♪♫❝ ʸᵒᵘ ˡᵉᵃᵛᵉ ᵐᵉ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵏ
ᴵ'ᵐ ˢᵗᵘᵐᵇˡⁱⁿᵍ ᵃʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᴵ'ᵐ ᵃ qᵘᵉˢᵗⁱᵒⁿ ᵐᵃʳᵏ
ᵂᵒⁿᵈᵉʳⁱⁿᵍ ⁱᶠ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ᵃʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ ᵗᵒ ᶜᵃᵗᶜʰ ᵐᵉ ⁱᶠ ᴵ ᶠᵃˡˡ
ᴵᶠ ᴵ ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᶜʳᵃˢʰⁱⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵃˡˡ ❞♪♫
— 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘 ʙʏ 𝙰𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚛 & 𝚂𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚊 𝙰𝚕𝚎𝚡 𝚂𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚗
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
𝐀/𝐍: sorry my a/n's at the beginning, but I do wanna clear some things up before you start reading. This chapter takes place in S2 E7, Eda's Requirem, which is after the episode of Hunting Palisman (S2 E6). Or in simpler words, I'm switching the canon episodes around, so my plot for this fic makes better sense.
K, bye! Enjoy this chapter and don't forget to vote and comment <3
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 always suspicious of Annika ever since she was announced as the crown princess, and he had reason to be. After all, it was odd that Emperor Belos would give the Golden Guard's position as the Emperor's successor to someone like Annika.
So Darius had dug through records to find any information on the crown princess to explain her sudden appearance.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊⟡
〚 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓯𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 〛
⟡₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
"Oh, you are in so much trouble."
Annika's facade had vanished, and her eyes widened. The head coven stepped closer, and the teen girl stepped back. He could see her body trembling at being discovered.
Sadness filled Darius' heart at the sight, and it got worse when Annika closed her eyes as if expecting to be punished for her deeds. Darius stopped when he realized he was getting too close to the girl's personal space.
"I won't hurt you, Annika. I just want to talk."
The brunette opened her eyes. "Oh yeah? About what?"
If the crown princess tried to be threatening, it didn't work since her voice trembled.
"Well, there's a lot to talk about." He replied.
"Like what?" She asked as her eyes started watering. "Just get to the point."
"For someone who's scared, you still got that fire inside you," Darius commented and continued. "I've been watching you for a while."
Annika squinted as she gave the coven head a look, taken aback by his words.
The purple-haired witch widened his eyes, realizing the sentence he had just uttered. "Oh, no, not in a creepy way." He tried to explain again. "I've been watching you because I don't trust you."
The crown princess furrowed her brows in confusion at Darius, who again realized his wording and touched the side of his forehead with his fingers. "Wait, no, that actually sounds worse now when I say it out loud."
"If you're planning on telling Belos, please don't," Annika begged with fear returning to her voice again.
When the coven head was silent, the teenager kept going. "I'll do anything."
Darius let out a sigh. "I'm not planning on telling Belos."
Annika's brows furrowed again. "Then what are you planning?" She shook her head and bombarded the older witch with questions. "Actually, no. How can I trust you? How do I know this is not some plan of yours? Or some form of blackmail?"
The coven head put his hand down and looked into the crown princess's eyes. "I think you know about the day of unity, but no one knows what Belos is actually planning on that day."
"What are you talking about?" The girl asked and soon widened her eyes in realization. "You don't trust him either, do you?"
Darius shook his head. "No, I don't."
"I do have to say, your scheme was rather impressive." He said, giving her a small beam to make the girl comfortable.
Annika stared into the coven head's eyes to try and find any deception or lies in his intentions; when she found none, she acknowledged his compliment, still trying to process whatever had happened a few minutes ago.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊⟡
〚 𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓯𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 〛
⟡₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"Your task for today is to find out if the Titan's bow exists," Darius informed the two teenagers who stood at his office again.
"Where's it located?" Annika questioned.
Hunter scrunched his brows. "Wait, why would Belos want us to search for a weapon that could be fake?"
