Title: Cold
Word count: 7,826
Pairings: Percabeth, Jasper (the only other time you'll see this from me), Frazel, Slight Liper, mentions of Caleo
AN: So this is an AU-ish two-shot based off of "Cold" by temporayinsanity91, a Kim Possible fic. I felt like doing this was necessary. I apologize beforehand for everything that you are about to read. I didn't, I repeat I did not do anything in a particular order, so keep that in mind as you read. I just wanted to try my hand at angst for once, but…I went too far. My condolences.
POV: 3rd person omniscient (told from everyone's point of view)
Warning: character death. Lots of it. No blood/gore, though. Also, there might be very sappy Percabeth pieces.
Important Note: No one has powers. I was going to write this differently, but it turned out like this. I think I like it better this way, with the story focusing more on relationships rather than power/powers. They say "Oh Gods" just because I want them to. Enjoy. :)
Dedication: FOR MAH SISTER CUZ SHE'S A DODGY CRAPPER (do not ask what this means or you shalt surely be more befuddled then before)
Disclaimer: I own the plot, Rick owns the characters.
Prologue
...
April 10, the present
...
"So…it's that time of the year again." said the woman.
"Yeah." replied the man, his eyes down.
A swift breeze blew the woman's hair into her eyes; the air was unusually crisp for mid-spring. The breeze made the trees sway on their hinges and their limbs stretch out to grab the clouds in the sky. The wind stung the woman's uncovered hands and face, but she didn't mind. She'd felt cold before. This was nothing.
She glanced at the man, who had it worse than her.
He looked grim in his dark suit and sneakers, a weird combination. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, and the wind swept his dark hair around his face, too. He did not look up at all since they had arrived there, only down.
She followed his gaze and looked down at the gravestones.
The words were faded, and the once smooth surface had crumbled away, but she knew who they were. A decade and a year did a lot to tombstones.
She imagined the person who was buried there, deep down in their grave, smiling.
"Should I get the stuff?" he asked, and the suddenness of his voice took her by surprise. Her mind had wandered off again, like always.
"Okay," was all she could manage, and he took his eyes off of the one tombstone and retreated back to the car. The woman stood in front of the graves, and as he was gone, whispered:
"I miss you guys," she said under her breath. Her hand went in her pocket and came out with a medley of dead, dry flowers.
"I picked these," she said in a hoarse voice as the man slammed the trunk in the background. The wind blew a few petals away from her sad bouquet, but she didn't care. "I picked them, back in the California, on the way. I don't know why I kept them for so long, but – " her voice caught. The tears started flowing. She hurriedly rested a withered red rose down on the tombstone in front of her. "They reminded me of you guys, and - "
"Hazel?" said the man, his footsteps quickening behind her.
He had come back with his arms full of cloth. She turned around, and he saw that she was crying, and he dropped everything and embraced her in a hug.
She sobbed into his shirt, and he rubbed circles in her back, mumbling that it would be okay.
She felt stupid. He was acting stronger than her.
It will be okay, he said again, rubbing small circles into her shirt. When he said it, he nearly laughed. The words made his mouth and the back of his throat taste bitter. Things were never okay for them; never had been, never would be. But he still told her, anyway.
And for a little while, it was.
…
Cold
…
Part One: Frost
…
...
April 6, 11 years ago
...
Percy and Annabeth needed time to relax. Jason and Piper wanted time alone. Hazel and Frank wanted to spend time with their friends, and Leo wanted someone to annoy. And since Reyna had nothing to do, she tagged along, too.
For spring break, Annabeth had arranged for a five-day ski trip to the Poconos, a small mountain range in Pennsylvania. There were tons of great activities listed on the brochure she had mailed out – besides Alpine skiing, there was snowboarding, snow-tubing, horseback rides, and 80 degree indoor water parks. It made it hard for the others to say no.
The word ski had grabbed all of their attention. Judging from the pictures on the brochure, it looked like a lot of fun. A lot of them were skeptical, of course. None of them really knew how to ski except for Piper, but Percy figured that it was a good time for them to learn. So the eight of them gathered up the things they would need, and packed their bags to leave.
They took the camp van. Percy and Annabeth sat in the front, Piper, Jason, and Leo crammed themselves in the middle, and Reyna, Hazel, and Frank sat in the back.
There was a bad storm. It had been snowing the whole drive up (Percy nearly drove them all off into a ditch – twice), and Leo had sang "100 bottles of beer on the wall – the extended version" the entire way.
"Leo," said Percy through gritted teeth as he hit the gas, trying to see through the blizzard. "Will you shut up?"
"Just let me get to ninety," said Leo, who was at one hundred and thirty-two. "Then I'll stop."
Everyone groaned in reply.
They arrived an hour later than they had expected to, but – despite the storm and Percy's driving - they were alive.
Jason, Frank, and Percy unloaded the luggage from the car while Leo threw snowballs at the girls. Piper kept yelling at him, but Hazel, Annabeth, and Reyna just ignored him. Leo kept throwing them and throwing them, and it was all fun and games until Reyna caught one in midair. Sick and tired of Leo's stupid games, she threw it back, but she accidently hit Annabeth instead.
