Chapter Five: Axes and Wolves

Bloom was so startled by the banging on her front door that she shot up in bed and banged her head into the wooden shelf...again. She cried out in aggravation, pressing both her hands into her forehead as the huge wave of dizziness washed over her. Bloom felt her whole body sway and cried out again as she fell right out of bed and onto the wooden floor "I have got to move that freaking shelf" She mumbled, she was aware of it still being night as an owl hooted near her window. After the shocking appearance of Pinocchio in her house she had been shocked but after the huge reveal of Icy being the queen Bloom had gone into full blown rage, Bloom had stormed around her cottage like a maniac while yelling at the top of her lungs. Then after a while she had calmed down enough to just sit in her armchair and stare at the fire until the embers had died out, after that she had just crawled into bed and tried to shut everything out. But right now after the rude awakening, she wished she had gone to bed way earlier.

Looking up she noticed that someone was still knocking at her door, she managed to stumble her way over to it and creak it open a smidge. Outside stood a whole crowd of people, all of them brandishing torches and pitchforks, Bloom squeaked as she stared at all of them. What in the gods of Magix is a mob doing on my front lawn?! Bloom looked at the tall man with the beard in front of her "Umm can I help you?"

The man looked slightly elderly with a grim expression "Red. I'm sorry to bother you in the middle of the night but there was no other way"

Great I'm supposed to know who this guy is! Bloom looked up at him with tired eyes, still trying to asses if the mob was here to kill her or to recruit her "its okay. So umm what's up?"

"A girl has gone missing; she's lost in the woods"

Bloom felt her whole body turn cold and she had to grip the doorframe "Belle?"

The man nodded "Her father came to the tavern about an hour ago and raised the alarm; he said she wasn't home for dinner and that she never misses a meal, we all know Belle to be a responsible and caring girl, she wouldn't just disappear"

Bloom's mind quickly buzzed and she looked confused. But Belle's story is the beauty and the beast? Isn't her father supposed to go missing and she goes to find him, how did she get lost in the woods "What time is it?"

"Just after midnight, we were told that Belle was seen leaving your house just before sunset yesterday, can you tell us where she went?"

"Yeah umm, she went to the castle, she was summoned by the queen. Pinocchio came and got her" Bloom rubbed her eyes and tried to appear alert. The people outside all turned to look at her, all things went every quiet. Bloom looked from one person to another with a wary face "Umm, what did I say?"

The man in front of her looked sad and about ready to cry, very unusual for a huge guy like him "My boy...my poor boy" Bloom raised her eyebrows and glanced behind him into the crowd to see a small wooden child, the same one that had come to fetch Musa, he had his nose snapped off from his face "Oh my god, he can lie" Bloom mumbled. The man nodded and sniffed "Yes, my boy lies! And he refuses to tell any of us where the poor girl is! We must right this wrong, Red!"

Bloom looked away from Pinocchio and leaned her head against the doorframe with her eyes close; she really didn't need this "So she's lost in the woods? Well then go and find her"

She heard the man brighten up a little "Yes, we shall!" A united yell came from the mob behind him "But we need your tracking skills"

Bloom shot up into her standing position and stared at the man for a long time with wide eyes.

...

"Belle!" "Belle!" "Belle!"

Bloom was ready to scream. The mob had insisted she accompany them on their search for Musa and they had been out there for three hours now, calling her name over and over again. As worried for Musa as Bloom was she was getting pretty annoyed at the yelling and was ready to turn around and scream back "HER NAME IS MUSA!" But that wouldn't help. She trudged along the path and tried to see through the darkness, the whole haunted forest was really creepy at first but after a while Bloom had stopped jumping whenever an owl hooted or a branch snapped under her foot, she held a torch in her hand and with her other clutched her black furry cloak around her tightly against the chilling night air. She really did try and put her best effort in to find her but somewhere deep inside she felt that looking for her was pointless, she was Belle after all! She was destined to get lost in the woods and come across a castle which held her beast of a true love! It bugged Bloom that one of her favourite fairy tale stories, one that she had known since she was a little girl, was being twisted and tweaked until it didn't make sense, what would bring Musa all the way out here?

