Midnight Snow: Chapter 1
Shadowed Existence
It was dark.
So dark.
He couldn't remember what had brought him to this place. The little memories he had were trickling out of his mind a little more, every time he tried to remember.
He let a groan of frustration escape his lips.
He felt the darkness wrap around his body like a cloak, the cold silkiness of it making him shiver, desperate for warmth...
He raised his hands against his face and felt the cold silk rub against it.
Wait a minute. There was something wrapped on his body.
His eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was a shapeless black...thing hovering near his face. With a start, he realized it was his hand in some kind of billowing, long sleeve.
He slowly pushed himself up to his feet.
He was in some kind of forest clearing. The trees he saw were dark green with spiky leaves, covered with a diamond-like frosting of snow. Pine trees. Snow? Well, that would explain the cold...
He was wrapped in a black, hooded cloak that seemed eerily familiar. He raised his arms and the sleeve fell back. With a start he saw a glowing, red stone fused to the back of his palm.
Wait a second! I recognize this stone...He thought, eyes widening. He started suddenly as he felt a presence make itself known in the for
It has been long since we saw each other...
The thought rebounded in his head. But it was not his own.
Mikhail? Is that...
Yes. It is me. It is wonderful to see you again, Master.
His eyes widened. He would have given anything...anything...to hear that voice, one that sounded so much like his, but with a cynical tone that adorned it and ascertained the majesty of the angel to whom it belonged.
But how? Why...? It wasn't even in his possession anymore...was this some kind of delusion? Or was the voice speaking to him really the Archangel Mikhail?
Master. We must not stay.
His attention was snapped back to the angel. With a start, he realized the confident tone was gone from his voice. Now Mikhail seemed wary and almost...scared.
Is it Ayanami? The boy asked, gritting his teeth as the name slid past his lips. For all his promises of pursuing true justice, he couldn't bring himself to justify that person's cruelty...and Kami alone knows what torture that person was planning next.
It is not him. But at the same time, it is...him.
What do you mean?
I wish I could tell you more, Master. But I...
With a blinding flash, the red stone vanished from his hand.
"Mikhail!" The boy yelled, both in his mind and with his voice. The only answer was the whisper of the freezing winds as it blew past him. The boy shivered again, this time from the sense of foreboding in his heart and not from the cold.
What was Mikhail trying to tell him?
The boy sank to the ground in weary frustration. It seemed pointless, all of it. What would he find in a faraway land that would add to his lost memories? What was so important that only person Father took was a little boy, even if the boy was the heir to the Raggs Kingdom?
Why was the Eye of Mikhail, his only remaining link to his past and the very object of power Father, Dad and Mikage sacrificed themselves for, something that was long since lost to Ayanami, trying to reach out to him, to contact him?
For the hundredth time, the boy wondered whether the path of light was truly the path he walked upon now. Would Mikage approve of his decision?
He wouldn't know. He wasn't pure of heart, like the sweet blonde-haired boy who showed him salvation.
While the boy had been thinking, the cold wind picked up around him and swayed around his fragile form, growing stronger with each thought, as if responding to his frustration.
The boy clutched the robe, his eyes getting wide.
You can accomplish nothing on your own...
Another whisper filled his mind. But unlike the unnerving, yet oddly comforting presence of the Guardian Angel Mikhail, it held nothing warm. Cold as the thousand-year old snow that surrounded the landscape around him.
A Kor!
The thought pierced through his consciousness, giving him the strength to leap to his feet and run. Run far away from this confusing reality. Run away from the Kor that threatened.
Everything.
"Someone..." The words escaped his lips in a weak whisper, a gasp of pain. Help me...
Another brilliant flash of light...a wordless shriek erupted from the Kor behind him as a purple scythe with sacred Zaiphon engravings on its blade descended mere inches from the boy's back.
Verloren's scythe...which means...!
"Frau!" Teito Klein turned.
A tall figure, cloaked in a black robe, the robe, Teito realised with a start, that matched the boy's, and marked him forever as a 07 Ghost. A hollow skull glared out from under the hood at Teito's attacker; a young man with long, red hair.
At the sound of his voice though, the Bishop turned around.
"Damned brat..." was all he said.