After that, it was like the Winter Wonderland version of the Hunger Games.
They went inside, covered in snow. Percy and Annabeth headed straight for the check-in desk and the rest of them crashed out in the lobby. Piper plopped down next to Jason on the couch, and Hazel and Frank sat in adjoining armchairs. Leo and Reyna sat on the other couch, as far apart as possible. Reyna gave Leo the creeps.
The lobby was a big, vast room with lots of nice furniture and a lot of guests trying to get good rooms. There wasn't much to do besides read more brochures and wait.
After a while of arguing, Percy and Annabeth came back.
"We got two rooms," Percy told them. "One for the girls – "
" – and one for the boys," Annabeth finished.
There was a little protesting from the Jasper side, but they each got a room key and headed up to their floor.
"Roomy," Piper commented as she flopped down on her bed. Their suite was pretty nice for a low-budget trip; the lodge had two rooms, four beds, a flat-screen TV, a Jacuzzi, two bathrooms, and a kitchen with a dishwasher and washing machine. The other girls were impressed, and Annabeth was glad that she had taken the deal for the timeshare.
The boy's room was equally chic.
"Niiiiiiccccceeee," said Leo in awe as he spun around in the middle of the den. Frank rested the last of his bags down on his bed with a grunt.
"Stop spinning," he told Leo as he began to spin faster. "You're making me dizzy."
Jason strolled in from the bathroom.
"Did you see that bathroom?" he said, wide-eyed in amazement. "It's huge. There's a hot tub, and a shower, and a TV, and – "
"Yeah, yeah," said Percy as he stumbled in, carrying a handful of their bags. "It's nice, we know. Just try not to break anything, okay? I don't think I can afford it. I'm looking at you, Leo."
"Hey!" Leo spun around in a wide circle, knocked into a vase, and the both of them toppled over onto the floor. Shards of decorated clay shot across the tile like bullets, and Frank gave in and buried his face in his hands.
Percy leaned over a groaning Leo with his hand held out and a smirk on his face.
"That'll be two hundred dollars."
"Has anyone seen my toothbrush?" asked Reyna from the bathroom.
Back in the girl's room, they were unpacking their bags.
Hazel closed one of the drawers on the dresser next to her bed and rested the shirt she was holding down on her suitcase. "Didn't you have it when we left?"
"Maybe…?" said Reyna's voice, and then Hazel heard a cabinet close. She heard her friend's frustrated groan ring across the tiles.
"Gods! Where is it?"
A couple of seconds of unpacking later, Annabeth stuck her head into the room.
"Do you guys have any toilet paper?"
"Yeah."
A roll came flying out of the bathroom, and Annabeth caught it in midair.
"Thanks." She disappeared back the way the way she came.
Hazel opened another drawer and rested her outfit for tomorrow out on her bed. She went to the closet, pulled out an ironing board, and inspected the iron, trying to figure out how to turn it on. Reyna walked out of the bathroom soon after, dressed in her pajamas.
Hazel raised an eyebrow. "Going to bed so soon?"
"Yeah," said Reyna with a shrug. "I'm not up like exploring tonight. I think I'm just going to watch TV."
"M-kay," said Hazel as she pressed her shirt. A strand of her dark, cinnamon hair fell into her eyes. "Suit yourself. Frank and I are going out to the marketplace."
Reyna's gaze wandered to the window as one of her hands undid her braid. "It's nearly sundown."
"Yeah," Hazel replied, "But the market doesn't close until eleven." Hazel pulled her pants onto the board. "If you haven't found your toothbrush, I'll get one for you."
Reyna pursed her lips.
"Make sure it's purple." Was all she said before she disappeared into the bathroom again, and Hazel had to smile.
"So…" Leo began as the seven of them minus Reyna walked out of the elevator and into the lobby. "Where to?"
"I was thinking about the marketplace…" said Frank with a brochure in hand. He turned it around, then to the side, and a page folded out, revealing more information about the resort. "I need to buy some stuff before we start. Any of you guys need anything?"
No one answered at first, but Leo spoke up.
"I'll come," he said with a shrug. "I promised Calypso a souvenir, and I could use a little junk food on the way back."
"Kay, then. I guess we should head out. See you guys later."
Frank waved off as he, Leo, and Hazel left the group, leaving Piper, Jason, Percy, and Annabeth.
"Where are you guys headed?" asked Percy, who noticed that Jason and Piper both had towels thrown over their shoulders.
"The waterpark," said Piper with a huge smile. They held hands, her fingers laced through Jason's. "I've been dying to go there ever since you told us about it."
"You know they have a waterslides and a wave-pool?" said Jason excitedly, his blue eyes sparkling. "Isn't that cool?"
"Very," Percy admitted with a smile. "Annabeth and I will have to check it out later. We're going to take a walk on the plaza. You guys have fun."
Piper and Jason hurried off to beat the lines. That only left Percy and Annabeth.
Annabeth smiled linked her arm through her boyfriend's.
