Frozen Solid

Spoilt

Loise knew that Ash needed to be stopped.  That girl was on Hayden’s side!  She was even training the boy as well!  Jedi’s only get one padawan, so why should Ash be allowed two trainees?

Ash was going down by her hands.  Now.

She poked her dirty blonde head around the corner.  Time for the dove to peck back.

“Hayden.  Focus your mind.  It’s unnatural, at best.  Just focus.” Ash said, watching the boy pout.  Loise scowled.

“Shut up!  I’m not unnatural!  I’m just good at it.” Hayden closed his eyes.  Loise had to put her hand over her mouth to stay quiet.

Were those strings?  Metal strings, connected to his fingers, weaving intricate patterns in a million different ways.  How did he make them move like that?  Just a twitch of his fingers and a trillion tiny threads shifted, moving around the entire web.

Loise had only heard of this technique once before.  One had to be very special to pull it off.  All others who had learned the art had been killed on sight.  Hayden didn’t look like he was anything more than a freak.

Loise watched Hayden’s stubby child’s fingers entangle themselves in threads to make a pathway for her.

“We have a guest.” Ash said, her eagle eyes resting on Loise.

“You’re doing string method with the son of the president?” Loise asked, waltzing inside the room with the two of them.  Hayden gave her a little glare, and returned to focusing on the strings tied around his fingers like one would tie a balloon’s string to a heavy metal object to weigh it down.

Ash nodded, untying the strings on his hands in quick, gentle motions.  Loise had been trained with a lot more rash gestures.  It seemed that Ash was getting kinder.  Loise liked rough mean Ash better.  She was a lot easier to be angry at.  Gentle Ash, that Ash was Loise’s first friend who was a girl, who made the best jokes, who, if in normal circumstances, Loise would want to save.

Loise didn’t like being friends with someone who she didn’t want to like.  She wanted to hate Ash, but Ash was over there, ruffling Hayden’s hair and letting all the strings fall to the floor like silver strands of moonlight, and Loise couldn’t find that hate she insisted upon.

“Can I go eat something now, Crow?” Hayden whined, his hands over his stomach.  “I really want spaghetti.”

“I don’t think we have any spaghetti.  We have instant ramen, though.” Loise added, glaring after the brat as she shooed him on forwards to the kitchen.  Nothing could make her like Hayden, except maybe a giant explosion or something.  There would have to be death or dying for her to change her mind.

“Loise, I know why you’re here.”

Loise nodded in confirmation to Ash’s statement.  “I want to talk.”

“And I know you saw the papers.  I was assigned to track you.” Ash said, her hair falling into her eyes, leaving them looking like brown fire.

“You killed my friends like pigs in a slaughterhouse.  I can’t help but wonder if me or Hayden is next to become bacon.” Loise glared, her eyes sharp.

“I won’t kill any of you.  Not anymore.  Loise, you are my bullet.  Hayden is my net.  I have a plan.  Trust me, and I will change this.”

“This, as in, everything?” Loise asked, her voice desperate compared to the stable tone of Ash’s.  Her voice was scared to be hopeful.  Ash’s just was determined.

“It’s a plan to try.”

“Then I’ll support you.” Loise stated, her heart making her decision.  Normally, she’d have to think it over, she’d consider other options.  But Loise knew where she wanted to be.  She would stand by her best friend.