My Name is Willow
Willow woke up to the sound of wood being chopped.
Slowly, she peeled her eyes open and looked around.
She sat up and tenderly felt her head where'd she'd hit that rock. She was shocked to find that it was no longer hurting or even injured in the first place.
Willow rubbed her eyes and looked around the area. She started to panic slightly when she realised that it was someplace she didn't recognise.
She'd always been a nervous girl, but this was a lot of stimuli for her. Her breathing became quick and shallow and her fox ears started to twitch. Someone had clearly heard her and was approaching the tent.
Willow tensed up and pulled the blanket over her face in an attempt to hide from whoever was coming.
The zip to the tent was undone and a strange woman ducked her head to get inside.
She approached Willow with a warm smile on her face, trying to make her feel more comfortable.
"Hey, hey, it's okay sweety, I'm not here to hurt you." She affirmed in a calm voice.
Willow attempted to speak but had caught a bit of a dry throat so it ended up as a muffled choking sound.
The strange woman giggled and pulled out a water bottle. "I bet you're thirsty huh? Here, drink some water."
Willow gingerly took the bottle in both hands and gulped it down.
"Wow. Looks like you haven't had a drink in a while." The lady chuckled. "Drink as much as you need, honey."
Willow handed the water bottle back to the woman and wiped her mouth.
"Are you hungry too?" The woman asked, pulling out a chocolate bar and showing it to her.
Willow nodded and took the chocolate bar and wrangled with the wrapper before getting it open and taking a small bite.
Her eyes immediately widened and she immediately took another, much larger, bite.
"You like that?" The lady asked with a smile.
Willow quickly nodded as she swallowed.
"It's almost as if you've never had chocolate before." She giggled, revealing her pearly white teeth.
Willow slowly shook her head and the lady gasped.
"You poor girl." She said with sympathy.
"Have you even been to Vale?" She asked.
Willow shook her head once more and took a third and final bite of her chocolate before chewing and swallowing it down.
"What's your name sweety?" The woman asked.
Willow looked at her. "W-Willow." Her tender voice croaked.
"Well Willow, my name is Marina. It's nice to meet you." Marina smiled.
Willow reciprocated a small smile before attempting to stand up.
"Here, let me help you with that." Marina picked the small girl up and placed her on her feet.
"C'mon, I have someone that really wants to meet you." Marina said as she held the small girl's hand.
Willow began to feel the cool air through her torn clothes and shivered in response.
Marina noticed this and took off her scarf to wrap it around her.
"Better?" She asked. Willow looked up at her and nodded.
They both stepped outside to see two other individuals, one chopping wood with an axe and the other was leaning back in a chair with his hat placed over his eyes.
Willow immediately recognised the one cutting wood and let go of Marina's hand to run to him.
"Sam, head's up!" She called.
The man stopped cutting wood for a split second before a small faunus threw herself at him and started to hug him with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
He gently placed the wood axe down and picked the small girl up.
She wrapped her arms around his neck mumbling the words "Thank you" over and over again.
"Shh, it's okay, I got you now." Her said in a calming tone.
Willow was on the verge of a breakdown. She was experiencing all kinds of emotions in that one moment of embrace. Happy, sad, angry, scared.
But the one that stood out the most was the fact that for the first time in her life, she felt safe, as if nothing could get to her in that one moment of time.
She sobbed heavily into Sam's shoulder whilst her stroked the back of her head, trying to calm her down.
"I've got you kiddo, everything's gonna be okay." He soothed her.
Marina slowly approached them both, trying not to shed a tear in this little moment.
"We told you, Sam." She smirked. Sam looked up at her and nodded.
Willow slowly let go of Sam as he crouched on one knee so she could reach the floor.
"Feeling better?" He asked with a grin. Willow nodded as she wiped away any tears that remained on her face.
"I'm sure you've already met Marina, but that's Murphy and I'm Samuel. What's your name?"
"My name is Willow." She said with a lot more confidence.
"What's your last name?" Sam inquired.
Willow awkwardly shuffled her feet and rubbed her right arm.
"I-I don't know..." She mumbled.
Sam looked at her in curiosity, startled that she didn't even know her own last name.
"Don't worry about it, that's not important right now, what is important is that you get something to eat. I bet you're hungrier than just a chocolate bar." Marina spoke in a cheerful voice.
Willow nodded her head.
Sam stood up and pulled two sausages off of the grill near the fire.
"Would you like a hotdog, Willow?" He offered.
Willow enthusiastically nodded in response, so Sam grabbed two buns and placed each hotdog inside. He then put them on a plate and handed it to her before pulling up a chair for the girl to sit on.
Willow plopped herself on the seat and tucked in to her food. Taking bite after bite and eating them as if she hadn't eaten in days.
"Wow, she really was hungry." Murphy speculated. Sam grabbed himself a burger and took a single bite out of it, taking nearly half of the thing inside his mouth.
He chewed slowly, watching over Willow as he did so, making sure she didn't accidentally choke on her hotdogs.
Like any father-like figure, he had to make sure her safety came first before all else.
He inspected her thoroughly. Her hair was messy and had bits of dried mud in it, whereas her clothes were torn and dirty. She had the prettiest of blue eyes, full of curiosity and wonder. Shoulder length gold-blonde hair. As for her body; She was slim and judging from her build, very agile, which of course came naturally to the faunus. Since she had Fox-like traits she was even more agile than someone like a Bear faunus, just for example.
After about two minutes, Willow had completely purged her plate and looked at Sam in want.
"Still hungry?" He asked. She nodded. "Don't worry, we've got loads more."
He stood up and used a spatula to flip two burgers before grabbing two cooked ones and placing each in buns.
