Icy Love || Astolfo x Reader

♡Chapter 3♡

Warning:

Descriptions of gore

...

That night, I laid in my bed, my hand on my bandaged neck. My body felt hot and my head fuzzy. My ice magic was going haywire, my room filled with growing frost.

If only I hadn't been so careless, maybe things would've stayed the way they were forever...

.........

Earlier that day

..........

"Come on, Astolfo!!!" I exclaimed, pulling him by the wrist into town. "We have to get to (random address)! We need to hear the witnesses' stories as soon as we can!" I dragged him along, Astolfo groaning behind me.

He was acting like such a child at the moment. "But I'm tireddd N/N!" The pinkette groaned in annoyance. Astolfo tried clinging to poles and people; basically anything that would delay our mission.

After an hour of grueling traveling, we eventually made it to our destined address. The house was tucked away in a smaller part of the city. The looked run down, painted with a vintage pink, an odd choice of color. It looked like the house wasn't supposed to be there, like it was just placed there.

I walked up and knocked on the door. "Coming!" A muffled voice could be heard. Slowly, the door opened, a woman peeking her head out. "Oh! It's just you two. Come on in!"

As Astolfo and I walked inside, something just felt off. All of the colors were muted and seemed sad, almost making it all seem hazy. The woman was shaky and paranoid. I couldn't blame her after what she'd seen.

"Thank you for coming, chasseurs," she began as she sat down shakily. She sat down on a muted gray couch with a white table in the middle where fresh tea had been placed down. The room faintly smelt like burnt lavender and rosemary.

Astolfo sat down beside me on the couch opposite the woman. He placed his hand on my own protectively. Astolfo had an indescribable look in his maroon eyes. They looked distrusting yet suspiciously calm.

"Hello miss. As you probably know, I am Y/N the Diamond, and this is my friend Astolfo the Granite. We're pleased to be working on this case. I promise that it will be solved as quickly as possible," I gave her a gentle smile.

The woman in front of me nodded and gave a trembling smile back. "I am very grateful...my name is Ilia. A-as you probably know, I saw the killers "art" firsthand," Ilia looked pale talking about the subject.

I nodded to show that I was listening, disregarding Astolfo's behavior. "Don' force yourself, Ilia. I understand that this was a hard thing to witness. Please take all of the time you need. If you can, we'd like you to tell us everything you can. I do mean everything, such as the scent, the surroundings, the person killed, the sounds, the time, any odd happenings, etc. "

Ilia took a deep breath and avoided looking into Astolfo's eyes. "T-the event I saw was the fifth killing. I-I was out with my husband. We were on a walk late at night around three days ago," the woman began. "His name was Rex, the most handsome man I'd ever seen. We got married around a year ago,"

"We were on our way home when the area suddenly went foggy. I was holding his hand -" she paused, tears welling in her eyes. Her eyes shook with fear, and her hands trembled. "A-and suddenly he was gone! The strange fog surrounded me. I couldn't see anything. I called out his name again and again, but he never answered! I could hear that he was in pain, but his voice sounded so faint,"

"The air smelt of roses, but not at the same time. I guess it could be described as a wilted or poisoned rose scent....suddenly, the fog cleared and right next to me -" Ilia's tears fell, and her face went deathly pale.

She had begun to sob. "Go on! As hard as it is to explain, we need to know what exactly you saw," Astolfo spoke for the first time since we'd entered Ilia's home. She nodded and tried to wipe her tears.

"S-sorry...forgive me," Ilia pushed back her sobs. "H-his head had been severed from his body and tossed to the side. A-and his limbs had all been broken and severed. All of them have been tossed around his body. T-the scent of roses was gone and replaced with the scent of a fire. In his blood was written Charlatan. The writing looked shaky and thin, as if done with a long, thin nail,"

"I immediately ran to the station. I faintly remember hearing laughter in the wind. T-that's about all that I can remember. It all went by so quickly, and my mind was frozen with fear. I'm sorry that I can't tell you more," Ilia explained, her knuckles turning white from clutching so tightly.

I nodded and stood up. "Thank you so much. You've been able to tell us a lot. I'm sorry that you had to remember these events for us. We won't bother you anymore. We'll be taking our leave," I bowed and grabbed Astolfo's hand.

As my hand reached out for the door, Ilia's voice called out. "Wait! My husband and I were walking in the alley near the pastry shop! I believe that the police still have an investigation set up there. You might be able to inspect around that area," She spoke frantically. Astolfo looked back and nodded before walking, putting and closing the door.

Astolfo grasped my hand tightly and yanked me away. "Astolfo!" I cried out. He was dragging me out of there quickly. "What's wrong?" I asked. He stopped and looked back at me. "I didn't like it there. Her eyes looked devoid of any life," the pinkette explained.

"And... I noticed that she kept fiddling with her hands but always rested them by her wrists. There were stitches there as well as around her neck, which looked like she tried to cover by wearing a high collared shirt,"

As he explained, my eyes widened. "You really noticed all of that?" I asked. Astolfo nodded and glared at the house we came from. "She looked at you weirdly, too. She avoided my gaze yet seemed entranced by your presence. She said my title with such disgust. There's something odd about that woman," Astolfo growled, tracing circles on my wrists

I stopped in my tracks and giggled softly. He turned back to face me with a raised brow. "You think something's funny?" He pouted. "Aww, you were worried about me!" I giggled. I watched as a blush spread across his face, and his eyes went frantic. "No, I was not!" He exclaimed, messing with my hair.

I laughed happily and wrapped my arms around him. "You're so precious! Just wait until Roland hears about this!" I giggled. Astolfo looked down at me and scoffed. "Stupid N/N..."

Both of us were too concerned with our teasing that we failed to notice the white fog creeping around us and the scent of roses.

I turned away for a split second, noticing the fog. "Astolfo!" I cried out and turned to look at him, but he was gone.

.......

Dun dun dunnnnn