Jalen Storm's Story

The sound of birds echoed in Arya's ears, their flapping wings fading into the distance. As she began to regain her senses, she realized it was the sound of crows. She based this on their unforgettable squawking, she'd never forget the eerie sound of those vile birds.. She sat up, rubbing the back of her head. Her whole body ached, her vision was blurred and judging by the feel she had leaves nestled in her long blonde hair. She gave a heavy sigh, lightly cussing under her breath as she forced herself to stand, mentally panicking. She noticed two other figures laying on the ground nearby. For some reason looking at them activated a flash of memory, their faces returning to her.

--- Flashback ---

The blonde sped through the crowded streets, clining her jacket tight to her slim frame. She took a quick glance to both sides before entering Central Park. She was second guessing her choice now, seeing as how dark it was. She was stupid for meeting a complete stranger in the middle of the night, especially by herself. Accepting she'd come too far to back down, she pressed on. Arya inspected the spot quickly as she had arrived at the dying oak, letter in hand. She was growing impatient even though she arrived at 10:00P.M. on the dot. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but she was kind of disappointed when she found no one was waiting on her. In the movies someone was always standing around waiting.. Perhaps I'm early? She thought to herself optimistically, but was surprised when three others showed up at the cross roads leading to the oak. Instead of being rude, which was her first instinct, Arya decided to introduce herself, "I'm Arya Ryker.. I suppose you three got the same letter as me?" She laughed as she held up her letter with a forced smile.

--- End Flashback ---

At least I know that the three of us have met before.. but I still don't remember their names.. The memory ended as soon as it came, but at least she remembered the other two faces. One was missing, one of the males, but the other two were in tact. She looked around, unable to find the dying oak.. Where were they? Were they even still in New York? She walked over to the sandy blond haired, trimmed beard, and not to mention mysterious looking male. She reach out carefully before shaking his arm, "Hey, Hey.. Do you know where we are..?" She asked him curiously, then reach over to the dark haired, fragile appearing female, "Hey... Wake up. I think we have been tricked.. This isn't Central Park..." She backed up, certain that they'd be as spooked as she and the last thing she wanted was a frightful swing of an arm brought her way.

The blonde sat across from the two, picking the leaves out of her hair as she awaited a response from her newly found companions. She heard an unfamiliar sound, stomping in the distance that shook the entire ground, even though it was far away, she felt subtle shakes even from where she stood. She panicked, looking over to the other two, wishing they could just get the hell out of dodge.

"Kind of an emergency.. This is turning out a lot like a bad horror movie where no one survives..." her voice was more anxious, and she was nearly jumping in place as she plead with the other two. She didn't even realize she was bleeding until she'd jumped from a rustling sound in the bushes, but it only turned out to be a rabibit.. Thank god..

=flashback=
Early that morning he had gotten a letter to meet a person at the dying Oak, but what he wasn't told was that there was going to be a few other people there with them. A woman with long black hair and a man with short black hair. The looked as confused as Klaus felt. After a while soon after he came a woman with long golden hair made her entrance.

"I'm Arya Ryker.. I suppose you three got the same letter as me?" He laugh was a bit weak as was her smile.

Slightly with a pucker of his lips, he turned his attention away from the blonde and towards the person who sent the letter. He started to feel a bit mad at the whole situation and lack of information.
=end=

Too sudden of a rush, clashed over him like a bunch of blades. It was as if his body was being pulled and twisted in ways he couldn't explain. His finger tingled, not in a numb way, but in a way that felt like energy.

With a slight grunt he heard "Hey.. Do you know where we are..?" A soft but panicked voice echoed through his head. A pressure in his arm started to shake him more awake.

" You know love, if you wanted to see my sleeping face, all you did was have to stare." A smiling tone in his voice as he got up rubbing the back of his head. A sharp pain throbbed at the side, even his left shoulder was a bit in pain from the fall.

It took him a while before he had noticed that, New York, wasn't New York any more. The air was clean, and not so thick and dirty. It smelt of moss, living trees and bushes. It was completely different. Even the sky was so blue, from the peaks of the trees it was easy to notice it.

"Hm?.." The sudden shake...no, now that it's mentioned, the ground has been shaking. It's just until now that it had gotten more noticing.

"Kind of an emergency.. This is turning out a lot like a bad horror movie where no one survives..." Her panicking voice made everything hard to hear, without much thought, or understanding why, a certain instinct popped into Klaus.

His mind raced through a much of things that he had read, over and over. His images was flipping through pages like a book. Quickly he got up, on one knee and covered the woman's lips with his hand. "Love, if you panic like that, I cannot make out any sounds." He looked at her a bit irritated, but quickly started to listen as the ground shook.

Suddenly the ground stopped and there was no noise, not even the sound of the birds singing, or wind blowing. It was dead silence. It made him a bit weary deep inside. Getting up to his feet he rubbed his shoulder. Keeping his voice in a low tone, he spoke in almost a too silent of a whisper. "We need to hide."

Walking over the woman on the ground he took her face and started to pat her cheeks. "Come on, wake up. We need to get going.

"She's not waking up anytime soon.. I mean look at her. She landed on a rock, her head is bleeding.. She needs to see a doctor." As she made her pointless comment about the doctor he was already pulling out a bandanna from his coat pocket, inside it was a jewel piece to cover it, but this was more important. He had already felt the blood in his hand when he lifted her head, it was cold from laying on the ground and it had already stopped bleeding when he finished wrapping it, but it was just incase it was to get worse.

"Can you manage to lift her, or shall I carry her?" Oh yeah her smirk was burning through the back of his skull, he could tell she was having fun at trying to nail him down to the ground, it was the first time he was treated like this by a girl and the excitement of it was a bit thrilling on his behalf. "She'll live.. but she's probably won herself a nasty concussion." She continued after rechecking the wound.

He stared at the girl whom was still unconscious, she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. And they were stuck in some god forsaken forest of doom. That is unless you want to call what had just happened all fun and games. Than that would make this a forest of happy tree friends. Rubbing the back of his neck he stayed knelt down, letting the girls body lay there for a moment. Something in the back of his mind made him wonder what had happened to the fourth member that they had seen earlier.Maybe he was apart of all this.

"Well love, unless you wish to see what the big rumbles under you feeties were, we should most likely travel in the direction that it didn't come from." He chuckled once amused with this, it didn't bother him, he knew how to survive, but that was when he was alone and didn't have to worry about others.

He debated for a moment on whether to drag this girl or actually carry her. If he was to drag her, he probably get his head bitten off and swallowed whole by Medusa over here huffing down his back, waiting for him to make the wrong move. Some reason the thought of all this made him want to laugh, but he kept his cool and started to lift the lady up, by pulling her arm and trying to shift her onto his back. Surprisingly she was rather light to him, like carrying a back pack. Her hands were soft and frail, just like the rest of her body. It was in that moment of him shifting his shoulder that almost had him let go of her. It was good his grip was tight and he didn't make a fuss over the pain in his shoulder, but he could also feel a bruising in his rib cage. Alright so this situation was worse than he gave credit for.

"Shall we?" He offered her to go first towards the south. "Unless you truly do wish to find out what is out there, but take it to thought that I wont be able to run if we do run into anything worse than myself." Without much thought he gave her a slight puppyish look with gentle eyes.

Everything was blurry and echoing. The two figures that stood around her fade in and out of view, and their voices echoed in Wynter's ears. Her head throbbed painfully, and when she moved to at least sit up, a wave of nausea forced her to stay still. She could not understand the voices that hit her ears, for they were a garbled mush of sound due to her disoriented state, and could dimly feel the rumbling beneath her body. Her bow and arrows were pinned uncomfortably under her body, her duffle bag directly beside her head, and through some fortune she had managed to keep a vise-like grip on her violin case.



"Darrian, I've told you multiple times to stop calling me. I'm heading home from classes, have had a long day, and I really don't need your stalking me to add onto my pile of crap going on right now. Good day to you sir!"

