Chapter 23
Alone again
Hunter
I listen to the shouts of the scouts recruited only two months ago. I don't hear them, not really. It's been a few days since the Raven watcher was 'petrified'. Belos told everyone that's what happened, i went to the Conformatorium myself later that evening after I helped Y/n escape and unsurprisingly they weren't there. That meant Belos lied about petrifying them.
How many other things has he lied about?
The new recruits are abysmal, how they got into this coven i have no idea. The age of these scouts ranges from one fifteen year old to eleven seventeen year olds. I'm supposed to be supervising their duelling skills but there's not much to note here. Some are still complaining about loosing their staffs. No thought for the palismen connected to them.
Flapjack's presence in my pocket reminds me of this, the bond a witch has with their palisman shouldn't be forgotten so quickly. Is this how Y/n felt when their cat palisman was taken away from them?
I'm not supposed to be thinking about them. I know that because Terra Snapdragon tried to serve me tea a while ago but I experienced a strange feeling of Deja vu. I'm pretty sure this has happened before, the tea was definitely enchanted so I poured it in a plant pot. I don't want to forget about Y/n. I can't bring myself too.
Every time I was around them I felt safe, like no matter what happened as long as we had each other everything would be okay. I keep replaying that day over and over again in my head. It was so sudden, one moment we were laughing about penstagram usernames the next... they were taken from me.
"I think- I um.. I might like you too Hunter"
These words in particular are on a constant loop, I've ruined everything. I should never have said that I liked them- the timing was all wrong. I didn't want to know, because I won't be able to let go. I feel like I'm clinging onto a useless dream, a snippet of an alternative reality. Something just out of my grasp. I can't find the words. I don't think I'm ever going to see them again.
And that's why it hurts, worse than breaking any bone, worse than the feeling when I fail a mission, worse than disappointing Belos. Something I've realized is that there are some hurts you can't escape from. They're fresh and inescapable for a while, like a bleeding wound, after a time you just have to learn to live with the pain. I don't think that's possible in this situation.
My first friend, my best friend, the only person I've ever liked.
"Hey golden guard," one of the scouts says, "were you watching? I just knocked Wysteria to the ground." I break out of my thoughts, and blink back at the scout.
"Oh erm, yes very good," I say, cringing at my words, I should have been wating, guess I'm a terrible guard, terrible coven member, terrible everything.
"You know what, why don't you get Kikimora to take over my post?" I say, slightly ashamed of myself. The scout shrugs and walks off.
Presuming myself free of my duties now, I slip off my cloak and leave. Flapjack twitters sadly in my pocket. "I know bud, not the same without them," I mumble, patting the space where he lies in my pocket.
For the third time today, I scroll through penstagram, no new messages.. I click on y/n's page with their three posts. Last seen, five days ago..
The first photo is from a year ago, titled with the caption "first day off in a year," it's a picture of a grudgby match, nothing else.
The second is a short video of a flute and some bard magic, it doesn't have a title and even though they aren't shown on the screen I know they're the one playing it. I replay the video again and again and again.. I've already seen it hundreds of times over but I keep playing it because if I concentrate hard enough it feels like they're almost there.
I've only seen the last photo once, when I saw it I had to power my scroll off. It's a picture of them, in their Raven Watcher uniform, and... and me, the golden guard. I don't remember the picture being taken, I was in further in the background, not even facing the camera.. But I was facing them, y/n... The caption was "look who finally made a friend" I can't tell who they were talking about, but it was too bittersweet.
I close their penstagram, unable to bear the sight of it any longer, why do I feel so lost now?
I'm walking through the castle, I don't know how I ended up here but I'm outside their old room. I open the door slowly, knowing that I'm not going to find anything. Most of the room is the same, a few objects have been cleared out by the coven scouts, their precious collection of wild magic books are scattered over the floor, their flute has been knocked off a shelf and lies discarded on the ground, slightly cracked. Most of the potions and other magical items have been taken away and confiscated. Soon this whole room will be emptied and a new scout will move in.
I close the door behind me and sit down on their bed, remembering the times we would read books together and when they once rested their head on my shoulder. How could someone so perfect deserve to be petrified? What did they do that was so wrong.. I know I'm meant to hate them like any other wild witch but I can't bring myself too.
When y/n vanished after the recruitment day at Hexide, I recognized Belos's magic, his is red just like the magic from my staff, so I knew something was wrong. I ran back to the castle but no-one had seen either of them. I ended up going to the throne room and tried to stop Belos from harming them. So he hurt me instead.. Why does it still feel like I did the right thing by saving y/n? If Belos thinks they're not a good person they mustn't be..
Before I've even thought it I know it's not true. Y/n is a good person, I have so many reasons as to why. They've always offered me help on missions, they've always listened to me when the coven heads wouldn't, they've always been there for me. Belos must have made a mistake, there is no way y/n is in the wrong-
"C'mon flapjack," I say, realizing the bird has left my pocket, "we've got to go talk to Belos- I mean, Uncle Belos..." That name doesn't sound right anymore, Uncle Belos.. I don't know how to explain it, it's just wrong.
Flapjack's standing on the top of their chair, pecking at the strap of their satchel. It's hanging on the back of the chair, I curiously stand up, dusting off my pants, and make my way over to it. I usher the cardinal away and pick up the bag. Flapjack makes a startled sound and darts into the open flap.
