Me, internally: Ok but the way the narrative used part of its v e r y limited time left to include
Hunter & Darius having an amicable rapport that was both a clear progression from how they previously acted towards each other and ended as positive character growth for both of them
Darius being the one to give Hunter a scroll, his only means to finally communicate with others outside the coven with the important point of it being another high-ranking member of Belos’ inner court to do so, and furthered it by having Darius actively encouragesuch behavior
building off the ultimately failed first attempts of reaching out by Luz & Amity but done in a way that doesn’t leave Hunter feeling worse, instead it’s a small step encouraged by someone that actually knows what it’s like being around & “loyal” to Belos, not by someone that openly opposes Belos
making that moment be such a positive experience for Hunter it gave him renewed confidence (even if only temporarily) AND having it happen back when Darius still appeared to be a full fledged antagonist
throwing in brief details that Darius was the student of the previous Golden Guard, how important he was to him, and that he now thinks Hunter is a worthy successor, and Hunter noticing in the “memory” of his promotion that Darius looked sad – all important details given the overarching themes in TOH of found family, student-mentor relationships, and adults overcoming their own toxic/solitary habits to be better role models for the younger generations
and then finally paralleling Darius’ frantic concern for Hunter to Raine’s composed-but-just-as-deep-concern for Eda & her kids, a relationship that is set up to be the narrative conclusion for one of the main characters (Raeda will be married by the end without a doubt )
Given all of this, I can’t see how Darius won’t end up as Hunter’s main guardian, if not one of them. Every one of the moments between Darius & Hunter happened in S2-B after the crew knew the show got cancelled and they had to rewrite a bunch of stuff, if they wanted to write Darius as “actually he’s cool lol” all they needed to do was reveal he was secretly a rebel too, they didn’t need to throw in any backstory details or build a connection between him and Hunter (who has already had like 5+ other major connections built for him since his introduction), but they actively chose to keep those details.
So yeah, manifesting canon Dadrius lol.
Darius and Hunter text each often enough it wasn’t weird for Hunter to hear from him
Darius wasn’t able to house Hunter himself but knows that he’s safe if they’re texting, and must know about the Hexside incident if Luz heard about it too
Darius sent Hunter on (what was supposed to be) a lower stakes rescue mission under the insistence it was vital he protect Luz, both as a means to keep Hunter away from the main conflict and as a means to keep him & Luz safe (probably also as a reassurance to all of Eda & Raine & Lilith, making it even nicer of a gesture)
The other CATTs were in on Darius’ plan to keep the kids as far away and as safe as possible, evident by Katya saying “Darius insisted” as she flew off without further explanation
Darius is outwardly a bit of bastard but actually is compassionate if not only cuz he’s a rebel, but cuz he put all that effort into getting the kids away from the main conflict when the rebellion is under heavy surveillance and probably don’t have a lot of time to spare on other details. For all his effort in acting like he doesn’t care he definitely does, so yeah, manifesting canon Dadrius lol.
