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INDIANA JONES
xxxv. CHILD OF THE MOON

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PAST
THE ENCHANTED FOREST

THE SOUND OF PANTING filled the air as Indiana Jones ran behind her student, Snow White and in front of her close friend, Red Lucas. She swung her arms at the low-hanging branches that threatened to smack her in the face, cursing in annoyance when they actually did.

"I think we lost them!" Snow exclaimed to the two girls while Red called out to her and said, "Snow, wait. Wait!"

Red's exclamations were heard too late, for a Black Knight jumped out in front of the girls while pulling out his blade. "You can't run from the Queen, Snow White, Indiana Jones," he said to the girls.

"I mean, it's quite simple," Indiana claimed as Snow twisted his arm around his back. "All you have to do—" She paused to walk around the knight and kicked the back of his knees, causing him to cower forward. "—is use your legs." Then, he fell to the ground. "Now, isn't that a concept?"

Red grabbed the arrogant brunette's hand and began to run, dragging her along. "Come on. There are more of them!" Red exclaimed.

As they ran, Indiana noticed Snow White stop and stare at a poster that hung on a tree. Indiana walked back and joined her, noticing that it was their Wanted posters hanging side by side.

"Aw, come on!" Indiana exclaimed. "They still can't get my nose right!" She watched Snow take a step forward and yanked both of the posters from the tree. Indiana gave her student a look, knowing what was going through her head. Then she ran after the werewolf.

The three girls ran through small openings and squeezed past several trees until they made a sharp turn. They hid behind a tree until the Guards that bolted after them on their horses passed by.

"It's okay," Red whispered while breathing heavily, "They're gone."

Snow White nodded as she caught her breath, pulling out the crumbled poster that she had taken. "She's never going to stop, is she?" Snow breathlessly asked.

Indiana, who was still catching her breath, bitterly retorted with, "At least you haven't been Wanted for the past few decades." Snow gave her a sympathetic smile when suddenly, the girls heard a gasp come from Red. "What's the matter now, Little Red? Forgot to use the litter box?"

"I am not a cat, Indiana," Red told her while holding her hood in her hands. "It's my hood—it's torn." Snow and Indiana exchanged glances before looking down to observe the hood. Red smacked their hands and began to scoot backwards. "You have to go. You have to get away from me. Both of you."

"I'm not leaving you," Snow immediately told her with a soft voice.

Indiana placed her hand on her student's arm. "I don't know about that, Snow..." she trailed off, knowing exactly what would happen that night.

"There's a full moon tonight. Wolfstime is beginning," Red reminded them. "This hood is the only thing that can protect me from turning."

"It's only a tear," Snow pointed out. "Maybe it'll still work."

"And if it doesn't?" Red immediately questioned. Indiana and Snow both fell quiet. "You saw what I did to Peter. This thing—the Wolf—when it takes over me, I can't control it. Not even Indiana could make it out alive."

Indiana snorted. "I don't know about that," she cockily stated.

Peter. He was Red's previous boyfriend before he was devoured by the wolf she was. It was also a name Indiana recognized for the strangest of reasons. She felt as though she once knew someone with the same name, yet she had never acquainted herself with anyone named Peter in her entire life.

"Please, go find shelter. I'll go further into the woods and find a place to hide," Red instructed with a hushed voice. "For your own sake, we have to split up."

Snow White opened her mouth, then shut it again repeatedly. Nothing came out of it. Indiana placed her hand on Snow's arm once more. "Alright," she said. "Just for tonight. We'll meet up in the morning by that stream Snow almost fell in this morning."

Snow shot her a glare before continuing, "Then we'll find a safe place for all of us. Maybe a nice cabin in the woods."

Indiana shook her head. "A cabin? That's where all scary mothers live. You're better off dead," she admitted. "Or maybe the mother's better off dead. Hey, do you think we'll have to kill someone to get a nice cabin around here?"

"Why are you doing this?" Red wondered, ignoring Indiana's rambling. "Being so... kind to me. Even you, Indiana. You both saw what I did as a wolf, what I am."

Indiana gave her a side smile. "Because we know that the wolf isn't who you really are. It's not your entire identity," Indiana wisely told her, strangely acting out of character for once and being nice. "We're in this together, Red. All of us."

