Frost and Darkness

Chapter three; The boy and the Wolf

Now, four hundred years later, I still remember these days like it happened yesterday. I don't run anymore, but I make sure to always be on the move and never get close to human places. I try not to use my Black Magic unless it's necessary. I even learned other magic over time to conceal it. I get up from my leaf bed and ruffle my long, black hair into fashion – Clipping my bangs back with a clamp and the rest of it falls messily onto my shoulders. My worn hunters tenue needs replacement, but I don't feel like doing that now. It will last a while longer. My wings are sore so I clap them a few times. I have never tried flying, but honestly, I don't want to. I want these things gone more than I should. A few months after learning the Dragon Slaying magic of Logia I went berserk. When I regained consciousness I had wings. Usually they go away after a while. This time they have been here for at least a week. "Well... Time to go." The wolf beside me blinks. "C'mon." I pick up my shoulder bag and look at her. She looks back at me with her dark brown eyes and stands her ground. "What is it now?" Okami looks at my bag and sniffs it. "No. We'll eat along the way. We need to move now." The canine growls and starts walking. I found her eight years ago, laying injured between some bushes where she had dragged herself to. I patched her up and I guess she's grateful for that since she has been following me around ever since. I like the company, but hell, she's stubborn. I ruffle her fur with my hand made bow and follow her. We make the best gathering team you could find. I shoot small animals like rabbits and birds and occasionally pluck some non-poisonous berries and she digs out roots and brings them to me. "Hey, Okami...?" the wolf looks at me. "Am I a bad person?" She blocks my way and presses her snout to my hand, telling me I'm not. I stroke her soft, white pelt and smile slight. "Thanks." I just need to hear that from her every once in a while. "Okami..." She twitches her ears, showing me that she is listening. "You're my best friend." She growls reassuring and I know she tells me the same thing. As the day passes we find a place to spend the night. I make a fire and roast the animals I shot. After dinner I let the fire die out and crawl up next to Okami. It's early in the summer so it's not cold. And besides. This way we won't get spotted so fast. Okami's pelt is warm enough to get me through the coldest part of the night, even though it is perfectly fine weather to sleep through without a blanket. Still, I have to get a new one before winter falls. My current one is starting to fall apart. When we wake my wings are gone. Good.

The days go as they always do. I hunt. Okami digs. Occasionally we get in a fight with either bandits or wild animals and we end up patching each other up. She licks my wounds and I bandage her paws. We play around and we get back to business. But I notice it. Okami is getting old. It won't be long until I have to leave her. No. I don't want that. I should just find a safe place and stay there until she passes away. She will not be able to travel all day anymore. Okami wakes me from my thoughts as she pulls my boot lacing. She heard something. I listen carefully and nod agreeing. There is something approaching. Although it's still about a mile away we both sense it. She smells and looks at me. I shake my head because I don't understand and Okami sniffs the air and then sniffs me again. I sniff as well and decide it's a human. One human. I collapse emotionally. I look around, a fear in my eyes. My memories returning, running wild and my thoughts are getting foggy. Then everything goes black. It's half past the day when I feel Okami licking my face. I open my eyes and see her staring at me with a reassuring grunt. Did faint from fear? Was it him? I look around, but Okami nudges me to tell me it's okay. "Has someone passed by?" She puts a paw on my leg. "Male or female?" Her paw pats my crotch. "Did he... have black hair and a black robe?" She sits up straight and looks at me tilting her head in confusion. I let out a relieved sigh. My head hurts. I must have bumped it into the tree behind me. It is only until now that I realize that there is an ice pack on my head. Well... It's more like a snow coat. Snow was wrapped up in a tailored square and strapped closed. "Did he do this?" Okami licked my cheek. I guess there are different kinds of people in this world. I had almost forgotten. Well... The only people I knew were my family and the people in my city. And then there was Zeref. But that was a long, long time ago. I try to stand up and feel a little dizzy. "Let's go." I tell Okami as I pick up my bag and bow. Okami growls in objection, but I start walking anyway. At the time we are about to make camp we are on a beautiful hill. The view shows an old city in the distance. "Oh, Okami..." She twitches her ears and looks at me curiously. Something in my voice made her realize I've seen this place before. "This is where my home used to be..." She looks at it and nudges her snout to my hand to comfort me. I smile slight and strike her fur. We make camp right here, on the cliff. After four hundred years I get to see what became of my city and now I see that it has turned into a beautiful blooming place.

