The low moans of ghosts and ghouls mingled with a lively jazz beat as the old Maison de Lupin came into view. Draped in Spanish moss and dripping with old-world charm, the three-story plantation house façade hid a somber truth. Every so often a figure would flicker in the window, sometimes small and lean, other time tall and round. They would come and then disappear only to suddenly appear in another window just slight out of sight. On loop, a crash of thunder would bring on a dying scream followed by a creeping laughter that fade back into the music of the street.

“They take theming here seriously, don’t they?” Alexander wasn’t quite sure what to make of the haunted mansion ride as Michael just nodded beside him.

“It’s impressive isn’t it?”

“I thought you set Easter to be a backwater town?” This question was whisper against Michael’s ear as Alexander leaned in.

Michael could only shrug. “That’s what it was when I entered. I have no idea what happened.”

“Hmm.” It could have been worse he supposed. Alexander’s eyes continued to wonder over the fake manor until he settled on the queue line that went through the front garden. It was mostly empty. Suddenly an idea popped into his mind. “This is a dark ride, right?”

“Yea, it’s like a tour through the mansion of a French creole wererabbit family. There’s air conditioning and also a cool bayou part.” It wasn’t a bad ride, though Michael wasn’t a fan of how slowly it moved. Thoughtlessly, he adjusted his bunny ears which and slide slightly when he nodded. This new set greatly differed from the plain pair he had gotten last time. This time he had picked a pair themed after Easter Bay, the pirate section of the Easterland. A little gold ring swung in the light brown rabbit ear as they stuck out of a childish pirate hat. How could he resist when it came free with the ticket?

“What’s the seating arrangement like?”

“It’s based on party. At most they put three in a car--” Michael stopped as he realized Alexander’s intentions. “Alright, let’s ride.”

One spookily intimate ride through a southern gothic haunted mansion later, Michael was glad he had already experienced it once with Shelly. As this time around he didn’t get much time to experience the atmosphere. Not even the sudden appearance of a giant monster alligator broke the lovers’ embrace. It was only when the ride finally reached its end did the poor ride operator have to tell them to get off.

Quite content to continue wandering around the Marais de Lupine section, Michael held Alexander’s arm and leaned against him.

“Isn’t it about time to send a picture to your cousin?”

Alexander didn’t say anything for a second. To tell the truth he had been testing to see if he could stretch out the bi-hourly demand. He had found that he could drag it out to three hours before Trisha would text him to check. “I still have some time.”

“Why don’t you get it done now? I want to take a picture with the bunny ghost.” With a thumb, he pointed at the costumed character that stood under the archway of one of the sheltered rest areas.

Alexander didn’t argue, but as they approached Michael stopped him. “Put on the ears.”

A frown pulled at Alexander’s lips. “Why?”

“Because it’s cute. I think Trisha would love it.”

“Baby, you know I’m not the rabbit ear type.”

“Yes, yes, you’re the wolf that eats the rabbit. Now put the ears on.” Michael quickly snatched the ears from Alexander’s pack. It wasn’t like the other man would stop his husband though as Michael set the ears on his head.

While Michael had a set of pirate ears, Alexander had foolishly let him select his pair as well. These ears had been the last of the mad hatter ones. Even getting them had been a bit of a fight as Michael had stolen away from a different couple right before they could grab them. Instead of a pirate hat, a little top hat sat in between two long checkered patterned rabbit ears. A small felt pocket watch was wedged to the side in gold and red.

“You’re lucky I love you.” Alexander sighed but kept the ears on.

Michael just laughed as he led them over to the mascot. Her outfit was not as childish as the others they had seen. No big cartoon head or hot suit, instead she was like a ghostly southern belle. Her large white hoop skirt slightly swayed off her waist as fluttering pieces of white fabric caught in the summer breeze. Her makeup was pale, but under the sun it was hard to mistake her as a ghost though she tried her best to look gaunt and lifeless as the two approached. Like all characters in Easterland, she had at least one feature to connect her to the rabbit theme that was prevalent everywhere in this town. A set of long soft white rabbit ears stuck from her head and curled past the white and gray bonnet she wore. They flickered and moved to the point they were almost life-like.

The line wasn’t long, so it was easy to get a few pictures on either side of the bunny belle as her handler took the photo. Dedicated to the vacation day, Michael was completely into the photo as he made a cute face along with the ghost. Alexander was not so much as he stood a few inches to the side with a half-smile and weak peace sigh.

