As a child who had only just learned to walk, Baekhyun had been quite curious of his surroundings and would run off somewhere to explore with no qualms about safety, much to his parents’ despair. He grew to love running and climbing trees, draining his poor mother’s face of colour in record time every time she saw him dangling five metres off the ground from a branch of one of the many trees near the house. He had always given her a lopsided grin, promising he wouldn’t get himself hurt, and, mostly, kept to his word.

Scraps and bruises, however, were inevitable with such an active lifestyle, and it went without saying that the weeks spent moodily staring out the window from his room because of a twisted foot or a broken wrist were not ones he remembered fondly.

Nowadays, those childhood activities really paid off. After all, there was a reason that dear bounty hunter of his had never been able to catch him even after nearly half a year of persistently following him from town to town. He just never gave up, did he? Baekhyun had to give that to him. Persistence usually paid off – just not in this case.

“Still there?” Baekhyun called over his shoulder, skipping over a muddy spot that could’ve sent him face-first into the dirt. What a sight that would have been. Wonshik would have laughed his lungs up as he tied up Baekhyun’s wrists.

Speaking of the bounty hunter. “You can’t keep running!”

Baekhyun snorted. He had been doing just fine running for years.

He skimmed the townsfolk out and about on this drowsy day and weighed his options. He reckoned there weren’t enough people to lose Wonshik in the crowd, even with the charm hanging around his neck on a thin chain. According to the sorceress he had gotten it from, its purpose was to shroud the wearer from prying eyes, but, admittedly, she was also notorious for swindling people out of their money, so Baekhyun wouldn’t bet his freedom, least of all his life, on it. Still, he hadn’t gotten rid of it. In a pinch, he could probably make someone believe it was worth a fortune and pawn it off to them.

He looked over his shoulder to see if Wonshik were still hot on his tail, which he was. Disappearing in the crowd was out of the question, but he was near the woods at the outskirts of the town. It had taken Wonshik almost a month to track him here, so he had had lots of time to mentally map down everything, and the woods was easy to get lost in – and lose someone in.

With a sharp turn right as he passed the corner of a building, he continued down the road towards the forester’s lodge with the woods as its neighbour. With the woods in sight, Baekhyun lit up in a grin. This was it. Wonshik, who hadn’t had the time to familiarise himself with the woods, had no chance. The woods was Baekhyun’s territory. 

How did the saying go, again? Don’t count your captives before they’re bound, gagged, and behind bars, or something?

As soon as he entered the woods, Baekhyun split from the main road onto a narrow path. It would slow him down some, but Wonshik would also be forced to tread more carefully to avoid unruly roots, unforgiving branches, and slippery patches. 

Baekhyun fully expected Wonshik to be slowed down further by the obstacles, and felt smugly gratified when it wasn’t long before he was out of earshot from Wonshik’s curses. He zigzagged between paths, just to be safe, until he returned to the main road.

It was a shame Wonshik had found him. The days in this town were now numbered.

“This way!”

Baekhyun startled. Looking over his shoulder, he immediately spotted a pair of guards from the town. 

Had Wonshik called for backup? That was cheating!

The guards would know the woods better, so playing his cards on ignorance was no longer a viable option: He now had to be more careful. Rats. He sped up into a run again, eager to get out of sight from the guards. The dwindly paths would have to work their magic for him again.

He looked over his shoulder to check for the guards – still there – and then found himself running straight into a broad chest. Someone wheezed and hands closed around his elbows.

It was no guard Baekhyun had encountered, but a frazzled-looking silver-haired (silver? What in the seven gods?) man. 

“There he is!” a guard hollered dangerously close behind them. 

Baekhyun cursed, and then he was running again, except, strangely, so was the man. 

The guards were harder to shake than Wonshik, and Baekhyun found himself on ground he wasn’t quite as familiar with. Silver Guy seemed to be following him, which begged the question why, but losing the guards was paramount.

Which proved more difficult than expected when the path he had chosen led to a dead end at a cliff. Retracing their steps was out of the question: The guards were out of sight, but still within earshot, and would be upon them within moments. 

He didn’t like the cramped cells. He had never spent more than a few days in those before escaping, although with that said, he hadn’t been caught more times than he had fingers on his hand. Perhaps he would have to add one more.

Silver Guy had caught up. “Jump!” he bellowed. 

“Are you out of your mind?” Baekhyun cried. That bloody cliff promised nothing less than a painful death. Silver Guy was insane.

In hindsight, standing so close to the edge was probably not a good idea. Silver Guy, instead of stopping, rammed straight into him, the momentum throwing them both off the edge. 

Baekhyun screamed, grasping at Silver Guy’s clothes in a panic as they dropped – except the fabric between his fingers was growing steely.

Above him was no longer a silver-haired man, but a silver-scaled dragon, and Baekhyun was no longer free-falling, but held gently in the dragon’s claws.

Perhaps Baekhyun was the insane one all along.

I... don't remember this round's challenge, but I had fun! This fic is kinda inspired by an idea I have for a longer fic, but I have never gotten around to finishing it, so. I figured I could at least write this and then one day I may finish the original, lol.