CHAPTER ONE (Losing it all)
`Hunter sighs as he leans back on his bed, his whole body aching slightly. He groans slightly, putting his hands over his face. Rascal tweets concerned landing on the male’s knee. Hunter sighs annoyed as he looks down at the bird removing his hands. He tweets again.
“No no he didn't …this time” he sighs “but even if he did it’d only be because i messed up” This only caused the palisman to tweet angrily pecking his leg. “Ow hey! Belos is just doing his best okay?” The bird just stares at him. “What?! He is!” he rolls his eyes standing causing Rascal to flitter up “Whatever i don’t have time for this i should be figuring out how i can help heal his curse.” he sits at his desk taking out some paper and a book out. Rascal steals his pencil flying into the air. Hunter scoffs in annoyance. “Tsk- Palisman “ he shakes his head in annoyance.
Hunter pet the bird softly as he reads before there’s a knock at his door. He gasps and Rascal lets out a soft tweet. “Shhh” he warns quickly, putting his book over the Palisman to conceal it before he stands, opening the door for none other than kikimora. He frowns, leaning slightly to block the view of his desk.
“Golden Guard, Emperor Belos has requested your presence “ Kiki glares. Everyone knew the emperor never ‘requested’ anyone, if you didn’t go well let’s just say you wouldn’t have to worry about any future meetings with the emperor. Hunter nods. He lifts his cape draping it on, before sliding his mask over his face, closing the door and heading to meet with his uncle. He can’t help but notice Kikimora lingering near his room. He narrows his eyes but continues, turning the corner. Why was she staying at his room? This puzzled him slightly but he shook it off, probably just jealous that the Emperor wanted to see him instead of her. I mean, come on he was WAY more useful. But this was weird, he didn’t currently have any missions to go over with the ruler. Maybe he was getting a new assignment? Yeah… He takes a deep breath before knocking on the huge wooden door.
The Emperor’s voice booms and Hunter can feel his heart start to race lightly. He bites his lip as he pushes the door open, kneeling in front of the steps to his Uncle’s throne. The room felt cold.
“You wanted to see me Emperor Belos” Hunter looks up at his uncle. His uncle was leaning on his hand breathing a bit heavily as his piercing blue eyes stared down at Hunter.
“Hunter.” He starts his voice low sending chills “Have you had any luck finding more Palisman like I asked?” The menacing male’s fingers tapped on the arm of his throne a bit too quickly, almost impatient. Hunter can feel the tension in the air and he gulps but stands to answer as usual.
“No sir I have not but I am working to-” Hunter is interrupted by a loud growl causing him to stop short in terror. Emperor Belos morfs slightly, a sharp spike flying towards the other male. Hunter flinches but it was too late. He gasps loudly as the abomination goo slices through his mask, carving a bit deeply near his left eye. He lets a light hiss of pain which he knew would only anger the emperor further. He resists the urge to hold his face as he feels the warm blood drip down under his chipped mask, his eye already having issues staying open. He clenches his teeth, feeling pain seer his face as his heart pounds quickly.
“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Belos roars standing. Hunter gulps, putting his head down flinching back as he bows again. Not knowing what to say. Dont lie? But that means..! There was the sound of Belos snapping his fingers before the door opened, someone entering. There is a light sound of quick short steps.
Hunter knew the sound all too well. He raises his head slightly, his eyes widening at the sight.
Smug Kikimora holding a Palisman.
She hands the staff to the emperor. Hunter can feel his blood run cold as Belos tightly grips it, continuing to keep his scalding glare on Hunter. Kikimora’s smirk showed slightly under her shirt as she leaves without another word bowing to the emperor. As soon as the door closes Hunter can hear his heart thumping loudly or maybe that was just the titans. He gulps slightly. He knew it was forbidden. Wild Magic and now he had been caught. But worse.. Rascal had been caught. But maybe it was for the best he was only here to serve the titans will after all.
“You Disappoint me so much Hunter and after everything I’ve done for you. After everything the titan has done for you.” His voice booms as he looms over the young male, his grip on the Palisman tightening. As Rascal lets out a pained noise Hunter stands instinctively.
“Don’t-!” Hunter shouts, reaching his hand out, his words stopping short as he realizes his mistake, his hand dropping quickly. He grits his teeth as he watches Belos carefully place the staff down looking back down at the male. Hunter seemed to shrink back feeling shaky and a bit dizzy, “I-I’m sorry I-I didn’t-” Before Hunter can explain himself Belos dissolves into the floor reappearing next to him. His eyes widen as he flinches back when Belos ambushes him. He moves to avoid the hit, putting his hand up as some sort of feeble defense; this results in the emperor’s strike piercing his ribs instead of his intended spot. Hunter chokes out a strangled yelp of pain. He holds his side in grief as blood starts pooling out, staining his shirt already. He stares in shock at his uncle as he quickly moves back.
Sure Belos hit him before, hurt him. But this was-
Belos growls again, advancing towards the male.
