♪♫❝ ᴵ ᵈⁱᵈ ˢᵒᵐᵉᵗʰⁱⁿᵍ ᵇᵃᵈ, ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ⁱᶠ ʸᵒᵘ ˢʰᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ᵗʰⁱˢ
ᴾʳᵒᵐⁱˢᵉ ᴵ'ᵈ ᵗᵃᵏᵉ ⁱᵗ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ, ʲᵘˢᵗ ᶜᵃⁿ'ᵗ ˢᵉᵉᵐ ᵗᵒ ᶜᵒⁿᵗʳᵒˡ ⁱᵗ ❞♪♫
— 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 ʙʏ 𝙹𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚊 𝙱𝚊𝚒𝚘
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
𝑇𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 was excited when he was allowed to return on missions was an understatement; he was ecstatic to return and be helpful to Emperor Belos again.
Hunter knew he deserved the punishment, but it still tortured his very soul when his uncle told him he wouldn't be allowed to leave the castle for a month.
The blonde didn't care if they were simpler missions than his usual tasks; he was still willing to do them even though he wished to be more beneficial to Emperor Belos.
"You'll probably want to wear gloves, Little Miss Perfect, since you two will be cleaning up a trash slug's carcass," Darius commented when the two teenagers stood waiting at the abomination head's desk—Annika's features formed into a disgusted look.
Darius continued. "The carcass has been polluting the non-boiling water system in Ristrul for about a month, but the villages around Ristrul can't take care of the problem because they have work and families, so we offered to help them out."
Hunter nodded with determination and was about to leave the office, but Annika held his shoulder to stop him and asked Darius with a raised brow. "Wait, who's 'we'?"
"Does it matter?" Darius asked.
Annika harshly sighed as she let go of Hunter's shoulder. "Fine, I'll go find some gloves."
"Don't worry, I've gotten you a pair," Darius pulled out a pair of gloves from his desk and put them on the table for Annika to take, which she did.
Darius soon waved his hands at the teens, gesturing for them to leave. "Now, shoo; I have other things to do."
Hunter hurriedly walked out of the office while Annika raised her brow at the older witch and soon rolled her eyes before leaving.
"C'mon, hurry up. We don't have all day!" The blonde urged her.
The brunette furrowed her brows at his comment. "What are you talking about? We have plenty of time."
"Why aren't you taking this seriously?"
"Uh, because we're cleaning a dead carcass, not making a meal for the Titan."
"Well, Emperor Belos and the people of Ristrul need us," he explained. "And if Emperor Belos needs us, that means he trusts us again, and we can't blow this chance." Hunter looked away as he scratched his cheek, muttering. "I can't blow this chance."
Annika looked at the boy with surprise and guilt. She never expected him to be somewhat open with his feelings, and she felt terrible for using Belos's name to get Hunter to unintentionally work in their favor.
The teenage girl reluctantly sighed; she knew emotions and sentiments couldn't get involved with their plan to work and that she was doing this for a good cause, even if a big part of her felt it was wrong. "Okay then, we should probably go by airship, so we can transport the trash slug to the burner."
Hunter nodded and ran to the airship station with Annika, who was running after him.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊⟡
〚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 〛
⟡₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Annika groaned at the knock on her bedroom door. When she heard a few more knocks on the door, the brunette lazily got out of her bed and walked toward her bedroom entrance but stopped when she spotted a note on top of an old-looking bag.
Annika opened the note that read the following:
A small beam graced Annika's features at the coven head's experimental name for their revolution group. The brunette opened the worn bag to find seven marked clear vials on a holder.
The girl took the seven vials and a string from her dresser's drawer to tie them together before putting them inside her traveling handbag. After she finished her daily morning routine, Annika put in many random and valuable things to hide the vials from any suspecting eyes.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊⟡
〚 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 〛
⟡₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"Look, we're glove buddies!" Annika showed off her gloved hands to Hunter, who was steering the airship.
The blonde waved her hands away. "Can you not distract me right now? I'm trying to steer unless you're trying to get us killed."
"And the drama queen's back," the brunette rolled her eyes and sarcastically added. "Did I mention that you're the new definition of party pooper?"
"No?" He replied, not understanding her sarcasm.
"Well, now you know!"
"Can you shut up for two seconds and let me steer in peace?" Hunter irritably asked.
"I'll think about it," she cheekily replied.
"I can be fun," he muttered.
"Okay, then prove it."
"Well, you're... a..." Hunter tried to find his words, "You're a recusant!" He shouted in glee and laughed at what he thought was his best joke.
Annika squinted her eyes at him in confusion. "The fuck is a recusant?"
"A recusant is a person who refuses to submit to authority or comply with a regulation," the boy explained.
"Okay? How's that funny exactly?"
"Well, you see, you're recusant because you don't comply to—"
"Just stop," the girl raised her hand to cut him off. "You're making it worse. It wasn't even funny, to begin with."
"Well, it's not my fault my jokes are better than yours."
Annika let out a fake laugh. "Maybe throwing you to the boiling sea won't be such a bad idea."
"Just say that you're in denial," Hunter returned.
"Fine, then you can clean the trash slug all by yourself," the girl said as she took her gloves off and put them in her handbag. "And I'll just watch and relax and—"
"Hey! That's going too far!"
"Oh no! How dare the crown princess not partake in a mission with the Golden Guard. What a crime!" She sarcastically returned, waving her hands to emphasize her point. "You know what's a real crime? Your jokes."
"That's not true!" The blonde exclaimed.
"I'm sensing that your ego is starting to bruise from the lies you tell yourself at night."
