The Eyes of a Guard - The Owl House Fanfic

Chapter 2 - Life (WIP)

Maxine tucks away her old uniform in a box then under her bed. She looks at her new full-sized mirror in the corner of her room. The black leggings and the dark red long-sleeve under-shirt were tight but flexible and comfortable on her arms and legs. Over that, she wore red armor over her torso, shoulders, and parts of her legs. Along with the same off-white cloak and yellow triangle was a red pauldron on her left shoulder. The last thing is the mask, the black on the mask covered the bottom of the red to be shaped like a bird, the eye holes looked slim but Maxine could see perfectly fine through it.

The simple boring name "Red Guard" suited the outfit, but it sounded stupid compared to the color gold. Although there was one thing that outdid the Golden Guard, it was Maxine's staff. The Golden Guard didn't own a staff, which the scouts who knew about that fact would laugh at. The Red Guard's staff was black and curved into a circle which connected to a red diamond-shaped thing in the middle.

The Red Guard uniform shouted bravery and "stay away, they're scary" vibes, but who was under the mask and armor was the exact opposite. Maxine was the one who was scared and had little to no bravery, her not knowing how to be a guard didn't help at all.

Maxine stops staring at herself in the mirror and looks at the corkboard next to the mirror where she pinned a list of things the Emperor ordered her to do for her second week as a guard. Next to the list is a sketch of a poster made by Belos of her in uniform with "Red Guard" titled above her and "Maxine Wixx" below.

She looks back at the list to the first thing at the top of the paper: "Watch around the Isles for anything suspicious." According to the Emperor, the beginning of the week has the slowest crime rate which gradually gets higher towards the end of the week and then drops back down to a slow crime rate. Even just watching for anything bad, it was sitting outside where Maxine hadn't gone in years, it's so peaceful for her.

Maxine pulls her hair back into the hood of her cloak and carefully grabs her staff before walking out the door. She uses her third eye and follows her past footsteps to the gate that opens to the Isles.

"I still can't believe he would let a little girl have such a big job." "She doesn't deserve the role she has." "She won't survive a month." The scouts murmur around her. "Ignore them... They don't know me yet... I'll get better at this." She continues ignoring the scouts as she walks past them. All the murmuring ends once she steps on the grass, leaving the castle. Walking through trees, she finds an open spot where she could learn to use her staff.

"Okay, staff, start glowing-" Maxine said to her staff, knocking on it to attempt to make the red diamond glow. She stares at it until it flickers and glows dimly. She points her staff toward a tree then taps it with her finger, "Come on- Shoot the tree! Do something! Please?" She nudges her staff as a huge blast of red magic shoots from the diamond that goes through multiple trees. Maxine lowers her staff and backs away a bit.

"Maybe I should try something less dangerous," she nervously laughed. She glares at the staff and gently sits on it as it floats above the ground. "Please don't make me run into a tree." She wraps her hands around the staff and keeps a tight grip on it. She then closes her eyes, makes the staff go higher into the air, and slowly moves forward. "Did I do it?" She opens her eyes and looks at the ground, "I did it!" Maxine moves the staff forward faster over the trees, headed to a big town.

She stops her staff and lowers it back to the ground behind many trees. Maxine swirls her finger in a circle as it creates a glowing ring, she takes a shirt out of the circle, takes off her cloak, mask, and armor leaving her underclothes on, then puts the clothes into the circle before she closes it. She pulls the shirt onto her and walks into the town of Bonesborough.

"Hello young lady, welcome in," an old woman greeted Maxine with a smile.

Maxine looks through the clothes racks in the small shop, trying to find her size and something comfortable. A purple off-the-shoulder sweater sticks out from the rest of the clothing and catches her eye. She takes the sweater off of the rack and holds it up to her torso. Little too big for her, but she keeps it anyway and walks up to the register. Maxine lays the sweater on the counter, looking up at the lady.