So. Yeah. New collections post because I thought my other one was starting to get a little unwieldy. So any more AU fics I write will go here. Not sure how many that will be, but yeah. XD;

Summary: Myung-Dae ran through the dark forest, his breath trapped in his throat. The forest that Myung-Dae had always been warned to never step into, because mortals weren't welcome.

Mountain-god!AU. Brainstormed with Kai and Key.

Myung-Dae's (M-21's) like. I dunno, 8 here or something.

The Forest

By Dark Ice Dragon

Myung-Dae ran through the dark forest, his breath trapped in his throat. He couldn't breathe, but he couldn't stop either, not when the flames had been at his back, not when his mother had screamed at him to run. Into the forest. The forest that Myung-Dae had always been warned to never step into, because mortals weren't welcome. The guardian was said to change any mortals who stepped within the boundaries, and then they were trapped there, tied to the forest.

And that forest was now his protection from the bandits that had attacked his village.

Myung-Dae tripped over something, his knees and palms slamming over rocks and roots. He hadn't heard anyone following him - the sounds of fighting had died behind him a while ago until all he hear was the blood rushing in his ears and his short breaths.

He couldn't stop. Couldn't stop. He had to keep going. Myung-Dae lurched to his feet, and his legs were burning, threatening to drop him right there, but he forced his legs to move.

He froze at a rustle to his right, and he tried to stare into the shadows to see what was there. It all looked the same, all the shapes bleeding into each other.

He turned and fled, hearing something crashing behind him. Every time it landed, Myung-Dae felt the impact travelling up his feet. It had to be huge!

It was getting closer with each bound and Myung-Dae could imagine the sharp teeth snapping at where he'd just been, tasting the meal it would soon have.

He wasn't going to - he was going to - A light!

Something was glowing in front of him through the trees. People!

It had to be somewhere safe and Myung-Dae stumbled towards it.

Something crashed into his back, sending him sprawling. Before he could try to push himself up, a heavy weight pinned him down, slamming what little air he had left in his body whooshing out again.

He screamed as pain seared through his shoulder and he could feel blood spurting out of the wound.

And then the weight was gone, white brightening at the edges of his vision.

He was dying. That was it. He had to be dying, because the pain was fading.

Myung-Dae struggled as much as he could when he was picked up. The monster must be carrying him somewhere to eat.

But…he was tired. He had no more strength in his body and Myung-Dae closed his eyes, letting himself be carried away.

xOx

Raizel brushed the hair away from the child's face, burning the last of Frankenstein's aura from what had attacked the child. When it was free of the taint, a wolf stood in its place – it shook itself and then bounded further into the forest.

"My Lord? Did y – what's that, my Lord?"

Raizel turned, showing Frankenstein the child in his arms. Frankenstein's eyes widened at the sight, his rounded ears flatting.

"He is mortal, my Lord," Frankenstein said, lifting his ears again. "A human child. You…don't know how to look after those."

"He needed my help." The child's wounds were almost gone, and Raizel continued to heal him. "Do you?"

"…Yes, my Lord," Frankenstein said after a pause, stepping closer and peering at the child. "But it has been a long time. And-" Frankenstein's gaze dropped. "-I may change him as well."

"He is strong," Raizel said. "Most mortals would have been affected by now."

"I doubt he's been here long enough."

Raizel looked at him, sending amusement through the connection they shared. "There are few mortals who would be able to reach this deep into the forest untouched."

"I wouldn't call that wholly 'untouched'," Frankenstein muttered under his breath, eyeing the bloodstains on the child's clothes.

Raizel looked in the direction that the child had come from. "Humans know to not enter here." There was a shiver down their connection, and Raizel sent reassurance until Frankenstein settled again. "There must be a reason why he thought it was better to come this way."

"Perhaps."

"Then I will stay awake, for now," Raizel said, adjusting how he held the child. Frankenstein had been asking him for decades to rest so that he could recover his strength, but he did not want to stop walking through his forest. Nor did he want to leave Frankenstein alone. "Until we can return him to his family."

"…Yes, My lord."

I'd planned that Myung-Dae would see Rai just before losing consciousness but that didn't happen.

Sort of used a sanshin as a reference, and they're always depicted with a tiger, so. Yeah. Tiger!Frankenstein. :D As for Rai - stag antlers and large, white dripping wings. Because this is me we're talking about. XD;

I didn't have an end planned for this, so this is way less likely to get a longer version done.