"We're here," Hunter quickly said when he spotted their destination and landed their airship. "Now put your gloves back on, and let's get to work," he ordered, pushing a button to open the airship's makeshift staircase.
"I don't know. You've said it loud and clear that you're a hundred percent the better one, and I am but a lowly princess compared to the great, magnificent, incredible—"
"Fine," the boy groaned. "You're right! My jokes are bad. Will you now do your part of the mission with me?"
Annika smirked at Hunter's acknowledgment and walked down the steps.
"Thank you for admitting the truth we've all been craving!" She yelled out to him.
The blonde grumbled as he took his artificial staff and other needed supplies. "Let's just get this over with."
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
Annika moaned and waved her hand at the strong smell of a thousand unattended trash bags. "Why does it smell like it's been here for over a year?"
"Probably because it's been torn apart."
"Ugh!" was the brunette's only reply as she took a piece of cloth from her handbag and tied it around her neck to cover up her face and nose.
"Can I have one?" Hunter asked when he saw Annika taking out the cloth.
The girl nodded and took another piece of fabric out of her handbag. Annika tapped a translucent Luna sitting on one of her shoulders, who turned visible to the eye when the boy started to tie the fabric around his head, and the jellyfish palisman soon turned to staff at the girl's command.
When Hunter finished adjusting his cloth mask and turned to Annika, his eyes widened in surprise at her holding her staffed palisman. "You brought your palisman with you?"
"Yeah," she replied with a raised brow. "I'm surprised that you don't have Little Rascal with you."
The blonde scratched his cheek. "Oh- Um- I- I didn't think it was a good idea for him to be here. Plus, he was starting to annoy me."
"That's the biggest lie I've ever heard come out of your mouth."
"Can we just start cleaning this gunk?" Hunter asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"Fine, but just know that we both know that you're a terrible liar."
He rolled his eyes at the girl. "You don't know everything about me, Recusant."
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" Annika chuckled as her brow quirked up.
"You know how you keep calling me Goldilocks or Golden-Sucker?" He began.
"It's actually Golden Suck-up, but yeah?"
"So I'm calling you Recusant."
"Do you even know how nicknames work?" She asked.
"Yeah, I know how nicknames work. I'm not that stupid."
"I would've thought otherwise."
Hunter glared at Annika in response.
"I was just kidding," she said honestly.
"I don't see what's so funny about it."
"Listen, Nikki makes sense as a nickname. Fuck, and I can't believe I'm saying, but Anne is a better nickname."
"Yeah, but last time I checked, you don't get to pick your own nickname." Hunter pointed out.
Annika groaned at Hunter's point. "I'm starting to think that you're hanging out with me too much."
"You're the one who keeps pestering me, so you just brought this on yourself."
The brunette groaned once more before they started on their assigned task.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
"Your book about palismen was very insightful," Hunter told the girl after cleaning up the trash slug's spare body parts scattered around the pipe system.
"Thanks," Annika replied and spoke after a pause. "So, I've been wondering about something."
"What is it?" The blonde queried without noticing where the girl was leading with her statement.
"How come you're so curious about wild magic, but the moment an adorable palisman like Luna faces you, you act like they'll eat you alive?"
Hunter paused from his task as he thought of a good answer that would give him the advantage.
She continued. "I mean, Little Rascal has clearly decided that he wants to be your palisman out of everyone else."
The boy turned to face the brunette to show her his hardened expression. "That's none of your business."
"Ah, did I finally hit a nerve?" Annika challenged with a mocking beam and began walking closer toward Hunter to close the gap. "Or are you just giving me that bullshit 'cause you're not willing to admit that you're secretly in denial?"
The blonde tried to copy the brunette's intimidating stance, but it didn't help him when her heels made her a few inches taller than him or when her truthful words struck him like sharp arrows.
"I'm wary of wild magic because it killed my family," he finally said.
Annika's eyes widened at the blonde's revelation. "I- I didn't know."
"Can we get back to work now?" Hunter asked, wanting to switch his focus to something else, and the girl nodded in return.
The two teenagers worked in silence for the rest of the mission.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"You two are awfully quiet," Darius commented when the two teenagers entered his office to confirm they had completed their mission.
"Did you two get into a fight?" The older witch asked when he received no reply from either teen.
Annika and Hunter shook their heads and made no eye contact with one another or Darius.
The head of the abomination coven sighed to break the thick tension between the two teenagers. "You can leave, Little Prince."
Hunter left Darius' office while Annika stayed and stared at the door, wishing to leave as soon as possible.
"Annika," Darius called, trying to catch the girl's attention. "What happened?"
"Nothing. It's nothing," she replied, unwilling to budge. "Can I leave now?"
Darius sighed in defeat, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get the wanted information out of the stubborn teen. "Yes, you can leave."
Annika could feel her guilt spiral as Hunter's revelation repeatedly echoed in her mind, further upsetting her about her situation. The girl had wanted and tried to apologize to the blonde on their way back to the castle, but every time she tried, her voice betrayed her and faded from her throat as if she had never spoken her whole life.
Annika also understood from the boy's body language how upset he was about the situation, and the girl knew that if she hadn't pushed him off the edge, their day wouldn't end like this. Annika still took the blame even if she wasn't aware of Hunter's reasoning for being wary of wild magic.
Because taking the blame, even if there was no need to, was easier for Annika. It was the only way she knew.
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
𝐀/𝐍: artwork at the top is by spinaroos-47 on Tumblr. Ignore the evil laughter in the background and don't forget to vote and comment. Hope y'all have a marvelous day/night 💫