"Up and at 'em!" I heard Derrick call up at me from below.
"I've been up and at 'em since before sunrise. Where have you been?" I joked, hauling myself down from the branch. "Where we going today?" I asked once I was beside him.
"Turnhout." He replied, looking up at the sun too. "Hey, isn't it duller than usual? It's not as bright..."
"I was just thinking the same. Weird, huh?" I crossed my arms, thinking. Come to think of it, I thought, it was actually kind of chilly. "You think the atmosphere's going back to normal?"
"Dunno. That might be it, but better not get your hopes up." He warned, nudging me. "Go wake up the girls, I'll get Mac and Naomi." I nodded obediently, as I always did, and marched my way towards Angeli's tree, who would have to reluctantly accept my wake-up call. This would happen whether she liked it or not.
Thudding against the tree with my shoulder, I decided to shake her awake, for laughs and giggles. "Hey! Cut it out!" I heard her yell from above.
"Are you awake?" I asked stupidly.
"Well, if my eyes are open and I'm talking to you, what do you think?" She peered down at me from the long branch and soon landed beside me on the ground.
I grinned and nodded. "I think you are." She rolled her eyes lazily and wandered away, to the center of the clearing, where Derrick, Mac, and Naomi were waiting patiently.
"Sam!" I did the same with her tree, but I got no response. "Weird..." I mumbled, grappling up onto the trunk and hauling myself to where Sam was supposed to be sleeping.
"Mathias!" I heard someone yell out my name and before I could react, I was knocked out of the tree and plummeted to the ground, hitting my head against one of the roots. With my hazy vision, I glared up at the tree to see a slender black figure, leaning against the branch where Samantha once was.
"Where's Sam?" I asked, my voice raising to an authoritative tone.
A cold and frigid voice answered in return, "She is fine. You just need to learn to worry about yourself, instead of others." With those words, I felt a warm liquid run down the side of my face. Ignoring it, I stood up shakily and narrowed my eyes.
"I only worry about myself when there's no one else to worry about." The figure chuckled lightly and jumped down from the tree, approaching me at a death-like slow speed. I felt something grab at my arm, and turned to see Angeli beside me, staring daggers at the figure.
"Remember me, Fire Watcher?" The figure asked once it was in front of me. My eyes widened in alarm as I remembered the only person to ever call me Fire Watcher.
"It can't be you." I growled, gripping onto Angeli's arm, tighter than she was holding onto mine. "How did you even find us?"
The Beast laughed maliciously and continued to stare at me through stone-like gray eyes. "It was simple, really." His accent was thick, almost to the point where you could barely understand what he was saying. "You are so easy to hunt down. I just needed to make sure zat no one knew I was zere. Obviously, it worked. Until your little friend spotted me in the dark, just last night."
"Where is she?" Angeli barked aggressively, surprisingly just as persistent as I was to find out where Samantha had gone.
"I told you. She is fine. At least, for now." He gave us a sturdy glare, keeling a glow in his rock eyes.
"We're not asking if she's ok. We want to know where she is." Mac now joined in, staring at The Beast with a cautious gaze.
"Tough luck, as they say. You will not get to-" Before he could finish, I punched him right where those words were coming from.
"I'm tired of this, Beast! Just tell me where she is, and I won't have to kill you like this." He bared his teeth in a devilish smile, startling me slightly.
"How cute. I am being zreatened by a cold soul. Lovely."
"A-a what?" Angeli's face shielded in a deep worry for his words.
"Are you telling me zat you do not know what zat is? It is self-explanatory. You are a person, or soul, zat is trapped in a boundless blizzard. Some say zat ze coldest of souls can actually feel it when zey're becoming colder and colder." He cocked his head to the side, peering over at me curiously. "It is because you have gaps in your memories, gaps in your life, and even bigger gaps in your heart. Sad, is it not?" He mocked. My face contorted in shock and confusion. A... cold soul?
"Why are you telling us this?" Derrick's fists were clenched as he challenged The Beast.
"Because I know it will bring a certain someone pain and misery. Heck, if he isn't already in pain." He smirked at me, but I didn't notice.
"How do you know about cold souls?" I asked. He laughed and then, gave me a serious look.
"Has it ever occurred to you zat maybe, I am a cold soul as well? It would make some sense to you, yes?" He crossed his arms and exhaled deeply. "Well. I am bored." The Beast started to march off, but I stiffly grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.
"You're not leaving until you tell me where she is." He glanced at me over his shoulder and smiled.
"Oh, she is long gone from here. Somezing about... Meeting up wiz him?" I gripped tightly onto his shoulder, digging my nails deep through his clothes. "Watch it, I know you are not one to look for trouble."
