Chapter Text
Darius Deamonne had the kind of walk that oozes confidence: Chin-up, shoulders squared, and hands locked behind his back. It was his walk and he walked it well.
So when Darius’ usually comfortable stride was instead replaced by the power walk of someone who was trying to seem like they weren’t in a hurry and failing, Darius turned a few heads.
He paid them no mind as he sped towards his destination, maintaining his pace as streets turned to paths and buildings into trees. Eventually, his target came into view; an isolated dwelling near the edge of a cliff. He rapped his knuckles on the door a bit too loudly, and it was soon answered by the house’s owner.
“I came as quickly as I could,” Darius announced as soon as the door was opened.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Eda snidely remarked as she let him in. “How did you even find out?” The Owl Lady was still holding the crow phone about to make a call.
From under his cape, a small blue palisman emerged announcing her presence with a chitter.
“Gotcha,” Eda said plainly. “He’s in his room.”
Darius almost brushed past Eda into the house but was barely able to control his need to rush. Thankfully, Eda did quicken her pace as she led him upstairs.
“So what happened exactly?” Darius asked as they walked. The exchange between him and Hunter’s palisman was pretty one-sided. And he was only able to surmise that something was amiss by the fact that Waffles had separated from Hunter in the first place.
“Well, Hunter and Luz were on their way to Hexside. They were in a hurry because Hunter had slept in so th—”
“I’m sorry, Hunter slept in?” A lasting side effect of his time in the Emperor’s Coven was a strict morning schedule, despite how little sleep he may or may not have had the previous night.
“Yeah… aww rats, I should've known that was a bad sign.” Eda pressed her one remaining palm against her forehead. “Anyway, Hunter ended up skipping breakfast. Luz said that since they were in a hurry, they decided to race to school on their palismen. They were about halfway there when she said that she looked behind her and saw Hunter heading for the ground.”
A chill ran down Daruis’ spine at those last words.
“Thankfully, Waffles was able to guide the landing long enough for Luz to catch him, but Hunter was already out of his wits at that point. That’s when Luz brought him back, and we put him to bed.”
“And where is Luz now?”
“I sent her back to Hexside right before I tried calling you.” Darius stopped dead in his tracks.
“You, Edalyn Clawthorne, telling someone to attend school?” Darius asked unbelievingly.
Turning back to him, Eda jabbed, “Hey Purple-is-the-New-Black, maybe wanna focus on the kid who’s actually sick?”
“Right, of course.” Darius resumed walking. “Has he eaten anything since last night?”
“We tried, but the kid says he’s got no appetite. He’s only had water today.” Eda said as they finally reached the door to Hunter’s room, formerly Lilith’s room.
Darius would’ve happily let Hunter stay with him, but unfortunately, the former Abomination Head’s residence happened to be on the Left Arm. And after the battle for the Boiling Isles, their rooms in the Emperor’s castle, along with the castle itself, were no more. It all worked out though, especially since the Owl House was much closer to Hexside in the first place.
When the two grown witches opened the door, they saw one young grimwalker out of bed and trying to slip his shoes back on.
“What are you doing up, Kid!?” Eda half-shouted in a tone that sounded more worried than mad.
Hunter winced slightly at her voice. “Just getting ready for Hexside, Owl Lady.” Hunter spoke with a nonchalance that was worrisome. “I’m super late.” The boy wobbled a bit as he managed to slip his foot into the wrong shoe. Waffles hovered worriedly over him as he stood proudly with his hands on his hips and his toes inversely squared. “Ready to go!” He stated proudly, although there was a slight rasp to his voice.
Eda gave an unimpressed look before stating. “Nope. You, mister, are going back to bed.” Hunter tried to protest but got steamrolled by Eda as he barely put up any resistance.
Darius didn’t say anything as he was looking the boy up and down, taking note of his condition.
Sweat had accumulated on his head and neck, matting down his hair. His uniform was stained under the arms and on the chest. While he may have been flashing a gap-toothed grin, his smile was weak. And worst of all, his eye bags were back. Oh Titan, the eye bags had returned.
