Hey, I actually got this out on time! This is a bit of a boring chapter, as it's just backstory, but things should start hotting up soon. In the mean time, enjoy!


Kian got Cocky

Day 9


"Aria! Come on, don't walk off like that!" She paid me no heed. She didn't even look back. I mean, after all we'd been through, she should at least spare me a glance, right? But no. The woman just couldn't bring herself to accept Steve's words; who could blame her, to be honest? She'd been running from the same rumours all her life - it would take a lot more than the miner's protestations to convince her.

I know Aria well. I was one of the first people to accept her, to let her in despite the circulating whispers. She had had nowhere to turn, having been thrown out of her home town and mutilated for her parent's beliefs. It isn't hard to remember that day, remember the slender face of a young girl that's just had her whole life ripped away.

Her whole life…


"For the love of Notch, Ethan! Hurry up!" The wiry black-haired boy grinned in triumph, mocking his brother's failed attempts to keep up. He was almost halfway up the side of the towering spruce tree beside their small family home, while Ethan, trembling, was still crouched on the lowest branches. He had always been terrified of heights, even from such an early age, but his older "brother" Kian never shared his qualms. The two boys weren't technically related, but Ethan considered them so nonetheless.

Ethan's parents had rescued Kian from the wreckage of his old home, his village having been burned to the ground by raiders. It had been a dark time, back then; marauders running wild, thieves and bandits controlling the weak outlying towns. Luckily, Ethan's family hadn't been affected as they were almost entirely self-sufficient and lived in the middle of nowhere, but still.

It had been a dark time.

"I- I can't make it!" A hot flush spread across the blonde's face at his failure, and he started to edge back down the tree in defeat. A small branch, thrown with uncanny accuracy, struck him on the back of the head, swiftly followed by a triumphant jeer.

"Look at you, long-haired scaredy-pants! Can't even make it up here like I can!" Ethan couldn't stand to see Kian so high. It was frightening enough to sit on the edge of the sheer precipice by the mines where his father worked, let alone watch his beloved brother dance along the fragile spruce branches with such reckless abandon.

It wasn't hard to tell the boys apart, even though they were practically inseparable. Ethan; young, timid, and with a full head of shoulder-length, lush blonde hair that flopped in his eyes. He never did anything without asking his parents or his older brother first, never dared to stray outside his comfort zone without a reassuring presence at his side. Kian; older and stronger, with a sharp tongue to match. He shunned the village's tradition of males wearing their hair long, preferring to cut it short then spike it up with a putrid gel made from mashed-up berries. Ethan hated the look, so grew his hair out despite his brother's insistence that he should cut it.

It was one of the only times he ever dared defy Kian.

"I told you, I don't like heights! You look stupid up there anyway!" Another branch came hurtling down, but Ethan - now firmly on the ground - was able to dodge it. "Missed!"

"Get outta here, long-hair!"

"Fine!" Ethan turned tail and stormed off, face once again burning at the shame of his brother's superiority. Why did Kian always have to be so arrogant? Why did he always have to be better?

"Well, at least I have parents," The child muttered to himself, then instantly regretted it. Sure, Kian may be tougher, but he was also three years older. By the time Ethan was that age, he would have probably gotten over his fears. But for now…

"Ugh! You're so stupid! Why can't you do it?" The child viciously kicked at the undergrowth, stubbing his toe on a hard mass concealed within the weeds.

"OW!" Ethan hopped on the spot, gritting his teeth. Well, that was idiotic. He almost jumped out of his skin when the lump shifted and groaned slightly, shaking off it's covering of leaves and earth. "What in Notch's name?"

"Well that's just rude," A muffled voice complained, the figure that Ethan had unknowingly hit straightening up and glaring at him. "I was just trying t'have a feckin' nap!"

"I- I'm sorry! I didn't know there was someone there!" The blonde boy stared at the slender stranger warily; no one ever ventured up to their remote family home, let alone stop to kip in the bushes. Nonetheless, that was what the young girl had done.

The silence stretched on as Ethan struggled to come up with something to say. Eventually, he couldn't stand the awkward tension any longer and blurted out, "Who are you? And why are you all the way out here?"

"I'm Aria. And it's a long story," The stranger brushed her long red hair out of her eyes, revealing a raw, fresh scar across her cheek, reaching almost to her ear. A stray tear ran down it's length, dripping off her chin to the cracked ground.

"It's a long story."


Over time, she told me everything. Her parent's beliefs. The rumours about her. She ran away from her past, ran away to escape the hatred and disfigurement waiting for her. In her heart though, she still feels guilty for abandoning her parents, even though they were the ones to cold-heartedly mutilate her. Faced with that terrifying choice - to stay and endure the pain, or to take off on her own - she ran. To be honest, I don't blame her, and don't believe her actions were cowardly like she does. Aria did the right thing.

I'm just surprised that she had the restraint to not murder Steve for saying what he did.


He died. A couple of months after I met Ethan, Kian died. I wasn't there, so didn't witness exactly what happened, but Ethan told me he fell from the tree behind their house. I was practically living there at that point, having been taken in by Ethan's kindness and lacking a place to stay. Thankfully, I had been out in the forest gathering mushrooms and didn't return until nightfall, so I didn't have to see.

I didn't have to see…

To be honest, I had never really liked Kian. He was bossy, and loud, and wore his hair up in a short, cropped style that was unbecoming of a well-developed young man. It wasn't like Ethan's long golden hair, that's for sure. Kian was so different to Ethan. Always expecting the boy to obey his every whim; Ethan would have probably followed in Kian's shadow for his whole life.

But Kian got cocky.

I could tell that Ethan was deeply traumatised at what he had found, so I didn't dare ask him for the details. Even now, eleven-odd years later, he still refuses to open up. I guess Kian was someone he could look up to, someone who would protect him and make him feel safe, like I never could.

The next day, Ethan cut his hair. I'd never felt more… betrayed when he walked out of the bathroom that morning, sporting an ugly, close-cropped cut. Ethan, despite Kian's repeated attempts to force him to change, had prided himself on upholding the village's traditions, and now this-

"Aria! Come on, don't walk off like that!" I ignored him - the last thing I wanted to do was talk to Ethan at the moment. As much as I didn't want to admit it, Steve's words had rocked me deeply, reopening a very old, scabbed-over wound that now hurt like new. I increased my pace, trying to put some distance between myself and the two men following me. Soon enough, Ethan and Steve were no longer within earshot, so I slowed to a reluctant stop.

"I- I know you're there. What do you want?"

Silence. The ethereal shadows seemed to thicken around me, coalescing into wavering tendrils of darkness. A cold chill ran down my spine, and the small torch in my hand flickered and dimmed, the pale light reflecting of the roughly-hewn tunnel walls.

"You don't scare me."

He was there. Hunched in the centre of the maelstrom of black energy, two blinding white eyes piercing through the gloom. I opened my mouth to speak.

"Why-"


Oh snap! A cliffhanger! So, Aria knew all along, huh? And what does Kian's death have to do with all of this? I have a feeling that Ethan knows...

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