Chapter Text
“Oopsie!”
Artemis’ eyes grew wide as the plate crashed from the table to the floor. Hunter’s chest seized. The blue ceramic plate covered in green painted leaves – the entire set a wedding gift from Perry Porter – fell out on the wooden floor of the Noceda-Park Cottage.
He watched his tiny daughter work her chubby little hands over her face. Just a moment ago, Artemis had finished up her PB and Bananas sandwich (one of Hunter’s Human Realm faves). She’d liked it so much that she slammed her hands down on the table, accidentally flipping the plate onto the floor to break.
In any other world, Hunter would have dashed to catch it. But instead, he’d opted to grab Artemis, who had fallen backwards and nearly hit her head on the back of the couch.
So the plate broke and shattered, which was no big deal.
No big deal.
No big….
Artemis was crying. Her throat sounded raw.
There was a moment, however so brief that before Hunter's mind's eye, a flashed different version of himself. Stern, with hard eyes. Yelling at the little girl for what was clearly an accident. A Hunter that would be unforgiving and sharp to criticize and say things like...
“You clumsy, useless, child.”
_______
Belos’s eyes glowed cold. Blue eyes that ran scorching hot and impossibly cold all at once.
“I-I’m sorry,” Hunter stood with his shaking hands folded on his lap. He bowed his head quickly. Once a week, Uncle permitted him to take a meal with him in his private dining room.
“The better to teach you the table manners you will need when you become Golden Guard.”
Here, he still received a Scout’s diet. Mostly oats with spider milk, or simple rations, but one indulgence he was permitted was warm bread that was served directly to the Emperor from the kitchen ovens.
This evening, Hunter had been so hungry that he’d grabbed for his bread as soon as he was granted permission, and in the mix of excitement, he’d knocked over one of the Emperor’s special glass goblets.
The water spilled out all over the white and gold table cloth, but the glass fell straight to the floor, shattering into hundreds of tiny shards.
“I- I’m so sorry,” Hunter mumbled again, “It was a mistake,” he murmured.
Belos’ face remained pleasant, but his eyes were hard.
“Oh! I thought I had heard bit of an accident!” Eisha, the attendant on duty (and one of the few who had seen Hunter remove his mask) had glided in on three purple tentacles, “Please don’t worry, your eminence!” Eisha drew a purple spell circle. I can summon an abomination that can fix this up right fast!” she smiled at Hunter whose stomach twisted and lurched at the sight of his uncles upturned lips. It was likely that Eisha had seen the tears prick at the sides of Hunter’s eyes, “we have hundreds of these goblets,” she told him, “and many skilled glassmakers in the castle no harm in breaking – ”
“Leave us,” the Emperor said.
His tone was so abrupt that Eisha jumped. She looked at Hunter who kept his eyes on his small hands, and his small hands folded in his lap.
“B-but your majesty, I…”
The Emperor smiled, “we can take it from here, Ms. Lizander,” Belos put a gentle hand on Hunter’s back, “this is a good learning experience for my young ward. A lesson in taking responsibility. You understand?”
Eisha nodded. Once more, she looked from Hunter to the Emperor before bowing and returning to the kitchen.
“Hunter,” the Emperor purred, “you made this mess and you will clean this mess up.”
_______
“HUNTER!” Willow was down on the ground, "come back to me!" She cradled Artemis under one arm, and placed a hand on Hunter’s cheek, drawing him back to reality. The little witchling in her arms was crying loud.
Willow wrapped a hand around his back. Greedily he leaned into her, letting cold salty tears fall onto her shoulder. Artemis’ cries intensified as Hunter felt himself return to his body. His eyes fell on a small bandage on her little finger. It was red with blood.
“Ar-Artemis!” He gasped, “sh-she cut herself! Will. I - I’m sorry. I –I let her get hurt! I shouldn’t, I…”
“Hey! She’s okay.” Willow dove deeper into the hug, “I caught her before she could get really hurt, she’s just scared, okay.”
“Sowwy daddy,” the little girl sobbed, “I sowwy!”
Sorry Uncle!
Hunter sobbed heavily, letting his heart sync up with the rest of his family. He rocked them back and forth.
“No, no, hummingbird.” he sighed, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I mean… I couldn’t…”
_______
“You clumsy, useless child.”
Hunter looked down at his bleeding hands. If he touched his cloak he would ruin his pre-scout’s uniform. If he touched the table, he’d ruin the table cloth.
If he reached for his Uncle, he’d… he’d….
