I'm still alive and I've finally updated! It just took me forever and a day… which I will not apologize for! I owe my allegiance and apologizes to anyone! Well, except maybe that one guy but we won't talk about that right now… Anywho! As usual, I don't own Darksiders and I hope you enjoy! I want hot coco! Also, bet you can't tell who my favorite Magic the Gathering planeswalker is.


War silently cracked open the door to the human's room to see her fast asleep on her bed, the creature she now called Ajani curled up beside her. Ever since she had gotten the thing a little over a moth ago, Grace had been doing much better. She no longer woke up crying in the middle of the night and War was glad to see that the plates of food that were sent to her room came back empty more often than not.

Despite the shape of Death and Strife's gift had taken, it had turned out to be a good thing. Though she was by no means healed mentally or emotionally, the little creature certainly had helped her recovery. War was also glad that the miniature eldritch horror hadn't tried to destroy his home or kill anyone. Though it had, on occasion, bared that circular mouth full of fangs and hissed at him but had never tried to attack him. He still didn't like it.

Though the creature helped Grace, she still spent most of her time in her room. Occasionally War had found her wondering around the castle, carrying the creature with her almost like a child would a teddy bear. Grace still wouldn't step foot outside even though he did find her staring out the window sometimes. Which was okay with War since it was getting too cold for her to be going out. The snow currently falling was proof of that.

Or so he thought anyway until he came to her room later that day and knocked on the door, waiting a moment before letting himself in only to find that room empty. War immediately began to worry. Usually if she was out exploring the castle, she would leave the door open, apparently seeing no point in closing it. Or perhaps she did it so War wouldn't waste time opening the door just to see she wasn't there and start worrying. But that was beside the point now.

It was then that War noticed the open window thanks to a blast of cold wind hit him like an ice giant's slap to the face. He rushed to the window on the other side of the room, nearly kicking the bed out of his way before deciding to go around it. How could he worry about the human's creature destroying his home when he almost did it himself. Arriving at the window, he peered out and at the snow-covered ground below to see two small craters and footprints leading away from it.

She couldn't have jumped. War thought to himself even though the evidence of her doing just that was right in front of him. The drop from her window to the ground was about five meters so War found it a bit hard to imagine that the fragile human hadn't been injured by the fall. He just hoped the thick snow had cushioned her fall somewhat. But was she really that desperate to get away now that she had to resort to jumping out the window rather than go out through the front door? Or did she think she would stop her if she tried? Or had someone dared to enter his home and had taken the human? If that was the case, the Horseman wouldn't let them leave here alive.

Deciding that now wasn't the time to think on that, he was sure he would find out the answer soon anyway, War jumped out the window as well, creating his own crater in the snow and followed the already disappearing footsteps around the castle and to the forest behind it.

Grace's POV

Sometime earlier…

Grace woke up shivering, the dying fire and blankets she had shoved off in her sleep unable to protect her from the chilling breeze coming in from the window. Did she leave it open last night? She tried to recall as she reached for a blanket.

When did it get so cold? Grace asked herself, finally grabbing one of her many blankets and pulling it over herself, causing Ajani, who was curled up underneath, to crawl closer.

Sufficiently warm now, Grace tried to go back to sleep but another cold breeze set her back to shivering. Deciding she wasn't going to get any more sleep as freezing as she was, the human shoved the blankets off, at least Ajani could stay warm that way, and got up to close the window. Or, at least, that was the plan until Grace actually looked outside to see that ground and trees covered in snow in what had to be the picture definition of a winter wonderland.

Grace could only stare at the scene before her, mouth agape. It rarely snowed where she was from so she almost felt as if she were watering a TV show rather than just looking out her window. The sight make her… happy. To make things even better, white flakes had began to fall from the sky again adding to what was already on the ground.

She wanted to go play in it. Grace wondered if she'd be able to make a snowman. She'd never made one before but surely it couldn't be that hard. She would have to forgo the carrot nose and button eyes however. But that wouldn't bring her down. Oh, she could make a snow angel too! Grace chuckled to herself, wondering if she could make a snow demon and snow Horseman as well. Could she make an igloo out of snow or did you need ice fro that?

Oh, I wonder if James had se-

Grace felt the smile fall from her face. She felt as if her heart had shattered into a million tiny pieces all over again. She could almost feel those pieces stabbing into her lungs, making it harder to breathe. Tears sprung to her eyes as she choked back a sob. As much as she wanted to sometimes, how could she even for one second forget that her fiancé James was… gone. She hated herself.

The human slumped to the floor, her knees cracking painfully against the hard stone. She kept her left hand gripping the window sill, the cold air, of what she now thought of as a winter wasteland, biting into her fingers. It honestly hurt. Good. It wasn't that she liked the pain, quite the opposite in fact, but more like she felt as if she should be punished. She knew her thought process didn't make much sense. She was still grieving the loss of someone she loved more than life itself and was killed right in front of her. Of course her mind would automatically try to block out what happened to him but Grace herself didn't want that. In her mind, Grace thought that if she couldn't join him in whatever afterlife there was, she could at least remember that he was gone and how he died. After all, if what the Horsemen said was true, there was no one else left on Earth to remember him.

