#Celeste x Shifter | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mindninjax · 4 years

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Bound to You (3)

Dragon Shifter!Bakugo x black! femreader

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: smut, virginity, mentions of blood, porn with plot, nipple play, biting/marking, mentions of violence,

Word Count: 6.5K

a/n: This is a collab piece for the Pleasant & Strider Present: Fantasy AU Collab hosted by @pleasantanathema @linestrider and @present-mel. PLEASE check out all the other works on this masterlist! They’re are all amazingly talented and I’m so so happy I got to participate.

It’s here! It’s here everyone! The end! Ahhh I’m so so so happy I finally got this out and I’m so happy that there were so many people who enjoyed this! Special thanks to @bullrunpicnicker and @veryrealunicorn for beta reading and working your comma magic and also just talking my brain into being nice to me as I bashed everything about this fic. You both are amazing and I love you!I hope you enjoy the ending haha and thank you so so much to everyone who read it! Best believe I’ve seen every single one yall’s tags and comments and I was crying in the club!

Please enjoy!

[Previous]

Silver. Green. Brown. The colors in your head shine vividly as you peek your eyes open. The sun is overhead, and you’re in a field full of flowers. The air is thick with the sweet scent, and you can see the tendrils of the scent flow through the air.

Little swirls and tiny beams surround you, and you roll onto your side, expecting to see Katsuki. A tiny concerned gasp escapes your lips when you realize he isn’t there. In fact, you can’t even sense him.

A few minutes ago, he filled your head. His every thought, his presence, and you could feel where he was. Now your mind is empty, like nothing exists. You start to panic.

Do not fret, Little Flower. He lives. Just not in this realm.

You see the words before you hear them. The silvery scroll floats gently to you on the wind and dances around your face. You stand and realize you’re dressed in a white flowing gown. The neckline swoops and drapes over your shoulders and the dress hugs your body as if it was made specifically for you. There are thick green vines wrapped around your torso, wrists, and ankles and little gold and silver flowers bloom from them.

You hold your hand up to the sun. It’s transparent, like you aren’t really there. There’s magical laughter, and you follow the sound coming upon an archway of flowers that seem to materialize out of nowhere. You step through to a luscious garden warm with a bubbling creek running through the middle.

On the other side of the creek stands a beautiful woman. She looks similar to you: dark skin, wild curly hair, though longer than yours as it hangs past her waist, and deep emerald green eyes. She turns to greet you with a loving smile as you step towards the creek. You move to cross it and the ground shifts to make a bridge for you automatically.

You immediately recognize the woman in front of you, despite not ever seeing her before.

“Pax.” You whisper.

She flashes you a glorious smile and approaches you, arms outstretched.

I am happy you were finally able to make it here, my flower. I’ve been waiting for you. This means you’ve realized your true power. She says, grasping your hands. Her fingers intertwine with yours despite the lack of your corporeal shape.

“What is this place?” you ask softly. Pax extends her arms to gesture to her surroundings.

This is where you will come after you have fulfilled your duty. Porta Celeste. I called you here to tell you about the power you possess now that it has been fully awakened.

Her regal bearing is overpowering and you can’t help but feel obligated to listen and obey her commands. You realize it was her voice that’s been playing in the back of your mind.

“My duty?” you question. Does she mean bonding with Prince Shouto? Your eyes shift back and forth nervously. How were you to do that? Does she know that you just bonded with Katsuki?

Yes, my child. I know about the shifter. Apologies, no thoughts of yours are private here. She replies smiling warmly at you.

She twitches a bit when she says “shifter,” and you’re only able to catch it because you don’t blink as you watch her. Weird, also kind of rude, but what can you do?

Pax laughs and it sounds like tiny bells, silvery and whimsical. You recognize it instantly as the laugh you heard back when you first started your journey with Katsuki.

Yes, your mind has been one of my favorites. Very entertaining. She beams like a proud mother and your heart aches as you remember your adoptive mother. Her expression shifts and she sadly watches you, sympathy drowning her features.

Bonding with the elf prince is the duty of which I speak. Your responsibility as a terramater is to maintain peace in the world no matter what it takes, as I and the others before you have done for centuries. If you’re to keep that promise to your mother then you know what you must do. She continues seriously.

Her words hold such authority that you can feel them coursing through you, forcing you to agree with her ideals. Guilt washes over you as Katsuki’s face flashes in your mind.

Do not let this child’s words break your spirit, Gaia. Your love and power are stronger than hers ever was.

A strong clear voice from far behind a tall bush echoes through the garden. It radiates power and sounds familiar to you as well. A woman emerges, barefoot, muscular and curvy. Cascading individual locks that resemble vines flow past her waist and swing with her hips as she walks. Tiny white flowers are scattered throughout her hair.

She wears white as well but her garb seems more warrior-like. It’s in two pieces, the top a band of white cloth tightly wrapped around her chest and a skirt that reaches her feet but has a thigh high split up either side, similar to your shift after Katsuki’s “improvements.”

You bask in her glory and she comes to stand next to you and Pax. The familiar sensation washes over you again and you instantly become aware of the woman’s identity.

Amare. The woman who wiped out thousands for revenge for her lover’s death, creator of Tsunagu, and Pax’s mother. She’s a spitting image of you and Pax, yet she seems more mature. Her curves are deeper, hips and butt more rounded and pronounced, and she sports a pair of hard abs. She stands tall, towering over both you and Pax, exuding intimidation.

You can feel their auras battling for dominance. They clash and both stare at each other disapprovingly. Amare strides over to you and places an arm around your shoulder.

You love this shifter, yes? I know you do, I felt when your minds connected. It’s why I sanctioned the bond.

“Sanctioned the bond?” you implore, cocking your head to the side.

I give my blessing to every Tsunagu created. The more love I feel between the two, the stronger the bond and the magic involved is. You two feel strongly for one another. Don’t ever let that go. It’s stronger than she could ever know. She did not love who she created Tsunagu with, it’s why her powers are fading.

Pax’s lovely face is now tainted with anger and frustration. Her brows are knitted and she bares her teeth at her mother.

Your ‘love’ is what started this disaster in the first place. Love is reckless! It makes your forget logic, it makes you murder thousands of innocent people on a battlefield, it kills you! I used the power I had to fix what you broke, as a leader should! So tell me mother, who was the child and who was the adult? She responds, challenging Amare’s authority.

You look between the two of them. A choice between love and peace. One or the other and you had to choose. Your love for Katsuki or your duty to your people. What would he have done? The absence of his presence in your mind leaves you aching for him. You wish he was here to tell you what to do.

And then it hits you. It’s not anyone else's decision to make. Not Pax or Amare or even Katsuki’s. It’s yours. Everything you’ve questioned or needed to know about magic, the goddess, the rivalry between Pax and Amare or the constant conflict between the elves, shifters, and humans becomes infinitely clearer.

The two don’t even recognize your new realization. They continue to argue back and forth until you say in a commanding voice that rings throughout the entire realm.

“Stop.”

Both of their heads snap towards you. All of the power that swirled and clashed between the two of them whirls around you in a tornado of energy. It whips around you making your dress fly elegantly as you’re lifted into the sky. Your eyes glow and look down upon them.

“It’s time for a change.”

“Y/N! Dammit! Open your eyes!” A rough voice full of panic pulls you from your dream. There’s a slight pain in your shoulders as you come to. Katsuki’s nails are dug into your skin and his eyes are wide and focused on yours as he hovers over your sleeping body.

“Fuck, finally!” he says with exasperation.

‘Katsuki?” you respond groggily. He places his hand on your cheek gently and you shut your eyes and lean into his touch.

“I thought you were dead. Well, no, not even that because I still would’ve felt if you were dead. But you were just gone. My head was empty. Not like how it was before we, uhhh…ya know…but like you should’ve been there but you weren’t,” he explains in a rush. You sit up quickly and plop your arms around his neck, instantly calming him.