Red smiled at her friends before turning and leaving a content Indiana and a surprised Snow White. She turned to her mentor. "What was that? I've never seen you be so... nice before... only to me, and you're not even that nice to me in the first place," Snow admitted.

Indiana gave her a glare and said, "If you tell anyone about how I was feeling nice for once, I'll rip out each and every one of your teeth."

➖➖➖

The sound of footsteps pattering along a long staircase echoed throughout the small home that was found underground. On the inside, a family of werewolves hid and prepared themselves for whatever Hunters would be waiting to kill them. They weren't sure what to expect. Arrows? Axes? Spears? Swords? All they knew was that someone with a thirst for spilt blood was coming for them.

Or at least, that's what the children of the moon believed.

A banging noise was heard, followed by an annoyed grunt. "Ow! Who the hell puts a random pipe in a wall?" a voice angrily demanded. It was a voice that belonged to none other, Indiana Jones.

A shushing sound followed, causing Indiana to mumble a sheepish apology to her student, Snow White. Finally, as they exited the corridor, a being leapt forward and grabbed Snow in a choke hold.

Snow White proceeded to cough and choke as the man dragged her forward, slowly revoking her ability to breathe. Another man ran forward and reached out to do the same to Indiana, but she merely twisted his arm around his back and placed her dagger against his neck.

"Where the hell is Little Red?" Indiana demanded, projecting her voice so that everyone could hear.

"No! Don't! They're not here to hurt us!" Red suddenly shouted while running forward.

"What other reason do humans have for entering our den?" the man holding Snow questioned.

"I don't know. Maybe we wanted to offer you some porridge," Indiana sarcastically told him.

The man she was holding turned his head slightly. "Did you bring porridge?" he wondered.

She rolled her eyes, forcing his arm back even further. "Of course not, you imbecile!" Indiana snapped.

"They're my friends who stood by me after they learned the truth, after I killed!" Red hopelessly cried out. "Without them, I never would've escaped my village alive!"

A new woman's voice rang out suddenly saying, "Let her go." The woman walked forward, wearing a big gown.

The man merely glanced between Snow and Indiana, who gave him a sickening smirk. He dropped the princess bandit, causing Indiana to drop the man she was holding. She kicked the back of his knee, which forced him to tumble to the ground.

Red dropped to her knees beside Snow. "Oh, I'm sorry, Snow!" she apologized.

"When you didn't show up at the stream this morning, I thought the Queen's men had killed you," Snow White choked out with her hands on her neck. Indiana held the hilt of her whip, prepared to fight if it came down to it. Snow looked up at Indiana and sighed, following her example by standing up.

"So... Who are your friends?" Indiana wondered, staring at the strangers all around them.

"We're her pack," the man who was previously choking Snow answered.

Indiana arched an eyebrow. "Are they—?"

"Yes. They're like me," Red interrupted, reaching out and placing a hand on Indiana's bicep. "But you don't have to fear them."

"Of course not," Snow half-heartedly muttered.

"How did you find us?" the woman from before demanded.

"I tracked wolf prints here, like you taught me," Snow explained, looking to Indiana happily. The girl merely gave her a proud smirk.

"You could've been caught by the Queen's men," Red scolded.

"We weren't going to leave without you," Indiana whisper-hissed. She sighed and took a step closer to Snow and Red. "Why don't we find that Cabin we talked about, okay?"

When Snow and Indiana started to walk toward the corridor they entered from, they both quickly noticed that Red wasn't following behind them. They exchanged glances and Indiana asked, "You're not coming with us, are you?"

Red let out a sigh. "I don't have to be ashamed of who I am here," she explained. "I... found my home. I found my mother." She chuckled and glanced back to the woman from before.

Indiana raised her eyebrows and Snow started, "But I thought—"

"Granny lied," Red interrupted. "I'm sorry, Snow, Indiana. I know you risked your lives to come back here for me."

Indiana frowned. "No... I-I understand..." Snow trailed off. "I would do anything to be with my mother again."

Red looked down at her feet as she responded. "I know we planned on leaving the Kingdom together..."

"We'll be alright," Indiana assured her, taking the werewolf's hands in her own and smiling. "You've taught me enough already. I'll manage. I still have things I need to teach Snow." She frowned again and pulled her in for a hug. "Bye, Little Red."

Snow joined the hug. "Thank you, Red."

"No, thank you," Red responded.

