A.N. (11/6/21) - Late night release, enjoy!

DNAngel (7) - Snowy Land

Falling.

He was currently plummeting through the air.

Opening his eyes, Nagi stared at the white scenery before his eyes. He was currently falling from the sky and headed straight towards a field of snow. The air grew colder the longer his body whistled past the winds battering him. His mind was blank as he tried to take in his current situation, still not comprehending why he was suddenly somehow transported to an unknown place.

His eyes widened.

The ground beneath him was quickly approaching him.

And he was still falling!

"Oh, craaaaapppp!"

Somehow, the impact didn't kill him. Crashing straight into the ground, his body was cushioned by the snow so that he didn't shatter his bones or receive any major injuries. Still, he could feel the pain from falling at such a large height. And the freezing cold snow covering his entire body didn't help matters either.

"Ugh…"

Lifting his bruised body off the ground, he shivered as he felt the cold temperature of his surroundings. Teeth chattering, he looked around and blinked, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten.

"This… this must be the world inside the painting."

There was no other conclusion. This place was exactly the same as what Nagi saw on the canvas, a snowy landscape with shadows of blue. For a moment, he thought he was dreaming. But no, he really was stuck inside a painting.

The voice that called him here… there was no doubt. That was some kind of hypnotic pull that made him enter this place. Only unlike the ones from before, this was a more powerful form of mental interference. One where he was forced to listen to, causing him to come here.

Snow crunched under his feet as he tried to move his legs, almost rigid from how cold his body was turning. His breath was visible to him, and he began to warm his body.

Now the question is… how was he supposed to get out of this place?

"I have to take my chances, I need to find someplace to stay."

Because if he continued to remain here, there was no doubt that his body would eventually succumb to the cold and shut down. He needed to find a place to hide away first before he figured out his next move.

Otherwise, he was going to freeze to death.

With that cheery thought in mind, he began to make his way through the blizzard.

}-{

The storm raged on.

It annoyed him that he wasn't bothered by the fact that he was traversing the snow in nothing but his school uniform. Nor was he bothered by the fact that he was stuck in some kind of alternate dimension with no promises of escaping alive.

No, what he was most annoyed about at the moment was that he was going to be late getting home.

Hiwatari is going to be so pissed, he told himself. I mean, I'm still technically on probation. What's he gonna say once he figures out I'm not back yet?

Focus on staying alive first, his rational side told him. Just keep looking for a place to get out of the cold.

I mean, I wouldn't be averse to a good campfire myself, he thought.

Shut up and keep walking, his brain replied.

Despite the whirling weather of cold winds and snow, Nagi managed to travel quite far before he found something.

It was a strange little creature barely as tall as Nagi's waist. Its body was white except for its blue boots, collar, and strange cap. It also had a pleasant face, a wide and recognizable mischievous-looking grin that most would attribute to a naughty child of sorts. Overall, its appearance was quite adorable, and Nagi realized he knew what the creature was.

It was a Jack Frost.

"A human?" It blinked. "What's a hee-human doing here, ho?"

Nagi stared at it for several seconds, unable to comprehend his current situation. At first, he assumed that he was caught up in something related to the DNAngel side of things. But with the appearance of the Shadow before him, that theory was slowly crumbling away. Unless this was another change in the setting, where the two worlds mixed to create situations like this.

Another thing he noticed was that the Jack Frost wasn't trying to attack him. Either he wasn't a Shadow like Nagi thought. Or there was something else going on.

Either way, Nagi had to say something.

"Erm… hello?" replied Nagi. "Nice to meet you."

Nagi realized that his body was tense, the reason being that he was talking to what was most probably a Shadow. A creature of the Dark Hour, the monsters that preyed on humans.

Yet, this Shadow seemed different.

"Hee-ho? You're a hee-human, ho?"

"Yes," Nagi slowly nodded. "I am. Is there something strange about that?"

"I've never met a human before, ho." Jack Frost jumped and moved closer to Nagi. "This is exciting, ho. Oh, I have to introduce myself, hee-ho. My name is Jacky, ho."

"Your name is Jacky?" Nagi asked. "Isn't that a little on the nose?"

"What are you doing here-ho?" Jacky gave him a curious look. "Or rather, how did you get in here-ho?"

"I... I got in through the snowy painting in the art room."

"Painting, ho? Art room, hee-ho?" The words didn't seem to make sense to Jacky, judging by the look of incomprehension on his face. "I've never heard of any place like that, hee-ho. Is that nearby, ho?"

Nagi shook his head. This entire situation was just too unbelievable, he still had no idea what was going on. Weird hypnotist classmates, random friendly Shadows, alternate worlds that aren't the Dark Hour.

At least before this week, Nagi could say that his life was somewhat normal.

"Not exactly," Nagi eventually replied. "But if you don't know about those places, then I doubt you'll know how I can get out of here."

Jacky gestured behind him. "Do you wanna play with me-ho? If you have nothing else better to do, we can play together, hee-ho."

"That's... nice of you to offer, but I really must find my way out of here."

