somehow the beast before him seemed to be much more terrified of him than he was of it. Because before he could move in the slightest it pushed itself against the wall as tears started streaming from it's face.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!! I'M SORRY FOR RUNNING AWAY! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!!!!"

Hunter hadn't understood, even now he wasn't sure what he was thinking at that moment as this supposive horrible beast broke down into tears like a little kid expecting a beating(He would know...). All he could do in that moment was stare as the fear he had felt slowly melted away.

He didn't realize it at the time, and immediately pushed the thought away when it bared it's head, but right then and there he had questioned for the first time ever if what his uncle was saying was true. How could this scared child be a horrible and unfeeling beast while she sobbed and begged not to die at his feet? What he did next... was something he never truly understood, but something he would never regret.

He helped the basilisk escape, first he did his best to fake her death by cutting off her tail to present to the Emperor(as well as giving himself a few injuries to really sell it),and  then gave her perfect instructions to escape the island.

He never saw her again, which meant she was either dead or had succeeded in her escape.

Hunter had been nearly certain that it was a lost cause that his uncle wouldn’t figure out the truth as soon as he came back, that his uncle would immediately know he had lied and he would be punished accordingly. But he still felt the need to try . To hope that the Titan would grant him mercy and not tell his uncle of his treachery, but even as he hoped he knew it was a lost cause.

And yet… he got away with it. HIs uncle believed him when he told him he had killed the basilisk, in fact he had praised him and given him a couple days off on training time for his success. It had been so confusing until he had remembered his uncles words.

‘Take care of it.’ It had been that thought, the thought of those words specifically was all it took for his faith in the Titan to remain secured and steadfast. He had done as he was required, he may not have killed it like his uncle had asked, but he had still taken care of it like the Titan had asked.

But it was still the first hit against his belief in the apparent all-seeing entity everyone in the Emperor’s coven loyally followed.

The second hit against his faith was his first horrible failure, uncle punished him badly enough he nearly died. He had just become an official part of the scouts less than a week ago, and it was the first time he had ever worked so hard. It was then that he truly learned what real work was like, not even being able to use any magic like his fellow scouts due to his galderstone being unable to hold magic like a witches heart would.

Just another reminder of how he was lesser and replaceable compared to normal witches.

That day he went on his first ever mission as a scout, and he failed miserably. He wasn’t sure why, but he couldn’t remember the details anymore, as if something had forced him to forget it, repressing even the thought of what had caused the fury his uncle had felt towards him.

But he remembered the punishment perfectly, oh titan he could never forget the horrible punishment he had been given at the age of 10.

Hunter fell into a kneel in front of his uncle, bowing his head as the horrible shame for his failure hit him full force, the unfeeling mask of his uncle looked down upon him as he knelt. Never faltering for a second as dread filled Hunter alongside his shame and horror at what his uncle would deem the proper punishment for his horrible failure.

How could he have messed up so badly? How could he have -------------------- and ruined everything like that? Hunter felt tears threaten to fall down his face, but he didn’t allow them.

Crying was a weakness, a vulnerability that got people killed. Hunter had no right to such horrible weakness.

“Hunter, stand up.” The grimwalker did so without a single word, making eye contact with his uncle despite the way it made his skin crawl. His uncle took off his mask and looked down at Hunter with a deceptively soft look in his eyes. “It hurts me so badly when you do things like this nephew. Before I was able to be softer with your punishments, but now that you’re a part of the scouts I cannot afford that luxury for you anymore. Do you understand this Hunter?” He asked as he put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder, and Hunter nodded without hesitation, he knew that whatever punishment his uncle would give him would be deserved, and he hoped that one day he would be able to prove that he had learned his lesson.

Hunter’s screams had echoed across the room, and he had been left on the ground, choking on his own blood until his uncle allowed a healer to heal him just enough to survive, it took over a month for him to fully heal physically, and he had completely lost his ability to make any sound. Simply trying to left him in horrible pain. When the bandages came off for good Hunter had been frozen in place as he stared at the injury.

It had left a horrible scar that started on his neck, going across it right where his vocal cords had been, and coming up to his left cheek, ending right below his eyebags.

It was after that that his uncle had told him the truth of the injury, the motivation behind it.

Hunter would never speak again, his vocal cords may heal enough to make small sounds, but it was the Titan’s will that for his horrible mistake he would never again be able to make anything more. Left nonverbal for the rest of his life as punishment.

At the time he had accepted it… felt he deserved it. That day was the one he never spoke to another person ever again, and yet… on his 11th birthday he managed to say a single word, something that had shocked him to his very core and left him really questioning if the Titan truly was real for the first time.

But like the last time he had pushed his doubts away, reasoning he was meant to never speak to another again. That should he speak to another then he truly would lose his voice for good. Believing the Titan had allowed him this chance to prove his loyalty and acceptance of his punishment. So even though his voice continued to slowly heal, he never allowed his faith to break.

His faith and belief in the Titan was fully destroyed shortly after he truly accepted his palisman as his.

He had been on a mission on the coldest side of the island when he first met the little bird. It was the most dangerous mission he had ever been on, and his uncle had told him it was this mission that would determine his worthiness of the Emperor’s Coven, and should he succeed he would truly earn his right to be the youngest ‘witch’ to ever be the Golden Guard. He had spent all his years as a scout working tirelessly to prove his worth, working twice as hard as any other scout to prove he truly did deserve the mantle of the Golden Guard ever since his uncle had first told him of it. This mission was his most important ever, and he could not under any circumstance allow himself to fail.

So at the age of 12, he descended into the most dangerous part of the island to find a mist fruit tree and bring the fruit that only bloomed once a year to his uncle. A mission that many scouts were sent to each year, but that most died trying to fullfill. Only the strongest and best magic users being able to complete the challenge.

At first, he had actually been doing very well, his countless years of training, learning to focus and so much more suited him very well on his quest to the tree, even if he got a few cuts and bruises, and even if he had nearly been eaten at least once, he was able to reach the tree, the fruit being in his sights, but…

Hunter stumbled into the clearing and lit up when he saw it.

The mist fruit tree was huge, over 40 feet tall with a ginormous trunk, the leaves covering its branches creating a thick darkness that covered the young Grimwalker despite it being the middle of the day. He slowly walked towards the tree, looking up and seeing the gray fruits hanging from its branches. His uncle had told him he would need to bring back 20, which theoretically shouldn’t be too hard with the hundreds of large juicy fruits hanging from the branches. But even as he started to walk closer and closer he couldn’t get over the feeling of nervous dread filling him. It had been so easy getting here… there had to be a twist of some kind, a danger that had yet to show its face. It could not possibly be as easy as climbing up the tree and gathering the fruit. He remained cautious and silent as he walked through the clearing, he was the only one around. There was no sound other than the wind silently rustling the leaves of the tree and his feet walking across the grassy floor, sometimes he would step on a leave and it would crunch beneath him, causing him to flinch violently, looking across the clearing only for nothing to appear.

It was… nervewracking to say the least. He knew it wasn’t this easy, he was certain that something would happen. But even as he reached the tree and pressed a hand against it…

Nothing continued to happen.

So cautiously and carefully he began to climb, keeping his senses open as he allowed instinct and muscle memory to lead his body as he climbed the tree, keeping his senses open as he scaled the tree. And by the time he was half-way and the darkness had only gotten much darker, he could feel his body aching and exhaustion starting to come over him. He had only gotten 6 hours of sleep the last few days and he was really feeling it. And as if the tree was responding to his pain, he happened upon a hole within the itt. Only adding to the apparent coincidence it was just large enough for him to slip in and lay down, with an impossibly soft ground that only heightened his exhaustion. Despite the suspicion he should have been feeling, he found himself too tired to care and promptly collapsed as soon as he entered, passing out on the soft mossy ground. At least… that’s what he remembered happening, because when he woke up he found himself at the foot of the tree instead, his bag for the fruit filled to the brim with the fruit he had been sent to collect. And before his shock could fade he heard the sound of tweeting and saw a little red bird sitting across from him.

Hunter had never been able to figure out what had truly happened that day. To this day he doesn't understand how he had managed to do something so many scouts before him couldn’t without any memory as to how. Even after he was able to hear Flapjack the bird did not have any idea how either, he had simply told Hunter that he had felt an indescribable pull towards the clearing that day, and knew immediately when he laid eyes on the sleeping grimwalker that he would be his user.

Though… Hunter hadn’t exactly made that easy for the palisman at first. He often cringed whenever he thought back to how he had treated his palisman, all of the times he had glared at the Palisman, angrily pointed at the window, wrote on paper or used sign language to tell him to stop following him, and overall refused to believe that he could be the user of the palisman for one major reason.

His uncle told him it was the Titan’s will that it would be impossible for a Grimwalker to bond to a Palisman. Due to his artificial nature and it being completely impossible for him to have a bile sack it was impossible for him to have a palisman, so even as Flapjack tried countless times to get Hunter to accept that he was his witch now, Hunter never allowed their bond to truly form. At least, until the day he became the Golden Guard, and spoke to someone other than himself for the first time when he had allowed himself to excitedly tell the palismen after the ceremony on his 13th birthday about his future. The moment he realized what he was doing he had slapped his hand over his face and had been left in horrified shock…

But after he could still talk. And when the palisman had celebrated with him, he finally accepted their bond…

And that was the moment that led to his belief in the titan shattering only a month later when his uncle had broken off a piece of his ear as punishment for something he didn’t even do, but was his fault ‘according to the titan.’

So he knew there was no titan, there never was, there never will be, and he was a fool for ever believing it.

But that was something that needed to be a secret, just like that fate of the basilisk, just like the voice he only used when alone with Flapjack, just like Flapjack himself.

Because he was still loyal to his uncle, his creator, the man who had given him life. Even if there was no Titan, he still loved and wanted to serve the man who had created him. He still deserved every punishment for failing him. His purpose may not be to serve the Titan, but he still owed his uncle his life and existence. He belonged to his creator, always had, always will. And if his uncle found out, well, he had made it clear faith in the Titan was something required. And grimwalker's like him were so very easily replaceable, if a bit of a hassle. Something he had known from the moment he was created.

Chapter Text

Almost everyday Hunter followed the same routine ever since he became the Golden Guard a little over a year ago.

To start, he woke up at 4:00am sharp to start the day, after waking up he would first do his morning stretches, which he would finish by 4:15. Then he would go to his bathroom, take a quick morning shower, put on his binder and underclothes, take his hormones potion, brush his teeth, and be out by 4:25. Then he would put on his Golden Guard armor(minus the mask) and fill Flapjack's food and water bowls, which took exactly 8 minutes. So by 4:33 each day he was completely ready and Flapjack would have woken up by then. Giving the two of them exactly 37 minutes of free time before Hunter would put on his mask and grab his artificial staff and leave for breakfast at 5:10, making sure to leave the window open for Flapjack, and would reach the cafeteria at exactly 5:15, officially starting his work day at exactly 5:30am after breakfast ended.

The next part of his routine after breakfast depended on the day.

Sunday and Saturday were his busiest days, always starting with 2 hours of training after breakfast before he went into the busy schedule. He spent the entire time doing all sorts of physical labor, scheduling, corrections, and more. On Sunday he always ended the day picking up his paperwork for the week from Coven Head Lilith, and on Saturday he always ended with handing in his completed paperwork of the week to the Emperor.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays he would spend the entire day standing beside the Emperor's throne, those were the days the Emperor allowed visitors and had meetings, so those were the days he was required by the side of his uncle. Those were also the days that Hunter never ate lunch or dinner because of his duty.

On Tuesdays he went straight back to his room and did paperwork. It was the only day of the week Hunter was allowed to spend the entire time doing the paperwork only the right hand of the Emperor was allowed. He would have skipped meals those days if not for Flapjack forcing him to take breaks and eat. There was never enough time to finish all of it(even when he wasn't allowed to eat), but a few late nights was all it took for the Golden Guard to have it ready by Saturday.

and finally, on Thursdays he oversaw scout training and did patrols. It was the most relaxing day of the week and he was usually able to finish an hour or two early, and so was often the day of the week he was able to finish a large chunk of his remaining paperwork from Tuesday.

Lunch started at exactly 11:30am and ended at 12:00pm, dinner started at exactly 6:00pm and ended at 6:30pm. On everyday except the ones mentioned before Hunter would show up at 11:45am for lunch and 6:15pm for dinner, eating and resting until the break was over, and then got straight back to work.

And the final part of his routine was when his workday was officially over at exactly 10:00pm.

First, he would go to his uncle's private chambers and help him with his nighttime routine, and be back to his own room usually from 10:20-10:50, but most of the time by 10:30. After which he would first change out of his unform and into PJ's, which usually took about 6 minutes, and depending on how tired he was, Hunter would spend the next around half hour with his palisman doing different things before they would both go to bed at exactly 11pm. And unless he was completely exhausted, Hunter would usually fall asleep around midnight before starting it all again at 4:00am the next day.

Of course, Hunter wasn't always able to follow this routine perfectly. Sometimes he had missions that lead him to being outside of the castle for up to 2 weeks at most, sometimes he was woken early because of one reason or another(usually Kikimora trying to kill him for the millionth time or a nightmare), sometimes he spent the entire night awake because of nightmares, his mind refusing to shut up, and/or because of paperwork, sometimes it took him longer to continue his morning routine because of one injury or another, either from punishments or from missions, sometimes he was summoned to the throne room or given specific tasks for a certain day, sometimes his alarm wouldn't go off and Flapjack would have to wake him up, sometimes he was refused meals, or had his binder taken away, or had his staff taken away and was locked in his room, or instead was locked in that room as a punishment. But even with those occasional breaks in routine, Hunter still had the comfortable knowledge that even with them the rest of his routine was still in place. And on the worst days, when his routine was completely destroyed and he just wanted to go to his room and cry himself to sleep like a baby while clinging to the stuffed plushie he was embarrassed to still have, he had certain ways to keep himself together. Even if they were immature and stupid(like flapping his hands and pacing), something he was certain he would get a beating for if he did so in front of his uncle, they were his only way of keeping himself together on those worst days no matter how guilty he felt afterwards.