Snapping her phone shut, Wynter leaned back against the oak tree, her bag and violin head in front of her legs and her bow and quiver across her chest and back. She was thee only person there, and the cryptic message she had gotten gave her no clue of how many people would be there, but with a sigh, she settled back to wait.

It wasn't much later that three others appeared, one by one, and they had no chance to introduce themselves before a large hole appeared behind her back, ripping them all into the tree.



Wynter groaned softly, forcing her eyes open a crack. A man crouched over her, his hands lightly patting her cheeks, and for several minutes his image blurred, going from two, to four, to three, and finally to one. She blinked a few times, only to find her body being moved and tossed across the man's back.

The voices were still echoing, but at least now she could decipher them. Her eyes slowly opened the remainder of the way, and despite the immense pain in her head, she managed to focus on the trees around them.

"W ... Wh-what ...?" she murmured, her voice soft and her words slightly garbled.

The first thing that she noticed was the trees. They were endless. The next thing she noticed was that they were not in Central Park.

"Todo, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore ..." she muttered, easily maneuvering off of the man's back and onto her feet. She stumbled, reaching out and clutching the man's arm so as to avoid collapsing. Her hand moved to the back of her head, and could feel the bandanna that had been wrapped around it. Slipping her fingers beneath, she hissed and drew them back, finding them sticky with blood. Moving them to the left side of her forehead, she found the same result along her hairline, and grimaced.

"Great ..." she murmured sarcastically, closing her eyes for a brief second. Finally, she straightened and looked over at her companions, releasing the arm of the man.

"I think it would be best if we find our way out of this God forsaken forest before whatever made those loud sounds finds us. Whatever it was, it wasn't an animal, and it definitely wasn't human. We also aren't in Central Park anymore. To be frank, who knows where we are. But obviously we're in some forest, somewhere, and without a map or proper navigating instruments, we stand no chance of finding our way out of it. Once we're out of this section of the forest, we can go from there. That would be ideal, correct?" she asked, reaching down to grab her violin and bag, her eyes moving between the two, and she adjusted her bow and quiver as she straightened.

"I vote that we find somewhere that's open just enough for us to have room to camp, set up said camp, and find some food and water. We can go from there. Does that sound alright to-"

Wynter cut off, pausing and turning her head slightly. A piercing pain shot through her skull, but she ground her teeth together, closed her eyes, and then reopened them. They focused on the crumpled figure of a man, and for a moment, the air stood still. Snapping out of her frozen state, however, Wynter slid easily around the man beside her, before walking briskly over to the one who was collapsed. Crouching beside him, her two fingers moved to his neck, and after a moment she looked up at her first two companions.

"He's alive, but we need to get him somewhere safe and secure before I can assess his injuries. He's lost more than just a little bit of blood, and I need to treat him as soon as possible," she said, pulling his arm across her shoulders. Her legs trembled slightly with his weight as she rose, but after years of constant physical training, it wasn't impossible - but her injuries made her weak, and she was a bit breathless by the time she had completely stood.

Her eyes moved up to her two companions from before. "I don't know about you two, but I'm finding somewhere safe and I'm going to treat this man's injuries. You can come with me if you want, or you can stay here and become creature-food," she said. She didn't intend to sound harsh, for she truly didn't want the two to get hurt, but at the same time she didn't have much of a choice. She knew this was what was best, and she wasn't about to let herself get killed by some unknown beast.



Wynter collapsed to her knees, nearly dropping the man. Instead, she managed to somewhat-gently lower him to the ground. Removing her jacket, she skillfully and quickly folded it, lifting his head and slipping it beneath. Pushing herself slowly up, she moved around the small area that she had stopped at, surveying its surroundings. She plucked up several stray branches as she did so, before moving back to his side. Dropping to her knees once more, she used her gloved hands to dig a pit, tossed the branches into it, and quickly started a fire with the lighter she always kept on her. Rising and leaving his side again, she managed to gather enough rocks to satisfy her, before she returned and placed them around the fire so as to avoid setting the entire forest alight.

Finally, she turned to the man, frowning. He was incredibly heated, and sweat drenched his body.

"What in the world happened to you?" she muttered, reaching down and struggling him out of his jacket. He was obviously very ill, and while sweat allowed a person to rid themselves of the illness, too much heat could negatively affect them. They could become dehydrated and die - which was the worst outcome, but it certainly was plausible.

Turning, she unzipped her bag and removed a water bottle and towel that had remained in her bag after dance class. Wetting the towel, she folded and placed it upon the forehead of the man. After a moment, Wynter began to gently move her hands over every centimeter of his body, expertly checking for any wounds that he may have that weren't visible to the eyes - wounds that could have either been hidden by his clothing, or broken bones. Finding no broken bones on the upper body, she moved to the lower, only to find a several bruised kneecap. There really wasn't much that she could do without an ice pack, so instead, she dug around in her bag before removing a roll of athletic tape and a roll of Pro Wrap. Sliding his pant leg up to mid-thigh, she quickly wrapped his knee with the Pro Wrap, before easily taping it down.

Finally, Wynter moved up to his head, brushing his hair back from his face and momentarily removing the towel. Blood was scattered across his cheeks and forehead, some of which she could not tell if it was his own. Using the bottom of her shirt, she wiped most of it away. Pulling the first aid kid from her bag, she snapped it open, removed some alcoholic wipes, and began to gently pat at the wounds. After several minutes, she bandaged and wrapped the more severe wounds, before replacing the towel on his head. She removed the spare shirt she kept in her bag and wet one end of it, lightly moving it across the cheeks and neck of him in an attempt to cool his flaming skin. Her other hand moved across his head, her fingers threading through his hair and probing the skull for any damages. Satisfied that there were none, she moved from her crouch so that she was sitting cross-legged, continuing to pat at his cheeks with the cool water.

Arya silenced herself watching the blonde male begin to makeshift treat her wound, causing her to release a laugh under her breath. I guess he's more useful than he appears.. she mused to herself, a smile upon her face. She knew it wasn't the time for such games, but she was alive and well. She couldn't keep bitter about the situation while it was nice. Even if the danger was only relatively dormant, the moment was good. She also noticed she was finally getting what she wanted, even if it meant challenging this stranger's manliness. She brushed her hair back, stretching now that she had a moment to relax. She could feel several bones pop as she did so, but she felt so much better. Obviously the forest floor isn't that good on the bones.. She could tell he was trying to make a decision, on what though? She was clueless to his intention, but smirked once he picked up their female companion. She felt a bit smug, mentally keeping score of her winnings against this cocky guy. So far it was 1 : 1, though she was determined not to lose to the sarcastic male.

"Shall we?" "Unless you truly do wish to find out what is out there, but take it to thought that I wont be able to run if we do run into anything worse than myself."

"Of course, I cannot wait to get out of here. Humidity is a formidable foe.." She mumbled, starting off in the direction he ushered her toward, frowning a bit as he continued, the look in his eyes was almost unnerving, though she turned her gaze back to the direction she was walking, "Don't be ridiculous. I don't want to find out any more than you do." She snapped, crossing her arms as she trudged through the dirt, crinkling her nose as the mud ruined her heels. Why did I honestly wear heels to meet someone at Central Park? She thought irritated.

After a moment of walking, she finally heard the female's noises, though she couldn't quite make out what the dark haired female was attempting to say. She stopped, turning to the man carrying her, putting her hand out to touch his chest, "I think she's waking up." She reasoned, refusing him eye contact as she peered around him.

"Todo, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore ..."

She smirked a bit as the girl woke up and removed herself from the snobby male. "We sure as hell better not be in Kansas. I have a job to get to!" She replied bitterly. She felt a knot in her stomach, wondering how pissed her boss was that she wasn't already at work. She was undoubtedly fired by now.. Great I'll have to find a new job when I get home as well as put this all behind me.. Though she deep down she was grateful that the other girl had woken up. Not that she'd actually ever admit it though. As she stumbled, she reach to catch the girl, but was relieved as she'd managed to stable herself on their witty male companion.

"Great ..."

"You hit your head on a rock sometime through... Whatever that was.." She replied, hesitating. How was she supposed to describe what happened to them? It was like an episode of Star Trek or something, she couldn't just blurt out that they'd arrived here by a portal... That was nonsense.

