Story Warnings: Some violence and strong language. Mentions of deceased OCs.
Disclaimer: If you recognize any names, terms, or concepts it's because they don't belong to me.
CHAPTER 3 - Permafrost
Furuichi's mother had been understandably horrified when the son she was already concerned for came home from school one day with a burned face and dislocated shoulder, especially after the last couple of times he'd been laid up in bed with serious injuries in the past school year. It had taken some serious begging to keep her from immediately withdrawing him from Ishiyama.
She had insisted on a full inspection by a doctor, however, which ended up being a pointless visit. He had been unable to explain Furuichi's icy skin and normal body temperature, not that Furuichi expected him to, and had nothing to offer his burned cheek and aching shoulder except compliments to whomever had tended to him. And painkillers.
There was no progress on the nightmare front, either. Neither Hilda nor Alaindelon had any idea how to stop the integration of Furuichi's apparent past life. Not even Dr. Forcas, whom they'd been able to contact via Lamia, knew how to stop the memories from coming, although he had suggested that perhaps the energy exchange from a demon contract could mitigate the damage to his body and balance the fluctuating energies that came from his having his soul damaged. Furuichi had been less than receptive when Oga brought it up the next day.
Furuichi scoffed as he followed along beside Oga on the way to school. "Yeah, right, cuz there's a Demon Depot just down the road from my house, right next to Fiend Contract Suppliers, Inc. Where exactly do you guys expect me to get a demon from, huh?" Okay so he was just a little cranky. But to his credit, Oga just ignored his uncalled for sass.
"You've still got those tissues from the Demon Lord, right? Just use those, moron."
"Idiot! I can't go around with those shitty tissues stuffed up my nose all the time! That'll kill me!"
"So call one up and make a proper contract with them, then," Oga said, rolling his eyes and giving Furuichi a look that said he was dumber than a rock.
Furuichi snorted. "Yeah, right."
"Exactly. Seriously, why don't you?"
Furuichi stared at him disbelievingly. "You seriously think any of them would have anything to do with me if those tissues didn't obligate them to come? Strong demons like the ones in Behemoth's Squad need a contractor with a strong body and a strong mind. I don't have either."
Oga just stared at him blankly. Over his shoulder, Baby Beel was giving him the same fish-eyed stare. He would have been amused by how much the demon prince was taking after Oga if not for the way their combined gaze was making him uncomfortable and frustrated. He felt his face heating up and he frowned, about to call his friend out on the weird look, when Oga pulled his eyes away and shook his head with a muttered, "Idiot Furuichi."
Yeah, okay, fuck that. Furuichi's scowl deepened, and he stiffened his good shoulder to ram Oga with all his might. The other man barely stumbled, but the returning push sent Furuichi careening into a brick wall.
And so the next week passed with Furuichi spending most of his time trying to sleep and failing, which didn't exactly help him heal any faster. He spent his days bullying fodder thugs into giving up their back row seats so he could doze undetected by teachers, something he found much easier since rumors of the way he had beaten up a bunch of delinquents in the hall outside the nurse's office had spread. Apparently, that hallway was now his territory (and Oga's, but then the whole school was his territory, and it was assumed that if he hadn't kicked you out, you had his permission to use the facilities), and every thug who had to use the nurse's office now made a point of asking his permission before going there. It was simultaneously empowering and annoying.
The irritation from that attention was only compounded by the more personal concern of the Saints crew, who seemed to dog his and Oga's steps wherever they went, sometimes blatantly in their company, and always at least marginally present. He couldn't blame them, really; it was sort of their job as unofficial underlings to look out for their leader, and Furuichi by extension, but Furuichi was tired and in pain and generally just very embarrassed and stressed, and would have preferred to be left alone to lick his wounds.
The reprieve he was hoping for came that Friday night.
For the first time in far too long, he didn't dream about blood and screams and glinting steel. Instead, he dreamt of luminous ice and howling wind, of strong, supple wood beneath his fingers, of twanging string and muscles burning with exertion. Massive gray mountains loomed in the distance, barely visible through clouds of swirling snow, and lovely pale figures danced across crisp white plains, and above it all, the glorious Sun shone His Light down upon them all.