But she had forgotten and remembering again hurt almost as much as watching him die in the first place.

Something cold and almost wet feeling touched her leg and she looked down through her tears to see Ajani, his small, webbed hand resting on her thigh.

Almost having to rip her hand off the frozen window sill, Grace picked up the small old one and held him to her chest, squeezing him tightly but not enough to hurt him. Despite not being able to talk or do much else besides give her a hug, Ajani could always pull her out of whatever downward spiral she was falling into.

Wiping the nearly frozen tears from her face, Grace looked down at her pet as he gazed back up at her. She loved her little eldritch horror.

"Let's go play outside, hm?" she told him, stroking its scaly head.

Ajani came as close as he could to smiling at her.

Grace quickly came up with an idea of how to keep him warm outside and butchered a teddy bear that was seemed like it was just large enough to make a onesie for the old one. Luckily she didn't need to sew much and just cut out the face of the bear, and emptying it of cotton that she threw into the fire – that had mysteriously been building itself back up since she had been awake – before also cutting holes for his wings and tail. Lastly, she cut the front down the middle and holes for the buttons and sewed buttons on the opposite side as the last touch. She was lucky the Horseman had brought her sewing kit from her previous home and actually left it with her. Though she would be the first to admit that her sewing skills were sorely lacking.

By the time she was done with the bear suit, it was sometime past noon. She was pretty sure it was around that time since she vaguely remembered the golem coming in to bring them food. She didn't care though, she wasn't hungry. She did make sure that Ajani had eaten however.

Grace helped Ajani into his suit – which fit like a glove – before pulling on boots and a coat of her own. She probably should have changed into some pants instead of her shorts as well but just felt like it was too much trouble.

She now knew her way around the castle well enough to find the her way to the front door. But what if she ran into War? She didn't want to have to explain what she was going outside by herself for the first time since being brought here to play in the snow like some child. She was an adult dammit. She also remembered how he made her bundle up the first time she went outside to get Ajani and it was barely even chilly.

The human looked out the window and to the ground below. She was only on the second floor, or so she thought anyway, so it wasn't that much of a fall. Plus the snow looked pretty thick so it should break her fall at least somewhat. So she hoped in any case.

Having made her decision, Grace sat on the sill, swinging her legs over so they were dangling outside. She set Ajani on the sill beside her before gathering her courage and lowering herself so that she was hanging outside the window. Eventually, when she felt like she couldn't hold on for any longer, she let go and fell to the ground, the thick carpet of snow cushioning her fall as she had hoped and almost swallowing her up as she lost her balance and fell back onto her butt. After regaining her footing, a hard thing to do in such thick snow, she stepped back away from the castle wall.

"Okay, you can jump now and I'll catch you!" she called up to Ajani. Which he did without hesitation. Grace managed to catch him but ended up falling back into the snow again. She always forgot how heavy he was.

After digging herself out of the snow yet again, Grace picked up her little horror – since he'd be instantly buried if she set him down – and together they made their way to edge of the forest at the back of the castle. Hopefully the snow wouldn't be as deep there. She imagined trying to play in snow that came up to above her thighs wouldn't be as fun.

War's POV

The Red rider rounded the corner to the back of his home to see Strife already there, leaning against the wall of the castle and watching the human. Well, at least now he knew she hadn't been kidnapped.

"About time you got here." His brother said. "She's been out here for a while now."

War could see for himself that Grace had been out there for quite a bit of time already as she had already built four snowmen of vary sizes, using rocks and twigs from the forest as decorations and was currently working on a fifth. (Was it just his imagination or did the smallest one have twig wings and a tail?) Not to mention the ground littered with snow angels, though a few of them looked a bit odd and it seemed like she tried to give them horns.

As much as it looked like the human and her… creature, that was dressed as a bear for some reason, were having fun, War thought it was time for them to go inside. Even from where he stood, the Horseman could see her face flushed and her lips and fingertips beginning to turn blue from the cold. Frankly he thought it was amazing, and stupid, she managed to stay out in the cold for so long as underdressed as she was.

War began making his way over as Grace put the finishing touches on the fifth snowman. He was stopped in his tracks, however, as he watched the human retreat from her creation only to charge at it once she was far enough away and tackle it to the ground, completely destroying it. Worry pushed his surprise aside as she didn't immediately get back up and instead continued to lay in the remains of her massacred snowman, her body shaking.

Just as War was about to start heading her way again, Grace's head popped up as she gasped for air. The next sound that came from her was something War had never heard from the human in the months she had lived with him. She was laughing. For some reason, War thought it was the most wonderful sound he'd ever heard. Her laughter grew even louder, causing her to snort and gasp for air, as she watched her pet old one waddle towards the largest snowman – with an oddly stern and menacing face – and try to tackle it to the ground as she had only to bounce off the tightly packed ice flakes and land on its back in the snow. He wiggled around trying to get up but couldn't manage it with his small limbs. Seeing this, the human quickly got to her feet, still chuckling at Ajani's actions, and went over to pick him up, cradling him against her.