"I think it would be best if we find our way out of this God forsaken forest before whatever made those loud sounds finds us. Whatever it was, it wasn't an animal, and it definitely wasn't human. We also aren't in Central Park anymore. To be frank, who knows where we are. But obviously we're in some forest, somewhere, and without a map or proper navigating instruments, we stand no chance of finding our way out of it. Once we're out of this section of the forest, we can go from there. That would be ideal, correct?"

"Yeah, that's what we planned to do, though out in the open like that, won't we be easily accessible to wolves? Not that I'm disagreeing, just curious. I've never been camping, myself." She heard several gruesome stories of campers being attacked by bears and wolves. She really didn't want to survive this horror movie to be eaten by the animals that inhabit this wilderness.

"I vote that we find somewhere that's open just enough for us to have room to camp, set up said camp, and find some food and water. We can go from there. Does that sound alright to-"

She nodded her head, agreeing with her. Food sounded wonderful, though she was concerned about the food they would find. She was a firm believer than any animal with fur was to be left alone. She only ate eggs, chicken, duck, turkey, vegetables, fruit, and nuts in her every day life. She never once ate cow, deer, rabbit, or any other furry animal friend in her life. Her picky nature was half of what made her so incapable of being adopted. She wasn't going to bring it up, but she doubted she was going to find any suitable food as things stood. They seemed miles away from any source of water.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm finding somewhere safe and I'm going to treat this man's injuries. You can come with me if you want, or you can stay here and become creature-food,"


She noticed the dark haired male that the brunette spoke of after she escaped her thoughts. She ran over to help, putting the bloody man's other arm over her shoulder, "Sunshine back there carried you, I guess it's our turn to carry him." She laughed pleasantly, "Of course I'm in. Lead the way."

*Very Short Time Skip {Five Minutes Later}*

She felt horrible for their fourth companion, though she felt even worse thinking that he'd been the one to put them in this situation. She reach in her pocket, for her phone, but found a piece of paper inside instead. She pulled it out, wide eyed. Who had time to slip something in her pocket without her knowing? She felt fear boiling up in her stomach as she unfolded the parchment, which looked rather rough for wear, she might add.

"Dearest Arya,

You must be confused by all this madness. Raised in a land of cars and iced tea, it must be hard to accept what I'm about to tell you. You're a Princess, Your mother's name is Snow White, and your father is Prince Charming. It must be hard to accept that people you read about in fairy tales are your parents, but with time you will grow to understand that everything I say is quite true. None of you are here by chance, your fiance` is here as well. Though we don't expect either of you to form an immediate bond, at least try and get along with one another. Your parents are in grave danger and I risk my own life for retrieving each of you. So here's what you need to know; You are a princess, you have magic, strong magic, you're meant to help others. You're the product of true love and can inspire that very same love in those around you. You have a healing touch, and one day you will be a Queen, with Klaus standing beside you.

With Love,
A very dear friend."

She was wide eyed and threw the letter to the ground, glaring at it, "Which one of you are Klaus and what kind of sick joke is this?!" She demanded, peering between the light and dark haired males, "Healing abilities? Capable of inspiring love in others? Fiance`?! I was an Orphan, how sick can you be to make a joke about my parents!?" She was fuming, ready to crack skulls at the first wrong answer. Though mostly she was hurt. She always masked her pain with anger. She was trembling, fist clenched as she awaited an answer, her knuckles turning white from the pressure.

Klaus's mind was distracted, so he didn't take much noticed of what the girl on his back was saying or even doing nor of what the blonde was talking about before, that was until he felt a warm pressure on his chest. The blonde had stopped him in his tracts around the same time the burnet was trying to get off him. Annoyance folded around his lips, causing him to pucker a bit. It wasn't at the girls but at the fact that the movement didn't feel to pleasant.

"So much for being unconscious, loves." Adjusting himself, he forced his shoulder to pop. It grinded slightly but it seemed to have fallen back into place. With a slight grunt he just started on walking.

As the spoke of homes, Klaus seemed to be the only one not really caring about home much. He didn't really wish to bring up 'we aren't going home any time soon.' to the girls. Them freaking out was the last thing needed right now. Stopping he looked around, forest, forest and more forest. Every corner all looked the same, getting lost in this would be a nightmare inside a nightmare.

"I think it be best loves that we don't find camp on the grounds, but some place high. We don't know what is here and I don't wish to find out." He started to grab some vines as the girls attended to welcomed back new comer to the group. Sure he'd help some, but the girls were handling it. Won't be much to do if everyone was huddling around the lad.

[Five mins time skip, duly noted]

Klaus didn't say a word after the blonde, now named Arya, was freaking out throwing the note. Hanging the vines on a broken down tree, he bent down and picked up the note. Scanning over it with his eyes, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Fairy Tales are real..." He stated as he mumbled to himself, but chuckled and folded the paper back up. Looking over at Arya whom kept freaking out, before Klaus could say anything, he heard a crinkle of paper sound off in his pocket. He could remember of putting anything in his pockets.

"Hmm." Taking it out, it looked as if it was the same thing that Arya got. But in different words.

"Dear, Dear, Lovely Klaus, He paused and it only took a glance over the note before he crinkled it up and shoved it back into his pocket. He said the first part so Arya knew that he was the man named Klaus, but he didn't bother reading his note out loud. "Sorry loves, but it seems that someone must have drugged us and put us into some kind of sick joke. Arya, best not be too loud, something might hear us.." The anger in his eyes had become dark and slightly clouded over, but he tried to be kind to the blonde. He was pissed, his jaw was tight and his lips were slightly puckered so he wouldn't say anything he'd regret.

Not saying another word he took the vines and started to braid them together, his anger was taken out on each braid. And kept his back towards the others. This was more than what words could handle. Who ever sent the leader and made him snap his last string. He wanted revenge and nothing could really stop him from taking it.

Stopping for a little bit he stared at his hands that held the vines. The felt weird, tingly the whole time, but he never understood why. It was a come and go feeling, his hands never felt like that before, so it was odd...no it was..well whatever it was, it had got him thinking about the letter. If it was right, that means that whatever is out there, they were up for alot more than what they bargained for.

”What…”

It appeared as if the man was coming to. His fever had diminished some, but it still wasn't satisfactory - at least to her, after her beginnings at medical school. She had graduated at seventeen due to her skipping a grade and had been in training to become a doctor for the previous three years, and was very thorough in treating her 'patients'.

"Hush. You shouldn't speak yet. You've barely recovered and your fever is still dangerously high. You need to lay down and rest," she spoke soothingly, smoothing the damp cloth across his forehead and cheeks.

"Which one of you are Klaus and what kind of sick joke is this!? Healing abilities? Capable of inspiring love in others? Fiance!? I was an Orphan, how sick can you be to make a joke about my parents!?"

Wynter cringed after the sudden outburst from the other girl, whose name was Arya. Obviously the girl had a bit of an anger issue, but she wasn't about to point that out. Instead, she turned slightly, her eyes darting between the man - who she now knew was named Klaus - and Arya. After words continuously fired, she finally rose and strode between them.

"Alright, that's enough," she said softly, her words quiet yet loud enough to carry. "Right now isn't the time to argue among ourselves. We may not know each other very well, but we're all that we have, and for now that's all that matters. We need to stick together, and getting into fights isn't going to assist us in any way. Instead it will hinder us, and we don't want that now do we? Our best chances of figuring out what the Hell is going on is if we work together to solve this problem," she said, smacking her right fist into the palm of her left hand.

Wynter turned her head, glancing back at the dark haired man as he made a soft noise. She darted her gaze to Arya. "I'm positive that Klaus did not put that not in your pocket - when would he have had the time? So please think rationally, dear," she said, returning to the dark man's side. She lowered herself beside him, moving her ear near his lips to catch his words.

"Name ..."

Her name? She slowly leaned back up before returning the towel to his face.

