Big thanks for RedBurningDragon! You've been extremely patient with me, and you're an amazing person to write for. I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to update/restart this, but I hope you like it.
The little boy was running as fast as he could through the trees. There was someone chasing him, and though the boy could not see his pursuer, he could hear him. That, perhaps, was more terrifying, an unknown danger.
There was something up ahead, an opening. The little boy broke free of the trees and fell into a clearing, framed behind him by the forest and in front of him by a sheer cliff that fell many feet to a river below. The river, this time of year, was frozen over.
The boy stood up and faced the trees, waiting for his pursuer, and hoping they would never meet. His steaming breath hitched as the one chasing him became visible through the trees. The man paused and stared at the little boy. When he started moving forward again, it was much slower than he had been previously.
The only thing between the boy and the man was an old well, one that hadn't been used or covered in many years. The little boy took one step back, and another, and another until his back was to the well. His eyes looked frantically from one place to the other for a possible way out, but they found nothing. The man was in the clearing by now, and when he saw the predicament that the boy was in, a grin settled across his face. In one swift motion, he was standing in front of the little boy, who stared at him in horror. There was a moment, a small pause, when the man seemed to really think about what he was going to do, but it didn't last long. He lifted the squirming boy up, and dropped him into the well.
The boy braced himself for the cold embrace of water, but was instead met with the hard surface of ice. The bottom of the well was cold, frigid, and the top layer of the water had frozen over.
The boy started to cry, the bottom of the well was so, so cold, and cracks were beginning to form in the thick layer of ice. He was afraid, afraid to move. Ever so carefully, he lied down on his back, trying to spread his weight out over the ice. He could hear it shift and crack under the pressure, and he tried to hold back his warm, salty tears to no avail.
It would be six hours before anyone found him. Six hours of lying, motionless, atop an ever-breaking layer of ice. Six hours of numbing limbs and running noses. Six hours awaiting the inevitable end of falling into the frigid waters that moved below him.
Shinji flew up, out of a restless sleep. The limbs of the tree he had fallen asleep under swayed gently, it was a calm sunny day in the woods, and nothing made a sound. But something had woken him up, something loud.
His eyes surveyed the surrounding area as he listened for whatever the sound was. There was a rustle behind him, and he turned around swiftly, brandishing his sword, Yukianesa. A very startled man stared at him from behind an open umbrella. The man looked rather comical, wearing pink and white clothing that had a little more "poof" than normal. Still, that did not make Shinji lower his blade, or his guard.
The man tried to move Yukianesa away from his face, but instantly brought back his hand, noticing that it was covered with a thin layer of ice.
"Really, is this necessary?" The man asked, lowering and closing his umbrella. Shinji did not respond. The man sighed, "Alright, you aren't one to talk, I suppose. Then leave the talking to me. My name is Johann Faust, and I've gathered that you are Shinji Fuyuyama?"
Shinji did not move or reply, prompting a frown from Johann.
"Do you not respond to anything? And for goodness sake, put the damn sword down! I didn't come to hurt you, I just wanted to talk."
I believe he is telling the truth, said the voice of the Ice Demon Yukihime. The voice was familiar, safe, it had been there for a long time. Shinji lowered his sword, still staring warily at Johann. He nodded, indicating for Johann to go on. Shinji did not speak, he could not speak. Everywhere he went he wore a mask that covered his mouth and part of the left half of his face, going under but not over his eye, and up into his hair. Shinji had found the mask in the same cave where he had found Yukianesa, and met Yukihime. It was beautiful, dark blue with gold designs, and it was not something to fall off easily because it was pinned to his face. After all, who needs to eat when you have a demon living in your body?
"Well," Johann said, speaking as much with his movements as he did with his words, "in the spirit of the sense that you are Shinji, I need to speak to you." he waited, and when Shinji did not go on, proceeded to talk, "At my school, the True Cross Academy, we have been having attacks by a very, particular, kind of demon." he eyed Shinji's sword, "Ice, we have been having problems with an ice demon. Now listen, I am very knowledged when it comes to demons, and the only ice demon that has ever existed died along with its host in the fire that killed the Fuyuyama family, as far as I know..."
Shinji raised an eyebrow. Not very many people knew that his family existed, much less what wiped them out. It didn't matter though, Johann got his facts wrong, the host of the ice demon never died. Then something clicked in Shinji's head. He pointed at himself, indicating what he assumed that Johann thought.
"I've got to be rather blatant with you, don't I? Yes, I am asking if you are the one making the attacks on my campus." Johann had stopped the large, erratic movements that so characterized him. Shinji found his relentless stare unnerving, and turned away from it. He shook his head and pointed to himself, and then to the surrounding forest trees.
I've been here, he tried to say. It was pointless to try the "I'm not a demon" card, Johann had already tasted the ice of his blade.
"Alright," Johann resumed his carefree nature, "If it wasn't you, then I need your help finding out who it was."
Shinji stared at him for a moment, trying to deduce what the man was saying. When he finally realized what was wanted of him, he was a little taken aback. He pointed at himself, and then in the direction that Johann had come from.
