Until Death Do Us Part || Hunter the Golden Guard

44 ~ The Soldier

They ran until their legs couldn't take it anymore and found a tree to settle down under.

Hunter and (Y/n) sat side by side. They sat in silence.

She could hear the heartbroken cries of Ellaline echoing through her head. It were as if the trees around her were screaming, making her relive the scene.

The wind howled and blew leaves around. The cold breeze nipped at their noses and made them shiver.

"Caleb." (Y/n) blurted out silently through tears.

"Huh?" Hunter looked up.

"Caleb. Ellaline."

The palismen perked their heads up too. They knew those names.

"He's Philip... Belos is Philip. He killed his own brother." She gasped in revelation.

"What?"

"Philip had a brother named Caleb who looked just like you. And he killed him."

If Belos is my uncle, and he had a brother who looked like me, was that my dad?

"Dad?" Hunter asked quietly.

"I- I don't know. All I know is that Belos killed him."

"Why?" He whimpered.

(Y/n) let out a soft chuckle. "Because he fell in love with a witch. A witch who looked like me."

"But wasn't he a witch?"

"No. Belos and Caleb were humans. And Ellaline was a witch. He called her sin."

"Then what am I? What are we? Belos called me a.. grimwalker? What even is that?? And he said he thought 'bringing back Ellaline was genius'?? Are you Ellaline? Am I Caleb? I don't understand." Hunter said as his voice broke and tears welled in his eyes. "(Y/n) what are we going to do? We have nowhere to go."

(Y/n) took the boy into her arms and let him lay his head on her chest. He could hear her heartbeat. It was calm and steady. So he focussed on that. He focussed on each beat.

Bum. Bum. Bum. Bum. It thudded.

He held back tears and whimpers as he focussed on the beating of her heart.

"It's okay to cry." (Y/n) said. "Go on, let it all out." A tear rolled down her cheek and her eyes grew glassy.

Hunter choked out a whimper and (Y/n) put a hand on his head. She ran her fingers through his hair and hummed a tune.

It was the tune that they'd danced to on Grom Night, oh so long ago. It'd felt like years since that night.

The moonlight shined onto them and illuminated their teary faces. The stars danced and twinkled in the purple twilight sky.

Hunter smiled and felt himself become calm. He felt comforted.

"I think I know somewhere we can go for tonight. We can't stay there long, but it'll be better than staying out here in the cold, right?" (Y/n) asked quietly.

Hunter sat up and nodded. He pulled out Flapjack and sat on his staff. (Y/n) tucked Pip away into her cloak and sat behind him, wrapping her arms around him just as she had before.

"Over there." She pointed. She pointed to a tall dark building in the city on a dark pathway with windows that glowed yellow in the night.

They landed on the path of stone tiles that ran down the dark street and walked up four stairs to knock on the door.

The large dark brown door opened and revealed warm yellow lights inside.

"(Y/n)!" An older woman exclaimed in surprise.

"Ms. Adeline." The girl tiredly smiled.

"What happened?! Dear, you look awful!"

"Darn, I thought you told me I was beautiful." (Y/n) wearily joked.

"Oh, child. You know I didn't mean it like that." Ms. Adeline chuckled. "Come in, come in."

The pair walked in and Ms. Adeline eyed the blond boy.

"What brings you back here? You were adopted. Oh- and who's this? Bringing a boy home I see?"

"Ah! No! Uhm. We were partners in the Emperor's Coven. Which issss actually why we're here.. heh."

Ms. Adeline brought the two over to the living room and sat them down.

"What do you mean?"

"Fun fact, did you know that Emperor Belos is a genocidal maniac? Hahah." (Y/n) awkwardly chuckled.

"What? No, he's a good man. Don't joke like that, (Y/n). You know I don't like those kinds of jokes."

"It's not a joke, Ms. Adeline. He's a bad man. He... he killed his own brother and he's planning to kill everyone across the isles using their sigils."

Ms. Adeline blinked. "I- way to be blunt, (Y/n). Yeah. No sugar coating I guess."

"Sorry."

"No, don't apologize. It's just a lot to take in. You're saying he's going to massacre?"

"Yes. On the Day of Unity. He's going to use a draining spell to kill everyone." The girl argued.

"That.. that can't be. He's a good man. I.." The elder woman tiredly sat down on an arm chair. "No, he.. no. No."

"I know it's a lot to take in, but-"

Ms. Adeline cut her off by standing up and slamming her hands onto the chair arms. "No! He's not evil. He can't be! I haven't devoted my entire life to a man who's planning to genocide!"

"You.. devoted your life..?"

Ms. Adeline fell off her feet and flopped back onto the armchair, stressfully laughing as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I used to work for him, you know. I was his most loyal scout."

"Really.?" (Y/n) muttered quietly.

"He- he had this brilliant plan to create the "perfect soldier." I was there when he made you, (Y/n)." She tiredly laughed.

"Made me..? Like.. you were there when I was- like- conceived? 'Cause that's kinda weir- is he my dad?!"

"No, (Y/n). You weren't conceived, you were made. Built. Selkidomus scales, stonesleeper lungs and a galderstone for a heart. You're a grimwalker."

(Y/n) felt her heart drop as she straightened herself and looked at Hunter. He stared at Ms. Adeline with a confused face.

A grimwalker? That's the thing Belos called Hunter.

"Emperor Belos gave me one final mission. Raise the soldier. He gave me an infant and told me I could name her. I gratefully accepted the mission and named you (Y/n) because I thought it was a beautiful name, fitting for a beautiful girl. Your last name, (L/n), is a name I heard. It's from the human realm, I believe. I took you home with me and raised you. And I guess word got around that I took in a kid and next thing I knew, Ollie was left at my doorstep."

(Y/n) couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was a grimwalker? She didn't even know what a grimwalker was.

I'm not a witch..?

"I spent 50 years serving him. Ever since I was 18. And now he turns out to be a genocidal maniac? No, it can't be true!" She held her head in her hands.

"Ms. Adeline, I'm sorry." (Y/n) remorsefully said. She'd never seen Ms. Adeline so broken, so weak.

"Ms... Adeline..?" Hunter quietly spoke, "Um. My- my whole life, I thought Belos was my uncle, looking out for my best interest... but, hahah, just like you, I was.. deceived." Hunter choked out, his stressed tone matching that of Ms. Adeline's. "He told me, the Titan had big plans for me. And I believed him."

"Oh, Child." The elder woman took him into her arms and hugged him. They were silent for a while. All (Y/n) heard were Hunter's soft sniffles. "Please, stay here for the night. I'll make you both some supper." She said as she got up and left to the kitchen.

"She's so nice." Hunter wiped a tear from his eye and smiled. "I can see where you get it from."