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Admittedly, Junmyeon knew that taking the forgotten, overgrown shortcut through the woods to his grandmother's house was not the best of decisions.
Leaves popped and crackled as he stomped through the underbrush, his wrapped basket swinging slightly in his grip. He hoped idly that if he made enough noise going through, anything small and dangerous would scurry off to safety. It was a relaxing thought for a brief few moments.
Junmyeon didn't visit his grandmother often, and in fact, the last time he had, his grandmother had warned him to never go through the woods, no matter the circumstance. Of course, that had been when Junmyeon was much younger and more frightened by everything, but Junmyeon had honored his promise to his grandmother without hesitation, despite the much longer amount of time it would take to get there without the shortcut. Now, he was older and only slightly less frightened by everything, and of course, disobeying his grandmother's wish.
"Through the woods," Junmyeon chuckled humorlessly at himself, avoiding a grotesquely protruding root with a little hop and a large step. It seemed like the punch line to a joke that Junmyeon had heard before, a joke about how boys visiting their grandparents through shortcuts in the woods ended up. It wasn't cold, but Junmyeon tucked the bright red of the coat he wore closer around himself, stepping over some more dead roots with a shiver.
The woods themselves were fairly light at this hour, no dark corners to confuse you or invisible walls of brush and branches to hold you back, and Junmyeon could see everything clearly as he stomped through the underbrush.
The autumn wind picked up some leaves from the ground and threw them around, making a composition of rustling plant life and whistling wind as it blew Junmyeon's bangs into a stylish frenzy. He held onto his hood with one hand and his basket with the other, filled to the brim with baked things and herbal medicines. Junmyeon was nothing if not dedicated to family, and while he hadn't recently had enough time to visit with his grandmother, he did have enough time to bake her a basket full of breads and sweets, and a few medicines said to help with minor ailments.
The wind died back down to a gentle rustling of leaves, but there was a crackling off to the side of Junmyeon, and it couldn't have been blamed on the antics of the wind. He slowed down, trying to place the location of the noise, his breath caught in his throat. There were dangerous things in these woods, he knew. A multitude of townspeople had gone missing, the explanation coming from those who investigated turning to wolves and other big, feral creatures. Junmyeon stayed perfectly still to try and hear the sounds of the woods beyond better, His heart heavy in his chest.
It didn't help his mentality that he had a basket full of sweet smelling breads in his hand.
He had never seen any of the wolves the elders spoke of personally, and he didn't particularly plan on it, picturing sharp claws and sharper teeth, big eyes with creepy glows, snarls and sharp, snapping jaws. The sound echoed around Junmyeon again, this time a little closer sounding than the last, and Junmyeon whimpered fearfully, his coat in his fist balled up tight and sweaty. He'd been warned the woods were dangerous, yet here he was. He wished he had minded his grandmother when she told him not to take the shortcut. Now, he would end up the impromptu meal of a wolf. Somewhere deep in the recesses of his flighty mind, he could appreciate the irony.
He could still see in the light of late afternoon, but this fact didn't ring true concerning the rustles that sounded a lot like the quickly approaching footfalls of something large and very fast. It was almost as if the forest itself was running at him, and out of nothing more than pure will to live, Junmyeon ran at his full speed deeper into the wood. He knew he was much too far into the woods to be able to make it back home, and he was riding on the fact that he could get to his grandmother before the bloodthirsty creature got to him.
His lungs burned the further he ran, his leg wobbling beneath his heavy strides, tears stinging his eyes as he tried to push himself to go faster. He wasn't known for his speed, but he hoped that whatever was chasing him had done as terribly as he had in physical education.
Junmyeon could feel the ghost of warm breath on him and he stopped himself from sobbing, merely keeping his eyes ahead of him as he tried to pull further forward in front of the snarling beast.
His luck would only stretch so far, however, and he let out a frustrated howl when the red coat that swaddled him caught on a low hanging branch, snagging so tightly that it yanked him back, stopping his heavy feet from carrying him away. He couldn't see his destination from here, and he lamented that he probably wouldn't have made it, anyway. There's an eerie silence that shrouds the forest, and Junmyeon is frightened more by the fact that he isn't being eaten right now than he cares to admit.
Heavy breaths fall from his lips and it's all he can hear, quieted only by the mind numbing thumping coming from his chest as he frantically tries to unhook himself from the unrelenting branch while he has an assumed chance at escape.
