#here's my dramatic ladyhawke au that no one asked for hahaha

[thecatwhogrins]

Entwined (mutual pining)

Ladyhawke AU

********************************

Ryuu was starving.

Being a traveling herbs vendor, he had learned how to get by on very little. But the dry season was taking over Tanbarun, and where once he would have found roots and herbs he could eat, now were only dry patches of land. A thief had also stolen his goods, rendering him incapable of selling anything.

He knew that at the next town, he’d have to either resort to thievery or begging. Both weren’t options he wanted to resort to, but his stomach was eating itself away. He did not have much of a choice.

Ryuu entered the small village, staring the market stalls full of plump fruits and shining vegetables, meats that almost made him salivate. He eyed one stall where an older lady was selling meat-filled buns. One of those could feed him for a few days, if he stretched it out. His whole body yearned for food, making it hard for him to think straight, blinding him to the people around him. He reached out when the woman wasn’t looking, guilt and shame reverberating throughout his body.

Swiftly, the young man started walking as fast as his feet would let him towards an alleyway, somewhere hidden, where he could feast on his prized possession. Suddenly, a cry pierced the crowd:

“Thief! Thief!”

Ryuu wanted to run, but immediately a pair of strong hands grabbed him. Ryuu turned around, eyes wide in fear, only to find a pair of calm golden eyes staring back. The man was tall, wiry and looked dangerous. Not that he was terribly strong looking, but his presence and the number of scars he sported indicated that behind his aloof façade, this man had killed before.

On his shoulder, a great hawk perched nonchalantly, observing Ryuu curiously. Its feathers were brown, but in the sunlight, they took on an almost reddish color. It was the most beautiful hawk Ryuu had ever seen. Like a bird caught by a snake, Ryuu found himself frozen, unable to react.

“What’s the matter boy, cat caught your tongue?” the man smirked.

Ryuu opened his mouth to say something, anything, but before he could speak, a few other people had gathered around, trying to determine if the thief had been caught. The old lady also arrived, wheezing from exertion.

“He stole one of my buns! Pay for it or I shall bring you to the authorities myself,” she announced angrily.

“I’m sorry ma’am, I… I was so hungry. I forgot myself,” Ryuu said, full of guilt.

Ryuu was about to turn himself in but the strange man spoke up.  

“I’ll pay for the food, madam. There is no need to turn this boy in.”

“Oh, if it isn’t the wandering knight. You can’t even pay for your own lodgings, how’re you going to pay for the boy?” she asked, mockingly.

“I have enough to spare for one of your worthless dogmeat-filled buns, madam,” he said, smiling sharply. He pulled out his leather pouch and placed a few coins into her expecting palm. The lady was visibly livid, but the wandering knight simply bowed slightly and walked away. Ryuu made sure to apologize once more profusely before hurrying after the man.

*

The knight entered a tavern and Ryuu followed, intent on thanking the man.

He was sitting at the bar, his dark clothes almost blending in with the dark oak of the bar, his hunched over figure seemed… lonely. The hawk was still perched on his shoulder, much to the visible displeasure of the bartender.

“Sir, I wish to give you my thanks…” Ryuu began, with a small voice.

The knight turned around and with a small smile.

“I accept your thanks, boy. Now go, get out of this town. Not everyone is as kind as I am, as you’ve probably realized by now,” he finished, gulping the down the rest of his ale.

“But sir, I… I must repay you,” Ryuu stuttered, “I could serve you for a while or…”

“My name is Obi, drop that ‘sir’ nonsense. I don’t need a page and where I travel is dangerous. I can’t go around saving a pup’s skin every step of the way,” he scoffed.

Ryuu was about to add something else when sir Obi stood up and dropped coins onto the bar. Ryuu could clearly see now that the knight’s clothes indicated he had once been very fortunate. Rich dark green velvet clad his upper body, his cape was lined with fur and his boots looked sturdy and were probably made of the finest leather, but the materials looked very worn. Was this man a deposed noble? Ryuu’s interest, which normally lay dormant except if the subject involved medicinal plants, had been piqued.

“Please, sir Obi, if I don’t repay this debt, my parents would be very much ashamed,” he said softly.

The knight stayed silent for a moment, then finally sighed and scratched the back of his head.

“Fine. I can’t promise you food of stable pay, but if you must insist, I’ll let you accompany me for a while. What is your name?” he asked.

“My name is Ryuu,” he answered.

“Well then, Ryuu, I’d suggest you stick close by,” he grumbled and led him out of the bar.

He followed the knight, out of the bar and into the forest nearby. Ryuu wondered why he had gone into the woods but understood as soon as he saw that the knight had set up camp there.

“Help me search for some wood, little Ryuu, before it gets too dark,” he commanded. Ryuu nodded his head and complied.

*

As the fire crackled to life, and dusk started to encroach onto the forest, sir Obi introduced Ryuu to the hawk.

“Her name is Shirayuki,” he smiled fondly as she shook her feathers and eyed Ryuu curiously. He felt slightly intimidated, as if the bird knew what he was thinking. He waved at it and blushed slightly at how foolish he must seem. He reached out tentatively to pet the bird and marveled at the softness her feathers yielded against his fingers. She flapped her wings slightly, looking pleased.