"I think the term you're looking for is 'myth.'" The crown princess corrected.
The blonde gave her an annoyed look. "I didn't ask you to fix my sentences, Your Highness."
Before the girl could come up with a witty response, Darius cut her off. "The Titan's bow is said to be located in a secluded area near the Boiling Seas."
He addressed Annika's question and then addressed Hunter's query as he gave the girl a quick look. "And the reason why the Emperor wants us to look for the Titan's bow's existence is because he will make sure to collect any weapon before it gets into the wrong hands."
He turned his head to the blonde. "Understood?"
Hunter nodded in response.
"You do realize that there are many secluded areas near the Boiling Seas, right?" The girl pointed out.
"Well, that's something for you to figure out?" Darius waved. "Now I've got important things to do, so off you go."
The two teenagers nodded before Hunter deeply thought about how he and Annika would find the Titan's bow while the brunette communicated her complaints with facial expressions.
Annika raised a brow. "Are you serious?" She lowered her brow and gave Darius an annoyed look, and gestured her head at Hunter, who was unaware of his surroundings. "I'm not being left with worthless information with him."
Darius returned her a raised brow. "I'm not stupid enough to see that you two have been getting along with one another."
Annika furrowed her brows. "That's not the point."
The older witch rolled his eyes at the girl. "Just go." His face soon turned serious. "And don't forget to hand it over to Eberwolf or me."
Annika waved her hand in dismissal. "Yeah, I got it."
"Are we going or what?" The blonde asked with crossed arms, oblivious to their nonverbal conversation.
"Yes, we are." The brunette confirmed and lightly pushed the teen boy to the exit.
"How are we supposed to locate a weapon with such ambiguous descriptions?" Annika asked when they walked out of Darius'office.
"If we go to the markets at Bonesborough, then we'll have a good chance of getting more information on the bow," Hunter said.
The girl looked hesitant. "Are you sure the merchants will know about the Titan's bow?"
The boy held his head up high in pride. "As someone who's been in Bonesborough, I know what I'm talking about."
Annika crossed her brows and arms. "Should I be taking that personally? Is this your way of rubbing in your profound knowledge?"
Hunter smirked. "Maybe I am rubbing my great knowledge in your face."
The brunette looked unimpressed.
When the two teens left the castle building, they got onto Hunter's artificial staff and flew off into Bonesborough's market.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
"Do you know about the legend of the Titan's bow?" The Golden Guard asked a vendor he knew who loved collecting information on any existing legends.
"The Titan's bow?" The three-eyed vendor asked as he searched through his many boxes of old scrolls.
"Ah, yes," The vendor had his head turned three hundred and sixty degrees from his neck when he found what he was looking for.
The vendor turned his head back to its regular position to face the teenagers and summoned the scripture he wanted into his hands. "The Titan's bow's location has remained unknown amongst historians."
Annika crossed her arms as she looked at the masked boy with an unsure frown.
Either the blonde dismissed her, or he didn't hear her since he gave his full attention to the vendor, who opened the old paper to reveal it was a map and put it on the wooden table.
The three-eyed demon continued with a smile, showing off his sharp teeth. "But, some say that a scripture hides here." He pointed to a location on the map, and the two teenagers curiously leaned in to look. "And this scripture is said to lead the finder to the Titan's bow."
"So, like a key to what we're looking for?" The brunette looked up.
The vendor nodded and gave the same smile that made the girl uneasy.
"Thank you, Sir. Have a good day." The Golden Guard bid his goodbyes to the vendor and got on to his artificial staff, with Annika following him.
"You know where we're going?" The girl asked.
"Yeah, I was there to hunt down a Selkiedomus for Emperor Belos a few months ago." The boy informed the girl, who nodded in response.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
When the two teenagers reached the cave, Hunter warily looked around while Annika stood at the entrance, waiting for the boy. When he felt the place was clear of danger, the blonde entered the cave with his artificial staff as his light source; the girl followed along.
The two walked in silence as they wandered around until Annika broke it.
