The mask of the raven - Hunter x reader

Chapter twenty three

Chapter 23
Alone again

Hunter

I listen to the shouts of the scouts recruited only two months ago. I don't hear them, not really. It's been a few days since the Raven watcher was 'petrified'. Belos told everyone that's what happened, i went to the Conformatorium myself later that evening after I helped Y/n escape and unsurprisingly they weren't there. That meant Belos lied about petrifying them.

How many other things has he lied about?

The new recruits are abysmal, how they got into this coven i have no idea. The age of these scouts ranges from one fifteen year old to eleven seventeen year olds. I'm supposed to be supervising their duelling skills but there's not much to note here. Some are still complaining about loosing their staffs. No thought for the palismen connected to them.

Flapjack's presence in my pocket reminds me of this, the bond a witch has with their palisman shouldn't be forgotten so quickly. Is this how Y/n felt when their cat palisman was taken away from them?

I'm not supposed to be thinking about them. I know that because Terra Snapdragon tried to serve me tea a while ago but I experienced a strange feeling of Deja vu. I'm pretty sure this has happened before, the tea was definitely enchanted so I poured it in a plant pot. I don't want to forget about Y/n. I can't bring myself too.

Every time I was around them I felt safe, like no matter what happened as long as we had each other everything would be okay. I keep replaying that day over and over again in my head. It was so sudden, one moment we were laughing about penstagram usernames the next... they were taken from me.

"I think- I um.. I might like you too Hunter"

These words in particular are on a constant loop, I've ruined everything. I should never have said that I liked them- the timing was all wrong. I didn't want to know, because I won't be able to let go. I feel like I'm clinging onto a useless dream, a snippet of an alternative reality. Something just out of my grasp. I can't find the words. I don't think I'm ever going to see them again.

And that's why it hurts, worse than breaking any bone, worse than the feeling when I fail a mission, worse than disappointing Belos. Something I've realized is that there are some hurts you can't escape from. They're fresh and inescapable for a while, like a bleeding wound, after a time you just have to learn to live with the pain. I don't think that's possible in this situation.

My first friend, my best friend, the only person I've ever liked.

"Hey golden guard," one of the scouts says, "were you watching? I just knocked Wysteria to the ground." I break out of my thoughts, and blink back at the scout.
"Oh erm, yes very good," I say, cringing at my words, I should have been wating, guess I'm a terrible guard, terrible coven member, terrible everything.

"You know what, why don't you get Kikimora to take over my post?" I say, slightly ashamed of myself. The scout shrugs and walks off.

Presuming myself free of my duties now, I slip off my cloak and leave. Flapjack twitters sadly in my pocket. "I know bud, not the same without them," I mumble, patting the space where he lies in my pocket.

For the third time today, I scroll through penstagram, no new messages.. I click on y/n's page with their three posts. Last seen, five days ago.. 
The first photo is from a year ago, titled with the caption "first day off in a year," it's a picture of  a grudgby match, nothing else.