Disclaimer: Magic Knight Rayearth does not belong to be but to CLAMP. However, all original ideas and characters belong to me. End disclaimer.

Three Cephiro

Chapter 1 – A Monster

If she were to take another breath, then her lungs would have burst from exhaustion. Exhaustion oozed down to her delicate legs, but adrenaline pumped Satie Mellar to run faster. Satie's beautiful long brown hair flayed behind her as her arms swayed hysterically.

Faster.

Faster.

Her elusive eyebrows winced as she turned her head in the direction of the forest. No matter how fast she was running away from the image that she saw in the forest, it was in vain. The gleaming fangs and merciless eyes that would collapse an empire clouded her vision.

The uneven ground did not help her escape. While overcoming the last downhill, she gasped in pain as she ran over gnarled tree roots. Unbeknownst to Satie, she had lost her shoes from the moment she came upon the nightmare.

Satie felt cold tears on her warm cheeks when she saw her tiny village.

At last!

Satie, biting her parched lower lip, forced her legs to move faster.

Faster.

Faster.

"OUCH!" cried out a voice.

Satie and the owner of the painful voice rolled on the ground after colliding with each other. Satie's body was momentarily paralyzed with fear.

"MY ROOTS! THEY'RE RUINED! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO COLLECT AND DRY THESE!" accused the voice.

Satie's entire body was wet with perspiration. Never experience such activity before, Satie's lung protested to jump out of its place. Now pasted with dirt, her calves throbbed with relief.

"M-m-mm-mm-mmmo" stuttered Satie.

"I'm going to cry if these roots are unusable- what's wrong with you anyway?" said the voice.

The voice lowered in octaves when she noticed that her friend looked a lot like she had seen a ghost than mischief. She had stopped dusting off her priceless dried Astrailiuses and stared at her friend.

"Sienne, m-mmmm-m-monster!" screamed Satie. Satie tried to keep her vision clear, but the world was fading. Everything was slipping away, a feeling that always tasted bitter to Satie Mellar.

"Satie, what's wrong? What did you say?" Sienne immediately dropped the roots and quickly crawled to her friend. "ANYONE! HELP!" cried out Sienne. Sienne's dirty hands lightly slapped Satie's pale face. Sienne gently cradled her friends head on her lap and desperately looked around the nearby houses. "HELP!"

The repeated screams of Sienne brought curious neighbors who ran to help.

One by one, more helpers ran to help Satie Mellar. Most cried out obscenities when they saw their favorite child in such a helpless state. A couple of the villagers started leering at Sienne. Noting the displeasure coming from the crowd, she forced a slight smile as she clutched her cloak hood from her back to slowly cover her face, her identity. Once more, she was just a tall blur of brown standing without anyone's acknowledgement. As much as Sienne tried to lend a hand, the villagers pushed her out one by one until she was closed out of the circle. Not only were the villagers leering at her, some of the insensitive villagers pointed their honest fingers towards, blaming her for the situation.

At the sight of all the good Samaritans Sienne's heart ached with warmth. Satie was going to be okay. Sienne lowered her head to hide her face away from the angry mob. She brushed off her worn out working clothes and rubbed her hands together as the group ran with Satie further and further away from her. Sienne was alone once more with her healing roots. Sienne, making sure that her hair was tightly bound in her cloak, exhaled heavily.

Sienne bent low to pick up the remaining roots off the ground.

"She's going to be okay with everyone in the village looking after her. Don't worry."

She examined the very last root and blew air at it to get rid of the dirt between the grooves. After making sure that all the roots were perfectly dirt-free, she wiped her forehead in relief, leaving a wide smudge of dirt. Seeing that her basket was ruined from landing on it, she put the remaining roots in her apron pocket.

"Monster?" Sienne curiously turned toward the forest. "There are no such things." But Sienne could not look away from the dense trees. Biting on her plush lower lip, in turn showing light to her generous dimple on her right cheek, Sienne gripped onto her pockets tightly.

There were no such monsters.

It was her right foot that beckoned her curiosity to take action. With each step towards the forest, Sienne was hypnotized by the gentle swaying of the trees in the wind.

Her dark blue eyes glistened with the thought of adventure.

"Oy, Sienne, OY! We need more of those roots for Grandma Mellar and Satie. Get those legs moving, you ungrateful beast!" threatened the head of the village named Tem.

Sienne winced at first but turned slowly towards Tem under her cloak to slightly bow. Tem scoffed at Sienne's show of respect.

"You touched her you evil girl!" Tem's voice wasn't the least bit considerate.

"Satie was apparently spooked by an animal in the forest. She is not used to the forest, sir Tem." Sienne after her short bow began to turn around to leave to her duties stopped when she felt a sudden warm sensation on her cheek. Sienne touched her left cheek with a sleeve of her cloak to find a spot of Tem's spit.

"Everything that Lady Satie and Elder Mellar does for you. You had to go and scar our poor Lady Satie like that. You aren't even human." Tem's fat belly shook as he bellowed out a sinister laughter.

Sienne's cheeks flamed red with embarrassment. There was never a time where a villager would speak to her for this long, nevertheless that it was an insult of her existence. She wiped the remaining insult from her flushed cheeks and humbly bowed to the now Tem who could not believe that Sienne took the insult without an episode. Tem's real intention was to drag Sienne to police if she were to create any disturbance to a villager.

Sienne did no such thing. Her arms which were covered in her brown cloak grabbed her head piece to hide her face even more.

"I must take my leave. Elder Meyen needed these roots before nightfall." She got a couple steps in when Tem's meaty voice called after her again.

"This is a personal request from Elder Meyen. Although, why I need to deliver this message is … Hey dummy, you need to get some more of your roots. Lady Satie will not be exposed to the dirt ridden roots. Good luck, on your month long quest wench!" Tem's voice faded with the chilly autumn wind. Sienne looked up at the forest once more. Her dark blue eyes peep up from her hood, hoping to see a familiar face. There was no one.

Loneliness.

Loneliness slowly crept up her spine.

No. Sienne shook it off with a smile.

What was she thinking about? She had a grand adventure ahead of her!

Satie's screams of a monster echoed through her head.

"I am the monster…"