Red Like Roses
I begin to walk through the Forest of Eternal Winter, to seek something that I lost many years ago. Not an item, but a person. I seek my mother's grave stone that could be several feet under snow and right in front of me. The frost nips at my exposed cheeks and turns them a red as the cloak that covers my body. And then, just when I had given up all hope of finding her grave, there it lies. A large flat stone with a rose engraved on it. "I knew I would find you here." I whispered to myself to wash the feeling of loneliness that I so often feel. My mother died when I was a child and my father was never there for us, so I was an orphan that no one ever loved. I was eventually adopted into a family with a girl two years older than me, her name was Yang and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. The Xiao Long family was all beautiful; every member had long blonde hair and perfect skin, except for me. I felt even more alone with them because I was so unbelievably different that I could never be seen as a true member of the family, only an orphan. Yang often told stories of Hunters and Huntresses, just like my mother, and aspired to be one herself. I took in every ounce of her words and wanted only the same, to be a Huntress. At age twelve Yang enrolled into Signal Academy, the best fighting school in all of Vale. When it was my turn to enroll I was gratefully accepted and joined my sister once more. I was so glad to see her but it was a rare occasion. She was two years ahead of me so we shared no classes; outside of class she was overwhelmed with invitations to parties and friends that she had little time for me. And then I was back to square one, alone. I just couldn't make friends; no matter how hard I tried no one seemed to bother with me. I finally made a friend in my second year in the shape of a scythe. Its name is Crescent Rose and it was finally something I could relate to. And then when Yang left for Beacon, I had become best friends with Crescent. I upgraded it the next year with a high-caliber bolt-action sniper rifle, and Crescent was complete. As the memory of Yang and Signal leave my mind I find myself surrounded by large black figures. I stand and look my opponents head on, Beowulfs with blood red teeth and black-as-night fur. They snarl in almost unison and leap to where I stood; I quickly jumped over their strike zone and revealed myself from under my cloak. A pale white girl stood there as her black hair blew from her face into red streaks. The moon-light night added great ambiance to the fight that then occurred. I leapt into the air and removed Crescent from my hip, a large scythe appeared in my left hand and I rand forward into the crowd of wulfs. The first few were easy enough, they were caught off guard by me and Crescent, and the rest snapped out of their trance and began their counter move. I moved back and sank my friend into the packed snow and began to fire into the crowd of Beowulf, as one approached I removed Crescent from the snow and fired again, propelling myself backwards. This gave me more room to deal with the wulfs, one tried to come from behind but I quickly removed his head and ended his charge, more and more came and I continued to shoot and decapitate the black masses in front of me. When the numbers began to dwindle I leapt into the air and silhouetted the creatures with my shadow as I opened fire on them. The last wulf saw that he was doomed and faced his fear, he ran head on but his head no longer hugged the rest of his body as Crescent soared through the air, landing next to my mother's grave. The adrenalin no longer flowed through my body and the wind stung on my skin, I fumbled for my cloak in the snow to see that it was blown onto my friend to keep it warm. I took a moment to let the image set in; Crescent Rose standing ridged cloaked in red next to my mother's grave. It brought tears to my eyes and the red snow melted beneath me when my warm tears hit the ground. The red snow… Red like Roses.