The Sunlapse (A Light in the Mist AU/rewrite)

VIII

Song of the Chapter:
Silent Hill OST - Never Forgive Me, Never Forget Me

Once Bristlefrost had awoken, she couldn't focus on the bright rays of the sun that had greeted her after her visit to darkness. She rushed to the Moonpool, and her heart overflowed with relief when she saw that the waters were still a crystal clear turquoise, with no ice yet. Despite the thick blanket of snow around her, the look of the waters made her feel as though she was standing by the lapping waves of the lake on a golden summer day.

She tried to force her worry away. Rootspring was going to splash out of the Moonpool, she was sure of it. Ashfur had probably just lied to try and trick him into staying in the Dark Forest, the Moonpool hadn't even begun to freeze yet. And he wasn't going to be captured again, she saw him jump right into the water. Everything was going to be okay.

Bristlerfrost laid down in the snow, the freezing arms clawing at her as she sat upon them. She kept staring at the Moonpool, waiting and waiting.

Waiting.

Shouldn't he be here by now?

She noticed the edges of the pool beginning to grow paler and harder. Panic stabbed right into her heart, sharper than any claw, and a wave of burning heart swept over the molly. Then she noticed a shape appearing under the water and approaching the surface. The waves above distorted it, but she knew it was Rootspring.

Bristlefrost did not quite know whether to feel fear or triumph. Rootspring was drifting towards her, but the ice crystals were beginning to collect over the pool. She clawed at them and broke them away, but they simply grew back and gathered like a fractal. The patterns touched at the centre, sealing a lid of white fractals upon the water.

No...

The thumping of paws sounded behind her, and Tree and Shadowsight rushed to stare in. Rootspring was clawing desperately at the surface, pupils dilated and mouth stretched wide as though he was screeching in panic. His terror was clear. Bristlefrost desperately raked across the surface and tried to shatter the ice so she could pull him out, but it was no use. The ice was growing thicker and thicker, and her attempts to break through only left cracks and splits that simply vanished. Rootspring's movements slowed, and tiredness filled his eyes as he stopped thrashing and clawing. He began to simply drift away from the surface, and disappeared beneath the ice. She could no longer see him.

Bristlefrost felt as though her heart had burst into a black hole, sucking her and everything she knew into inexistence. Shock had struck her, and she crouched down to look through the ice

It was hard to see through the crystalline patterns, but Rootspring was frozen in place. The ice had encased him completely. His eyes were tired and droopy and yet so filled with terror. He was still reaching for the surface. And yet he was still. He was frozen. His jaws were wide in a desperate attempt to scream, and that was how he'd be forever. It'd been too late.

Everything froze.

"He's dead." The words seemed to slip from her mouth, without her even opening them.

Dead.

She couldn't comprehend it, but that word just kept repeating in her head, like it was trying to make what she'd just learned make sense. Dead.

Her chest hurt. She couldn't breathe.

It was like those times when she was running in the sun, and everything was okay, when she suddenly ran into a tree and was badly injured. There was that moment when she fell into the grass, her mind having not fully processing what happened, and she was just laying there bleeding on the ground in numbness and shock. But now, the feeling was more intense, it went on for longer. And the bleeding never stopped.