"To the plaza?" she asked.
He smiled. "Let's go."
In Annabeth's opinion, the waterslide couldn't hold a candle to the plaza.
As she and Percy walked under the archways that surrounded the perimeter, she couldn't help but admire the architecture. The entire building almost looked like a castle from the outside; the huge stone walls surrounding the rear of the resort gave it a Medieval feel. Large, stone archways perched over shining, cobblestone floors. Newly fallen snow blanketed the ground, and Percy kept stomping to make footprints as they strolled.
"Isn't this place amazing?" she asked with a smile.
Percy smiled, his eyes gleaming. "Not as much as you."
She rolled her eyes and scowled, but the smile was still on her face. "Would you stop focusing on me and look at the scenery?"
The two of them approached a set of snow-covered tables on a balcony. The tables sat outside of a pair of grand, French doors. Percy went ahead, pulled out a chair, dusted off the snow, and motioned to her. Annabeth smiled and sat down. Percy did the same for himself, and sat down across from her, resting his elbows on the frosted table.
Annabeth gazed out past the balcony and at the rolling, majestic Poconos before her. They were so high above the sea level; Annabeth wondered how Percy could stand it. She knew he'd rather be near the water, at the beach.
"I like it here," said Percy, contradicting her thoughts. He gazed out at the mountains in the distance. "It's quiet and nice. Why haven't we thought of coming here before?"
"Because we're broke," she reminded him.
"Oh yeah. That."
They sat in silence, drinking in the view.
She heard him sigh from across the table.
"You think Thalia and Nico would've liked to come?"
"Maybe," she mumbled, her gaze back on him. "Or maybe they're too busy. You know how hectic Thalia's life can be sometimes, and don't even get me started on Nico."
"Mm…" he hummed in agreement. Then they slipped into silence again.
Annabeth felt content. The silence between was comfortable, and was filled with the presence of nature, which seemed to echo across the entire valley below them.
After a while, she found that her fingers were tapping against the table. Then, against her will, she began to tap her foot. She didn't really get why her ADHD was acting up, seeing as how there wasn't anything to distract her, but she found herself feeling more restless and fidgety by the second.
Annabeth was chewing on her lip and rubbing her arm when she said, "Let's move. I can't stay here any longer. The ADHD's getting to me."
Percy nodded. They stood, linked arms again, and headed off further down the plaza, Annabeth sending one last glance towards the mountain majesties.
"Pink or Yellow?" Frank asked Leo, holding up two t-shirts. Leo glanced up at him from the sales rack and made a face.
"Aren't those girl colors?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Frank replied sarcastically, "I'll looked for this in blood red."
Hazel, who was looking for toothbrushes, rolled her eyes.
"Leo, what are you getting Calypso?" she asked as her eyes swept past an aisle full of sports equipment.
"Not sure," he replied as he put a T-shirt that read "I SAID YES TO THE POCONOS" back on the rack. "I'm not really sure what she's into. I mean…I'd get her a T-shirt, but these are really lame. I wanted to get her something nicer – "
"Why don't you just get her a keychain?" joked Frank.
Leo gave him a look. "Uh…I don't think so."
Hazel finally found a purple toothbrush amidst all the other colors of the rainbow and held it up in triumph. "Finally!"
"Is that for Reyna?" Frank asked.
"Yeah. I'm not sure if she found hers yet, but I guess she would've called me if she did." Hazel eyed a bag of what looked like potato chips in Frank's hand.
"What are those?" she asked.
"Flamin' Hot Cheetos," he replied, and as soon as he said it, Leo looked up.
"What aisle?"
"Two."
"How many bags?"
"This is the last one." As soon as Frank said it, he realized that it was a mistake.
"Give them. To me. Now."
"That'll be five dollars."
"I don't remember giving you a choice."
Hazel, sensing a fight about to break out, quickly left the aisle and headed for the cash register. She didn't want to be there when something caught fire. Then it'd really be Flamin' Hot.
Hazel slid the toothbrush, a drink, and a few other things across the counter. As soon as the clerk started bagging her items, Hazel heard a crash from the back (where Frank and Leo were) and the clerk said, "I'm sorry, will you excuse me for a moment?" and went back there to break up the fight.
Hazel sighed as she watched Leo and her boyfriend get kicked out of the store, banned for life. The clerk took away the bag of Cheetos, and they left the store in shame, complaining all the way back to the elevator.
The clerk was about to shelf the snack when Hazel asked, "Um, can I purchase those?"
Ten minutes later, Hazel was back in the girl's suite with Reyna. They sat on the bed and watched Titanic, which Hazel had never seen before today.
"Where'd you get these?" asked Reyna between a mouthful of flamin' hot goodness. Hazel shushed her and stuffed a handful into her mouth.
"Jack…" she cried, gripping a pillow and munching on junk food.
Hazel sobbed as Reyna rolled her eyes and shoved more Cheetos into her mouth. Eat first, ask questions later.
Forget the waterslides. Jason wanted to stay in the hot tub for the rest of his life.
