Once Upon a Dream (Golden Guard x Gender-Neutral Reader)

The Purpose Of A Flower Crown

As Hunter snuck through his window, stray beams of sunlight followed him into his room. He kicked off his boots, threw his mask on the bed, and let his cape drip onto the floor. He looked into his bedroom mirror with an unreadable expression. His eyes were red and heavy, the dark circles under them shady as ever. His body and armor felt weighted against his bones. He let out a low grumble, his staff set aside. He split himself from his uniform, leaving him in a half-sleeved bluey-gray shirt and a dark pair of trousers. He looked at himself again. Just as bad as before. He silently insulted himself.
One hour. He had let himself drift away for one hour, and then Specter Soltare was gone. How could he have let himself do that? Why did he even follow through with Soltare's deal in the first place?! He had them on a silver platter multiple times last night. He could have arrested them after saving them from that fall. He could have snuck up on them in the sanctuary. Hunter practically had that damn ghost in his hands before they lit up the spirit spiral! Then the deal came. The deal that he originally wasn't gonna follow through with. The deal that became so much more interesting when the Phantom added their own conditions.
The memories from it all felt like ages ago, even though it had only been several hours. He recalled how the Specter just barely set their hand apart from his. Sometimes he could still feel the graze of their glove, the warmth of their pulse beneath it. Specter Soltare, a creature of flesh and blood. He'd admit, when they first stated their wants, he was thoroughly flabbergasted. Specter Soltare wanted to interrogate him! Going into their evening with each other, he thought he'd reverse the roles, squeeze some information out of them, but as the night went on, he found Specter Soltare to be more than just a criminal. For some reason, he never thought they'd be especially bright, and yet while they were no scholar, they were definitely smarter than he gave them credit for. Then there was everything that happened upstairs. His time up there brought him to a conclusion that he'd never really thought of before.
Specter Soltare was just a kid.
Hunter had kinda always known, but this was the first time it really lit up. Probably around his age or so, this Phantom was the third highest rank in their gang! The thought made him nauseous. While he wasn't sure what criteria had to be met in order to become Specter, he didn't suspect weak links would fit the bill. No doubt about it, Soltare was more capable than they were letting on. Whether that was an intentional secret or not, Hunter refused to forget it. To think, he had let himself fall asleep around them!  How could he have let his guard down like that?! They could have killed him! They could have beat him, knocked him out, set fire to the room and left him there to die, but-
Soltare's query echoed around his mind as he crawled into his bed. "You aren't just saving yourself, you're saving me, and I want to know why!" Those were their exact words. Another memory pounded on him. "But you? You're different." For some reason, those last four words bounced like bubbles in his lungs. He was different.
Soltare was different.
They could have killed him. They've committed crimes before, it would have just been another felony on their list, but they didn't.

They just didn't.

