Trigger warnings: abuse, and dark thoughts with mentions of suicide.
Ye hath been warned.
(Note: Kanato might not be in this story for 2 reasons. 1- I don't know HOW to write him. 2- I wanted to take out a character that wasn't needed whatsoever story-wise, so it's not because I hate him ok? So… don't kill me.)
The frost-bitten air whipped at Yui's cheeks. It had only been a month since she was left alone. One month of constant fear and paranoia of her father coming to get her.
Yui shook her head and reassured herself aloud "He's not here Yui. He's not…"
It did little to quench her worries, but she walked out of the tent regardless.
Yui walked across the snowy clearing, tall trees surrounded the area- similar to one of a fairy tale.
Fairy tales didn't sound too far off of reality at that point, Yui remembered the day she ran away with her sister and friends. Her father was a corrupt man, and her friends lost their patience and ran away with her and her sister in tow. It reminded her of a fairy tale, like Cinderella. The thing is she didn't stay and wait for the prince to save her.
Yui flinches at the memory of her father. Her father used to be a kind man, one who would do anything for others despite it coming down on him. He was a respectable man.
Until he met that man that is. He did something to her father. He changed her father. After their meeting her father turned to the devil. His shift in personality made her life a living hell, he marked scars on both her sister and herself. In both body and mind. Sometimes.. she wishes she died instead of waking up the next day.
Yui quickly shifted her thoughts away from the abusive memories and rubbed her hands together, frost had formed upon them. Yui could hear the chattering of her own teeth.
"I need to find them. I need to find Alyza and the others before I freeze to death.."
Not even a week after they fled, a group of daemona had split them up. They all ran in separate directions. One of them chased me down a cliff, and I fell into a river and floated far downstream. All the way to a snowy area, in which we had been in a warmer place without even a spec of white anywhere.
Daemona are creatures created by a phenomenon known as "Ascendance Corruption". This process has existed since the world was born. It is when a spirit is about to go to the afterlife, but is interrupted by one of three things. The first is if they harbor hatred or vengeance towards someone, they usually are only interrupted by this is the feelings are strong enough. The second, the most common reason, is when they die with regrets. This is different than dying with deep hatred, dying with regrets only refer to those who died doing an important task or are unable to say something to someone. No matter what the regret, if they cannot accept the fact that they'll never be able to fix it- then they are interrupted. Finally, the last reason is when a black mage intervenes. Black magic corrupts them no matter what, this is to make them slaves for the mage. It is a twisted and disturbed way to become one.
Yui blew her breath into her hands to stay warm, but the hypothermia from the past few weeks still affected her. It was minor compared to the start, but she still felt the effects of it.
The only reason she was still alive is that a stranger saved her life. She didn't see or remember him much, aside from his voice. When she came to, she was in a tent and was left with several supplies to survive for a while.
It was time for her to leave, she needed to find her companions or she may die.
Yui swiftly packed her things into a bag and started to make her way upstream. She wore a large, fluffy tan coat gifted by the stranger (she simply forgot to put it on when she woke up). Along with that she wore tall boots that she had prior to her fall. To top it all off, the stranger had even given her a large red scarf. Did that man have an ulterior motive in mind? Or was he simply a fool? Yui wasn't sure.
She was still close to the river, so all she had to do is follow the stream to get back to where they were.
After a few days of walking, Yui finally reached the cliff. That is when the hard part began.
"Now just which way did they go..? And how do I get back up there..?" Yui thought aloud.
She took a few deep breaths and steeled her nerves. She gripped her bag hard as she glared daggers at the stone with her pink eyes. If it were a person they would probably feel attacked.
The blonde dropped the coat and emptied her bag of the useless junk. She needed to be as light as humanly possible.
After a few minutes of throwing things from her bag, she finally started her journey up the cliff.
The stones across the cliff extended onto the side of the hill of where she used to have been, so she climbed a little to the right of the cliff so she wouldn't get stuck later on. The rocks were rough and Yui felt like they would come loose any second, but she steeled her nerves and climbed on.
Around halfway up, the blond felt her right foot slip. She hadn't gotten good footing, and was about to fall to her demise. Luckily, she was able to grab on to a large rock nearby. Her legs were covered in scratches, but it was nothing compared to the state of her hands. When she left the coat, she thought it was a good thing. The poor girl was sorely mistaken. The coat would've protected her legs at the very least, and now she was bleeding out from several small wounds. When she left the mansion that day, they didn't have time to think about what kind of clothing to wear. They just grabbed it and ran.
Yui wore the same brown boots as before, but they were nearly falling apart. She kept the scarf, which had a few tears in it. Her shirt was a light red to soft pink, it was the shirt of a commoner. It was meant for a man to wear, but she had no say in the matter. The tunic exposed her arms, as it was a short-sleeved one. And her tan leggings had been torn to look very indecent with the amount of skin showing. It was torn in the fall before, and exposed her skin up to her thigh.