"Yes," Johann said breathlessly, "you are to accompany me to the True Cross Academy, and help my cram school students to figure out who, or what, is causing all of these horrible attacks."
The way that Johann spoke, the movements he made and the emphasis he placed on certain words, unsettled Shinji in a way he could not describe. He had never seen someone who seemed so gleeful when explaining something so awful.
Shinji shook his head violently, stepping away from Johann and clutching his sword a little tighter.
Calm, little child, Yukihime chided, fear never makes rash decisions. Maybe this man can help us, go with him.
Shinji froze, and looked at Johann again. He inhaled deeply and nodded. He tried to still his shaking hand, but to no avail. He sheathed his sword and began to walk forward, gesturing to Johann to start walking. Johann smiled, an unkind, terrifying smile, and began to walk back to the school.
It didn't take them too long to get to the campus, despite how far away Shinji was. At the first door they got to, Johann got out a key and unlocked it to reveal a dark, yet colorful hallway lined with doors. After a moment of walking down it, Johann turned and opened one of them. A classroom of surprised students turned to look at the two.
The teacher, who couldn't have been much older than Shinji, looked mildly annoyed.
"What can I do for you, Mephisto?"
Shinji flinched at the name, it was one he knew well. He looked at Johann with a new wariness.
Tread carefully, Shinji, Yukihime warned, if this really is the one you are thinking of, he is much more dangerous than you or I could ever fathom.
"I have a new student for you!" Johann/Mephisto stepped aside dramatically and framed Shinji with his arms. The class looked at him with a small amount of fear, and Shinji didn't blame them. With his height, scars, white hair and blue eyes, he looked kind of frightening.
Shinji did a survey of the class, his eyes searching the despairing faces of the students. They all held an air of despondency. The attacks, he presumed, had drained them of hope.
"This," Mephisto said energetically, "is Shinji. I think you'll find him quite helpful in finding the ice demon."
There was a low growl from one of the students, "And why is that?"
"Shut up Bon!" his apparent pink-haired friend said nervously.
"Are you even seeing what I'm seeing?" Bon yelled, "There is something seriously wrong with him!"
Shinji, who hadn't interacted with people in a long time, was a little hurt, but he had no time to react. No sooner had the words left Bon's mouth than alarms began blaring. The class jumped up and ran outside, leaving Shinji no choice but to follow.
Shinji did not know what he was expecting to find when they arrived on the scene of the attack. What he did see, however, nearly brought him to his knees. People encased in ice, but in a way that they looked as though they had exploded from the inside out. While the people were in several raw, bloody chunks, they were held in such a way that one could plainly see that they were once human, and they still held their shape, like a puzzle whose pieces were placed beside one another rather than connected.
Then something else caught his eye. Amidst the blood and gore of the sculpture before him, an image was beginning to form. Shinji started to walk backwards, checking periodically to see if he was far enough away to recognize what was screaming at him to be seen. No one else noticed him, no one else saw what he saw. The blood and flesh of people, held so that they still looked human, had been placed in a way that it made a picture. A tree, broken in half by a powerful strike of lightning, towered over a road leading up the side of a mountain.
Shinji stopped, taking a moment to study the image before him. Something about it made him think of memories he had suppressed. Memories of fire, screams, and blood. He turned away from the mural and hid his face behind his hands, surprised to find tears spilling from his eyes.
Shinji had gotten away from the sight of the ice image quickly. He never liked crying in front of others, it made him look weak. So, as soon as he'd felt the tears in his eyes, he started running, and he didn't see any of the other students for the rest of the day.
As the sun was going down, Shinji realized that he needed a place to sleep. As he was looking for one, he noticed something coming from the storm drains, something cold. He crept closer to investigate, wary because of everything that had been happening.
Careful boy, Yukihime chided, something is amiss here.
Shinji shook off the warning, believing that he was taking enough precautions. As he got closer to the storm drain, however, Yukihime started to stir.
Turn back you insolent fool! There is something wrong here! She screamed, casing a sharp pain to reverberate through Shinji's head. He ignored her anyway, and knelt down at the opening of the storm drain. Just as he'd thought, it was covered in ice. Not only that, but the ice covered every part of the inside of the drain that he could see.
A wrinkle creased Shinji's eyebrow. He stuck his head inside of the drain in an attempt to see more of it, but the plan backfired when he slipped and got stuck in the tunnel.
Dammit! Now you're stuck, what did I tell you? Yukihime complained as Shinji stood up. He mentally muttered a sarcastic apology and started to walk. Eventually, he rationalized, there would be a way out.
Despite the fact that the walls were covered in ice, Shinji did not notice the cold, he was used to it.
But he noticed the dark. The still, heavy darkness that seethed around him, as if it was an actual, physical thing. He stumbled and held out his hands, grasping for a wall he could not see. His hands found nothing, save the inky blackness that surrounded him.
He fell to his knees, needing the comfort of something to touch. He was becoming lightheaded, and he fell onto his side and buried his face in his hands. There had been one other time in his life that he had known a darkness so absolute.
In the smoke of his burning house, that night so long ago.
Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that. If you spot any grammar or spelling mistakes please let me know in the comments! If you think the story can be bettered in any way, I'm always open to constructive criticism!