"I'm Wynter Clarabella Augustine," she answered, just loudly enough for Klaus and Arya to hear, also - why not save herself another two introductions? Something touched the back of her hand, and startled, she turned her eyes to it, only to find his hand awkwardly holding her own. After a moment it dropped, and as it did he moved to rise.

"Don't-" she warned, lifting her hands to stop him - only to have him collapse onto her legs. She grimaced slightly. He was heavy, to say the least, and the sudden onslaught of his weight on her jarred her slightly. She dropped her hands and helped hoist him off, pushing her palm against his chest to keep him on the ground.

"Don't move. You need to rest and recover," she ordered, her words gentle yet firm. "Don't be stupid. Listen to me. I know what I'm talking about," she said with a sigh. Leaving the towel on his forehead, she dug into the pocket of her jeans and lithely removed the paper that had been crinkling along since they arrived. Unfolding it, she smoothed out the creases before glancing down at it, her eyes skimming the words slowly.

"Dearest Wynter,

You must be confused by all this madness. Raised in a land of extravagant parties and unrealistic perfection, it must be hard to accept what I'm about to tell you. You're a Princess. Your mother's name is Aurora Mountbatten, and your father is Prince Phillip. It must be hard to accept that people you read about in fairy tales are your parents, but with time you will grow to understand that everything I say is quite true. None of you are here by chance, your fiance is here as well. Though we don't expect either of you to form an immediate bond, at least try and get along with one another. Your parents are in grave danger and I risk my own life for retrieving each of you. So here's what you need to know; You are a princess, you have magic - strong magic, and you're meant to help others. You're the product of true love and can inspire that very same love in those around you. You have a light touch, and one day you will be a Queen - with Jalen standing beside you.

With Love,
A very dear friend."

Her heart stopped thumping, and for a moment the air stood still. Finally, she crunched the paper up and shoved it roughly into her pocket.

"Arya, don't react so harshly to something such as that. I was an orphan too - I just had the fortune," she spoke the word with heavy sarcasm, "of being adopted by a loving pair of rich, sophisticated parents," she said. "Right now we need-"

A loud howl that sent chills down her spine stilled her, and heart heart stopped with fear. Her eyes grew wide, and she sat still.

"You know it's still out there, right? ... And there are trail marks ... Oh boy ..."

Her eyes moved down to the man, who she figured to be this 'Jalen' that she was supposedly 'engaged' to. After a moment, they moved up to the trees in the opposite direction that the sound had come from, the direction that she was facing.

"What ... What's still out there?" she asked softly, her voice shaking slightly. There was a loud rumbling sound that could only have come from a very large footfall, and after a moment of deadly silence, Wynter rose.

"Stay here," she ordered quietly. Her bags remained on the ground but she slowly removed her bow. Reaching behind her head, her fingers pinched the vane of an arrow and slowly pulled it up and over her head. Placing the nock against the string, she clipped it and moved slowly forward, her knees bending with each step. She slowly drew back the arrow, her eyes locked on the trees. The loud steps drew closer and she let out her breath slowly, calming her racing heartbeat.

"I can't take out whatever this is on my own, no matter my skill with this bow. It would be greatly appreciated if I could have some help," she said softly, just as a large, ugly foot appeared through the trees. She felt her blood chill, but without a moment's hesitation, she loosed the arrow. As it flew, a spot of sunlight shot through the trees, catching the head of it. In a split second it had become to smoke, and then lit with the flames of the light. It pierced Sternohyoid, burying itself completely within the throat of the beast. It let out a strangled howl, it's foot lashing out to kick at her. Her head injuries made her slow as she attempted to dodge the kick, and it caught her legs. The power behind the creature, however, sent her crashing across the ground before she rolled clumsily to a stop. She grimaced, pushing herself up and rising. Her leg, however, gave out on her, and from the feel of it she undoubtedly had a fractured shin, for that wasn't a love tap it just gave her. Two furious roars echoed throughout the forest, and before she realized what had happened, the creature had launched itself in her direction. Fear caused her to fumble as she reached for her arrow, so she quickly and clumsily notched it before letting it loose. The arrow struck the creature's chest, directly where it's heart should have been, but instead of collapsing, it merely grew angrier and sped up.

"What the Hell is this thing!?" she squeaked, stumbling up. She pushed off with her uninjured leg, rolling to the side just as the creature slammed into the trees behind where she had formally been. Fumbling for another arrow, she rolled onto her back, her breathing heavy.

{I kind of incorporated a bit of her powers beginning to appear. If that isn't alright, I can Edit that small part out.}

"Dear, Dear, Lovely Klaus..Sorry loves, but it seems that someone must have drugged us and put us into some kind of sick joke. Arya, best not be too loud, something might hear us.."

Arya could feel her blood boiling under her skin. She wanted to tear him limb from limb, but something forced her to remain where she stood. For some reason her feet felt like they had become rooted into the ground, only infuriating her even further. She listened to his excuse. She noticed the frightening gaze of the sandy haired male, though she brushed it aside. A stubborn look of defiance stared back into his angry orbs, refusing her fury permission to waver. She had never been the cooperative type, she wasn't going to be an effortless companion. Learning to accept Arya, and for Arya to accept the others, it was going to be considerably laborious.

"Alright, that's enough. Right now isn't the time to argue among ourselves. We may not know each other very well, but we're all that we have, and for now that's all that matters. We need to stick together, and getting into fights isn't going to assist us in any way. Instead it will hinder us, and we don't want that now do we? Our best chances of figuring out what the Hell is going on is if we work together to solve this problem."

Arya let out an exasperated sigh before rolling her eyes. Like I would ever consort with someone like him. She thought to herself, finally moving from where she stood and leaning against a nearby tree. She closed her eyes, pretending to ignore the others for a moment while she piled her thoughts. She put her irritation away, for now. She wasn't letting that snarky wretch get the best of her. She however nodded her head, "I'll do what I must, nothing more and nothing less." She finally replied bitterly.

"I'm positive that Klaus did not put that not in your pocket - when would he have had the time? So please think rationally, dear."

Then she gritted her teeth, "Has anyone actually played attention to horror movies? Some of those are actually true stories you know.. The killers sometimes plant themselves at the scene of the crime. They pretend to be a victim so they can easily pick everyone off one by one. I don't put it past anyone here... I'd love to think rationally, but to be quite frank nothing has been rational here.. Rational is not trusting complete strangers... Though I understand your point. I will only do what I must to get us all home."

"Name ..."

She was taken aback, dropping her argument instantly. It was the first thing she'd heard from the fourth companion and she decided to give the poor man the floor. He was croaky as it stood, so her loud mouth was the last thing that needed to run at the moment.

“Sucked the first dozen read throughs,”

"Arya, don't react so harshly to something such as that. I was an orphan too - I just had the fortune," she spoke the word with heavy sarcasm, "of being adopted by a loving pair of rich, sophisticated parents," she said. "Right now we need-"

She heard the roar as well, quickly dropping down, reaching inside her leather heeled boots to retrieve a knife from within. She wasn't really equip for something like this, but she figured it was better than her bare hands at this point, "Got it. Dropped it. Over it. Shhh." She whispered back, trying to gather how close the monster was to the group.

”You know it’s still out there, right…? And there are trail marks… Oh boy…”

"The creature that attacked you..?" She asked, but expected no answer. Honestly she slowly took a deep breath, clicking her switchblade. She tried to prepare herself, but she'd never killed an animal before in her life. She was completely unprepared for the task before her.

"Stay here."

The words didn't exactly register in Arya's mind, and she began making her way away from the group and into the trees. She made no further noise. To their eyes, she apparently fled, whether or not she'd abandoned them was a mystery.

"I can't take out whatever this is on my own, no matter my skill with this bow. It would be greatly appreciated if I could have some help."

