For the first time in longer than he could remember, Hector felt fantastic. It was amazing what a few day's worth of good sleep could do. He was able to get a break from Zhan Tiri, and even though she returned as soon as he woke up Hector had Quirin around now. Edmund was a great help, but Quirin had much more practice grounding Hector when he was starting to lose himself.
With both Edmund and Quirin around to help keep Hector from losing control, he felt safe enough to spend time with Varian again. Hector's brothers would be able to recognize when he said something that Varian shouldn't listen to, and they'd be able to do damage control.
Hector hadn't realized how much of his stress had come from the fact that he felt like he was too dangerous to be around Varian. It was no wonder that Zhan Tiri was so easily able to get him to traverse back into the darkness. He'd been slowly edging closer to it ever since he'd first seen the demon child.
Hector had been living in the dark his whole life, and not just because he'd been living in the Dark Kingdom. He hadn't realized how much he missed the light.
Hector had no idea how long this reprieve would last for, but he'd be taking advantage of it for as long as he could, which meant playing with Varian.
Hector's mind still wasn't completely recovered from his spiraling. He didn't feel like hurting himself anymore, but his mind still lingered in a more animalistic way. This was the perfect time to go out on a hunt, and Hector was ecstatic to do it with both Quirin and Varian.
"Come on, hurry up." Hector said. "The moon's high."
"If you're in that much of a hurry you can start without us." Quirin said as he adjusted Varian's cloak.
"Are you kidding? You guys won't be able to catch up, and it's not a hunt if it's just me." Hector said. He was crouched on the ground, stretching and balancing on his heels as he waited for his brother and nephew to finish getting ready.
Quirin raised an eyebrow at Hector. "I was able to catch you all the time when we were younger."
"Yeah, when we were younger." Hector smirked at his brother. "You've gone soft in the past twenty five years.
"Soft?" Quirin narrowed his eyes. He took off his gloves and fur vest. "We'll see about that."
Hector grinned. Here they go. He led the way outside. Varian was right at his heels, and Quirin was just behind them. Hector tilted his head back and stared at the full moon. It was a great night for a hunt.
"What are we hunting for?" Varian asked.
"Whatever we can find." Hector said. "It'll probably be boar, but I wouldn't complain about deer." They needed food. Old Corona was abandoned, so they needed to outsource. Eugene and Lance could go to another town to pick up some stuff, but with there being six of them, and multiple animals, they needed more food than what two people could pick up and cart back.
They'd been able to find some food around the forests outside of town, but they needed protein. Hector knew that a large boar could feed all of them for a few days at least.
"Remember what I told you to do if you're the first to see a wild animal?" Quirin said to Varian.
"Summon the black rocks to trap them, and then look the other way and cover my ears while you or Hector finish the job." Varian said. Quirin nodded.
Hector knelt on the ground and pet his bearcats as they nuzzled against them. "You guys know how this goes. Find us something good." The bearcats bounded off. Hector pulled up his hood and crouched down as he ran after them. Varian laughed and ran after them, with Quirin just behind him.
It was freeing. Hector felt like he had the entire world laid out in front of him. He felt no pressure. Hector knew that technically he was trying to run away from his problems, and he was running with the goal of catching an animal, but he didn't feel like he was involved in a chase. It was easy for Hector to pretend that none of that mattered, and that he was just running for the fun of it, and it felt amazing.
Hector held back for a few minutes, staying close to Varian and Quirin. As they went on though he was itching for more. This felt great, but he needed more. Hector glanced back at Quirin, a questioning look in his eyes. His brother nodded, and Hector felt his excitement build up inside his chest.
Hector let loose. He ran as fast and as far as he could, whooping and howling as he went. He jumped over fallen logs, climbed up trees just so he could jump out of them, and leapt across rivers that were wider than he was tall.
Running like this, not worrying about everything that had been building up in his life, it felt so freeing. It made Hector wonder just how he had been able to live confined in just the Great Tree.
Hector ran on and on until he finally felt satisfied. He turned the other way and ran back towards where he had left Quirin and Varian in the dust. He planned on sneaking up behind them and pouncing, but one of his bearcats ran up to him. It nibbled on his leg. Hector recognized the indication that it had found something of interest. Hector didn't know if it had found their prey or something else, but Hector would investigate before joining his brother and nephew.
Hector followed his bearcat until they caught up to the other one. It was crouched on the ground, looking ready for a hunt, but not for prey. His bearcats are incredibly fierce. They only showed caution when they weren't sure if the one they were hunting for was a friend of foe, which rarely happened, or if they thought that their target was significantly stronger than them, which was even more rare.
"What've we got?" Hector said almost inaudibly as he lowered himself to the ground at his bearcat's side. They were on a hill overlooking a valley. It didn't take Hector long to see what was happening. There was a massive animal approaching. An animal with multiple riders. Even in the darkness Hector could recognize the form of his rhino.
