Summary:
They says all the divine beings has forsaken them, as 'They' never answered any of the humans' pleading prayers; instead, plunging humankind into deeper despair by sending aragami to raid the surface of earth. But what if the great being still cared? With a human deity snuck in to be one of the Gods Eaters. And what if... the dark past of the humankinds' greatest fortress, Fenrir finally reveals?
A/N: I know... I had disappeared for a long time. How many months was that? 6 months? Nope, 9? I don't know anymore. Not only that I had major writer-block, I was ready to bash myself against the wall when I re-read my story for the sake of refreshing the plot I had in my mind, and ended up with "What the heck am I writing?! This was not what I initially had in mind and everything was overlapping and the focus of the story was getting strayed!" So I'm back with a revised version of my previous work 'The First Snowfall During Winter'. Generally, everything in here would be the same as my previous work except for the part where Soma and the female protagonist had met each other when they are younger. I'm gonna cross out that part and replace it with something else, so I hope this won't be disappointing (Which I may have already upset my readers. I'm so, so sorry). But hey, idea gets better after a proper revise, so why not? Right?
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OCs and the plots. Even so, please do not copy paste my fiction and claims it as your own.
Enjoy!
Slamming the door shut with a loud bang, Soma sighed heavily as the cold water sprinkled from the shower head soaking him from head to toes, washing off the dried blood stain from his body. It's not his blood, but the blood belonged to one of those hateful beasts called Aragami he had just slayed merely an hour ago. The mission itself wasn't difficult. How hard can hunting down a lone Sariel be? The only dilemma was that flying banshee won't wait still on mid-air waiting for a buster blader to crush off its head. Hence, the man-made rain of blood.
Time like these, Soma wished he has a gun as his God Arc instead of blade. Just a little. It's not like he really want it even if given a chance to choose his choice of weapon instead of other way around.
Leaning his head heavily at the cold tiles, a loud and contented sigh left his lips as his dark-toned skin continuingly greets the cool water from the shower head. He could practically felt a layer of filth had been washed off of him and stared blankly as the contaminated water drains down the pipe.
It was around then, the annoying loud whining and complaining of Shun echoed outside of the shower cubicle he was occupying, "I mean seriously, I would've taken down that fallen Chi-You myself if not for that 1st Unit's leader pushed me out of the way and took all the glory for herself!" he ranted hastily, "Who the hell does she think she is?!"
Soma growled at the annoying accusation outside of his shower cubicle. Just when he thought his mood was lighten after a nice, cool shower. He stopped the water, hand reaching for his towel and clothes.
"From my perspective, you would have been zapped to death by now if not for that girl rushed towards you to safe your sorry butt," Karel mocked, obviously not accepting Shun's lies as usual, although being an ambitious young man he is, Karel would still stick to the facts and truths, "You never change."
Not happy at the fact that his teammate not taking his side, he groaned with frustration, "You know what?! That missy should just f- Yikes!" both Shun and Karel jumped at the sudden loud slam of the door, shortly followed by thumping footsteps inching closer and closer to the duo. Shun break into cold sweat as he could feel the familiar aura of promising death emitted by the only person he knew capable of doing so. Karel gave a few nervous chuckles and patted firmly on Shun's trembling shoulder, adding despair during his gravest moment "I mourn for your loudmouth," he then flee into one of the shower cubicle after grabbing his towel before Shun could even exclaim for him to stay.
That traitor!
Shun swallowed nervously as he felt the presence of the strong Gods Eater towering over him from behind, he forced himself to turn around, and he immediately regretted doing so, he should've just flee into one of the shower cubicle just like Karel did without even bother to look back. Standing behind him was indeed Soma who has already in his usual attire except for his hoodie since the young man's hair was still dripping wet from shower. The look on Soma's face was way beyond pissed, no doubt that he had overheard Shun's complains of his Unit's leader, or maybe Soma was already in his foulest mood and Shun's loud mouth just have to make it worst. Even though his dislike towards Soma was well known through the Den, he was still darn scared of him.
"H-hey, S-S-Soma!" Shun made a forced smile and stuttered, cowering under Soma's intense angry glare, "D-didn't know you're here- I-I mean, what are you doing here anyway?" he mentally slapped himself at his own words. Oh how he wanted to just dig a hole and hide himself away from the Death in mortal flesh.
