Belos had his back turned toward you and the Golden Guard.
He turned with a smile, "Good morning, Hunter, Y/n."
You were shoulder to shoulder with Hunter, both on one knee looking down.
"You asked to see us, Uncle?" Hunter spoke up.
Belos looked down at the teen soldiers, "Yes, you see as I've been discussing with you the Day of Unity is ever closer and I require some special ingredients for the preparation of the celebration. A last hurrah to put it."
He turned to you with a smile, "Y/n, I don't think I have discussed too much with you on the Day of Unity, have I?"
You put your head up listening to the Emperor intently.
You shook your head politely, "No sir."
His eyes glistened a dangerous shade of blue, "I think it's time I included you more in this little project of mine. Follow me."
You and Hunter followed him into a familiar room. The same of which you followed Flapjack in when he flew away from you weeks ago. Belos opened the door for you and turned to Hunter with a slight annoyance that quickly disappeared and was replaced with a 'smile'.
"I don't think I made it clear enough, Hunter. I wish to discuss this matter with the Sliver Guard. They will meet you in a while to explain to you, your mission for the day and until the Day of Unity. I'm sure you understand."
Hunter slightly frowned behind his mask and you felt a sense of guilt coming from the boy that you didn't quite understand. The source seemed unclear.
"Of course Uncle. Forgive me." The Golden Guard turned to you, " Sliver Guard, I shall standby until your return and expect further details on our mission."
You gave him a synthetic look before giving him a firm nod for show and following Belos inside.
You walked behind Belos looking at all things inside that you didn't really get a good look at last time.
Belos noted your behavior, "You don't look too surprised."
You slightly shifted uncomfortably, "Oh, just getting adjusted to the remodeling. There's something different, I just can't get my finger on it. New paint?"
He chuckled, "You know I always admired you for your sense of humor...It reminds me of an old friend, much simpler times."
You continued to look around and stop at a peculiar object, "Thank you?"
He nodded before turning to you with a smile as he noticed you gazing at the door with an eye on it. "I see you've noticed my new addition to my collection of items."
You peered over a table that had an open book with a picture of a witch with a hooked nose and scarlet-ruby eyes that reminded you of Hunter. You got startled and jumped back a bit when Belos unexpectedly closed the book shut and then blocked your view.
His eyes fixated on you, making you feel small, "A couple days ago a coven scout told me about an attack they had on some cargo. I have a reason to believe the Owl Lady and the human Luz are behind this...They stole something valuable from me. A very essential part of the Day of Unity."
You nodded your head, "I won't let you down."
He smiled at you before putting a hand on your shoulder, "I know you won't. I have complete faith in you. But do be careful, I wouldn't want you to be taken or harmed by those criminals. The titan has big plans for you."
He continued on, "It is the DNA of a cursed soul. Hair, skin, toenails, blood. The one stolen from me was from an accident family, the Everknowns. An eye. Get that back for me."
You nodded your head once more before bowing, "Of course Emperor Belos. I'll alert the Gold Guard at once. But uh-what does this eyeball look like?"
He gave one last smile, "You'll know it when you see it."
He gave you a piece of parchment from a nearby table. "This contains the list of the ingredients I require before the Day of Unity." He explained.
"Oh, and one more thing Y/n. My nephew, he tends to get distracted by unnecessary things, remind him of where that leads." He said darkly.
You frowned but didn't respond right away.
'What does that even mean?'
"O-of course Emperor Belos."
...
You left the Throne room lost in thought and greeted Hunter who waited patiently outside for you. You lightly yawned.
"Well? What did he say?" He asked.
"Well to sum it up, he wants us to I'm guessing break into the Owl Lady's house a retrieve an eye that she stole and get some stuff that he needs," You said.
Hunter backtracked, "An eye? Gross..."
"Yeah, you're telling me. Oh, and Hunter. Belos told me to give you a message," You played with your fingers nervously, "To not get distracted by unnecessary things and to remind you where that leads," You finished uncertain but also concerned.
He didn't reply, he seemed to be uncertain and concerned himself. His mask hid his true expression.
"I don't get it, but if there's anything I can do to help, I want to."
"It's fine," He noticed the face you were giving him, "It's nothing. It's just something Belos assigned me to out of the Coven."
