Woohoo! Another epic story of dangerous porportions. Hope you enjoy it! It's a contest entry for Gray-Rain Skies' Beauty and the Beast Syndrome challenge. Wish me luck, and glad you have the opportunity to read my fic.

Inspired by Skillet - Whispers In The Dark

Princess Io

One: Far Off Places

"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."

- Samuel Johnson

As she exhaled, a large cloud of vapor escaped her mouth as quickly as it was released. She knew better than to disregard the warnings of her best friend's words of wisdom. "Don't leave tonight. It's going to rain first and then follow up with snow." Damn! If only she wasn't always right in her predicaments…

But she felt obligated; to leave in order to search for what she had been looking for all these five long years. Her missing father was nowhere to be found and presumed dead.

But she refused to give in and then move on; her father was all that she had left. Her mother died when she was only seven due to a rare disease and her unborn sister as well.

Her 'papa' as she called him moved on after his wife's death and spent most of his time raising his only daughter. And now that she had reached the tender age of nineteen, she was more than capable enough to take care of herself.

Now it was her turn to be concerned for her father and bring him home after he had left to travel and promised to send word if he was ever in trouble.

"Shouldn't be far now. Soon I'll catch some sleep before I continue moving." She thought methodically, rubbing her eyes to prevent sleeping in the soft bed of snow beneath her. Kairi clutched the thick wool cloak tighter around her body, still shivering from the bitter weather.

It had been days since she last slept, and she hadn't planned on dying in the middle of nowhere of frostbite. Luckily, she had an innate sense of direction and soon came to a path that split in two.

Glancing at both carefully, Kairi shook her head and felt herself getting a migraine. "Leave it to your stubborn nature to not sleep in that inn back a couple miles ago…" She huffed in frustration, before proceeding to the left side.

Looking up at the sky for moment, Kairi noticed it was only early evening; she would make it to Nyda village in a few hours if she kept going at a constant pace. Just a few more yards, just…

Unfortunately, her headache was getting the best of her; making her eyesight go out of focus and back again. Panting from stress, Kairi clenched her cloak even tighter and pulled her hood over her head. In a short matter of minutes, the young woman fell into the snow, her eyes embracing the darkness.

--

"Papa…"

"Happy birthday Kairi!" A young father said endearingly, kissing his daughter on the forehead. Giggling and kissing her father back, a young Kairi jumped for joy around the house. It was her seventh birthday and she couldn't be any happier.

And what was better news to Kairi was that she was going to get a little sister soon! "Finally! Someone to play with! It'll be so much fun. I can't wait!" the adolescent thought gleefully. She went outside to grab the morning sunshine and spotted her mother sweeping the long walkway. It was the mid autumn season and Kairi was always amazed by the various shades of brown and gold colors on the falling leaves.

"Mommy!" Kairi called, running to her. Turning around, Kairi's mother pushed back a strand of crimson hair behind her ear and smiled. She embraced her daughter as best she could and patted her head.

"Kairi, you need to be careful, or you'll bump the baby." She scolded a little, holding her bulging stomach. Kairi smiled at her mom again with a toothy grin and placed her hands on the sides of her stomach.

"When will she be born Mommy? I wanna play with her!" She asked eagerly, rubbing her face in her mother's apron, inhaling the scent of lilacs and moondrops. When that baby would come into the world, Kairi planned on doing everything with her new sister; from running along the many fields of flowers, to swimming in the lake in search of treasure beyond imagination.

"Soon honey. Very soon."

A shadowed figure slowly approached the immobile body buried by snow. It observed quietly, seeing if they were still alive and breathing. And without a second thought, the figure proceeded to recover the body and disappear in the night

Kairi…

Kairi…

Wake up Kairi…

Turning over multiple times, Kairi tried to shut out the voice that rang in her ears. "Mother…Papa…" She moaned, and turned over again. Snapping her eyes open, the nineteen year old sat up and rapidly searched around the place she was. The last she remembered was in the snow, but now, she was no longer there.

"Is this all a dream?"

Feeling her forehead, Kairi's headache had completely ceased. She turned her attention to the room she was currently vacating. There were various paintings that had gathered dust and cobwebs on the pale walls. She realized she was in someone if anyone's home and stared at the fine sheets that shielded her body. Her cloak was gone! Looking around again, Kairi had located her torn cloak on a nearby coat rack. Pushing the covers back, the young woman readjusted her men's cap and explored the room some more.

The closet was empty except for more cobwebs and dust. "Where am I?" She asked herself. Kairi walked over to the closet curtains and pulled them back to reveal sunlight into the dimly lit room. Inhaling some air and savoring the sun's rays, Kairi closed her eyes and stretched her muscles.

"Due to yesterday's snowstorm, it may just come back again later on tonight." But that didn't worry Kairi, as soon as she found the owner of this place, she was going to thank him and then be on her way without being anymore of a burden.

As she opened the door, Kairi cautiously peered around the gloomy atmosphere the place was emitting. "Looks like…a cottage." She said, staring up at the wooden ceiling. The young woman climbed down the stairs and glanced around the corner. She gazed at the back of the stranger and gulped.