Furuichi woke up tingling all over, feeling more energized than he had in weeks. He lay still for a long moment, reveling in the novelty of rejuvenation. He sighed contentedly as he arched his back a bit and wriggled his fingers and toes.
Wait.
Silver eyes snapped open. Just yesterday his digits had been too numb with cold to do anything vaguely suggestive of dexterity. With disbelief and hope warring brutally within his mind, he took note of the rest of his body. No shivers, no numbness. His teeth weren't chattering, and he was even sweating a bit under his heavy covers! He wasn't cold anymore.
Furuichi could have cried with relief, and if his next breath was rather more sob-like than he would have ever admitted, well, there was no one around to hear it. He shifted up to push off the thick quilts, and couldn't. He literally just couldn't move. At all. It felt like bands of steel were keeping his body pressed to the mattress. Panic bubbling in his chest, he raised his head feebly to stare down the length of his body.
My sheets are sparkly, he thought distantly, utterly mystified. He blinked his eyes several times to rid them of the film of sleep and relieved not-tears and refocused on the bed. Not steel, but ice. Thick, clear, glimmering ice encased his entire bed from just under his shoulders and spilled over the foot. Furuichi stared.
"Haha. Ha. Heh. Ah, I'm still dreaming then. Time to wake up, real me," he garbled, a rictus of disbelief stamped across his face. He clenched his fists, digging his nails into the flesh of his palm. He tried, and failed, to ignore the sharp sting that told him he was not asleep. He closed his eyes and wiggled a bit, then began to frantically thrash about. He cried out in frustration when the ice refused to crack. It was just too thick to break on his own; it was time to call in reinforcements.
"Mom! Hey, MOM! Help! Dad? Honoka, HEY!" No response. Gaahh, where the hell are they!? A glance out the window told him; the sun was too high in the sky for it to be the early morning anymore. They had all left for work and school, by now. Damn it, of all the days for Mom to let me sleep in for once!
Okay, time for Plan C: call in different reinforcements. His phone was within easy reaching distance on the nightstand, provided he could get an arm free to grab it.
"Ahh, c'mon, come on, come on!" he chanted desperately, pressing his bad shoulder painfully against one side of his entrapment so that he could roll his good arm, twisting and wiggling, and finally loosening himself enough to let the arm slither out from beneath the sheets and ice. He stretched laboriously across to the nightstand, the rugged edge of the ice digging sharply into his side. He'd never been so relieved to wrap his fingers around the cool plastic of his phone.
He flipped it open and was immediately bombarded with notifications. Apparently, he had a missed call from Oga and half a dozen messages from Oga and three other numbers that he didn't recognize.
Where are you
Oi, don't ignore me
Hey Furuchin, stop playing hooky! Ogacchi's too grouchy without you here! That sounded like Hanazawa, a bit.
Idiotidiotidiotidiot. Oga again. Bastard.
Hurry up and come in already. –Oomori He grinned stupidly at the thought of the aloof Red Tail checking up on him.
Okay? This last one wasn't signed and could have been from just about anyone.
He quickly saved the new numbers to his phone before calling Oga. The phone barely rang once before his best friend was picking up, a dark scowl in his voice.
"Where are you, idiot? Oi, shut up!" he called to the chattering voices in the background. "Why didn't you pick up?"
"I slept in. But look, I need help. I'm kind of stuck, and I can't-"
"Where are you."
"Um, home, but liste-"
"'Kay." Furuichi pulled the phone away and stared as the dial tone beeped at him. Well, at least help was on the way, he mused as he huffed and fell back against his cool pillow.
Fifteen minutes later, it was as though a herd of elephants had descended upon his house. A heavy fist knocked open the front door, and what was definitely more than one pair of feet stampeded into the entranceway and up the stairs. Oga burst through the bedroom door looking as though he'd run the whole way there, and froze when he saw Furuichi. Whoever had followed plowed directly into his back, and Furuichi ended up with a delinquent dog pile in the middle of his floor.
