Post by Rose on Oct 24, 2011 8:29:30 GMT -8
Notes: Set in the FK universe.
“Good night, honey!”
The tall, blonde woman called to her twin daughters from the bedroom door. One of them - Rose, a fairly pretty teenager, only smiled to her mother, before turning over and laid her head down on the pillow. “Night, mom.” She finally replied, closing her eyes, her face showing nothing but peacefulness.
It was strange to her how easily she’d adapted to being in Hong Kong since moving to the place three weeks ago. After all, she’d spent the last fourteen years of her life in New York, and had never stayed away from home for more than a week. It puzzled Rose, but eventually she’d put it down to that she’d known about the move for months, and therefore felt more prepared. She’d even learned a little Chinese so she’d settle into her new school easier.
‘I'd better get to sleep soon,’ the girl thought, snuggling down into her sheets. Within ten minutes, Rose had drifted off.
She hadn’t been asleep long, when a loud bang jolted her from her dreams, followed by a grating, female voice. “Huntsgirl! Huntsgirl, wake up!” The sharp voice cut through the air, and Rose only realised she was the one being talked to, when a hand roughly grabbed her arm, yanking her out of bed. She landed hard on the cold floor, before…wait! Cold floor? Wasn’t there a carpet in her room?
Fully awakening now, the young blonde saw that below her was a blue, hard floor, with no carpet in sight. Sitting up, she gaped at seeing her surroundings. No longer was she in the cosy bedroom she shared with her twin sister in Hong Kong. The room before her was clearly meant to be a sleeping area, but the walls were made of bare stone and the bunk-beds against one of the walls looked rather uncomfortable.
“Well, what are waiting for? Get up and get dressed!” The woman shouted, who Rose only now remembered was in the room. “Honestly, Huntsgirl, I would’ve expected better of you. Aren’t you supposed to be up for becoming the Huntsmaster’s apprentice?”
She turned to face the woman, who was attired in a purple and black outfit that looked much like a uniform. The thing that caught Rose off-guard was the skull of what looked like a very large animal atop the woman’s head, serving almost as a…helmet? Eventually, Rose opened her mouth to speak, but the woman cut her off with a snort, obviously bored of waiting.
“Yeah, like you’re gonna qualify for that place now. Ten minutes, and you’d better be out. You’re needed in the stadium in thirty.” Pausing, she then smirked and added sarcastically, “I guess in your state, you won’t need Good Luck…” With that, she turned and headed out into the corridor, slamming the door loudly behind her.
Stunned, Rose slowly got to her feet, all the while looking around the room. ‘What just happened? …where am I? Is this a dream?’
It had to be. Heck, that woman appeared to have known her…and who was this ‘Huntsgirl’? Why, she’d never heard, or been referred to as such in her life! Rose immediately decided that she had to get out of here. Despite the fact she’d told herself it was a dream, she remembered waking up here and…and something about the place seemed so real. Plus, if it wasn’t a dream, the best thing would be to try and escape.
Still looking around, she caught sight of a cupboard in the corner of the room, which was quite big in size. Opening one of the drawers attached to it, she saw a mass of purple and black clothing, which looked very similar to the one that woman had worn. Looking down at her pyjamas, she realised she’d have a better chance of getting out if she blended in.
Taking out the uniform [which was surprisingly her size], Rose quickly dressed, then found in the bottom of the drawer a mask. With a questioning glance, she sighed, opening another drawer to find something to tie her hair back with. Soon finding something, she pulled her hair into a plait, donned the mask, and left the room.
Glancing cautiously around, Rose hastily headed east down the corridor. She knew she had no idea where she was going, or how big the building she was in was, but knew that she had to try and find an exit. As she walked, other people, looking to be about her age or a little older, passed her, all dressed, she noticed, in the uniform she was. The only difference seemed to be that their masks weren’t full like hers was, which only made Rose feel more nervous. The blonde thought back on the woman’s words. Suppose she was meant to be a higher…rank… or something than them?
Wait…how did she guess she was supposed to be higher than them? More so, why did that assumption feel so right?
Lost in her thoughts, Rose suddenly found herself bumping head-first into someone. Facing the person, she could only gasp in fear as she saw it was a man, much taller than her, with a hardened look in his face. He also wore an animal skull, much like the woman, only this one was even larger. Oh, what had she done?
