Day 6: Crossover/AU

Akko's mother would tell her stories upon bedtime about the fair folk that lived in the woods. Stories about brownies who help with the chores overnight in exchange for a bowl of cream. There were pixies who make various pranks on humans ranging from harmless to harmful.

There were boggarts, mischievous creatures who slammed doors, shatter pottery and pawed through a household's winter stores in search of sweets. There were goblins, ugly creatures who kidnaps naughty children and eat them.

Numerous tales about faerie rings and faerie revels that would tempt lost travelers into music and dancing, and that the people who joined them lost all of their humanity Children were warned to stay away from strange flickering lights at midnight, for if a person once set foot inside a fairy ring, they would never be able to leave.

There were also handsome love-talkers, who seduced girls with their charm and wit and then left them to pine away for a love that could never be.

"So my dear little Akko," her mother gave her a kiss on the forehead, tucking her in bed. "When a mysterious handsome boy offers you to dance, do not let him touch you for you will be trapped and can never get home again."

"Are all fairies bad?" she asked, her eyes reflected the light from the candle flame.

"Faeries have the beauty of angels and the viciousness of demons." Her mother said. "All of them are mischievous creatures. Some have a well-intent heart, some had a corrupted one."

"Do you think we'll see any real fairies?" Akko asked excitedly.

"Perhaps," her mother answered. "And hopefully you will remember all of my warnings about them so you can live and tell the tale to your future children.

"How will I recognize them?"

"Sometimes they dress as ordinary humans," her mother replied.

"But how will I know if I see a fairy?" Akko asked again. "If they look like ordinary people, I won't be able to tell."

"You'll be able to tell because wherever they touch, they'll leave a bit of golden or silver dust behind."

"It is like magic," Akko whispered.

Her mother smiled at her, her hand touching her hair. "Yes, my love, it is."

Akko took her mother's bedtime stories to the heart for all of her 16 years.

One day, when the grass in their fields became scarce, Akko's mother instructed her to bring their goats to the forest and at the same time giving her a list of things to forage while the goats feed.

"Be safe now, my child." Her mother said, retrieving something from her pocket and handed it over to her daughter. "Here's for extra protection and please heed my warnings."

Akko held the knife in her hand, feeling the weight of it. She unsheathed the blade to inspect it closely, it was made of iron—the Fair Folk's weakness. "Have a safe trip too, mother."

Her mother gave her child another kiss on the forehead and traveled down the road. She still had duties to attend to at the nearby village. Ever since Akko's father died by overworking, her mother took the role of both parents.

Wandering through the woods with a basket strapped to her shoulders, Akko held the reins of their two goats. With deft fingers, she tethered the goats to the nearby tree while foraging the area of possible edible fruits, nuts, and herbs.

Akko was careful to know which direction she'd go, leaving tracks behind so she'd know where to return in case she gets lost. She then brought the goats to a nearby stream so they would be refreshed on the rest of the journey.

She had been doing it for hours and when her stomach grumbled, she took out her prepared lunch: a bowl of cold stew and a small loaf of bread. Akko saw a massive, low-hanging birch limb and decided to take a break there. She settled down on the mossy surface, resting.

After a full stomach, Akko shifted on the branch, feeling the tree move beneath her. Looking downward, she saw a woman mounting her white noble steed with golden eyes. A thrill of shock coursed through Akko's body. First of all, she had never heard the drumbeat of horses' hooves, and second, the woman looked strange.

The girl had platinum colored hair with greenish highlights. She wore brown breeches, black boots and a long-sleeved silver tunic over her green chemise. She had a long silver bow strapped on her shoulder with a quiver full of arrows. The fabric of her clothes and as well as her weapon gleamed as if there were light trapped within.

On first glance, the girl's face was just ordinary, except that her skin was as white as goat's milk. She looked young but those eyes bear wisdom that only the old possesses. One eye glowed unnaturally blue and the other was unnaturally silver like the moon. They were cool, measuring and iridescent and twinkling like stars. Akko lost her mind in those mesmerizing pools.

"What are you seeking?" she said, her lilting voice was silky yet cold.

