These are far overdue, but at this point, I’m of the mindset “better late than never.” I’ve been going through some stuff and motivation has been hard to come by. I’m working on that, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Also, I want to thank @8th.w0nd3r for allowing me to borrow their character, Levi. Thank you once more. #beloctober #emperorbelos #belos #toh #theowlhouse #tohfanart #tohhunter #levi #conformatorium #goodau #luznoceda #tohoc #msnitamcgray #redridinghood #tohhooty https://www.instagram.com/p/CnAhzmLuVQm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
In which Raine meets Hunter years before canon, and decides that a kid like him could use all the help he could get with an uncle like Belos. Even if they couldn't go much, they could try something, couldn't they?
Years down the line, Raine is exposed as a traitor to the Emperor's Coven, and they are bound by the brand on their own wrist. Hunter notices. And as to be expected, he has more than a few complaints.
It's not a big surprise on who he goes to for help.
Luz and King were just as perplexed as Hunter, and he didn’t know if he was relieved by that or not. Luz had given him his staff back at least, so he had that.
The death glares from the small demon dog--didn’t that guy have a broken horn last time he checked--he could’ve done without, though.
“Are you sure this isn’t a trap?” King asked Luz for the fifth time, never taking his narrowed eyes off Hunter.
“Eda believed him, so probably not.” Luz shrugged.
“Or the old crone’s losing her touch.” Hunter couldn’t help but add, and in turn got two glares trained on him. “I mean, it’s not, but still.” He added, raising his hands, palms up.
“That’s exactly what someone who was planning a trap would say.” King accused.
“Come on, I’d have way more nuance than that.” Hunter rolled his eyes. “If anything, I’m more suspicious of them being so gung-ho about helping me at all.”
“Why helping? Isn't that what you wanted?” Luz raised a brow.
“Because of basically everything?” Hunter replied. “I was expecting you to agree to help on your own because you do that with everyone. Getting the Owl Lady is more than I bargained for.”
“If this person is so important to you that you came to me for help,” Luz said, stroking a hand down King’s back as he continued to glare. “Then it’s gotta be something serious. And I’m ‘too nice’ to let you go off on your own, or something.” She muttered.
“I--oh.” Hunter blinked slowly, feeling his cardinal hop off his shoulder and onto his knee, pressing its face along his hand resting there. He probably should’ve expected that, Luz didn’t seem like the kind of person to skimp out on offering help to anything that breathed.
But that, of course, still left the question as to why Eda agreed to it.
“Alright kiddies, are we ready to make bad decisions?”
The three turned, Eda, of course, slipping in through the living room doorway in her usual getup, staff clutched her hand. He eyed the owl palisman sitting atop it for the briefest of moments, his twitching hands the only thing betraying him holding back from grabbing it. They’d never help him if he tried to get another one for Belos, and he could never do that to another palisman in front of his cardinal. The urge was still there all the same.
“Always, but why are we helping him with our bad decisions?” King asked, pointing a claw towards Hunter.
“Because he’s our best way in. And he’s the Golden Guard, kid could probably walk the entire Castle in his sleep.” Eda said with a shrug as she breezed by them.
Hunter decided to forgo correcting that in all his years in the Castle, there were still sections of it that Belos had forbidden him from going in at certain times, or he just hadn’t explored nearly enough to remember the layout from memory. In a place like that, he was perfectly content staying in his own little corner.
“Also,” Eda said, turning on her heel and lazily pointing her staff towards Hunter. “Forgot to ask this earlier, but now is as good a time as any. Why do you, of all people, want to help someone like Raine after they betrayed the Coven?” She inquired.
It was a test, Hunter could see one like this set up from a mile away. Belos always phrased his better, made them trickier. He snorted and pushed Eda’s staff out of his face like it was a minor inconvenience.
“I knew them before their betrayal, in a sense.” Hunter said simply. “They did a lot for me, and I want to return the favor. I’m not helping them after they escape the Coven of course, then they’re on their own.” He added quickly. “And I’m not taking unnecessary risks. But I couldn’t not try.”