So this is what it’s like to be bonded? Your minds bleed into one being and without the other, you’re completely lost, helpless. You squeeze him closer and he wraps his arm around you burying his face into your neck again.

“I’m sorry. I’m back now though, so don’t worry,” you whisper into his ear reassuringly.

“Back? Where did you go? And what’s that on your head?” he asks, pulling you back, and handing you your dress.

“Long story, but I met Pax and Amare in another realm.” You say, slipping the dress over your head and securing it with the vine before reaching up to your head to see what he means.

Your fingers brush over cold metal at the base of your forehead and you remove it to examine it closely. There are intricate designs of golden vines and leaves in swirls that dip down toward the apex where a large emerald shaped jewel sits in the center. It glows serenely and swirls with the same energy Katsuki saw in your eyes when you two first met.

“Terra’s Diadem?” you say astonished. Katsuki eyes rake over the crown in your hand. He grabs it from you, places it carefully on your head, and smoothes your puffy hair down.

“Where it belongs,” he replies.

You give him a grateful look and then stand stretching and gazing out into the clearing. “Come on, Shouto is expecting us.” You say to him confidently. His expressions shift quickly from confusion to anger.

“What the fuck are you talking about? You don’t still plan on going to the mountain after we bonded?” he growls lowly, a hint of possession in his voice.

“I have to, Katsuki. The war will never stop if I don’t. I have a responsibility and I made a promise, same as you… Listen to me.” You say, grabbing his chin as he turns away from you angrily.

“Peace without love is clearly not the answer. My mother, Adria, is a clear example of that. But there’s no way that I can run off with you and ignore the war. It’s been devastating our lands for too long, and I need to stop it. Shifters shouldn’t be in hiding, and there shouldn’t be all of this fighting over who possesses magic and who doesn’t,” you say pointedly, raising an eyebrow when you mention the shifters. He huffs stubbornly as he peers back into your eyes and you don’t need to be bonded to know he thinks you’re right.

“There needs to be a change to the treaty. Tsunagu is useless if it’s between two people who don’t love each other. Maybe, if I explain that to Shouto, we can find another way for peace. If it was his idea for the deal in the first place, he should be open to it.”

Reluctantly, Katsuki nods and moves your hand to his lips. He places a gentle kiss on your knuckles and pulls you towards the edge of the clearing.

“I believe in you, princess. Let’s go make things right.”

The sound of screams assault your ears as you travel back to the where the faeries first met you. There’s smoke and blue flames swallowing the trees. Injured faeries lay on the ground as the others scatter frantically trying to put out the fires or flee from the scene. The elder stands protectively in front of a small group cowering behind him.

Dabi is standing over them, hand raised with a flame rippling in his hand ready to strike. Katsuki is there in a second, blocking Dabi and protecting the little beings. You search frantically for Natsuo, knowing his quirk will be an issue for Katsuki but nothing is covered in ice and there’s no sign of him.

You rush to help the faeries put out the fires in the trees as they creak and moan from the heat. From behind you, you hear Dabi and Katsuki battling again.

“So you’re prepared to die to save her, shifter?! I’ll happily oblige!” Dabi laughs maniacally.

Katsuki’s eyes glow a deep red and the golden specks in his eyes ignite and dance around like flames. Smoke tuffs from his nose and his teeth and claws grow a bit longer. He looks slightly more animalistic as he crouches into a defensive position, ready to spring at Dabi.

You’re able to get the injured faeries into a cave, safely away from the danger before running back to Katsuki and Dabi. Their power is matched, and you watch as they continue to brawl.

Dabi catches your eye and smiles, the burns on his face wrinkling to make him even more terrifying. He yells, “Now!” and ice surrounds the perimeter of Verdana and creates a dome overhead. Natsuo appears from the tops of the trees and jumps down to join his partner. The temperature drops sharply as you dash over to Katsuki.

He’s on his knees as Dabi pulls out a sword to run through his heart, but you make it just in time. You stand huddled over Katsuki in a protective stance, a hand outstretched in front of you to stop the blade. There’s a green glow coming from your hands, and the blade immediately erupts into a heap of vines and branches.

Your eyes are full of fury at the idea of him harming your mate. A growl that sounds like it should come from Katsuki rips through your throat.

“I’ve been waiting for a rematch with you and your little dragon friend, princess,” Dabi says. His tongue falls out of his mouth to lick his lips like a serpent.

You stand tall in front of him, emanating so much power that the forest begins to rumble slightly. “I can guarantee you this, Dabi, it won’t be much of a rematch,” you speak in a dangerous tone.

Before he or Natsuo can move, you raise your arms and tree roots burst from the ground wrapping around both of their bodies tightly, rendering them motionless.

You concentrate, eyes squeezing shut as the vines wrap tighter and tighter around the two elves. They’re both lifted off the ground, faces growing paler as the air gets pushed from their lungs. You open your eyes as their bodies fall limp in the vines.

“Did you-” Katsuki’s voice comes from behind you.

“No. They’re just passed out.” You turn to the elder as he approaches and bows to you in gratitude. “Take them out of this forest, but do not harm them. Make sure they’re not able to enter here again,” you instruct him. He bows slightly and sets off.

You turn to Katsuki now, bend down and kiss him passionately. He can immediately feel himself growing stronger. When you two pull back from the kiss, he lets his head fall back and a giant plume of fire gapes from his mouth up through the dome melting it effectively.

Everyone stares in amazement, including Katsuki, as the fire subsides from his mouth.

“How? Shifters haven’t been able to breath fire for centuries,” he says in shock.

You smile proudly at him. “I told you, it’s time for a change. Now, let's get to that mountain.”

The foot of the mountain is in your sights, and you can see a white horse tied to a nearby tree. Prince Shouto must already be up the mountain waiting for you. You approach the trail to continue up the mountain but stop and block the path from Katsuki.

“The fuck are you doing?” he asks, annoyed. You give him a serious look and he knows he’s not going to like what comes out of your mouth next.

“I have to go alone, Katsuki,” you say looking into his eyes. He refuses, shaking his head violently and getting ready to explode in a fit of curses. You interrupt him before he can.

“I can’t meet with the man who I was promised to bond with standing next to the man I’m actually bonded with. We’re trying to persuade him into a different idea, remember? You have to trust me on this. You’ll sense if I’m in any danger and I know you’ll be able to make it to me before anything happens,” you explain to him.

He glares at you, but nods in agreement. He trusts you, believes in the strength you’ve shown time and time again on this journey. He’s just not fond of you being up there by yourself with an elf who is only here to bond with what is his. Shifters mate for life, and he’ll be damned if some frilly little elf tries to take you away from him.

You roll your eyes, taking in his thoughts. You squeeze his hand tightly and give him a reassuring look before turning around to head up the mountain.

I love you. You send the words to him mentally, and you hear his grunt of acknowledgement in your mind, not needing to hear him say it back.

The trek up the mountain is not a long one, especially with your new found powers. The earth flattens out for you or smooths the incline to get you up the mountain, and you barely break a sweat as you reach the peak.

Prince Shouto is standing at the edge, holding a hand out to help you to the top. His hand is slightly cool as it wraps around yours, and, for a second, you’re reminded of Natsuo. You shake the thought from your mind as he smiles pleasantly and bows gently to you.

“My lady, it’s an honor to meet you. I’ve been looking forward to this moment,” he says formally. He’s quite handsome: porcelain skin, tall and broad for an elf, with half red and half white hair. His heterochromatic eyes bore into yours and you instinctively feel drawn to him.

His aura clouds your mind and you feel like you’re being lifted up and carried towards him. The only thing holding you tethered is Katsuki’s stubborn growls in the back of your mind.

