[ Cruel Winter - A Inanimate Insanity Invitational AU ]

Chapter 18 - Meanwhile, with those two...

Lightbulb and Clover crept through the shrubbery surrounding the camp, their footsteps quiet against the silver snow.

"Lightbulb-? Are you sure we should do this? Nickel might get mad at us..." Clover whispered. "Oh come on, you think Nickel's gonna get mad at us for having fun? Come on!" Lightbulb laughed quietly.

"If you say so..." Clover sighed, following Lightbulb out of the barrier of bushes and into the forest.

The forest was silent, but it felt like it was roaring. Clover looked around at the dying pines, their wilted branches dripping with dollops of snow.

"Hey, Clover! Look! Rocks!!" Lightbulb pointed to a short tower of rocks in a clearing. Clover gasped. "CAN WE CLIMB IT???" She asked excitedly. "IIII DON'T SEE WHY NOT!!" Lightbulb exclaimed.

"YEYYYY!" Clover scurried over to the rock pile, trying to get to the top. Lightbulb just sat by, watching as Clover kept tumbling down the rock pile and climbing back up. It was like a cycle of laughter for both of them.

That was until a low growling noise could be heard.

Clover flopped off the rock pile, landing flat on her face, standing up and brushing the dirt off of her, and hurried over to Lightbulb, cowering beside her. "Wh–what was THAT?" She yelped.

"Shh, shh... It's ok Clover... It's probably just a forest anima-" Lightbulb was cut off. "FOREST ANIMALS? TH–THE VIOLENT ONES?? OH NO NO NO... OH NO-... WE'RE DONE FOR!!-" Clover cried. "SHSHSHHS-" Lightbulb hushed Clover as a white ghostly shape blew through the forest surrounding the clearing.

At this point, Clover was shaking violently. Lightbulb kept her close, trying to comfort the shaking teen. "Shh-.. Don't worry, it'll be ok..." Lightbulb assured. Clover didn't reply, continuing to shake.

Lightbulb sighed, standing up. She helped Clover up, but her legs were extremely shaky. "Ok, ok, we should get ba-" She was cut off as some fluffy creature knocked her to the ground, Clover getting shoved from her grasp.

The silvery creature had small ears, a long, stripy-looking tail, and dark rosettes. It had a creamy underbelly, from what Lightbulb could tell, and its claws were sharp.

Lightbulb winced as the creature put a paw on her throat. "CLOVER-! GO GET HELP! I'LL BE FINE-!" Lightbulb snapped. Clover, seemingly too horrified to say anything, bursted out of the clearing and back to the 'kingdom'.

Meanwhile, Lightbulb was helplessly batting at the cat-like creature. It was about two times her size. The creature tried to slash her face, but she narrowly ducked back, knowing she would shatter upon impact.

She tried slipping out from under the animal, but no luck. Eventually, it started slashing at her arms.

The sharp claws seemed to cut through her flesh. Soon later, it gripped her scarf with its teeth, thrashing her about.

Lightbulb had gotten so dizzy that by the time the animal threw her against a tree, her vision became fuzzy. Eventually, when she was about to give in to her supposed demise, she saw a brown shape attack the animal.

Paintbrush?

The last thing she saw before falling unconscious was a red shape lifting her up, saying something like "Don't worry, Lightbulb... You'll be ok..."