Wordlessly, Darius moved to Hunter’s bedside, spinning a small spell circle as he did so, and flung a small smattering of abomination goop onto Hunter’s forehead. Shortly after, the gunk began bubbling under the surface until the air underneath eventually began breaking the surface tension, causing said bubbles to pop. Darius' eyes widened as the movements became more and more violent.
He then leaned down, wiping the gunk off of Hunter’s forehead before placing a hand on the grimwalker’s shoulder. “Hunter, please listen carefully.” Although glazed, Hunter’s eyes managed to meet Darius’ gaze. “You have an incredibly high fever, so we need you to stay here and get some rest.”
“But I need to go to class,” Hunter protested. “Plus, Luz is waiting for me so we can leave.”
Eda chuckled under her breath. “Kid, Luz already left.”
Hunter’s eyes widened in shock. “She left without me…” he said with the cadence of a sad puppy before pouting. “Jerk.”
This time, Eda snorted. “I don't think he remembers this morning.”
“Evidently so,” Darius replied, “he keeps his nightwear in the drawer second from the bottom, correct?” He asked before moving to the old dresser in the corner of the room.
“Yep. You think you could help me put him in some PJ’s or something?” Eda asked, not enthused by the prospect of changing a teenage boy’s clothing for the second time today.
“Way ahead of you,” Darius nonchalantly said as he held a bundle of comfortable attire in his hands.
In a second, the clothing was enveloped by a large wad of abomination gunk which then quickly jumped onto Hunter. The purple goop quickly enveloped the young man’s body. Hunter looked worried as Eda just watched the abomination material spread until he was covered from neck to toe. A moment passed before the gunk recessed and left Hunter laying on his bed, newly adorn in fresh clothing.
“Show off,” Eda sassed, thankful to not have to tend to that. Darius only smirked as he deposited Hunter’s sweaty Hexside uniform into a nearby hamper.
“I feel violated… I think,” Hunter commented as he lay in bed, still feeling nauseous.
“All you should be feeling, Little Prince, is your eyes closing,” Darius stated. “You’re going to stay in bed, get some sleep, and once you’ve woken, eat some food. Am I clear?” His voice was authoritative, but kept an undertone of care in it.
Hunter would’ve tried to argue, if he had any energy to do so. Instead he simply nodded and gave a lackluster squeak of agreement. This satisfied Darius for the meantime as he moved a metal wastebasket next to the bed before making his way to the door.
Eda moved to follow, but not before saying to Hunter, “Get some rest, kiddo,” and placing a gentle kiss on his forehead.
When the two were out of the room, Darius gave Eda a smug look. “You will tell no one I did that!” Eda threatened him with her hook. While the smugness didn’t leave his face, he gave a conciliatory hum.
His face then shifted into a more serious expression. “We’re putting him on watch.” While Darius would like to hope that Hunter would simply stay in bed and rest, he would not be taking any chances while his ward’s health was compromised.
“Agreed. And I’ve got just the house demon for the job,” Eda stated before shouting out, “Hooty!” A few seconds passed by before she repeated, “HOOTY!” more forcefully this time.
A beat passed before Eda remembered, “Oh yeah, he doesn’t live in my door anymore.” Darius annoyedly pinched his brow in response.
He then conjured a tiny abomination golem that sported the same hairdo as him. “Make sure Hunter stays in bed and is well-rested.” The miniature servant gave a salute before squeezing its way under the doorframe and into Hunter’s room.
Darius then turned back to Eda. “Please tell me you have experience caring for sick children.” The former Coven Head had some difficulty concealing the panic in his voice.
“Don’t worry D, he’s in good hands.” Eda said with confidence. “Between the two of us, Kid’s got nothing to worry about. Plus, abomination’s make great attendants.” She thought back to when Luz had the common mold and how helpful a certain pink-haired witch had been.
Darius had some misgivings about the Owl Lady’s lack of doubt. But between the two of them, she admittedly had more experience. So he sighed and asked, “Is there anything we can do in the meantime?”
Eda smiled. “Two words: abyssal chicken.”
