About 3 days pass since you were informed about the ambush you all were planning. Everything's been quite mellow. Hunter hasn't called you which your kind of glad about.
Your last encounter with him was so awkward, you're still so embarrassed he had to see you like that. You've also been overthinking a lot about him.
What if teaching him wild magic really does help benefit Belos's curse that he's trying to cure?
What if that were to mean you'd be betraying the entire guild because of that? You're only helping the golden guard become a step closer to making the emperors coven a stronger place.
There's so much to think about and it's sort of driving you mad.
These last few days you have been at home doing nothing, just wallowing away in misery. You did drink some more actually but you were wise not to answer the phone.
Actually now that you think about it. Hunter may have called you you just didn't answer. The problem is should you call him back?
You've already been overthinking so much, you really don't want to, but he probably has tried to call.
You sigh and pick up your crow and dial his number. Eventually he picks up.
"Ah, so now you're finally calling me back." He says when you pick up.
You sigh.
"Are you free?" You ask.
"Yeah." He says.
"I was thinking we could get you a palisman?" You say.
"A palisman?" He scoffs.
"Why would I need a palisman? I have my own staff." Hunter scoffs.
"Palisman are connected to wild magic, and they can help strengthen your bond to wild magic as well." You say.
Hunter goes quiet.
"Look, if you want to understand it better I think a palisman is the way to go. You can give it to me after you've learned what you need to when our lessons are done if you hate it." You say.
You hear him sigh through the other end of the call.
"I doubt you'd wanna part with them though, they're amazing creatures, they're like a part of you." You say.
"Fine, we can get a palisman." He says.
"Alright, there's a forest inbetween bonesburrow and latissa, let's meet there, I'll show you where she is." You say.
"Where who is?" Hunter asks.
"The bat queen, she has lots of palisman in her forest, maybe we can find one for you." You say.
"Come in casual wear though, she wouldn't want to know you're the golden guard." You explain.
"Yeah yeah I know." He says.
"I'll see you." You say.
"Okay, see you there." He says.
"See you." You hang up.
You sigh and put the crow down. Guess you have to socialize today. You're going to try not to talk to him as much unless it's related to palisman. That is what you guys are doing today, there's no need to talk about anything else.
On your way there you got stuck. There were a lot of construction coven people working on this road nearby and you had to take a detour. Hunter got there first.
You finally arrive and meet where you both were talking about.
"You're late what took you so long?" He sighs.
"Oh my apologies your highness. I forgot you have noble esteemed servants who are beckoned to your every call. Would you like me to get you a spot of tea as well sire?" You tease.
"Titan, just shut up." He scoffs.
"Whatever. The bat queen is this way, come with me." You say and walk in the given direction.
Hunter follows behind you. You go quiet and walk infront of him instead of beside him. You shouldn't talk with him much.
"Are you doing alright?" He then asks.
You glance behind you and look at him in the eyes for a minute. You then look back upfront.
"I'm fine. Just focused on making our way here." You reply.
"Well no, I mean, like, last I saw you you were drunk and you felt bad. I just wanted to see if you've been doing okay... since then?" He says softly.
You glance at him and your ears turn red. Damn if you really do not want to talk about this. This is the last thing you wanna talk about, anything but that.
"I've been fine." You nod.
"Oh, alright." He says.
You say nothing and continue walking forward. He seems curious and picks up the pace, trying to walk beside you.
"What have you been doing while I haven't seen you?" He asks trying to make conversation.
"Nothing, that's unrelated to getting a palisman." You say and quickly deny his request to converse.
He goes quiet. You go quiet too. You shouldn't talk with him. You shouldn't even form any sort of bond with him. He's... just the golden guard.
"Alright." He says and stays quiet.
So you continue to walk silently throughout the woods. That is until you find a cave. That's when you stop and stand infront of it.
"This is where Bat Queen lives. She takes care of the palismen. All the palismen here were abandoned by their previous owners and are looking for new ones. So they stay here with bat queen." You say.
Hunter nods and approaches.
"I got my palisman here when I was younger." You say.
Hunter nods and follows you into the cave. There, almost immediately the bat queen hops down and towers over you both. Staring you down.
"What business you have here?" She asks.
She continues studying you both and her eyes land on you.
"Ah! You that girl from long ago? How is boo?" She asks.
"Boos doing good! He's been helping me lots." You smile and met your palisman crawl up on your shoulder.
"Sweet sweet, what's the boy doing here?" She asks.
"I actually brought him so we could help find him a palisman." You state.
"Palisman for the boy?? How fun how fun. Come bring him close." She asks.
