Into the Woods [Closed]

[Takes place a few days after The Hurting and The Lost]

"So, you and I are friends," Hana announced. "And you set me free from a hospital several days ago."

Hana was flipping through a small little booklet. On the cover it had the words READ THIS UPON WAKING UP on it. It appeared to be a diary of hers. It briefed her on the important things:

1) She had short-term memory and forgot things the next day
2) She was looking for a special corvus bird of sorts that held hints to her past
3) Ira was her BEST FRIEND.

It said so right there in one of the pages where there was a doodle of an angry woman with messy hair and the words "IRA, MY BFF" on top.

Hana showed the notebook to Ira, hoping to get a nod of affirmation.

Then she remembered it also said Ira was blind.

"So, where are we headed to now?" she asked Ira.

From what she saw in the diary, they had been traveling for a couple of days now trying to get away from the hospital as much as possible. But while she had an idea as to where they were trying to avoid, where they were headed was a different story.

As Hana spoke, Ira simply nodded along. This was a part of the day that she had already grown accustomed to. She waited for Hana to finish processing before she asked an already familiar question. Ira had been packing up the camp around her (as best she could) as Hana settled herself once more.

At the question, Ira pointed up at the sky. "Do you see opposite of the fire in the sky?" She waited a moment, hoping that the trees weren't shading the area too much. "We go that way until you are safe. Then we figure out our...um..." She sighed, then gestured to her eyes and Hana's...everything. A small pounding in her head made her eye twitch, but she pushed it aside for now. They were only a few days away from that place, they weren't exactly safe yet. From what she knew though, once they were out of this place and in another land, the chances of people following them grew slim.

"If we are found, hide until I'm done. I will need your help moving after." She stated idly. She wasn't sure if that was in Hana's book or not. "We should be moving soon."

Hana looked up ahead.

"I see it," she affirmed. "And I suppose you're right. We need to be focus on being safe first. Though I wonder when we'll be far enough from that weird hospital."

Hana's brows furrowed as she saw a modicum of pain in Ira's expression. She recalled what she read in the diary about Ira needing medicine for something.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked. "If we're moving, I want you to be well. Do you still have that weird medicine thingy? Also I can't remember, but if this is a forest and there was a hospital, there ought to be villages after the town right? Maybe we can find shelter there?"

"Once we reach a different land." Ira said back, letting out a small sigh. It was a lot of walking. She wasn't used to such far travel. She had the stamina for it, just not the temperament. The surprise in her face was evident as Hana mentioned a pained look. And here she thought she was better about hiding the small aches.

At her question, Ira gave a small shake of the head. "It can make me tired if I am not careful. I would rather save it for when the pain isn't...small." She paused on the last bit, clearly having trouble with whatever word she was thinking of. In the end she gave up, deflating a bit.

Hana's mention of towns made Ira stiffen slightly. "Word may have spread. We are too close to the hospital. We should avoid villages." She frowned. "I will be fine, though. I am very strong." She puffed up just a bit, placing her hands on her hips.

A headache was nothing to her!

Hana couldn't help but smile at Ira's insistence to push forward. She gently placed a hand on top of Ira and patted her.

"Alright, then," she said. "Thank you for putting up with me, Ira. The sooner we walk, the sooner we get far from here."

How far "far" meant was hard to say, but they weren't going to reach it by standing. They managed to pack up and start the journey. Despite not remembering anything, the movements felt practically automatic to Hana.

The weather was fair today and problems with heat or rain were fortunately non-existent. It seemed rather peaceful, too. The two had reached the thicker part of the woods, but the map suggested going through it was the fastest way to reach the edge of the area. Soon the two would reach a place where the trees were getting even taller. The canopies blocked out most of the sunlight save for tiny rays here and there.

"Hmm," Hana said. "We've entered deeper into the forest. I'm not sure why, but I feel we should be more careful. Though I guess darkness isn't a problem for you, is it, Ira?"

Ira, meanwhile, who might have picked up on hearing since she had nothing else to distract her, would hear movement. It was hard to say, but something was moving along their left. As they walked, the sound also happened. Was it...following them?

