A/N: Hello, this is HumanRabbit, presenting her first fanfic. I always saw that Johann Faust VIII always stood up from most of Shaman King characters; however I wasn't satisfied at all with the end of things, even if it was the most feasible. I felt that his story (and Eliza) deserved to be told in a separate space. The things he did had positive consequences but also negative ones, which were never explored nor in the manga or the anime, partly because of their dark nature and because it would had deviated from the main plotSo these pages show a very different destiny for Johann Faust VIII, the details about Eliza's resurrection, as well as the separation from his allies will be continued in another story and will will be mentioned briefly.

Final notes: The depiction of Mephistopheles used here is the one that appears on the chapter 120 of the manga

I am co-writing this fanfic with D4rK Sid3, you can find a link to his profile in my favorite authors. Without any other delays, with the fic.

-Disclaimer: Shaman King and its characters are property of Hiroyuki Takei and Xebec studios and we gain no profit out of writing this story. Any other character from other universes are borrowed without any monetary gain and will be properly identified.

The Damnation of Faust

Chapter 1

Damnation

There was no town like that town. That little town at the south, surrounded by forests and hills, blessed with clear air and lovely skies. That town populated by people who knew each other as members of one large family, some houses only separated by a wall, others far from the streets, by the hills. That town where that couple came one day and settled in a house only connected to their "neighbors" by a thin line of concrete.

The couple in question arrived to town about two years ago when the husband, a rather strange and sickly looking man became the local doctor; at first the townspeople was somewhat distrustful of him, considering the fact that he was remarkably similar to an individual – coincidentally, also a doctor - whose wife had been murdered and went insane almost ten (or were they twelve?) years ago. Nevertheless, the stranger proved to be not only a superb healer, but also a kind and polite –if introverted and nervous – person, and that story was just too old and too silly, and also there was to remember that, before Dr. Faust arrived, the closest doctor was almost two hours away from town, so eventually they accepted him. The wife, on the other hand, was quite sociable, most of time sporting a smile upon her warm, fresh face and managing to find the peachy side of things, nothing like her somber looking husband.

To the townspeople, it was weird that such a beautiful and cheerful woman would be married to such a… man. There was something about him – aside of his appearance, a mixture between a concentration camp survivor and one of those gothic rock star persons – that made others feel uneasy. Had they only known…

During that summer afternoon, on the solitary freeway, Doctor Johann Faust VIII was driving alone, restless and nervous. Although the stressed expression upon his face would've given the impression of a most terrible scenario, the doctor was merely clearing his head at his wife's demand.

For those who know nothing about his story, Dr. Faust was not the ordinary medicine man nor his marriage was the common one either; it would be somewhat long and bothering to narrate the entire situations this couple has been through, so let us resume that they were - shall we say - reconstructing their relationship from the ashes of mistrust and other marriage issues.

The efforts made by both of them (in particular hers) had their reward after a year and five months: the passion returned to their lives and from 3 months to the current time, they were blessed by the joy of parenthood - to be...nevertheless, there was still a problem to be solved: Johann was very attached to his Eliza and one of the things she imposed in first place was the need of personal space; not that she would cheat on her husband or any infamous activity, but the fact of having him around virtually all the time was an annoyance for any woman. Johann was aware of this in spite he always felt an imminent disaster whenever he left her home alone:

"What if it happens again? What if this time I loose her…forever? And now that there'll be another one in our lives…I couldn't take two victims in my heart, never! − Don't behave like a stupid, Johann! You must be calm, you promised it! Your baby needs a father that can keep calm in the eye of the storm…"

The good yet nervous man was swinging in such thoughts as his free hand reached the glove box and poked inside, searching for anything that could distract him and when that hand finally found something among the papers and coins, he had to stop the car when he saw a joint in front of him. The doctor wasn't too proud of realizing he had such thing in his car without noticing – he had to buy a second hand one, a brand new one was far from his possibilities at that time. However, he already tried many other drugs and there weren't any policemen at sight, so he lit the joint and put it in his mouth while he held the ten and two in his trembling hands. Feeling the smoke inside his mouth and a strange lightness taking over his usually heavy body, the man continued his path towards tranquillity, realizing that all his fears were nonsense and her wife would proof to be stronger than he believed her to be at the hour of truth, or so he was thinking.

By the time the blue in the sky was fading away, Johann turned around and started the road back home. Happy of achieving peace of mind after those tortuous minutes, he needed a pair of times to realize that something in the road had changed: The colours were more intense, almost like chromatic acid, and a sea of skeletons clad in Mexican outfits were marching in his direction, but when he tried to shoo them, they just evaded the car as if it was a rock in a river. Then large elephants similar to those of Dali's painting were crossing the path, and a zoo of more rarities filled the freeway.