She could hear Wynter say, though she refused to reply. She couldn't give away her position. She watched the arrow zoom by, one hand over her mouth as she caught a full glimpse of the beast that threw the girl within the blink of an eye. She was wide eyed, knowing she had to do something to help, but the damned thing was fast for it's gigantic size. The other girl seemed hurt, collapsing after she regained herself from the impact. I have to do something.. it's going to kill her..! The beast ran at Wynter, and although she shot it a second time, it's charge only grew quicker. Arya jumped from her hiding spot in a tree as the beast passed under, landing on it's back. She dug her knife into the front of it's shoulder, attempting to jerk it back toward her to cause extra damage. The skin was tough, but she slowly made herself known to the beast. It roared in a horrifying mix of anger and pain from the wound. It stopped it's rampage only to thrash about, sending Arya flying. She made direct impact with a tree before crashing to the ground. She gasped out, trying to breathe again, but the air was absent. She felt as if her lungs had shriveled up and died. An excruciating pain overtook her, and worst of all she couldn't move. She wasn't paralyzed, because she could squirm, though every move she made was excruciatingly painful. She'd never felt such pain in her entire life. Now she was thankful she wasn't on the receiving end of the monster's actual blow like Wynter, but now that it's attention was on her, something told her she just might need to revoke that appreciation. Arya managed to force herself upright by clinging onto a branch for balance. . It felt like it took hours, though the had only been a minute or so.

"I lost my knife.." She coughed out. Her eyes darted around as she tried to locate her weapon, but all she found was a decent sized rock. She sighed in defeat, but then she got an idea. The idea would distract the beast, albeit it was not quite a bright one. She picked up the rock, since she was far to injured to flee and threw it straight at the enormous monstrosity, "Hey, ugly! Over here! You don't want them! Everyone knows blondes are more fun!" She called out as loud as her sore lungs permitted. The beast changed course, stomping straight at her. I hope someone else has an idea... She thought, waving her free arm to keep the dimwitted creature's attention solely on her. I can't watch someone else die.. I'd never forgive myself if I chose to be the coward!

Klaus was paying no attention to what was all being said, his mind was set on on something completely different. His thoughts soaked in outright rage, but the sudden sound of a loud roar caused him to freeze up slightly. That same feeling as before started to make the ground shake and quake. It was a bit hard to balance with even while standing there or sitting down. You could hear the flock of birds crying out as they flew away altogether in a rush. The smaller creatures ran out in panic some running eachother over to get away. Whatever this thing was, the animals had the best idea. Get the hell out of here.

As the quakes came closer and even more rough, Wynter had become a different character. She was strong willed and sort of badass once she pulled out her bow, but that line dropped a bit when she asked for help, but still on the same, not like he ever used one. His attention was easily pulled away once the sight of the thing making all the loud noises came into his view. And for some reason even though he knew he should be fleeing, something inside him was saying he saw this creature before, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Making his way over to the other male named Jalen, he smirked at him. "Well it seems we will be of no use in this situation and the smell of all this blood, probably made the ogre....-" He paused in mid sentence.

Ogre...ogre... His mind started to race as if he was scrolling down a computer or some files. He remembered now, he had read about them before in one of his books. The question was, how did we kill it. Klaus bent down and started to think harder, staring at the ground, he started to draw random lines without much thought to it. When he was done he shifted towards the girls. At that time Arya was being thrown across and into the tree hitting the ground. Something odd clicked deep down inside him and he started to feel his hands tingle a bit again.

Before he could do or say anything she was already grabbing a rock and calling out to it like an idiot. But it didn't take to long before he noticed what she was doing. Instantly he called out to Wynter. "Oi! Shoot at the back of it's knees! Just do it, trust me! The skin is probably tough so make the shot count!"

Hoping this would work, he remembered reading a book about a video game, it was the only thing he had to go by when put onto the spot like this. And the only thing that might have a chance on. "We might not be able to kill it, but if we can some how knock it down, we might just be able to make an escape. It is one thing, I know best on this much.

It wasn't a lie, he knew very well on how to escape, alot might call him a coward, but to him it was a way of surviving. And getting away from those who didn't like his deals so much. But let us not get too much into that just yet. "You my friend, we need to get rid of all this blood. Before it gets us into more trouble."

Without letting him say anything he started to rub dirt all over his wounds. It was a way to vanish any and all kinds of scents remanding. This man had too much of it, it was a bit irritating trying to cover it all. And despite the pain that Klaus felt on his body, he helped the lad up and shoved him into a hole under the tree, where the roots were and the ground covered more of his scent. Whether this man had objections or struggled against it, Klaus didn't give two shits. Dying was the last thing he wanted. "Bare with it and keep quiet. If we get killed because of you, I will never let you live it down even in the afterlife."

A flash of red caught Klaus's eye, it moved through the forest. You couldn't see who it was, the person was too far away, but there was a bad feeling about this person or thing that had Klaus wanting to follow it. "I'll be back..." Climbing over the tree, he was trying to be sneaky.

Over course this was a bad time to leave the others behind, but if he could get some answers while the others were distracted than maybe this person could give us what we or he wants.

"Hey! I know you saw us! Or have been following us! At least help us!" Klaus glared at the person in the red cloak as they stopped without turning around.

"You seem to have everything jotted down." It was a woman's voice, she sounded like an exsotic cat, a slow but quiet voice.

"You've got to be kidding me..." He mumbled to himself, rubbing his jaw. "At least tell me how to kill-

"The head." She walked away without another word and just vanished before his eyes.

"The h..." He shook his head and looked around, she was gone, there was nothing, but the sight of the ogre and yelling. Rushing back he had grabbed a thick stick with a sharp edge on it. Climbing back over the tree's roots he watched and waited for an opening.

Wynter… Jalen’s mind forewent his train of thought, lingering on a name, as if it were recollect-able.
"What ... What's still out there?" Jal gazed at Wyn, shaking his head.
"The creature that attacked you..?" Ayra’s voice carried but it fell on deaf ears, too engrossed in the presence of the stranger nearest to him.
The ground began to quiver with increasing succession, accompanied by a groaning thud; this disturbance snapped more than Jalen’s attention to it.
"Stay here," Wynter breathed and Jalen’s peripherals registered Wynter’s absence. Concentrating on the oncoming movement Jal caught sight of a projectile. It was unnatural Jalen deliberated in disbelief, almost as though it had caught a light mid flight; a chilling aura surged up his spine.
"Huh…?" Does everyone I meet have to be so hocus pocus? The “intended” came into view, raging viciously – an arrow embedded in its throat. Unfortunately it appeared to possess a second. Perfect. My fantastic fairy glow does jack all, Jal berated.
The creature wasn’t slowed, in fact the damage seem to have amplified its resolve with fury. It wasn’t moments before the beast retaliated with an assault that caught Wynter dramatically. Jal winced at the damage Wynter received. The second attempt was no more successful, a direct hit but only succeeding as far as further enraging the attacker.
"What the Hell is this thing!?" An exclamation cried out from Wynter, exacerbated. Some how amidst the activity unfolding between the ogre and Wynter, Klaus had approached Jal and Jal realised Ayra was out of sight.
"Well it seems we will be of no use in this situation and the smell of all this blood, probably made the ogre....-" The man paused abruptly. What’s this guy talking about? Let me guess. A militant pacifist… what a joke. Jal presumed rolling his eyes in disgust and completely missing Klaus’s injured condition.”Great…” he exhaled.

