It was dark, but pleasantly warm. She was not aware much on what had happened after she collapsed due to the injuries she had. The hounds that attacked her were more than she could deal with, and if it wasn't for the strange man who found her, she would die.

Again.

She swore she will never let the King away from it, that's for sure.

Her ears caught the sound of fire crackling and she smiled. Fire was her friend, no matter what the circumstance was. She was content with the warmth radiated by it, and simply wished she could stay like that.

Then a thought sprang into her mind: Who started up the fire?

Her eyes snapped open, only to be greeted by a worried man with thick handlebar mustaches staring back at her.

"Aahhh!" She shrieked and backed away from said man. Her hands grazed on the hard ground but she took no notice. "Wh-who are you? What do you want?"

"Relax, fire lady!" spoke the man. She noted he has quite a deep voice, though it suited his stocky-built body.

"Uh...Miss Wendy! Fire lady's awake!!" the man hollered and she frowned. There's another one?!

She turned aside and saw a blonde-haired girl coming toward them, a ghost hovered behind her. She shivered; she remembered seeing the spirits that were floating all over the graveyard, and sprinted away as soon as she saw them.

So how come this girl got one? She mused as they (the girl and the ghost) arrived and sat nearby.

"You're awake," the child spoke airily. She shifted slightly and bit her lower lip; the girl somewhat have a creepy aura around her.

"Good to know you will live for another day," the blonde continued, "Wendy's the name; pleased to see you. This is Abigail, my sister-" she pointed at the ghost "-and here is Wolfgang."

The strongman pumped his muscles happily as Wendy introduced him. "Is nice to meet you, fire lady!" he said cheerfully.

She couldn't help but to return the man's smile. "W-Willow," she started. "Fire lady? That's...rather new."

"You don't like it?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"On the contrary; I love it! It suits me well!! I like fire very much, if you want to know!!" She turned her gaze to the fire pit, her eyes lit up in joy.

Then she looked around her surroundings and her smile fell at once.

"Is the full moon already over?" she half-whispered.

"We brought you here just before it set," said Wendy, who was weaving flowers together. "The hounds surely did you quite a lot of damage."

Hearing that, Willow glanced over her arms and legs, which were wrapped with sticky substances. She lifted her hand to her neck and could barely feel the gap on her skin.

"I use spider webs as bandages; hope you won't mind," the girl continued.

"No, I'm surely not," she said, although she was actually repulsed on the idea of anything spidery was on her skin. "Thank you for saving me, all of you." She beamed to them, in which only Wolfgang returned it.

"Is my partner here?" she asked. "He was a man -"

"You mean him?" Wolfgang spoke, pointing behind her. She followed his gaze and noticed the man who shared the camp with her, currently sleeping on the straw roll.

"He was rather crazy, for lack of a better word, when he arrived," Wendy told her. "Mumbling about someone called 'Charlie', I think, before he passed out." In her hand was a flower crown, which she handed it to the strongman, who accepted the gift happily and put it on his head.

She grimaced at the mention of the name. "He acted strange on two days ago," she started. "Wandering in the dark even though he knows she brings his death, jeez. Good thing I managed to get to him before she strikes!"

"As in 'Charlie', I presume?" Wendy interrupted, causing her to jump. Abigail floated beside the child and moaned softly, but she took no notice and continued staring at her.

She only blinked hard at the blonde, wondering if she was right about her being straight up creepy.

"Your silence gives me answers," the girl went on before turning away with Abigail on her tail.

"Forgive Miss Wendy, fire lady," Wolfgang told her in concern. "She had always been like that; watching people closely."

"Observant, you mean?" she said. "How come you didn't call her with nicknames as you did me?"

"Wolfgang did call her 'spooky girl' when we first met!" the strongman added, "She said she didn't like it, so she told me to call her 'Wendy'. But she is very brave! She does not fear darkness! Wolfgang wants to be like her too, so I call her 'Miss', for I respect her!"

"She's such a strange child," she chided in, "but it works well, with you two doing pretty good! I myself had died once!" Then a bright thought came into her mind.

"Would you like to stay here with us?" she said suddenly, griping both of Wolfgang's shoulders. "Let's say this is a gift for saving me! This is our camp, after all! That is, Maxwell and I, of course." She turned to the sleeping man. "We can work together to survive this world!!"

"Sounds like good idea! Wolfgang will ask Miss Wendy first!" said the strongman with same excitement. He was about to shout for the girl when she clamped his mouth with her right hand.

"Let her be for a while," she told him. "How about I show you some stuff we have around here?"

(line break)

Wendy waited until both Wilow and Wolfgang went to the rows of chests that surrounded the camp before heading to the only man who was still unconscious.

She knelt beside him upon arriving, the faint light from Abigail illuminated the man's face a bit in addition of the flames from the fire pit.

"What does an old man doing here with us?" she asked no one. She gazed into the wrinkles that were over his visage and deduced he was probably not as old as his appearance did.

It can be deceiving, after all.

Suddenly, the man shifted around in his sleep and she backed away slightly. He was muttering something, so she leaned closer with caution to hear him.

"Ch-Charlie..."

"Y-you are...interesting, I'd say..."

"They...They have destroyed me. And you will be too...sooner than I did..."

The man squirmed and fumbled around and Wendy barely had the time to retreat as he pulled out a black sword from his jacket.

She didn't even scream in pain as it slashed deeply into her skin. Instead, she only stared at her now bleeding form with a wide smile.

"Death has come to claim me after all."