Pictures acquired and with the sudden desire for food, they started towards Easter Street, the main walkway of the park. Just as they exited the Marais section Michael’s phone went off.

At first, he ignored it, but after the third time it rang, he finally gave in and checked.

The call ID made him frown. “What is it?” Agitation colored his voice. He kept pace with Alexander as the wereleopard looked between the various store fronts trying to decide what they were going to have for lunch.

“I need you to come in.” It was an exhausted request. Michael could almost hear Ellen rubbing her forehead.

“I’m on break.” He harshly whispered back.

“I know. I know. But they want to do some follow up.”

“On what?” Doubling checking his partner, he found that Alexander hadn’t noticed yet as he seemed taken in by a turkey leg store front.

“The realm.” Ellen answered

“I gave them everything in my report. There is nothing else I can add.”

“I know. And I wouldn’t have bothered you. But it’s not my investigation anymore.” Ellen sighed. “They gave it to Oscar Irving. Apparently, I wasn’t doing a good enough job.” The anger was obvious as she controlled herself with a huff. “Consider this a courtesy call. Next will be from Director Cora and she’s been,” She searched for an appropriate word for her boss, “in a mood.”

“Well tell Oscar that he’s not my boss and I’m in the middle of my vacation.” Alexander finally noticed that Michael had lagged behind. To avoid blocking the way for others, the couple took shelter in a small alcove between store fronts.

“One moment.” The sound of a door closing could be heard followed by the heavy thudding of a pair of boots hitting the floor. “Look, you think I didn’t try? That prick took it to Houston. For some reason she decided to side with him and approved of the interview. Best I could get out of it was pay for your time.”

“How much?” Michael caught himself for a second, before changing his answer. “No, not even for cash.” Rubbing his face, he could barely hold back a groan. This was probably important. But as he looked over at Alexander, he saw the other man shaking his head and mouthing the word no. “Can’t this wait until next week?”

“Apparently not!” Michael could practically see Ellen throw up her hands. “They called in a supposed specialist from the council. Called in Richard Wulf from the Central Packlands and are even making Giselle come back in when she just started her own vacation. They aren’t giving us a choice on this.” A sigh came through the speaker as she lowered her voice. “Come on Hunter, it will only be an hour or so.”

Anytime someone says that it will be an hour, it never is. Still, there was a level of responsibility he had to this world and its plot as he finally gave in.

“Fine. I’ll come in. But after an hour, I’m leaving.” He saw Alexander bristle a bit at him agreeing. All Michael could do was mouth for him to wait.

“The meeting starts at five. So, wrap up what you’re doing and get over here.” She sighed the next part. “What a waste of time.”

Michael looked at the large central clock. Currently it was 2:30. He would be able to make it to HQ in plenty of time. “It is.” He hung up but didn’t put his phone away. For a second, he stared at the screen. Two of the missed calls had been from an unknown number. He could only guess this was Oscar as he pocketed his phone and looked up at Alexander. The reluctance was clear as they stood in silence.

“Don’t start.” Determined to put an end to the conversation before it began, Michael held up a hand. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“You could have hung up.” A sensible action all things considered as Alexander took Michael’s hand.

“You know that’s bullshit.”

“What more could they get from you? It’s just a waste of time.”

“No shit.” Michael bit his lip. “Even Ellen knows that. But the Director doesn’t see it that way. Look, we can argue this until I leave, or we can enjoy what time we have left at the park. Which do you want to do?

Alexander continued though. “It’s not like they can arrest you for not showing up. Do they even know where you are?”

“Alexander.” Michael shook his head. It really wasn’t too bad. Half a day and that should be all. But it still didn’t sit right with him. However, he would go in. “We still have several more days after this. Mama Clarke’s going to be gone for at least three of those. This is just a small incident. After this, I won’t answer any calls from work.”

“So work is more important.” It was a cheap shot, but Alexander didn’t care as he frowned.

“How petty are you going to be?” Michael kicked him in the calf. “You’re over a thousand years old. It’s not like I’m leaving for a century.” Rubbing his temples, he sighed. “I promise, I won’t let them drag it out and when I get back, I’ll turn off my phone and put it away.”

“Really?” Alexander kissed his knuckles.

Michael just gave him a look and nodded. “What? Do you want to write up a contract as well?”

“I mean if you insist.” The mood lightened with Alexander’s smile.

Michael just rolled his eyes before he kicked him again. “Come on, I still want to get lunch.”

