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Hunter had not been having the best day. He must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, because he wasn't acting like Hunter- he was acting like the Golden Guard.
Sassy, snappy, annoyed, bratty… you name it. Both Thorne and Darius had noticed, but neither said anything. On days like this, it was best to just let Hunter get it out. When Hunter stormed up the stairs- well, as much as he could on his silent child-soldier trained feet- Thorne sighed, standing up to follow the glowing hum of Hunter’s Oracle Stone to keep himself from fading back into the Spirit Realm. Hunter had long shut his door by the time Thorne had followed, knocking on the door as he opened it.
“Hey, little one.” Thorne muttered.
Hunter scowled at the ghost from the bed. “What do you want?”
“Hey, don’t be like that. What’s bothering you?” Thorne chuckled, sitting on the foot of the bed.
“Nothing!” Hunter snapped. “What do you want?!”
“I can tell you’re upset, Hunter. You’re not acting like yourself.” Thorne sighed, not moving to touch Hunter, even though he wanted to. He knew better than that.
“I’m exactly like myself!” Hunter hissed roughly. “I don’t need anything! I just need you to leave me alone!”
“Hunter, you’re not acting like yourself. You’re acting like the Golden Guard, which means something is wrong.” Thorne corrected evenly.
“Well, if you’ve forgotten, I’m the Golden Guard that survived.” Hunter snarled. “Get out of my room!”
Thorne fought down his anger. “Hunter, breathe with me-”
“No! I said GET OUT! ” Hunter screamed.
Thorne didn’t know what possessed him to do it, to raise his hand and bring his palm across Hunter’s face across his larger scar where his old one used to be. He didn’t even feel when his anger had bubbled over. Hunter let out a pained, fearful cry, snapping Thorne into the realization of what he had done.
"What are you doing, Thorne? Either get information out of them or kill them. It's simple."
"I don't-"
"I know you're smarter than this." Belos hissed, gripping Thorne's shoulder. "Get back in that cell. When you come out, I want to see blood on your gloves with a location to raid."
"I'm… yes, Lord Belos."
Thorne bowed his head and stepped into the cell the Wild Witch was being held in, putting his mask back on. "I'll ask one more time," He snarled. "Where is your clan operating out of?"
The witch glared at him. "Kiss my ass, Golden Guard."
Thorne raised an arm and slapped the prisoner roughly across the face- between his extensive training and muscle mass, it wasn't something simple enough to sting for a couple minutes- the hand-shaped bruise on the criminal's cheek was enough to prove that.
Hunter started sobbing, shaking as he held his hands over where Thorne had hit him. The older started reaching instinctively to comfort him, only to realize it was his hand that caused this.
"I- I'm-"
Thorne stood up, backing out of the room with his hands pressed to his mouth as his eyes started to get wet with tears.
"Good job, Thorne. I knew you could be useful."
"I'll… I'll send scouts to take care of the body."
"Hunter, I- I didn't-" Thorne whispered, though barely audible over Hunter's wails of fear and pain.
"Use your anger more often, Thorne. The Titan likes you best when you do."
Thorne burst into sobs, whirling around and shoving himself out of the room. He slammed against the wall as he tried to get himself away from Hunter- from himself. Darius' head shot up as he heard the commotion, only for Thorne run up to him and grab his shoulders roughly.
"I hurt him! I hit him! Darius, I hit him! I hurt Hunter! " Thorne sobbed. "I- I can't- I can't be around him, I- I'm dangerous, I need to get away!"
"Thorne, slow down, breathe," Darius tried cautiously, moving to put his own hands comfortingly on Thorne's shoulders.
" Don't touch me! " Thorne screamed, shoving Darius away. "I- I'm a weapon, I'm- I'm a threat to you, and- and Hunter, I- I could lose my temper at any moment, and…"
"Wonderfully done, Thorne. That's the rage the Titan loves to see."
"The look in his eyes when- when I went to raise my hand to hit him… I couldn't even stop…"
Thorne drew a knife on Honour, holding it out at him. “Don’t say that,” Thorne snarled, his eyes wild. “Back up, back up! I’ll do it!”
