Asta was used to strange dreams, as a child, his dreams varied between thoughts of Sister Lily and tatoes. Some dreams he duelled with Yuno, proving he was able to keep up with his rival. The last two weeks his dreams had more thoughts of Noelle. His overeager brain had fantasies that he hoped to make real with her. If he remembered them fully when he woke up, he wished she had similar dreams. He loved those dreams; even the worse ones had some hope in them.
This dream was different, however; this was like nothing he could remember. He was alone; complete darkness surrounded him with its cold, unforgiving isolation. His body was moving through the darkness, a slow walk at first, nothing changed. It grew colder as he walked, his breath visible as he kept walking. He tried turning around, but nothing felt like it changed, the world kept growing colder. Something started coming into view after more time; a large, stone throne raised up on a pedestal surrounded by torches. Asta looked at it and felt something inside of him pull him towards it.
He couldn't stop walking now, despite the coldness weighing his body down. If it weren't the throne itself calling to him, it was the warmth from the torches. He moved faster, as fast as he could while freezing, his freezing muscles screaming in protest as he started running. Closer, all he could think of was getting closer to the possible warmth. In a flash he was there, his body in the dream screaming that he pushed it too far, but he didn't listen. He scrambled to be as close to the flame, feeling the coldness from his body fade.
He panted, his body still aching as he sat near the throne. Something in him was telling him to keep moving towards it; he refused, the warmth of the flame comforting him. A presence started pulling him, again he refused to leave the fire. Harder and harder it pulled at Asta's back, and more he dug his heels into the ground and refused to budge. He felt the stone beneath him quake, his resistance and clinging to the torch angering whatever was pulling him. The stand for the torch collapsed as the ground quaked again, Asta lunging for the comforting flame as he started to fall.
He yelled, falling somewhere as his hands touched the flame. His skin was blistering at its warmth as the darkness tried to consume him. He clutched the flame close to him, his clothes catching fire as something rang through his ears. Voices, of who he wasn't sure yet, but voices comforting him from within the flame. He smiled, the warmth keeping him calm as he fell. He felt hands embrace him through the fire, they all felt familiar. Some of them had shape and looked familiar as he kept falling. Some of them wrapping around him in a hug, others touched his shoulders and hands. One set of warm hands touched his face lovingly, something telling him exactly who was holding him.
Then Asta hit the ground, the comforting flames of his friends being shaken off him as he landed back in front of the throne. Asta reached for the flame; it's comfort fending off the deadly chill he felt as soon as it wasn't touching him. He barely touched the flame again until a massive pillar of darkness stamped it out. Asta yelled something; he wasn't sure what, at the darkness, as he was lifted up and slammed back down on the ground. He lay there for a moment, breathing heavily as it lifted him again, raising him in front of the throne as a set of eyes formed out of the darkness.
It laughed, Asta, staring at it trying to remember where he had seen it before. "I'm hurt!" it laughed, clutching Asta in its hand, "You don't recognize me?" Asta was shaking his head, struggling to break free of the titan's grasp. He flinched when the beings eye moved right in front of him, blinking as it seemed to peer right into his soul. The world started to spin as it kept laughing, the darkness fading as some tree's started to appear around him. A vibrant blue sky forming above him, and the sounds of birds and crickets in the distance.
Asta looked around confused, standing up he felt something appear in his hand. His grimoire, as dirty as always formed in his hand, giving him some relief. He summoned both of his swords and looked around, not trusting that he was safe. Nothing, no sign of whatever the figure had been. He sighed and started walking down a nearby path. The air was warm, familiar, but not too familiar as he reached the end of the trail. A fresh wind came from the crystal clear lake in front of him.
He looked around, swearing he could hear something calling to him again. The water shimmered, the call drawing him in slowly. He took a breath as he went under, his eyes catching a vibrant silver light. The water pushed him forward, and soon the light became a figure. A young woman, made entirely of silver, waiting with open arms for him. He eased into her embrace, her chin resting on his head. Warmth filled his chest as she took his hands and started to dance. He opened his mouth, words leaving his lips as she smiled. She said something in return, and the warmth in his chest moved throughout his body.
