"I want to forget".

Chapter 2: What a regrettable life.

When the next day rolled around, and everyone was in their classes, they were learning about memories, how to extract them. Of course, this wasn't at all new to the main group, but to Hunter, it was something he didn't know existed. Soon, most kids had their memories hung up, like little polaroids. Hunter was, hesitant, to show his own to everyone else. He stared at the little pictures, his whole life, captured in just a few small photos. And he didn't seem at all happy. Everyone was warned to be careful of the photos, as any damage could damage their memories. Hunter took note of this, but did have some thoughts about it. He decided to put the memories away in his pocket, before Willow went over and spoke to him. "Hey- uh, where are yours?" She asked, referring to the fact that everyone else had their own memories up for show. Hunter shrugged. "Nothing too important, really. My life is pretty boring, so why would i want others to see it?" He responded, looking away slightly. Willow wasn't convinced. "Oh, come on. Aren't you Belos' right hand man? Theres gotta be something interesting, right?"
"Uh, nope- nothing." Hunter tried to deny any sort of thing that would be worth seeing, and Willow seemed to respect that. "Well, if you say so." She smiled, patting him on the shoulder slightly- just as Luz saw them.

"Oh! Willow! And- Hunter. How are the memories? Hopefully no fires this time, yeah?" Luz jokes, referring to when Amity had mistakenly erased Willows entire memory. Willow shrugged, laughing. "Nope! I still know who i am, so definitely no fires." She smiled, and Luz looked at Hunter. "What about yours, hm? I bet the Golden Guard has got some cool little secrets." She grinned, noticing the polaroids sticking out from his pockets. "Ah- no, nothing of interest." Hunter denied once more, but Luz definitely wouldn't believe that for one second. She quickly snatched the pictures, and snickered, before looking at them. Her face suddenly seemed shocked, a bit confused, and definitely upset. Hunter frowned, quickly taking them back. "You should respect peoples privacy, Human." He glared at her, a hint of fear in his eyes.
"I- uhm.. Yeah. Sorry about that." Luz frowned as she responded. Those pictures weren't at all what she was expecting. There was only five of them, but most of them were extremely shocking.

The first one was an early memory, one of when Hunter had lost his first tooth. It seemed normal enough, it wasn't much to worry about.
The second polaroid seemed to be something that occurred during.. training. The day he had gained that scar on his face. He had been wounded by someone during what seemed to be a battle, but the shadows and reflections on nearby objects had suggested a far more important impact it must have had on his life. It looked like Belos. Belos had hurt him, he was crying, in pain.
The third memory was worrying too, as Hunter felt neglected and unloved by those around him. He was alone, no one to talk to, and nothing to do.
The fourth, looked to be of eclipse lake, when he was fighting Amity.
And the fifth one, the final memory, was the events that occurred after he had returned with the broken key. After it had failed to open the portal. After he had failed. It was concerning, Belos had hurt him once again, his chest bleeding and him begging for forgiveness. Luz felt awful, horrible that Hunter had to go through such trauma.

"Uh, Hunter..?" She asked, signalling for Willow to let them chat alone.
"Yeah..?" Hunter looked away. He knew Luz had seen it, he knew Luz now knew of his past. He only hoped she wouldn't tell anyone else, as that would be terrifying for him.
"Are you.. Okay? Do you- think you're going to be okay?" Luz questioned in a genuine, concerned voice. Hunter looked her in the eyes, and spoke. "I hope so.. i really do. Please, don't tell anyone what you've just seen. Not Amity, not Willow- not anyone." He requested, feeling shame, guilt. "..Yeah, i promise." Luz smiled reassuringly, and sighed as class finished.

Later that same day, Hunter was thinking. If the memories disappeared, would he finally be happy?

It was unclear to him whether or not it would work, if it would make him joyful or only more miserable. But he decided, that if he never remembered those horrible things, then perhaps he would be better, he could change. He didn't have to be bad, he didn't have to be him.

He wanted to forget. It would be better off that way..

..Right?