To her surprise, the man did not take action, but merely “greeted” her, if it could be called that. “Ah, Huntsgirl. I take it you’re prepared for today?” When she said nothing, the heavily-clad man leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “I suggest you try your hardest to succeed, if you ever want a chance to join me back in the field again.” Turning away, he looked back once more. “But, I know you won’t fail me…”
As he left, Rose could only stare in fear, so many thoughts running through her mind. Where was this? Was it some sort of joke? Even worse, supposed she had been kidnapped? She could be miles from anywhere…miles from her family!
Deciding she had to leave right now, the girl attempted to turn away, but was hit with a feeling of horror. She wasn’t the corridor anymore! A mixture of sand and dirt replaced the hardened floor she’d been walking on, and sudden outburst of cheers erupted from the thick, stone walls.
Glancing up, Rose realised that the cheers weren’t coming from the walls, but from the crowds of people all around her. As the feeling of dread grew, the girl noted that she was now in what looked like a huge cage, with the cheering people being those Huntsclan members she‘d seen, surrounding the sides. Before she could move, something stopped her.
Why had she thought of the people as Huntsclan members? What was that, anyway? And, how could she think of something she didn’t know?!
As if by magic, the teenager suddenly found she held a green stick in her left hand. But, it wasn’t a stick…it looked like some sort of staff! There were sharp looking blades on either end, and, on closer inspection, a multitude of buttons lined the staff. Immediately, Rose wanted to put down the object, frightened of accidentally hurting somebody with it.
But, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t let go. Someone, or something was preventing it. As soon as it seemed she’d released the staff, it was back in one of her hands!
By now, she was incredibly terrified, and the increasing cheers of the crowd didn’t help. A loud beep from above frightened Rose more, but nothing could have prepared her for what came next. At once, she sensed something heading towards her from behind. Turning around, fear etched into her face, the teenager gasped in disbelief as she saw a large, red and gold dragon, heading directly towards her.
It opened its mouth, sending out a trail of fire towards Rose. With seconds to spare, she barely managed to evade being caught in the flames by rolling to the side. Holding up her staff with shaking hands, Rose already knew there was no chance she was engaging in a fight with this…this dragon, and promptly turned away, running from the creature.
‘Dragons…I thought they only existed in kids’ fairytales!’ The young blonde thought, dodging another fire attack by a hair.
Everything in the next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Rose suddenly felt something slam into her back, then her legs. She was tossed high into the air like a rag doll, only to be slammed hard into the ground by the dragons’ hand.
Pain exploded in her as she made contact with the floor and continued to move, crashing back into the hard wall of the stadium. By now, Rose had had enough. ‘Please let the blow knock me out, I don’t want to know what happens next…I…I hope my family knows that I love them.’ To her dismay, it soon was apparent that the blow hadn’t affected her sense of consciousness, but she still felt pretty battered.
The dragon approached slowly, flying close to the ground and Rose just managed to get to her feet time to face it. She gripped the staff hard, using it almost as a form of protection. Tears were streaming down her face now, and though she barely noticed, her uniform was ripped and her once tidy plait was now dishelleved.
“Please…please don’t…” As she start to choke out a plea, her eyes widened in terror as the stadium started to melt away, being replaced with some kind of clearing in a dark, gloomy wood. All that remained was Rose and the ever-approaching dragon. At once, the dragon stopped, turning its head to look out at the woods. The blonde followed its gaze, and then wished she hadn’t.
Figures began stumbling out of the trees. Some merely staggered, whilst others seemed to be struggling to even lift their limbs to walk. The dragon suddenly growled, before turning its gaze onto the girl, its eyes glowing amber. As the figures drew closer, Rose uttered a strangled gasp as she saw they were wearing familiar purple and black clothing…they were only the people who had been in the stadium!
What made her begin to scream wasn’t that she remembered them, but how they looked now. Their once healthy, human-looking skin was now a sickly blue-green colour. Uniforms were badly torn and they all clearly looked like they shouldn’t be standing there right now. Groans erupted from the crowd as they dragged themselves ever closer to the trembling blonde.
