Permafrost

39: Flurry

⭐️Chapter 39: Flurry

They didn't know how long they sat there for. Fang kept the brella stable by making a rock mound around it. Nobody minded the snow on their pants, but they remembered to try and get water/snowproof pants next time. They all sat pressed against one another for warmth. The cold kept growing on them, but they felt their breath rates ease as they caught up and rested.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Fang asked.

"Yeah, we have to adjust, right?" Ryn replied.

"Well it's just...the longer we sit here, the longer we sit in the cold. We'll get colder, which will make us not want to move more. Therefore, sitting here is a trap and we should probably get moving before the cold keeps us rooted to the spot."

"I mean...I guess you're right...I don't know how long we've been sitting here for. Guess we should get a move on sometime, huh?" Cosmo said.

"I'd say now," Fang grumbled.

"Really? But I'm still cold..." Jack muttered.

"It's now or never."

Fang began to move the brella out of its rock holder, causing everyone else to start to get up too. Everyone except Jack.

"You wanna sit here and freeze?" Fang asked, clearly grumpy.

"Well, maybe I want to," Jack replied grouchily.

"Then so be it."

Fang began to walk ahead of the group again, while the Infernos stayed behind with their teammate. That probably wasn't enough time to recover a breath, but surely they couldn't be THAT high up, right? Besides, it felt like long enough. Maybe if try just pushed through, they could make it.

"Come on Jack, we know you didn't mean it..." Silvia said.

"Ugh...but that brella thing was such a good idea. We have to leave NOW?"

"Well, I guess we don't really know if we need to recover or not. I dunno how high this mountain really is, but so far to me it doesn't look like we've gotten anywhere NEAR the top!" Ryn exclaimed.

Jack sighed, slowly standing up and brushing off his pants.

"I guess you're right..."

"Besides, we have our friends and family waiting for us! Surely that'd be enough to motivate us to go faster?" Cosmo said.

"Yeah, but you have to understand that even the rescuers need breaks sometimes. This isn't a one day thing."

"I know, I know..."

"Come on guys, let's catch up!" Ryn cheered.

"Alright..."

And so the Infernos resumed their hike. They had a little motivation pushing them onwards from the rest, but none of them said anything about it. They were looking forward to any enemies or obstacles that appeared, though they hoped they didn't have to give up entirely.

-----

The snow never did stop, and nothing interesting had happened at all as the sky became darker due to clouds. The Infernos could slightly feel themselves getting colder and more numb as they went on. Dear cod, what time was it? Did they have time for a snack break? They hadn't seen anything that looked like shelter at all yet.

Fang was no help either. Even though he'd fallen back to where the group was, he still complained here and there. The group really had nothing to talk about, nothing to read, nothing exciting. It was slowly eating away at them and it hurt. Heck, they wouldn't even mind if Tempest showed up right now because then at least they'd have a reason to keep climbing up this blasted mountain.

They wondered what they could do for sleep. No fire would stay lit in this weather, and the Infernos weren't sure if Fang was willing to share his brella again. He'd probably be forced to though, since everyone was trying to survive now. Everyone missed beds, everyone missed home. They all wondered why nobody ELSE was doing this rescue, but they solely believed it was because they were the only survivors of the invasion.

All of this blank and open thinking however, had opened up some thoughts. Ryn realized that if the Infernos were going to persuade Fang to their side in the long run, they might as well try and start befriending him as soon as possible. Sure, they'd initially thought of constantly giving Fang a debt to fill, but Ryn wondered if there was another, easier way to do it. She figured she'd try and start a simple conversation. That was easiest.

"Fang?"

"What do you want?" Fang grumbled.

"You said...you got out of the Frost Army's clutches via sacrifice...how did that go down?" Ryn asked.

"Actually, I'm a little curious too..." Cosmo said.

"Why do you want to know?" Fang sighed.

Ryn shrugged.

"Because I'm interested...?"

"Answer honestly."

"I just want to make time go by faster," Ryn immediately said.

That was a partial lie. It wasn't her direct intention, but the conversation worked as that too. She would've said "because I want to be friends", but knowing how short of a temper Fang tended to have, she decided not to. Fang would probably just say that he wouldn't want to be friends with someone like her anyway.

"Well. Normally I wouldn't tell you, since it doesn't matter and it's none of your business. However, I've already spoiled the main plot of it, so I might as well dump the rest to pass time as we climb this cold piece of rock."

The Infernos then remembered that they indeed had seen Thrash and Spyke being tugged away, without Thorne and Fang.

"I was going to be shot with a net, but Thorne got me out of the way last second after trying to fight off some of the guards. He told me to run and think of something to save the others, so. I took that chance and ran. I wasn't going to fight those guards."

Ryn and the rest kept quiet as Fang told the story. They weren't about to interrupt with any commentary. This was interesting.

"Of course, I initially didn't plan on saving them after what they'd done to me, but seeing as how practically everyone else had gotten captured, I thought they'd perhaps treat me better if I saved 'em. It'd prove I was stronger than them, maybe."

"Do you know how Thrash got out?" Ryn asked, though she wasn't sure if now was the time to ask.

"No, but if I had to guess, he probably fought his way out of the net or something. Caught it on a sharp piece of ice or metal and tore through. Or maybe his squid form fit, I dunno, why? Do you know?"

"Unfortunately not. He didn't tell us either," Silvia sighed in disappointment.

"Yeah, that's Thrash for you, whether you like it or not."

And that's how that conversation ended. The Infernos didn't bother trying to pick it back up. They actually didn't really need to. Small talk was...nice amongst the group. It made things easier and nicer in these hard times. Still, they kept their guard up.

For they had a feeling...

Something was coming.