The Hunter

At that moment, however, Kane was knocked aside by a man wearing a black t-shirt and camo pants. Knocking the other man clear off his feet and a yard away, Max turned on the other two, his eyes wild and unfriendly. Claire looked on without interest, however Mio took a step forward. Within seconds he was down as well. Kane smartly stayed on the ground, but Mio put up a fight, protesting and cursing at Max loudly.

“Always a pleasure seeing you too, Max.” Claire sighed, not taking her eyes off Toby.

“Max?” Mio sputtered and gave up the fight.

Max slowly stood to face Claire and Ben could not help but to both feel himself relax and his heart quicken at the sight of the man.

“You can't have him. Ben's mine now,” Max snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I have my orders, Max,” Claire began to say, but Max cut her off with a growl.

“It's my island, everything here is mine! Ben stays with me! You can't take him back to that hellhole!”

“Isn't it a little late for you to be saying that? And you know that's not how this works. This island is yours because you, like your father, agreed to continue using it as one of the purgatories. That means you follow the Council's rules. And you know, as well as I, that I have to bring him back. The boy doesn't belong here. It's done him some good-but that was simply because of the memory deletion. Let him go, Max. You'll find yourself another one like you always do.” Claire urged as if trying to reason with a child.

Max said nothing, glowering at the woman until she sighed again. Scratching at the back of her neck she glanced around once more before speaking again.

“I can give you three more days, Max. I'll go to the other islands, finish there, and then return for the boys. But that's all I can do, even though it is against my better judgment. Do you accept these terms, or do I need to call my captain and tell them you've gone rogue?”

Max clenched his teeth, glancing down at the cowering Ben and then back at Claire. He dropped his aggressive stance and began to pace, forcing himself to calm down and think. Slowly, Ben recovered enough to unsteadily get to his feet, gripping at Toby's shoulder to keep from dropping back to the ground. Watching him, Max came to a stop, his eyes narrowing.

“Five days,” He stated.

“Three is all I have. Benjamin is being expected and I cannot be late. You don't want this little love game of your's to be discovered, do you? It'll only give Julius and Hanna more reasons to come visit and knock some sense back into you. I've kept quiet because you're my friend, but I will not betray the trust of my captain. Three days, Max.”

Max's shoulders slumped in defeat and he gave a nod. Cautiously Kane got to his feet, Mio following suit soon after. The two rejoined their leader, who turned her attention to Toby. She licked her lips before uttering one final order.

“I want Tobias too, so don't be too rough with them.”

With that, she turned on her heel and left. Kane gave a respectful nod to the Hunter before he strode after the other two. As soon as they were gone, Ben dropped back to the ground, pressing his face into the dirt and leaves. Max was at his side within seconds, his hands gently checking Ben's body for any new injuries.

“Where were you?” Ben sobbed and the searching hands froze.

“We needed you! How could you just abandon us like that, without any warning?! I thought you were going to protect us!” Toby exploded, still ready to pick a fight.

Max leaned his head against Ben's back, taking a deep breath. Keeping a slight weight on the sobbing boy below him, Max gave a tired, humorless chuckle.

“I knew they would be coming for you...I just never expected it this soon, nor this violently. Claire is usually one of the more classy Guards. She's quick to kill and get her business done unless she holds a grudge.”

“I don't care about that! Why weren't you here?! We just saw someone murdered! We almost died!” Toby screamed, stomping his foot.

“I was trying to figure out what the fuck I'm supposed to do with this stupid emotion called love!” Max snapped, jerking his head up to glower at Toby.

Toby's eyes grew wide and he took several steps back, his anger swiftly changing to confused fear. With Max's eyes glued straight to him, he could only assume...

“M-me?”

“Do you not have eyes?! Ben, you idiot!...Ben.”

Max slumped down over Ben again, momentarily unaware that their subject of conversation had mostly stopped trembling. In fact, Ben was out cold, overwhelmed by emotion and fear and relief of seeing Max again. His body was still not fully recovered from the attack weeks before and as a result, he had a fever. When Max's hand began gently caressing him and trying to get a response, the hunter finally realized something was wrong.

Rolling the boy over, Max easily guessed what was going on. He forced himself to calm as Toby hesitantly approached.

“Was that picture really Ben?” Toby whispered.

Max glanced at Toby from the corner of his eyes before shrugging. Toby noticed that, now he was closer, he could see dark circles under Max's eyes and his face was unnaturally pale for someone who spent so much time outside.

“Why does it matter? This is the Ben we know and will always know from now on.” Max replied, stroking Ben's cheek.

After a moment's thought, Max leaned forward and kissed the boy's forehead before getting to his feet. He easily lifted Ben into his arms and turned to Toby, scowling.

“Follow or don't, I don't care, but I'm not waiting for you anymore. I need to quickly break his fever and make sure he never forgets me.” Max said, swiftly returning to his dominant yet almost playful tone of voice.