A Prison of Ice

I.


"You're so boring!"

Small light-blue eyes glared at him imperiously, as if they belonged to a queen looking down at her subjects. He shouldn't have been surprised, Weiss Schnee was one of the heirs to the Schnee Dust Company after all. Rather than a queen, however, it'd probably be more appropriate to compare her to a princess instead.

She certainly had the demeanor and the look of one, with her all-white dress matching her namesake.

"Stop ignoring me!" Weiss declared with a stomp of her foot. "We're supposed to be playing!"

He had to fight back the urge to sigh.

Dealing with children wasn't something that he was familiar with, doubly so when it came to one that was on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum. Ken had been the exception and he didn't even think that counted because of how the boy carried himself. Ken acted far more mature than any elementary school kid had any right to be, which was a far cry from the little girl glaring daggers at him right now.

"... Can't you play by yourself?"

"No, I can't." The girl quickly replied with an annoyed look on her face. "I'm your guest, so as the host, you should be a-accomodating me." She finished with a rather smug look on her face, as if she were satisfied that she was able to use a word with more than four syllables.

It didn't seem like he was going to be able to get any more reading done any time soon, so he closed the book in his hands and turned to face the little girl in front of him with an unimpressed look on his face.

"And just what exactly should we do then?"

Weiss seemed to be taken aback by that, as if she weren't expecting him to actually relent to her wishes.

"W-well, as the host it's up to you to find a way to entertain your guest."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes at that in response.

Children.

"Wha- Hey! I heard that!" Weiss declared, her eyes narrowing as she thrust her index finger forward. "And you're as much of a child as I am!"

He hadn't meant to say that part out loud, so perhaps she had some merit in her argument after all. He was in the body of a child now, so he probably shouldn't even be surprised that his mouth could move faster than his brain at times. Not that he would ever admit it to the girl in front of him though.

"No, I'm not."

"Are too!"

Since he had absolutely no interest in getting into a back and forth with a nine-year-old, it was probably better to just play along with her wishes. There would always be time to catch up on his reading later on. His father had told him to be nice to her anyway, so he grabbed his book and stood up, making his way towards one of his cabinets.

"H-hey, where are you going?"

He didn't respond to that, choosing to put his book away instead before pulling open another drawer to take out a sealed black box.

"You said that it was the host's job to entertain their guest." He simply replied before opening the box to reveal the contents inside. "So, how about a board game then?"

With the way how her eyes seemed to almost light up in response, for a split second, he couldn't help but think that maybe playing along wouldn't be so bad after all.


Once, there was a tower.

A boy and his friends would eventually climb that tower. The boy would end up sacrificing himself for his friends and the world afterward. He would later become the seal that shielded humanity from its own destruction.

That had been the boy's fate.

Or at least, that was what he had thought anyway.

He didn't know how it was possible, but Elizabeth must have been responsible. It wasn't in Igor's nature to do something like this after all. She had freed him from the seal and given him a second chance at life. It wasn't as Minato Arisato anymore, but as Makoto Yuki instead, the heir to the Yuki Corporation, a dust mining company centralized in Mistral. Reincarnation was something that he had briefly read about once, but he had never given it much thought.

A knock on his door shook him away from his thoughts.

"So, Makoto, how was your play date with Weiss?" His father, Hiro Yuki asked as he peered into his room from the hallway. "From what Jacques has told me, she too is a child with great promise."

"It went well, father." He dutifully answered.

"That's good to hear, she might be the leader of the Schnee Dust Company one day." His father replied with a small smile. "She would be a good connection to have in the future when you take over the family business."

Makoto didn't have anything to say to that, so he simply nodded in response.

From everything that he had seen of Hiro Yuki, he was a stern but good father. He always made sure to have time for his family, even with his busy work schedule. Nothing in life was ever that simple though. He was a good father, but as a person, left a lot to be desired. The man had stepped over many others to get to where he was today. Shady dealings with the mob and cutthroat tactics were just a few of some of the nasty rumors that constantly circled around him.

Makoto couldn't help but have mixed feelings for the man as a result of that, even if he was his father in this life.

"I guess I'll leave you to your books then." His father eventually said, stepping out of his room. "Don't stay up too late now."

"Yes, father."

Having been satisfied by his answer, his father closed the door to his room, leaving him alone with his thoughts once more. The book in his hands still laid open and unread as he looked out his window. A half-shattered moon hanging from the night sky stared back at him, and it was a sight that he would probably never get used to.

Remnant was similar to his old world in a way, but it was also vastly different as well. Creatures of the dark roamed around the land, forcing most of humanity to live within four major regions while the Grimm controlled the rest. The Grimm were similar to Shadows in a way, but instead of only appearing during the Dark Hour, the Grimm were always around, eager to feed on the negative emotions of humanity.

In a way, the people of this world seemed to be even more destined for destruction than his old one.

Makoto had no interest in being the sacrificial lamb once more though. He had died for the world once already, but it wasn't for any altruistic reasons or anything like that. Some might even have called him a hero, but his reasonings were a lot more selfish than that. He just didn't want anyone from SEES to die, anyone else that had been saved as a result of his decision as well were simply an afterthought.

Elizabeth had given him a second chance at life and he didn't intend for it to end in the same way.

He deserved that much, didn't he? Dying for his friends was one thing, but to die for strangers in a different world was asking too much of him. He wasn't going to be the hero that this world so desperately seemed to need.

It was a selfish thought, but greed had always been an intrinsic part of humanity.

It was disappointing that he couldn't be with SEES once again, but the thought that he had been able to save them was enough for him in the end. Even though SEES wasn't here, being able to see, smell, touch, and feel again was already a blessing in itself. After spending all that time as the Great Seal floating in a bottomless pit of emptiness, even the small things in life seemed to sparkle all that much more.

Makoto took one last look at the half-shattered moon before he closed his curtains and got ready for bed.


Author's Note- Oh boy, here we go again.

Edited on 8/29: A lot of people seemed to think that the time skips weren't very clear, so I decided to just chop off the Weiss portion of this section completely and save it for another chapter after some revisions.