Blinking, you realize you haven’t said anything and open your mouth to reply, but he stops you. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to stare. I just didn’t expect someone as lovely as you,” he says. Your face grows hot.

What's going on with me? You think to yourself.

I second that. The low harsh voice in the back of your mind spits sassily.

“Oh.. erm… Thank you, Your Highness. I’m glad you were able to meet me here,” you sputter nervously.

What happened to all the confidence and strength you were teeming with a few minutes ago? It seemed it was drained from you the moment you reached the peak of the mountain.

Shouto kisses your hand, his eyes never leaving yours. “Please, call me Shouto,” he says in a smooth voice. You’re momentarily lost in his charming allure, and for a split second the vision of you and him bonding seems like the thing you desire the most. Katsuki’s voice in the back of your mind grows fainter.

“Ah...right, Shouto. Before we do anything, I would like to discuss the treaty with you,” you say as you try to break through the haze. Stay focused on the goal, reigniting peace for both kingdoms.

“Of course, my darling. I’ve discussed this idea with your king. The treaty must be restored if we’re to have peace once again between our people. You and I are to create Tsunagu as our ancestors before us, and we shall rule the kingdoms together. Our first decree, an end to the war,” he says, beaming at you.

He sounds confident in this idea, and if you were the same person you were a few days ago, you would’ve bonded with him with no hesitation. But this solution solves only one problem in the mountain of issues that are happening now. You want to solve them all, not settle on a temporary solution.

“That all sounds like a great plan in theory, but what of the growing tensions between our people? Elves clearly have an upper hand on the rest of the humans with their use of magic. Only a handful of my people can wield it, but none to the extent that your people can. There must be some balance. There needs to be a change to the treaty. It is my hope that you and I can come up with a new way to deal with these…without being forced to create Tsunagu.” You finish your statement, chin held high and not breaking eye contact as Shouto listens intently to your speech.

He places a finger to his chin, pondering your statement deeply before looking at you again and answering. “So you do not wish to create Tsunagu with me?” he asks, his voice dropping an octave, a hint of danger in his words.

“I do not wish to be forced to create Tsunagu with you. Tsunagu is a bond with someone forged from love. Amare did not create Tsunagu to bring about peace. The properties of the magic flowing between the two who create it will only work completely if they share an intense emotional connection to each other. It’s why the magic in humans who were forced to bond with elves was weakened over the years. It’s why I believe if we create Tsunagu right now under the same ideals, it will not bring about peace for everyone.”

He’s quiet again, finger still to his chin tapping rhythmically. You continue to stare, feeling the weird haze in your mind dissipate slowly, Katsuki’s thoughts and presence becoming clearer again. His growing presence in your mind gives you more strength and you stand tall, fists clenched as you wait for Shouto’s reply.

Shouto lets out a deep sigh. His beautiful face falls into an expression devoid of emotion. There’s a faint roar in the back of your mind. Your heart beat speeds up and adrenaline pumps through your veins as Shouto speaks.

“What a shame. I thought this was going to be easy.”

Too many things happen in an instant, and you’re left dazed and confused farther from Shouto than you previously were. There’s a huge red creature crouching over you, shielding you from the scene in front of you.

Its massive wings are outstretched making it appear extremely intimidating, and its dagger-like claws dig into the rock next to you. Heat billows in waves from its skin as it bares its many sharp teeth at the two figures in front of you.

You peek around its enormous leg to see Dabi, with Shouto's sword pointing at his neck. Dabi? What is he doing here?

You alright, princess? a voice you recognize asks in your head. Katsuki? Everything becomes clearer now, and you stand looking at the creature in front of you in amazement.

Katsuki stands before you, magnificent and terrifying, a fully shifted dragon. He’s beautiful, and you feel an immense sense of pride as you take in all his glory.

Heh heh, I know right. I look amazing. He bends his giant head down and lays it softly on your shoulder to look into your eyes. His eyes still look the same, save for the pupils being thin slits. The shimmers of gold in his eyes are full flames. You place your hand next to his snout and his eyes close briefly at your touch, relief flooding his expression.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you,” you say aloud.

“Ah, I see now,” Shouto says calmly and you move to look at him. “So this is why you didn’t want to bond, and this is why my spell wasn’t working. Tricky little harlot, you’ve already bonded with another. And another surprise, a shifter. I thought you were all dead.” His tone is monotone now, lacking expression as if this is all a bore to him.

The prince slowly presses his sword into Dabi’s neck and blood starts to ooze from the wound.

“Stop! Don’t hurt him,” you cry out. Shouto peers at you in disgusted bewilderment.

“This elf tried to kill you. I’m doing you a favor.”

“He was just following orders! He doesn’t deserve to die!” you scream at him.

Katsuki questions your words inside your head, but continues to crouch protectively in front of you. Suddenly, Dabi’s manic eyes turn to you. He screams at you, anger and bitterness filling his words.

“You bitch! You killed Natsuo! I’ll make you suffer. I don’t care if we have orders from the King to kill you quickly! You will die writhing in pain!”

A pang of guilt hits you so hard in the stomach you’re almost knocked off your feet. You’d killed Natsuo? But you were just trying to put them to sleep. It was true that you felt more threatened by Natsuo for Katsuki’s sake but you still had tried focusing your power on knocking them out.

“Shut up. If you had orders from my father, they no longer matter. He’s dead now. I am your king,” Shouto explains. “If you have any plans to harm this woman, then you are of no use to me.” He pierces his sword through Dabi’s neck before you can stop him. Dabi falls motionless on the ground, blood filling the cracks in the rocks beneath him.

“Now then, I’ll give you one chance, my lady. Either you come with me or things get difficult for everyone,” the elf continues. Tears burn your eyes as you watch the life trickle out of Dabi’s eyes. You throw a cold look at Shouto.

“I thought you wanted peace!” you scream at him.

“I never cared about peace. All I wanted was the power. It’s why I killed my short-tempered father. He was too impatient, and would've never been able to achieve what I have. All I wanted was your magic. It’s extremely powerful. With it, I’d be unstoppable. I was planning on getting it from you from Tsunagu because I had a soft spot for you. But when my seduction spell didn’t work, I knew I’d have to take it from you,” he says matter of factly, shrugging his broad shoulders.

Katsuki snarls and the anger inside of you grows. Your eyes start to glow but they stop when you hear the next phrase fall from Shouto’s lips.

“I wouldn’t if I were you. I transported my army to your shifter’s homeland as soon as he came to protect you. You wouldn’t want your lover’s people to be wiped out, would you? Not after they clawed their way back to the surface,” he says and reaches a hand out towards you for you to take it.

Your breath hitches at his threat and you lock eyes with Katsuki. His fearsome expression doesn’t change but you can feel the worry he expresses at Shouto’s words.

I won’t let that happen, you assure him. Shouto seems to have thought everything out. He’s two steps ahead of you and he has more knowledge about magic than you’ve learned. What did he mean he would have to take it from you? Is that even possible? Maybe some kind of spell?

You walk forward, hand outstretched ready to take it but a rush of wind brushes your face and a huge red wing blocks your way. You look up at Katsuki. He’s glaring at Shouto menacingly.

Shouto sighs again as he watches Katsuki stop you from approaching him.

“So be it,” he says, and disappears in a puff of blue smoke.

You’re on Katsuki’s back now as he zooms through the skies towards Pyra. Your hearts are racing as you try to make it there as fast as you can. You try to figure out how Shouto got to be this powerful. If he mentioned taking your power, then that can only mean he must've stolen power from others as well. Could it have been a spell he learned? You’re not sure, but one thing you do know is that he must be stopped.

Katsuki flaps his wings harder and harder, pushing himself to go faster. Flashes of the faces you first saw in his memories when you two bonded are running constantly through his mind, and you try to mentally ease his distress with thoughts of your undying love for him. It soothes him, but he doesn’t slow down or let up on pushing himself to go faster.

