A/N: I think I'll just be posting this as a oneshot prologue, because I don't think I want to pursue this story with so many others still open and unfinished. I might, as I've a story in mind and plot details as well, but I don't know...
So for now, this is a drabblish, teasing, possible promise of a future story posted as a oneshot - kind of story.
*Nobodies is spelled as "nobodies", uncapitalized, for a reason; just like Faeries are written as "faeries" and Mermaids as "mermaids".
Ethereal, like an abandoned cathedral, the forest held a dark enchantment to it if one stayed there too long. Shadows lurked behind the trees, up on the branches and inside the hollows, and with invisible eyes watched everything come to pass. The mottled sunlight from the canopy above and the leaves dapple-grey in the shadowy-bright light held an eerie lull to it, and the passing wind's soft whispers of Come play with us rippled and rustled through the wood.
The forest's sighs eventually reached the ears of what was once a young girl –– she lay in the hollow of an ancient, strong tree, with what used to be her hands clasped over what used to be her breast, and a shining red jewel hidden underneath where her heart should have been. Protected by the weakening barrier that kept her asleep, not even the magpies could pick it out, and not even the mischievous shadows could devour her frail and broken body.
Bits and pieces of her shell were gone, if one cared (or was even able, for that matter) to look closer. Her ring-finger, her thumb, some ribs and a foot were absent without her leave, but she noticed not as thieves worked past the magic to steal her body. The thrall of the magic was too strong, and the deepest sleep she could ever consciously experience was too comforting to leave.
They weren't kind, the nobodies. Keepers and guardians of the woods, and frightening monsters by the outer world's standards, they were cruel and cunning just as often as they were kind and gentle, and were able to enchant every and any unfortunate child who wandered their way.
This girl, though, was special. The nobodies and shadows knew it quite well, and kept her body immortal in her hollow tree whilst they took her soul away to live with them in their haunted worlds, something they very rarely did. But immortal did not mean indestructible, and though she did not rot, the puzzle of the girl still had missing pieces.
The crunching of the leaves, twigs, and tiny bones underfoot interrupted the silent reverie of the forest, the dim and muffled sound growing closer and closer as the first human to enter in decades walked closer to the hidden girl with a heart of cut stone.
As he stepped nearer, not even once imagining that a girl would be inside the tree as he contemplated climbing up it, twin eyes that had not opened for fifty years blinked once, twice, then slid neatly open and stared at the young man. A mouth that had not opened for even longer drew in a silent breath, and with a rasping voice, she called the boy, the strange human who immediately brought to mind a blurred image of her older brother, by the name of her lost sibling.
"So... ra..."
A/N: Short and not all that great. Sorry about that.