Understanding that his little joy ride had gone too far, the doctor immediately removed the joint off his mouth and threw on a side of the road. Closing his eyes with a hardness that'd be confused with the childish exercise of having them squeezed by his lids, he struggled to organize his mind…and the moment he opened them, he was struck by a noisy wall and a blinding light.

The doctor didn't know for how much time he had been out. They could have been minutes, perhaps hours. When his eyes finally opened, he realized there was something wrong: he wasn't in his car, but lying on the floor. As a matter of fact, the car was nowhere to be found, it have seemed to disappear out of thin air.

Looking around, Johann tried not to collapse under the weight of his own and omnipresent fatigue, a fact that his shaking arms reminding him so. He groaned when he felt the pulse for a sudden rush of vomit and instead shook his head left and stumbled along the floor. His languid eyes felt the weight of the eyelashes trying to close in, a slap to his cheek was the answer for that recommendation.

Finally, for the first time that felt like ages, the man took a look of his surroundings: A bleak landscape of whistling whirlwinds and menacing dark silhouettes under a plutonic, starless sky.

At first confused of how and why did he land in such a place, his brain twitched in a certain order of neurons to let rationality to get the mess of his body and mind in order; however, every time he tried to make a theory after another to explain his situation, all lead to the same points: He being lost…or dead.

Impossible, impossible! – He said to himself, shaking his head in feverish disbelief – I cannot die! Eliza is waiting for me at home, she must be worried sick! I just passed out from the joint and - -

The cogs of his head twirled menacingly against the very need to explain why the hell those swirling shadows tried to swallow the remaining clarity of where he truly was. Amok the murky skies were the filthy reminiscences by the very representation of the figures that splinted the clouds like shards of glass.

Gasping, Johann tried in vain to voice a sound that would snapped him out from that stasis, anything that could wake him up or cause a reaction that'd made adrenaline to rush through his morphine tainted bloodstream, and made him run and /or fight the dark figures that seemed to notice his presence and started to approach him. However, the fear - induced paralysis over his body had impaired his vocal cords of working properly. Only his eyeballs were seemly functional, fixated to the tartaric legion coming closer by the minute.

In a sudden twist of that tense intrigue, the whistle of the winds was interrupted by the sound of metal hitting stone. The rickety rattle began to get louder with each agonizing second, as an unidentifiable figure made its way from the cloud of mist that surrounded every piece of land, clad in the movement of the rattle. Four set of red pebbles shown their way out of the gloomy dark and with that, Johann Faust VIII's apprehension rose to new levels and out of it, the forms of four horses appeared against the disbelief of his eyes. The horses were attached to a carriage of dark wood, their rider cloaked and unrecognizable. The rattle of the wheels of the carriage drilled a hole into his nerves and unable to take it anymore, he shouted:

"WHERE IS GOD'S NAME AM I?" His mouth managed to say out loud, finishing the torturous struggle between his dread and his reasoning.

His question was answered when a cloud of dust blurred his sight and a strangely familiar voice replied with another question:

"Hey stranger, what are you doing here, in the middle o' nowhere?"

Johann stayed apprehensive panting and puffing for breath at his sudden outburst. The newcomer, sensing the confused man's tenseness, let go off the reins and climbed down the carriage. The doctor stumbled a few steps back swiftly, feeling threatened by such a baffling individual climbing down the wagon, with the horses nickering in response with the sudden movement of the carriage.

Coughing, Faust shook his hands to dispel the dust around him, his sight cleared when the mysterious rider revealed a face that got the best of Faust's surprise, for it was the least person he ever expected to encounter at such place:

"Frank…Zappa?"

"If you say so" said the stranger with a smile, lending his hand to the confused man on the floor. "Would you like to take a hitch?"

Johann stayed transfixed into the musician's hand, not quite believing what his eyes saw: From all people he could find in such a barren and grim realm, it had to be a deceased musician from his medical school days?

Perhaps he had died at the road and a 'familiar' face was taking him to the underworld. Perhaps it was a monster using a 'friendly' disguise to fool him and make him its dinner. Perhaps it was not. Such thoughts caused Faust to doubt Zappa's offer for a second.

Then again, his surroundings were rather creepy, the incessant noise of the horses and the cringing of the carriage didn't help to ease his nervousness either, not forgetting that he had to go home, and staying like an idiot in the middle of that no man's land wasn't going to get him any close to there.