You two arrive on a bloody battlefield. Shouto is leading an army of elves into the caves of the shifters, slaughtering any who are in his path. You watch in horror as the screams of innocent shifters reverberate through the caves. Katsuki roars with fury, and you jump from his back to stop any elves you can.

The anger Katsuki feels pulsates through you and your eyes are glowing again. Green streaks flow through the fire-filled caverns and you see some shifters pause and hunch over as if in pain. Suddenly, there’s a collective roar of multiple dragons as all the shifters start to change and fight back.

Katsuki flies off, breathing fire onto the battlefield to create a wall of flames that the elves can’t breach. The other dragons around you continue battling and defending their home. Some nod to you in acknowledgement, as if they know you’re responsible for returning their power.

You watch the chaos, blood is staining the ground, roars from dragons and wails from injured elves and shifters all around you. You feel helpless. Everything you’ve done before was so that this wouldn’t happen. You were so sure that change was needed to stop this but it seems Pax might’ve been right. Her words echo in the back of your mind.

Sometimes, Little Flower, sacrifices must be made in order for the horrors of war to be restored by peace.

Tears burn your eyes again as you think of Katsuki, fighting for his people, how this is all your fault. If the shifters are wiped out, it’ll be because you were selfish, because you chose love over your ‘duty.’

There’s no way Shouto will take you now, and even if he did, he would just steal your magic and use it to rule over everyone. Not to mention continuing to wipe the shifters out, as they’ll be a threat to him. He’ll start with Katsuki.

You fall to your knees in the middle of the battlefield. Everything goes quiet around you. It’s as if the world has slowed down. You look up and see a beautiful woman.

She’s green and leafy but beautiful and regal. Her hair is vines and it cascades down her body and buries into the earth beneath you. There is an otherworldly glow around her and she looks down on you like a mother who’s proud of her child.

The tears flow down your cheeks as you come to realize who stands before you.

Terra.

Her hand caresses your face and wipes away the tears as she looks upon you, the most loving expression you’ve ever seen on anyone’s face. She speaks and her voice sounds like it echoes through the entire world but you’re the only one to hear.

Do not cry, Gaia. It is my fault for putting you in this situation. I chose you to fix my mistake. I thought Pax would have fixed it, but she became clouded by her anger for her mother. Magic should have never been released here. It should’ve been kept with the gods and goddesses. I was foolish and weak when I gorged myself on power and instead of containing it, I released it without knowing the consequences. It is my burden to bear for giving my children too much power. Do not doubt yourself, my child. You know what you must do.

She finishes her speech and places a soft kiss to your forehead. Time speeds back up and the sounds of battle are loud in your ears again.

You stand, wiping away the tears and turn to face Shouto on the battlefield. You know what you need to do now. It’s as if Terra’s kiss made everything clearer.

Your heart wrenches at the thought, but you know this is the way you can stop the war between your people and the elves. This is the way you’ll be able to ensure Katsuki and his people will live. This is the way to peace.

You think about your journey with Katsuki, remember the way he’d pinned you down and held his teeth to your throat, the way he’d flung you over his shoulder and marched you to the forest, how you’d cleaned his wounds and felt his scars and how your arms felt wrapped around him after the troll almost killed him.

You remember the way he looked at you underneath the waterfall, and the way his lips felt on yours. His warm touch and how you two fit perfectly together when he was inside you. His warm and comforting presence in your head.

You wipe more tears away as you hold your head high. Your eyes start to glow again.

I’m sorry, Katsuki.

Blood splatters in Katsuki’s face as he shoves a knife through the chest of an elf raising his sword to a small shifter child. He grabs the child and takes her to a cave where there are other children hiding away from the battle.

He was able to shift back to help the rest of the shifters escape while the warriors fought off the elves. The fire wall he’d created had been doing well to hold the enemy back and give them time to get the children to a safe place.

He barely realized the absence of your presence in his mind until he tried to pinpoint your location and make sure you were safe. He searches frantically, trying to single out your wild curly hair in the mayhem.

“Y/N!” he yells, but he gets no reply. Your voice is suddenly in his mind again and what he hears sends a cold chill up his spine.

I’m sorry, Katsuki.

What the hell are you doing, princess? He thinks in a harsh tone.

Suddenly the ground starts to rumble violently. The battle comes to a halt as everyone watches a figure rise into the sky. The figure is glowing an emerald green.

He can just make out the curly hair flowing gracefully and the long white dress. Your eyes are glowing, and there’s a wall of green energy rising up with you, blocking the remaining elves from entering Pyra.

Katsuki continues watching you. The elves aren’t able to keep advancing, and he’s immediately thankful until he sees that you’re on the opposite side of the barrier. Separated from him. A pit grows in his stomach as your words sink in.

He’s racing towards the barrier now, pushing through people and knocking them down, eyes never leaving your floating figure in the sky. He’s screaming at you in his head, or maybe it’s aloud. He doesn’t know anymore.

Please, please don’t do whatever you’re about to do! Don’t be stupid! Don’t leave me! PLEASE!

He watches as your voice mixed with another more eerie and powerful voice speaks. Your voice rumbles the earth and he’s sure everyone on Earth can hear you now.

“Prince Shouto. I cannot let you continue to abuse the power of magic in this world,” you say, staring deep into the elf's soul.

Katsuki is almost there, almost to the barrier, still pleading with you. Please princess, let me help you! Please!

He watches as Shouto is lifted into the air with you. You hold out your hand and a sword that looks to be made of leaves and gold materializes in your palm.

The blade shines so bright it looks like it could be a star. You dash towards Shouto, the blade aimed at his heart and Katsuki makes it to the barrier.

Before he can see the blade make contact with Shouto’s chest, there’s a flash of white light and everything is too bright to see. The world rumbles furiously and it seems as if everything might end right there.

The last words Katsuki hears in his head before there is an eternal silence is your sweet voice.

Find Me.

Epilogue

No one knows where you and Shouto disappeared to that day. Katsuki opened his eyes after the flash to see the barrier gone and no trace of you or Shouto.

He races over to where you were last, searching frantically for your body but all that remains is the diadem you wore on your head cracked in two. The jewel in the center has a large crack through it and no longer glows or swirls with energy.

Katsuki calls out for you frantically in his head and aloud, but he hears nothing. You’re gone, not dead, but you no longer exist, and it feels like he’s lost a part of himself.

It feels like he’s doomed to search the rest of the world for something he will never get back. He lets out an anguished roar as tears cascade down his cheeks, his anguished cry ringing out among the battlefield.

Magic ceases to exist and the world rushes into a new era. One without magic and wars based on who should wield it. Everyone is equal now, and must learn to work together to correct the devastation of the constant war and conflict between the races. The shifters can no longer shift, and the elves have no magic to maintain crops and food supplies.

You’re renowned as a savior amongst your people and the world comes to know you as Gaia, the most sacred of beings. Katsuki leaves home, travelling the world in constant search for you, never forgetting your last words to him.

Find me.

He clutches the cracked jewel he’s added to his tooth necklace tightly, looking into the horizon as he sets off on his journey.

“I’ll find you, princess. I swear.”

---

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yoonia · 5 years

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Blood Moon Rising | 04

‘As beings from ancient times, the Vampire Clan has undergone numerous changes to thrive in the Modern Age after surviving the Ancient Blood War. As a part of the traveller family in his clan, Jimin has parted ways from the coven until the day his Lords warned him of the lurking danger from inside the clan. And all so suddenly, he was pulled out of his solitary, only to have given the responsibility he had never wished to have, along with the threats that come as a part of the deal.

Born as youngest yet having lost so much, you have given your family your loyalty, your protection, and had been given their love and support that had become the only thing that keeps you going. But what happens when the only people you have put your trust in only repay you with betrayal?’