Akko and the Huntress were separated by several feet, but Akko was disconcerted by the intensity of her gaze; she felt as if the woman could pull her open from afar.

The Huntress' two colored eyes moved to the goats and then back to her face. An expression of some sort passed over her features, but Akko did not recognize it. "Come closer."

Akko was compelled to get up. Even her own muscles would not obey her own commands. When she stood before the Huntress, she trembled from fear, suddenly becoming aware of the knife that she placed on her thigh holster.

The huntress got off her horse to be on eye level with her. She reached out to stroke Akko's brown hair and immediately, Akko retrieved the knife hidden underneath her skirt. She pointed the iron blade on the stranger' face, though the Huntress stood there, unwavering.

"You have such a small weapon." The Huntress said, raising her hands in surrender. "Your fingers are shaking and your posture and stance seem lacking. You could easily be defeated."

Akko managed to ask, her heart thudding in her chest. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

Judging by her appearance and the lack of nose philtrum in between the girl's nose and upper lips confirmed she was not among the human race; however, something unthinkable happened. The huntress held Akko's hand and disarmed her. Akko fell to the ground, she stared upwards at the huntress who held the hilt of her knife and as well as the blade. She was completely fine with it.

"Here is one of my hunting knife, and look at the difference between them." The huntress unsheathed hers from her waist. It was also made of cold iron and was as long as half an arm.

Akko's face reddened. She has terribly mistaken the girl as a faerie. The girl must be among the foreign settlers or ones that lived across the borders which explain the girl's uncanny beauty. She lifted herself from the ground and this time let the huntress brush some dirt off her face.

Akko could feel an icy chill emanating from the Huntress' hand, but she could not control the warmth spreading across her cheeks. "What shall I call you then?" she asked.

"Diana," she whispered, returning her hunting knife back on its sheath. "Though I am in no position to ridicule you of your weapon choice, clearly your knife is for stealth and throws." She returned the small knife to Akko's hand and then slowly bowed.

"I am still in the process of learning how to defend myself," Akko admitted.

"Is that so? Would you want me to help you train? Or rather," Diana curtsied. "Shall I have this dance, pretty girl?"

Akko gasped. "I-I do not know how to dance."

Diana's lips curved upward. "Come, the steps are simple. Let me show you how," she said, extending her hand.

Akko's breath hitched. She could not refuse such an attractive woman. Placing the knife back to its sheath underneath her skirt, she offered her hand.

Diana's hand was strong and supple. Somehow she managed to copy Diana's steps just easily for it seemed as if her shoes were leading her along, telling her feet and legs where to move. As they whirled around, Akko swore she caught a sight of musicians with their flutes, harps, pipes, and drums beside them, making sweet music for them to move in rhythm.

Akko was confused, lightheaded; it was as if a cloak of glamour clung to her, making her intoxicated with dancing with the beautiful woman.

When the pounding of the drums and the harmonious rhythm died down, they stopped dancing. Akko looked around desperately, trying to find any trace of the intoxication left. A silence grew between them. Akko looked down at the ground, studying the brown pattern of veins in the fallen leaves.

Eventually, the huntress said, "Never in all of my life had I had the most utmost fun with a mere girl." She curtsied and turned to go back to mount her steed. "Forgive me dear lady; it may have seemed that I took much of your time. Have a good walk back home."

Fearing the loss of her sight, Akko reached out and grabbed her arm and asked. "Please, will you show me the way back to the path? I think I'm lost."

The huntress nodded with a smile. Diana got down from her steed and placed her lithe arms around Akko's waist and lifted her up to sit on the horse's saddle. She then proceeded to grab Akko's basket and handed it to her. She also untied the knots from the goats' reins and grabbed her steed's reins as well.

She shepherded the way through the woods without speaking, but their steps seemed as loud as an advancing army. Sitting on top of the horse, Akko watched the huntress. Her eyes raking on the rise and fall of Diana's shoulders as she moved, her silver woolen cloak flapping behind her with each step. When they reached the trail, the huntress paused and said. "I trust you can find your way home."

