Rise Again {Countryhumans X Reader}

Chapter 4 - Lemon Tea

A/N: probably the crappiest drawing I have ever done of a Countryhuman srry Britain :')
Anw enjoy this long ass chapter

———

    Flashes of grey-white light angrily slashed through soldiers as a woman in a navy blue dress conducted it ferociously. A small h/c haired girl was tucked underneath her other arm, hiding her face from the battles around her. Another stream of energy arced into a group of soldiers, frying them in their armor. No matter how much soldiers the woman struck down, many others replaced their fallen comrades.

Villagers loosely circled the woman and the girl, helping the woman hold back the soldiers. A man pushed through the circle and grabbed the woman's arm.

"We can't hold them back much longer!" He yelled. "You and Y/n go and hide. Don't worry about us-"

"No," she snapped back. "This is also my village, this is where I belong. I will protect it, even if it means losing my life!" The girl let out a small sniffle from under her arm. The woman's desperate eyes softened when she glanced at the girl.

"Go," the man said more gently. "I'll be right behind you." The woman relented and dashed out from the circle, the villagers forming a wall between them and the enemy.

They raced between houses being shot through with arrows and small bombs, heading for a small cottage. Its thatched roof was slightly dislodged from all the tremors the bombs were sending, but the woman couldn't have cared less. She barged into the house and headed for the back door, the girl still clinging under her arm. As the woman opened the back door and went into the backyard, another bomb shook the house behind them. She tucked the girl into a small alcove built into the back wall of the house and dried the girl's tears on her frayed navy dress.

    "Auntie," the girl whispered. "Auntie - I'm scared." She grabbed the woman's hands with her own small ones. Her bright grey eyes were unusually noticeable in the war-filled air. The woman steadied the girl's sobbing by placing each of her hands on either side of the girl's face.

    "Don't be scared, little one," she comforted, trying to hold in her own fear. "Auntie's going to fight off those monsters, and she's going to come right back to you, all right?" The girl managed a shaky nod, shiny tears still sliding down her cheeks. The woman thought about something for a moment, then took off her opal necklace and fastened it around the girl's neck.

"Hold on to this for me, okay? This is my promise to you. Give it to me when I come back, deal?" The girl wrapped her hands around the cold stone, bringing it closer to her heart.

    "Okay, auntie."

The woman kissed the top of the girl's forehead and disappeared into the gloom.

———

The girl waited through the dark hours, eyes tightly closed and hands clutching her aunt's necklace.

She waited as dying screams, both belonging to soldiers and villagers, pierced her ears.

She waited as her aunt's bright grey energy sent shocks through the alcove, as her aunt battled soldiers who dared come into her village.

As the noises died down around her, the air adopted a chilly atmosphere and she tensed, sensing something dangerous. Boot steps laced with coins crunched and clinked closer, closer to her hiding spot. During the battle, arrows had penetrated the roof of the alcove and now let the girl see the owner of the boot steps. Shadows from his black hat masked his eyes, but the red wreaths that crossed each other in the middle of his face were prominent in her sight. He twisted his head from side to side, scanning the landscape around him. But for whatever reasons unknown to him, he did not spot the crying girl hidden in the wrecks of the cottage.