➥ Character | Jimin x reader

➥ Genre | Supernatural!au, Vampire! Jimin, Werewolf!reader, Angst

➥ Ratings & Warning | PG-13; mentions of violence (hunting, fighting), depiction of pain

➥ Word count | 7,5k words

➥ Part of The Shifter Series | Glossary | ⤎ Previous Chapter | Next Chapter ⇢

➥ Masterlist

Run.

The hurt he felt from losing his brothers, of facing his failure, had caused Jimin to completely lose control. His emotion is now all over the place and so is the force within him.

With his body still fighting against the remaining effects of the poison, added with the new power that had just been handed to him by the Council of Nobles, Jimin is unable to stop the course of energy that is flowing out of his body. He can feel both forces fighting against each other inside him; one side that is trying to battle against the antidote and take him back to his defenceless state, while on the other, his body is using every power he has to recover in speed.

And he has no will to stop them or hold them back, choosing instead to let these forces to keep going off, causing his powers to take control over his own body that he is moving against his will. He is now running with an unimaginable force and speed, moving so fast that he is near invisible to the eyes of those he passes. His surroundings blur in his eyes when he moves faster than light, faster than the time needed for his mind and his senses to process through, as he becomes one with the wind.

Nothing else around him matters anyway, when aside to the pain, his mind could only think of one thing.

Run.

And that is the only thing he can do for now. He has no idea why he is running or where he is running to. He only knows that he needs to stay away from the castle and his homeland, away from the human town before the sun reveals his true identity to their eyes. And he needs to be somewhere far, far away, where he would not be able to sense his brothers’ demise or the threats coming from his enemies. Somewhere far so they would never be able to sense his strong presence as he takes his time to recover and prepare for the next battle.

Or perhaps, the moment he thought of Celeste, he became petrified with the thought of having more humans becoming fallen victims because he was there.

Because he was incompetent.

Voices keep echoing in his head, colliding into one another, leaving him no chance to try and decipher or recognise them as his own, or to whom they all belong to. His memories come flashing by to remind him of every passing moment he had gone through. Every scene, every encounter, every conversation he had or heard.

Too many things have happened in one single night. Jimin certainly was not prepared to have his fate, his life, and his future to change so suddenly and drastically, to have him heading to a new path that he is unfamiliar with.

No matter how powerful Park Jimin is as a Vampire, no matter how many centuries of his life has passed, he is certainly not ready to deal with all of them on his own and certainly not when everything just happens in such a short amount of time. Just having the thought of it alone, along with the disappointment that comes with them, only angers him even further.

Run.

Perhaps all he wants to do is to run away from reality. From the reminder of what he had lost, of what he had failed to do. Perhaps he had only felt too angry at himself to just stay in one place, wanting this power to take over his sanity or even banish him with dishonour.

What use does this power have for me if I can’t protect those who matter to me? He wonders, suddenly blaming himself for the downfall of his close tight family and comrades and the human family that had become a part of his life for years. It’s all my fault. I sent them all there. I sent them into a trap.

With the sadness and the blame, comes a loud scream. Then another wave of force pushes him forth. His speed accelerates to another level beyond what he had ever encountered before, sending him faster and further away. He has no idea how long he had been running and how far he had gone. The sun was rising up when he bolted from the scene, leaving the burning tavern behind. And the sky was already so bright with the sun hanging at its peak when he reached the second neighbouring town.

He had crossed the rocky roads and passed the grasslands. From flat grounds to slopes and hills, from one town to another until there is nothing left but trees welcoming him as he enters foreign grounds. And it is only after the warm wind of sunset turns into gushes of cold winds of nightfall, only after Jimin’s broken heart is slowly becoming steady that he finally manages to regain control of his emotions, then later, his powers, then Jimin’s speed finally reduces to a much slower pace.

The first thing he notices when he regains a more regular speed, however, is how his steps are getting more wobbly, that he is losing power on his lower body and how he is starting to stagger instead of walking steadily.

His energy has depleted rapidly since the first time he fled, he realises. Not only for the long run but also due to how much the poison had drained them while it was still reigning in his blood. The area where he finds himself after he is done running seems to be in a much higher altitude that his head instantly spins, while the tall trees around him seem like they are the ones moving in, caging him in what seems like a growing maze.

Jimin plants his palms on the nearest tree when he finally halts, pressing his weight on it to stop the spinning while steadying himself. Taking deep breaths of the fresh air, he hopes for his senses to come clear. Yet when he looks around, his eyesight is still terribly blurry that he barely recognises the new, foreign place as something he had known before.

He lifts his face and looks upward, studying the tall trees around him that look as if they are reaching far up to the sky. The greeneries around him are so high that they are reaching to his hips, covering the tracks on the ground for him to see. He searches for noises, any kind of noise that might give him a clue of where he is, but the only thing he can hear is the sound of his deep breaths and the loud thumps coming from his painful headache. Everything else is muddled that he feels like he is somewhere deep in water instead of an old, dark forest. The latter has come to his recognition merely for the scent that he breathes in; a mixed scent of pine trees, fresh leaves and wet earth after the rain.

As he tries to walk ahead and find shelter, he feels like the ground is moving around like a spiral. But he knows better. He knows that it is him who is still losing balance. His foot keeps stumbling upon rocks and protruding roots that are covering the grounds.

Enough, he commands himself with a grunt, clutching his head with his palms as he trudges forward. Yet his inability to control his balance keeps making him collide with the trees he passes by and a few rocks on his way. With his eyes and his senses still foggy, they keep blocking him from looking ahead, from paying attention to the direction he is heading to or what obstacles that are on his way.

And that is when he fails to notice how the dense shrubbery is thinning into an open field with rocky slopes. And he certainly fails to notice that right in the middle of the open field, right between the rocks, there is an open gap on the ground that is waiting for him. And there is nothing stopping his fall when he misses a footing, when his legs slip into the wide opening, sending him into a dark place right beneath the ground.

Everything has stopped moving and spinning when Jimin opens his eyes. His eyesight is cleared that he can see everything much better now, enough to allow him to understand his current predicament.

Well, sort of.

With his eyes looking up, staring straight at the opening right above him, Jimin tries to figure out how far he has fallen. His fall was deep, far from the ground where he was walking on. He could easily tell by the long fall which he felt earlier and the distance he is seeing between where he is now to the opening above.

What is this place, he wonders as he takes in the sight around him. He has been lying still on the ground ever since he came to wake from his previous collapse, one that he got from losing his energy and the shock he got from the fall. The position allows him to scan every visible corner without moving.

A cavern. He recognises the place where he is stuck in, noticing the stone walls and the dense air that surrounds him. An underground cavern with a small ravine beneath, which is where the open gap above had sent him falling into.

Such an odd setting of a place, he wonders as his eyes scan through the precipice of the ravine, indicating that he is for certain lying on the deepest part of this hidden cavern.

The cavern and this deep ravine are certainly created by nature, despite that it seems like there are parts from the mouth of the ravine and the landing above him that appears to have been altered, specifically to accommodate the opening above. And speaking of the gap opening, it looks clearly to be a man-made hole on the ground above, built specifically to lure a non-suspecting prey for their fall.

Such as he is.

A trap, huh? Jimin scoffs at the realisation. It serves me right to fall in one, I guess.

He grimaces at the thought, that perhaps karma is paying him for what he had caused others to fall on his as well. No, not karma, he corrects himself as he closes his eyes. A deep, bitter chuckle rumbles from his chest. No, the whole thing is a curse. A curse with a stream of bad luck that undoubtedly will not end by tonight.

The pain from both the poison and his fall had ebbed away from his body, replacing everything else with an intense level of exhaustion. That too is also wiped away as soon as a surge of energy course through his body, much to his dismay, right before he is starting to doze off.