Bloom stepped over a log and looked into the forest, mainly trying to summon up those helpful tracking skills all the fairy tale creatures were insisting she had but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't feel any kind of instinct. Bloom paused as she looked down at the ground; the leaves on the ground caught her attention in a way that spoke to her. Wait! Is this the hunter in me coming out? Or am I just imagining this? Bloom leaned down and examined the way the leaves were brushed rough to the side, like someone had slipped or fell suddenly. Looking in front of her, Bloom saw an oak tree with a huge white owl hooting in its branches.

Bloom didn't know why but she stepped toward the tree carefully, so she didn't disturb the ground and looked up at the owl "Do you know something?" she whispered, okay she was talking to an owl! But so what! It was a fairy tale world; a cricket could easily jump on her shoulder and start speaking to her! The owl simply looked at her and hooted. Bloom looked down at the ground under the tree and felt the same sense rise up in her, the ground looked like it had been clawed at, like fist fulls of dirt had been grabbed and let go in a pile. Bloom knew she was onto something. Looking back along the path she felt a pull inside her stomach and before Bloom knew it she was running with all her might along the path of the forest. Tree and branches whipped out to scratch her but she kept running, letting her instincts guide her. She was vaguely aware that she was running away from the mob but she knew if she stopped to alert them she would lose her trail.

Bloom stopped to breath at a broken tree, its thin white branches bent over a ravine at an odd angle, her eyes zoom in on this and Bloom felt her whole body tense. Walking carefully to the edge Bloom peeked over the side of the ravine, there were rocks and a small stream but nothing else. Bloom sighed in relief and turned back to where she thought she felt the trail stop but abruptly froze when a loud howl sounded in the very air Bloom stood in. Bloom didn't scream but she did however run into a nearby bunch of trees that looked particularly dark and secret. As soon as Bloom stepped into the mass she was sent flying to the ground by a force that went tumbling down with her, this time Bloom did scream. Her mind yelled WOLF! It's the wolf; get the hell out of there! Run for your life!

Bloom scrambled away from the thing but paused suddenly when she spotted the wild black hair and grump expression. Musa looked back at her and, believe me, it wasn't a pretty sight. She had leaves stuck into her hair, mud all down her dress and cloak while dirt stained her cheeks, plus she looked absolutely livid.

Musa stood over her "Ah Bloom, what the hell is happening?!"

Bloom jumped slightly as she looked up at her friend "Oh god Belle, you scared the crap out of me, why did you tackle me?"

Musa took her hands off her hips and took up a shocked expression "I didn't tackle you, I bumped into you! Now why are we in the woods and who the hell is Belle?!"

It clicked.

"Oh my god, you're Musa" Bloom stood quickly and brushed off the leaves from herself.

Musa rolled her eyes "Duh"

Another howl ripped through them and both girls leapt to the other and held on for dear life, this time the howl had been closer and both girls knew it. Musa with one hand held a giant axe to which she didn't know where she got it while Bloom whispered "Run" and both girls took off into the forest, not really caring which way they ran. Through darkness and fog the girl bolted, any other day they wouldn't have had a problem with a simple wolf but who knew what kind of crazy ass magic this world held.

"How are you back?" Bloom yelled as she ran, jumped over a fallen tree with a big leap. Musa jumped after her, this time a little clumsily with the axe in one hand "How should I know? Last thing I remember I was sitting in our apartment!" Bloom reached out and helped her friend over the tree "Besides I blame you for this!" Bloom was so outraged that she dropped Musa's hand and the small girl went tumbling over the huge tree.

"Hey!" Musa shot up "What did you do that for?!"

Bloom gestured to herself "This is so not my fault!"

Musa walked past her and started to run again "Tell it to the wolf when he catches you!" Bloom rolled her eyes and ran after her, mumbling "I liked you better when you were a book worm"

...

