Hello friends! This is the first chapter of my Daemon AU fic. If anyone has any questions about this AU and my Daemon choices, please feel free to PM me. Also, if any of you artistic types feels the urge to doodle, I still need a thumbnail and profile picture (hint hint!) Next chapter should be uploaded sometime next week. On with the show!
The snow was thick and beginning to frost over at the surface. Small winces flickered across his round face as Ivan slogged through the thick, resisting substance. The trek through this much snow would have been challenging enough normally. Today though, Ivan had just had another encounter with the Teutonic Knights, and while he had won the fight for today, the other Nation had managed to get in a few good hits.
The child clenched his teeth again as his ankle twinged on each step, and the cold, biting wind made the impressive bruise over his eye ache all the more.
Despite this, he doggedly continued until the warm glow of the village burned on the horizon. Violet eyes lighting up with childish innocence and fascination. He drew to a standstill, mesmerised by the light as a moth is to a flame.
"Kali, you can come out now, we are almost there," he whispered excitedly and a small form crawled out from under the black Ushanka he wore at his encouragement.
Ivan paid no attention to the small field mouse that quickly hopped onto his shoulder from her perch on his silver hair, only shooting her a fond glance when she crawled into the loops of his scarf and curled up against his neck, tiny paws gripping the edge of the pink material as she peered out at their destination.
"It's so pretty," his Daemon, Kali, breathed, looking up at Ivan as he nodded, eyes alive for the first time in a few days.
Giving Kali only a daft grin as a warning, Ivan suddenly lurched forwards into an awkward clambering run which was now even more ungainly than usual due to his injuries and the snow. Squeaking in surprise, she fell out of her perch, catching herself by shifting into a small, honey coloured hummingbird before swooping low over his head and playfully tugging at his hat.
They both laughed loudly as they raced each other to the edge of the incline in which the small village was situated. Skidding to a halt, Ivan stood right on the edge of the slope, leaning forwards slightly as he looked down at the now individual buildings and merrily burning lights that enveloped the area in a welcoming gold light, that made even the snow look warm. Kali alighted on his shoulder, a field mouse once again.
"Wow…" he breathed, despite having seen the village countless times before, it was still magical in his eyes. It's simple, quaint appearance always made him feel safe and happy, making it inevitably where he could be found when upset or scared. Nothing seemed to ruin the simple delight he found there, not even when his weight shifted just too much and the snow beneath his feet gave way.
He gave a brief startled yelp before he was plunged down the abrupt slope, skidding and rolling in a dizzying maelstrom of gold and white before he sunk into the deeper snow at the bottom. Kali, swooped down, a hummingbird again before landing on his chest as an arctic hare, briefly blocking out his view of the stars, which seemed to shine extra bright for him tonight.
Their eyes met for a second before Ivan grinned once again and got up as though nothing had happened, making his way into the fringe of the village, Kali at his side with the excited aura of an impatient child.
Ivan was no fool; he was fully aware that his presence in the village centre would be unwelcomed at best, feared at worst. His unusual hair and eye colour, tattered clothing and strange animal companion would undoubtedly be noticed and the behaviour of the citizens would be affected.
That was the last thing he wanted.
Sticking to the shadows of the wooden buildings, Ivan skirted around the village outskirts until he found a spot he deemed acceptable.
Using small hands that were raw and painful, he dug away the snow that lay on the ground amidst a small cluster of bushes. Ploughing away at the hard, compacted substance until he had cleared a small circle where the wilted blades of grass and cold, rock hard dirt were revealed to the outside world.
Unceremoniously, he plopped down in the small clearing, shuffling slightly so that he could peer through the branches and leaves of the bushes and in through the streets and alleys into the village centre, without being spotted himself. Pulling his tattered coat tighter around himself and burying his lower face further into his scarf, he made himself comfortable for a long night.
Kali was in the bush itself, her field mouse form easily navigating the twisted branches and balancing effortlessly on the thin twigs. Seeing that her partner had settled and didn't seem to have any intention of moving anytime soon, she leapt from her branch, shifting into an arctic hare during mid-jump before landing on his lap.
If the sudden impact had bothered him, Ivan didn't show it; his eyes remained on the village, unblinking and unwavering. However, he did curl his arms around his Daemon and pull her closer to him, before opening his coat and pulling her inside, leaving just her head poking out when he closed it again.
They sat there for a few moments, in comfortable silence, before Ivan leaned forwards excitedly, seeing the first of many villagers congregate in the village centre.
Ivan had found out about this meeting a few years back, quite by accident. It seemed that once a month, almost all of the residents of this particular village, barring those too sick or frail to manage, would converge in the centre to meet with friends, catch up with news and to meet new people.
Fascinated with the effortless interactions of the villagers, Ivan shamelessly watched from the side-lines, filled with curiosity, longing and envy.
By now, most of the village was there and various communications and interactions were happening, and Ivan could feel the regular yearning and jealousy that was inevitable whenever he watched. Kali, feeling his distress as her own, nuzzled her head into his neck in a vain attempt to comfort him.
"Why does no one like us?" He asked her, not really expecting an answer, simply voicing what they both ached to understand. "We haven't done anything to them, and yet they still hurt us."
"I don't know," Kali replied softly. "It's not fair."
"Look how easy it is for them," he whispered, watching two people hug and cling to each other. A little girl hugged a stuffed bear tightly to her chest, clutching her mother's hand in one of her own and the treasured companion in the other.
No one ever hugs him.
The cold which he had been ignoring made its presence known, and he shivered.
"I wonder what it feels like," he mused aloud. "To be hugged." Eyes once again fixed on the people who were effortlessly embracing those they loved, with no uncertainty or trepidation that they would be rejected, or were not doing it right.
Kali looked up at him sadly, before squirming and wriggling out of his coat and onto the ground behind him. Ivan let her go; not focusing too much on what she was doing until a disjointed rush of certainty and rightness washed over him so strongly that it made his heart jump.
He knew what this meant. His big sister explained it to him giddily when her Daemon, Korisr settled into his form of a Siberian roe deer.
Spinning around, he was met with the sight of a brown bear cub, wobbly standing on its hind legs with its arms stretched out strangely.
"Is this it?" He asked in exhilaration, grin almost threatening to split his face in half. Kali nodded, violet eyes wide with the same feeling. Unused to being this large, she stumbled over her hind paws, only for Ivan to catch her.
"Vanya," she said, her voice muffled from where her blunt muzzle was buried in his shoulder. "I'm big enough to give you hugs now."
With this simple statement, Ivan laughed. He laughed until his eyes were overflowing with tears and he clutched his Daemon tighter, only just realising how big her settled form was.
Standing on her hind legs as she was, her head easily came up to his shoulder, and while he was still broader than her, he knew that it wouldn't be too long before she surpassed him in both height and width. Though, he observed, she possessed plenty of strength already given with how tightly she had wrapped her forelegs around his waist.
He leant his forehead against hers, sniffling as he locked his gaze with the soulful violet eyes that were almost clones of his own.
"We don't need them," Kali breathed, nudging her nose at the drying tear tracks that adorned his cheeks.
"Never leave me," Ivan begged.
"Never," Kali assured.
New Daemons;
Russia - Kali (Brown Bear)
Ukraine - Korisr (Siberian Roe Deer)