“Wasn’t asking me in the first place an unnecessary risk? After all, you keep insisting you didn’t need me.” Luz said, brow raised.
“It was a risky caution, not an unnecessary one. This, however,” He waved his hand towards the three of them. “Is getting very close to being one.”
“Well, if you ditch us halfway through, I’ll be sure you live with the guilt for the rest of your life.” Eda said simply.
“Can’t wait.” Hunter said dryly.
“That’s the spirit. C’mon, kids, let's get to the Conformatorium.” Eda said with a grin, jerking her head towards the front door as she began walking again, Luz and King quick to follow with Hunter trailing behind.
“How do you know the BATs, anyway?” Luz asked, scooping up King in her arms as Eda pushed open the front door.
“Old friends of mine. Had a bit of a rebellious streak with them.” Eda said casually, looking back at Luz with a grin and a flicked ear.
Recently, then, Hunter thought to himself. The BATs had been around before Raine was ever considered head of the Bard Coven, but they hadn’t gained notoriety until around the time Raine got promoted, and Eda was most certainly not someone who could keep a rebellion like that a secret for long if she was in it, they would’ve found out before now. But she didn’t exactly sound or look like someone who was lying to them.
So he figured out three things at that moment. That Eda’s time with the BATs had been recent and brief, that neither Luz nor King knew about it, and that she clearly must have known Raine beyond sharing a conversation in passing. Which already brought up a whole list of questions, his biggest one being how well exactly Eda had known Raine. Because she clearly worried about them enough to immediately trust a stranger who’d done nothing but torment her when he came to her kid for help to rescue them, but that might have just been loyalty to a leader.
Maybe Eda was a new member, and looking to break out her old rebellion buddies to kickstart their plans again.
“Don’t you live in a rebellious streak?” Hunter snarked instead, holding out his staff and letting his cardinal hide in his hood as he pulled it up. The guards at the Conformatorium would recognize him with the mask on.
“A slightly different rebellious streak, then.” Eda rolled her eyes, taking King from Luz and setting him on the staff in front of her as Luz climbed on behind her.
He’d have to keep an eye on her, Hunter thought as he narrowed his eyes. He didn’t trust a word she said about leaving Raine alone once they were rescued, and he didn’t put it past her to grab Raine and start the BATs up again after they had already been through more than enough danger.
Raine never exactly seemed like the type who’d stand their ground when egged on by someone like the Owl Lady, and he’d be damned if they were put right back in prison because of this lady.
He’d make sure of this before they parted ways, of course. Raine would handle themself after he gave his warnings and made sure the Owl Lady wouldn’t bother them. Precautions.
Eda shot off on her staff just as Hunter situated his hood, muttering to himself as he swung his leg over his staff. And promptly teleported right next to the three.
King yelped and almost went teetering right off the staff if Eda hadn’t grabbed him. Hunter grinned gleefully and lay lazily across his staff as he flew beside them.
“How’s it going?” He teased, ignoring Luz’s over-exaggerated eye roll.
“Sorry, kid, but I can’t take you seriously when I know you’re a teenager.” Eda said, glancing back at Luz and sharing a look.
“Oh, sure, blame me for being born at the wrong time. My bad, I’ll be better next time.” Hunter huffed.
“Blame is more on Belos, really. What, guy couldn’t find enough crazies, so he threw in a kid with a fancy staff?” Eda gestured towards the staff he was laying across. “Guy’s really running out of ideas.”
“I am sixteen, that's not that young.” Hunter grumbled, sitting upright on his staff again.
“As far as I’m concerned, everyones a kid till they hit twenty-five.”
“That’s because everyone's young compared to you.”
“I already regret waking up.” King groaned, thunking his head on Eda’s staff. Luz appeared to share his sentiment.
“You didn’t have to come along. In fact, I insisted that you didn’t.” Hunter said pointedly.