With the problem still a few hours away, they enjoyed the time they had left in the park. Though as he dropped off Alexander at home, the man got him to hang around a few extra minutes in the car before he headed off to HQ.

Since it was a weekday the lobby wasn’t too busy as a few hunters came and went through the front. Like every other day, Leonard sat behind his desk in the lobby. Though this time his attention was focused as Giselle and Ellen as they argued loudly.

“What else could they need?” Giselle crossed her arms, her dark brown hair pulled into a stub of a ponytail that bounced with each tap of her foot.

“If I knew, I would have just asked you on the phone.” Ellen replied, her posture tried to feign casualness, but there was a tension that flexed in her arms and shoulders.

“Fucking Oscar. Always a dick. I remember I once did mission with him and that dumbass nearly shot me. Didn’t even apologize.”

“Giselle, as much as I agree, please use some discretion.”

“Has it started yet?” Michael interrupted them as they looked over. “If it hasn’t, I say we run away before they notice.” Trying to lighten the mood, he gestured towards the door. “I’m sure they won’t be able to catch us if we run together.”

“That’s the best idea you’ve ever had, Hunter.” Turning on her heel, Giselle took his shoulder and started to the door. Ellen didn’t even have the energy to argue as she watched the two walk away.

But their clever retreat was cut off by a somewhat familiar figure.

Like a barricade, Richard unfortunately blocked the way for the duo as he arrived for the meeting. “Ah, we meet again.”

“We meet and now we part. Good day.” Michael replied rapidly but was stopped at the door by another man. Well, two men. Both were new faces. However only one made him want to instantly fight. This sudden aggression wasn’t even due to the man’s natural features. No, really, he was quite average with dark eyes, dark hair, and a plain face. But there was an air of smugness that rubbed Michael the wrong way as he tightened his fist.

“Shit.” Giselle hissed next to him.

“Do I even need to guess?” That smug bastard was probably the Oscar that had dragged both of them out of their vacation. “If we walk quickly, they might not notice us.” They kept walking through the door.

“Hunter Ortega, Hunter Clarke, the meeting is about to start.” A commanding voice cut over the lobby as they both froze. While Hunter had limited interaction with the director of the Florida Branch of Hunters, he still knew the voice of Houston Cora.

“Fuck, busted.” At being called out, Giselle scowled but the collective eyes of the three men fell on them, making it hard for their escape to continue. Corralled back in, the two could only sulk with Ellen as they headed to the conference room in the back.

After a round of introductions that included their witches’ council specialist Brody Harrison, Michael perked up a bit. The name was quite familiar as he thought of the incident Alexander had had before leaving. The man was better looking than Alexander had described. The man’s eyes weren’t overly squinty, and the glasses looked quite nice against his strong brow and straight nose.

However, Michael had a feeling the discrepancy was due to the man’s similarity to Alexander’s true face. As personal expert on his husband’s handsome face, Michael could say that the blonde was not as nice as Alexander’s dark brown and he really preferred gold speckled green eye over blue.

In the bits of time when Michael wasn’t analyzing Brody’s face, he also learnt that Oscar was an investigator assigned by the Witches’ Council rather than another Hunter. That probably explained a bit of the hostility, as there had always a bit of a divide between the Organization and other supernatural governments.

“Ms. Ortega, can you please summon the raven familiar used during the realm incident?” Oscar cut straight to the point as he looked over at the hunter. It wasn’t a difficult task as Giselle shrugged and a black raven appeared on her shoulder. The bird looked around intelligently before settling down.

“So, this is the same exact bird that was with you the entire time?”

“Of course. She’s the only bird summon I have.” It seemed like a pointless question to Giselle as her raven nipped at her ear.

“Would you mind sending it over to Mr. Harrison to examine?” Oscar continued.

“Why?”

“He’s a well regard animal summoner with the council, we just want to double check the raven to make sure nothing happened to it.”

Giselle grew protective as she held her bird. “If there was something wrong, I would have reported it. My little Soot is perfectly healthy.”

Soot seemed to squawk in agreeance, sending a glare at Oscar for his insinuation.

“Do not worry Ms. Ortega. It is nothing serious, I just need to hold them for a second.” The calm tone of Brody’s voice quickly soothed the growing hostility as Giselle looked over at him for a second before begrudgingly sending Soot over. Brody held out a hand for the bird which looked at it for a second before perching.

Whatever magic the man did Michael did not know as the bird sat for only a moment before returning to its master.

