Sooo uh, fair warning, this chapter along with the next two *I think* are a bit *very* rushed because I had just started writing writing the story for the first time. Basically, the first few chapters are gonna be trash in my opinion. Anyway, enough with my rambling, enjoy my trash story.

Chapter Two - Old Friend

Halflight's PoV

I woke up, eyes wide with the fear of death, sweat running down my head.

"That damned nightmare again..." I said to myself.

It's been five years since that horrendous night. Since the day I lost my only parent. Since the day I had first drawn blood. Since the day I last saw Shinoa... Damn, I miss her... I hope she's okay...

"Dear god..." I began a prayer, clutching the necklace Shinoa gave me which I never took off. "...protect Shinoa for me, she's all Iv'e got left in this world...

I sat up from my "nap" and winced from my aching back.

"Son of a..."

Life sure as hell wasn't easy since that bloody night. Having to live always in fear of being killed... Nonetheless, I pushed that fear aside. My will hasn't been broken just yet. The tought of seeing Shinoa again had kept a fire burning within the deepest reaches of my soul. In the five years that had passed since then, Iv'e changed a hell of a lot. My age now fifteen and my height of five foot five. A sword on my belt with my swordsmanship being that of a master. Cutting down demons was no difficult task.

Within these five years, I gave myself two goals. Two goals of which I will stop at nothing to achieve. One, finding where the bloody hell Shinoa is, and two, killing Lucifer, the king of Hell. If wasn't for Lucifer, that bastard, the world, Yggdrasil would be at peace and I wouldn't have to being going through this complete and utter bullshit. Some day, I will kill him... but more importantly, finding Shinoa was a higher goal, wish, hope, everything. I kind of wonder what she's like now... whatever, I better get my ass moving now. Lest the demon's find me.

After strapping on my midnight black armored battle-coat and pulling on my sword belt, I was ready to leave my "campsite" which was a small, hidden clearing within thick woods. Soon after my trek began, I pulled out an old map of the general landscape with a few small towns here and there. Most of which had already been destroyed by demons.

"Seems the closest possibly surviving town is Northeast." I said to myself. "Better pick up some speed."

The morning sun stung my eyes along with the cold air chilling me.

"Winter is coming..."

After what felt like an hour long walk, I finally came across the wreakage of what was supposedly the town I was heading to. Many of the buildings had been destroyed and burned down to nothing but blackened wood. The faint ash on the ground indicated this had already happend weeks ago.

I walked up to a solid, still standing house and simply gave the door a good kick, effectively throwing it off it's hinges. There was nothing in the house except for a trinket or two here and there.

"Just great. Either I try another town or I hunt down my lunvh with my incredibly bad stealth.."

At this point I didn't really care anymore, so I took a random path Northward and followed it. The path was wide and heavily eroded from assumingly, mass use. People from the town back had probably tried to escape down this path...

Two hours of walking had past before anything of interest was seen. Infront of me stood a large fountain with a statue of a knight on horseback with his sword drawn towards the sky. The stone was old and cracked in several places. All the water had also dried up long ago.

After about another half hour of walking, I spotted figures off in the distance. Four to be exact. I couldn't see them clearly, but they looked to be some sort of knights. As we neared eachother, one the more heavily armored ones called out to me.

"Greetings traveler!" He greeted me. "May I ask who you are?

"Halflight Gherman." I replied, a few feet between us. "What about you?"

"Jon Friede and erm-" He paused as he looked at me with hard eyes. A slight bit of anger had shown on his face. "Might I ask where you got that necklace?"

"A friend of mine had given it to me." I answered, confused from his sudden change of mood.

"Liar!" Jon shouted with fury. "You are under arrest for stealing from the royal family. Men, sieze him!"

"The hell?! I never stole anything! This must be some mistake." I retaliated, completly shocked by what I was hearing.

"Enough! We'll see what the king of Winterfall has to say about this."

I can't seriously believe what in the hell I was hearing right now. This is goddamn ridiculous. I never stole anything. Damn... there's no way out of this situation is there? I'm not going to kill them... I can't... theyr'e not demons...

In a split second they rushed at me as I drew my sword. The closest of the four definitly was a trainee, because it took little effort to dodge the pathetic swing of his mace. I sent my left fist into his face, knocking him back a few feet. The three knights still remaining attempted to surround me. In an attempt to leg sweep them, I had forgotten that they wore armor due to the fact that I was panicked, becuase I was fighting fellow humans rather than demons, ending with me bruising my leg against one of them and the other two pinning me down.