Akko nodded. The huntress then carried her with such graceful strength from the white steed and onto the ground. With her basket strapped on her shoulders once more, she took the reins of her goats.

The huntress bowed once more. "Then I'll bid you good evening. I must go."

"Good evening," Akko replied and went on her way back home because it did not seem polite to watch the huntress leave. A little guilt buried in her heart because she had lied to the Huntress, and she wondered if the huntress had known that she had not been lost that day.

When she was inside her room, Akko unbuttoned her dress and pulled it over her head, folding it carefully at the foot of the bed. She pulled off her petticoat and her shoes, and stood for a moment in the room in her camisole, her arms crossed over her chest until she realized that the night's air was too chilly to be standing around undressed.

That was when she found that her clothes had silver dust sprinkled all over. She paid it no mind, figuring that the Huntress came from a rich country and those were merely expensive glitters that flew to her clothing while they danced.

She wanted to tell her mother her adventure, but she thought to herself that she ought to finish her tomorrow's chores before telling her mother in the evening.

When tomorrow came, her plans were similar to the one yesterday, but this time she also had to spin some flax so her mother could sell it to the nearby village. So Akko started spinning; however, there was something unsettling inside her. It was as if the woods were calling her and her feet ache to whirl around.

Akko finally stood and stopped spinning her flax for the distracted thoughts inside her mind could not even give her a productive hour. She drove the goats as usual to the woods.

It had been noon when she crossed paths with the huntress once more. Akko gawked at Diana. She looked more beautiful than she was yesterday. When the huntress asked her to dance with her, Akko could not stop the beating of her heart and stop it from leaving her chest. Without any reluctance, together, they danced until dusk.

She forgot to do her chores for the rest of the day.

The next day, she promised herself not to dance despite how flattered and tempted she would be, but the Huntress came by her home at noon and distracted her from spinning yarn and cleaning her house altogether. Her chore began piling up but at least the goats were properly fed and the female was milked. All Akko wanted to do was to dance on forever with the Huntress.

On the third morning, the same thing happened. They truly danced to their hearts' content. At sundown, Akko burst into tears for she forgot to spin her flax, becoming conscious of all of her undone chores and feared what her mother would say.

The beautiful huntress then helped spin all the flax Akko forgot to, while Akko did the other chores. When Akko finished cleaning the house and milking the goat, she looked for Diana who then disappeared when her task was done.

Akko wondered how the huntress could have spun three days worth of spinning in just one day, but perhaps Diana grew up in a country where they had an advance spinning technique. Akko gaped at the finished product. All the spun flax was neatly stacked and shone gold and silver.

On the fourth day, it has not been noon when she heard beautiful music coming from a close distance. This one was a tune she has not heard of before. She placed the basket on the ground near the tree and went towards the music curiously.

Leaving the path, she picked her way across fallen branches, and soon she saw flickering lights like fireflies in midsummer. She came across a scene so beautiful it made her heartache. There were sparkling lanterns hanging from the branches, illuminating the clearing where dozens of finely dressed men and women were dancing, their bodies as graceful as blossoms bending in a spring breeze. In the center of the clearing was a meadow.

Akko saw a circle of girls dancing round and round, they looked deliriously mad from the ecstasy of the joyful movement. All around the dancing circle were full of the old and the young, men and women, and those who are not sure and those who are in between. Most of them were faeries in their unearthly splendor. She watched them as they chatter, sing, and dance, to their heart's content, and lay on cushioned seats with crystal goblets in hand.

Akko remembered her mother's stories about faerie rings and faerie revels. She could be trapped here forever if she succumbed to temptation but she could easily evade them. She knew all the warnings and she has an iron knife with her. So she stepped past the exotic mushrooms and flowers that decorated the sidelines and entered the clearing.

One of the faerie women came toward her, her skin was nearly a deadly shade of translucent, with puce hair, and her only visible eye was hard like ruby, and her teeth sharp like knives, but the smile on her face was entrancing. She wore only a thin dress made of what looked like gossamer threads. "You seem lost, little girl? Come, dance with us. Eat some of our sweet treats and drink some of our sweet wine."

