hiding

Mother nature sucks

Despite the heat from Marco's flames, Alexia still felt the sting from the cold down to her bones the whole flight. And it hurt, like a bitch. Alexia's cheeks were bright red from the exposure to the cold wind, and the warmest clothing she had was not warm enough. She felt dread set in imaging the shopping trip Izo would gladly drag her through to purchase winter clothes, when she next saw him. They had failed on their many shopping trips to buy winter apparel.

So there she was stuck trudging through over a foot and a half of snow with wind blowing so hard you could barely hear your own thoughts, wearing nothing but the jacket Marco had gotten her a while back, one of his thin button up jackets, and the thickest pair of jeans she had. She could no longer feel the stinging of her feet every time snow spilled over the rim into her combat boots.

The wind and the snow made it impossible for them to see anything from above, making them regretfully scout on foot. Although visibility was almost just as bad on the ground. Alexia was sure there could be a 50 foot drop off right in front of her and she would never notice until she was pummeling towards the bottom.

As if on cue, Alexia stumbled over an unseen object. She realized it was probably only her own feet but how the hell would she know. They were so numb she couldn't even feel them. Someone could have hacked off her feet and she would have been trekking the last three miles on stubs and wouldn't have known the difference.

The only thing keeping her from completely faceplanting into the snow was the steel-like grip Marco had on her lower arm. He grabbed her other hand helping her back onto her feet. Neither of them bother to speak, both learning hours ago it was pointless when they couldn't hear over the wind. They both gave each other a grimace before Alexia nodded, signaling for them to continue.

"Stupid damn bird..." Alexia glared at what little she could see of the back of his head. The only actual thing that seemed to bother Marco through the trip was the lack of visibility, the wind, and having to keep pace with Alexia herself who was struggling with a lot more environmentally than he was.

Marco was ignorant to the girl glaring daggers at him as he continued, wearing nothing more than his normal everyday attire. One benefit of his devil fruit being he could control the heat of his flames, making him almost immune to the cold, if he wished. Flying was much more difficult now that he had Alexia to tag along. Marco had to mentally remind himself that he could set her on fire and had to deal with the cold temperatures on the journey to the island.

Marco grimaced remembering the few times he had forgotten she was with him, and she had in fact, been set aflame. He had thought Alexia had been scary before hand when she wanted to be, but soon learned quickly that even she could have Satan cowering in a corner. Now the concern for preventing her from going aflame was now as much for his sake as it was hers.

From what little Marco could see ahead, it looked like a massive pine was not far in front of them. He knew Alexia was struggling and could feel a little bit of the cold from the one arm he kept latched on to her's, being sure not to burn her. He had already prepared a whole argument in his head to have with Izo about getting Alexia proper clothing for all season they might encounter. Even though Marco enjoyed seeing her in his clothing more than he probably should, he was uncomfortable with watching her struggle with the cold. At this point Alexia wasn't even pay attention to where they were going, she was just following him blindly while using his arm like a lifeline.

As if Roger himself was looking down on them, Marco was relieved to find the base of the tree was hollowed out with just enough room for them both. Alexia practically collapsed on top of Marco, as her head was reeling from no longer being in the constant howling wind, the pressure on her ear drums lessoning.

"Did you bring us to Impel Down or something bird brain?" Alexia grumbled, "I swear to god this is Impel Down."

"Relax Lexi, this storm should let up soon." He wrapped his arms around her underneath her jacket, making sure to use his devil fruit just enough to keep them both warm. Alexia shivered violently, her skin starting to sting again as she warmed back up.

"Relax my ass... did you know there was a storm when we left? Couldn't we have just waited it out oh I don't know? On the ship?" Alexia glared, "No that sounds too reasonable, why would we ever do that."

"Don't be like that doll face," Marco wrapped his arms around her tighter, "The storm wasn't supposed to be this bad yoi. Hopefully we can wait it out. The transponder snail won't be able to contact the Moby in this weather."

"Doll face?" Alexia was suddenly very confused, thrown off topic, "Never mind but what are we going to do if we can't get in touch with them. We only have 48 hours before they send another scouting group after us. We've been walking all day in god knows what direction and it will take a whole day to walk back to where we started."

"We need to give the storm time to let up, hopefully by now the force of the storm is obvious to those who are near by so pops can take it into consideration. We just need the weather to let up a little bit so we can use a transponder. If we can do that then we should be able to continue without risking the rest of the crew."

"What about heading back to the Moby? If you and I can bring the log pose on shore for the needed time, could we head back to ship and travel to the next island instead? Do you think we have enough supplies for that?" Alexia leaned her head against his shoulder, feeling exhaustion setting in.

"No, we don't know how long it will take for the log pose to reset, even then our supplies are running low. We could stretch the food if we absolutely have to. We would have to limit our training and severely ration but we could do it. We need fresh water though, and wood. And if for some reason the Moby gets attacked or sidetracked even by just a couple days, lives could be in jeopardy." Marco groaned, feeling the anxiety start to set in his chest.

"How are we that far off? I though we just restocked the last island. What if we don't get back to the crew in time? What if this island has nothing? Wha..."

"Doll calm yourself. There's nothing we can do about it until this storm lets up. If you work yourself up, you won't have enough energy when it comes time to move again yoi. I don't know what happened with the supplies, but I'll need you to help Thatch and I figure it out when we get back." Marco sighed, realizing his body was just as tense as Alexia's.

He tried relaxing his body, increasing the warmth flowing from his devil fruit. Satisfied that Alexia wasn't shaking from the cold as hard as before and her lips were returning to their normal color, he pulled her closer, freeing one hand to run his fingers through her hair.

"It's getting dark yoi, I'll take watch since I have more energy. Get some rest Lexi."

"Promise me you'll wake me if anything changes."

"I promise now get some sleep." Marco heard Alexia grumble in protest, before closing her eyes and relaxing against him. Several moments passed before Marco could hear the lull of her steady breathing as she slept as the winter winds howled around them.