When a few got near enough, they began to raise their arms, reaching out towards Rose. “Rossseee…” The crowd started to rasp eerily. “Rossseee…”
Backing up, Rose could do nothing but let out another scream, and began to run, away from them. She was stopped however by the large tree that was previously behind her. With the group closing in from all sides and the dragon preparing to let out another stream of fire shortly, Rose was trapped.
“You killed usss…how could yooooouuu?” They groaned, louder now.
“Killed you?” The girl managed to get out, “What...I- how- I couldn’t-”
She caught the gaze of the large dragon, and something suddenly seemed to shift inside her head, like her mind was finding something that had been stored away for an unnaturally amount of time.
“…Jake?”
Was all Rose could utter to the dragon, before an immense pain exploded inside her head, and the world in front of her suddenly seemed to burst into nothing but a golden light. As soon as the light had come, a multitude of voices could be heard by Rose, and, in the centre of the light, she could suddenly see her life flashing before her eyes.
But it wasn’t the life she lived now.
At once, Rose saw herself a baby being taken from the Huntsclan and how she was trained in her childhood to become the fighter she was. She saw the day she had met Jake. The dragon she’d previously encountered was shown with her fighting it, herself being dressed the same way she was now…dressed as the Huntsgirl. Rose continued to watch the memories, a smile forming despite the immense pain, as she saw herself at that school dance with Jake, and rehearsing a performance with him. The smiled faded however, as she saw the way she’d fiercely tried to defeat him as Huntsgirl. She saw him reveal himself to her as a dragon and then how he’d saved her life on that faithful night on top of the Pantheon building.
He was the one given her back the family she’d always wanted, freed her from the Huntsclan…and she’d forgotten him, when she said she never would. A lone tear fell down her face, though she now knew how she never cried, it still came.
More memories then came in, of other people. She saw herself going shopping with her friend Leslie and with the other girls she knew from her former school - friends she hadn‘t even known in this life. She saw herself as Huntsgirl, teaching a class of academy students on how to slay dragons, which made her cringe at the sight of how ruthless she could be at times.
The memories continuously came to her, and she saw herself with Urchin, who she remembered befriending after he’d accidentally revealed himself as a merrow - he‘d been the one to first encourage her to get away from the Huntsclan and probably the first magical creature besides Jake who she‘d be-friended. Her meeting with Carl and Dug was next, the elderly man and his dog who’d helped her out after she’d nearly injured herself as Huntsgirl that one night. If it hadn’t been for them and their kindness, who knows what would’ve become of her? Rose’s face hardened as she realised they’d shown more concern for her than the Huntsman ever had during her fourteen years with him.
Something else then came into her mind. The image was blurred at first, but after a moent Rose could make out a shop and on closer inspection saw it was full of every kind of mirror she could imagine someone would want. …she saw herself entering, looking very confused, yet interested. As she watched her past self, Rose wondered why she would be in such a place - mirrors had never really interested her. As she thought that, another girl came into view. A girl who was probably quite a few years younger than Rose, wearing the strangest dress…from a guess, it looked to be pretty old, maybe Victorian. That’s when realisation hit her.
Alice. It was Alice. The little English girl who she’d helped to get back home. Apart from Jake, Alice had become one of her closest friends and Rose almost saw her as a sister. No matter how things were, the younger girl had always cheered her up with her kind words and friendly nature. So, it pained her as she remembered that night in the woods, how frightened and upset Alice had been to learn she was the Huntsgirl, gaining that knowledge of she hunted innocent creatures for…well, no other purpose than a misguided hate. As the memory grew, Rose shut her eyes, unable to watch her friend in pain any longer at the realisation of what she really was. The memories fortunately shifted and then the teenager remembered how they’d slowly got through it and amazingly, Alice had eventually forgiven her, though it had understandably, taken some time.
The memories and the pain started to then fade away and the golden light suddenly turned a blazing red colour, fading to maroon. Terror struck Rose as a huge version of the Huntsmaster shot up from nowhere, shouting at the young girl, rage evident in his voice. He raised a fist, and Rose barely managed to evade being flattened as he crashed it down onto the floor.
With her new-found knowledge of her other past, she turned to glare at her former leader, remembering the staff she still held and aimed a blast to the centre of his forehead. The Huntsman managed to avoid the blast, before reaching out at Rose.
