Chapter Text
Hunters POV:
4:25am
Another failed mission.
Another.
“Titan, why can’t I do anything right?!” Hunter cursed to himself, as he strided through the castle's halls. His boots made soft taps as the tips of his boots came pitter-pattering down into the stone ground, almost soundlessly.
If Hunter wasn't in a rush he would’ve been completely silent but after a failed mission, he always had to report back to The Emperor. No matter how much he dreaded his punishment. He knew. He knew it was the only way to learn. Yet, even after learning his lesson last time, he still failed! AGAIN!!!
Even thinking about his last punishment made a shudder crawl down his back, across the newly distributed contusions and gashs, even a freshly cracked rib alongside a dislocated shoulder was administered but he didnt mean it. He never meant to hurt Hunter so bad. Not really.
Even if he did, Hunter needed to be taught a lesson. There’s only one way to learn.
He didn’t realise he had made it to the doors of the throne room until he felt the wood's familiar rat-a-tat against his balled up knuckles. Then followed by a curt “Come in.”, recited by a clear, cruel yet raspy and kind voice.
The Abominations near the door opened it just enough for Hunter to slip in, then closing it behind him & once again, returning back to their place limed up against the wall.
Hunter timidly walked to the throne in silence, his footsteps completely silenced by the red carpet lined from the door directly towards the throne that Emperor Belos was so intimidatingly sitting atop. Hunter kneeled at the base of the ascending steps, not daring to look up.
The rustling of movement made his heart skip a beat - or three. The click-clack of Belos’s shoes, coming closer and closer, further and further down, now making Hunter want to beg for mercy, cry, scream, pull at his hair and hurt himself as entertainment. But he knew that if he did any of those things, it would make everything worse. It was always better just accepting that in about 10 minutes you’d be walking with a limp, an array of bruises the color of the rainbow and probably a couple of broken bones. If not all of that then, you wouldn't HAVE legs to walk out on.
Bought out of his daze, Belos was now lifting Hunter's chin up with a spike on the underside of his jaw, threatening to pierce his skin if he even dared to not make eye contact with The Emperor. Now being forced to look at the man - The man who had always asked one simple thing of him. To be useful. Hunter couldn't even do that right - He now realised that Belos’s mask was off. Belos then proceeded to flick Hunter's hood off, snaking his arm to the back of his head. Finding the buckle to Hunter's mask and it giving a click before the mask fell to the floor with a CLUNK! Hunter's head stuck in the uncomfortable position by the spike still threatened to make Hunter's brain a meat skewer.
…That thought was deeply unsettling.
Belos continued to circle Hunter until suddenly his movements came to a halt. Hunter's heart was thrumming to the rhythm of an erratic hummingbird's wings. Minds rushing around his mind like a derailed race-horse, prancing around, trampling all rational thoughts.
His body was soon pulled up by his cloak with an excessive amount of force, making him almost lose his footing altogether. The neck of his cloak choking him, instinctively making his head snap up to avoid the urge to cough and wheeze at his airways being blocked off. Belos continued to drag him from behind, occasionally pulling the cloak, silently urging Hunter to walk stumble quicker. Once they were in the middle of the room, Belos proceeded to haul Hunter's cloak over his shoulder and effectively flip Hunter over his shoulder, landing flat on his back.
The breath knocked out of his lungs. Being incapable to wince at the new pressure on the bruises he had still sustained on his last failed mission and the one not even 20 minutes earlier. Shortly afterwards, Gasping and panting for air to fill and burn his lungs. His binder was not helping at all. His breathing constricted heavily at the improper binder (Just being bandages that are FAR too tight, and the fact that bandages are not safe for binding.)
This new radiating pain came in sudden waves, all-throughout his body. His head felt like the room was rotating at a thousand miles. His ears ringing louder than humanly possible, seeming as if his brain was filled with a thousand fire-bees. The feeling of bile clawing at his throat, rising through his aching chest. As if a sentient creature was attempting to crawl up his oesophagus, out his mouth.
Hesitantly swallowing the newly shed blood, spilling from his mouth, hoping that he won't discover it actually was a living creature.
The copper-tasting liquid cascading down his throat, making him gag, ultimately contributing to the bile still tearing its way through hell and back just to make Hunter puke. The blood gushed out of the tip of his tongue where he accidentally bit it. His eyes fuzzing everything around him, the edges of his eyes darkening. His brain is still rattling around his skull.
His mind suddenly sharpened -eradicating the fuzziness that once was symptoms of a concussion- as Belos spoke once more. “My child, you must learn your lesson. You know I’m doing this because I love you, right?” Belos asked in an obviously callous yet kind tone. Hunter continued to gasp for air for a moment to gather the oxygen to speak.
