"I love you."
What?
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"What do you mean we fell asleep in the middle of the fucking woods?!" Hunter yelled as he scrambled to stand back up.
"I dunno?! We just never went home?? The fuck you want me to say?"
"Belos is SO gonna be on my ass about this. Your ass too, honestly." Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose and pulled out his staff. "C'mon, get on. We gotta get back before Belos realizes we're not at the castle."
"Hold the phone, Golden Boy." (Y/n) crossed her arms and sat on the staff. "You mean to tell me, Belos didn't know we went to Grom?!"
"Well no, but-"
"Hunter, are you stupid or something!!"
"Maybe, I'm an idiot!"
"Yeah! You are!" (Y/n)'s yelling turned to laughing as she struggled to keep a straight face. "Now step on it, idiot!"
(Y/n) wrapped her arms around his torso and Hunter flew as fast as he could. Her eyes began to water from how fast they were going.
They wound up at the castle, sooner than expected and rushed to their respective rooms to get back into their uniforms.
"Do.. do we go visit The Emperor or wait until he asks for us?" (Y/n) hesitantly asked as the pair met up, once again masked.
"Let's go see him. If he didn't notice we were gone, it'll just look like we're hard workers taking initiative to find our next task."
(Y/n) nodded and followed her partner to the throne room. Belos sat on the throne like he always did.
"Emperor Belos," Hunter began. "Do you have a task for us today?"
The Emperor was silent for a second before groaning in pain. He clutched his stomach and winced.
Hunter grabbed (Y/n)'s hand and dragged out of the throne room immediately. They heard smashing and the sound of broken items.
"What?! Is he okay?? Is he having a heart attack?!" (Y/n) asked, alarmed.
"It's that condition thing I told you about." He muttered quietly.
"The one you're studying wild magic for?"
Hunter nodded and peeked inside, seeing Belos absorb another palisman's substance. Hunter gulped, making sure (Y/n) wasn't looking.
"Hey." He shut the door. "Do you have Pip with you?"
"No? Why?"
"Okay, good. He's in your room?"
"Yeah, why?" She cocked her head to the side, suspiciously. It'd felt like Hunter was hiding something from her. But she trusted him. So she let it go.
"I'm- just making sure, okay?"
Hunter opened the grand doors again and walked back in with (Y/n).
"Lilith is planning to attempt a raid on The Owl Lady's home in a day's time. Meanwhile, I want you two to retrieve me some palistrom wood."
"But we have none. Our reserves are depleted and-"
"I don't keep you around to argue, Hunter." Belos warned. "Unless you're looking to have a new statue for the courtyard."
Hunter winced and shrunk under Belos' intense glare.
"Now, find me some palistrom wood."
The pair walked out of the throne room and returned to Hunter's room.
"Where do we even find palistrom wood?" (Y/n) asked, flopping onto Hunter's bed.
"There're three palistrom forests across the isles. One near Bonesborough, one at the Shoulder and one on the Toes." He sat next to her.
"Oh, good. So we can just go to the one near Bonesborough."
"That's where it gets tough, though. The forests are all over harvested. Or, at least the ones at the Shoulder and by Bonesborough are..."
"What about the one on the Toes?" (Y/n) asked.
"I'm not sure. We can go see for ourselves,"
"But the Toes are days away!" She complained, sitting up.
"Yeah, five days away on foot, two on staff. But riding on a staff for two days straight is gonna be a pain in the ass. Literally."
"Please don't be implying what I think you're implying."
"(Y/n) we're gonna have to walk. For five days straight."