Akko couldn't answer. She forgot all about her mother's warnings in an instant. If a person danced with faeries they will be enchanted to a delusion of happiness. If a person consumed food of the faeries, they will be trapped forever in faerie for no humans are allowed to taste their delicacies. The faerie woman seized the advantage of a stunned mortal and took her hand to lead her into the dancing circle.

Then someone took Akko's other hand and pulled her back away from the dancing girls, and the faerie woman turned to look at who had restrained her and let go, her eyes widening in sudden fright.

"I had claimed her as my own." Akko heard a familiar voice say but the language was unknown to her.

"Oh, forgive me Lady Diana of the Wild Hunt." The faerie grinned but the sharp anger in the woman's eyes startled her; it was as if a beautiful mask had slid off to reveal the hungry beast within.

The Huntress was furious. Akko could see the muscles of Diana's face taut beneath her white skin and spoke to the faerie woman. The whispering began to separate out into sentences spoken in a language Akko did not understand.

"Sucy of the Unseelie lands," she snarled. "Pray tell why do the Unseelie and the Seelie Court seem to be celebrating when the Seelie Queen and the Unseelie King forbid all contact with each other?"

Sucy chuckled. "Classic ignorance among you Wild Huntresses, the law is applicable back on Faerie Land but here on The Clearing, the law is bendable!"

Akko recoiled from both of them but Diana kept her locked in her grip.

"I see," she excused herself and dragged Akko out of the circle, her fingers nearly crushing Akko's arm.

"You're hurting me," she gasped, but the huntress would not stop moving until they were away from that place and she could no longer hear the intoxicating music.

"What were you doing?" Diana demanded, at last, letting go of her.

"I followed the music, I thought it was you." she said.

"You walked deeper to the enchanted path. You must never explore much to get to The Clearing, and you cannot remain here."

"Go back?" she repeated, and she was flooded with disappointment. "I came all this way to get to you. I missed you. Don't make me go back." She pleaded.

"You have no choice in the matter," Diana said curtly. She turned, lifting her head as if she was listening for something Akko could not hear. "I will take you back to your home."

And then the Huntress' noble steed came out of the woods toward them. In one smooth motion, the Huntress picked her up and lifted her onto the saddle, and then Diana mounted behind her.

Akko sat stiffly, afraid to lean back against Diana's soft breasts, "B-but my goats and baskets!"

"They are already waiting for you." The Huntress said.

The horse beneath Akko felt powerful and wild than it was before, but the steed moved so smoothly that Akko found herself relaxing against her will. As they glided through the dark trees, the texture of the air seemed to change as if the woods were being compressed on their journey, and when she inhaled, it was like a gust of wind thrust down her throat.

When the horse slowed down she blinked her eyes open. They were already outside her little cottage with the goats and basket full of herbs and woods.

"I apologize," Akko said as soon as Diana dismounted her steed to carry the shorter girl back to the ground. "I just realized that I was in deep trouble back there."

"Do not be," Diana said, looking sideways from guilt. "I must admit I was a bit too harsh."

"You care for me, Diana," Akko said, her cheeks blushing. "That is what my mother also does—tough love."

Diana gazed back into her eyes. Akko could see the tears dampen her thick black lashes. She and the Huntress were just a kiss away and Akko really wanted to crash her lips onto hers.

"Shall I still see you tomorrow?" Akko asked instead, her voice, strained and edgy.

"As you wish, dear heart of mine," Diana said. Then as if she were in a trance, she leaned in suddenly towards the shorter girl's face, capturing Akko's waiting lips.

Diana's moistened lips moved over her own, tender at first then with increasing pressure and ardor. Slowly, Akko gave into their passionate kiss. She slipped out a soft moan in her throat, and her hands absentmindedly ran through the huntress' long blonde locks. Akko threw an arm around Diana's neck; she tried to draw her closer still, needing to feel the huntress against her. Diana's nails were digging into her hips as they kissed in a ravenous frenzy.

"Atsuko," she breathed heavily. "You have the prettiest mouth, so pink and delicate. I can barely contain myself."