Today was a Saturday, and it had been one of his best days in months.

The night before Hunter was tired enough that he fell asleep almost the second he hit his pillow at 10:35, leading to him feeling more well-rested than he had in months the next day when he woke up at 4. He managed to get through his normal routine without anything disturbing it or breaking his stride, And by 4:33 he felt more energized than he had in forever, and at the request of his palisman, the two of them went on an amazing morning flight Hunter was able to openly talk to his precious palisman without the fear of being caught, not needing to worry at all about his paperwork as he had managed to complete it that Thursday after staying up all night.

So when the two returned at 5:10, Hunter could only smile as he made sure his window was still open and bid farewell to his palisman. He reached the cafeteria at exactly the right time, and had a nice breakfast before grabbing his schedule of the day and getting started.

The load of today was actually much lighter than usual. Normally Saturdays and Sundays were some of his most tiring, but due to the fact next week was recruitment week(every 6 months a set of 1 captain and 10 scouts was sent to the mainland know as the Boiling Isles, a 2 day trip to and back, for 5 days to collect exactly 20 witches who had earned the right to become a part of the Emperor's Coven. Overall taking exactly a week.) Hunter's workload today mostly consisted of loading supplies onto the ship they would use for their departure, officially determining which scouts of the 20 final candidates who would be going, arguing with Coven Head Lilith in DSL(Demon sign language) how to sort said supplies and which scout would be in charge of which tasks, and finally ending the day dropping off his finished paperwork and helping his uncle with his nighttime routine. By the time he was finished Hunter was delighted by the knowledge that he would be able to make it to his room by 10:20 if he hurried, he allowed his thoughts to wander to what he would do with Flap once he got to his room. He knew he would start by happily telling Flapjack how amazing today had been, then maybe they could go on another flight! Or they could practice with Hunter using Flap instead of his staff(real magic and artificial magic were so different), or Hunter could sharpen his weapons while Flapjack told him all about his day. And maybe, just maybe, he would be able to fall asleep and not have a single nightmare!

But before he could end his perfect day, it would be completely shattered as Hunter came up to the staircase leading to his room and heard hushed voices speaking in the supply closet under said stairs.

At first he just rolled his eyes, assuming it was someone confessing their love to another under the stairs because that was apparently SO romantic, Hunter had overheard them more times than he would like to admit, so he was just going to walk past like usual. But as he came closer and started really hearing the voices, he realized this was something very different.

“-but how would we be able to do it in time? Recruitment week is right around the corner!”

Hunter froze for a moment, why were they talking about recruitment week? He hesitated for a moment before, as quietly as possible, coming up to the door and listening in on the conversation.

“It doesn’t matter how! The week after recruitment is the only time all of the high ranking members of this cult are all too busy with the new members to notice if anything goes missing!”

…What?

“That doesn’t change the fact we haven’t had time to plan at all! We barely have 10 people to our cause verses the hundreds that live in this fucked up place! This idea you came up with on a wim is a suicide mission without more planning involved, we could so easily get caught!! And I think you're forgetting 3 of us are part of those high ranking members! Imagine what could happen if Belos found out they’re helping us!!”

What!?

“How else are we going to destroy this horrible cult if not by taking a few risks!?”

Hunter wasn't sure what possessed him in that moment as he stumbled away from the door. He knew, logically in some part of his brain, that he was likely way more powerful, and that his countess years of training would make him MUCH more prepared for a fight than whoever these two, likely scouts, did. He shouldn't be scared. He should have been throwing the door open and arresting them both!

But the only horrible thought in his head was that they were Wild Witches.

Wild Witches were horrible, violent, and evil! Oh god they were planning on destroying his home from the inside out! What would they do if they saw him!? The literal Golden Guard!!! What would they do what would they do what would they do what would they do what would they-

The sound of the door starting to open caused instinct to take over his panicked mind and Hunter used his staff to teleport as far away as possible before taking off, running as fast as he could without knowing where he was going. His mind lost in blank unthinking panic until he felt himself collapse onto the ground alongside the distant sound of a door being slammed shut. He shut his eyes as his breathing became more and more hectic as he tried desperately to fight the panic and breathe, his desperate gasps only leading him to hyperventilate as the world around him continued to fade, before everything finally went dark, the last thing he was able to hear was the sound of distant chirping.

What was once a perfect day being completely undone and ruined because of a single overheard conversation.

Chapter Text

According to his uncle/the Emperor’s teachings there are three types of existence: Faithful, Unfaithful and Wild.

Those who are faithful are those who follow the great Titan’s wishes, who listen and follow the leadership of the great Emperor Belos, who read the bibles, listen whenever the Emperor preaches, follow all of the rules, and put all of the teachings of the Titan’s as their number one priority. These are the only beings who will be granted a place in Heaven. Should their faith in the Emperor waiver or they commit sinful acts they will be punished accordingly until the Titan deems them worthy of forgiveness. Luckily the Titan is very merciful to those who deserve it.

Those who are unfaithful are those unaware or unable to follow the Titan’s wishes, These people are simply misguided, raised away from the truth and the Titan’s chosen voice, they are unable to follow the path to Heaven as they do not know how. One of the Emperors Coven’s biggest goals is to help as many unfaithful beings to see the light and start on the past of truly following the Titan’s will. Some will not be able to follow the light, either because they are too primal to understand, or because they are too misguided to see the light. Those who are faithful must acknowledge that at some point, when the unfaithful refuse to see the light, that they will have to cut them off until they are willing to see the truth. As true faith requires sacrifices. Faithful witches must understand that those they once cared for have chosen the path to hell, and they must not allow themselves to fall into the same traps.

Finally, the most dangerous of all, Wild. These are beings who actively try to hide and go against the will of the Titan, actively choosing to fight against and restrict people from being able to reach Heaven. These people will go to hell, and want to drag as many people alongside them. These people are malicious and  evil, the Emperor tells only his most loyal followers of the true dangers and horrors wild witches are capable of, the lengths they are willing to go in order to obstruct the truth. The Emperor has told stories of assassination attempts, terrorist attacks, and torture wild witches have put him through. Of the fact that they will kill, torture, and isolate faithful witches until their faith in the Titan has been completely destroyed. If someone in the Emperor’s Coven is accused of being a Wild Witch it’s taken EXTREMELY seriously, They can’t take any risks, and if they are convicted then it is an immediate death sentence(the next day immediate), and honestly, if it makes it to trial their fate is already sealed. Trial was simply a chance for them to confess to their sins and be given the least painful way of dying.

Hunter had a bit of a different way of seeing it. He knew there was no Titan, his uncle simply used the supposive ‘Titan’ to get people to actually listen to him. Hunter’s uncle wanted to improve the world, make it a better and brighter place where everyone can truly thrive! But nobody just listens to a random witch. So Hunter saw it as this: There were people who wanted the same perfect world as his uncle did, people who wanted to keep living in the disgusting world as it was, and people who wanted everyone to be miserable and destroy the only man who was trying to make the world a better place. People who wanted to watch the only chance at a perfect world burn. People who needed to be taken care of before they ruined everything his creator and uncle had built.

Which was why Hunter was so severely disappointed and disgusted that instead of arresting the wild witches he had a tantrum, ran to his room, and passed out like a pussy. Not to mention Flapjack was worried sick, the little cardinal was pulling at his stupid hair noodle and chirping up a storm trying to get him to wake up. When he finally did wake up a little less than an hour later he could barely breathe from the binder he hadn't taken off because of his stupid tantrum. By the time he had gotten it off, calmed down Flapjack enough for him to let Hunter leave(which was stupidly hard since Hunter’s throat hurt WAY too much to even let out the smallest sounds in-between the tantrum and his binder, not to mention he made Hunter take him with him), and rushed to the closet both of them were gone, the only hint left over was a gray piece of a scout uniform cape left on a particularly sharp part. Further PROVING that they had been fucking scouts and Hunter had still allowed himself to freak out like a fucking toddler!!! The worst part was he could barely remember what they had said because he had allowed such weakness and wasn't thinking straight! The only thing he could clearly remember was they had plans for some sort of sabotage during recruitment week! So angry and dejected Hunter had stomped back to his room and had been pacing and trying to figure out what to do now ever since.

The first, and most obvious answer, was to tell his uncle. He would know of the fact there were traitors and it would be the fastest and most logical option, but… Hunter knew that telling his uncle would require telling him how embarrassingly he had reacted and… Hunter was deeply ashamed to admit he didn’t want to be punished despite deserving it. Normally that wouldn’t stop him but… Flapjack had an idea Hunter selfishly clung to as soon as it was mentioned.

Don’t tell! Find first!

So that was the plan now, track down the wild witches before they could attack the coven and hurt innocent people.

The issue was… Hunter had absolutely no idea whatsoever how to do that. He wasn’t a detective, and despite what people may think he wasn’t that smart either. All he was good at was what he was made for, taking orders , so how the hell was he supposed to:

1.Find and expose the traitors

2.Do it without uncle finding out beforehand about his idiotic behavior

3.Do it before they have the chance to put their likely devastating plan into motion only one week from now.

So… things were not looking great for the Golden Guard right now. So he allowed himself to think over his options.

He could ask for help, but there were multiple issues with that, the first and foremost being that almost no one knows DSL. The reason for this being that as a punishment from the Titan, Hunter does not get the right to ask others to try to accommodate him. The only one who was ever required to learn were his uncle and Lilith(due to the kindness of the former, and due to how closely they worked together for the latter), and he was certain it was one of the reasons the latter despised him so much. Most people highly enjoyed belittling him or making fun of his muteness due to the reasons for it, the idea of learning DSL to accommodate him being comical to them. Hunter couldn’t exactly fault them for it either. He had lost his voice because of his own stupidity and mistakes, he deserved the treatment in that respect(otherwise why else would uncle slap him and tell him not to be a brat when he tried mentioning it to him?). But boy oh boy did it make things oh so complicated and difficult for him in most situations when it could have been so easy and simply had they simply known DSL(which was likely the point), especially ones like this! Due to the limited number of people who knew, and having to further cut that to the people in the most powerful positions since they were the largest believers in the Titan and knew the true dangers of wild witches, and Hunter not wanting to write it down and risk his uncle finding out, he would have to consider his options carefully.

Firstly, there was, of course, Lilith Clawthorne. She was probably one of the smartest people he knew(though he'd never tell her that of course, last thing he needs is to brush her already HUGE ego), so she'd likely be able to figure out who the traitors were. However the biggest issue was... did Hunter mention how much Lilith hated him? She was a spiteful bitch who despised him simply because he got to be the #3 in the Coven(under both #1 the Titan and #2 Emperor Belos), while she was stuck at #4. Which was fucking bullshit!! Hunter wasn't even allowed to boss her around, they were basically equals minus Hunter often working alongside the Emperor. And he had 100% overheard her talking shit about how he was such a spoiled brat who didn't deserve his title of the Golden Guard. Telling her would literally be proving her right in her own eyes!!

So... not going to work out. His Second option, the magic section leaders. There were 9 exactly for the 9 types of magic(it was the Titans that each witch would only practice one type) but out of them, only two knew DLS. That being Darius Deamonne and Raine Whispers. Sometimes Hunter suspected that Eberwolf did to, if the beast did they purposely pretend he didn't like Hunter pretended to not know beast-speak(and if a part of it was that he was jealous everyone went out of there way to learn best-speak to understand Eberwolf nobody would have to know except Hunter).

The first, and probably more obvious answer, Raine. They had always been nice to Hunter from the moment they had met. Learning DSL as soon as they learned of Hunter's muteness, offering to teach Hunter violin, helping Hunter with bandaging a stab wound without trying to make him tell them where it had come from, and when they found out(by complete accident!!!) that Hunter would get his binder taken away as a punishment they had offered to get him an extra one for those times(he had obviously rejected the offer, but it was still a nice sentiment). Not to mention, Raine was really smart. They were one of the only 3 members of the Coven who knew he was a minor, and they were the only one to realize on their own(and promised not to tell), so they would likely be able to help out and would be more than willing to keep his mistake a secret. But... Hunter already owned them enough. They had already done so much for Hunter, and this would be a huge ask that would put them as much at risk of the Emperor's fury as Hunter himself for their compliance. And he was certain they would want him to repay them for both this and all of the other favors. Not to mention that Raine was the newest member of the section leaders, they had only been one for a little less than a month and likely hasn't learned of the true dangers of wild witches and therefore wouldn't take it as seriously as needed.

Then there was Darius, and oh boy was he a mixed bag. Darius and him had a... complicated history. When Hunter first became the Golden Guard Darius DESPISED him. And Hunter would later learn it was because Darius's mentor was the old one and he hated Hunter for replacing him. Of course, Hunter didn't know that at first thinking Darius just despised him for his muteness like everyone else, which was why it surprised him when Darius learned DSL only a month after he started as the Golden Guard because quote, 'If I have to deal with you I'd rather things be as non-frustrating as possible for the both of us', and though Hunter never mentioned it... it had felt really good that he had chosen to learn DSL despite obviously hating Hunter at the time. But he was still cold and rude to Hunter like everyone else, if a little nicer and more inclusive. It wasn't until Darius found out about Flapjack and saw his face and real age that their relationship started improving. It had been a complete accident and the end result was originally a horrible mess, but Darius had promised to keep his knowledge of his real age and the little red cardinal a secret(though he hadn't told him Hunter's real name, obviously). So for the last 3 months their relationship had been WAY better(Darius was teaching him sewing, would listen to his ramblings when he got too excited, and even ruffled his hair once), but it was still very rocky. And Hunter was pretty sure that this was NOT something he should be thrusting in the others face so soon, especially since he was a bit suspicious of why it took seeing Hunter's face and palisman for Darius to somehow stop hating him.

So... Hunter was left right where he started, alone with nobody to help him and a deadline that was scarily close. Titandamnit. He sighed loudly and looked around, his eyes landing on the cape piece currently sitting on his desk... and as he did a realization hit him full force.

