❄️His Snowflake❄️

18 - Family

If you haven't watched The Huntsman: Winter War then welp, this is the inspiration for Emily's origin story, tho some parts are changed anyway~

Emily opened her eyes, terrified to see that everything around her was a pure white. Where was she? Was this some form of heaven? And if it was, what was the crunching under her feet? She looked up at the sky, her smile bittersweet as a lone snowflake fell on her nose. Was the world taunting her or trying to give her comfort? Winter wasn't her favourite season but it was something she was used to. In reality, she had never felt so much warmth until she met Jason Todd and subsequently, the Titans.

Before that, she had been free from her mother, finally but stuck in a cage of guilt and self-loathing. What had she done wrong? Why did her mother not love her? Why was she not enough in comparison with a boyfriend of five months that hit and yelled at the woman but got to stick around, anyway? Jason had distracted her from all of it; helping her out of her own cage with his little acts of kindness. They felt like nothing to him but it was the reason her entire world was a lot more sunny than the bleak grey it once was.

She stopped her thoughts, terrified to her very core. Jason. Where was Jason? Where was everyone? She kept spinning around, waiting for a miraculous answer but the snow was anywhere and everywhere. It stretched on as far as her eyes could see, staring back at her with its cruel white glare. This wasn't a comfort. She was being tortured. It was hell and the cage was her very own frozen wonderland of isolation.

Her hands trembled erratically and she fell to the ground, struggling to keep her thoughts from getting so dark. She wanted to be strong. To get up and try and find some help but a voice in her head told her exactly what she feared the most was happening to her. And so, she lay down with shaky breaths and waited for herself to calm down, raising her head when a breeze so strong pulled at her until she was practically lifted off the ground. That was when she saw her.

There was a woman with platinum blonde hair, wearing a beautiful, silky silver gown. Her pale arms were outstretched towards Emily. Emily was terrified but so desparate was she, seeing another living thing, that she ran to her, the tears freezing as they ran down her face when they finally embraced. At the same moment, the snow stopped in the sky. Every single snowflake seemed to freeze in place like they were waiting for an order.

Emily wanted to be scared of the woman. Perhaps this was her captor, her prison guard, the puppeteer of her cruel fate. The woman had eyes of icy blue, the bluest Emily had ever seen and the sweetest smile, save for Jason's, that Emily had ever seen as well. And she was crying. Emily hadn't noticed but the woman got down on her knees to hug her and it just wouldn't do.

"Miss... Miss, please, get up. I am so sorry... I think I'm lost... And I don't want to bother you but I'm absolutely terrified. I don't know how I got here. The-the last thing I remember was feeling myself... Freeze. My entire body cold and that has never happened to me before, I- and I couldn't stop it and- oh my God!"

Why had it taken her so long to notice the woman was wearing a sleeveless gown? The most coverage she had was a soft, fuzzy white capelet and elbow length silky gloves. She tried to rub the woman's arms the best she could and when she rose her head to speak to her, she found the woman had been gazing at her in wonder the whole time.

"My, my, child, whatever are you doing?" Her voice was European, foreign and beautiful. Emily wasn't sure why she spoke with that ancient diction but she had more important things to worry about like getting the woman warm. Why there was no sign of ill health on her face but they needed help and fast.

"Umm... Ma'am, you'll freeze to death. We need to get you somewhere safe. I'm sorry, I wish I could do more, I can't have anything happen to you... We have to start walking. You seem to be just as lost as I am... We'll find somewhere eventually." This didn't seem torturous enough to be hell and it definitely wasn't heaven. Emily had never been sure what came after death but none of what she was experiencing made sense. Perhaps she had been nursed back to health somehow? Where was she?