With that Diana kissed her again and Akko was lost in the sensation. Akko's eyes were closed but she felt Diana smile against her mouth. All of her blood sang and thrummed with each beat of her heart.

Suddenly their kiss ended and the huntress reached for Akko's hand and brought it to her lips, and kissed her knuckles. Akko felt lightheaded as if she had drunk a great deal of wine.

"See you tomorrow," Diana whispered.

This went on and on for days. Until Akko's mother would return home and find her daughter in an ecstatic trance. Her daughter would often sigh and look far into the distance outside the window and she would often hum a tune of the music she had not heard of.

Her mother noticed all the little signs, her daughter's clothes would be filled with silver dust; the spun flax would radiate golden sunlight, her daughter would often muse about how beautiful simple things were but found no physical side effects that could mean she was being entranced by a faerie.

Akko's mother quickly inspected the iron knife she gave her. It was neither destroyed nor altered in any sort of way. It was still cold iron—lethal to faeries. Hurled with worry, this time, she decided to give her daughter extra protection. It was an old iron amulet that was forged by their ancestors. Locked inside were more faerie weaknesses such as salt and a powder of grave dirt. Sometimes dousing her daughter with holy water she bought from the church and feeding her daughter with potions that the local witches recommended.

She did all the procedures she could think of and yet Akko still comes home in such a state even if the anti-faerie objects clung to her young girl.

"Akko," her mother came to her one day. Figuring that perhaps her daughter fell prey to romantic love. "Had you met any boys around the area?"

"I have met no boys," Akko replied, her eyes in a daze and her cheeks pink. "For no boy or man would ever charm me."

"Oh," her mother said. "Who had you been thinking about?"

"You might as well be put in a mystery quite longer, mother." Akko giggled, "For I am not telling you yet."

Akko dreamily longed for the coming of noon meetings with the Huntress. So every day, she brought her goats and basket, along with the amulet that hung on her throat. At noon, Diana still came.

"Beautiful amulet," Diana noticed the new ornament that graced Akko's neck perfectly.

"My mother worries too much." Akko held onto it. "I would trade my lifetime sweets to show her that I'm not glamoured by some faerie."

A flicker of hurt crossed Diana's features. "Why would she say that?"

"She claims the most dreaded things that I am being succumbed to an evil faerie's spell."

"Perhaps you are, Atsuko," Diana said. "A human masked with glamour had no recollection of anything in their old human life. All they would think of is the music and the false dreams woven by their captors."

Akko stared at Diana with a pout, slightly angered at the thought. "You were supposed to take my side."

"Oh, forgive me. Let us not destroy the mood for our romantic joyful dancing." She offered her hand.

"Also," she held Diana's palm. "How many times have I told you to call me Akko instead?"

Diana's lips were careful not to curve. "We do not believe in shortened names."

Once she and Diana started to move, their sole purpose is to dance and they become the link between faerie tale and reality as if their whole bodies were possessed by magic spirits. Diana was graceful, stunning and charming at the same time, and the way her body moved to the heavenly music made Akko fall for this lovely huntress even more.

Akko, as ecstatic as ever, forgot everything and they danced till sundown.

Hoping that Diana would help her again, the Huntress took Akko's empty basket, filled it with something. "I am afraid that I could not bring you back to your home this time." Her face contorted into despair. "The hunt calls me, Atsuko. I had been gone from my duties long enough. My huntresses are restless for a glorious hunt. I had no heart to tell you that today is the last day we could dance like this."

Akko's jaw dropped, her eyes widening. "What?"

"By midnight, the hunt and I are leaving. We are never to return back."

"You are leaving me?" Deep from the pit of her stomach, her joyous momentum disappeared, replaced when she fell into such a sudden distress.

When Akko looked up and met Diana's unnatural two colored eyes—one blue and the other silver, she could not stop herself from shaking until her eyes wept. And then the huntress touched Akko's cheek.

Akko grabbed Diana by her shoulders and looked at her with furious and pleading eyes, "Diana no! Please!"

"It is for the best, Atsuko. The love between a human and a faerie had no good endings. There are always costs and consequences."

