Pitchwoods and Darker Dismay (Part 4 of Dragonshifter Shouto x Reader)
I left a little choice at the end of this part and it is to encourage engagement! I'm excited to see what you will choose, because these choices will greatly alter the path of our story.p
Tw: yandere themes, blood
The mist that hung around clinging to your skin and the humidity thickened with the coming morning. Sero slept and you were left alone after you had calmed down. Denki was sleeping where you had been now, using the spot that you had essentially warmed for him.
At least everyone was getting rest, but it would be best if you woke one of them to help keep watch soon. Mina would be a good candidate. Your eyes feel heavy as you leaned up against the tree you sat by, the roots cradling you a bit. The thorns along the bark couldn't penetrate the cloak as you hummed quietly. The night so quiet and calm.
Then you heard it. It was a pulse, thudding and gushing. Like you were in the heart of a massive beast. Moving to sit up, you saw a movement, a strong smell in the air. Like the trees intensified, like they were oozing and looming. Caging you. It hadn't occurred to you that your breathing was heavier and your eyes were so heavy.
Everything began to feel fuzzy as you saw a dark form dart through the trees. Two forms… Your eyes were playing tricks on you. You tried to shake yourself awake, but it didn't make your head clear. It just made you dizzier as you called out, "Who's there?"
You heard a whisper below the light crackle of dying flames nearby. Quickly turning, you went to the sleeping group, but found nothing there. No fire, no sleeping warriors, no one.
You looked back out into the forest. Where you finally saw him. The black cloak and purple hair beneath the hood caught your eyes as he came into plain view. His pale hand reaching out to you. When had he gotten so close? How hadn't you noticed...
Your eyes looking down to the slightly sharpened nails before they touched your cheek, trailing to your jaw. His hand grabbed your chin and tilted it up, purple eyes looking beautiful in the night. Bags under his eyes adding complexity to his alluring features. Elven. A dark elf..
His mouth was moving, he was telling you something.
"Tell me, what are you doing in this forest?" His voice commanding you and making you want to just nuzzle against him, tell him all your secrets.
"We're just- just passing through…" The voice that came out of you was hollow, not sounding like yourself at all. Your insides curl in on themselves. The sick ooze within you twisting like worms.
"Where are you going?" He hummed, his eyes looking down on you with the tired appraising look. Examining you, sizing you up and staring into your mind almost. It left you trembling inwardly. Your inner self shaking like a terrified child.
"Somewhere safe for me, out east. Away from the Todoroki dragon territory." You told him the truth and it horrified you.
"Interesting… Running from dragons or their followers?"
"Shoto… A dragon. I need to get away from him..." That small voice from your mouth was quiet and sad.
"Ah, a dragon. Even more intriguing. I will let you go now, but before I do… Your singing tonight was lovely and I would love to one day hear it again. Maybe you will no longer scream in the night when that day comes. My mentor almost wanted to strangle you when he heard it." The purple haired man chuckled. He was a dark elf. The very faint purple-gray tint of his skin and his pointed ears that sat under the hood. "I hope that you do not die."
Your eyes stung and a warm tear dropped onto your hand, the spell broke. You jerked away and the purple haired man was gone. Stumbling, your head spun as you twisted to go back to Denki. To the group. The place where the little troupe had been sleeping...
You turned to see no fire, no signs of where you had been. Just the haunting forest. Looming black barked trees. You had to be close… Unless that man had spirited you away. There was never any walking or moving, but you only remembered look at him. Being under his control and focussing only on what he wanted you to focus on. You moved on through the trees, calming a bit, wrapping the yellow cloak tighter around you. It was warm and the lingering smell of the blonde who had lent it to you still clung to the fabric
You feel almost helpless as you walk on, not seeing the camp. A lump in your throat, unshed tears and a wish inside you to just collapse onto the autumn leaves scattered across the ground.
The longer you walked, the more tired you got and you hadn't been exactly on a fuel tank when you had been whisked away.
Your stomach growled as you walked on. Feet aching and eventually sweat falling from your face. The cold making you clammy. It was an uncomfortable sensation as you put your hand out to rest against a tree, pricking yourself on the thorns and yelping quite loudly at the pain.
Blood now trickled down from the palm of your right hand and onto the already blood red leaves. Blending and mixing with it.
You hissed, but you could taste something in the air. A familiar smell, it made you stiffen. It was smoke.
It was wood burning. You looking through the trees, gauging whether you were going to be walking into a forest fire or not, but you saw no smoke rising in heavy streams towards the sky. Just a single, small string on the blue of late morning sky.
You began to jog, despite your aching muscles that were already proving just how unathletic you were and how used you were to riding in the wagon. It was a bit pitiful. You were weak and you would have to work on getting stronger.
That was when you saw the fireplace built into the base of a tree and a table set for a feast. It would be alarming by itself, but two figures sat at the table. Seeming to have been waiting just for you. Food laid out in a sort of bounty. It all smelled delicious and would probably taste just as good. You knew not to take it immediately. You didn't know these elves.
And you would have recognized that purple hair anywhere. Fuck that guy.
Your blood boiled a bit as you went to give him a piece of your mind and then the other male dark elf spoke.
"Would you like to sit down at the table? You're late. Sit across from Hitoshi." His tone was tired and it was like he was burdened by just being in your presence.
It was this moment that you noticed the large lower half of his body was that of a spider. A drider. Usually they were loners… You had bever met one or seen one, but you feel your blood running cold as you remembered every single horror story that you had heard about the species. Eating people, filling them with eggs, using them as unwilling incubators… Only to have their young hatch within you and eat you from the inside out! Maybe that was not a factual story, but the other things were highly unpleasant.
