"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." ― W.B. Yeats
"Oh my God, oh God," Eliza gasped between her breaths as she ran through the woods; she had not expected such an outcome. Directing Sakura to the forest was only meant for a small adventure, not to be extended to a battle between the petite hunter and two grown men. The feeling of panic seized her as she turned around every second – even if she could defend herself, she knew she needed to inform her employer or someone else, because Gilbert Beilschmidt and his brother would definitely be challenging opponents. Eliza did not know if any of them were already following her, but she knew that she had seen more than she should have. The two brothers were no bounty hunters themselves; their attire was suggesting something else but they were hiding something. Ludwig's face had changed for a second after he had seen the picture of the rumoured beast in the forest.
Her mind was filled with ideas of whom to ask for help, until one notion stroke her – Sakura's letter. The determination in the brunette's eyes was back, her feet carrying her as fast as possible to the bar, where she could write to ask for enforcement. If the bounty hunter had any friends, they would come and help her, Eliza was certain of it.
Her feet took her inside the pub, which was thankfully void of clients. Although the atmosphere was relaxed, the barmaid's pulse was racing, the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Although Sakura's letter had already been given to a messenger, Eliza had memorised the address on it. Fetching the needed utensils for writing a rather alarming message, she managed to finish her task before a knock sounded on the door. "Miss Eliza?"
The familiar voice of Gilbert Beilschmidt had reached the pub. "Miss Eliza is not here," she answered in a dark voice, sounding as manly as possible as she hid behind the bar counter.
"Is she not?"
"No!"
Despite the refusal in her tone, the door slowly opened and Eliza grabbed the nearest object that could help her to defend herself – she was a barmaid for Heaven's sake, inappropriate behaviour of drunken men was a daily occurrence she was familiar with, so striking Gilbert Beilschmidt with a bottle would not be that difficult, would it?
Sakura woke up to the sound of whistling birds and the movements underneath her; at first she thought the attack had been a dream but as she slowly opened her eyes, she found herself on the shoulder of a tall man. Her foot was still sprained – or broken – and Sakura suspected that the man that was carrying her had taken all of her weapons.
Luckily for her, Ludwig was not a man that could touch a woman without thinking of the consequences; he had not looked for swords underneath her clothes, hoping that she would not wake up from her slumber. Shyness and embarrassment had kept him from examining her – a trait that he rather not wanted to possess, when his safety was in danger.
"What a day," he mumbled to himself, watching the path towards the mansion before looking at his wrist. It was the same tattoo that graced his brother's arm: a simple rose. Even if she would succeed in hurting him, the woods would protect him and the woman would be deprived of the possibility of escaping. Those thoughts seemed to put him a little at ease before he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and fell forward as pain ran through his head, releasing Sakura, who landed on her good foot.
"My weapons. . . ," she whispered to herself as she rummaged through the unconscious man's bag. The chirping suddenly ceased and Sakura stilled in her moves, suspecting every tree that surrounded her – everything was her enemy in these woods. Strands of her hair flipped in her face, the breeze becoming stronger. It were those small details that forced her to run, although her wounded foot was slowing her down.
Her brown eyes glanced forth and back, observing the ground, flowers and animals around her. Nothing seemed to pose any danger to her and Sakura slowed her legs' moves as a glowing firefly approached her.
The huntress avoided to step on her sprained ankle as she walked, holding her hand towards the small violet glowing animal. For her, it was a captivating sight as it softly landed on her finger.
The scenery was completely different from before, as she calmly smiled after having witnessed such a small and extraordinary creature. She wondered why the woods were not attacking her; after all she had trespassed another territory. The glowing animal settled itself in her palm, and the black-haired lifted her head, coming face to face with a grand building that was surrounded by thousands of roses. 'The cursed mansion,' she thought, her blinking eyes taking in every detail the terrain held: tall pillars supporting massive stony walls, birds playing in the trees near the high hedges and wild rosebushes. She was uncertain if this construction was a castle or a big manor, for it had too many towers to be considered a simple building. All in all it was a breath-taking sight and Sakura was at loss for words; never before had she seen something of such beauty before. Her heart skipped a beat as the roses near her followed her moves, she feared that they would attack her and shielded away, to distance herself from them.
"Open the gates!"
Upon hearing the familiar commanding voice, the hooded woman hid herself quickly, out of the sight of Ludwig, who ran towards the manor, his hand rubbing the bruise on his neck.
"Ludwig, what happened?"
Sakura slowly hobbled to the entrance, observing the tall blonde before she was surprised by the amount of people that were working there. All of them were neither cursed nor blessed with magic and the rumoured beast had not once crossed her path.
It was still a mystery to Sakura, why all the inhabitants of the village were unaware of this occurrence; as if another world had placed itself in the deepest of the woods, far away from normality. The mere suspicion that the monster on the poster was living among those people in an enchanted mansion, lingered on her mind as her hand slowly moved to her bag.
Sakura's eyes narrowed as she noticed the absence of the wanted poster; realising that one of the brothers must have taken it away from her. Either way she was torn between two choices: if she would slip through the gates now or in a few days. Her foot was burdening her and would cause her great problems if a fight would take place; it seemed that the beast was in possession of magic and therefore she needed all of her energy. In addition to that, she needed to ascertain Eliza's safety: Only one brother had carried Sakura, while the other was chasing the barmaid. There were other disadvantages as well: the brothers would probably reinforce their guards at the mansion for the sake of protection. She caressed the small violet glowing creature in her hand while forming a plan in her mind as she heard Ludwig's voice, informing his friends of an attack.
Sakura was too lost in her thoughts, to notice the pair of intense green eyes that was watching her, from the highest of the towers of the building.
[A/N: I don't know why but I feel like writing and updating every day even if I have two other stories I need to work on :'D.]
Reply to Reviews:
mimi-chan and aliling-chan: Indeed :'D The "Hetalia brain" is always switched on :'D . Oh yeah, I always used Hetalia when I needed to memorise something in history :)
Sugar22: Thank you :D, I am glad you are happy about it :D. Oh yes :D but the next match is going to be Belgium Vs Hungary :O this is so going to be a super match :D (although I will always support Germany and Belgium until the end :D). Oh Thank you :D I always use the languages I know (I don't trust google translator), but I am happy if you would help me with Hungarian, if I use the language :)
