Twisted Wonderland ~ Exorcist!AU

0 ~ the Beginning (part 3)

Grim's sense of smell guided them outside of the track. The vegetation became even thicker, every step followed by a soft rustle.

Grim kept walking in the dark, until he realised the boy was no longer behind him. He looked around, confused: his human friend nowhere to be seen. Just when he thought he was left alone in the night, he saw the familiar golden light of the lantern glowing in the distance.

"If you wanted to take a break so badly you could at least be so kind to warn me!" Grim complained while approaching. The raven-haired boy didn't answer. He was kneeling on forest's dark soil, looking down.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Still no answer. Grim gave the young boy an annoyed look, his paws crossed on his chest. Defeated, he moved his attention to whatever was so important down there.

A line of almost faded footsteps, left by a pair of boots, was lying right in front of them. Another line of bigger and more recent footprints followed the first one, intertwining with it in certain points, followed by horseshoe prints. Nearby, hidden almost entirely by vegetation, Yuu found another line of footprints about the same size as the first ones.

As the boy followed the prints in the bushes, he found a small piece of black fabric stuck on a thorn, identical to the fabric of the robe he was wearing. That's it, they definitely came here...

A spark of hope shone in the boy's brown eyes. He returned where he found the first three tracks of prints, which went ahead and disappeared in the depth of the forest. A small, dried branch of an oak not far away was stretching like a thin wrinkled hand, pointing at the darkness.

***

They walked confident in the dark, following the new-found path, while the candle inside the lantern was burning out. Luckily I brought an extra candle with me... but is it going to be enough?

The golden light faded. The soft gurgling of a brook could be heard in the distance. They stepped out of the darkness into a wide clearing with a small cottage in the middle. Its thatched roof was dotted with small holes, vines climbing on the ruined walls.

While Fulgus browsed on the grass in the distance, Yuu and Grim walked around the house. The boy tried to look inside through a broken window. Looks like no one has been here for a while... 

"Since this place looks abandoned, how about we take a break here? I'm hungry and tired..." Grim suggested.

To their surprise, the door wasn't locked, but something was blocking it from the inside. After a bit of struggle, they got inside the cottage, finding the small chair that used to block the door.

"Wow, this house is really small..." Yuu said, lighting up a match, scanning the surroundings. Even though he was quite short, the ceiling was just a few inches above his head.

Grim got on top of a table with six other small chairs around it, while Yuu inspected the small fireplace. He noticed that the cauldron hanging there was warm. When he turned to the table, he found his beast companion happily eating some leftovers from a small bowl.  

"Grim, are you sure it is good for you to eat that?" Yuu gave Grim a disgusted look.

"Relax! It doesn't seem like it wasn't made too long ago..." Grim happily replied while munching. He stopped shortly after, thinking about what he just said. When he raised his head, his human companion was already looking through a small cupboard containing a few apples and some small cakes. None of them was spoiled.

"Looks like this house isn't that abandoned after all..." the boy whispered.

A sudden creak made the two turn their heads towards the stairs. They froze, as another creak resonated in the silence. The boy took one of the apples from the cupboard. He stood next to the door, ready to flee if needed. Grim was standing next to his companion, facing the stairs.

"Who's there?" a steady voice came from upstairs.

Grim growled: "We're looking for two idiots who disappeared from the abbey next to the forest. Who are you, instead?"

"Apprentices, just like us" the raven-haired boy added instinctively, struggling to hide the tremble in his voice.

A moment of silence, then the figure of a masked man dressed in black appeared in front of them as an answer, holding a vial in one hand and a torch in the other. The young boy stared at the man in astonishment and awe.

"In the name of the Enlightened: what are two boys doing in the forest in the middle of the night?!" Crowley's voice thundered, one hand laying on his hip. His annoyed stare softened: he realized that there was only one boy in front of him. The raven-haired boy snapped back to reality: "I can explain!"

***

Sitting at the small table, the boy told the exorcist how he and Grim got there: from his conversation and small fight with the ghosts to when they found the footprints and the cottage.

"And what about... him?" Crowley pointed at Grim "Is it your familiar?" 

"Fnagh?! I'm not anyone's familiar!"

"He's my companion" the boy replied calmly, a shy smile drawn on his face.

As he listened with growing interest to the story, Crowley's golden eyes were fixed on the boy's figure, glowing with curiosity from behind the mask.

"Now that we're done, would you tell us what were you doing here?" Grim looked at Crowley in the eye, his tail swinging slowly behind him.

"As you know, I left the abbey this morning looking for those two. I and the other priests asked some apprentices if they knew anything that could help us find the two missing boys. At last, one of them told us they were headed towards the forest, but it was already midday when they did so. Also, they didn't know where they were headed either, so I had to leave and find out on my own. It was late in the afternoon when I found the footprints that led you here..."

"Wait, you can use magic, right?" Grim asked, curiously.

"That's correct."

"Then couldn't you use some sort of spell to find out where they are instead of doing all this research?"

"I'm an exorcist, not a clairvoyant. Also, my staff was stolen, so I can't use magic even if I wanted to." Crowley replied, crossing his arms.

"Anyway... I kept following the footprints, reaching a path that led to the Abandoned Mines..." Crowley lowered his head, his voice trembling as he finished the sentence.

"And?" Grim asked impatiently.

"I got inside the mine, but I was greeted by an... unpleasant surprise..."

"What does that mean?" Grim crossed his paws, annoyed by the exorcist's hesitation. 

"There was a monster in the mine..." 

Those words made the young boy freeze.

"It is a spirit known for stealing the precious belongings of trespassers, especially if these consist in gold or jewels. Then, it keeps its victims trapped in the mine it haunts" Crowley paused, sighing "My staff and most of the other stolen objects are golden, some of them decorated with jewels... without the proper weapons to fight it... I couldn't do anything for them... I had to go back and seek help."

"AND YOU LEFT THEM- mmghm?!" Yuu quickly covered Grim's mouth, keeping him from both yelling and jumping at Crowley. The boy looked down at the table, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.

Minutes of silence followed, before the boy's firm voice untangled the knot in his throath: "We must go to the mine."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Grim jumped, his eyes wide open "If he couldn't do anything, what are we supposed to do?"

"I'm not sure yet, but we have to go the mine. Now!" the boy stood up.

Crowley warned them: "The mine is quite far from here, it will take us a couple hours at least if we go by foot."

"Why go by foot when we have a horse!" Grim said with a cheeky grin on his face.

Without further explanations, the three mounted on horseback and rode at full gallop towards the Abandoned Mines.