I need to find a way out of this place, he sighs, wondering what to do and where to go next, wishing that he could stay here and have a long nap instead. He is already starting to question himself on whether or not he will be able to fulfil the promises he made to The Lords.

The promises.

Will he make it at all? Will he even make it alive to allow things to succeed? The conversation between him and The Lords return to his memory, soon followed by the conversation which he spied upon from the Traitors. It feels like an eternity had passed since everything unfolded, yet it had only been so little time since he witnessed them all happening. And there is so little time he has left before the next moon.

Closing his eyes, Jimin releases a long sigh. He simply cannot remember when was the last time his life was as simple as going from one place to another to find new pieces of knowledge. When he would spend his time studying, communicating with locals, and finding new things to retrieve back into the clan, instead of running, fighting, and living in danger.

Oh, how simple life used to be, he wonders as he is slowly drifting to sleep. And oh, how I wish this was all only a long, terrible dream.

“Argh, fuck!” a strained cry comes out of Jimin the minute he makes another try to pull himself out of the trap.

Jimin had managed to stop himself from falling back to sleep, and he had been trying to get out of this deep ravine ever since. He had underestimated the height, and the structure of the walls surrounding him that he keeps on failing, all after thinking that this was all a simple cavern, a simple cliff that he would be able to simply climb onto.

He had never been so wrong.

For some reason, pushing himself up takes a massive effort. And it seems that he had lost the ability to use his powers aside from his healing abilities. He had tried to use them to push himself up, then bolted himself to run up the walls, and then to levitate slightly off the ground so he could reach the edge of the landing above. He had done all, only to fail.

At first, he had thought that perhaps the poison had drained his energy too much that his powers are refusing to emerge. Or that he may have injuries he had not yet found in him that might be obstructing his effort of calling to his powers and to use them.

That is, until he makes another try, and another, and finally notices that it is not that his body would not allow him to move or that his powers had been shielded by the poison. The poison was already long gone by the time he made the first try to climb up, and he could no longer feel it in his bloodstream. Which leads him to wonder if there is something else that is keeping his powers from emerging. Something else is obviously there to bind him down and keeping him from using any of his ability to escape.

Sometimes he feels as if there is an invisible rope tying him down or a shield blanketing around him. The whole ravine is a trap, he soon comes to realise, as he returns to the ground and takes a quick break.

He looks around to see if he can find anything to help him out, something that can break the bind that has him pinned down and for him to lose his power. The thought of calling out for help is starting to emerge in his mind, wondering if there is anyone close by that might be able to help pull him out. Yet right when he is preparing himself to do it, a faint sound of a long howl suddenly resonates between the gushing wind, stopping him immediately.

Werewolves.

Curses reverberate in his mind, while a bitter laugh is threatening to rumble as he silently takes in the ironic state he had let himself fall into. He had escaped one danger only to fall for another.

Letting himself fall back to the dirt below him, his mind trails back to the events he had been running away from. Only a night had passed when he was so desperate to stay away from the reality of his fate which had sent him running so far and too fast until he came lost into these woods. And now he is so desperate to run back into the safety of his coven, no matter what danger may be waiting for his return.

As he lowers himself back to the ground, he immediately feels heavy with sleep and another set of dizziness comes flooding to him. He soon comes to realise that another problem has slipped from his mind while he was still beating himself over his foundering. It has been a long time since the last time he fed. And judging from the situation he has found himself in, by being stuck inside this ditch and unable to escape, it will be a long time before he will be able to.

A deep, pathetic laugh comes out of him. I am definitely cursed, he silently thinks to himself as he keeps laughing. Perhaps fate hates me so much. And if this is all have been a test, then I am definitely failing. A complete, utter failure of a Vampire.

Tonight is filled with an absolute fuckery.

A major cluster fuck, is what it is, you think to yourself, cursing under your breath as you make haste between the trees.

You had made sure to check everything when you left to hunt. The weather was nice, the sky was clear of clouds and the wind has been heading to the opposite side of the hills that you were sure you would be able to hide your scent from your prey. The forest was silent, except for the rushing noises between the bushes as your prey moved from one spot to another to feed their dinner. And you had set your mind that they were going to be yours.

Tonight is the usual night of the season when the horde of forest reindeer come passing by on their journey.

After a few nights in a row of eating roasted rabbits, you craved for their meat, for a full dinner that you need to be able to gather your strength back. But your plan was ruined before it was set to commence.

Everything started out fine. You had stalked a doe and its fawn that had steered away from their herd. If only you had not taken too much time to contemplate earlier, perhaps you would have caught the fawn and you would be heading back with dinner by now with a few extra to keep for tomorrow night’s stock. But no, your indecisiveness had to win. You just had to feel hesitant in choosing between the mother doe or the small fawn before it happened.

You were so close. You could feel it, taste it even, and smell their wonderful scent when you were stalking closer. With careful movements, you had extended your claws and canines and ready to pounce, only seconds away from getting a full course meal. Until a gush of wind, faster and stronger than the one you usually encounter since your first arrival in this forest, suddenly passed you by. Sending not only your scent their way but also spread apart the bushes that had camouflaged your figure in the dark.

The doe’s eyes were wide as she turned to find you, before recognition stroke her to then quickly turned to fear. And that was when you lost your preys.

The anger that comes to you from the memory has you releasing a growl. You are too deep in your exasperation that you fail to realise how your body has partly shifted, until you swing a hand to hit the nearest tree and find three deep claw marks wounding the tree bark before you.

Another growl escapes through you, far deeper and louder than the one you released before that you can feel the earth rumbles beneath your feet. And judging from the rustling sounds of leaves happening up above you, it is clear that your rage has disrupted the peace in the forest, sending the remaining birds and fowls to move away from where you are.

Heaving a deep breath, you try to calm yourself and find your peace of mind. You are suddenly left wondering about the sudden change of direction from the wind that happened before. After staying in this forest for so long, you cannot remember if anything as odd as it was has ever happened before.

“What was it?” you mutter openly to the air, as if the silent trees and grass could answer for you what the voice in your head cannot. There was no heat or any specific scent that came with the wind, aside to the scent from your preys. But it was still unnatural to happen. “Something caused it. Something that is not from around here, obviously.”

You keep on grumbling to yourself, cursing the ominous night while promising to yourself that you would find answers before the night ends, all while trudging between the dense grass and heading straight towards your shelter. A low growl comes from the far East side of you, stopping you from moving ahead. You turn your head, waiting for another sound until the warning growl returns. A sigh of relief comes out when you recognise the voice as the one which belongs to the mother bear who is sheltering close by with her newborn cubs.

She probably sensed me coming too close, you wonder silently, before turning away to take a different route. I’m certainly not in the mood to fight off a bear right now. Much less one with cubs.

And much to your relief, the voice inside your head agrees with you.

As you are heading near the path to your refuge, you hear your stomach grumbling, reminding you of the lost dinner and the need for a meal. Just as another irritation comes to you, you notice the dense bushes nearby are moving and rustling, letting you know that a nightcrawler is somewhere close to your reach.

Roast rabbit for dinner it is then, you think to yourself with a sigh, before you lower yourself to the ground and stealthily stalk your new prey.

Running in a human form is a pain in the butt.

With a scoff, you trudge forth into the cavern right when you are close to running out of breath. The minute you are surrounded by the rocky walls, you instantly feel safe and secure, and terribly relieved, that you immediately start walking much slower. The place is certainly not a mansion, or a comfortable house with comfortable beds. But it is still the place where you have been living in for the past few weeks. Hence you have regarded it as your home.

For now, you remind yourself, before the voice in your head returns only to sneer as it usually does. A bed and a cosy, warm house is a luxury we cannot afford at the moment. At least we have a place to rest and to stay safe.

