I'd Freeze the Heavens for You

Ice

Gray stumbled on through the maze, plodding forward. His fingers were numb from holding them out, following the bushy wall with fierce determination crackling in his eyes. His legs dragged wearily from all the running earlier. He was not worried about time anymore. He just knew he had to keep going, one step at a time, continuing forward to the end. Each step brought him closer to the end of this nightmarish ordeal.

Suddenly, Gray stumbled and fell to his knees. He coughed harshly, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. He realized that the poison was really starting to take hold. He knew the effects of bloodberries, having grown up around here and hearing horror stories about them. He was not sure how long he had, it was different for every person, but he guessed he did not have much more than a few hours left. If he was going to find Lucy, he needed to keep going, keep pushing himself, until his very last breath.

"Lucy," he groaned. Thinking of her gave him strength. He grabbed hold of the bushes and forcefully pulled himself up, tearing the skin on his hands as he yanked himself to his feet again. He plodded onward. His vision blurred. Everything was spinning, swaying, tumbling with moments of darkness. He was hardly even sure if he was following the correct wall anymore. It felt like he was walking upside-down sometimes. Still, he kept one hand to the wall and followed it, no matter what his senses told him.

He had not felt the bitterness of losing in a long time, and now that shame was increased by failing Lucy's faith in him. He felt like frosting over this entire damn maze and watching it shatter into snow. Although he lost to this sadistic maze game, he was not about to give up entirely. One way or another, he would get back Lucy, even if he had to fight Willie Whitehall all by himself...

...in his weakened state ... half-starved ... slowly dying from poison.

It didn't matter!

At last, he saw a massive gateway of crystal and silver. Just beyond that arch was a snow-covered hill gleaming in the moonlight, and on top of the hill was a cabin with smoke rising from a chimney. Someone lived there. He stopped holding onto the wall now. Gray ran, not as fast as before, but his legs moved as quickly as he could go, just to get out of this damn maze.

When he finally stepped out, it was almost too good to be true. No more passages, no more walls, just a wide open landscape. He was unsure if it was simply part of the magic, but the air smelled fresher here, as if the entire maze had been under some enchantment and now he was in the free, open air. He realized there was much more snow around, too. Probably, the end of the maze had no snow to prevent himself from seeing his own tracks. It was a devious trick from Whitehall.

"Lucy," he shouted. Despite his weariness, Gray ran up the hill. "Lucy!"

Suddenly, he tripped and landed face-first into the snow. Gray cursed. He almost ignored the obstacle so he could run to the cabin, but when he looked back to see what had tripped him...

He saw ... legs.

Frozen legs.

The snowfall had partly covered the lump of ice. He scampered over and brushed the flakes aside, exposing a short blue and white skirt. He brushed off more, flinging fresh snow left and right, until he unburied what appeared like a coffin of ice with Lucy frozen solid inside. Her body was rigidly straight, her hands folded over her chest, her eyes still gazing blankly ahead, wide open and unmoving. Her face was a captured moment in time, an odd expression on her lips, something like a sad smile that pained her whole face, as if right at the very end she realized she was not going to make it, yet still forgave him.

"Lucy," Gray screamed. He pounded on the ice. "Lucy! Dammit." He touched the clear barrier. It was cold, definitely ice, although it was so perfectly clear it could have been glass. "Hang in there."