If that piece was right here... then it wasn't on the cape of whichever scout it belonged to. If the piece was right here...

Hunter really was an fucking idiot. Because his first major clue had been sitting in front of him this entire time.

He could do this, because no matter how stupid he was, the wild witches seemed to be even stupider.

Chapter Text

Every scout had two uniforms, one Sunday night in between 9pm and 11pm they put the uniform they had been wearing in a hamper at the end of their shifts, after which the clothing would be sorted by parts in different hampers once sent to the laundry house, and then the scouts misfortune enough to be stuck with laundry duty would clean and fix whatever damage had been done to the uniforms throughout the next week. Meanwhile the second uniform would replace the old one until the week finished, and then the process would repeat next Sunday.

Which was why Hunter was climbing out of his window at midnight the very next day after his realization, wearing a black cape over black clothes without his signature mask and making sure nobody would notice him(Hunter HATED the idea of going out without his mask, but there were only three people(Flapjack included) who had ever seen his face, it was MUCH less recognizable than his mask and therefore less likely to get him caught). So he could hopefully  get to the laundry house as soon as possible and find out who the missing piece belonged to before the cape was fixed. He, of course, felt horrible for betraying his uncle's trust like this. Hunter did go on flights and would sometimes go to town outside of patrol, but that was all with permission from his uncle to do within his rare free time. This was NOT something he had ANY clearance to do at all!! What he was doing now was sneaking out past his curfew(11pm), sneaking into the laundryhouse, and snooping through the uniforms!! All risking a horrible punishment on it’s own he was caught since, and the reason why needed to stay a secret lest he be punished even worse.

So it was nervewracking to say the least, but as his uncle had explained to him at the age of 5 after seeing his first execution, sometimes you must do bad things for the greater good.

Flapjack flew into Hunter’s arms once he was sitting on the window seal, and using his Palisman Hunter flew to the bottom of the mansion, softly landing on the grass as Flapjack transformed back and landed on his shoulder. He had a three stage plan, and it was time to start on stage one.

Get past the patrol scouts and into the laundry house without being seen.

Hunter slowly walked from where he had landed on the grass, it would have been much easier if he could just fly or teleporting, but there was a sky patrol for a reason, and the bright yellow light that came from teleporting in this darkness would only cause every scout within a 1 mile radius to instantly notice him!

So instead he was stuck sneaking around in the darkness like a fucking criminal.

The grimwalker slowly made the walk from outside his room to the laundry house, luckily for him, as the Golden Guard, he knew the patrol schedules and where each scout went like the back of his hand! So even though it took him much longer than if he just went straight there or his other two options, he knew he needed to be as careful as possible. It was like his missions, he needed to stay out of sight, quiet, and never take any risks unless strictly necessary.

So, nearly 20 minutes of what would normally be a 5 minute walk to the laundry house Hunter finally reached it, he immediately avoided the entrance, where there were multiple scouts guarding it, and to the back window. Hunter slowly used Flapjack to fly up to the window before slipping in, being just thin enough to get through the window effortlessly, and hit the floor without more than a small thump he had enough experience to know wouldn’t be heard.

Stage one complete, now onto stage two.

Find the cape of the Wild Witch without being caught.

Hunter looked at Flapjack. “Go,” He whispered just loud enough for his palisman to hear him, “Just like we planned.”

Flapjack let out a few quiet chirps in his response. Fletchling be ok? Flapjack doesn’t want his boy in danger without Flap to protect.

“I’ll be ok Flap, and as a lookout you’ll know of any danger long before I do. I promise I’ll be ok.” Hunter smiled at his little palisman who nodded before he flew off. Leaving Hunter alone as he walked through the laundry house to find the place the baskets were kept. When he was a scout he had been assigned laundry duty a few times, but it had been so long since then it took Hunter a bit to find his bearings and remember where each place was. The only reason he remembered the window was because some kid jumped through it and landed on him when he was 11. Sometimes he wondered what happened to them-

UGH!! Stay focused! Hunter slapped himself to get himself back on task and continued looking through the laundry house until he finally found the room with baskets and made an immediate beeline for the capes. And after taking a quick look around to make sure there were no immediate threats, he got started.

Hunter wasn’t going to just grab capes and throw them to the ground willy nilly, he took out the piece of cloth, and first grabbed the cape, compared it to the cloth, and then put it on the ground where he would start a pile that he would put straight back into the basket once he was done. And once he got started, all of his focus went straight to finding the right cape.

Hunter wouldn’t know until later, but he spent over an hour going through the countless capes until finally, finally , he found it. Hunter would deny it vehemently if anyone asked, but he actually let out a quiet but happy squeal once he found it. Immediately going to the tag and looking at the name associated with it.

Katya Velms

But before Hunter could even think about who that was, the sound of chirping filled his ears alongside the voice of his palisman as the red cardinal rushed towards him.

Hurry! Scouts coming! 2am!! Before work check-in!! 

Shit.

Hunter immediately shot up, collecting all of the capes he had thrown on the floor and throwing them into the basket as quickly as possible, and as soon as they were in Flapjack changed into a staff and Hunter rushed out of the room. As he reached the place with the window he started hearing voices and without hesitation he flew up and jumped out of the window. It was time for stage three:

Escape.

And a little over 10 minutes later Hunter was collapsing into his room, one step closer to finding the wild witches.

Katya Velms is a part of the bard section of the coven scouts. She was fairly new to the coven guard, only finishing her training a little over a year ago alongside the only other two bards of that year named Amber DeYae and Derwin Tunes, both of which she had a close relationship pre-coven and were separated after joining. All three came from the mainland 5 years ago to join the scouts, and Katya had to go through 3 years of learning the truth of the world before being allowed to join the scouts. According to her records she was caught making weird fanfiction of fruits in romantic relationships during her 2nd year on the island that got her appropriately punished at the time, alongside laundry duty once she joined the trainees for the entire time she trained, due to such horrible writing being seen as unholy and against the Titans will. But a relatively small sin that could be redeemed, especially since she was still so new to the coven and had yet to truly understand. Afterwards her right to having and sort of writing supplies or paper was permanently taken away so she would never again give into temptation. After joining the scouts she has been shown to often goof around and only ever follows the orders of her section leader Raine Whispers without complaint. She also has a very active love life, having dated multiple other scouts and even flirting with a couple captains and has been rumored to have a crush on section leader Raine which is the reason she follows their orders without question. Amber, Derwin, and Katya are kept separate despite all being in the same section, all being in different dorms, having different tasks, and any time they are caught communicating it is reprimanded due to the fact it is strictly forbidden for people who knew each other outside the coven, especially those who joined together, to be around each other as it is show to make the probability of the Titan’s will being questioned much more likely, as well as stifling their potential. Despite this the three have been caught attempting to communicate a couple times before finally learning their lessons and staying away as required. Katya is very unlikely of ever getting a higher ranking within the coven due to many different circumstances, the biggest being her misbehavior and type of preferred magic as she is much less likely to ever be as powerful as the highest ranking members.

Hunter had probably reread Katya’s scout description at least 20 times now instead of doing his paperwork.

After learning of the name of one of the two wild witches he had overheard Hunter had immediately went to the scout archives and found her file, and as soon as his work day had finished he had immediately started studying her to find out what he was dealing with.

And if he wasn’t already embarrassed for how he acted he DEFINITELY was now after finding out one of the two on that room was a fucking bard . That was literally the most useless type of magic to use! Sure, some bards were extremely talented and powerful, Raine Whispers was a prime example, but most? NO! Since bard magic required becoming adept and talented with an instrument of some sort, which took FOREVER to get good at it unless you are extremely musically talented, and the magic by extension. So someone as young as Katya(who was in her 20’s!!!) wouldn’t have any chance against Hunter, ESPECIALLY with his staff!

The description was the most important thing for Hunter to look over, but he made sure to look over the rest of it. He looked over her picture, Katya was an only child with two living parents, both of which she, apparently, chose to abandon to follow the light. She uses a tamborine, she was part vampire, her favorite color is purple, she had pulled quite a bit of minor infractions that Hunter read over the reports for, when asked ‘why did you join the coven?’ She answered, ‘I’d rather not go to hell, thank you very much!’, she was the middle in age of those three bards who had joined together, and according to her magic reports they were all about equal in power, all being much weaker than Raine, when she got her sigil she had commented that it the magic felt weird on her wrist and when asked what kind of weird she stated, ‘would you kick me out if I told you it was the bad kind?’ The file even had the fanfiction that had been found pasted word for word(and Hunter 100% did NOT find it interesting, and was NOT annoyed when he found out it was left on a cliffhanger).

And as he looked through the file over and over, re-reading her description and reading different things and looking over the cold hard facts, he was hit by something.

She… didn’t seem dangerous. In fact she seemed almost harmless, especially as compared to the much higher ranking and more powerful members of the Coven. She may be a bit more mischievous, and sometimes wanted to see her old friends, but was that really that danger-

NO!!! NO! NO! NO! What was wrong with him!? Did he know nothing of the world!? That was exactly how wild witches took advantage of you! They make themselves seem innocent and weak, and then they stab you in the back and try to destroy everything good in life! The only chance in life for a pure and happy existence!! This was the reason why wild witches were such a horrible threat! They were horrible master manipulators!!

Now, all that was left was finding the other wild witch and anyone else they were working with(he was almost certain that they had mentioned others), and now that he determined that Katya wasn’t to big of a threat on her own, all that was left was using her to find her comrades in treason.

Now that Hunter had determined that… maybe he should try to focus on his paperwork.

Chapter Text

Hunter walked alongside the other scouts. They had a group mission today, Hunter’s first ever mission as a member of the scouts! He couldn’t help but feel excited, having to keep himself from rocking back and forth since he knew it was childish and immature. The lot of them, 7 scouts and 1 captain, were all going into the forest to ######## so that ########. Hunter knew nothing could go wrong, and yet as he walked he soon found himself feeling lightheaded… and he wasn’t in the forest anymore, now he was in the mansion with countless eyes looking down on him. All glowing blue in dissatisfaction.

Hunter stumbled through the halls, he couldn’t remember why he was there other than… something went wrong with the mission… but what? All he could remember now was that he needed to get somewhere. As he dragged himself through the halls he realized his hand was against his neck, so he pulled it back…

And saw that it was covered in blood, at the same time realizing… he… couldn’t… breath….

He collapsed before finding himself standing next to his uncle as they witnessed a wild witch being executed. Hunter subconsciously remembered this day, he had only been promoted to Golden Guard a week ago at the time. It was his first ever time having a first class seat as the wild witch, who had refused to admit to her wrongdoing and was now being burned to death. It was the most painful way to go of the execution methods, he shuddered whenever he thought about it

Hunter couldn’t get over his horror and fear as he watched her, watched her scream and cry, begging to be given mercy, begging to be put out of her misery, sobbing and screaming until her voice was hoarse. A part of him wanted to run up, to douse the fire, to keep her from suffering so much.

But he remained frozen at his uncle’s side, unable to move.

Hunter would learn later on that the reason his uncle had chosen to burn her was to celebrate her being the first wild witch since his promotion, he could remember the horrible guilt he had felt for being the reason she was put through so much pain

He could feel his uncle’s eyes on him, so he forced himself to look at the wild witch. But this time, when he dared to look into her face, he saw Katya.

Hunter shot up with a strained scream, panting and looking around in the slightly illuminated light from his eyes. Glowing like the flames of fire glowing like terrifying blue

A song. It was something he immediately noticed, something he had been waiting for without realizing it. Something that, on instinct, he immediately clung onto like a lifeline, something familiar, warm, safe, loving.

Even if he couldn’t fully understand it through the fear spiking his galderstone heart, the panic filling his artificial veins, the horrible idea he was unsafe, he was in danger, he needed to run, hide, disappear, that song kept him grounded enough to take shaky gasps of air. When it gave him a little happy tweet in response he continued to try to breath, eventually he failed, and he let out a sob before feeling something soft rubbing itself against him comfortably as he understood it was ok, to just try again, and he did again and again until he finally starting to realize where he was the comforting voice he was finally starting to hear encouraging him to look around. First, he saw the messy desk across from him, then the open window allowing cool and comforting air inside, then the dresser/bookshelf right next to him, and the closet next to it hidden from someone looking into his room behind both the dresser and his bed, and then, he saw the door to his bathroom next to the desk, close enough to his bedroom door that the entrance would be unseen to someone entering. And finally he looked down and saw his bed before collapsing backwards as Flapjack stopped his song completely to rub into Hunter’s neck while the grimwalker stared blankly at the ceiling, taking deep breath after deep breath until he stopped feeling like the smallest thing would cause it to start all over. And once he could hear the cardinal’s voice within his head, loud and clear now that his mind wasn’t clouded by his fit.

Is my Fletchling doing better now?

Hunter sighed and nodded blankly, what a wonderful way to start the day!

Hunter walked through the halls, due to his nightmare and ensuing tantrum(though Flapjack insisted that wasn’t what it was, when will that bird stop being so stubborn?) he was awake about an hour earlier than usual. Alongside his research into the wild witch Katya and trying to get some paperwork done, he was currently working on around one hour of sleep. So now, after leaving his room at 4am exactly, he was going straight to Katya’s assigned seating and preparing the perfect tracking spell. When she sat down it would immediately cling to her until Hunter dispelled it(with her being none the wiser), afterwards he would be able to see and hear everything she had once he did so(with being able to skip over the unimportant parts). Hunter had the perfect plan. Cast the spell, leave it on until the day before recruitment week, dispell it once that day comes, look through the spell until he knows who she was working with and/or what their plan for recruitment week was.

So even when he felt the judgemental gaze of the on-duty scouts( don’t look don’t look don’t look- ) he didn’t falter. They could judge and question all they wanted, Hunter had a purpose, a way to protect the place that hated him had raised and protected him as he grew into the perfect strong and obedient soldier he was now.

