Hunter had definitely been angry before. He'd felt sadness, annoyance, fear, disgust, surprise, and all those other negative emotions. And after his little conversation with Belos just now, you'd expect him to feel a mix of all of those, right?

Well, he did, but only for a moment. Before he had time to process anything, the overwhelming emotions he felt suddenly just...faded. Now he didn't really 'feel' anything. He just felt empty. Void of any emotion. And perhaps that was because he didn't know how to feel. Or maybe he was just in shock.

The teen lost track of time after Belos shut that door. Now he was just standing there, staring at it. Was it for seconds, minutes, hours even? He didn't know, and his palisman wasn't here to pull him out of his trance-like state right now. The red cardinal was back in his room where it was (hopefully) safe from the emperor.

Finally, Hunter shook his head and took a step away from the door. He'd been standing here long enough. It was time to go back to his room before Belos came out. And so that he did; he walked slowly back to his room, his eyes still wide in shock. This had definitely been the longest day in his artificially-created life, and by far the most confusing.

'What should I do, what should I do, what should I do…' He kept asking himself. He'd never felt more conflicted, and the fact that he was emotionally unstable right now, extremely tired, and physically hurting and beat up right now didn't help at all. 'Just push those feelings away,' he tried telling himself. 'Does knowing I'm a clone really change anything? Even if I never knew about it, I've always been this...grimwalker thing. Sure Belos lied to me about everything, but-'

Before his thoughts could distress and confuse him any further, he felt something tug at his sleeve and make a little chirp sound. Hunter glanced down, raising his eyebrows. It was the cardinal; somehow Hunter entered his room without realising it. The small creature seemed to tug Hunter towards his bed, and with a heavy sigh, the teen followed before plopping down on his bed again.

"What do I do?" he asked the bird, placing his face into his hands. He felt something wet on his face and looked up in confusion, only to realise that his hands were smeared in blood. "Wha-" Oh, it must have been from when he was clenching his fists so tightly when talking with Belos. He didn't even register the pain until now. And now he most likely had blood all over his face. It was a good thing he was in his room right now, because if anyone saw him like this, they'd be horrified.

He couldn't care less about how he looked right now though. After realising the state his hands were in, he also began to notice a dull pain in his shoulder that increasingly became stronger. That must have been Belos' doing. Oh, and then there were his injuries from Eclipse Lake. He had bruises and small cuts all over his body, he was still covered in abomination gunk, and he just felt so incredibly sore all over. Physically, he felt like he could sleep for days on end, but he knew that after everything that had happened today, his mind wouldn't grant him the peace to rest. No matter how exhausted he was, he doubted he would be able to get even just a few minutes of sleep.

Hunter laid down and stared at the ceiling. He tried to think of something, anything other than the things currently plaguing him. It was so much easier to ignore his problems. It didn't hurt so much that way. He didn't want to be bothered by feeling the pains he knew he felt deep inside. He could worry about all of that some other time. If he could just push all of his intrusive thoughts away, everything would be fine. Perfect. If he could just forget, right now...Just forget, forget, forget…

But no matter how he tried, he couldn't. He just couldn't. Before he knew it, he felt something wet on his face again, and this time, it wasn't blood. Tears started streaming down his face, and he couldn't get them to stop. He buried his face in his pillows as his shoulders shook with the sobs he'd been holding in all day. Everything hurt, both physically and emotionally. He just wanted to disappear from existence and not have to deal with any of this.

At least he wasn't alone right now though; not completely. His ever-faithful palismen didn't leave his side for the rest of the night, even though Hunter never once stopped crying until the sun began to rise.

Lil' Rascal knew his witch was hurting, but the horrible thing was he didn't know how to help. At first, the palisman tried his best to comfort Hunter, and maybe that worked a little, but once the teen got back from talking with the emperor the second time, he was at a loss. Rascal chirped comforting words, but it didn't seem like Hunter was registering any of what he was saying. That made sense, he supposed. Their bond was still new and for now, his witch would probably only be able to understand him in moments of clarity. This night had been way too chaotic for that.

So for hours on end, Lil' Rascal kept fretting about how to make Hunter feel better. Nothing was working though, and it wasn't until sunlight started streaming in through the window that Hunter finally looked up and acknowledged the cardinal. He looked horrible; the shadows under his eyes were darker and bigger than ever, his face was gaunt, his eyes were all puffy and red from crying all night, and so on.

"Sorry bud, I've just been a huge mess lately, haven't I?" the teen said with a sad smile, wiping any tear-remains from his eyes. "I just...Everything's so confusing right now, you know?" There was a moment of silence as Hunter moved from his bed to the window. He leaned his arms on it's seal and gazed outside at the rising sun. Rascal let out a small chirp and flew onto Hunter's shoulder.

"Honestly, what's hard for me to decide is whether this changes anything or not. Well, obviously it changes a lot, but...I mean, do I just keep doing what I've been doing? Playing the part of the 'Golden Guard'? Or do I...I don't know...leave and try to figure things out on my own for once?"

Rascal tilted his head.

Hunter sighed and rubbed his neck. "I know, I know, I'm being ridiculous. Belos needs me. He needs me. I can't just leave him."

'Why not?' Rascal chirped. 'Why can't you leave him? I'm sure anything you do for him can be done by someone else. I've seen how badly he treats you'

"You don't get it." Hunter stiffened. His voice seemed to drop an octave. "It's like what he tells me all the time. The titan has big plans for me."

What Rascal didn't get was why Hunter was putting up with all of this when he didn't need to. The poor kid was in all sorts of emotional turmoil, and the palisman was afraid of how Hunter would be affected if he stayed here any longer. He knew what happened. He knew how belos' curse was only making him lash out more and more. How it was painfully obvious that the emperor didn't actually care for Hunter at all.

The teen lowered his head to rest on his knee. He looked so young right now. So, so tired and young. It wasn't fair for him to worry about things currently on his plate. He was just a kid. A scared, confused, hurt kid.

'But do you want to serve out the titan's will? You think your first loyalty lies with the emperor, but I think it should be with yourself, and anyone else second.'

Hunter shook his head. A deep frown settled across his face. "I'm a grimwalker, remember? I don't really know what that is, but I do know I was created by my uncle for a purpose. I was created to be used by him. If I was made to be a tool in his hands, the least I can do is be a good one. I don't know why Belos and the titan need me, but I can't disappoint them. It's only right...It's only fair that my first loyalties lay with them."

That hurt Lil' Rascal deeply. It hurt him to know that Hunter didn/t consider himself to be worth anything unless he was being used by the emperor. It hurt him to know that his witch thought his only purpose was giving his entire existence away to a man who didn't even care about him. It hurt him to know that the blond had been so incredibly messed up by Belos that a recent revelation about something that should have made him leave this castle immediately only seemed to make him even more desperate to serve. In Hunter's eyes, disappointing Belos really was worse than death, and it was definitely worse than staying here in this horrid place.

Rascal couldn't take it anymore. He just couldn't. He shared a deep bond with Hunter, and he couldn't just sit here idley any longer, knowing that he was hurting.

So the palisman did the only reasonable thing. Without giving any warning or explanation to Hunter, the red cardinal flew out the window, leaving the teen behind. Maybe Hunter didn't think he needed any help, or maybe he just didn't want it, but Lil' Rascal knew he couldn't allow this situation to get any worse than it already was. He started to fly to the only place he could think of for help.

He flew to the Owl House.