"I'm… Late!? How exactly does that make any sense? Didn't really get an invite." You growl before marching over to the table, slamming your injured hand onto it in a moment of irrational irritation. Crying out, you saw the crimson staining the white table cloth and you feel tears fall from your eyes. It hurt like a bitch. You regretted doing that, holding your hand close to you as it throbbed with pain. "Good Gods! Fuck..."
Neither of the men got up, but Hitoshi, the purple haired man from the night, looked up before going back to his glass of tea.
It annoyed you that neither was phased. You moved to the seat and pulled it out. A plate sat at the spot, prepared for you.
The dark haired man sighed, looking more than ready for you to leave, "Are you always this loud? You're getting blood on the table as well."
He gestured to the stains on the table cloth, one currently forming beneath your hand.
"It can be washed anytime, but my hand needs looked or else I may get an infection." You insist, showing the rather deep gash you had gotten from the thorn and the little scratches from others. The Drider looked at it and to Hitoshi.
"That is a rather deep cut, go get something to help her."
He quickly got up and went to a box on a stump to pull out a needle and thread. The drider poured you a cup of tea as Hitoshi came over to you, reaching for your hand as you clutched it to your chest. Eyeing the needle wearily before he just held his own hand out, waiting for you to hand it over.
The tea placed by you was the least of your concerns as Hitoshi went to stab you with the needle and paused. "You may want to drink some tea before I do this. It'll not hurt nearly as much."
You eyed it before taking it in your left hand to sniff it. Hitoshi not moving to stitch you until you drank it. It wasn't tea. It had a strong smell, like alcohol. That was definitely not something you put in a teacup. You coughed at the burning in your throat and tried to pull your hand away, but the needle pierced your flesh… You screamed out, the eyes of both men widening quite a lot as you swayed like a too tall stack of dirty dishes ready to shatter on the ground from being neglected to pile for too long.
You blacked out, face slamming into the table.
When you woke up though...
Your body was on a pile of leaves. Some were scattered on you and late evening sun warmed you as it set in the distance. Groaning, you stretched. Pain went through your hand as you looked at the dried blood on you. On the yellow cloak as well. Guilt shot through you, knowing that you would have to give the cloak back dirty… If you ever saw Denki again.
You were up with the tree that had been previously serving as a fireplace. And the table that had been there was gone. Only a fallen tree remained and it was littered with small white flowers growing on its dead bark.
Blood splattered part of it. You would think you hallucinated, but your hand was all stitched up. It was good stitching, but the pain was there. It looked like it had been cleaned while you were out and there was only relatively fresh blood on your hand. Liquid and clear ooze coming from the cut, at least you were going to start healing yourself. Sooner or later you would be back to grabbing things without pain.
If you ever saw any of them again, really. They must be still looking for you. Wasting a day's worth of travelling because you were stupid enough to think you could handle guarding the ones who saved you by yourself. It was stupid to think you could.
The leaves were poking into your back uncomfortably, forcing you to get up. The joints in your legs popping when you stretched them out. It was a relief to have the sensation. A groan softly escaping you. The life in the forest was unseemly quiet as the sun set. It was unnatural. Even on the plateau, there was constant buzzing. Magic or insects, you couldn't tell really.
The sky was red and orange, full of rich color and beauty. Painted by an expert artist as the clouds drifted across the open air. Walking, you found you were lower into the valley than you had been prior to passing out. You could look up and see the looming ridges in the distance. Snow would cap them and ice would form over the creeks and streams. They would melt in spring and flow into the valley. Watering the inhabitants and blooming new life.
It would be behind you before you knew it. You would be free. There was going to be an ending to this adventure and you hoped you never saw another dragon again. Something deep within you twisted with sadness at that thought, knowing that it was unlikely. An awful sensation within yourself at the idea of being doomed.
The trees were smaller as you went, less intimidating and ominous. More greenery littering the landscape as you left the pitchwoods. Black trees looming in the distance, foreboding as you would soon be forced out into the plains. Wide stretches and no coverage for you to use for protection.
No more dark elves or driders, just lovely green forest. More pines going north as you changed your direction a bit, adjusting as you saw large rocks. Three in a semicircle and a couple stacked together. It looked like it had been built rather than formed naturally. Still, it was a relatively interesting sight. Curiosity overcoming you as you went to it. It could make a good camp for the night if nothing else.
You moved down to the rocks and your foot slid along the pebbles. Sliding down, you barely manage to keep your balance as you swiftly move to catch yourself with your uninjured hand the large rock on the edge of the forest. You look to see a small tent. You quickly did a double take. It was a camp.
There was a campfire and various belongings. Bedrolls and a makeshift roof. Some group was living here. You could hardly stop the shiver that ran through you as you looked a bed laden with knives, all were spotless. Though, you heard and saw the buzzing of flies as they circled something behind the cot.
A large discarded bowl of meat, uncooked and bloody. It wasn't rotten. It made you shiver at the sight, knowing that whoever had been here was recently cleared out by something or someone.
A pile of dust got picked up slightly by the wind and it was then that you noticed some of the things were turned over and scattered. No one had cleaned up or they had gotten into a scuffle.
A torn scrap of bloody cloth sat on the ground, slightly scorched.
You moved over to the fire and made to touch the ashes. They were warm. Now your hand was covered in ashes. Dipshit.
Wiping them on a bedroll, you frowned and stared out at the rolling hills with trees dotted along them. You could could continue into the forest, or you could rummage through the camp… There was a twinge of guilt at the thought of stealing, but you had nothing. The forest was not likely to be as plentiful as this opportunity before you and it most definitely would lack a fire. Plus night was coming. You would need to sleep… Where would you sleep?
Are you going to stay here at this camp?
Go in the forest with nothing?