“I know, Emperor Belos.” Hunter muttered, heaving and panting with each syllable he could muster from his exploding lungs. Let alone being able to put together an intelligible sentence with his mind more scrambled than a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
“Please, Hunter. No need to be so professional when it’s just the two of us.” Belo replied, in an almost mocking voice, but of course, Hunter took the hint. “Of course, Uncle.” Hunter, still trying to get the proper intake of air, but being astronomically quieter. Belos then leaned over, his foot being placed against Hunter's heavily rising-and-falling chest. Evidently making Hunter hesitate to respire entirely.
Belor smirked at that.
Hunter saw Belos smirking at the subconscious act -attention only being brought to it by the sudden quirk on his Guardians face- and wasn’t quite sure if he should be proud that he managed to make his uncle happy or if he should be distraught that he took pride in scaring Hunter to the point he wouldn’t dare breathe. But he didn’t care. He couldn’t bring himself to care. It took too much effort to care.
“Well, let's continue our lesson. Shall we?” Belos said, in a suffocatingly-sweet voice. It made Hunter feel like he was drowning in honey. It made Hunter choke on air, almost as if it was poisoned by sugar-bugs.
~20 Minutes Later~
4:45am
Pain. Pain is all Hunter could grasp. Everything hurts. The bruises on his body radiated like lava. His shoulder, slowly oozing it's dark liquid. Cascading down his arm, disturbing the raw skin that had been littered with abrasions and contusions. An electrical burn here and there, too. His brain was fuzzed. His breath was labored and his chest felt so sore it felt like fire would freeze it.
He walked past the front entrance where a couple guards stood - Steve included. When they looked down the hall, they all started silently panicking and whispering to each other. Hunter wasn't sure until he looked down and saw that the shoulder wound had bled through his clothes and was dripping onto the stone pavement under him with an inaudible plip.
Steve rushed up to his one - pretty much, only - friend in the coven. He started asking questions in a concerned tone but unfortunately Hunter's ears were ringing too loudly to be able to hear, let alone comprehend anything that Steve had said. The only thing that Hunter could say to his poor, worried friend was; “Get my staff”. As soon as Hunter felt the vibrations of his throat match the words he had tried to say, he had felt pathetically accomplished.
He also noticed that Steve had abruptly stopped talking once Hunter had said those three words. He could almost see the weariness through Hunter's mask, Steve soon rushing off only to return a couple seconds later, holding Hunter's staff. He hesitantly gave it to Hunter and took a few steps back. Hunter nodded as a non-verbal ‘thank you’ and soon thereafter, took off.
A couple minutes after flying, Hunter started to drift off. I guess that blood loss is bad, huh? His eyelids slowly started to falter. He almost fell off his staff while you were reading this very sentence. “Just 5 seconds…” he muttered under his breath, not even sure if he even said anything. His ears were still ringing, his brain felt like it was being bashed in with a hammer.
Hunter’s eyes shot open. Window? Window. WINDOW!!!
Hunter knew he didn't have enough time to dodge it. He knew the only option was to break the fall. He put his head down and flipped the staff so it was facing the ground with Hunters back to the window. He was positioned so that he would land on his side with enough momentum and on the right angle so that he would roll and not just SPLAT onto the ground. He braced for the impact.
The window swung open before he could crash into it. He was momentarily confused but wasn’t focused on that at the moment. He was focused on the ground. The ground he was about to crash into. The ground that would probably break a bone or two. The ground…
That he was supposed to have crashed…into? He suddenly realised something -someone- now had his arms snaked around his hips and under his legs. A lot like a bridal position but still sitting on the ground. Hunter looked up from where his head was tucked into his chest. Up at the person who was holding him close in such a protective manner. He looked up and… The Blight Twin?!?
Edrics POV:
4:40am
Insomnia sucks. Edric’s been awake for around 2 and a half days at least. Edric decided to have a cup of sleepy-time tea. The fifth cup of the hour. As Edric got up from his bed, he decided to take his slippers off since it made a clicking noise (A lot like flip-flops). The last thing he wanted to do was wake up his sisters. His parents were currently on a 3-month trip to gather resources for a new project or something. Edric didn’t really pay attention.
Boiling the kettle was unnecessary since the water was still relatively hot since he only had his last cup of tea about 10 minutes ago. Edric put the tea bag into the cup, soon thereafter pouring the hot water. Watching as the tea-bag tainted the water a dark color of brown. He picking the tea-bags string and dipped it in and out of the water to fully drain the herbs of their supposedly “sleep inducing” essence.
