Lucifer's FairyTale

Rather Unexpected

[A/N] dedicated to @Shiek13 for the unwavering support <3 thank you! Love, Kxx

When I left the cave, I was blinded by white. It had snowed over night, which would make the pass more difficult but at least I couldn't see any Sprites near us. I scanned the area for active minds but only got readings of the other three in the cave. I heard footsteps behind me and looked to see Gia stepping out into the snow carefully.

"Good morning." I smiled and she sent me a wobbly lifting of the corners of her mouth before she rushed forward and clung to my waist. I ran my hand over her pale gold, dirty hair and smiled at her. She couldn't be over ten and I wondered how long she'd been with the Sprites and where her parents were. I knew that if she was my child I would never let her out of my sight.

"How old are you, darling?" I whispered and she buried her face in Lucifer's hoody.

"Nine." she answered into the fabric.

"Do you know where your parents are?" She buried her face deeper in the folds of fabric and I frowned when her shoulders started shaking a bit.

"I don't k-know. They were with me with the Sprites and then they took them away." She was definitely crying now and I knelt down in front of her to take her in my arms. She buried her face in my shoulder and I rubbed soothing circles on her back.

"Sh, we're gonna get you back to your Hive and then we'll go back for them okay?" But for some reason this made her cry even harder.

"Y-you c-can't!" She hiccuped and pulled back to look at me. Her tears had streaked through the grime on her cheeks where her pale skin now shone through. I was about to ask her why but she answered the question without my asking it.

"They're dead." She was suddenly serious, no more tears rolling down her cheeks and she looked me straight in the eye without hesitation.
"They killed them- I saw it." I stared at the child in front of me and all I wanted was to take her into my arms and never let her go. I did take her in my arms again but I let her go when Makri and Lucifer came out of the cave.

"Dang, it snowed. This is gonna slow us down." He cursed and kicked the snow. I chuckled and looked at Gia to see her tears dried up and her cheeks rubbed so that they were dirty again. No sign of her crying except for the slight redness of her eyes. I smiled and stood up; she surprised me by taking my hand and not leaving my side. I looked down at her and smiled warmly. She was an angel.

We need to move away from here. The Sprites will come search for us again. Makri looked out over the white landscape, then moved forwards to the path. There were footprints everywhere but they were leading back to the Sprite's camp.

They left for now but they will be back. I know it. I sighed and shifted.

We better hurry then. Lucifer shifted too and Makri lost no time climbing on his back.

Come on darling. I urged Gia to climb on my back as I lay on the ground so she could reach. She scrambled on top of me with a little nudge of my snout and grabbed my long fur. She lay down with her face in it as well and I couldn't help but chuckle, which of course sounded a bit weird as a wolf. Gia described it as sounds of a dying bear. Charming.

We walked through the snow, because it was too dangerous to run and we needed Gia to get used to holding on and not falling off my back. The mountain was bigger then we'd anticipated and it took us nearly all day to get trough the pass. When we reached the start of the slope down into the next valley it was already getting dark and there was a heavy blanket of fog spread over whatever lay below. We were about to go and search for a safe cave when we heard the loud echo of a Bellow Horn.