She immediately tried to evade his grasp, but realised with horror that she was literally glued to the spot - her legs wouldn’t or couldn‘t move. As much as she attempted to get them moving, it proved useless and Rose could only look up as the Huntsman’s hand came down. Although she managed to give a defiant look, inside she knew this would soon be the end for her…
“Rose? Rose! Wake up!”
Rose’s eyes snapped open to a bright light and she gasped for breath. Someone had been shaking her, but they stopped as they saw she was awake. Glancing up, Rose saw she was back in her room in Hong Kong, and her mother, father and her twin were in front of her, all with concerned expression.
“Honey, are you alright?” Her mother asked.
“Yeah,” the sister added, still holding onto Rose’s shoulders, “You were screaming. At first, I thought you were just kidding around, but then I noticed how terrified you seemed and I realised.”
Rose looked at her family, lost for words. It had all been a dream. A dream! Did that mean everything she had “remembered” wasn’t real afterall?
“I’m…I’m fine…it was just a dream,” she finally managed to answer to her family, “Guess I got carried away.” Rose attempted to laugh, but the after-effects from her “adventure” prevented her from fully doing so. Neither of the parents didn’t look satisfied, but nodded to her, and got up to leave, saying goodnight once more. When both parents had gone, her sister, identical to Rose in many ways, asked, “So, what was the dream about, Rose? It must have been something awful!”
Rose ran a shaking hand through her tousled haira nd thought for a moment, “I’ll, um, I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay? Right now I just want to get some sleep.” Her twin didn’t look happy with that answer, but reluctantly got back into her own bed, turning the light off as she went.
Turning towards the window, from which the moon could be clearly seen, Rose closed her eyes, still wondering whether it had really all been a dream, when it felt so real. Settling down, she felt her hand run over something under the pillow. Curiously pulling out the object, Rose noticed it was a photograph. Holding it up to the moonlight, she smiled as she saw and recognised the couple in the photo as herself and Jake, at the dance she’d remembered in her dreams - it had been real, after all!
Getting back into bed, she held the photo tightly. “I’ll find you someday, Jake.” Rose whispered. “And Alice, and everyone else I met who helped me when…when things were bad and no-one else would.“ She finally closed her eyes, the smile still on her face.
“Thank you. For everything.”
So Much More Than Dreaming
“Good night, honey!”
The tall, blonde woman called to her twin daughters from the bedroom door. One of them - Rose, a fairly pretty teenager, only smiled to her mother, before turning over and laid her head down on the pillow. “Night, mom.” She finally replied, closing her eyes, her face showing nothing but peacefulness.
It was strange to her how easily she’d adapted to being in Hong Kong since moving to the place three weeks ago. After all, she’d spent the last fourteen years of her life in New York, and had never stayed away from home for more than a week. It puzzled Rose, but eventually she’d put it down to that she’d known about the move for months, and therefore felt more prepared. She’d even learned a little Chinese so she’d settle into her new school easier.
‘I'd better get to sleep soon,’ the girl thought, snuggling down into her sheets. Within ten minutes, Rose had drifted off.
She hadn’t been asleep long, when a loud bang jolted her from her dreams, followed by a grating, female voice. “Huntsgirl! Huntsgirl, wake up!” The sharp voice cut through the air, and Rose only realised she was the one being talked to, when a hand roughly grabbed her arm, yanking her out of bed. She landed hard on the cold floor, before…wait! Cold floor? Wasn’t there a carpet in her room?
Fully awakening now, the young blonde saw that below her was a blue, hard floor, with no carpet in sight. Sitting up, she gaped at seeing her surroundings. No longer was she in the cosy bedroom she shared with her twin sister in Hong Kong. The room before her was clearly meant to be a sleeping area, but the walls were made of bare stone and the bunk-beds against one of the walls looked rather uncomfortable.
“Well, what are waiting for? Get up and get dressed!” The woman shouted, who Rose only now remembered was in the room. “Honestly, Huntsgirl, I would’ve expected better of you. Aren’t you supposed to be up for becoming the Huntsmaster’s apprentice?”
She turned to face the woman, who was attired in a purple and black outfit that looked much like a uniform. The thing that caught Rose off-guard was the skull of what looked like a very large animal atop the woman’s head, serving almost as a…helmet? Eventually, Rose opened her mouth to speak, but the woman cut her off with a snort, obviously bored of waiting.
