A/N: Yay, noob writers unite! Well, I guess this isn't technically my first fic, but the last time I wrote one was around three years ago. And all of those fics lasted about three chapters. And for those of you who are now concerned, thinking that this teenaged girl won't be persistent, don't worry! I vow to complete this fic, no matter what (though if it is still continuing when school starts back up, updates will probably be less frequent). But this is officially my first Minecraft fic, first romance/ship fic, and first fic that actually uses people/characters that exist. So this will be interesting, and I apologize in advance for...whatever will need apologizing for.
Rating wise, I rated it M as a "cushion". I don't have all of the fic planned out, but if I do decide to include something that's outside of the T rating, then I don't feel pressured to dial it down. But I will put up a warning in the notes before the chapter(s) when there's something, but other than that, it will be T.
So yeah, welcome to Snowflakes! Let's hope this ship doesn't crash (like everything else I've written). Pun intended. Ah, I'll go now.
It was cold. No, cold is not a strong enough word to describe the weather in the kingdom of Mindcrack that bitter winter day. The sky was dark, covered with clouds, the sun seemingly nonexistent. In every direction, as far as the eye could see, was snow. It fell from the clouds endlessly, covering the wooden roofs, castle tops, and every tree, bush, and flower, coating the land in a soft, chilling white. Every farm was abandoned, the crops frozen and the animals long gone to seek better shelter within the harsh environment. The roads leading through Mindcrack were iced over and deserted, too hazardous for travel. That is how the extreme weather affected the land every year, so the residents were used to staying indoors during particularly nasty storms, but many continued work once the snow lightened up.
And one Mindcracker stared out her window, watching the snowflakes through holes in the coat of white plastered to the glass. She stared out at the white monster and listened to the howl of its strong white winds. She watched as the blizzard gradually died down, until the wind was a soft whisper and the flakes drifted slowly to the ground. A piece of wavy red hair fell in front of the Mindcracker's face, and she reached a hand up to tuck it back behind her ear as she continued watching the snow. She stared, mesmerized, as each flake fell to the ground to join the millions that fell before it. She had been living in the kingdom for a couple of weeks, and the snow still amazed her. Back in HermitCraft, the kingdom she had lived in prior to moving to Mindcrack, it hardly ever snowed, as the kingdom was much further south. And while she did enjoy much of the sunshine, she despised the sunburns that came with it.
She was suddenly pulled from her snowy daze when she heard the sound of feet crunching in the fresh powder. Out in the distance, barely visible, was a man slowly hobbling across the horizon, holding one arm. She couldn't tell who it was, but her inner nurturer kicked in, and she rose from her window sill. She quickly grabbed her scarf off of the hook by the door, and was greeted with a gust of freezing air as she rushed out the door, quickly wrapping her scarf around her neck and pulling it up and over her nose. She trudged slowly through the snow towards the man, who had fallen to his knees since she had left. As she inched closer, she saw that the man was dressed in stained gray overalls, a dark red hard hat, and green goggles. The wind had kicked up since she had left, blowing up the loose snow and making it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of her.
The man was still clutching his arm when she made it to him. He looked up at her, scarf ends and red cape flying furiously, tossed around in the wind like rag dolls. The man said something to her, but it was lost within the loud roar of the wind. She helped the man to his feet, pulling his good arm around her to support him.
"What happened to you?" she tried asking, but to no avail. Her voice was drowned out by the wind, unheard by the man. The pair trudged slowly back to her house, the journey taking twice as long as previously. When they had managed to stumble inside of the house, she assisted him to her living room couch, where he sat down. She immediately noticed the piece of red cloth wrapped around his arm, a few inches down from his elbow. It was soaked, with snow or blood, she couldn't tell, but she sat down next to the man and slowly peeled the drenched cloth from his skin, him wincing slightly as she did. Beneath the cloth was revealed to be a bloody wound, around 3 inches in diameter, and the sight almost caused her to gag. She quickly got up to get dressing from an emergency medical cabinet, and returned to find a small claret puddle on the polished wood floor. She began to carefully wrap the wound in the sterile bandages. When it had been properly dressed, and the small pool of blood dried up, she returned to sit down next to him.
