The Unknown (Alastor x reader)

Black Deer in the Moonlit Medow

Edited on March 10th, 2021

                    It all started on a clear night, as you can recall. Your father and mother were fighting again, and though that was normally nothing new to you, it got a little out of hand this time. You can't quite recall just what they were bickering about this time, though you do remember that your father had come home drunk again so you can assume that it was something about his drinking problem. You watched in fear as your father slapped your mother in front of you, putting a ruby red handprint cascading across her (s/c) face. The contact was so strong that you remember it clearly, her green eyes tearing as she hit the floor in front of you.

                     You don't remember how long it took for her to reach the ground, but it felt like a small eternity of horror as her gaze met yours and in a split moment, she shared with you the brief words 'locket' and 'run', just before she hit at your feet. You heard your father cock the gun from near the table, which had once mounted on the wall, and aimed it at your mother with a crazed look in his eyes that made your blood feel cold, even while looking back on it all this time later. You took this moment to grab your mother's locket from the counter by the door where it hung gently on a hook and ran out the door, sharing the last words your mother would ever hear again as you did so.

                    "I should have dealt with you a long time ago, Winch." You were outside in the garden when you saw it... the crimson splatters on the foggy window behind you. Your ears rang so loudly from the adrenaline that you couldn't even hear the fired shot-- but you watched as the window shattered from the bullet. The glass shards fell to the boards of your porch, each one laced with a rosy red-- blood. Filled with more adrenaline and fear than ever, you ran faster, turning away from the horrid sight-- you would cry later. The cold night nipping at your nose and the rims of your ears, turning them a blushing red as you fled into the woods across the street of your home. You heard your father cock the barrel again and open the front door with a slam, its wooden form hitting the side of the house harshly, and he began shooting into the air, yelling in anger from your escape.

                   You ran faster and faster until you could run no more, your legs growing shaky until giving out altogether. Your limbs buckled and you stumbled down a hill, rolling like a ball down a slide, your lungs burning so badly that it felt like your chest and insides were on fire. Thorns and twigs scratched at your face and panted your body in beads or forming red. You rolled onto a tree root that stopped your fall and left gasped for air as the wind left your lungs, holding your neck as you tried so hard to regain lost air, your eyes wild and panicked as you listened for your father. You desperately forced yourself up using the tree's rough trunk with your smooth (s/c) palm, ignoring the stinging pain as you scratched it on the harsh trunk. Finding no one you slowly trudged on, one cut up foot in front of the other, as you stumbled and did your best to bear the pain.

 
                    Your nightgown was torn and bloodied; your hair covered in leaves and matted with sticks; deep cuts and scrapes decorating your skin. Your once lively (e/c) orbs were now foggy with fatigue and struggling to stay open, tears trampling upon your gaze as you tried to look beyond the water that threatened to spill down your cheeks. You gasped for lost breath as you walked, clinging to trees and logs whenever possible, tripping on stones and rocks as your feet dragged your toes weakly along the ground in the full moon's light above.

                    You had made it about half a mile from the hill you had fallen down and you could not take it anymore. Your feet were bruised and blistered, your eyes were bloodshot and tired, you had an awful, throbbing headache, and the blood from your head had tripped all the way to your chin and had dried from a rock you had hit it on during your tumble. You knew you had to find a place to rest soon or you were going to pass out first, maybe even die from head trauma or hypothermia.

 
                   You dropped to your knees in the crisp and chilly winter air, the moonlight grazing your trembling body as the stars twinkled above you, promising to send you an angel to take you away just like they had your mother. But what was going to come for you was no angel, not at all. It would be a demon, not one that was sent from the heavens to take you to paradise, but one sent by your mother to take you wonderland.

 
                    You felt your body shiver as your eyes closed, awaiting death as you curled up near a tree's roots. Before you fell asleep, however, you felt warm breath on your back and then heard light footsteps at your feet. Though, you were much too tired to care at the moment. If it was your father, looming over you like a bad omen, maybe it would at least be quick-- you hoped. You couldn't run if it was him, so there was no use in even moving as your mind faded into black...

~~~

                   Your eyes clenched as a cold gust of wind swept over you, lifting the torn trim of your nighttime dress up slightly, the cold slithering up your legs like winter was dragging its icy fingertips along your skin. Your legs tensed together and your nose rubbed up against something soft as you tried to keep yourself warm and from freezing. You raised a brow at the feeling of the fur, your (e/c) eyes still closed, and for just a few moments your mind wasn't thinking about what had happened last night. You slowly fluttered opened your eyes to see a chest  covered in black, short fur, lightly moving up and down as it breathed. Your eyes widened and looked at the jet black hairs, amazed by the beautiful color on such an animal-- but what was it?

 
                    Your eyes glanced up your eyes locked with a pair of bright red ones looking down at you, causing your breath to hitch in your throat. Your eyes grazed every feature of the animal-- it's midnight black fur, red glassy eyes, strong and elaborate horns, red-tipped legs and tail, swift but strong build. It took your breath away. You sat up and leaned back, taking in its slim form, everything about it seemed graceful but strong. It stood up as you attempted to rise to your feet, your knees buckling and you fell in a W position as you yelped, clutching the locket to your chest as you fell.

 
                    The deer leaned down quietly and helped you up with its antlers, its gentle silence seemed to ease your nerves-- yet there was a feeling of warning there as well, bubbling like a cauldron. You leaned on its back a little as it began to walk into the woods, though slow enough for you to follow comfortably. You gulped as you began to speak, not wanting it to run away so your voice was no louder than a soft, shaky whisper.

                   "T-thank y-you," you said, looking down towards the ground as the deer's head still looked forwards, and turned away from you. Its ear turned toward you as it kept walking, flickering as if urging you to continue, and since it didn't seem startled, you figured that you could continue. You hadn't yet had time to question why a deer was helping you or seemed to understand you, but either way, you were more worried about your father finding you and what he had done, not some seemingly harmless animal that seemed to have taken pity on your situation.

                   "I-I'm sorry t-to be a b-bother..." You said sadly, your eyes looking over its muscles moving under its skin. It stopped and turned to face you, nuzzling its cold nose into your cheek as it did so. You smiled lightly and continued walking with the strange deer when it resumed its walking, not wanting to slow it down.

 
                    You had walked for at least an hour until you fell, your legs shaking and sore from the running yesterday and giving out finally. The deer stopped and looked at you, it slowly laid down near you and let you rest until you stood up again, ready to keep going. You had reached a large and very old building. It was covered in dust but stood strong on the outside, hints of a garden near the falling in dark oak door (Picture above. Just imagine a grown-over garden in the front with an arch and weedy path leading to the door).
"Wow..."