Akko made a sharp inhale, "Faerie? Do not jest with me, Diana! You are unaffected by the cold iron and amulet!"

Diana sighed. "Faeries cannot lie. I have not tricked you into thinking I am human. It is merely your lack of knowledge about the World of the Fae. The reason why your iron and amulet does not affect me for I am among the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is composed of faeries and souls of lost humans. Wild Hunt faeries are not ordinary faeries. We are immune to typical faerie weaknesses. We are neither dead nor alive and we belong in neither Seelie nor Unseelie Courts."

Wondering, Akko took Diana's hands in hers, and they were as cold as death. Akko's eyes glistened from the tears threatening to escape. "What was it then? Why did you approach me that day?"

"I was on a mission to take a lost mortal and offer her a goblet of my blood disguised as wine."

"You were supposed to enslave me?" Akko's voice quivered, sounding thick with tears.

"You took an enchanted path and stepped into faerie land, and you were the most beautiful among lost humans that day." She answered.

The resolution startled Akko for it came like a slap on her face. She felt her heartache.

"No one has ever encountered the Wild Hunt; no one has been offered to take a ride on our horses without serving us for eternity. You are the first ever, Atsuko. There is an unknown force within me that stopped my carnal desire of possessing you."

Akko's tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes. Sure she wished she would be able to witness faeries, leave their evil clutches, and live to tell the tale; but this was not what she had in mind. She did not wish to part from the girl she loved.

"I will join you," Akko said, throwing herself to Diana, nuzzling on Huntress' neck. "For I love you and would be with you for eternity."

Diana shook her head; she grabbed Akko's arms and untangled it from her neck. She made Akko look at her for even her blue and silver eyes were dark with pain. "I am but a shadow of a human soul and can never love you as a human could."

Akko could see that she told the truth, for no blood warmed her skin, and there was no pulse beating in her throat. When they first kissed, Akko's rational thoughts disappeared, fooling her into thinking that the huntress was warm and had a beating heart. But if it was so, Akko could accept Diana with all her flaws. A part of Akko still wished to be with Diana regardless of what form she had taken.

When Diana had seen Akko's wish in her heart, she handed her the basket and covered it with her own handkerchief. "I shall give you my parting gift, Atsuko. Treasure our memories together for I will treasure our shared dances together. Look not inside the basket until you are home."

Akko hesitated to receive it because it meant she will never see her beloved huntress ever again.

"You must go back, Atsuko. I am lost to you forever, but you can still leave. You must forget about your feelings for me from now on, and if you see the Wild Hunt riding, never approach us." Then she quickly mounted her steed.

Her golden-eyed horse gave a loud neigh and rode through the wind swiftly, leaving Akko on her own to go home.

With a lungful of air, Akko collapsed to the ground, curling herself into a ball and cried for her lost love.

Akko waited for her composure to return. When it did, she grabbed the reins of her goats and she strapped the basket behind her. With a broken heart, she ambled to the pathway home before it got too dark. Despite the advice the huntress gave her, she wanted to look inside because the basket was so light that she wondered whether there was anything in it.

Halfway, her curiosity turned full peak so she peeped in to see that the basket was full of birch leaves. Akko burst into more tears. Diana surely was a cold-blooded faerie who relished at hurting humans. In anger, she threw out a handful of unnecessary leaves and was going to empty the basket when she decided to keep what's left as litter for the goats.

Arriving home, Akko gasped when her mother ran towards her, claiming that the leftover flax that has not been sold yet vanished. So Akko confessed and told her mother all she knew about the beautiful huntress.

"Oh," her mother cried. "She is Lady Diana, the leader of the Wild Huntresses! She goes by many names and is among the oldest of faeries. Many refer to her as a goddess for she is neither alive nor dead but truly divine. At noon she would roam the woods looking for lost humans, offering them to dance with her and present them with blood wine once the victim is exhausted. As leader of the Wild Hunt, new potential recruits are forced to drink her blood as part of their initiation. It is well you are not a boy or she might have danced you to death! Only females can join the wild hunt, but I do not understand. You are a suitable candidate for the hunt! I wonder why you are back home—safe and sound."

