Monster Feature: Reader x F!Harpy Warning: SFW (no sexual content, death, a wounded child, mentions of blood, non-citrus) Word Count: 1982 Note: Based on @monsterkinkmeme prompt of this ANGST where the reader can trade places with a dying person.
It came as a dream, the great goddess had bestowed a gift for you and while at first, you didn’t believe it, soon people were showing up to your small hovel begging you to trade your life for someone in the village. Then it was the lord of the lands who appeared. After that it was kings and queens who arrived, asking you to consider trading places with someone who was on their death bed.
It never stopped. Everyone kept coming to bother you—to convince you to save someone.
You had heard everything. Every piece of logic.
You’ll be rewarded by the goddess.
You could save the royal family who will protect our lands.
Save me, please!
It became too much to listen to on a regular basis that you hid away, deep in the woods far from civilization. You lived off the land and were careful when you went into town, covering yourself from head to toe so no one would know who you were. All the while you kept any relationships at a distance despite the overcoming loneliness that began worming its way into your heart.
That is until one day you spotted something small huddled next to your firewood pile. You were slow and cautious as you tiptoed around the corner finding a small harpy child, clutching its chest as it shook. A snap of a branch had the girl panicking, her frightened eyes wide with her cheeks stained with tears and dirt.
She was injured.
“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” You spoke softly, crouching and keeping your distance as you watched the girl’s body quiver. She was scared of you, but she was even more terrified of the voices talking farther behind you. You made out “where did it run off to?” before it dawned on you that she was being hunted.
They didn’t even consider her a living, walking, talking person. Just a thing to prey on. They sickened you.
“Get inside my hut and hide under the bed. Don’t come out until I make sure they’re gone okay?”
At first, she didn’t move, until you turned your back to her, glancing back, “Go on before they see you.”
Her eyes darted to you and then past you before she scrambled around the hut. You heard the door open and close, causing you to smile only for a moment before the voices came closer.
You began idly chopping some wood before the voices finally drew nearer that you could see they belonged to three men. All were equipped with bows and arrows and strapped knives. They were hunters. From the number of leathers and furs they wore, they were good at what they did. Possibly even professionals.
Pausing, they waved, “Good afternoon! Say, have you spotted a small harpy in these parts at all today?”
You stopped chopping wood, wiping the beading sweat on your brow before squinting at them, “A harpy? What’s it look like?”
The hunters snickered to each other, “You know—it looks vaguely humanoid but is bird-like. Lots of feathers. Basically a large animal.”
“You’re hunting a bird?” You asked, playing dumb, “There’s plenty of birds here in the forest.”
“Not a bird, you idiot. A harpy. It would be no bigger than a human child and has lots of black feathers.”
You propped yourself on your ax, giving your chin a good scratch, “Can’t say I’ve seen one recently. But I did hear some commotion further that way.”
You pointed into a part deeper into the forest, an area that you steered clear of knowing full well what kind of beasties lurked in its depths. But these hunters seemed cocky enough that they would go further in. A wounded prey would be easy as soon as they caught up and there’s no way they’d resist it even if other creatures lay in wait.
They chatted amongst themselves before they started heading in the direction that you suggested, “Thanks, you’re a bit daft but you might have saved us some time. A coin for your troubles.”
The coin landed at your feet as they chuckled, immediately quieting themselves as they picked up their pace. You picked up the coin, watching their backs until they all but disappeared behind the trees. As you stuffed the coin in your pocket, you waited, going back to chopping wood until you finally heard it. The terrified screams of three grown men and one hungry beast that was probably chomping into them.
It was then that you finally went inside, carrying a bundle of sticks and putting them in the hearth to stoke the fire.
“It’s okay to come out now, they can’t hurt you anymore.”
You see a pair of glowing yellow eyes from beneath your bed and they are keeping a careful watch on you as the child slowly shuffles out. It’s only when she does so that you notice the blood that’s smearing along the wooden planks of the floor that your face scrunches with worry.
“You’re hurt. I should probably take a look at it.”
She pulls back under the bed, her hand instinctively clutching at her wound.
“If I don’t look at it, you could bleed out and die.” You say softly, turning your attention back to the fire to poke at the coals.
It doesn’t take her long before she comes out, and she cautiously comes closer. You offer her a small wooden stool for her to sit as you gather what spare healing herbs you have and some cotton bandages. It takes her some coaxing to move her hand away and as soon as she does you can see that it’s part of an arrow jutting from her.