The Kor whimpered on the ground, pleading mercy.
"I didn't mean to offend you, Lord Zehel...I wanted to possess the boy's soul to please him. Surely as the wielder of his scythe, you'll understand what I mean?"
Zehel did not answer. He simply stared at the pleading Kor in front of him, and looked at the boy slowly.
I do. I can sympathise with your plight, but I do not traffic with darkness, Kor.
The voice originated not from the master, but from the scythe itself. Teito shivered and the Ghost looked at him again.
Yet, this human...
The scythe stretched towards Teito, who automatically stepped back. He remembered the unnatural attraction; Verloren's scythe had a liking towards the boy's soul and the taste of his blood.
"Brat. Get out of here. Get out of here now."
Teito's eyes widened as he saw the scythe leave the Kor and leer directly at him.
"Frau?" He whispered, his voice terrified.
"Teito. I want you to promise me something. Do me one last favour." The boy's eyes widened as the grown man's voice wavered and changed little by little. Until it became virtually unrecognizable coming from his mouth...a light, almost airy tone that was darkened down with a grave decision that would change the fabric of nature.
Last favour? Teito's heart gripped painfully at those words...it was tied to a memory that threatened to explode at the back of his head, and expose him to gut-wrenching pain, worse than a thousand years of torture.
"Kill me, Teito."
It was dark.
So dark.
Calm and peaceful.
A fragment of the God of Death Verloren revelled in the darkness. It represented his essence.
His existence was cloaked in shadow. His existence was cold. He was comfortable in the wary silence. The few snatches of peace that threatened to break at the slightest whisper.
And it did.
A piercing, heartbreaking scream broke through the night.
Violet-blue eyes snapped open, widening as they registered the shrill scream.
Teito! That's Teito's voice!
"Teito!" Frau leapt up and clambered over to the thrashing form on the bed next to his.
"S-stop! D-don't... please..." The boy whimpered. Frau closed a cold hand on the boy's shoulder and the boy shrieked even more, tears running down his face.
"Brat! Wake up! Wake up, you're dreaming." Frau shook the boy's shoulders.
Teito's eyes snapped open and he regarded the man in front of him.
!
Frau froze.
The emerald in his eyes was dulled. There was no fire. Nothing.
This kid is still dreaming? Frau thought as he carefully let go of the boy's shoulders. "It's ok, kid. It's just me."
Teito just gazed at Frau unseeingly. The shrieks had stopped, but the tears kept flowing.
"Burupyaa..." The little pink Fyulong dragon clambered over to his master's side, squeaking sadly.
"Mikage..." Teito whispered hoarsely, more tears splashing through the sightless green eyes, "Mikage...please no..."
"It's going to be alright, kid. Mikage's here." Frau gently pulled the boy into his arms. "Come on, Mikage. Teito needs you." Mikage jumped on Teito's shoulder and settled near the boy's shoulder. The shudders wracking the boy's body eventually stilled, as he petted the warm, soft furball that was his best friend.
"Frau?" The emeralds that looked up at him now, were clear and bright. Frau stifled a sigh of relief. "Right here, ya damned brat."
"I-I'm not a damned brat." Teito retaliated with a return of spirit. He even attempted a weak punch, which the Bishop easily parried. "You scared the hell out of me." Frau admitted, if a little grudgingly, "I thought Ayanami himself had snuck in when I was out." Teito attempted a weak chuckle. "Ayanami wouldn't come. I would know. He'd scare the hell out of me, by threatening the ones I loved dearly. Besides, he always sends his Black Hawk lackeys to do his dirty work for him."
Just thinking of Ayanami and the Black Hawks reminded him of the Eye of Mikhail in the Chief's hands...and...
Frau noticed the renewed trembling in the boy's shoulders. "Teito, what happened? What did you dream that scared you so badly?"
Teito looked away. He saw the bright, crescent moon that shone through the window, whose silvery light seemed to reach him. Warm him. Strengthen him.
Frau may be the only one he could tell right now. He was involved in the whole business after all. Being an 07 Ghost, he was directly linked to Archangel Mikhail, Pandora's Box and the Death God Verloren, whom Ayanami seemed interested in.
