Tales Of The Underlands (jjba part 5 Wonderland AU)

Storms And Letters

The others had been right, the weather was way colder the following day and the snowfall had increased, making the path in front of you barely visible. In addition the wind was stronger which made each step forward seem like a fight against nature.

In the blue glow of the snow you made out the faint outlines of your companions, Narancia at the front, his dragonfly nowhere to be seen, after him was Prosciutto and in the middle with you were Melone and Ghiaccio. The latter wasn't appearing to be too bothered by the snowstorm that was going on.

Behind you, you could make out Illusos voice, complaining about the cold and the lack of vision.

Risotto walked in the back behind everyone, making sure that no one would attack from behind.

How long would the weather continue like this and how many days would it take till you finally reached that camp?

"Do you know how far away that camp is?" you yelled at Melone against the wind,still you weren't sure if he heard you.

"It's still a few days away and in this weather it might take even longer." the lilac haired man yelled back at you, but you could barely hear him. When you looked in front of you to see if you could spot Narancias outline, you realized something.

Where is Pesci?

"Prosciutto! " you called, "Where is Pesci?" it looked like the blond didn't hear you over the howling of the wind, so you tried again, louder this time.

He heard you that time and as if he also just noticed the green haired man missing he looked around frantically.

"Pesci! Come out you mammone!" on the outside his demeanor stayed calm and collected, but on the inside he was worried sick about him. Pesci was still hurt, he wouldn't be able to answer Prosciuttos calls. His mentality made him look weak and vulnerable to many outsiders, so what if one of the Diavolos men got their hands on him and-

A tuft of green hair showed up to the left of Narancia, he stumbled forward and fell face first into the snow before standing up and running over to the group.

You wondered where he went before it dawned on you. Prosciutto apparently knew too and didn't want to press the matter further.

For Formaggio this was a goldmine for jokes.

"Pesci, did your piss freeze right in the middle of the air with these temperatures?" he cackled.

His face grew red and he started walking next to Prosciutto again, while trying to ignore Formaggio who only stopped with the questions and jokes after Ghiaccio yelled at him.

"Guys, look!" It was Narancia who was pointing forward, towards something that looked like an ice cave. A great spot to rest, eat and warm up for a bit before continuing.

The cave was small, but you all fit inside. Taking some drinks and food out of the bags, you began to munch on your bread. Not many words were spoken, everyone was just focused on regaining some energy to make it further through the snow. You just hoped you wouldn't have to camp out in that weather.

Risotto had pulled out the map again and you curiously looked at it.

"Where exactly are we now?"

He pointed further east into the mountains, before looking at you.

"We should be able to reach a village before sundown. We will rest there for the night."

A breath of relief left your lungs. No camping in the cold for another night. Sleeping on the floor of the cabin had already felt like a small vacation, but sleeping in a real bed would feel like heaven.

You all kept walking through the snow, Melone was talking to you about something that you couldn't understand because of the howling wind.

When it started to get darker, there were the lights of the village visible ahead of your group and over your head you heard the sound of Aerosmiths wings as he flew towards his friend, before dropping a scroll out of his mouth.

As far as you could see the scroll had a red wax seal with an emblem on it.

Narancia broke the seal open and started reading the scroll, it must've been a long letter since he took his time before he looked up again.

He didn't say anything as everyone looked at him expectingly, instead he continued walking forward till they reached the village.

You were handed a cloak to hide the fact that you were not glowing in a specific color. You avoided looking at people and kept your head down.

Even when they reached an inn, the boy didn't utter a word. After everyone got their rooms you noticed how he took aside Risotto and talked to him. Risotto looked as stone faced as ever, but his posture stiffened. He looked over to the others, his eyes meeting yours for a short second, making you look away.

Narancia showed him the letter and said something again. You didn't know what this meant, but it couldn't be good.

The two of them returned to you and the others shortly after. You didn't know whom you would share a room with tonight, just as you wanted to ask, the young boy tapped your shoulder and called your name.

"Come on, I'm your roommate for the night." he had a glint of childish excitement in his eyes as he grabbed your hand and lead you to the room.

The two beds looked heavenly and you almost wanted to fall asleep then and there. Almost.

To your surprise the room also had a small bathroom and you could finally wash yourself. The scorching hot water was a welcome sensation on your frozen skin.

After you were done and ready for bed, Narancia stopped you. He looked worried while he avoided looking at your face.

" You probably know that we got a letter from Bucciarati today." you nodded, urging him on to continue, "He wrote that there are wanted posters of you in most towns already, he just didn't know who you were. Also another scout in a village east of us saw two of the kings men, asking around if someone saw you or anyone else from Risottos team."

That didn't sound good, it would make things more difficult since you were currently traveling east.

"Could they know where exactly we're headed?" you asked careful.

Narancia shook his head no.

"Bucciarati suggested that we bring you to rogue castle instead, but that would take around a week and the snow would get worse. The camp is only three days away now and Bucciarati expects my answer tomorrow. Risotto says we should just head to the camp, but this is also about your safety, so I thought you should know too."

Maybe the castle would be safer than the camp, but that didn't mean that a longer journey wouldn't be dangerous, the enemy could always find you. You would trust Risottos decision for now.

" Thank you Narancia, that js very considerate of you, but I think that Risotto is right." you spoke.

The boy was relieved at your words, and talked about writing a reply to the prince before bed, but before he reached the bed he paused and looked at you apologetically.

"Could you help me write a reply?" he asked sheepish, as his writing still wasn't as good as he would want it to be.

You smiled at him before sitting down at the chair next to him.