Anne of the Beast?

by Ra'akone

When a lively red-headed girl ends up falling into a completely alien world, her only hope lies in some kind of...monster? How will she survive, and is there any hope of returning to Avonlea? Crossover between Anne of Green Gables and Shadow of the Beast (originally a series on home computers, most notably the Amiga, and resurrected on the Play-Station 4)

3. To the Forest of Despair!

Warning: What's not mine is not mine. There's one entity that owns Anne of Green Gables, and Shadow of the Beast is now Sony's property.

Anne Of … The Beast?

Chapter 3 – To the Forest of Despair!

While it seemed to take forever and a day, eventually Anne slipped through all of the fears and doubts that refused her mercy, and finally drift off asleep, as the songs of strange animals whose voices echoed far and wide.

AOTB~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anne stared around. She was back in her old school. She was relieved, until she saw herself in a mirror. She seemed to be only wearing an underdress, and bloomers. "She doesn't know how to dress," came the voice of Josie Pye, on the verge of pure hysteria. "Anne's so stupid that she can't dress right." Anne looked at her and sighed. She then saw a mirror, and noticed her lack of clothing. She blushed.

"That is the least of her worries," said the person who she accepted was her old teacher, Mr. Phillips. But why was he back? "You don't know where you are, or who you are." She looked out a window, and noticed that the familiar maples, oaks, pines, and apple trees of Prince Edward Island were nowhere to be seen. But there were the twisted new trees of where she was dumped. "You don't know who you can trust, do you?" The trees in Prince Edward Island were so lively, so social. If trees were people, the maples near Green Gables were Diana, whereas most of the trees in this strange land were Mrs. Blewett but encased in wood. In fact, her face formed in one of the trees. And it looked directly at Anne.

"Stop staring, polite ladies must not. You should have politely come along with me when you had the chance, you ungrateful…"

AOTB~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anne awoke with a start. It was still dark. For a moment, she thought she might be back in the East Gable. Except that she wasn't hearing crickets. And it wasn't familiar sheets that wrapped her. And she heard the snoring. It was Aarbron. One time servant of Maletoth, now just some kind of. Beast. Like that fairy tale she heard, Beauty and the Beast. Except here she wasn't a prisoner of the Beast. She was a prisoner of this world. A world that made her even miss the likes of Mrs. Blewett and Gilbert Blythe.

Then she decided to do what she forgot to do in the excitement and confusion of the previous night. Pray. She momentarily wondered, but what if it's a different God in this different world? Or maybe this world has fifteen of them. She could almost hear, in her mind, Marilla telling her to not be this ridiculous. God would obviously be able to hear prayers from ANYWHERE, because he was God. She even had a faint smile, for the first time in a while. With a humble breath and closed eyes, she knelt beside the bed. Hands clasped together, she bowed in prayer, "Dear Lord God in Heaven, whose graceful palm holds all the universe, I pray." She then recited the Lord's Prayer, as Marilla made her learn, shortly after her new life started at Green Gables. She briefly worried she would wake Aarbron, but he did not stir at all. Once she finished the prayer with an "Amen", she climbed back into bed.

AOTB**********************

Twenty small blue flames provided the only illumination to an otherwise dark chamber.

"You know why you are here, I trust?" began a low voice.

"Yes, my lord," replied a slightly scratchy voice. "It has to do with the human girl from another world who escaped, and the Messenger who deviated?"

"That is correct."

"I do not understand, never before have any of those turned into the Beasts ever turned against us. In fact, it was the only thing I was certain of, for complex is the magic…"

"I am fully aware, Zelek. The question is, what is to be done?"

"If we knew more about this unusual girl, we could find our answer. All that we know is that she escaped with the deviated Messenger. Before she becomes a new Messenger, she may very well serve as our means to taking our existing Messenger back to the fold, back under your rightful control."

"Back to my rightful control. I am most intrigued by the possibilities. They must be found."

"It shall be done, Lord Maletoth." The flames briefly gave a form to Zelek's flowing gowns.

AOTB***********************

A warm beam of morning light slipped into the room where Anne slowly awoke. Once again, she had a fleeting thought about being back in the East Gable. The sunlight seemed right, however the bed covers were not hers. And there was that other bed, although Aarbron wasn't lying there. She got out of bed, and went about making it, even if there was no logical reason for doing so. There was no logical reason for not doing so.

