IDENTITY- Assasination Classroom Fanfic (Ft. OC x Asano Gakushuu - slowburn)

47: Christmas Party

December 25, 2005, the old man with the three years old child beside him, walked with the intention of distancing themselves as far as possible from the NKVD, other than that, where to walk to was unbeknown. Where on this world behind the curtain can they be spared?

Cutting their skins through the thin fabric of prisoner uniforms, the coldest weather on earth the child had ever experienced. Frost caked Arina's white hair. Her suffered ears ached painfully as fluid from her nose blocked the eustachian tube. If the cold never goes away, she will have to suffer from hearing loss. Her porcelain skin cracked, and bleed. The cold sucked all the moisture out of her lips, leaving them to pair with the skin's problem, bleeding. With each heavy step she took forward into the tunnel without an end, a thousand needles punctured her bare feet, and that temperature from the needles had mainly transmitted to her entire body.

"Grandpa," gasped the child weakly, "my feet."

Grandpa, who was also barefoot, stopped, reached out to the fragile daughter of the dictator. His shaking, numbing, bony, veiny hands enfolded the child and lifted her up from the painful ground of this part of the earth. Her teeth chattered, burying her shaking body in his arms. The blood from her cheeks stained his prisoner uniform.

The old man managed to carry the child and walked to the void for a while until he finally collapsed on the snowbank. Day after day, having nothing but snow to feed and keep them hydrated. The child opened her mouth to speak:

"Happy uncover is too painful, grandpa, white is too painful, I miss our black chamber."

"Well now, child, too much of one color is never good for you."

"I miss the food there."

She balled snow in her palm and shoved it into her mouth, there, she imagined how it taste like the soup she threw up days ago.

"So do I."

"Where are we going?"

"Beyond the Iron Curtains."

"How far is that?"

"It will take us years of walking to get there."

"Years? How far?"

"Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow of seemingly no ending."

The child paled, seizing his forearm.

"Well now, it's a joke. It will not be that far."

"Will we get there by JUST tomorrow?"

"Probably."

Her face lit up in delight.

"What's beyond the curtains you said?"

"Many colors, every season. Every month. Even now. You will be visited by a loving old man in red with thick, white bread. He has a warm laugh that will draw children like you in and shower you with gifts. He's very fat though but you shall not bully him for it."

"What are gifts?"

"What do you wish for the most, child?"

"For grandpa to be with me forever!"

Quiet. The old man hid his tears away.

"Well now, then Santa Claus will grant you your wished gift."

Arina lied back, letting her imagination run. The old man coughed. One, two, three, four coughs. He imagined alongside the child:

It is Christmas in his country, and he would take the starved child to restaurants and let her eat as much as she likes. Sushi, Tempura, Sukiyaki, Kobe Beef, all freshly made and laid out on the table. Itadakimasu. Little Arina would exclaim over how delicious the food is, and he would order more. And because it's Christmas, one shall not forget Honey Glazed Ham with a crispy, crackling crust, Roasted Turkey, and Scalloped Potatoes. He would let the child plunge forkful of them until 'hunger' never occurs again.