"In case you have forgotten, this is the Den's public bathroom, I come here to shower whenever the hell I want," Soma growled thorough his words.
"S-sure! Of course! You come to the public bathroom to shower, what am I thinking! Of course we all need to shower-" Shun shut his mouth instantly as Soma narrowed his eyes in annoyance and causing him to whimper cowardly, "I-I-I'm so sorry Soma! I wouldn't bad mouth about your leader again! I admit that she saved me and I should be grateful instead of making a false story out of it! I swear to the deadliest Hannibal on earth that I won't do that again!"
"Don't you apologize to me," Soma snarled, making Shun's fear shot up sky high within half second, "It is my leader you should apologize to. Go train yourself harder so that too kind of a leader of mine wouldn't need to constantly worn herself out to rescue you."
"Y-y-yes Sir! I'llgoapologizetoherrightaway!" he finished his sentences with one breathes. Soma watched the young man scurried out of the public bathroom with full speed as if he was chased down by ten Dyaus Pita. He clicked his tongue and start to dry his hair using his towel, "What a drag, why did the leader even bother risking herself to save some ungrateful swine like him anyway?" he muttered under his breath soon followed by a shrug. What did he expect, his both former and current leader seems to have a tendency of committing self-sacrifices, it won't be surprising to know if one day he heard a news about his leader braves into the desert full of Aragamis just to save a lost little puppy. He snorted himself at the thought.
"Mornin' Soma!" the said young man glanced side way at his teammate as the teenage walk in with his usual cheerily mood. Soma only grunted in return.
"Geez, what a way to express your foul mood so early in the morning!" Kota exclaimed but smile still plastered on his face while Soma gave a small smirk, "its way pass early morning, just so you know."
"Who cares? The clock has yet showed me the sign of twelve in the afternoon, so it's still morning!"
Ever since Shio's depart, Soma has decided he should at least open up a little to his other teammates instead of just towards his leader, who he held a silent respect to since the girl was bold enough to brave the death. When he had accidently blurted out his thought during a small conversations with her, that bundle of energy practically jump with joy and dragged him in to the group instead of just respecting his decision to sit out of everything alone like he usually did. Though the first attempt was disastrous (how disastrous? Imagine criticizes everyone on everything every single time in every conversation that could relate to everyone's mistakes in life. Yup, that disastrous.), he unexpectedly able to settle down and adapted the change of routine in few days. It was rather nice, he thought, not that he would voice it out loud to them. Even so, his teammates, or he would now dare to call, friends, seems to have read his mind, it was a nice change indeed. The most noticeable change was the two young men who constantly hating each other's guts has already gone into good terms and had patched things up.
"I do hope it was just my imagination, but your mood really do seems lot worse than usual, and don't tell be Sariel rained blood on you. I saw the mess on you when you came back from mission." Kota said bluntly, splashed the cold water on his face and shivered at the coldness, he was wide awake now, " Something else happened?" he ask, wiping excess water out of his face.
"Nothing, it's just that someone from our unit being bad mouthed at," Soma merely replied, slung the towel over his shoulder after his hair was half dry, just a mere thought of a certain loud mouth really irritates the hell out of him.
"What? Really? Who- Oh..." Kota stopped as he had just remembered something, "Now that I think of it, I just saw Shun ran to the Veteran's floor with full speed, I had wondered why, now I see..." he hummed in realization, "Sucks to be him, he should be thankful instead of being such a snob."
" Hn." Soma voiced in agreement and leaned at the basin beside the one Kota was currently using.
"Speaking of our leader," Kota's smile fade, replaced by a worried expression, "Don't you think that Aurora was being a bit off lately?" Soma frowned at Kota's words. How could he not notice? It was obvious that something was up and their leader refuses to speak a word about it. Ever since the start of this year's autumn, Aurora would suddenly off to missions alone without them, she just gave them her usual smile when they questioned her, refused to leak a single detail about her mission. If not, she would always gave a few replies which does not have anything to do with what they had asked, such as "Ah, that fierce kongou was abnormally large compared to the previous one we fought together" or " I think I should working on my aims, that Sariel just can't stay still!" or even worst "Damn that Ouroboro and its tentacles!". While she was in the dining hall with them, she would suddenly space out to her own world, staring down her meal blankly instead of start eating until her heart content like she normally would.
