I do not own touhou project or it's characters
"Hello!,... HEEELOOOOO!"
A small voice could be heard throughout the woodland area. A girl's call for any to respond echoed trough the nearly frozen air. Her bare feet treading through the snow. She did not know how she got there but the scenery was not one she was completely unfamiliar with, trees, snow and the like.
What was different was that there were some strange structures she never seen before. Tall pillars of wood with long black rope that reached out onto the next pillar, some were fallen over but she could see more standing out in the distance. A black path running along the ground was also new sight but a traveling road was what she'd figured it was. unknown to her, the blacktop road has not been used in months, yet she had followed, hoping to run into any passerby.
She'd occasionally see, what she interpreted as, a broken carriage, horses missing, she figured they wouldn't move again. But that didn't stop her from hopping inside one and pretend she was some rich lady or princess. Honestly she's more used to playing pranks as a group, but she could make her own fun from time to time.
Despite the entertainment she had from trying out things from those books she read in the human village. She soon grew bored of that and continued on her way.
It had been a decent amount of time since she woke up in this forest. She had expected to find her lake soon enough. But this stretch of black had gone on far longer than any road she had been on, even more the air itself seems different and unfamiliar on the smallest and largest of levels, so instead of following this strange track, she instead ventured out into a path in the rock face beside the road.
"Dai?, Letty?, anyone!?, I'd even hope for the shrine maiden!,.. grrr It'd be so much easier if I could still fly."
Her wings still present, though still looking as normal as ice wings could, would not let her fly or even float, but she continued to speak into the cold until any voice replied, and surprisingly one greeted her, it was repeating what she was saying. That someone was her own voice, echoing back from a cave not to far from where she paused.
She didn't explore caves often but she really had nowhere else to go. Continuing into the cave's mouth the area around her got darker, she had the genius idea to use her left hand and place it against the wall. She had learned this trick from one of the fairies, if she had checked with anyone else she would have been told that it was a dumb idea because of its fatal flaw of a potential loop.
Luck seemed to be the deciding factor here in that she was making steady progress, light peering into the area from an occasional crack above made navigating much more bearable, still... being alone in a dark cave did not bring her any peace of mind.
She was ok with being surrounded by darkness when playing with rumia, or when Mystia had blinded her when she was in a more mischievous mood . It was all in good fun. This was not fun, not by any stretch of the word. The thought of pranks was making her wish this was all it was, just one big prank. Everyone would jump out and try to spook her, they'd laugh, she'd laugh, then they'll all play another game.
Step after step, feeling the ground beneath the thin layer of snow that had built up from the sparse skylights. She continued, small bits of dust catching the light, contrasting the black rock that made up the wall surrounding her. She had no idea a place like this existed in her home. strings of thoughts of where she might be were interrupted by a figure on the ground ahead of her. She stilled.
the scene on the ground told a story. A small bundle of sticks and twigs gathered together, a small pile of burnt matches. And a human man curled together next to it. His face a pale blue. They had been there for a long time. Eyes unfocused yet still staring right at the ice fairy.
She knew he wasn't going to move but she was scared. A normal youkai would not be phased by the sight, some might even find it a bit comical, Rumia probably would get hungry. Other fairies wouldn't really care. Humans die, their lives are very short. They would shrug and just move on. But she stayed still, looking at the persons attempted to stay warm. Thoughts she had forgotten creeping back. Shaking her head she released her hand from the wall and sped toward the path avoiding the body. Placing her hand lightly again against the wall after passing the scene.
She didn't know what was going on. She kept walking, something felt like it was creeping behind her, she increased her pace, the tunnel ahead seemed further than before, as if she wasn't moving. She pressed on almost running. Luck or intuition of where to go kept pushing her in the right direction, a splitting path left ignored due to the feeling creeping at her back. Another fork in the path appeared, much more apparent then the last almost as if forcing her to chose. Her pace did not slow but she had nearly fallen over, as almost as if she was pushed, her body went into the left path. There was a few moments of wondering if she had gone down the right path, but luck seemed to be favoring her lately as another opening, shining through the darkness the way out was now in reach. Without wasting anytime she ran. Bumping into a jut in the wall she staggered but still maintained course. With a final jump she leaped into air and onto the snow outside.
The snow and setting light gave a sense of freedom. No longer held by that prison of a cave. A prison one didn't make it out of. She normally didn't pay much mind humans passing? Figuring it was something only mortals would worry about. But staring back, to the darkness. She simply waved goodbye. Paying some kind of respect to a name she would never know.
