CHAPTER FOURTEEN ; HEARTFELT
WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD, Prudence often found herself attempting to tag along with her older sister everywhere she went, wanting to do things she was repeatedly told she was not old enough to do. The fact that it never ended that way, her mother always holding her back saying she could run around with her odd neighbor that was her age instead, made her quite a grumpy kid. She was stubborn even then, and as she continued on growing up, it caused her to be more independent than most.
Friends wasn't something she had a lot of, but due to the fact she was taught to be kind even when she didn't want to be, the blonde never had trouble squeezing into the nearest group of giggling girls, not missing who they thought was the most handsome in the village. Though admittedly she spent most of her time with her sweet, wise grandmother, never forgetting to visit the old womon at least once a day. It wasn't necessarily uncommon for her to stay past sunset—much to her mother's dismay—, and because of that habit, as you already know, that's what changed her destiny forever.
And that's what she was currently thinking about in this moment where they were both lying on the floor, blankets underneath and on top of their bare bodies, enjoying the afterglow of the passionate session they shared. It was mere coincidence that they happened to cross paths that night, though as Pru thought about it more simply, it was like that for most people. You don't suspect when you're about to meet someone really special, someone that is going to get under your skin in the most extravagant way. It's the most unpredictable thing you could think of.
She tilted her head up to be able to see him better, watching him stare up at the ceiling of the cabin, his fingers absentmindedly drawing random shapes on her shoulder while his arm stayed wrapped around her. There was still so much she wanted to know about him, so much background history she wanted explained, but to be fair she knew more than most. After all, it's not everyday a secretive fox like him truly revels himself to someone.
"Why did you come here in the first place?" She asked quietly, only curiosity behind the question.
"Like most places I go, I only intended on passing through. Soon enough I'll leave—once a little chaos is spread of course." He explained, feeling her shift so she was lying on her side, her check pressed flat against his shoulder.
There it was though. That feeling, sweeping him away from his other priorities until he just felt it, until he just felt her. Void did something with her that he has never done with anyone else during his nearly six hundred years of living, he told her the truth. At first it felt foreign on his tongue, and he questioned as to why he even decided to experiment with it, but now...he liked it. He liked sharing something unique like that with her.
The blue-eyed girl let his words sink in, wondering what her own future would be like and more importantly if he would be in it. Since she never wanted the quiet life of a house wife, tending to her children so much that she doesn't have any time for herself—well at least not when she was still this young, when she still had a good amount of her life left. Prudence wasn't like every other girl during the time, and now more than ever she didn't want to be. She found excitement being with him, and adventure, and something so pure in all the impurity he possessed.
This was before their departure from one another that would happen in only a few weeks, so no angst was found between them yet, no betrayal had taken place. They were living in a more simpler moment where they were away from the outside world and its dangerous influences. Peace was found instead of a more expectant chaotic nature, and both parties were pleased by that, wishing that they would do this more often. Things just weren't as complicated then, which is something that was missed in the later years.
"Where are you going to go next?"
Her hand rested limply on his chest, and she could faintly feel his steady heartbeat. "We'll figure it out when the time comes."
"We?" The girl questioned, surprised that the pronoun escaped his mouth but liking it nonetheless, the corners of her lips twitching from having the urge to grin a little.
"Yes, we. It's obvious you can't live without me." He teased, his head shifting so he could gaze over at her, a smile that was rarely shown gracing his content expression.
There was just something about the way he looked at her like that that made completeness sneak up on her, making sure she knew that she was happy, really happy. Her heart ached when she was separated from him and now, as their limbs were tangled up with one another's, it did nothing but send love's complicatedly simple message that is very hard to decipher sometimes. Subconsciously at least she understood it then though, and she basked in this glorious time where they only grew more connected to each other.
And as Void continued on staring at her, coming to the conclusion that he had found absolute perfection, he was positive he never wanted anything more. Usually, when he desired something, it was only one typical, malicious thing like destructive chaos or entertainment from strife, but with Pru, he got a lot of miscellaneous things from her and those things made up this human being he learned to adore effortlessly. More importantly he got reactions he never thought he was capable of receiving, like love, compassion and care. They had grown immensely on one another.
A howl that broke the night air tore away Prudence's attention from the male beside her, the eeriness of it uncontrollably making her cuddle more into him as she watched the door, somewhat frightened that whatever made that spooky sound would choose to break it down. She knew of wolves, but they weren't normally found in this area, though she was aware it could have traveled from elsewhere. It alarmed her that she might come across one or more while she made her daily stroll to her grandmother's house.