“Yeah, like you’re gonna qualify for that place now. Ten minutes, and you’d better be out. You’re needed in the stadium in thirty.” Pausing, she then smirked and added sarcastically, “I guess in your state, you won’t need Good Luck…” With that, she turned and headed out into the corridor, slamming the door loudly behind her.
Stunned, Rose slowly got to her feet, all the while looking around the room. ‘What just happened? …where am I? Is this a dream?’
It had to be. Heck, that woman appeared to have known her…and who was this ‘Huntsgirl’? Why, she’d never heard, or been referred to as such in her life! Rose immediately decided that she had to get out of here. Despite the fact she’d told herself it was a dream, she remembered waking up here and…and something about the place seemed so real. Plus, if it wasn’t a dream, the best thing would be to try and escape.
Still looking around, she caught sight of a cupboard in the corner of the room, which was quite big in size. Opening one of the drawers attached to it, she saw a mass of purple and black clothing, which looked very similar to the one that woman had worn. Looking down at her pyjamas, she realised she’d have a better chance of getting out if she blended in.
Taking out the uniform [which was surprisingly her size], Rose quickly dressed, then found in the bottom of the drawer a mask. With a questioning glance, she sighed, opening another drawer to find something to tie her hair back with. Soon finding something, she pulled her hair into a plait, donned the mask, and left the room.
Glancing cautiously around, Rose hastily headed east down the corridor. She knew she had no idea where she was going, or how big the building she was in was, but knew that she had to try and find an exit. As she walked, other people, looking to be about her age or a little older, passed her, all dressed, she noticed, in the uniform she was. The only difference seemed to be that their masks weren’t full like hers was, which only made Rose feel more nervous. The blonde thought back on the woman’s words. Suppose she was meant to be a higher…rank… or something than them?
Wait…how did she guess she was supposed to be higher than them? More so, why did that assumption feel so right?
Lost in her thoughts, Rose suddenly found herself bumping head-first into someone. Facing the person, she could only gasp in fear as she saw it was a man, much taller than her, with a hardened look in his face. He also wore an animal skull, much like the woman, only this one was even larger. Oh, what had she done?
To her surprise, the man did not take action, but merely “greeted” her, if it could be called that. “Ah, Huntsgirl. I take it you’re prepared for today?” When she said nothing, the heavily-clad man leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “I suggest you try your hardest to succeed, if you ever want a chance to join me back in the field again.” Turning away, he looked back once more. “But, I know you won’t fail me…”
As he left, Rose could only stare in fear, so many thoughts running through her mind. Where was this? Was it some sort of joke? Even worse, supposed she had been kidnapped? She could be miles from anywhere…miles from her family!
Deciding she had to leave right now, the girl attempted to turn away, but was hit with a feeling of horror. She wasn’t the corridor anymore! A mixture of sand and dirt replaced the hardened floor she’d been walking on, and sudden outburst of cheers erupted from the thick, stone walls.
Glancing up, Rose realised that the cheers weren’t coming from the walls, but from the crowds of people all around her. As the feeling of dread grew, the girl noted that she was now in what looked like a huge cage, with the cheering people being those Huntsclan members she‘d seen, surrounding the sides. Before she could move, something stopped her.
Why had she thought of the people as Huntsclan members? What was that, anyway? And, how could she think of something she didn’t know?!
As if by magic, the teenager suddenly found she held a green stick in her left hand. But, it wasn’t a stick…it looked like some sort of staff! There were sharp looking blades on either end, and, on closer inspection, a multitude of buttons lined the staff. Immediately, Rose wanted to put down the object, frightened of accidentally hurting somebody with it.
But, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t let go. Someone, or something was preventing it. As soon as it seemed she’d released the staff, it was back in one of her hands!
By now, she was incredibly terrified, and the increasing cheers of the crowd didn’t help. A loud beep from above frightened Rose more, but nothing could have prepared her for what came next. At once, she sensed something heading towards her from behind. Turning around, fear etched into her face, the teenager gasped in disbelief as she saw a large, red and gold dragon, heading directly towards her.
It opened its mouth, sending out a trail of fire towards Rose. With seconds to spare, she barely managed to evade being caught in the flames by rolling to the side. Holding up her staff with shaking hands, Rose already knew there was no chance she was engaging in a fight with this…this dragon, and promptly turned away, running from the creature.
