♪♫❝ ᴳᵒᵗ ᵃ ˢᵉᶜʳᵉᵗ ᶜᵃⁿ ʸᵒᵘ ᵏᵉᵉᵖ ⁱᵗ?
ˢʷᵉᵃʳ, ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵒⁿᵉ ʸᵒᵘ'ˡˡ ˢᵃᵛᵉ
ᴮᵉᵗᵗᵉʳ ˡᵒᶜᵏ ⁱᵗ ⁱⁿ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᵖᵒᶜᵏᵉᵗ
ᵀᵃᵏⁱⁿ' ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ᵍʳᵃᵛᵉ ᴵᶠ ᴵ ˢʰᵒʷ ʸᵒᵘ, ᵗʰᵉⁿ ᴵ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ʸᵒᵘ
ᵂᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵗᵉˡˡ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᴵ ˢᵃⁱᵈ 'ᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ᵗʷᵒ ᶜᵃⁿ ᵏᵉᵉᵖ ᵃ ˢᵉᶜʳᵉᵗ ᴵᶠ ᵒⁿᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉᵐ ⁱˢ ᵈᵉᵃᵈ ❞♪♫
— 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝 ʙʏ 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚒𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚜
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ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ ᴏɴ ɴɪᴄᴇ ɢɪʀʟ:
𝚂𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑, 𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎. "𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙 𝚘𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞."
𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚔𝚊 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚠. "𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚑? 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘?"
"𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚛..." 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚕𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐. "𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜."
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎'𝚜 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. "𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚎'𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜."
𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚍. "𝚂𝚘 𝚠𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗."
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑘𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎 deep breath as Hunter put his mask back on.
"The illusions only started when I found the sword." The boy informed the girl when they had set foot in the cave.
The brunette nodded in understanding.
Time felt prolonged with every step they took, and the cave was too quiet for their liking. No creatures wandered the cave except for their great anxiety bubbling within them at each agonizing second, ready to strike the moment they reached the sword.
When Hunter caught sight of the Sword of Cthulhu, it was accompanied by Illusion Belos, looking excited to pound the blonde to shreds.
The boy's shoulders tensed at that moment; he tapped Annika's shoulder to catch her attention, and when she looked toward the sword, she saw illusion kids, and her shoulders stiffened at the sight.
The two teens left the sword's sight to prepare for the upcoming challenge.
Annika closed her eyes and started to take deep breaths. In between breaths, she would mutter to herself repeatedly. "It's not real. They're all just some dumb illusions feeding on our fear."
Hunter also closed his eyes and sank his breathing to the brunette's; he took her mutters as comforting words to keep himself calm.
After moments of this ritual, they stopped when the girl opened her eyes and asked the blonde. "Are you ready?"
The boy wanted to shake his head and run away, but he wouldn't display any more fear in front of the girl; he had already shown her enough, so instead, he nodded.
Annika changed her posture to a confident one. "Let's do this!"
And the two walked toward the illusions. They didn't know how they would react, but the two teens needed to remember one thing: although the sword might try to scare them off, they were not real.
Annika and Hunter entered the sword's territory, and the illusions looked up with terrifying excitement. Illusion Belos aimed a green goopy fist in Hunter's direction, but the boy dodged his attack in time.
Hunter managed to catch a glimpse of Annika's situation; he saw small vague figures trying to hold Annika in place as she tried her best to shake them off her.
Even so, he couldn't afford that distraction when he, too, wasn't safe. Illusion Belos threw as many punches as he could at the boy, which the blonde managed to avoid in time.
He was getting progressively exhausted from the battle, and Illusion Belos could sense his exhaustion because he took this opportunity to strike the blonde's ribs. Hard.
"Crap." Hunter put his hand on his bruised chest as he grunted in pain. He could feel his body weaken as he fell onto his knees from the excruciating pain.
It wasn't real.
It wasn't real, and he knew it. But how could he ignore an illusion that hit too close to home?
Yes, it was hard for him, but he had to remember the good things in life that made him less scared of living it. Hunter forced his mind on information from many books he's read during his life.
Illusion Belos smashed the boy with his fist; his lips curled to the sadistic smile of someone who knew they had won the battle.
However, his smile was wiped off his face as he found his fist being pushed away with all the blonde's remaining strength.
Because Hunter was not one to give up easily; he was a stubborn, determined boy, and there was no way he would let an illusion be the end of him, even if he was facing a realistic fear.