"She made me go back, mother," Akko said. "She said that I am the first to see her, rode with her on her steed, and danced with her and was able to survive the hunt to tell the tale. I was nearly even snatched into a faerie circle, if not for her."

Her mother was quiet after she heard all of that. Her heart heavy from all the worrisome tales she heard from her daughter. "Then I guess, my dear child, she made your childhood dream come true."

Akko did dream she would but not at this cost. Her heart stung once more. It was painful and repetitive as if she was being stung repeatedly by a bee. She thought of the little basket and wondered if there might be something under the leaves, hoping Diana was not as cruel.

As Akko removed the blanket over it, she became stunned at the sight. Her mother looked and placed her hands on her mouth to refrain from screaming in delight.

"The birch leaves were all turned to gold!" Akko gasped and ran straight outside to find that the handful of leaves that she had thrown away was still lying in the road and did not turn into gold. But the riches which Akko brought home were enough.

Akko grabbed her cloak when it was midnight. This was the last chance she has before Diana and the Wild Hunt would leave the village's forest forever. She took a lantern with her to guide her through the darkness. Wandering near the wooded copse by the river, where they would always dance, hoping to hear the thunder of the Wild Hunt's approach.

She had not known that a familiar road at night would as well become new. Although the full moon was high up in the sky, the moonlight had not reached the forest grounds as if some sinister dark magic curtained the trees, refusing to let light travel in. Night insects and night animals echoed around bringing forth a sensation she has not felt before. The ground was uneven, with roots protruding from the forest floor.

She was standing among tall trunks of pine trees when strange howls came from the east. Akko strained her ears to identify the sound but could not. When she turned to look around herself at the waiting dark, she was sure that she saw multiple yellow eyes blinking back at her.

She gasped in fright and hastened forward, clinging to the lantern, afraid she would drop it and be left in the pitch-black night. All Akko could surmise was that it was not a lone creature that now announced its presence in the dark to her.

She heard her own breath, quick and frantic, like a hunted wild rabbit. And then the whispering began. It came on the wind, sweeping towards her bursts, and then was halted before she could discern any words.

She held out the lantern like a weapon. "Who is there?"

There was suddenly the sound of laughter as the wind blew that sounded distant like bells chiming. She turned towards the sound and stumbled forward, tripping over the undergrowth root. As the laughter came more frequently, she recalled that she had heard this language spoken before.

Then she saw the lights in the distance. They did not waver; they were beacons in the night. She started to walk toward them, but they always seemed just out of reach. She began to feel a deep longing in the pit of her stomach. She feared she would wander in the dark woods forever until she would die.

That was when the footfalls of horses came toward her, the ground rumbling with the force of their passage. She stood transfixed, and the wind came. When a fog rose, her lantern went out, leaving her momentarily blind. But soon afterward the fog began to glow with an unearthly light.

When she saw the first horse, Akko's heart leaped up into her throat. The horses were gleaming gold, silver, earth and night and their eyes burning like hot burning coal and metal like the ones she saw at a blacksmith's forge. Witnessing with her own eyes the Wild Hunt she had heard about. This moment would be fixed in her memory forever. The huntresses were both beautiful and frightening. Ethereal women with various ethnicities and species, their cheekbones so sharply sculpted that they seemed made from marbles.

The faerie revels and faerie rings all are less compared to the Wild Hunt for this was nothing she had ever seen before. The huntresses surrounded her and looked at her with steely two-colored eyes, a mixture array of red, violet, gray, blue, amber, brown, black, green, and others Akko could not discern.

The huntresses each pointed their arrows from their bows, completely rooting her to the spot. She could not move for fear they will kill her instantly without seeing her beloved, she raised her hands, claiming she's unarmed and is merely a harmless humble human.

A redhead with her hair tied and wild eyes asked with growing anger. "How come a human girl stumbled upon us?"

"Strange girl, you just met your doom." Another huntress with slick black hair hissed. "What do we do with her?"

"We feed her to the wolves!" a wild redhead with green eyes yelled with such ferocity. "Or we take her among us!"