Hector grinned to himself. "Adira." She'd finally arrived. They'd been in Corona for a few weeks, waiting anxiously for Adira to show up with the princess so they could move forward with whatever plan the others had been cooking up.
Hector couldn't remember the last time he had been so excited to see his sister. He still remembered the raw pain he'd felt when he'd heard about that stupid nickname of hers for him, but he missed her far more than he'd been mad at her.
There would be time for anger later. Right now Hector just wanted to see his sister.
Still, just being he was feeling sentimental didn't mean that he had to go easy on her.
"Looks like we're hunting some bigger game, tonight." Hector smirked. He stood up, cupped his hands around his mouth, and let a loud howl that pierced through the night. His bearcats let out a pair of howls of their own. The rhino immediately stopped, looking his way. Hector laughed and ran down the hill, loving the out of control feeling he had as gravity and motion took complete control.
A figure climbed off of the back of the rhino and ran towards him. The shining moonlight reflected off of their white hair, making it very clear that he was looking at Adira. When Hector was on level ground he lowered himself to all fours and crawled as he ran. He couldn't run as fast like this, but he was far from slow or awkward. He knew what he was doing.
As he neared Adira he could see how desperately she was running. Just by looking at her movement and body language he could see how distressed she was. He didn't really have time to think about it. When Adira was closer Hector was able to pounce at her. He expected her to sidestep out of the way, sending him crashing back to the ground. Instead Adira opened her arms and caught him like Edmund or Quirin might.
Because of Hector's momentum the two of them crashed to the ground. Knowing that his sister didn't like to be touched, Hector tried to get up, but he was restrained. Hector's eyes widened. Adira didn't like physical touch, but especially not like this, where she was basically pinned down and so much of her body was being touched.
"A-Adira, what're you-" Hector started. Adira gave him a tight squeeze, cutting him off.
"Shut up." Adira said. "Just shut up and let me have this."
Hector sighed and relaxed in Adira's grip, adjusting so they would both be more comfortable. They sat like this for several minutes before Adira finally loosened her hold. They both sat up, though Adira still held onto Hector's arm like she was afraid that he was going to disappear if she let go.
"What's gotten into you?" Hector asked. "You're acting weird."
"I don't care how weird you think I'm acting." Adira's grip on Hector tightened. "Do you have any idea how worried I was when I received a letter from Edmund a few weeks ago, saying that you were…that you tried to…" Adira grunted in frustration. She finally let go of Hector. She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself as she paced anxiously. Hector sat on the ground, feeling slightly numb.
"He told you." Hector said quietly. "Adira, I'm fine."
"Forgive me if I don't believe you." Adira said. Hector sighed. He truly felt fine, at least, he had been. Seeing Adira so concerned about him, seeing her completely panic with worry, it just made a familiar dark feeling twist in his gut. Hector hated this. He liked having people who were concerned about him, and yet at this moment it was Adira's concern that just made him feel worse. Why couldn't he just find a balance?
Hector stood up, running his hands across the fur of his cloak. "Adira, sister, I promise you, I'm fine. I wasn't before, and maybe I won't be tomorrow, but right now I'm okay."
Adira took a deep breath before she turned back to face Hector. "No dark thoughts and hatred?"
Hector shook his head. "Not since Quirin pulled me out." He had little tidbits of darkness. He could feel it lingering just under the surface, but he didn't think it was bad enough to scare his siblings. "I even felt okay when we talked to Varian about what happened."
Adira's eyes softened. "Varian knows? How did he take it?"
"Better than I thought he would." Hector gave his sister a shaky smile. The kid hadn't tried to make empty reassurances about how much he loved Hector, and how wrong those voices in his head were. Hector knew all that stuff, really he did, but when the darkness took over it seemed like the good stuff was actually really bad, and it was hard to fight.
Varian had just listened and asked Hector to tell him, or any of the others, if that happened again. Hector had made similar promises to Quirin and Edmund years ago. He tried, really he did, and sometimes he managed to keep his promise, but sometimes he forgot.
"Hector!" A loud shout broke through the night. Hector and Adira looked towards the hill where Quirin and Varian were coming down. Varian ran eagerly, but halfway down the hill he froze so suddenly that he ended up tripping. Varian would have had a terrible fall if he didn't instinctively reach out and summon a black rock to grab onto to catch himself.
Varian didn't just steady himself. He clung to the black rock like it was a lifeline. It almost looked like he was cowering behind it. Quirin approached Varian, putting a supportive hand on his shoulder. The two of them exchanged words before Quirin stiffened. They talked for another minute before Varian let go of the rock, sending it back down to the ground. Varian slowly followed Quirin the rest of the way down the hill, clinging tightly to his hand like a shy, young child.
Quirin and Varian joined them. The kid looked really shaken up about something.
