"Cool!"

This. Is Max. My eight-year-old best friend.

"Twenty bucks!"

He generally has good luck.

"Awesome…"

This is me.

"Eep!"

"Careful!"

I generally had bad luck.

Max sighed in relief, "Got ya…"

Lucky for me, Max was always on my left side. Without him, I probably would have died when I was five.

"You've gotta be more careful," he scolded me, relieved I was ok.

"I know, I know," I reassured him. "But I'm fine. See?" When I spun in a circle -

"Ah!"

My powers malfunctioned, and I froze myself in a solid block of ice.

"Raugh!"

Max got me out A.S.A.P. when he punched the block. It split in two, and I shivered when it fell to the ground and shattered.

"Cold, cold, cold, cold!"

Max heaved a sigh and said, "Come here."

With his arms spread out wide I saw faint orange specks surrounding his light brown eyes - which meant he was heating his body temperature for me. I ran to his embrace and he hugged me tightly. We stood there for a minute before I felt his heart rate speed up.

I went to look up at him, but he growled lowly to me. "Don't move…"

My arms flinched and I hugged him tighter. Pretty quickly, I heard loud grunts, grumbles, and moans of pain come from behind me - but I didn't dare to look. After they all stopped, Max's grip on me started to loosen and I could finally meet his gaze. He smiled at me reassuringly and said, "Let's go through the woods today…"

I didn't know why he offered, but I slowly nodded my head and stared at his back as he walked ahead of me, his hand interlaced with mine.

At the time, I didn't even know there were countless human bodies unconscious and injured behind me.

Three years have passed since then, and Max has saved me countless amounts of times. I started questioning why he stayed by my side.

So one day, after we got home from school, we were sitting on the couch. I was upside down with his head rested on my stomach. I said to him, "Max…?"

"Yeah?" he mumbled sleepily. I had woken him from his afternoon nap.

I asked curiously, "How come you're always with me?"

"…?"

It seemed I got his attention, because he started to sit up straight. He had enough energy to look at me with a face that combined unreason and sternness. His voice was huskier when he asked me, "What are you talking about?"

I flipped myself over so I could lock eyes with him properly. "I mean, you're always bailing me out of trouble, and I think your luck'll run dry sooner than later."

He smiled softly at me. "My luck's not going to run out…" After that, he cleared his throat and plopped his head into my lap again. "This'll just recharge my luck if I ever do run out," he stated reassuringly.

"Are you sure?" I asked him worriedly.

"You worry too much." He smirked at me and said, "Whether you wanna or not, you're stuck with me." He closed his eyes and nuzzled the back of his head into my shorts. "'Til death."

I laughed a little and said, "Until I die, or you do?"

He opened one of his eyes and pouted, "Is that something I should be concerned about? Ah!" He gasped and sat upright. Pointing his finger at me he said, "You're planning to kill me in my sleep, aren't you?!"

I laughed full-heartedly and got up from the couch. Putting my hands behind my head as I walked to the kitchen, I told him, "Guess you'll just have to sleep to find out."

He shook his head, "No way! I'm not going to ever fall asleep before you - EVER!"

I laughed and said, "If that's what you're going with, then I guess I'll say ok."

One of Max's cheeks cringed upward and he said confused, "… Haaah?"

I smiled over my shoulder and said, "I'll die before you."

Max frowned and he looked down. He mumbled, "Don't go that far for me…"

I walked back over to him and tapped his head against mine. I grinned brightly and said, "Guess we'll just have to die together, then."

He lifted his head and met my cheeky gaze. "For someone talking about death, you sure are perky."

I laughed at his still-pouting face.

At the time, I never thought that beautiful snowflakes can be turned into unpleasant blizzards in a flash.