Authors Note: I've been watching the 'To Your Eternity' anime and love it so far! And, I'm really hoping that more people start writing stories for the series. I've looked ahead a bit, and have a pretty general idea of how the plot goes. But, I might have to adapt later on depending on how things develop. However, I got a good idea of how this will begin and end… if I finish.

Disclaimer: I do not own To Your Eternity, that distinction belongs to the amazing Yoshitoki ?ima

All Kinds of People and Things

Prologue

Stars of pure white snow galloped around the boy and the wolf. Familiar howling winds rushing past them. Exhilarating chills pulling on the boy's shoulders. But, he pushed forward, through the mounds of snow and ice. With that same bright smile on his face.

"It's really starting to snow." The boy lightly commented, staring up at the cloudy sky. Next to him, the boy's loyal companion and friend made a noise of discomfort. "Oh? Was that a whimper I just heard? Our journey's just getting started." He cheerfully teased. The thought of their soon to be adventures and dreams warmed his chest. The boy could barely contain himself with every step closer to paradise.

A smudge of brown in the white blanket enraptured the boy's vision. He paused, before eagerly racing off toward it. The boy's friend curiously followed. His smile widened as he cleared the snow off the top of a very small tree.

"Look! It's a tree! This is amazing! It means we're getting close to the mountains!" The boy exclaimed to the wolf. Hope coursed through the boy like a current in the frigid ocean. Closer to those mountains, to his surely waiting family.

He saw it so clearly. His father, mother, aunt, and uncle, surrounded by fruit and vegetables, waiting for him. The boy dreamt of running up to his mother's arms and father's embrace. Feeling the warmth of a fire without an actual fire on his skin. His aunt would come over with her small toothy smile with hordes of new and exciting food from paradise. Then they would all sit down and catch up about everything and anything.

"What took so long, huh? We've been waiting for you!" The boy's uncle would grumble, as always. But then, the older man would pat him on the back, like always. He'd have to apologize for making them wait so long. Though, he was sure his family would forgive him while exploring paradise.

He just couldn't wait until then!

"Let's take some for firewood." The boy decided, gathering the branches of the tree up for later. His mood was noticeably lighter at the proof of their progress. As he stood, ready to set out again on the long trek ahead. The boy noticed a small snow covered rock a way away. Another sign left for him by his family no doubt.

He moved to approach the sign.

However, the wolf who was tethered to him by a rope in his hand began to wander. The wolf stepped just a few centimetre's ahead of the boy. Before a sickening crack filled the air. And the wolf fell through the ice.

"Joaan!" The boy shouted, gripping the rope deathly tight. The wolf howled as it splashed beneath the icy waters, in pain. "J-Just hold on, Joaan! I got you! I got you!" The boy repeated again and again, backing away. Heaving with all his might, he pulled the rope. As the seconds ticked up, a spike of panic entered his mind but he flung it away with all the other bad thoughts.

Relief flooded his body when he saw Joaan's fur coat. In a mad frenzy, the boy reached out and hauled the wolf onto solid ground. Panting, he looked to his dear friend, wobbling against the snow.

"Now, you've done it, Joaan. Now you're all wet." The boy joked, looking over the wolf. "Didn't you learn from the last time you fell into that old pond father was warning everyone about? Good thing you're a good… swimmer…" He slowly trailed off, a question jumping onto his tongue. "Hey, Joaan-" The boy began before a sharp whimper from the wolf cut him off.

Confused and worried, the boy finally saw the red colouring of the snow around Joaan. A jagged piece of wood sticking out from the wolf's body. His breath hitched in his throat.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. It's just a scratch." The boy reassured Joaan as he bandaged the wolf's wound that night. However, a part of his words were aimed at himself rather than Joaan. Forcing himself to release a sheltered breath, the boy brought a blanket over the wolf's body. However, his friend let out another pained whimper. The boy gulped, before frowning. "Come on, stop playing around. We're not going back! That would be way too embarrassing. It's not like we're out of food." The boy stated, feeding some jerky to Joaan.

"We're walking tomorrow, too! And the day after, and the day after that. Even if you say you don't want to. You gotta use your strength while you still have it, Joaan." He resolutely told his friend, ignoring the silent shaking of his hands.

Joaan still wasn't feeling good when morning came. So, the boy settled for pulling the wolf along in his sled despite the extra weight. The weather was especially bad the next few days. Snow flying into the boy's face and pushing him one step back for every two he took.

Days and nights passed as they continued marching toward paradise. The boy refusing to acknowledge the blatant worsening state of Joaan with every rest they took.

"You'll be fine Joaan…" The boy always mumbling to the wolf in his sleep. But, Joaan continued to whimper and complain. Steadily grinding away at the boy's resolve.

"Maybe we should go back?" The boy heard Joaan ask. In turn, he tightened his grip on the sled and shook his head. "What if there's no one waiting for us? What if everyone else is dead-" They whispered, before the boy interrupted.

