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"The Master? And I thought I was self-indungent." The stranger huffed a laugh.
"And I could very well change that status to 'dead' so you might want to be extra kind to me right now since I seem to be your only shot at survival," said the Master with an authoritative tone.
"I could very much survive without the help of an arrogant asshole, so I think," he made a show of rubbing his chin in consideration and said, "no, I might not want to be extra kind to you."
Instead of answering him, the Master turned to the boy and ordered, "Go get your sister." To the others he said, "Get the cart moving again and start walking. If we're lucky we'll make it before nightfall," examining the purplish sky above and the orange burst of light at the horizon that was disappearing by the second.
Without a word, the boy walked towards the small, distant figure of Nia. The entire incident had shocked him enough to unthaw his blood enough for him to feel some of his limbs again so he knew he could walk faster if he wanted to. But Nia clearly didn't want to talk to anyone. She was internalizing it all, and he couldn't help as long as he didn't know what "all" referred to. So he walked at a pace fast enough to convince the Master that he was obeying his command but not fast enough to actually reach Nia. He turned around and walked backwards, so that he could see what he left behind while walking forwards at the same time.
All the performers were walking again, each face glued to the corpse until it could be seen no more, and became a face of the past. The stranger and the Master stood there, each a determined player in what seemed to be an aggressive conversation. At one point, one of them screamed something loud enough for the voice to reach the boy's ears if not the words. Then he saw the Master turn around and start following the performers. The stranger stood there, staring at them, his gaze travelling across the line of the walking dead until it landed on the boy. The boy tripped on a lump of snow. He straightened himself and took the opportunity to turn back around and walk facing the way his legs were travelling.
The infernal backdrop to all this looked like a snow-globe version of folded paper with its crisp horizons and thin air and sharp edged people. The clouds above were clustered in shades of lily blue and looked as soft as happy dreams and baby cheeks, both things he hadn't experienced in a long time. A wall of still wind blew over the snow, with a silent and clear pierce to it. Vines of night unfurled across the sky embracing the empty space with their star-kissed veins that served as perches for disappearing sunlight to hold onto. Another gust of wind greeted him, but this carried traces of warmth and sea and salt and glittering shades of green-blue. They were near the end. His spirits immediately lifted. He shifted to see if the performers smelt it too and confirm his relief or if he needed to turn his relief into concern of hallucination from the cold. But there, Ana smiled and Christoph straightened his back. Hera looked up from the ground and her twin bumped her shoulder with a grin. Satisfied the boy turned back around but not before he noticed that the stranger was following them and the Master had a smug smile on his face strong enough to chill the boy even over the distance. It was evil. It traced an invisible image of his hand holding the end of a leash that was attached to a collar on the stranger's neck, sending a slightly depressing but not shocking message, the Master had conquered the stranger.
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Nia was feeling too much. Everything was amplified. Multiplied. The worst part was that she didn't know exactly why she was feeling and it confused her so much. Her body felt like it was overheating though it wasn't. So she walked and walked and walked. Walked until she could barely see the boy behind her or the performers behind him. Walked until the chill of the snow unfurled to give way to the smell of a bay. Nia knew this was an echo of the true extent of panic she could feel. It was a mere ember of the rage with which she could burn. She kept walking as she minutely felt the temperature change. A tingling sensation ran through her limbs. Her stomach growled. She focused on her physical body, something that she could control and the world around her, something she couldn't control. They were different but the same and equally calming. The sky was azure blue with tiny spots of light decorating it. She saw a distant but not so distant tree line, dry, bare trunks wrapped in branches as if in an attempt to hide their nakedness. The pristine snow beneath her feet turned to white mulch mixed with mud. She walked faster, pushing her bodies to limits it shouldn't have had. She was jogging. Running. Finally towards a horizon she couldn't see. The trees stood welcomingly, a mile away. Her feet ate up the distance as she ran, stumbling, falling but moving. Running past the enveloping panic she had felt, past the corpse, the boy asking for a name, the stranger, Ana's squeak. The trees neared and it seemed as if they too were running towards her. She was running. Free. There was dirt. It was brown. So heavenly, beautifully, blissfully, cherubic brown. And then she was falling. She got up again. Nia breathed. The air was warmer, it healed her seared, blistered lungs. And then she fell again face-first and shades of the night sky filled her vision as she lost consciousness.
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She was in someone's arms. Her body apparently had limits. She closed her eyes again. And then she was slapped. Her eyes opened again. Panic rushed through her. She couldn't afford to be not in control of herself. She held too much information, too many precious stories she could never give up.
Her body had different goals, though. Her eyes shuttered. She dreamt of roses.
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She was resting her head against his chest. His arms around her felt tired but warm. Who the hell was this girl?
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Author's Note: Oof, angsty, anyways... Hope you all enjoyed!! I would love some feedback! VOTE AND COMMENT AND COME BACK FOR THE NEXT PART!
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unraveled
Fantasy"I've seen rats with better attention spans than you," she said onto his face. And then the boy was there pulling her onto her feet and off of him. "But have you seen them with such beautiful faces?" he asked, standing up, brushing off th...