“I’m s-sorry,” he cried, “I’m so s-sorry! I wasn’t…”
“You weren’t paying attention were you?” Belos tilted his head, “to your surroundings?"
Hunter shook his head.
"You were only thinking with your stomach? Hmmmm?”
Hunter nodded miserably.
“How many shards of glass have you picked up, Hunter?”
Hunter tried to count the cuts on his hands, but he knew that would be inaccurate. His tutors had told him he was far better at calculating than most seven year olds, but this was a different type of math problem.
How many disappointments until Belos finally lost patience with him for good? And how many times would he bleed because of his failures? Hunter looked at the dustbin with which he’d working.
"Estimate it, Hunter."
“P-probly about 175, uncle, sir,” he whispered.
“I’d say at least 30 big pieces, and maybe another 100 smaller shards,” Belos corrected. Then he smiled. “I will have the attendants clean up the rest.”
“B-but sir! It was m-my mistake,” Hunter looked up tearfully.
“Hunter,” Belos warned, “stop crying.”
“Yessir,” he whispered. He squeezed his eyes, begging the tears to stop.
Belos looked down at him, “I am not a merciful man. You know this?”
“I do sir.”
“I am being generous in giving you a pass here, as long as you can tell me what you learned from this experience.”
Hunter opened his mouth, but his throat went dry.
“You learned,” Belos grabbed his chin hard in a gauntleted hand, “you learned that you need RESTRAINT and DISCIPLINE when it comes to URGES such as hunger.”
“Yessir.” Hunter nodded.
“Repeat what I just said.” Belos demanded.
“I LEARNED THAT I NEED RESTRAINT AND DISCIPLINE WHEN IT COMES TO URGES SUCH AS HUNGER!”
“So.” Belos smiled, “must I discipline you further?”
“No sir.” Hunter shook his head, “I understand.”
“And, where are your manners?”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Good boy,” Belos’s hand closed around his cheek and moved around to the back of his neck, “return to your room, Hunter. You will get no supper rations tonight.” he drew a red spell circle.
Hunter could smell his uncle’s magic in the air. Like old griffin eggs. He wrinkled his nose but dared not tell the Emperor about this.
What if the magic of Titan’s chosen voice smelled rotten to Hunter because he was rotten to the core?
Slowly, his small hands glowed. Little bloody shards of glass peeled out from under his skin and into the dustpan. Hunter’s hands were still torn up.
“I trust that you have enough healing ointment in your first aid kit and bandages to handle this on your own?”
“Yessir.” Hunter nodded.
“Good. I would hate to bother Hettie. Her work is far too important to deal with your mishaps.”
Hunter nodded again. He did not want Hettie bothered either.
“Tomorrow you will return to training and wear your gloves as if nothing is wrong, understand?”
_______
“Do you think she’s okay?” Hunter rocked with Willow. He opened Artemis’ little hand and kissed her wound.
“Shhhhh,” Willow threaded a hand through his hair, in the other, Artemis had fallen fast asleep, “she’s fine. You are fine. You did great.”
“If I did so great she wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” Hunter groaned, “Titan, Wills! First I thought she was going to hit the back of her head! Then I thought she was going to touch the broken plate! A-and I saw my … I saw her hands. Covered in…”
“These things happen,” Willow whispered, “this is normal. Kids break things. They get hurt.”
“I know she’s gotten hurt before,” Hunter moved a strand of Willow’s hair from her face, then from Artemis’, “b-but this one hit me so hard!” he gasped, “it was like… I could SEE the injury on my – on her…”
“Hey,” Willow touched his cheek gently, “you are not alone in this. We knew becoming a parent could bring up some old triggers for you.”
“But I hoped it wouldn’t,” Hunter frowned, “you really think I did good?”
“I think you acted like a wonderful father,” Willow smiled, “you acted to protect her best you could.”
“But she got hurt anyway.” He shrugged.
“It happens, but you minimized it just by being you. A loving dad.”
Hunter smiled a little. He wiped his eyes.
“You know?” he laughed softly, “I always thought that when these things happened? I was afraid that I would lose my temper on her. For a moment there? I almost thought I would. Th-that I would yell at her for a small mistake or lash out like he used to.”
“But you didn’t,” Willow kissed his nose.
“I didn’t,” Hunter agreed. He eyed Artemis’ bandaged finger.
"And do you know why?" Willow leaned in, "because you are yourself. You are Hunter. Because you are NOT an extension of Belos, and just because you still have triggers from your past --"
"Doesn't mean it's who I'm supposed to be," Hunter kissed her, "or who I am."