♪♫❝ ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵉʳᵉ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʳⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵗʳᵃᶜᵏ
ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵉʳᵉ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʳⁱᵍʰᵗ ᵖᵃᵗʰ
ᴮˡᵃᶜᵏ ᵈᵒᵒʳ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵒʳᵉˢᵗ
ᴵˢ ⁱᵗ ʰᵉʳᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵗᵃᵘⁿᵗ ᵘˢ?
'ᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ⁱᵗ'ˢ ᵍᵒⁱⁿ' ⁿᵒʷʰᵉʳᵉ ⁽ᵃʰ⁻ᵃʰ⁾ ❞♪♫
- 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚢 ʙʏ 𝚄𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙿𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚘
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑘𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 how stupid or self-centered people had to be to notice the problem they were clearly part of. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the girl to convince the council of Aglin to stop beast hunters from attacking or aggravating creatures like pokrisis that could impose danger on their people.
But before Annika went to meet with the council, she visited the injured beast hunters, who were cared for by one of Aglin's many healing facilities, with Hunter, who was less than enthralled to tag along.
Annika followed a nurse, entering the section where the beast hunters resided without Hunter, who decided to stay in the waiting room.
"Good afternoon; how are you doing?" Annika politely smiled at the first beast hunter she saw-the one whose leg had been cut off.
"I'm doing better, thank you," the beast hunter replied.
"I guess you two get to take all the money and the glory now," the same buffalo hybrid who chose to attack head-first with no plan was now covered in bandages.
That was one way to greet royalty.
"Of course, they'd do that! They'd do anything to steal other people's spotlight," a witch in his twenties remarked, which Annika ignored.
"Yeah, what else are you going to take from us? You selfish rich folk," another injured beast hunter insulted.
Soon after, more beast hunters voiced their grudges and complaints toward the crown princess. Before all hell broke loose, a nurse with blue, heavily freckled skin and lizard-like eyes trying to heal one of the quieter beast hunters shouted for the louder ones to be quiet.
Annika crossed her arms and coldly gazed at the buffalo hybrid. "If I'm correct, you were the ones who impulsively attacked the pokris with no want for a plan," she turned to the beast hunter, who called her selfish. "And if you forgot because it seems to be that your brains are dense as a rock, insulting members of the Emperor's coven, more specifically royalty, is considered treason."
The brunette was quickly met with silence, that is, if you didn't count the groans and coughing.
"Oh, and the reward money," Annika added, "is supposed to pay for the healing bill."
Not wishing to be surrounded by the imbecile beast hunters, the brunette left to find Hunter, rapidly tapping his foot on the floor.
When her eyes landed on him, Annika's sour expression was quickly met with her signature smirk. "Missed me?"
The girl couldn't see the boy's expression because he wore his golden mask, but she noticed his tensed shoulders.
"Would you stop doing that!" He hissed.
Annika clucked her tongue. "I'm afraid I can't do that."
The crown princess guessed that the Golden Guard was wearing an irritated expression. "Let's just go already."
When the two teenagers set foot out of the healing facility, a witch with three yellow eyes, snow-white hair, and a labret piercing approached them. "Your Highness! Golden Guard, Sir!" She panted, leaned forward, and put her hands on her knees-clearly, she had run to catch up to them.
The two teens waited for the three-eyed witch to catch her breath, giving the brunette time to realize they had met the three-eyed witch before when hunting down the pokris. "I was worried sick about you two after you ran away like that. I just wanted to check if you two are okay."
The witch's words took Annika aback. Someone, a stranger, an adult, cared for their well-being?
"We're fine, thank you," the Golden Guard cooly replied.
The crown princess was visibly confused by the witch's concern, nodded along, and went to catch up with Hunter, who had already walked away.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
Annika walked through the passageways with her satchel, taking her sweet time as Luna floated beside her. If Annika was honest, she was proud of herself for creating her foolproof master plan of sneaking out of the castle.
The girl leaned to the end of the passageway connecting to the hallway near the palace gardens to listen in case she bumped into someone who would question her sudden appearance.
When the echoes of footsteps faded, Annika flipped a switch and was now in the giant hallway.
Movement caught her eyes, and the brunette held her head high, announcing her title while Luna turned invisible. But Annika soon lowered her head to a decent level when she realized it was only Hunter wearing... A coven scout's uniform?
"Didn't know you stooped down a peg," Annika teased. "Tell me, who's the new Golden Guard now?"
Hunter, who was walking with determination in his magenta eyes, paused, surprised by Annika's sudden presence.
"Ha ha, how funny," he sarcastically replied before scanning the girl. "I see you're going out again."
