Resurfaced Memories
Vee headed towards her bedroom. Camila had told her to get some sleep, since it had been a long and confusing night, with Luz coming back home and all. But Vee doubted she could sleep. There was too much to think about.
Luz was back, the person she had been impersonating for the past several months. Even though Camila and Luz knew the whole truth now, it would still probably bring up a few problems. Vee was still overjoyed to see her, though. She had only met Luz for a short while, but in that time Luz had been very kind to her, and helped her escape that crazy Jacob guy.
She was excited to spend more time with her and get to know her a little better.
But she was worried too. Luz hadn’t looked that good when she showed up on the doorstep. She had cuts and scrapes all over her, and she seemed different. Sadder, more mature, almost. Like she was a devastated from something that had just happened. Hardened and battle-worn. And she had also noticed the lingering desperation in her eyes, the panic and anxiety.
Vee wondered what had happened back in the Demon Realm to leave her ending up like this.
Vee had kinda known in the back of her mind during her time in the Noceda household that Luz would come back eventually. She hadn’t thought about it much. She kinda knew she should’ve, but worrying about it stressed her out, so she avoided thinking about the topic. But she was surprised, to say the least, to see Luz like this.
And she has brought friends.
Oh, Vee knew that be an issue.
Not that she wasn’t glad they were here, Vee knew Camila would never leave them alone outside. Camila was like that, Vee had noticed. Very compassionate, never turned her back on someone in need. She saw that when Camila cared for the animals at the clinic, and again when she invited the kids to stay in her home.
Vee was excited to meet the strange witches, they seemed nice enough and she wanted to get to know them since they were going to stay for a while. They seemed very interesting. And they were all about the same age as Luz and her.
But, same as it was with Luz, Vee was also worried about them. They were also injured, and their faces shared some of the same emotions that she had noticed in Luz. They looked devastated. Something bad had clearly happened to Luz and them. They were desperate too. Vee guessed it was probably that they left something behind in the Demon Realm. Family, maybe. Or they had a plan or something that they couldn’t finish since, you know, they were stuck here.
But the emotions she noticed in one of them were different than the others in a way. It was like they were covered by a mask. A mask of resignation. Like they had experienced bad things many times before, like they weren’t surprised bad things were happening again. Like they were expecting it, used to it, maybe.
Vee hoped Camila could care for these kids, and she hoped they would find a way back home eventually.
Vee opened her bedroom door, stepping inside, then closing it halfway behind her. She didn’t turn on the lights, she liked it dim and she could see pretty well in the dark anyways. Now that Luz was back, she knew that they would have to share a room. It wouldn’t be a problem, since there was a bunk bed. And it was Luz’s room anyway. Vee kind of felt like she was intruding, now that Luz was back.
Vee climbed onto the top bunk, flopping down on her back, the comforter and blanket soft against her back. She gazed at the ceiling close above her.
The issue. The problem. The thing that would keep Vee awake.
The issue wasn’t any of the things she had thought about before, not really. Luz being back. Having to share a room. Luz’s friends. Not really.
The issue was him.
Him.
Vee knew she had just told herself that Luz’s friends being here wasn’t a problem, but she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
There was one of them.
That one. The familiar one.
She recognized him.
Not him, exactly.
She didn’t recognize how he looked. She didn’t recognize the blonde hair, or the outfit, or anything like that. He looked just as unfamiliar as the other ones.
But his posture. The way he held himself.
Like he was unsure but defiant at the same time. Protective but helpless.
She recognized that.
She wasn’t sure where from, but she did.
And she had a feeling.
A feeling.
Some deep instinct, some deep feeling, that something was off about him.
———————————
Come on, Vee. Fall asleep already, she thought to herself.
It had been several minutes. Vee was curled up in bed, the blanket over her. It was quiet and the temperature was how she liked it, and the fan was on to provide some soothing background noise. But she couldn’t fall asleep.
Stop thinking about him.
You’re just being silly again. You’ve never seen him before. He’s just like the others, totally unfamiliar.
You don’t even know his name, or have even heard him speak. So you’re losing sleep over a feeling?
But Vee still couldn’t shake the feeling.
After a while, she did fall asleep.
——————————————————
Vee sat silently, eating her food extremely quickly. She glanced around at the other kids and Camila, who were also sitting at the table. She tried to look inconspicuous as she watched the boy out of the corner of her eye.
She noticed some of the same things as the night before. Like his blonde hair, with the blonde forelock hanging down in front. His brown outfit with the grey undershirt.
But she also noticed his eyes, the strange magenta eyes, a color unlike anything she had seen before, unlike any human, witch, or basilisk. And the scar on his cheek. And his gloves, concealing his hands and wrists. It has been a day and he still hadn’t taken them off.