"He needed me… he needed my help to calm down, and I hit him…"
Thorne didn't bother to count the amount of bloody bodies that surrounded him. All he knew was that they had hurt Basil- had almost KILLED Basil- and that was enough of a death sentence to Thorne.
"I… I'm no better than Belos…"
"According to 'The Legend of Grimwalkers,' quote, Grimwalkers are violent, unpredictable shape-shifting beasts that feed on the bones of the dead."
Thorne looked at his shaking gloved hands.
"I'm a monster…"
The ghost pushed past Darius and ran out of the door sobbing, letting go of his connection to the living world as he faded back into the Spirit Realm. He knew he had returned when he felt the air turn cool and the pressure of the water around his feet. He curled up in the shallows, crying into his hands.
"Rosebud?"
Thorne recognized Evelyn's voice, but his hiccuping wails didn't let up enough to make any response. He heard her careful feet wading over to him, kneeling down and putting a hand on his back.
"Come on, sit up. Let's get you out of all this, eh?" Evelyn hoisted Thorne up to his feet, leading him to the shore. "Tell me what happened."
Thorne whimpered, hiding his face in his gloved hands. "I hurt Hunter…" was all he could manage.
"Now, how do you think you did that?"
"I don't think I did. I did. I hit him across the face," Thorne snapped, though his tone was soon lost as he started to cry once more. "I… he just… he was being bratty, and- and I don't know what happened, all of a sudden, I just got so angry! I hit him across the face and I couldn't even stop myself!"
Thorne slumped over again, sobbing.
"Ma, I'm a monster…"
Evelyn sighed, running her fingers expertly through Thorne's hair. "Thorne, you're not a monster-"
"I am! I'm exactly what the stories say! Violent, unpredictable, angry… but none of the other grimwalkers are…" Thorne sniffled. "All I've done for my entire life is hurt people… and when I tried to love someone, I got them killed. I love Hunter with all of my soul, and I can't let myself be around him if I'm just going to hurt him again… hurt him like Belos did…"
"Thorne, give me your hands."
Thorne looked up, confused, but offered his shaking hands to Evelyn.
"You've always been a kind, sociable person, and Philip didn't like that." Evelyn sighed, removing Thorne’s gloves to reveal the numerous scars littering his fingers. “It was on purpose, what he taught you. He made sure that you didn’t have control over your anger so that you would be a weapon for him without him having complete control over you .”
“I haven’t had an outburst in almost ten years , Ma!” Thorne argued. “I… I thought I was okay…”
“Thorne, relapsing is normal. It doesn’t mean that you haven’t improved. In fact, I think you’re doing very well. The fact you felt remorseful so quickly after the event can attest to that.”
“I… I don’t care. I hurt Hunter. If there’s even a chance I’ll treat him like Belos did, I don’t want to take it. He doesn’t deserve that.” Thorne sighed, his tears drying up, though his eyes were still sad. “I… I don’t think I can look him in the eyes right now…”
“Hunter won’t be mad at you for-”
“That’s the point. I want him to be mad at me. I don’t want him to see me the same way that he saw Belos. I want him to be upset. I want him to hate me, justified or not! I just don’t want him to brush it off… not like he always has…”
Evelyn hummed sadly, handing Thorne’s gloves back to him. “Take your time, give it some space. Just don’t hide in the spirit world for months on end, okay? I don’t want to see you isolated from the brother you only just managed to bond with.”
Thorne nodded, rubbing the fabric of his gloves with his thumb. “I just want him to be safe…”
“I know, Rosebud. I know,” Evelyn assured him softly.
~~~
Hunter couldn’t breathe.
He didn’t even know what was happening around him. Where was he? Was he in his room? Which room? Was he in the castle? He had to be. His scar was aching. Was it aching, or did it feel like red-hot fire was burning inside of his skin?
He couldn’t tell. He could only scream.
Suddenly, Darius was there with him. He wasn’t in his normal coven-head attire, which was odd. In fact, he was wearing something very minimal. That wasn’t like Darius at all. He never wore casual clothes when out and about in the castle.
“Little prince? Are you with me?”
“I… I’m…” Hunter gasped, writhing around as he tried to breathe.
