This story is half AU, half cannon. The timelines may not be the same and I've changed lots of things and added new details for the sake of the story.

I do not own the drama series Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo and I don't take credit for any of the characters, plot or dialogue being used in this story that are familiar. i simply own the parts of the story that I added including but not limited to characters, plots and dialogue.

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Hope you all enjoy!!! :)

Bae Noo-Ri as Lim Sana

Lee Joon-Gi (Wang So) as the stranger

Everything was a mess.

Her life.

Her family.

Her heart.

Her mind.

Lim Sana was by no means an egostical person. But she did pride herself for lot a of things that other people lacked but she has.

For example, her calm and collected mind which had helped her in many situations.

However today doesn't seem to be her lucky day.

First, her elder brother had decided that she was worthy of his attention and took it upon himself to ridicule her infront of all her siblings and cousins.

Next, her younger sister had expressed her concerns regarding her cousin sister's studies- in an insulting manner -which made her blood boil, but her yeodongsaeng was a very savage person under her kind face, and she replied in a witty manner making her mood slightly better.

Then, her eomeoni demands a meeting with her in the evening to discuss about her marriage.

And that was when all her restraints snapped.

She was barely containing her anger and the fact that her eomeoni was testing her patience didn't help at all. And when she had had enough, all the courteousness she was supposed to show her eomeoni be damned, she said no.

No to the many marriage proposals that her eomeoni had setup.

No to placing the final lock that will indefinitely cage her like a slave.

No to all the lives she will never ever want.

She had bowed to her eomeoni and had walked out of her extravagant study. Not a few minutes passed her exiting the room when the woman she was ashamed to say that had given birth to her, started screaming like a banshee.

She had no interest in what her eomeoni had to say. And she felt no pity to the servants who were trying to calm down her eomeoni and will eventually face her temper.

She walked without an aim to wherever her feet took her to while she tried to organise her scattered thoughts.

Marriage?

Proposals?

Husband?

Why?

Why does her eomeoni wants to make her suffer?

Why doesn't she ever understand that she'll never like what her eomeoni likes?

After all these years of pain, suffering and negligence, why does her eomeoni has to worry about her marriage of all things?

With these sort of questions in her head, unbeknownst to herself Sana had started to walk towards the forest that she was ever familiar with.

The 'cursed forest' as many say is a place that most dare not to enter.

Reason?

Oh there's plenty. Poisonous plants, venomous snakes, dangerous reptiles in the river- which flows through the forest-, supposed ghosts and ghouls- the lost souls who are said to haunt the forest day and night due to dieing horrible deaths in some sort of horrific ancient battle; but the most dangerous of them all- wolves.

Hence the name.

Regardless of the dangers that lurked in the dark and deep forest, it was a source of terror and comfort to Sana- a safe place of sorts. And the fact that nobody- even her reckless brothers- dared to step into this forest, plus how well she knew this place and almost all of its dangerous residents like the back of her hand after years of familiarity was a bonus.

As soon as she entered the forest, Sana broke into a run, deep into the dark and mysterious woods. Jumping over uneven roots, stones and old tree logs, she ran faster and faster. Her long black hair, shinning in the specks of sun light, flew behind her.

To numb and push her emotional agony to the back of her head and to clear her head of useless thoughts, running has always helped her since her childhood.

And she ran. She ran so deep into the forest that she couldn't catch a glimpse of her mansion like house and the only thing she heard other than her laboured breath and the drum of her heartbeat was the melodious chirps of birds and the many sounds of other animals.

Finally she came to a stop.

Drenched with sweat after a few minutes of trying to get her erratic breath even, the first thought that came to her mind was- stupid. She was stupid. She knew her eomeoni loves to find even the tiniest of her faults and complain to her abeoji or punish her about it. To make her suffer. Suffer abour being born into this world. Suffer about being born a naive girl. Her eomeoni never hesitated to remind her that she was unwanted. To remind her that her eomeoni would have been glad if she had died in anyway possible.

Sana chuckled mirthlessly. But she's here isn't she? Alive and as good as she can be.

Suddenly she was pulled out of her depressing thoughts as her highly sensitive ears picked up the faint rustle of leaves which a pair of untrained and normal human ears would have never picked up.

"Of course you found me."

Her voice was a faint whisper. A whisper, mixed with sarcastic amusement and dry humour- along with an air of nonchalance and sadness.

She glanced up from the ground and her caramel brown eyes were met with a pair of enigmatic dark eyes.

It was as if the air was knocked away from her as she got lost in those dark eyes. It seemed as if she was caught in a spell; enchanted even, as she was overwhelmed with the desire to keep looking at those bottomless dark eyes. It was like the first time she caught sight of that pair of eyes. Mysterious. Bottomless. Enchanting.