And the way his hands fidgeted in a nervous way, much like her own did when she was anxious too.
She still hadn’t heard him speak yet, though.
Vee finished hastily eating her quesadilla, and stood up from the table.
“Gonna go, uh, go to bed early,” she muttered, looking down. “Bye.”
She awkwardly rushed to the hallway, heading towards her room. But she didn’t go just yet. She stayed, standing in the hallway, listening. She wanted to know more.
“Wow, this human food is actually pretty good,” she heard the younger boy say.
She listened for a little longer. They all thanked Camila for the food, except for the older boy.
She heard them talk about how Luz had met the girls and the younger boy, and she smiled. They seemed like good friends. But she still hadn’t heard was she was waiting for.
“Did you go to Hexside to, Hunter?” Camila asked.
Vee leaned forward.
His name is Hunter. Hmm, I don’t think I’ve heard it before. Wait, maybe. Actually, it does sound quiet familiar. I can’t remember.
Maybe this feeling isn’t entirely incorrect, then.
“Uh..” he sounded like he didn’t really know what to say. “Uhm.. no, not technically, but I have—“
Vee didn’t process the rest. She looked away, her eyes widening.
She didrecognize that voice!
Her feeling was correct!
Oh no.
Vee rushed to her room, trying get away as fast as she could. But she heard one sentence, one sentence that sliced through her panic, clear as day.
“When I was still the Golden Guard.”
———————————
Vee closed the door behind her when she got inside. There were two new air mattresses were in the room now, but Vee barely noticed them.
The Golden Guard.
Vee collapsed to the floor, sliding against the wall and coming to sit on the carpet. Her hands went to her ears, the once calming fan now seemed overwhelming.
The Golden Guard.
Her feeling was right.
She knew that his posture, the way he held himself, was familiar. She knew that the look in his strange eyes was familiar. She knew that his voice was familiar.
It was the posture of someone who was being forced into something, he held himself like someone who wasn’t sure about what he was doing, like he was reluctant, but knew he had to. It was the look of someone suffering, someone with so many conflicting emotions that it was hard to process. It was the voice of someone protesting, then the voice of someone backing down.
Being forced to harm innocent creatures, to order them around, to cage them. Someone suffering under Belos. Someone protesting about what he was told to do, then someone backing down, doing it anyways, because what other choice did he have?
Vee suddenly realized she was breathing faster than usually. She tried to calm herself, slowed her breathing, but it didn’t work.
Hunter was the Golden Guard.
Hunter worked for Belos.
When Vee was imprisoned, she was very used to the soldiers coming to her cage to poke her with their metal sticks, or to order her to suck the magic out of animals, or to occasionally feed her the disgusting food which was obviously meant to do the bare minimum of keeping the basilisks alive. She saw them every day, and she hated every day she saw them.
But she rarely saw Belos in person. She had heard about the terrible things he had done when the older basilisks told their stories, but she had only seen him a few times. He didn’t visit the basilisks often, didn’t seem to care for them. The first time Vee saw him was when he was doing a yearly inspection. Checking the progress of who-knows-what.
He would walk past every cage for a second or two, and then talk to the guards about who-knows-what.
But one time, something was different. He brought someone along. The person he brought along was wearing a uniform different from the Coven Scouts. It was ivory-colored, with a cape, but most noticeably, a golden mask. The only thing you could see was the slits in the mask where a glimpse of magenta eyes were visible.
Belos would order him around just like a Coven Scout, but different too. In a more manipulative way, a way that seemed nicer but really wasn’t. The boy believed him, seemed to respect him. Until Belos pushed him forward and told him to make the basilisks take magic from animals. For the first time, he seemed reluctant. Unsure. He turned back towards Belos, asking why.
Belos put his hand on the boys shoulder. He leaned closer, whispering to him. But Vee could still hear, just faintly.
Belos spoke in an eerily indifferent voice, calm but commanding, and in a way that suggested he would not like to be disobeyed.
“They are barely animals themselves,” he said. “We need this information for an experiment. It’s not that hard. Just tell them, and if they don’t, force them. I took you in, so now you have to do as I say.”
The boy had glanced around, then back up at Belos. Belos squeezed his shoulder, and he winced. The boy nodded.
“Good. Now do it, Hunter.”
And he had.
Vee had cried a lot that day. She had cried because she didn’t want to suck the magic from the animals. They were innocent, just like her. She cried because when she disobeyed, she payed the price. She cried because she felt helpless.
She had barely remembered that day later on in her life, until now.
Vee had connected the pieces.
Someone from her past was here, living in her house. Someone who had harmed her in the past.
She wasn’t sure what she was going to do.