“Well, hey, now you know for future reference to not bother me before the crack of dawn.” Luz sneered. “But looking at the bags under your eyes, this is probably lunchtime for you.”
“I’m going to beat you over the head with that dog of yours.” Hunter threatened.
“You will not.” Eda warned.
“Try and stop me. I dare you. See how that works out.”
“I’m not fighting a child. That’s immoral and below me.” Eda said simply, which he did not believe for a second, poorly attempting to hide a smirk.
“I am sixteen--”
,
They made it to the Conformatorium in one piece. Miraculously.
They’d landed a safe distance from the prison, and Hunter had a fairly ridiculously difficult conversation explaining that no, he cannot just teleport anywhere. He has to know where he’s teleporting to, and it has to be nearby. He hasn’t been in the Conformatorium nearly enough to know where to teleport to, and the guards would have seen him by how close he’d have to be to teleport inside.
“You’re the Golden Guard, just walk in.” Luz muttered.
“But then someone will end up telling Belos that I was at the Conformatorium, because nobody in this Titan-forsaken Coven can ever keep their mouths shut.” Hunter hissed, getting more and more riled up by the minute. “And it’s not like I know who I’m looking for. You can’t expect me to find these BATs by just shouting their names and hoping nobody comes checking and that no other prisoners pretend those are their real names to escape.”
“I thought we were also rescuing the other prisoners?” King looked up at Eda.
“I’m working on it.” Eda assured him.
“I should really just go back to the Castle.” Hunter growled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is already too much effort and we aren’t even at the ‘rescuing Raine’ part.” His cardinal chirped from within his hood but otherwise remained still.
“Then go,” Luz said unsympathetically before turning to Eda. “How well of a distraction do you think you could pull?”
“An amazing one, but I’m not letting you kids go in without me.” Eda said firmly. “King, you up for being extra adorable this morning?” She asked, looking down at the demon.
“Do I have to?” King whined. “They always pinch me too hard and it stings for forever!”
The three argued back and forth, Hunter’s eyes darting between who was speaking as his insulted disbelief grew. He didn’t think he could be even more embarrassed that the Emperor’s Coven was being beaten by these three nutjobs, and yet, here he was.
He gave up after barely another minute of their debating on how ‘adorable’ King would have to be to distract the guards and scooped up a rock from the ground. He peered out from behind their hiding spot and watched the two guards at the entrance to the Conformatorium standing about, likely exhausted from having the early morning shift.
He threw the rock off to the side, but significantly closer to them than he and the Owl House residents were. One of the guards perked their head up towards the sound and nudged the other, gesturing towards the side of the pathway where they had heard the noise. Their buddy didn’t look thrilled, but the two of them mosied off from their guarding positions and off to peer over the path to see what had made the noise.
Hunter looked back to the three, who had at some point stopped arguing and started watching him, all staring at him in surprise. Without his deadpan expression changing, he gestured grandly to his perfectly executed plan with a careless “ta da.”
“Wow,” King was the first to speak. “I knew the Coven was full of idiots, but this is kinda sad.”
“We’re working on it.” Hunter said through gritted teeth. “Come on,” He jerked his head, darting out of their hiding place and silently racing past the guards, ducking through the Conformatirum’s doorway while pressing his back to the wall.
The others followed right behind. With slightly less quiet footsteps, but the guards were busy talking, so they thankfully hadn’t noticed as they all slipped inside.
“Good thing I’ve been here before.” Eda said, cracking her fingers. “Once we reach where the cells are, we split up.”
They all nodded and followed Eda as they hurried through hallways, ducking into other connecting passageways when a guard passed or finding themselves (badly) hidden behind a tapestry or using Eda’s (and Hunter’s staff once) to hide on the ceiling. Hunter never knew he could get so much more disappointed with the recruits of the Emperor’s Coven until he saw just how little they noticed from the most obvious band of idiots he knew.