"Are you okay?" Adira asked Varian. It seemed her overprotectiveness didn't just apply to Hector.
"I-I don't know." Varian said quietly. He glanced past them. Even in the moonlight the kid looked pale. Something had startled him. Hector looked over his shoulder to see the unmistakable long blonde hair of the princess. Hector growled to himself. So that was what had gotten under Varian's skin.
"If that princess thinks that she can do anything to you, she has another thing coming." Hector scowled. Quirin nodded in agreement. Adira gave them an unimpressed look.
"Don't pick any fights, brothers." Adira said. "The sundrop doesn't want to start anything. She's here to help."
"I think my family's had enough of her so-called help." Quirin said.
"Dad, Uncle Hector, don't." Varian said. He squeezed Quirin's hand. "Yeah, I'm nervous, and I don't really want to talk to her right now, but we need her help. If Aunt Adira says we can trust her about this, then I can at least try." Varian gave them a smile. "And knowing that I don't have to do this alone this time already makes it a lot easier."
Hector groaned. He didn't want to play nice with the princess, but Varian was the one that had been hurt by the princess. If he wanted to give her a second chance, that was his call to make. "Whatever you say, kid."
Varian took a deep breath and continued on his way towards Rapunzel. He was still holding his dad's hand, but Varian stood tall and confident. He wasn't going to let his fear get the best of him. The kid was a lot stronger than Hector thought he'd ever be.
Rapunzel fiddled with her hands as Varian stepped towards her. When the boy stopped several feet away from her Rapunzel did nothing to close the distance.
"V-Varian, I'm glad to see you're okay." Rapunzel said. Despite her stutter, she sounded sincere, which was hard for Hector to admit. The princess gave Varian a small smile. "And I'm glad that you were able to figure out how to help your dad. I-I'm sorry that I wasn't able to help you with that."
Varian's hands were shaking, but Hector didn't think that anybody else noticed. It was a good thing the kid had worked on his mastery of the moonstone, otherwise his powers would be feeding off of his anxiety.
"I-It's fine." Varian said quietly. "It was probably too much to ask. I-I just couldn't accept that. I got out of control, and I wish I had done things differently."
"I wish I'd done things differently too." Rapunzel said.
Hector wanted to keep an eye on the princess, but his gaze was drawn to the young woman standing behind her. Cassandra. The only other person that Hector knew that had heard the whisperings of the demon. Quirin, Edmund, and Adira were sympathetic, but they couldn't empathize the way that Cassandra could.
Hector didn't know if that made him understand her, pity her, or hate her with everything in his gut. On the one hand, Hector knew better than anybody just how hard it was to ignore Zhan Tiri. On the other hand, the demon child only seemed to strike against places where she already saw weakness. She had targeted Hector, and probably also Cassandra, because she saw cracks that could be exposed.
Hector hated himself for having the vulnerabilities that invited Adira in, and he couldn't help but hate Cassandra for having those vulnerabilities as well. Hector then felt like a horrible person for blaming Cassandra, because she was still so young, and Hector remembered how weak he felt as a youth. Everything felt like the end of the world. Zhan Tiri could probably manage to get under the skin of any troubled youth.
Hector's fury then came back full force when he remembered how Cassandra had tried to steal the moonstone. It was one thing to feel lost and alone, and another to take that out on others. Just because you deserved more didn't mean that you were entitled to take it from others.
All of these feelings were exhausting and Hector felt like they were tearing him up from the inside. Hector forced himself to look away from Cassandra to turn back towards Adira.
"This is becoming too much for me." Hector said quietly. He only meant for Adira to hear, but Quirin and Varian both looked his way. Hector tried to ignore them. "I gotta get some space from Cassandra. I think I'm gonna return to my hunt."
"Can I come?" Varian asked. He shook out his hands. "I think I need a chance to get all of these feelings out."
"I get that." Hector nodded. He knew what it felt like to be so overwhelmed with everything that if he didn't go on a hunt then he would lose it and hit something or someone.
"I think we can do that." Quirin said. "But we're sticking together this time."
"Hey, I'm not complaining." Hector said. He'd gotten his energy out of his system. He felt like he could control himself enough to take his time, enjoy the company, and calm down.
"You guys go ahead." Rapunzel said. "We'll go to the capital, let my dad know that I'm okay, and then we'll meet you back in Old Corona later." That sounded like a plan to Hector, but he didn't completely trust the princess. He looked at Adira, who understood what he wanted without it needing to be said.
"I'll stay with them." Adira said. "I'll keep the princess on track."
"You'd better." Hector ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. He nudged Varian's arm. "Come on, kid, I'll race you back into the forest." Varian beamed and took off running. Hector was right at his heels. They both ignored Quirin calling out for them to slow down. Hector knew that his brother would catch up to them. He always did.