Just like that freezing winter, coldness seeped deep into her bones as every gust of mild breeze made her shiver. Aries didn't stop just like that night. She forced her feet to keep going. Despite her blurring vision and throbbing head, she marched through the trail hoping to return to where she came from or just somewhere close where people would see her.
'I can't die here,' she whispered internally, leaving this bitter taste in her mouth.
Aries used to tell herself these exact words in the past. She would repeat those words over and over until that was all she could think of. She couldn't die — not in this place.
"You can't die here..." came out another repeat under her breath. "You can't --"
She stopped, holding on to the tree with her shut eyes as the world shook in her eyes and nearly caused an imbalance. Her head injury would soon take away her consciousness. She couldn't allow that. If only she could hasten... if only she was careful or she didn't dwell on her memories that led her to sleepwalk while awake...
There were myriads of regrets that were filling her head about why she was in this situation, but it was already too late. Things already happened and she could only focus on how she could wake up later. She had to. She wasn't done with them yet — she hadn't avenged herself, her family, and her people.
"Where are they when I need them?" she wondered as she forced her eyes to open, dragging her feet to continue moving forth.
So, where were they now?
"Right..." her pale and chapped lips quivered as her vision blurred, making her narrow her eyes. "... they're also here."
Conan, Dexter, and Abel. Those people... her people were also here.
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish, but her tongue kept rolling back to her throat. Would they come if she cried for help? Aries knew they would. However, her voice wouldn't come out.
Even though there was a ninety-nine percent chance they would come to her rescue, the one percent possibility they wouldn't terrify her. Why? Because... just like in the past, she cried for help until her throat bled. But no one came to her rescue.
No one heard her.
No one looked for her.
There was no one who saved her.
She saved herself.
"A... A... ugh!" Aries missed her footing and failed to grasp the next tree and fell to her knees. She tried to stand up while gritting her teeth, succeeding, and continued to drag her feet, leaving a trail of blood behind. However, one fall was followed by another until it somehow became a routine, until she slumped on the ground for the fourth time.
"Ah!" this time, Aries writhed on her tummy, feeling a rock under her chest. Her nails dug into the dry ground, unable to close her mouth to breathe.
Heat filled her eyes as she tried to rise once again, only to slump back down, hitting her chest once more. Aries panted, grinding her teeth, sweating buckets of cold sweat mixing on the blood on her head that covered her right eye.
Staying still in that position, Aries closed her eyes and wiped the blood with the back of her hand. But when she reopened them, the dry ground turned into a wooly white duvet. Her brows rose when she felt a light substance as white as a cotton land on her knuckles. It was cold... like snow.
'I don't want to go back here,' was the first thought that came through her head, knowing she was hallucinating about that night. Lying down just like how she collapsed that freezing winter pathetically, Aries was brought back to relive that memory.
'I don't want...' her thoughts trailed off as she snapped her eyes weakly, lifting her gaze ahead.
She blinked weakly, and all she saw was a person under a long, plain, and old cloak. Her pupils constricted as her eyes shook, seeing the person approach her.
Deep in her heart, she knew she needed to run away. But alas, she couldn't.
All she could do was stare at the approaching figure until the person crouched down. Her vision was growing blurry, trying to see who it was, but to no avail. The next thing she knew, a thumb pinched her chin up.
'No...' she whispered as her mouth fell open, seeing the person's thin and dry lips move. She couldn't hear it, nor could she read what the lips were saying, but Aries was certain a part of her understood it.
Her breath hitched when she noticed a dark shroud come out of the person's mouth and seeped into her mouth. Aries tried to close her mouth, but she couldn't. Even breathing was proved to be impossible as if the dark shroud entering her system was gripping her lungs.
Slowly, her face turned red and all the veins in her temple, her neck, and even in her eyes protruded. She was choking. Aries's brain kept telling her she would die. Literally... suffocate to death.
'No...' she hiccuped, digging her nails deeper into the ground. 'No... help...'
Her eyes dilated even more as panic swelled in her chest, lips quivering, desperate for the slightest air. She felt like she was underwater, trying to swim back to the surface only to sink deeper and deeper until her surrounding grew darker and the faint light shrunk.
'Help...' she cried in her heart, pupils constricting as they soon clouded. '...help... please... someone...'
While Aries was struggling to breathe, unknowingly twisting on the ground with her hands around her neck, she didn't notice the bear that appeared out of nowhere and was approaching her stealthily. Saliva was dripping from the corner of its mouth, eyes bloodshot, a hint it came for a feast.
When the bear gazed at the woman writhing on the ground, it licked its razor-sharp teeth, and without a moment's notice, he pounded his front paws and opened its mouth to devour her.
At the same time, Aries, who was on the brink of losing her consciousness, forced a muffled cry. "Abel... I'm dying..."
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