Forget Me Not

These Barren Lands of Ice

The moonless night was freezing and the heavy cloud cover left the stark, craggy landscape and snaking roads unusually dark and challenging to navigate. Linköping was in the grip of winter and a bitter easterly wind blew strong against the stark rocky slopes and winding roads. Snow had fallen, once again covering the asphalt in a thick white blanket that had only been ploughed the day before. No one in their right mind should be traversing these roads and yet a bus transporting eight demons and a man sped along at just five kilometres per hour below the speed limit.

Mountain was driving and having serious misgivings. He wanted to drive even slower but the excitement filling the bus from the desire to get home after the long tour was contagious. Added to that he was being repeatedly reminded of his excellent sight and reflexes, all the while gently being encouraged to drive just that little bit faster. There were, however, those who were being entirely less than subtle and he was growing tired of being told how unnecessarily careful he was by Dew, and being ignored when pointing out that despite earth ghouls having exceptional day and night vision, he was limited by the response he could get from the bus. Regardless of his solid and indisputable arguments, it was always Swiss and his quick beaming smile and easy charm who could convince him to break even his own rules.

Further back in the bus, the urge to return brought with it surprising mixed feelings. Despite looking forward to warm full-sized beds and all the amenities of home, Papa and the ghouls were already feeling the effects of post-tour blues. As exhausting as it could be, the stage lights and the adoring, screaming crowds were always intoxicating and spreading the unholy message to the flock was a joy like no other. The flock was expanding rapidly too; it was an exciting time for them all. Copia made sure he continued to bring the personal touch that the flock had experienced at the early concerts, but now on a much grander scale to the giant arenas. Every single night was like a ninety minute cardio session at the gym - not just the singing but the running back and forth across the stage and up and down the drum riser to try to make eye contact with as many of his flock as possible.

He would joke about his weight, especially his love of rigatoni, but he also pretended not to know that the ghouls were running a book on how much weight he would inevitably lose during the tour.

Copia told himself that now was the time for just relaxing but he couldn't lie to himself that he wasn't feeling a little sad. Thankfully he had his ghouls and they could always cheer him up.

Apart from Mountain, who was driving and visible to the public, all the ghouls had completely released their glamour, preferring to return to their natural forms in the safety and privacy of the bus. Copia loved how comfortable they were around him, especially in this regard and in turn, they loved how he didn't wince at their demonic features. In turn, he had foregone his papal paint and was sitting with his ghouls around the not-quite-large-enough table laughing, sometimes to the point of tears, with them as they played Cards Against Humanity - confidently tagged as A Party Game for Horrible People.

It was a close run match with all of them having won several rounds and with Phantom the judge of the last round, Rain and Dew were going head-to-head, eyeing each other, their red eyes almost glowing.

"Calm down, you two, it's just a game." Cirrus reminded them.
"Let's see if you think that when you're on the verge of victory," Dew replied, briefly looking away from Rain to deliver the retort.
"What, you mean like the last round?" She laughed, receiving a snort from Dew, leaving a puff of smoke floating over the table.
"This isn't just a round, this is the last round and I'm going to be the overall winner," Dew confidently announced.
"Or I am," Rain rolled his eyes.
"Cirrus is right," Copia added with a surprising quiet authority. "Let's just play."

Handing all their cards to Phantom, they watched with increasing tension as he shuffled them for what seemed like an age.

"Pick one!" Dew finally shouted in frustration.
"I haven't read them yet," Phantom offered a teasing grin in reply.