"Fuckers!" Oga barked as he bodily shoved Toujou, Kanzaki, Himekawa, Hanazawa, Oomori, and Shiroyama off his back. Baby Beel blew a raspberry at them, and Natsume stood in the doorway laughing at them all beside the somewhat less amused Kunieda and Tanimura. Their antics came to an abrupt halt when they finally caught sight of Furuichi, completely encased in ice. He grinned at them sheepishly.
"Well, I'm not cold anymore, at least!"
"Waah, what is this!" Hanazawa exclaimed, eyes wide. She crouched down next to his bed to poke curiously at the ice.
"I just woke up like this. I have no idea what happened," he explained helplessly.
Kanzaki moved over to kneel beside Hanazawa, confused and intrigued, and Toujou leaned over all three of them with a contemplative frown on his face. Oga pushed through the crowd.
"So I guess all the cold inside came out, or something? Whatever, time to get rid of it," he said decisively, pushing up a sleeve and readying his marked fist.
"No, don't just punch it! I'm under here, moron! The last thing I need is a stomach full of ice chunks!"
"Well then how are we supposed to get you out, eh?
"Hey Toujou, think you could borrow a jack hammer from one of your construction jobs?" Natsume laughed from the back of the room where he was using the wall to support himself as he hunched over with tremors of mirth. Furuichi watched in horror as a look of dawning enlightenment spread across Toujou's face.
"No! No jack hammers!
"Yeah, don't be stupid, Natsume. We need something stronger. Like a wrecking ball."
"Ah, Kanzaki! So brilliant!"
"Maybe Himekawa can get a bulldozer from somewhere…?" Shiroyama mused, an expression of intense concentration on his face.
There were tears of hilarity streaming down Natsume's face by now. Furuichi was becoming increasingly resigned to death via idiot delinquent.
"Excuse us!" Kunieda called from the back. Toujou stepped back, knocking Kanzaki and Hanazawa out of the way as well. The Red Tails' leader stepped forward along with Himekawa and Tanimura, each carrying a steaming pot.
"Hey, did you take those from my kitchen? Wait, wait, what's in those? Hey!" Furuichi yelped, suddenly very nervous.
"It's boiling water, we'll melt you out," Kunieda said calmly. "Don't worry, this isn't enough to melt all of it, so you won't get burned," she finished with a reassuring smile. He clenched his eyes shut and turned his head away as he listened to the hiss of boiling water meeting ice, and then grimaced as he felt lukewarm water soaking his sheets and pajamas.
"There," Kunieda said with a satisfied tone. "It should be thin enough where we poured around your chest to break with gentle force, and then you can just scoot out. Gently, Oga!" she reminded, as the thug stepped up to finish the job.
"Ah," he affirmed as he brought his fist down against the ice directly over Furuichi's sternum. Thin cracks spiderwebbed across the ice, and without pause, Oga forced his fist the rest of the way through, then grabbed the trapped teen under the arms and yanked him bodily out of bed.
"Oi, Glasses, grab him some dry clothes," Oga called, not taking his eyes off Furuichi as he examined him for anything resembling injury or discomfort.
"Thanks for the help," Furuichi said gratefully, offering a grin to the assorted delinquents gathered in his room.
"Hmph. Why was there even a situation like this in the first place?" Oomori said, disgruntled and confused, as she crossed her arms.
"Mm, this is really strange. Was it some demon, maybe, playing a trick? Targeting you as Oga's best friend again?" Kunieda wondered. Furuichi shook his head.
"I don't know why a demon would just mess with me like that and not do anything else," he said, accepting the t-shirt and sweatpants Himekawa silently handed him. "And anyway, that wouldn't explain why my body doesn't feel cold any more."
"Moron, I already said it. The cold just came out," Oga grunted. He punted a piece of broken ice off the floor at Furuichi's leg. The pale teen returned the favor with a swift kick to Oga's shin before bouncing back out of his friend's range and heading into the bathroom to change.
As he moved away, he heard Kunieda address Oga. "You really think Furuichi produced this ice by himself? He's not even contracted with a demon, and I don't think he has any demon blood."
"Eh. Apparently he was some kind of badass spear-waving military tactician in a past life. Maybe he was a magic one, too."