I sighed in defeat as I did nothing to resist them, for they had already disarmed me. My sword, dagger, and necklace all confiscated. Damn... I need to figure out how to get my stuff and escape...

For the next hour or so, the four of the knights walked me back to their kingdom "WinterFall" with me standing between all of them. They hadn't binded me or anything, probably thinking "He's just a kid. What could he possibly do to us?"

Soon, I could see massive stone walls with archers patrolling the top. The ground slightly rumbled as the gate to the kingdom was raised. The moment we stepped through, I was blindfolded. Probably so if I attempted to escape, I wouldn't know the way out.

After a few more minutes of walking, the men took off my blind fold which revealed the regal innards of a castle's interior. I continued to follow them in complete silence, wondeing what could possibly be my punishment for a crime that I never commited... Damn... Now I really miss Shinoa. I hope she's safe.

Shinoa's Pov

Here I was, wandering the great castle halls of master architecture, bored out of my mind. Living in the castle like this, safe from harm, wasn't exactly something I had liked. One day, I think, the demons could eventually breach the kingdom walls. Being locked up here wouldn't exactly do me any good, so that's why I used to sneak out when I was a child to get a glimpse of the real world. Near the kingdom, it wasn't very bad, but I knew deep down that if had had treked past the now destroyed town of Luminous Moon, I would have come face to face with demons. Just like Halflight did...

Eventually, while I was lost in thought, I ended up wandering near the back entrance of the throne room. Hearing father and what I would guess to be some of his scouts speaking, I stepped closer to the throne rooms entrance. It wasn't very audible, so I went ahead and peeped a bit around the corner to see what was happening.

There was a boy down on his knees. His face wasn't visible due to the fact that his midnight black battle-coat's collar had risen up a bit past his cheeks. What I could see though was his black hair, pants... nearly everything he wore was black. A thief or assassin maybe?

"So you mean to tell me that this boy, this young child, had stolen the midnight moon necklace beqeathed to my daughter?" Father asked the scout before him.

Huh? That's the necklace I gave Halflight all those years ago. Did he steal it from him? He looks like the type to do it. Or maybe he loot it off of Halflight's body after that night... I never knew what had happend to Halflight since the fall of Luminous Moon.

"Yes sir, indeed I do believe he was the one who had stolen it." The scout replied with a grin.

"You are aware that this necklace has been missing for five years, no? This boy wouldv'e been awfully young at the time to be able to masterfully raid a castle, filled to the brim with guards...

Intrigued by what I was hearing, slowly, I stepped into the throne room, hoping I wouldn't be noticed by anyone.

"What is this boy's name? If he has been willing to tell." Father asked, his face one of curiosity.

"He claimed it to be Halflight Gherman, sir."

"Halflight?!" I accidentally blurted out, shocked beyond belief. Never once had I thought I would be able to hear that name spoken again.

The boy said to be Halflight looked up apon hearing me speak as everyone else did so as well. The black hair, his dark blue eyes... there was no mistaking it. I really was looking at the same Halflight I met all those years long ago, deep in the woods as a small child. Halflight... my childhood best friend.

Halflight's PoV

Time stood still for a moment as I looked up. The room had gone completly silient as I stood up, staring at the girl infront of me. The moment I saw her, I knew exactly who she was. Her all too familiar light purple hair and warm hazel eyes gave it away. It was my one and only child hood best friend, Shinoa. I could feel tears begin welling up in my eyes.

"Shi-" I began, before abruptly being cut off from Shinoa slamming into me with a tight, passionate hug.

"I thought I'd never get to see you again..." She said, looking up to me with tears of happiness. "I missed you."

I hugged her back, smiled for the first time in five long damn years and said, "I missed you too Shinoa, but I'm here now. Five years ago you told me to stay safe and come back to you. It seems fate had allowed that."

Shinoa looked up to me, smiling, and was about to say something before she was cut off.

"Ahem." The king cleared his throat. "Do you mind explaing this, Shinoa?"

"Oh, right! " She said, letting go of me and facing the king.

Wait a minute... is he Shinoa's dad?!

"Could we do that in private father?"

He's her dad?! She's a princess?!

"Scouts, dissmissed. Give Halflight his things nad the necklace to my daughter." The king ordered.

The scouts did as they were told as I recieved my sword and dagger back as Shinoa was given the necklace.

"Now then, let us discuss."