AN: In retrospect, writing another multi-chapter was a bad idea but I really want to write this :S

Hope you like it, please leave a comment if you wish~ ^^

Evening was upon the forest, the few gaps way up in the canopy revealing glimpses of an amber sky. Birds screeched from up on their chosen branches to roost and a breeze tried and failed to make its way through the foliage to get to the ground below. A small stream ran twixt the trees, snaking around and sliding under thick roots to drop down to lower levels of earth, creating miniature waterfalls as it did. A few fireflies hung around the darkest patches where the light no longer reached, their wings humming lazily as they flew in sleepy patterns. Two squirrels chased one another across the mossy ground, knocking into long blades of grass and causing them to sway before they skittered up a tree trunk and disappeared into the branches above.

The sounds of cracking twigs underfoot had a few rabbits, who were huddled together by the running water, spook and dive for their dens underneath the brush. The deep tones of hushed male voices thrummed in the peaceful silence until the low hanging branch of a willow was pushed aside sending the once idle fireflies into a panicked frenzy, each one darting this way and that in an attempt to get away from the intruders.

Booted feet struggled to gather their bearings on the damp and uneven dirt, slushing mud and digging welts into the earth with their heels. They filed through one after the other, crushing anything they stepped on and eventually hacking the willow branch away with unnecessary brutality. There was a sharp rip of abrasive paper and a deep even breath as one of them lit up a small paper stick full of dried leaves and put it into their mouth.

Up in the canopy above, a trained eye watched with distaste.

There were five of them all together. Four bearing axes with blades larger than their heads and they joked and laughed in loud grunts and barks of sound. The other stood quietly, puffing out smoke from the tobacco filled paper resting on his lips. Over his shoulder hung a quiver and his bow. The weapon was a thing of beauty the arc of it made from a Sapphire Willow, making the bow flexible but sturdy and was doused in a resin that made the blue and purple tinted grain glow in a ghost-like manner. In his leather quiver were housed an array of arrows each more stunning than the last, the feathered plumage at the top varying across a numerous colour scheme. He was clad in Royal Blue robes and trousers, the silvery glitter of chainmail peeking out underneath, and his long hair with its numerous shades of blonde was pulled back into a plait that fell to his narrow waist and revealed his two gracefully pointed ears. One blue eye, the right one hidden by a fringe that tumbled to his collarbone, flicked from side to side as though bored of his surroundings.

The trained eyes up above watched him closely, barely able to contain a venomous hiss as the blonde pointed towards a Lullaby Birch casually with one hand and gave some unkown signal. The eyes watched as the four elves moved as one and began to swing their axes, hacking into the first layer of bark that gave way with a mournful cry no one but the eyes seemed to hear. The man high up tore his gaze away and stood up with perfect blance on the branch he was perched on. He growled softly before leaping and landing silently on the next tree's branch as he made his way through the well-known network of trees.

He had to alert the Chief.

Prince Sanji the Third, Son of King Zeff, Head Commanding Archer of the Military and the Heir of the throne of All Blue was bored. He looked around the forest with contempt in his eyes and a furrowed swirled eyebrow. His chainmail weighed him down considerably and he loathed the way it sat on him, digging into his collarbones until they were raw with bruises. He felt his bow slip from his shoulder so he took it off and into his hand, the unicorn hair drawstring soft on the flesh of his fingers. He jigged the weapon up and down, bouncing off his digits impatiently and the blue wood of the arc tapped against his leather wrist guards. His tongue fiddled with the cigarette in his mouth.

As his men set to work cutting down the Lullaby Birch, Sanji scowled at his feet until he noticed some impressions in the dirt. He crouched down, running his fingers over the wide base shape and four toes. A wolf, he concluded, and not that long gone- the tracks were still fresh. The Elven Prince smirked as he tugged an arrow free from its quiver, resting it at the ready on the drawstring of his bow. Maybe his day wouldn't be so boring after all. If he wasn't allowed to flirt with the ladies then he might as well partake in some hunting. He spat out his cigarette and snuffed it out with the toe of his boot before setting off through a small break in the trees where the tracks led.

It wasn't that Sanji hated Zeff, he loved his father, it was just that the shitty old geezer was too controlling at times. You could bet that if Sanji wanted to do something then Zeff wouldn't let him. Take today for example. The young Prince had merely wanted to spend the night at the tavern, to have a few drinks and flirt with a few lucky ladies but the King had forbidden it. So Sanji was stuck on tree felling duty with four guys he didn't like and had only just managed to sneak his bow out with him. The Prince hadn't complained at first, he'd rather been looking forward to going into the Deep Forest without an escort of guards for a change but of course Zeff had sent him to the only goddamn place in the whole forest without any Nymphs! He'd kept a lookout the whole way there, watching for any lounging by the rivers or strutting through the trees but he hadn't seen a single one, "Shitty bastard..." He grumbled.

