Frost

One

With death like beauty she edged slowly towards the window, whose black curtains waved in the cold breeze, hiding the world outside except for those brief glimpses that flashed when the wind got too strong. Bells chimed and a soft howl greeted her ears. She knew the moon was waiting, excited, and she was too for tonight she had finally done it, she had broken the seal and with it the spell that held her captive. 

For years she wasn't even allowed to look outside, for years those curtains stood stiff, for years they had starved her. Where her chocolate brown hair once used to be, now laid layers of white. Her plump face replaced with a thin, bony thing, almost as white as the snow that covered the ground. Her dark blue eyes now a pale shade, her once strong and meaty hands now small and fragile, and her heart? Well, that stayed the same, coaxed in as much ice now as it ever was before. 

Closing her pale eyes she inhaled the smell of the outdoors, and with one hand firmly on the curtain, she pulled it back, allowing the moon to finally shine on her after all this time. 

She looked up at the blue orb, its rays giving her a feeling of satisfaction, of fullness. 

"I swear to you," she whispered to the moon, the wind carrying her hair off her shoulders, "that we'll never part again." 

"You've said that before." 

She jumped back, momentarily startled as a figure jumped from the roof to the balcony in front of her. 

"Matik.." she gasped, staring at the man covered in layers of black rags, a hood revealing enough of his face for her to recognize him. 

"If I wasn't waiting here, if I didn't know you were the only one in there...I would have never recognized you." He said as his eyes bore into hers, unwilling to take in anymore of her frail body than necessary. The grief, pain, and anger were hard to keep out of his tone. 

She swallowed hard, but remained silent. He removed his hood to reveal his entire face, and she felt her chest tighten. "Did they-?"

"Yes."

"How long?" she stuttered the sentence, anger heating her soul at the thought of them starving Matik. 

"Long...but not as long as you." 

"I'm sorry." she said. She could see that, while thinner than she remembered him, he was still in better standing than she was. But his white hair and pale skin still matched hers. They had been tortured to the point of no return, and it was evident on their bodies as much as it was their souls. 

Matik smiled, a genuine smile, "Sora," he extended a long hand to her, "Come here."  he said with a small laugh. 

Sora snapped out of her trance and realized she was still inside the walls she used to beg to get out of. She quickly reached out the window and grabbed his cold hand. With one swift move, he pulled her out and pressed her against him, wrapping his arms around her as he buried his face into her hair. They inhaled each other, as if they were one another's only source of oxygen. 

"I couldn't free you no matter what I tried," Matik said with Sora still wrapped in his arms, "I thought it was over, I thought I'd never see you again."

She tightened her grip on him, as his words reminded her of the fear of losing him. 

"How did you do it? How did you escape?" 

"I don't know." she shook her head. But she knew. She knew too well the sacrifice she had made to escape. The deal that she struck with the most powerful creature in all the worlds, the only one powerful enough to break the spell. There was no going back, and she knew that. So there was no point of worrying him either. Not when neither of them could do anything about it. 

"Doesn't matter," he said, pulling away from her just to take her hand, "we have a lot of catching up to do...." his face turned grim, his eyes transforming from kind to that of pure evil,  "Starting with the Bishop." 

She looked up at him, her expression slowly mirroring his as the memories flooded back to her. The wind grew stronger around them, snow falling from the sky. She could feel the crystals already forming at her finger tips as images of all those who did her wrong impaled with shards of ice filled her thoughts. 

"No." she said, "Starting with step-mother." 

Matik pulled the hood back over his head, and then, with her hand still tight in his grip, he took her over the edge, the snow falling even harder now, covering every track that they left. 

The tracks of death.