(Discontinued) The Firefly I see in Front Of Me | The Golden Guard x Reader

5 - Grant Me Just One Day

"Golden Guard. Emperor Belos would like a word with you." Kikimora informs the young guard as soon as she set eyes on him with her annoying accent, excited to find out his punishment, as Belos had sounded angry. Hunter inhaled and tenses up, ignoring Kikimora as he walked past her to Belos' room. She smiled, with a mischievous laugh and walked away as well.

The hallway felt long and menacing the closer he got and the lump in his throat grew more and more with the sweat on his forehead. He knew what he did wrong and it was inevitable for Belos to find out that Y/n escaped again; what worried him was that Belos would find out that he is helping her. What would he do to him if he knew?

As Hunter approached the door, he hesitated to knock so took a second to compose himself and stay calm, so he wouldn't catch him slip. "Emperor Belos. You wanted to see me?" Hunter says to announce his entrance and got on a knee to bow respectfully.

Belos stood facing away from the door, with his hands behind his back. "How long is it going to take for you to catch this girl?"

Hunter tilts his head down shamefully. "With all due respect sir, I am very skilled but she is as well; maybe better than me. If I were to be given more time and patience I could-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses, boy!" Belos barked. "I need this girl either dead or in a coven, it is up to you which option she is placed into! But if you fail too many times I will take more drastic measures!"

"What do you mean?" Hunter gulped.

"You worry about that when the time for it comes around." Hunter clenched his fists nervously. "I don't like to see you fail."

"I know sir. I promise to fulfill your wishes." Hunter says and takes his leave. Sweat manifested across his forehead and dripped into his eye. What was he going to do? What options does he have? His mind raced and he suddenly had an idea come to mind. "Can I request that perhaps we have her join the emperor's coven?" Belos turned to look at him. "Considering the amount of skill she demonstrated against me today, she can be a really good asset." He says and takes off his golden, owl-themed mask, to show off the mark she left on him from slamming his face into the ground. He was almost proud of it. "I think I may be able to convince her if I present to her the advantages of joining the coven." Belos stood there for a moment before turning away again passively.

"No." Hunter gasps quietly. "I recognize her skill but have you ever considered that there is a reason I never let her in the Emperor's Coven?" Hunter stayed silent. "Come with me." Belos leads Hunter out of the room and takes him to the basement where they held all the petrified statues.

Hunter looked around, scanning over each statue until they stopped in front of two. "Do you know who these two are?" Belos asks, referring to two statues that were connected. Both looked at a central area as if they were looking at something while being petrified. The lady held onto the man's arm and they both held one hand out like they were holding something. "This girl watched her parents get turned to stone, right in front of her. It was never my intention to traumatize her but they tried to escape... We tried to take her in but she ran away." Hunter looked up to Belos. "She tried to join us for years until she lost her parents. If she understood, then maybe she will be able to join us, but I know she will never understand."

"Why did you petrify them instead of just locking them up?" Hunter asks, silently becoming enraged.

"They expressed how much they hated me. How they hated the idea of covens. They never would have cooperated and in order for my plans to work out, I cannot have any covenless witches. You know this."

"So you want me to just kill her." Belos nods. "Would you at least grant me a day or two to convince her to join? She may not be like her parents and maybe she will want to join again if I can say the right things."

Belos was hesitant. "One day... That is it. But if you fail I will take the situation into my own hands. Do you understand?" Hunter nods. "Then you better get going." Hunter then leaves quickly and Belos begins talking to the statues. "He seems to care for that girl, that's a pity."

Hunter hurries out of the castle and looks for Y/n in the forest she has been hanging around in the past few days, where she had returned today from town, gathering food she bartered from food stands. She had gotten just enough to last her a week and as she was walking around she encountered a familiar area.

A small but tall house stood out between the trees of the forest and she decided to approach it. She had seen it before and approached it curiously but always ran away from it after Hooty tried to befriend her. She was uninterested but now she wanted to know the Owl Lady and possibly gain access to hiding away there when she felt unsafe.

She walked through the bushes surrounding it and Hooty appeared from the ground next to her. "HELLO! HOOT! Back again to play more? This time I have card games!" He then throws up a stack of cards on the ground.

She stares at them in disgust and disregards them. "I don't play card games... Is the Owl Lady home?" She asks.

"Maaaaybeeeee. To get inside you have to play at least one round with me!" He says.

Y/n sighs in irritation. "Fine." But Eda came along at the perfect moment.

The door opened and Eda walked out to Y/n looking down at the stack of cards in disgust as she reaches to pick them up. "Hey, look who it is. What are you doing here, Y/n? Come to ask for shelter in my home?" She asks as some form of greeting.

Y/n looked up at her in shock. "How did you know?"

Eda placed her hands on her hips and tilts her head. "I had a feeling you would need somewhere to hide with that bounty on your head." She said with a chuckle. "I'm happy to welcome you in. And don't worry, I won't turn you in, they wouldn't give me anything anyway since there's a bigger bounty on me."

"You accepted that really fast." Y/n chuckles.

"Well, I wouldn't have really accepted it so fast before but it's getting a little lonely with my little human friend back in her realm and it would be nice for her room to be occupied again." Eda voices. "Ah, forget it. Just come in and make yourself at home. We'll keep you company."

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Published: Fed 4, 2022

I couldn't wait two more days, I was gonna try a weekly post but I'm impatient

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