Blink.

Infront of her eyes was a tall man. A tall man with long black hair. He was wearing a black mask accented with the colour gold, which covered the left side of his face and his bangs were long enough to cover half of that mask. Even with his mask covering half of his face, she knew he looked handsome. Though she barely battered an eye lash about it. He kept himself in a posture which excluded confidence and power. She felt as if he oozed power and a certain coldness. He was wearing black traditional clothes, not that she noticed.

All she noticed was his eyes. His sharp eyes that seemed to have the ability to stare into anyone's soul while seeing through any kind of lie. His eyes, that were outlined with black eyeliner- or was it kohl?- seemed to hold centuries old knowledge and wisdom. Those eyes that told a story which could be seen but not heard. A story with pain, tragedy, misery, suffering and loneliness; though his gaze also held a sense of longing and understanding.

She wanted to scoff at her last thought. Understanding? Longing? How could he, a man who has been invading her dreams since she can remember as a child and popped up in her vision once in a while, not to mention a person she doesn't even know a thing about, understand what was going on in her life? She wanted to move. She wanted to talk. She had many questions on the tip of her tongue for him. She wanted to shout at him. Hit him. Throw a tantrum at him like a child. Still, in a weird way, it comforted her to see that someone in this world- though he seemed like a figment of her imagination -understood her. Also it was absurd that she somehow knew he genuinely understood her. Call it instinct, but something told her that she could trust this man, whom she know nothing about, and it was furthermore strange that she's willing to blindly trust him.

Who are you? What do you want? Why do I keep seeing you? Why do you follow me to this place and to my nightmares and dreams? Or am I just seeing things?

Blink.

Instead of a tall man with long black hair was her shaggy black furrred lone companion who prefers to stay in the long shadows of the mysterious forest. Her lone companion who provided her comfort and protection while staying in the shadows. Her friend. Her companion. Her partner. Her protector.

Yet his deep eyes hasn't changed at all other than looking a tad bit feral. Though those eyes seemed human enough to not suit the face of a feral.

Another blink.

And the spell was broken.

Holding her gaze steadily was her faithful companion, a predator with shaggy black fur and a pair of mysterious eyes that attracted her like a bee to a flower.

However she noticed some similar things about that stranger and her companion. While the stranger with a mask wore traditional black robes, her companion was midnight black. Both their eyes seemed so much alike, other than the fact that her companion's were a tad bit feral.

But the thing was- that stranger was a human and her companion, a fierce creature of the night.

Another difference was the scar on her companions face. A scar that ran over his left cheek and divided into two; one line stopped under his left eye while the other ran over his nose and along it and ended above his left eye. She was curious as to how her black furred companion got it but he couldn't talk and she never figured out. She also wondered whether the tall masked man also had a scar present underneath his mask.

Breaking out of her thoughts, the shaggy black furred wolf crept towards her closing the small distance between herself and him in a slow pace.

Sana didn't step back. She held her ground and stood, watching the black wolf. He came near her. His eyes held her gaze steadily, without breaking eye contact for a mere second. Finally he came so close to her that she felt his warm breath on her legs. His steady gaze held the same understanding the eyes of that stranger held.

Sana scoffed. "You don't even know what happened. But here you are, looking at me like you understand."

Strangely enough she felt that this wolf who kept her company understood her very well despite not telling him about what happened or what she was feeling, like with the stranger who previously stood in his place.

At his understanding patient glance she could no longer stop herself from keeping her tears back. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt them get seeped in a feeling of wetness. After being so strong and hard infront of everyone, she felt as if she can't- she wasn't allowed to let her tears flow freely. But when the sound of a painful whinning and whimpers were heard from near her feet, the walls that she had built around her from iron, started to melt down. With that a cascade of tears started to flow freely like a dam being broken.

Her feet were swept away from underneath her as if she got drained of her strength; and she fell to her knees with a thud. Through her tears which flowed down her pale soft cheeks in waterfalls, Sana reached out to her furry companion blindly. When the feeling of a wet snout rubbing against her neck along with warm breaths and whimpers and pants were heard, she hugged him tightly while being careful enough to not squeeze him to death unintentionally.

She cried. Wailed. Screamed. Sobbed. And finally her sobs died down to small hiccups. All the while her faithful ebony colour furred companion stayed with her till she exerted all her bundled up feelings.

No matter how much time passed; eventhough the evening turned to night or regardless the fact she passed out because of her sobbing, he stayed with her all night and morning, as she laid snuggled up to him for warmth during the cold night.

While he was there acting as a guard like her loyal companion and the protector he was.