As soon as Piper and Jason had gotten to the waterpark, it had closed. The two of them were pretty mad (Jason was pretty sure they wouldn't let them in after Piper had called the manager – um, something inappropriate) so they went outside to blow off steam.
After a while of kicking the snow around, Jason remembered that Percy and Annabeth had gone to the plaza, so they decided to go, too.
On their way there, as they passed a small, fancy looking building, Piper spotted a hot tub. Not any hot tub. It was a big, bubbly, vacant-looking hot tub, and the sight of that made Jason and Piper decide that they would put their bathing suits to good use.
Jason closed his eyes and sank deeper into the water, letting the warmth of the Jacuzzi consume him. Piper sat to his right, doing the same.
"This is the life," he sighed, satisfied.
"Mmmmmm…" replied Piper, who was in too much bliss to form words. Jason draped his arm across her shoulders, and she moved closer to him.
"So…" she said after a while. "Ready to go skiing tomorrow?"
Jason smiled down at her, her kaleidoscope eyes sparkling in the light.
"You're really excited, aren't you?"
"Well, duh. It's not everyday you get to teach people something."
"You like teaching?"
Piper made a face. "Who doesn't?"
"If you like teaching so much, why not be a teacher?"
She made another face. "Uh…no. Let me rephrase that."
Piper pursed her lips in thought, which Jason thought was cute.
"I like helping people," she finally corrected herself. "It's different from teaching. Helping…it's more like that ancient Chinese proverb. You know, the one about teaching a guy how to fish…?"
Jason, remembering the quote, tried to say it in his best old Chinese guy voice: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
"Never use that voice again," is the first thing Piper said when he was done, and he laughed.
"Got it. But…you do know that the proverb's about teaching being better than helping, right?"
Piper thought about that for a moment, her eyes clouding over.
Jason smiled, and Piper put a hand on his shoulder.
"You know…I have an idea."
He raised an eyebrow, curious. "Yeah?"
Piper moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Let's just ditch the philosophical mumbo-jumbo and skip to the kissing part, hm?"
"Sure, Pipes," he chuckled, leaning down.
For once, Jason was happy to oblige.
"We're back! You can rejoice now!" Percy yelled into the boy's suite. He and Annabeth emerged from the hallway to find Frank and Leo playing video games, and Frank was winning.
Percy immediately stopped what he was doing and walked over to see the game, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"You've got to be kidding me," he said in disbelief as he narrowed his eyes at the screen. "Zhang's got game?"
"You bet I do," said Frank as he hit a combo, and Leo grabbed a pillow and muffled a scream. Then he repeatedly hit his head with it.
"Lemme play," said Percy, moving for Leo's controller, but the Latino Santa's elf held it out of reach.
"Nuh-uh. Not until I beat this mofo's butt," he said, jerking a thumb at Frank.
Frank turned to face Percy, his face grim.
"I'm sorry Percy," he said, "But I guess you're never going to play."
Leo lost it and attacked him for the second time that night. Percy lost interest and went back to Annabeth.
"So you wanted to plan out what we're doing tomorrow, right?" he said over the noise of Leo's curses and Frank's cries of "THE GAME! THE GAME! WE NEED TO PAUSE THE GAME!"
"Yeah," she said loudly, pulling a map out of her back pocket. She flattened it out against the kitchen counter. "We've already decided we're going skiing. Maybe we could do horseback riding. And after that we could – "
"Hey!" said Leo, who had momentarily stopped fighting Frank. He seemed to just notice that Annabeth was there. "No girls allowed! This is the guy's suite."
Just then they heard the door open, and Piper walked in, Jason close behind, carrying towels. "Hey guys. What's going – "
"I hate you all." Said Leo before Frank tackled him and they were fighting again.
Percy turned back to Annabeth. "So you were saying that you wanted to go horseback riding – "
"What's going on in here?" asked Hazel as she walked into the room. She walked over to Percy and Annabeth, and took in a seat in a stool next to Annabeth.
"Why do you smell like Cheetos?" Percy asked, and Leo and Frank stopped fighting to look at her.
Leo glared at her. "You didn't."
Hazel burped, then blushed.
Frank looked down at his hands in his lap. "I feel…betrayed..."
"Okay then…" Jason said quickly, grabbing Piper's hands. "So since you guys seem busy, Piper and I will go make out now. Bye."
They disappeared into one of the rooms.
"Don't go too far!" Percy yelled to them.
"Whatever!" replied the muffled voice of Piper.
"Stay North-of-the-Border!"
"GODS, ANNABETH!"
Percy chuckled. He may have been bad at a lot of things, but choosing friends wasn't one of them.
"Percy? Are you awake?" Annabeth asked into the darkness.
"Mhm?" drawled her boyfriend sleepily.
She sighed. A mere "not awake" would not describe it. Percy was barely conscious.
Their friends were in bed. Reyna had crashed hours ago, and Hazel soon followed. Then sleep had caught up to them, picking them off one by one. The only ones left awake were Annabeth, and less than half of Percy.
Annabeth shifted on the couch so that she and Percy were face to face.