“Everything good now? Do I need to summon Dundee or Shakira too?”

Michael couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at those…unique names.

“No, that was perfect. Thank you.” Brody smiled.

With that minor check done, Oscar retook the lead. Unfortunately, much to Michael’s thinning patience, the conversation was just a constant rehashing of the reports the three had already written.

Repeatedly Oscar asked about specifics within Michael’s report which he answered time and time again to the point of frustration. How many ways could he ask the same question? Each time Michael would answer and only occasionally edit the reply to better fit the new question. It felt like a pointless exercise in restraint as Oscar once more asked about one of the corpses he had tagged and brought back. This same spider Oscar had asked about five times in the last five minutes. This was also inter-cut with a long list of inquiries into his report of the windmill incident.

This was a spot he had changed a bit in his final report. It had been to streamline report and provide a bit more of an accurate character representation of Hunter. Normally Hunter would have never chased after such a beast of his own volition, so Michael had removed a few parts about the reason why he pursued the spider. Instead the report stated that the fight had been initiated by the spider and he had simply been caught in its trap when Ellen arrived. It was accurate enough.

“What else can I say? The corpses were sent back here. If you’re unsure, just have Doc cut them up.” Michael threw up his hand. What else could he say? He didn’t make or summon these beasts. “How many times are you going to ask me this?”

Oscar ignored his question as he reshuffled the papers in front of him. His stiff back made his overall posture ridged as he pulled out another paper from the pile that had several highlights and words written on it. “In your report Mr. Clarke, there seems to a section missing that is present in the other two reports. Did you not go into the basement as well?”

“No, I didn’t. Giselle’s and Ellen’s reports should be enough on that.” Michael frowned. “Ellen even brought back the cornerstone.”

“Ah yes, the cornerstone. It seems to have gone missing since it was put into the Hunter Organization’s care.” Oscar looked over at Ellen with a slight glare that she did not return.

This was news to Michael. But still he didn’t know what it had to do with him. “Ok? I wouldn’t know whether it was or wasn’t. My answer still doesn’t change, I did not go into the basement.”

Almost begrudgingly, Oscar nodded and brought up a new topic. “What about this Bayan Maiden? You only wrote up a single line on it, but the other two reports state that you were directly communicating with it.”

“What about the maiden? She was a simple tree spirit. Provided shelter from the blood realm. Why are you asking me questions that are already answered by the report?” Michael’s annoyance grew as he slammed his hand on the table. “Is there an actual point to this line of questioning? Or are you just trying to waste our collective time?”

“Hunter Clarke.” Director Cora warned him from the side.

“I think I deserve to know what you all want. Beating around the bush is pointless. If I knew what it was you are looking for, I might be able to help. But right now, I’m just repeating myself over and over again while the conversation goes nowhere. Look, last I checked all of us were working on the same team.” Michael looked between them. Maybe it was him saying those words, but he suddenly realized that their positions were a bit odd. The table was split. On one side, Ellen sat between him and Giselle. On the other side, Oscar took the center with Director Cora to his right, Brody to his left and Richard on the other side of Brody.

It all clicked into place as Michael’s temper flared. “Hold on, is this an interrogation?” He looked over at Ellen and Giselle. “Did something happen while I was on vacation? Am I now somehow a suspect?”

“Don’t be overly dramatic Mr. Clarke. There are some inconsistencies in the reports that we would like to clear up.” Oscar gave a very grating smile that did little to make he feel reassured.

If this was true, then he wouldn’t have asked the same question several times in a row. “Well, rather than wasting time, why don’t you state these inconsistencies?” A sharp smile pulled at Michael’s lips as it was back by a deadly glare.

“When you and Giselle first entered the Realm, Giselle stated you were the one to inform her of the change in location and that you did not seem affected by the magic had been cast on her.”

“Really? This? It should be in the report that I’m anti-magic. It’s a well-known fact in my documentation.”

“Anti-magic does not mean magically immune-“ Oscar began only for Michael to cut him off.

“Clearly I wasn’t magically immune since I still ended up in the realm.”

“Please let me finish.” A blood vessel became apparent in Oscar’s forehead as he clenched his jaw.

Michael held his tongue and tried to cool his temper.

“Giselle was not able to tell us what magic was cast on her to make her unaware of the dimensional shift, yet you remained unaffected and even could tell you entered a new dimension. You also seemed to conveniently be able to commune with one of the creatures of the realm who then pointed you in the direction of the cornerstone. You were then absent for acquisition of said cornerstone. You were also separated from them three times. During the mill-house incident, during the acquisition of the cornerstone and during the breaking of said cornerstone.”

