HERe We are in ConNeCTICut

The nightmare

Gus mumbled words in his sleep. He whined like a little puppy. What was once just a little dream quickly became a reality he wanted to escape. He knew that he would have nightmares one of these nights, but why so soon? He dreamed of seeing his dad but unfortunately he was nowhere to be found. He must have chatted with everybody there because even Eda had no clue where he was or how to find him.

He tossed and turned and had a firm grip on his pillow. He would claw at the sheets hoping to find some exit strategy that would alert his brain to his trauma. He didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to be an orphan. Being an orphan meant you were helpless, and boy was he tired of being helpless. Gus began to sob unconsciously and felt rustling amongst the sheets. He felt someone touch his face and try to talk to him. They sounded frantic. Gus felt so powerless. Why did his mother have to leave him at such a young age? He was so angry. He must have moved in his sleep because he felt more like rustling and then it all grew quiet. The voice became very quiet and Gus feared that his nightmare was only beginning. But then the voice became louder and more stern. "Gus, snap out of it dude." Gus didn't really recognize the voice at first, but made no mistake at trying to open his eyes. He let out a cry and then he forced his weighted eyes awake.

He knew there was someone next to him. He prayed that it was his mother. Anything better than the cold slap of current predicaments. His vision was blurry. The voice spoke again. "Come on Gus, snap out of it!" Gus blinked a few times and realized it was his tears. His eyes had been so filled with the great solution that it spilled on out of him. "Mom." he whispered. "Mom where are you?" He became scared again and wiggled. "Mom are you there?" The voice chuckled a little. "Are you talking about Camila?" "No" said Gus. "I want my mom." His eyes began to fill with tears again. "I just want my mom to come back." He said with a shaky voice. He buried his face. A hand moved his tears away from his face again. "Gus, you had a nightmare." Gus was becoming aware of that. The person sighed "You and me both have had a fair share of nightmares." His hands touched Gus' hands and Gus looked at the scars on his hands. Poor Hunter. He had woken him. "Sorry" said the small boy. Hunter hugged him and said "Don't be." Hunter became curious "What was your mom like?" Gus stared at him. Hunter grimaced. "You don't have to tell."

Gus sighed "She was a good mom." "Like any other mom." Hunter just stared. "Oh" "I forgot" Gus paused a few seconds. "My mom left me when I was 6 years old." "My dad has been taking care of me ever since." Hunter smiled. "That's nice of your dad." Gus frowned. "Are you ok?" Hunter tilted his head. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Gus turned away. "I saw something, and I thought you might be able to tell me what it is." Hunter said sure. "You have seen that m-monster before haven't you?" Hunter was quiet. "When I went inside of you with illusion magic, I saw that monster that Belos turned into and you looked scared and were talking to it." Hunter clenched the sheets hard. "I can read lips and it sounded like you asked it what it did to the other guards." "I don't mean to pry but I am just curious to know what happened." Hunter relaxed and asked him not tell Camila or Willow or even Vee. Gus said "I promise." Hunter sighed.

"About a month ago, me and Luz traveled into Belos' mind, it was all her fault." "We needed a way out and so she called the owl lady." "I usually don't enjoy getting help from strangers but we were gonna be dead if we didn't." "Then she had the bright idea of going into Emperor Belos' memories." "She seemed so excited to go in, so I think it isn't the first time she has done something so wrong." Hunter recoiled. "At first, everything I saw I either remembered Belos telling me about or I remember hearing about." "There were small details that the Emperor left out, but it wasn't too big of a deal." Gus perked up. "Like what?" Hunter tried to think of one. "I guess when he would brand people with sigils and then they fell to the ground in unresponsive shock." Gus gasped "So you knew and didn't tell us?" He punched Hunter's arm. "I didn't know it was gonna be that bad." "In fact, it was even worse than that." "I was still in the coven at the time and I still believed that Emperor Belos had a reason." "It wasn't until I saw the.." Hunter couldn't finish. "No I can't say it." Gus became terrified. "It was the other guards, wasn't it?" Hunter started to speak but was quiet. Gus reached to touch his hand. Hunter jumped at the touch but slowly accepted it. "Hunter, I'm so sorry." Hunter felt himself becoming more frantic and started to breathe and tell himself that nothing was going to hurt him.

"Gus that's.. that's not even the worse part." He paused. "I was made for Belos. I'm something that Belos wanted for his plans. I was copy of someone and I just found out who it was." Gus looked at him, by this point, his knees were clenched to his chest. "I'm a grimwalker copy of Belos' brother, Caleb." Gus was in shock. The two boys hugged. Hunter and Gus could feel each other's pain. They both had been so wronged. Hunter smiled a little. "This may sound morbid, but I want to turn Belos into a grimwalker too." Gus smiled and said "I agree." Hunter held Gus tightly and said "I'm gonna avenge Caleb." "Whatever Belos did to him, he didn't deserve."