The footsteps were closing in. The Woman could almost feel their hot breath on her neck. She looked down at the Young One in her arms with a mix of love and sadness, but the child looked up at her mother with innocent curiosity. She paused to look around.The forest was dark and rugged, thick brush coating the entire ground. The ground wet from the morning rain, the droplets clinging to The Woman's ripped pants. A long and deep cut on her right leg was dripping blood, the crimson liquid leaving red dots across the green brush. She couldn't stay in one spot for too long. That would be suicide. Sweat was dripping from her brow as she began to run again. Her lungs were screaming at her to slow down and the limp caused by her cut was getting worse. The Woman's body wanted to give up. But she wouldn't give up. Not yet. Not when there was so much at stake. The Woman looked around, seeming calm despite the circumstances.
"Listen close, Little One," The Woman whispered. "Do you hear the sounds of the trees muttering? They are calling you, Child. They are waiting for you to join them." The Woman paused for a moment to listen, a small smile gracing her lips.
"But it is not your time yet," She broke into a sprint again, her golden ears flicking back to check how close their enemies were. "They are closing in, Young One," The Woman panted as she spoke, making quick turns and climbing under thorn bushes that helped tear her clothes further. In a futile attempt to lose her pursuers, The Woman kicked water at her footprints to cover them. "I am not able to outrun them. There are just too many," This couldn't be the end. She thought as she turned her head once again and ducked under the large branch of a fallen tree that opened into a large clearing. Not when she was this close. Not when she had a chance, even though it was a small one, to change her people. She turned around in one spot for a moment. This was a dead end. No escapes. If the men found her here, her pride and joy would die. The Woman's vision started to blur, panic setting in. She was trapped. She could do no more. 'No.' A firm voice came up from inside her. The voice of her mother. 'There is always more you can do. If you truly believe in something. Chase until your last breath.' The woman took a deep breath and looked at her child again. This was what she believed in. She would fight for this child until her last breath. Until the final sunrise across the earth. Just as her own mother had done for her. The Woman's gaze fell to a small collection of stray grass. Grass that didn't belong in this kind of forest. It was long and red. The kind you find in the grasslands. She dug a small hole in the grass, dirt collecting under her nails. She hated having messy hands, but now was not the time to complain about such simple things. She placed the Young One inside the hole and grabbed mud, smearing it along the child's beautiful face and white blanket. "This should help mask your scent."
The Woman looked down as her child began to fuss. "Hush now, don't make a sound." She could hear the crunching of leaves getting louder. "This is where we must part." She stroked the young girl's cheek. "This is not goodbye Young One. When you need me most, l will come back to you." She kissed the baby on the cheek. "Be free my little one. For it is my turn to join the trees."
The child began to whine, almost like she was begging her mother not to leave, her green eyes wide with fear. The Woman's gaze softened. "Young One, you are meant for great things. When you get scared, just turn to the trees. They will listen to you. And when you hear the trees, you will hear me," The Woman gave her child one last kiss before covering her with moist green leaves and rushing towards the pursuers. I will do anything for that child. Anything. The Woman quickly wiped away the tears that had silently managed to escape from her eyes. She couldn't cry. Crying would mean she was giving up. That she had no hope. She had to hold on to her hope, for it was the only thing keeping her going. Hope for her child.
"Turn your face to the sun!" one of the men shouted to her. "Let it be the last thing you see, for you have dishonored your family! Your friends! And your people!"
"You are wrong, Artemis," The Woman replied calmly. "I have shown my people the wrongs of our kind. I am helping.
"You are not helping!" Artemis's eyes narrowed to thin slits. "Ever since you were young all you did was make the people around you suffer."
"I used to think you loved me, Brother," Said The Woman, with a sad shake of her head. "But now you treat me as if I am nothing but a burden to you."
"You are not a burden," Artemis said softly. "You are a disgraceful stone shitter," He finished after a long pause. The other men snickered, but The Woman didn't even flinch at his harsh words. It wasn't like this was the first time he had said these things to her. No where near the first time.
"That may be true, Brother, but at least I am making an effort to bring good to our people. You focus only on hunting and killing, which is-"
"Without me killing, our kind would be dead!" Artemis interrupted. "Father left me with the task of dealing with our threats, and he left you with the task of obeying me."