Edalyn Clawthorne is a pretty good cook. When you have a growing demon and budding witch under your roof, a hearty meal is well-appreciated. Her cookbook was filled with down-to-earth recipes good for humble meals for the family or for when you’re on the run and can only forage for ingredients.
Darius Deamonne is an excellent chef. His refined palette demanded a certain level of quality on par with his fashion sense. This meant that he needed excellent culinary knowledge if he wanted to cook for himself. Not many know this but Darius was considered the unofficial head of the kitchen staff at the Emperor’s Castle.
Needless to say, they both knew their way around the kitchen. Together however, they did not mesh well. Which was why their attempt to create a hot bowl of abyssal chicken soup was, well… abyssal. Like a car with two steering wheels where both driver’s had a different set of directions, it was a total wreck.
“So,” Eda started in a song-song voice as she extinguished the larger than intended fire in her kitchen, “how’d it turn out?” Darius only stared at the abomination he had created. It gave him a thumbs down as it tasted the travesty that was his and Eda’s dish.
The smile didn’t drop from Eda’s face. “Meh, I’ve served worse.”
“I’m sorry,” Darius interjected, “I thought we were trying to take care of Hunter, not kill him.” Eda waved him off as she moved to prepare a bowl of homemade slop.
“I’m going to check on him,” Darius dryly announced as he put as much distance between himself and this culinary botch job he was involved in.
Returning upstairs, Daruis knocked on Hunter’s door, announcing “Hunter, it’s me. I’m coming in.” Since Darius was expecting Hunter to be resting, he didn’t wait for an answer before entering. What Darius wasn’t expecting was for the bed to be empty.
His heartbeat tripled in an instant. He quickly looked all over the room. Two things caught his eye immediately; the open window and his tiny abomination golem trapped inside a glass jar.
Turning on his heel, Darius rushed back down to the first floor, catching Eda at the foot of the staircase holding a heaping bowl of suspicious stew.
“What’s the rush—” Eda started but was cut off.
“Hunter’s gone!” Darius stated in a panicked voice.
Eda immediately dropped the soup as she turned to head out the front door. The bowl shattered on the floor as she whistled, summoning Owlbert. She then handed Darius her palisman without saying a word. By the time Darius stepped one foot out the door, Eda was already in her harpy form taking to the sky. He didn’t take long to follow her, taking only a few seconds to get acquainted with the staff before lifting off.
Together, the two flew over the treetops towards Hexside, watching below them for their missing charge. They suspected that Hunter had tried to go to the school again. So when they arrived at Hexside and there was no sign of him, the panic in Eda and Darius increased exponentially.
“What do you mean he’s not here!?” Eda asked the only four students at Hexside she cared to talk to. Conveniently, they had arrived in the middle of lunch break.
“I mean he’s not here,” Luz loudly retorted. “Eda, how did you even lose Hunter?”
“We didn’t lose him,” Eda tried to defend, “he just… kidnapped himself.” Nobody present seemed fond of that answer.
“EDA!!” Luz yelled.
“Enough of this!” Willow shouted over everyone. “It doesn’t matter how this happened. What matters is that Hunter is missing and sick, and none of us know where he is.” The urgency in her voice was palpable.
“She’s right,” Darius agreed. “We’ll just have to keep looking.”
“He’s not answering his pensta,” Amity announced. Willow summoned her own scroll to send some messages of her own. Not long after, a few more students joined the gathering, notably Skara and Viney.
“Alright Team,” Willow addressed the new arrivals, “one of our own is missing and possibly in trouble. I don’t need to explain why we’re going to look for him, do I?”
“No, Captain!” The Flyer Derby Team snapped back in unison. The team captain wasted no time splitting everyone into groups and assigning them sectors to search around the school.
“Hey!” Eda tried to get the students’ attention as they all began mounting their staves. “Don’t you kids still have classes to go to.” Most of them just gave her an unbelieving or indifferent look before flying off.
Gus stood atop his staff, looking at Eda disappointedly. “You’ve changed, Owl Lady. You’re not the bad example you used to be.” The boy’s voice was cold as he lingered a moment before flying off.