"Maybe I can help, ho." Jacky turned back to face him. "Usually if I don't know what to do, I ask the queen for help, hee-ho. She'll know what to do, ho."

That caught his attention. "The queen? Who is she?"

"Why, she is the ruler of this world, hee-ho. It's because of her that it's always winter, ho. Then again, I like winter so I'm not complaining, ho. But I know that it wasn't always like this, hee-ho."

Wait, the ruler of this world?

"I don't think that's a good idea," Nagi said, suddenly a lot more nervous compared to before. "I'm pretty sure she would see me as trespassing, I don't want to get in trouble with her."

If there was anything he learned from the Persona series, it was that rulers of such worlds didn't take kindly to people walking around their place. Without any way to defend himself, Nagi didn't want to risk meeting a potentially hostile enemy.

Right now, it seems that he was just at some random corner of the map. But he bet that if he were to move further in, he would find the main location of this place. Some kind of area where this world was centered around.

Then again, without a way back it wasn't like there was any other choice but to head further in. If Jacky was going to lead the way, wasn't it better to just follow him?

Something caught his attention right after he said that, and Nagi looked up to see what was wrong.

The snowfall had stopped.

It wasn't a gradual thing, the falling snow seemed to have instantly disappeared in less than a second, vanishing without even falling completely to the ground. If Nagi hadn't been paying attention, he might have even missed it happening. It was such an unusual thing that Nagi knew that something was about to take place.

And it wasn't just him who seemed to think so.

"T-This is bad, hee-ho." Jacky looked panicked. "Her Majesty's power has weakened, ho."

"What?" Nagi blinked. "What does that mean?"

"Bad stuff, ho!"

Suddenly, something seemed to pass over them as Nagi felt a chill in the air. Worse yet, it seemed to affect Jacky even more. Jacky's face slowly began to morph into one without expression as he stared at Nagi with a strange look on his face. But right afterward, it began to change into a cruel and malicious grin.

Nagi's body tensed.

"H-Hey, Jacky? Are you alright?"

A distorted voice replied to his question. "HEHEHE~ MAYBE THE QUEEN WOULD LIKE TO MEET WITH A HUMAN, HEE-HO. MAYBE I SHOULD BRING YOU TO HER ALIVE, HEE-HO."

A chill went down his spine as Nagi realized that he wasn't dealing with the friendly Jacky anymore, but the creature known as Jack Frost.

An enemy.

There was something in the air now. As if Jack Frost was preparing to unleash some kind of power, a warning sign telling Nagi that he had to run away if he wanted to survive.

The problem was, there was nowhere for him to run. All around them was just a field of white, not even anything to hide him out of sight long enough to shake off Jack Frost from his pursuit. And unlike the Jack Frost who seemed at home here, it would be next to impossible for Nagi to run away while dragging his feet through the snow.

Slowly backing away, Nagi saw Jack Frost taking a step closer in response. The feeling of danger only grew worse as Jack Frost's grin grew wider.

I'm about to be killed by a snowman, he thought deliriously. A killer snowman that's barely as tall as my chest.

Yup, he definitely didn't see his day going this way.

"HEE-HEE-HO, I SMELL THE BLOOD OF A YOUNG LITTLE BOY! DEAD OR ALIVE, I'LL GRIND YOU DOWN AND BE FILLED WITH JOY!"

Nagi blinked. "Are you… parodying Jack and the Beanstalk?"

"JACKY IS BEST JACK!"

Jack Frost pointed at Nagi, and a funnel cloud of snow materialized around him. Nagi's body flew in the air as they pelted against the front of his torso, causing him to crash into the ground several meters away. He cried out as he felt the breath in his chest escape.

Yet somehow, he was still alive.

Not just that, but it was as if he was barely injured. Strange, since Nagi was pretty sure it wasn't normal for people to survive localized snowstorms straight to the chest. He wasn't even cold anymore, which was definitely weird. Either he had somehow gained invincible skin sometime during the past few hours, or maybe Jack Frost wasn't using his full power.

Judging by the confused look on Jack Frost's face, the second option didn't seem to be the case.

"HO? THAT SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU, HEE-HO."

He groaned as he got up. "What happened to you delivering me to the queen alive?"

"OH RIGHT," Jack Frost blinked. "I FORGOT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THAT, HO."

Nagi sweatdropped. Was it too much to ask for the person trying to kill him to not forget the reason they were supposed to keep him alive?

He yelped as another attack flew towards the spot he was previously a few seconds ago. A giant glacier grew out of the ground once the attack landed, freezing the entire area several meters around it. Because obviously, the world decided that it was fair for Nagi to fight an enemy that could spam area-of-effect attacks willy-nilly.

"UGH, IT'S HARD TO ATTACK SOMEONE WITHOUT KILLING THEM, HO." Jack Frost whined before giving Nagi a pouty look. "CAN YOU PLEASE NOT MOVE WHILE I TRY TO FREEZE YOU, HEE-HO?"