When they did reach the cells, Hunter took a minute to glance over them with a slight frown. He’d been there once or twice, and he recalled there being more prisoners than there are now. Nearly all of them were empty, with only one form or two seen through the bars every once and a while. He wondered what happened to all the prisoners he’d seen before.
“Alright, everyone stay quiet.” Eda instructed. “Just find the BATs and alert everyone else as subtly as possible, we don't need the whole place rushing down on us.” She said, looking at Hunter as she did so.
“I know what I’m doing.” Hunter huffed, holding his staff closer and curling a lip, exposing a fang. “Let’s just hurry this up.” He sighed, already rushing off as the others split in opposite directions to scour the cages.
The few prisoners he did see he swore really came in all shapes and sizes, none of them the run-of-the-mill con he was expecting. They just looked weird, really. He had kept his mask off, mostly in the worry that someone would recognize him by it and report it to Belos, and the looks the prisoners gave him made him uneasy. Their expressions ranged from sad to surprised to pleading, and he could still so clearly remember the hatred he’d seen from them during his last visit, just a little over a year ago, when he wore his mask.
He refused to look at them and simply asked a blunt “are you with the BATs?” to every cell with a prisoner inside he passed, not even slowing down or pausing as he did so.
“Oh, hey,” He heard Luz’s voice, lifting his head and realizing she was actually quite a few cells ahead of him, talking at a regular voice level instead of the whispering she should’ve had. “You’re the fanfiction witch!” Luz said cheerfully.
“Shh!” Hunter hissed, darting up beside Luz in a flash and flattening his ears. “We’re trying to be quiet here, you know.”
“Hey, Luz!” One of the prisoners came up to the bars, a witch somewhere around his age, but taller and with fangs that poked out of her mouth. “I know you kinda already did me a solid, but do you think you could get us out a second time?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.” Luz waved it off, already reaching for the levers by the bars. “I can probably get them this time. How’d you get back in there, anyway?”
“Hold on!” Hunter hissed, holding out an arm and blocking Luz’s reach. “We’re here for the BATs, remember? Not random people.”
“She is not a random person, I know her.” Luz said confidently.
“Do you know her name?” Hunter raised a brow.
“...we’ve met before, it counts.”
“And now I suddenly understand deserters.” Hunter mumbled.
“Hey, wait, we are the BATs.” The girl said, waving her hand out of the bars. “We just got here, like, last week.” She said, pointing with a thumb behind her.
Hunter spared a glance, noting two other witches, one of them possibly slightly older than him, and the other appearing closer to Luz’s age, with cylinder-like ears and purple skin. Both of them were looking at Luz and Hunter expectantly.
“Uh huh,” Hunter said disbelievingly. “And why would we believe that?”
“Hunter!” Luz protested.
“They could just be lying to get out.” Hunter reminded.
“Even if they are, I’m not just leaving them!” Luz pushed Hunter aside, reaching for the lever and pulling at it.
“I’m done. I’m out, you guys are on your own.” Hunter threw up his hands and began walking back the way he came. “I tried my best, but clearly we aren’t getting to Raine like this any time so--”
“Katya? There you are!”
And of course Eda knew them.
Hunter stopped short of a loud groan as he looked back over his shoulder, seeing Eda appear from further up the line of cells and stop outside the one Luz was still struggling to open. The three caged witches' eyes lit up in recognition when they saw her, and Hunter felt like ripping hair out.
“Here, you're pulling it wrong.” Eda said, lightly moving Luz aside and pushing the lever up herself, opening the cell door.
“Oooh,” Luz hummed. “Yeah, I think I did it wrong the first time, too.”
“What are you two both doing back in the Conformatorium?” The girl--Katya--asked as her friends rushed out of the cell like they were freed pigeons.
“Rescuing you three,” Eda said. “Now c’mon, we’re going for Raine next.”
“Raine got captured?” The purple witch’s head raised, voice laced with concern.
