The Ironic Cruelty of Roses - Beauty and The Beast [ Danganronpa ]

Snow Tainted with Blood is an Unsightly Contrast

Sayaka hung close to Muse as she ran into the twisted woods, the gnarly twigs entrapping her further and further away from the disgusting castle. The snow, barely noticeable in her town, was abundant; now coating the landscape in a thick layer of white. It was dreadfully uncomfortable, but God was it better than being in that hellscape.

She didn't care where she went. Snow or no snow, enchantment or no enchantment, Sayaka would rather die than remain in a place that treated her like muck. 
It didn't matter if she had more meaningful conversations there than in the town. The Beast was rotten, selfish, and temperamental. 
Rude and arrogant. 
No wonder Sayaka had been their only guest in such a long time.

As she wiped away her tears on Muse's mane, the horse suddenly reared up, kicking her front legs at seemingly nothing but quails. Sayaka tried to regain control of Muse: tightening her reign, speaking calmly, whatever to calm the horse down.

Dead trees surrounded the opening that the two were struggling in. Abandoned bird nests had fallen onto the floor, accompanied by the blue hue of the night. Though she could see the closer details, the snow had created a faux fog, rendering her far-sight useless. 

Anxiety twisted her view, making wavering branches into the Beast with her distorted horns. The fog shifted, mimicking hounds circling them as the snow grew worse and worse. 
Strings played endlessly in her head, accompanied by a rhymic drum of her heartbeat.

Sayaka's eyes darted to the left. Repulsive, starving wolves crept out from behind a few dozen dead trees. Their skin was clinging desperately to their bones, their posture weak from days without proper food. Cold greys colored their fur, blending them in with the surrounding trees until Sayaka could count more wolves than the trees around them.

Muse scampered off with the guidance of Sayaka, darting between trees and bushes as the growling grew louder from the starving wolves behind. Branches clawed at Sayaka's skin, willing her to be sacrificed to the forest. Cuts covered her arms, patches of blood sinking into the fading snow. 

The horse's hooves dug into the snow, flinging up into the air as she galloped from the pack.

A wolf rushed up to the side of Muse. It jumped, narrowly missing Sayaka's ankle as it hugged her horse's side tight. Muse rushed side to side, slamming one of the wolves into a nearby tree. A whimper from the wolf, before blood had splattered on the left side of Muse and Sayaka. A wolf fell dead next to the tree, it's life slowly settling into the pure snow as it's pack continued their hunger-driven chase.

They ran further and further, out into another opening with white stretching eternally. Muse had been creating distance between them, almost to the point that the chase was over---

The ground gave way, revealing a frozen-over lake that had been fractured from Muse's hooves. As they fell into the blistering cold water, Sayaka struggled to keep her head up. The algid water coated their entire beings, making Sayaka gasp and start to hyperventilate in an attempt to grow warm. 

Muse paddled herself to the nearest firm ledge, only for it to crumble under the weight of her head and return to the lake. 

The wolves joined them, jumping into the bitter lake or onto the lake's fractured frazil. The wolves that did jump into the lake quickly dashed to the side where their kin remained. 

While the wolves were struggling with the lake, Muse had paddled her way onto land, before continuing her haste into the woods. Her coat had collected snow, it sticking onto the icicles that quickly formed from the water. 
Sayaka hugged Muse closer, praising her for a job well done as she shivered from the ice coating her body as well.