“Really? You really took the case from Ellen and gave it to this man?” Repeating the facts that have been said a million time was indeed a waste of Michael’s time as he crossed his arms.

“Understand how this looks from an outsider’s perspective.” Oscar’s plea was monotonous in Michael’s ears as he scowled.

“So, this makes me suspicious? Not to accuse Giselle,” he turned to look at her and she gave a slight nod for him to continue, “but she too was without additional supervision during two of those incidents. Is she also a suspect as well? What are we suspects of? Making an illegal realm? An anti-magic human and an animal summoner?”

“Giselle is no longer a suspect.” The key word was no longer as Giselle resentfully looked over at Oscar.

“If Hunter was a traitor, why the hell would he have come back with me and Ellen to the HQ? Wouldn’t have been more convenient for him to disappear after he separated from us when the realm broke?” Giselle growled.

“That’s would make sense, however the follow up investigation in Banyan’s Hallow revealed some additional information.” This time Brody spoke up, his tone was smooth as everyone looked over at him. He was like a calming wave that doused some of the growing heat that had arisen between the two parties. “Mr. Clarke, this isn’t meant to offend you. I’m afraid Oscar is worried about a particular character.”

“What?” Michael asked.

“Mr. Harrison let me handle this.” With a hand, Oscar cut off Brody and returned the attention to himself.

“This is a simple thing to solve my friend.” Brody smiled. “I do not know if you remember a Mr. O’Mara?”

“Yea, he’s the one who greeted us for the bounty.” Giselle cut in as Michael nodded.

“It turns out this was not quite true. Mr. O’Mara was found dead in his home.”

The two hunters looked between themselves. When they last saw him, he seemed quite alive and well. Michael even wrote in his report seeing Mr. O’Mara alongside another figure before everything went to hell in the collapse.

Brody continued, “It took some time to identify him as we had to use his fingerprints and teeth.”

“Why’s that?” Michael cut in, but he had an idea as he continued. “Was his face missing?” The context clues were too strong with how much flesh peeling had been going on recently.

“Yes. We have a reason to believe the Mr. O’Mara you met wasn’t the original but instead a rogue mage named Ashley Lee. He was originally imprisoned under Council orders; however he has recently escaped. He has a special type of magic that allows him to take the appearance of his victims as well their mannerisms through physically stealing their face.”

Michael rubbed his forehead as he took a deep sigh. “You think that I have potentially been replaced by this Ashley Lee?” God, he wanted to hate this conversation because he knew he was, in fact, himself. But he also saw how this would be a perfect set up for an impostor. The inconsistencies within the report, his periods of disappearance, all of it. Ah, fuck him, this was more of a headache then he wanted.

“Anti-magic could be reproduced with a few different techniques. There is little information about Hunter Clarke. And you suddenly left after only 2 days in the infirmary. Dr. Redfield also neglected to cast any healing magic on you, so there is no confirmation that you were, in fact, anti-magic at the time. You also did not report where you were going.” Oscar listed off a few more things like he had cracked the code. “On top of that, in the records on Ashley Lee, he prefers young men with natural black hair.”

“So, half the population?” Michael growled. “How exactly am I supposed to deny these claims then? What, do you want to call my mom and ask? That’s who I’ve been staying with these last few days.”

“Wouldn’t that be convenient?” It would be convenient if Michael could punch Oscar in the face. But still he had to let the investigator talk. After all he had to prove his innocence in a timely manner.

“I feel like I’m being stupidly set up to take the blame.” Michael ran a hand through his hair. “How exactly am I supposed to prove my innocence then? Want a DNA test or something?”

“Yes.”

“Ellen, you said an hour.” Fuck’s sake, he had things to do.

“I didn’t know about this.” Ellen defended herself, she had been told this was simply a review meeting about the reports. Not that accusations of face stealing and traitors would be brought to the table.

“Is there some quicker way we can do this?” If he was too late on his promise, Alexander would complain about it for ages. “I don’t know, strip me naked and throw a fireball at me? Or test my blood?”

“Hunter Clarke and Ashely Lee both share the blood type, O+. A DNA test is the only way we can be sure. Don’t you want to be proven innocent?” Oscar tensed as Michael stood up.

