Grim, Speak the Shadows

Part 2

Hunter stared back at his reflection in the mirror. Chunks of abomination gunk were still in his hair and on his clothing, along with a fine layer of dirt that coated him. His skin was pale, and the shadows beneath his eyes seemed darker than ever. He also had a few scrapes and bruises scattered about his body, felt incredibly sore, and just all-around felt completely and utterly exhausted. He could probably sleep for days on end, if his duties allowed him to.

Unfortunately though, they did not, and he had to wake up in just a few hours. Hunter had been severely lacking in sleep lately; he'd been up for hours when he should have been sleeping for the past few nights, thinking about what he could possibly do to make up for his last mission's failure...Luckily, today's (unauthorized) mission came along and gave him the chance to make it up to Belos!

Hopefully that would mean no more sleepless nights for a while, though he kind of doubted that.

Flapjack fluttered out of his pocket and pitched on Hunter's shoulder, chirping as it did so. Hunter was still trying to make out the chirps--he'd only just started to understand what the small creature was saying a few hours ago. It was a curious thing, the bond between a palisman and a witch. He still couldn't believe that a palisman had actually chosen him, and he was still under the impression that it would be better for everyone if Flapjack just left and chose a better witch to be with. A witch who could actually do magic, for starters, and one who wasn't putting itself in danger constantly by being in this castle. Even though Flapjack tended to hide whilst Hunter went about the castle, it still made him uneasy knowing that at any moment, the palisman could be discovered. He tried to hide the thing in his room several times, but it always found a way to get out and find him.

At first it was annoying and inconvenient, but after today...Hunter was starting to think that maybe having Flapjack could come in handy. If he was honest with himself though, it wasn't just the palisman's usefulness that he appreciated. It was...nice to have someone to talk to for once, even if he couldn't understand everything it chirped back. The other coven heads never bothered to talk to Hunter (except for Raine, occasionally, but they'd been...weird lately. Quiet.), and he didn't really know anyone outside of the castle, so...

Ack, seriously, how pathetic was it that his only friend was a bird?!

Well, okay, friend was a strong word. He needed to observe it more, see how it acted, see what it did.

"Hey...Flapjack?" Hunter said, turning to look at the red cardinal perched on his shoulder. "You don't know what a pancake is, do you? Or, you know, a flapjack? It is your name after all."

The palisman only tilted its head to the side.

Hunter sighed and looked back at the mirror. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

---

After taking some time to clean up (the shadows under his eyes were still there, heavier than ever, unfortunately), Hunter plopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Ah, it felt so good to lay down after the crazy day he'd just had. He was still wearing the coven scout uniform, but he didn't care right now. Sure, maybe it was a mess and smelled a bit, but he was just too tired to care. It was late, much later than he should have stayed up, and all he wanted right now was to get some sleep. Maybe he would even be able to sleep peacefully for once, too. For the past few weeks, especially this last one, the pressures of being the Golden Guard had been getting to him too much. It wasn't uncommon for him to stay awake until he physically couldn't anymore. Whenever he got like that, Raine would often take notice (it really wasn't hard to tell, to be honest) and casually mention that it was important to be well rested and that he could use more sleep, but they'd been..distant lately...These days, Raine hardly even glanced in Hunter's direction. It had occurred to him that something might be wrong with them, but they...Well, Hunter never had been as close to them as he would have liked. Raine was perhaps the only coven head he ever got along with, and the only one he actually liked, but they weren't friends or anything. They were acquaintances, at best. Raine occasionally looked out for Hunter, asked him how he was doing once in a while, things like that--but that was about it.

And sometimes, Hunter wondered if that's all he would ever be to someone. An acquaintance at best.

Sometimes, it was hard being the Golden Guard.

Sometimes, he wondered what it would be like to grow up like any other kid in the Boiling Isles--what it would be like to have friends, or to go to school, or to have a normal family.

But whenever he dwelled on that, he quickly shut those thoughts out. He knew he couldn't act ungrateful. Belos gave him a life, a purpose, and really, Hunter knew that was all he needed. He didn't need school, or friends, or a normal life.

He was fine just the way he was.