Chapter Text
As Hunter wiped some green paint from his face, he grinned at the red cardinal sitting on his shoulder.
“I haven’t had such fun since we did those scouting tests!’ He rambled to the bird, throwing the rag he was using across the room as he sat on his bed.
“ I know! That was so, so, so fun! ’ Flapjack chirped happily, jumping off Hunter’s shoulder and hopping around on his red sheet.
“Enough! I should really get started on this paperwork.” Hunter cut off the bird, standing to trod over to his desk, sitting as he grabbed a quill, dipping it in a pot of ink as he pulled the first form in front of him.
“ Paperwork is boring! Why don’t we text Willow, or read something! ” The cardinal tweeted, flapping around his room before landing on Hunter’s head, pecking at his hair.
“Flapjack! Stop. When I finish these forms, maybe I’ll text Captian.” Hunter snapped, turning over the piece of yellowish paper in front of him as he continued scrawling something onto it.
-Two hours later-
“ Finally, you’re done! Let’s text Willow now! ” Flapjack chirped, hopping around on Hunter’s desk.
“Fine. But-” Hunter cut himself off with a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he looked out his window, the sky dark with stars. His eyes caught sight of the large clock located in the center of Bonesborough, and it showed the time was 2:31 AM.
“I should probably be getting to bed. I’ve always got to be ready, in case Belos gives me a mission.” Hunter mumbled, tiredly, he was no stranger to exhaustion, mostly because of all-nighters finishing paperwork, or arriving home late because of night-time missions. Even with all of this ‘practice,’ Hunter’s eyelids were heavy, too heavy, and the overwhelming feeling of drowsiness was almost too much to bear.
“ You should stay up! You’re not usually so sleepy! ” Flapjack tweeted, jumping into the air and landing on Hunter’s shoulder, gently pecking at his face.
“Nah, too tired. . .” He mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he laid his head on his desk, the cardinal leaping off his shoulder to rest beside him, rubbing its red feathers against Hunter’s cheek, and as he dozed off, his eyes slowly closed, and at the mere moment before he passed out, he heard a door open, and footsteps slowly walking towards him, followed by a
manic,
familiar,
laugh.
Hunter quickly awoke, scrambling as he looked around, the clock tower out his window depicting the time as 11:52 AM. He stood, fast, rustling the items on his desk as his eyes caught a piece of paper with neat handwriting, as he read, his heart dropped.
Hunter,
I am severely disappointed in you.
How dare you keep a palismen, you should know first-hand the dangers of wild magic.
I wish to speak to you about it first hand.
Signed,
Emperor.
Hunter took a deep, hurried breath, he grabbed his cloak and pulled it on, along with his mask. He rushed out the door, the hallway was almost completely empty, and the few remaining scouts turned an eye to the Golden Guard, but Hunter didn’t have time to explain to mere Coven Scouts. He had more important matters to attend too.
He dashed to the Emperor’s Door after about 1 and a half minutes of running through the halls. He quickly entered to see Belos standing behind a snickering Kikimora, Flapjack tightly grasped in his hand, the palismen chirping in pain, Hunter’s eyes caught lines of bright, glowing yellow across the cardinals wing and body.
“Golden Guard. So kind of you to join us.” Kikimora spat, taking a step towards him, her laughter echoing the walls as she saw Hunter’s eyes widen.
“Wha- how- how?” Hunter stuttered, losing the feeling in his legs as he stumbled forward.
“A simple sleeping potion, you didn’t think ahead that far, did you, Golden Guard?” Kikimora snickered, turning her back to the teenager.
“Hunter. I am, and never have been, so disappointed in you. Is this the thanks I get, for taking you in?” Belos spoke, also turning away from Hunter, squeezing Flapjack harder as the yellow cracks etched slowly across its body.
“Please… I’ll, I’m sorry.” Hunter stuttered quickly, his words fumbling on his tongue as he fell to his knees, practically begging his uncle for forgiveness. He looked up, and his eyes were met with the sight of Belos turning to him, holding Flapjack tightly.
Hunter had seen this happen before, he was about to break the palismen, he was about to break his palismen. Without thinking, he lunged forward, snatching Flapjack from his uncle's grasp, turning to run. After a mere moment of holding the red cardinal in his hands, he heard an all too familiar sound, the noise of his uncle forming his arm into a large, gooey spear, a sludgy sound, something one would hear stepping on a corpse, or chewing old, soggy food.
Before he could react, or even register this fact, he felt a burning pain in his side, as Belos’s spear stabbed through his flesh, leaving a gaping hole, he quickly pushed a hand over the wound, attempting to stop the blood.
The adrenaline from his ‘daring’ escape was the only reason he didn’t topple over in pain as he ran from the Emperor’s castle, though his hand was still clasped over the hole in his side, a measly attempt at stopping the blood that was flowing over his hands and dripping onto the floor.
In Hunter’s other hand, he held Flapjack close to his chest, the palismen was dangerously injured, and he needed to get help, now. He rushed through the forest surrounding Belos’s castle, his cape and clothes getting caught on thorns and thickets as he blindly ran. After a while of rushing through the trees, he stopped, trying to catch his breath as he sat, removing his hand from his wound to cradle Flapjack.
Looking to the skies, he saw the sun setting. How long had he been running? Where was he? He gently put the red cardinal to the ground beside him, as he ripped his cape from his back and quickly tied it around his side, the blood seeping through the makeshift bandage in seconds. He didn’t care about the stinging pain in his side, he didn’t care that his uncle would most likely hunt him down and kill him, the only thing he cared about was getting Flapjack to safety.