“She seems to like you,” sir Obi said, and the bird chirped, as if it agreed. Ryuu smiled despite himself.

“Best we go to sleep now, tomorrow we travel,” sir Obi stated.

Ryuu laid out his makeshift cot and fell almost right away in a deep dreamless sleep, exhaustion taking over and rendering him oblivious to the sound of sir Obi leaving the tent.

*

A terrible howling woke Ryuu in the middle of the night.

Now, this wasn’t his first time hearing a wild animal during his travels. Many a time, he had been walking in the wilderness and had heard some sort of wild beast and had been obliged to keep on going. If anything, the fear served as fuel for him to go faster. But this howl was unlike anything he had ever heard before. It had an eerie, almost otherworldly quality to it. Shivers traveled up and down Ryuu’s spine. His usually lucid mind was conjuring all sorts of terrible beasts of legend, werewolves eating men alive and other terrifying creatures.

As his eyes got accustomed to the dense darkness, he was about to ask the knight if he had also heard the sound when he realized that the person in the cot next to him was a woman.

Ryuu jumped up and turned on a candle, to make sure he hadn’t lost his mind, revealing in its pale glow a young woman with red hair, as red as the reddest poppy flower he’d seen. She lay where sir Obi was supposed to be sleeping and Ryuu was utterly speechless. Had the knight brought in a lady while he was asleep? But where was the knight? Had he gone outside? His clothes where at the foot of his bed and surely, he hadn’t gone out completely bare?

While Ryuu’s mind was reeling with a thousand questions, the lady woke up, her eyes fluttering against the glare of the candle.

“Obi?” she asked, softly, her confusion mirroring Ryuu’s.

“My lady, I… I must admit I’m very confused as to whom you might be and the reason why you’re here,” Ryuu said hurriedly, his brows knit tightly in confusion. 

She propped herself up to answer his question when another howl pierced the air. Ryuu shivered in fear but the lady looked almost happy.

“My lady, I think we should be prepared in case something comes attack the tent,” Ryuu tried to appear braver and calmer than he really felt.

“There is nothing to fear, it’s only Obi,” she smiled and stood up.

Ryuu couldn’t comprehend what she meant and jumped in front of her as she started to walk towards the tent’s entrance.

“No! There is a wolf out there, it’s dangerous!” he warned, fear clawing its way through his throat.

“He must have not told you our story. I don’t hold it against him, it is quite unbelievable,” she smiled a bittersweet smile. She opened the tent and walked into the night as Ryuu watched on, bewildered.

Ryuu gathered his wits and followed her out, firmly gripping his candle.  

In the deep darkness of the forest, with only the candle and the waning moonlight as light sources, Ryuu watched in awe as the lady advanced through the undergrowth, serenely, her red hair flowing behind her. In front of her, in the dark, a growling sound erupted from a mulberry bush. Like a nightmare, a large black wolf emerged from the foliage, its golden eyes aglow and teeth bared. It was glorious and clearly deadly. Despite himself, Ryuu’s hand started to tremble, the candle nearly going out.

The woman stepped forward towards the wolf. The growling stopped, and stillness took over the forest, except for Ryuu’s panicked breathing and jackrabbit heart pounding in his ears.

The wolf advanced and before Ryuu could react, nuzzled the lady’s palm, whining and panting softly, tongue lolling out of his mouth. She kneeled and pressed her forehead to the wolf’s and seemed to be whispering something to him softly, almost tenderly.

The first rays of the sun appeared between the trees and the lady gasped. Her eyes welled up with tears as she held on to wolf.

“No, I’m not ready, not yet,” she whispered.

She looked up towards Ryuu.

“When Obi is back, tell him I…” she could not finish, as suddenly her mouth opened and closed, voiceless, her eyes full of panic. She seemed to want to grasp onto the wolf, but it too was shivering and shuddering, howling and growling as though it was possessed.

The lady seemed to glow with an unnatural light, shrinking before Ryuu’s eyes, her body blanketed with russet feathers, as the wolf started to grow, its fur disappearing. Their eyes met and something Ryuu couldn’t quite understand seemed to pass between them, something so profound, he felt like an intruder to something beyond his comprehension.

The lady’s trembling hand reached out towards the wolf as the wolf’s paw turned into fingers and they were almost touching, so close, so terribly close, almost flesh against flesh, but the sunlight won and sir Obi was a man again, lying on the ground watching the lady, now a hawk, fly away. His scream, halfway between man and wolf, contained so much raw pain, it was unbearable.

Ryuu watched, wordlessly, as the hawk flew away.

*

The curse, as Ryuu soon found out, had been cast upon sir Obi and lady Shirayuki, turning the knight into a wolf during the night and the lady into a hawk during the day, preventing them from ever meeting as their true selves. The jealousy of Tanbarun’s crown prince had separated the them, but they had never professed their love to each other. 

They were trapped, always together but eternally apart.