"Mattie, c'mon! Hurry up or we won't get there on time!" Alfred Jones yelled back to his twin brother, who was falling behind him in the dark woods more and more every second.
"We have lots of time, Al," the more patient of the two twins shot back. Rolling his eyes, he tried in vain to keep his eye on his seven year old brother who was currently rocketing through the woods without any care as to where they were actually going.
"You know that it's back this way, right?" Matthew asked, knowing his quiet voice would reach Alfred despite the growing distance between them. As expected, Alfred stopped immediately and whipped around, causing his dark blond cowlick to bounce a little in place.
"Huh?" Alfred finally looked around at where they were and realized that Matthew was right. "Oh…I guess I wasn't really paying attention." Now wearing a sheepish expression, Alfred made his way back to where Matthew was standing with his arms crossed and the toes of one foot tapping on the forest floor.
Matthew rolled his eyes once more at the familiarly brainless antics of his brother. "I know you weren't. How about you follow me? I was actually listening when Gilbert was saying where to go."
"You didn't even want to come!" Alfred protested, but nonetheless began following his brother (at a walking pace this time) to the spot in the woods where they had said they would meet their friends tonight. It wasn't unusual for them to meet up late like this. As a group of seven year old boys, they loved to prove to each other that they were indeed very tough and brave, thus beginning a series of meetings in the woods where they would sit around a few flashlights, tell scary stories, and occasionally dare each other to do stupid stuff. More often than not, the last activity was between Alfred and Matthew's friend Gilbert.
"I never want to come, Al. I only go because I know that if I don't you and Gilbert will end up getting hurt," Matthew patiently said for what had to be the fortieth time. Using his small height to the advantage, he ducked under a low-hanging branch before popping up on the other side and holding it up a little for his slightly taller brother.
Alfred pouted upon hearing his brother's words, but couldn't exactly deny them. The first time they had one of these meetings, he had gotten into a fight with Gilbert in the name of Matthew's honor. Alfred couldn't just let his brother's first friend get off easy! He had to understand what he was dealing with if he ever hurt Mattie. Although, Gilbert was pretty strong for his age, so the two boys had just ended up in a stalemate until Kiku had threatened to go and get an adult.
Making their way around a dense clump of bushes, the two boys could finally hear faint chattering coming from ahead of them, although as per tradition, the flashlights were still off. It had been suggested several times that it would be easier for them all to find each other if they turned them on like a beacon, but the idea was always shot down in favor of ritualistically turning them on simultaneously once they were all together.
Alfred was getting excited and felt that he could begin running again now that he knew where he was going. Grabbing Matthew's hand, he began dragging the smaller boy towards the others, laughing at Matthew's irritated expression.
As they burst into the clearing, Alfred was a little disappointed to note that they were the last ones there. Not that this was anything out of the ordinary, but he wanted just once to be able to get there before someone else. Their friends looked up at them as they entered.
"Hey guys! Sorry we're late, Matthew let us get lost!" Alfred claimed, rushing over to take his seat next to Kiku, his best friend, in the circle. They had decided early on to not bother constructing a permanent meeting place by gathering logs and such for them to sit on. If it was a new place each time, it added to the whole "super-secret club" feel.
The rest of the group, used to Alfred blaming his tardiness on his brother, simply ignored the statement and proceeded to huddle closer to the flashlights resting on the pine needles in the center of their circle. Ivan sat directly across from Alfred and Kiku with Toris sitting on Alfred's right. This left Eli to sit across from Gilbert, who acted as the self-proclaimed leader and was ushering Matthew over to sit next to him. Ruffling his friend's hair fondly, Gilbert stood up to address everyone.
"Now that we are finally all here, I declare the Order of the Awesome…open!"
Kiku, Alfred, Matthew, Toris, and Ivan all reached out to the flashlight directly in front of them and flicked it on. Eli, however, shot off the ground and grabbed hold of Gilbert's shirt collar.
"We aren't calling it that!" This was a common fight the two would have. Eli, named Elizaveta at birth, was the group's only girl. This wasn't something they had initially wanted to allow, but she also happened to be the only person they had met that could soundly beat up Gilbert without appearing to have to even try. That, and the fact that she never acted like a girl anyway, had led the rest of the boys to accept her into their group.
"Yes we are and you can't do anything about it!" Gilbert held his ground. Eli looked ready to shout something back at him, but before she could get anything out, Ivan cut in.