Small hands struggle with the fabric, resulted to trying to rip it in order to ensure his life, if at least for a little longer, and his tears fall harder in his frustration. He's never been as scared as in that moment, as he can hear the soft crunch of something prowling around behind him, out of his line of sight. He tries to listen to the creeping crunches of the beast, but can't hear anything over the terrible thumping in his chest, that picks up to an impossible degree when he feels warm, damp breath fan out across the back of his neck. Junmyeon wishes he was a religious man, so that he could pray he had a chance at getting out of this alive.
Junmyeon closes heavy, salt-sticky eyes and braces his body for the burn of scratches, the impact of a heavy body into his, the numbing sensation of sharp teeth embedding into his neck and leaving him limp.
He jolts when rather than any of these things, he feels something brush his hand, nothing like fur, or a set of powerful teeth. In fact, immensely similar to a human hand. Junmyeon's mind whirs to life, his fingers twitching restlessly around their hold on the basket as he waits for the stranger's hands to morph into something dangerous. Was it a thief trying to steal something he thought was of value from him? It wasn't a far stretch to imagine getting stolen from in the woods, as all the thieves usually spent their time hidden away in the greenery to avoid the law after pulling off a successful robbery.
Instead of hearing the telltale "give me your money" from the assumed thief, he merely got the scratchy feeling of wicker scraping against him as his assailant, still behind him and hidden from view tried to open the basket up.
"What's in the basket, Red?" The stranger asked, his voice thick and ugly to Junmyeon, as if he had just woken up and hadn't yet brushed away the thick phlegm of sleep, hadn't used his voice in years. Junmyeon was taken aback by the stranger speaking and not doing something more drastic, such as taking the basket out of his grip forcefully and running him out of the woods, or worse, killing him. He struggled to form a reply that wouldn't give an inclination to his current mental state, pointedly ignoring the nickname the stranger had given when addressing him.
"Medicine. My grandmother, she needs it desperately." Sympathy comes in odd places, and Junmyeon hoped this assumedly very large man (by the angle in which his breath creeped down his neck) would feel sorry for him and think better of killing him for not having anything more valuable. There was a soft suck of air, and Junmyeon deciphered it was the sound of the stranger sniffing, the motion tickling the back of Junmyeon's neck and making his eyes fall closed in fear. It wasn't just any thief, and Junmyeon wished it had been a wolf, because wolves weren't sick. Wolves didn't play with their food.
"Doesn't smell like medicine," the thief pointed out, and Junmyeon was a cross between impressed and thoroughly weirded out that he had a nose good enough to sniff out the food within the still closed basket. He swallowed thickly. What if he was angered that Junmyeon had lied?
"And breads. You don't show up to someone's house without gifts, you know." He felt another puff of air, but this one with sound as the thief laughed, and it sounded worse than when he spoke.
"Really? Then, doesn't that mean some of that bread is mine?" The thief moved quickly, and Junmyeon cowered, but rather than bleeding out on the forest floor with a dagger in his back, he was swiftly freed from his entrapment, the branch no longer hindering him and his coat without tear. With his newfound freedom, he quickly spun around, trying to get a glimpse of the thief in case he got out of here safely. He needed to know what description to give to the law.
When he flipped around the first thing he noticed was he wasn't mistaken about the man's height, he was well over a head taller than Junmyeon himself, his limbs long, but thick with strength, his face split in an amused smirk. Junmyeon felt more uneasy the longer he looked at it.
He was blonde, a strange thing in itself, Junmyeon noted. He had a long face and a powerful chin, reminding Junmyeon of the horse he had as a small kid. It was strangely animalistic, and Junmyeon averted his eyes when they caught the thief's unintentionally. Brown, Junmyeon offhandedly noted.
"What do you mean?" Junmyeon wasn't sure he understood.
"These woods are my home. It's only right you live by your philosophy and share some with me, too." The assumed thief was growing even more smug as time carried on, and Junmyeon could feel his legs shake beneath the weight of his fear. He had become much more confused by this man's cryptic nature, but didn't make a move to grab the bread out of his basket; not yet.
"First you have to make me a deal." Junmyeon didn't like the way it sounded after he had said it; it was too demanding in such a delicate situation. Too risky. He swallowed thickly, but didn't take the words back. Instead, he paused, and quietly he added, "Please?"