"Would you like some sauce?" He asked, shaking a bottle of ketchup.
She pointed to the barbecue sauce and Sam easily caught on. He squirted a generous amount into each burger and placed a slice of cheese on each.
"Careful, they're hot." He warned, but it didn't stop her from delving right into it, completely undeterred by the heat.
They all sat there eating (even Murphy decided to grab a burger) for about ten minutes. Willow was the first to finish with a big burp, to which she blushed afterwards.
"Willow? Would you like to put something cleaner on? Your clothes are filthy, honey." Marina asked.
"We have something cleaner for her?" Murphy questioned.
Marina nodded. "I always keep kid's clothes on me for situations just like this." She responded with pride.
"Hey Sam, spot the nerd." Murphy remarked, pulling out another cigar.
Sam shook his head and laughed.
"Hey!" Marina whined.
Willow giggled too.
"C'mon, we'll go get you cleaned up, there's a small pond not too far from here." Marina guided Willow, holding her small hand.
"Take your weapon, you might need it." Sam ordered. Marina quickly used telekinesis to pull her staff toward her and caught it, giving Sam a mock salute before escorting an awestruck Willow to the pond to clean up.
Willow stared at Marina's staff in amazement. Analysing each and every detail, from the cyan wrapping around the handle, to the metal contraption at the end.
Marina caught her staring and smiled. "It's cool huh?" She asked. Willow nodded but still kept staring.
"What does it do?" She asked, pointing to the contraption.
"This? This allows me to fire and manipulate Dust." Marina explained.
"You know what Dust is, right?" She asked and received a nod in response.
"Okay great! Well, this part here revolves allowing me to change Dust types when I'm fighting someone or something. This button here..." She pushed the button and the revolving head popped open to reveal 8 cylinders full of dust. "... Allows me to quickly swap out Dust types or reload whatever ones I've used up." She pushed the button once more and the contraption closed up.
"I wish I had something like that." Willow mumbled.
"Oh you will..." Marina teased. "But it'll be much cooler." She smirked at Willow when her eyes lit up like a christmas tree.
Willow felt herself get really excited on the inside and had a smile permanently plastered across her face until they got to the pond.
"Now I know for a fact that this water is going to be cold, but thankfully I brought my staff, so we can change that. Plus, you're a lady and only men wash in cold water." Marina giggled. She then switched her staff to fire Burn Dust and blasted the water for about five minutes.
The pond gradually got hotter and hotter until it was more than warm enough to bathe in.
"Try that." Marina instructed. Willow tenderly walked towards the water and dipped her hand in, feeling it was more than satisfactory she then got rid of her dirty clothes with the aid of the older huntress and climbed in.
Sam had resumed cutting up more firewood. Since Willow and Marina were occupied and Murphy was napping, he had nothing better to do, since he cleaned his equipment whilst Willow was sleeping.
He had debated on patrolling the area to scout out anymore Grimm, but between the two Huntsman and Huntress, they had already gathered more than enough intel to complete their reconnaissance mission.
He wondered how he would break the news to Willow. How her parents were no longer with her.
And to be honest, it terrified the hell out of him.
He didn't think it would be as hard as they said, unlocking someone's aura. But ever since he had unlocked Willow's, he had become increasingly aware of her motions, her thoughts and feelings. He couldn't read them directly, but it was more of a blurry feeling to him and easy enough to block out. This however, made it significantly more difficult to tell Willow the harsh reality, based on the fact that he'll physically feel how heartbroken she was going to be.
She was just a little girl, and he didn't know her well enough to determine how she'd react.
He dismissed these thoughts and figured he'd have to tell her when they were alone.
Willow returned to the camp feeling cleaner and happier. Marina not only had spare clothes for her, that of which fit near perfectly. But she had also packed a hairbrush and brushed Willow's hair to the point of silkiness. They had talked a lot when they were at the pond, despite it being nearly 3 in the morning and both girls were tired.
Marina had learned that Willow was highly intelligent for her age, almost a genius. She had extensive knowledge in mathematics, literature and science.
They had discussed what Willow aspired to be and much to Marina's surprise, Willow didn't know. That or she was smart enough not to declare anything as set in stone. After all, she was young and smart, meaning she could be anything she wanted to be.
Willow had made one thing clear though, she wanted to help people, Faunus and Human alike.
Willow sat down in the same seat as before and began to observe Sam go to work on the firewood, taking a log and effortlessly splitting it with one full swing.
He had already accumulated a sizable pile of firewood to keep the fire going until they had to leave and he was visibly worn out by the task.
Wiping the sweat off his brow, he set the axe down and took a swig of water.
He noticed Willow sitting there wearing a black shirt with a blue skirt and black tights underneath. Marina, addition to brushing her hair had placed it in a high ponytail, tied with a red ribbon. It looked nice on her and it really accentuated her Fox ears.
"You're looking much nicer Willow, how'd you feel?" He asked with a smile.
She grinned at him. "Good." She chirped, swinging her legs on the seat.
"I hope you're ready for bed, because we're leaving this place tomorrow and you're coming with us so we gotta be up early to pack our things." He informed her.
She nodded her head.
"Okay great. Who's tent do you want to sleep in?" He asked already knowing her answer.
She instantly pointed at him and he smirked. "I thought you might."
Author's note: I have so much in store for this story and feel like it could go a long way. I feel the need to remind everyone that the poll is still up on my profile page so if you'd like to vote it will really help me deliver what stories you wish to be prioritised. Other than that, I have really nothing else to say except the fact that DOOM is a fucking fantastic game and you should all go and play it.
Have a good one!
-Hydra
