There Are People Out There Who Won't Make You Feel Worthless | A Huntlow Story |

Pain Is My Only Reward...

[TW: Mentions of bullying, violence, blood, homophobia and slight mentions of Goldric]

Willow's POV:

After that a few lessons, it was finally lunch time! I was so hungry and Clover's stomach had been growling viciously throughout the lessons so at least she would stop doing it.
I got my lunch at the cafeteria and walked over to the table Luz and Amity were sat on. The two were flirting with each other until they realised I was watching them.
"Oh, hey Willow!" Luz waved, her face red with embrassment.
"Hi," I replied back.
Shortly after, Gus joined us on the table and sat next to me. The four of us then began eating our lunch and chatting about what our plans were at the weekend.
It was a really nice chat, I'm glad I have such amazing friends!
I was in the middle of a conversation with Luz when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter. He was standing by the wall, not knowing where to sit.
Gus could tell I wasn't paying attention so he looked where I was looking and saw him too.
"Hey Hunter!" He waved.
Luz stopped talking and both her and Amity turned to see the Golden guard.
"Come and join us!" Luz exclaimed, signalling for him to come over.
Hunter sighed and reluctantly joined the table. He then sat down next to Luz, which made Amity grit her teeth angrily.
"So Hunter, what are you doing here?" Gus asked, putting down his sandwich to pay full attention to his reply.
"I... ummmmm..." Hunter stuttered, not knowing what to say.
He glanced at me for a split-second and his face turned red and sweat was dripping down his head. I have no idea why but I just chose to ignore it.
"Oh um yes, I'm here so I can learn different kinds of magic!" He finally managed to say.
"What does Belos have to say about that?" Luz asked.
"He... doesn't know," The blonde haired boy mumbled, staring at the floor.
I was actually quite suprised about that. I thought Hunter was so loyal to Emperor Belos that he would even tell him his darkest secrets, but I guess not.
Before I could even say anything, Boscha walked up to our table. We were used to this so we tried nor to give her attention but Hunter was just confused so he stared right at her.
"Hello there, loser gang!" Boscha said in a sarcastic tone, grinning.
"Hi Boscha..." I mumbled.
Hunter could then tell from that Boscha wasn't friendly and furrowed his eyebrows angrily at her. The magenta haired girl noticed and decided to mock him.
"Oh look, Half-a-witch Willow made a new dorky friend! What's your name?" She asked.
"Hunter," The boy replied.
"Hunter? What a pathetic name!" She said and began laughing.
I looked back over at Hunter but his face was now heated red with anger and he gritted his teeth at her. He then stood up but I knew what he was about to do, so I had to stop him.
"No Hunter, it's fine!" I said, putting a hand in front of him so he wouldn't charge at Boscha.
He glared at her one last time but then did as I said and he went back to his seat.
"Whatever! Later losers!" Boscha said and waved goodbye before walking off.
Well, I felt a lot worse after that, and so did everyone else. Especially Hunter, he didn't talk at app for the rest of the day.
Boscha annoyed me in whatever lesson I happened to share with her but like everyday, I just try my hardest to ignore her. Especially because the school never does anything when my dad's complain.
When school was over at I was walking out of the building, I saw Hunter. He tried to wave at me but I was so done with today and just ignored him and walked off...

Hunter's POV:

I was waiting outside of school for Willow when the school bell rang. But when she came out, I was to walk up to her and start a conversation so I just waved awkwardly.
She probably didn't notice and walked off without me.
I facepalmed myself and sighed. I tried to get out Flapjack and get him to turn staff mode but before I could do that, Boscha walked up to me.
"Hey Hunter!" She said, waving at me.
"Hi..." I mumbled back, not really knowing how to respond.
"So, you decide to be friends with Willow out of all people?" Boscha asked rhetorically.
"Yeah..." I replied.
"You do know she's a Half-a-witch, right?" The girl asked, stepping closer to me.
As soon as I heard the name "Half-a-witch", my face boiled red with anger. And conjuring up that rage, I pinned the bully to the wall.
I then got my fist and punched her in her third eye.
"Never call her that ever again!" I yelled as loud as I could.
Although she was crying in pain, she was still able to punch me in the nose. I cursed because of how painful it was but then quickly ran away.
Flapjack looked really concerned when he saw my bleeding and bruised nose but he turned staff mode and I flew back to the Emperor's Castle.