They sunk down, utterly content in each other's embrace and the crystal clear water turned black. Asta was feeling his body start to freeze again, the deeper they sunk, the colder he got. He felt a hand on the back of his head, the silver woman acting as a source of warmth for him. They fell out of the water, a long distance, the inky blackness trying to freeze them both alive. Asta hit the ground, the pair of falling apart as Asta started to freeze. They reached for each other, their hands barely touching before something pulled Asta away.
"Oh don't worry," The voice from earlier spoke. Its red eyes were appearing again. "I'm not going to be the one to hurt the girl."
It laughed again, picking up the silver figure in its other hand. "Let her go!" Asta roared, his fist slamming into the monster's hand that was holding him.
"Oh no I'm so scared of such a tiny human!" it said, waving both of the smaller figures around. "The worthless human in my hand will be able to stop me! Give me a break!" Its eye moved right up to Asta, the boy refusing to flinch.
"Do you think you can stop me? I know, everything, about you." It said, throwing Asta to the ground and holding up the silver woman to his face. "And you, you treasure this? This girl is what your heart and mind are treasuring right now?"
"You're damn right!" Asta shouted, getting to his feet to face the titan.
"Puh-lease," it said, the silver woman screaming as it squeezed her. "You think she feels the same way? You think anyone you care about gives two shits about you?"
"Damn right they do!" Asta said, sprinting towards the creature. "And I'm not going to let you hurt them!"
Darkness grabbed at his legs, slowing Asta down as the monster laughed. It lowered the silver woman in front of him, Asta's upper body wrapped in darkness as she was propped up on something.
"And how do you think she remembers this?" it said, the scene changing to something unfamiliar to Asta. They looked to be in a crater of some sorts; a few other figures strung up nearby the silver woman. They all looked familiar to Asta, but the scene did not. His right arm started to burn with pain, the dark energy from the monster shotting into him and forcing him to transform. He screamed, the pain almost waking him up.
"Now, you were asleep for this." the voice of the monster rang out. "But I saw every detail. Every delicious drop of fear coming from the girls face!"
"You're lying!" Asta screamed something was making his body start to march towards the silver figure.
"Go ahead! Relive her terror," It cackled, "Look at her face as you tear her to pieces!"
"Not. A. Chance!" Asta grunted, using everything he could to slow himself down. The figure in front of him was struggling, pleading in words he couldn't quite make out. His body screamed in protest, his right hand grabbing the Demon-Slayer sword from his grimoire. The figure was struggling more, he grabbed his right arm and tried to stop any motions from it. He managed to slow down, but it wasn't going to be enough.
Asta screamed, his hand moving to the crossguard of the sword and pulling it towards him. The flat of the anti-magic sword hitting as hard as he could on his body. He panted, the wind getting knocked out of him. Managing to stand again after a few moments, he slowly turned away from the silver figure. Whatever force had been manipulating him seemed to fade away. Turning around, he looked for the monster, sword in hand.
"Feh, you're too damn willful to be fun to torture," it said from somewhere Asta couldn't see as the scene around Asta faded.
"Not giving up is my magic! So you can be sure as hell I won't give up fighting someone who wants to hurt my friends!" Asta shouted back, clenching the sword with both his hands. He looked around, the monster forming away from him. Asta didn't hesitate, he launched himself towards the monster and readied the sword to attack. The distance shrunk faster than he thought, he swung the sword.
And then he woke up. Two beady eyes were greeting him as Nero was sitting on his chest. The tiny bird hopped away, gliding onto his desk and pecking at a small sack of food that was open. Asta smiled as he sat up, a bit of sunlight peeking into his room. He got dressed and went to get breakfast; everyone was already up. The smell of fresh food filling the room as Asta walked in and sat down next to Noelle.
"Morning!" He said, kissing Noelle on the cheek, and starting to eat. She smiled, and the warmth of his dream returned to his chest. After a while, he couldn't remember most of the dream, outside of the warmth and love he felt for all his friends.
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