ⓜⒶŁＬⓔΔᗷˡ𝔼 M𝕖𝐭ⓐ𝕃ş (Golden Guard x reader)

What Happened and What's to Come (pt. 19)

Author's note: Buckle up, this chapter is kinda...unique. Trust the process.

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It was a relatively normal summer day that my life changed again.

You'd think that maybe, just once, that whatever cosmic being controls fate would just let me chill out and have a normal life for a bit, but nooooo.

Being constantly thrown into new, previously impossible, weirdness seemed to simply be my density. (Ha, Back to the Future joke. Ami would be proud.)

Alas, having a normal life was a laughable wish for me, Leonardo Byrne. Previously known as Nico Byrne Bryony, also previously known as the Emperor's right hand man's right hand man, and currently known as 'Leo who runs the museum and helps with his parents' witch store on Sundays'. You know. For codename reasons.

But I digress. Back to the relatively normal summer day.

"(Y/N)!"

I froze at the name, looking over at the person who had said it.

(Y/N), whilst a normal enough name, was not a name I had been called since...well, since I was in a very dark place a very long time ago.

And yet now a teenager was here, standing in Ma and Pa's store, staring at me with wide pink eyes...a color that I had been told could not occur in human irises.

A color that did occur in the eyes of an old friend of mine.

"Golden Guard?" I said so quietly I might not've actually made any sound, and stared over the cash register at the teenager.

He wavered, slouching a bit. "Oh, sorry, sir. I...mistook you for someone else." His voice cracked.

...(Y/N), the other (Y/N) would probably be about his age. 16ish.

"No- you're the Golden Guard!" I said, louder this time.

Now it was his turn to freeze.

"What?" He whispered, a jolt of fear in his (magenta!) eyes. "You...wait, what?!"

"You found your way to the human realm!" I grinned, standing up. "How the hell did you manage it without Edalyn?! Ooh, or did you have her?"

"You know the Owl Lady?! Who are you, human?!" The teenager gasped.

"Know her? She was practically my little sister!" I exclaimed, and then I suddenly realized how loudly I was talking.

The other patrons of the store stared at us (Okay. Maybe just at me.) in a confused silence, and the kid- Hunter, if...if my suspicions were right.

"Uhh..." I coughed. "Come to the back room with me, uh- kid! -yeah, kid, that's a good thing to call someone- and we'll uh...continue talking about...tarot methods?" I managed to stutter out, grinning in a hopefully confident way.

He nodded, a bead of sweat trailing down his forehead at my rubbish lying skills. "Yes, I...would love to talk about um...those!"

"...Tubular!" I beamed, my smile probably very strained looking.

The silence lasted a beat longer, but then the usual chatter-filled ambiance returned. (Oh thank goodness.)

I nodded towards the back room door, and Hunter swallowed and followed me behind the counter.

"So...what the titan is going on?" Hunter finally said as I shut the door behind us.

I stared at him for a second. It was almost like talking to my Hunter again...