Bad End...Friends?¿

The Ice Boy

"That bratty little-"
Wirt threw his flowers violently against a tree.

He breathed out and tried to collect his thoughts to formulate a plan, it's hardest to plan something that will work when upset. Wirt didn't know how long he sat there trying to calm his mind but it didn't matter.

Bill doesn't even need that lantern! He just wants to see you fall apart over Greg...but you won't let him...will you?

No.

Wirt brushed himself off and prepared to journey back to town to find that snake.

He didn't want to, not after he'd just been seen but...Greg always mattered more. No matter what.

Rain poured down, soaking the bottom of his trailing cloak and dress shoes. The sun was beginning to disappear as the forest was overtaken with the purple blanket of an icy autumn night.

But Wirt kept going, the bittersweet cold air swirled around him, as snowflakes cascaded down from the Heavens.

Other than the whipping wind and the occasional branch snapping, the forest was dead silent.

He pushed onward until it was too dark for even him to recognize the woods, he had them memorized by heart...s, but he hadn't seen them without his lantern's light in...months? Years?

To think it could be years was...unsettling, to say the least.

Suddenly a cry echoed through the forest jolting Wirt out of his thoughts,

I hope it's Bill, and I hope he has severe arachnophobia.

"Please help! My family! My...my little brother! Please!" Cried out the voice.

Wirt ran towards the sound until he arrived in a small clearing near a valley, where a boy was crumpled on the grass, surrounded by sharp icicles. As much as Wirt wanted to avoid people he couldn't leave this boy...he had a brother in danger...Wirt knew what that was like no matter how much he wished he didn't.

"...Your brother..."
Wirt started,
"What happened to him?"

The boy looked up and jumped back slightly when he caught a glimpse of Wirt's almost hypnotic eyes.

He answered though, too intimidated to turn Wirt down.
"They wouldn't leave..." he whispered.
"I froze the house...like everything else..."
the boy looked down at his hands, which were beginning to fade to a blue tone.
He stumbled over to Wirt and tugged on his cloak
"I need help! Just this once!"
The cloth he had gripped was beginning to lace with thin ice.

"Perhaps I could be of some...assistance." Wirt offered.

"Who are you?"
The boy asked.

"...I...don't know. I was Wirt...now most people call me the Lantern Bearer or...the...beast."

"Why?" Asked the boy.

After a moment of contemplation he received his vague answer,
"Don't ask questions that you don't want answers to."
Wirt said monotone.

A few seconds of uncomfortable silence passed before Wirt held his hand out to the boy, who -reluctantly- took it. They walked side by side through the forest a moment before the boy spoke.

"I'm Finn."

Usually Wirt would retort with something along the lines of did I ask?
But today he remained mute.
If he was to make a deal with this boy, he wanted to be on the best terms possible.

"How did you freeze the house?" Wirt eventually asked, for once he was genuinely curious.

"The crown." Finn answered, sounding impatient.
"Could we make a deal? I do something for you and you help my family?"

Breaking ice would be easy. But what could he ask for in return?

Ah. He could send Finn to get his lantern back, perhaps he could even "take care" of his crown while he was gone.

"Perhaps." Answered Wirt.

"In the morning."

A/N Thanks so much for reading this! I hope you enjoy! If you want to talk about it or do some art for it I'd love to chat with you and see your art! Comments are VERY appreciated but Please don't use the Lord's name in vain in the comments! God bless you all! I apologize for any future hiatuses due to writers block or school ❤️, this story is really fun to write and is currently my main fic (though I'll try to get Zero Gravity going, it's my second rate story, and imaginary Nemesis May be a while bc I'm not 100% sure on the story lol)