“Well since I’m guilty before prove innocent, I’m just gonna lay this out to you. You’re a cock Oscar.” Michael flipped him off. “If this is an arrest then skip the pretense and arrest me. If you want to know what I’ve been up to for the last week, I can hand you a couple of contacts and basically the entirety of my hometown cause that’s where I’ve been.”

“Hunter Clarke, sit down.” Director Cora broke her silence as Michael bristled.

“Apparently I’m Mr. Lee now.” He spat back.

“Calm down.” Richard tried to use some form of intimidation that easily bounced off Michael.

“Does anyone ever listen when I say magic doesn’t fucking work? Same goes for you Alpha, be a good boy and sit.” It would be a lie to say that part of that response wasn’t also from Alexander.

“Please Mr. Clarke.” Brody’s voice cut through them all as the temperature of the room rose. “We haven’t handled this well.” He held up an appeasing hand as he shook his head. “Oscar didn’t mean to accuse you of being an impostor. It is simply that this investigation has reached a dead end.”

“And you plan to use me as a scapegoat to wrap up this dead end?”

“No, no. This is just a misunderstand.”

As much as the words pissed Michael off, he still tried to stabilize his mood as he glared at Brody. “This is quite the misunderstanding then. Being brought here under false pretenses and then accused of being this Ashley Lee.”

“Things have escalated a bit fast.” Brody gave a small laugh before turning to look at Oscar and Cora. “So that our friend here can return to his appointment, I think I could easily put this accusation to rest.”

“Really? Are you sure they will accept it? They might accuse you of working for me.” Michael gave a dry laugh as his gaze shifted to Oscar.

“If I can prove Mr. Clarke is who he says he is, can we put this to rest?” Brody turned to the others. They hemmed and hawed for a few moments before agreeing that Brody was in good enough standing that if he could prove Hunter’s innocence, they would put end the interrogation.

“You stated earlier that you are anti-magic correct?”

Michael nodded.

“That is good. You see while I am a beast summoner like Ms. Giselle, I also have a secondary ability. I am a psychic, specifically one able to read memories. Even if you are anti-magic, it will not matter. To confirm your identity, I simply need to look at a few of your memories. Ashley Lee is unable to copy such things, so it should be easy to prove your innocence.”

However simple it was, at the thought of a memory invasion Michael couldn’t keep from scowling. He wasn’t afraid of having his mind read, after all his will could easily trump a fragment world denizen. If there was something he didn’t want to show Brody, he was sure he could hide it. It was more a general discomfort with how the situation evolved into this. There was no saying no to it. If he said no, it would only make him more guilt. He could only agree.

“How do I keep them from saying that I’ve used some enchantment to somehow copy my memories?” One last check. If Michael was going to do this, he wanted leave no farther room for discussion.

“Don’t worry about that. So far I have never seen a magic that can do such a thing successful and I have done this quite a few times.” This was said with a reassuring smile as Brody continued. “And you would have to be a very powerful fellow psychic to keep me out.” He gave a small laugh. “You aren’t one, are you Mr. Clarke?”

“Let’s get this over with then. What do you need?”

“It’s very simple. I just need you to put your hands into mine and close your eyes.” The words were almost seductive in quality, something that did nothing to dissipate Michael’s discomfort.

Still he went through with it and place his hands into Brody’s surprisingly cool palms. For a second Michael watched Brody’s eyes run over the rough dark skin of the back of his hands. They were crisscrossed by light scars and blotches from years of work. Blunt nails mixed with prominent knuckles made them stand out against the slim white palms of the psychic. Finally, his eyes stopped on the black and white bracelet that hung around his left wrist. The carved little leopard clearly visible before he retracted his vision.

“Now just close your eyes and we’ll begin.”

Michael hummed in acknowledgement. In the few moments of examination, he had already begun to collect and organize the core of who Hunter was. The collection of memories was strong, which made it easy for Michael to slip away and become a shadow on the edge of the man. In some ways this was also a bit of a test run for Michael. He needed to see the stability of the character he had created without him in complete control. If Michael could successfully remain an observer, it meant that he will be able to leave when the time came.

A/N

Shout to my little brother for helping me figure out two plot points that had been bugging me for the last week. Though the story has kind of taken a bit of life of it's own from my original starting point back in March, it's all good. I have the ending solidified for this arc so now it's just getting the words to sound right. Also as someone who grew up going to Disney World as a child, I couldn't help but build my own little Disney. Only with rabbits as the rodent rather than mice.