There was a split second when she remembered what the land used to look like. It had been much prettier then, with large, mysterious trees and sparkling lakes and soft gr*censored*… Ah, but soon she snapped back into reality. Now everything was darker, much darker. Now a good portion of the land was barren and cold. It even seemed less colourful… There were no birds. The only sound was the whistling and howling of the wind. Why had it changed? Because of them.

She stood in the middle of a vast, flat field. She held a sword, and a wolf stood, growling, by her side. Behind her back was nothing but gr*censored*. In front of her was quite a large group of wicked, writhing, dark contorted humanoid shapes made of shadow. All of the shadow’s right arms were more like swords. They ended in a point and though made of shadow were sharp. They advanced on her, but she did not move. Wherever they stepped the gr*censored* seemed to droop and the sun’s dying rays seemed to reach the ground less there…

Adrenaline rushed through her veins. She laughed, the sound carrying everywhere in this now wretched place, hanging in the air before disappearing.  She laughed in the face of death. Strange, how she felt so alive tonight, so exhilarated. She fought deeper into the crowd of Nightmares, her wolf fighting loyally with her. Finally, she felt her arms grow tired and saw that now she was surrounded completely by her enemies. With her final burst of energy, she lifted her sword up high and brought it down upon one of the bigger Nightmares. The thing slowly faded into the quickly leaving day. The sun was but a pink line in the horizon now. The stars were just coming out. She looked to the beautiful sky. Ah, how she would miss it.

The Nightmares sensed weakness. She knew it was futile to fight now, though she continued. Sweat rolled down her face in the effort to keep fighting. Her lips were curved upward into a happy smile… She was suddenly struck down by one of them and fell to the ground. Dust got into her mouth. She spat the dust out and coughed up blood. ..

She tried to get up but couldn’t. The Nightmares weren’t attacking her. Her wolf was guarding her, not letting them touch her. She lifted her hand and touched the soft fur of her loyal pet. Her final request.

“Live. Save yourself,” she said, her voice a whisper. The Wolf understood. It ran far away, leaving its master behind.

When the moon hung high in the sky, only a girl in a tattered red cloak lay alone in the field.

A teenage boy in a dusty black cloak traveled along the dirt road. Before it had been a busy road. Now it was hardly ever traveled upon. The boy’s hair was black, thick, and unkempt. His eyes were a sharp, yellow colour. Yet his eyes seemed far away. Finally the dirt road led to a building. It was a large building made of logs, giving it a welcoming feel. In the road right in front of the building was a sign that read “Grimm’s End”. The boy’s eyes snapped back to reality then. He gasped and staggered a bit. He then regained his balance and hurried into the building.

The wooden door opened with a creaking sound; the hinges were rusty and hadn’t been attended to in a while. The boy was welcomed with a burst of warmth as he entered the homey place. The building was one large room made into a bar, it seemed, and in the left corner there were stairs that led to the upper part of the building. The floors were wooden. To the far right there was a roaring fire in the fireplace. There were tables and chairs all around. Everything was empty. On the wall facing him there was a counter. Standing behind the counter was a beautiful young girl.

The girl had deep, violet coloured eyes. Her skin was fair, her figure curvy… Her hair was the thing that was different. It was long, straight, and silky. It fell all the way to her hips. And it was red, redder than the petals of a rose, as red as fresh blood…

When the girl caught sight of the boy she motioned to the stools at the counter so he could sit down.

“Welcome to Grimm’s End, inn and bar…” she trailed off as the strange boy sat down wordlessly at a stool. “Do you want anything?” she offered. The boy was silent for a moment.

“Water.” His voice was husky, yet the voice of a boy no older than thirteen. The girl nodded and got a gl*censored* of iced water in a gl*censored*. The boy took it and drank deeply. He didn’t stop drinking until the gl*censored* was dry.

“You know,” the girl said, “we don’t get many people nowadays.” The boy merely stared at her. She sighed.

“Okay. I’ll get to the point. Why are you here, and who are you?” she asked. Her once kind, maid-like tone was replaced with a harsher voice. The boy was silent for a moment, then spoke.

“Wolf,” the boy answered softly.

The girl smiled.

“Nice to meet you, then. My name’s Rose Red,” she said, then turned around and got to work cleaning things and putting things away. Wolf stared at beautiful Rose Red with his sharp yellow eyes. He was feeling a terrible pain in his chest that hurt worse than white hot knives. It was complete and utter grief. Nothing but sadness.  

“Give me a shot of whatever you have, so long as its strong.” The door had just burst open. A girl had barged in; she had hair with far more luster and beauty than Rose Red for sure. Her hair was perfect and golden. It fell down to her shoulders in waves. Her short cotton blue dress fell to her mid thigh; it fit her pronounced curves wondrously. A black belt which held a gun on it hung on her hips loosely. A red ribbon was tied around her fair and slender neck. Rose Red looked up from her work. When she saw who it was that had so suddenly walked in the door she chuckled.

“Nice to see you here so soon, Goldilocks,” she said happily as she placed a small gl*censored* full of a strong drink. “How many did you get?” Goldilocks drank the liquid that was in the gl*censored* in one swallow, then set it down again with a soft clack.

“I took down about five of them,” she said, then peered down at her empty gl*censored*. “What was that, Rose?” Rose Red smiled somewhat evilly.

“Ah, it was a shot of vodka… I thought you’d like it,” she answered. Goldilocks laughed softly for a moment; then her smile faded and she looked Rose in the eye.

“You know,” she began, twirling her empty gl*censored* around, “you should close down this place and help out. Minae could use your skills, Rose.” Rose shook her head.

“I knew you would ask. But I won’t. It’s as simple as that,” she said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. Goldilocks’ face contorted into one of anger. Her voice, however, remained calm.

“You’re just going to keep on running this place while Minae is destroyed by the Nightmares. Don’t waste your talents. Fight.” Rose turned her back away and began cleaning again.

“I can’t. Not when everybody is out there dying. We’re fighting a losing battle. I’d rather stay away from all the loss,” she said softly. It was then that Wolf spoke up, surprising both of the girls. He had been sitting and remaining silent. They had both forgotten he was there.

“You can’t give up,” he said. “Not yet. My master knew that. She fought… to the very end. And now I will continue to fight for her and for Minae…” Goldilocks now looked at this mysterious stranger with interest.

“You master?” she questioned. Wolf nodded.

“She’s fairly well known. Her true name isn’t known by anybody; most know her as Little Red Riding Hood.” At this, Rose and Goldilocks exchanged confused and shocked glances.

“What happened?” Goldilocks demanded, her usual calm voice gone. Wolf looked up and locked eyes with her.

“She’s dead,” he answered, his voice barely a whisper.

[Continuation of Chapter 1 still rough and rushed. D; -can’t. stop. Writing.-]

Rose clutched the bar counter.

“She’s dead?” she asked again, in a state of disbelief. Wolf nodded.

“I’m her wolf. I stood by her. She was fighting a large group of Nightmares—fifteen of them or twenty—and they brought her down. She told me to run. I left her there to die,” he muttered. Goldilocks looked solemn.

“But you don’t know that’s she dead for sure,” she muttered. She stood up abruptly and fingered her gun with her right hand. “I’m going. I need to find her… If she’s dead I’ll bury her.”