"I am. Now, do you mind telling me why you aren't wearing your usual uniform?"
"I don't have time to explain," he deflected. "Maybe later. Don't get caught."
And with that, the boy left as soon as he arrived.
"Wait!" Annika yelled out, but the blonde remained focused on whatever task his mind was set on.
As she walked to the gardens, the brunette pondered the boy's actions and quickly realized that Kikimora had been sent on a big, important mission. Hunter, who couldn't do missions like the small red demon was tasked to do, would send the boy spiraling.
How could she not see it before? No wonder the blonde was acting so strange. She furrowed her brows at the thought. Of course, this was expected of Belos-aim where it hurts most. But even though Annika wanted to tell Hunter about Belos's true intentions, she knew she couldn't say a word.
After all, she knew Hunter wouldn't believe her words, especially when Belos dug himself deep into the boy's skin and when he was as stubborn as her, so she had to bide her time-Belos's mask would have to slip up eventually.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
Annika breathed in the warm air as she flew with Luna's help after sneaking away from the Emperor's palace.
Today wasn't a typical day of not staying put in the palace. No, Annika had seen the newly released limited edition hardcover book 'Two Truths and A Lie' by Arbor Lennon and the fifth book in the series 'The Strange World of Ophelia Rosengold' by Alicia Yule.
And yes, the palace library was huge, but it held no fictional books, so Annika had bought books that interested her when sneaking out. It was her little secret. However, that little secret was eventually revealed to Hunter, becoming the two teenagers' little secret.
Annika, who was now invisible with Luna's help, soon landed in an alleyway. She became visible to the eye, with Luna returning from her staff form and remaining invisible on their owner's shoulder. The girl walked toward her favorite bookstore, and her eyes sparkled as her gaze landed on the many books on display.
Annika could smell the new papers from the many lines of books she hadn't touched yet. She could feel the cool breeze brush against her skin, and her eyes landed on the many titles the store had to offer.
However, Annika didn't have time to stare or gawk at the many books. No, she had to ensure she'd get her hands on the limited edition cover of Two Truths and A Lie before it ran out, so the girl speedily walked toward the display promoting said books.
Luckily, the brunette had come on time since there were still editions left with a few people who were close to Annika's age. The moment the girl held the book, a shiver went down her spine; it was as if she was holding the most valuable item the Boiling Isles had to offer.
"See, Ivy! You're not the only weirdo who waited for that book since the announcement," a tall girl with long braided dark green hair and a mole under her left eye commented to her green snake-haired friend with lighter green scaly skin.
The dark green-haired girl was quickly given an unfazed look by her friend and a cold one by Annika.
The snake-haired girl and the brunette made eye contact, and the former girl awkwardly giggled. "Sorry about Em."
Annika gave a slight nod and continued her merry way to the other wanted book on her soon-to-be long list.
"Is it just me, or does she look familiar?" The brunette soon heard from afar after an excruciated groan. Annika's body immediately tensed at the sentence, and she quickly picked up and scanned any books she was interested in-the last thing she wanted was to be noticed when her goal was to do the exact opposite.
After picking out her new collection of books and paying for them, Annika stepped outside the bookstore only to realize that luck hated her guts today.
"Shit!" The brunette panicked as she noticed the coven scouts and quickly hid away from their view. She didn't bother to take another look, or at least she hadn't intended for that to happen unless she wanted to get in trouble with Belos. Again.
Soon enough, Annika's eyes didn't land on an empty alleyway but on a boy around her age with short dark green hair and a mole under his right eye, holding an unfamiliar brand of what the girl hoped were harmless bombs.
The two teens stared at one another, unsure how to approach the situation.
"You wouldn't snitch on this handsome face, would ya?" he asked, trying to appear confident, but Annika could see the nervous cracks in his facade.
"Depends," she replied, squinting her eyes at the boy.
"They're not dangerous if that's what you're wondering," he informed after noticing her gaze shifting to the bomb in his hand.
"Listen, I don't wanna get caught while getting in trouble, so I need you to not snitch on me," he said before adding, "I'll give you my high-quality smoke bombs, which don't only provide smoke but also creates a very distracting explosion-like sound."
Annika glanced at the coven scouts before returning to the trouble-making boy. She folded her arms as she raised a brow at him. "Are those meant for the coven scouts?"
"Yes. So are you joining the chaos, yes or no?"
Annika shook her head at the boy. "That better not be you're only prank in mind."
The green-haired boy gave her a smug smile. "Of course not! And just so you know, I welcome all prank ideas."
The brunette returned him a sly grin.