I released him and watched as he began to walk away, further into the forest. "I did what I came here to do." He called from behind him. "How about you?"
"Not yet." I muttered, stepping back towards the rest of them. Meeting up with him? That could only mean one thing. "Come on. We don't have time to waste."
"Wait! Where are we going?" Naomi called from behind me as I started to walk away, in the opposite direction of which The Beast disappeared from.
"To meet her half way." I was in no mood to be answering questions and I stopped to wait for them to catch up. "Derrick, which way?" I turned to him, knowing well that he was the one with the map and I had no idea which way we were supposed to be going.
He didn't answer as he stared at me from behind his shield of hair. Instead, he walked past me and went forward, leading us towards the southwest. I stuffed my hands into my pants' pockets and faced forward, following him silently.
Soon, I started to fall behind. I wasn't confused in the least as to why The Beat had followed us all this way. What did, however, bother me was that he knew what I was going through. He knew that I was lost in this mess and things were still jumbled up.
I hated that there seemed to be no other way to find out what was going on with Trevor, but to get to Reims and have them answer our questions. It wasn't the only way, but no one else would answer them for us. Not even Samantha.
"Don't worry." A voice said to me. "We'll find her." I scoffed at my own thoughts. Samantha had gone at her own free will. If she wanted to leave, then that's all her.
"Even if she decided to go on her own?" I asked myself, though I didn't think I would get an answer back.
"What if Trevor had made her go?" I raised my eyebrows. I wasn't talking to myself, was I? I lifted up my head to find Angeli walking beside me, looking at me with a strange curiosity. "Did you think of that?"
"Well, no, but-"
"But...?"
"If that's the case, then it would be even harder to find her." I explained.
"It doesn't mean we won't find her. As long as you keep searching, it's still a possibility." She rebutted.
"I don't think she wants to be found." I whispered, while I still knew that she could hear me just as well. This time, there was no answer from her.
I glanced at the trees surrounding us, watching as their leaves danced softly in the gentle wind. It was a long time since it had last been windy and this was surprising. A chill ran up my spine as a stronger wind came through. Why was it getting so cold all of a sudden? Were my surroundings trying to match how I was feeling?
"You still love her, don't you?" An unexpected question hung in the air. Was Angeli referring to Sam? Did I still love Samantha the way I used to? "Then we'll find her. If you love her enough, then you'll find her." Our eyes met for a few moments, where I got lost in the deep pools of bright blue. Looking through them, I could see a glint of sadness in them, but they still occupied most of the persistence she was feeling. I nodded slowly, hoping that it was enough to convince Angeli of my agreeing, but to no avail.
I sighed and peered at the ground below me. "I don't know if I still do. I barely remember her, but she still remembers me. It just makes me feel guilty that I could've easily forgotten her that way." The atmosphere around us seemed to change completely as I said those words.
"Then she wasn't worth someone remembering." It could have been that. That she wasn't worth remembering... Angeli tilted her head up towards the sky, just in time to see soft white fluffs falling from above.
"W-what?" I heard Mac exclaim in surprise. "This can't be happening!" Even with what he said, there was a hint of joy hidden beneath his voice.
"Snow?" Derrick asked in wonder, looking down at his shoulder, which was now beginning to pile up with small white dots. Our breaths came in evaporated puffs of smoke, spreading out into the morning air. "Looks like your hopes were in the good, Mathias." He called back at me, a grin appearing on his usually straight lips.
"Yeah, but now it's going to be cold." Naomi tugged Mac's arm closer to her, leaning her chin against his shoulder.
"We'll have to find jackets or something. Being in the cold like this will just make us sick." I complained.
"Try to enjoy it while it lasts! It's not every day that it snows like this! Maybe the atmosphere is starting to repair itself." Amounts of white sprinkled Angeli's dark red-brown hair, causing me to smile. Might as well enjoy it, right?
As we walked through the winter white, snow came down slowly and peacefully, not in a swirl of a blizzard, but like a light drizzle of rain. Our clothes were starting to grow damp, but it didn't seem to matter to us. We were happy knowing that there was still a chance that the Earth wasn't completely lost.
When the snow had gotten tall enough, I crouched down and grabbed a handful of it, bringing it in my closed palm. This soft, yet cold sensation was exactly how I was feeling. It stung, but it was still fluffy... and soft. I liked the colder months of winter when there actually was a winter and this only brought chilly memories of my childhood. The times our family talked excitedly about what we were hoping to eat this Thanksgiving, the presents we wanted to get for Christmas, how we would spend our New Year's - all of it wasn't reality anymore. It was a faint and distant memory, one that could never be replaced or redone. It was missing, in the vast loneliness of an unreal and completely fake winter wonderland.
