Villainous Thing | The Golden Guard | The Owl House

You're A Villainous Thing

A/N: This fic is crossposted from AO3 under the username Some_Dead_Guy. I'll just be posting the chapters here now as well! There are 57,000 words written for this fic right now and I'll update progressively with the next chapters.

Warnings: Child abuse, minor blood and injury, suicidal ideation, dissociation. These are just general warnings for most of the fic so far and I will add more as needed or as asked.
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He holds the staff in his hands as he turns it around, the cardinal now still and unmoving at the tip.

It still feels nearly unreal, a Palisman willingly choosing him. Out of all the people they could have chosen, he was the witch they bound themself to. A powerless one who couldn't even use magic on their own.

He swallows, sinking down onto his bed as he stares at the bird. His fingers brush the tip of their head and they come to life again, chirping and flitting up to sit on Hunter's finger. It blinks at him with a single eye, as if to ask him, what's wrong?

"You can't stay here." Hunter tells the bird, once again walking over to his open window, "It's not safe."

The bird ruffles its feather, flying up to instead perch itself on Hunter's shoulder. Its face nuzzles into his cheek as they chirp softly once more.

Hunter scowls, even as something cracks in his chest, some sort of heavy weight falling away without him realizing it, "He will kill you." He stresses, flapping a hand at the cardinal only for it to sit in his hair instead of escaping out the window like it should.

He groans, shutting his window with more force than necessary, "Fine. Do whatever you want. If he eats you, just know I'll be there to tell you I told you so."

He knows he doesn't mean it as soon as the words leave his mouth. The cardinal must know this too, because all they do is chirp and flit about his room, unconcerned. He watches them from his sprawl on the bed as they explore, tilting their head at his many books, the strewn about scrolls and plushies hidden in corners, under pillows, and behind even more books on his shelves.

Soon, they make their way to Hunter's bed, finding a place under his patchwork pillow and between one of his plushies. Hunter sighs and cracks open a book, and steadfastly ignores the creature on his bed.

He should just bring them to Belos. Maybe he'd be less angry with Hunter, less disappointed and pained by his failures if he managed to at least bring him something.

But he doesn't. He doesn't, and he has no idea why.

Because he's not attached already. He's not.

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Over the next few days, Hunter makes sure to hide Rascal's existence from anyone else in the castle. He tells him to be quiet each day that he leaves, and doesn't breathe a word of the Palisman to anyone, only leaving his window cracked shall the bird ever come to his senses and leave like they already should have.

He doesn't acknowledge why he named the damn thing, nor why he hasn't just let his uncle eat them already. He doesn't think over the reasons why he had helped that human girl and let all of the Palisman escape with her, either.

They're all thoughts he shoves away and refuses to ponder about. He's far too tired and busy to worry over such things. He is supposed to be a prodigy, a leader in the coven. Smart and skilled and powerful even when he feels like he is none of those things.

Clingy Palisman and ridiculous human girls have no room to take up in his head.

He says that to himself even as he studies with Rascal, telling them all of the theories he has, all of the new things he's learning that he would never be able to tell anyone else. As he reads aloud to the bird as they drift off, as they lay on Hunter's messy bed in the corner of his tiny, messy room.