Sanji kept his bow raised at mid height, the two leading fingers of his right hand poised either side of the arrow as he stalked through the shrubbery ducking under low hanging twigs and brushing past thickets with the softest of sounds. He'd stopped briefly to tuck his long hair into his belt so he wouldn't get caught on any plant life, a lesson learnt the hard way whilst he had been an Archer in training. He narrowed his eyes as he crept deeper into the forest, the sounds of the tree fellers a little more dulled out at this distance but were there all the same. He paused at a patch of Hushed Brambles and listened as they whispered to one another, sharing secrets as though they were the voice of the forest themselves. 'Night' they said, 'night' and 'elf' and 'pain' and 'wolf'. Sanji smiled, he was on the right track.

He pushed on forwards, stepping nimbly over roots that attempted to snag his ankles and ignoring the thorns that tried desperately to pierce his chainmail. There were sounds of movement up ahead, of snuffling and padding paws. Sanji crouched, looking under the gaps in the brush to see two shadows moving. Two wolves. The Prince smiled, even better.

He slunk up silently, his feet trained and body held in the manner of an expert hunter until he reached the wall of thickets and bush. With a swift movement, the string of the bow was drawn back and the arrow released into majestic flight as he hopped to his feet. A loud, animalistic grunt had him smirking in certainty that the projectile had found its mark. Not that he expected it to miss, he never missed.

With his free hand, he pushed off a large, raised tree root and hurdled neatly over the thick crop of nature and landed on the dirty compacted earth of a small clearing. The treeline was thinner here, enabling the light of the sunset to come tumbling through, forming orange blotches beneath his feet. His blue eyes narrowed at the one body, it had seemed the other animal had made a quick escape before he had chance to slay it too. Not that it mattered, the size of the one he had struck was formidable enough.

The large wolf had its back to him, but Sanji could see the arrow jutting out of it. It was still alive, its chest heaving in ragged breaths and its body twitching every so often. Sanji shouldered his bow and tugged the knife out of its sheath from the belt around his hips. He'd put it out of his misery quickly. He stepped forward slowly but the minute his boot connected with the ground, the wolf turned, leaping up and twisting into a crouching position and Sanji almost dropped the knife.

This was no wolf.

An elf stared back at him, naked save for the earthy brown cloth wrapped around his lower parts and a wolf's pelt thrown over his back, held to his body at the wrists and head where the dead wolf's hollowed out snout covered the elf's scalp. The elf was dark in skin colour, tanned and scarred flesh stretched out over strong and toned muscles. In a rich terracotta were hand engraved tattoos of a tribal kind and they danced in patterns up his arms, hands, wrists, chest and cheekbones. Scars riddled his torso and the left side of his face, where an eye was permanently shut. From his right temple, a single braid decorated by beads and feathers tumbled to his collarbone. The single, well functioning eye glared threateningly at the blade in Sanji's hand and lips curled back over white teeth in a feral snarl.

Sanji's mouth was dry. What the hell was this? There weren't supposed to be elves in the forest land. All of them lived up on the higher grounds. Zeff had told him so... His eyes spotted the shaft of the arrow jutting out of the other's thigh, deep red blood oozing down the thick muscled limb. On some sort of reflexive instinct, he put out his hand, "Your leg..."

A low rumble that only became increasingly louder slipped out of the other elf's lips and he sunk lower on all fours in a defensive stance. Sanji moved though before the other could make his escape. He'd shot a man, he couldn't just leave him! "Please, let me-"

Suddenly the world flipped and Sanji found himself on his back, his heart racing at the coldness of his own knife as it pressed against the skin of his throat. One dark eye glared at him, lips screwed in a snarl. The wolf-clad elf had him pinned to the ground, the knife poised and ready.

"I have seen you..." A voice that was more akin to a growl rattled in Sanji's ears and it took him a moment to process it was coming from the feral elf above him, "You hurt her. You cut her trees, you kill her children. Now I will cut you. I will kill you." The knife moved up further and Sanji gasped. He wanted to beg for his life but words failed him as he looked up into that almost flint black eye. He swallowed, shivering when his Adams's apple bobbed and grazed the sharp edge of the knife creating a stinging pain as something warm trickled down his neck and round to the hood of his travelling robe. The wolf-elf snarled, "You disgust me, you all do. The way you treat her... The way you hurt her..." The elf brought up the knife in a swooping arc and roared, "DIE!"

Sanji's eyes widened as the blade plummeted down. Oh God. He was going to die. He was going to die. His words caught in his throat that was soon to be punctured by this crazy elf. He wouldn't get to be king. There wouldn't be an heir anymore. All those women he'd never get to court-

"Rghh!" The wolf-elf grunted and Sanji opened his eyes, not even aware that he'd closed them. The other elf was looking far off to the right, the way Sanji had entered. His nose twitched and he sniffed twice and made a deep noise of irritation. He put the knife down, throwing it some distance. Not that Sanji could grab it anyway with his arms prisoner in the elf's straddling thighs. Suddenly the blond's face was grabbed with rough fingers and he was forced to look up, "You come here again, and I will kill you. Do you understand?!"

Sanji had no time to give his answer as the other dug his long nails into the flesh of his cheek and twisted his body, springing off the Elven Prince and taking off out of the clearing with a rustle of leaves and a clatter of twigs behind him. Sanji sat up, bringing a palm to his burning cheek and pulled it away with a hiss to see a blossom of purple blood. His eyes turned back to the small gap amongst the trunks of the trees where the crazed elf had taken his leave. His heart was racing in his mouth.

What the hell had that been about?!