Yellow Brick Road

Cuu could feel nothing but the pounding of his heart as he passed the open fields of the McDonalds; his mind racing as it tried to remember which direction was which. He hadn't seen a sunrise since arriving in this place... there was no telling which way was north, or south; east, or west. As he heard another call from Doctor Oswald, his heart pounded yet harder. For what reason? Of that, he was sure; he had grown too close to his little savior, too close indeed. Thinking more on what he had said back in the Witch's Hut, that Yellow-Knight would likely be executed for saving him on that night...

"Damn it!" He snarled, turning right off the road, and into the woods; unable to find the right words to curse himself properly.

He powered through the woods, ducking branches and weaving through brush like it was nothing; years of training for combat, used for fleeing like a coward. The shame was palpable across Cuu's whole being as he finally came to a stop; finding a clearing near a familiar stream. It had to be the same stream as at the Witch's Hut, for sure; the smooth stones lain in the water were very much the same as those he found prior.

Cuu leaned back against a tree, trying to calm his pounding heart as the moonlight washed over him. "Don't change... don't change..."

He was certainly angry enough to do so; The Wolf inside him needing only a small thread to pull before it could unwind him like a string-made toy. Cuu held his stuffed bear tightly to his chest, unable to clear his racing mind. The smell of that earthly perfume, so deeply infused into the threads of his only friend, was the only thing keeping him from spiraling out of control. He was scared, hurt, and angry; but here was the scent that welcomed him into the world. His mother's scent.

His panic is renewed by a scream from outside the woods.

Dorothy's scream.

...

"Cuu! Please listen!" Dorothy called; The Wolf she sought quickly dashing away, faster than anything she had ever seen. "Let me explain!"

Cuu darted off the road, and into the woods; he waa going in the vague direction of Gran's house, if Dorothy was remembering the area correctly. Seeing this as a chance to catch up, the girl runs through the McDonald's field of wheat, and towards the woods. The Hood suddenly pulls down was an absurd ****, just as a flash of reflected light swoops over Dorothy's head. The magical cloak then wraps around Dorothy's gut as a knee impacts it, softening a blow that sends her rolling backwards.

"Agh! What the-!?" Dorothy was discombobulated by the sudden movements; feeling like her brain had just rattled around in her skull.

"Shit!" Baldur skirted to a stop; the sound of him drawing his sword putting Dorothy on high alert. "They're here?! Of all the bloody times!"

There was another flash, followed by sparks flying from where a pair of sickles had struck each other. A man with oddly tanned skin, wearing a straw-hat, stood silently with those tools in hand; stained as they were with what looked to be old, dried blood. His clothes were cheap; maybe even just repurposed sacks, from the looks of it.

"Now, darl'n" The strange man spoke with a heavy East-Ozon accent. "You can't just be running through fields like that. You'll hurt the crops..."

He quickly lifts a sickle to his side, catching the invisible blow of Miss Shesh; the Cat smiles, and spits in the man's face. "Looks like our timer is up, Handsome! Doc, you should go after Doggy; we'll handle our own buisness!"

The Hood once more yanks Dorothy around; pulling her to the left. "Idiot! Look out!"

A massive woodsman's axe slams into the field where she had just been sitting; held in the hands of a large, looming stranger. His skin was as dark as Miss Shesh, but with an odd gleam that caught the moonlight like metal; the sheer size of the man rivaling Mister Cuu.

"Damn, I was wondering why you missed, Bail." The axe-man asked. "The bitch is a Tale too; always with the other fucking Tales on these jobs."

Dorothy got up to her feet, turning to the woods once again; only for an unfamiliar pair of feminine Cat-Eyes to meet her; face-to-heavily-scarred-face. This one was smaller than the other two, but wore a terrifying pair of bladed gloves; a foot-long dagger at the end of each fingertip.

"N-no witnesses." The little lioness whispers.

The newest stranger hesitates, and then leaps towards her; looking to tear Dorothy limb from limb. The girl from the sleepy little town of Antiquity could only think to do one thing.

Scream.

...

Cuu heard the twang of metal meeting metal; combat, happening not far from where he had just run from. Had the Knights arrived? Why would there be fighting!? Dorothy had screamed, of that he was certain. Why would she be screaming?

"Go."

The Wolf snaps to attention, looking closely at the woods around himself. The sound had come from seemingly nowhere, yet, everywhere; all at once. A trick Cuu's father had used many times during training.

"They need you. Go!"

Cuu winced at the command; feeling as if he had heard that voice before. It was rough, and sobering. The kind of voice you'd think of for any sort of grizzled veteran of one-too-many campaigns. There was another scream; this time from the Cat. A pained scream. Whatever was happening back there had nothing to do with the Knights, then.

