I'd been wanting to do a wintery based one shot. Since it's actually cold around here I'm kind of in the mood for it. I've got plenty of ideas, but I talked myself into this one. I'd been wanting to write with Ike and Sel for a while, and so a nice little one shot will do. I've not touched an ongoing piece I'd been working on with these two in a long time; I might just rewrite the whole thing later.
I originally had a different idea for this fic, Ike and an older Sel having a snowball fight, and then later pelting poor Soren with snow as well, but I also have an idea for a snowball fight in another universe, and so I thought this would be cuter.
Mornings often felt like they dragged on forever when one is small. Mornings took infinitely longer when you are small and there was fresh snow on the ground. It was not even a light dusting of snow. Bushes were white lumps, trees had clumps of white powder all over their branches, and the fresh footprints left by Soren were now covered under more snow.
Sel had begged the mage to take him with him that morning while he ran a few errands. Soren had refused to allow it, knowing full well the boy was going to want to play in the snow, and reminded him sternly to not go outside by himself. So Sel, who was usually the first one awake in the mornings, was left to amuse himself until his father woke up.
No matter what he found to keep himself busy, it worked for only a few minutes at the most. He would often catch himself standing on his toes to peek out the window. If Soren returned, he could take Sel outside. The boy also had the fear, one that would only make sense to a small child, that if he did not keep an eye on the snow, it would melt before he could play in it.
Finally, he could take it no longer. He would not get in trouble if he woke up his father, but it was almost an unspoken rule to let Ike sleep. He slipped soundlessly from the kitchen and crept into the larger living space of the cabin where he, Soren, and Ike all slept so each could be near the fireplace. Sel tiptoed over to his father and knelt by him. "Dad?" he whispered softly.
Ike did not budge. Not that Sel expected him to. He put a small hand on his father's shoulder and gently shook it. "Dad," he whispered again, a little more loudly that time.
Ike stirred for a moment then settled again, curling his hand against his cheek.
"Dad," Sel said for the third time, his voice no longer a whisper.
"Hmm?" He opened his eyes and blinked a few times as he tried to shake the sleep from them. "Sel?" He pushed himself into a sitting position and asked if anything was wrong.
Sel shook his head. "It snowed," he said.
"Ah." That answered everything, even to someone still half asleep. Ike reached over and ruffled Sel's black hair before asking his son to wait just a few more minutes so he could fully wake up.
Sel agreed and sat down next to his father. Ike smiled at him and asked if he had eaten yet. Sel confirmed that he had. "Good. Anything left?"
"I think so." He got up and hurried to the kitchen.
Ike yawned and stretched as he heard clattering from the kitchen. He would eat and then take Sel outside. It was not fair to the boy to keep him cooped up in the cabin, especially with fresh snow on the ground. He got to his feet, stretched again, and joined Sel in the kitchen.
A glance out of the window showed him why Sel was excited. Everything he could see from the window was covered in snow. He smiled as he sat down at the table, where half a loaf of bread, sausages, and a few strips of bacon awaited him. Sel took the chair by him and rested his head against his father's arm as Ike ate. He said nothing, though he excitement to play in the snow said it all.
He did not move until Ike finished his meal and told him to grab his boots. With a gleeful shout, he hopped down from his chair and hurried back into the other room. Ike chuckled and followed him after quickly clearing the table. Sel's eagerness was catching.
He found his own boots and slipped them on before checking that Sel's were on securely. He took their cloaks off the nails where they had been placed the night before, quickly secured his, then knelt to put Sel's on him. He took extra time making sure the boy would stay warm in the cold.
"Keep your hood up," Ike told him as he pulled the hood up over Sel's dark hair. "Warm enough?"
"Uh-huh!"
"Then let's go."
Sel slipped his tiny hand in Ike's, but once the front door was unlocked and opened, he quickly slipped away from Ike and hurried to the railing of the porch. Two inches of powdery snow rested atop the wood. As Sel reached up to swipe the snow off the railing, Ike winced as he realized he had forgotten the boy's gloves.
"Just a minute."
Sel turned to watch Ike return into the cabin for a moment, his fingers poised to the snow. Ike returned a moment later, gloves in hand. He handed Sel a small pair of blue gloves while he slipped a larger red pair on his own hands. Once his hands were completely covered, Sel returned his attention to the small pile of snow, watching it cascade to the ground as he pushed at it. He laughed and turned to Ike, who smiled at the boy's delight.
Sel then hopped from the top of the porch onto the stairs, the snow making a light crunching sound beneath his feet. He hopped down to the second step, then into the yard. The snow down there was piled higher and made a soft flumph sound as the boy hit it, his feet kicking up snow as he landed. He turned to his father, who followed Sel but did not match the boy's glee.
As he watched Sel play around in the snow, hopping to kick up small flurries and kneeling to ball it up and toss it in the air, Ike realized just how long it had been since he had played in snow. In fact, he had more memories of training or battling in the snow than he did of having fun in it.
He had been quite young, though still a bit older than Sel was. He, too, had been thrilled at the first snowfall of the year, one large enough to play in not one that had just dusted everything like a sugary treat. He had been excited to play in the snow, and once he was granted permission to play from his parents, he had hurried out the door, dressed warmly but sloppily in his haste.