"It's fine I promise," He reassured.
"Well, then. We have to start preparing for our new mission." You smiled at him and lightly punched his shoulder.
He gave you a small smile from behind the mask that quickly faded into a look of guilt.
...
Hunter flew around with you on one side of him. You yawned as the cold morning air hit your face and the rising sun warmed it.
Hunter turned to you with what you guessed was an amused smirk behind his golden mask. The tone in his voice made it obvious, "Arent you an early morning bird."
"Shut up." You grumbled, "Not everyone can wake up at 5 A.M. Even though we can sleep in till 6, but noo! Titan forbid that teenagers sleep in."
Hunter rolled his eyes behind the mask, "It's not that bad saliva. Besides we have to be ready for anything Belos asks of us."
He turned to see you dozing off and slightly leaning over your staff about to fall.
"Y/n! What are you doing?!" He yelled with wide eyes.
You quickly sat upright and lazily opened your eyes, still dazed, "I swear I didn't eat the last cookies! ...Huh? What?"
"Did you even get any sleep last night?" Hunter questioned.
One eye blinked before the other did, "Define sleep."
"Y/N!"
You slightly flinched, "Fine, fine. Whatever Mr. Golden Guard. Maybe like two hours?"
His golden mask stared right at you. He gave you a judgmental look to which you practically see and you furrowed your brows.
"Don't look at me like that. Hypocrite. You are worse than me." You defended.
His voice became sarcastic, before mocking your voice, "Oh I'm sorry. What happened to 'you should get some sleep! It's not healthy!' Besides as much as you think your cute for staying up your not. You tend to drool and snore...a lot. "
You glared at him, "Shut it Bird Boy."
He scrunched his nose, "Bird Boy? Please, you've come up with better comebacks than 'Bird Boy.' And don't think I haven't noticed you being more tired than usual."
You blinked for a second before circling back to what Hunter said, "You think I'm cute?"
Hunter put both hands on his palismen staff with a strong grip after he almost slipped off.
That's what you took from this?" He muttered.
You slightly felt an electrical surge of nervousness that turned into confidence from your bracelet. He turned to you, his eyes gazing up and down at you, "Well sweetheart, your not bad to look at."
He zoomed off in front of you leaving you mildly confused and flustered. You hated when his masked confidence did this to you. It made you feel so weird. And how his voice sounded didn't help either. You were glad you were in the back so your bracelet didn't out you.
You blinked for a second while heat slightly rose to your face, "Wait a damn fucking second...Come back here bird brain!"
...
You both landed on the ground it seems like deja vu every time you go on a mission. You tucked Cosmo away, Hunter did the same. It felt like an endless circle at this point. You land, fight, laugh, survive. Yep! The average day in the Emperor's Coven. You knew the Owl House was close by. You and Hunter walked through the forest until you could see the Owl House, you both then hid in the bushes analyzing the building and situation. You leaned in a bit when you saw a weird tube thing come from the door of the Owl House.
"What in Titian's bald spot is that? I've never seen anything like it? Is it a demon? Maybe...a creation of some kind?" You muttered.
Hunter who overheard you just shrugged in response. He was deeply grossed out by the worm-looking thing. Heck, he could even smell it from here. Gross.
"Now how do we break in?" Hunter asked aloud.
You shrugged as he continued whisper shouting, "A handful of scouts already tried it. That worm thing always gets in the way! It's not Iike they're all gonna leave."
You crouched closer to him to which he unwillingly backed away from.
Almost as soon as your best blonde friend said it you both saw an abomination walk out of the door with a very unusual outfit. You scrunched your nose. He took off his golden mask.
"The bunny slippers don't even match..."
You both crouched down lower as it passed by. A couple of minutes later Eda, King Luz, and Amity all walked out the door and left while mentioning something about a brawl?
You peeped your head up from the bushes, "Wow. That was surprisingly easy."
Hunter blinked for a second but then shook his head, "Huh. Now, what to do about the bird, worm-thing?"
"We're not blowing it up."
"Oh! I know we can just blow it up!"
You both responded simultaneously. You gave Hunter a look of disapproval while crossing your arms. He frowned and then shifted his body away from you.
