USWNT Oneshots

The Forest

It was the forest that took her. My little girl. Thalia. She was my girlfriend, but she went into the Haunted Woods two years ago, and was never seen again. The Haunted Woods were a patch of trees bordering our little town. No matter how sunny it was, they were always dark and misty. Sometimes, we would hear weird screams and howls coming from them. One night, Thalia decided to go investigate the noises, and was never seen again. We had stood at the edge of the forest for hours, yelling her name until we all lost our voices, but we never got a response. She was gone. This year, though, I was determined to find her. I needed my girl back. Everything seemed darker and colder without her. As the anniversary of her disappearance drew nearer, I decided to tell my friends. "Guys, I'm going into the Haunted Woods to find Thalia." I said. "No." Abby said immediately. "You can't, Tobin. No one ever comes out of there." "That's a chance I'll have to take." I said firmly. "I need to find her. Or at least find out what happened to her." "We're going with you." Hope said. "There's safety in numbers. And we'll all bring weapons and stuff. When were you planning to go in?" "The day she disappeared." I said. "We'll be ready by then." Pinoe promised. Weeks passed, and we prepared to go in. We packed bags, made lists, checked maps, and did research. We got weapons from Thalia's old room, where she had made countless swords and bows. "Hey, Tobs." Hope said. "Look at this." she was standing over by Thalia's bed, where a door had opened up. "There's a staircase down." Hope said. "Let's follow it." I said. "Oy, knuckleheads! Over here!" Abby, Carli, Alex, and Pinoe joined us, and we turned on the lights, walking down the stairs. "Whoa." Abby said. The rest of us were at a loss for words. On the walls of the large room at the end of the staircase were weapons, all made in Thalia's distinct Elven style. "Look at this one!" Abby said. I turned, and saw her holding a sword with a blue gem set in the pommel. "It fits perfectly in my hand. It's like it was made for me." I noticed a note on the wall by the doorway. "Hey, there's a note here!" I said. "Read it out loud!" Alex encouraged. "For Abby, Hope, Carli, Alex, Pinoe, and Tobin." I read. "In hopes that you never have to use them. Love, Thalia." "She made these for us!" Carli said. "Looks like it." I said. I looked around. There were two longswords, two rapiers, one broadsword, three longbows, and three crossbows. "Look!" I said, picking up a black longbow with gold and jade inlay. "Look at the inlay! It spells my name!" "Same thing on this sword." Hope said, handing the weapon to me. We all found our weapons and held them in our hands. I had a longsword and a longbow, Abby and Hope had longswords and crossbows, Pinoe had a broadsword and a crossbow, and Alex and Carli had longbows and rapiers. "Well, that takes care of weapons." I said. We walked out of the storage room and went down to where all our bags were. "Ok, does everyone have at least two flashlights?" I asked. "Yup." the rest of the girls said. "At least two packs of extra batteries for each flashlight?" "Yup." "Food for at least two weeks?" "Yup." "Two boxes of matches and plenty of dry wood?" "Yup." "Layers?" "Yup." "We're good to go, then." I said. "We'll leave at ten tomorrow night. Be at the edge of the forest by nine fifty five." "Gotcha." everyone said. The next night, we all met at the edge of the forest. "Ready?" I asked. "Let's do this." Abby said. We turned on our headlamps, drew our preferred weapons, took a deep breath, and plunged into the trees. The mist swirled around us as we walked through the forest, leaving blazes on trees so we could find our way out again. Suddenly, the ghostly form of a woman appeared in front of us. "Travelers, you must leave this place." she said. "There is much evil here. Go now, while you still can." I shook my head. "Your advice is good, ma'am." I said politely. "But we can't go. We're looking for our friend. My lover. She was taken, we think." "This lover, what does she look like?" the woman asked. "She's small and narrow built, with tan skin, green eyes, and waist-length black hair with red streaks." Hope said. "She came into the forest on this day two years ago. Have you seen her?" "I have seen this girl." the woman said. "Have you a map?" we shook our heads. "There are no maps of these woods." Carli said. "No one's ever gone in and come back out alive." "Then I will lead you." the woman said. "Follow me, but keep your weapons drawn. There are dangerous creatures in these woods." we all nodded and followed her until we reached a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a tiny cage made of tightly woven woody vines, and in that cage was Thalia. "Ah, how touching." a voice said. "You have come to rescue my little nightingale." "Who are you?!" I demanded, holding my sword at the ready. "Show yourself!" "Oh, but I'm not very pretty." the voice said. "You don't want to see me." "I don't give a fuck what you look like!" I snarled. "You kidnapped my girlfriend, and you're going to pay for it!" "As you wish." the voice said, and a hideous monster appeared. He had black skin, and I don't mean he was of African descent, I mean his skin was black as ink. He had no hair, rotting teeth, great yellow horns, and blood red eyes. "You." I said, my voice shaking with rage. "You kidnapped my girlfriend. You kidnapped her and used her! You will pay!" I leapt at him, taking him by surprise, though he was still able to bat me aside. What he was even more unprepared for, though, was the assaults carried out by the others. Pinoe, Alex, and Carli sent arrows into him, while Abby and Hope slashed at him with their swords. They were able to incapacitate him, and I walked up to him and stabbed my sword through his heart. I ran to Thalia's cage and sliced through the vines with my sword. Thalia got up and wrapped her arms around me. "You came." she murmured. "You came for me. I always hoped you would, and you did." "Of course I did." I said, smiling as I picked her up bridal style. "Let's go home, baby girl." the woman led us out of the woods, and we thanked her and went back home. Thalia had fallen asleep during the journey, so I woke her up just long enough to change her out of the filthy rags she was wearing. She then appeared to fall asleep again, so I kissed her forehead and started to leave the room. Before I could get very far, however, a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. "Stay with me, Toby." Thalia said. "Please." "Of course, baby girl." I said, lying down next to her. "What did he make you do in there?" "He made me sing." Thalia said. "And if he didn't like it, he shocked me." "Well, you're safe now." I said. "I know." Thalia said. "You saved me. I'm safe."