“Shit.” You breathed, seeing the blood drip down her now messy black feathers. “You snapped the shaft but you didn’t take out the arrowhead. I’m going to have to try to remove it, okay?”
At first, she flinches away and her big yellow eyes are pleading as if asking you to not do it.
“If I don’t, the wound won’t heal properly and if they’ve put poison on it, the longer it stays the worse it will be later.”
Wordlessly, she nods, her small hands clutching the chair beneath her as she turns her head away. Taking that as a go ahead, you clean your hands before you set to work. You need to get your finger in near the arrowhead to make sure it’s not in the bone.
It hurts your heart when a child cries from pain, but this time it’s especially hard as she clenches her teeth and whimpers as you try to make sure it’s just in the flesh. Once you’ve made sure it’s not in the bone, you tell her that you need to widen the cut to get the sharp metal out before you start.
The entire process was taxing on both of you, taking nearly an hour to clean the wound and stitching her up as best you could. You could only imagine how traumatized the child was after the ordeal, but she was keeping her eyes open as she sat on your bed.
“It’s okay to sleep. I’m going to cook some food for us okay?”
She was beyond tired and you couldn’t blame her. She had barely managed to escape from the hunters and given how deep the wound was, you didn’t think your handy work was enough. Harpies were different after all, and you had little to no idea of how she would recover. If she would recover.
The blood loss alone was more than you thought possible and since you weren’t a medicine man by any means, you really had no idea if what you did would only prolong her suffering.
That thought alone made you more tired as you prepared a basic stew with some leftover rabbit meat you had cooked up recently. Once it was finished, you made sure to scoop in as much of the meat as possible into a bowl for the girl who was sleeping soundly. You hated to wake her, but she was going to need to eat and you were scared if she slept, she wouldn’t wake up.
You managed to just touch her head slightly as her eyes fluttered open and you could see the momentary fear dissipate.
“Food.” You gestured, holding the wooden bowl in front of her so she could see it.
She struggled to sit up and eat, but she managed before she put the bowl down and looked at you.
“Mama.” She pointed for the door before pointing at herself.
“Do you want me to find your mother?”
She breathed, her hand clutching her wound as if the pain flared up, “She’s coming.”
No sooner had she spoken did the door on your humble abode swing open and a large but menacing harpy set her fiery gaze upon you. With teeth bared, she hissed at you before the child began whimpering and speaking a different language that was not common tongue.
You breathed a small sigh of relief as the harpy moved for the child, her anger was snuffed into fear and care, going into overdrive as she held her daughter. But that relief was short-lived as the child weakly continued to speak and the mother rocked her child back and forth in slow motions. It didn’t feel like you should be there, so you took your food and walked outside to finish the remainder.
At least the girl was with her mother now. She should be fine.
You finished your meal but when neither of them came out, your exhaustion pulled you under and you succumbed to sleep only to be awakened by the sound of a loud sob. You jolted up to your feet and went inside, the fire was slowly dying so you must have been out for a while, but the scene that lay before you hurt you more than it should have.
The child was dead.
Her body was limp and lifeless, no longer drawing breath as her mother shook and cried until her cries became bitter shrieks of despair. You had been trying to help the poor thing survive and in the end, it didn’t matter. Your efforts did nothing but stave off the inevitable. That hurt more than you imagined it would have.
How many people had come to you in hopes of this very thing? To avoid death. How many people had grieved, shaking with raw unbridled emotion simply because you wouldn’t trade your life for theirs?
Too many was what you decided as you stared at the child, your heart stinging with pain.
“What would you say if I could bring her back to you?” you asked, glancing up at the mother.
She didn’t answer at first until she finally managed to swallow and sniffle back her tears, “I’d say that there’s no way you could.”
“But I can. I can take her place in the underworld and bring her back to you—I want to.”
“Why did you hide and try to save her? She is not your own. Why would you offer this gift to us?”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
At first, she looked as if she didn’t believe you, but then she nodded, “I have nothing to offer you in return.”
You gave a low chuckle, “I’ll be dead, your offering would have little good to me. Just promise me that you’ll take good care of her.”
“You have my word.”
That was all you needed as you moved to touch the girl’s forehead. You closed your eyes and felt a sudden weightlessness as your world shifted and spun into a small carved out room with lit candles decorating the walls.
The girl was waiting with her eyes bright and filled with life as she looked at you. Silently, she took your hand and gave it a squeeze before she slipped away out of existence with only a small whispered, “Thank you.”