Furuichi snorted. He kind of wished it was true. That really did sound badass, when he put it like that. Now if only he could take the good without the bad, without the memories of death and dying and grief…
It wasn't until he was alone in the bathroom that Furuichi realized Himekawa had not said a word or even looked at him the whole time, even when handing him the outfit to change into, a pillar of silence among the chattering crowd of high school students. He finished dressing quickly and stepped back out to rejoin the group, grinning up at Toujou when the redhead patted him on the shoulder with a muttered "Okay?" He navigated the small crowd as they funneled out of his house, making a point to gravitate towards Himekawa as they emptied out onto the street.
"Hey, senpai. Thanks for coming all the way out here," he grinned as they moved down the street in the direction of the school.
He watched, bemused, as Himekawa stared at him blankly for a moment, started to open his mouth, then merely grunted at him and walked past. Furuichi stepped up next to Natsume and spoke to him quietly.
"Hey, is Himekawa alright? He's been really quiet today. The last few days, actually," he murmured into the taller man's ear. Natsume turned to stare at him disbelievingly.
"Well, yeah, because Oga beat the shit out of him," the senior said.
"Wha- Why would he do that? And anyway, Himekawa's not bruised at all."
"Heh. Our badass leader punished him for getting you hurt with Takamiya. Couldn't let it show, though, because we can't afford to show anything but a united front, with Fuji still out there, so he just went for the torso."
"But why would he do that? Himekawa did a good job, it was a really sound strategy. I mean, yeah, I- I got hurt," don't think about it, don't THINK, "but we won that battle because of him. A-and it was better than anything I came up with," he finished dimly.
He looked up to see Natsume with an odd expression on his face, vaguely confused, as though Furuichi was some puzzle whose words he couldn't quite parse. The look made him uncomfortable, so Furuichi tried to laugh off his previous words and glum tone. He felt pretty good about the smile he was able to force, but Natsume's frown deepened anyway.
"He screwed up. Badly. You died, just like you told Oga before. It took a while to sink in that it was Himekawa's fault, I guess. He's the one who apologized, you know, that day with the boiler. He came up to Oga when you were sleeping and bowed his head. It was pretty remarkable," Natsume laughed darkly. "He kicked his ass after school, then told him not to talk to you or anything until he found a suitable way to apologize."
"I don't blame him for anything," he protested.
"You should. The rest of us do. After all, where would we be without our General?" Natsume gave him a vague smile and then ruffled his hair. Furuichi scowled at the teasing and knocked his hand away, grumbling under his breath and backing away in case the senior tried it again. His tactical retreat had him backing up into Oga.
"Thought anymore about getting a demon?" the taller man grunted, hands stuffed in his pockets and slouched indolently as he watched Furuichi from the corner of his eye.
"Um. No." He spoke blankly, a little surprised, and a little thoughtful, now. The whole ice thing had him terribly confused, and while he didn't really buy into Oga's theory that the power had come from inside him, it probably wouldn't hurt to have a powerful supernatural being watching over him. He shrugged the thoughts away, no use contemplating the impossible, after all. Furuichi was quite sure he would make a poor contractor, and was equally sure any potential contractees knew it too.
"You're really stupidly stubborn sometimes, you know that?" Oga made a move to shove him, and Furuichi retaliated with a swift karate chop to his dark head.
"No, I'm just not stupid enough to put stock in a plan that won't work."
Oga just rolled his eyes and kept walking, Furuichi keeping even with his pace by his side. Occupied with bantering with his friend, he didn't notice how the rest of the Saints crew gradually fell behind them, and what was once a mob of delinquent teenagers became an entourage of loyal followers trailing respectfully behind a king and his general.
AN: Sup peeps. Sooo out of absolutely nothing more than simple curiosity, no really, do you guys spell the name Hecadoth or Hecados or Hecatos? Or Hecatoth, I guess, if follow the pattern, but I don't think it I've ever seen it spelled that way…
Also, it's been a month since Beelzebub ended… My weeks feel so empty now that we're not getting chapters every Thursday :*( I'll look forward to the spin-off series, though!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!