Ira, again, stood just a bit more rigid as she felt something touch her head. It took her a moment to realize it was Hana. For the briefest of moments, it felt like her headache had ebbed away. Just like that, though, it was back and they were moving along.

Slowly, the pain built as they moved along, but Ira continued without complaint. This was her life, she was used to it. Slowly, she felt the heat of the sun wane away. It was either nighttime, or they were deep among tall trees.

At least it was a little cooler.

Her head tilted at Hana's comment, a tiny frown tugging at her lips. "A little blunt." She huffed. Just then, a noise to their left reached her ears, her head tilted a moment. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was following them for sure. Either a hunter or a predator...Either way, her action would be the same. "Stop for a second, Hana." She'd say. Quietly, she'd reach up, placing a hand on her shoulder, making sure she knew where she was.

Next she'd lean to the side and sweep her leg towards the source of the noise. There would be a booming noise as a force shot towards the noise. Ira would ready herself for them to either scurry away, or counter attack.

Ira would hear the sound of frantic flapping. Hana covered her eyes for a moment as a large bird flew from behind the bush and landed on one of the trees.

"Hoot. Hoot."

"An owl," Hana said merrily. "It looks so cute!"

The owl in question was white with orange edges on its wings. Not that Ira would be able to appreciate that, Hana realized.

Suddenly, there would be even more movement in the trees. Ira would hear rustling from all sides and even more wings flapping.

"There's...more?" Hana asked.

All around them, owls would start surrounding them. Ira would feel Hana subconsciously hold her hand.

"Um...you don't happen to have owl food on you, do you?" Hana said.

"Owl?" Ira parroted in disbelief. Something had been following them, she was sure of it...

Surely enough she heard the flapping of wings. Then more and more and more. It was loud. It was far too loud. Her eye twitched, her teeth ground together. Clearly something was wrong, so she decided to just let her anger flow. When she felt Hana grip her hand, Ira was quick to shake it off. "Not the time." She said before kneeling down and running her hand along the ground. After a few seconds, she found what she was looking for.

A simple rock. With a sharp hiss, she wound up and threw it as hard as she could in a random direction. Chances were it wouldn't hit anything, but the horrific booming sound that followed might cause some fright in these stupid animals.

If that didn't...

"PISS OFF! She roared, her fists tightening. If she had to start swinging wildly, she would. Otherwise, she hoped that they could just move along.

She didn't really want to fight a bunch of swarming owls.

Ira's rock managed to hit a branch. As she intended, the owls started flying, though not in the direction she intended.

The owls flapped their wings as they departed from the trees and zipped closer towards them.

"Ira, look out!"

Hana instinctively rushed towards Ira and pull at her, hoping she'd understand they needed to duck for cover.

The owls would start swooping in close to them, but never enough to actually hurt them. Hana looked around with one hand guarding her face. She saw a slightly gnarled tree that they might be able to loose the birds in.

"Ira, this way!"

Ira meanwhile would hear not just the sounds of birds flapping but rustling in nearby bushes. It was moving faster and it was closing in on them.

What.

Ira couldn't believe that these stupid animals decided to fly TOWARDS them instead of away. She was ready to start swinging, but Hana instead grabbed her and began to drag her in some random direction. She had to keep herself from struggling. She hadn't known the woman long, but she might see something Ira didn't know of. Something might be driving these dumb birds to act this way.

Almost in response to the thought, another sound reached Ira's ears. There was something in the bushes nearby. It was fast and closing in. Likely using the birds as a distraction?

Ira said nothing, letting it close the distance as they moved along. She pretended not to notice, then, the moment it thought it was completely unseen, she'd jab out a fist in that direction. The force that followed tore up the ground and snapped the branches off nearby trees. She would hope that would discourage whatever that was..."Keep us moving. Something is around." She spoke through gritted teeth. She wanted more than anything to dive into this fight, but it wasn't straightforward. The enemy was using stealth and had the assistance of a fuck ton of birds. They weren't in a good position and there was no way she could protect hana and fight in such a place at the same time. "Lead us to a place better for fighting."