Frozen Beyond [gxg]

Embers of Love

"Get out of my way! Didn't I tell you to be a shadow?" A tall man with a scraggly goatee shoved Keahi to the side. She stumbled and fell. Keahi sniffed, dropping the plate that she held in her hands as it shattered on the floor.

"What the hell? Keahi!" The man sneered, reaching down to grab her thin wrists.

"Leave her alone, you're scaring her!" Crow yelled, walking into the room and standing in front of her.

Keahi balled her hands into fists and pressed them to her eyes as large crocodile tears fell there.

"Pft, she's eight years old now, she should be able to stay out of my damn way. And you, you're a man now?" Their father sneered, shoving Crow before grabbing him by his collar.

Keahi whimpered, backing herself into a corner when their father punched Crow hard in the jaw, dropping him to the floor. But Crow didn't stay down, at least, not all the way as he sat up and rubbed the blood from his lip. "You're just a deadbeat drunk. You're going to die alone, but I'll make sure Ki and I leave this place one day!" He yelled, tears in his eyes as their father came back for round two...

After their father passed, if it wasn't one thing, it was another. Keahi got sick. Even as she blankly stared at the ceiling she could hear Crow singing her lullabies and crying softly at her bedside. Then one day, she opened her eyes, and she was better.

But when she looked at Crow, all she saw was a blank expression and a dead look in his eyes. His voice was flat and listless, though he still talked about leaving the island. It didn't seem to bring him the same joy it did when he talked about it before. He had a crooked smile on his lips; it was twisted and didn't reach his eyes. "Nothing can stop us now, Ki." He whispered.

Then they sailed away from the only place she knew. Everywhere she looked, strange men started boarding the ship.

Crow went further and further down the rabbit hole. "If you aren't strong your weak, Ki." He repeated time her whenever they sparred. And he never held back. Even when she nursed a black eye or fractured wrist.

"If you aren't strong your what Ki?" Crows hazel eyes would bore at her.

She rubbed her hurt shoulder, looking away while muttering. "Your weak."

"That's right." He scowled.

"What's so wrong with being weak?" She asked.

He blanched, his shoulders stiffening. "You turn into a cockroach under a boot. That's what's wrong with it." He practically snarled.

As they traveled from port to port, they stole, they lied, they cheated.

And Keahi just rolled through it, taking what was given. Never forming true authentic connections with anyone. Wondering what the hell she would do with the restlessness and guilt in her own soul.

Then she bumped into a platinum blonde on the docks. What was her name? What was the place? Pictures of ice popped into her head. Long flowing trestles of ice, different colors and beautiful.

Her own fire was ugly in comparison.

Ahto...hallen...why did that pop to mind? Why did images she'd never experience rift through her head?

Keahi staggered the stand, shoving the heels of her hands into her eyes before running them through her hair. When she pulled her hand back, blood covered it.