"Woah, don't do that Flap, that's their private stuff." I say, but it's too late, he struggles to pull out a book twice the size of himself. I help him get it out, and go back to sitting on their bed. It's a leather book, a yellow eye emblazoned onto the centre resembling the portal door somewhat. Flapjack pushes it open, I feel bad for prying but I'm too curious to put the book down.
The first page says "Evelyn's journal, keep out" Underneath someone has crossed out the words "Keep out Phillip" and there's something like a love heart with the name "Caleb" in it. I roll my eyes. Who is Evelyn? Why does y/n have her journal? Besides this just looks like some random kid's diary.
For some reason, I have to read it.
The first few pages are normal diary stuff, I skim over them. There's always this mention of Caleb, or "the human" Evelyn describes him as "tall, brown eyed, with ashy blonde hair" It's only when I see a photo of him do I have to do a double-take because his hair is so similar to mine, slightly longer, but he has the hair strand and everything. I shake it off as a coincidence and keep reading.
I turn a page and a note slips out, it's not written in Evelyn's handwriting.
C.A.T.S meeting in bat queen's forest don't be late
Interesting. I've never heard of the cats before.
"Flapjack; just a thought," i turn to my palisman for reassurance, "Do you reckon if we go to this forest we might find y/n, or at least something related to them? I really need to find them. I know that they're not in the wrong but they can't really be in the right, right? Ugh," I lie back on the bed and put my hands over my eyes, "I'm rambling again."
Flapjack tweets sympathetically, it's almost like I can hear his reassurance. Speaking to palismen is hard. Most of the time you have to catch a feeling, or the expression in their sounds.
Flapjack thinks its a good idea, to go to this forest, i think. Right now it's not like I have anyone else to ask. I get up to leave, my hands shaking. I don't know if I'm excited or scared at what i might find.
'Come on flapjack' I've put on a green travelling cloak and taken a few potions with me, im all ready, but the bird won't move. He struggles to drag the journal out of the satchel, resorting to pecking at the bag strap.
I sigh, and walk back to the chair, gesturing Flap away and picking up the satchel. Contented, the bird sits on my shoulder. Something isn't adding up here, I'll ask it again, why does Y/n have- had... this book?
Flapjack turns himself into a staff, and i take off from one of the windows.
I land in the forest, when it's too dense to see into it from my vantage point in the air. Flapjack keeps my company by flying behind me, but all i can hear are my footsteps and the pounding in my ears.
"As golden guard I was taught how to track. Its pretty easy to tell where they've been, whoever the 'cats' are. Doesn't look like they've made much of an effort to cover their tracks, I mean," I gesture to a broken twig with a peice of neon thread dangling off it. "Blatantly obvious."
I follow their tracks, lost in thought. Got to find y/n... Got to find y/n...
We stop in a clearing. This must have been their meeting point. It's well hidden, Noone would have noticed it from the skies.
There's a few burnt trees and singed leaves. I walk up to one, pressing my hand against the ashy bark. I pull it away and wipe charcoal off my gloves. I've revealed some orange substance, a potion I believe. Mediocre, nothing compared to what they give us in the emperor's coven or even what's authorized in the potions coven. It must be homemade.
I pour one of my potions on my ground, watching it go to waste, before scooping up some of the substance in the empty bottle.
I search around some more, but there's nothing. I don't know how much time goes by, but i keep looking. Keep looking.
There's nothing.
What use is a few drops of potion? I don't know who the C.A.T.S are and i don't know where y/n is.
My hands begin to shake again, Flapjack twitters worried, but I can't hear him, it's like I'm underwater.
"STOP IT." I don't know who I'm talking to, not the palisman, "just let me find something," I sink to the floor and sit there. Flapjack lands on my knees and chirps expectantly at me.
I take a deep breath, "I needed a distraction, Flap. I asked to train the new recruits this morning, and then that didn't work. I- I thought i could use this as a distraction, I knew I wouldn't be able to find them, but I'd i could find something- just anything left of them. I guess i wouldn't feel so alone." I mumble, crossing my arms and burying my face in them, letting out a groan.
Flapjack's presence reassures me somewhat, and somehow i manage to calm down a little bit. Maybe i will find them again one day, I sure hope so, at any rate.
There's nothing left here, I get to my feet and gather my thoughts. "Flap?"
The palisman is pecking at a tree. Curious, I try to catch what he's looking at. ...There's a peice of paper lodged into a small crevice. I reach into it and pull out the note.
In the very middle, the words "Invading the emperor's mind" are written in bold. I laugh at how stupid it is to leave something like this lying around. And who other than someone in a cartoon would write their evil schemes in bold on a peice of paper.
Then I realize: maybe it's not hopeless, I have a lead.
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2370 words
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A/N
My friend called hunter "Chestnut boy" today and it was the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Anyways, sorry about the filler chapter, i thought I'd write something from Hunter's p.o.v because there's about to be two chapters without him before hollow mind. Also Update schedule has poofed, I'll still try to update on Fridays but I think I'll just update whenever I've written something. Also decided to split this into 2 books -not anytime soon theres quite a bit of this left but i wanted to write about stuff in the human realm if anyone would be interested in that. Before this authors note gets too long, go listen to 'eyes on you' by 'Oh geee z'