"Perhaps we should all sit down now? I have story to tell," he said with a childish grin on his face. From where Alfred was sitting across the circle, he could feel himself getting goose bumps just by Ivan's tone of voice. Not that he was scared of him or anything, because heroes like him simply didn't get scared. But there was no way anyone could deny that there was just something…off…about the Russian foreign exchange student. Alfred could also feel Toris shivering slightly from where he sat next to him.
Eli gave one last glare towards Gilbert before plopping herself back down onto the ground. Gilbert, now brushing himself off and holding his head high, also sat back down and gestured for Ivan to go ahead.
Now that all eyes were on Ivan, the largest boy was smiling even wider. He adjusted his light scarf before turning off his flashlight; the indicator that he was about to speak. Alfred exchanged slightly nervous glances with Kiku, knowing that the most unsettling stories always came from Ivan.
"The story is about these very woods. It is said that there is a hidden place in them inhabited by strange creatures."
"What are the strange creatures?" Alfred interrupted, letting his hyperactive curiosity get the better of him. Ivan shot him an irritated glare, causing Alfred to shrink back a little on the ground.
"Let me get started. These creatures are freaks of nature. They are half-human, half-snake and look mostly like us but for some changes. They have these long, slimy tails instead of legs and eyes that are said to make people go crazy! And they have sharp teeth that will kill the most powerful man. Their ears are pointy and on their arms are these creepy scaly patches. They don't have a name since anyone who sees them ends up dead."
"Oh please! I've never heard about anybody dying in this area," Gilbert shouted, although he looked fairly upset since it was well-known that he had a fear of snakes. Alfred and Kiku, on the other hand, were fascinated by them and so were hanging onto Ivan's every word.
"Of course we don't hear about it! The grown-ups wouldn't want to scare us, would they?" Ivan questioned. Gilbert hesitated before shaking his head and leaning back on his hands, indicating that Ivan could continue.
"And the reason none of us has ever seen one of these creatures is that they rarely go out of their magic place. Humans can't find them on their own, since they only are found if they want to be. And the only way a human could ever get to their hidden home is by getting dragged sloooowly to it in the clutches of one of the beasts. The creatures are said to prey on those who are weak or injured, so I hope none of you fall and hurt yourselves in the dark one of these nights." The way Ivan grinned after saying this made it pretty obvious that he actually couldn't care less if any of them were dragged off.
"So… what happens once a person gets to their hiding place?" asked Kiku timidly.
"Eventually they wake up to find themselves surrounded by these monsters. The glowing of their eyes is the last thing they ever see before they feel themselves being ripped apart piece by piece and eaten alive." As Ivan finished his story, everyone stared at him with horrified expressions. Scary stories were always told at these gatherings, but they almost never contained violence. Gilbert was shaking slightly, unable to believe how freaky Ivan was being. Matthew, who wasn't sure he believed the Russian, noticed and pulled Gilbert into a hug, causing Alfred to glare at them before voicing what was on his mind.
"How do you even know about this anyway?"
Ivan gave him an icy look and decided that it was time to put his full plan into action.
"I have my sources. The point is, these half-snake men are rumoured to be able to go long periods of time without feeding on people, but it makes them even more aggressive so they try to feed as often as possible. In fact, I heard from my source that these creatures haven't taken a victim in a few months. Do you know what that means?" Ivan looked around at everyone in the group in turn, pleased to note the enraptured expressions as they all shook their heads fearfully.
"It means that they will be desperate for human flesh. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't even care about a victim being sick or weak." At this, Ivan's gaze became positively terrifying. "In fact, they might just even content themselves with little children."
There was a collective gasp throughout the group at these words. By this point, Alfred was practically sitting in Kiku's lap and was holding Toris like a stuffed animal. Matthew and Gilbert were in much the same state. Even Eli, who was never scared by these tales, looked a little spooked. Ivan sat back, thoroughly pleased, but he wasn't done yet.
"You all shouldn't worry though. The creatures tend to prefer adults over children. Kids don't have enough meat to fully satisfy them. Although…"
Here Ivan paused to look straight at Alfred.
"When they do strike the young, they go after the lively ones. Lively ones with poor vision and blond hair."
Just as Alfred's eyes widened in fear, he felt hands grab him from behind and roughly drag him away from the circle.
Alfred and the rest of the group collectively released high-pitched, terrified screams as Alfred flailed as much as he could. After a few seconds, he succeeded in whacking his captor in the face and felt the hands holding him loosen their grip slightly. Not one to ever waste an opportunity, Alfred tore away screaming and ran back to the circle to find that everyone else, including his brother, had already scattered back to their homes. Not even bothering to notice that Ivan was still there smiling pleasantly, Alfred shot off out of the clearing and didn't stop until he had met with his brother back at their home and had planted himself safely under his covers.