"I can't sleep." She whispered.
"Whadd'ya want me to do?" Percy replied groggily. He lazily slid an arm around her waist, pulling her close.
"I don't know," she admitted, resting her head in the crook of his neck.
They were quiet for a minute. Annabeth listened to the steady thump of Percy's heartbeat, and the evenness of his breathing. She felt his hand playing with her hair, and she sighed again.
"…Do you want me to sing?"
"Oh gosh, no," Annabeth said, and Percy chuckled. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, and Annabeth felt warm inside.
"You're awake now, huh?"
"Yeah. You kind of woke me up."
"Whoops."
His hand played with a curl in her hair. "You're not sorry," he noted, his tone neutral.
Annabeth smiled into her boyfriend's neck, letting out a little laugh. "Not at all."
They stayed like that for a long while. He kissed her, and she kissed him back, and everything in the world seemed to be okay for once.
Percy pulled back from the kiss and looked into her stormy, gray eyes. He bit his lip and muttered something under his breath that he thought she wouldn't hear.
"Gods, I'm in love with you."
Annabeth smiled.
"I love you, too, Seaweed Brain."
She kissed him again, but when she pulled back, he still had the same wonderstruck look as before.
"No, seriously," he continued on, twirling the strand of hair he favored around and around on his finger. He shifted under her so he could sit up and get a better view of her eyes. "I'm, like, madly in love with you. I could elope right now and not have a regret."
Annabeth pursed her lips. "They have a chapel at this resort?" she asked.
"No. They should build one."
Annabeth smiled and turned over so she was lying next to Percy again, and they both looked up at the ceiling.
"Can't you wait a while?" Annabeth whispered to the roof.
"Nah. I'm ADHD, remember? I can't wait for anything."
Percy's free hand found hers, and Annabeth laced her fingers through his.
Percy kissed her cheek and sighed wistfully. Annabeth's eyes began to grow heavy, competing against Percy's heartbeat.
"I'm in love with you," Annabeth said aloud.
Percy went quiet, but eventually replied, "I already said that."
"Shut up."
Annabeth's eyes finally slid closed, and the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.
"Who's ready to go skiing?" said Piper the next morning, smiling like an idiot.
At precisely 6 a.m., Piper had taken the liberty of waking up everyone in their party of eight and dragging them down to breakfast. Of course, this aroused a wave of groans and complaints from the others, but Percy was the only one who was even as remotely as excited as her.
"Come on, guys!" he said, shoveling another forkful of eggs into a sleepy Annabeth's mouth. "Hurry up! If we get there late, the lines will be too long!"
Jason groaned, and Reyna followed suit. Frank's head spun before it dropped into his bowl of oatmeal.
Piper huffed and yanked Frank's head out of his breakfast.
"What – " he started to say, but then he broke out in a series of coughs, grabbing napkins. Oatmeal was not good for the respiratory system.
"Guys…" Piper whined, stomping her ski boot. She was already dressed to go. "Listen to Percy. He's right. If we get there late, we'll never be able to ski."
Hazel sighed as she chewed on a piece of her orange. "Are the slopes even open this early?"
Piper smiled and pulled out a skiing brochure. "Yup! Says right here that they're open from seven to nine! Isn't that great?"
She was met with the sound of Leo's snoring.
Piper sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.
Reyna sent a glance out of the glass window to her right, where the ski trail slid down the side of the mountain and into the dark, eerie gloom of the forest.
"I don't you about you guys, but…" she began uncomfortably, uneased by the steepness of the slope. "I'm staying here. The trail doesn't look safe."
"Oh come on, Rey," said Jason, and she sent him a withering glance. He recoiled under her gaze, but continued on. "It'll be fun. It's good to try something new every once in a while."
Reyna bit her lip and took a sip of her cocoa. She sent a wary glance out the window.
"Try it first," she said after a pause, a milk mustache on her upper lip. "If you like it, come and get me. I'll rent a board."
Jason smiled, satisfied. "I will."
Across the table, Leo yawned, now awake. He leaned back in his chair and stretched. "What time is it? Are we leaving now?"
"It's 6:36," Annabeth answered as she glanced at the watch on Percy's wrist. "I guess we should go rent the skis."
"Yes!" Piper fist-pumped the air as the other slowly rose from the table. "Finally, we're getting somewhere!"
Reyna watched as her seven friends, shuffled away from the table, stirring her milk with her spoon. She took another sip of her cocoa as she gazed out of the window again, the hills bathed in white.
She couldn't help but have the feeling that something was going to go wrong.
"I am seriously loving these snowshoes," said Leo as he padded around on the snow. Frank rolled his eyes as he fitted his boots into his snowboard.
The seven of them were in the rental place. They had just watched a skiing tutorial ("DO NOT WANDER OFF OF THE TRAILS", yadda, yadda, yadda) and were getting ready to go.
"This is going to be so much fun!" Piper squealed in delight as she strapped her board on. Percy and Annabeth both had skis, and Hazel and Jason had boards, too. Jason skidded around on the floor wearing his ski mask, propelling himself with his poles.
