~ Evil Kingdoms ~
-oo1
Moonlit Bear
"No! No! A-Adam, she-she's not breathing-! Adam!"
"Eve, please-"
"No! Adam, make her wake up! Wake her up, Adam! Please!"
"Eve...I...I can't..."
"WHY! Why, Adam!"
"She...our baby is dead, Eve."
000
Adam and Eve Moonlit lived together in a humble house, a simple structure little more then a country-side cottage, with a messily constructed wooden roof and a cobble-stone chimney puffing out clouds of stony grey smoke. Around their humble abode grew a dense forest with trees of thick, round trunks and an unbroken canopy of liquid green leaves. When the sun shone, the canopy was like a vast ocean of green fire-flies, gleaming and glittering like polished jades; at night, however, it was dark and ominous and oppressing, pressing down against the forest like a heavy, black weight.
They did not mind, though. Despite the darkness and the dangerous creatures that lurked beyond the watery light of their candles, Adam and Eve were happy. A home isolated from the every day hussle and bussle of city life was exactly what they had always dreamed; a little place surrounded by nature. A little place where no one would ridicule Adam for his brilliant blue hair and his obsession with roses of the same, ocean-blue shade; a little place where no men would stare lustfully at Eve's sparkling turquoise eyes, or her flowing teal hair, or her curving hips.
A little place they could live in peace.
000
It's getting dark.
Eve hadn't noticed whilst bent head over heels, her nose buried in the ruby red petals of a blooming rose, but the sky was rapidly darkening. The canopy of leaves and flowers that looked so beautiful, so majestic, during the day was suddenly very frightening, a roof of grim black branches twisted grotesquely across the purple sky.
Eve bit her pale pink lip as she gathered her skirts in her hands and started rather frantically towards home, her booted feet clapping loudly against the dirt path, worn into the earth after years of abuse from travellers' feet. She tried and failed to contain the nauseating fear that was building in her stomach, and her pace quickened, her teal twin-tails flapping out behind her, her dress and traveller cloak whispering with her hurried movements.
Oh, why had I not paid attention? Adam will be so worried! Bears come out during the night, and I'm unarmed! Not that I know how to fight...Oh, I'm so-
A glint of crimson-red caught her eye, and Eve stumbled to a stop, shocked by the sudden flash of colour, and she turned, curiously, cautiously; holding her hands at chest level.
Her turquoise eyes widened.
Sitting at the base of a great, ancient tree were a pair of beautiful red fruits, sparkling like gems in the silvery glow of the moon's light, washing in through a rare break in the canopy above. They were apples, and they were leaning against each other, almost as though seeking comfort from the other's presence.
Eve stared, shell-shocked, for a few fleeting moments; and then her face broke out in a huge, joyful grin of pure glee, and she practically flew to the fruits, and dropped down beside them with a thump. She gently lifted the fruits from the damp, grassy earth and cradled them in her arms, against her warm torso, and smiled up at the sky, at the moon, wide and silver and shinning, the sun's perfect twin.
Thank you, Lord God! These must be gifts from You? Eve felt tears well in her eyes. Oh, Adam will be so happy! Surely, he will cry from happiness!
Snap
Eve felt the icy tendrils of fear grip her stomach and shivered as she slowly twisted her neck about, glancing over her shoulder -
- and into the ebony pits that were the eyes of a bear.
The bear was gigantic, and towered over her like a castle, with broad shoulders and a heavy, glossy pelt of night-black fur, and wide, blunt, grey claws. It was standing on its hid legs, staring, glaring, down at her with thinly veiled malice, and it's front paws were extended forward, almost as though it were reaching, clawing, for the fruits clasped firmly against her chest.
Eve stood, her legs like jelly; her entire body shuddered with barely containable fright.
The bear did not move, just continued to observe with unblinking eyes, it's pupils as large as the moon itself; studied her like a bug trapped beneath a microscope.
They simply stood and gazed at one another for what seemed like eternity and more.
And then Even turned on foot and ran.
Eve ran and ran and ran and ran, faster and faster and faster and faster. Low hanging branches and pointy twigs sliced at her exposed skin and ripped at her clothing, and blood, glorious and crimson, trickled across her skin and splattered against the grass, but Eve didn't dare stop. Because she could hear the thumping, monstrous steps of the bear clambering after her, carelessly knocking aside branches and plants, running and running and running.
Eve's breath was like rasper blades in her throat, and sweat ran in rivers down her face; or were they tears? She could not be sure; but she definitely could hear sobbing. Harsh, sorrowful, broken sobbing. Was it her? Was it the bear? Or was it the fruits? She just couldn't tell-
"Ah!"