Ivan watched his friends run away with glee in his eyes before turning to his accomplice.
"Thank you, Sadiq. That went exactly as planned." The dark-haired boy was laughing loudly from where he taken Alfred.
"Anytime, Ivan. You were right; that was awesome!" The two boys shook hands and agreed that they should work together again before parting ways into the night.
After that night, even though they found out it had only been a prank, the group decided to stop the club meetings. All of them, especially Gilbert, swore a thousand times over that they hadn't been at all afraid, but none of them were willing to go into those woods again.
12 years later
Alfred Jones was having a stressful day. This wasn't anything out of the ordinary for the nineteen year old college student taking advanced classes, but this was just ridiculous. It had started when he had woken up twenty minutes late for advanced biology, his most important class of the day. After falling out of bed in a panic and hitting his head, he had tried to inconspicuously slink in, but the universe hated him today and he was immediately noticed. Naturally, they were having a major pop quiz worth a good portion of the overall grade. Since he was late, the professor didn't even offer to let him take it another time. He simply slammed the quiz down onto Alfred's desk and informed him that he still had until the end of class to finish it. After only managing to finish about half, Alfred was assigned a couple hours of homework, lectured on the importance of punctuality, and then was told he would have to sprint in order to get to the dining hall in time for food.
He had thought his luck had turned around when he saw that hamburgers were being served that day, but he had been held back by his professor for so long that they had run out. Brilliant. After being forced to just get some soup, Alfred had to eat by himself since his friends had already left for other classes or gone back to their dorm rooms. Halfway through his soup, he realized that he still hadn't finished his assignment for his next class, resulting in him shoveling down the rest of his meal so he could quickly botch the rest of the work.
As if all of that hadn't been enough, he had been called on several times in his last class when he didn't know the answer, endured Ivan flinging spitballs at him, and finally tripped down a whole flight of stairs.
And these events were nothing in comparison to this.
"No, dude! I need my car, you don't!"
"I just explained to you, I have to borrow it!" Gilbert iterated, gesturing at a frowning Elizaveta.
"It's not my fault you're too much of a loser to have your own car. Therefore it isn't my responsibility to provide you with one." Alfred said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest while shooting Elizaveta a look he hoped came off as apologetic. Judging by the roll of her eyes and shrugging, she likely had interpreted the look as "Why are you with this guy again?"
"THE AWESOME ME IS NOT A LOSER!" Gilbert yelled defensively. "You are just too lazy to walk back to the dorms!"
Although he knew full well why Alfred wouldn't want to. Their university campus was a few dozen miles away from the neighborhood they had lived in as kids, but the bordering woods they used to meet in were so expansive that they stretched to this area as well. The layout of the campus had been planned around the woods to "conserve a valuable natural resource" and as a result, the roads were created to be extremely narrow. This meant that they didn't have any sidewalk, so the dorms were only approachable by car or by foot through the woods. Even though there was a known "shortcut", it still took about half an hour to walk and college students were nothing if not tragically lazy.
"Gilbert, don't be an ass!" Elizaveta cut in. "If you are going to be like this I'm not going anywhere with you."
"What?! No!" Gilbert looked indignant that Elizaveta would even suggest such a thing, even though he was surely used to it by now. He had been attempting to woo her (with little success) ever since she had hit puberty and realized that she was indeed a female. Although, despite the fact that she wore dresses and makeup now, she could still beat him soundly on her worst of days and reminded him often.
Elizaveta rolled her eyes at Gilbert and turned to Alfred.
"Look Alfred, don't listen to him. We'll be fine without the car, okay?" she reassured, not wanting to make Alfred feel bad for stopping their efforts to go out. This, however, gave Gilbert an idea.
Sighing dramatically, Gilbert forced the angry expression off his face.
"She's right!" This exclamation earned him an odd look from both Alfred and Elizaveta, who had known him for years and had almost never heard him admit to anyone besides himself being right.
"Huh?" asked Alfred intelligently. Gilbert tried very hard to restrain the devious smirk that wanted to appear on his face.
"I said she's right. I'm sure we can find someone else to be our hero for the day…" he trailed off nonchalantly, knowing Alfred would take the bait.
"I would be your hero?! I mean, wow, if it really means that much to you guys," Alfred paused to dig around in his pockets before withdrawing his keys and holding them out to Gilbert. "Then here ya go!"