But still no dinner, the voice in your head speaks, thick with sarcasm and exasperation that coax you to roll your eyes. Dinner would have made things slightly better.

“Yeah, well—can’t argue with you on that one,” you respond out loud while continuing to walk deeper into the cavern, letting the darkness inside help you to wallow in your already gloomy mood.

You have officially deemed this whole night as a dead loss ever since the fail of the first hunt. After that initial failure and coming near to running into a bear’s territory, you had initially thought that you may still be able to attain a replacement dinner before you had to return to your refuge.

However, the small critter you preyed on had a mind of its own, as it turned out to be much slicker than you had thought when it slipped so easily from your experienced hands. Yet it does not mean that you gave up right away. With the hunger you felt kept growing inside your belly, you kept on trying to find other preys. Which, again, led to another failure. It was as if all the small nightcrawler, rabbits and other critters alike, had known that danger was lurking, that you find their presence unusually scarce.

In the end, you made another attempt to stalk down another herd of reindeer, trying to find any clueless fawn that you could lure away in desperate need of food. Yet even the second and third attempts you have made towards the deer had all ended in failure. Having a close encounter with an angry Papa Reindeer at the end was the one that got you admitting final defeat and retreated with an empty stomach and your head hanging low.

As if bad fortune continued to follow wherever you had gone, just when you were finally close to getting a sweet, nourishing rabbit to feed on, another disruption came your way. This time, it came with a scent.

Or perhaps, should you say—’they’?

You recall how your body reacted when the wind came carrying the first scent. It was a foul scent containing mixes of dirt, blood, and death. The scent also carried menace and a sense of threat. Everything that the foulness smell of rogues would usually carry along with.

Yes, rogues. Those damn wild, feral, packless werewolves.

The unpleasant scent came first before the series of growls started rumbling through the ground. They were far away from where you were, which only meant that there were many of them lingering around if the noises could travel so far your way.

You stayed still at first, waiting for a sign, any sign of them entering the woods or getting anywhere nearer. The first move you made only happened after you managed to track their whereabouts, after finding out on which side of the woods’ entrance the group of rogues were at, and only after you found out which direction the wind was moving onto. Once you made sure you knew which direction to take to prevent your scent being sent their way, you started to slowly retreat towards a much safer ground. Away from their threats.

The second move you made was taken on a more rash decision. Just as the wind returned from another side of the woods, carrying a different set of scent, a different kind of threat. This time, you recognised them as a thick scent of mixed gun powders, silver, and humans.

The Hunters.

Despicable creatures.

Your inner voice growled at the recognition before sending your whole body on alert. That was when you decided to make haste, to run faster and further away into the depth of the woods, far away from the incoming threats. Just in time as the first howl came from the leader of the rogues and the sound of the first arrow being launched forth echoed between the thick trees. You could hear the war starting far behind you as you ran to safety, the uproar of their battle disturbing the peacefulness of the Sacred Forest that had been your only company since the day you set foot into these woods.

No need to join in their war, you said to yourself then as you fled through the trees. We already have our own war to deal with.

And for the first time after the last brawl, the voice in your head agreed.

That wind was definitely a bad omen, you silently declare as you are reaching to the centre of the cavern, when you remember the wind that had caught you off guard earlier in the night as you left the place to hunt. Everything that happened right after had been nothing but a complete mess that you cannot stop wondering what is so wrong about this night. Something big is happening. Maybe it’s time to move on to a different place.

Or we can always return. Go back and seize what is rightfully ours.

This time, the growl that comes out from deep inside your chest is caused by your own exasperation in response to the notion given by your inner self. Not yet. The time will come for our return. Soon. Once we are truly ready.

The short outburst turns into silence. You continue to walk until the deep tunnel leads to a more narrow path. Then as you reach for the center of the cave, you are met with a point where the path is branched into two different directions.

Normally, you would immediately take the path to your left, where you have been residing in for nearly two moons. This time, however, something has caught your attention, leaving you hesitant to take the next step forward.

To your right, it is where the trap lies. You know this so well thanks to the uneventful night which had led you into finding this cavern in the first place. You had come into these woods, the place which has been known as The Sacred Forest, the neutral territory between werewolf packs and other supernatural beings surrounding the land, in a search for a shelter. Severely injured and terribly disoriented, you ran to the higher ground heading towards the hills to be able to scan your surroundings, only to find yourself falling into the trap hidden between the rocky slopes near the edge of the hills.

You still cannot remember how you managed to recover from the shock so quickly and how you gathered yourself together before anything bad happened. Perhaps your other half had taken over just when you were at the weakest, right in the middle of succumbing to your injuries that you were unable to do anything against the fall. Because you had somehow managed to stop yourself from falling into the deep ravine that was waiting for you right under the open gap, and propelled yourself to land on the higher ground closer to the cavern’s walls instead and away from the trap beneath.

It was certainly a hard task to do on such a state, and not to mention, painful.

It took you a whole night of resting and recovering before you left that place, tracking down to the other parts of the cavern before finding the safest areas where you were then able to turn them into your shelter. And you have been avoiding the dangerous part of the cave ever since that night, refusing to relive or to remember what happened to you that night when you fell inside.

Tonight, however, the path to your right is calling for you, luring you to come close as if it has a secret for you to reveal. You let silence come to you as you try to listen to any sound that may appear from the other side.

I could just ignore it and go take some rest. It’s been a long night, after all, you tell yourself even when you have your eyes looking out to the dark tunnel beyond.

Or perhaps we can just take a quick peek inside so we can sleep better knowing that nothing is wrong.

You inwardly roll your eyes to how your inner voice keeps wanting to disagree with everything you say. But when a gust of soft breeze passes through you, carrying a weird scent that ignites your curiosity, you finally give your other half a chance to win the argument for the first time tonight. Slowly, you start to move forward, treading silently through the path leading to the trap.

It feels as if your legs are moving on their own when your mind is focused on something else. The scent that the air carries takes away your attention from everything else that it becomes the only thing you care about. Instead of preparing yourself to face danger, you are trying to recognise the scents instead. The beautiful scent that somehow pulls you in, making you want to come even closer.

Sandalwood is the first thing you recognise from it. The delightful, calming scent that used to accompany you at night before bed. A scent of herbs is also there, something that you are not quite familiar with but still manage to sooth away your tension. And then comes the last scent that makes your heart start racing inside your chest.

Blood.

You resist the urge to growl when you notice that the scent carries no threat, and that it feels more cold rather than the usual hot temperature you mostly encounter. And it makes your curiosity grow even more as you come much closer, as the scent comes to you even stronger. Because the overbearing scent comes from an Old Blood.

You swallow thickly at the revelation, yet you are showing no sign of stopping. Whatever it is that you are going to find once you are there, you already know that it is not human. But they are also not one of your kind.

There is only silence at first as you continue moving on, until you are near the opening where the landing and the mouth of the trap appear to you. Deep breaths are heard from the deepest part of the cave, along with slow, low growls. A few thumps are heard next as you take another step closer, until you hear something that sounds like a rock falling to the ground, before a loud snarl comes. The sound echoes through the walls, vibrating on every surface of the cave that you can hear it passing through the tunnel that you had just left behind. The vibration feels so strong that your body freezes, a chill runs down your bone to your marrow.

You take another step forward, and the noises halt.

“Who’s there?” the one hidden inside the trap snaps, no doubt hearing your movements or perhaps smelling your scent now that you are close.

You can sense his anger, which has you ready to fight, making your body stand still with a stance that will allow you to be ready to face a threat if it need be. But there is also sadness there, along with fear, emerging from the figure that you have not yet seen or identified. And the latter becomes the one that pulls you in to move closer to the edge of the ravine, just to be able to see who it is trapped under.

