The Owl House AU,
And He Deserved to Suffer a Fate Much Worse(prologue):
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 to 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 looking down upon him as he knelt. Never faltering for a second as dread filled Hunter alongside his shame and horrorvat what his uncle would deem the proper punishment for his horrible mistake.
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 it.
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.