He was the only one who would listen to Teito's story.
"Can we please discuss this in the morning, Frau?" Teito's voice adopted a sleepy tone. Which wasn't at all hard to do; it was pretty late and he was already bushed from all the travelling. Frau raised an eyebrow.
Teito could tell he wasn't fooled.
"I just woke up after..." Frau checked the clock, "four hours of sleep, by some brat thrashing and screaming, practically wetting his bed. Evidently because of some bad dream." at the words, he made air quotes with his fingers, "And now he expects me to hit the hay and pretend nothing ever happened. Kid, I may be a perverted letch who gets it on with every pretty woman in sight, but I'm not stupid."
"So you admit it." Teito gave him a grin, which turned into a grimace, when he saw that Frau was not in a mood to forget it just yet.
"Teito..." Frau's voice took on a dangerous, warning tone. The boy merely shrugged and pulled Mikage off his shoulder, petting the little dragon gently.
"Goodnight." Without another word, he snuggled between the layers of quilts on the bed.
Frau sighed and settled on his own bed. He rolled to his side and listened quietly. The sound of Teito's uneven breathing continued to pace through the night. Apparently, the brat wasn't as sleepy as he implied.
Teito shivered and clutched the blankets tightly. Cursing quietly under his breath at the sheer cold night, he waited for the first rays of morning sun to come up.
The first thing I'm going to do is take a long shower. In hot water. Provided Frau doesn't get in first and use it all up. Again. As his eyes started to close wearily, flashes of the dream immediately had him awake.
Damn it...He sighed and curled up into a more comfortable position. He squinted blearily at the clock's reflection on the window-pane. At least there aren't that many hours between now and daylight...I'll just wait a little bit longer...
He tried to close his eyes again, and groaned softly as the flashed raced through his mind again. The cold chill penetrated his body and wracked his soul, sapping away the last of his strength...until a strange chill, more familiar to Teito, touched him and drove the flashes away.
His eyes snapped open to see two long arms, in a familiar dark blue coat, wrapped around his body. His face was tilted slightly towards a stone chest that was as cold as marble.
"I told you before, I'm not stupid. You're a horrible liar, Teito." Frau whispered in his ear. The boy huffed in indignation, but settled in to his embrace gratefully, throwing away his pride and trying to concentrate on resting. Mikage happily crept in between them both and in the time the boy took to blink confusedly at him, the Fyulong dragon was asleep.
"Frau..."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you. For being there." The quiet voice penetrated the silence between them, as Teito wrapped his own arms around the older man's waist and nuzzled into his chest. Frau stiffened a little, but welcomed the embrace.
That must have been one heck of a nightmare to scare him so badly...Frau settled his chin on top of the boy's head, It must be horrible; enough for him to keep it a secret. And do this...normally the brat'd have way too much pride to confide in someone else. Must come with belonging to the royal family or something...Frau yawned contentedly.
And in the embrace of the other, bishop and apprentice slept dreamlessly until dawn burned through the sky, bright and fair, to...almost cruelly break them apart.
Frau glared over the heads of the people who were between him and the object of his irritation.
Normally, his grumpiness would be easily explained by the fact he wasn't really a morning person. Hell, he was a god who revelled in the night. More to the point, he usually stayed out at night, hunting down the Kor using his trusty green-eyed Kor magnet.
And now he can't even use those excuses. Because he had to endure a whole night with the most spoilt brat he ever met whose mood swings were the stuff of legend.
Teito's consciousness returned with a start and he sighed. Another day of travelling on that piece of junk Frau called transportation. He didn't care that it was a highly-expensive piece of military equipment with the latest fly gear, it was still a pain in the damn ass to sit on; he was in constant danger of being blown away on the wind.
His head was swimming, his eyes were burning and his arm was sore stiff. He sighed and moved his head slowly, rising from his pillow. He had scarcely moved it however when he realized that that there was something heavy and cold wedged in his locks.
He froze. Slowly, cautiously, he raised his arm and touched a cold hand. From what he could tell, the fingers had been twisting his hair and the palm was trailing down his neck. He shivered slowly as his head cleared up enough to register the deep breath wafting near his ear.