After I roast the animals and give Okami her share of the food I ask her "Do you know what I don't understand?" Okami tilts her head. "How did he find snow? It's mid-summer..." Okami pushes my bow towards me. "He made it?" Okami huffs. "Like magic?" She huffs again, then in a flash she stands up and sniffs the air again. But this time, her tail is wagging. She looks at the sky and I follow her gaze. There is a boy floating, his smile locked onto my gaze. Then, he flies away. "Hey wait up!" I yell after him. He stops and looks at me. Then he speeds away. I look at Okami and she tilts her head. "Why didn't he let me talk to him?" The wolf sits down. "He seemed confused..." I say as I sit down beside her and the fire. Okami huffs and lays down, resting her head on my lap. I look at the sky for a while longer and fall asleep eventually.

The following days are not going well. I still have a headache and Okami is really wearing out. We need somewhere to stay. I've made up my mind to build a small house for us. A place where she can die in peace and where I can ease my mind. Now, every day after hunting I go back into the woods to cut trees. I can't figure out how to make planks of them so I just chop them in half in the length. I manage to make a foundation of a small one-room bungalow and we stow our stuff on there. I manage to get the place done before winter and with Okami's help I'm also able to make a small fireplace. I don't know how, but every time I place a plank the 'wrong' way Okami growls and I re-adjust the plank until she stops. I seriously think she just feels the wind coming from outside but she denies it. Before the first snow starts to fall we have the bungalow done. Furniture will come in time. For now we'll just sleep on the ground, like we're used to.

It's been several months since we build ourselves a home. Okami and I go to the city occasionally to get me used to people again and although we don't need anything from town she doesn't feel comfortable letting me go alone. But I never show my face. I wear my hood far enough over my eyes, so people won't be able to recognize me. At first the citizens were afraid of Okami, but since she has never attempted to attack anyone, they slowly start treating her more like a pet.

We are quite the sight though. Me, in my worn, ancient-looking, tailored clothes and white wolf in a city like this. They have a fashion I'm not familiar with; women in dresses so short they don't cover enough and men walking around in only their jeans.

Well, actually there is only one who does that. He has this strange mark on his chest too. They say he is a wizard as well, but I've never seen him using magic.

Okami and I get our things by barter. This, too, is not the common way of living. People trade stuff for gold or silver doubloons, now. They call them Jewels. Yet, most of them don't seem to mind that we exchange our meat and roots for their things. "Hey boy," The owner of a clothing shop walks towards me. "You are quite the town's subject." I glance over my shoulder. "They keep talking about the boy with the wolf." I shrug. "You're no one suspicious, eh?" I shake my head. I try not to talk too much to the people. I don't know why. "Care to show me your face, then?" Okami growls. I tighten my grip around the piece of clothing in my hand. "If you're no one suspicious, you have nothing to hide." I slowly turn away from the rack and lift my head. My eyes glare under my hood and I see the man smirking. "Drop the cover." I don't know why this angers me. "Why? You just want to see my face." These were my first words to another human being. "Here it is." This seems to anger the salesman and he extends his hand to my cloak. "You brat!" Okami growls and stances, waiting for my order. At the same moment my body does something I cannot control. Some sort of power wave comes out of me as I extend my hand in reflex to grabbing the man's wrist. Instead I slam the salesman and everything in the store into the wall across from me. The same black, foggy wind from four hundred years ago has formed around my feet. But it isn't Death Wave. That spell is lethal... The moment goes by in seconds and I don't fully understand. I look around, pull a shirt and jeans from the rack and drop a skinned raven and some roots on the counter before leaving the store. Okami nudges my knee. "It was nothing, Okami." I say fiercer than intended. She is not satisfied with this, but leaves me alone for a while.