"You look like a burglar," Hazel noted as Jason skidded on the snow around them for fun. "Never sneak up on me with that, ever."
"Thanks for the idea." Said Jason, wiggling his eyebrows with a smile. Hazel glared and hit him with her pole.
Annabeth accidentally knocked over her ski pole.
"Could you get that for me?" she asked Percy, but he shook his head.
"I have five layers of clothes on and no breathing space. There is no way I can bend that far without shredding my jacket to pieces."
Annabeth snorted and picked up her pole.
Yep. This was going to be fun.
At precisely seven o'clock, it was go time.
"You ready?" Piper asked Jason, smiling hugely at him as the sky lift descended.
"No," Jason replied, eyes wide.
Piper couldn't see it, but Jason's knuckles were stark white under his gloves as he gripped the rail that held them in the chair. He wasn't afraid of heights; he was afraid of death-by skiing.
"Can't we just do this tomorrow?" he asked, his voice shaking. Below them, Hazel and Frank got off and sped down the slope, Frank screaming all the way.
"You want to go skiing tomorrow too? That's a great idea!" Piper said excitedly as she held one of Jason's hands, and he sighed in despair. Death-by-skiing it was, then.
The sky lift was almost to the ground.
"One," Piper whispered, her frosted breath curling into the air.
"Two," Jason said, wincing.
"THREE!" The two of them hopped off the sky lift and began to head down the slope.
Three words. Skiing. Is. AWESOME.
Piper thought that it was a lot like surfboarding, just colder and slightly more dangerous. As she and Jason started their descent down the slope, she laughed and did a couple of cool board tricks her dad had taught her the last time they had gone skiing. She stole a glance at her boyfriend to her right, and he seemed to be getting the hang of it. Despite his screaming, he was a natural.
Her board easily glided across the snow. Piper heard someone call their names, and glanced behind them to see Percy and Annabeth on their tail. Percy was doing just fine; he was shredding the slope like nobody's business. Annabeth was doing great, too.
"You guys are pros!" Piper yelled to them over the roar of the wind, and a flash of orange and green made her turn her head to see what it was.
She was plenty surprised to see her best friend skiing at the speed of light. "Leo?"
"Hasta la vista, baby!" he yelled back with a maniacal laugh as he sped past them. Piper could only shake her head. It was Leo. There was no explaining it.
After a minute or so, Piper and Jason arrived at the bottom of the slope, Percy and Annabeth following soon after. Leo, Hazel, and Frank were already waiting for them at the bottom.
"So, what did you think?" Piper asked the group.
They were all panting. Skiing could be a workout. Jason, whose face was white as the snow that covered the ground under his ski mask, could only manage one word: "Again."
Unsurprisingly, they went eight more times.
The more times they went, Frank observed, the better they became. Leo couldn't get much better than that (show-off) and neither could Piper, but the rest of them were really improving.
Frank remembered going to a ski resort when he was little back in Canada. His mom had taken him (Grandma Zhang had stayed at home) and he had played in the snow with some other children as his mom took on the big slope.
Frank couldn't ski back then (he was like, three. Frank was pretty sure that three-year-olds didn't get skiing privileges). He was glad he could learn now, even if his mom wasn't with him this time.
After the tenth round or so, Frank felt his fingers start to numb. He had worn a whole bunch of clothes to prevent it from happening (three shirts, two jackets, four pair of pants, two hats, and three pairs of gloves), so it kind of annoyed him when the cold got to him. When they reached the bottom of the slope, he was about to say something about it when Hazel said, "I'm freezing," and the seven of them decided to take a coffee break.
When they went back inside the resort, Reyna was sitting at the table, waiting for them.
"I saw you guys skiing," she stated as they all sat down around the table. "Had fun?"
"Loads," said Leo with a huge smile that was nearly identical to the one Piper had this morning. "You should totally come skiing with us. Then we could all have frostbite and lose limbs together."
Percy came to the table with a tray of coffee, and Frank grabbed a cup.
"It's tons of fun," Frank added as he took a sip. "We went down a dozen times. The only downside is the cold."
Frank took off his glove, revealing his hand. It felt stiff and numb. He picked his cup of hot coffee with his bare hand, and it began to tingle.
"Would you rather go skiing in 80 degree weather?" Piper asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, no."
"Then the cold's not a downside, Frank." Meh. She had a point. He'd rather go skiing than swimming.
The eight of them had an assortment of pastries and strawberries with their coffee. They made small talk for a while, trying to break the literal ice that was nipping at their toes, but Frank knew what they really wanted to be doing. They were all itching to get back on that slope.
After a while, Jason stretched, letting out a small yawn. "Well, I'm ready to shred some snow. How about you guys?"
Just like that, everyone was putting their coats back on.
"You coming?" Hazel asked Reyna, and Frank wasn't really surprised to see her nod.
"I still need to rent my skis," Reyna told them with a tinge of regret from having not gone earlier. She shrugged on her heavy ski jacket. "I'll have to get in line. You guys go ahead, kay?"