You nudge Hunter and his ears turn a slight red and he approaches the bat queen.
"Come boy, tell me. What is your deepest desire?" She asks.
Hunter goes silent for a moment and looks back at you. He seems confused and opens his mouth to speak but then closes it.
"I... don't know..." Hunter mumbles.
"Oh come now, your biggest desire?" She asks.
"I.... Want to be a useful asset to the emperors coven." Hunter says.
It goes silent. The palismen around you all chitter and it seems like none of them come forward. Hunter looks around as well to see if any of the palismen will come to him.
"Bah, come now, what is it you really want deep down?" She asks.
"You really want to be a emperor coven boy? What is it you want?" She asks once more.
Hunter goes quiet not sure what to say. It was what he was raised and trained for. To be an emperors coven scout. What else would he want? What else does he need?
He glances at you and then back down at the ground. He seems genuinely confused.
"Do you like... have any hobbies? Is there something specific you want to do?" You ask.
"I...like to read? Um..." he stays quiet.
"Okay, think of it this way. You said... what? you want to be a useful asset to the emperors coven?" You ask.
Hunter nods.
"Is that what you want or what Belos wants?" You ask.
He opens his mouth to speak and then he stops and goes quiet. He seems to be really thinking but then he shakes his head and turns his head towards you giving you a harsh glare.
"What?" You say.
"It's not like I have a choice though, so of course I have to be a valuable asset, that's my future." He says.
"Okay, but, if you could choose your own future what would you do?" You ask.
He looks at you genuinely puzzled and confused.
"I can't choose my own path." Hunter scoffs.
"Okay, but pretend theres a world where we all live together as people, let's say there's no laws or anything, no nothing. What would you choose to do?" You say.
Hunter goes quiet and thinks hard for a moment.
"...the thing is... I don't know myself beyond the emperors coven. I never had the time to find my own hobbies or even see if I was interested in any other kind of coven. I was born an emperors coven boy." He shrugs.
"Then maybe you could take the time to get to know yourself?" You smile.
Hunters eyes widen and his cheeks turn a little pink. He coughs and looks away from you.
"...yeah... that...um..." He mumbles.
"That would be nice." Hunter whispers, his cheeks flush pink.
"Say your wish aloud." The bat queen says.
Hunter steps forwards and fiddles with his fingers for a moment. He seems nervous.
"Um.." he mumbles.
You watch him.
"I want to get to know myself, um... who I am?" Hunter says hesitantly.
He stares at the ground embarrassed. You walk up next to him and put your hand on his shoulder.
His ears turn red and he glances at you and then back down. You smile and look around at the palismen.
It's silent. Not one palismen is making a noise. Hunter seems to start sweating. It's as if he's passing judgment right now.
"...forget it... it's not like I can even have one anyway." Hunter mumbles and turns around.
"Ah ah ah, wait wait." Bat Queen says.
There's a little chirp in the distance, and a little Red cardinal flies down and hovers infront of Hunter. Hunters eyes widen and he takes a step back.
"Uh-" he stutters.
The cardinal chirps.
"Flapjack would be delighted to be by your side." The Bat Queen says.
Flapjack, the name of the cardinal palisman chirps and transforms into a staff right infront of Hunters eyes. Hunter gasps slightly and catches the staff.
You smile slightly and look over at him. Hunter seems amazed and studies the features of the palisman. His eyes sparkle slightly.
You both walk out of the bat cave, Hunter still analyzing his palisman.
"What do you think of him?" You ask and peer your head over to look.
Hunter goes quiet and traces his fingers around the palisman. He looks over at you with some pink in his cheeks.
"He's... interesting." Hunter says softly.
You smile a little as you watch him trace his fingers around the palisman.
That's when you catch yourself smiling, and your smile slowly turns into a frown.
"Well, um... now that you have your own palisman, we should probably go." You say.
Hunter turns to look at you. He seems a little thrown off guard.
"Already? It didn't seem to take that long though. We still have plenty of time to do something" Hunter says.
"Like what? Hunter?" You sigh.
"I don't know, a glyph?" Hunter scoffs.
"I'm busy, and I have some things I need to do." You say.
Hunter sort of glares at you.
"You've been acting strange ever since we got here." He says.
"Is there something you're not telling me?" He folds his arms.
You stop in your tracks and you look over at him, with a glare yourself.
"Why do you even care?" You say.
"Because, you're my teacher, I kinda need to know if everything is fine so we're... good?" He says.