Before Jal realised Arya had darted from an unseen position and was mounted upon the beast, it shook and flailed in response to a blade Arya was repeatedly driving into it. The beast then succeeded in loosing Arya.
Hey, ugly! Over here! You don't want them! Everyone knows blondes are more fun!" Beckoning, Arya motioned for the ogre to pursue her.
Why would that idiot… A thought crossed Jal before he could dismiss its impracticality, This creature could do my work for me…
"Oi! Shoot at the back of its knees! Just do it, trust me! The skin is probably tough so make the shot count!" The voice beside him trampled over his thoughts, Jal was even more irked by the blonde.
Sure… kitty scratch it in a non-fatal area, that’ll save you from the brunt of it’s ferociously massive club hands… Jal scoffed to himself sarcastically. “Ugh.” Or better yet, lets walk wide-eyed into an unhealthy dealing of mortal wounds, then I can go out along with all three of you and never get to settle my score with THAT WITCH… fantastic... Something was also mentioned from the “unhelpful" foghorn beside him but Jalen had tuned out and had began rummaging through his jacket pocket. It was as he retrieved the desired object that earth started smattering itself onto him, forcing a choking cough and Jal to spit.
"You my friend, we need to get rid of all this blood, before it gets us into more trouble." Klaus explained, whilst Jal protested with extreme dissatisfaction. In the process of being lifted away from the battle Jalen ungrasped the item, allowing it to chink and run toward Wynter. It was a poisoned ring, one of few remaining to Jal since his previous encounter, he was hopeful that it would be of use to Wynter or Ayra, and he didn’t have any other options, grunting as Klaus dropped him into the hollow a tree.
The imperatives Klaus served, only agitated Jal, though he noticed Klaus had either seen something or was abandoning the women, as he darted away.
”I’ll be back…”
”Sure... I’m the Pope.”The man’s boots crunched underfoot as he left upon fallen leaves, through the trees. Jal tensed, he could feel the energy emitted from the girls, the negativity and gravity of their current situation. It empowered him.
”I can do this.” Jal breathed in quick succession, attempting to convince himself. Dark wisps began emerging around. “Come on...” Jal urged himself, pulsating the aura, collecting it, and focusing it into a single point.
It felt ready. Jal noticed Klaus around the perimeter, "weapon" engaged, though Jal concluded that a pointed stick could hardly boast such a classification. Time was closing in, as the monster charged Arya. Jal closed his eyes for the push.



”Huh? Where am I? Darkness enshrouded his vision. But. Somehow… He knew. It was obvious by the amount of disgust and depressing energy surrounding him, almost suffocating.





Had Jalen been returned.



To the Witch's keep?











"Oh this isn't my castle dear," A cackley voice overtured.
"You'll see."

Wynter's eyes widened as the blonde female pounced the Ogre. She dug her weapon sloppily into the beast, but it definitely bought her some time. Thanks, I'm glad I'm not doing this alone.. At least she meant it when she said she'd cooperate with us. It brought a smile to the dark haired woman's face, but it was short lived. She adjusted her position, considering her injury. She had to make this next shot count. She couldn't just let Arya die protecting her. Think.. Think.. You're a Stirling. You've bested some of top minds in New York, you can't let an Ogre best you in a game of strategy.


"Hey, ugly! Over here! You don't want them! Everyone knows blondes are more fun!" The blonde further distracted the beast, giving Wynter time to come up with her plan. Though Arya's next words reminded her how fleeting time was, "I lost my knife.." her companion coughed out.

Wynter's eyes darted around the field, before she finally noticed the ring. She wasn't sure which one of the men left it behind, considering her attention had been on Arya's survival, but she quickly ripped part of her shirt, tying the ring to an arrow and shooting it beside Arya, into the tree, "Use that, I need time!" She shouted to her. The dark haired woman drug her useless leg as she adjusted her position, getting a better view of the Ogre. Though she collapsed again, panting hard. Her shin was throbbing with pain, and reasonably starting to swell.

"Oi! Shoot at the back of it's knees! Just do it, trust me! The skin is probably tough so make the shot count!"

She nodded at Klaus as she took out another arrow. She took no time in drawing the string back, taking a moment to steady herself in spite of the pain. She let out one calming breath before releasing the arrow, watching it zoom at the Ogre, it pierced the tough skin digging into the side of the Ogre's knee. Wynter grinned and quickly she began her next shot, "I hope you know what you're doing.." She whispered in terms of Klaus, but had little choice. She decided to trust him with her life, and Arya's.

She shot the second arrow, this time it dug itself into the back of the Ogre's knee. It collapsed in front of Arya, releasing a loud roar into the sky. She'd definitely pissed it off. It turned to face Wynter again, barely a few feet from Arya at this point. She quickly pointed to the ring she'd shot toward her earlier, "Arya! Use it!"

She felt a bit betrayed by Klaus, seeing as he'd hidden Jalen and disappeared. I can't believe you abandoned us like this. She thought angrily, but decided not to hold the grudge at a time like this. She had to do her best. I'm a Stirling... We do our best until our very last breath.. She attempted to scoot herself along the forest floor, away from the Ogre in hopes that it would follow her and give Arya the opening she needed. The arrows slowed the beast down, but they weren't sharp enough to cause any real damage to the monstrosity.

She swallowed hard, but was relieved to see Klaus return. He must have had a plan, because he was running to the group like a man on a mission. She allowed a large grin to sweep across her face, but she literally facepalmed when she noticed he planned to beat the Ogre with a pointy stick. Seriously? A stick? I'll trust his judgement.. She reach for another arrow to assist, but was horrified when she realized she was out of arrows.

I can't die now... what if this is true...? What if we really might find our families here?

Arya could see Klaus getting Jalen out of sight, smiling a bit as the Ogre stormed toward her. She kept shouting, waving her arm, "Ogres are so slow! A grandma could have gotten to me by now!" She taunted, refusing to back down in the face of danger. She had to give the others a chance.

She noticed Wynter was taking another shot, but it missed the ogre. She flinched, seeing as it came dangerously close to her, "Are you crazy!?" She snapped, opening her mouth to continue her pissed rant, but realized there was something connected to the arrow. It was some sort of weapon tied onto the bow. She tried to pull it out of the tree, but eventually resorted to breaking it in half. She felt sore, her entire body ached from her impact with the tree. Though she wasn't sure if anything was broken or not. Though she still couldn't breathe properly. With every breath she took in, Arya felt a sharp, tight pain on the left side of her chest. By now the pain had spread to the upper left side of her back. The shortness of breath was growing irritating, especially after forcing herself up and antagonizing the Ogre.

"Use that, I need time!"

Arya nodded a bit, getting a good hold on the ring, prepared to stab it into the ogre if she must. She kept her eyes on the beast, though she was starting to tremble. The sensation of barely breathing was scaring her, despite her best efforts to remain calm.

"Oi! Shoot at the back of it's knees! Just do it, trust me! The skin is probably tough so make the shot count!"

She shot her head around to locate the owner of the voice, and was relieved as she realized Klaus told Wynter to shoot at the Ogre. Apparently he had a plan. Maybe it would give her a moment to rest if she was lucky. Though she refused to let her hopes get too high. She pushed her hair behind her ear, one hand gently pressed to her chest. During her moment of intermission she noticed Wynter was still dragging her leg along. How hard did that thing hit her? She thought to herself, biting on her bottom lip. I hope she's going to be okay..

Arya heard the grunt of the Ogre as Wynter's next arrow shot into the Ogre, though it wasn't stopping it's rampage. A tree went flying across the field as the beast took it's rage out on the forestry. She leaned up against the tree, able to stand without support, but it was definitely strenuous. Her breathing was shallow and rough, and she looked exhausted. The second arrow caused the Ogre to temporarily collapse to it's knees. Arya's eyes widened at the angry shout the monster released, and a look of horror crossed her features as it located Wynter.

"Arya! Use it!"

Without hesitation Arya jammed the ring into the ogre's wound. The disgusting beast's bloods adorning her hand, the smell alone was enough to make someone sick. She fell backwards, gasping out from the excruciating pain in her chest. The force she used to stab the ogre triggering the sharp pains again. She saw Klaus return to the group, only to climb a tree. Copy cat... She thought rolling her eyes, At least I had a knife.. She thought in a bitter tone. Though she was grateful he was coming to their rescue, she wasn't the confident in the pointy stick he chose to arm himself with.

She looked over to Wynter, whom seemed just as skeptical as she, and she merely laughed to herself bitterly. The ugly beast finally enraged from the pain, lifted his foot, ready to stomp it down upon Arya. Laying back was painful enough, so she closed her eyes tight, preparing herself for what seemed to be certain death, "So my life depends on a conceited prick... Isn't that just my type of luck...?" She muttered to herself, letting out a painful breath, "Here goes hoping for a miracle.."

Klaus didn't make any moves anytime soon, he waited for the right moment. He knew that deep down inside of him that Arrows and knives wasn't going to cut it when it came to something this big. It was like giving the creature a bunch of splinters. So he watched and waited for the right moment.