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"You know, Luz told me about a trip to Latissa where she met two interesting people," the Owl Lady began, with her dog-rat hybrid (the boy wasn't sure what he was) sitting atop her shoulder as they tread the cart tracks at the Knee.
In the very back was the youngest Blight walking behind Hunter, who was tied up with her abomination goop after a failed attempt at escaping them and finding the Titan's blood himself.
"A certain royal brunette now known as Princess Angst."
Hunter's lips twitched at the name before scowling at Eda's back while King giggled.
The Owl Lady continued as her face turned smug. "And a beat-up blonde with no magical powers. She called him, and these are her words, 'a bad but sad boy'."
King soon laughed out loud while the blonde's face flushed pink. "If I ever see that human again-"
"Watch it!" The youngest Blight warned with a glare.
"Well, at least I'm not delusional enough to think I can turn into a harpy," Hunter retorted, which earned him a hiss from the Owl Lady.
"Hey. Come on. Give it a rest, you two," King interfered.
"Yeah, listen to your rat," Hunter responded, and King jumped onto his shoulder and started to pull on his blonde locks in retaliation, but before the boy could try to get the creature off of him, Amity shushed the two.
Kikimora and her goons were here, and the tiny red demon sure had a lot of steam to unleash on any poor soul nearby.
Hunter felt a pit in his stomach-he didn't understand how someone like Kikimora could go on more useful and serious missions while he was stuck doing simple ones, with the last one being him cleaning up after someone else's negligence with Annika.
Though if he were honest, missions with Annika or Recusant, as he started referring to her, weren't awful, but they never entirely erased the pit in his stomach or the uselessness he felt.
Heck, Annika was more useful and superior than he currently was. Just the thought had made him jealous, no, envious of her.
"Oh, that poor girl is going through something," Eda commented.
"She's also blocking the path to Eclipse Lake," Amity pointed out.
"We should create a distraction," the blonde spoke.
"We should create a distraction!" The Owl Lady echoed loudly and turned toward the teenagers after taking a few steps from the two, "You kids, wait for my signal."
"Huh, that was easy," Hunter commented as he sat down on the ground after Eda and King had left the two alone. "When they're caught, you and I can take the Titan blood for ourselves."
Yes, it may not have been too long since the young Blight and Hunter officially met or talked with one another, but the boy saw too many similarities with himself in her.
"Stop talking like we're a team," Amity replied.
"We might as well be. The Owl Lady and her pet have nothing at stake, unlike us."
"You have no idea what you're talk-" Amity started but was soon interrupted by a cute beeping sound.
"I was gonna say you have no-" The purple-haired witch continued ignoring the beeping before it started again and grumbled when she realized she couldn't dismiss it anymore. She took out a small yellow cat-designed device.
Hunter stood up to peak at the device; the message displayed on the screen was clear. "Oof. That doesn't look good."
"Stay back!" Amity commanded, and when he did as she said, the girl quickly asked. "But what doesn't look good?"
"Seems clear to me. Come back with results, or else... You can figure out the rest."
"No, Luz wouldn't make that kind of threat. I'm an awesome girlfriend."
Oh? The youngest Blight and the human? Dating? This was news for Hunter, though Amity didn't notice his surprise since it wasn't the wide-eyed kind.
"Has she told you that?"
Amity looked away in defeat, unhappy with Hunter's point.
"We have a lot in common, Blight," the blonde commented, "We're both trying to show what we can bring to the table. And we can't fail because there's nothing worse than disappointing someone who thinks you're special."
Amity looked down hesitantly, considering his words further before casting a spell to distract Kikimora and her goons.
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"I give you the honor to put my smoke bombs to the test," the dark green-haired boy said before offering the smoke bomb he held.
"Honored," Annika smirked, accepting the smoke bomb and proceeding to do her best to throw the bomb toward the coven scouts, which landed on one of the scouts' heads and, as the boy advertised, a loud boom and smoke erupted from the container.
"It worked," the boy smiled before turning toward the brunette. "Good throw. I'm Edric, or Ed for short. What's your name?"
The brunette hesitated before replying, still skeptical of the boy's possible intentions. "Annika."
"Ed!" The same girl with braided dark green hair joined Edric and Annika, with the gorgon tagging along.
"Have you lost... It?" The dark green-haired girl began going after Edric but soon trailed off when her eyes landed on Annika. "Hey, you're the girl from the bookstore!"
"Yeah... Same. I guess," Annika awkwardly replied.
"At least you're not pranking alone," the green-haired girl said to Edric before returning her gaze to Annika. "I'm Emira, by the way, Ed's twin sister," she then pointed to her gorgon friend beside her, "That's Ivy."