"I hope that's not a wolf. My mother definitely would never let me back into the woods." The blonde told him, thankful that he picked up that she was unnerved and held her closer.
"Believe me, it would be better if it was." The fox admitted, turning over onto his side so they were facing each other. "It's much easier to get rid and avoid a wolf than a werewolf. Omega werewolves can be a nuisance and even a normal pack of them can also be a pain."
"Wait, werewolves are actually real?! I... I thought those were just legends."
"Oh, Chīsana Hato, you have so much to learn," He spoke to her cheekily, leaning down enough so their lips brush, a short yet pleasant kiss being shared.
When they broke apart, she was grinning, alight from the heartwarming interaction. "Guess I know what story to tell the children to scare them. I'll say I ran into one while on my way to my grandmother's, it'll be the best tale they'll ever hear."
"Yeah, good luck with that plan, little dove. You have to make a pretty good impact on them for them to remember it."
"Don't worry, I will. I'm already planning the details. My story will be revolutionary, you'll see."
• • •
IT ONLY TOOK A COUPLE of days after the destruction of her village and the loss of those closest to her for her to decide that she would never be the same. Due to that, she decided she just needed to change altogether, and so after mourning with her wise grandma that only had a few years of life left, she decided to find home elsewhere. She wanted to be far away from where life had beaten her until she was severely bruised and bloodied, so Prudence gave the sweetest farewell she could muster to her grandmother, leaving the region altogether and her famous red riding hood along with it.
For so long, ever since the kind old women had gifted it to her on her thirteenth birthday, it had been a part of the girl's life. It was the reason people knew she was near and the cause of her getting a nickname that catched on to the point where anyone but her family rarely called her by her real name. It was more than an item of clothing that kept her warm in the winter and blocked out the sun's hot rays in the summer, it sort of defined her in a way. Although, it was in so much of her past, that it made the human want to have it no where near her upcoming future. She viewed it as curse, a reminder of how everything seemed to have added up into a painful conclusion. She swore it even smelled like smoke.
Her grandma, Lily, understood when the young girl left it folded up on a chair the morning of her departure. She didn't dare give it or sell it to anyone else though, hoping her granddaughter would come back seeing that she hadn't lost as much as the blonde thought she did, that she still had hopefulness, even when Pru was too blinded by grief to notice. So even when peaceful years had passed and eventually the grandmother died of old age, it still stayed for the longest time, tucked away in a chest, awaiting to be worn proudly once more.
Of course, the blonde never dared to return to it, getting through life the best she could, only focusing on getting her mind off of what had happened. Soon the cabin was even torn down, its containments going to random markets as the world continued to evolve, and it was passed from buyer to buyer throughout the centuries. No one claimed it for too long, and in the end when we got to current time, it rested in a dusty box in storage, nobody of the modern age finding any use for an ancient, red cloak.
In all honesty, the item barely crossed her mind, but then again why would it? She would focus on any distraction to forget about the traumatic events that took place in the beginning of her long life. Prudence lived life to the fullest, doing what she wanted and having fun when she knew deep down she never really was. Her existence became a blur, it became meaningless almost, it lacked the purpose she threw away so easily. There was never nothing holding her to a place, so she felt no attachment when she left, going to a new location. She never allowed herself to be happy.
One day when Pru was particularly bored with nothing to do, curiosity got the best of her, and so she did a little research. A little research turned into a project, and that project turned into an obsession until impulsively she found herself in Beacon Hills not even a week after the McCall pack had defeated Void. She studied them from afar, learning what they were and what made them so special that they actually managed to outwit a fox, and because she was only a human, she left with the intel undetected.
Prudence didn't predict that all of this would led to a plan of rescuing him from his prison, though to make herself feel better, she pretended that once she set him free, it would be then that she got her own revenge. The phone calls that would happen regularly every couple of years when he called her in a moment of loneliness would always end in her hanging up, anguished tears falling down her face soon afterward. He would never completely forget about her and leave her alone, so she figured this might be the solution to that. It had to be.
The night before she knocked out and tricked Stiles Stilinski, the blonde actually had a dream, but it wasn't really a dream because it was a memory. One that involved both of them happily cuddling on the floor late at night while saying things that either made them laugh or get close enough to share a kiss. It was because of that the girl realized it wasn't all bad, since whether she liked it or not they fitted even when they shouldn't have. They collided beautifully even though it caused them to break, and the pair could have that again and maybe learn from past mistakes so that it wouldn't end in them parting. After forever, Pru had hope, the kind he had never lost when it came to them. They had hoped for each other.