Getting oriented she saw that she was on an small crag overlooking a small frozen pond. A few deers and rabbits meander about grazing. But something caught her eye, another structure peeked over the rocky hills, red in color but seemingly thin. Looks like she found her next path. Making her way down the slope, she jumped down the ledge. A few nearby rabbits scurried away. The deer paid her a glance before going back to their meal.
Walking along the frozen pond was a strange feeling. She remembered on how she wanted to freeze misty lake and wondered if this is what it would be like.
Passing by a cattail plant. She plucked it from the ground and started chewing on the stem, living near a lake sure teaches one what one can or cannot eat.
Reaching a turn the metal structure came into view. Large and seemingly just a skeleton of a building was made of metal. A few steps more and what she saw was truly bizarre
"A VILLAGE!?"
Strange houses littered the area below. Four main paths divided the small town into four square sections. Many of the buildings seemed destroyed, wooden structures scattered nearby.
Wasting no time she looked for a way down. Underneath an arc made of stone she found her way down the slope and onto another black road. Running down into the path she was less sure of herself, beyond some of the homes being torn down, some of the others were boarded up. The place looked abandoned.
"Hello?! Anyone home!"
She was nearing the center of the mountain town when she heard something that scared her still.
A low growl of a wolf appearing out of the corner of one of the houses. Teeth exposed as it snarled and sized up the small ice fairy, and size was not something the fairy had to deter this predator.
"y-you're looking down on my huh, well take this!"
Struggling more than she should have for a single attack, she formed a single icicle in the space between her hands. With a thrust of her hands she shot her small spear of ice. With a thud it landed near the wolf, accuracy was never her strong suit, still, it was enough to make the wolf hesitate.
"you're lucky I'm b-busy, otherwise I'd really teach ya'"
backing up, she wanted to start another attack. Unfortunately the wolf seemed to shake off the surprise by this strange thing in front of it. Beginning to stalk forward while the ice fairy was on the back pedal it was then that a shout rang out from one of the houses.
"CIRNO!, over here!!"
It looked to be a child, bundled in oversized clothing waving around a bright red flame.
Wasting no time, they stumbled their way closer waving the flame overhead. Though after a couple steps, they started to fall, not before launching the light toward the fairy and predator.
Landing and still creating a loud hiss, it seemed to do a great job at holding the animal back. Cirno began to head to the fallen intervener.
"hey, what are ya doin. If ya wanna fight wait your turn, huh? - dai!? Is that you?" She said looking into the eyes that peeked out from her clothes, and as she guessed, it was indeed her friend and fellow fairy Daiyousei.
"Cirno, come on! Let's get inside!"
wasting no time stumbling up, she grabbed her hand and began pulling her friend. As she did this cirno looked back. The wolf continued to glare and snarl. as if committing to memory the image of its would be prey. Held back only by the powerful light of the road flare.
with a slam, they made their way into the large wooden house, sealing the way in with a heavy door. Both seemed to be needing to catch their breath as the only sound that could be heard were the two girls breathing quickly. After a pause cirno spoke.
"Thanks dai, I could have handled it but I wouldn't have found ya- oof!" Dai grabbed cirno in a hug and and seemed to be trying her best to crush her. The clothes she was wearing making it seemed like she was being wrapped in a large pillow.
"Cirno, I'm so glad!I have no idea where I am and it's been so long since I've seen anyone else." She cried into her friend.
"Its alright dai! I'm here and ima get us back home!" Not even cirno knew how to do that, but she knew dai needed to be cheered up.
This seemed to work as dai began to let go. Only now noticing something off.
"cirno? Aren't you cold?"
"huh? What are ya talking about, we've always been ok in winter. Wait a minute? Why are you wearin all that stuff you look like walkin pillow"
Dai replied by flapping her arms up and down. "I don't know. But ever since I got here I just can't stand the cold. This house had a bunch of warm clothes so I just put them all on"
"Well once we're home we can figure it all ou-" *grrug*
A growl interrupted her, for a small instant, she thought the wolf had gotten in. But the noise sounded familiar. It was the sound of a hungry stomach.
"Cirno, was that you?" Dai, wide eyed, looked at cirno who was also processing the sound.
"Nah couldn't be, you know fairies don't need food like humans."
While yes fairies don't need to eat, they can for pleasure. This would be the norm but Cirno who started to notice the feeling in her gut grow. Knew instinctively that this. Was hunger.
Authors note:
Ayo this is something that I've been wanting to make for a while, there's a lot more I plan on writing so if you're interested be sure to let me know. Also this story takes place in the same world as the game "the long dark". I don't plan to use any characters from the story, I couldn't find a way to make a cross over so I just posted it on the main category. I cut this chapter in half just so I can flesh out the second half a little better.