Chapter 3: Chapter 2 - The Good Hunter
"Welcome home, my Good Hunter."
"Welcome back, Dad!"
The familiar soothing and cheerful voices greeted his return along with the floral scent from the white flowers planted in the Hunter's Dream.
The Hunter slowly opened his eyes and saw the two familiar faces. One is the Doll whose face is made out of porcelain while another is a little girl, his apprentice and ward which he vows to raise as his own partly out of guilt and another part is to atone for his failure.
The Hunter didn't immediately stand up and instead continued laying on the patch of grass with his eyes closed. His expression is that of relief. When it's time for him to transcend the Hunt and the Dream. He knows not, the fate of the Hunter's Dream. The perpetual cycle is possible only because Flora is in control of the Dream and Gherman being its eternal Caretaker. To find out that the Dream and its residence survived, put so much relief into him that the tight knot in his heart finally unraveled and his spirit felt truly free, unshackled from the heavy burden weighing his heart down.
Violet wanted to scold her master for ignoring her but the Doll immediately discouraged her with a knowing smile while looking at her Good Hunter in relief.
""Let's not disturb the Good Hunter. He deserves to rest." The Doll spoked softly before catching Violet with her surprisingly powerful strength that Violet couldn't struggle free from and resigned to her fate as she was carried away with a visible pout. The Doll already knew what to do as she cooed. "Why don't you help me bake some sweets? The Hunter might feel hungry when he wakes up later."
"Sweets?!" She exclaimed before the realization came and how she quickly tried to hide her embarrassment behind a cough. "O-Of course I would help." The doll chuckled at her expense as they made their way into the house.
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Sitting inside a cramped space with a dozen people dressed in the same green uniform and wearing unknown gears, he stared at the person in front of him who clasped his fists together and prayed while clenching a silver cross necklace in his hand. The man prayed silently and fervently. The person next to the praying man is looking at the picture of his family. The following one simply resigned and looked nihilistic about his situation.
The cramped carriage rumbled and shook several times like when moving through uneven roads. Then it suddenly came to an abrupt halt.
"Make sure your protection gear is worn properly! It's time to disembark!" Someone shouted before he pushed open the doors as faint light and deafening noise of battle poured in.
"Move! Move! Move!"
Everyone exited the armored personnel carrier with a face mask that covered their entire face. He too wore one and he recalled it felt really stuffy and uncomfortable with perspiration kept building up inside the mask.
He recognised it. The outside was a battlefield. The dark clouds hang above the sky like a canopy, casting down its depressing light. The sound of gunshots, explosions and screams drowned everything in the background. Soldiers hurried into the barricade, marching forward with their guns hot. Vehicles with even bigger guns and cannons marched along to the barricade line, emptying their ammunition as they were trying to stop the advance of something.
There he is, standing petrified to his feets. His eyes stared at the green cloud in the distance with apprehension as it was swiftly approaching. He couldn't make sense of what was happening because everything was just too chaotic. His body was frozen stunned and he is not alone.
"▅▅▅▅▅▅! What are you doing standing there like a statue?! Are you trying to disobey your order!"
"No sir!" He replied instantly as all those training had drilled the reaction onto him.
He immediately held his rifle firmly and marched ahead like many others by his side.
"Hold the defense line! The ELIDs must not breach in! We will hold until the evacuation is complete!"
"Sir! Yes, sir!" Him and everyone replied.
He saw the people beyond the barricade line that missed the evacuation and desperately screaming for help while running towards the barricade line. However, it was a foolish act as his order to shoot anything that tried to approach the barricade line. Human or not, his bullets will not discriminate. Then, he saw a person that was shot dead suddenly jolted awake like it was possessed by demon before turned into abominations by the radiation. The dead resurrected from death into monsters that will stop at nothing to drag another human with it into hell and that same radiation was carried by the green cloud that is approaching closer and closer.
"Fuck! We are all gonna die! Our protective gear is as good as a piece of wet cloth against such a high concentration of Collapse radiation!" Said the even more fearful soldier next to him that broke down under the stress and pressure.
The commanding officer didn't even bother to reprimand the soldier that lost his will. He was given a swift execution for disobeying order. All other soldiers that wanted to give up and run immediately start fighting harder knowing even if they run, they will be killed. But against the reanimated cannibalistic monster, not even the threat of execution can force everyone to fight. The Hunter's old self was someone that harbored such thoughts but he is too afraid to flee. He served the military because it was a peaceful time and along with the benefits offered. He never expected himself to ever enter any real battle. But everything fell apart due to the Belian Incident. The peace was shattered and soldiers entered the frontline amidst the crisis of the Collapse fluid cloud spreading across the world. The military is in the very forefront of the battle while buying time for the citizens to be evacuated from the contamination zones through bunkers and international aid. Him being one of the hundred thousands of soldiers that were fighting at the forefront of the battle despite fear choking his very being.