There had been the usual fun, throwing snowballs or using shields to sled down mounds of snow, but when his father and sister joined him, things became different. He did not roughhouse with his little sister as he did others around his age. His father had suggested something the three of them could do together in the snow: build snow soldiers.
That morning, they had lined up four snow sentries, each with their own face made from pebbles, their own wooden branch as a spear or sword, and even their own cloaks from cloaks he and his sister had outgrown. He could remember his dad laughing as he held them up to place heads atop the snow bodies. The snowmen had been a little lumpy and lopsided, but none of them could have been more proud of their handiwork.
Ike knelt in front of Sel in the snow and made a suggestion to build a snow soldier. Sel, who had snow clinging to his little blue cloak, his gloves, and even a few bits on his eyelashes, looked up with surprise. "How do you make one?" he asked.
"First, we'll need to get up everything he needs. Some rocks or pebbles for a face, a long stick for a weapon, and a cloak. Perhaps something for a helm, if you'd like."
Sel clapped his gloved hands together, his blue eyes sparkling with glee. "There's a bucket on the porch. Can that be his helm?" He pointed to the porch as he spoke. He ran to get it then hurried back to Ike. There was a large dent in one side of the bucket, which was empty save fro a few dried leaves. Ike agreed that it would make a perfect helm and placed it in the snow near where their snow soldier would be built.
Sel then offered to find the rocks. He began to dig through near the side of the cabin, thinking he had seen some rocks there. Ike told him to stay in one place while he went inside for a moment. There was an old moth-eaten blanket in a closet of the cabin that would serve as a cloak without them having to use one of their own. He kept an eye on his son for as long as he could then hurried to the closest. By the time he put his hand on the blanket, he heard Sel calling for him.
"Dad! Dad!"
Ike snatched the blanket from the shelf and hurried the few steps back out the door. Sel, beaming with pride, was dragging a stick that was longer than he was tall. "Will this work?"
Ike could not help but grin, though it took a few moments for his heart to stop racing. The boy's shouts had scared him. "I'd say our soldier is a lance user." he agreed. "But I thought you were searching for rocks."
"I was, but I saw this sticking out of a bush."
The blanket and stick were added to the snow, right next to the bucket. Ike then joined Sel in the search for rocks. "Try to find some of similar sizes."
The stones took the longest to find, as they had been buried under the snow. Father and son would dig and find nothing in some places while others might only yield one or two stones. It took some time for Ike to gather a handful. "Will that be enough?" Sel asked, a faint hint of worry to his voice.
"It should be. We know where to find more if it isn't enough."
They returned to the piled up items necessary for their soldier. Ike knelt in the snow with his son and began to show him how to pile up and round out the massive ball that would be their snow soldier's base. As the boy worked, his hood slipped. Ike reached up to tug it back into place and covered Sel's soft, black hair. He heard himself sigh as he did so. It often felt as though the only part of his mother their son had was her hair. In everything else, from the pale blue eyes to the shape of his face, Sel was Ike in miniature.
It also stung that she should have been there with them, kneeling in the snow and getting as covered with it as Sel as she aided them in making a snow soldier or two. She had passed away in childbirth, missing out on everything in Sel's life.
"Dad?" Sel asked. He stopped patting the base of the snowman and was looking curiously at Ike.
"Keep your hood up," Ike reminded him as he gave the hood a tug back into place.
Father and son worked in silence until they were both satisfied with the base. To Ike, it was a little larger than he had thought, but it pleased Sel immensely. He gave the large ball a gent pat as Ike told him they would need a smaller ball for the middle section of the snow soldier. He started the ball, then helped Sel make it larger.
As they worked, more snow began to fall. It was a gentle dusting, only a few flakes here and there, but it was enough for Ike to speed up the process a little. Sel did not take notice. He was more invested in making sure the snow was packed and rolled just right.
When the middle section was complete, Ike lifted it and placed it atop the base. "Does he need his cloak and lance now?" Sel asked, looking over the half completed snow soldier from every angle he could.
"Not yet. We'll make the head first."
The head, being the smallest, took little time to make. Though Ike's father had held his children up to place the head, Ike was the one to place it. He held Sel up to place the bucket helm and arrange the snow soldier's face. The boy's giggles filled the air as he pushed stone after stone into the head, trying his best to give their soldier a serious look. He managed more of a lopsided grin. The helm was placed at angle, adding to the silly appearance of the snow sentry.
Ike then took the blanket and knotted it around the snowman. He pulled the blanket around the snowman so it appeared more like a cloak. Sel then handed him the long stick, which Ike carefully forced upright in the side of the snowman in about the place an arm would be if the solider had one. The two of them stood back to admire their work.
For something put together with items they had found around the cabin, he made a very respectable soldier, standing at attention with his sideways smile in front of their home for that winter. Then came the inevitable question.
"Can we make another?"
Ike looked down at Sel, who was as eager and excited as he had been when he first woke him up that morning. "We can make another later. Right now, let's go inside and warm up." Sel's cheeks were red and rosy from the cold. Sel allowed himself to be guided inside, taking one last glance at their soldier over his shoulder before they returned to the warmth of the cabin.
The fire still crackled in the fireplace, and that was where the two of them settled with hot cups of tea after removing their boots, cloaks, and gloves. Ike had thrown a blanket over his own shoulders after Sel had curled up in his lap. Together, they enjoyed each other's company and the quiet of the winter morning as their snow guardian silently stood watch over the small cabin.