"We can use the window." You pointed it out.
Hunter moved his gaze to where you were referring to. The tallest tower had a circular window wide open, practically begging for anyone to break in. His ears perked up and he gave a mischievous smirk. You slightly blush at the movement his ears made and had an unconscious smile on your face. He quickly put his mask back on.
'That was kinda cute.'
You slightly yelped as Hunter grabbed your hand and circled to the side of the house where the window was open. You came to a halt, Hunter let go of your hand then looked back to you and summoned his palismen staff. He traced a circle with it, casting a small spell to turn you both invisible. The worm thing then started talking to itself very loudly, you gave it a strange look. It was really weird. You felt a warmth around your hand once again which led you to the side of the house.
The worm thing quickly turned in your direction which made you two sweat bullets as it moved in front of you, about an inch away. It then narrowed its eyes at you while it hummed creepily. You quietly gulped and shut your eyes as it launched itself right above you to eat a big bug. It happily munched it and continued to talk. What really bothered you that he was talking with its beak-mouth? Wide open.
It moved away from you and just started randomly moving in circles. It was starting to intrigue and creep you out even more. You let out a breath and felt a reassuring squeeze on your hand. You traced a green circle with your finger and a vine rose from the ground lifting you two up to the window. You quickly ordered it to go back into the ground to cover up any trace of a break-in as soon as you both hopped inside. You turned your back to see Hunter now visible. You looked around, it was a mess in here. It looked like a closet. A very, VERY messy closet.
Hunter noticed it as well as he spoke his mind, "How can anyone live in this mess? Is that a moldy sandwich? Gross..."
You put a hand over your mouth and nose, "Oh Titan what is that repulsive smell?"
Hunter took off his mask and waved it around back and forth while pitching his nose, "I'm starting to understand why that window was open."
You opened the closet door and poked your head out looking down both halls. You turned back to Hunter and gave a firm nod. You stepped out of the closet with Hunter following behind and then slowly closed it, trying not to make a sound. You stumbled as one foot tripped the other, you felt a warm hand wrapped around you before you could kiss the floor. Hunter lifted you back up and stabilized you, his hand still around your waist.
You smiled tiredly, "Thanks bird brain."
He stared at you before blinking, "Uh, right no problem. Just uh-I- forget it."
He quickly let you go and walked away.
You nodded your head while giving him an odd look as he walked away.
"Where would this eyeball even be?" You mumbled.
He shrugged and went to go check the room across from the gross closet. You went down the hall to check another room. Everything was pretty much a mess.
Hunter called to you, "Nothing, you?"
You replied, "Nope, nothing there either."
You walked over to him and peeked over his shoulder to see a room with a sleeping bag in the middle and some human stuff. You guessed it was Luz's room.
Hunter noticed you and quickly walked away from you. You slightly furrowed your brows and frowned. You decided to ignore it and move on.
You yawned and slightly swayed side to side lighty with tired movements. You went to check downstairs and slightly tripped causing you to grab on the side railing. You blinked, maybe Hunter was right about the sleep part. You put one foot in front of the other cautiously and didn't look once away from the stairs determined to not fall. You peered downstairs, but nothing, it also didn't seem like the place where a valuable eyeball would be. But it was the Owl Lady and she was odd, to say the least, but cool.
You checked the kitchen too and you peeked your head to the window to see the weird bird thing still talking to itself but in song form. You cringed, pretty pitchy.
You snuck around and smirked once you saw the fridge. Hell yes.
You quietly opened it and grabbed what you saw was good and munched on it. You then eyed the cabinets and happened to pass by and there happened to be some of your favorite chips you grabbed them and munched on them while you poured yourself some appleblood to help wake you up. You walked up the stairs with your bag of found chips and a cup that read 'Bad Girl Coven', of Appleblood. You watched Hunter walk out of a room shaking his head and getting frustrated. You took a sip.
"Not in here either. Damn it."
You held the chip bag in front of you offering him one. He turned around and looked At the chips then the cup, then you. "...I'm freaking out over an eyeball and your snacking...I don't believe this..."
You took another sip before adding to that statement, "And drinking appleblood."