They all nodded. Then they walked out of the doors, put back on their equipment, and just like that, they were skiing again.
After what had to be their two-hundreth time down the same old slope, Leo got bored.
"I'm bored," he voiced his thoughts as the last of their group, Hazel and Annabeth, approached them. He turned to Annabeth. "Isn't there another slope we can try?"
Annabeth bit her lip, a thing she did when she was thinking.
"Well, yeah, but - "
"Let's go then!" he piped up before taking a step forward, but Annabeth grabbed his arm and pulled him back again.
"We can't use that slope," she finished with that Bad Leo, Bad tone that he despised so much. "It's for intermediate skiers. We're still beginners."
Leo considered this.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not a beginner - "
"Leo," Piper cut him off, rolling her eyes. "Annabeth's right. I'm not even an intermediate skier, and I've been doing it for years. How about we just find another easy slope?" she suggested.
The others muttered their agreement, and so did he. It sounded good to him.
The seven of them made their trek back to the top of the hill, and then grabbed some brochures from one of the information booths on the hillside. Leo skimmed through his, not really understanding any of what it said (dyslexia really jacks you up) and folded it outwards to see a picture of a map.
"There's a trail here," Hazel points out next to him as she surveys her own map. She shows it to Piper and Annabeth, and then to the others. The trail was labeled, "THE LOOPTY-LOOP".
"Sounds complicated," Jason replies, making a face, and Frank does too. "Let's look for another one."
They keep looking. Leo's eyes wander up a blue line labeled "Crow's Creek" and follow it until he spots something interesting.
"Hey guys," he said as he tugged on Frank's sleeve. Leo looks up and squints at the forest around them, knowing that the trail is not to far. "Check this out."
He finally spots the landmark on the map jutting out of the snow about fifty yards away, and points out an old trail deep into the forest.
"That one?" Hazel asks in doubt, and Leo nods. The others look a little skeptical.
"It's not on the map," Percy says as he examines his map, and Leo walks over to him to point it out.
"See? Right there," Leo points to a sketch of a rock formation that vaguely looks like a fist. He points to the entrance of the trail, right across from them. "That's the trail."
Percy raises an eyebrow as he looks back at the map. "Leo, this trail's marked as 'DO NOT ENTER'."
"So?" Leo replies, and looks at his map again. He quickly jogs over the to the trail entrance, which is only guarded by a fence. He climbs up to the top and peers over. "The slope here looks great! It's smooth and barely has any trees at all, and there's a little cliff at the far end that only goes down a dozen feet or so. It's looks even better than the last one."
The others come by the fence, and Jason is the first to reach him.
"He's right," Jason says. "It does look safe. You guys think we should go down?"
Annabeth shares a look with Percy.
"I mean...I guess so," Percy says, and it's a little off the lines of what Annabeth was thinking. "As long as we don't get into any trouble or anything, we should be - "
"WOOOOHOOOOOO!" No one even noticed Leo halfway down the slope. Eager to join, Jason follows after, and Piper just shrugs and follows the other two. Percy and Annabeth share an exasperated glance.
"We're going to get in trouble," Percy says. Annabeth sighs.
"Pretty much. Might as well join them while we can."
The two of them head down the slope.
The only ones lingering behind are Frank and Hazel.
"I don't like the look of this trail, Frank," Hazel says as she bites her lip, looking down at her laughing friends with doubtful eyes. "It must've been roped off for a reason. I think we should go find Reyna and - "
"But, um, I kind of wanted to test out the trail, too." said Frank.
Hazel bit her tongue, a lump forming in her throat. Oh. She didn't know what else to think.
"Okay then," she replied with a little smile that she hoped Frank bought as her thinking that it was okay. "Go ahead. Just promise me you'll stay safe, okay?"
"I will, I promise." Frank pecks Hazel on the lips, and she kisses him back, but this feels more like a goodbye than it should. "Just one time. I'll be right back, okay Haze?"
"M-kay," she replies, her voice lower and more solemn than it ought to be.
"Love you," Frank says with a smile, and then he climbs the fence and shreds down the slope and out of sight, out of Hazel's sight forever.
Naturally, halfway down the slope, something goes wrong.
Piper's shredding across the snow when she hears a cry behind her.
One of Leo's skis got caught on a rather large rock that jutted out of the snow. No one noticed it before. Leo flipped over, and fumbled down the hillside at an incredible speed past Piper. Stuck in place, she watched him go down the hill, a hodge-podge of orange and green and blue and white, and her heart pounds with fear. Piper calls his name as she immediately speedd up to catch up to him. She really hopes that he is okay.
The others cried out his name from behind, and Piper could tell from the way Leo fell that he broke something. After a little while, Leo's descent slowed down and he stopped in the center of the cliff. Piper managed to slow down, too, but the others sped past them. They were going too fast to turn around and stop.
Piper is the only one who manages to make her way back, and as she heads back up the mountain to help her friend, she hears a low rumble and see's a mountain of snow heading down the hill in their direction.
Her face flushes white. She realizes that their screaming had triggered what it was.