As it fought with the girls it paused and lifted it's arms to let out a hard and rough roar into the heavens. The ground shook and the trees danced in horror. When he stopped and started to breathe heavy. The wound on it's leg, wouldn't let it stand up. At least he was right about that knee.

"You know you picked the wrong day to mess with me." Klaus's eyes clouded over with anger and a hit of twisted fate in them. "I just found out things that I shouldn't have. And that I am engaged. Then there was the part about something that really set me off on edge today. And I don't think that i am going to let something like you stand in the way of me killing every last one of you things here."

The ogre turned it's body to face Klaus, their faces had become face to face. One swing could kill him, one bite could take him. But all they did was stare at each other in complete anger. The ogre's eyes grew soft as he narrowed them. As if he was claiming defeat. He closed his eyes and let Klaus have at it. Wasn't like this thing was going to win and it knew this.

With a fancy twist of the stick, Klaus had grew a cocky mouth open grin for a slight second, as he jabbed the stick right into the ogre's eye. It howled in pain, but the moment that Klaus twisted the stick and jerked it to the right, the Ogre grew quiet and limp.

Not letting go of the stick Klaus leaned his eait into the ogre's head. "Shit.." The pain in his ribs started to make his vision go off for a bit. He knew his ribs were cracked from the fall earlier, but after this, it had felt like he made the crack wrose. He didn't hold onto his ribs, he didn't want the other's to see, he felt off. So he made it seem as if he was feeling sorry for the ogre's death. But in all honest truth, he made him feel....dangerously amazing inside. Who knew that such adrenaline felt this great to him. He almost wanted to laugh, but held it in.

Throwing himself back as he landed on the ground, leaning back on his hands, throwing his head back, he let out a loud 'phew'. "I thought that thing was going to eat me right then and there." He laughed feeling drained. He was playing off fake emotions. Sure he did that, it was like he could say that he wasn't scared. Not like any of them would believe him anyways. It was best for him to play off the weak and frail guy for a bit while longer.

The darkened abyss subsided and Jalen found himself surrounded by walls, he staggered to stand, pushing up on a knee.
“This movement trick is REALLY getting old!” Jalen mouthed to the sky above, “If this all turns out to be some messed up dream I’m booking myself into an asylum,” Jalen grumbled, shuffling around, trying to scope the area out. “Bushes… Wall… Wall… Dirt…” He kicked angrily in the air scrapping dust up, “Damn this place!” His fisted clenched. Jalen’s head pounded, how long had it been since his last drink he wondered? His powers were flaring up but not the controllable kind.

It’d been an hour. Jalen had no idea how far he’d moved but his head felt as if it was trying to commit seppuku, his hand braced himself against the wall, dragging along it, trudging, his remaining hand plastered to his face.
“Welcome.” Her voice returned.
“I’ve been welcome already, I’d like to leave now.” Jalen winced.
“Oh no, it doesn’t work like that...”
“…As if I care! No exit, I couldn’t give damn. Just a pub will suffice.” He interrupted with growing impatience.
“My my you are feeling unsightly, guess you better pick a grave, only exit is six feet under, ha! Toodles, wicked planning… you know.” The witch’s presence vanished as Jalen smashed his fist against the concrete beside. Slumping down he rubbed his face, the sun was wilting overhead and his brain was a bomb on countdown.

--- Flashback ---

Suddenly Jal wasn’t sitting on dirt up against concrete; he was sitting on asphalt in an open area. There were kids and their voices filled the air. Jalen’s hands were shaking and his chest was burning him, a single stream of tears slipped down his cheek, puddling on the floor and line of blood began to fall from his nostril, staining his cords. Jalen’s eyes widened upon noticing the red, and the kids around the playground soon halted play one by one to peer and crowd Jal.
Jal remembered his vulnerability, and his detest towards the other children and their prying eyes. He stuck his arms out spreading each finger to its limit and screamed. It was a long painful scream, the burning sensation within poured through him and out his mouth and hands. The kids no longer stood surrounding him. Instead, there were infantile brawls, hair pulling, biting, shin kicking, spiting… Jalen squinted in agony. An adult emerged from behind a building, attached to him were three younger kids. The giant toppled.
Rolling from a pocket and chinking towards him was a bottle. The bottle nudged against Jalen’s foot and he lifted it up, examining its contents. Removing the cap allowed a strong bitter smell to vapour. Jalen swallowed mouthfuls of the yellowish brown liquid, shuddering with each gulp.
Lying back with the chaos around actually felt nice, Jal couldn’t recall feeling painful, instead it felt like his surrounding were wrapped in a hazy mist.
It would have been perfect if not for the violent regurgitations that were about to ensue.

--- Flashback End ---

Jalen huddled himself and shuddered. It was truly dark now. Jal began muttering, and pawing at the dirt with a tremor in his hand. A while later the same hand scattered the indentations and started over; it wasn’t the time to commit mistakes. Fifteen minutes passed before the etched marking were complete; the final joining set the whole rune alight with purple flames. Jalen’s incantation stop and he rested back.
“Cursing ones….self *hic* …with intoxication is NOT… my *hic* …favourite game,” he slurred head now leaning heavily on his shoulder.
“You think… some- *hic* …one will find me?” Jal questioned the wavering flame. “No, I don’t *hic* have friends, just a… list to kill,” he answered without any question being asked, “Tomorrow we blow this *hic* place up, I know… know *hic …a great curse, bigger *hic* … than you, you’ll like.” Jalen’s fingers dug listlessly at the ground and his eyes weighed down on him.

The purple flame began to diminish at first thought, but Jalen’s delusional vision soon realised that the flame had been eating in multiple directions; in fact the entire radius of the enchantment was caving and cracking inwards. Before he could piece together the workings of the dimension he was falling, the cracked ground gave way to his weight and he shifted through the dark abyss like before.

Thump.

Jalen was once again in a shrub, a reoccurring theme Jalen had begun to despise. He spat out a branch, groaning.
“I think I broke something…” he gasped pulling out a creature from beneath him, a badger, “Yep. See. Broken.” He tossed it. There were what looked like light a briar or two, adjacent and Jalen had definitely seen better days, he wheezed and coughed slightly adjusting himself and wiping off his beloved greenery.
With a stagger, entirely dishevelled, Jalen entered camp.

“Hey guys…”

She winced as Arya drove the ring into the ogre, but let out a sigh of relief. She leaned back afterwards, letting herself rest against the tree nearby. The throbbing pain in her shin was growing worse, and to top it off she was losing feeling in the lower part of her leg. She nearly closed her eyes, until she caught a glimpse of the beast's colossal foot towering over Arya's head. It's going to kill her! Wynter thought panicked. She shot up, her injury slipping her mind entirely. Though with her first step, she let out a howl of pain as she crumbled to the ground. She grasped at her leg, curling up. She was angry and pained at the same time.

She pushed herself up with her elbows in order to spectate from afar, considering she was practically disabled. Her eyes darted around the trees, trying to relocate Klaus, hoping he had a plan to save Arya from her impending doom. She felt her heart racing, a feeling of betrayal overwhelming her thoughts. Remember what father always said.. When faith is lost, when honor dies, the man is dead. I can't lose hope. I've got to believe in Klaus.. I can't save Arya, and if Klaus abandoned us, we're all dead.. I refuse to give up on him before he's been given a chance. She'd focused her thoughts, refusing to submit to negativity. She wasn't going to lie down and accept the hand she was given, it wasn't in her nature to compromise. She was raised better than that.

Thankfully her hopes were apparently well invested, she looked up just in the nick of time to catch a breathtaking scene. Wynter had an overjoyed grin upon her face as she witnessed Klaus forcing his makeshift weapon inside of the Ogre's skull. Please be dead.. She forced herself upward, not allowing her weight on the other leg. She dusted herself off, laughing under her breath as she ushered for Arya to make some distance between her and the Ogre's corpse. I knew we could trust him.. She thought with a smile in Klaus's direction.

"I thought that thing was going to eat me right then and there."