“It’ll be fine, they’re tough.” Eda assured her, ruffling her hair. “Luz, go find King. We’re getting out of here before someone notices.”
“On it!” Luz nodded, giving a mock salute before dash past Hunter, giving him an annoyingly smug look as she passed that he resisted snapping at.
“You too, kid. We don’t have time for sulking.” Eda said, suddenly much closer to him as she bumped his side. Hunter jumped at the contact, five feet away in the blink of an eye with his arms raised. Eda blinked at him in confusion, brows furrowed.
“Yeah, sure, I know that.” Hunter mumbled, averting his gaze.
“Who’s the new kid?” The boy from the group of BATs asked, eyeing him up and down.
“The guy who can help us find Raine.” Eda said simply. “Don’t worry, he’s not becoming a new member.” She assured in a slightly teasing voice.
“You wish.” Hunter gruffed, smoothing down his hair with one hand and looking over the group.
“I don’t, actually.” The little purple wish growled, arms crossed as she glared at him, likely for trying to abandon them earlier. Hunter would’ve probably taken her more seriously if her voice wasn’t so adorable sounding.
Eda herded the kids into moving along, Hunter tailing them the whole way. Occasionally one of them (usually Eda) would stop and push the lever on one of the cages, freeing a prisoner before running off again before they could process anything. They didn’t free every single one, but they freed enough that others could go around freeing each other.
Hunter was mostly just begging that a riot wouldn’t break out before they even got close to the exit.
“Found him.” Luz suddenly popped up before the group from around the corner, holding a disgruntled King in her arms. “He was talking to the rats in the wall.”
“Those buggers bit my tail!” King complained, getting a light sympathetic pat on the head from Eda.
“We’ll get ‘em some other time. Right now, we’ve gotta go.” Eda said, continuing her speedy walk. “Whole place is about to go into an uproar, and I’d rather we’re not caught up in it.”
“They better be worth all this.” Hunter growled at Eda.
“You gonna turn them in if they don’t meet your standards?” Luz teased, and this time Hunter didn’t resist grabbing the hood of her cloak and yanking it over her face.
“They’re escaping!”
“Get them!”
“There it is.” Hunter grumbled as the group came to a screeching halt, two of the BATs almost crashing into each other.
Two large guards stood at the entrance to the prison block, one holding a sword, the other a mace. They had probably already alerted other guards, and they’d all come running soon.
“Alright, hang on everyone, we’ve got this.” Eda said, patting herself down and withdrawing a glyph. Luz set down King and pushed through the others, drawing her own glyphs with a determined set to her face.
“Nobody has an instrument on them, right?” Katya asked, looking around.
The guards ran at them, weidling their weapons high. Hunter raised his staff and teleported away from the others, hearing a “oh come on!” from Luz as he did so.
He reappeared behind the charging guards, clutching the staff in his hands. The end of his staff glowed as he rose it in the air, a similar red hue appearing around the guards. He swept his staff off to the side as the guards kicked about middair before flying into the wall, leaving an indent as they groaned and slumped over each other. He’d have to check the magic level on his staff soon. The guards would be fine, he’d seen them go through a lot worse.
When he turned back to the others, they were blinking owlishly at him. He mentally berated himself for the pun and gestured towards the now-clear pathway.
“You’re welcome. Can we go?” He huffed.
The group broke out of their momentary trance and took off running again, Hunter following in step alongside them.
They could hear the growing ruckus from the prison escapees behind them as they fled, and Hunter was already eyeing the thought of actually teleporting beyond the walls and hoping it worked.
But Luz would yell at him for ditching, and then they wouldn’t let him help rescue Raine.
And wasn’t that a thought that made him awfully bitter. He had been the one who decided to rescue Raine, and yet he still knew that if he didn’t play nice, they’d take over his mission. It was like an insubordinate Coven member within a group he was leading, only this time it was a full-blown mutiny. And there was no Emperor to report it to and get the problem fixed.
