Of Love and Death.

The Future Chapter 17b: Snow Is Thicker Than Water Pt. 1

Fear of death. Intent to kill. Attempted murder. Gore. Fighting. Self-defense almost murder. Physical and emotional abuse. Physical harm and blood. Horrific relationships between a parent and a kid (Cold's a jack***). Injury. Trauma. Being hunted. Not my happiest chapter!

That snapped Bel out of his confusion. He stumbled backwards, turning around to reveal Jamie as the one who'd been tugging him along. Breaking out of her gaze, they were both able to run away, turning to opposite sides like divulging rivers. Twisting out of the way of the jet of frozen air that Cold sent out.

Den! Bel realized suddenly. He twisted around, no longer running for a moment. There, inside of the jet of ice and snow and frozen air, crouched Light. He was surrounded by an orange glow. Flames, hopefully protecting him from the worst of the attack. Still though, there was something almost like pain on the sun's face. Or at the very least exertion.

Then the stream of frozen air paused. Cut off. Leaving only the sound of ice, still in the air, falling to the ground. The park was covered in it. And Cold was standing in the middle of it. And she turned to look at Bel. Her gaze focused on him. And she raised her hand.

The air immediately turned colder. Like all of the water vapor had decided it was time to freeze immediately. It hadn't even been that humid. But there were still little chunks of microscopic ice pelting against Bel's skin. And Cold was walking closer he could see it. He took one step backwards. And then stopped trying to think.

Most likely on instinct. But, either way, Bel stopped trying to think. Because he had panicked and had analyzed everything. And he was moving too slowly because of it. So, he just jumped backwards. Up and up, shrinking a little bit. Feeling the hair on his arms stretch and straighten and elongate, becoming feathers. And then Bel was an osprey flying up and away.

It was only colder up here, but Bel's escape did seem to dissuade Cold for the moment. So, instead, she turned her attention to Minerva. Whose hood had fallen off her face. She was running away, in a large looping circle. Why wasn't his sister just running away?

Scanning the ground with his eyes, Bel saw Lilac. Who had one leg frozen into a block of ice. She was tugging at it, but it wasn't moving. At least Cold didn't seem that concerned with her. Or else she'd probably be dead right now.

Jamie was skirting around Cold, trying to get close enough to do something about the block of ice. But it was clear that she didn't know what to do. She was panicking, almost as much as Bel himself. As he watched, his sister gritted her teeth and ran. Ran very quickly, faster than she had before, and made it to Lilac. She was kicking the ice, and making progress.

But Cold wasn't even running forward. The most she'd moved this whole time was turning in circles to keep her eyes on everyone, occasionally lifting her hand. Which she was doing now. Languidly. Almost like she didn't even care. With a flick of Cold's hand, the ice Minerva was kicking shot up her leg, entrapping her and sending her tumbling down off balance.

That kicked Bel into motion. He folded his wings, diving down towards the frozen shadow. She heard him coming, and looked up. Eyes glowing black, ready to use her powers. And Bel couldn't turn around now. So, at the last seconds, he let himself become a tiger, with claws out.

Then Bel fell onto Cold. He tried to rake her with his claws, and succeeded somewhat. A kind of frozen liquid seemed to seep into his paws. Not a lot of it. But enough to make the shadow mad. He couldn't see exactly what happened. But he felt something as hard as ice clock him in the stomach, sending him flying off of his enemy and onto the ground.

Immediately, Bel tried to recover and stand up. And he did so, somewhat. Slightly staggering. But, eventually, standing back on all fours. His gaze turned back to Cold. The shadow looked livid. Her shoulder had the tiniest trickle of red blood on it. Standing out in stark contrast to the rest of her blue skin. It was nothing. Probably already clotting. But, Cold was livid.