Soon Hunter reached the dining area for the Bard section, he took out his seating chart and looked over until he found the assigned seating of Katya. Then, after making sure no one could see him, he cast the spell with his artificial staff. And then retracted it, slipped it back into his belt, and left. No one ever dared to question him, knowing their place no matter how much they despised him.

Hunter walked to the throne room, as today was a monday it was his duty to stand and guard the throne as always. He kept his head held high as always, keeping himself straight as he came to the doors and threw them open.

The second he entered the room his body immediately set into defense mode. No place was more dangerous after all, he needed to be prepared to protect his uncle at any cost and to prepare himself should uncle decide Hunter needed to learn a lesson.

Hunter knelt down before the man who had created him and given him life without hesitation, every move built into perfect muscle memory. "Good morning Emperor Belos, do you have anything you wish of me before I stand as your guard today?” The question was one that had been practiced to perfection, one that he signed nearly every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday asking like clockwork as soon as he knelt before his uncle's throne, feeling those glowing blue eyes looking down upon him and judging him. Yet today Hunter felt more tense than usual, because there was the undeniable fear within him that his uncle would know, that he would call Hunter out and tell him he knew that Hunter was sneaking around, that he knew Hunter was breaking the rules, that he knew Hunter had thrown a tantrum instead of-

“Not today Golden Guard, I wish for you to do nothing more than your required duty for today.” The sound of his uncle’s clear and calm voice snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts. As Hunter stood up and took his station he quietly analyzed the tone of his uncle’s voice, the way he had spoken and how he had addressed Hunter.

He always addressed Hunter as ‘Golden Guard’ while Hunter was on duty, so nothing to worry there. The way he had been looking at him, down as he carefully watched over Hunter’s  every step for any failure or mistakes to beat out of him, was also the norm, so he seemed to be safe in that department. But what was left was his calm tone…

And oh boy was that one mixed bag Hunter struggled so much with figuring out. Hunter’s uncle often had two types of calm, calm in a ‘you have done nothing to upset me thus far’ way, and calm in a ‘you have severely disappointed me and I will now tell you how so you may not fail again once I have properly punished you’ calm.

Neither of which would apply to this situation.

Which meant, uncle didn’t know! Normally Hunter would be appalled at the thought of being so happy his uncle didn’t know of his failures, but for this…

He could and would fix it . As Flapjack had said he could find them, uncle never needed to know he left them escape the first time, and he would make up for it tenfold by arresting all of the wild witches and proving he wasn’t just a useless screw-up!!

Even if the terrifying idea of seeing them being tortuously burned to death terrified him more than anything else could.

Chapter Text

Hunter stumbled out of the throne room, clutching the wound that had been left on him as a punishment. He was so useless and stupid ! Ever since he had left the spell on Katya he had been constantly distracted worrying over his plan and what he was about to learn. Who else was a part of the wild witches? Who else would he learn was secretly plotting against his uncle? What would he learn of their plans? Would he be able to arrest them in time? Things like that had consumed him since planting the spell. And they were especially bad since today was Saturday and he would finally be dispelling the spell, not to mention he spent the entire night putting the finishing touches to his paperwork after constant nightmares all week(he hadn’t had nightmares this bad since he lost his voice) so he was exhausted. His mistake wasn’t even destructive(luckily) just so embarrassing .

He had been so distracted he had tripped over the ropes, accidentally bumped into Lilith and sent her falling into the water(not that he felt guilty), and fell face first onto the ground(luckily his mask stayed on) so hard he broke his nose and was bleeding behind his mask. The worst thing he did was injury Liliths ego, which was so deserved he almost didn’t care about his own embarrassment. But of course, it was still a mistake completely unbefitting of the literal Golden Guard, especially in the boat where he was on display to the entire Emperor’s Coven town(lower ranking members loved watching the scouts load up and the entire town was required to send the boat off and celebrate it’s return). So of course, he was punished accordingly. No food for the entirety of recruitment week as well as beating. Currently he was covered in bruises and cuts that would take weeks to fully heal as well as a large gash across his chest that had unfortuantely ripped his binder, he definitely needed stitches for that one.

Emperor Belos was deservedly very angry with him for his embarrassing mistake, especially since he was already frustrated with the stress of recruitment week coming up(the bruises he had from his uncle beforehand were proof of that), and Hunter couldn’t blame him. His own nephew and creation doing something so stupid as if he was a new bumbling recruit at one of the most stressful times of the year, Hunter would be extremely disappointed too!

Now Hunter needed to get to his room so he could actually treat his wounds, he had lost a lot of blood and could only hope he’d make it to his room before passing out, titan he hoped he wouldn’t pass out. The only other thing that he was really worried about was how livid Flapjack would be. He loved that bird to death, but he always overreacted whenever Hunter was punished. Saying things like ‘this is abuse’ HAH! Maybe, possibly, for a normal witch, or for someone who wasn’t in such an important position, but for him? Nope! But whenever he tried explaining that to the red cardinal he only got angrier. Hunter could never win with that stubborn ass palisman.

Hunter did his best to focus on walking towards his room despite his growing dizziness. He was losing a LOT of blood. But it would be fine! Perfectly fine! He could make it to his room in time! Hunter forced himself to look up and felt relief fill him. He was right at the stairs, all he needed to do now was… was… huh, everything was getting really blurry… he slowly blinked and just like that he felt his knees buckling beneath him. His last though was how angry Belos would be for him covering the floors in blood.

Flashing. Screaming. Magic. Running. Fighting. It was all a blur until everything stopped. Hunter rushed to ######## and tried to ########. But even as he desperately ######## he knew it ########. A broken sob left his mouth and he begged them ########. He fell to the ground sobbing and clinging to ########, surrounded by blood and ######## until ########. All he could do was desperately beg ######## as he was forcefully dragged away and forced to look at ########. 

This was all his fault.

Hunter shot up with a gasp, panting and shaking as a blur of feathers was suddenly pushed off of him(and immediately came back) alongside the sound of a familiar voice.

“Oh thank Titan you're awake you scared me half to death Little Prince!”

Hunter shot around and saw Darius, he was too shocked to even sign, especially with the feeling of red feathers and Flapjacks worried chirps. Hunter blinked and looked around. He was… in his room? That couldn’t be right. And how did Darius- Why wasn’t he bleeding- what was going on!? Blinked slowly and staring as the abominations witch started to pace, his brain moving sluggishly after the blood loss.

“I found you passed out and bleeding on the ground! What the hell happened that led to you being so hurt without the healers being called!? You could have died little prince! ” He sounded furious.

Hunter looked down, refusing to look the witch in the eyes, and that was when he noticed the bandages covering his chest.

Oh… Darius was probably mad at him for getting blood all over the floors and forcing him to take care of his stupid injuries because he was too much of a pussy to not pass out, make it to his room and take care of his own injuries himself.

Hunter let out an annoyed sigh and brought his hands up.

"I’m sorry for being an inconvenience. I’m sure you heard about my mistake on the boat, that was simply my punishment for it. I was supposed to take care of it in my room, but unfortunately I passed out from blood loss before I could make it to my room. My apologies for making you feel the need to dress my wounds." He signed it quickly and concisely, hoping his explanation would be enough to calm the witch before he decided to turn his anger onto him for how badly he had bothered the man. Only to see Darius looking at him with a look of horror.

“What do you mean your ‘punishment’!?” He demanded and Hunter flinched. Was Darius unsatisfied with the punishment he had been given? Did he believe it unsatisfactory for someone so connected to the apparent Titan’s will? Shit. He hesitated, Darius had been kind to him these last few months, but he was also one of the most loyal followers of the Titan who wanted it to be extremely respected, one of the members most determined to have the titans will followed to a T.

"Because of my horrible mistake at the boat today the Emperor gave me the punishment the titan deemed fit for my mistake, because of the severity of how much I embarrassed the Coven Guard with my mistake he gave me the wounds you had seen and dressed."

Darius paled at his explanation. He covered his face and stared and Hunter couldn’t help but shuffle uncomfortable at the look. Why was Darius looking at him like that? He had never seen a look like that before, why was he looking at him like that? Hunter expected annoyance, anger, or satisfaction. Not… whatever this is.

“What?” He asked. His voice was quiet and… he thinks surprised, definitely partially confused, Hunter didn’t know how to explain the undertones to the tone.

"Why are you surprised? I thought you knew, especially since the whole reason I can’t talk is as a punishment from the Titan. Did you forget?" As he signed that with a slightly raised eyebrow the look on Darius’s face changed even more, he somehow got even paler and his mouth was wide open. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times before eventually he turned around, refusing to look at Hunter, and spoke in a short and curt voice.

“Forgive me. I need to go, I have your binder and I’ll be sewing it back together. You’ll get it back by the end of the week.” He then immediately rushed out of the room without turning back, his movements stiff.

Huh. That was weird. Hunter looked to Flapjack, who had been suspiciously silent throughout his interaction with Darius.

“What was that about?” Hunter whispered to the red cardinal who was currently rubbing himself against him.

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you fletchling. Flapjack stated in a familiar sad voice that filled Hunter with a guilty feeling as he knew he was about to have to explain for the millionth time that this was normal and deserved.

Hunter glanced at the time for what felt like the millionth time. He had woken up in his room around 9(due to having to recover from his punishment Hunter was often given the rest of the day from his punishment off, his uncle cared so much). So after turning in his paperwork he was sent straight to his room, being told he would not be permitted to help his uncle today(uncle really was mad). So now he was back in his room, sour and wincing at every move, and having to wait until 11pm, an hour after Katya’s shift ended just in case, so he would know everything. Hunter would be pacing if his injury wasn’t literally at risk of killing him if he didn’t do what he needed to. He might have done it anyway if it wasn’t for Flapjack being more than ready to tug at his hair noodle until he sat back down should he try(he learned his lesson the first few months of having the bird following him around).

Only this time, it was finally 11. So without any hesitation he grabbed his artificial staff(always kept right next to his bed), closed his eyes, and uncast the spell.

Chapter Text

It starts with him seeing food right in front of him, or rather, food right in front of Katya. It was sudden, and left him with vertigo so bad he couldn’t register what the bard was talking at first. And once he adjusted he was able to catch the tailend of a conversation

“-but it’s so annoying! I really thought this guy was the one!” Hunter realized the voice was coming from Katya, yet how feminine it was made him shudder as it felt like it was coming from him. 

“I know Kat, but there isn’t much you can do.” Katya looked up and Hunter saw an unfamiliar scout. They had their masks off while they were eating, so Hunter had full view of the companion of the wild witch.

"Ugh, yep, I'm fully aware Della. I'm just so annoyed, especially with all of the rumors of me liking Mx. Raine. They're just one of the few people here who've earned my respect." Katya spat out and Hunter could feel fury bubbling up in his stomach. How dare she!? Everyone in the Coven earns their spot within. Anyone above Katya completely deserves all of her respect, especially with there loyalty to his uncle!! And all it took was Katya looking at Della to see the same revulsion on her face.

"The hell is wrong with you!?" Della spat out. "I can see why nobody wants you sit next to you. If you can't respect our leaders I don't know what your doing here." She stood up and walked away, and Katya let out an annoyed sigh and dropped her face onto the table while Hunter felt a smug appreciation of the other scout for acknowledging Katya's broken views. He'd need to use her as a witness against the Wild Witch. Not to mention, it seems this was far from her first time being an unfaithful brat(and Hunter was the ultimate unfaithful brat).

After that, for the most part it was simply Katya doing her job(albeit with multiple complaints that Hunter was shocked were actually surprisingly accurate half the time) and Hunter skipped through mostly, half-wondering if this would be a ginormous waste of time. That is, until Thursday night after her shift ended.

Katya had just flopped onto her bed and Hunter was rolling his eyes, moving at extra speed and fully expecting another night of her falling asleep almost instantly. He couldn't help but be jealous of how easily sleep came to the older female. But... this time the sound of knocking hit Hunter's ears, it wasn't just knocking, it had a certain order. 1 small knock, 2 louder thumps, and then 3 knocks in quick succession. Katya shot up instantly and Hunter slowed it down to normal speed, hope starting to fill him that this was finally what he had needed, but instead of going to the door, she rushed to a wall right across from her bed and pushed it until the wall moved and Hunter gasped.

He thought he was the only one who knew about the secret pathways of the mansion! He had first learned of them when he was 4, it had been an accident. And afterward he had spent his younger years using them to explore and play, that is, until uncle found out and scolded him for his childish behavior. He had beaten Hunter and given him his longest scar, one that ran across his back. Hunter fully understood to this day why he had done that, Hunter had no right to act like such an immature idiot. He wasn't a normal witch, and had no right to acting like a normal child. He was created for one purpose, and going against it was nothing less than deserving of punishment.

Hunter forced his focus back onto the person behind the wall, and gasped when he saw who it was.

Amber DeYae

He felt frozen, especially as the other woman smiled brightly at Katya and they immediately embraced despite Hunter feeling disgusted at the very thought. He immediately recognized her from a picture of the three bards in Katya's folder. And seriously, why was he even surprised!? Of course the wild witch would still be going against the covens rules and being around-

"Are you ready for the meeting Kat?" Hunter was dragged from his thoughts by the voice of the pink skinned witch as she pulled away from Katya and the other female eagerly nodded.

"Absolutely! I've been miserable having to put up an obedient face in front of these brainwashed idiots", that little-, "seriously all of them are so fucking dense!" Katya said with an exhausted sigh.

Amber let out a sigh. "Tell me about it, but at this point it's old news. Let's get to the place before anyone realizes I'm here." Katya nodded vigorously and the two walked into the wall and Hunter watched through Katya's eyes as they walked through the dark and hidden passageways. And as they walked in silence(likely to avoid others hearing them in the passageways) Hunter forced himself to process their conversation. It was clear to him that Amber was a wild witch as well, and he was almost certain the third to the trio was the same. From what the two bitches had said ad the clear hostility they had to the other members of the coven, he could reasonably assume that they had all joined with the express purpose to destroy the coven. It only served to make Hunter angrier that nobody had realized sooner, that they could've gotten away with it had Hunter not used his minimal intelligence to figure this shit out.

