Breaking Free

Of the Love We Have

A few days had passed since the CATs and the 'School Rebellion' had joined forces with one another when Hunter felt the pressure of being the golden guard once more. He, Willow, and Gus had been called down by Bump to his office, and we're assigned an important task: help Luz get Amity back.

Now, Hunter wasn't going to say that he despises the youngest Blight, but there was still a somewhat burning hatred for her. A lot. Like, hot enough to disintegrate a flipping pancake. He still has no idea what a pancake was, but he was going with it anyway because he couldn't think of anything else at the moment.

Besides, he should've been past that by now. He was grateful for her help when rescuing Gus, and he was glad to see her and Willow bonding a bit, but something just wasn't right. His thoughts brought him back to their encounter at Eclipse Lake. They were similar, just like he told her, but they were also very different at the same time. The Blight was like him in so many ways.

But she knew what the truth was. Hunter couldn't even realize the truth when it was right in front of his forgery eyes.

A few times he'd question if that was why he was so delusional to Belos. Because he was a fake designed to have a single purpose, and that anything that disagreed with his beliefs on the man made him argue against them. It was a small theory he had, but one that was effective, nonetheless.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Hunter looked at the clothes he held in his gloved hands. The same gloves that covered the same scars from the very same man. Gus had found an old tan shirt with a stitch in the shape of an 'X' to let Hunter wear, as well as finding a 'pale rose' colored shirt, which made Hunter start to believe that Darius was color blind because he thought it was gray, that he wore under Gus' shirt. He kept the same pants and boots as the ones his golden guard uniform used to have, as if he was combining the old with the new. But his favorite thing was a brown belt that held a little brown bag Willow made for him. "Maybe it could be a little pouch for Flapjack to hide in!" She remarked to him when she clipped the belt on him.

Hunter couldn't help but smile sadly at the gift. Despite him lying to Willow and Gus, they still wanted to be his friend. At least, they would until he told them the truth. Each day he hid from Belos was another he had to hide in his own pit of lies. A pit he'd sunk slowly into by each passing day since Belos tried to do the very same to him in the witch hunter's mind. He could never help but grimace at the thought.

"Hunter, you ready to go?"

"Almost!" He shouted back.

Taking one last sigh, he slipped on the clothing and took one last look at himself. Since hiding, his hair has grown a bit longer, not by much, but enough for him to notice the small detail. He'd always been able to notice the tiniest of details. He could hear the beginnings of Belos' ragged breaths before the curse would overpower his body, and he would always notice the way Kiki's eye twitched at him, despite that eye being the one covered by her claw-like hair thing. He saw the changes in personality Raine showed when they were being drugged by Terra. Frankly, Hunter never liked the woman, always on and on about winning and death. . . and plants, of course.

This goes for the changes Hunter's seen since running away, but the most notable being the shifts from Willow. She was still her kind and brave self, yet she seemed off since this morning.

"HUNTER!"

He laughed a bit, "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

~

"You know, you didn't have to come."

They were just dropped off in the woods by the Blight's when Willow said that to him. Gus couldn't hear them at the moment. He was busy looking out for when Luz was dropped off and he seemingly left the two in the dust.