Nagi gave him an incredulous look. "Why on Earth would I ever agree to that?"

"I'LL MAKE YOU INTO A PRETTY ICE SCULPTURE, HO!" Jack Frost offered, as if what he said was a very attractive proposal in exchange for being allowed to kill him. "VERY, VERY PRETTY STATUE, HO. YOU WOULD LOOK PERFECT WITH THIS WINTER BACKDROP, HEE-HO!"

"Honestly, I'm more of a summer kind of guy."

"HE SAID THE S-WORD, HO!"

Without warning, Jack Frost started to attack him again, and Nagi was forced to run around the area while dodging pillars of ice sprouting from the ground. His legs barely sunk into the snow before his other foot took off and pressed forward.

"Oh, come on!" He complained. "That totally worked on Olaf. Do you still like warm hugs?!"

Jack Frost responded with a roar as snow began swirling around him in a tornado. Pointing at Nagi, several projectiles began flying towards him.

"Guess not." Nagi yelped as another icicle flew past him. "Happy snowman, happy snowman!"

Skidding to a stop, Nagi was cornered when he found himself cornered at the edge of a cliff. A small chunk broke off as he did, slowly falling to the depths below. Turning around, he saw that Jack Frost was blocking off all possible paths to escape, a malicious grin on its face.

"NOW YOU WILL BE CAPTURED, HEE-HO."

Nagi realized that what Jack Frost said was right. There was no way he could escape with Jack Frost stuck between him and the area behind it. Seeing how far the drop behind him was, there was no guarantee that he would survive the fall if he were to jump off to escape.

That left him with two options. Either jump to his death or stand and fight against the killer snowman. Either way, both sounded like terrible options to him.

If a miracle didn't happen in the next few seconds, he was screwed.

And suddenly, a white flash of light lit up the area.

}-{

Exactly one minute ago...

Daisuke blinked as something brushed his senses.

It has been an hour since he returned home from school, and at the moment he was in his room taking a well-deserved break after a busy week. Turning around, he tried to spot anything unusual in his room. From a casual glance, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. But still, there was something wrong that he could barely feel…

"Daisuke!"

The voice of someone else yelled out in his head, and Daisuke winced. "Dark, what is it?"

"Can't you feel it, there's something magical going on."

Immediately, Daisuke was on alert. Trusting his partner, he had no choice but to take his word seriously. After all, that was their relationship. The relationship between him and the spirit of the phantom thief that was bound to his family.

"Should I change into you?"

"Best if we do, we have no idea what we're dealing with here."

Daisuke nodded, then closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to drift as memories of the person he liked came to mind. The face of his girlfriend, Riku. The feelings of admiration and longing filled his heart. Those feelings of love began to trigger the cursed genes in his body, and he began to change.

His body shifted, growing taller and turning into someone else. Within a second, Daisuke was no more.

Instead, Dark opened his eyes.

"It's strange, it's hard to pinpoint where exactly it's coming from." His gaze turned to the canvas in the middle of the room. "But if I had to guess what's the most suspicious thing here…"

"What? Are you talking about my painting?"

"Daisuke, I doubt it's the painting so much as what's trying to use it as a medium for magic. But let's find out for certain first…"

He pulled out a single black feather and held it between the tip of his fingers. Muttering a spell under his breath, the feather began to glow ominously as he pointed it towards the painting.

There was an immediate reaction.

A brilliant light exploded as the entire room turned white, and Dark cried out in alarm as he hurriedly covered his eyes with his arm. The flash ended a second later, and he warily removed his arm to see what happened.

An unknown voice spoke. "Ugh… what happened?"

And that was how Nagi found himself in the middle of Daisuke's room.

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment, not understanding what just happened. Dark was still holding a feather in his hand while Nagi was collapsed on the ground looking upwards at him.

"Huh?" Nagi blinked, then looked around. "Erm, where am I exactly?"

Before he could do anything, the sound of footsteps running up the staircase sounded out. "Dai, I heard a loud noise. What was th-"

The door opened up to reveal Daisuke's mother, a certain Emiko Niwa. She immediately noticed the new person in the middle of the room, right in front of a transformed Dark.

"What's going on? Who are you, and what are you doing in our house?!"

"W-Wait, this is just a misunderstanding!"

"Kosuke, call the cops! Wait, never mind. Just have Towa fetch me my frying pan. Dark, quickly grab him before he tries to escape."

"I'm trying to tell you, this is jus- wait, frying pan? W-What the heck are you planning to use that for?!"

Dark facepalmed, clearly recognizing that this was going to be a long night.

So yeah, this was Nagi's first real jaunt into the supernatural side of things. Before, he was only somewhat aware that he was now part of a dangerous world. But this was the first time he's truly experienced it, and how it's so easy to get involved in conflict.

One of my general rules for writing combat scenes is that it's always a battle of words, not actions. If this were an anime, you'd get cool animated action cuts where half the budget would be spent making it as cool as possible. Sadly, as a poor author, I'm limited to having my characters fight with the power of dialogue.