"Good morning, Anne," came a voice from behind you. "We shall eat, and then we shall be off." She turned around to see Aarbron. And then she blushed.

"Do not stare at a lady who's undressed like this," chastised Anne.

"Undressed?" he asked. "You're very dressed."

"I'm in an underdress and bloomers, without a proper dress or stockings! You musn't look at a lady who's underdressed."

"How would I know? I don't even know what bloomers are."

"They're these," she said, pointed at the pair that were peeking out under her underdress. "Please turn away until I am dressed!" she said, grabbing one of the covers and holding it in front of her. Aarbron complied. She put her dress back on, as well as her stockings, which were visibly scratched and damaged. "I am dressed." Aarbron turned around. "Where where you?"

"Preparing breakfast, and also tending to personal impolite needs." Anne didn't ask for clarification, because she was certain she understood. "We should take some supplies from here. The bedding, and any small tools. And food."

"Where are we going?"

"Out of Maletoth's lands. We are in Southern Kara-Moon. We best go East."

"Does the sun rise in the East here as well?" asked Anne. "It does back where I live, but I always wondered if there were places where the Sun rises in the South. Probably somewhere sad that doesn't have mayflowers or wild raspberries."

Aarbron didn't say anything at first. "Yes. That is how we know which way to go."

Breakfast was fruit and eggs. Anne was thankful that there was food around here. Good food. She hoped wherever they were going wouldn't be worse off. But she still didn't know where she was going. But at least she wasn't lost. She had fantasized about sleeping up in the trees, like some kind of wild animal, but none of these trees looked good. And she had the idea, hardly far from accurate, that there were many dangerous creatures just waiting to sink their fangs and claws into her just about everywhere.

"Now we can gather what we need, and leave. Thankfully there are some good bags here." They found a couple of relatively nice bags.

"I'm glad we're leaving here," said Anne, "it's too sad. It's like this house was built with sorrow and woe."

"Probably because it's abandoned," said Aarbron. "So many people were either kidnapped or killed or enslaved by Maletoth. Entire villages were destroyed. I…know him too well. That's why we have to get out."

Once they had their supplies ready, they left. Anne gave one final look at the house, staring at it with contempt as though it were Gilbert Blythe. Ahead of them lay more trees, although these ones didn't have as many thorns or sharp branches as all of the ones before.

A shriek pierced the air from deep in the woods. Anne momentarily shuddered.

"What is that?" asked Anne.

"It's nothing to be frightened of," said Aarbron.

"Everything is frightening here!"

"Try to imagine it not being so!"

She was momentarily numb, but then resumed walking with the beast-man. It wasn't that long before they were deep within another forest. Then a loud buzz echoed. A pair of shiny eyes were visible amidst the trees. Then it emerged. An oversized wasp.

"Do not move," warned Aarbron. "stay still."

The wasp slowly approached. And then the buzzing intensified. Wasps approached from the sides. Anne stood there, silently. The wasps hovered in place. They slowly circled the duo. And one of them turned its head towards Anne. She gasped. The wasp zoomed towards Anne. It turned its stinger towards her, but never lived to sting her.

Aarbron punched the wasp in the head, and it fell to the ground. The other two turned towards him. Anne dove to the ground as one of the wasps zipped overhead. Aarbron jumped and kicked the two oversized insects simultaneously. Anne stood back up. More wasps appeared, forming half a circle around them. "RUN!" said Aarbron, "WITH ME!"

Aarbron took off in a sprint, with Anne a short distance behind him, and the wasps filing into the natural tunnel of trees. They came to a fork, and Aarbron instinctively reached for Anne's right hand, and gave a gentle tug. They turned right. They stumbled and tumbled down a hill, dust being kicked up, and Anne screaming the whole way. Once she stopped, she had no time to get up, as Aarbron picked her up, and he jumped into a pond with her. The wasps zoomed by, seemingly uninterested that their prey had gone into the water.

They surfaced a couple of seconds later. "What are you doing?" asked Anne. "I could have drowned."

"Or you could have been stung." He pointed at the wasps, flying off into the distance. "They are dangerous, but stupid."

"Now I'm wet."

"So we will walk, and you will dry."

"But what about our supplies?" He pointed to the bags on the shore. "They don't care about that, only us. We are wet, not the supplies."

"Where are we going now?"

"We are in the Forest of Despair. We will be safe from Maletoth for now."

"That's great, maybe we can – " Aarbron gave her an odd look.