For an hour after that the girls ran, Bloom told Musa of the world they had found themselves in "Are you kidding me?" Musa groaned as the two girls walked side by side, she had left anger and gone on to being lazy and grumpy "But I don't want to be Belle, she's such a nerd! And the whole break the curse thing is such a drag" Musa hung her head while Bloom smiled; they had lost the wolf a while back.

"Come on! I think if we ever want to get home we need to do this" Bloom pushed her way through tall shoulder length grass "Besides, this way you can spend some quality time with Riven"

"What makes you think he's the beast?" Musa asked as she tried to follow in the grass which was tall enough to go above her head.

"Have you met Riven, he's Mr Grumpy. As Belle, you need to teach him about love and caring for others" Bloom heard Musa groan behind her but stopped dead in her tracks when she looked up into the sky "Wow!"

"What?" Musa looked over her shoulder and paused "Holy Moses in a basket!"

The girl stood next to a brick and stone bridge that led all the way to a high and striking castle, dead trees stood along its sides while the moon shown down on its tall windows and creepy statues, even the thunder and lightning that sounded in the sky matched the castle. Bloom was able to thaw out a bit when the first few drops of rain struck her face, she turned to Musa and smiled "Send me a post card from castle sure-to-be-killed, Bye" Bloom turned to leave when Musa grabbed her by the arm.

"No no no no no! I am not going in there, I could die in there. It's the perfect scene of a horror movie, no way man!" Musa tried to drag herself back into the grass but Bloom held on, tugging her in the direction of the bridge "Come on Musa...we have...too...live happily...ever...ah stop pulling...after!" Bloom dragged the small girl as she tries to pull herself away, Musa shook her head vigorously. Bloom sighed and stopped pulling "Please Musa, It's the only way we're gonna get home"

This made Musa pause and turn to look at her friend who looked genuinely pleading. Musa closed her eyes and groaned again, Bloom took this as a sign and clapped her hands happily "Yay! Thank you!" She pushed Musa toward the door just as the rain really started to pelt down "Good luck with Riven!"

Musa watched Bloom ran away back into the woods and disappear, never had Musa wanted to run away more, she hated fairy tales. Really really hated them! Musa thought on this as she jogged through the rain up to the front of the castle, the place looked pretty much deserted and she couldn't see any signs of life anywhere "Oh I'm gonna haunt Bloom in the next life" Mumbled Musa as she ascended the steps to the front door. Knocking with all her might she stood in the pouring rain for a whole minute without success, knocking again louder she was still met with silence. Growling she raised the axe in her hands and yelled at the top of her lungs "Mr grumpy, let me in! Or I'll so knock down this castle with my axe, don't think I won't!"

Musa had barely finished her sentence when the door was swung wide and Musa almost fell back down the steps at the sight in front of her. There he stood. Of course she had expected to see Riven and Riven she got, but she never believed she would be seeing him like this.

Shirtless.

Musa blinked at him, taking in all the smooth skin and hard abbs and what not. He probably had been working out of something equally strenuous and Musa wasn't going to complain...ever. She gulped as he stared down at her with a grim expression, not recognising her at all "What do you want?"

Musa was still trying to recover from the whole shirtless thing when she mumbled "Umm housekeeping?"

Riven gave her a suspicious look and crossed his arms "Is this a joke?"

Musa shook her head and smiled slightly. Riven was not amused "Go away" and slammed the door in the small girls face. Musa went from swooning to rage "What the hell man! Open this door right now, I wasn't finished!" She knocked furiously but got no answer "You know I won't go away right?!"

The door swung open again and he leaned out of the door "You have ten seconds to explain why you're in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, banging on my door when nobody ever comes to this door and why you think I should care"

Musa thought for about three seconds "Queen's trying to kill me, got lost in the woods, almost killed by a wolf, fell down a ravine, came across your creepy ass castle, it's pouring rain, I have nowhere to go and if you don't give me shelter I'll scream this whole place down. Seriously dude, you have no idea how loud I can scream. I've got the lungs of a blowfish!"