Eda stood stunned, barely able to register Luz addressing her. “We’ll let you know if we find him,” she said before flying off with Amity to their assigned search area.
Darius was glad that Hunter had such loyal friends. But not glad enough to belay the worry that still coursed through him. He quickly urged Eda out of her stupor and soon the two adults were quick to follow the children’s initiative as they took back to the sky.
Unfortunately, a solid hour passed with no results from anyone. Darius could feel the stress veins straining in his head as a great sense of frustration continued to build. Eventually, he could no longer bear his anguish as he expressed it with a hoarse scream that echoed through the forest.
The two stopped mid-flight, and Eda gave the man a moment to catch his breath. The force of the scream was strong enough to rouse some nearby birds from their perches. She waited for their calls to be out of earshot before saying anything. Just as Eda was about to speak, Darius let out another frustrated shout except this one was less of a roar and more of a grunt.
“I can’t believe I let him run,” Darius cried. “I’m the worst guardian ever.”
“Hey, c’mon now,” Eda tried to comfort her former schoolmate. “It’s not like there’s a guide for raising reformed child soldiers.” That was not a sentence Eda expected to say in her lifetime.
“Oh shut up,” Darius snapped back. Eda did not appreciate his tone. “I don’t need the mother of a titan pitying a worthless caretaker like me.”
“Whoa, hold on. If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” Eda countered. “Hunter’s living with me which means I’m the one who's supposed to be taking care of him.”
“He’s living with you because I can’t even provide him a home,” Darius angrily replied. “He’s my ward, and I can’t even provide him with the basic necessities.”
“Well—” Darius didn’t let Eda reply.
“Not to mention I’m the reason he’s so hellbent on going out!” Darius’ voice began to crack. “I thought encouraging him in his endeavors would be good. Between school, efforts to rebuild, and the palismen carving apprenticeship, he probably got sick because he was so overworked. I should’ve known it was too much; that I was pushing him too hard.”
“Palismen carving…,” Eda spoke softly to herself before having a realization. “Wait, D, the grove!” she exclaimed.
“Oh, yes, the grove,” Darius parrotted, albeit much more melodramatically. “He still blames himself for what happened two weeks back. He’s convinced that he could have stopped it if he—”
“No, you overly dramatic goop head!” Eda loudly chided, finally getting his attention. “We haven’t checked the grove!!!”
Darius glanced at Eda for a second before veering towards the direction of the palistrom grove and accelerating rapidly. Eda just gave an exasperated sigh before following suit.
It didn’t take them long to get to the grove. However, while still fairly new, the palistrom trees covered a wide area. Eda split off going to the west end while Darius flew to the east.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Darius to finally find the missing grimwalker.
Unfortunately, he had found him on the edge of the grove, where the infection had occurred. Hunter didn’t notice when Darius landed nearby.
He made his way over to see Hunter with a shovel in hand, digging out plots for saplings to be planted. An assortment of tools were on a nearby workbench. Darius could see Hunter was struggling to work the ground with his shovel. He clearly had no strength at the amount, scooping up pitiful amounts of soil with each dig and taking large panting breaths as he did so.
“Hunter,” Darius calmly but firmly called out. Hunter snapped his head towards his guardian.
“Oh, hey Darius!” he greeted, a bit too chummy for the present situation.
“What in the Titan’s mane are you doing here?” Daruis wanted to shout but held his voice.
“Well,” Hunter began, “I figured if I couldn’t go to class, then I might as well catch up on some work here at the grove. Looks like Mr. Clawthorne isn’t here right now, though.” Obviously. If he were, there would be no way he’d let Hunter work in his condition.
“How did you even get here?” Darius asked as he made light steps towards Hunter, positioning himself to take the shovel from him.
Hunter half-scoffed at the question. “Darius please, I used to be the Golden Guard. I can handle a little ten mile hike.” Darius grimaced as he grabbed the shaft of the shovel. Casually being reminded of Hunter’s dark past was not really appreciated. Not to mention the distance of the grove from the Owl House was much farther than ten miles.