Honestly a part of him was shocked they had managed to get away with it for this long. Especially since there was no Titan aiding him in his discoveries like he may have thought if he bothered to believe in that anymore. How had someone smarter than him not noticed sooner if they were so sloppy? Or maybe they usually weren't and the only reason Hunter hadN discovered them was because they were getting cocky. That definitely made a lot more sense, Hunter was simply the one who caught onto them because of it.

So, that was at least 3 wild witches he had discovered. And Hunter was certain this 'meeting' was one where all of the Wild Witches hiding within there ranks would talk about their plans and what their evil intentions were. Hunter smirked to himself, they were leading him straight to where they planned their evil plots and didn't even realize it!! Hunter didn't know what he had been worrying about, this was perfect!!

He just had to jinx it, didn't he?

Soon the two girls reached a door and opened it to a room Hunter immediately recognized, it was the exact same room Hunter used to play in before uncle beat that childish behavior out of him. And... it had barely changed from when he last saw it. But Hunter brushed those thoughts away before they could fully form, he needed to focus on the-

Katya turned and Hunter saw 5 people sitting at the table. He didn't recognize most of them, Derwin was one of the few he did, but his eyes landed on one person and they refused to leave.

Steve Tholomule.

Steve was standing there, he was with the wild witches.

No.

No.

No.

No.

NO!!!!!!!!!

Hunter gasped as tears filled his eyes and the illusion shattered, he could barely think, barely hear, all he could think about was one thing.

Steve is working with the wild witches.

A chocked sob left his mouth as he collapsed backwards, shaking and burying his face into his knees as everything in him wanted to deny it wanted to refuse to believe it no matter what.

There was no way kind, considerate, caring, attentive Steve could be a heartless wild witch. No no no no no no no no no!!!

Steve was one of the only scouts who had learned sign language for him, and he had done it completely willingly and happily, smiling brightly whenever they were able to have conversations.

Steve was the only one who had ever looked out for him when he was starting out as a scout, even giving him a chocolate bar when he first joined as a 'congratulations'.

Steve was the only one who had always seemed to notice whenever he was stumbling around or hurting, he would always give him those bright smiles and once when Hunter had been sick, Steve had caught him right before he collapsed and helped him to his room. Never reporting his weakness to Emperor Belos despite how much it would raise his favor with Hunter's uncle.

Hunter broke down even more, Steve was one of the kindest people he knew, HOW COULD HE BE A WILD WITCH!? Hunter buried his face into something soft and he screamed, he screamed and screamed until his throat was burning from overused and he was brokenly sobbing as tears fell from his eyes. He could feel feathers against him and a soft song being sung, but all he could think about was how much it hurt, how he couldn't allow himself to believe what he had seen. Not only because it made no sense from what he knew of Wild Witches(no wild witch could EVER be as unconditionally kind as Steve).....

But also because the thought of seeing one of the few people who cared about him die terrified him to no end

Chapter Text

Hunter felt numb.

It was the only way he could describe how he was feeling.

Completely numb, going through the motions without any sort of emotion or feeling.

It wasn't like this was the first time his emotions had disappeared, far from it. It was better this way anyway.

Better than feeling all of the betrayal and hurt.

Hunter walked through the halls, after learning the truth... he knew it was better like this.

Anyway since Steve was part of the rebellion Hunter knew they wouldn't pull anything during recruitment week. Steve was a big part of the week. He knew exactly how well things were prepared.

So... Hunter was just going to do his job, and ignore this 'rebellion'.

It couldn't be a real rebellion anyway. Not with Steve as a part of it! Steve wouldn't hurt anyone. The opposite of Wild Witches!! It was likely just a few witches pretending to hate the Coven to be 'different'. They weren't going to actually do anything. Absolutely not!

They couldn't.

They wouldn't.

Not with Steve as a part of their group.

And well...

Hunter was proven right.

It was halfway through recruitment week, and nothing had happened.

No chaos, no death, no pain.

Nothing.

So they couldn't be real wild witches. It was impossible. It was impractical. It was fake.

Hunter walked through the halls, it was Wendsday, so Hunter was going straight for the throne room. This morning Flapjack had done a few things to try to get Hunter to feel again.

But honestly? Hunter didn't want to feel.

He didn't want to acknowledge any feeling Steve's betrayal decisions made him feel.

So Hunter would simply continue through the motions. He opened the doors on the throne room and knelt before his uncle, ready to do his job.

Hunter stood in his spot... and watched at a scout entered the throne room. He didn't care...

Until he heard his voice.

"What did you need Emperor Belos?"

It was Steve.

Hunter felt himself stiffen.

"As you know, it's recruitment week Steve. As the new recruits will be here very soon, I would like you to be a trainer this year-"

Dread started to fill Hunter.

"-alongside the Golden Guard. I've noticed that you tend to listen to him the best of all of the scouts, so who better to train the new recruits alongside my right hand?"

If the Titan was real, Hunter was certain it despised the grimwalker.

"I would love to Emperor Belos! I have nothing but respect and care for the Golden Guard."

Liar. Betrayer. Asshole.  Bitch. Fucker. Piece of Shit!!!

And for the first time since learning the truth Hunter felt something.

Anger.

Chapter Text

Recruitment week ended tomorrow. Tomorrow the new recruits would arrive and then training would start the next day on the recruits that were determined to join the scouts right away alongside the scouts who had graduated being simple trainees.

And Hunter dreaded every. Single. Second. Of. It.

How could he not!? He was going to be stuck training with the biggest hypocritical asshole on this island!!!! How was he supposed to work alongside someone who betrayed him like this!? Who chose to go against the Coven!!! He always seemed so loyal!! He always agreed with Hunter whenever he complained about people being unloyal, he always talked about how much he believed in the Titan(Hunter would always pretend to be completely convinced as well, he had to at least respect Steve for being just as convincing in his lies as the grimwalker), and the worst part? he acted like he cared about Hunter.

He could have at least not done that.

Hunter had half a mind to confront the other, to scream at him until he understood how furious he was, how betrayed he felt.

But since when did Hunter's emotions matter? Since when did the emotions of a Grimwalker matter?

They never did, and never will.

Hunter was currently stomping around his room, it was morning, and Hunter had spent the entire night finishing his paperwork.

He was too angry to sleep anyway, he had barely gotten a wink of sleep since he had learned he would be doing training with the traitor.

Titandamnit Hunter hated everything. Why? Just why? Was this an extra punishment from his uncle? Did he realize Hunter hadn't wanted to be around Steve? His uncle had never cared or bothered to have Hunter work with someone who liked him before, why change that now? Even if his uncle couldn't talk to the Titan, he did have spies everywhere and anywhere. Hunter had seen first-hand the amount of eyes his uncle had around the castle, heck HE was one of them!!!(Which only made him angrier with the traitors never being caught). Eventually, Flapjack flew onto Hunter's shoulder to try to help calm him down.

Fletchling will be ok! Maybe talk to friend!

"One, he is not my friend, friends don't exist for the Golden Guard! Well, except for you Flap, but you're my palisman so it doesn't count." Hunter shook his after realizing he went off topic. "And two, what would I even say to him? 'Hey you horrible traitor I know you're doing bad things behind the Emperor's back'! Ugh. Even if he isn't a wild witch, can't be can't be can't be can't be can't be, he is still basically part of a 'we hate the cover club' that calls the coven a 'cult', whatever that is." He muttered the last part under his breath.

Maybe talk to him and help understand, maybe misunderstanding!! Fletching cares for friend!! At least think about it.

"Not my friend." Hunter mumbled under his breath. "But fine, I'll think about it Flap.

Hunter was looking anywhere except the scout beside him. He had his arms crossed(a good was to say in DSL 'don't want to talk), and had completely ignored any of Steve's attempts at conversation.

He could feel Steves eyes on him, he hated the mental image he got of the hurt look on Steves face from Hunter purposely ignoring him.

Focus Golden Guard!! He doesn't deserve your pity!!!

But.....

'maybe misunderstanding!!'

'At least think about it.'

Titandamnit.

Why was that stupid bird so good at getting into his head!?

Hunter repressed a sigh as the new recruits filled the area. Half were on one side and half the other. The ones on Steve's side(right) were the new recruits for the guard who were raised on the Island, Hunter's side(left) were the new recruits for recruitment week.

Hunter looked at Steve and nodded, the scout clearing his throat.

"Hello new recruits both from our dearest home and new from recruitment week! The two of us are here to give you the rundown and prepare you for the tough training ahead! My name is Steve Tholomule, and I am the assistant of the Golden Guard for this, The Emperors right hand man and the second most important coven member." The scout made a motion to the guard, who bowed his head. "Now, my colleague is mute, so I will be his mouthpiece throughout our lesson, let us begin!!"

The scout and guard put all of the new recruits through multiple things. Steve through the required questionnaire, and Hunter through the obstacle course, lifting weights, 5 mile run around the training room in laps, and many other training exercises, grading them throughout.

They were there from morning to evening, none of the recruits getting a lick of food as part of the training. By the end all of the recruits had completely collapsed from exhaustion(3 threw up), and Hunter was clicking his tongue as he did the math to grade the recruits on how prepared they are to join the coven.

Spoiler alert: None of them are ready.

Hunter put his clipboard in his armpit and loudly clapped, getting the attention of everyone in the room as Steve rushed over. Hunter held back the urge to middle finger the scout out of spit as Steve helped the recruits get to the shower area, and once the recruits were ready, Hunter started signing as Steve translated.

"Alright recruits, there's no easy way to say this, all of you failed the physical test. None of you are prepared for the work being in the Emperors Coven guard will put you through. You could get 100 points in all, and needed at least 80 to be prepared, the highest score was 58. This was to be expected of course, none of you have gone through the most basic training yet, so of course you aren't ready. This test was more to prove a point about the work you will be put through and as your final test before becoming a trainee. Now is your last chance to decide to continue remaining a regular member of the coven instead of working as a scout or higher. If any of you are ready to quit and go back to your regular life if you already lived in the coven or simply start a regular life in the coven, simply raise your hand." Steve finished at the same time as Hunter stopping his signing, Steve had always been the only one able to keep up with his signing when he went at a regular pace.

Almost immediately, half of the recruits from recruitment week raised their hands while 2 of the locals did.

"Alright!! All of you please hand over your recruitment cards and I'll hand it to another scout to lead you all out." Steve said it without Hunter's input, the Golden Guard having his hands behind his back as many of the possible recruits looked at him with fearful looks.

Good.

The ones who had given up handed their cards over, and Hunter couldn't help wrinkling his nose in distain. He found it insulting they decided, 'this is to hard', especially since the grimwaker didn't get choice.

Though, that was likely just another difference between grimwalkers and regular witches. Regular witches got a choice, grimwalkers did whatever their creator tells them since they don't have a choice.

After that was taken care of, Hunter and Steve left the room, and Hunter was going to go straight to the cafeteria(he had already missed lunch, and after only having breakfast after a week of no food he was STARVING), but before he could he felt the older male gently grab his hand.

"Hey, can we talk? You're obviously mad at me for some reason." It wasn't a question, and Hunter cursed Steve's intelligence. The dark haired man was one of the most emotionally intelligent scouts in the castle.

'Maybe talk to him and help understand'

You win this time Flapjack. Hunter forced his hand out of the scouts hand and turned around, watching as the older man removed his mask and gave him a smile, Hunter himself not removing his own. Steve had never seen his face and he was keeping it that way.

"Look, I can tell something is wrong Hunt", Damnit, Sometimes Hunter forgot Steve knew he name from his scout days, "And I just want to know why, what happened to get you so mad at me? Whatever it was I'm more than willing to fix it. I care.

B U L L S H I T

"Bullshit!!! If you really care then why are you part of a group that's going against the Coven!?"

Hunter watched as Steve's face went pale, the blond almost laughed.

"You fucking saw that right!! I overheard a conversation, a very interesting one!! One where two people were talking about messing around during recruitment week!!

"That was you!?"

"Y e s." Hunter had purposely signed each letter separately to make a point. "And so I started investigating, and what do I learn? I learn that you are a part of it. Look, I'm not fucking stupid, I know you, and I know you would never hurt anyone. So cut the bullshit and stop pretending to hate the coven to be 'different'."

"You think it's fake?"

Chapter Text

Hunter blankly walked into his room. He couldn't help but think back to the conversation him and Steve had. Steve had made him make an unbreakable vow before the conversation. Neither of them could tell anyone about anything discussed in the conversation except their own palismen.

And...Hunter kept thinking and thinking about what the two had talked about, about all of the things Steve had told Hunter. In the end Hunter had angerily told Steve that everything he was saying was bullshit and ran off...

But now he kept thinking and thinking about everything Steve had said. Thinking and thinking about all of the almost rock solid things Steve had told him. 

It was so confusing.

Hunter looked up as he reached his uncle's quarters, taking a deep breath and opening the door to see his uncle already sitting on the bed.

"Hunter, right on time. Come, join me."

Hunter could feel dread slowly filling him, but he didn't let it show. He knew what was about to happen, no matter how much he hated it.

Hunter slowly sat on the bed next to his uncle, and Belos gave him a soft smile.

"Why are you so stiff Hunter? You know that I'd never hurt you without reason. This is a reward of sorts you know, and I'm so grateful you understand that."

Hunter nodded, trying to unstiffen himself. This has been happening since he was 10!! Plus, Uncle always tried to be gentle, and would sometimes even listen to his own requests!!

It was fine. He was fine. He was great. Everything was fine. It was normal, this was normal.

"Now, Hunter, lets start with you taking your shirt off."

Hunter nodded hesitantly, slowly taking off his shirt. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as his uncle started to undo his binder, allowing himself to slowly start to float away.

Hunter blankly walked to his room, he was floating again. He eventually came to his room and slowly opened the door, looking up as Flapjack immediately flew up to him and started rubbing himself against him.

Boy ok? Boy ok? Did Belos hurt you again? Did he do it again???

