The Other Sleigh Beggy [Ancient Magus Bride]

Chapter 10

I stared in the creatures red eyes as it glares at me, baring his teeth at me. "You're not welcomed here." He growls and takes a step closer to me. My body is frozen with fear and I don't know whether to run or call for Elias. When the winged fang walks over to me, he sniffs me and takes a step back. "You're a sleigh beggy. I never thought I would get to see one." He tells me.

"Are you the one making humans disappear whenever they come into his forest?" I ask with a little confidence in my voice. "Their are rumors about screaming coming from this forest and no human comes out once they enter. They leave without a trace."

"So what if I am?" The Winged Fang growls, taking a step closer. "Humans should know their place. They should know better to know what's on the other side of this forest. They want to hunt me down and use my fur as some coat! I will do what it takes to protect myself from those monsters!" The Winged Fang snaps his jaws at me and I close my eyes shut because I was afraid that he was going to bite me or kill me.

"K-Killing is not the answer! It's only murder!" But when I look into his eyes, I see pain, sacrifice, and tragedy. I can see it clearly. What did he go through? What did he have to endure?

"I don't care. Now then, should I kill you here or just tear you limb from limb." He growls and goes to attack me. I scream and thorns rise up from the ground.

"Elias!" I shout as he is in front of me.

"Are you alright, Piper?" He asks while looking at the Winged Fang.

"Y-Yes, sir." I answer. The Winged Fang growls and takes flight, probably going to hide somewhere in the forest. Chise and Ruth run over to us and asks what's going on. I tell them, "It's a Winged Fang. It's been slaughtering humans that set foot in his forest. He claims that he is protecting his own home."

"And it seems like he won't leave nor stop until others get the message. But it seems like that humans don't want to stop because they say that he is special for the right prize. It's like a game to them." Elias adds.

"How awful..." Chise frowns. "What should we do, Elias?"

"We stay here and see what we can do. Piper, I don't want you to go into the forest anymore. Chise and I will investigate from here on out. Understand?"

"Yes sir...." It makes it sound like I'm not cut out for this sort of thing. Just by him saying that makes me feel useless. I want to help out so I can prove that I am worth something.

That night, Elias and Chise, and Ruth, went to the forest to investigate and search for the Winged Fang. I stay outside the forest, waiting for them to come out.

I've dealt with this stuff before. So why can't I help out? I want to help out but Elias told me to stay here... If something were to happen to them, I won't be able to forgive myself... It's going to be my fault... I have to do something!

I ran into the forest to search for the Winged Fang and it doesn't take me along to find it. I walked and walked around until I spotted him. He was sitting on a tree branch while licking his paw. It was bleeding.

"H-Hey! Are you okay?" I shout over to it. It glares at me and flies toward me. I prepare myself and duck the moment it is close to me.

"I thought I made it clear that you are not welcomed here, Sleigh Beggy." He growls and the moment I turn around, I am tackled to the ground with the Winged Fang's paw on my right shoulder. "You're a fool to come out here by yourself. Too bad for you." It goes to bite my shoulder, but I stop him by saying,

"Why are you hiding your pain?"

It's thrown off by my question and looks at me dead in the eyes. "What do you know?"

"I know that the look in your eyes show nothing but pain, sacrifice, and tragedy. You hide it so that others won't take advantage of it and hurt you... Is that it? No matter what you do, those things remind you why you have to kill..."

"What would a sleigh beggy no about anything! You don't know a thing about me!" He barks in my face.

"I don't, but I want to help you."

"Why?" He glares.

"I don't know... It just seems like the right thing to do right now... If you kill me, how will you feel afterwards? Will you feel guilty? Or does it help you have a reason to keep killing?"

It doesn't say anything else as I reach my hand out to him and cover his eyes. I feel my eyes glow white as I see and hear the yelps of other Winged Fangs that once lived in this forest.

This one had a family but they were hunted down by humans and used them as statues and fur coats... That's awful....

"You lost the ones you loved that use to live in this forest..." I recall his past to him.

"I had to kill them for what they did! They must pay!" He shouts at me.

"You didn't have to. You wanted to." I sit up, gently taking his paw off me. "You wanted to so they could feel what you feel. How it felt when you lost someone that meant so much to you... But killing them won't bring them back. It will only remind you of your family's death. I lost my parents too and I took the blame for everything. But someone showed me the way back out of the darkness...even when I am still dwelling in it for so long... All I ever wanted was to help everyone. What I'm saying is, you don't have to kill to prove a point."

"Then what should I be doing?..." The Winged Fang's ears lay flat on his head.

"Moving on and starting new. Being in this forest means you are nothing more than a sitting duck, allowing more humans to come in and try to hunt you down." I hold out my hand to him and lightly smile. "I want help you as much as I can. And maybe, something good might come your way. I promise that nobody will hurt you."

"There it is! The monster!" A group of hunters were nearby and they held up guns. The Winged Fang started to growl and one of the hunters pulled the trigger.

"No, wait!" I got in front of the creature. I got shot in the shoulder and fell to the ground. "Run!" I tell the Winged Fang and it looks at me in shock. "Hurry!" I shout again and he snaps out of his thoughts, then takes off. My shoulder bleeds out and I start to lose consciousness quickly. I look down at the ground and see a dark shadow forming beneath me. "El..ias...?"

"You dare hurt my apprentice..." He growls and he forms into his full body figure behind me. "You shall pay."

"Elias don't!" I try to stop him. Out of nowhere, the Winged Fang swoops down and does a loud bark, blowing only a few hunters out of the forest. One holds his gun to the wolf like creature and shoots at it. However, the Winged Fang bites down on the bullet and charges at the hunter.

He grabs him by his jacket and flies up, then letting him go, letting him fall to the ground. He takes out each hunter, one by one, until there are no more in the forest.

"Are you alright, Piper?" Elias asks me and I nod. "Can I see your wound?" He kneels down and gently places his hand on my shoulder. He heals it right away, using his magic.

"Thank you very much." I look at the Winged Fang and he sits on his haunches. "You didn't kill them...Why?" I ask it.

"Because... You're right about what you said... Killing won't bring back my loved ones, and I will be only hurting myself if I continue this." His ears perk down as he sighs. "But where will I go now?.. I'll be all alone."

"Come live with me and Chise, Elias, and Ruth. You will be safe. I guarantee it. Elias, is it alright with you?"

"As long as you are safe, yes." Elias replies back.

I walk over to the Winged Fang and pet his head gently. I take his paw into my hand as blue fire begins to form around us. Our heads touch as our eyes glow the same color.

"I now belong to you, and only you, Piper. Please...give me a name. " The creature tells me as he looks into my eyes.

"Your name.... will be Leo."