"There. That's made with spider string, so it should hold until the wound heals." she said.
"Thank you, Aureylian." the man replied gratefully.
"H-How do you know my name?" Aureylian asked, surprised that he knew her, because he was certainly unfamiliar to her.
"The meeting where Guude introduced you to everyone. I was there, but I hung out in the background. Meetings and big group events have never really been my thing. My name's Vechs, by the way." the man answered.
"Okay, Vechs, what happened to you?" Aureylian questioned. Now that she thought about it, she vaguely remembered the man; he was hanging out in a corner with a zombie pigman, if her memory served.
"I was out in the woods chopping down trees when the blizzard started. It got dark, and monsters came out. I was fighting them off, but a skeleton managed to shoot me in the arm. At that point I fled, but I couldn't find my house in the snowstorm. So I stumbled through the blizzard, hoping to find someone's house, but at that point I had almost given up. And then, out of nowhere, you showed up and saved me, Aureylian."
"Well, I'm just glad you're okay," she said. "Oh, and you can call me Aurey." She smiled at Vechs. He returned the smile, and began to stand up. "Do you need any help getting home, Vechs?" she asked, standing up as well. She hadn't noticed it before, but he was a tall man, standing at least a foot over her.
"Sure, that would be great." he replied with a slightly awkward smile.
"Alright, just let me run upstairs and grab something." Aurey walked up to the second floor. Moments later, she returned with a deep blue scarf. She wrapped it around Vechs's neck, then retrieved her own scarf from the coffee table where she had cast it in a hurry to help Vechs.
They walked out the door side-by-side, greeted with cold air and the light fall of snowflakes. As they walked, Aurey held out her hand, a few flakes falling into her palm, but melting upon contact into small water droplets. Vechs watched with a small smile as she "caught" the little flurries. He found the display cute, and it warmed his heart to see her catching snowflakes in an almost child-like manner.
"You should try it, Vechs!" Aurey said as she reached both her hands out to catch the flakes. She paused and looked at him, expectantly, yet completely innocent at the same time. He complied, extending his good arm out in front of him. He smiled as the small crystals lightly dusted his hand when they landed, before melting into small beads of water. His smile widened as more landed into his palm. There was something about it; the sensation felt magical and joyous, yet calming at the same time. It was like becoming a care-free child again, not having to worry about anything else in the world. Aurey let out a small giggle as she started to twirl around, holding her arms out to catch the crystals. Then suddenly, she stumbled and fell backwards, the soft snow cushioning her fall. Vechs stopped, and looked at her worriedly.
"Aurey! Are you okay?" He knelt down beside her. She let out a laugh, and Vechs smiled. She stared up at the sky, where the clouds were slowly dropping snowflakes. She stuck out her tongue as one fell towards her face, and it instantly melted against her tongue. Vechs lied down next to her, grinning at the sky. He looked over as a snowflake fell on the tip of her nose, and he let out a small giggle.
"What?" Aurey turned and asked as she reached up to wipe the small water drop from her nose.
"The snowflake booped you." Vechs said with a smile. Aurey laughed, and then let out a happy sigh as she turned to look up at the sky again.
"I love the snow. It's just so beautiful. Every flake is so intricate, and no two of them are the same." Aurey said as she held out a hand.
"Yeah, it really is cool." replied Vechs. "No pun intended." he quickly added, which caused Aurey to grin. She sat up and pointed out at the horizon.
"Vechs, look!" she exclaimed. He sat up and looked out at the horizon. What he saw was one of the most beautiful sunsets he'd ever seen. The sky was dyed in stunning shades of red, orange and pink. The light spread outwards from the small half circle that was the sun, and cast the colors across the sky. They reflected off of the clouds, staining the bottoms in the same hues. The snowflakes that fell cast small beams of light of their own as they fell to the ground. Vechs sighed. If he could stop time and make this moment last forever, he would. Just pause this moment, let the rest of the world carry on, but leave him and Aurey here to stare at the gorgeous sight of the sun forever. But no matter how much he willed it not to, time persisted on, and carried him and Aurey with it. As the last light of the sun faded, suddenly dread struck Aurey's face.