Hunter blankly nodded, walking over to his bed and falling onto it, barely paying attention to Flapjacks angry tweets, when this happened was the only time Flapjack ever cursed.

It was almost funny.

There was something Hunter was going to talk to Flapjack about...but...it felt very far away right now.

Maybe in the morning. Hunter was tired and sore. He felt dirty and disgusting. He just wanted some sleep. He could take to Flapjack in the morning.

Yeah...in the morning...

Hunter walked out of the shower. He had taken a longer shower than usual, he knew it was wrong, but on days like these he needed it to try to stop feeling so gross.

He sighed softly, especially as Flapjack immediately flew up to him.

Boy ok? Feel better? Doing better from horrible things he did?

"It's normal Flap-"

NOT NORMAL!!

Flapjack practically shrieked out, furiously flapping around the room.

Not normal not normal not normal not normal!!!!!

"Flap calm down!!! People could hear you!!

Not normal not normal not normal not normal-

"Flap please." Hunter practically begged, he could feel tears pricking his eyes. "Please I already feel like shit. Can we please not talk about this."

Flapjack went quiet for a moment before flying over and rubbing himself against Hunter, tweeting softly. Not normal, deserve better.

Hunter sighed softly, flopping onto his bed and staring at the wall as he felt the soft feathers against his neck, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and out.

As he laid there, the conversation with Steve started coming back.

Right...he was going to talk to Flapjack about it.

But as he looked at the time he knew he wouldn't have the time for it yet.

After work then.

Hunter kept feeling his mind wander to the conversation with Steve as he stood guard, to all the things Steve had said. To all of the things he didn't want to believe.

'He's been brainwashing you.'

'Nothing he says is true.'

'This place is a death cult.'

'The sigil's are dangerous.'

'Wild witches aren't dangerous, they're people who want to protect and save the people dragged into this cult.

'The Titan, at least the version Belos describes, isn't real.'

'Please, I promise I wouldn't lie about this Goldie, I care about you. Please believe me.'

Hunter had to keep himself from shaking his head to try to get rid of the thoughts. He needed to focus on guarding his uncle as he is required. But he kept going back to o what Steve had said about the Titan.

'He isn't real'

Hunter thought he was the only one who believed that, though he was the only person in the world who didn't believe the Titan existed. That even Wild Witches believed in the Titan in the way that they didn't want others to believe in them.

It was...a real shock to hear someone else say what he had believed for so so long. 

Hunter's thoughts were such a mess, he really needed to talk to Flapjack. Really needed to figure out where to go next alongside the one person he trusts more than anything. Flapjack, minus his weird vendetta against Uncle Belos, was the smartest palismen Hunter knew. He always gave great advice. He would know what to do, plus, Hunter was sure he'd be over what happened yesterday by now. He wouldn't mention it again at least 

Hunter walked upstairs, yawning. He had just finished helping his uncle go to bed, and now he was going upstairs, and he was going to have a good talk with Flap. He eventually finished coming upstairs and opened his door, Flapjack immediately flew over.

Why upset?

"I'm not upset Flap...just thinking." His voice was soft, he knew talking any louder would damage his throat at this time. Plus, he didn't want to be caught.

bout what?

"Well, yesterday, I had a talk with Steve and I...feel really confused, I...I was gonna talk to you about it yesterday but..."

Not normal.

"Yeah, even if I don't agree. and don't argue with me right now, we have other things to talk about Flap."

Start.

"Alright...well..." Hunter took a deep breath in and out. "Well...Steve...he said...that the coven was a 'cult', or more specifically a 'death cult'.

What cult?

"I'm not really sure. Honestly, He didn't really explain, I guess cult=bad? I think? I'm not sure. But 'death cult' sounds much worse. He said other things that made me think...a lot more. Things like saying that people were being brainwashed, that my uncle was lying to everyone, and...he had a lot of evidence to.......

Evidence?

"He...pointed things out. Like the fact people are isolated, especially from others they used to know. Or how the sigils are required, he said that was 'corrosion'. He told me so many things and I don't know what to even believe anymore."

We talk! Talk talk talk!!

"...Yeah. Let's talk."

Chapter Text

Hunter sat on his bed, Flapjack still fast asleep in his nest. He was deep in thought.

It was 3:26am, and Hunter was wide awake. He had been woken up by a nightmare, and after calming down, he found himself once again thinking about one thing and one thing specifically.

His talks with Steve and Flapjack, which had...really made him start to question the place he was raised in.

Sure, he was almost certain that Steve was a biased party, but Hunter knew and trusted Flapjack. Yet, he was far from ready to just automatically believe that his creator and uncle is some evil mastermind planning on collecting as many witches as possible to commit a genocide.

Seriously, just thinking about it now made Hunter want to roll his eyes HARD. The amounts of leaps in logic that thought process needed just made Hunter's head hurt. Sure, he could believe that something was fishy about the Emperor's Coven based on what Steve pointed out and the 'conditioning' people went through, but bringing it to that extreme made Hunter seriously question Steve's credibility.

So, what Hunter needed to do was to start doing his own research.

First of all, he needed to figure out what a 'cult' was, there definitely had to be at least one book about cults somewhere in his uncles private library! After all, with the restrictions on what is and isn't allowed in most libraries he was certain that books on 'cults' wouldn't be allowed anywhere except his uncles private library.

Huh, Steve had said restricting access to certain information was something 'cults' did. How did Steve know so much about 'cults' anyway? He was born and raised in the Coven! Him and his half-brother Matt are the sons of the Warden, so how did Steve get access to stuff about cults???

Hm. Something else to check out. Now, other than that, Hunter also needed to do some snooping about his uncles intentions. Normally, Hunter would never question his uncle and creator, but with all the accusations Steve was making(Hunter was grateful the other had no idea about the blood connection)against his uncle, Hunter felt as if he needed to prove a point.

Sure, his uncle lied about the existence of the Titan, but that does NOT immediately equal planned genocide. Hunter needed to prove just how ludicrous the accusations were.

Hunter also needed to keep an eye on Steve and the wild witches he was a part of. Sure, Steve said they weren't dangerous, even said they were the 'good guys', but Hunter was far from ready to believe that without some solid proof. He had already talked to Flapjack, nobody had any idea Hunter had a palisman except Darius, so Hunter had talked to Flapjack about spying and following Steve around while Hunter worked(Flapjack already had plenty of experience staying hidden), he needed to know as much information about Steve and the Wild Witches plans as possible. Even if he bought that they were somehow in the 'right', he needed to keep a close eye on them.

It would take some effort, to do all of this alongside his responsibilities as the Golden Guard, but he needed to get all the information and understand what was really going on in this situation.

And it started today.

As the weeks passed, Hunter and Flapjack worked together. Flapjack by spying on and following Steve around. Turns out, mostly the group of 'Wild Witches' were Steve, Katya, Amber, Derwin, and three witches he hadn't heard much about who hadn't been named, a cat demon named Severine, a and at the very head of this 'rebellion' is a woman. The woman is someone Hunter thought was a myth.

Eda the Owl Lady.

He was shocked when he heard that this woman was real. When Flapjack reported that the woman was the one in charge of these 'traitors'.

The Owl Lady was considered a myth, something he had heard people mumbling about. There were countless stories. Stories of her being a basalisk that escaped captivity and was eating the magic of all witches that came near it. Stories of her being a protector and terror, something that would lead and protect child while attacking adults. Stories of a woman with crazy hair and wild yellow eyes that could change into an owl like version of herself that looked like a harpy, stories of a dark beast with black eyes that was covered in feathers.

Hunter had never believed any of the stories, but apparently that myth was actuallly a fairly normal looking woman in a red dress and black cloak with gray hair, yellow eyes, and pale skin.

It was shocking, and it gave Hunter quite a bit to think about. The Wild Witch's meetings tended to be fairly simple from what Flap had told him. Mostly, the talked about opportunities and plotting against Hunter's uncle. They all consistently called the Coven a cult, and Flapjack gave Hunter consistent updates on their plans, which made Hunter's job easier. Especially since they really weren't that dangerous. The only met once a week, so Flap had only listened in on 3 meetings so far, but Hunter didn't foresee them being an actual threat. He certainly needed to get more information on Eda, but he could pretty easily brush them off as being all talk.

Now, the more important thing he was focusing on.

Learning what a 'cult' was, and snooping around to prove that his uncle had no bad intentions!

Over the last few weeks, Hunter had been going through his uncle's personal library. Now...he didn't exactly have...permission...but it would be fine! As long as he was careful, everything would be fine!!! Normally Hunter would never but this was for the greater good!! It was to learn whatever a 'cult' was and figure out for sure whether or not it was an actual bad thing for it to be a cult.

Then, there was the snooping. And that...Hunter hadn't quite gotten to yet. His schedule didn't really...allow him the time to snoop around his uncles things, he barely ha the time to sneak into his uncles study during dinner and grab a book or two to check out.

Speaking of which, currently Hunter had the two books he had collected.

As usual, the books were unmarked, no titles or indications of what they would teach or show on the outside. Hunter opened the bigger of the two, and read the first few words,

The Manipulation Techniques of Cults

BINGO!!!

Hunter lit up, finally he had something to go off of, sure, 'manipulation techniques' sounded bad, but there was always the chance it was for the greater good as his uncle always said!!!

And so, Hunter dove into reading the book, to learn what was truly going on in this place he was raised within.

Chapter Text

Hunter sat on his bed, using his bedside lamp to read the book about manipulation for probably the 50th times by now and he felt...weird.

Many of the things he had read were the exact things his uncle did. But...the book made them seem like really bad things.

Gaslighting, fear mongering, isolation, brainwashing, threats, these were many of the things Emperor Belos did, some Hunter himself even helped with. Not only were they described as being 'bad' and 'toxic' and 'damaging', even the names all sounded really bad. Like, fear mongering!? Talk about naming something in a way to give it a bad implication before you even knew what it was.

But...they couldn't be that bad!!! After all, his uncle just wanted to protect people!! It was all for the greater good!! He did it to protect people!!

Right...?

Hunter let out a frustrated scream into his hands.

Titandamnit!!! He didn't know how to feel!! And the description of 'cults' just felt wrong.

a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.

Nothing about the Emperor's Coven was 'sinister'!!! Sure, Hunter didn't believe in the Titan, but just because his uncle did and wanted to help others as well meant NOTHING!!! If anything it was noble and kind, he wanted to help everyone else see the light!! So what if this stupid book saw his methods as 'sinister'? Whoever wrote it probably had a bias against people who used these methods on other people!!

Plus, the island had over 500 people on it, did that really count as small?? Hunter wasn't really sure. It didn't feel small, but then again he hasn't been anywhere else in his life so it could be small. It just didn't seem very likely to him.

Hunter shut the book quietly, so as not to alert anyone to him being awake or wake up Flapjack. The poor bird had been getting more use and exercise now than before they even met. So Hunter wanted Flap to get all of the rest he needed.

Hunter took the book and hid it in his bookcase once again. If his uncle realized it was missing, he'll just blame it on Kikimora, maybe even plan it in her room. He wouldn't mind watching her be the one beaten for once.

But for now, he has more important things to do!! Especially since it was almost midnight and he hadn't even started on his paperwork yet!! He really needed to pay more attention to his work, just the idea of how angry his uncle would be if he missed the deadline for his paperwork made him find drowning himself a much better alternative.

Ever since reading that book...Hunter couldn't help but notice every bit of manipulation his uncle used.

He noticed when his uncle told speeches about the danger of Wild Witches and how it perfectly matched up with fear mongering.

He noticed when his uncle would purposely isolate people from the same place from each other, making sure they had nobody to lean on except people already completely into the coven and it's beliefs.

He noticed when his uncle would, 'make an example' of certain witches. Especially with the fact the hanging of a 'Wild Witch' was planned for next week. It was an unsaid threat, telling everyone around if they didn't conform to the beliefs of the coven they would be next.

Hunter knew he should tell his uncle about the rebels...even if they were 'harmless' they were still going against the Coven's beliefs...but he just...couldn't bring himself to tell him.

He noticed the sheer amount of gaslighting in the coven. He watched senior members gaslight new members. He watched certain scouts continuously tell other scouts they were 'wrong' in certain beliefs until they agreed...he even caught himself gaslighting others. Just yesterday a scout kept telling him she saw Plant magic section leader Terra Snapdragon nearly kill a coven guard. Hunter had rolled his eyes beneath his mask and simply shook his head. The scout kept insisting and insisting, seeming extremely panicked, and Hunter had simply continued to shake his head, even threatening the woman to stop lying through very specific hand motions until she agreed it didn't happen.

It was only a few hours later when Hunter was doing his paperwork that the realization hit him that he had gaslighted that scout. Because he could easily believe Snapdragon had threatened a guard's life. She tried to kill at least 1 person a day and threatened to kill 10 more. But the scouts, especially the newer ones, weren't suppose to know that. Hunter had probably done that exact same thing dozens of times as the Golden Guard, even more as a scout.

He decided it was best to ignore that initial reaction. After all, he had been doing this kind of thing since he first became a scout!! How could it be bad then? Especially when his uncle did it more than anyone else Hunter knew?

The brainwashing was a bit harder to catch, but honestly? Probably every part of Coven life was filled with it, and that was a good thing!! If you chose to be a part of this coven then you need to believe in it! The higher-ups like Hunter did it the most, and it wasn't nearly as bad of a thing as the book tried to make it seem like.

Yet the more Hunter realized the manipulation he took part in, the more...disgusted he felt.

Hunter fought the urge to shake his head, instead making sure he was straight and imposing as Emperor Belos's right hand man. Especially as he watched Raine come into the room and bow to the Emperor. He wanted Raine to see how serious Hunter was. Wanted the other to know that the kid they chose to help was fully capable and perfectly ok.

Was that a form of gaslighting?

"Hello Emperor Belos, is there something you need?" Raine asked, bowing to the Emperor and not standing up until the Emperor gave them a nod. Hunter felt a rush of satisfaction seeing the respect given to his uncle. It was something Hunter knew he would never be allowed, not when he wasn't even a real person, a grimwalker did not deserve respect, and it always amazed and pleased him watching his uncle and creator be give that respect. Especially since it was more than deserved, it was owed. Especially with the noble mission his uncle was on.