"That's not possible. This is still part of Maletoth's lands, so it would not be safe forever. And there's a reason for the name. We are in the Glades," he explained, pointing to the grassland around the pond and them, "within the Outer Woods. Over there," he pointed to mist filtering through trees, "is the true Forest of Despair. We must make our way through there. And we must find you something to defend yourself with. You are still just a human girl."

"But I'm not a fighter."

"IMAGINE yourself as one, then. Because out here, if you can't defend yourself, you DIE!" Anne was a bit cross at having that aspect of her, the imagination, used as a way for winning arguments by Aarbron. But now wasn't the time to argue.

"How will I know what to fight with?"

"We'll find it soon enough." They entered a path, into the mist, and immediately everything around her felt colder. A distant moan reverberated. Followed by agitated squawking. Without warning, a large bat flew from the trees and beelined towards Anne, only to be kicked by Aarbron. "Run!" The two started to run, only for Anne to trip on roots. Aarbron scooped her up while running, and leapt over a small pit. Then she felt the whiplash of stopping suddenly, when Aarbron suddenly stopped, with a loud clank and crunch sound. He placed Anne down, and she saw that his leg was caught in some kind of hunter's trap. "I'm trapped."

"Is there anything I can do?" asked Anne.

"Follow the chain, see if there is anything at the other end." Anne did it, and noticed that the other end was buried. She pulled, and it moved slightly. She shook it, and then more of the chain came loose from beneath the ground. And then she reached it. A metal block wedged in between rocks. She tried to move the rocks, but they were ridiculously heavy. Aarbron saw her struggle, so reached down himself, to pull the rocks. There wasn't anything anchoring the chain. Then she went back to Aarbron. There were a couple of handles on the trap, but Aarbron couldn't quite reach it, and the holes for the fingers were too small. "Your hands could work," he suggested. Anne reached down with her hands, and put the fingers into the holes, and pulled. At first, nothing happened, but then it abruptly sprung open, and the teeth of the mechanism fell apart.

"You're hurt," she said. "but we don't have any bandages…"

"I will be fine," said Aarbron. "And you should take that chain with you." She did so, but it didn't make sense to her at the time. She wrapped it around herself.

"When we find somewhere safe, you will learn how to defend yourself, because I can't always protect you, even though I wish to." He looked ahead. "And I think I will have to carry you, at least through. There might be more traps like this, I could stand it, had it bitten into YOUR legs, it would have been a tragedy."

How quaint, she thought, she was going to be riding on him as though she were a younger child. Then again, her childhood, before moving to Green Gables, wasn't what anyone in their right mind would have called the best. But if it saved her from those contraptions, she would do it.

Aarbron made his way with her, and she had to duck under low-hanging spiked branches. They continued along the path. Wooden thorns appeared on the lower reaches of the trees. And a couple of branches did graze her arms, making her glad she was wearing sleeves, and making her think that, had she had puffy sleeves, perhaps they would have been more damaged.

Something that vaguely resembled a short gorilla fell from a tree in front of them, and ran at them while howling. Aarbron easily kicked it out of the way in front of him. Bats came from the trees to the side, also to be punched out of the way. Aarbron ran very quickly. Anne looked back, and noticed more creatures were following them. Then she looked forward. She shuddered, noticing there was a hole. "Hold on tightly, Anne!" She did as told, and he leapt, and she shook as they landed, without stopping the run. Another trap snapped close, just behind them.

But then they came to a clearing, bigger than the other. There was a large sign held up by two posts. There were also individual trees, apart from the forest, and various skeletons lying around. He helped her off, and pointed at the sign. It was a map, of the Forest of Despair. It simplified things slightly, showing passages mostly as straight lines, and clearings as circles. There were many odd symbols. Anne wondered what they meant. There was also a large eight-pointed star in one of the circles towards the bottom of the map.

"We are here," said Aarbron. He moved his finger up to the top of the map. "We have to take the quickest way up here, East."

"Isn't East to the right?" asked Anne, tracing out a different way.

"That's to the South. We need to move through here as quickly as possible. East is always on the top of maps."

"That's rather odd. I was always taught that North is Up."

"Up is where the sun comes up, Down is where the sun goes down!"

"That sounds positively ridiculous. North is up, the North Star is what we see at night!"

"You are from a different world; your stars cannot be the same. And that sounds ridiculous!"