At this Rascal flies forward flashing a fire spell into the emperor’s face. He growls enraged as he steps back shielding himself from the blast. Hunter reaches forward grabbing onto the staff quickly. Using the staff to teleport further back from the Emperor. “Please Uncle.” His voice was desperate. He coughs using his free hand to grip his side to stop the bleeding gritting his teeth to keep from wincing.
“You shall regret siding against the titan!” He morphs worse, shooting forward fast. Hunter gasps moving both hands onto the staff shakily moving back and creating a shield just before Belos could land a hit. He gasps the shield faltering slightly as his vision blurs.
“I AM DONE WITH THIS!” The Emperor’s voice came out garbled and wrong. Hunter’s shield suddenly dropped no matter how hard he tried to bring it back and his eyes widened as Belos smirks. A spike hit into his left shoulder launching him back, his body slamming forcefully against the window.
“Agh” Hunter’s head spun as his vision blurred again. He closes his eyes for a moment hearing a slight crack. He quickly opens his eyes again, his vision focusing enough to see the Emperor launching a bright light towards him with his staff. Hunter screams loudly before slamming his fist down on the glass so he would fall through before it hits him. The window falls through almost exactly at the bright light explodes, launching him further back from the tower. His grip on Rascal loosens as he feels dizzy and tired, his vision blurring again as the ground approaches quickly. He can feel sleep start to take him as his vision goes dark.
Rascal takes action quickly supporting the males body, flying upwards and fleeing the castle. The Palisman lands when they are a good while away hidden in the woods. He flies up and pecks at Hunter’s face gently trying to wake him. It was urgent that Hunter took care of his wounds and to took shelter. By the look of the clouds it’d be raining soon. Hunter groaned painfully, struggling but forcing his eyes open. He felt sick to his stomach and his whole body was hurting badly. He let out a breath gripping his side as he sat up a whimper leaving him. He starts to shakily stand having to use his staff for support his head swimming. He moves his free hand from clenching his side to covering his mouth as he gags from the amount of pain he was under. He starts to limp looking for shelter for the night. The sky cracks overhead brightly before booming loudly. He cowered slightly, his ears were still ringing from the explosion. Hunter sniffs softly as he walks, tears starting to drop down his face stinging his eyes and burning the left side of his face.
“For titans sake” Hunter mumbles, agitated by this sudden emotion. He wasn’t supposed to be crying, he was the golden guard, he was to remain strong and yet he still couldn’t believe everything that just happened.
He feels more tears start to well and he shakes his head he couldn’t think about that right now he needed to focus. Rascal chirps and Hunter couldn’t help but smile.
“At least you’re safe “ He stops by the river, ripping his cape off, peeling his top letting out a slight hiss before coughing into his gloved hand.
“Ugh dammit!” He growls, ripping the sleeves off his shirt once it was off. Rascal flitted around him tweeting with concern. “Shush bird” he grunts, dipping one of the sleeves into the water before he dabs his abdomen where the deep hole was. He lets out a gasp, followed by a sputtered howl of pain a few more tears falling. He shakes his head, instead he would just stop the bleeding yeah yeah that should be fine, he’ll be okay. He stretches the dry sleeve before grabbing a nearby stick putting it between his teeth. Rascal lands by his feet chittering confused. Hunter wraps the cloth around his waist taking a deep shaky breath before suddenly securing it tightly over the gash. He lets out a strangled yowl, his teeth clenching down on the wood splitting it as he hunches forward tying it tight before he staggers slightly using his staff for support as he holds his side spitting out wood chips. He gags coughing again, this time when he pulls his hand away from his mouth it is coated in crimson.
“Fuck that’s not good” he mutters seeing black spots in his vision he shakes his head ignoring it. He slowly kneels by the river groaning slightly as he does so. He slowly shakily takes his mask off frowning at his reflection. Jeez he looked like hell. His hair was a mess, his whole left side of his face was sticky with blood. He winces at the slight dropping the mask, his hand immediately going to where Belos had stabbed. His face felt hot and throbbed instantly, stinging at the sensation. He pulls his hand away, wincing feeling tears build again. He was useless. He outlived his usefulness to Belos. He had no one.
A loud Hiccup erupted from his throat startling him, he flinches when a droplet of water from above touches his leg. Ah boiling rain of course. He dips his hands into the water below splashing his face wiping it with the wet sleeve wincing with a hiss. He puts on what was left of his shirt before wrapping his cape back around him, slipping his mask back over his face . He wobbles slightly letting out a slight hiss. His body was aching everywhere, every move he made agony, he just wanted to rest. “Come bird we need to find shelter. “
Rascal tweets landing on his shoulder as he starts to limp searching, if only he knew the area his vision was becoming a bit fuzzy. He pants slightly leaning on a tree. “Just give- *huff* me a m-moment” He coughs roughly. The sky crashed above again any second the boiling rain would come down he needed-
He sees a nearby cave. YES. he breaks into a run just as the water starts to pool down he huffs sputtering once he reaches the cave coughing harshly as he falls to his knees. Rascal tweets softly and hunter lays on the cold cave ground “I know just i need a moment to rest” he confessed his eyes feeling heavy “Im sorry” his voice was shaky as he felt his vision go blurry falling asleep.
