Marluxia watched them shoot down the slope, screaming and laughing. Xigbar performed some elaborate jumps, flurries snow flurrying everywhere.
"There is no way I'm going down there," Marluxia complained as they landed, screeching, at the bottom on the slope. Vexen roughly pulled his board off him anyway, and put it at his feet.
"Get on, you sissy,"
"No way," The insult stung but Marluxia tried to ignore it. Vexen glared, suddenly all ice again.
"You don't even know how do strap yourself on. I could just leave you up here, you know,"
Grudgingly, the Graceful Assassin stepped onto his death. Vexen pulled the straps tight briefly explaining what Marluxia was to do.
"Right, you're all ready," Vexen clapped his hands, straightening out. Marluxia wanted to scream that no, he wasn't ready, he had no clue what he was doing and he would much rather be anywhere than here, on top of some remote mountain, surrounded by snow and about to hurtle down at terrifying speeds on a flimsy piece of fibreglass. However he decided against it and nodded vaguely.
"Aren't you going down?" He asked.
"Of course,"
And then the snow just solidified beneath Vexen's feet into an elegantly carved snowboard made of ice, elaborate patterns and all. Obviously. What use would a ice-wielder need of a snowboard when he could just make his own that would obey his every thought?
"You look as if you've seen a ghost," Vexen laughed as the others materialised next to them for their next turn. Xigbar was boasting about his "mad snowboard skillz" whilst Xaldin, the sensible one, merely commented on how much easier it became with powers of space, although elementally, of course, he also had an advantage.
However flowers were entirely unused to such things as extreme snow sports, so Marluxia didn't even have that to comfort him. Once again the others were off, this time Demyx attempting some complicated flips.
"Well? Are you too scared to go down?" Vexen asked, a hint of mockery in his voice. Marluxia didn't reply, refusing to make eye contact. "I'm not waiting for you any longer, Marluxia. Perhaps you can summon some of your famous courage next time,"
Vexen shifted slightly and shot down the slope, so fast he was practically a blur. He easily caught up with Demyx and spiralled around him, before overtaking. Marluxia watched him shamelessly showing off, even flying through the air, creating huge bridges of ice for the others to travel across. Then the bridges disappeared as suddenly as they came, leaving steep vertical drops which Vexen navigated easily. Marluxia found himself wondering why the scientist wasn't called the Graceful Academic instead. Well. He certainly felt like the Chilly Assassin right now.
Vexen had reached the bottom, curving flawlessly around to face up the mountain. The others were cheering and clapping him on the back; Demyx was waving his arms about animatedly. They were having a great time and suddenly Marluxia felt very alone at the top of the mountain.
It wasn't that much different from surfing, really, he tried to convince himself.
He pushed himself uncertainly off, and immediately felt the wind in his hair as he attempted to stay upright, going in a large curve so the angle wasn't quite so steep. The snow was all in his face and he was sure he was about to freeze off, but he hadn't fallen. Yet. He just about curved the board around and for a few terrifying seconds he was going vertical before the angle leavened out a little. Just how fast was he going? A third curve brought him close to the bottom and he curved back again, stopping a few metres from the others. The adrenaline wore off and suddenly exhausted, he collapsed into the crisp white snow and squinted at the sun that ruled the immaculate azure sky.
Xigbar jogged over, followed by Vexen.
"Nice," He grinned from ear to ear. Even Vexen seemed pleased with Marluxia's efforts, a small smile on his face. "We all thought you were going to fall, no offence," the Freeshooter continued.
"Thanks," Marluxia managed to say, trying to get his breath back.
"You surfed before, right? It shows,"
Marluxia thankfully grabbed hold of the hand that was presented to him, even if it was Vexen's, and hoisted himself up.
"I must admit it was impressive for your first attempt," Vexen said, and Marluxia gracefully accepted the rare compliment. They all portalled back to the top, and Vexen began running through a simple jump for Marluxia to practice. A few more trips down, in which Marluxia fell countless times much to Vexen's amusement; Marluxia was sure his bad luck was something to do with the academic. Then they moved on.
The second slope Marluxia absolutely refused to go down. It was steeper than the first, and rather than a straight slope had curves, bumps and most importantly - countless rocks visible above the snow. No matter how much the other three (excluding Vexen who pretended he didn't care) pleaded, teased and complained, he stayed stubbornly at the top. Eventually they gave up and left without him.
"Vex, create an avalanche for us," Demyx begged after their third time down.
"I do want to be able to do some more boarding today," Vexen retorted, for once keeping in good humour rather than immediately snapping like usual.
"Just a tiny one, please,"
Vexen kicked some snow with his boot and it tumbled down the slope.
"A little bigger than that," Demyx grumbled, looking up at Vexen with accusing eyes.
"Fine," Vexen caved. "Everyone line up, I'm only doing this once,"
Marluxia watched from a little way off as Vexen concentrated his powers on the snow. He wondered if he should join in, but decided against it. Anyway, his snowboard was still lying a few metres behind him.
Suddenly the snow began to slip away at his feet, just a little at first but growing until he was floundering in the gigantic avalanche. The other three were off, riding the snow, but Marluxia began to panic. Then just as unexpectedly he had a board beneath him, one made of ice. Vexen was beside him, controlling a double board down the falling snow. He accelerated and they went vertical, only the back of the board touching the ground.
"Lean back!" Vexen yelled, and Marluxia complied, moving into the spray of snow behind them. Then they were away from the avalanche on another bridge of ice. There was nothing in front of them, only a beautiful, glistening arc stretching out where they'd been, growing as Vexen pulled the ice into existence.
Adrenaline set in and it was so close to emotion Marluxia couldn't care less if he was next to a man he despised. For a few seconds they were in the air, and then they landed in a curve on the avalanche and Vexen was so close, leaning into the mountainside before they curved away.
Vexen broke the board and sped off by himself, leaving Marluxia on his own. Somehow he navigated to the bottom of the hill where the snow settled. Vexen had curved several times and landed a moment after him.
"Not so bad, huh?" He grinned, actually grinned, eyes glinting with excitement. Demyx and Xigbar came round before either could say anything else, covering them both with soft, fluffy snow.
"That was so cool!!" Demyx exclaimed at Vexen's general direction as the old man picked himself out of the snow. Vexen smiled back at the young musician.
"Nice trick with Marluxia," Xigbar smirked, gesturing to him, still lying on the ground. "Anyway, we'd better stop for food. Where's Xaldin?"
"Right here," Came the Whirlwind Lancer's distinct voice.
They portalled back up to the summit of the mountain for a better view and unpacked their lunch. Everyone was hungry enough to eat all the ample food that was provided, and possibly more had it been there.
Vexen stretched out on the snow and relaxed. He felt the sun, warm on his face, reminding himself of how cold he was inside. Another person sat next to him, and he turned slightly to face them.
Marluxia was staring up at the sky, from this angle perfectly framed by the sun, turning his hair into a pink fiery blaze. His eyes looked so unusually thoughtful, so sincere. Vexen turned away.
Marluxia, he decided, should not, under any circumstances, be able to do that. Ever.
