A/N: Again, Zell and Maria are my characters. Also, I've never did a one shot before...
In the Swiss Alps, around midnight, near an old abandoned Ski Resort, there were two females engaged in a firefight; one in red who sported a brown bob cut hairstyle, the other was in purple and wore a blonde ponytail. The sounds of gunfire ripped throughout the entire mountain and even reached a neighboring resort.
Nearby, in another, more recently constructed Ski Resort, a butler, dressed in a black and white uniform entered a very polished room that was decorated with red and gold. Two others were present here; a female with soft cream colored skin and the other was a male with a light chocolate skin tone. The room itself was the epitome of elegance; there were several large glass chandeliers throughout the ceiling, on the ceilings faces were several masterfully painted clouds and a blue sky, and the windows were large and arched at the top with gold lining them. There were two chairs, two sofas and a table for tea. The chairs and sofas seemed to be part of a set, gold with red cushions. The table was an ornate design of silver and black, and atop the table was a silver shining tea set.
The butler bowed at the waist after his presence was known, "My apologies ma'am, but there have been some complaints and concerns about a 'series of gunshots' outside the facility. This has been happening for a week straight, some fear that an avalanche might befall us…"
The female that was sitting at the table sighed; she closed her almond eyes slowly. She wore her hair in a flared ponytail and was in a fitted business suit and wore dark brown stockings and black heels. Her shirt was unbuttoned by two buttons at the top and the slit in her skirt rose to the middle of her thigh. She sat cross legged and looked to the boy who sat across from her. "Well, Zell? You heard them too, I'm sure." The boy nodded with folded arms and eyes staring blankly at the table before him.
The boy replied in a less than enthused tone, "… And you want me to go check out what ever might be scaring the clientele, right Maria?" The boy, Zell, was dressed in a black down vest with auburn fur on the hood, an intricately designed graphic tee that had the numbers 0 and 3 on it, and a pair of thick black cargo pants. His boots were grey with a black sole. His hair and eyes were strangely colored red; the reason behind this was unknown.
The woman, Maria, nodded, "Yep. It's about time you started to earn your pay, right?" She sipped her tea and flashed a wink to Zell.
He's closed his eyes and sighed as he stood. Maria turned to the butler and stated very plainly, "Dismissed. Inform them that I'll be taking care of the issue as of now." To this directive, the man nodded and stood then left silently.
As the door closed, Maria added, "Don't fail us now, we need you to keep our rep up."
Zell turned to the window and opened it, "…Understood." He closed the window as he entered the balcony on its opposite side, once there, he looked in the distance, only to be greeted by a purple sky, white snow, and the occasional spot of a burst of light. By the looks of the way the bursts were released, one could make out that it was coming from a gun.
At the abandoned ski resort in the distance, Anna Williams, the female clad in red winter wear, was under gunfire from the other female, Nina Williams, who is her sister, and clad in purple. Nina was armed with a pair of sub-machine guns and a sniper rifle. Anna chose heavy firepower, a pair of semi-automatic pistols and a bazooka. Anna stood on the decaying balcony of the old resort and took aim at the crystalline snow as it sparkled in the midnight sky. Anna fired a shot and it exploded with a deafening crash, but missed its intended target. Anna cursed to herself and took cover inside the building as she reloaded. Nina managed to avoid the missile by leaping into a nearby set of trees that surrounded the resort. Nina took aim carefully from the branch she'd landed on with her rifle and waited.
Anna had the art of reloading a bazooka down to a science. She pulled out a pair of compact missiles from the backpack she'd stored months prior, and slid them into the rear of the weapon, all in less than three seconds. She crept to a tiny hole in the room she was using for cover, and peeked through it to try to spot her sister, only to see trees and falling snow. She released a sigh before creeping her way around to another nearby room. Anna made her way to the top of the building without detection, but expected Nina to be taking aim with her favorite rifle. Once Anna was atop the building, she crouched as low to the roof as she could; she only had one chance to make a hit.
Nina spotted Anna just as soon as Anna fired her missile. Two shots were fired simultaneously; one from Nina and the other from Anna. When the shots where fired, Nina's bullet scraped the hull of the missile, but didn't detonate it, it just simply caused it to alter its course slightly. Immediately after, Nina's rifle kicked back, and using the force from that, Nina leaned back and purposefully fell to snow below her. The flying missile broke parts of the trees as it flew into the distance, and exploded in the air a good distance from the mountain. Nina's bullet pierced the left thigh of her sister. As Anna tried to recover from her own kickback force, the bullet made entry and escape almost at the same time.