Well, technically there still was, but he’d feel even worse if he did. And he already had enough guilt about not noticing who Raine was to last him for months.
Guards appeared from down the hallway they were rounding, about five or so this time. Once again, everyone almost smacked into each other from how fast they skidded to a stop, and Hunter almost got squished between the purple witch--he really needed to learn their names--and Eda as they halted.
“Wait, wait, let me do it!” King squirmed in Luz’s arms, kicking about until Luz was forced to drop him.
“Alright, sure, but let us step back a bit first--”
Eda’s words were cut off by King standing on all fours, tail sticking straight up in the air, opening his mouth and screaming.
Hunter braced his staff against the ground and ducked his head so as not to be blown over by the force, clearly something magic. Two of the BATs and Luz weren’t so lucky, falling back before they could brace themselves. His cardinal curled closer to his neck and lightly bit his ear to keep itself in place.
But it knocked over the other guards, too. With the ones that hadn’t managed to brace themselves knocking into those who did and causing them to tumble like a pile of dominos.
“Ha! Take that!” King boasted, jumping back onto two legs. “Try and take me on now!”
“When could he do that?” Hunter exclaimed, a hand against his head as he cleared it from the noise.
“Long story, just get moving!” Eda called back, scooping up King with one arm as everyone shook their heads to clear them and stumbled back to their feet. Hunter held out the end of his staff to Luz without thinking, who blinked at it for a moment before grabbing it so she could pull herself upright.
“Thanks--”
“Hold that thought.” He said, an idea forming.
Hunter then teleported the two of them a few more feet down the hallway, and a few feet off the ground. He managed to land on his feet, but Luz didn’t have any time to correct herself mid-air and yelped as she hit the ground.
“Oops,” Hunter said with a grin, leaning down with his hands on his knees. “Thought that would help.”
Luz glared daggers at him, pushing herself back to her feet as the others raced by. His cardinal chirped in what sounded like berates next to his ear, but he ignored it in favor of continuing to race down the hallways.
They met a few other guards here and there, but so long they were quick enough (or Luz and Eda had a glyph ready), they made it by without a hitch. When the entrance to the Conformatorium came into sight, and they were rather relieved to find the two guards must have run into the Conformatorium when the ruckus started considering they weren’t there, they all streamed out as fast they could.
“Alright, we still have everyone?” Eda called, still running as she turned her head to look back and count heads. “Cause I do not want to go back in there.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet.” Hunter said, breezing right by her and holding his staff out. “I still don’t like that we haven’t seen that old warden yet. You will not believe how insufferable he is when--”
“Eda the Owl Lady!”
“Never mind, found him.”
Eda didn’t seem too thrilled either, holding out an arm as the others scurried behind her, Hunter standing off to the side, as they turned back towards the entrance to the Conformatorium.
Sure enough, Warden Wrath stood there in all his glory, hands already twisted into axes. Hunter pointedly turned his head away and raised a hand to further conceal his face. He doubted the Warden would recognize him, barely anyone did, but he didn’t want to risk that Kikimora had blabbed. He hadn’t exactly worn the most inconspicuous of cloaks, either, now that he thought about it.
To his benefit, the Warden seemed to have all his attention focused on the Owl Lady.
“So, you came running back.” Wrath said, dragging his axes across the ground in an unpleasant sound as he approached. “I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me for long.”
“Ew, no.” Eda scrunched up her face. “Look, bud, we just came here to grab some friends and get out. Don’t you have some other runaways to deal with?”
“I can spare a moment or two for you.” Wrath said, raising an axed hand in the air. “And unfortunately, I’m under orders not to let any traitorous BATs escape. And I’m not letting a chance like this pass me by!”
“Titan, I always think it's not as bad every time I come by here.” Eda muttered under her breath before she began quickly herding the kids off, attempting to also grab herself a glyph. “Go, go.”
“Can’t you boss him around?” Luz whispered, leaning closer to Hunter as they watched. “Tell him to, like, leave us alone?”