Riven looked down on her for a long time, still not amused. Musa took this as a good sign and added "I will never leave this spot until you let me in"

Riven gave her a curious look while leaning against the doorway, eyes assessing her stubborn expression to her ragged appearance. She smiled sneakily and lifted the axe "I'll give you this killer axe"

The door swung wide and Riven, after snatching the axe from her, disappeared into the house. Musa smiled as she floated in and yelled after his retreating figure "You may not know it yet but you and I are gonna get along so badly!" Musa mumbled as she took off her wet boots "But you'll learn to love me"

...

Bloom was dead tired as she made her way out of the woods, she could see the village in sight and was about ready to drop when she was about to step out of the woods when a growl sounded right next to her. Bloom froze in terror and looked over to see the hunched form of a big black wolf eyes the colour of blood and claws visible in the darkness. Bloom was so shocked that she didn't even move when it rose from its position and stared to stalk toward her but she did, however, move when a hooded figure slammed into her and tackled her to the ground. Why is everybody tackling me?! Bloom thought as the man on top of her covered her mouth and whispered "Don't move, the wolf can't set foot in daylight" Looking over she saw that he had tackled her far out into the sun and on the dark edge of the forest the big wolf growled and snapped it's jaws at them, Bloom wasn't a coward but this animal scared the hell out of her. Looking up Bloom was shocked at her saviour "Sky?"

Sky looked down on her with a surprised expression, searching her face carefully "Who are you?"

He was interrupted when the wolf screeched at them and both people shot up off the ground and ran. Legs moved automatically as her mind scolded her for not moving sooner, she was dragged over to the high wall of the village and through a small door in the side, the ally the two people leapt into was vacant and still quiet. Bloom leaned against the wall and breathed heavily, fear and joy mixing into her being as she tried to decide which one to go with. Fear won out and Bloom felt the whole world tilt to the side.

"Hey" Sky came forward, concern on his face as she held onto her shoulders "Stay awake, you don't want to pass out now"

Bloom clutched his arm and the wall behind her as she struggled to regain sense; she was able to mumble out "D-did everyone make it back okay? In the hunting party?"

Sky nodded and wrapped an arm around her "Yeah they did. I saw them leave the forest and head back; they didn't find the missing girl"

Bloom was able to lean her head against Sky's shoulder as they both walked further into the village "Did they fight the wolf?" she asked as she closed her eyes and let grogginess take over.

"I don't know, I only saw them leave. What were you doing out there? Don't you know how dangerous the woods are, you could have been hurt" Sky looked down on the girl at his side and assessed her dirty dress and wet appearance, it had stopped raining an hour ago. Bloom sighed as he led her down an empty street "Why were you in the woods if you didn't come with the hunting party?" Bloom was conscious enough to mumble. Sky wanted to groan and ran away, why did she have to ask that? "Early morning hunting"

Bloom smiled and tried to open her eyes a little "I'm Bloom, nice to meet-" Bloom slumped over the ground and Sky had enough time to hold onto her "Okay, up we go" he mumbled as he hoisted her into his arms, once there he gave her a little shake "Bloom, hey wake up, where do you live?"

Bloom was able to mumble "Countess Cassandra" before blacking out.

...

Stella got the shock of her life when she opened the front door of the house, clad only in her nightgown and white shawl, to see the Princes devastatingly handsome squire standing on her doorstep, holding her unconscious neighbour no less! "Oh my gosh, what happened?" She rushed out the door and gave her friend a good look over.

Sky shrugged a shoulder "The wolf, she's okay though. Just tired, she was out all night with the hunting party"

Stella nodded as she led him back down the steps and out the front gate "Oh yes, I heard about that. Did they find Belle?"