"So...., what's your favorite color?"
"What?" Hunter was caught off guard by the girl's query and turned his head to her. "How is this question relevant to finding the scripture?"
"It's not, but I'd like to get to know my partner."
The boy scoffed. "And since when was I your partner?"
"Let's be honest; Darius would most likely try to put us together as much as he can so that he could keep the peace."
"I guess, but that doesn't mean we're friends." He replied and turned his head forward.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't know that asking someone their favorite color was something only friends would know about," Annika mockingly said.
"And she said that I'm worse than the Golden Guard." The girl muttered when the blonde didn't react to her previous comment.
"What was that?" Hunter snapped his head back to Annika.
"I said, maybe you're the cold one." She lied with a smirk.
Hunter sighed as he removed his mask and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his pointer and middle finger. "If I answer your question, will you leave me alone?"
"Why must you ruin small talk for me?"
The boy scrunched his brows. "Red. My favorite color is red. Are you happy now?"
The girl ignored his question and continued. "Ironic that your favorite color is the very color that's lighting up our path."
"Let's just find the scripture," Hunter said, and the two fell silent.
But Annika broke it again. "So, do you have a reason for liking the color red?"
The blonde gave her a look. "Is your purpose on this mission to annoy me?"
"Ha! You wish that were the case."
"No, I don't."
Suddenly, the brunette subconsciously stepped closer to the boy and held onto his shoulders. "What was that?"
Hunter raised a brow. "What was what?" He moved the lighted staff to find a source of the sound Annika heard but found none. "There's nothing here."
The teen girl scoffed. "How can you be so sure?"
"Because I am. Now, let's go."
The two teenagers froze when they heard a thud in the distance.
Hunter squeaked in fear as he felt Annika's hands tightly squeeze onto his shoulders.
The two teenagers simultaneously glanced at each other.
"It was probably just a rock." The blonde tried to convince himself.
"Weren't you the guy who was so sure of himself just a few minutes ago?"
Hunter ignored the girl's comment and nervously gulped before walking toward the source of the sound as he expanded the light from his staff.
The expanded light revealed scattered rocks of many sizes that seemed to have fallen from taller surfaces and a broken ship that had seen better days.
The two were silent, and the blonde took notice of the brunette's fearful expression; he also realized that the girl's hands were trembling against his shoulders.
But the silence lasted for a short time when the boy snapped back to reality. "See? I told you it was nothing. There's no reason to be scared."
Annika turned red and let go of Hunter's shoulders as she scoffed. "Scared? I'm not scared. Why would I be scared?"
The blonde didn't believe her, but he didn't care to ask.
"Maybe we could find the scripture on that ship?" The brunette changed the subject and walked toward the wrecked ship.
The boy nodded in agreement and followed. He put his staff down to lean on the aged wood, and the two teens soon searched through the old ship to find what they were looking for.
Hunter was expecting Annika to talk at some point, but when she didn't utter a word, he let the silence sink in a little longer until he could feel it becoming awkward with every passing second.
"So....," The blonde started. "What's your favorite color?"
"I thought you weren't interested in asking irrelevant questions." The girl gave him a cold reply.
Even though they weren't facing one another, Annika could sense the boy's feelings of either shame, guilt, or embarrassment.
"Well, maybe I was wrong." The boy murmured, not caring if she heard him or not.
"I like the color blue." She answered after a moment of silence.
"So, what's your favorite food?" Annika asked when Hunter was silent, debating what question to ask next.
"Bread. What about you?" He returned and found a cabinet filled with many old papers.
"Pelmeni."
"What's that?" He asked as he began looking through the papers.
"Well," she paused to explain. "It's minced meat wrapped with dough and then put in hot water."
"Oh."
The two were silent again, and the girl turned to him with a raised brow and beam. "For someone who commands people, you're pretty bad at small talk."
"Yeah, so what? Small talks aren't necessary when going on missions." He replied.
"Perhaps, but you'd be surprised at how useful it can be."
Hunter's brows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Annika chuckled at his query and brushed it off. "Nothing."