“Hell no!” Hunter whisper-yelled back, letting his hand fall for a moment to give Luz a borderline offended look. “I mean, I could, but I’m not risking Belos finding out over this.”
“What’s he talking about?” The older boy from the BATs whispered, leaning closer to Luz.
“Long story,” Luz waved her off. “He’s just a brat.”
“I meant him.” The boy said, pointing his thumb towards Wrath.
They turned their heads, noting now that Eda had ditched them to play a game of cat and mouse with the Warden, who was only focused on her, despite his claims about the BATs earlier. Hunter tried to listen to whatever he was saying, before immediately deciding he didn’t want to know when he heard about three mildly disturbing compliments from the Warden in a single sentence as he attempted to capture the outlaw.
“Ew,” Hunter, Luz, and King chorused, faces scrunched up.
“Oi, lay off!” Katya yelled, hands cupped around her mouth. “She’s got better tastes than you!”
“Thank you, Katya, very much appreciated!” Eda called through gritted teeth, exasperated.
“I’m doing something about that when I get back.” He promised with a lazy gesture towards the Warden before turning to the BATs. “What are your names again? I’m not gonna keep calling you ‘boy witch’ and ‘purple witch.’ I already know your name.” He raised his hand to stop Katya from speaking when she opened her mouth.
“Oh, uh, Derwin.” The boy said. “This is Amber.” He introduced his friend.
“Why? What’s your name?” Amber asked suspiciously, and she didn’t even have any amber colors on her, a waste of a name if you asked him.
“Hunter.” He said, slapping a hand over Luz’s mouth before she could blurt what he knew she was about to say. “Don’t lick my glove, that’s not gonna do anything for you.” He warned her without so much of a glance.
“Should we, er, help her?” Derwin asked, gesturing back towards Eda.
Hunter looked back, and not noting any immediate danger, simply shrugged.
“Eh, she’s the Owl Lady, she’s probably got it.” He said calmly. “You guys wanna hurry up and get out of here?”
“Yes, dear Titan, please.” Amber groaned. “Those cells were awful.”
“Oh, you do not have the right to complain.” Katya huffed, hands on her hips. “That was your first offence.”
“Sorry I don’t make a habit out of getting thrown in prison.”
“Hey, Owl Lady!” Hunter called. “We’re thinking of heading out. You coming or what?”
“I’m working on it!” Eda snapped, almost getting beaten into the concrete for her troubles.
“Don’t get squished!” Luz called in some form of support, before Wrath almost immediately swung his axe-arm into the ground and created a massive crack. And wasn’t that just perfect, there goes the Coven’s budget again.
“This is a mess,” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “I can’t believe we lost at anything with you people.”
“Neither can we, really.” King said, still engrossed in the fight.
Hunter raised his staff, pointing it right towards the fight. He let the end of it become enveloped in a red glow, aware of the BATs watching him as he did so. He wondered, yet again, why Bat--Raine--whatever--ever employed them if they were so useless without their instruments.
The second Eda was clear, a blast of energy fired from his staff.
It hit Wrath right in the shoulder, and the warden cried out. He whirled around in the direction of Hunter, wound sizzling as he locked his eyes on him.
“Shit,” Hunter cursed, immediately ducking down as a blast of fire from the Warden’s mouth went right over his head, just barely missing the others.
Wrath roared, and Hunter grabbed those closest to him, King and Amber, and immediately clutched his staff and teleported the three further away as a mass of tentacles landed where they had once been, almost hitting the other three.
Luz took the moment to slap a plant and fire glyph on Wrath’s arm, as it was practically right next to her head now. The plants burst forth first, wrapping around his body. The fire came second, turning the plants into a net of blazing flame.
He knew Wrath had a weird case of fast healing, what with his stretchy skin, but Hunter couldn’t help but wince at the pained roar and burning he saw before he turned away and held out his staff.
