Icebound

Chapter 11

Locked in the room and closer to death, Aiden stayed curled up in a ball. He felt like crying, because he felt defeated. He failed everyone.

He failed to convince Reginald to come home, he failed to see Cassie's true nature, and he failed to keep himself safe.

The things Cassie told him before she locked him in the room and left him for dead really hurt him. He had never felt so hopeless or depressed since he lost his parents, or when he and Reginald began to drift apart.

'I'm sorry Reggie... I'm sorry I couldn't help you... Cassie might have killed you by now, and now I'm going to die... she'll take control of our kingdom, and it's all my fault...' he thought.

Tears began to form in Aiden's eyes, but before he could start crying, he could hear the sound of the door knob starting to move. Someone from the other side was trying to open the door.

"H-help..." Aiden said weakly.

The door suddenly opened, and to Aiden's surprise, it was Gill. Aiden didn't know how the snowman got into the castle or how he got past any one nearby, but Aiden felt relieved that someone he knew he could trust found him.

Gill gasped when he saw the condition Aiden was in.

"Aiden!" he said.

He rushed over to the fire place and threw some firewood inside it quickly. After getting the firewood inside, Gill grabbed the flint and steel next to the fire place and used it to ignite a fire. Aiden understood that Gill was trying to help him, but he was worried about his snowman friend being too close to the flames.

"G-Gill. Get away f-from there!" he stuttered.

Gill didn't listen. For a moment, he stared at the fire.

"Wow... so this is what heat is like!" he said.

The fire suddenly crackled a tiny bit, spooking Gill and making the snowman pull back.

"But don't get too close!" he said.

Gill rushed back to Aiden and helped his friend stand. Aiden stood up and moved closer to the fireplace.

"Thank you..." he said quietly.

"Aiden, what happened? Why didn't you get an act of true love?" asked Gill.

Aiden teared up and looked down as he sat by the fireplace.

"I-I was wrong about Cassie... she didn't care about me at all... she just wants to take the throne..." he said.

"What? Aiden... I'm so sorry..." said Gill.

Aiden sighed sadly. A couple tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Gill, you need to get away from the fire. I don't want you to melt," he said quietly.

"I'm not leaving you by yourself until we figure out how to save you!" said Gill.

He didn't want to leave Aiden alone, especially since Aiden was closer to freezing completely, but to show that he understood Aiden's concern, he sat next to Aiden, but was facing away from the fireplace.

"I don't even know what can save me. An act of true love, but now I don't even know what love is..." said Aiden sadly.

"I know what love is. Love is... putting someone you care about before yourself. Showing them that no matter what, you care about them, not what they do. You love them unintentionally, and want to be there for them, both good and bad times," said Gill.

Aiden didn't respond. He was still having a hard time believing if Gill was right. The snowman could sense that Aiden was doubtful, so he thought really hard to come up with an example.