“How about you take a break while we talk?” While phrased like a suggestion, Darius’ inflection wasn’t really giving much of a choice.
“No, it’s fine,” Hunter replied in an off-puttingly cheerful manner.
“Hunter, this is certainly not fine,” Darius said, a little more aggressively. With his hands still on the shaft, he pulled lightly.
“No, it’s fine. Really,” Hunter countered again while pulling back. “I mean, it’s my fault that we had to scorch the east end of the grove. If I had noticed the blight earlier, we could’ve saved more palistrom trees.” Hunter’s voice was starting to sound a bit labored.
“Hunter, give me the shovel.” Darius pulled harder.
“No,” Hunter said defiantly. “I need to work.”
“Hunter, give it to me.” Darius demanded, patience running thin.
“I need to fix my mistake!” His statement sounded pleading.
“Hunter, let go of the shovel.”
“NO!!!”
Eventually, the struggle turned into a full tug of war. Darius was trying his best to get Hunter to release his grip without harming him, but whether it was due to adamancy or stubbornness, Hunter's hold was firm.
“Why are you so hellbent on working yourself to death!!?” Darius shouted, emotion taking over completely.
“I NEED TO PROVE I’M NOT WORTHLESS!” Hunter yelled back.
The words stunned the former Coven Head causing his grip on the shovel to loosen just enough for Hunter to wrench it free from his hands. However, the former Golden Guard pulled with such force that he ended up driving the blade of the shovel straight into his face.
Hunter fell to the ground, dropping the spade and grabbing his face. Darius moved to help him, but only managed to take two steps before Hunter’s voice rang out.
“I’m sorry, Uncle!!!” He cried.
Darius looked down to see the boy shaking on the ground, curled up with his arms shielding his head and face. At that moment, all the scars on Hunter’s arms and head seemed much more prominent.
“I can do better, I promise.” His voice was a mix of pleas and sobs. “I promise. I promise… I promise.” The words soon faded and what was left was a poor attempt to hide sobs.
Darius couldn’t see Hunter’s face. But he recognized those sounds. Those were sounds he’d heard time and again echoing through the cold empty walls of the Emperor’s Castle. Sounds that Darius was helpless to stop, so long as they were both under the dreadful eye of a dreadful man overseeing a dreadful place.
But they weren’t in that place anymore.
Quickly but gently, Darius bent down, getting on his knees beside Hunter. Slowly, he placed his hands on Hunter’s body. Darius paused and felt his skin crawl at the way the young man bristled at his touch. Darius mentally chastised himself. He should've known that even with Belos gone, that didn’t mean Hunter was out of his despicable grip.
Carefully, he lifted him up and cradled him against his chest. He held Hunter like he would hold a bird, gentle enough to be comfortable, yet firm enough so that he wouldn’t escape. Darius spoke softly as he caressed his head, tears staining the front of his shirt.
“You don’t have to promise me anything, Hunter.” He felt the boy relax ever so slightly in his arms as two shaking fists grabbed at the fabric of his tunic.
“It’s okay,” Darius whispered, “You’re alright. You’re safe.” Darius continued to speak hushed assurances as Hunter slowly ceased trembling. His voice acting as a Beacon so that Hunter could find his way out of that dark place.
After a few moments, Hunter finally stopped shaking. He trepidatiously turned his head to see who was holding him to his chest. He blinked the tears out of his eyes until the murky figure above him became recognizable.
“Darius?” He said, voice hoarse and small.
“I’m right here, Little Prince.” Darius replied softly, soothingly, lovingly.
Hunter didn’t respond as his eyes fluttered close and Darius felt him go limp in his arms. Luckily, it seemed that the shovel didn’t do as much damage as Darius had feared. Around the same time, Eda flew in and landed near the edge of the grove.
“D, what happened? Is he—”
Darius shushed her with a finger pressed against his lips. “Let him rest.” He looked back down at the form in his arms and felt an odd but slowly becoming familiar feeling well up in his chest.
“Let’s go home.”