They seemed to speak to each other, but Akko could not see their mouths moving, and she could only hear the strange, uneven whispering she had heard before during that one time she nearly fell prey to faerie's glamour.

"Make way. She is mine."

The huntresses all quivered before that voice and streamed away from Akko in an elegant spiral, leaving her alone with one woman who looked down at her from her familiar tall white horse.

In all of her glory, Diana was more beautiful than any woman Akko had ever seen. She wore a skull mask on top of her head with huge antlers. When she spoke, she spoke Akko's language as she did before. "What are you doing here?"

Akko stood there paralyzed, unable to speak. She had not known that Diana was an honorable leader, yet she knew that the Huntress has a compassionate heart underneath that ruthless exterior.

"You are a fool. I told you to never come looking for me." Diana said. "I spared you many times. Do not tempt me to take you. You must go back."

"I came to find you." It felt as though she hadn't spoken in years. Akko reached out to hold Diana's hands.

Akko heard some of Diana's huntresses gasp at the sight. The leader of the Wild Hunt looked deeply angry and deeply heartbroken. Her huntresses cowered beneath their Lady's glare

"You must live your life as human and when you die, I shall take you to my ranks. Until then, my love, we shall meet again." Diana said and then she touched Akko's cheek, making her fall into an enchanted sleep.

Akko was found three days later when one of her neighbors discovered a seemingly normal white horse tethered near a wooded copse down by the river. Within a bed of dried leaves, Akko was there fast asleep. Although she was confused when she awoke, after she had been brought home to her wailing mother, and fed a good supper, she remembered what had happened.

In those three days that she was asleep, her mother bought a farm with fields and cattle with the gold, leaving one piece of gold for Akko to turn into a gold ring, to have something of Diana.

But no matter what Akko did, no matter how her mother tried to make her daughter forget about her lost love, no matter how cheerful and happy she was, nothing ever again gave her quite so much pleasure as the dance with the wild huntress. She often went to the birch wood in the hope of seeing the maiden again. But she never did.

She made her mother worry about her again for she refused to leave her bed. Her mother had called priests, doctors, witches to help her little girl and pay all of them with good money but they all said that Akko was neither glamoured nor enchanted by a faerie. Akko was just heartbroken and the remedy for a broken heart was either a rekindle of love or time.

"What is wrong with you, my dear?" Akko's mother asked her, she rubbed her womb, expecting a child for she had remarried.

With a deep sigh, Akko answered, "A faerie from the Wild Hunt has taken my heart away from me."

Her pregnant mother sat beside her bed. "It has been two years. You will be an older sister soon."

Akko stared at her mother's bulging womb. Her sibling's father was their neighbor who found her. She had not known that when the man found her sleeping and return her to her mother, they would fall in love. Akko could not stop herself from feeling bitter.

"And yet no one and nothing can make me forget about her."

As is the way with their past encounters, Akko could not forget what she had seen and experienced, and every noon and night she yearned for Diana, her heart aching anew.

Then all of a sudden, she could smell the scent of something indefinable perhaps it was the magic. Her head fell back against the pillow, and soon her eyes drifted shut. She dreamed of dancing with the huntress all over again.

That night Akko died. Her mother grieved, her new husband holding her tight. When days have passed and her firstborn has been given a proper burial, the mother gave birth that night to a healthy young baby girl.

As she did to her firstborn, she told her second child stories about the faeries with an additional tale to be told so that her firstborn's story would live on to more generations to come. About a wild huntress who fell in love with a mortal girl and danced with her every noon and made her rich presents until she left her to live a normal human life. When the mortal girl died of a broken heart, the Huntress came for her and took her soul. For the Wild Hunt are composed of faeries and souls of lost humans.

True to Diana's promise, Akko joined the Wild Hunt and was reunited with her lover once more.

A/N

This is the longest one I wrote omg. Really love this one, hope you guys enjoy reading this too. I based this fairytale from the Wooden Maiden by Parker Fillmore, the myths about the Wild Hunt and of course about the goddess Artemis/Diana.