Eve cried out in surprise as the world suddenly spun, whirling like a whirl pool - her foot snagged on a root - and her shoulders slammed painfully against the ground, sending jolts of sharp, stinging pain burning down her spine like a bolt of lightning. Her vision blurred, and pain throbbed, ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump, behind her skull, and her body felt sluggish, her limbs like lead; restricting her movements.
A shadow like a raven's wing devoured her form, and Eve's breath caught in her throat.
The bear was right behind her!
She looked up into it's furious black eyes, flaring with the hellish fire of rage, and hugged the fruits closer.
"No...no!" She hissed venomously, though her face was drained of all colour. "You can't have them!No-one else can! You understand! They are mine! Mine!"
The bear was not listening; it was advancing. It thundered forward on claw-lined paws, flabby pink lips drawn back in a snarl that revealed row after row of yellowing, fang-like teeth-
"NO! YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM! THEY ARE MINE!"
Red.
000
Adam Moonlit was worried.
He stared anxiously on the edge of his chair, his blue eyes never straying from the clock ticking rhythmically on the wall; a constant and steady tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock. It was almost five thirty, the clock stated in its black Roman Numerals, carved into the very wood, but Eve wasn't home.
Why isn't Eve home?
Eve never stayed out this late. She knew that the bears came out around five, and staying out any later was a serious risk. So why? Why wasn't she home yet? Why wasn't his angelic wife skipping merrily about the kitchen, her twin-tails bouncing, humming a sweet tune to herself as she cooked?
Adam could scarcely hear the clock over his own racing heart, smashing against his rip cage with such force it was a wonder it didn't burst right out.
Has something happened? He fretted, eyes wide, and he ran his sweaty hand through his hair. The sweat trickling down his cheeks glistened as he leaned back, staring up at the ceiling, desperately trying to drown out the sound of the tick-tocking clock that seemed somehow louder now that he was thinking. God, please don't tell me she's been killed by a bear. No. That can't have happened. Not to Eve! I...I have to go find her. I have to help her-
But before Adam could complete the thought, the front door was wrenched open, and the sound of frantic foot-falls and the gasping intake of breath reached his ears. Adam shot up like a spring with such speed that the chair he'd been sitting on toppled over, and he charged into the living room, very nearly tripping over his own feet in his rush.
He bashed the door open with his fist, ignoring the twinge of pain that erupted in his knuckles, and stumbled to a clumsy halt when he saw his wife. Her hair had come undone, cascading freely down her back, and she was covered in cuts and blood and bruises, her dress and cloak torn; the hod was pulled over her head, causing shadows to flicker across her face, darkening her usually cheery complexion. But, despite her obvious state of despair, Adam was filled with a warm, bubbly sense of relief.
Eve was alive.
"Eve!" He shouted, running to her side. "Are you alright? I was so worried-"
It was only then that he noticed the bundles clasped firmly between her trembling hands.
His blue eyes widened.
"Eve..." He whispered, his worry and relief melting away, and replaced with sadness. Pure, sorrowful sadness. The blue shade of his eyes suddenly resembled an ocean of un-shed tears as he stared down at his dishevelled wife.
"Aren't they beautiful, Adam?" Eve murmured, gazing lovingly at the bundles. "They are presents from God himself!"
"Eve...these..." Adam shook his head. How could this have happened? Had losing Mary really driven Eve off the edge?
"Adam? What's wrong? Aren't you happy?" Eve inquired worriedly, touching a hand to his cheek. "God has sent us these beautiful fruits! We should rejoice-"
"Eve." Adam said firmly, his balled fists shaking. "These children are not ours. They are not Mary."
Eve blinked.
Children?
She looked down.
Held against her torso were not a pair of scarlet apples; but twin infants with tuffs of golden hair, flushed cheeks and sky-blue eyes wet with tears, tears spilling down their chubby faces and dripping nosily against their own tiny torsos.
Eve froze.
"Eve," Adam whispered, inching forward and threading his fingers through Eve's teal hair. "we can still make this right. You must return them to their own mother's side, Eve."
"...n-...no.." Eve breathed. Her voice shook violently, uncontrollably; her entire frame began to shudder. "No..."
"Eve..."
"N-no, th-they're ours," Eve insisted shakily. "O-ours, Adam. N-no-one e-else...n-no-one...!...!"
"Eve-"
"NO!"
Eve screamed, and her scream was high and shrill and piercing. She screamed and screamed and screamed, and cringed away from Adam's arms; the twins wailed and shrieked, and Adam shouted for Eve to calm down, to settle, but Eve was beside herself. Tears ran like rivers down her cheeks as she screamed, her mind lost in hazy memories that were sudden so very, very clear-
Two crimson-red fruits-
No, two babies, sleeping soundly beside one another, bathed in the silvery light of the moon, their stubby fingers intertwined even as they slept-
A huge, black-eyed bear-
No, a brown-haired woman wearing a ruby-coloured dress that matched her narrowed eyes, carrying a basket of food and blankets and a glass bottle filled to the brim with white milk-
Running and running and running and running, faster and faster and faster and faster-
"Give them back! Give my children back!"