This must have been what they felt when Hunter spared them. Back at St. Tribrachius Hunter failed to provide Specter Soltare with a real reason as to why he saved them. He told them it was classified, that Specter Soltare and everything about them was information to be locked away. He didn't really think it was a lie. It wasn't the entire truth, but it wasn't a lie.
In all honesty, Hunter wasn't sure why he felt the need to preserve Soltare. Maybe some part of him believed that turning them over alive would prove something. Maybe he didn't want to be an executioner. Maybe it was something more personal. Whatever it was, it didn't take away from the fact that he practically let them waltz away. Once again he had gone home empty handed.
Just as Hunter pulled his blanket over his weary bones, a rat-a-tat-tat came at the door.
"Go away!" He grumbled. He heard a mumbling from the other side of the door, which he was two tired to listen to, followed by silence. After he believed the visitor had left, his eyelids fell like thick and heavy curtains, blacking out the light. Finally, the boy could get some decent sle-
BAM BAM BAM!!!
The new series of knocks shattered Hunter's bliss. With an annoyed teenage groan, he threw his blanket to the side. He stomped over to the door and wrapped his hand ferociously around the knob. He was about to give one an earful!
"You better have a good reason for disturbing me-" His spiteful shouts were cut off by the sight beyond the doorway. His annoyed demeanor doubled at once. Standing there, disgusted as ever, was Darius. His mouth remolded itself into a sneer as he looked into Hunter's room.
"Good morning, Little Prince." Darius's greeting brimmed with feigned enthusiasm. Hunter scowled at the coven head.
"I'm not in the mood for your disapproval." The boy tried shutting the door, but was quickly sabotaged by Darius's foot.
"Nice try, but you won't be rid of me that easily." Darius shoved the door open, strutting past Hunter as he went. He observed the entirety of the room. The sneer on his face deepened. "Have you ever thought of, oh I don't know, cleaning?"
Hunter frowned with furrowed brows. "I don't have time for cleaning, I'm too busy actually working!"
His jab didn't appear to phase the man before him. He merely rolled his eyes and gave a laugh that said "oh really?"
"Doing work, are you?" Darius took a step towards Hunter's desk, where countless articles, essays, pictures, and drawings sat. All of them were about the Bonesborough Phantoms. Notes scattered the walls, and the map that had once been blank was now worn with pins, thread, and writing.
"Phantoms spotted here"
"SS fled this direction"
"Robbery"
"Vandalism"
"SS seen here"
"SS seen here"
"SS seen here"
All of it scrawled out in handwriting that was hardly legible. Darius rubbed his chin at the map while Hunter organized his papers below, trying to hide his newest escapade.
"You seem to have taken to the Phantoms, haven't you? Especially this 'SS' character." Darius commented. Hunter kept throwing his things into drawers, once he ran out of room in his desk, he moved on to the dresser.
"How do you know SS is a Phantom? They could be... snake sloths..."
"Well number one, you don't have a poster of snake sloths hanging up over your Phantom shrine."
Hunter followed Darius's gaze. There, next to the map, was Specter Soltare's wrinkled wanted poster. The one he commissioned himself. His ears burned with embarrassed rage. Darius reached for the poster, tearing from the wall before Hunter could reach it. As the coven head examined the paper, Hunter tried desperately to swipe at it. His efforts went unrewarded as Darius outstretched his arm and kept the teen at bay with only his palm against his forehead.
"'Specter Soltare,' hm? Little Prince, I'm glad that you're finally making friends, but does it have to be with one of the only people your uncle has forbidden?" Darius didn't flinch as the poster was snatched from his hand. Hunter glared at him before he pressed it back onto the wall.
"They aren't my friend." Hunter told Darius. The memory of last night's play fight was like a voice in a cave. He could still hear their laughter ringing out. He could still feel how the air got lighter at the sound of it! He could still feel the weightlessness of being in that room with them. They aren't my friend . He reminded himself.
The truth was, Hunter had never really had a friend. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't realize it. What he did know though was that he and Specter Soltare were not allowed to be friends. The Emperor would never permit it. He pictured it in his head, him and Soltare hanging out without trying to hurt each other. Going on outings and having a grand time. Them showering petals down on him from the tree limbs above, childish laughter ensuing. It wasn't imagination, but a memory.
It fit far too comfortably in his head.
"And what the Emperor does and doesn't allow me to do is none of your business!" The boy looked up at the man with clenched fists and jaw. "Why are you even here anyways? Your morning instigating wasn't entertaining enough?"
Darius's eyes gave way to an emotion Hunter didn't understand, though Hunter didn't understand most emotions.
"Actually, despite my better judgment, I came to warn you." Hunter tensed. Was Darius threatening him? Whatever it was, he wasn't sure if he could handle it at the moment, but at the same time he couldn't not listen.
"... Warn me of what?"
Darius's hands folded behind his back. Slowly, but with confidence, he glided around the room, pacing in silver strides. He paused at the window.
"Yesterday I noticed you failed to show up for dinner, many people did, including your uncle." Hunter's blood ran cold. "Luckily for you, I told them that I sent you out on a few errands, but next time? Next time I don't think they'll feel inclined to believe me."
Darius slid the window back into its frame. He casted a look over his shoulder before pivoting on his heels and walking towards Hunter.
"Listen well, boy. If you're not careful about hiding your little playdates, then I suggest you don't have them." Hunter avoided Darius's gaze, opting to look at the evidence plastered against the wall instead. "Though I assume that won't stop you. I hope I'm wrong, but if I am right, I can only guarantee your secret stays that way for a brief amount of time."
Darius pressed on past the boy. Hunter could hear his steps stop at the door.
"That being said, I wish you the best of luck in your friendship escapades, Little Prince." The boy's eyes widened. The door clicked closed. Hunter was alone again.
He sighed like a dead man walking. He wanted to investigate, he wanted to prove himself, but he didn't want to displease the Emperor. If his uncle found out about what he was doing, Hunter didn't even want to imagine the consequences. Though the boy had to admit... Something about this case felt personal. Maybe it was the fact Soltare beat his ass and got away with it, maybe it was the non-stop taunting from them and the other coven heads, or maybe, just maybe, it was something else.
Maybe it was Specter Soltare's haunting ability to laugh like that. It was like knowing the lyrics to a song he'd never heard. The way they so often vanished left him reeling from deja vu. Even the feeling he got whenever they were around was nauseatingly familiar.
It sent him back to those nights, those wretched, horrible nights. The nights where he'd fall asleep in his bed, only to wake up in a completely different place. From castles to corn fields, fields to forest paths, paths to perilous cliffs, and cliffs to castles he would awake.
Strangely enough, Hunter never awoke standing in place. He started out walking and he ended walking. Sometimes he would run in between, but only when that feeling grew overbarable. What feeling? He wasn't sure. The best way he could describe it was like the feeling he got when something was watching him. Maybe something was. Every time he turned around to try and confront his fanatic follower though, he'd only be met with the sight of heat waves disturbing the air. Nobody was ever there. At least nobody he could physically see or hear.