There will be a time that their leader will be complete clueless and innocent about something that even a three years old would know, she was not a klutz like Kanon who constantly misfires her own teammates in ridiculously close rage, so they could trust their back to her even in the most deadly circumstances. Yet these days, she had actually scared the wits out of Kota and Alisa the day before yesterday when she suddenly ran herself into a random pole while they are walking their way back from mission. Both of them gasp in surprise, thought that her eye sight was affected by Sariel's poison, immediately asked whether is she alright, only to receive a reply that she was just day dreaming, which she usually don't during mission and it seems to happens awfully lot since two months ago. Eventually, they gave up on the attempt of getting answer out of their leader, hence starting to make a few guesses on their own at their leader's recent odd behaviour.
"Since we are not from the same unit, therefore I couldn't tell much different about her changes in behaviour," said Karel who had already done with his quick shower, walking pass the two without looking back, "But she does seemed acting a bit odd during yesterday's mission with me and Shun,"
Soma raised an eyebrow at that, "How so?"
"I don't know," he replied honestly, "She was not focused when we are fighting the fallen Chi-You, she seemed anxious and frustrated, frequently tears her gaze away from the target to skim every corner of our surrounding, as if..." he opened the door and stopped at the near end of his sentence, trying to think of a better way to describe the anxiety he sensed from the 1st Unit's leader, "as if she was preparing for something much more dangerous."
Soma and Kota frowned as Karel left.
"Preparing for something much more dangerous?" Kota scratched his cheek, "But there isn't any strong type of Aragami being detected lately, and the Aragami has been decreasing drastically ever since the first few days of autumn... Huh?"
Ever since autumn?
And then, something clicked in their mind. Both of them exchanged glances, obviously came up with a same conclusion," So Aurora had been assign to an investigating mission to find out the reasons behind the Aragami's drastic decreases?" And that's it? "I couldn't believe it! I thought the search team was the one who do the investigating job! Why didn't she just tell us and let us help? Won't the search will be much easier if we work in a team instead of just one person?" Kota exclaimed hastily, not liking the way their leader shouldered everything on herself, "Did she even look at herself in the mirror lately? She looked exhausted!"
Soma couldn't agree more, but there was still something off about the so-called investigating mission. Usually, that old Doc Sakaki would give them hints even when he was forbidden to leak a word about the secret mission for the sake that they could immediately react for backup if something happens, same goes to Aurora. This time was different, they didn't mention a word, not even a hint, they acted as usual while silently implement something behind their facade.
"Tch, it better be just a normal investigate," Soma clicked his tongue, pushing himself away from the basin that he leaned at and exited the public bathroom with Kota followed behind. Kota folded his hands behind his head, slightly pursed his lips in a childish manner, "I'm sensing a Deja vu here, and I don't like the feeling of it."
"Seconded."
They took the elevator, having a silent moment until the elevator have made it's stop at the rookie's floor, Kota walked out of the elevator and wave to the young man who was still remaining in the elevator with both had shove into his pockets, "Well then, we will meet up with the others at the entrance floor's lounge as usual, see ya!"
Soma only gave a brief wave in return before the elevator's door closed up and proceed to the veteran's floor. He faced down and stared at the tip of his shoes. Something is not right. He could sense it, his leader's anxiety. It was getting stronger as day passes. Why haven't she spoke a word to him? Aren't they a closer friend compare to the others? His eyebrows furrowed at the thought of it, " She practically made me blurt out my thought every time we talked, guess I'll just have to do the same."
The bell chimed as the elevator had reached the veteran's floor; he walked out and was taken aback at the sight of a person who he has not met for days. His leader was just standing up straight after reach down for her drink from the vending machine, with her black little wolf pup staying close beside her as usual. The little wolf was Aurora's pet- Or friend as she always correct them by stressing the word- may look cute, but you wouldn't say the same once you witness the harmless little bundle could transform into a large fierce wolf same size as a Dyaus Pita. The leader never once mentioned where she have found this weird species no matter how many times they asked, therefore they only know that the little wolf was already with her when she joined Fenrir. The little wolf was drop dead loyal to his mistress and followed her practically everywhere (surprisingly, he will just automatically wait outside of the public bathroom obediently and patiently even without his mistress's order), and would just bite on anyone who has a slightest intention to insult or harm her to matter how many time the girl told him not to, hence the main victim will always be Shun... But what actually bothers Soma the most was the lack of interest showed by old man Sakaki towards this weird being. Normally, the old doctor would leap in joy to experiment on such rare creature. Therefore, another uncertainty of the doctor has added into Soma's list.