___

When I got back to my bedroom, I sighed. Today had been so bittersweet and I was now in a lot of agony.
"Tweeeeee (You need to tell Darius!)" Flapjack cried.
"I can't, because if I do he'll never let me go back and I'll never see Willow again!!!" I yelled in response.
Flapjack was taken aback by my tone of voice. He nodded his head and then swiftly flew back to his cage.
I sighed but at that moment in time I just needed to clear up my bleeding nose.
With that, I marched over to the bathroom and looked in the first-aid cabinet. I scrambled around the contents until I found a wet wipe. I cleared up all the blood and then threw it in the bin.
As I walked out the room, I hear a loud knock on the door. I has a mini-heart attack from how sudden it was but managed to catch my breath and open the door.
"The Emperor would like to see you!" Kikimora informed me in her usual calm and collected tone.
"Okay, thanks Kiki!" I replied.
Before I could close the door on her, she quickly added something that really enraged me.
"Oh I wonder where you were today, perhaps kissing your boyfriend?" Kikimora said.
"Why are you so obsessed with thinking I'm gay?!" I asked in a annoyed tone.
"I don't know, maybe because you're expected to marry Edric Blight when you turn 18?" Kikimora asked rhetorically.
I had completely forgotten about that, but the thought made me shudder. I was supposed to be engaged to the Blight but I didn't have any sort of attraction to him whatsoever.
"Just get you homophobic butt out of my sight for the love of Titan!" I yelled and slammed the door on her.
I could hear her say "That ungrateful brat!" and then storm down the corridor, but it's not like I care. If anything, I took pride in the fact that for the very first time I was able to stand up for myself against her bigotry.
After that, I got dressed into my Golden Guard outfit and got out of my bedroom. I marched down the corridors and hallways until I made it to the throne room, where my uncle was waiting for me.
"Hunter, how are you?" Emperor Belos asked in a friendly tone.
"I'm... good," I replied, taken aback that he was being so nice to me even though I had disobeyed him.
"Well then, where were you today?" He asked, his tone now sounding enraged like how I had expected him to act from the beginning.
"Oh umm..." I mumbled, not able to think of a excuse or lie.
"ANSWER ME! I KNOW YOU WEREN'T DOING YOUR MISSIONS BECAUSE WHEN 'YOU' CAME TO ME IN THE MORNING, I TRIED TO ATTACK YOU AND YOU POOFED INTO AN ILLUSION!!!" He yelled in the loudest voice I had ever hear him shout.
So Darius must have asked Adrian for help then...
But that doesn't matter now, I'm still in huge trouble and I don't know what to say. I'm so sensitive and because of that, loud noises trigger me.
"TAKE OFF YOU MASK!!!" Emperor Belos screeched at me.
"I can't!" I replied, not wanting to show him my bruised nose.
Uncle then had enough of my stalling and slashed off my mask with sharp, green goop. My mask fell off, revealing to him that I had a bruised nose and tears welling up in my magenta eyes.
He then sent more goop spears coming my way, each of them hitting hard. He mostly sent then towards my face now that my mask was off. All I could feel was pain and dripping blood, and I was loving it!
I did deserve it after all! I shouldn't have attended Hexside that day and disobeyed his orders! I shouldn't have been a defiant rebel! I should have been his slave like I always am to him!
I... deserved... it!!!
When he was done, I bent down to pick up my mask but with some green goop, he snatched it off me.
"You will have this back tomorrow morning, that way I will have an excuse to see you then!" He explained.
I sighed quietly but managed to nod. I quickly turned away before he could try and think of continuing.
But before I left, he added the following,
"By the way Hunter, if you do this again tomorrow your beating will be even mire painful!"
I gulped at the thought of that but quickly nodded. He then excused me so I left the room.
I was trying my hardest to hold in my tears as I walked back down the corridor to my room. But before I got there, I felt a pat on my shoulder.
Thinking it was my uncle, I turned around with my fists clenched. I was about to punch but then I realised, it was Darius and Eberwolf.
"Hello Hunter! How was you day at school?" Darius asked in such a friendly tone, similar to how Uncle's gad just been by I knew that Darius was genuine.
The fact that he actually cared meant that I couldn't hold in my tears any longer. I covered my bruised nose so he couldn't get another glimpse of it and then ran into my room, sobbing all the way.
I slammed the door hard and jumped onto my bed. Flapjack was luckily asleep so that meant I could cry myself to sleep without being bothered by him.
Just before I drifted off into the sleep, the last words I heard myself mutter were,
"Pain... is my only... reward...."