Under a Dark Moon [Oneus AU]

Missing

Luella paced back and forth in her room most of the night after being locked away. Her father had not been so cross with her since she was young and liked to play with matches.

She knew exactly what made him so angry, too. He saw her showing affection to Dongju and misunderstood her intentions. Mr. Shaw didn't want his daughter to marry off at all, but he especially wouldn't want her to marry a foreigner that might ask her to move away with him.

The only time her door opened again later that evening was when Nellie brought up her dinner and a basin of warm water for her to wash with.

Nellie seemed to be as upset about her captivity as Luella was herself, which wasn't surprising since Nellie had been tending to her since she was a little baby. She hated to see Luella suffer in any way, shape, or form.

Her unrest only worsened when the house was suddenly rattled by a loud, violent clap of thunder outside. Luella froze in place, turning her attention to the window just in time to see the rain begin to fall from the sky.

It was storming again, just like it had when the Bahleens arrived on their doorstep. Something felt very deliberate in the coincidence, but Luella didn't really think about those things too much. She didn't read into signs from the sky because she wanted to remain in blissful ignorance to any and all misfortune heading her way.

This time, the misfortune came much sooner than usual. As she watched the rain beat against her window, a shadowy figure crossing the garden caught her attention.

Thinking she might finally catch one of their guests sneaking away under the moonlight, Luella rushed to the window sill and leaned into it, looking down at the garden two stories below her bedroom window. She was surprised to see a familiar shape moving through the rain. It was the tall, stocky figure of her father.

For a long moment, she watched him walk through the grass, curious and confused by his trek through the rain. When she realized he was walking directly into the edge of the woods, Luella began to really worry. What could he be doing out there?

She quickly unlatched and threw open the window panes. Luella leaned over the sill even further, sheltered from the rain by the thin ledge of the roof above her.

"Father!" She shouted into the rain, which muffled her voice more than she would have liked. "Father, where are you going?"

He never went into the woods, especially not alone. Her father was the one who taught her to respect the wildlife and stay out of their territory to avoid any altercations. Yet there he was, approaching the forest with little regard for what might be lurking in the foliage.

As she continued to watch him, another figure, one at the edge of the forest, appeared in her field of vision. This figure was most certainly that of a woman with black hair, though she couldn't make out much more.

The woman was standing in the treeline, seemingly waiting on her father as he approached. Luella looked on in horror as her father reached the edge of the wood, then watched as the woman grabbed him by the shoulders and viciously dragged him into the trees.

"Father!" Luella screamed. She turned away from the window and ran to her bedroom door. Her little hands pounded against it desperately. "Nellie! Nellie, let me out! Father's in trouble!" She cried out in her panic.

It didn't take long for Nellie to arrive with the skeleton key. She quickly unlocked the door and let Luella come barrelling through.

"What is it, little miss?" She questioned anxiously, seeing the distress and fear on Luella's face, even through the dark.

"It's Father," Luella panted, jolting forwards to the staircase. "I have to go get him, he disappeared into the woods. Someone was there, Nellie!"

"What? Who was there?" Nellie followed her to the stairs, but she couldn't fly down them quite like Luella could. Her bones were too old and creaky for such things anymore. "Luella Shaw, now just wait a minute!"