Child of the Moon.

~Chapter Two~

 It had been several days since the destruction of the Great Tree. Hector hadn't said a word to anyone else in the party beyond the occasional "'Kay" and "No". Cassandra continued to watch the man day in and day out, even though Rapunzel and Adira both assured her that there was nothing to worry about - Hector had sworn a blood oath, and that was something that even he wouldn't break. 

Adira herself had made several attempts the past few days to try and get her brother to talk to her. She wanted him to understand why she betrayed Edmund. She wanted him to understand why she did what she did at the Great Tree. She wanted the resentment between them to finally be resolved. But Hector had other ideas. The warrior deliberately did everything within his power to avoid so much as making eye contact with his sister, to the point where he willingly chose to greet Cassandra instead of Adira. He pushed aside her every attempt to talk. It hurt Adira. It hurt that she tried so hard to make amends only for Hector to keep holding on to all of his anger and hatred. It hurt so much.

"Hey," Eugene called to Hector cautiously one morning while packing up camp, waving to get his attention.

Hector looked up, nodded in acknowledgement to the younger man, and returned to his task. He continued fastening the uncooperative rolled up tent (which he was still not permitted to sleep in) to his rhino's saddle.

"Hey," Eugene repeated, padding up a few feet to the left of Hector. The warrior didn't react, so Eugene took it as an all clear to talk. "So, uh, Hector! Buddy! How ya been?!"

Hector remained silent, continuing to fidget with the straps on Tekakwitha's saddle, letting the awkwardness of Eugene's poorly thought-out statements hang in the air.

"I, for one, am feelin' great!" Eugene continued awkwardly, starting to flush red with embarrassment.

"'Kay," Hector said flatly, finally conquering the insubordinate straps and promptly walking away.

Eugene jogged after him, trying to keep up with the taller man's much longer strides. He decided pleasantries weren't going to work on Hector, and just made the situation far more awkward and uncomfortable for the both of them.

"All right," Eugene said, stepping straight in front of Hector, visibly startling him; Eugene hadn't been this persistent in his attempts to start a conversation before. He always stopped and moved on when Hector walked away. "What's your angle?"

"Excuse me?" Hector sniffed, raising an eyebrow.

"I know you aren't just going along with this because Rapunzel told you to." Eugene continued with a glare. "She's the kindest person I've ever met and very convincing, very convincing, but you aren't the kind of guy who just submits to someone 'cause they sweet-talked you, and you cut a couple lines on yourself for show."

"And what makes you think it's 'for show'?"

"A blood oath? Nobody makes those things anymore. Especially not a relatively young, spit-fire soldier like you."

"You don't know anything about me!" Hector hissed, roughly shoving past Eugene.

Eugene dashed after Hector. He hadn't gotten his answer, and he needed to know exactly what this guy wanted so he could protect Rapunzel. He reached out and grabbed Hector's wrist and tried to pull him back. The warrior ripped his arm out of Eugene's grasp and drew his blade with a growl. Cassandra, who was packing her bag nearby, immediately took notice of Hector's aggression and leapt up, drawing her own sword and sprinting in between Hector and Eugene.

"Get away from him!" Cassandra hissed, looking completely ready to fight.

"What's going on here?!" Adira questioned angrily.