The stranger hand trembled in impatiently while Johann nearly choked on his own anxiousness; but with the sordid taste of confusion ringing in his mind and with the need to tell what the hell was going on, it was better to go with something at least recognizable.

He sigued, there goes nothin. "I suppose". The Doctor finally answered to the Musician, who helped the lost man to stand up and made him to sit beside him in response.

The silence of the landscape was cut out when the horseman snapped the reins, causing the horses to proceed their way towards their yet – unknown destination.

The two men sat side by side, each immersed in their own objectives: The driver had his sight upon the seemingly endless road, and the passenger had his mind on his Eliza whom, by then, must have tried to call him at that useless gadget called 'cellular phone' she made him carry whenever they were separated. He checked the apparatus in question a couple of times, but it was dead.

"Pathetic piece of plastic", Faust growled to himself as he shoved the phone back in his pocket.

"So" Began Frank out loud to vanquish the unbearable silence between him and his companion. "You haven't tell me your name, mister..."

"Uh, Faust. Johann Faust VIII, mister Zappa" Faust nervously replied, ashamed at his discourtesy of forgetting the single soul he could relate with at that place and time.

"Johann Faust VIII" Calmly repeated the musician, repeating the name like an ice cream flavor never tasted before "You must be quite the notorious guy with such a name"

The man did not know how to answer, he had never venerate his own name as important; only his job, lending a hand for those who needed him the most. To tell the truth, he had never exchanged more than a few pleasantries with the citizens of the town; his wife was more sociable and amicable than him…or maybe she didn't result as creepy to them as he was.

The musician refrained to give that answer a pull and instead focused on the road again. Glancing at his left and smiling, he asked again.

"I take it you are the silent type"

"The only notorious person in my family was my ancestor. The rest of us were simple doctors" He finally answered, lowering his head in embarrassment.

"I meant, in your daily life: School, work, among your patients" The musician tried again.

"Well, at med school I was nothing more than the latest person with that surname, as for my patients they don't mind it at all"

"And how about your childhood?" Pressed Zappa.

Johann sighed. "Let's say I didn't have much of an ordinary childhood. As I said, I descend from a notorious man, who gained his fame by committing awful deeds, unspeakable crimes that only could be explain in terms of magic and mythology. I guess I don't have to name it for you, Mr. Zappa"

"Faust the first. A scholar and alchemist in 16° century Germany. Was mostly famous for the myth of selling his soul to the demon lord Mephistopheles, in exchange for-" Zappa was interrupted.

"Forbidden knowledge, among other things, yes. Whether it was a true story or not, it has been a heavy burden to the Faust bloodline during all these centuries. Perhaps that was the reason I was virtually alone as a child, perhaps it was my education; I can't say…there are many parts of my memory that are blurry to me, the only thing true is that I was alone" Completed Johann clenching the sides of the carriege.

The rider said nothing, his eyes pinned to the bleak road, but his ears were paying close attention to his companion's words. After a short pause, Faust, now more trustful, continued.

"More than alone, I was isolated, isolated from other children, from whatever events were occurring around the globe. Nevertheless, there was only one person that entered my world, and by doing it, my heart became hers forever"

"Hers?"

"Eliza. My only and absolute love. My wife" He answered smiling, savoring each word. "We've been together for so many years, been through so many misfortunes and yet, we love each other like the very first moment"

"You certainly cherish your wife, that's a rare thing to see these days" Mused Zappa with a soft smile, at which Faust nodded, his passion creating beautiful stars and spreading them across the dead sky.

"We're going to have our first child this year. I've never been so happy and so terrified at the same time, do you know that feeling?"

"The one of having my first child, or the one of being happy and terrified at the same time?" Frank joked to set a lighter mood.

"Any of both, I supposed" Johann contempled.

And so, the two men spent countless minutes, perhaps hours in the road exchanging remarks here and then. But Zappa said nothing when the air suddenly turned colder for every whistle of wind in the carriage, until Faust found himself puffing hot breath at his hands.

"You don't seem to be much of a cold weather person, do you Mr. Faust?"

"It's not that" He replied while he rubbed his arms around his body for warmth "I was in a hot place before ending up here...about that well... "

"Yes, Mr. Faust?" Asked the seemingly impervious to cold musician.

"May I inquire: where exactly are we?"

"Where were you before ending here?"Zappa replied, dodging the doctor's question.

Faust stayed more on his thoughts than everything else. Even as the steel wheels of the carriage stalled against every pebble in the road, his thoughts did not falter about the strangeness he felt about the events when he first arrived in this, this Indescribable feeling of naught as well. Zappa's question lingered in his mind, digesting his doubts for a few seconds.

