A twelve-year-old girl set her sack down and quietly closed the door to her home.

"Dad, guess what I caught today?" She calls into the house with a grin.

She expected her father to come out of one of the rooms with a playful guess to her question, but instead she heard nothing.

Unsettled, the young girl swept the loose hair from her braid away from her face and walked further inside the house.

"Dad?" She tried calling out again. She adjusted the bow that was slung across her shoulders as she started searching for her father in the house.

Meanwhile, behind the house, angered voices created an aura that opposed the one inside. Four men were dressed in what seemed to be white navy uniforms. Two of them forced a fifth man in rugged jeans and a leather jacket rather harshly down to his knees.

"Did you actually believe you'll escape the king's clutches, Nathan?!" One man, who appeared to lead the group, spat the man's name as he yelled the question. "You think it's so easy to just run off and betray the navy, huh? That's treason!"

They didn't draw any attention despite the man's yelling. The Cohens' home was isolated away from the village.

"I was gone for more than 10 years, Arran," Nathan said. His face was covered in bruises. "I'd be hoping the king would drop a case when a man is nowhere to be found,"

Arran simply chuckled and said, "Nowhere to be found? I have to say, your plan to escape to another realm is brilliant. But, you should know that our king is very clever and has powerful connections," His face lit up mockingly. "Of course you wouldn't know that, you turned around on your first mission,"

The two men hardened their grip on Nathan and he groaned.

"And since you left so early," Arran continued. "I'm betting you're not aware of the consequences of treason," He then pulled out a sword that was strapped on his belt.

The man on his knees tried to hide his emotions as he said, "You work for a king who strives for order and peace, and yet, he encourages death amongst his people. What good are you working for?"

He groaned again as the two men gripped him tighter, silencing him, and Arran tapped the sword against his left hand, the arrogant look on his eyes saying it all.

"Dad?!"

At the sound of the voice, all men turned to see the young brunette girl, who's face was mortified at the scene.

Nathan's face fell completely at the sight of the child, managing to say, "Get inside, Cookie,"

The girl was breathless. Her father's use of her nickname was nothing compared to the thoughts running in her head. All she could think of was hunting. While it wasn't against the law, it was a risk only few were willing to take.

She held gazes with her father, not even caring why the navy out of everyone would be handling this.

"D-Dad, wh-what's..." She stutters, slowly took a step forward.

He turned to Arran and pleaded, "Please, not now. Not in front of my girl,"

Arran studied the girl and his eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of gold on the girl's neck. Based on that alone, he immediately knew she was Nathan's.

He turned back to the man with a raised brow, "A daughter, huh? Too bad... She looks nothing like you."

"DAD?!"

The girl's heart raced as she looked from Arran's sword to her beaten father.

She couldn't lose her father.

She couldn't.

She started walking towards them as tears were already welling up in her eyes and the fourth man held her back as everything happened too fast for the twelve year old.

"NO!"

Her scream was all that could be heard as the sword was thrust into her father's stomach. His face was stricken with fear, not of death, but of the trauma he knew he set on his daughter forever.

Arran mercilessly removed the bloodied sword from his body as the life left his eyes and he fell to the ground.

The girl screamed out of grief, fear, fury and hatred for the men as she elbowed the man behind her. He groaned at the impact and released the girl momentarily, allowing her to run towards her father. A second man tried to pull her away, but the second he laid hands on her, she kicked his groin and landed a punch on his face. She proceeded with the third man with a hook on the jaw followed by an elbow to the stomach.

Arran watched the girl with wide eyes as she knelt beside her father's bloodied corpse. He suddenly found himself looking at her tear-stricken face, but her eyes were fearful when she realized she was face to face with her father's murderer.

The young girl slowly stood up and backed up, but slipped in her petrified state. All the other men have recovered from her blows by then as they all looked at her with one thought in mind: they had to get rid of her.

It was part of the deal they made; they couldn't leave any trace of themselves behind.

Still panting, the girl reached for her boot and pulled out a knife.

She knew she couldn't take on all four men by herself- not while she couldn't see through the tears, not while she couldn't think straight, and not while she couldn't accept that her father was gone.

Her eyes quickly swept past the three other men until her gaze landed on Arran, who's white uniform was stained with her father's blood. One of the other men tried launching himself for the girl, and out of fear, the girl instinctively threw the knife straight at him.

Straight to his heart.

Everyone's eyes bulged out of their sockets as the man collapsed on the ground, lifeless.

Taking advantage of the shock, the girl sprinted past the men and went back into the house. She picked up her equipment and her sack before running away.

Away from the men.

Away from the house.

Away from her dead father.

She never looked back.

Later that week, news was reported in the village of the man's death and the girl's disappearance.

The girl's name was Brooklyn Cohen.