Due to her attire, it made the climb all the more difficult. Yui's breath was labored, and she grit her teeth to push through the pain. She didn't have a high pain tolerance, so even a normal gash or scratch hurt a lot more to her than it did to others.
It had been nearly two hours since she started climbing, her stamina was running thin. The blonde knew she didn't have long until she would fall. So instead of whining and crying like she used to do when she was hurt, the young teen continued to climb up.
She was nearing the top as her strength was nearly depleted. The girl became careless, and slipped right as she felt her hand touch the soft grass. She yelped, and in a last ditch attempt to save her life, used her foot that was still grounded firmly on the rock to boost herself up. It partially worked, as her arms had gotten over the rocks and were on the top along with her top half. Her bottom half, however, was dangling loosely without any ground to go upon.
Yui felt herself start to slip, so she kicked her legs forwards to find footing. In the end she couldn't find any ground for her feet, and she slowly slipped off the edge. Panic began to set in, so she tried to use her remaining arm strength to pull herself up, but to no avail. She had been sheltered all her life, so to speak, so of course her arms were too weak to even pull herself up.
Just as she slipped from the top and began to fall, an arm wrapped around hers, and pulled her up in just one thrust.
"...Wh..What?" She was so shocked she couldn't form words. Someone had come to her rescue once again, and the shock was also caused from her near-death experience too.
"You're lucky Yours Truly was passing through," The stranger said. Yui jerked her head up at the sound of his voice- she knew that man.
"Wait are you the man that saved me before?" She asked, bewildered. The man turned his emerald green gaze to her, he then tilted his head.
"I don't remember saving you, pancake." He remarked, making Yui turn red in embarrassment. She narrowed her gaze in both anger but also deep thought.
"Then why do I remember him…?"
Then the man turned around as he saw the scarf she wore.
"Oooh, wait. Nah I remember you." The red-haired man exclaimed in recognition. Then he continued from his previous statement, "You're the girl that washed up in my campsite. We only really helped you 'cuz we had nothing better to do."
Yui narrowed her eyes at the man. "I highly doubt that you went through all that trouble out of sheer boredom." her voice was low with both suspicion and hostility.
"You knew I would come here, and you want something from me." She glared daggers at the stranger, until he eventually let out a sigh.
"You're unusually sharp pancake, I thought you just some sheltered princess." Yui scooted away from the man slowly, letting her hand go behind her back to grab a handful of dirt.
"I may not know much about the outside world, but I'm not stupid." Before the man had a chance to say anything else, the blond threw the dirt in his face. She made a run for it.
She didn't know what he was, but that man wasn't human. Whatever he was, he saved her most likely to be livestock for him- a meal.
Why else save her twice, much less leave her with food and water to fatten her up. The way he spoke, his body language, that inhuman strength… it all screamed that he planned to eat me. It was hard to see, but Yui also saw sharper canines than normal on that man's teeth, and his eyes were that of a predator.
The teen ran through the forest, desperate to lose the monster. At times like then, she wished her sister were there to tell her what to do. Her sister was smart, and Yui simply mimicked her back there.
Her running was in vain, as she tripped over a stray tree root. Her fall was less than elegant, and she fell flat on her face- not to mention rubbing dirt into her wounds.
She hissed in pain, until she looked up to see the red headed monster. She exhaled a sigh of defeat, and hung her head.
"Just get it over with then, it's not like you plan to let me live after feeding on me. Right?"
The man was taken aback by her resignation, like he expected her to kick and scream like a terrified village girl.
Yui was scared, she was more scared than she had ever been. She wanted to scream, fight, anything! But she remembered the words of her sister.
"If you are faced with danger you cannot avoid, do not show fear. Stand firm, and go down in honor dear sister." Alyza's curly brown hair moved as she turned her pink-eyed gaze to Yui, kindness with a hint of sorrow in her eyes.
Yui didn't know what she meant back then, but she understood as she was faced with the man in front of her. She then stood up slowly, glared on, and stood tall in what she thought to be her final moments.
"On second thought, Yours Truly will take you with him." The man grabbed her arm, and the blonde's eyes widened in surprise.
"I don't understand, why let me live when you wish to consume me?" Yui questioned, and the man scoffed.
"Isn't it obvious? Eating prey that gives up that easily is so boring, and annoying. Don't you know we monsters like to play with our prey?" With his explanation Yui stiffened. The man then started to drag her along. Yui knew escape was impossible, so she went along.
"Sister, friends, I shall find you as soon as I escape this man. Please wait for me."
Those were her final thoughts as the man dragged her along to what she assumed to be his current camp. He did say he was camping after all.