"Hurry up, it's not that bad!"
"You wanna try having my leg?"
"Sure as hell handle it better than you, I bet."
"Oh shut up!"
They moved like fleeting shadows between the trees, darting here, slithering there, peering around trunks and over enormous fallen logs, freezing at every sound that had not been made by them. One might not have seen them had they not been looking properly; kitted out in the standard military green and brown, they blended in with the forest easily, knowing they would be travelling mostly through grassland. Their heads were shielded by helmets that would hold long hair back, and hide it from view. Goggles rested upon both of their heads, too.
They were different in size and stature. One was a somewhat short, thin female, with a boyish frame. Her hair, had one been able to see it, would have been a startling white, short and wavy, with a curled fringe that fell into one eye when not pinned back. Large eyes were gold in colour, pupils almost swallowing the irises, trying to discern the world through the night's ink blanket. The other figure was of average height, with a lean yet toned frame, skin lightly tanned. His eyes were a steel grey, wicked, feline. His hair was short, scruffy, and dark brown in colour - but he, too, had hidden it with a helmet.
"You're makin' too much noise, if they're followin' us--"
This displeased the woman, who paused to look at him sharply, effectively silencing him. Her lip curled and she shook her head, disbelieving.
"You're so damn paranoid. For the love of the Gods, Snake, they're not that brilliant! They're just like us, remember? Human. At least mostly, huh..."
She trailed off, eyes set ahead through the dark, squinting. At her comrade's questioning eyebrow raise, she waved a large hand, dismissively. "Thought I saw something." A chuckle. "Almost getting as paranoid as you, huh?"
Snake rolled his eyes. "Keep moving." It was an order, and despite her stubborn nature, she obeyed, darting and creeping carefully yet quickly through the foliage. The man behind her became her shadow, copying every move, creating a strange illusion of only one person. They would be looking for two. But if they were watching, all this time--he didn't want to think about it, and yet he couldn't stop. What if?
It seemed like forever that they clambered on. It must have been hours - the moon was sinking lower, taking its companion moon with it. This was no ordinary world - at least, not for those from the human realm. This was the Otherworld. Almost the polar opposite. Run not by physics, but by magic - magic was what kept the realm alive. Had every magical creature died out and left only the simple humans behind, the entire realm would collapse, and disappear. It had happened before, with much smaller worlds. And it wreaked havoc in the other worlds when it did.
Eventually, the same problem arose again and again - the male was stopping constantly, eyes clenched shut, teeth gritted as he leaned heavily on his right leg, the left held up off of the ground. "Sax, I can't--I can't keep this up, we have to stop." He opened his eyes to plead with her, and, reluctantly, she stopped. She thought of him as a weak link - and he knew it. The two dropped where they stood, resting in the soft foliage together, but still alert. "I hate them, I swear--"
"--stop thinking about them." Saxophone, or Sax, ordered, rolling tree-blood eyes. "We're their best. We're like--the elite, almost. I mean they're keeping you when you've got a screwed up leg, you must be good, right?
"They're keepin' me 'cause they love fucking with people's heads," the man spat, bitter, eyes closing. "They won't even kill us when they find us. They'll blackmail us some more, you know how it is. Remember Viktor?" He knew by the way her lips pressed into a thin line that yes, she remembered Viktor. "Poor bastard killed himself, did you know that?" She shook her head. Snake smiled wryly. "They caught him, and they told him they'd keep him alive. Didn't tell him they'd kill his best friend for it. So he killed himself. Wouldn't let them kill him, wouldn't let them kill his friend. Did it himself. His own gun."
"Will you shut the fuck up?!" Sax exploded suddenly, body rigid as she hissed and glared at her comrade, outraged. "You're dwelling on this shit too much! It's simple, Snake! We're out here, the M.I. don't have a clue where we are, we're gonna be fuckin' safe if it kills us! Okay?!"
He gave no response, eyes wide and mouth agape. A rustle nearby - together, their stomachs plummetted. How could she be so stupid? Shouting like that! They were hiding!
Rain burst from the skies and kicked them into running - and then a loud crack, a bullet whizzing past helmeted heads. They fled like centaurs, leaping frantically over fallen logs, and behind them, always, were the sounds of gunfire. How were they not dead yet? They already knew the answer - their hunters were shooting to scare, not to kill. And they were fucking good at it.
They seemed to run forever, faster than the agents that stalked them, for they were not so weighed down with heavy equipment - and they were right at the edge of the forest now. When the rain stopped the two collapsed, wheezing for breath, clutching eachother's arms to make sure they were still there, still alive. Snake tried to speak, tried to berate his friend for giving their location away, but no words would come out. Sax gave a dry, choked sob, and then was silent save for her breath.
Psssst.
Their first thought was of a snake--a basilisk--a cockatrice--something dangerous. Snake's hand flew for his gun, his dagger, either one, but then Sax grabbed his wrist, pointing towards the figure that had whispered. The two stared, disbelieving.
An old woman, gnarled and wrinkled. She wasn't human, that was obvious - humans either lived together in small settlements, in prisons, in military organisations, or as pets. They were generally deemed useless. Snake and Saxophone were two exceptions, but then, they weren't fully human - elves, one of the few creatures compatible with the human race, were in their ancestry, and that was what would have saved them from a terrible life of restriction had they not ended up in the M.I. like they had.
This old 'woman' was not human, no - she was a faun of some kind, with a deer's legs and lower body, weak. Her hairless upper body was not clothed; there was no need for it. Matted white hair lay in tangles around a wrinkled snout of a face. Tusks protruded upwards from her lower jaw.
Come inside.
With little other option, they crawled forwards, eventually collapsing in the old faun's burrow of a home. It was damp, and dark, and it stank of something that might have been rotting flesh, but nonetheless, it felt safe. There the two slept.
And they woke in the night to the sound of angry voices outside. The old faun sat beside them, weathered ears pricked, black beetle eyes wide. You must leave. I promise you I won't let them know you're here. Quick! And then she bounded forwards as if the years had dropped from her - to find the military agents before they found their runaway comrades.
The faun died that night, a broken, abused body left to bleed to death on the ground. But she had not died for nothing - for as the moons sank lower, two figures stood atop the hills that they had fled for, and at the very edge of the forest they saw her, and from their position, they saluted.
"Come on, before the rest of her kind find her. They'll think it was us."
"Give me a minute--"
"--we don't have time anymore, Sax. Come on."
The moons sank; from the east a single sun rose, and in the west, Snake and Sax ran on.
*curious*
:'D Whee, finally done.
Now I'm even MORE curious.
(sorry that I didn't comment
I loved this so much. I'm really interested to see what happens to these guys now 8U.
I feel awesome that I'm pretty sure I know what a cockatrice is :3.
Oh, and by the way, here's a funny fact that made me chuckle to myself. Serpentine's old nickname used to be Snake when he was in school. He hates it though xD
Pega you curious critter |:
eee AA <3 that's actually really sweet of you asdf aw aw. Part 2 will probably come tomorrow or the next day or SOMETIME SOON because for once I actually have it planned out TROLOL
cockatrice whee one of my earliest memories is reading about one in an old fables book thingy along with the kraken hurhur
I REMEMBER KNOWING THAT AT SOME POINT trolol they can be bros
YAY. more. C8 I read about it
I read about it in this dragonology book I got when I was like... 10 or something |D. For some reason I was obsessed with dragons during that time... Isn't the cockatrice a shape-shifter-type thing?
LOL all they need is matching tattoos now :3