Gilbert grinned widely and snatched them up; twirling them around his finger before snaking an arm around Elizaveta and leading her towards Alfred's Explorer.
"Thanks Alfred! We'll have it back later tonight!" called Gilbert.
"No problem dudes!" Alfred responded, flashing a trademark grin and thumbs up.
As Elizaveta got into the passenger seat, she shot Gilbert a disapproving glare.
"That was a dirty trick you pulled," she muttered while removing some empty drink bottles from under her seat.
"Kesesese! Hey, it worked so no complaining!" he said, throwing down his foot on the gas pedal and speeding away before Alfred could figure out what had just happened.
As the car pulled out of the science building parking lot, Alfred looked at his surroundings and realized that he would be walking home through the woods.
"Well, fuck."
It wasn't that Alfred minded a little exercise. After all, he had played American football all throughout high school and even now in college would get together with some friends on the weekend for basketball. He had always been the athletic type, so a half hour hike on a well-used path in the woods was no problem. In fact, for a while he was even enjoying the quiet time in nature.
What he did mind was getting lost. He wasn't sure exactly how this had happened since kids came through here every day and it should have been impossible to get off the trail, but he guessed he had been distracted by the stress of the day and wandered off.
"Stupid biology….stupid teacher….stupid Gilbert…stupid hero complex…" he muttered angrily, looking around on the forest floor for any sign of people passing through. Walking around randomly after realizing he was lost probably wasn't a great idea, but he really didn't care at the moment. All he wanted to do was get back to his dorm room that he shared with Matthew, take a nap, watch some TV, consume all the food in his room, and stay up all night playing online games with his friend Kiku. Was that really too much to ask?
Apparently so, as he didn't see any sign that he was even remotely close to where he should be. Looking up at the sky, he heaved a small sigh of worry. He could tell it would start getting dark soon and there was no way he wanted to be out there after that. Chewing on his lower lip in apprehension, he wondered if he should try retracing where he thought he had come from.
"Oh, wait!" He still had his backpack with him from school earlier and he knew he had stuffed his phone into the side pocket while rushing around this morning. All he had to do was look at the Map app and he would be saved! Swinging the bag around his shoulder, he set it on the forest floor and dug around a few seconds before withdrawing the iPhone 5 he had bought for himself last month.
"Hellz yeah!" he cheered, doing a celebratory fist pump that quickly became dejected as he desperately tried to turn the phone on. It was dead. Of course.
Trying to quell the rising feelings of panic, Alfred turned and headed in the opposite direction he had been going. Eventually he had to come to something, right? Mentally cursing himself and the universe once more, he stopped abruptly when he thought he heard a rustling sound. It sounded like…something sliding over leaves?
"Heh…wind you can't fool me," he said to himself as he began walking a bit faster. He was already in a bad situation and he did not need to make it worse by freaking himself out over some wind. But he couldn't stop the thoughts creeping into his mind about terrifying creatures coming to take him away and rip him apart. It had been over a decade since Ivan had pulled some stupid prank on them in the woods and they were all adults now (at least technically), but ever since that night he had tried to avoid the forest whenever possible. He knew his friends had probably long since forgotten about the half-human monsters, but now that he was out here all alone he couldn't help but think about them.
He was slightly ashamed to admit that when he heard another rustling sound, he let out a rather unmanly squeak and began practically sprinting away. He was so absorbed in trying to put as much distance between himself and the sound as possible that he didn't register the sudden slope in the ground ahead until his foot caught on something and sent him tumbling down. The last thing he saw before landing was the smattering of rocks rushing toward him at the bottom of the hill. He felt a sudden pain in his body and then everything was blackness.
Arthur Kirkland was having a terrible day. Not that this was horribly unusual for him, as the people of his clan were mostly composed of idiots and perverts, but this was just ridiculous. Francis took it upon himself to be more of a wanker than usual and had constantly pestered Arthur until he couldn't take it anymore. After threatening to mercilessly castrate Francis should he bother him one more time, Arthur had thrown caution to the wind and ventured out of the bounds of his clan's designated area.
He had never shared the rest of his clan's fear of leaving the safety zone. While he knew that outside the area he could be seen by humans, it was difficult for him to muster up any kind of fear when he knew that humans almost never came to this part of the woods.
He couldn't be blamed for wanting to sneak off every now and then like he was doing presently. He had never known anything but the few square miles of his home since it was supposedly the only area that was safe for his clan. He heard stories of other clans in various parts of the world, but they had never been proven true. Unfortunately, this meant that he was stuck with the companions he had now. He had a big family, even for the Naga species, but all of his brothers were complete twats to be avoided at all costs. Really the only one of the whole clan he got along with decently was Lukas. At least he could appreciate his brand of sarcasm and didn't mock him for occasionally practicing magic.