"Vechs, we need to go before monsters come out!" She swiftly stood up, Vechs quick to follow. "Where's your house?" she asked, panic seeping out through her voice.
"This way, follow me!" Vechs said, taking off at a run. He mentally scolded himself as they ran. He got lost in the moment, and completely forgot about the approaching night. He checked behind him frequently for Aurey. When he glanced behind him again, beyond Aurey he saw pairs of beady red eyes poke through the darkness. He grabbed Aurey's hand as he made a sharp right turn, dodging a spider that lunged at them. He picked up speed as he led Aurey through a short series of turns, the two of them narrowly dodging skeleton arrows, zombies, and creeper explosions.
"Vechs, skeleton behind us!" Aurey shouted, and Vechs quickly looked around to check. Indeed, the white-boned monster was following them, bow in hand. It faintly glowed with a purple aura, showing that it was enchanted with Notch-knows-what. Vechs looked back around, relieved to find his house was only twenty blocks away. The skeleton loaded its weapon, and began to take aim at the people running. They ran with all they had, busting through the door just as the arrow was fired. Aurey swiftly slammed the door behind her, the arrowhead piercing the wood just as she closed it. She sighed with relief, leaning back against the stone wall, breathless. Vechs stood across from her, bent forward, his hands resting on his knees. He, too, was panting from the long run.
"Wow-That was-close." Vechs said, in between staggered breaths.
"Yeah—Too close." Aurey replied, just as winded. Suddenly, in between her body's cries for more air, a thought crossed her mind, and she panicked. "Vechs, how am I supposed to get home? I didn't bring any armor, or weapons, or even food because I didn't think we would be gone for all that long and-"
"It's okay, you can stay here for the night." He said, cutting her off. It was just as awkward for him to suggest as it was for her. If word got out into the city, the other Mindcrackers would never let that joke die. But it's not like she had a choice. It was either being mauled to death by zombies or sleeping with a guy she had just met that day.
"So you have an extra bed?" Aurey asked.
"Well, no, but I have a couch." he replied. He walked into his living room, Aurey following him.
It was a nicely decorated room, with pictures of him and the other Mindcrackers hanging on the walls. A small plant sat on a circular side table next to the couch. He flipped a switch, causing a small glowstone lamp to flicker on. The couch was made of a soft brown material, and hung over the back was a red and navy checkered blanket. The couch was big enough to comfortably fit one small person lying down, but just barely. Vechs sat down, Aurey following and sitting to his left. He took off his blue scarf, then held his hand out for Aurey's pink one. She removed hers and handed it to him. He then set both of them on the side table. He then removed his goggles and hard hat, revealing his dark, messy hair and stunning blue eyes. He grabbed a pillow from the right side of the couch, laid it between him and Aurey, and motioned for her to lie down. She did, her head resting against Vechs's side and her legs bending slightly to fit on the couch. He grabbed the blanket from behind her and spread it out, then gently laid it over Aurey. Within minutes, she was sleeping soundly.
Normally if Vechs had a guest over, he would let them have the small couch to themselves, but things were different with Aurey. She had clearly proved that she could handle herself, but at the same time, Vechs almost felt that he needed to protect her. One of his hands began to subconsciously stroke through her red hair as he sat in silent thought. Maybe it's because she's so innocent. He thought to himself. She's just so care-free, it's almost childlike. But I think it's wonderful that she is. He smiled at the memories of the day: the snowflakes, the sunset, it was all so amazing. He dozed off with happy memories in his head, and his hand gently resting on Aurey's innocent, childlike cheek.
A/N: Well, congrats if you made it this far! I just hope that it wasn't as terrible as I think it was. Like I said, I am a newbie to this, so any and all criticisms are appreciated and welcome. And yes, I will answer this here and now: I'm making it more realistic then Mindcraft, whether it's for plot convenience or out of creativity is up for you to decide, but just know that giant poisonous spiders and sniper skeletons ARE dangerous. Be safe, kids. :)