Birdhouse in Your Soul

Part 1

"Sit up slowly baby. Are you in pain anywhere?"

No, I'm okay, Hunter wanted to answer, but it was such an obvious lie that the words wouldn't even make it past his throat. He was not okay. He was very far from it, actually. He felt completely drained, both physically and mentally. Was that really so surprising though, considering that only seconds ago, he was possessed by Belos? He just spent every ounce of his might fighting to stay in control, but for what? He put up his fight too late. Belos got the titan blood. He went through the portal. And...and...

He got Flapjack.

Ever since Hunter and the others got stranded in the human realm after the Day of Unity, he had nightmares almost every night. Some were mild, and some awoke him in a cold sweat, but they always had to do with Belos.

Some, memories of the more distant past, when Hunter was still the Golden Guard. Others, of the horrors he and Luz saw in the Emperor's mind. Then of course, he had plenty of nightmares about the Day of Unity, about the Collector killing Belos in an instant.

It wasn't that he was sad that Belos was dead. It certainly wasn't that he missed him. He was terrified of Belos, and it was supposed to be a good thing that he was dead.

So why...Why did those dreams haunt him so much?

Maybe it was because Hunter looked up to Belos for all those years, worshiped him even. Maybe it was because even though he knew Belos was pure evil, he was still...he was still his uncle...

Or maybe it was because deep down, he felt that Belos wasn't really gone. Somewhere deep down, Hunter knew this wasn't really over; that there was no way the man who'd tormented him for so long died so easily.

...And he was right. He was right to be worried, and over these past couple of days, paranoid. Because look what happened. Look what happened!

He got Flapjack.

Hunter wanted to scream. He wanted to kneel over and break down, he wanted to cry for his lost friend, but he couldn't even do that. He couldn't bring himself to do more than shed a few, silent tears for his first ever friend, for his best friend, all because Belos possessing him drained all of his strength. He would have died, he almost did die, but Flapjack saved him. That stupidly loyal, stupidly selfless palisman sacrificed himself so that Hunter could live.

And that hurt.

That hurt so bad.

The feeling of having the person who hurt you the most, in so many different ways, possess him, be inside of him, was indescribable. It was horrifying, it was disgusting, and knowing that Belos, using Hunter's own two hands, injured Flapjack like that?

There were no words, just no words to describe how deeply awful that was. Nothing, not being threatened or even harmed by Belos' curse, not discovering he was a clone of a witch hunter, not even knowing his uncle wanted to kill him just like all of the other clones, compared to this.

Hunter's own two hands, regardless of whether he was in control or not, hurt Flapjack. Flapjack, who had always been more than a palisman to him. Flapjack, who was his first friend; Flapjack, who was always there when Hunter needed someone to talk to; Flapjack, who was always there to protect Hunter, right up until now, when he sacrificed himself to save him.

That felt horrible.

It was so unfair that he was still alive when Flapjack was not. Hunter didn't feel worthy of still breathing when he wasn't even a real witch, or a human. He was just a copy of someone else, and yet that stupid, stupid, wonderful bird insisted on saving him.