As Arthur slithered along the forest floor with his body flush against the ground, he wondered where exactly he was going. When he had left, all he knew was that he wanted to get away for a little while. He still vaguely recognized the landscape, but he knew that if he went much further he would be in unchartered territory and the last thing he wanted was to get lost. While Naga had a decent sense of direction, it was still easy to get turned around in new areas.
As he paused for a moment to bring his torso erect, he looked around at the trees and listened for any sounds of a potential meal. He could hear some birds chirping nearby, but didn't feel like expending the energy to climb a tree right now. He focused his hearing even further and was surprised when he heard the very distinct rhythmic crunching of leaves that accompanied human footsteps. After a moment's hesitation, he lowered his body to the ground once more and began moving towards the sound.
After a few minutes, he was much nearer to the human. He had no intentions of getting too close, but he didn't want to waste an opportunity to do some observation. He stopped moving when he thought he heard the footsteps speed up and considered just leaving and going back home, but curiosity got the better of him. He didn't realize that the human was running until he emerged from a dense clump of bushes and caught a glimpse of it several yards away. He watched, enraptured, as the human (male, it seemed) used his strong legs to carry him quickly through the woods. Arthur could move just as fast, of course, but he was fascinated with the way the humans moved. He knew they used what they called "legs", but he found them strange.
He was so wrapped up in his interest that he almost didn't notice that the human was headed straight for a steep slope in the ground. Arthur looked on helplessly as the male tripped and flew over the ground. There was a sharp noise as the human hit the bottom, but no sound came after that.
Arthur furrowed his brow in worry. The human was probably hurt, but what could he do about it? Well, one thing was for certain. There was no way he could just leave now and go back home. Cautiously, Arthur came out from behind the bushes and tried to move towards the human as quietly as possible in case he hadn't been knocked out. Carefully maneuvering down the slope, Arthur caught sight of the human lying at the bottom.
Unconcious, Arthur thought to himself as he approached the male. Judging by the position of his head on the rock, he had hit it when falling down. Arthur was no stranger to various injuries, as his brothers were a rowdy bunch and had been hurt often enough for Arthur to know that this stranger likely had a concussion. Biting his lip (minding his sharpened front teeth), he hesitantly reached out and poked the human's face. When he received no reaction, Arthur frowned deeply and furrowed his eyebrows. Not that he was worried, mind you. He just didn't want this human dying here and have the scent of death scare off potential prey.
He could remember clearly his mother's lectures on the importance of staying away from humans.
"If you ever see one, just stay as far away as possible, okay?" she had said, worriedly wringing her hands and twisting her tail. "If they see you, they won't hesitate for an instant to kill you or harm you in any way. It's what humans do…they destroy what they cannot understand."
He had nodded obediently. He was young then and hadn't actually seen a human before, so he took it in blind faith that his mother was right. A few years later, however, he had gone beyond the borders while hunting for food and heard voices. He had quickly slithered into a bush to watch as two real humans walked by. They were chatting happily together and occasionally laughing, but what had shocked Arthur was how similar they seemed to him. He had looked down at his own body and then back up at theirs, marveling in the fact that from the waist up, they were nearly identical save for some miscellaneous scales and sharp teeth on Arthur's part. When he had confronted his mother about the similarities, she had simply explained that while they might be related to humans, they were different because of the other half of their genetics.
Still, Arthur could not make himself be afraid of creatures that seemed so much like him. Every now and then he would venture out of his clan's boundaries and catch sight of a human. Each time, he would learn something new about them. Truly the only differences he could see between them and himself were physical. He secretly thought that his mother was wrong; that his kind were the ones that feared what they didn't understand.
That's why when this human was unresponsive to Arthur's further pokings and proddings, he gently lifted him up into his arms, painstakingly slithered all the way back to his clan's area, and avoided other members of his clan in order to sneak this wounded human into his den.
A/N: Hey guys! Welcome to my snake!England fic. I've been plotting this out for a while and I'm happy that I've finally decided to publish it. I'm not sure yet how long this will end up being, but I can at least say it'll be several more chapters of a similar length. You've probably noticed the M rating up there in the description, but don't get too excited yet. Yes, it is for sexytimes, but it isn't going to be immediately. Our lovely couple will get there eventually though and I promise to deliver when they do! ;) For now, enjoy the ride (I know I will) and remember that reviews are love!