Then she dropped her head, shaking it after his statement. Maybe not so much though.. She thought, slightly amused despite her mixed feelings. What if it didn't work? Arya would have been dead.. Possibly all of us.. She dropped the thoughts, content with the fact that there were no human casualties, "Are you alright, Klaus? Thanks for saving us.." She smiled brightly, happy to be alive to be quite frank about the matter, but she felt a lingering irritation in her stomach. It was annoying being unable to hold her own. Though it wasn't his fault... It's mine.. "I'd offer you a hand, but that'd be a bit impossible at the moment."

Her distracting thoughts were subsided when she noticed a familiar figure approaching them. What is he doing up? He'll make his wounds worse! Her breath hitched in her chest as she disregarded her own well-being. Once again Wynter rose quickly, worried about Jalen, so much so that she'd once again failed to consider her fractured shin. His condition was unstable and he'd lost quite a bit of blood prior to the group being reunited with him. He by far required immediate attention. Working his wounds was far from productive as far as healing went. He'd just lose more blood. She however, once again underestimating her own wounds, crumbled to ground. She let out an fuming sigh. She was getting sick of being unable to help the others. She thought when she realized her skill as a marksman, that she'd never be useless, ever again. In this place she felt like the helpless little girl that the Stirlings adopted so long ago.. It was disheartening to say the least.

“Hey guys…”

"Are you crazy? You're still bleeding!" She snapped at him, but not in anger, her voice was overflowing with consideration. She was wincing, holding in her reaction to the third fall on her injured shin in the past hour. "This really friggin sucks.." She mumbled, sitting up, hissing as she pulled up the leg of her pants, "That isn't pretty." She muttered, eyeing her fractured wound, "I don't think I can walk unless someone can do me a favor and find me a nature crutch of some sort.." she laughed in a cheerful manner. She was still hurt, but her mood shifted dramatically once she was certain the other three were fine. Wynter was quite an odd one. Though there was more going on in her thoughts than she let the others see. Maybe I should tell them my real name.. I rudely gave Jalen the wrong one.. but that was before I knew I could entirely trust them..

Arya was huffing against the tree as she noticed Wynter's panic, the brunette's attempt to aid her, and the painful crash that followed, " Just stay back! You're too hurt! " She snapped, rage filling her sapphire eyes. She obviously meant business, because her typically indifferent or sarcastic nature grew quite serious as she realized the severity of Wynter's injury. It was too dangerous to let her wounded companions attempt to assist her.

Arya noticed Wynter's gaze darted around the trees, causing her to glance up as well. What is she looking for? She thought to herself baffled. Then she rolled her eyees. She finally realized that Wynter was trying to find Klaus. She is really assuming that he has a plan to save me? That's a joke.. He's probably up there hiding! She thought bitterly, one arm clenching at her left rib. She didn't trust him, regardless of Wynter's efforts to unite the group as a collaborative team. She let out a soft breath before glaring up at the ogre, " Come on, do it! Don't make a girl wait all day you big oaf! " She shouted at the beast fearlessly.

" You know you picked the wrong day .... I just found out... I am engaged.... set me off on edge today.... killing every last one of you things here... "

Arya really didn't catch the entire speech, considering the space between her place on the ground and Klaus's perch in the tree. She wanted to laugh, but her torso hurt too much to indulge in the activity. She simply scoffed, chewing on the inside of her cheek to keep her thoughts in check. He really thinks he could handle these creatures alone? Just how egotistical can one human be? She thought mockingly.

Though she almost choked on her thoughts as her mouth fell agape. Just as she'd mentally mocked him, the ogre collapsed forward, missing her by a comfortable distance, and all thanks to Klaus. She watched him fall out of the tree and into the foliage below. She stood slowly, limping towards Wynter. She wanted to verify that the other girl would be alright.

" I thought that thing was going to eat me right then and there. "

Something about his reaction caused her eyebrow to raise, but she decided not to press the matter. She was alive, that's all that mattered in her mind, well, aside from returning to New York. I miss the bustling streets and the smog at this point.. She thought to herself, beginning to feel a bit homesick. Wynter seemed just as affected by his statement, if not more, causing Arya's features to adorn a self-congratulatory smirk. I knew the entire time that he didn't truly have a plan.. He was simply improvising the entire time. It was luck and nothing more than that. Though deep down she was impressed, she could still remember the shock as the beast fell dead before her, not to mention the odd sensation she felt afterwards. She couldn't quite place it.. though it gave her the shivers.

" Are you alright, Klaus? Thanks for saving us.. I'd offer you a hand, but that'd be a bit impossible at the moment. "

" He's possibly the most alright person out of the four of us as the situation sits. " Arya replied matter-of-factly, though her attention swayed from Klaus to Wynter and Jalen. The dark haired male had definitely seen better days, he was wobbly to say the least as he approached the trio, causing her blue eyes to narrow.

“Hey guys…”

"Are you crazy? You're still bleeding!" Wynter snapped at him, and Arya noted that Wynter crumbled to ground a third time. She's broke something.. she can't travel properly like that.. We'll have to do something about that.. She also noted that it was beginning to irritate Wynter more than it did the group, judging by the fuming sigh the brunette female released.

Suddenly Arya's blue eyes glaring at Jalen icily. She approached intimidatingly, like a woman on a mission. Both of her petite hands were firmly placed on each of her hips until she was within touching distance, "Just who do you think you are? Jesus? You can't walk around like a miracle worker with injuries like yours! They won't just magically disappear!" She scolded him. She was worried about his safety, but she was coming off more rigid than anything. She proceeded with grabbing his shoulders gently, ready to drag him back to his spot at the camp if she must. We want you to heal up properly, idiot.. She thought to herself, and just about the same time she was blinded by a bright light that emitted between them. She instinctively shielded her eyes with her other arm, stumbling back a couple inches away from the dark haired male. What the hell was that!? She thought surprised, giving him a skeptical look, wondering if he was to blame for the odd occurrence.

Though she didn't realize it, she'd somehow sealed up his injuries, not even a scar stood in their place. The pain was sharp while the light glew, but as sudden as it was gone, so was the physical pain the conflicted male was experiencing. The blonde still stood, completely unaware of the fact she'd literally just healed the man by a simple touch, "What did you just do?" She asked suspicious, eyeing Jalen carefully, "Was that some sort of magic trick or something?"

It took Klaus a while to take in the fact that all this is more real than he let on. The truth of it was right before him. Sure he was thanked for what he did, but something about all this, just wasn't right at all. Or maybe it was right, maybe that's why it felt so wrong. And looking back at what the others were doing, the sight of Jalen and Arya, it surprised him. But it also made him crack up laughing.

"This is just brilliant. Better than T.V" He used the ogre's face to support himself getting up. Nothing ever made him feel his age before until now. He felt sore in places he never knew that he could feel sore in. Closing his eyes he leaned back against the head of the dead ogre. He might have not been in as much of pain as the others, but he could guess from what he did feel that, he was more and likely not going to make it any farther if he keeps moving like he had just did. "Perhaps loves, we should get a move on. I don't want to run into another Ogre, or worse..Shall we?" He pointed his hand in the direction of an open trail, that led up hill of the forest.

He didn't notice it before until the Lady in red headed towards it. Plus it wouldn't hurt to find out to whom she was. But maybe another day, because if she turned out to be worse than what has happened, he preferred to be at top shape. But what was a woman like her doing in the woods in the first place, and not bother to help those who needed it. Then there was the thing that she was wearing. Klaus hasn't seen clothes like that sense...well never other than fairytale books. In a way, she sort of reminded him of Red Riding hood.

Throwing his weight of the dead ogre he looked over at Jalen. "You're not going to attract more danger are you?" He cracked a smile and started to walk off towards the hill, no way in hell was he going to wait on them, who knows what will happen by the time the girls decide to go or not.

Just wanting to get out of this place. He knew that deep down, something was trying to break free. And every second that he spent here, was another second that he might crack. His hands felt weird and his body felt as if there was a heavy dark cloud, trying to pull over him. Like arms trying to grab him and not let him free, no matter how much he pulls and fights, there just keeps getting hands added on and the power of the pull keeps dragging him back. That or he was just over thinking the situation. Either way, he felt....so strange.