The thief cackled, his mouth opening wide and letting out loud guffaws of laughter, sharp canines catching the dying light of the sun peeking between trees. Junmyeon felt very small.
The thief regained his composure after a moment more, and wiped his eye with one long, slender finger. His eyes were dark and illuminated eerily, as if he were shining a flashlight beneath his face. Junmyeon didn't think his proposition was a good idea anymore.
But this thief surprised him yet again, and leaned against the very tree Junmyeon had just been unwillingly attached to, thick, full eyebrows drawing up in an expression of interest.
"You're very bold, Red," the man commented at length, and Junmyeon couldn't tell if he were truly being sincere or not. Junmyeon had a second wind of bravery, however, and puffed up his chest, a strong set to his jaw, but refrained from expressing his displeasure at the stranger's nickname for him.
"What are your terms?" he asked, and Junmyeon had a feeling this stranger was merely making a mockery of him, but he pressed on anyway.
"You let me go if I share." the stranger didn't react, save for a surprised tick of an eyebrow, his lips remaining curled in the smirk that seemed to be his default expression. Junmyeon held his ground, however. He was tiny, and easily scared, and bad at sports, and had trouble with his English sometimes, but he had a fire and he was going to make it to grandma's house, hopefully with the mercy of this thief.
"And if I refuse?"
Junmyeon blanched. He could feel the goosebumps freezing his arms despite his coat, crawling up the back of his neck as his chilled blood pumped slowly through him. The stranger seemed to notice the falter in Junmyeon's facade of strength, and attacked.
"If I refuse, you'll be out of luck, won't you?" The stranger pushed off of the tree, making his way slowly around behind Junmyeon, a leisurely pace with heavy, crunching strides that Junmyeon could feel resonate through his core.
"I'm much bigger than you. Much stronger."
There was a sound, a growl close to his ear and terrifying, and Junmyeon shut his eyes tight. This man wasn't a petty thief getting his kicks from toying with little boys lost in the woods. This man was something dangerous.
Junmyeon's breath hitched in his throat, all movement still around him, save for the heavy in and out of the stranger's breathing.
"Where's that firecracker personality, Red?" the tone was mocking, the stranger's voice condescending and bringing Junmyeon's hair to stand up on end in his terror.
There were many questions blazing through Junmyeon's mind, but his brain selected one at random, and his breathy gasp came out as if he were having trouble breathing, which wasn't very far from true.
"What are you?"
The stranger behind him didn't laugh, but inhaled sharply, amused. It was as if everything was perpetually interesting to him, and Junmyeon was unnerved.
"What do you think I am?"
He took a moment to process, the possibilities flitting by in his mind at alarming speed.
"Not human," he said at last, and the stranger pressed closer, so close that Junmyeon could feel each breath on the back of his neck, warm yet icy at the same time. Long, sharp teeth scraping firmly against the skin behind his ear, and Junmyeon flinched away. He briefly wondered if this was how he was going to die; with sharp teeth imbedded in the nape of his neck.
"Smart," the word reverberated off of his skin, and he felt the word sink into him, crawl down his spine, creep into his stomach and drop there, heavy. He didn't respond, merely clutched the basket in his hand a little tighter, for if he had to defend himself with it. The stranger backed up, however, and with a sharp tug, had the basket out of Junmyeon's twitching grasp before he could blink properly. His breath felt heavy as he inhaled and exhaled.
"I'll let you think on it, Red. Come back to me when you've got the answer." He chuckled, the grating sound of a chair scraping against concrete, sharp teeth glinting as he slid into view again, just as tall and intimidating to the easily frightened Junmyeon as he was before, but this time with his grandmother's medicines and sweets. "I'll hold on to this until you come back." The basket of breads and herbs rocks back and forth between his thumb and forefinger. Junmyeon contemplates trying to get the basket back now, but thinks better of it when he catches sight of the imposing glow behind the eyelids of the man before him. He doesn't run off yet, however.
"How do I find you when I come back?" Junmyeon finds himself asking and he doesn't know why. He doesn't want to come back. He could do without the basket, he's got other wicker baskets, he can bake more bread. He waits intently for the stranger's answer.
"You don't. I'll find you," and then Junmyeon blinks, confused, and the wind rustles him fiercely as he stares at the empty space where the stranger once stood. There's nothing left behind besides the smell of his stolen breads and a faint twinge of the leaves crunched and fragrant.