Blood and Snow

Chapter Forty-Two

The next day, Baron walked over to Belle's room, only to stop short when seeing Mason walk out of it. Mason was surprised to see Baron up before eight, but shrugged it of and gave him a smiling nod. Baron then watched Mason leave, narrowing his eyes a bit. 'That's a little suspicious.' the big bear man came over to the door and knocked on it. "It's open." Belle's voice called. Baron went in and noticed Belle sitting on the bed with an open book. He also noticed the large bag of gummy bears next to her, which Belle was happily digging into. "Oh! Good morning, Baron!" Belle smiled at him before eating another small handful. "Morning... uh..." he tried to respond. Originally, he was going to do what Mason had suggested yesterday, but for the first time in forever, the man lost his nerve.

"Sorry, I... forgot what I was going to say..."

Baron left before anything else could happen, leaving Belle puzzled.

"... 'Sorry'?"

}--------{

Myckenzie and Flynn both smirked knowingly at each other. "Did she like 'em, captain?" Flynn asked. "She seemed really happy when I gave them to her, so I assumed as much." Mason told them with a smile of his own, "Thanks for getting them, guys."

"No problem." Myckenzie said with crossed arms. She was going to add something else to the end of that, but decided not to in order to keep the peace. The tall man thought for a moment. "Say, what kind did you get her again?" he asked. "Haribo." Flynn answered quickly, "Only tha' best fer snack time." 

"I thought so. What else do they make?" 

"Uhm... Licorice. Twin Snakes. Goldbears." Myckenzie listed, "No gummy worms, though. I think they make marshmallows?"

"They also make Frogs!" Happy butted in from the doorway, "And dinosaurs and cola!"

"Aye, an' don't forget th' spaghetti an' berries!"

Mason looked a little impressed. "How do you guys know all of that?" he asked. "Flynn keeps a stash under his bed." Happy giggled. "Only fer Bradley! Tha' rest o' ye' need ta' ask!" the redhead made that clear. "But we steal 'em anyways~" Happy sing-songed.

While that argument started to role, Mason turned to Myckenzie. "Do you think you can get me more of those? Any kind will do. Maybe even get some from a different brand or two." he asked. Myckenzie nodded, "Sure thing. How much do you need?"

"As much as you're willing to buy."

Myckenzie gave him an amused smile. "You got it, boss." she said while walking away to do said task. "You're not even going to ask me what it's for?" he questioned her. The pink-and-white-haired woman looked over her shoulder before walking out the door, leaving him with an "I don't have to."

Almost needless to say, Mason's brain jumped back to his conversation with Baron the day before, and his conversation with Happy a day or two before that. It was honestly starting to piss him off. Leaving Happy and Flynn to their fight, he went back into the dinning hall and exited through the corridor.

As much as he wanted to grab Belle and have her explain to EVERYONE that they're being ridiculous, it's better not to rope her into this anymore than she already is. Besides, the poor lawyer might get confused and panic or something. Hell if he knew. 

And speak of the devil, Belle was actually about walk past him, having turned a corner from somewhere up ahead. "Oh, Mason! I wanted to--" he walked past her without a word, not wanting to snap at her for something that wasn't her fault. "Thank... you... for the..." he heard her get quieter. Not from distance, but because she lowered her voice, as if saying "nevermind". For some reason, he felt bad. With a mental growl, he stopped and looked back to her. "I'm sorry, Belle. I'm not... mad at you, I just--" he interrupted himself with a sigh, finally bringing himself to go back to her. "I've got some troubles, is all. None of it is because of you, in case you're wondering." he explained. Belle took a moment to think about that before shaking her head. "Oh, no, it's alright. No worries. I'm sure that whatever it is, is something to be anxious about." she said understandingly, smiling at him, though the smile was unsure. Mason took in a deep breath. "Yes, it is." he started to back up, "Well, I have something waiting for me, so I should probably go now--"

"May I come with you?"

Mason blinked. "What?" he asked. "... May I... come with you?" she repeated slowly. Mason tried wracking his brain for anything he could use to say no, but found that there were none. "I suppose." he turned and kept walking, "Just keep up."

Belle jogged to get beside him, then walked at the same pace. "So, uhm..." Belle thought of a conversation, "It's New Years Eve tonight, right?"

"You don't know?"

"Well, you didn't give me a calendar, did you?"

Mason almost stopped. That's the second time she's ever expressed any sarcasm or spite or whatchamacallit, the first being when she originally woke up here. That mentioned, he thought about it some more. "I guess that besides Christmas Day, we haven't been giving you the date. My apologies." he said sincerely, "I'll make sure to give you a calendar for next year."

"That would be very appreciated, thank you." Belle smiled. "You're welcome." Mason smiled. "So, anyways, do you guys have any plans?" Belle continued. "For tonight?" Mason asked. "Yes." Belle confirmed. Mason shook his head, "The most we've done for New Year's Eve was have a two-hour party, but since we had that Christmas party almost a week ago, our 'party resources' are depleted. You can stay up until midnight if you want to, though. I'm sure that Happy and Bradley will want to, at least."

"Why won't you? It's a tradition to make a New Year's resolution, you know." Belle made a point. Mason stopped them both to look at Belle. "I'm a terrible person, Belle. Making myself a New Year's resolution would be pointless." he told her. "Just because you think you're a bad person doesn't mean that you are one. I think you're rather... reasonable." Belle replied. "Reasonable? I almost killed you... what? Three times? Just because I didn't like you?" he frowned. "The first time was because you thought I tried to escape, so that's understandable. The second time was when I hurt you. That's also understandable. The third time... I think was because of the second time as well..." Belle looked over it. "Because of my damaged pride." he clarified, "And that's reasonable, how?"

Belle struggled with a response on that one. "See? Terrible." Mason shrugged and continued walking. "Okay, so you're not one-hundred percent reasonable! Big deal! The majority of you is reasonable, though, so maybe there is a point to making a resolution for you." Belle caught up with him again. "I killed a lot of people." Mason threw out there. "Everyone's killed someone at some point in their life." Belle waved it aside. "And you know this because?" he prompted. "I... killed my own mother, remember?" she hesitantly added to support her claim. "But that wasn't your fault. You were just a newborn. It's not like you stabbed her to death or something-- like I did to my damn father." Mason pointed out. "I get what you're saying, but I'm also going to stand by what I said. Technically speaking, I have killed someone before. That doesn't make me a terrible person though." Belle said to him. Mason rolled his eyes, "Of course you're not a terrible person. You're more delightful than anything."

"... What?"

Mason kept his mouth shut and looked at the ground while walking. 'What the FUCK WAS THAT, MASON?!' he started internally freaking out. "I just meant that you're not awful like we are!" Mason said quickly. "Then what about Bradley or Happy? They're not awful." Belle questioned. Mason looked around desperately to find a way out of this conversation. Seeing where they are, he walked a little bit faster. "Mason, wait! Please explain what you meant by 'delightful'! I thought that you didn't like me!" Belle said, trying to catch up to him. Mason stopped and faced one side of the hallway. Just as he predicted, Belle stopped right in front of him, like she was frying to block him. "You can't say weird things like that and expect to get away with it!" she frowned. Mason then grabbed both of her shoulders. "No more questions, go to your room!" he yelled, then quickly pushed her through one of the doorways and shut it before she could get back up. "Mason!" she yelled at him from the other side. "Sorry, Belle!" he called as he turned and ran.

By the time that Belle could get up and open the door again, he was gone. She dusted herself off with a sigh.

"What's gotten into him?"