Frost Fire
Prologue
There is poison in the air,
soot, smoke and despair,
Dry as the silence before cold bloody war,
Frost and fire, they come in a roar.
My eyes keep falling to my feet, white as the snow covered ground, the prickling pain of frostbites subdued by heavy breathing and the sound of quick irregular heartbeat in my ears, and a murmuring under water voice urging me forward. A strong pull of my arm makes the voice come clear like thunder, "Faster Near!" It freezes me, making my insides icy like the murdering cold that blows against us, making each step harder. Gallops and neighs track us down, with lashes of whips that slices through the dead forest. I run until my breaths become coughs, but the hand that holds mine was still strong and warm, a full head of gold like sunlight cutting through the dark clouds. We had ran beyond our age's abilities, until his hold started to quiver, and with it, my body crumpled with exhaustion to the wintry earth, I coughed up bitter vomit and held my chest, pressing the throbbing sensation, hoping my heart would not tear through my ragged shirt.
"Near," the voice breathless, the same hand on mine again, bringing instant comfort, I held on tightly as my nose began to wheeze and the world whirled into blotches of black and white. Another hand wipes my face where tears of fear and desperation had fell silently, clearing my eyes to see a wonderful young face, his hair blonde as a halo and light blue eyes, urgent as they watch me. The soil shook alarmingly, they were close now, whoever it was that had chased us. I felt my body being lifted, and we had moved but two steps before I was lying on the snow once again. I knew I had to get up, but even with his strong arm as support, my body was completely useless. His blue eyes searched hurriedly for some route of escape, I lay on the ground, hope was lost for me, but he could still run, get a good distance while they were busy with me. Weakly I opened my mouth, "Mello…" soft as it was, he heard me right away and sat on his knees beside me, holding my head on his lap. And he did something very odd, he smiled, as if it was still summer where he had gone swimming in the river and came back with tiny shrimps for dinner. "Near" he called out, wearing his smile for me, "It's alright, everything will be alright," he soothed, his voice was nothing but hopeful, it made me want to believe that we weren't surrounded by snow and freezing weather, that we were still back in spring plucking wild flowers or back in autumn where we had buried ourselves under crisp leaves. I shook my head, willing the words to come, "G-go…" they trembled out. Suddenly he whips his head quickly to look at somewhere else with greater urgency than ever, completely dismissing my words. "Near, you have to hide," he said as quietly as he could, and helped me over to where more leafless trees stood encircling some rocks. I hid between the twigs and rocks, using the snow as a cloaking blanket, the effort seemed a vain one, even with my abnormal white hair and skin that so easily became united with the frost, it could've fooled an animal perhaps but not those men who had found us in our small isolated village where uncle had said was like trying to find the northern star in the afternoon.
"Stay here Near and don't make a single sound," He ordered, giving a reassuring squeeze on my hand, I was reluctant to let go of it, my eyes begging him to not leave me alone. He understood it and placed a long kiss on my forehead, blue eyes brave and protective, "Don't worry Near, I'll keep you safe, I promise." With another quick kiss on my forehead, his hand left mine and he ran off in another direction, it took all my strength to keep still and not chase after him. There was a long dry silence, but not a peaceful one, it was a silence synonym to death and funerals. Suddenly, I hear a cry, my heart wretched because I knew who it was immediately. Tears had only begun to make their way down my cheeks when I was abruptly pulled by my hair to my feet, I screamed from a mixture of pain and fear.
"Let go of him!" the familiar voice shouted, a furious blonde hung under the arm of a large metal men, thrashing and hitting, all that fierce spirit somehow seems shrunken, he was like but a kitten trapped in an oversized blanket. He was paid as much heed to as a breeze, and suddenly all the attention had fallen on me. The sword whistled as it was unsheathed, its sharp end came beneath my chin and I knew instantly I was going to be cut open at that spot. In a final helpless attempt in calling out for help, I looked to Mello. In the back of my mind, I remember how on the day of my parents' burial uncle had said that there had been serenity in their deaths and while I looked at their pale face with their eyes closed I had wanted nothing more than to believe it to be true, but being only eight, I could only view death as frightening and I was unprepared for it, no matter how imminent it was. I couldn't close my eyes and make my face calm as theirs had been, there'd be no serenity in my death, only horrid silence and loss, like Mello's blue eyes wide and wild as I've never seen them, absolutely powerless and vulnerable to fate.
And then it was gone. Every silence crashing like a waterfall, shouts filled the air and everything roared excruciatingly in my ears. From each corner, fire came from the ground like hell itself had opened, smoke and soot poisoned the air, even the snow itself was burning as they fell from the sky. The fire came on the metal men like they were dried wood, and attacked them to the ashes. Somewhere in the mess, I was left lying on the ground again, I turned to a particularly loud scream and found Mello, his hands on fire.
"Mello!" I yelled frantically, running with all my might to him. "No Near! Stay back!" He backed away, burning hands in front of him defensively, but I didn't care, even as fire and smoke replaced the air, I kept running, afraid that I might never reach him again. "Stay back! Stay back!" He was in distraught, stepping away faster now, his burning hands frenetically motioning for me to stay away. Then in a brusque, flames came all over me, from the ground I stood to the clothes on my back. "NEAR!" I heard only faintly over my own screams of terror as the fire ate at my skin. I saw only his blurred figure running towards me and then he vanished in a cloud of ashes, taking along with him the flames. And I fell unconscious to the ground, charred, lost and alone.
~L~L~
Hello everyone! It's been a long time, I've been meaning to start writing for awhile now that I'm in university, but I've stopped so long it was hard to begin again, even this chapter took an abnormally long time, and also I was hesitant on publishing anything new since this site took down Bandaged Retribution, and I haven't located the backup for that story yet, anyways, hope you guys can still enjoy my stories, encouragement is much welcomed.
-inspired by RED 'Already over'-