Instead of bring the cup upstairs, Edric simply chugged it. He was too lazy to continuously worry about spilling the tea while walking up the stairs. Edric may’ve burned his tongue but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He decided to try and sleep although he was well aware that the efforts would be in vain. He still couldn’t care enough to find a solution.
Perhaps the solution to his problems would come to him.
Edric was walking up the stairs, purposefully avoiding the creaks as to make the leats amount of noise as possible. As he walked into his room, he passed his window. There was something there. Someone was about to fly right into his window. Edric was panicking, not sure if he was hallucinating due to the lack of sleep but also not sure if it was worth having to call his parents about a broken window.
He flung the window open just in time for the person to fall into his chest. He instinctively grabbed the person, unintentionally holding them bridal style. The momentum and strength of the person's fall was enough to knock Edric right onto his ass. He sat like that, cradling this stranger. He sat like that, in shock. He felt the person shift to look up at him. Edric still completely stunned that he wasn’t hallucinating, looked down in response. Only to see the Golden Guards signature mask looking right back at him.
Shit… He was cradling THE Golden Guard. THE right hand man of THE EMPEROR HIMSELF! He was soooo dead. That was- until he looked at the Goldean Guards shoulder, only to be met with crimson liquid; blood. The Golden Guard soon started to process what had just happened. He knew that Edric saw his shoulder. He just didn’t want to gove him enough time to question it. He rolled out of Edrics lap and onto the floor. He started to back away until he hit the wall next to the dresser. They stared at each other for what falt like hours. After a while, Edric swore that he could see through the mask.
He was scared. The Golden Guard was… scared. Edric couldn’t help his eyes drift from the mask to the still bleeding shoulder. He was holding a gloved hand on it, Edric wasn't sure if it was to cover the wound up or if it was to stop the bleeding, but something was off. Edric actually cared. Edric wanted to help. That in itself surprised him to no extent. When was the last time he actually cared about something, or in this case; someone.
The Golden Guard continued to look around for what seemed to be an exit and he would be damned if he let him leave through the window - and with the injury - he would be damned if he let him leave at all. Edric wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t sure what to do. He started truly panicking when The Golden Guard had tried reaching for his discarded staff. Since it was closer to Edric, he had decided to grab it before GG could.
With an already outstretched arm, he had curled his hand into a fist in a surprisingly aggressive manner. Edric couldnt help but mentally gulp down his pride. What the hell was he thinking?! He just stole the staff of LITERAL ROYALTY! He was probably going to be executed tomorrow for treason. He wouldn’t guve it back though, only adding to the list of felonies that were already piling up. He wouldn’t give it back especially since GG was hurt.
~Authors Note: GG = Golden Guard~
GG had decided that since Edric wasnt giving it back, that he would fight him for it. A foolish choice. Especially since he was critically injured, they both knew he couldn’t win in his current state. They both knew, yet only one of them cared about GG’s wounds and it most definitely wasn’t the one who had sustained these injuries. GG had jumped on top of Edric. After a few minutes of struggling, GG had gotten the upper hand. He took a risky chance to either get pinned or successfully pin Edric. He gambled with the odds and won, effectively straddling Edric. He had held both of Edrics hands above his head and leaned over him. They were both heavily panting. After a minute of silence, they started to realise how intimate the position really was.
GG’s pelvis was atop of Edrics abdomen, with his thighs at each side of Edrics chest. Edric could feel his face heat up, silently hoping that his face didn’t look as flustered as he felt. He also took note of GG’s hesitation to stay where he was, to either get off and save his dignity or to win the fight and gain his staff back. GG noticed that Edric was flustered and decided to use it to his advantage instead of showing he was just as -if not more- flustered as Edric was.
GG leaned down so that his mask was mere centimetres from Edrics face, but in doing this GG’s pelvis had skated across Edrics body, down to his groin. GG’s action continued on until he was practically laying on top of Edric. He snaked his hands from pinning Edrics arms, making sure to instead softly place his gloved hands on Edrics pecs. Lifting his hand from Edrics right pec, placing a single finger on Edric’s jugular and slowly dragging down towards his abdomen, right above Edric’s strenum the entire time.
Edric was flustered and getting slightly aroused at the sight. The - technical - Prince of The Boiling Isles was being so intimate with him. His hands were free so whilst GG was busy touching his chest, he decided to slink his arms down to each side of GG’s hips, efficiently giving his hips a small squeeze. GG jolted at Edric’s action, making both their groins caress each other. Edric had to forcefully make sure to not make a groan-like noise. GG started to rub his abdomen up and down on Edric’s, all while rubbing his groin against Edrics.