"…That's… that's not right, Joaan." The boy quietly argued, face forward. "It would be even more foolish to give up… just because we don't know whether the others are still alive! Even… even if we went back now… we'd just rot away with that house." He countered, expression carefully blank. The image of his and Joann's bodies, motionless between the snow and wood entered his mind.

"…I don't want that." The boy explained with a heave as he pushed the sled forward.

"I… I want to go where the others are…that's the… the only thing that's left for us to do!" He said, the thought of his ambitions giving him strength to continue pushing forward. "And… I'm… I'm sure the reason they haven't come back is… is because where they are now… is just so great…" The boy panted, gasping for the frozen air. "…Think Joaan… great food… great people… great medicine… they're enjoying themselves so much… and they're having too much fun…" The boy stubbornly preached.

"… That's why…" He mumbled, before Joaan let out another pained gasp. "You're fine, Joaan! You're fine!" The boy finally yelled, dropping the rope to the sled and spinning around to face the wolf. "Stop playing around already! You're fine!" He shouted, his outburst turning into sobs as he dropped to his knees. "You have to be…" He sobbed against the wolf's fur.

Joaan stopped their whimpers, falling silent.

"…Joaan?" The boy whispered, shaking the wolf. Lightly at first, before rough and violently. "JOAAN! JOAAN!" The boy screamed in anguish, ripping through the blizzards laughs. "PLEASE! JOAAN!" He repeated, hitting the snow as his tears fell to the ground. "…Don't leave me again… don't leave me alone!" The boy choked.

But the wolf didn't stir.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" The boy muttered to himself in a daze as he dragged the wolf less sled behind him. He stayed by Joaan's corpse for a day, grieving in his tent, alone. His cries filing the night. But, eventually, he had to move on. The boy left Joaan's corpse behind, lying in the snow forever, to eventually disappear.

It had been a few days since then, and the boy continued to only see an ocean of snow ahead of him. However, something other than the bleak white ness appeared in the boy's sights.

"Huh?" He mumbled, breaking out into a sprint. The wooden ruins of a cart were buried under snow. A clear line of stones close to the wreckage as well. The boy felt his legs go numb for a brief moment. Hundreds of bad thoughts intruding into his mind from the depths of which they had been buried. He counted the stones in a trance. Reaching numbers he had replayed in his mind so many times before.

"…This is amazing…" The boy said to no one in particular, arms limp at his sides. "This is evidence that there were people here, that they came through here… I'm on the right track, then…" He murmured, brushing the snow off one of the markers. "Right? I-I can make it to the mountains… I can definitely make it… I can… right?" The boy questioned, body trembling.

His eyes wandered back to a marker some feet away, a large red cross covering the arrow. Beyond that, mountains of snow for what seemed like endless spaces.

"I can… I can!" The boy screamed, falling against the snow drifts. He thought of his family, father, mother, aunt, and uncle who had ventured into this vast unknown so many years ago-

Destroyed carts… stone markers.

He thought of the elders back home. How they seemed to move in a sad, resigned trance when they thought he wasn't looking. How they slowly fell asleep forever one by one-

AbAnDoNeD hOuSeSe… StOnE mArKeRs.

His precious friend, Joaan-

A wOlFs DeAd CoRpSe… FaDiNg AmOnGsT tHe TuNdRa…

Now he was alone again, all… all alone…

FoRgOtTeN…

"Damn it!" He sobbed against the ground, pounding against the piles of cold. The boy felt a pain in his heart that pumped wounded blood through his limbs. As if he had been stabbed by that wood days ago. A hopeless sense of dread and despair building in his stomach. Whispering all sorts of broken words to his ears.

"You'll die if you keep going-" It warned, forcing a dark nasty truth into his face.

"…I want to go home…" The boy whimpered at last, covering his purple eyes with chilled hands. Slowly he stood on shaky legs. White hear sticking to his sweaty face. He wiped the snot from his nose and backed away, sending one final glance at the ruins and markers. Then the boy turned around and started back to where he came.

Another day's travel crawled away. The boy lay in his tent alone, staring absentmindedly at the shadows of snow and hail outside.

"I can try again later… I just need to get more food… more supplies… and then I can reach paradise…" He limply comforted himself, just barely holding himself above the dark revelations in his heart. "Maybe that was just some other family… and they were too sick too go on…so the others helped them move on…" The boy justified, forcing a small smile to his downtrodden face.

"Yeah… that's what happened. Everyone is still out there, waiting in paradise for me and-" The boy continued, grabbing his hand that had begun to shake. "I'm sorry…" He muttered, for what or to who he couldn't exactly specify. The boy clung to that truth of his. Otherwise, he didn't want to think about what he's do if it was anything else at all.

A loud, familiar bark slammed into him from the wind.

"…Joaan?" The boy asked, in disbelief. Carefully, he exited his tent and peeked into the darkness of the tundra. His hair flinging wildly in all directions. For a second, he thought it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. But, the boy knew what he heard.