"Yes, as a newer section leader, I'm sure you aren't yet fully aware of the rules, but a few days ago, a few scouts caught you giving private lessons to a few Bards, and I must say, I'm very disappointed in whoever taught you the rules of the coven because that is extremely against the rules."

Hunter couldn't help but feel dread filling him at Raine making such an obvious mistake, alongside feeling genuine horror that Raine was already wanting to be a part of that side of the coven. Private mentoring was technically allowed for the section leaders...but only under specific circumstances. For one, they needed to have been a section leader for at least 5 years and gained the Emperor's complete trust, for two, they needed specific permission from the Emperor, and for three, their student had to be reviewed and chosen by the Emperor(Almost always, these 'students' were coven members who had yet to fully agree with the teachings of the covens. These 'private tutoring sessions' were usually the section leaders drilling into the person's head the consequences of not doing what was required for the coven, some section leaders, such as Terra and Adrian, were more violent about it than others).

So the fact Raine had attempted to do it on their own both horrified and shocked Hunter. Why would such a calm, kind presence who had been so sweet to Hunter want to start private tutoring!? Especially since Raine was one of the only people Hunter knew who he had never seen gaslighting or brainwashing someone before.

But...why was Hunter upset? Wasn't it a good thing Raine was so eager to be a proper part of the Coven? Sure...he had liked Raine's kindness, but, in this environment wasn't it inevitable everyone in power would eventually want that? Would want to show there loyalty, so the could get to the top and stay on top?

Hunter didn't get his feelings of dread. This was normal for the coven, it was good.

It had to be.

"I'm so sorry Emperor Belos, I was told section leaders were allowed to give private tutoring sessions. I wouldn't have done it if I knew sir."

"Ah. I see. Well, seems it was truly an honest mistake then, hm? Though, just as a precaution, I'll be interviewing all of your 'students' and Miss Snapdragon will be giving you some sessions to fully understand the rules of being a section leader. Since she's the one who's been around the longest it seems to be the most appropriate person to teach you."

Yeah, Terra Snapdragon had been a section leader longer than Hunter had been alive. She was a complete stuck-up and entitled asshole too. Though...could Hunter call her entitled when she was actually owed everything she believed she did? Whether it be tea or having any scout she wanted from her section at her beck and call.

Yet Hunter knew better than to say that out loud. He wasn't an idiot. Terra was the most respected section leader as a result of being the one around the longest. saying anything so disrespectful out loud would be a death sentence.

All Hunter could hope was her entitleness didn't rub off on Raine when they learned all of the things owed to them as a section leader.

Oh who was he kidding? Raine would probably be just like her by the end of the month. That's how all the other section leaders she had mentored ended up after all.

Hunter couldn't help the feeling of disgust at himself at how sad that made him feel.

This was normal!! This was how things worked!! Why the hell was he upset!?

Whatever. Hunter took a discrete but deep breath. He was already trying to keep the proper amount of distance between himself and Raine. When Raine started acting more like Terra he could simply distance himself from the other completely. It would be fine, especially since this was just how the coven worked!! This was normal, this was ok!! Hunter shouldn't be upset and he wouldn't allow himself to be any longer.

He might talk to Flapjack about it though...

Chapter Text

Hunter stared at himself in the mirror.

Currently, he was dressed nothing like normal. He wasn't wearing his Golden Guard mask, instead using a black mask that reached up to his nose and covered his lower face. There was still a hint of the scar, but it was mostly hidden. In fact, he wasn't in his uniform at all. Wearing the standard coven uniform for male non-scouts. A grey shirt with long sleeves and black pants and dark grey shoes. Luckily the shirt came with a hood he put over his head. Every once in a while his uncle had him or other scouts go undercover in the town. Today was one of those days he went undercover. His uncle was even generous enough to give him some snails to spend while he spied on the stores his uncle gave him a list to visit.

It was all part of the control. His uncle always needed eyes everywhere, and what better way to do that then have those in charge of enforcing the law spy on the town? Hunter made sure his binder was adjusted properly, then spoke up.

"How do I look Flap?" He asked quietly, and Flapjack made a happy little chirp.

Good! Good! Love it!! Hunter smiled brightly, and proceeded to jump out of the window and used his artificial staff to reach the ground. After all, his uncle was unaware of Flapjack, so he was expected to use his artificial staff to sneak out and do things. Hunter rode his staff into the forest, then walked until he found his hiding spot.

It was the place he found the basalisk all those years ago, and it was where he always hid his staff when going undercover and all the things he couldn't bring into the castle. Such as his supply of food for Flapjack, his extra pairs of clothing, and even something Flapjack had spent months convincing him to buy.

An extra binder.

Hunter had immediately felt immense guilt and hatred for himself upon buying it, and pretty much refused to use it afterwards. Even the time when his uncle took his binder away for an entire month he hadn't dared, even got into an argument with Flapjack over it. Hunter shot the binder one last glare before exiting the hideout and walking towards town. Flapjack sat on his shoulder, and Hunter couldn't help but smile softly. Going undercover and Hunter's only ever break on his birthday were the only times Hunter could simply be with Flapjack in public. Hunter slipped into the crowds. Every single person wearing the same exact outfit as him as he looked at his list.

Hunter was supposed to go to six different locations, spend at least an hour spying on everyone in the shop listening and looking for any suspicious activities, and then return to the castle by dinnertime. Which gave him a few extra hours of freetime to spy on all of the members of the coven.

Hunter looked at his list, humming at what it said. He needed to start off his mission spying on the island's childrens center. The place was where parents who couldn't watch their children who were too young to be on their own(and/or didn't trust them). Hunter hummed softly as he noticed how uncle had signed him up to be there from 8am-10am, and that he would need to spy he glanced at the clock nearest to him, it was already 7:30. Hunter immediately started walking towards the center, eventually he reached the center and would spy on the children there and the ways they were being treated. Hunter hummed softly, slipping the paper into his pocket as he walked up to the center.

"Flap?" Hunter whispered, and the palisman made a questioning noise. "You know the drill."

And just like that Falpjack flew off. Hunter smiled softly under his mask as he entered the center, looking at the time, 7:50, before walking up to the desk.

The receptionist looked at him and raised her eyebrow. "Name?"

Hunter raised his hands and signed his name, knowing his uncle always used Hunter's real name for these kinds of things. After all, almost nobody knew Hunter as anyone except the Golden Guard, the name 'Hunter Wittebane' was meaningless to everyone else. Plus, Hunter knew she would understand him. He had been sent here a couple times a year since becoming a scout, so even if he was pretty sure the receptionists didn't recognize him, he knew this one understood DSL. This one was actually his favorite purely for that reason. He knew nothing about her, but the sheer fact he didn't have to write everything down made him feel very warm inside.

The receptionist hummed in response, and looked at her clipboard. "Hm, right on time. Come with me." She stated, standing up as Hunter immediately followed behind her. He was silent as they walked through the halls. After all, he couldn't risk talking. Not when his uncle knew he was undercover. Soon enough, she opened the door and Hunter walked into the room holding all of the 10-13 year olds. Hunter walked in without another sound, he noticed how all of the childrens were doing different things, some were playing, some were doing other things, in the corner of the room, he saw a girl with green hair pouting.

Hm. Hunter walked up to her, she didn't seem to be older than 11, and she furiously rubbed away a tear. Hunter's eyebrows furrowed and he questioned whether or not he should engage the other. But then he remembered why he was here, and if this girl was upset because of how things worked in the coven he would definitely need to report it to his uncle.

So he walked up to the girl, and sat down next to her. Didn't say a word, just sat down.

"What do you want!?" She snapped, and Hunter simply took out his notepad and pen and wrote down 4 words.

'Why are you upset?' He showed her the notepad and he watched as the tears only grew, but she didn't tell him why she was upset, instead she glared at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know!?" She snapped, immediately looking away from Hunter, refusing to make eye contact as she furiously continued to rub away her tears. Sniffling softly

And...Hunter felt bad for her. She was clearly upset over something, something that was clearly hurting her. And...Hunter couldn't help but think back to when he was her age, back when he had just gotten his voice back and was terrified of saying anything.

Hunter quietly stood up, walking away from the girl. He walked past multiple kids who were reading or playing, getting the tissue box and walking back over to the girl. Gently setting down the tissue box. The girl looked at her with tearful eyes before grabbing a tissue and blowing her nose.

"I-I-I never wanted to move here." She mumbled as she continued to softly cry. "I thought-I thought I was being good. That I was doing everything my mother wanted!!! I befriended the girls she wanted! I was mean to Willow! I helped with business and did everything she told me to do!!! But-" The girl let out a soft cry. "But I guess it wasn't enough because my parents decided to move us here. Mother told me it was because her and dad were 'enlightened', that moving here would be good for all of us!" She scoffed. "As if!! I hate it here!! I hate this stupid uniform! I hate what's being taught! I don't believe in any of this stupid 'Titan' shit!! I just want to go home." 

Hunter froze...because everything that was just said to him gave him...very mixed feelings.

On one hand, he knew why he was here, he knew what he was supposed to do. He needed to report this to his uncle, to let him know everything...but...

Hunter looked at the tissues. Had he manipulated her into sharing this information? Had him giving that little kindness been nothing more than him manipulating the girl into sharing this information? Was that all he would ever be? Someone who manipulates and hurts others?

She would learn. The girl was still new here, she would learn. He didn't need to say anything. She was new here, she didn't understand yet. He didn't need to say anything because she would eventually learn her lesson. She would learn to believe in the Titan no matter what. She would. And if she kept taking like that...the she would get in trouble. And then she'd believe Hunter manipulated her into sharing that information so she'd get in trouble.

Hunter started writing before he knew what he was doing, showing her the notepad.

'Why don't you believe in the Titan? Don't you know that's not allowed? You could get arrested for being a wild witch if you keep saying stuff like that.' She was new here, she didn't understand yet. Hunter could help her.

She blinked, looking at Hunter with a blank expression. "What's a wild witch?"

Hunter couldn't keep the look of absolute shock and horror from coming onto his face. She didn't know!?!?!? How was that possible!? How new was she!?

"Why are you looking at me like that!? What is-" Hunter put his hand on the girl's face before she could continue. He couldn't let her drag attention towards them!! Especially since she didn't know the most important part of the Coven's teachings!!! He shook his head furiously, and she blinked as he slowly removed his hand before furiously writing in his notepad, writing down all the basics of the different types of witches.

Hunter showed her the notepad...and he watched as she read it...before a look of absolute horror crossed her face, she looked at Hunter, then the paper, then Hunter again. "You cannot be serious right now." She said, her voice wavering in what sounded like fear.

Hunter immediately nodded, a serious expression on his face. He was certain her fear was about the danger of wild witches, the risk of them hurting them for disobeying. She blinked again, before letting out a long, shuddering breath.

"People are killed for this?" She asked softly with horror in her tone. "You're telling me that being accused of being a Wild Witch gets you killed!?" Her voice was shaking and Hunter immediately nodded, why was that what she was upset about?

Hunter tilted his head and wrote in his notepad, before showing it to her. 'Why are you upset about that? They deserve it for going against the Titan and emperor.'

She stared at his notepad, looked at him, looked at the notepad, then him again.

"How long have you lived here?" She asked, and Hunter gave her a surprised look, why was she asking that??? She didn't back down though, continued to stare at him until he responded.

'My entire life, why?' He showed her the paper, and she looked at him again.

She fell silent for a few moments, looking at Hunter before speaking up. "Could you tell me more then? I want to know what this place is like. I want to know everything you can tell me like the coven."

Hunter blinked, he couldn't help but feel shocked at the 180.

Huh. Guess telling her the dangers of being a Wild Witch were enough to completely convince her to change her ways!!!! Guess he manipulated her again

Hunter couldn't help but beam as he took out his notepad and started writing down everything he knew about the coven. Showing her and watching her nod over and over as he gave her all the information possible.

The 2 hours passed by quicker than Hunter would have liked before he was being called to leave.

"Hunter Wittebane! It's time to go." Hunter turned to see one of the employees prepared to escort him out, he started to stand up, but before he could go the girl grabbed his arm.

"Wait!! Um...when are you going to be here next?" She asked and Hunter blinked, before rubbing the back of his neck and just shaking his head. "You...aren't going to be here again for a while, are you?" Hunter nodded.

"Well, when can we meet up next? I want to keep learning as much about this place as possible!!" The girl said it all quickly with a certain gleam in her eyes and Hunter blinked, hesitating for a moment before he quicky wrote down stuff in his notepad.

'I don't have much freetime. I do a lot of work for my uncle. I usually don't finish up until around 10:30pm.' He showed it to the girl quicky, before turning around, but she grabbed his arm.

"Wait!! Then...how about we meet up behind here at 11 next Saturday? Please? I promise I won't tell anyone! I really want to learn more about this place as quickly as possible!!" The girl had a certain amount of panic in her voice as she looked at Hunter.

Wow...she...really wanted to learn more about the Coven.

And before Hunter could stop himself he gave the girl a nod and left the room, allowing himself to be escorted out the worker, giving her an apologetic look when she glared at him for taking so long.

What had he gotten himself into with that girl...?

Wait...HE NEVER EVEN GOT HER NAME!!!

Chapter Text

Hunter walked through the coven town, going through his list. After the whole thing and meeting the girl, who he really needed to get the name of, He had finished with most of the spying he needed to do, that is, until he looked and realized something, doing a double take.

His next spot would be at Darius's business.

The section leader doubled as someone who made and fixed clothing, due to section leaders often having plenty of free time this was fairly normal. Terra and Adrien usually spent more time with private tutoring lessons than anything else, but everyone else usually spent their free time either focusing on their magic or their businesses.

Hunter had never been asked to spy on a section leader before, never. He felt shocked it was even happening now...and more than feeling nervous...he felt dread.