Before Annika could reply, the gorgon nervously warned, "Uh, guys? Maybe we should start running instead of talking? I mean, I'd like to avoid getting caught and arrested for 'disturbing the peace.'"
"Oh, c'mon, Ivy! We're just getting started," Edric said with a smirk, about to throw another smoke bomb at the frantic scouts.
However, Edric realized he wasn't throwing anything since Annika took the smoke bomb from his hand.
"Maybe you should listen to your friend?" Annika suggested and commented. "You're clearly not the brains in the group."
"Hey! I thought we were pranking together," Edric exclaimed, and Emira snorted while Ivy looked at the three teenagers, annoyed.
Annika noticed Ivy's look and quickly picked up her book bag. "Listen, I love pranking as much as the next person, but I don't take risks willy-nilly."
Soon enough, Annika found herself running away from the coven scouts and tossing smoke bombs with three new people (Ivy running for dear life) whom she just met minutes before.
It was honestly the most thrilling thing Annika ever did, and it was exhilarating when two other people indulged her rebellious side.
"Could we please stop running?" Ivy asked, leaning and putting her hands on her knees as she breathed heavily.
"Yeah," Emira replied, and Edric nodded.
"I hadn't felt this alive for some time," Annika commented.
"Fun-sucking parents?" Edric asked.
Annika's shoulders immediately tensed but quickly relaxed before she started to raise suspicion among her new partners in crime. "Sure."
Emira let out a sound of realization. "I recognize you now! You're the crown princess!"
Annika internally groaned. Just when she thought the world was merciful, she felt it was purposely torturing her for existing. The brunette was ready and prepared to run and fly back to the castle.
"I honestly didn't expect such... spunk from a royal such as yourself," Emira commented while Edric nodded in respect, and Ivy stared at the crown princess wide-eyed.
Annika sighed in relief. "Thank the Titan!" she thought before returning to wear her signature smirk and proceeded to flip her hair. "What can I say? I can't share my coolness with just anyone."
"Why don't you come and hang out with us?" Edric offered, and his twin sister nodded expectantly at the brunette.
"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea?" Ivy asked and turned to Annika, "I mean, won't the scouts come to search you?"
"Don't mind her; she's a worrier at heart," Edric said. He attempted to rest his hand on the gorgon's head but pulled back when Ivy's snakes tried to bite him in protest.
Annika waved her hand. "Oh, they don't know I'm not at the castle; I made sure of it."
Ivy furrowed her eyebrows, still unconvinced.
"As I said earlier, I may be rebellious, but I'm not stupid," the brunette said with folded arms and stepped forward, accepting the twins' invitation.
The twins quickly walked beside Annika as they swarmed her with questions while Ivy remained quiet. It didn't take long for the twins to start quarreling about where they'd hang out, especially considering that the crown princess was now with them.
"What?" Annika asked when Ivy's gaze landed on her. "If you don't trust me, you can just say it to my face," she said, acting as if she didn't care about another random teenager her age's opinion about her.
"It's not that I don't trust you. I'd just rather be safe than sorry and make sure that nobody's getting in trouble."
"Oh," Annika said with surprise hinting at her voice. "That's a very fair reason."
"Hey! You guys better catch up, or we'll leave you behind!" Edric yelled to Ivy and Annika when the twins' bickering had ended.
The two girls walked over to catch up with the twins.
"So, except for Two Truths and A Lie, what other books are you into?" Emira questioned.
Edric groaned at the query. "Do you have to bring books into all of your conversations?"
Emira stuck out her tongue in response before returning her attention to Annika with an anticipated look in her eyes.
"Ooh yeah, which genres are you into?" Ivy joined, and her worried expression evaporated.
"Oh, uh," Annika giggled nervously and picked on her nails. "Well... I am a romance and a drama girlie. What about you, guys?"
"Same for romance, but my other two favorite genres would have to be historical fiction and fantasy," Ivy answered with a nervous grin.
"Well, Ed's not into books if that wasn't obvious enough," Emira started.
"What? I definitely didn't notice that," Annika replied in a sarcastic tone.
The green-haired witch continued. "But I love mystery and horror."
"Cool, I'll remember not to ask you for recommendations," the brunette jokingly said, and Emira laughed at her comment.
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
𝐀/𝐍: listen, I know at this point it's normal for me to update out of nowhere and say that I've been busy or going through some shit.
But I also gotta add that I've been obsessed with Hazbin Hotel lately, and I'm thinking of writing a fic for the show, so that is another reason I may not follow the update schedule I've set at some point. (I'm sorry)
Anyway, expect a chapter update next week or two weeks prior, and I accept criticism and all that jazz since my beta readers are also busy bitches.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you're having a fun day 💫