Broken Mask And Fun Band-Aids (Oc x Hunter)

A peace offering

  Bruno finally got to the light source, the red palisman still on their shoulder. They were panting but quickly recovered as they looked around.

  The place was like a cave, with big walls, some paths entries that would probably lead to the rest of the mines, but that wasn't what caught Bruno's attention, it was that the whole room was filled with giant crystals. Giant blue shiny crystals. They were glowing, lighting up the whole place. It was beautiful. Both Bruno and the bird were in awe.

  "Wow!..." Bruno said. "This place is... beautiful..." They looked at the top of the place, there were crystals there too. "So that's why there's a mine here, huh..." They were still staring at the shiny rocks.

  The palisman flew away from the witch's shoulder and landed on the ground, jumping around. "Hey! Don't do that, you're still hurt!" Bruno said as he went down to grab him, but stopped in the middle of his action when they heard a familiar voice.

  "YOU!" The Golden guard exclaimed. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM!" He ran towards the other boy and he was prepared to fight. All the affinity he was starting to feel for Bruno faded away as he remembered what they did to his palisman. Before Bruno could even react, the cardinal let out some high-pitched chirps and flew towards the guard, making him stop his tracks. "...What?" The guard asked his palisman. He chirped and huffed, he seemed angry.

  From what Bruno could understand, the bird said to the soldier to not hurt them, 'They helped me!' 'They're nice!'. "What." The golden boy repeated, in a more serious tone. The bird landed in front of him, they talked something like 'You heard me'. The guard stared at him, it would be way easier to know how they're feeling if they weren't using a mask. The boy glanced at Bruno, they could sense it just from the amount of anxiety it gave to them, and then looked back at the Palisman.

   It seemed like he was analyzing it as if they actually started to feel empathy for his 'target'. But he stopped and said: "What do you mean by that?! Don't trust them! They could've hurt you, they're a criminal!"

  The palisman replied with 'No, they're not. You know that.'

  The soldier stayed silent for a few seconds before kneeling in front of his little feathered companion, talking with a serious, rough tone. "That doesn't matter, you know that. The emperor won't be so happy if I come back from another failed mission." The last part almost came out like a broken voice, of someone who was about to break down.

  The bird stared at the boy in front of him. He didn't know what to do, he knew that his friend needed help but he wasn't gonna give up so easily on the life he had since he was born, he didn't know what true love felt like, all that he understands from it is what Belos has taught him or showed to him. That made him sick, to see his friend in such pain but still not giving up on his uncle. When the red bird was about to say something, the quiet witch, that the two of them almost forgot about, said something.

  "What if you don't come back?"

  The guard looked at Bruno, they could feel the stare behind the mask. "What did you say?" He asked, harshly. Oh boy, I made him angry! Bruno thought, sweating from nervousness. Come on, the bird is trying to keep his promise, tey to keep yours! Never lie to a bird! "I-I said: What if you don't come back?" They replied, with a little forced laugh at the end, fearing their death. The guard just kept staring, making Bruno get way tenser. They continued talking.

  "I-I mean if you don't like it t-there, why don't you just ran away? Lil' man there told me some of your story and I noticed how sad you are there, so why do you stay there?..." He looked at the ground while talking, faster and faster with every word because of his nervous state. He noticed that the boy got up slowly and walked towards them, slowly. I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA DIE! Bruno shouted in his head, he tried to focus more on the ground and started talking even more.