"I…I was driving away from home. Or I think I was when I f-" Faust stopped short, suddenly remembering the marihuana joint and a question popped on his head:

"Surely vintage marihuana did not have this hallucinogen trip right?" He thought and for the first time realized the situation in he was in. Perhaps this was just a dream and he was passed out against the glass of his car.

"Something the matter?"

In that moment, the carriage could have made a misstep in a large rock, because Faust Johann felt a small pebble hitting him straight on the head. He winced immediately with a hiss, bringing a hand to the throbbing wound...blood.

Even as his confusion level reached a new height, the discomfort of the wound did not stop and neither the vibration of the carriage under his body.

"Nothing" He replied or at least he felt he had "I was in my car, yes my car and I think I hit my head against the window, then nothing I woke up here...disoriented and without any clue"

"You don't sound too sure of it" Answered Zappa "Nevertheless, I'll answer your question: We are riding across The Valley of Bones, near the Cygnia country"

"The Cygnia country?" Inquired Faust.

"Yes, but it's not there we're heading to. Instead we're going towards the other side, to the lands of Thurinja the dark one"

"I … I don't know any place with those names, Mr. Zappa. They confuse even more"

"Don't worry about that, Mr. Faust. We'll arrive soon there, and maybe you can figure out how to return home. Or to obtain the answers you seek" Answered the carriage driver.

Observing another wave of uncertainty in his passenger's face, he hastened the speed of the horses by cracking the reins.

Faust looked at the driver with confusion, while failing to remember why transpired over his own mind just what was wrong. He felt...all this indescribable as the meaning of life; instead of asking again just what the hell was unwell with this train of thought, he managed to calm his inner doubts and gaze around the scenery, just like he had been doing for some time.

Strangely, the landscape started to show signs of civilization in the form of towers. They were too distanced from each other and from the carriage, but there were tiny spots of lights in them, clearly indicating a life form inhabiting them, like fireflies on giant, unearthed bones. Eventually Faust concentrated in those small dim lights, somehow wishing it was just a bad dream. The ride and the near area of civilization keep his mind at edge, even though the silence was certainly deafening, the bumpy sound of metal against rock didn't let his mind rest.

"You've been quiet lately, Mr. Faust. Is there anything now disturbing your mind?"

The doctor simply shook his head, not wanting to feel any more uncomfortable than he already was. Even as he were, not saying the particular phrase of 'What in God's name is happening?' He would let his own doubts guide him to the very answers Mr. Zappa had promised on their destination.

As they came closer, smaller structures around the towers became visible, all in an architectonic style that reminded Faust of his childhood hometown – his current hometown's watermill had to be reconstructed after an allied bomb raid during WWII, and the main architecture was more of 18° century than the renaissance style he was born and raised in, until his early adulthood.

However, these monochromatic structures turned out to be minimal in comparison with the plutonic towers that raised themselves to the sky; the same grim deathly looking sky greeted his sight upon the very town they were advancing upon. The curve of the hill where the embedded road changed into a cleaner one, the rocks seemed to have that special shine that he could have considerate to call a street instead of cheap rock thrown into the dirt like the rest of the road.

"We are almost there" Informed Zappa with a small chuckle, raising more doubts than relief.

In the distance, Johann could see the towers so close, like two sharp canines of a savage beast rising to the sky. At their top there was a flag wavering with the wind, red as blood tracing the dark sky with their erratic flow. Although Faust couldn't made it out very well, the flag had a symbol rather familiar to him, one of the many he had seen and used during his years of studying necromancy. However, the fact that said symbol was imprinted on the tower's flag added a hint of disturbance to his already complicated emotional state.

The road shortened with each bounce of the wheels, the metal clanking against the pebbles and stone; he felt his heart starting to jump against his chest, but from fear...far from his body. An overwhelming desire to shout, to jump off the carriage and to race the remaining road on foot, just for the answers he was seeking, almost overcame him. Nevertheless, the closeness of Mr. Zappa kept him in a state near to calm. After all, there had to be someone who could help him to return home, to Eliza.

Above all, his desire was to return to Eliza: How much he wanted to hold her against his arms and hearing her whispering how much she loved him, how much he had completed her life, and to feel her soft flagrant lips against his own. And then there was the love they treasured together, growing inside her womb. For the last months (their firstborn would arrive in winter, yet the enthusiasm was too much) he had caressed her every growing stomach with a smile; wanting to remember each kick, each groan of discomfort and comfort when he placed both of his hands on her warm stomach. Long days he had spent with his ear on her tummy struggling to listen to anything that could gave him a sound, any sound that could bring him a clue of what the baby would be, but all he had in the end was the growling of Eliza's stomach craving more food.