"Why are we suddenly arguing like…brother and sister?" asked Anne. "Not like I've ever had a real brother or sister, just the children I was often left to take care of, before I was adopted by Marilla and Matthew and just ended up as an only child. But some brothers and sisters I know are constantly bickering."

"It must be nice," he said, "to not have Maletoth hunting you so you can afford to argue like that." Anne looked at him for a moment, and felt guilty. "Speaking of which, I should train you."

"Train me?"

"To defend yourself. That chain you have would be an excellent weapon. It has a weight at either end."

He taught her how to stand, and how to swing the weapon. She practiced with small trees, and a couple of animal skulls, as targets. She was becoming much better at this. She was also taught many way to jump, roll, tumble, and fall correctly, and how to be quick.

"Now you must try a target that will resist." He pointed towards some odd trees at the end of the clearing. They appeared to have large plums.

"You wish me to knock the fruit off the trees?" asked Anne.

"Yes, but it will be dangerous. Those are Stinging Plums. They only look like plums. They spit acid that stings the moment you're close enough to them. Those trees can hear. Try approaching the tree quietly, but as soon as you hurt the first one, you will have to be fast on your feet."

She carefully walked towards the trees, her heart racing. She imagined all kind of outlandish notions in the past, she admitted to herself. But even in the most ludicrous of her flights of fancy, fruit was never anything that would try to attack. Now, in this unknown world, delicious looking plums were actually monsters that could shoot at everyone? Diana would have found this too farfetched, she decided, despite everything they explored with their imaginations before.

She took a deep breath, readied the chain weapon, not unlike a manriki-gusari, and whipped the closest fruit. It splattered. The others briefly shuddered, and seemed to turn. Her heart raced. As warned, these things had mouths, and sprayed acid at her. She jumped around to dodge it. She awaited a pause in their spraying. She struck another one, and dove to the ground as the others sprayed at her. The others turned towards her.

"They're alerted. You must be careful, MOVE!" She sprinted, as the things spat at her. "Wait for them to pause." Surely enough, they couldn't keep spitting. When one stopped, she struck another one, killing it. She had to back off, because of their spitting. She saw another opening, and sprung forward to strike it, but a plum she hadn't noticed spat at her. It stung, and she ran from them.

"It stings, it STINGS!"

"There's a small pond here," he pointed to a small pond. "Splash water."

She did so, and the burning sensation subsided. She looked at a reflection. There were blisters on her skin. "They hurt you, and you can defeat them. You must continue your training. You can't wait to feel better. Stinging Plums cannot move, most other dangers do not give you pause to rest, when they hurt you, they will go in for the kill. I wish to protect you, but there is always a chance we may become separated. You should imagine that possibility." She didn't like how he was using that term. But he was right. She knew nothing about this strange world. She ran back towards the foul fruit. "When it is certain where to shoot, avoid its acid!"

Anne did as he said, struck one of the remaining fruit, and then, at the last moment, dodged as they spat acid. Before they could spit again, she quickly took down two of them.

"How did I do this? I felt stronger and faster than usual."

"Because you had the right sense, that true warrior spirit."

"Me, a warrior? I'm just a twelve your old schoolgirl who somehow ended up in the wrong world, is learning to fight with a chain, and has to run from a powerful Beast Lord."

"Neither of us chose to be here. But we must make our way out. I may be able to find other suitable weapons for you."

"Am I to charge into battle with a sword?"

"Of course not, it would be too heavy for you, and against Maletoth it would be certain death."

"Then what?"

"Either a crossbow, or gun, or throwables, or if somehow you had the gift."

"Gift?"

"There are artifacts out there with special powers, and those who are gifted in how to use them. Arcane magics."

"This is suddenly so much. So unusual."

"And your outfit here," he touched the hem of her dress, and felt her bloomers, but she swatted his hand. "Is usual? Over here?" Unbeknownst to Aarbron, a large bat came from behind, and flew towards the back of Aarbron's head.

"DUCK!" she yelled, and he did so, and she swung and struck the bat. The creature was knocked away.

Aarbron took her to the map, to point out the way they would take once more. He also pointed out that the route clearly went through many hazards. "This is the most dangerous path, other than the village, everything beyond this initial passage will be fraught with danger."

"Isn't there a safer route?"

"There are, but this is the quickest. Maletoth's forces are surely hunting us."

