October 2022 Drabble #1 (Patreon)

Hanzo/Harpy – Seems like folk tale monsters are real and one of it got its eyes on our favorite archer :)

Part 1 (This Part)

Part 2 (Patreon Link)

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Hanzo is struggling to burst his way through the underbrush. He can feel the pain of branches whipping into his face and how his clothes rip against the sharp twigs all around him but he can’t pause to assess the situation and make a more level-headed path through the absolute wilderness.

Behind him he can hear Cassidy barrelling along, just as panicked as he is. It’s a tiny bit of comfort, to know that he wasn’t the only one who saw the monster up high in the sky… and that he isn’t the only one who can still hear its wings flapping above.

His lungs are burning. He has no ideas how the fat cowboy behind him is keeping up so well but he can still hear him breaking through the bushes behind him, breathing heavily and occasionally swearing.

Only when he hasn’t heard the flapping of wings for quite some time does Hanzo finally slow down and eventually come to a halt, doubling over and bracing himself against his knees as he tries to catch his breath.

Cassidy appears next to him a few seconds later, copying his posture. He sounds a lot worse; like he’s about to break down or something, but he remains standing and growls: “The fuck was that thing?!”

“Do I look like I know?” Hanzo snaps back. He feels irrationally… scared. A beast like that does not seem feasible. It’s straight out of some fairy tale or folk tale. Something that his grandmother had firmly believed him – but certainly not he.

“You think it’s gone?” Cole asks with a grunt and slowly stands up straight to wipe over his brow and peer around them.

Hanzo just wants to reiterate that he knows as much as this idiot knows right now, when in short succession he hears a crash and splintering of branches from above, a split second before he feels himself grabbed by his upper arms and hoisted into the air.

Cassidy calls out in surprise and alarm. Hanzo can just about see him pulling his gun and shouts: “Don’t shoot you idiot! You think I can survive the fall?!”

He’s already up in the crown of one of the trees. The talons of the creature nick his skin and they must be coated with some kind of poison because he can feel lethargy crawling through his body with each frantic pump of his heart. His limbs become heavy and unresponsive until he’s helpless in the clutches of the half-human, half-bird creature.

Below he can see Cassidy standing and watching with his face twisted in conflict but Hanzo’s tongue is just as unresponsive as the rest of his body so he can’t even tell him what kind of idiot he is.

Or that he should turn around and look away when he feels the monster starting to undress him quite deftly.