A small bump in the road raised him from his thoughts, as he gasped; he directed his attention to his eyesight. The small gaps in the wooden walls keep company to the dark towers shaped like darkened stone fangs; they loomed over the entire town, their shadows almost swallowing the little light that existed.

The stone floor, blackened from activity could suppose Faust, guided them to a stone arc that engrossed the heavy double doors, the thick wood murky from all the years of shameless neglect. The wagon seemed to be destined to fall upon every single stone and hole on the weathered road bashing into the metal rimmed wheels, something that Johann noticed with irritation.

The strange part was, that there was nobody to receive them, no guards to gaze at them suspiciously, even as the carriage went through the gates, there were two ancient weapons embedded in the walls, two halberds rested against the stone. Not giving this importance, the shadow of the granite arc looked over them for a second and they were into the town.

Now he could see it, in all its glory, if a hole like that could be called a town:

The tiles of every house's roof were filled with grime, their walls too filthy gray for his tastes. Even their doors and windows were barred by chipped ancient looking wood. There was no soul on the streets, in fact it looked deserted; and when he thought he had seen it all, at the corner of his eyes he could almost feel shadows peeking around his corneas, teasing him.

The wind howled with each passing crack of the wheels of the carriage, even as he tried to ignore the apprehensive feeling, the shadows dancing around his eyes and those towers snapped him out off his thoughts.

It had all been a mind-numbing blur to him, his memories staining his thoughts, he found himself surprised when the carriage stopped and Zappa snapped his fingers in front of his face.

"Alright, Mr. Faust, this is it: the end of the line" Said the driver stretching a lazy arm, his leather gloved hand signaling to a particular direction.

"Wait Mr. Zappa, where are we? There's no one here" He exclaimed with an accusatory look.

"Patience"Answered the driver. "I promised answers, and thus you'll be given those only if you follow that direction" Zappa emphasized the direction with his finger again. Faust followed his fingertip to a narrow and long street. Sighing, he jumped out off the carriage, giving the whizzing right horse a pat on the head.

"Thank you Mr. Zappa, I hope will be seeing each other again" He said with a smile, extending his hand to Zappa; upon holding his hand in the air to him, Zappa stayed fixed on it, seeming unknowing to what to do, until finally he set his sight upon the road again, cracked the reigns and turned around, back to the abysmal trail where he came from.

Faust's surprise turned into mortification, but eventually his doubts weighted more than his own confusion and simple as that, he took a step to the street.

Johann shook his head with another heedful sigh abruptly feeling the need to turn around. He had heard it, a laugh, a child's laugh, like if some abrupt reason when he looked over his shoulder, there was nothing to be seen. With a frown he continued, feeling for the first time the chilling air that surrounded the town like a buried coffin.

He puffed hot air on his hands literally watching the puff of cold air evaporating in the air; with a groan, he pulled the collar of his jacket tightened against his neck in an effort to stop the cold that chilled him to the bones.

Yet for every step he took, the walls felt like closing in, for every breath he took, the air did not fill his lungs. He began to wheeze, almost like suffocating on the fog that wrapped his eyesight. He puffed more for breath but every time he did the air was pulled out off his long until he felt like someone had took a grip of his throat and started to squeeze.

Johann coughed for breath; he felt his lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen, his throat constricted like he had choked on a chicken bone; as if to regain his unbalance, he placed both of his hands against a wall to no end.

He fell, the world went spinning with him; he heard them…the laughs, the colors whirling around him, the children's laugh and unremarkable faces mocking him on his despair.

You'll be given those only if you follow in that direction - He heard that voice filling with a wave of inverted vocal cord as he choked for air.

Then just darkness…

A/N: This bring us to the end of the chapter. I had plenty of fun describing all the events...as for our special guess, the musician, turned into the carriage driver of the death...the musician Frank Zappa. Yes, I included him because he is one of my favorite musicians and I loved to give him a spot into the story. His development is interesting and while he won't have a frequent place into the story, he will be here and there from time to time. He just popped in the scenes, kinda to add a freaky tone that would give the sense of a hallucination. Overall, me and D4rK enjoyed writing this. Expect the new chapter very soon. Please review, nevertheless, thank you all that read, put it in your favorites or reviewed. Thank you all.

This is HumanRabbit signing out and stay tuned for the next chapter. Have a good one!