He frowned but then angrily grabbed some chips and munched on them. He then tried to say something but you didn't understand a single word as he explained the situation with chips in his mouth. You just nodded and hummed in response then took another sip.
'Mmm, that's good Joe.'
"Did you check all the rooms?" You asked.
"No, not of them there's two left I think." He said thoughtfully.
I'll check the one down the hall," You said as you walked away.
Hunter nodded and went to search for the eyeball.
You opened the door to see a nest? And a couple of cool stuff, it like the rest of the house was pretty messy. Most of it was glyph studies.
"Right, Eda doesn't have any magic anymore." You mumbled.
You put down the cup and bag of chips on a nearby table.
You looked through the mess first checking through her vanity desk. Nothing. You saw a small chest next to it and easily opened the lock. You opened it and saw some interesting stuff. Most of it looked like junk, an old yearbook caught your eye. You grabbed it and flipped some pages. Hexide, Junior year. You immediately saw the wild-haired, orange-haired teen Eda smirked at the camera while shooting finger guns and had some black glasses on along with a sports jacket. The name label Clawthrone, Edalyn.
A couple of students down you saw a familiar name, label Whispers, Raine. Your mouth was slightly agape as you saw a very young teen Raine. They had shaggy long-ish hair and held also finger guns up matching with Eda.
You slightly smiled seeing what they looked like around your age. You flipped through it and saw a lot of familiar, younger faces in the school's photos. Ex-Head Witch Lilith, Darius, Eda again, and Raine. They were in a lot of photos together actually. One could easily assume they were dating. Your eyes popped as the next photo had one of them kissing in the background of a grudby championship.
Your eyes widened to the point you thought they were gonna fall out, "Holy Titan shit I was right!"
You took a photo of it and put it away then continued to look for the eyeball. You rummage through the chest for anything else, but nothing. You looked next in the nest which you assumed was Eda's bed. You looked through it, but nothing. You then Walked up to the mirror and fixed your hair a bit before making some funny faces at yourself. You giggled before realizing there was a shelf you missed behind you. You saw a jar of eyeballs you went on your tippy-toes and grabbed it.
You noticed one was different than the rest. It was blue and looked like the expression it held was stopped in time. It almost looked scared. It had some very light blue messages on the side of it, almost a white or yellowish color. You felt very odd holding it, it seemed to be important somehow. You almost didn't want to bring it back to Belos, it was like it was begging you to hide it.
You put it in the small leather pocket you had on the belt of your uniform and put everything as it was before grabbing your snack and drink. You walked out to see Hunter making a mess in search of the eye.
He looked back at you almost desperate, "Please tell me you found it."
You patted your pocket proudly with the chips in hand, "You know it."
He let out a heavy breath of relief, "Oh thank Titian."
He summoned Flapjack and him around rearranging everything to its original placement.
He turned to you giving you a shoulder pat to which he immediately regretted, "Now let's get out of here and never come back."
"Agreed." You replied.
You unwillingly headed back to the disgusting closet before taking one last look at the door to Eda's room.
You held your breath as you summoned the plant back up to retrieve you two. Hunter went first then you. You sent back into the earth and then snuck around the building. You noticed something was off though. There wasn't a loud annoying voice singing to the top of its lungs anymore...
You whipped your head around to a very loud screech, "Intruders!! ...Face my fury!!"
Sorry for missing my weekly update last week. I didn't abandon you guys I promise! School just started for me again...God lord have mercy. My mental health is shit rn. Anyways I have a very special surprise coming out very soon!
(If there are any grammar mistakes please let me know bc I know I made one and I have no idea where it went in this chapter. Much appreciated.)
Also curious, do any of you have any theories so far about what is to come in the plot and to the characters? Because I do like to sprinkle some hints here and there...
Also, would anyone be interested in a Q&A? You guys ask, I answer.
It can vary from: 'What does Raine think about Hunter?' Or 'Will Eda ever meet Y/n?' Or hell, 'Hey Author! What's your favorite curse word?'
To which the answer is yes. You guys can reuse those questions if you like. Just let me know if you are interested. If you are I'd love to do this more than once if it goes well.
Also, the poll is in. Thank you to everyone who participated in the vote! I appreciate all of you!
Now drink water, eat, and get some sleep!
<3
-Your Author,
Bleep