‘Dragons…I thought they only existed in kids’ fairytales!’ The young blonde thought, dodging another fire attack by a hair.
Everything in the next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Rose suddenly felt something slam into her back, then her legs. She was tossed high into the air like a rag doll, only to be slammed hard into the ground by the dragons’ hand.
Pain exploded in her as she made contact with the floor and continued to move, crashing back into the hard wall of the stadium. By now, Rose had had enough. ‘Please let the blow knock me out, I don’t want to know what happens next…I…I hope my family knows that I love them.’ To her dismay, it soon was apparent that the blow hadn’t affected her sense of consciousness, but she still felt pretty battered.
The dragon approached slowly, flying close to the ground and Rose just managed to get to her feet time to face it. She gripped the staff hard, using it almost as a form of protection. Tears were streaming down her face now, and though she barely noticed, her uniform was ripped and her once tidy plait was now dishelleved.
“Please…please don’t…” As she start to choke out a plea, her eyes widened in terror as the stadium started to melt away, being replaced with some kind of clearing in a dark, gloomy wood. All that remained was Rose and the ever-approaching dragon. At once, the dragon stopped, turning its head to look out at the woods. The blonde followed its gaze, and then wished she hadn’t.
Figures began stumbling out of the trees. Some merely staggered, whilst others seemed to be struggling to even lift their limbs to walk. The dragon suddenly growled, before turning its gaze onto the girl, its eyes glowing amber. As the figures drew closer, Rose uttered a strangled gasp as she saw they were wearing familiar purple and black clothing…they were only the people who had been in the stadium!
What made her begin to scream wasn’t that she remembered them, but how they looked now. Their once healthy, human-looking skin was now a sickly blue-green colour. Uniforms were badly torn and they all clearly looked like they shouldn’t be standing there right now. Groans erupted from the crowd as they dragged themselves ever closer to the trembling blonde.
When a few got near enough, they began to raise their arms, reaching out towards Rose. “Rossseee…” The crowd started to rasp eerily. “Rossseee…”
Backing up, Rose could do nothing but let out another scream, and began to run, away from them. She was stopped however by the large tree that was previously behind her. With the group closing in from all sides and the dragon preparing to let out another stream of fire shortly, Rose was trapped.
“You killed usss…how could yooooouuu?” They groaned, louder now.
“Killed you?” The girl managed to get out, “What...I- how- I couldn’t-”
She caught the gaze of the large dragon, and something suddenly seemed to shift inside her head, like her mind was finding something that had been stored away for an unnaturally amount of time.
“…Jake?”
Was all Rose could utter to the dragon, before an immense pain exploded inside her head, and the world in front of her suddenly seemed to burst into nothing but a golden light. As soon as the light had come, a multitude of voices could be heard by Rose, and, in the centre of the light, she could suddenly see her life flashing before her eyes.
But it wasn’t the life she lived now.
At once, Rose saw herself a baby being taken from the Huntsclan and how she was trained in her childhood to become the fighter she was. She saw the day she had met Jake. The dragon she’d previously encountered was shown with her fighting it, herself being dressed the same way she was now…dressed as the Huntsgirl. Rose continued to watch the memories, a smile forming despite the immense pain, as she saw herself at that school dance with Jake, and rehearsing a performance with him. The smiled faded however, as she saw the way she’d fiercely tried to defeat him as Huntsgirl. She saw him reveal himself to her as a dragon and then how he’d saved her life on that faithful night on top of the Pantheon building.
He was the one given her back the family she’d always wanted, freed her from the Huntsclan…and she’d forgotten him, when she said she never would. A lone tear fell down her face, though she now knew how she never cried, it still came.
More memories then came in, of other people. She saw herself going shopping with her friend Leslie and with the other girls she knew from her former school - friends she hadn‘t even known in this life. She saw herself as Huntsgirl, teaching a class of academy students on how to slay dragons, which made her cringe at the sight of how ruthless she could be at times.
