Everyone Needs Love, Even a Bad but Sad Boy

Hollow Mind

This was not Hunter's Day, he tried to stop an attempt for some rebels to enter the emperor's mind but instead he got ambushed by Luz. The rebels got away but not before Luz and Hunter ended up getting trapped in the emperor's mind. He woke up and found himself inside a gallery filled with paintings of Belos's accomplishments and memories. The second he saw Luz, his face turned into an angry hulk. She turned around when she saw Hunter glaring at her. "You got us trapped in the emperor's mind!" Hunter shouted.

Luz was shocked but she figured that since she was now in his mind, she could find out the truth about Belos being evil. Hunter let out a loud laugh at how Luz wanted to prove that his uncle was evil and how she thought he would help her. But she looked a little confused. "I've been in Willow's mind once, and it had more, uh, trees." Luz stated.

"Eh. Makes sense. Mindscapes reflect the individual. I've read a lot about this subject." Hunter bragged.

Hunter began to look around at some of the memories and explained his uncle's good deeds to Luz. There was one memory that he stopped at, the day that he had become the new Golden Guard. He remembered the ceremony from that day, all the coven heads gathered to watch him be knighted by his uncle. No one knew what happened to the previous Golden Guard or why his uncle even allowed him to become the Golden Guard. He took a closer look at the painting and saw that Darius was looking so sad on that day. Hunter then turned to another painting but this one was something that he didn't want Luz to see.

It was a painting of Belos without his mask but in his arms was Hunter as a baby. The two were smiling; Hunter didn't want to let Luz know about the emperor being his loving uncle. He noticed Luz coming his way and he tried to block Luz from seeing the painting, but it was too late. She saw it "Hunter, is that you?" she asked, pointing to the baby.

Before he could answer, Luz suddenly heard someone crying then she found a kid with a wooden mask. It didn't take long for her to figure out who that was, it was Belos as a kid. She heard Hunter say Belos's name too; she turned to see him facing the adult version of Belos. Hunter kneeled down then he asked for the inner Belos to help return them to the physical world but only so he could capture the people that tried to enter his mind before. "And so, she can ruin someone else's day." Hunter said while looking at Luz.

Kid Belos appeared behind the other Belos, shaking his head no. That was when the other Belos growled, and a number of glowing eyes covered the other Belos's body. Luz sprang into action by using her fire glyphs to repel the monster. But the blast made them crash through the wall which ripped and both Luz and Hunter began to fall fast. Suddenly, red light swarmed around both Luz and Hunter which helped bring them down safe and sound on the ground. Except, they were in what looked like an abandoned forest with portraits all around, some of them were ripped. Luz figured that this was the emperor's real mind but Hunter refused to believe it.

"That gallery..."

"Was made up from all the lies he tells. He's not who you think he is." Luz argued.

"You don't even know him!"

"Then what was that back there? That painting with Belos and that baby? Was that you? Is he your dad?"

"What do you want me to say?! That my parents abandoned me?! That the Emperor is my uncle?! My only family?! If people ever found out that the Golden Guard was the emperor's nephew, I would be used as a ransom or worse. You might think he's this tyrant who hates wild witches, but to me. He's my uncle who loves me so much. Put yourself in my shoes, if your mom was the ruler of the Boiling Isles and you were her Golden Guard, wouldn't you keep it a secret to protect your only family." Tears began to fall from Hunter's face after he finished his rant.

Luz was taken aback when Hunter shouted at her. She tried to reach out to Hunter, but he shoved her off and ran from her. She called out to him, but he kept running away from her, Luz chased after him. Suddenly, he crashed into something face first, he looked up to see that it was his uncle, the real Inner Belos. He hugged his uncle tight, apologizing over and over about how sorry he was for invading his mind. Belos started to calm Hunter down and that was when Luz showed up seeing the two together. She almost charged at Belos but he stopped her and explained that he was only here to help them.