Cuu drops Bobo, and runs as fast as his feet could carry him; not noticing that the stuffed bear never hit the ground. Caught, by a spectral, skeletal hand; armored in bronze.

A glowing, cyan eye darts through the woods after The Wolf; watching to see if his old master had taught the boy well.

...

Baldur's sword made contact with the bladed gloves of The Spineless, just before they could stab into that dumbass Doctor. He slashed upwards, knocking the beasty backwards; keeping his distance as he circled around to keep sight on all three of the Yellow Brigade. Of all the people, the fucking Yellow Brigade... The Mindless, The Heartless, and The Spineless; the main enforcers for The Hatter in Ozon. Baldur didn't think he and Shesh were worth this level of trouble.

"Dorothy, get your fucking dog here; now!" He said, his hands shaking as he tried to keep his cool.

The Doctor silently nodded, running off in the direction of the woods once more; The Mindless flicks Shesh's blackjack away, running at the girl in the red hood. "You heard Ari! No witnesses!"

Shesh does what she does best, of course, and leaps on The Mindless's back; biting a chunk out of his neck. Baldur was expecting the usual gouts of blood that came out of anyone who pissed Shesh off, but instead, it was just... straw? The little lioness distracts The Charming from his "heroics" by slashing at his face; forcing him to block and retreat further back. The Heartless, the big fucker of this little gang, swings his axe at Shesh. Her arms let go of the straw-man, but not her legs; the axe just barely misses as it wacks The Brainless clean in half. The Smiling Cat kicks off the pair of severed legs, aiming another swing of her blackjack at her prefered weakspot on larger guys.

Only, when the bar of metal wrapped in cloth cracked into the big-man's jewels, there was the loud *twang* noise of metal hitting metal. Baldur would have laughed, if they weren't all about to die; or if he could focus, what with fighting off this crazed bitch with the claws. She tried a few more swipes for his face, and a couple at his legs; but they were too slow, cautious even. Shesh smiled, vanishing as she began beating the tin-man like a drum. The loud *twangs* and *gongs* would have woken up any town with an average age above eighty; but, this was Antiquity, of course...

Then, The Heartless grabbed at the air, and seemed to squeeze it; until something cracked.

That something was Shesh's leg.

There was a flash of golden light as Baldur heard her scream. Moving so fast that the ground beneath his feet shattered, The Charming near instantly went from fending off The Spineless, to planting his pommel right into the gut of The Heartless. Where as Shesh's blackjack had bounced right off, the heroic blow of Baldur sent the man flying into the air; dropping Shesh as he did so. Baldur caught her as she fell, and flung her over his shoulder.

"You bastards had better stay away from my Princess!"

...

Dorothy heard Miss Shesh scream as she finally made it into the woods, and was half tempted to start screaming herself to try and get Cuu to come and help. She darted into the brush and thicket of the woods, in the direction she had seen him head towards.

"Cuu! Cuu!" She pleaded to the midnight air. "Help! We need help!"

The Hood pulls Dorothy harshly yet again, knocking her onto her rear as a sickle impacts the tree she was once in front of. "The straw-hat is still following!"

The severed lower half of the straw-man came out of seemingly nowhere, kicking Dorothy in the side of the head with his boot. The Hood had moved to block it as best as it could; keeping the blow from just knocking it's wearer out cold. Dazzed, Dorothy gets to her feet.

"Think wicked thoughts, think wicked thoughts!" She told herself, trying to summon some of her Gran's power to defend herself; if only mortal dread was considered a wicked thought.

The top half of The Mindless finally catches up with itself, latching back on as though the wound were mere pretend. "Now, darl'n. I must ask, who is this Cuu you're calling for?"

Dorothy bolts into the woods, screaming her head off. "Cuu! Cuu!"

"Well-" The straw-man says, just loud enough for her to hear. "-whoever he is, I'm sure he'll like to watch me... have some fun, with you. Darl'n."

A shiver goes down Dorothy's spine, stealing her voice as the man continues. "And if he doesn't, I'll just cut off his eyelids..."

A sickle stabs right into the tree next to Dorothy as she flees; catching The Hood, pinning it to the tree, and causing the girl to yank herself free of her protective garment. Dorothy fall to the ground. Panicking, she can only think the crawl as fast as she can, when a burlap-gloved hand grabs her thigh.

"Oh Cuu~" Calls the terrifying creep, as he inches closer to his soon-to-be victim. "Where are you~"

There is the sound of cloth tearing, but it wasn't Dorothy's dress. Looking up, she sees a pale, white arm; bursting shoulder-deep through the monster's chest. Cuu's eyes were a deep, blood red as he snarled into the straw-man's ear.

"Here."