During the evacuation of the population of this city, it became obvious that they couldn't stall enough time as the ELID hordes were too much and the clouds moved faster due to the area being a coastal city with wind blowing inland and causing the cloud to spread faster.
The soldiers fought to the bitter end as they had been engulfed by the cloud in order to stop the ELIDs and buy enough time for the people to fully evacuate. The protective gear issued to them were not strong enough against this much concentration of radiation and the Hunter, like many others, succumbed to the radiation as his body visibly mutated. But in his defiance. Rather than dying and succumbing to a cannibalistic monster, he got into a nearby jeep and drove straight to the breached barricade. Then he pulled all the pins of the grenade bandolier he picked up from his deceased brothers.
Seconds later, a series of over two dozen explosions inside the jeep cause the jeep itself caught fire and also exploded and took out a sizable but still insignificant numbers of the horde while he died without a complete corpse which is intended.
What happened next was him waking up in the Hunter's Dream.
———
"Are you awake, Good Hunter?"
The moment he woke up, he was greeted by her soothing voice. He tried to sit up but felt something nestling in his right arm.
"Ah. She wanted to wait until you woke up before eating the sweets we baked together. But she succumbed to exhaustion herself." She chuckled with slight amusement. "Should I wake her up?" She asked.
The Hunter looks at the girl with blond hair that she inherited from her mother Viola. Touching and playing with a lock of her hair while he gazed at her comfortably and peacefully sleeping face, it made him feel pained as Violet, although he is unwilling to admit it, is the living proof of his failure. Whenever he looks at her face, it reminds him of Viola, Gascoigne, Henryk and Violet's elder sister, Aurora. Those are the people he failed to save. People that he could perhaps save, but he failed and those mistakes will forever be engraved in his mind. If not for Violet, he might not be who he is today as the weight of his mistakes and sins is what keeps him going until the end. The promise he made at the grave of Gascoigne's family. To bring an end to the Night of the Hunt and bring forth the sunrise to the accursed city for none other than Violet, his apprentice and ward.
The Hunter shook his head and allowed his apprentice to snuggle up to his thigh and even drooled a little while dreaming about eating food. He is willing to wait now that he has all the time in the world to spend as he wished.
Violet, although he acknowledged her as his apprentice he is more like her father figure. He had replaced… No. He overtook the role of a fatherly figure for Violet while also being her Master as she is his apprentice as a Hunter.
To be honest, he rather not involve her with the Hunt and Hunter. However, she was persistent and he eventually gave up trying to stop her and agreed to her request.
She said that her family died because she is weak. She can't do anything but rely on others' help instead of doing it herself. As a result, she caused him to become the way he is right now. A broken and twisted man that persisted due to his promise that became the driving force of his willpower.
During the earlier times of the Hunt, he is a very different person than he is now. He has emotions and is sympathetic to others. Always tried his best to help those that would accept his help. But as he progresses, he learns that emotions are just a hindrance. In order to stay sane and survive the horror of Yharnam and the Hunt, he must discard them. It also didn't help that he is gaining more and more insights which is messing up his mind and twisted his perception of reality. He must truly be like an emotional machine most of the time in order to stay sane. As sane as an average Hunter would be during the Night of the Hunt, that is.
So, because of the danger of the Hunt. He decided to train her the way of a Hunter which eventually led him to the decision of doing the Blood Ministration and turning her into a full fledged Hunter. On paper.
In reality, he never let her out of the Dream the moment he brought her there. He is simply too afraid. If he lost her too, he didn't think his mind could stay intact. So, he imprisoned her there in the Hunter's Dream. He would try his best to fulfill her any requests as long as it doesn't involve leaving the Dream.
At first, she was resentful. Cursing him and hating him for imprisoning her in the Hunter's Dream. But as she continues to observe him while giving him the silent treatment, she learns that he is doing her good. She couldn't help but gasp as each time he returned, more injured than the previous. Yet still pushing forward tirelessly for his promise to her biological father. She watches as the once kind and loving man turns into an emotionless machine, like a husk without will. He grew more bitter as the Hunt progressed . She would sometimes see him collapse to a mental breakdown from all the stress and unspeakable knowledge he accumulated. He was and is on track to become like her biological father.
She was unwilling to lose him as well. After all of her family members died. The Hunter is the closest one she has to a family. She admitted that the Hunter is the one that held the sky up for her. If she loses him too, she cannot imagine what she would become. However, this is also the same for the Hunter. For him, she is that one nail that is keeping his sanity and willpower together.
So, Violet eventually let go of her resentment and warmed up again to The Hunter and gave him emotional support along with the Doll. Just doing something as simple as that had a very clear and visible change. The Hunter no longer fights with reckless abandon. Although she couldn't change his emotionally mute state. It was good enough for her. It's good enough to know the Hunter will always return home to her and the Doll. Her new little family.
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