"Now," the brunette changed the subject. "What is your favorite animal?"
The blonde was somewhat suspicious of the girl's answer, but he let go of the previous topic. "Birds. And you?"
"Amphibians." The girl immediately replied.
"Amphibians?"
"Yeah, they have a certain cuteness to them," Annika said and walked to stand next to Hunter after she had searched every place a scripture could be hidden.
"Have you found it?" She asked.
The boy was taken aback by her sudden appearance but quickly calmed down and shook his head. "No, I found no sign of the scripture except for these older papers." He pointed to the pile of aged paper on his right.
The brunette opened one of the old papers to find it containing faded ink; she tried to pronounce whatever was written, but the ink was too faded for her to decipher.
"Don't bother; they're all the same," Hunter told the girl.
"Then we should probably look somewhere else," Annika said, letting the blonde take his staff before walking beside him.
After a moment of silence, the boy asked the question he had been debating asking Annika for the past few minutes. "So, have you heard of 'Ruler's Reach'?"
The girl turned to him with stars in her eyes, a look the boy had never imagined she could do. "Yes! I just reread it! And I need to know what happens next."
"I know, right?" Hunter's eyes sparkled with happiness that someone else was a fan of his favorite book. "Who's your favorite character?"
Annika hummed in thought. "It's probably between Oraviam and Trix."
"You don't like Ruler?" The boy looked offended.
"No!" The girl immediately replied. "I like Ruler, but saying that I like Ruler is like saying I like vanilla."
"Well, I like Ruler." The blonde said and added. "And vanilla."
Annika furrowed her brows and grinned at the boy. "Wow, you really are a basic bitch."
"Hey!"
"Anyways, I'm curious to ask what was your favorite mission you ever went to?"
Hunter wanted to remark on the girl's comment but let it slide and soon raised a brow at her question. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
"Well, I don't have a favorite; if I'm helping Emperor Belos, then I'm happy." The boy answered honestly.
"Of course you do," Annika muttered, rolling her eyes while the blonde wasn't looking.
"But I got to visit The Skull a few days ago; it has the most beautiful view I've ever seen." Hunter smiled as he reminisced about the gorgeous scenery.
The girl mirrored a small beam when he switched to something not involving Belos.
"It also has many runes and symbols that historians said to be from the savage days." The blonde informed the brunette, whose beam and head soon dropped.
"What is it?" Hunter asked with furrowed brows. Had he stepped a line he wasn't supposed to cross? Was this nonfighting moment going to end sooner than he thought?
"I... I guess you could say I'm rather envious of you, Golden Guard." Annika replied as she lightly kicked a small rock nearby.
The boy's brows furrowed again. Had he heard her right?
"You... are envious..." He pointed at himself with wide eyes. "Of me?"
"Well, yeah." The brunette said with a clear tone. "You get to go out freely than I do and see the Boiling Isles while 𝐼 travel around to do boring political business stuff for Belos' sake."
"Well, isn't doing something for Emperor Belos good enough?" The blonde asked.
"Well, perhaps for you." The brunette returned. "But I want to explore the world and learn the history from the Boiling Isles, but not only from books." She said with excitement.
Hunter somehow empathized with Annika's reply. "Maybe I can convince Emperor Belos to let you join my missions." He offered as he gave her a soft smile.
"You really don't have to." The girl smiled back. "I wouldn't want to be the annoying little bug that I am during your missions." She joked.
"Yeah, you're really annoying." He commented with a straight face. "But I guess you're okay."
"I don't know whether to be offended or touched by that." Annika chuckled as if his comment was a joke, but Hunter didn't laugh.
The two teenagers soon fell into awkward silence when the girl spotted marks on one of the cave's walls.
The teens walked toward it to see runes carved onto the walls, and Hunter brought up his lighted staff so they could take a good look at the carvings.
"They look like ancient runes." The teen boy commented the obvious.
"Probably because they are." She replied.
The blonde squinted his eyes to decipher the runes. "I can only read some of it."