Sensing the quickness of the pain, Anna made an attempt to jump from the roof, only to land at the front doors of the old resort and she'd tumbled forward a bit. Nina, who was still among the trees, heard the crunching of the snow and prepared another for another shot; Anna rolled a few times, another thing that she'd gotten down to a science, and when she came to a halt and in a crouching position, and she'd released her second missile into the trees ahead of her. Anna's shot met the entrance of the tree covered area before being forced to detonate. Nina's next shot destroyed the missile, but it was relatively close to her, which caused her to get sent skyward from its force.
Ironically enough, Nina didn't get sent spiraling backwards, but flew toward the old resort, crashing into it and splitting wood of the balcony that Anna had occupied. Nina recovered just enough to prepare her last shot, something that she'd hated when it came to the battles against Anna. Nina took aim at Anna's neck, in the dead center where her spine began and smirked. The ground sank in and Nina's aim was thrown off, she fired and hit Anna in her right thigh, then fell through the floor with a series of crashes. Anna's leg disappeared from beneath her and she'd slipped and bounded clumsily into the trunk of a tree. Anna hit her back on the trunk of the tree and she'd lost all her bearings for a brief moment. After taking a few breaths and blinking several times, her breathing was not getting any better or her vision focusing any further than the few clouded colors that were before her. All was silent for a while.
There were the sounds of a helicopter before long, and it hovered over the collapsed building that was the battleground for yet another of Nina's victories. There was a ladder, made of rope, that was extended to the debris and after a few moments that seemed to stretch, Nina's heavily injured body was on the ladder making her way inside the helicopter. In her free hand was a button. She waited until the helicopter was at full speed before she pushed it.
There was an explosion. Immediately after that, chunks of ice and snow had begun to rumble and fall. Anna's fading condition dulled her senses and she barely registered what was happening. Her eyes glazed over just as she'd managed to fish out a tiny stick from her coat pocket.
Nina flew away in the copter with a satisfied smirk on her face all the while she was undergoing recovery from the cuts and burns she'd received.
But Nina didn't see the emergency flare that Anna had managed to release before she's been buried beneath the snow.
There was a loud rumbling as Zell made his way to the origin of the complaints. His ear rang loudly from the Bluetooth device that he'd been wearing. "Zell, retreat! There's an avalanche over there!" The voice came from Maria.
Zell shook his head as though she could see him and replied, "Negative. Someone's still there…" Just as he spoke, a helicopter flew away, and then he saw the streak of red that faded into the sky. "I'm certain that someone's there now… and by the looks of things, they might die of frostbite if I turn back."
"…Fine… I assume you only have about two minutes to get to whoever is there. Don't fail. Someone's life is at stake." Maria's voice gave off a sense of worry and a sense of irritation at his response.
Zell smirked and took a runner's starting pose, "That's it? Well this will be interesting." The soles of his boots glowed white then he'd dashed off significantly faster than he was running before.
Anna gave a sigh as rumbling made its voice more apparent. She was losing her consciousness and before long, she'd probably give into to eternal sleep from a blanket of ice. "Looks like I blew it this time… You win… Nina…" With that, Anna had released the flare, just before the snow rolled her over and wrapped her in its life draining embrace. It was cold for a brief moment, and then there was nothing.
The blizzard raged as it worked to repair the damage that was just done by the Williams Sisters. There was a flicker in Zell's eyes as he continued his approach. "…Heat… It's faint but I can see something… its fading faster than normal…"
With three steps and a charged long jump, Zell reached the outer lining of the forest. He'd searched for a minute or two, and then another call from Maria came in.
"It looks like whatever it was…" She was cut off by Zell and the sounds of shifting snow.
"No… not just yet… There's a body here… Female… Still has a pulse…" Zell applied a bit of heat from his index and middle fingers and scooped the limp form into his arms.
Zell held the female in his arms, bridal style, and began his return trip, slowly reheating the body in his possession all the while.
A month passed since then…
"Her heart, breathing and body temperature are all normal. If I'd have screwed around at all, then she'd have been taken by that odd substance that was inside her body…" There was a muffled sound as a response.
"No need. I've kept her in my room this long. Why change now? Besides, you'll need the other rooms for the wave of customers that booked the place, right?" Another muffled sound, followed by the male voice again.
"See? I knew you'd see it my way, and yes, I have an idea of who she might be… Goodbye." There was a beep then a click.
Anna groaned and opened her eyes slowly. She sat up and gripped her head. She stopped and looked at her surroundings; she was in a room that looked like it came from a fancy French hotel. It was decorated nicely, she was in a large bed, queen sized, it was soft to the touch and had soft satin blankets and soft sheets for added warmth, a 72 inch flat screen television sat on a mount in the left corner of the room, Dark burgundy curtains were hung over the sliding glass doors that led to the balcony, a dark oak desk was in the corner next to the television, but her gaze lingered on the male standing with his back to her. His strange red hair seemed to catch her eye. The male turned to meet her with a confident smirk and red eyes.