With that being said, an arrow suddenly flew out through the air and landed in the chest of the man who attacked Snow. As he fell down, Snow and Indiana exchanged glances. "They found us," Snow realized.

As she said this, the Black Knights bombarded the area. "Stand down or die at the hands of the—aah!" Red's mother snapping his neck, murdering him immediately, interrupted him.

The werewolves began to fist-fight the Black Knights who intruded the home. Indiana watched, rather unimpressed while Red and Snow knelt beside the injured werewolf.

"Is their technique always this sloppy?" she wondered outloud. "Uh, no offense."

"Quinn, no!" Red exclaimed. The brunette glanced over to see Red with tears in her eyes as she sat beside the werewolf named Quinn. "He's gone."

Red's mother walked over and after inspecting Quinn's dead body, she stared at Snow White and Indiana Jones with a murderous look in her eyes. "You did this."

Snow gasped. "What? No."

"You brought the Queen's men into our den," Red's mother continued.

Indiana rolled her eyes. "Just because you rhymed your words, doesn't mean any more or less that we were the cause of your friend's death," Indiana snapped.

"You have to believe me. I had no idea they followed me!" Snow cried.

"Mother, they didn't," Red defended while stepping in front of Indiana and Snow.

"It doesn't matter. Wherever humans go, death follows," her mother stated.

Indiana arched an eyebrow. "Really? Do you really want to go there, wolf-lady?" she demanded.

"The only way to stop them is to kill them first," she continued, ignoring Indiana's sarcastic and sassy remarks. "Tie them up!" Before either of them could do anything, Indiana and Snow were tied up with ropes tightly wrapped around their wrists. "When the moon rises, we'll feast on a Princess and a Criminal."

"Didn't you literally just say 'wherever humans go, death follows'? Someone's a bit hypocritical," Indiana sang with a grunt as she was thrown around. She couldn't help but smile viciously. She had a feeling she wasn't going to die just yet.

"What are you doing?" Red demanded her mother, clearly distressed.

"They're paying for the life that we lost," she explained. "Maybe we ought to feast on your blabbermouth of a girlfriend and save the other for later."

"She's not my girlfriend. I'm not even... Mother, they're my friends! Mother, you're not making any sense," Red told her.

Red's mother stared at her emotionlessly. "You already made your choice, Red," she said. "You're one of us now. Act like it." She leaned in closer to her daughter. "Kill them."

Teary-eyed, Red refused. "No. I won't kill my friends."

"Then I will."

With wide eyes, Red allowed this information to process in her brain as her mother pushed past her. "Mother, no! Please!" Red cried out, unsure of what to do.

"No, Red. This is what it means to be a wolf," her mother hissed.

With that, her mother shifted into a wolf and made her way toward Snow White and Indiana Jones. They were tied up against a pole, merely anticipating their supposedly inevitable death. A grey wolf snarled as she made her way over to them.

"Come on, fur ball," Indiana chanted. "Hit us with your best shot."

Snow looked over at Indiana with wide eyes. "Are you insane?" she demanded. She looked back at the wolf. "Please. No!"

As Snow let out a good shriek, another suddenly threw the wolf back. For the first time, Indiana was purely taken aback as she screeched, "Red!"

Wiggling out of the poorly tied ropes, Snow White grabbed Red's cloak and quickly threw it on the wolf that had attacked its mother. While Red's mother was laying on the floor with a pole impaled through her chest, Red reappeared in her human form.

"How did you...? How did you know we weren't going to die...?" Snow White asked Indiana as she calmed herself down.

Indiana shrugged. "They weren't playing fair. They tied us up and tried to feast on us," Indiana explained. "Cheaters never win."

Sobbing, Red crouched beside her dying mother. "I-I didn't mean to..." she trailed off. "I'm—I'm sorry, Mother."

With her last movements, the mother pushed her daughter away. "You chose them."

"No!" Red exclaimed shakily. "I chose me. I'm not a killer."

Then, Red wept. She cried and cried until she couldn't cry anymore. Indiana let out a small sigh, having another soft spot for Red. She and Snow were the only people Indiana cared about. Seeing Red like this made her upset.

Cautiously, Indiana kneeled down beside little Red. She wrapped an arm around the werewolf. "It's... It's gonna be okay... I think."

With that, the child of the moon cried in Indiana Jones' arms.