Reality Check - A Huntric/Goldric Based Fic

Death of a Party Girl (CHP 20)

As she stumbles up the stairs in a state of perfect grace. They would hold her just to hold her but now it' s 'cause she can't stand up.

-TV  Girl

Parents flourished around camp, reuniting with their kids and meeting their friends. Edric and Hunter stood at a booth, giving out flyers and answering any questions parents might have. Edric noticed his own parents somewhere, refusing to interact with any of Amity's friends, and refusing for her to do so as well. Odalia was pissed at the way Amity had cut and dyed her hair, ruining her blonde locks Odalia had forced her to dye. Alador... well, he was never entirely there, not even now. He stared off distantly, obviously not even grounded in this moment as his own wife yelled at their daughter. Edric scowled at them both, crossing his arms as he sat slightly in the plastic chairs they kept for these kinds of events. 

"What's up?" Hunter asked, sitting down next to him with a concerned tone. 

"My parents." He glanced in their direction and Hunter's eyebrows raised.

"Are they your parents? God damn, aren't they own that expensive ass engineering business?"

"Blight... Industries...? Yeah, those are my parents. You... didn't connect those dots sooner?" He smiled to the side softly. His boyfriend could be such a dork.

"Well, I knew Blight, but I didn't think- dude, you're like a gazillionaire or whatever the hell it's called." Hunter laughed slightly in amazement.

"I don't like talking about it too much, plus... I don't know, I'm not the biggest fan of my parents."  He smiled sadly, glancing back at them.

"You kind of look like your dad." 

"Please don't say that." Edric winced sightly and before Hunter could apologize, Belos appeared before the two of them.

They both stiffened slightly and Belos didn't speak for a moment. "Are you boys interested in a temporary tattoo?" He spoke slowly, as if the kind words felt unnatural and out of place in his mouth.

"...sure?" Edric raised an eyebrow and held out his wrist. "I don't really care which one."

Hunter shrugged, holding out his own arm for a tattoo. Belos hid his grin, giving Hunter a red bird and Edric a yellow butterfly.  They both looked down and glanced each other.  By the time they had turned to thank Belos, he had already left and was handing out tattoos to kids and their parents. Huh, alright. Edric checked the time on his phone, it was nearly noon. "Hey, do you wanna go check on Flapjack really quick?" He turned slightly to Hunter, who nodded, standing and going to their cabin.

Once inside, he softly caressed the top of the red cardinal's head, who chirped out something. He jumped back slightly, it almost... sounded like... human language? No, he was losing it. Birds absolutely cannot speak, and he was aware of that. Flapjack chirped again and he heard the chirps, but at the same time, he could understand them. Though foreign to his ears, the sounds stuck out to him in the form of sharp and jagged English words he couldn't grasp but he somehow still knew. Outside, he could recognize.

 Hunter sighed, glancing out the window. Something was wrong, no campers were passing out front, nor parents. He checked his own clock, 11:59 a.m. A speech from Belos himself was due. He stood slightly, opening the door to exit the building as the clock struck noon, the sun rising directly above them all. It was fine for a brief moment, but only then. Suddenly, his wrist burned, and he writhed, hissing out in sharp exclamations as he doubled over. The same effect took over much of the other campers and their parents, falling in their places to their knees. One such camper doubled over and hurled, the excruciating pain too much to bear. Belos stood in the center, the eye of the storm. He smirked to himself, watching the humans drop and crumble, energy being drained from their bodies. He turned, walking over to his own cabin to grab a wooden relic, admonished with a shattered golden eye. 

"Now we can play together, you and I? To this realm of humans, finally, we wave good-bye!!" The Collector squealed, swirling on the wall excitedly. 

"Hmm, I don't think so, Collector..." Belos chuckled softly, grabbing a key leaking a blue ooze. 

"I'm sorry, what? But... you pinkie-promised, you'd let me go!" They stopped mid-air, floating down to stay by Belos. "I've made you more powerful than anyone, I kept up my part of the deal!!"

"Oh, and I will forever be grateful, Collector, but there's only enough Titan's Blood for me to get home... besides, I can't have you teaching this magic to anyone else. Goodbye, Collector." He threw the reflective obelisk which had held the child onto the floor, stepping over it with the heel of his boot, a crack coming across. 

"N-O! LIAR...AR-. PAN- IRE!!!" The Collector screamed, his connection between wherever they were and the real realm slowly crumbling as the mirror had been broken. Belos scoffed, turning away as he set up the article, a portal which could be powered between realms with the strength of Titan's Blood and the Draining Spell.

Luz Noceda, average teen, had never been luckier in her life. She had been busy somewhere off in the woods, collecting snake skins she had seen over the course of the few months while Belos had handed out those little fake tattoos. She would have gotten one, if Camilla hadn't called her earlier and arranged for Willow's dads to drive her home, work had been busy. She couldn't express how grateful she was for that even just one opportunity. She slipped to Belos' cabin while he was distracted.

The Collector's now shattered mirror lain disconnected on the floor, glitching out slightly as his shadow flew alongside it. She gently pressed a finger to it, seeing the visions of stars and dreams the Collector had made up for themselves over the millennia he had been trapped. She gasped slightly, the Collector creating a newfound connection with this human. 

"H-hey- Le- out.. I c- elp...!!" The Collector exclaimed jaggedly, yet Luz could understand, their bond somehow overweighing the break just a bit. 

"You can stop... whatever this is?" She panicked slightly, gripping the mirror shards in her hands. 

"Ye...ust... hold you- inkie to.... mine!" They extended out a shadow to Luz, pleading with their eyes.

She caught on quickly, reaching out with her own. Her body froze as the shadow wrapped around her limb, pulling itself up from the shards, piecing himself together. They hovered slightly, their patterned cap floating around his head while small white locks of hair adjorned. "I think Belos needs to see this game I have..." 

(IM SO SORRY FOR THE CLIFF HANGER I LITERALLY DONT HAVE THE TIME TO FINISH OR THE MENTAL ENERGY IF YOU GUYS WANT AN ON TIME UPDATE.)

1117 words.