Zorome X Miku: The Forgotten Plantation

27: Seeping Cold

Miku had a hard time sleeping when she finally decided to hit the hay that night. Her worry for Zorome lay heavily on her mind and on her heart. She continued to tell herself that perhaps he was telling the truth and just needed some shut-eye. If she didn't get any sleep, perhaps she would be the grumpy one next!

Kokoro had gone to sleep in the room she shared with Ai and Mitsuru, leaving Miku alone with Ichigo and Ikuno. Miku was sure that the other girls had long fallen asleep by now and she hoped she would be able to soon as well.

She was lying with her blanket pulled up to her chin. Most of the blanket was wrapped around her body to keep her warm. It was freezing in the bedroom that night, though she wondered if she was the only one who felt the cold. She squirmed uncomfortably from time to time in an attempt to warm herself up. 

I'm going to get myself another blanket tomorrow. Miku decided. She decided against doing it then and there because she really didn't want to wake the others up. She was used to going to the bathroom once before bed and when she woke up in the morning and she rarely got up in the middle of the night to do so. 

The bed creaked as Miku tossed and turned, desperately trying to warm up and fall asleep. Her worries about her partner mixed with how cold she felt were getting in the way of her having a night of decent beauty sleep. She did this for what felt like hours before she finally fell asleep.

Miku's dreams were filled with anxiety and snow that night. She woke up in the middle of a snow-covered area. Although it was quiet, she felt like something was off. Looking in each direction, she realized that there was nothing there but snow!

"Hello?" Miku called nervously into the open space. Her voice echoed eerily around her and seemed to be softened by the snow. "Is anybody there?"

When she heard no response, she began to slowly force her legs to move her. She didn't know where to go. Each direction had nothing in sight except for an endless plane of pure snow. Anxiety was gripping her chest tightly, making it hard for her to breathe. She wanted to shout out again but for some reason was too afraid to. It felt like something sinister was going on.

As she walked, the snow crunched loudly beneath her feet. The sound of her footsteps was the only thing that could be heard as she looked around for any sign of literally anything. Her body was trembling both from cold and from fear. The air around her was still but was almost deathly cold. She couldn't find any shelter but her instincts told her she needed to if she wanted to survive. Shivering, she forced herself to walk in the same direction.

Out of nowhere, a loud screech echoed through the vast snowy space. Miku gasped and looked around in a desperate attempt to figure out where the sound had come from. It sounded like a voice, though she couldn't pinpoint whose it was. It sounded like it was in pure agony, almost to the point where it sounded like it was a mixture of an animal and a human.

"H-hello?" Miku tried calling again. "Is anybody there?"

Another agonized screech answered her question. A shiver of pure terror ran down Miku's spine as she whirled around to see who or what was making the sound. She felt almost numb from being so cold and scared and she almost passed out when she suddenly could make out a shape in the near distance. As she stared at the shape, her heart felt like it stopped beating in her chest for a brief moment. That's Zorome! Was it him who screamed?

Miku pushed her terror and discomfort to the side and ran toward her partner. She called out his name multiple times, though she didn't appear to be coming closer to him. In fact, it was almost like he was shrinking into the distance as she desperately tried to reach him and figure out what was going on.

Suddenly, something stopped Miku from running. Her legs were frozen in place...literally.

Looking down, Miku saw that her legs were encased in ice all the way up to her waist. She let out a cry of dismay and tried in vain to wrench herself free. 

"Miku, are you alright?!"

Ichigo's worried voice caused Miku to sit up. She noticed that she was clutching the covers in her fingers. She was even sweating a little, though her body felt extremely cold and her sweat was making her feel colder somehow. 

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Miku replied dismissively. "Just had a weird dream." She realized that she was trembling from how cold it was in the room. "Ack! It's so cold in here!"

Ikuno, who was sitting on her bed, sighed and rose to her feet. "Yes. I'm afraid it's going to only get colder. We're going to need to figure out a way to keep ourselves warm this winter. We don't have electricity to help manage our temperature anymore."

Ichigo nodded and let out a long sigh. "I guess I'll go see if the boys are having trouble keeping warm. At least it took a while for it to get cold in the building."

Miku shivered and wrapped her blanket around her after realizing that parts of it had been kicked off her during her nightmare. "I'm gonna stay in bed for a while! This cold is way too much for me."

"I'm going to go see if anyone wants to help me fix breakfast up." Ikuno left the room immediately after saying that. Ichigo hesitated for a moment as if she was mentally preparing herself before doing the same. 

Now alone in the girls' room, Miku decided she didn't want to leave her bed for a long, long while. She felt tired from her awful sleep and the cold didn't help matters either. She just hoped Zorome would be back to normal by the time she left the room...