From The Beginning
He sat on the floor in front of the casket, eyes on the floor. He couldn't take his eyes off the tile in front of him or the room would start to spin again. His eyes were like little deserts; nothing would come out of them no matter how hard he tried. He had no family left anymore; Pop's was the only family he had. But that had been taken from him now. The whole room felt smaller than he remembered it being. It felt like the walls were going to close in on him at any moment. He wasn't even in black, just the same clothes he was in the day Pop's died.
Rune remembered that day like it had happened only a couple of hours ago. In reality, it had been 9 years since he sat speechless in front of an empty casket. He often found himself sitting on the same log he was now, going over the memories of August 14th desperately trying to figure out where he went wrong during the mission. He was so deep in thought he barely heard the footsteps approaching him.
"Rune?" Amir said, coming up next to Rune and snaping him out of the nightmarish daydream he was in. He was only halfway there when he tried to reply.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. What are you doing here, Amir?" He asked, looking up at the boy in front of him. He had to get it together considering the fact that Amir was 4 years younger than him. Amir was silent for a moment. His eyes were filled with worry, but he ultimately decided not to say anything about it.
"We're late for the meeting. We got another mission. Astraea is already there waiting for us." Amir turned his body slightly toward the arch if trees where he entered but his head stayed turned to face Rune. He got up from the log, sighing as he did. As Rune stood up, the difference in height was immediately noticeable. Rune towered over Amir despite only being a couple years older than him. Rune quickly caught up to Amir, who was already at the arch.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻
The walk to the lecture hall was quiet. Rune's mind kept going back to Pops like it always had when he was about to be briefed for another mission. The only reason his mind stopped spinning was when Amir would notice and briefly mentioned something new he saw. Amir had always been like this. He wouldn't face the problem head on but would still try to quietly help out in his own way. And thankfully, it was working.
It took about three minutes for the two boys to arrive at the lecture hall. Amir was right, Astraea was already waiting for the boys along with Caspian. Caspian has briefed every mission for 10 years, even briefing the one Pops died on. He knew all three of the Hunters like the back of his hand, which is partly why they all respect him. Astraea sat in middle on the far-right side of the room, while Caspian stood at the front in front of a large screen with a map pulled up. The light from the screen was almost too bright for Rune as he went to sit down next to Amir. Caspian started to talk about the mission, but Rune's mind started to spin again, going over every detail of the day Pops died. Today was the worst it had been in years, and he had no idea how to deal with it.
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻
The meeting was coming to an end when Rune started to listen back in. His heart rate was still racing and his vision a little blurry. He was trying to slow his heart rate as quickly as possible. There was very little of the briefing that Ruen had paid attention to. All he gathered was that there was a girl around the age of 14 that they needed to bring back to Estria.
The meeting was over after about thirty minutes. Rune's mind was still splitting, though it was a little bit better now that no one was talking. Astraea and Amir walked over to Rune, noticing his discomfort during the meeting.
"How big is this mission going to be?" Rune questioned, his heartbeat starting to race again. The bigger the mission, the worse the risk. Every time they have gotten a new mission for the past 9 years, he has feared it being as big as the one in August so many years ago. He knew this wasn't going to be a small mission, but all he could do was hope it wasn't as big as he thought it was.
"Honestly? It's going to be pretty bad, Rune. You might not want to go on this mission." Amir replied, looking worried for Rune. Amir has known him longer than Astraea, so he knows how Rune's brain works. He saw Amir as a younger brother and didn't want him to be as worried as he was. After all, Rune was the one who saved him from R.O.W.
"No, I have to go on this mission. It involves a lot of risk, but this little girl needs our help." Rune said, determined to help this girl. The only reason Amir was with the Hunters was because Rune took a risk, but he can't stand the thought of losing another person like he did with Pops.
"No, Rune. We'll be okay on this mission alone. You need to take a break. I can tell the PTSD is getting worse this time around." Amir said, his eyes hardening and his voice stern. Even through that, there was a lot of worry in his voice too. Amir crossed his arms, looking at Astraea to back him up. She didn't.
"Amir, he can do what he pleases. It's not our business." Astraea followed up with. Her voice was calm and steady, though she was just naturally a calm person. She was trying to be the voice of reason, but that didn't seem to work for the two stubborn boys.
"Yes, it is! Its is our business Astraea. Can't you tell his head is incredibly f***ed up right now?! He's not going on this mission. we can do it ourselves." Amir yelled, walking away in a huff. He clearly did not want to stick around for the rest of the conversation.
"OH YES I AM, AMIR! YOU AREN'T THE BOSS OF ME!" Rune fumed, stopping off in the other direction. All of the yelling back and forth made the trees shake. Astraea looked in both directions, trying to figure out who to go after. She stood in the middle of the forest in front of the meeting room. Everyone around the scene had been staring at the boys, but now they were all looking at her as she sighed.
𖦹 *٭ 𓆣 𖢥 𓆣٭ * 𖦹𖦹 *٭ 𓆣 𖢥 𓆣٭ * 𖦹𖦹 *٭ 𓆣 𖢥 𓆣٭ * 𖦹
