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Holding your shivering palisman, you narrow your eyes against the blowing wind. Through the small gap, you can see the trees shrinking beneath you as the Golden Guard’s palisman, now in staff form, soars through the clouds. Its feathers were a similar shade of red to Scarlet, but several shades darker. The light from the afternoon sun reflected off the fluffy summer clouds, and it was impossible to take it all in. You winced, dragged back from your sightseeing by a sharp pain in your leg.
“Do you feel comfortable?” You heard his voice in front of you and realized where you were. “You know you don’t have to hold on, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s probably safer this way. I don’t want to fall off.” You didn’t realize you were holding onto him.
The both of you went quiet, until he blurted, “I’m Hunter. I figured I should tell you now that all this has happened.” He gestures with his hands awkwardly, and a smile forms on your face, warm from the summer sun.
“Hunter. I like that name. Mine’s Y/N.”
...
“Ouch, kiddo. That fall must’ve done some damage.” Eda’s voice was sympathetic after hearing about what happened. “I know a few healers that won’t snitch on a faun. While you wait for them, I’ll make you some demonade, it’s sure to cool you off.”
“Thank you, I’m just so glad there’s people around here like you who stand up against Belos and his weird rules.” You stuck out your tongue in frustration and squeezed one of the couch’s throw pillows pretending it was Belos’ head. Hunter looked at you in confusion.
Eda turned with a pitcher of demonade in one hand and pointed to your palisman with the other, “You said she was sick, right?”
“Yeah, poor Scarlet here could barely get off the ground, let alone fly. I shouldn’t have pushed her so hard. She’s probably even worse now because of me.” You looked down but not into Scarlet’s eyes, too scared to look as guilt tugged at your heart.
The heavy silence that followed your words was broken abruptly by Eda, “Don’t say that, kid. You were in a life or death situation! You had no choice.” She paused for a moment before saying, “Blondie, have you apologized to him yet? And you know you don’t have to keep wearing that mask in here. It’s not like we don’t know what you look like.”
Blondie? You were so used to seeing him in the sharp-edged mask that you forgot he had a face underneath. For a few moments you wondered what he could look like before his voice interrupted your distracted thoughts.
“Oh y-yeah, sorry, I should’ve apologized earlier.” His words felt disorganized, and he scrambled for the clips on his mask. As he lowered it, the setting sun’s light reflected its golden sheen into a thousand hues. When you saw his dark magenta eyes, all notions of him being an emotionless, perfect soldier were gone. Electricity ran through you for a heartbeat.
He composed himself before saying, “I-I don’t want to be the Golden Guard anymore. I don’t want to hurt people like this.”
Tears began to form in his eyes, and he was clearly holding back his emotions. You tried comforting him the best you could, softening your voice. “It’s okay, you’re safe here. No one’s going to hurt you for leaving the Emperor’s Coven. Right Eda?”
Eda hurried over with the demonade and after setting it on the coffee table, she kneeled down to look Hunter in the eyes. “The Owl House can’t be touched when Hooty’s here, he protects the whole place. For a bird tube, he’s a pretty good guard dog.”
The silence afterwards was comforting, before the door half-slammed open. A sweaty human with an oversized grudgby uniform burst into the room and turned towards the couch with a look of surprise and confusion. “Are those goat legs??”