Red
The quiet calm of the forest surrounded the young girl as she slowly trekked through the grabbing arms of the thickets that littered the ground. This forbidden path was something that most people in the right of mind would try their hardest to avoid. What was this young girl doing, walking so calmly into the shadows?
Her cloak fluttered around her in the gentle breeze, and she hummed a soft tune to herself to brighten the mood. It wouldn't be much longer, and then she'd be on the other side of the woods, home with her mother. Home in safety.
A twig snapped behind her.
A lone wolf sprung out at her from the bushes, but the girl was ready. Reaching behind her, her fingers gripped the familiar, worn grip of her double-headed axe. In a blur of crimson, she was in a ready position, facing her attacker with grim determination.
The wolf snarled in blind, animalistic aggression. Red sighed. This was just a mindless creature, not one of the ones she seeked. Pity. With a sigh, the girl whirled the gleaming pieces of steel around, cleanly decapitating the beast. It's severed head rolled a ways away, hitting a tree stump with a quiet thump.
Red barely had time to smile at the wolf's misfortune before she heard a sharp snarl and felt a raking pain across her back. Whipping around, she caught sight of her attacker. Another wolf, much larger than the first, and backed by three more.
"Smart. Send the weakest member out as a distraction." She smirked, the pain from the animal's claws already fading from her mind. The leader of the pack snarled, barking to it's cohorts for them to attack. The complied eagerly.
Under such circumstances, most people would cower in fear or break into tears, but this red-cloaked girl did neither. As the wolves charged, she waited. And waited. Just as they thought that their jaws would sink into flesh, she was gone without a trace.
"Where is the girl? Where is the Hood?" One of the two that had rushed growled menacingly, his giant head swinging from side to side in an attempt to locate his target. A sound rang out from above him, and he looked up to find the brunette grinning childishly before cocking back her arm.
The pack leader could only watch as the fearsome double-headed axe whipped through the air, embedding itself in the back of his friend. The wolf gave out a last breath before slumping to the ground, his life snuffed out. The leader cursed his luck. Of all the people he had been ordered to kill, it HAD to be The Hood.
The girl flipped to the ground in a majestic arc, head whipping up as she set her sights on the next target. The wolf snarled, narrowing his gleaming eyes as the thrill of the hunt began to seep into his body. The lean muscles the animal had worked up rippled under his coat as he let out a vicious howl.
The wolf charged at Red, teeth gleaming in the moonlight. It swiped at her, causing deep gashes to appear in her leg. She cried out in pain. Smiling wickedly, the attacker whipped around to make another pass at the girl. She stumbled around, the pain rushing through her body and clouding her senses. However, as the beast ran at her with all the speed he could muster, she suddenly dropped. The wolf was surprised. Why would she do something like that.
The answer came in the form of a sharp, dull pain in his abdomen. Looking under himself, he saw one of the axe heads embedded in his gut.
"I have been fooled." He growled raspily before slumping over. The girl pushed his dead body off of her, standing up and turning to face the leader, the only wolf remaining. He knew she was coming for him. She knew he was going to fight back.
The leader of the pack - though there was no longer a pack to lead - charged at Red. Before she could pull one of her usual tricks, however, he leaped over her head, turning in the air and landing with his teeth inches from her leg. She retaliated by spinning around, entangling his jaws in her tattered cloak. He felt a tightening around his throat, and when the red cloth was removed from his eyes, he found out what it was: The smooth, wooden handle of Red's weapon.
"Still feeling lucky?" She hissed. The wolf gave no answer. She tried again.
"Any last words?"
"Why?" He asked, flicking his eyes up to catch what little sight of her he could get. Her face seemed to be the very definition of calm, cold determination.
"I'll tell you why." She spoke softly. Her tone of voice was unexpected, causing the wolf to almost pity her. Almost.
"It was my grandmother, two years ago."
-oo00oo-
Most woodcutters killed wolves and skinned them in hopes of gaining their pelts and meat and claws for trade. John, however, was sure that he was the only one who had cut a wolf open to find a little girl and an old woman.
Said girl now sat next to him as he drove her home on his cart. Silent as a mouse, her eyes were glazed over, concentrating on something. Sighing, John tried to make conversation.
"I'm sorry about what happened to you. It must have been terrifying."
"She's dead, isn't she." The girl said. It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement . After a moment, he nodded soberly. The girl's hands clenched into balled up fists, and she struck the side of her seat.
"I couldn't do anything. I shouldn't have trusted that wolf."
"It was an honest mistake…"
"I was stupid!" She shouted. Her silver eyes stared at him darkly, and he realized just how much pain she was feeling over this. Suddenly, her eyes glanced to his bloodied axe and back to him.
"Teach me how to kill wolves."
"Listen, little girl-"
"Red. Red Riding Hood." She corrected. "And I want to learn how to kill them."
"I don't just kill them for sport, Red." He growled. He didn't like the thought of taking something's life, even something as dark as a wolf. It didn't seem to deter the young child sitting next to him.
"But you know how to do it."
"Yes, I do." There was another awkward pause, the tension becoming so thick that he wasn't even sure his axe could have cut through it. Finally, he let out a tired sigh.
"You have a mother?"
"Yes."
"Then ask her first. If she says yes… I'll teach you what I know."
Her grin was the brightest thing he had seen all morning, but… it wasn't a smile he was accustomed to seeing. This one was full of joyful malice, and grim goals.
"I'm going to kill every wolf there is. I'm going to rid the world of their darkness."
-oo00oo-
"Yeah, I turned out pretty badass." Red Riding Hood finished with a laugh. "The guy showed me how to use an axe without cutting off my own leg, and moved on from there to teach how to build up my muscles to be stronger, and here I am now, killing wolves and saving lives."
"You're killing wolves for no reason."
"You're attacking me, first."
"Because you'll kill us on sight." The wolf couldn't believe the stubbornness of this girl, but his thoughts were cut out as he felt the leather-wrapped wood of the axe handle tighten around his throat.
"Well, sorry I can't stay and chat, but I must be on my way." The girl's gleaming silver eyes looked straight into the wolf's amber ones before she grinned and pulled back on the axe. The wolf heard a snap, and everything went dark for the last time.
