Like Real People Do (GOLDRIC)

11

Things happen fast, a series of events. Snapshots and blurbs, the adrenaline kick Hunter's always liked about his job. A second here, a second there, alike to the magic Flapjack allows him, alike to how things have sort of always felt.

One minute he's telling Luz, maybe begging even, "Don't tell them," because he knows it would make everything different and complicated and he just wishes any single thing about his life could be tidy. Willow and Gus don't need to know that he's a monster. Nor Edric for that matter.

The next, he's watching Edric flailing his legs as an abomaton takes him and his twin sister away, their eyes catching each other for only a second and Edric tries not to let it feel like a goodbye. It sinks in that this may be the last time they ever see each other. Not even in dreams or nightmares, if this goes wrong.

And then Luz is taken in his place to the castle - his place - and it's all far away.

In a way, Hunter sometimes has trouble differentiating what is past and what is present.

There are days where the past will be everywhere, in everything he does, every move he makes. He'll see the things he's lost or never had, the things he's left, in the sunrise, in the wind, in the color of a stranger's eyes.

Hunter is sixteen, but he is also thirteen, getting his staff and title as Golden Guard. When he kneels before Emperor Belos, a sudden weight is cast on his shoulder, and in that moment Hunter watches the turn of time. He's fourteen when he finally rises.

He is also eight, afraid and alone, surrounded by adults he doesn't know in a castle he's too small for, palms and knees alight with blisters and burns from training.

He is also eleven and numb, and he has trained becoming a scout for as long as he can remember. He remembers an offer being made to him by someone whose face can't quite recall, he is given a chance to leave and disappear. He is too afraid to take it.

But most of all, he is sixteen on a ship with his sworn enemies. And Luz Noceda is gone, maybe soon dead, Hunter doesn't know. And now he owes his life to the tiny, frightening firecracker of a girl with a smile that makes Hunter feel like he was doing something right.

He tries to sleep on the way to the castle but knows he won't be able to. In fact, he can't sit still for even a moment, bouncing his leg up and down as Amity Blight paces. He figures she must be angry with him, that Luz was kidnapped and he's still here. He doesn't blame her.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" She shouts to her father.

"No," He returns, sounding a little drained of his daughter's bugging.

His thoughts once again return to Edric, and that last image of him being pulled away, something familiar of terror locked on his face. His heart paces just thinking about it, he should be doing something, what if-

"Amity," He says, standing. "Can I ask you something?"

She halts her pacing, looking at him tiredly. "What is it?" She says.

Hunter pulls her to the side of the ship, even if there isn't much room for privacy. "I just wanted to make sure... Your mother, she won't... hurt Ed, will she?" He says, as quiet as he can.

Amity looks incredibly confused for a moment, maybe even a little angry before understanding or realization sinks in and her face untwists into something softer. "No. I don't think so." She shakes her head, looking unsure. "She's cruel but she wouldn't..."

Hunter nods, and tries to believe her. "Okay."

"Regardless, Ed will be fine." Amity tells him.

"So will Luz." Hunter tells her.