Villainous Thing | The Golden Guard | The Owl House

By Some Devious Design

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That night, Hunter sits in his bed, staring blankly at his scroll.

He's never had one before. Belos says that they're a distraction. He doesn't even have a crystal ball of his own, and he has never used one. But Hunter agrees with Belos's sentiment, at least. He's aware of how much time he decidedly doesn't have to be wasting on such menial tasks.

But—Darius had taken the time to give him one. And while Darius isn't the Emperor himself, he is a very important official, being a Coven Head. So his judgement is surely trustworthy. Hunter doesn't have to feel guilty over this, he essentially has a stamp of approval of a Coven Head themself.

So why does he feel like Belos is only moments away from storming into his room and ripping him in half?

Hunter spells away his scroll, running his gloved hands harshly through his hair.

Flapjack tweets quietly, a soothing noise, and Hunter sighs. When Darius had brought him back to the castle using abomination magic, Hunter didn't have the confidence to tell him that he needed to stop by The Owl House first to retrieve his staff and sneak Flapjack back in. He also didn't want to explain his connection to The Owl House.

Darius may have promised to keep Flapjack and the Emerald Entrails a secret from Belos, but Hunter isn't willing to push his luck.

"Just for tonight." He tells the bird firmly, but they're flitting around the guest room, twittering curiously and decidedly unbothered by his words.

Empty. He chirps, Little witch's room should not be empty.

Hunter bites the inside of his cheek, slipping his gloves off as he gets ready for bed.

"This is punishment." He shrugs, his eyes only trailing towards Flapjack for a moment before he turns away.

Flapjack chirps sadly and Hunter can feel something tug in his chest at the sound.

He flexes his hands, the air cold enough that he can vaguely feel the sting of it. Moonlight catches on scar tissue, the skin of his hands covered in more lacerations than the paleness of his own flesh. His fingers tremble slightly, sensitive and shaky without his gloves. He looks away, settling up against his headboard.

His clock reads 11 pm and he summons his scroll again, opening Penstagram. Darius had seemed to want him to use it—so Hunter will figure it out. He looks up at his own username, Guard1109665. The profile picture is a grey silhouette, the default one that he had when he created the account.

It'd be difficult for anyone to tell it was him at first glance, which is the point. He scrolls through the first page, the screen feeling strange and slippery against his fingertips. He has a feeling that he's pressing down too hard, but he can't actually feel whether he is or not. He bites his lip, catching sight of little circular pictures lined up in a row.

Above them it reads, suggested for you and when Hunter scrolls through the line, he sees a picture of Willow. He almost startles, blinking at the small picture of her. She's smiling at the camera, her Palisman resting on her head. Her face is flushed, her hair bright as sunlight hits her skin. Her username reads, hello_willow. His hands are shaking when he goes to tap her picture and he has to hit it multiple times before he's actually able to get her profile open.

There's a black and white box that reads, message under her picture now, and with his heart nearly beating out of his chest, Hunter taps it. It brings up a page with her picture at the top, a message box at the bottom. There's a green circle beneath her picture and Hunter isn't sure what that means.