“Answer me,” he speaks once more once you give him only silence. “I know you’re there. I can hear your heartbeat.”

Now that, is what makes your legs stop moving instantly.

What did he say?

Afraid? The voice in your head sneers.

Absolutely not!

Pfft, then why have you changed your stance from preparing to fight into steadying to run?

I—I am not!

“I’m waiting,” the man, or whatever he may be, who is down there still hidden from your sight speaks again. This time, a low, threatening growl leathers his words.

For some reason, the sounds he is making instils no threat or fear. Instead, you feel his pain through it, something similar to the one you had knowingly keep since the day you were thrown over by fate. More curious than ever now after the feeling he has given, you take a few steps closer to the mouth of the cliff. There is not much light coming from the moon above that slips through the opening, so you manage to find a dark spot where he would not be able to see you.

“For someone who is currently trapped inside a deep hole of a trap, you sure are impatient. And undeniably rude.” You have no idea where you had gained the confidence to speak these words out loud from, knowing that you did fear for him for a short moment before. But with your body hidden in the shadows and his sight being veiled by the same darkness that you can only see the lower part of his face and his body, you suddenly feel invisible.

You fairly see his jaw clenching as he releases another deep growl. “I don’t like to be kept waiting,” he snaps, making you slightly annoyed. Gone is the curiosity or the concern. All you can care for now is to know who he is, how he came upon this place and why. Then you can crawl away to the other side of the cave, to your uncomfortable makeshift bed and sleep.

Alright, perhaps I am still slightly curious.

“From the way I see it, it seems to me that you currently have no say on that.” You try to sound tough, or perhaps menacing enough to make him stop growling and snapping as if you are nothing but a child.

Even if he is an Old Blood, someone who had lived longer than you do, you still cannot appreciate his attitude when you had first come here only to help. Well, not that you can really do anything. But you can deal with it another time.

While you are in the middle of wallowing in your thoughts, the mystery being has started to pace around inside the trap, yet still blanketed by the shadows around him. You can faintly hear him mumbling under his continuous growls. You barely able to hold back from rolling your eyes as your irritation grows more wickedly, that you finally snap, “What the hell are you saying?”

“I said it’s not like I did this on purpose!” he snaps yet again, stopping his pacing to face you. Still under the dark, of course. And you hate not being able to see his face as he speaks. But then again, what other choice do you have? You say nothing to him as he continues to rant from below, “It’s not like I was strolling around and found that it would be fun if I just jump down here and get stuck.”

“Of course not,” you say to him with a sigh when you remember how you fell into this place. It was definitely not fun at all. You were just slightly lucky to have avoided the trap below. You cannot even dare to imagine what would have become of you if you had been the one stuck there two moons ago, with nobody to come to find you and no other way to get help.

You are not completely sure why you are staying here longer instead of fleeing far in your usual hiding place or why you are actually trying to know more about him. But your curiosity returns the minute his voice stops sounding so rude. And it certainly has gotten the best of you ever since your eyes have caught his sight down there in the dark. For some reason, you can feel his emotion. It comes and goes so strongly like a flood to you that you can feel his rage, turning to sadness, to agitation, and you suddenly feel the need to know what he has been through to feel such a strong wave of emotions.

As he keeps moving in the lower ground, he keeps coming close to the much brighter spot that the moonlight is able to reach onto. You can see him tightening his jaw and clenching his hands each time he moves. You can see his pale skin and catch how it glows under the dim moonlight. You can see his lips as he speaks, how it turns to frown each time he falls silent.

If only I can see his eyes, you wonder involuntarily. Yet as if he could hear you, he takes a step closer towards the brighter spot in front of him. The moonlight still fails to illuminate his whole figure, but you can still see them now. The pair of bright ruby eyes that are glowing in the dark as he keeps his gaze on you.

He is definitely not a human, you silently wonder as you are studying the glowing ruby eyes that are glaring at you. But—those eyes. Vampires? Or something else? In this area? How? No wonder he smells funny.

But this ground is much too far from their homelands to reach. And meeting Vampires in this region is such a rare thing to happen.

Once again you find yourself lost in your deep thoughts that you did not even realise that you have been staring at each other silently. Clearing your throat, you look down from his gaze and try to steady your voice as you speak, “How did you get in there then? If you don’t mind letting me know, that is.”

He looks annoyed for a moment, shaking his head as he mutters inaudible words to himself before answering, “I fell,” he says. “To briefly sum it up. And somehow got into this ditch. What is this place anyway? It looks awfully strange as a cave. And to think that that stupid hole above our heads is enough to make me trapped here is just ridiculous and baffling.”

“So you’re definitely not from around here,” you answer him with a voice that comes out somewhat a bit wistful, then lightly shrug as you give him a pursed smile. “Well, just your luck, and probably mine. You are at the Sacred Forest. This ground is supposed to be neutral territory, but it was once seized by Hunters and Warlocks before the Blood War, so there are old parts of this forest that they left behind as they fled. Including this place. This cave, specifically, was built from those ancient times, when they still reigned the region. People around here said it was meant as a trap for supernaturals.”

He stops. You feel him looking at you deeply and you notice through the way his face turns that he has his eyebrows lifted and burrowed. “Ancient Hunters? They built this place?” you feel him getting more angry and agitated by the minute, before he continues to speak. “I’m going to assume that since they have left this place untouched, they did not just simply leave behind a conspicuous cavern with a ditch underneath, but added something else here, did they?”

You nod your head. “Must be,” you mutter softly yet still loud enough for him to hear. “Nearly every part of the walls in this cave is covered by wolfsbane and various kinds of poisons, probably some spells as well to drive supernaturals outside from getting in while locking the ones inside from getting out.”

Your eyes trail to the ground around his feet as you look away from his deep gaze, too uneasy to the way he is currently studying you from below. That is when you notice the disturbed soil, the tracks that were left behind by his strong legs, and you start to understand the reason for the noises he was making when you entered the cave. Tilting your head, you contemplate on continuing or even making sure who he is, or what he is, without offending him. Unfortunately, your old habit of thinking out loud seems to die hard. “And since you seem to have problems climbing up when you don’t seem to be barring any visible injuries, I guess you are not a human.”

The man scoffs. “Clever,” he clicks his tongue and steps forward, letting himself to find a more suitable spot under the moonlight to be able to talk to you, and for you to see his face more clearly. The glowing ruby eyes and the fangs that show up from his bitter smile answer your undying curiosity. And you are suddenly engulfed in a deep dread.

Oh, shoot, the voice inside your head finally returns only to fill your mind with anger, allowing your hands to squeeze tightly on your sides.

Oblivious to the change of your demeanour, the Vampire tilts his head and even has the audacity to send you a smirk. “Now if you have figured out what I am, can you please help me out of here? Whatever it is those Hunters have put inside this ditch, it is binding me from moving anywhere but here.”

You say nothing at first, only opting to stand close to the edge of the ditch to return his gaze with no words or any reaction to his plea.

“What’s the matter? Afraid that I might hurt you?” he teases. “If you help me out and get me to safety, away from the wolves I heard brawling outside and the Hunters guarding the woods, I will reward you. I promise.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” you tell him bluntly. Raising your eyebrows, you straighten up your back and step closer to the mouth of the ditch that is caging him far below, letting the moonlight to fall onto your face. “Like I said, there are wolfsbanes covering all over most of the walls in this cave. And aside to whatever spell that is binding you in there, there are those binding me from going under.”

The man beneath you visibly frowns, his eyes turn dark as he lets everything sinks in. And just when his eyes fall directly on yours, when he finally notices how your orbs glow bright golden under the moonlight, he finally understands.

“You—” he says with a low voice filled with despise. “You are a werewolf.”

Disclaimer: All works are written by myself. Any copyright infringement, reposting on any other social media or website, and any act of plagiarism will be dealt with legal action

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