"I see you've awakened." The boy said.
Anna's response was the natural impulse response of, "…Where am I?"
Zell responded calmly, "You're at the Ivory Mist Ski Resort." Zell gestured to himself, "My name is Zell Natsumoto, and I'm the one who saved you from freezing to death."
Anna studied the male scrupulously, noticing how his build wasn't as astute as some of the fighters in the King of Iron Fist Tournaments, he was a bit slimmer, but probably held an amazing body nonetheless just based on how the clothes rested upon him. She formed a bit of a smirk and tried to move, but Zell's reaction and her incurring pain showed that she still had a long way to go from being fully recovered.
"The poison, or whatever that was, isn't completely gone from your body… Anna, you need to rest a bit more. I'll take care of you." Zell's reaction wasn't scolding in any form; it was gentle and held an air of care about it.
Zell moved so that he was closer to Anna, "…So how are you feeling?"
Anna sighed, "Well, I can sit up, but that's about it." She looked down, and noticed the old tattered faded black long-sleeved sweater on her person. It was long enough to cover her pelvic area, despite the fact that it hung comfortably on her bosom as well.
Zell said nothing at this; he simply sat up a bit more and turned his gaze to the glass door that led to the balcony. Anna looked at him again and asked another question, "How do you know my name?"
Zell looked at her eyes, the soft crystalline blue that seemed to betray a sense of loneliness and a sense of independence at the same time, he looked away again the started elsewhere, "I only just recognized you, because of your eyes… I've seen you in the broadcasts of the King of Iron Fist Tournaments. Anna Williams… My favorite female competitor… I never expected to be saving you from certain death."
Anna made a gesture for him to sit beside her, patting the bed next to her. Zell reluctantly complied with her request, only after she'd smiled and said, "Don't worry. I don't bite."
Zell smirked at the comment and sat beside the femme fatale. "How did you find me?"
"It wasn't easy; you were underneath a foot of snow after all…"
Anna winced a little and puckered her lips as she inhaled sharply, "So that wasn't a dream…" Then she'd recalled something else, "So that means you saw that flare that I sent out?"
Zell nodded, "Yes… but if I didn't bring my thermal goggles… you'd probably still be comatose right now." Zell hung his head and sighed at the revelation.
Anna tilted her head slightly, "But you saved me… that's all that matters, isn't it?" Zell nodded, his stare was directed at the fresh polished wood at his feet.
Anna felt a chill, and as a response, she'd looked at herself beneath the blankets, noticing that she didn't have any underwear or a bra on. She grinned slyly. "…You know, I don't mind being naked…"
Zell's head whipped up, "…Uh, what?" he felt the bridge of his nose and cheeks heat up. He recollected himself and sighed, covering his face with his right hand as he did so. In an attempt to change the subject Zell scanned her form and remembered that she'd not had her makeup on. "You look different without your makeup… but I can still tell it's you…"
Anna didn't take the bait, she managed to slide closer to Zell, and she leaned on him. Zell tensed a bit at this, and then relaxed as she felt warm against him. "I still have to thank you for saving my life right?"
Zell took a long breath via his nostrils and replied, "…There's no need, Ms. Williams…
Anna smirked at the boy's manners, "There's no need to address me that way, call me Anna." Zell nodded in acknowledgement. Anna took Zell's face gently and turned it so that they were making eye contact. "There has to be something that I can do to repay you…"
Zell averted his gaze, "…Well, I'd like to get a couple of autographs…" He brought his right hand to his neck and rubbed his neck nervously, Anna smiled at the nervous gesture.
"I can't move my legs all that well, but you know this already… so that means that you'll need to help me walk, right?"
Zell didn't flinch when Anna took his hand and guided it down her hourglass figure. She smiled and let him go. "You felt them, right? My scars?"
Zell nodded, "Yeah… I saw a lot of them when I treated you too. You've been through hell…"
Anna leaned on Zell's back, wrapping her arms tenderly around his neck before she spoke again, "Yes… I've been through my fair share of it…"
Zell released another breath; she could have killed him right on the spot, he knew this, but did nothing as she rested upon him. "What are you doing?"
Anna smiled and replied, "Well, sure I'll sign the stuff you want… I like you, so I'll do you this favor. It's not often I fall for the guy who went through a blizzard to save me… Consider yourself lucky…"
With that, Anna placed a gentle kiss on Zell's cheek, "I hope you don't mind taking care of me… I promise to make it worth your while in the end."
Zell closed his eyes and returned the kiss to Anna, she blushed as a result. Anna moved back under the blankets. "I'm going to take a nap Zell… Will you be here when I wake up?"
Zell nodded, "Yeah. I'll be here."