The brunette copied the boy. "I'm pretty sure it says: 'To find what you desire, you must press a spot on the rock wall to find the key.'"
"Wait, how do we know these runes will lead us to the scripture?" Hunter asked with a raised brow.
"We don't," Annika simply replied. "But we gotta try."
The teen boy nodded hesitantly, and the two began to press many areas of the walls to find the button that would reveal whatever key the runes had promised.
Hunter knew he had found the correct button when he heard a loud click from the rocky wall, which opened a crack big enough to contain an old scripture.
Annika stood next to the boy to see what he had found. The blonde opened the old paper to find drawn images and more runes that even he couldn't recognize.
"Can you decipher this?" Hunter asked as he showed the paper to the teen girl.
The brunette observed the scripture with a thoughtful look. "I don't know. But," she pointed to one of the drawings, "this scripture is obviously talking about the Titan's bow."
The blonde looked at the drawing she pointed at and nodded in observation.
"We should bring this back to Darius," Annika said, and Hunter nodded in agreement.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
The two teenagers flew back to the castle in awkward yet comfortable silence.
When they reached the Emperor's castle, they walked to Darius' office to give him the paper, but they couldn't find him.
"Maybe he's still busy with his tasks." Hunter reasoned.
The girl nodded. "Don't worry; I'll give it to him," She reassured the boy and opened her hand, expecting Hunter to give her the scripture.
His brows screwed up. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal." She said and gave him a small beam.
Hunter mirrored the girl's expression and gave it to her before leaving to carry out any other duties Belos had for him.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
Raine ran through the forest in an attempt to escape the two coven heads. But they soon stopped with a gasp when they were greeted by a tiny red demon who stood atop the Abomaton.
"Leaving so soon?" Kikimora inquired as the Abomaton stepped closer.
The head of the bard coven attempted to escape their threat, but the Abomaton stretched its arm and gripped the witch tightly.
"I told you we didn't need help." The head of the abomination coven walked over to the tiny red demon with the head of the beastkeeping coven by his side. "So get that ugly thing out of my face." He said, referring to the Abomaton.
"And tell Alador he's a hack while you're at it," Darius added.
Kikimora ignored him and turned her head to Raine. "Emperor Belos was rather upset to learn that you had a hand in the recent raid incidents."
"Guess I can look forward to my own petrification ceremony, huh?" The bard witch smugly replied.
"No, it'd be too much of a hassle to find a replacement." Kikimora returned, and one of her hand bangs lifted its fingers but was soon stopped by someone clearing their throats.
"I see you're getting yourself into other people's businesses again, Kikimora." The crown princess appeared out of the shadows.
The tiny red demon immediately bowed her head when she saw the crown princess. "Your Highness, I was only helping Darius and Eberwold out."
"Clearly," Annika commented with sarcasm.
"You can leave now, Kikimora. I will take care of this." The brunette commanded.
The small red demon didn't dare to snap back at Annika and let go of the bard witch before she left the scene, disappointed.
"How did you find us?" Darius asked when the tiny demon was out of earshot.
The crown princess furrowed her brows. "Wow. Do I not get a: 'Thank you for getting rid of Kiki'?"
The purple-haired witch ignored her comment. "Just answer the question."
"I have my ways," Annika smirked and dropped it to a serious expression as she gripped Raine's shoulder when they attempted to escape again. "And last time I checked, I don't owe you any answers."
The rebelling witch ignored the girl's grip and ran as fast as they could.
The crown princess and Eberwolf looked unfazed at Raine's escape, and Darius sighed. "I'll get them."
Soon enough, the bard witch's escape plan was cut short by the abomination goop that caught up to them, wrapped itself around the witch's torso, and dragged the witch back to the group.
"This is what we managed to find." Annika handed the scripture to the head of the abomination coven.
Darius and Eberwolf opened and looked through the scripture as the crown princess walked toward the struggling mint-haired witch.
"And as for you, Raine Whispers." The girl gave them a mocking smile. "Consider yourself in big trouble."