The Bad Fairy (girlxgirlxgirl)

12. Trust That You'll Be Faster

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Escape plan number one

Chepi looks at her writing in the mud, while she taps the stick she wrote it with against her leg. Her wings flutter with the harsh wind. It was incredibly hot when they teleported here, and Chepi misses that. The wind startled howling in their ears as they walked a little, and with every hour that went the wind only grew colder and colder, until Chepi was shivering where she stood. Thankfully the forest catches most of the wind, and the demon is pretty good at creating a fire for them to be warm around. Chepi could do it too, but she doesn't want to help this creature in any way possible. They've spent most of the late afternoon in silence, and now that it's evening Chepi is still refusing to speak.

Why would she speak to her own kidnapper? She's not that bored.

The fairy nods as a familiar idea pops up in her head. She puts her stick back against the mud.

Escape while the demon is sleeping

Chepi hums to herself, but her voice is completely drowned out by the howling wind. She destroys the text with her brown leather shoe and glances up at the demon. Will the demon sleep at all this night? It's already super late in the evening, and she's really tired. There is also a big chance that the demon Anemone wouldn't dare to fall asleep right after kidnapping the finder of the teardrop crystal. But, it's a solid plan. It's simple, and seems rather obvious, but it works surprisingly well. It wouldn't be the first, nor the last time that this plan has worked.

"I've got no food for us today, so you'll just have to go without"

Anemone is standing over a newly built fire, throwing dry sticks into it to keep it going. She's forced to concentrate a lot of dark powers around it to keep the cold wind from blowing the flames away. Chepi doesn't answer her. She's leaning against a tree right by the fire. Anemone glances at her, and then at the muddy ground in front of her, all smudged up. She raises an eyebrow, and Chepi looks away. The demon goes back to dealing with the fire. "If you walk faster tomorrow, we'll reach the loophole and get food soon enough"

Chepi looks back at the demon. "So, we're going to the loophole?" It's her first time speaking in hours. Her voice sounds oddly small against the wind. Anemone looks at her. Chepi is thankful, for a moment, that she's not making her walk at night. Tiredness seems to be seeping into her veins and making her eyelids heavy.

"I liked it better when you kept your mouth shut"

Chepi scoffs quietly at the demon's dull response, and sits down against the tree. The flames of the fire create big shadow-like lights that shine on the trees nearby. It's like watching a performance, with nothing but a whole lot of densely grown trees and a clear night sky above her head. Chepi is used to sleeping in nature. It's not hard for her to cozy up against the tree and hug herself close, keeping all the warmth that she can get. Anemone looks a little warmer in her armour and layers of fabric, but Chepi doesn't think about that too much. She blinks slowly, looking at the demon with something glinting in her eye.

She'll escape, tonight.

The moment the demon falls asleep she'll sneak away so fast, Anemone won't even know what happened until the morning comes. It's a genius plan.

The only challenge will be staying awake this entire time, considering how fucking tiring that teleportation portal was. Chepi shudders, a little. There might be another challenge in this plan, too. Leaving the warmth of the fire, to the coldness and darkness of the forest. Finding home will be difficult. She can't fly high up with her fairy wings in this wind, so she can't get a bird's view of the forest. She can't run around recklessly looking for the right direction, either, because the forest is dark and full of dangers hiding in the shadows at night.