"Joaan!" He called out while stepping out into the snow, shrugging off the shards of freezing pain. At first there was nothing, but then the wild howling of the wolf returned. Hope flared in the boy's eyes as he made out the outline of the his friend in the night.

"JOAAN!" The boy screamed, ecstatic. The white wolf leaped through the snow drifts and into the boy's open arms. In glee, the boy hugged the wolf and refused to let go. Afraid that if he did, Joaan would vanish. With a smile frozen to his face, the boy ushered the wolf inside.

"You're okay! I'm so happy that you're here, Joaan!" The boy gushed as the wolf chomped down on some food. "You-You have no idea how-how worried I was when you, fell asleep is all." He explained, running a comforting hand through Joaan's fur. So caught up in his seemingly good fortunes, the delighted boy never asked how Joaan was alive and well.

Either way, it didn't matter to him.

The only thing that mattered to the boy was that he wasn't alone.

He even allowed himself to dream again.

"You know, Joaan. I figured that I would head back and try again later since you were sleeping. I mean, it would be way easier to just stay home, where it's safe." The boy expressed, staring up at the tent's ceiling. Joaan didn't seem particular engrossed in his words, continuing to decimate their meat. He brightened up at the sight. "But, now that you're back. I really think we can actually make it this time! We're going back to the mountains tomorrow! So, get some sleep!" The boy told the wolf happily, before drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

And so the duo continued toward the mountains as if nothing happened. The boy pointedly tried to ignore the ruins from before. However, Joaan seemed to act up around the area, attempting to break free from his hold.

"There's nothing big over there, Joaan. Come on!" The boy tried to say to no avail. The wolf was stronger than he was, and soon freed itself from the boy and rushed toward the ruins. "Joaan!" The boy called, hesitating for a second before running after his friend. "What if you get hurt again?" He yelled, a hint of anger lacing his words.

Joaan sniffed the air, puzzling the boy.

"Huh? Do… do you smell something, Joaan?" The white haired boy questioned, standing next to the wolf. Joaan prowled around the wooden carts remains, proceeding to dig near the wheels. Eventually, the boy shrugged and joined his friend in digging at the snow. It wasn't long before they hit something. Joaan barked, dragging out a fairly large sack with their teeth.

"What's this?" The boy wondered, slowly unraveling the knotted rope around the sack. The moment it came undone, the duo were swarmed by the smell of dried meat. Joaan barked and tried to immediately gobble the rations down, but he quickly pulled the sack away. "Not so fast, Joaan! We might need this!" The boy said to the disgruntled wolf.

"Good thing I have you hear, Joaan. It's no wonder the others must've missed this." He thanked, patting the wolf on the head. A small grimace fluttered onto his face. Their find was truly a blessing in disguise, as his previous supply was running a little low. "Don't worry, Joaan! I'll let you have extras when we stop later." The boy laughed as they finally, moved on, past the crossed out arrow.

The arrow had to be a mistake. They had to have just run out of paint, and used the other family's stones. The other family was probably coming from the wrong direction

Yes, that was definitely what happened.

More days passed, but the signs of their progress became ever more common with each day. It started out with more trees on the ground, and even small areas of dirt. The boy had a laugh when Joaan got all dirty from messing around in the new mud pools they found. The snow became sluggish, and less secure. It had even become… warmer.

Warmer than he had ever felt from the sun before. The boy's eyes danced with each new discovery, with each new confirmation of the stories from his family, with each new step to paradise.

The food had nearly run out. However, the boy refused to allow himself or Joaan to worry. They were so close, he just knew it. And once they were at paradise, they could eat and drink all sorts of great foods.

"Joaan! Joaan! Look!" The boy excitedly screamed, as they saw the outline of a tall mountain ahead. The white snow had become dirtied with mud and stones, and soon they could where it completely stopped. Becoming a sea of brown.

"We did it! We're almost at paradise, Joaan! Where everyone else is!" The boy cried, feeling the salt in his eyes hit the ground. The wolf didn't react, but just barked as their leg got stuck in some mud again. He chuckled while helping his friend up. "We're so close now, Joaan! You know what?" The boy figured, letting go of the wolf's rope and allowing them to walk a way away.

"I'll race you! First one to paradise get's food first!" He yelled, ditching the sled and breaking out into a mad dash, fuelled by his cheer. Joaan dutifully followed, racing past snow and rocks and trees and mud and everything else between them and paradise.

They had made it.

The boy couldn't wait to see his family and explore the wide, wide world.

He couldn't wait to meet and experience all kinds of people and things.

Authors Note: The sack of food is a little plot device to justify the boy surviving. But, since the author didn't really show Fushi dying by starvation in the death clips. And I'm pretty sure he does get hungry. I assumed that the distance was makable if travelling in low numbers, unlike the boy's group who left. Also, I do have a name picked out for the boy which I'll reveal later. Anyways, I'm not a big fan of copying the anime dialogue, so I'm hoping that lessons up later. But, I hope you enjoyed reading and that's all for now!

Please tell me your thoughts!