Chapter Text
Aureolyn hadn’t always known he was Aureolyn. For years he had been known by another name and another gender. It had taken him until the age of fifteen to figure it out, never having a defining moment of realization so much as a quiet nagging in the back of his mind that something wasn’t right. It took Aureolyn years to discover who he was and who he wanted to be.
In his childhood, Aureolyn would run off to explore the island around him, climbing the palms and swimming in the sea. He always wanted to see more, to do more, to meet more people. These bursts of exploration would frequently land Aureolyn in trouble, whenever he was gone for too long, his uncle would lecture him, claiming he was worried Aureolyn was killed by the Grimm. These concerns are what led Aureolyn to pursue a career as a huntsman. After all, no one would have to worry about loved ones being taken by Grimm if there were no Grimm. His uncle was not pleased with this.
~*~
“I want to be a huntsman,” Aureolyn had said over dinner one night, tone casual as he pushed his vegetables around on his plate.
Uncle Fiyre’s face darkened in a way Aureolyn had never seen before. “No, Aureolyn. You don’t.”
He felt a spark of anger flicker to life in his chest. Uncle Fiyre had supported him in everything he did for so long, what made this any different? “ Yes, I do, ” Aureolyn insisted, setting down his fork. “I want to be a huntsman.”
“Then you’ll have to get used to disappointment,” the older man replied his tone tense. “You’re not going to be a huntsman. I forbid it.”
“Why?” The words burst out of Aureolyn like a tsunami before he could stop them, the anger thudding loudly in his ears. “Why can’t I be a huntsman? I want to do good! I want to help people!”
“You can do that some other way! You don’t have to leave Menagerie,” Fiyre stood as his tone rose in volume, matching Aureolyn’s own. “It’s not safe out there! They’ll take one look at you and decide you’re worthless!”
Aureolyn stood, not willing to let his uncle look down on him. “I’m not doing it for them! Menagerie needs huntsmen too! I’m doing it for us!”
“Then that’s a job for someone else! You’re not leaving Menagerie!” He slammed his fist on the table to emphasize the point, nearly knocking over the glasses that sat there.
“I can and I will!” Aureolyn felt himself be taken over by the rage flowing through his veins, unable to stop his next words as they fell from his mouth. “You’re not my parent! They would have let me! Mom would have been proud of me! She was a huntress!”
Fiyre recoiled from the words as if they were a physical blow, a look of deep hurt crossing his face. After only a split second, it morphed back into one of rage. “And that choice cost her her life! I’m not going to let you make the same mistake!”
“It wasn’t a mistake,” Aureolyn replied, his anger blending with hurt and grief to take on a quieter, less aggressive tone. “She gave her life because it was the right thing to do, and if it comes to it, I’ll do the same.”
With that, Aureolyn turned on his heel and left the house, needing to take out his rage and pain on something else. He didn’t want to hurt his uncle more than he already had. He regretted saying those things as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but he wasn’t going to apologize for telling the truth. Aureolyn was going to be a huntsman like his mother and defend those who couldn’t defend themselves. If that choice cost him his life, then so be it. He would die doing the right thing.
As he watched the door close behind his nephew, Fiyre felt the anger and all the energy it brought with it leave his body in a single breath, only the grief and exhaustion remaining. He had promised Aureolyn’s parents that he would protect him, that he wouldn’t have to face the same hardships that they had. But he hated fighting with Aureolyn, hated making his nephew feel like he couldn’t do something. As he so frequently had after the death of his brother and sister-in-law, Fiyre felt lost and broken.
~*~
After the argument that night, things were tense between Aureolyn and his uncle though neither of them meant it to be. Neither man wanted to hurt the other, but neither was willing to back down. When they weren’t arguing about it, they were tense, waiting for the other to bring it up or for the conflict to reach a boiling point.
Despite this tension, Aureolyn wasn’t about to give up his goal. In fact, he began to work towards it in secret, taking odd jobs and saving what money he could from them. Using this hidden income, he would begin to construct a weapon of his own and save the remainder to pay for passage to the mainland. It wasn’t long before Aureolyn had saved up enough and he had to decide how he was going to tell his uncle. This was the first time in his life where he hadn’t had the other’s full support, and its absence left him lost.
Aureolyn wanted to tell him, he owed it to his uncle to tell him. But Aureolyn couldn’t bear to see the look on his face when he told the man he was leaving. Many times he thought about what he would say, rehearsed it in the mirror even. Every time he found himself in tears before he finished. In the end, he wrote a letter. Though even that ended up tear-stained.
‘Uncle Fiyre,
I’m sorry. By the time you read this, I’ll be on a boat to Anima. I know you don’t like it, but I have to go. I can’t just stay here and do nothing when I know I can do something. I’m going to become a huntsman. I’ll contact you when I get there to let you know I’m safe.
I love you, and I’m sorry,
Aureolyn’
~*~
He snuck out early in the morning, leaving the letter on the kitchen table. He hoped his uncle wouldn’t wake up before he was far into the sea. As Aureolyn boarded the boat, he felt his scroll buzz in his pocket with incoming messages. He felt a pang in his heart when he saw they were from his uncle. He ignored them. As he reached the deck and settled in for the journey, the messages became calls. He turned the scroll off.
Aureolyn stood at the back of the boat by the railing, where he could watch his home fade away as the ship sailed. It was as it began to move that he noticed a figure pushing through the crowd towards the docks. He hoped it wouldn’t be, but he knew it was Fiyre. The man pushed through the crowd and ran to the edge of the dock, reaching out as if to pull the ship back to the island.
“I’m sorry,” Aureolyn said under his breath, though he knew the other couldn’t have heard even if he had shouted the words.
He felt the other’s heartbreak just as much as he saw it. In almost perfect unison, Aureolyn and Fiyre fell to their knees and cried.