"Hey."
The girl jolted in surprise and turned while the pup snapped his head towards the young man, "Oh, hi!" Soma frowned at her lack of energy, his gaze never leave her as the girl sat on the long bench looking rather tired, taking a sip of her drink from the opened can she was holding, "Shinobu, come here," she patted on her thigh, gesturing the pup to hop on. Shinobu don't need to be told twice and landed on her thighs with one leap and lay down comfortably on his mistress's lap, he gave out a small whine in bliss as his mistress gently stroke his soft black fur.
"So, how have you been," she smiled softly, dull black eyes gaze upon the sapphire ones.
"Better than you, physically." He shrugged and chooses a drink for himself from the vending machine.
"True." Aurora hummed, softly scratching the back of Shinobu's fluffy pointed ears. Picking up the canned drink after it dropped with a 'thud' from the vending machine, he sat beside his leader and opened the can by using a hand, taking a few sip of the artificial flavoured liquid. He side glanced at his leader, waiting for her to start a conversation like she always would, but nothing came. He frowned as the young girl seems to have no intention to talk at all.
"Kota and Alisa was really worried, as well as the others." He started, set his drink beside him on the bench, crossing his arms around his chest, "What happened to all those endless energy of yours?" he said. But Aurora knows that he was asking something else from her.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I can't tell you a word about it for now," she said apologetically, "I'm not ready to tell just yet, not now, same goes to Sakaki."
"So you two were up to something," Soma's eyes narrowed, not happy at the fact that the two are really doing something behind his back.
"It was nothing bad, I could assure you that, it was just a procedure to keep everyone away from the worse," she replied, although not completely, but honest at least, "This investigations… or you could say mission can be only done by me, Shinobu and Sakaki, the three of us. It was something that you have never witness before, and dangerous as well."
His frown deepened, gritting his teeth, "Even this pup of yours could help, then why can't I be any help at all? Are we this vulnerable to these mysterious being that you are investigating at?"
She gave him a bitter smile, "I'm not trying to insult or doubt your ability and strength, Soma. You are indeed strong as a Gods Eater, there was no doubt of it, but this matter is really out of your hand." She leaves no space for argument in this, "This time. Only this once I have to face the outcome without you guy, I promise, no more secrets after this, I'll tell you everything you want to know, but not now,"
She sighed as the young man did not looked convinced, "I never once break a promise, please trust me."
His heart sank at the tone of her voice; it was not every day that you would hear the girl sound so distant and sad. She was always happy and carefree like she never has anything in the past to hold her back down in misery.
No matter how resentful he was right now, he still have to respect his leader's decision, he slump his back against the wall, anger evident on his face, "How high is the risk?"
"I don't know. It is a risk can't be measure by your usual standard."
"When will the mission ends?"
"I really don't know, Soma." She was tired, really, really exhausted, and the season wasn't helping either, "I just hoped, everything can be settled before the first snow falls."
First snow falls? Soma eyes widen at her last sentence. Why does it have anything to do with winter? It's not like the Aragami would go hibernate during winter season.
"Soma…"
"What?"
"Could… we stop the conversation here? I really don't want to talk about it right now. But as promised, I will tell you once it was over." She was no longer looking at him, her hand continuously stroking the little wolf's black fur.
Soma gave his leader a one last look, and stood up abruptly, stomped towards his own room, leaving her sitting alone with the pup on her lap.
Shinobu raised his head, whimpered at the sad look that was on his mistress's face, stood up and crawled onto her shoulder, nuzzled his small fur head on her cheek trying to cheer her up.
Aurora gave a small smile and caress her friend's soft ears, "I…really like it here, in the Den with everyone," she leaned back on the wall and stared up to the white ceiling, "In order able to continue staying with everyone here, I must have to brave my past."
"If I could stay here as human, that is…"
R&R would be adored!