Teito cracked an eye open and saw the contours of a chest, strong and gentle, as the cold arms gently cradled him in an embrace. Teito looked up and saw a well-defined face inches away from his forehead, breathing deeply.
With a jolt, he remembered all of it; being stranded in some snowy landscape, contacted by Mikhail, attacked by a Kor, seeing Frau, hearing what he had to say...waking up to realise it was a dream, Frau questioning him, going back to sleep...and realising that Frau had crawled into his bed and cradled him to sleep.
"GAH!" Teito shrieked, throwing the man off the bed and clambering against the head-board. "The hell are you doing, you damned brat?" Frau demanded, his head reappearing at the side of the bed. "That's what I should be asking, you perverted bishop!" Teito yelled back.
The battle that ensued was a big one, even by their standards. Even though Frau was just trying to help.
Teito looked back towards the bishop and wasn't at all surprised to see that the blonde man was still fuming over what happened earlier. Really, he's such a kid. Teito was guilty that he had to make the man pissed. But that was better than the expression on Frau's face if he ever found out that Teito had been dreaming of him. Shivering involuntarily, he continued browsing the rest of the stalls, taking as much time as possible, walking slowly towards the bishop.
"Mikage." Frau addressed the light pink dragon chewing on his hair, "Would you mind leaving my spikes alone and going to that brat for sometime?" Mikage regarded Frau and nodding his head, ran over to Teito.
Frau sighed and started walking to the nearby church, knowing that the kid was following him. One day, when this whole mess is solved, I am going to ask what Teito was dreaming about. Even if I have to use that collar, I'm still going to wrench that answer out...what the hell did he dream that he would keep a secret from me...?
Unless he was dreaming of me...
Frau stopped dead when that thought, unbidden, crept into his mind. What the hell am I thinking? Jeez, I really am turning into a pervert.
"Aachoo!" He heard a sneeze behind him and turned around to see Teito marching up to him, one hand sheltering Mikage tenderly, the other clutching his cloak tightly around his small frame. Emerald eyes met eyes of violet-blue and for a brief moment, Frau saw a shadow in the kid's that he saw all too often before; the tell-tale sign that the kid was putting up a strong front. Preventing Frau from seeing something.
"Hurry up, brat. We have to get to that church and go back to our place before sundown." Frau called. Teito nodded and strode faster. As Frau looked ahead, he saw the sun streak the sky in red and gold. The sight always reminded him of their first trip together, the day they fled from the army.
The man always had a shadowy existence; the double-sided coin. One, a caring-if a perverted and childish-man who chose the occupation of a bishop and became one at all odds to save people. The other, a cold-eyed monster who ripped out the souls of murderers and killers. It was a god-complex and he acknowledged that. He just wanted to save people at the expense of his humanity.
He also had to protect Teito, and not because of Mikage's sacrifice or the fact that he was the carrier of the Eye of Mikhail.
It was because the brat was the only one outside the Seven Ghosts that knew the extent of Frau's sins and still trusted him. He fought with him, he always drove Frau crazy with his mood-swings and secrecy, but the kid trusted him with his life.
And the man with the shadowed existence was now paired up with the wielder of the Biblical light. Frau smiled grimly at the irony of it. But strangely, he felt comforted by the fact that Teito believed in him. He knew Castor and Labrador also did, but when it came down to it, he needed Teito.
While the bishop had been musing, Teito managed to catch up to him and looked curiously at Frau's faraway expression. "Frau?" Teito asked cautiously, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing, ya damned brat." Frau fixed his evil grin in place, "Just wondering my...strategy for tonight's patrol will be." Teito narrowed his eyes at Frau, "More like your shopping list for your latest stash of porn. While flirting with the maintenance girl."
"Jealous?" Frau's grin grew more pronounced. "You wish!" Teito spat back. He was the one marching ahead this time, walking faster when he heard a hearty guffaw behind him. Frau watched him go, and looked at the slowly darkening sky again. Mikage had left his master's side and clambered onto Frau's shoulder, as its owner glanced at him wearily. But the Fyulong dragon just said, "Burupyaa~" contentedly and looked at Teito with warm eyes.
Frau found himself following the dragon's line of sight.
I'll definitely keep protecting you, Teito. He promised.