Okay, as anyone who lives in the Northeast will remember, we got dumped with a ridiculous amount of snow in mid-February (well, that was one of the times). My town never gets more than a few inches because we're on the bay, but we got a few feet. For about a week all I could think about was snow, hence why I wrote this and another snowfic. It just hid until now, so that's why I'm just typing/posting it now. Haha. Hope you like!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

He'd never liked the snow. First it was because Adora went into labor during the middle of a friggin' blizzard and he had to carry her two miles, bundled in blankets, to the house of the nearest midwife. Adora started bleeding before they got there and Cain had been scared he was going to lose his first child. Between the snow and the immense weight of his pregnant wife he shouldn't have been able to make it, but he did, eventually. Jeb came out alright, but he still blamed snow for making the situation difficult beyond what it should have been.

Then there was the first winter he'd spent in the suit. Zero had taken Adora and Jeb in early autumn, and by the start of winter he began chafing more than ever, desperate to get out. That was the snowiest winter in the O.Z. since the time of the Great Gale, and he remembered the temperature plummeting, especially when night fell. Glitch's damned invention kept replaying the day of his family's capture, but the projector couldn't mask the inches of snow that piled up.

Those inches turned into something near five feet, accumulating around the legs on the suit and drifting all the way up to the small window over Cain's face. The suit was imbued with enough magic to keep him alive, alive and watching, but even though he was immune to frostbite or overexposure it was still freezing. The metal conveyed the surrounding cold directly into him until he wished he was in hell—at least it would be warm there, as the saying went. This frozen, snowy mockery of the place he'd called home before Zero tainted it was worse than hell.

The Northern Island had been a bear, too. As if driving there in a wagon without proper walls wasn't enough, they had to march through feet of snow with blankets providing most of the protection against the biting wind. Once they broke through the sheet of ice covering the castle, they were at least out of the wind, but the rooms didn't warm up in the time they stayed there.

He'd actually been angry at Zero for not killing him with that shot to the heart—guess that proved he didn't have one after all—just because of the fall and crashing into that lake. If he'd thought the air temperature was bad before, he must've been a fool, because this literally brought pain to every point where the water contacted his body. Everywhere, it felt like tiny needles were pricking him over and over again, cruelly driving into his skin without leaving any marks. He thought he was free from the cold once he woke up in the wagon, but then he saw Glitch's face hovering anxiously over his and realized he was still stuck in that frozen wasteland.

Now Cain narrowed his eyes against the falling flakes, which seemed to be coming down harder than they had been a few minutes ago. He shot a glance up at the sky as though checking to see if that was true before turning his attention back to the woods in front of him.

He could still make out the form of his princess darting among the trees and reveling in the weather, but the snow was reducing his visibility. Cain wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't limiting his ability to spot potential dangers.

"DG!" After spending over an hour outside with the winter air tightening his throat, Cain's voice was hoarse.

She paused next to a misshapen pile of snow. "What's up, Cain?"

"You gonna be ready to come in anytime soon?" The cold still made speaking hurt a little, but he ignored it. Cain still couldn't understand how DG thought that being out in the woods, slowly numbing from the cold, and throwing the white stuff around was fun. She'd even laid down in it and waved her arms about, making something she called a snow angel. Whatever an angel was, it must be strictly an Other Side thing. He wouldn't begrudge her the enjoyment, though. "I don't like you being out here alone."

"I'm not alone. You're out here with me." DG grinned teasingly, knowing that wasn't what he meant.

"That's not what I meant," he said, exasperated, and saw her hide another smile behind her mitten. Cain wished she hadn't hid it. He liked when he made her smile.

"But I'm not done with my snowman!" she protested one last time, indicating the snowy lump in front of her. Cain's eyebrows shot up. That thing was supposed to be a man made of snow? Again, must be an Other Side thing, he figured.

"You can finish it once the storm's passed," Cain offered, wisely not commenting on her creation. He knew she was quite the artist, but maybe her talents didn't extend to sculpture. The three globs looked nothing like a human or any other creature he'd ever seen. "That's what most sensible people do when playing outside."

She gave in and came over to him, cheeks pink from the cold under her hood. "I've never been sensible, actually, but I'll come in if you want me to."

"Thanks, DG. I'll follow a little behind." Cain had his hand on the chilled metal of his gun, ready to guard her back.

"Won't you walk with me, Cain?" DG asked, the wistful expression in her eyes telling him she really, really wanted him to. He hesitated, wavering between duty and—

"Please?"

Well, he couldn't ignore that. Cain nodded once and let her fold her hand into the crook of his elbow.

"You're right, it's probably good we're heading inside," DG observed. "I'm getting cold. Besides, I didn't have coal or a carrot for my snowman. I'm sure I could've found some sticks for his arms, though."

Cain had no idea what she was talking about and glanced back at DG's snowman. Maybe he shouldn't ask what she meant.

Maybe there was more to snow than he thought.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I can't see Cain being too much of a snow person...

Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you liked it...Please? :D

~ange