The memories continuously came to her, and she saw herself with Urchin, who she remembered befriending after he’d accidentally revealed himself as a merrow - he‘d been the one to first encourage her to get away from the Huntsclan and probably the first magical creature besides Jake who she‘d be-friended. Her meeting with Carl and Dug was next, the elderly man and his dog who’d helped her out after she’d nearly injured herself as Huntsgirl that one night. If it hadn’t been for them and their kindness, who knows what would’ve become of her? Rose’s face hardened as she realised they’d shown more concern for her than the Huntsman ever had during her fourteen years with him.
Something else then came into her mind. The image was blurred at first, but after a moent Rose could make out a shop and on closer inspection saw it was full of every kind of mirror she could imagine someone would want. …she saw herself entering, looking very confused, yet interested. As she watched her past self, Rose wondered why she would be in such a place - mirrors had never really interested her. As she thought that, another girl came into view. A girl who was probably quite a few years younger than Rose, wearing the strangest dress…from a guess, it looked to be pretty old, maybe Victorian. That’s when realisation hit her.
Alice. It was Alice. The little English girl who she’d helped to get back home. Apart from Jake, Alice had become one of her closest friends and Rose almost saw her as a sister. No matter how things were, the younger girl had always cheered her up with her kind words and friendly nature. So, it pained her as she remembered that night in the woods, how frightened and upset Alice had been to learn she was the Huntsgirl, gaining that knowledge of she hunted innocent creatures for…well, no other purpose than a misguided hate. As the memory grew, Rose shut her eyes, unable to watch her friend in pain any longer at the realisation of what she really was. The memories fortunately shifted and then the teenager remembered how they’d slowly got through it and amazingly, Alice had eventually forgiven her, though it had understandably, taken some time.
The memories and the pain started to then fade away and the golden light suddenly turned a blazing red colour, fading to maroon. Terror struck Rose as a huge version of the Huntsmaster shot up from nowhere, shouting at the young girl, rage evident in his voice. He raised a fist, and Rose barely managed to evade being flattened as he crashed it down onto the floor.
With her new-found knowledge of her other past, she turned to glare at her former leader, remembering the staff she still held and aimed a blast to the centre of his forehead. The Huntsman managed to avoid the blast, before reaching out at Rose.
She immediately tried to evade his grasp, but realised with horror that she was literally glued to the spot - her legs wouldn’t or couldn‘t move. As much as she attempted to get them moving, it proved useless and Rose could only look up as the Huntsman’s hand came down. Although she managed to give a defiant look, inside she knew this would soon be the end for her…
“Rose? Rose! Wake up!”
Rose’s eyes snapped open to a bright light and she gasped for breath. Someone had been shaking her, but they stopped as they saw she was awake. Glancing up, Rose saw she was back in her room in Hong Kong, and her mother, father and her twin were in front of her, all with concerned expression.
“Honey, are you alright?” Her mother asked.
“Yeah,” the sister added, still holding onto Rose’s shoulders, “You were screaming. At first, I thought you were just kidding around, but then I noticed how terrified you seemed and I realised.”
Rose looked at her family, lost for words. It had all been a dream. A dream! Did that mean everything she had “remembered” wasn’t real afterall?
“I’m…I’m fine…it was just a dream,” she finally managed to answer to her family, “Guess I got carried away.” Rose attempted to laugh, but the after-effects from her “adventure” prevented her from fully doing so. Neither of the parents didn’t look satisfied, but nodded to her, and got up to leave, saying goodnight once more. When both parents had gone, her sister, identical to Rose in many ways, asked, “So, what was the dream about, Rose? It must have been something awful!”
Rose ran a shaking hand through her tousled haira nd thought for a moment, “I’ll, um, I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay? Right now I just want to get some sleep.” Her twin didn’t look happy with that answer, but reluctantly got back into her own bed, turning the light off as she went.
Turning towards the window, from which the moon could be clearly seen, Rose closed her eyes, still wondering whether it had really all been a dream, when it felt so real. Settling down, she felt her hand run over something under the pillow. Curiously pulling out the object, Rose noticed it was a photograph. Holding it up to the moonlight, she smiled as she saw and recognised the couple in the photo as herself and Jake, at the dance she’d remembered in her dreams - it had been real, after all!
Getting back into bed, she held the photo tightly. “I’ll find you someday, Jake.” Rose whispered. “And Alice, and everyone else I met who helped me when…when things were bad and no-one else would.“ She finally closed her eyes, the smile still on her face.
“Thank you. For everything.”