Sky looked particularly uncomfortable as he followed her "Umm, no I don't think so. They'll probably look again tonight but I don't think she'll turn up"

Stella gasped as she spun to face him "Oh no! Poor Belle!" She turned to walk back up the path but stopped and whirled on the squire again "Oh no the ball! It's tonight; do you think they'll still look?"

Sky shrugged his shoulders helplessly; he really didn't want to discuss the girl he had tried to kill. Readjusting his grip on the red headed girl in his arms he walked up the path to her small and cosy looking cottage "This her place?"

Stella nodded as she opened the door and held it open for him as he followed her inside; he gave the place a look over and smiled. It looked comfortable, like a home. Not solid and cold like the palace. He was about to go and place her on the bed when the girl in question mumbled something and opened her eyes. She looked up at Sky with sleepy eyes and smiled, he smiled back and Stella, who was watching them closely, almost giggled at the sight.

Bloom shook her head at the bed and said pleadingly "Just put me on the rug, please" Sky looked confused but carefully lied her down on the rug by the fire anyway. Stella quickly got to work fetching the girl bedding and taking off her boots while Sky lit the fire. Bloom fell asleep immediately, a small smile on her face. Stella chuckled at the sight "It's good to see her smile. Ever since her parents were...taken...by the wolf. She's been a bit down but yesterday she seemed to change completely, she was laughing and chatting. For years I've lived next to her and I've never seen her do that"

Sky headed toward the door with one last look at the sleeping girl before asking "You'll look after her then?"

Stella settled into the armchair and smiled "She couldn't have chosen a worse day to have an attack with a wolf but I'll stay with her until I have to go and make breakfast for my own household. Big day today"

Sky closed the door and mumbled while walking away from the cottage "S sure does have bad timing...but I'm not complaining...not a bit"

...

Bloom woke up hours later, her head pounded and she felt like she had been hit with a sledge hammer, she kinda did if you count people tackling her equivalent to a sledge hammer. Opening her eyes she found herself lying happily on her furry rug in front of her fire which was burning brightly, she groaned and turned over to stretch. The events of the night and morning rushed back to her and Bloom shot up into a sitting position with wide eyes. I found Sky! Or rather...Sky found me! H-he saved me from the wolf and carried me home, my hero! Damn that wolf was menacing, I wonder if Musa got into the castle alright? How did I even get out of the woods? What time is it?

Her head whirled as she looked around her small cottage in confusion. The door opening startled her and she looked over to see an exhausted looked Stella carrying in a tray of food, she could have tackled Stella and fought to the death for the delicious smelling food she held, Bloom was SO hungry!

"How are you feeling?" Stella asked as she set the tray of food down next to Bloom on the ground. Bloom devoured the food and spoke with her mouth full "Better. Good. How are you?"

Stella smiled "I'm tired. Getting my step sister ready for her 'big night'" Stella looked confused "Why didn't you sleep in your own bed?"

Bloom shook her head "No way, there're too many enemy shelves over there"

Stella laughed brushed some hair out of her eyes "I'm sorry I can't stay long. The ball's in an hour and Chimera really wants to be on time. I just dropped in to give you some dinner" Stella stood while Bloom choked on her food.

"What?" Cough "The ball's in an hour?!" How the hell am I supposed to get Stella to the ball? I was distracted by wolves and troublesome friends and hot boyfriends! What do I do?

Stella stood up and walked over to the front door "Yeah, I wish the prince the best of luck with Chimera. May he be fat and grump while she develops warts and her nose job suddenly disappears" With that Stella closed the door and walked away. Bloom sat for a long time with her head in her hands, trying to think of a way to get her oblivious friend to the damn party! Bloom was startled by a light knock on her door and rushed over to answer it.

Nothing could have prepared her for this visit.

"Miss Faragonda?" Bloom choked out, trying to remain conscious.

The woman on her doorstep smiled sweetly in her light purple hood and basket of flowers "Oh dear, you know you can call me granny"

Bloom shook her head in shock, not able to summon a word. Miss F smiled wider and gestured to Stella who was on her porch next door, brushing the steps "Or in her case, fairy god mother"