Permafrost

35: Frostbite

⭐️Chapter 35: Frostbite

The Infernos froze at first, unsure if they should approach him or not. He still had his bandana covering his mouth and the fangtooth fang from the fight, but it was now in a side bag, as if he'd bought that somewhere. Speaking of bought, he also had a new coat on. Perhaps he'd been through Cryos town and had bought some things? Nonetheless, the Infernos didn't know what to do.

Should they pass him like he wasn't there? Did he know they were there at all? Maybe they could just...walk on by and see how he reacted. Slowly but surely, they began walking around him and further up the path. They couldn't tell if Fang was looking at them or not, since his eyes were squinted like he was going to sleep.

Cosmo was the last one in line at the moment, and as he passed by Fang, he heard him mumble.

"Red...Blue...who're...you?" Fang said, clearly having a tired tone of voice.

Cosmo tried to hold back from giggling at the rhyming.

"Well, I didn't think the orange one was awake" Jack replied as the group stopped walking.

"Oh...it's you..." Fang snarled as he fully awoke.

His eyes opened to see all four of the Infernos in front of him, and the same blue sky he'd seen since he started this climb.

"Listen, if you don't want us around, we'll keep goin'. It was what we were doin' anyway" Jack said.

"Oh yeah? Might as well keep walkin', I could care less about you, y'know" Fang grumbled, leaning back against the mountainside to go back to sleep.

Ryn was about to turn around with Silvia and Cosmo to go back up the mountain, but she halted. She had a lot of questions, but was now a good time to ask him? Especially since he was a bit moody at the moment.

"H-hey uh, did you see...did you see Thrash a-around here, by any chance?" Ryn asked nervously, voice quivering a little.

"Yeah, I passed him. Dunno where he went or what happened from there" Fang replied, eyes still closed.

"You...didn't...ally with him?" Cosmo asked curiously.

"Nah. He asked me to, but I was kinda tired of how he'd been treatin' me in turf matches, so I ditched him" Fang sighed. "He didn't care anyway."

"W-wait, how did you find this place?" Silvia asked, now wondering what the giant squid had done to get here, and in such decent condition.

"Stumbled upon it. Threatened a few fangteeth in the woods to get them to show me the way. Stopped in Cryos town and rested, then the folk pointed me in this direction. I do believe I got here before you, by the way" Fang replied.

Jack had to comprehend all this while the others kept talking to him. Fang's path actually got him here faster somehow, and to the point he'd probably seen the Infernos as they were being brought in to Rudy and Vance's place. Jack shrugged off the thought of Thrash cackling at the Infernos for being so slow, as since he wasn't here now it didn't matter. But...should the Infernos just have...followed Fang? Not to mention how he threatened FANGTEETH of all...hold on a second.

"Woah, woah, woah, you can understand them? The fangteeth? Or did they actually talk, like in common inklish?" Jack asked, now interested.

"I aimed my brella and fangtooth fang at them and told them I'd murder them if they didn't help me out," Fang said. "Trust me, those things won't give you help with a "pretty please", I've tried."

Jack's face morphed into one of shock. While is DID sound harsh, could the Infernos have done that back when they were still lost? Vance had told them that he fired a gun and the stargazer ran away, so surely they could. However...upon thinking about it, Ryn and Cosmo might not be up for that. Silvia would probably defend them too, so it was most likely of no use.

"Oh..." was all Jack managed to say.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence amongst the group. Nobody moved, said anything, nothing. Silvia looked at him with concern, while Jack turned to look at Ryn. Cosmo wasn't sure what to do, but he had to do something. He slowly leaned over to Ryn to whisper to her.

"You gonna ask him about...I dunno, joining the group?"

Ryn lit up at that. She'd forgotten about that almost entirely.

"Right!" she whispered back.

"What is it?" Fang grumbled. "Make it quick."

"Would you like to um...temporarily truce and team up with us?" Ryn asked with a nervous smile.

The answer was quick, short, and immediate.

"No."

Well, that answered that, and Ryn wasn't about to try again. If he didn't want to join, then so be it. The group could deal with this without them. Ryn shrugged and turned to continued up the mountain, but Cosmo stopped her. He cleared his throat a little.

"Are you sure? Rescuing everyone would be better in numbers!"

"I'm sure" Fang responded, again, almost immediately.

"See?" Ryn asked quietly.

Cosmo nodded, and the group turned to continue up the path. As the Infernos made their way up to the mountain, Fang sighed to himself. He couldn't believe he was letting help like this go by him, especially help from the only other escapees he know from his home. They were an enemy to his team, sure, but that was really only because they'd won the turf match, and not because they were super boastful or mean or anything. Besides, he could always backstab them or something if he didn't like the things they did. The Infernos were too far up now, but that didn't matter as Fang stood up and brushed himself off. Heh, they'd probably treat him better than Thrash anyway.

"Alright, alright, I'll gooooo..." Fang  grumbled, though the Infernos didn't hear him.

So with that, he turned around and began to run after the Infernos as best he could, taking everything he had on him with him.

-----

Corrin had had enough.

Enough of sitting here, and watching everyone pray to the ice spirit every day.

Enough of his father being cold, stern, and strict.

Enough of the snow.

He was going to trek down that path himself, he was NOT going to stay here any longer. He'd need a disguise, but he still wanted to use his old armor for protection's sake. He hadn't been down the mountain in a long time, and he wanted to finally break free. Seek others, new people. Besides, his friend had already risked themselves so he could do this.

So he would.