APPLE WITCH (girlxgirlxgirl)

14. Werewolf

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⚠️ blood, threats, death, wounds, bruises ⚠️

Astra stares at the witch from the corner of her eye.

She ignores Seiran, who wraps worn down white bandages around her arm with an angry look on her face, instead her mind is completely on that witch Melora, no matter how much she tries to shake away the thought. An anger grows within her, an anger that looks similar to the one on Seiran's face. But it's different. Her anger is very different. It's something between frustration and suspicion, fear and pain and embarrassment.

The spring witch is quiet, leaning against a tree and staring out into nothingness. Adar is by her side, as he has been ever since the fight four hours ago. He doesn't seem ready to leave her side, also zoning out whenever he gets the chance. The two have some sort of connection now, after what happened. Adar has so many unanswered questions and he knows that Melora has all the answers. Still the spring witch stays completely unmoved, leaning against the same tree, playing around with her fingers as she thinks. Astra glares.

She is a vampire, one of the strongest warriors in the land. She has trained since birth to fight, she has known her duty is to protect and serve since the day she opened her eyes. Training did not always come easily for her, she was exhausted most of the time from other lessons and injuries were common during practice. But still she fought hard, pressured by her own father, and then later pressured by the love she has for the princess. The complicated relationship.

Now, as her training finally came to good use, the enemy managed to actually hurt her. Astra feels so stupid. She felt so stupid at the time. Nobody ever manages to come close to her during practice, she is the untouchable fighter. But now, during the real deal, she is injured by the first opponent possible. His sword slashed her arm, a deep wound laying itself from her shoulder to her elbow. It didn't hurt, but the disappointment stung for far longer than any bleeding wound could. She felt like such a failure, and in that moment was honestly ready to die. That soldier, standing above her, ready to kill her, Astra almost didn't want to fight back. She would die with honor. Of course it was terrifying to die and upsetting to know that the mission would probably fail because of her, but there was nothing she could do at that point.

And then out of nowhere, a bright shining light approached the man holding a sword above her head. Astra remembers closing her eyes, shielding herself from the source of energy coming her way. The last thing she remembers is the man in front of her disintegrating, and a surprisingly calm Melora staring right back at her. That moment felt truly magical, and hope bloomed in her chest. Not only had she not died, but the mission suddenly became so much easier. With someone as strong as Melora on their side, they could win against hundreds of enemies coming their way.

The battle ended quickly after that. Saint managed to kill Julius, and found a massacred pile of opponents on his way back to the opening in the forest. In fear of more people coming after them, they quickly gathered their things and rode away into the rainy night. They didn't stop until the rain did, and the sun slowly rose up the sky. Now it's the morning after, and the bliss of the moment has completely disappeared for Astra. She no longer feels hope or magic in the situation. All of those positive emotions and thoughts have transformed into suspicion and frustration. They all have questions, sure, but she was the one who almost died out there. She was the one who was saved by the witch they kidnapped.

It's no secret that Melora hates them. Of course she does, they forced her to be here and denied her the freedom that she wanted and had worked hard for. If anything, Astra was sure that Melora hated them all even more after spending a week with them. She had a fun time teasing the witch, knowing that she would eventually snap out of anger, fueled by her hate for them. But suddenly it all came to an end. Now it doesn't make sense anymore.