Hunter's eyes searched for Annika, wondering where she was. He quickly found her kicking away the small vague figures from her as she yelled. "You're not fucking real!"
Soon enough, she ran toward the sword; about to take it out of the stone, and that was all Hunter needed to see before focusing back on pushing Belos' fist from pounding him to nothing.
He grunted as he thought about the good things Belos did for him, trying to eliminate his irrational fear.
Shortly after, a shriek reached Hunter's ears; he instinctively glanced in Annika's direction, and there she was-quickly taking her hands off the sword as her eyes widened in sheer horror and tears ran across her cheeks.
"Gloves!" Was the only word she managed to yell out.
Illusion Belos' fist now felt like a heavy bean bag chair; the boy could still feel the pressure, but it wasn't as bad as before.
Hunter pushed Belos' fist away with less effort and ran toward the sword, taking it from the stone. At that very moment, the illusions had disappeared from the cave, and only he and Annika were standing there.
"We did it!" He chirped, but when he looked at the girl, she looked terrified to the bone, gasping for air as if the sword was choking her.
The blonde could've left the brunette at the cave and given the sword to Emperor Belos alone, but he wasn't cruel. Hunter instinctively wrapped the blade with one of his many coats before hanging it around his waist and took the girl's hand to lead her out of the cave.
Annika didn't object; she was too focused on whatever the sword had shown her.
When they reached the cave's exit, the boy sat the girl down as she tried to control her breathing, and he soon sat beside her.
"We've got the sword." He softly said and showed her the blade.
Annika wiped her wet face.
"That's good." She said with a shaky voice and forced a small smile.
Hunter put the sword next to him and removed his mask as Annika slowly and repeatedly breathed in and out.
They both sat in awkward silence, not uttering a word to one another. The blonde understood that the brunette might be having a panic attack, but he felt awkward knowing their relationship.
They didn't talk much; they usually bickered and never went into vulnerable territory as this mission had offered. For Hunter, this situation felt like being stuck with a crying child you don't know and won't respond to any questions you ask them so you could help them out. And the boy would know; he's had these situations happen to him, except the awkwardness wasn't dialed to one hundred.
So all he could do was wait until Annika calmed down.
When the blonde could hear her breathing normally, he nervously started. "So... could we never talk about... what happened in there... to anyone... ever?"
Annika sniffed her nose before nodding. "I won't tell anyone as long as you don't tell either."
"Then it's a deal." He said and stretched his hand for her to shake.
"I didn't know this was a business deal." She raised a brow and gave him a small beam.
Hunter couldn't repress a small, returning smile.
The blonde soon dropped his hand when Annika's face faltered. "But, I have one condition."
The boy raised a brow. "What more could you want?"
"If I'm going to keep this incident from everyone, I might as well kill two birds with one stone."
Hunter's brows furrowed.
Annika continued. "I'm gonna need you to become a..." she paused, trying to find the right word, "spy for me-"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Concern laced his voice.
The girl gave him an annoyed look. "Listen, I'm not asking you to spy on Belos; I'm asking you to keep watch for me when I do... stuff... that Belos would never approve of me doing."
This confused Hunter; Annika gaining disapproval from Emperor Belos?
"I thought Belos would let you do whatever you wanted."
The brunette softly scoffed. "I wish... But I think you know the kind of witch he is, not accepting wild magic or wild witches."
"You know, he has his reasons."
Annika gave Hunter a strange look, almost as if she pitied him. The pity didn't seem to be for his abilities but for something else that he couldn't put his finger on.
She turned her gaze from him and onto the snowy ground. "But I'm not free as people think I am. I mean, I can't go out of the castle like you do unless it was arranged beforehand. And if it's not planned, it's because I sneak out, and I've been caught too many times..." Annika felt a lump in her throat. "And, of course, I got in trouble for all those times."
Hunter processed her words; he had never thought in his entire life that she would be trapped like he was.
"What difference does it make if I keep guard for you? Won't we both get in trouble?" He asked.
"I've done it many times, but it's better to have someone covering for me. Plus, people wouldn't question you as much."
Even though he felt extreme sympathy for the girl, Hunter didn't want to become someone Annika could take advantage of.
He crossed his arms. "Well, you can forget about that. I might as well tell everyone about what you told me now and what happened back there."
Now, he wasn't actually going to tell people anything, but he wanted to ensure he got his message across.
Annika turned her gaze back to Hunter and gave him a mocking look. "Oh sure, tell people about the incident, but ask yourself this question: Will people believe you... or me?"