“It’s okay, you’re safe. You’re not back there- you’re in my house, outside of the castle, in your room.” Darius soothed. “Breathe for me, Hunter.”
Hunter followed along as Darius counted to and from four, though his galderstone heart still pulsed fast and hard, to a point where he could feel it in his throat. He clutched a pillow close to his chest, trying to ground himself.
“It’s okay, Hunter. You’re safe,” Darius sighed. “You’re alright.”
Hunter sniffled, placing a hand over his bruised cheek. “I’m sorry,” He whimpered.
“Why do you think you need to apologize?”
“I was being disrespectful. It won’t happen again,” Hunter promised, looking up at Darius with wide eyes. Darius froze for a second.
"I hurt him! I hit him! Darius, I hit him! I hurt Hunter! I- I can't- I can't be around him, I- I'm dangerous, I need to get away!"
“I- I’m- Did Thorne-”
A soft noise came from Hunter’s bedside table. The Oracle Stone on top of a stack of books glowed purple and in a purple haze, a humanoid figure hummed softly. “Hunter, are you alright? I saw what happened,”
The ghost of Caleb Wittebane looked over to Darius with a nod of acknowledgment. “Mr. Deamonne,” He said respectfully. Darius nodded back.
Caleb sat at the edge of Hunter’s bed. “Are you feeling well enough to talk yet?”
Hunter looked around nervously, but nodded, holding his pillow closer to himself.
Caleb sighed. “Look… before you knew him, Thorne was very… angry. Phili-
Belos
forced him to be like that. If he’s angry, he can have physical outbursts and become violent. He hasn’t had one in… a long time. What I’m trying to say is that he did not mean to hurt you- I’m sure he feels terrible. However, you shouldn’t ignore that he hurt you.”
Hunter looked at his hands. “I’m not upset with him…”
“That’s fine, but you need to understand that what Thorne did is not okay."
"But-"
"No 'but's. Thorne wasn't in control of his actions, but what he did was bad-"
"It was my fault!" Hunter yelped suddenly.
Darius dawned a strange look on his face, but Caleb simply sighed."I'm not going to punish Thorne for this, Songbird. You don't have to worry. Neither of you are going to be hurt."
Hunter looked down as he held his pillow closer to himself.
"You should get some rest, little prince." Darius finally spoke up. "You'll probably feel much better afterwards,"
Hunter nodded, but Caleb couldn't help but notice the way his ears drooped. He watched as Hunter settled down to sleep, nodding again to Darius with a soft smile before returning to the Spirit Realm.
Hunter had plenty of people around him, but he felt so alone for a whole week. He had been half asleep when he heard a soft hum from his bedstand, eyes lidded as he kept still under a blanket. He didn’t quite understand why he felt so numb, but it wasn’t like he was upset about it. He held the wolf plushie that Darius had made him close, not processing that his Oracle Stone had been activated.
“Little one?”
Suddenly, Hunter had found the energy to shoot up out of bed and lunge at his brother, wrapping his arms around Thorne as he felt tears well up in his eyes. The previous Golden Guard made a small noise of confusion before wrapping his own muscular arms around Hunter’s frail body.
“Where were you?” Hunter mumbled sadly.
“I…” Thorne sighed. “I just… I didn’t want to hurt you again…”
Hunter just hummed.
“I’m so sorry, Hunter. I… I should have kept more control over my anger. I don’t want to be someone you fear like… like how you feared him. I want to be a safe person for you, and I didn’t want to be around you if I was going to hurt you again.”
“You didn’t mean it,”
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” Thorne corrected sternly. “I love you more than anything, Hunter. All I want is for you to be safe. I… I just thought that you would be safer if I was away from you.”
“Please don’t do it again,” Hunter said softly.
“I won’t.” Thorne assured him. “I… I just thought it would be best. I’m sorry,”
Hunter nodded, letting go and sitting back down on his bed, rubbing his cheek where the long-gone bruise had been. Thorne frowned, sitting next to him and kissing the top of his head comfortingly. Hunter hummed, leaning into Thorne’s side. The ghost hummed, bringing Hunter’s blanket around them both as he let Hunter snuggle closer to his body.