Avalanche.
The snow suddenly becomes so white, it's blinding.
"We can't outrun it," Annabeth's voice suddenly says from further down the hill. Her voice sounds a thousand miles away. The world starts to shift in a dizzying circle, and Piper doesn't know if it's an earthquake, the avalanche, or nausea. "We can't out-ski or board it. Ditch the board now, or it'll shred your legs." They all quickly try to follow her instructions.
Piper is frozen in place, unsure of what to do, her heart stricken with fear.
"PIPER!" Jason calls her name, and it's clear, but she's not responding. She hasn't taken off her board yet. Her gaze shifts over to Leo.
Leo's stuck in the snow a little less than fifteen feet away, crying out in pain and fear as the avalanche gets closer. Farther down the hill, the others finally managed to stop and begin call out for the two of them. The snow barrels down towards them at one hundred miles per hour. Her mind goes into hyperdrive.
If she went back for Leo, the avalanche would overtake them. Piper knew that. She had gone skiing enough to make the deduction herself. She could keep going down the hill and try to make it out with the rest of her friends, but that would mean leaving Leo behind. That was not an option.
It's decision time: go down with her friends, or go back for Leo.
The decision isn't very hard. She goes back, gliding across the snow faster than she ever has.
The very moment Piper screams Leo's name, she reaches him. His leg is bent funny. He's groaning and straining to get up, but he can't. Piper throws one of his arms over her shoulders and puts a hand under him for support, and they're about to start hobbling down the hillside when the rumbling gets louder, and she can't hear anything but the roar and the pounding of her own heart.
The avalanche catches up. Piper and Leo disappear in hundreds of feet of snow.
Jason is the first to scream; the only piercing sound in the rumbling of the avalanche is him.
He cries out and tries to go back up the hill, but Annabeth takes charge.
"Don't turn back!" she yells as loud as she can. It's a matter of survival now; they have to hope that Leo and Piper are still okay. There's nothing else they can do. "KEEP MOVING!"
Ice cold tears ran down Annabeth's face, but she continues to yell orders at everyone, and they eventually do what she says.
None of them manage to take off their boards and skis, but they keep moving. The four of them ski down the hill towards the cliff, and everything next happens in a blur.
The wind howls in their ears, biting at their faces. Annabeth thrusts her poles into the snow, propels herself forward, and glances back. When she does, her heart sinks even deeper into her throat.
When she looks, Frank is gone. He's nowhere to be found.
Annabeth holds back a sob. She turns back around.
The avalanche is gaining. This time, Percy glances back just in time to see Jason's skis snag on a tree root, and he trips. For a moment, Percy stops, and so does Annabeth, and they stop just in time to hear and see Jason scream and get consumed by the wall of snow.
"GO!" Annabeth screams, her voice shrill, her face red. Percy's face is totally blank, but the two of them press forward.
Percy falls in by her left. He keeps glancing back, desperate to help their friends, but Annabeth barks at him that they can't help their friends if they're stuck in the avalanche, too. Weird, she doesn't hear herself speak. Must be the wind.
Something catches her eye. At the edge of the cliff, there's a narrow passage between the trees where they could make a possible turn that would be out of the glacier's path. If only she could move a little to her right...
A tall, skinny pine tree is speeding by to her right, and at the last minute, she takes one of her ski poles and latches it between some branches on the trunk. Annabeth drops the other pole, holds on with both hands, and leans to the left. Just like that, all of a sudden, she's turning.
She makes the turn. Annabeth collapsed in the snow, happier than she'd ever been in a really long time. She's here. She's fine. She's alive.
She cries in relief as she rejoices in her luck when she remembers Percy Jackson.
He speeds past, unable to stop, but Annabeth's heart does. Percy manages to grab a tree trunk and hold on for dear life, and Annabeth springs up to her feet. She's running towards him when he reaches out for her, and Annabeth is only a few feet away when Percy get swallowed up by the glacier.
Suddenly, her luck doesn't matter anymore. The next things she knows, she's diving into the avalanche, and disappears.
After a long while of standing in line with Reyna and moping about, Hazel decided to join her friends.
It's not like she wanted to, but still. She could't help but feel like a party-pooper.
Really, she wanted to make sure that the six of them were okay. The trail may have looked fine and all, but after being roped off for so many years, things might've changed. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Hazel almost got lost going back. Then she spotted the rock formation that mark the trail (she didn't see a fist, like what Leo said it looked like on the map. It looked more like a big pile of schist) and began to climb the fence.
When she got on the other side, the last thing she wanted to hear was a rumbling sound coming from the mountain.
Time in Alaska had taught Hazel what to do. She quickly took off her skis and sprinted down the hill as fast as she could.
The avalanche was right behind her, but she didn't care. She had to reach her friends. She had to get there and make sure everything that turned out fine, no matter how terrified she was.
Her last conscious thought is on Frank and the rest of her friends when the avalanche catches up to her, and all she sees is white.
Endless white.
Next up: Cold, Part Two: Frigid.
Please review! Thanks for reading! :)