Edric let out a breathy moan that could be easily mistaken as a simple exhale of breath. GG pulled his hood down, showing an array of platinum blonde locks, the masks straps pretty much imperceptible, lost in the cloud-soft tufts of hair, much like a needle in a haystack. GG spoke so incredibly softly, it was almost impossible to hear due to their relatively soft panting. “Are you sure you want this, Edric?” GG spoke in a soft, seductive voice. Hearing GG’s usually loud and boisterous voice, so small and coy, made Edric’s heart stumble, threatening to jump out of his chest and into his throat. On how GG knew Edric’s name, he wasn’t sure, Edric simply assumed it was because his mother was working - somewhat - for GG.
“The most sure I’ve been in my life.” Edric said with an equally quiet voice, but intead of being shy and timid, it had a hint of confidence. Edric could practically feel the smirk radiating from under GG’s mask. GG leaned back down to get a closer look at Edrics face. Edric’s breath practically left his lungs when he caught a glimpse of beautiful magenta eyes through the eye holes of the mask. GG blinked slowly, through thick eyelashes and a half-lidded gaze. Almost seeming to purposefully put on tantalizing and teasing performance. They both knew what GG was doing, but Edric could find it in his groin heart to push him off.
Without Edric noticing, GG stretched his arm -slightly wincing- outward, edging towards his staff that lay abandoned from Edrics hand. Edric slowly caressed GG’s hips, slowly but surely, making his way to rest his hands on GGs ass, also accompanied by a light squeeze. As soon as GG got a firm grip on his staff, he lifted his mask enough to show his lips, making the bottom of the mask rest on the tip of his nose, slightly overhanging. GG could feel Edrics heart leap through seeing the slightly exposed bit of GG’s face.
GG slowly lowered his face down onto Edrics. Slowly guiding himself, edging their lips closer and closer until they made contact. GG’s soft plush lips, slightly grazing against Edric’s. He slowly released a hot, short breath onto Edric’s lips, effectively goading him to roughly pull GG into a desperate, eager kiss. Edric messily shoved his hands into the orderly mess of GG’s hair. Slightly licking the bottom of GG’s lips, silently gesturing for consent. To Edrics surprise, GG separated his lips, allowing Edric’s tongue to roam his mouth.
Breathing heavily, Edric couldn't help but inhale the smell of GG, simultaneously drowning in the aroma of honey and peppermint, his hands desperately tightening in the platinum locks of hair. Moving in rhythm with each other's lips, tongues intertwining against each other's addictive taste. GG hastily broke the increasingly hot makeout session, slightly panting at the current exertion on his body. They both lay atop each other, chests rising in unison, breath ringing in each other's ears, their body heat dancing around with each other.
GG slowly dropped his head into the crook of Edric’s neck. Mumbling an inaudible jumble of words, Edric was snapped out of his spiral of arousion and confusion. Edric’s eyes snapped to the head, currently trying to hide from the world, seeming as if his neck would shield GG from the scarily large world of pain and lust.
“What was that, love?” Edric muttered, still trying to gather enough oxygen to make sure to not pass out. GG was either suffering the symptoms of ‘Cerebral Hypoxia’ or was just simply deciding to ignore the nickname. GG slowly lifted his head, pulling his mask down all the way before sitting up and looking at the man sprawled out across the floor, cheeks flushed, hair messy and eyes welling with lust.
GG’s heart stung at the thought of leaving this behind but the short sting in his shoulder, made him finalise his decision to not continue the very exhilarating - but ultimately very exhausting - activity. “Nothing, dear.” GG said, his uncle's slightly British accent must’ve wormed its way into his words. Hunter winced at the slightly confused expression of Edric, before his eyes wandered to the staff in GG’s hand. Edric’s eyes widened at the realisation that he was tricked - and so foolishly too?!.
Edric sat up at the speed of light, but not fast enough for the trained assassin sitting in his lap. In an instant GG had vanished in a bright flash of light. Edric stayed in his position, sitting on the floor… with an erection. Of course he was left to deal with that by himself. Edric sighed at the thought of being fooled so easily, but if he had to choose… he’d choose to be tricked that particular way. Although GG had left him alone, it was worth it. Even thinking about The Golden Guard made Edric’s mouth water with the everlasting taste of his tongue. It made the pit of his stomach swirl with arousal. It made his brain wanna explode and his heart leap out of his chest.
Well… Next time, Edric will be the one to trick the prince of The Boiling Isles, but in order to see him again, he’ll have to do something.. VERY illegal. Something that’ll get everyone’s attention. Something that will get him another visit from the highly trained assassin. “Hmm…” Edric hummed to himself, silently brainstorming an incredibly illegal plot to get laid. or at the very least, another hot makeout session with GG. Edric’s mind started wandering to the box of illegal fireworks underneath his bed…
Perfect.
but first, he had to deal with his erection before committing a highly offensive felony.