The bear- the woman was catching up! She'll take them! She'll take them-
"NO!"
Hands reaching around the tender throat-skin, squeezing and squeezing and squeezing; babies crying into the grass, a woman choking, cheeks blue-
Blood, red and rich, seeping between clenched teeth-
"EVE!"
Eve gave a ragged gasp, and blinked herself back into reality. The forest dissolved and her house returned, the cream-coloured walls and the wooden clock and the polished floorboards, and Adam, Adam kneeling right in front of her, grasping her shoulders and shaking her. They were on the floor, and the babies had been taken from her grip and placed in the kitchen, where they continued their song of confused shrieks. Her face was damp, glimmering with tears, and Adam's face was white as a sheet.
"Eve?" He said again, gentler this time.
"A-Adam, I..." Eve's voice was faint, so faint Adam only just heard it. "A-Adam, i-it's impossible."
"What is? What's impossible?"
"G-giving them back.." She croaked, fresh tears swelling in her eyes. "I...I've done something horrible, Adam."
000
Outside their humble cottage was the corpse of a woman.
She had been strangled and beaten by Eve in a fit of hysterical insanity, and her body was covered in ugly purple-blue bruises lined with yellow. Her red eyes were blank and stared unseeingly up at the black sky. Her basket had tipped over, and the milk bottle had rolled out; it glowed silver in the dim lighting, the milk shimmering like crystal.
Adam stood stock-still, his arms wrapped about Eve as she sobbed into his chest. With her mind finally settled, Eve realized what she had done and she was utterly disgusted with herself. She just couldn't bare to look at the woman's dead body, lying there on her side; a life cruelly stolen without reason. The guilt clawed at her insides like the blunt claws of a bear.
"...We'll bury her in the forest," Adam announced. "tomorrow, when it's light. And as for the children..." he glanced over his shoulder and into the house, where the twins sat together on the floor, wrapped a thousand times over in the warmest, softest blankets Eve could lay her hands on. They had since cried themselves to sleep, and lay with their head and hands together, content and blissfully unaware of the murder which had taken place right under their noses.
Adam's eyes softened.
"We'll look after them. They can be our children now, Eve."
Eve nodded wordlessly, too distraught to speak.
000
The next morning, Adam took a shovel and ventured out into the forest to dig a grave, while Eve, her face pale, placed the dead woman on a make-shift stretcher. The stretcher was one of their spare bed sheets tied about two long, chunky strips of fire wood, and, in Eve's mind, it resembled a bed. With the woman lying against the sheet, her eyes elegantly closed and the blood and grime wiped from her white cheeks and blue lips, she almost seemed to be sleeping.
A woman sleeping peaceful on a small bed.
Much better.
Adam and Eve carried the woman to the grave he had dug, and laid her gently down, stretcher and all, and quickly refilled the hole. They stood together, hand in hand, their heads bent in a silent pray. Then they hurriedly returned home, home to where the infant twins awaited them. Eve's face brightened up like a Christmas Tree upon seeing them, and she gathered them into her arms and kissed their foreheads, while Adam picked up the dead mother's basket and rummaged through. Inside he found some pebble-grey sheets, the filled milk bottle, a loaf of bread and some papers with messily written text scribbled across it's crumpled surface. Adam held the paper to the golden candle light and squinted.
"Their names are Hansel and Gretel, and they're about thirteen months old." Adam informed Eve, who glanced up at him, her eye brows lifted in curiosity. "It's their birth certificate. It appears hand-made."
"Hansel and Gretel? Like in that story?" Eve ventured.
"I appears so."
Eve smiled, and rested her chin on the girl's - Gretel's - head, sighing contently.
"What lovely names our children have."
Disclaimer: I do not own Vocaloid or the Seven Deadly Sins series. I'm not rich or awesome enough to own either.
Thanks for reading! First story ever, gonna be a long one. I really love the Seven Deadly Sins series and I've always wanted to write something about it...and then I discovered this site ! WOOT! xD
But I was beaten to it by Hetalia Sautoir-san! I encourage you all to go and read their version, too. I'm enjoying it so far. Read both. They'll both good. ( I hope mine's good, anyway Dx )
I apologize for any grammar mistakes. I read through it, but no-one's perfect. I may have missed something ^^ Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Please, if you have any suggestions or the like, please review. Just be nice~ ;]