Boy ok?

Hunter sighed softly, sometimes he forgot Flap couldn't read. The palisman was so intelligent in so many ways it was easy to forget he couldn't read or would occasionally get trapped in cups.

"I'm fine Flap." He spoke softly as he walked through the coven, inaudible to anyone other than the red cardinal on his shoulder. "Uncle wants me to go to Darius's shop." After those words Flapjack immediately made a surprised noise, and Hunter couldn't blame him, he felt just as surprised.

Why???

"How would I know? Uncle doesn't tell me why I need to spy, just that I do, and I follow orders." Hunter spoke softly, even as he felt immense dread. Darius knew what he looked like. And he knew that he would be sent to the coven to spy on different places. Hunter found himself standing in place, staring at his list.

He couldn't help but think through his options. If he went to the shop, Darius would immediately know what was going on. The section leader was far from stupid, in fact he was one of the most intelligent people Hunter knew, so he would easily be able to put the pieces together, especially since Hunter had absentmindedly mentioned today he would be spying on people when Darius returned his binder. But more than anything...it would mean talking to Darius.

And Hunter did not want to do that, at least, he didn't want to be the person to start it. Especially since Darius had been avoiding him since he found him after that punishment. It made Hunter both frustrated and angry at himself for being frustrated. It had been over a month since then, and the only time Darius had talked to him since then was when he was returning his binder, and that was a while ago. The worst part was how Darius looked at him. Hunter may have just thought Darius was disgusted with him or found him pathetic or was angry his punishment wasn't worse, but he had seen Darius's face. The way Darius looked at him was...weird. More than anything, he looked at Hunter, or more specifically his mask(and probably his face by extension)...with a...haunted look. The was Darius looked at him...was as if he had learned something horrible about the golden guard that was haunting to him, more specifically, something with Hunter's face.

And Hunter...had no idea why Darius was looking at him like that. What about him was so horrifying to Darius? Why was the section leader so put off by his face now after being so chill and mostly cold about it earlier. It was really confusing and uncomfortable, especially since he couldn't figure out what was so horrifying to Darius. Especially since the only thing Hunter had told Darius that might have brought on this treatment was explaining the reason he couldn't talk...but why would that freak him out??? Sure, learning for the first time the teenager you knew was facing punishments usually reserved for those in high ranking positions, always adults, but considering Hunter was the Golden Guard, right hand man to Emperor Belos and #3 in the coven chain of command(#1 being 'the Titan' and #2 being Emperor Belos), shouldn't Darius have realized he would face adult punishments? Heck, Hunter had been facing punishments worse than anyone else in the coven since he was created, since Grimwalkers like Hunter were much less deserving of leniency during and with punishment.

So even if Darius wasn't aware Hunter wasn't a real witch, why would the coven head be acting like this because of Hunter's completely reasonable punishments?

Yet...Hunter didn't know what he was supposed to ask that. After all, it wasn't his business to ask the section leader's reasons for treating him weirdly. But still, his only other option was to...not...go...to...

Going to the shop it is!!! It will be fine! Plus, he's sure that if Darius doesn't want to be around Hunter he can always just stay in the back and then leave as soon as possible!!!

Yeah!

He...can't...not do it.

Not....

He can't.

"Let's go Flap."

Chapter Text

Darius never forgot the day he first laid eyes on the brand new Golden Guard, and he felt nothing but hatred towards the brat. He was clearly the perfect servant to Emperor Belos, probably no older than 18. Completely and totally loyal and brainwashed. But of course, that wasn't even the biggest reason he hated the spoiled brat so much.

No.

He hated the brat because Hunter was a walking reminder of what happened to Hunter's predecessor.

The fact he was executed ruthlessly.

Darius's mentor and best friend was the former Golden Guard, he went by Wynn and was someone Darius trusted with his life...and someone who helped Darius break out of the brainwashing of the cult known as the Emperor's Coven

Darius was born and raised on the island, growing up he was constantly brainwashed into believing that everything about this cult was a good thing. And from a young age he had immense talent in Abominations, so much talent in fact, that by the time he was in his 20's he had become the Abominations section leader, and the person who initiated him and taught him everything about his new role?

The Golden Guard.

The Golden Guard Darius knew was sarcastic, kind, flirtatious, charismatic, and extremely intelligent. Wynn was also secretly rebelling against Emperor Belos.

Darius had accidently found Wynn's mountains of evidence against Belos. It had been insane for Darius, having all this evidence thrown down his throat at once. It was like being told that the sky was blue your entire life, only for someone to reveal to you the sky was red, And suddenly, you're forced to see the red sky all at once against your will. All of this evidence really proving the fact Emperor Belos was not only a fraud...but had dark, evil, plans for the Coven and the people he was brainwashing.

And in the center of it all...were plans to sacrifice a 'Grimwalker', to use the life of an artificial being to end hundreds of others.

Wynn had found Darius crying, surrounded in papers...and had comforted him gently. Had explained.

6 months later Darius was forced to watch Wynn's execution, never even being able to see Wynn's face before losing him, and 10 years later this spoiled little brat takes his mentors and role models place.

The longer Darius knew the brat, the more he hated the new Golden Guard. The Golden Guard was completely and totally loyal to the emperor. He was annoyingly loyal to Belos, and everything he said was spouting the brainwashing bullshit Emperor Belos taught the people within this horrible cult. It was disgusting and infuriating. Honestly, sometimes Darius regretted learning sign language not only because the Golden Guard was a spoiled brat who refused to learn beast speak for Eberwolf AND because he was stuck being one of the few fucking people who bothered to learn the language. Darius's want to make things less annoying when dealing with the brat ended up making them more annoying.

That is...until he stumbled into the last thing he expected....

Darius had realized some of his important paperwork had been handed over to the Golden Guard, and he felt extremely pissed, more than ready to tell off the brat for not being more aware. After all, shouldn't the brat have realized he had the wrong paperwork!?

Darius scoffed and walked up to the door, knocking before opening the door. "Hey Golden Guard you-" Darius froze as he stared at the last thing he expected.

The Golden Guard was maskless, had a red palisman on his shoulder, and for a few moments they just stared at each other.

"........" Darius just...stared. The Golden Guard had a horrible scar on his face, one that the Abominations section leader would have never thought the Golden Guard would have especially not one so you-

Wait...

"You can't be older than-" Before Darius could finish that sentence the Golden Guard slammed the door closed and Darius heard a lock clicking. Darius just...stood there.

He could barely describe how he was feeling other than......pure shock. He couldn't stop imagining that scar, seeing that slash across the teen's neck. Nor could he forget that face.

The Golden Guard...couldn't be older than 12 or 13.

"You accidentally took my paperwork Golden Guard." Darius said in a blank voice, the shock audible as he stood in front of the door. "Just...bring it over." And with that Darius rushed off, his head spinning in circles.

That..created a mess Darius wasn't sure how to feel about even now. Him and the Golden Guard got into a...lot of uncomfortable situations. A few shouting matches(Or rather Darius yelling while Hunter signed furiously), a LOT of threats, and in the end the ended up creating a deal and truce, and shortly after Darius realized something.

The Golden Guard was just...a scared kid. Sure, he acted all cocky and like a total brat, but he was quickly learning that the Golden Guard was much more than that. Not to mention, Darius would be lying if he said he wasn't both surprised and impressed upon learning that Flapjack, the Golden Guard's palisman, was a secret from the emperor. Not to mention, the Golden Guard was extremely smart He had excellent problem-solving skills, was a very quick learner, and as Darius quickly learned, despite only being 13, that Hunter was extremely good at doing paperwork and finding good solutions for different things. Of course, it was disgusting a teenager was doing paperwork, but still. In the end...Darius started noticing something...suspicious.

A little after they created their initial truce, the Golden Guard had knocked on his door and asked him to fix his binder. Apparently, Hunter had accidently ripped his binder on a mission.

Darius had rolled his eyes and quickly fixed the damn thing, but it happened again. And again. And again. And again.

Eventually Darius was just convinced that the damn teen was just doing this to annoy him(It was working), and when he asked why the Golden Guard was constantly having him fix the damn thing, he learned something.

He...couldn't sew.

Huh.

And Darius had done something he never would have a few months before.

He offered the Golden Guard sewing lessons.

The first few times were pretty uncomfortable and nerve-wracking, It was weird sitting across from the teenager he had hated for so long and teaching him to sew but over time...he grew to genuinely enjoy the company. Flapjack was a delight and clearly held a lot of love for the Golden Guard, and the teen was so eager and willing to learn. It was almost shocking just how much the Golden Guard clearly loved to learn. He always put 110% into every lesson and...it was genuinely admirable, and impressive. Something else Darius learned was that the teen was a really good kid. He was genuinely caring and loving towards Flapjack, extremely aware of his palisman needs and it was far from oncesided. Flapjack was extremely attached and attentive to the Golden Guard. actively being aware of everything the other needed, and the amount of times Darius had watched Flapjack pull Hunter's hair noodle until he agreed to do whatever he needed to was honestly slightly worrying.

Just how much did this kid ignore his own needs?

The more Darius paid attention to that fact, the more he realized just how little this kid cared for himself. For some reason the Golden Guard seemed to have...absolutely no self respect or love.

It was...worrying. Honestly Darius couldn't help but feel like the teen would be dead without Flapjack up his ass about taking care of himself.

And...Darius found himself not liking that fact in the slightest.

Honestly, the longer Darius knew the teenager the more concerned he felt towards him. The more he realized that this teenager was the farthest from fine he had ever seen within this cult.

And as much as Darius wanted to do more for the Golden Guard...he couldn't. The Golden Guard was extremely loyal to the Emperor. No matter how many missions he was sent from that he came back with some really bad injuries, no matter how many times Darius watched the Emperor make the blond stand next to him for over 8 hours at a time, no matter how the Emperor treated the Golden Guard, Darius knew for certain that the Golden Guard was completely and totally loyal.

And that made him a risk. It made him a risk to the thing that Wynn started.

The rebellion.

Wynn was once the leader, the spearhead, the one leading all of those who wanted to fight against the Emperor.

That is, until the Emperor figured it out. Wynn had taken all of the blame, all of the credit. Darius had overheard that Wynn spent his entire last moments convincing the Emperor of it being all him, of the entire thing being his idea and his alone. Of himself being the only one to blame.

It...broke Darius the first time he heard it, and in the end Darius had been forced to take over the rebellion despite him having no idea how to do that.

It was hard, the first few years, and about 5 years after the former Golden Guard's death, he had willingly given up control to a very specific woman.

Eda the Owl Lady. the sister of Lilith Clawthorne, and someone who chose to come here for one reason and one reason alone.

To take down the Emperor.

She never fully explained, simply said she had found a little girl who was hurt extremely badly by this place and wanted to take down a place who could hurt and traumatize a 6 year old so badly...she also mentioned that there was a little boy this girl knew and wanted to save from this hellhole as well she would be looking for in her freetime.

It was a truly horrible thing to hear, especially when Eda described some of the abuse that poor little girl was put through. It had horrified Darius, but the Section Leader was convinced that there was no way the Golden Guard was going through anything that bad.

It had ended up being so much worse.

Honestly, Eda's story had made the small rebellion 10x more determined to take down this horrible cult who could treat a little girl and a little boy so badly.

Which was also why Darius couldn't allow himself to be closer to the Golden Guard. He was probably the most loyal member of the cult Darius knew, even if Darius genuinely did want to help the other he just...couldn't.

At least...yet. They were gonna take down this horrible cult, and then Darius could hopefully get the Golden Guard into therapy and help him become unbrainwashed from the bullshit that the Emperor was spewing. As much as it killed him, Darius couldn't risk becoming close to someone so close and loyal to Emperor Belos, especially someone as smart as the Golden Guard. Darius knew how intelligent that kid was. Especially as the teenager turned 14, Darius knew for certain that getting to close to someone like the Golden Guard would be a risk he couldn't go through with.

At least, that was what he thought until it happened. around 6 months after he started giving sewing lessons, and a couple months after the teen turned 14, Darius was walking down the halls...when he found the Golden Guard on the floor, bleeding out. Darius had gasped in absolute horror, rushing over to Hunter and immediately picking him up, desperately checking his pulse. Luckily it was strong, and Darius immediately and quickly picked the teen up. He had clearly lost a lot of blood and needed to be tended to at once.

So without a single thought to how horrible and disgusting the blood was, or how hard it would be to wash it out, Darius scooped up the child and ran straight to the teens room. Knowing full well the he had a first-aid kit Darius could use. They didn't have time to go all the way to the healing wing across the castle!! Darius ran as fast as he could until he reached Hunter's room and then immediately started tending to him. He had to take off the teen's shirt and binder and immediately winced, the injury was bad. Darius rushed over to grab the first-aid kit and started immediately cleaning, caring for, and wrapping the injury, and once it was done...Darius almost immedately collapsed, breathing heavily and tightly holding the teenager's hand.

All he could think about was seeing the Golden Guard on the floor, bleeding out, breathing ragged and completely unstable.

Something wasn't right. Sure Darius had seen some bad injuries on the Golden Guard before but...but never this bad. Never so horrible, never so much blood, never so...violent.

Darius's breathing quickened and he tightly held the Golden Guard's hand he...he needed space. He needed to get away. He needed...he just...he needed to get away, take a shower, get all this blood off of him.

And then he was going to wait until Hunter woke up and find out why the hell the teenager hadn't gone to the healing wing!!! When the injuries are this bad from his missions-UGH!!

Darius took a deep breath as he continued to stare at Hunter.

It...maybe...no.

There was no way.

There was no way in hell the Emperor would put his hands on a teenager.

Sure, he did it with the section leaders, and with the old Golden Guard, but this one was 13. The Emperor wouldn't put his hands on a teenager...right? At least...he wouldn't without Darius figuring it out...right????

Yeah. Yep. Definitely. Absolutely.

This had a reasonable explanation, and Darius would be able to talk to Hunter about it when the teenager woke up and everything would be explained and it would all make perfect sense!!