“They’ll get the others, come on.” He instructed, and Amber obeyed and climbed onto the staff behind him. King was about to do the same, were it not for Hunter grabbing him by the collar and yanking him up before shooting into the air.
“Would everyone stop picking me up today?” King whined, though Hunter didn’t let up on the arm across King as he held him against his chest as he looked back towards the fight, far enough away to not be caught, close enough that he could offer assistance.
Eda managed to grab Luz as Wrath flailed about, along with Katya and Derwin, before using her staff to dart back into the air. Wrath attempted to make a wild grab with his weird tentacle arms towards them, but fell short as they rose higher and beside Hunter.
“Whew, let’s get outta here.” Eda said, her and Luz breathing heavily from their fight. “We’ve had more than enough excitement for one day.” She said, her and Hunter already rushing off through the skies, Warden’s angry shouts fading behind them.
“Could you put me down?” King complained, louder this time as he wiggled in Hunter’s grip.
Hunter looked down at King, a plan slowly forming his head. His expression didn’t change, but Luz clearly saw something, because her tired panting immediately switched to her giving him an alarmed look.
“Don’t.” She warned.
Hunter looked at her. Luz glared back. The others glanced between the two and each other bemusedly.
Hunter let go of King.
The demon yelped and tumbled right over the thin pole of the staff, his yelling being swept up by the wind as he free-falled.
“King!” Eda and Luz exclaimed, staff already tilting downwards to dive after him.
“Dude, what are you--”
Amber’s berating cut off as Hunter suddenly teleported, appearing just below King and holding out his hand. The moment King fell right by them, still shrieking like a banshee, Hunter grabbed his tail, jolting King to a stop.
Hunter cackled, King’s breath wheezy as he attempted to shout obscenities that barely landed from how spent his vocal cords were from all the screaming. Hunter plopped the demon right back down on the staff in front of him, one hand against King’s side in case the exhaustion caught up with him and he fell right off again, still laughing as he flew back up to the same height as the others.
“Are you trying to scare him to death?” Luz scoffed, shaking her head in disapproval.
“He’s fine.” Hunter waved his free hand. “A little terror never killed anybody.” He said, ignoring his cardinal lightly head-butting his neck underneath his hood in disagreement.
“Very hilarious,” Eda said dryly. “Try that again and I’m breaking that staff over your back, you hear?” She said with a light growl, though Hunter had definitely heard worse.
“You’re all so dramatic.” Hunter rolled his eyes.
Amber, in response, lightly whacked the back of his head. Hunter yelped and spun his head around as he rubbed the sore spot, giving her an astonished and offended look that she met with a serious, miffed expression of her own. His ears only pressed further back when the others snickered at his predicament. He wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or annoyed by the audacity.
“Yeesh, it’s like nobody here ever fell from their staff.” Hunter grumbled, shaking himself out and hunching.
“Typically, they weren’t dropped like loose stones.” Eda said. “You hanging in there, King?”
“Peachy,” King mumbled, sounding less spooked and more annoyed than anything now that the danger had passed.
“Good enough, let’s just get home in one piece, eh, kids?” Eda said, shoulders falling tiredly as her staff banked slightly to the side.
“And answer some mysterious backstory questions?” Luz perked up. “Like how Katya is part of the BATs but you didn’t know her until--”
I desperately want a scene where Luz and the others go to rescue the Bats in the Conformatorium, but this time when Luz goes to move the lever to open the doors she can do it and says something like ‘No more weak nerd arms.’
I mean look at her easily picking up Amity and twirling her around. She could totally open the Conformatorium doors now.
Four Years: It becomes A Thing that after Luz and Eda, Katya knows the Conformitorium the best so if ever both Eda and Luz are caught its up to Katya to help with the rescue. She has her own designated cell and she and the Warden have started to bond over shipping
Katya is the go-to for navigating the Conformatorium and its like a terrible vacation home for her. She's pretty chill with helping the others break out of prison but can and will make one sit in there a little longer than normal if shes feeling spiteful