As realization started to sink in, so did the cold. How wet we were, and how cold it had suddenly become was starting to be too much for us to handle.
"Derrick! We have to stop and find shelter!" I yelled, when the snow had suddenly become harsher while my mind had wandered away towards my past.
"There is no shelter! The closest place is in Turnhout!" His figure seemed to disappear against the swirling wind and snow, causing me to panic a little. I turned my gaze toward Mac and Naomi, where they were huddled tightly against each other. Sort of like penguins.
"I-It's so... C-cold..." I heard a voice mutter beside me. Angeli was truly shivering, having only been wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt and skinny jeans.
"Here." I wrapped my arm around her, bringing her closer to me as we walked. I was startled. She really was cold. Her body wasn't warm at all, and it was worrying me. "I thought you'd be used to this. Russia's pretty cold, right?" I still had to yell over the snow for her to hear me.
"That was years ago." She whispered, but I couldn't hear her. I figured that she wasn't used to this, and I stopped my raid of questions.
Looking around again, my heart seemed to stop beating. "W-where did they go?" I asked Angeli, and she looked around too. She seemed to cling on tighter to me at the thought of being alone out here. "Derrick! Derrick!" I screamed, feeling my throat itch at all the yelling I was doing.
"Mac? Naomi?" Angeli helped, calling for the other two. There was no answer. "We lost them..."
"Come on, we have to get out of this snow and find a place to rest." She nodded, agreeing with my plan. What was important was for us not to panic. Panicking would get us nowhere, and I even warned Derrick that shelter right now was the best option.
It felt like centuries dragged on as we trekked along, leaving our footprints marked in the white ground. I was beginning to shiver too, which couldn't be a good sign. A t-shirt and khakis wasn't something you were meant to wear in the winter.
"Hey! Look!" She spotted a gray thing in the distance, which was the only thing with color. Everything else around us seemed to have disappeared with the snow.
"T-That better b-be a cave." I stuttered, staring at the gray with such longing, you would think that this was the first time I had ever gotten lost.
Now, there seemed to be no warmth in our bodies. At this point, we were just holding on to each other, for we only had each other. It was the fear of being left out here alone, that made us not want to let go.
Approaching the gray shadow, I could now tell what it was. It was indeed a cave, like I had hoped for. "Let's get inside." I urged, tugging her along with me as we started to near the entrance.
I stepped a foot inside, hearing it echo against the dark cave walls. It was warmer in here, but not by much. My steamy white breath danced against the shadows of this place, and then, it evaporated into the air. The only light came from outside, but deeper into the back of the cave, it was like there was no light outside at all. We walked in, sitting ourselves against the wall and panting lightly from the effort of dashing all the way here. I glanced at Angeli to see her shaking uncontrollably. I scooted closer and brought her in a soft embrace. "Better?" I asked. She nodded, but continued to tremble. I rested my chin on top of her head, noting how her hair was matted and wet. "Should we try to get dried?"
"W-with what?" Her voice was almost unbearable to listen to, as it cracked and stammered. My eyes searched the cave, for any sign of wood, but it was too dark to look for. Out of nowhere, Angeli sneezed and scared me a little. She gave out a muffled groan at that.
"You're not getting sick, are you?" She didn't answer. I tightened my arms around her, hoping it could possibly make her warmer. I couldn't afford for her to get sick, especially so early in this "winter". I sighed inwardly and watched as the snow continued to fall, shielding my view from anything beyond that. Angeli's breath was warm against my arm, but she wasn't as warm as that. Though, I wished she was. I was cold myself, but I knew that she must have been much more fragile to the cold. It could have been that whenever it snowed, she probably stayed inside to stay warm. Meanwhile, I was always playing outside with... Trevor. The distance between two brothers couldn't have been any larger.
She seemed to sense my change in mood and looked up at me, from where her head was rested against my chest. Her eyes seemed to be asking me what was wrong, but I averted eye contact. "Mathias?" She timidly called, and I couldn't refuse.
"Yeah?" I still wouldn't look down at her. I knew what would be waiting there for me to see.
"I-" She was interrupted by a sudden voice just outside the cave.
"Well? How did it go?" I knew that voice. A voice I hadn't heard this way in so long. It sounded so normal, not the way I had heard it before this. Could it be...
"It went well. Derrick's probably taking shelter in a house just at the border of Turnhout and the couple's in a den of some sort." I recognized that voice too.
"What about Mathias. and the other girl?" Was that concern in the voice? It couldn't be. Anything having to do with me, Trevor had never had a concern with. As for Samantha, she would be no different.