The boy was at a loss for words as the brunette extended her hand.
"But I don't have to be that heartless... That is if you don't utter a word to anyone else." She said with a cold expression.
Hunter nodded with a hint of fear and lightly shook her hand.
"Wait, is your staff still working?" Annika asked in an attempt to change the subject.
The blonde was confused and concerned, and who could blame him when he was just threatened by the girl a few seconds ago?
The boy got up and checked his staff, gently tapping the red crystal to see if it still worked. Soon enough, a small red light flickered from the crystal. "I think it is, but it doesn't seem to be working well."
Annika stood up. "May I?" She reached for the staff, and Hunter handed it to her.
The girl cast a spell on the staff, returning it to a functional item.
"This spell should last until we get back to the castle." She informed the blonde as she handed the staff back to him.
Hunter scrunched his brows. "I'm confused. Didn't you fix my staff?"
The girl shook her head. "No, I only gave your staff enough energy to get us back."
The boy could feel his anxiety rise; he was sure he'd get in trouble with Emperor Belos for breaking his staff. "But you can use magic; can't you fix it?"
Annika furrowed her brows. "Hunter, that's not how magic works. And even if my magic could stretch that far, I'd have to know the contents of your staff. Plus, it would probably take more energy out of me."
She returned the staff to the blonde and took the covered sword from the ground after she let out a small shutter. "C'mon, we have a certain sword to bring back."
Hunter nodded, climbed his artificial staff, and waited for Annika.
When she climbed the staff, the boy took off, and they flew back to the castle.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
After the teenagers gave the Sword of Cthulu to Darius and told him a less detailed summary of what had happened back at The Knee, the two teens exited the purple-haired witch's office.
Hunter walked to his room and removed his winter clothes before plopping himself on the bed and collecting his thoughts.
Why did things have to be so complicated? Why couldn't things be simpler? Black and white?
The boy sighed as he let the realization sink in.
Annika wasn't the entitled brat he thought she was.
She wasn't the crown princess who watched with entertainment all the other witches struggle for Emperor Belos' approval.
She wasn't a free griffin with power. She was a pretty bird trapped in a golden cage that hung above his.
But even with all of this information obtained, it didn't mean he was starting to pity the girl but simply opening a new perspective. And if Hunter was being very honest with himself, he would have to admit that perhaps he has been stuck in his head for a long time and never bothered to see the witches around him.
Perhaps he had been harsh to Annika during their years.
No, no, no.
Hunter shook his head.
He didn't want this. Somehow it was easier to believe the lie he had created in his head than the truth that stood right before him.
The boy took his pillow and groaned into it.
Why did life have to be so complicated?
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Annika tightly hugged her pillow as she lay down on her bed. She kept glancing at the scroll on her end table that she had taken from her secret box hidden in the library's many bookcases.
Should she tell Lilith or leave it be?
The girl had had this argument in her head since returning from the mission.
Annika felt horrible at the thought of not telling Lilith anything about the incident, but she also didn't want to revisit the horror she had just faced.
She was trying so hard to avoid it all, but how could she forget it all when it constantly plagued the corners of her mind?
Sleeping it off wouldn't help either because of nightmares.
The only good thing Annika could think about that day was Hunter.
When the boy took the blade from its place, she had expected him to leave her behind like he had intended earlier that day, but... he didn't.
He held her hand and led her out when the only thing she could see was her worst fear.
Maybe he wasn't as cold as she thought he was.
He was still annoying as shit, but she never hated the boy.
Annika's eyes soon widened with realization.
"Shit," She thought to herself. "I asked him to be my safeguard."
Oh, and of course, she couldn't forget that she literally told him she sneaked out of the castle.
Annika blushed from embarrassment.
Maybe she didn't think about her offer properly. Oh, who was she kidding? She had definitely blackmailed him.
The girl glanced back at her scroll to distract herself from her current freakout.
Annika put her pillow on the head of the bed and finally held the scroll in her hand. She went to her Penstagram, pressed on her only contact, and started typing out a hex.
But sending that hex proved easier said than done since the brunette kept typing and deleting it over and over again.
Sooner or later, she gave up and threw her scroll aside.
Annika sighed. "I think I'll just go visit Lilith." She concluded in her mind and stared at the sunset from her bedroom window.
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𝐀/𝐍: Don't forget to vote and comment and I wish you all a fine day/night 💫