A Book of One-Shots

Red Riding Hood AU

Idea:

http://shadowdragonia.tumblr.com/post/73783212814/knightofpentacles-shadowdragonia

I went with Rythian being a werewolf kinda thing to try and stick with Red Riding Hood a bit.

~

He was a monster.

The dark woods had always been a silent place of solitude, of safety. That’s why Rythian had retreated there after being thrown out of his home town. They had shunned him - feared him, even. Their echoing shouts still rung through his head at night. But he wouldn’t let that interfere with his passion - hell, it made him ever more determined to pursue it. Every day he studied magic and potions, and especially the mystery of the woods he had come to believe were his true home. He had a shelter in one of the caves, with a few books he had managed to steal, the rest his own notebooks. Some might have gone insane from the isolation, but Rythian had learned to embrace it. After all, who could love a monster?

Recently, his studies had been interrupted. An idiotic scientist had begun tramping through the woods every day. Taking samples of the trees and plants, shooting animals and disturbing the peace. It sickened Rythian, and prevented him from going out to do his research. One night, he had followed the man to his encampment. A blue tent was set up with a small camp fire. He had many journals, and tons of jars filled with different things. Rythian had hid in the the shadows until the man fell asleep, and then he rifled through his things. He found posters calling for the death of a mysterious beast in the woods. There were crude drawings of a thing resembling a wolf, purple being a dominant color.

He crumpled the page and let it drop to the ground. Not only was the man disturbing the peace, but he was out to kill Rythian. The mage contemplated tearing out the scientists throat right then, but restrained himself. Those were the thoughts that got him thrown out of the village.

Thoughts that made him a monster.

The man never found his cave, not that he had expected him to. But each day he was there was like an itch that would not go away. He was disturbing everything that was so right about this place. Rythian tried to ignore him - but he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

He spent his time following the man about, tracking his movements, evaluating everything he did. He hated that man, even if he didn’t have a real reason for it.

Then came the day things got complicated. The scientist was asleep in his tent, Rythian was hiding in a gap between the tree and ground, from when they had a big snow last year. The tree had been weighed down, pulling it back and creating a large enough hole for him to hide in, but with good cover from the plant life around the roots. A whistled tune broke through the silence, making Rythian start. It wasn’t coming from the scientist’s camp, either. He clambered out of the hole and ducked into some brush, hoping to catch sight of whoever was whistling.

A spot of red appeared, a cloak. A woman in a red cloak, with flame colored hair to match. Her eyes were bright, and she swung a basket at her side. Her step was swift and care-free, and her whistle turned to a faint humming as she carried on down a faint path. He continued to watch as she went past, nearly skipping along. He wouldn’t disturb her. She was doing no harm besides adding a bit of brightness to the quiet forest.

When he heard the heavy footsteps of the scientist, he dragged himself away from the red cloaked girl and focused once again on his enemy. The man, unfortunately, seemed to have heard the woman’s tune as well. He stuck to the shadows, following the man’s movements. The girl was on the path to their left, but she couldn’t see them just yet. The man jumped over the brush and onto the path, directly in her way.

She stopped, slightly startled. She quickly regained her composure, though, and offered her hand and a smile. “Hello! My name’s Zoeya.” The man took her hand and shook it wearily.

“Lalna.”

“What brings you out here?”

“I was about to ask the same.”

“Oh, well, my friends live out here near the edge of the woods, and I was bringing them their birthday presents.”

“I see.”

“What are you doing?”

“Research,” he tapped one of the journals on his belt. “And I’m on a hunt.”

“A hunt?”

“Yes,” he pulled the wanted poster from his bag. “There are rumors of a dangerous beast roaming these woods. You ought to be careful you know,” he moved slightly closer.

“Well, I’ve never seen anything dangerous out here,” she looked up at him. “It’s always been peaceful until you came around.”

“I’m here to make sure people like you are safe, girly,” he stepped closer, staring down at her.

“This place is safe,” she pushed him back. “And even if it wasn’t, I’d be able to handle myself,” with a toss of her head she continued down the path.

He grabbed her arm and she let out a shriek as he pulled her back.

Rythian felt the anger boil inside of him, but tried to restrain himself. Lalna swung her around and threw her to the ground. She fought back, swinging and kicking. She threw him off of her and got up to run, but he only hauled her back down. She might be strong, but Lalna was stronger.

He felt the tingle run up his spine as a howl formed in the back of his throat. He leapt from the brush and collided with Lalna, taking him down. Zoeya got up and started to run, only to see her attacker was pinned. She turned and stared as the two fought on the dirt path.

Rythian dodged the man’s punches, rolling off of him. Landing on all fours, he felt like the feral monster everyone feared. “Looks like I’ve found my monster,” Lalna smirked and pulled a gun from his belt, aiming it at Rythian’s head. He took a chance and leapt for Lalna, startling the scientist. His entire weight landed on Lalna’s chest, throwing them both to the ground. He grabbed for Lalna’s throat, shuddering as he saw hands covered with fur and long claws reaching out.

“You never saw a monster,” his voice gravelly. “You never saw a girl in red,” the scientist began to cough. “You found nothing.”

Lalna began nodding furiously. Rythian got up and with a burst of in-human strength, lifted Lalna over his head, throwing him down the path. Dirt sprung up around him and he stumbled as he frantically tried to get to his feet to run. He took off in the opposite direction, leaving any dropped possession in fear of his safety.

Rythian felt Zoeya’s eyes boring into his back. He turned and ran for the brush, to get back to his cave. He had done what he had to do.

“Wait!”

He halted, hearing her bare feet smack against the dirt path. She grabbed his arm, which was covered in dark grey fur. He expected her to flinch, to shy away, let him be. But she just stared at him, not letting go of his arm.

“Thank you,” she whispered. The fur began to recede, his claws began to retract, until he was just Rythian. “You’re not a monster.”

He laughed. “How could you say that, after seeing…” he trailed off.

She shook her head, smiling. “Will you walk me to my friend’s house?”

He stared at her in disbelief. “I- I - are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she laughed shortly. “You kinda did just save my life.”

“Fair enough.”

They walked down the path together, talking about their lives. Zoeya’s friends were mushrooms that lived in the darker part of the forest. She walked barefoot simply because she felt like it. She wore a red cape because she was closest to the red mushrooms. She reassured him she was fine with him staying. She never mentioned his transformation, just asked about what it was like living in the woods and what he did. He wasn’t a monster to her. The only monster had been Lalna. And so Rythian became her hero, and a friend.