"That must be him…"

Slowly approaching the figure, she bowed formally. "Um…thank you for bringing me to your home. I am in your debt, if there is anything that you wish of me before I go along my way, I will do my best to help." The figure turned around and smiled down at the back of Kairi's cap.

"Out there in the snow, I thought you were a little too light to be a boy. Judging by that stunning voice you have, you must be quite a woman." He completely dodged her small speech and instead started another conversation.

Looking up, Kairi blinked before nodding vigorously. "Thank you kind sir. May I ask your name?"

"Riku." He responded pushing back his silver hair and grinning. "And I'm sure you have a name as gorgeous as your face." Riku was clearly flirting with Kairi, making her turn a bright maroon.

"It's Kairi."

"Pleased to meet you, Kairi."

"Oh no. Pleasure's all mine Riku."

Smiling that grin again, Riku swiftly took Kairi's hand and kissed it, his eyes never losing contact with her own. His jade pupils glinted vibrantly, as if holding a secret power within them. They were intriguing, and were very curious to look at simultaneously. Taking her hand back, Kairi smiled and bowed again.

"I have to go now Riku. Again, I'm very grateful you rescued me last night."

Standing up, Riku took Kairi's chin in his hand and brought his face close to hers. As he whispered in her ear, it made the hairs on her neck stand on end. "Hope to see you soon me sweet." As graceful as he showed his hospitality to the nineteen year old, Riku turned upon his way and grabbed Kairi's cloak off his coat rack.

Still flustered, Kairi felt her cheeks grow warm. "Oh please! I barely met him. Just go before you do something stupid…" She advised herself.

That was the last time she saw Riku.

Holding her pins in her mouth, Kairi finger combed her hair before pulling it back up in a bun. She clipped the white pins to keep her hair in place and then covered it with her old cap again.

Why she was disguising herself as a boy was beyond thought, she just decided it would be better to avoid attention from other men while she traveled in search of her father.

Her father had always wondered why Kairi wanted to do things the other boys did in the village and never what normal girls did. Instead of playing with dolls, she would sword fight and get dirty like any other boy her age at the time. Even when she wore a dress, it never stopped Kairi from tearing the bottom or losing one of the ribbons in her two pigtails.

Kairi chuckled at the fond memories of her early childhood and saw they were of great use to her now. She had now been used to fencing and traditional sword fighting for most of her life but could also bandage her own wounds as well as a common housewife.

The young woman had traveled far form the last village. Like she had predicted, it started to rain cold droplets of water. After getting acquainted with Riku, Kairi made haste to reach the next town before nightfall.

So far, she had been making progress and made up the lost time from previously falling unconscious. But something kept gnawing at her side; she couldn't help but feel like she was being kept under close surveillance.

Shaking the feeling of paranoia, Kairi continued walking through the deep forest. Soon the surrounding area didn't look familiar to her and she soon cane to the assumption that she was lost. "Dammit! Maybe I took a wrong turn or something…" She said, frustrated. Unfortunately, Kairi had company…in the size of dangerous wolves in search of meat. Particularly their target being a certain auburn haired woman walking aimlessly in uncharted territory.

Hearing growling from behind her, Kairi didn't have to guess in order to know who was intentionally going to kill her. As she turned around, there was a small group of silver furred wolves approaching her with assassin-like aptitude. They lunged at her and Kairi didn't have enough time to react. One had pinned her to the ground, while the other two began tearing away at her cloak.

She had attempted protecting herself against the wild dog, but it was evident she would lose this battle. "I can't die here…" Kairi vaguely thought and wincing at the pain the wolf was inflicting on her left arm.

Its teeth had dug themselves so deep in her arm; she would have felt her bone cracking under penetration. Blood began dripping profusely from her open wound and onto her cheeks and exposed neck.

"Get off me!"

Kicking the fiend off her with the potency she could muster, Kairi sprinted away with unmatched dexterity. The wolves glanced at one another, sending each other messages and then pursued their prey again, leaving the torn cloak pieces behind. Since they were a trio, two ran ahead and the other followed behind in a formation of attack.

Fear was written in her broken expression and thousands of thoughts invaded her mind. "I have to get away! Someone help me!" She desperately cried out for anyone to hear her, to no avail. Her throat began straining for her voice, and Kairi was losing hope of survival. The wolves caught up again and jumped on her from behind.

Kairi shut her eyes tight, having neither willpower nor the strength to push her pursuers off. A pair of razor sharp fangs had invaded the point where her shoulder and neck met. Nails had profoundly punctured her delicate skin, the hard ground stained with rivers of crimson life. They were ruthless and unforgiving, draining what was left of Kairi's blood.

Her body felt numb, her ears trying to tune out the echoes of ripping and devouring. Until all forms of sound went silent. In a matter of seconds, Kairi heard whimpers in the back of her mind and bones being snapped in half.

One had managed to barely escape, but the other two weren't so lucky. After all was said and done, Kairi carefully looked up, fighting to stay alert.

Panting, she could faintly feel her life fading, and a pair of fine leather boots in her line of vision.

Her conscious had welcomed her in obscurity once more.