She wrapped up the weapon, so she'd be ready for fighting. The two went through another passage in the trees. They came to a place where huge balls were swinging on sturdy ropes. "We have to be careful," she said. "They're not swinging at the same speed."

"Exactly. If we just try running, one of those traps will strike us, hard." They looked, and realized that there were thorny brambles on the ground, set up so that attempting to crawl under would be only slightly less agonizing than being struck by the swinging obstacle.

She jumped past the first swinging ball, and then ducked as another such trap activated, seemingly only tripped by her. The ball didn't return. She stepped more carefully. She had to jump over a row of rather tall spikes, and tumbled out of the way of a faster moving swinging ball. It swooped over her, and she landed on brambles, that snagged on her dress as she got back up.

Ahead was another clearing. But this one had branches reaching out to almost form a canopy over it.

"This looks positively dreadful," quipped Anne.

"Nowhere near as dreadful as staying near Maletoth," replied Aarbron. Anne just looked around.

"I don't see any way forward!"

"You have to learn about aggressive plants." Aarbron walked forward, and his claws appeared on his wrists. He quickly slashed through the foliage, revealing a rough path ahead. "When you can, you should acquire a dagger or hunting knife."

The path was very rough. There were stones, but they were irregular, and at odd angles.

It was uncomfortable to walk on, but she didn't mind. Then they came to a signpost, covered in skulls. She jumped.

"You may practice on this if you wish, but it's a warning. There are several Tree Pygmy tribes in Kara-Moon. The Southern Forest Tribe lives in the part of the Forest of Despair. They do not welcome strangers. And they have an agreement with Maletoth, to serve as an extra army of his if so summoned. They fight with spears, warclubs, and rocks."

"And why are you talking about them now?"

"This signpost covered in skulls is their way of marking their property. It surrounds the village of Forest Clearing all ways save for South. Thus, we must be ready. I recommend that you practice on this sign. See how many skulls you can damage."

Anne did as was suggested, and destroyed the first skull, and knocked off the second. When she struck the third, it shook, fell off, and spider-like limbs came out. She screamed, before striking it again. It scampered off. "What's that?"

"There are creatures that use skulls as shells. Some of them are very dangerous."

"Is there anything here that ISN'T dangerous?"

"In the Forest of Despair, in Kara-Moon, under Maletoth? Anne, if they could turn the moons against us, they would!" They continued, along the path. "STOP!" Aarbron took a branch, stood in front of Anne, and whipped the ground with it. Another trap slammed closed. "The Pygmies steal traps from others, and use them for catching food."

"Are they everywhere?"

"Not everywhere. In the village, I will have to get you boots. I won't always be able to spot the leg traps for you."

"And I'll need to get this dress mended, it's being positively destroyed by the forest."

"We'll be able to find appropriate clothing for you. Clothing that won't be destroyed by the trees."

"New clothing? For me? I don't know what to say, thank you so…"

"ANNE SHIRLEY! We have to reach the village first, but first we must pass through the Pygmy lands. Remember you told me about wishing to sleep up in an "apple" tree?"

"Yes, that would be so wonderful, to have a view, and to feel nature, and to…"

"Many of the Pygmies are up in the trees, they have very few buildings. Be aware here that, past this point, there are many trees that have guards. Some awake during the day, some awake during the night. Past here, we should talk more quietly. And if you see a flying patrol, be ready to duck into the trees."

"Flying?"

"They ride on brown wasp-like gueppies. They will know." They came to a clearing, and then, a buzzing noise echoed through the clearing. Aarbron pushed her into the trees and dove himself. A couple of brown wasp-like creatures flew overhead, and Anne could clearly see that there were riders on them. They had long, puffy hair, and wore simple loincloths. The two remained still and silent. The two creatures and their riders went around in circles, before moving off.

The two continued on their way. They passed into another passageway, thankfully, the last one before the village. The trees also looked much nicer. "This, this I will call the Forest of Miracles," proclaimed Anne.

Without warning, spears landed in front of them. Anne opened her mouth to say something, but a couple of Tree Pygmy warriors landed in front of them. One of them had a necklace made of bones that were shiny.

"Why did you two trespass our sacred lands?" he demanded. Several others pointed their spears. "You two shall PAY!"

"We will need a miracle now," piped Anne.

"No, we will need. TO FIGHT!"

Well, it's been some time, but here is chapter 3. Next chapter may have a fight or two, but I think I may end up with the odd numbered chapters being more actiony than the even numbered ones.