"C'mon Ajani, let's go inside and get warm." She told him as she headed for the front door, unable to go in the where she had come out.

Seeing how much trouble she was having trudging through the snow, War jogged over to the human. Coming up behind her, the Horseman easily swung her up into his arms.

Grace let out a surprised squeal and struggled a bit before realizing it was War who had picked her up. "W-what are you doing here?" she asked her captor.

"Taking you inside." He answered, "Any longer out here and you'll freeze."

"Oh…" Grace clutched Ajani closer to her. "Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" War asked in return, genuinely confused. There was no reason for him to be angry. If anything, he was happy the human was going out. Though-

"Because I left…" Grace answered, snapping War out of his thoughts. She was also leaving out a few things besides just going outside such as: jumping out the window, not letting anyone know where she was going, not dressing properly for going out in the winter, and staying out for so long.

"I am not angry." The Horseman assured her.

Grace just nodded.

"Perhaps," War added, "next time you could use the front door and dress appropriately for the weather."

The human's eyes widened at being called out and her face got even redder in embarrassment at her actions. She couldn't exactly tell him that one of the reasons she went out the window in the first place was so she could avoid him so he wouldn't make her bundle up too much. So she nodded again, "I will."

They walked in silence for a moment before Grace spoke up again. "You can put me down now, I can walk by myself you know."

"The snow is too deep." Was all War said. Besides they were almost at the door now.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Grace, they made their way inside with Strife right behind them.

"There's no snow in here." The human pointed out.

War chose to ignore her as he continued to carry her and her creature through the castle and up the stairs to his favorite sitting room. Setting her in chair that was too over-stuffed chair before the raging fire with Ajani on her lap, the Horseman pulled a fur blanket out of somewhere and threw it around her shoulders. Grace thought he must have those stashed all over the castle.

"I could have gotten here on my own." The human mumbled just loud enough for War to hear. She was obviously pouting at being carried around like a child.

On the other hand, War didn't think he was treating her like a child. She was having a hard time getting through the snow so he helped her. Even after they had gotten inside, she was a slow walker and he thought she should get warm as soon as possible. It wasn't that he actually liked carrying the human around or taking care of her. That wasn't it at all and he would deny it if anyone asked.

Strife walked in then, carrying two steaming mugs, one of which he handed to Grace who sniffed the contents before taking a sip and deciding she liked that familiar taste.

War looked at his brother expectantly but the White Rider just took a sip of whatever was in his mug. Probably coffee.

"What? Were you wanting something too?" Strife asked him. "I'm not your butler."

War was temped to remind his brother that they were in his home but decided to let the matter drop.

"By the way," Strife began again, "why do you have hot chocolate in your kitchen? Never took you for a sweets kind of guy."

The Red Rider shrugged as he took his usual seat. Hells if he knew. Sometimes things just appeared in his home, though he was fairly sure his sibling brought stuff over and just forgot them. Even Death had his own library there of forgotten books.

So there they sat for a while, Grace and Ajani getting warm by the fire, War lost in his own thoughts, and Strife rambling on about something or another. War thought he was going on about his latest mission from the Council but wasn't sure and didn't really care enough to start paying attention. He knew Grace was probably listening, even if she wasn't acting like it. She seemed to enjoy listening to stories about their missions.

The sound of a mug clattering against the stone floor snapped War out of his thoughts and looked to the human to see her leaning against the winged side of her chair. He quickly got up to check on her only to find she was just asleep, her eyes closed and her breathing deep and even.

"She must have been wiped out." Strife said as he glared into his own mug, grieving the lack of coffee. "I didn't even put any sleeping powder in there."

War wasn't sure whether he should thank his brother or kick him out for even thinking of doing such a thing. Instead he just ignored him and picked up the little human to take her to her room.

"Well bye." The White Rider called after him, sounding indignant. War ignored that as well.

Arriving at her room, the Horseman laid Grace and her creature on the bed, even going so far as removing her boots as to not get the bed dirty and covering her with multiple blankets. The humans was already frail, he didn't know if she would handle getting sick because of the cold.

As he stoked the fire back to like, War looked at the still open window. He wondered if he should have it sealed shut to prevent any future dangerous escapades and perhaps encourage Grace to use the actual door but felt it might have to opposite effect and make her feel more trapped instead. The talk they had earlier should be good enough in convincing her that it was okay to go outside. With that in mind, he let the thought drop and closed the window before going to his own room.

Somewhere else in the castle…

"He's forgotten I'm here, hasn't he?" Strife sighed to himself before returning the mugs to the kitchen and deciding to leave for his home, grumbling the entire way there. He was just getting to the good part of his story too. There were gunfights and blood and demons and everything. The human would have loved it.


Soooo yeah... wanted a light and kinda cheerful chapter but it got a little dark... My bad!