"You are not in charge of me, Artemis," Said The Woman as she tilted her head to the left, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You are not in charge of anybody. Nor is Father. Both of you are cowards and fools. Is that what a leader should be? Because if so, then you fit that position perfectly."
Artemis's black tail thrashed with rage behind him at The Woman's words. The other men tightened their grip on their spears, ears flat on their heads. "You dare to mock me, Sister? Then you shall come back with me and face the wrath of the people. They trust me, unlike you."
The Woman sighed, looking exasperated with her brother. "I do not need the trust of others to complete what I have set out to do. You may not understand now, Brother, but one day you will." The Woman was almost begging her brother to finally understand. To turn away from what he had been taught and come into the light with her.
"That day will never come," Artemis spat back. "Even in the afterlife, I will always know that you were wrong."
"Do you truly believe that, Artemis?" The Woman asked in a disingenuous tone. "Because if that were the case then wouldn't the afterlife be filled with hate and not joy?" Why couldn't he just understand? The Woman needed her brother. Needed someone.
"I know better than you. You act like you are so smart, when all you really are is an arrogant bitch. A curse to our kind. "Artemis said in a quiet but harsh voice.
The Woman didn't say anything to this. She glanced briefly back to the clearing where she had left her Young One. She knew that if she didn't get Artemis and his men away soon, the child was bound to fuss and give away her position. "Then take me to the people," The Woman said suddenly. "Let them decide my fate."
Artemis narrowed his eyes at her sudden change of heart. "Where is she, Sister?" he said in a low voice as he began to sniff the air.
The Woman's breath caught in her throat, but she kept a calm look on her face. "I already told you this, Brother. She died at birth." She tapped her foot lightly on the ground, just enough to stir a sleeping insect. Not enough to draw attention.
"You lie to me, Sister," Artemis accused. "You did not flee into these woods by yourself. That child deserves to die. She is the definition of disgrace."
"She died, Brother. I speak the truth. There were complications and she did not survive," The Woman's gaze flicked behind her for a moment before meeting her brother's gaze head on once again. How much longer could she keep this up? How long until she finally broke. Maybe breaking wouldn't be as bad as it sounded. No. She couldn't think like that. She needed her child to live. Without that child, everything she had worked so hard for would be for nothing.
"I see the deceit in your eyes. I will find that child and kill her. Just like I will do to you," Artemis signaled to his men and they circled The Woman. Her heart pounded in her chest but she remained calm.
"I am not afraid of death, Brother," The woman spoke again after a moment. Her voice was cracking as she spoke, getting closer and closer to just being a sob. "I am afraid of what our people will become. You just need to listen. Hear the trees, Brother, for they are-"
Artemis didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence. The men closed in and began to kick her body with their steel-toed boots. Artemis bent down, his face close to hers. The only thing she could see in his eyes was hate and disgust. Her pain in just her gaze only could have rivaled a gunshot.
"Turn your face to the sun," He gripped her jaw tightly, turning her face to the west and plunging his spear into her gut.
At first there was no pain. The Woman thought that maybe Artemis had missed. Maybe he finally understood. The Woman almost smiled before the pain hit her with the force of a freight train. She let out a loud cry, her body trembling."H-Hear me young one," The Woman said in a voice almost too quiet to make out. "The trees will call you when you are ready. L-listen to them," The Woman's head fell to the ground, everything around her turning into a blur of pain and sadness. "I am joining them now. Be free my sweet Aerith. Live for me," Her fading gaze turned back to her brother, the darkness pulling at her brain. "Brother... I do not fear this. For this is what was meant to happen," She knew that this was meant to happen. So why did it almost feel worse this way? Why was she wishing that she wouldn't have known? Would that have made it hurt less? The Woman swallowed down nothing, for her mouth was dry, the color draining from her face. She turned her head just enough to look back to where she had hidden her Young One. This will all be worth it, as long as she is never found.
"Forgive me. Brother. For I still love you." The warm blood pooling around her body was almost like a twisted blanket. A warmth that allowed her to close her eyes. "I will see you again someday, my beautiful Aerith..."