"Who cares if we're good or not Hunter? Why does it matter? We have one thing we're working on and that's wild magic, our emotions or feelings don't matter and don't need to be shared." You say sort of angry.
His eyes widen, and he looks the other way.
"Well- I don't really appreciate all the attitude you're giving, and would like to be treated as a normal, is all I'm saying." He rolls his eyes.
"I'm so so sorry your majesty." You glare at him.
"Y/n, seriously can you tell me what the hells going on?" Hunter says and grabs your arm
He pulls you to him and you gasp slightly. He looks you in the eye seriously, and you guys are a few inches away from eachother.
You pull your arm away from him.
"More and more witches from my guild are being taken." You say angrily.
"Taken by your coven, and I'm so tired of it." You say.
He listens to you.
"And I sit here. I sit here often wondering if I'm a traitor to my guild." You say.
"Because of the fact I'm helping you." You say pointing at him.
Hunters face softens.
"What if... hah... what if I'm doing the wrong thing? What if me teaching you all these things DOES actually help? What if I'm ruining my guild and I'm helping make your coven stronger by teaching you, the golden guard, 2nd in line to the throne, this magic?" You say.
"I don't think I could live with myself if I knew I was a traitor... I... maybe I should already classify myself as one?" You say shakily.
"I could be putting the entire guild in danger- what if when you have more power you'll find us- and-" You tremble
"Y/n-"
"And not to mention- fucking Rowan wants me to join a coven? For my safety? Like... really??" You say trembling.
"That's the last thing I want! For my safety??? My ass! I'm fine! I can take... care of myself! He's one to talk when he's not even in the guild scouts!" You say.
You go silent and begin trembling. You feel so stressed as if you're about to cry.
"I don't wanna be a traitor, I don't... wanna help you if it means I'm going to put the guild in danger... I don't want to be in a coven." You tear up.
Hunter notices you tearing up and his eyes widen. You softly start sobbing, this stress is too much.
"Shit- ah- Titan. U-um..." he panics going through his pockets.
Some tears roll down your cheeks and you wipe them off and try to control your crying.
"H-here, take this." He says and hands you something.
You take it. It's a handkerchief. With an H on it for his name. You sniffle and look up at him curiously.
"It's- a handkerchief. I forget I have it sometimes, I- um- I'm sorry, that's not really helpful is it?" He laughs and looks the other way.
You sniffle and use it to clear your eyes.
"Hah.. no it's.. fine... of course you have your own personal little handkerchief." You sniffle and laugh a little.
"Uh- Darius the uh... the abomination head? He made it for me some years ago. It was uh... when I was going through um.. a hard time." He nods awkwardly.
You sniffle.
"Sorry- that's not really important- I'm sorry." He stutters and awkwardly looks the other way.
"No, it's fine, I'm sorry." You sniffle.
"You have to see me like this, damn it, first you have to see me being a dumb drunk, and then you have to see me crying. I'm... sorry." You sniff.
"Listen." He says and comes closer to you.
He puts his hand on your shoulder and you look up at him.
"I won't rat out your guild. I swear to you. I thought we made that promise I wouldn't even think about it as a part of our deal." He says.
"E-even after our deal is done and we won't talk anymore, I won't rat it out." He says.
"You swear?" You ask and extend your wrist and point your finger at him
He grabs your wrist, and gently brings it downwards. He takes both his hands and holds your hand in his, and looks up at you with his magenta reddish eyes.
"I swear." He promises.
You feel your cheeks heat up slightly as he holds your hand in both of his. You continue staring at eachother for a moment, but breaking eye contact. Hunters face is somewhat pink as well but he's keeping a fixed expression on his face.
You look down at your hand in both of his and then back up at him.
"Okay." You say gently.
"Okay." He also replies softly.
You don't know why but you hold your other hand out with his and your both holding each others hands. It stays silent like this for a moment. Just the two of you calmly staring at eachother, holding one another's hands.
Hunter gently squeezes both of your hands without reason. And you look up at him your pink cheeks a little bit red now.
He opens his mouth about to speak but you cut him off.
"Ah- I should probably go now though. Uh- I'd suggest if you still have free time today to get to know your palisman better?" You blush and pull your hands away from him nervously.
"Oh yeah, um, I'll do that." He blushes and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Um... I should be free sometime next week? Give me a call and we can figure out our next glyph." You say.
"Yeah, you got it." He says, and readies his staff.
"See you Hunter." You smile awkwardly, you're still kind of blushing.
"I'll see you Y/N." Hunter says also smiling awkwardly.
You wave each other off and just like that you're off and about read to head home. A little smile on your face with some pink in your cheeks.