Hunter woke up after sleeping through almost all of the next day. He groans gasping as he sits up seeing he was in a dark cave. His head felt fuzzy but slowly he pieces together what happened. He frowns. “Right” He shakes his head standing carefully. Rascal twitters at this. “No no I’m not going back… not just yet i need- i need to prove my worth again” rascal seemed upset by this response. “Come on, I need to go into town and get some actual bandages.” He grabs his staff heading into Bonesborrow. He keeps his head down as he walks, feeling his heart racing badly. He shakes his head. He needed to calm down so he wouldn’t be caught. No one could- he stops seeing a new coven poster. His shoulders start shaking
Wanted for treason against the emperor.
Reward one million snails.
His eyes widen and he feels like he can’t catch his breath. He quickly rips the poster down looking around to make sure no one saw, he spots a booth with half off merchandise. He wanders over deciding to just focus his attention on something else for now. He picks up a half off basket seeing a black cloak, he puts it in the basket. He then sees some cloth bandages, he puts those in the basket as well seeing a few more customers start to also notice the sale he waits until he notices the stand owner distracted before he breaks off into a run from the stand.
After a few minutes of running he hears the shout of ‘thief!’ he had been expecting, he turns a corner hiding against the wall, he takes his cloak off putting the new black one on slipping the hood up. He stashes his old cloak in the basket panting, already feeling exhausted for the day. His body aches but he ignores the feeling heading back to his cave he almost nearly collapses when he gets back. Rascal tweets sadly
“i know! but i had no choice i don’t have anything” he snaps angrily taking the gauze out with a frown. He slowly takes his shirt off feeling his hand shakes “i can do this..” he felt shakier than yesterday. He unties the shirtsleeve he had used as a makeshift bandage he lets out a loud whimper as he peels it from his body. It was soaked in blood. He gulps feeling tears build as he holds back a gag as the slight of the gash which oozed and bled when he removed the clothe. He gulps clenching his teeth as he tightly starts to wrap his torso whimpering “ahh titan” he sniffs hacking loudly as he ties it off before he gasps in pain “fuck t-that was worse than yesterday..” he mumbles holding his now bandaged wound. He lays down feeling dizzy from the exertion. Rascal tweets and Hunter shakes his head. “No i’ll take care of the rest later.” he mutters feeling tired but his eyes open slowly when his stomach growls loudly. When was the last time he had eaten? He couldn’t remember. Rascal twitters again which causes Hunter to get agitated and a bit overwhelmed.
“I know that! I don’t have food! I don’t have proper shelter! I have nothing!!” he yells as he sits up feeling so alone he shakes his head as Rascal flinches back. He frowns, feeling his stomach turn and he stands “just-.. stay here i’ll go find food.” he mutters shakily leaving the cave. He sighs, he should have grabbed food in town then he wouldn’t have to go looking, what would he even find in the woods. Probably death. Plus he wished he hadn’t yelled at Rascal. He was just worried. Hunter frowns before he hears a snap of a twig. He gasps quickly diving into a nearby bush letting out slight hiss of pain before he peers out.
Luz the human walking with a plate, a plate of… sandwiches. Oh god. Food!! His stomach growls loudly again and he blushes darkly backing further into the bush.
“Did you hear something Hooty?” Hunter watches as the human walks over to where a blanket was set up, a strange worm owl looking creature waiting for her. Hunter sticks out his tongue. What the heck is that? Hooty only hoots happily.
“Luz you forgot the tea, don’t worry I’ll get it! Hooty to the rescue!” he chants as he zooms away to which Luz gasps, putting the plate down and running after the demon.
“No Hooty!! You know what happened last time.” Hunter’s eyes widened. Unguarded food. He doesn’t even think as his legs pull him forward, he sprints over picking up one of the sandwiches he pushes his mask up eating hungrily scarfing it come grabbing another sandwich as he chews he stares at the plate tempted to take the last sandwich as well but he shakes his head running back away as he hears voices. Shit shit shit, he dives again into the nearby bush feeling his side flare with pain. He clenches his teeth staying completely still holding the sandwiches close to his chest as he pants quickly staring back at the blanket as the two return., “That’s weird I made three sandwiches? One for you, me and King.” She looked around the area and hunter ducks deeper feeling branches dig into him uncomfortably, but it was worth it for the sandwiches. He lets out a light sigh of relief as the human sits down before he slips from the bush running off unaware that Luz in all her confusion had spotted the male running off. Hunter runs back to the cave panting heavily before breaking out into a light laugh, Rascal looking at him confused
. “Ha I risked my life for sandwiches'” his laughing slowly started to turn to slight hiccups “how far I’ve fallen” he sniffs sliding down the cave wall. He pulls off a small piece off the sandwich as he sniffs crumbling a few pieces on the ground for rascal. Rascal chirps concerned flittering to his knee. “No just eat, I’m fine” he wipes his face, he couldn’t afford to be weak. He takes one bite before putting the rest in his bag for later he didn’t know when he would get food again
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