Book 1: Breaking the Ice Chapter 7 Remake
Hello! Uber sorry for not updating in so long! I've been busy with school. You know, high school. Well, I managed to get this done today. Just thought I'd put up this chapter before Friday because I'll be spending the night at a friend's house for her birthday. Excited! So, here's this chapter! Enjoy!
I don't own anything but my OCs.
Night had risen after three hours of walking. Buck and Roxanne, who was still carrying Rosalina over her shoulder, stopped in their tracks. The conscious female knew what her guide was going to say and started to find a place for Rosalina to rest while Buck went to find fire wood.
Roxanne sat down next to her sister once she laid her down on a pile of large, green leaves she grabbed to make a comfortable sleeping place for her twin. Roxanne gazed at her sister. Guilty thoughts came up in the hazel-eyed female's mind. It was her fault, she claimed. If only she'd respected Rosalina's decision to stay with Tim, they wouldn't be in this mess. They'd eventually be dead either way, but that didn't matter to her anymore. All Roxanne wanted now was for Rosalina to wake up.
"I don't think we're going to make it out of here alive, Rose. I'm not sure how much more danger I can take before I lose my mind and possibly you. I don't want to lose you. I…I want to go home –back to the ice age world we were born in. I can't do this anymore!" She couldn't hold back her tears. The salty, crystalline water ran down Roxanne's cheeks as she began to let out choked up sobs.
Buck appeared ten minutes later with a bundle of wood in his arms. His ears were greeted by the sound Roxanne's sniffling and weeping. "Roxie?" He called out to her in a gentle voice. The only thing he saw over the tall bundle of wood in his arms was the female's ears perking up. To get a better view of her, he set down the firewood.
She seemed depressed. Roxanne was hunched over by her sister, holding the resting cerulean-eyed female's paw in hers. Buck walked over to the troubled teen. He kneeled down to her level and placed a comforting paw on her shoulder. This caused her tense. "Don't touch me! Just leave me alone!" Roxanne shouted. Her hazel eyes were fierce flames as she glared coldly at Buck. Sighing, the male nodded and got ready to start a campfire.
Roxanne sighed sadly. Why did she shout at him? He was just trying to comfort her, but she pushed him away. Her mouth opened to speak. "Buck," Roxanne sighed again, "I'm sorry. It's just that I care for my sister too much for her to be in a dangerous place like this. If I lost her, I don't know what I would do. I don't know how much more I can take being down here. I'm…I'm…just not sure that we'll make it out of here alive. That's all."
The male turned around to face the female. Glassy light brown eyes stared back at him when their gazes met. Buck smiled a gentle smile before coming over to the girl again. He kneeled down to her level as he did previously. "I understand, lass. The leader of that herd I mentioned ta' Rosy had trust issues with me, too, because his mate was preggers with his kid. If your sister wakes up, I'll tell you two the story of how I met them and how I got them back to their world. How does that sound?"
Roxanne looked down at the ground for a few seconds then just nodded in agreement. Her depressed frown still graced her face. Buck noticed this and tried to reassure her. "Hey, it'll be all right. You girls are safe with me. As long as you stay close to me, you'll escape here, alive." When her guide walked away to get the fire started, thoughts began to float around in her mind. She really wanted to believe Buck would be their only chance to get out of here in one piece, but she just couldn't bring herself to do so.
Lost in thought, Roxanne sat there silently until she heard a loud WHOOSH coming from behind her. Her head instinctively turned around only to meet the warmth coming from the fire. She sighed in slight annoyance when he saw Buck give her a thumbs up, signaling the fire was lit and everything was fine.
While Roxanne's head was turned, Rosalina shakily tried to prop herself up with her elbows. She was still freezing from the cool water. Just seeing the fire gave her the urge to crawl closer to where it was, but not too close to burn herself. The female's body began to quiver again as she tried to sit up, resulting in her falling back down with a small squeak.
A shrill exclamation came from behind Roxanne. "Sis?" She turned her head to see her twin staring back at her. Oh, thank goodness! Rosalina was on her side, shivering nonstop. Roxanne helped her sister get closer to the fire and kept her in an embrace until the shivering, semi-dry bundle in her arms got comfortable. The ebony-haired she-weasel's head rested on top of Rosalina's while her blue-eyed sister rested her head under Roxanne's chin.
"So glad you're awake, Rosy, and in perfect timing, too. I was just about ready to tell your sister about that herd." The twins looked up at Buck. He was smiling his lopsided smile, causing Rosalina to smile gently in return.
"Well, let's hear it then." Rosalina replied excitedly. Buck gladly began to tell the story, using hand and body motions as he spoke. While Rosalina was listening to the story in fascination, Roxanne's mind drifted elsewhere. She was planning on how she and her sister were going to sneak past Buck while he wasn't looking. Granted, she was grateful for him fixing up Rosalina and saving them back at the lake, but she couldn't imagine how much more danger would come if they were to stay with Buck any longer. With the dinosaur he had mentioned to them roaming around, she didn't exactly feel safe around him.
Roxanne finally pushed her plan in the back of her mind when she saw Rosalina and Buck staring at her in a concerned manner. The hazel-eyed teen waved it off by saying she was daydreaming. Luckily, Buck shrugged and finished up the story. Once he was done telling the tale, Rosalina was in awe. She then remembered that Buck would also tell them about how he lost his eye. "Hey, Buck, I do believe there is one more story you have tell us." Rosalina waited patiently for Buck to realize what she meant. He nodded with a wide grin and began to tell the twins about his first encounter with Rudy, where he had lost his eye to Rudy whilst Rudy lost his tooth to the weasel.
Rosalina listened to the story in amazement while Roxanne remained slightly unimpressed. Rosalina has a high respect for Buck. Part of me doesn't want to do this to her, but it's for our safety. Buck's not safe to be around. He's put us in danger, not to mention Rosalina nearly died. Yet, she still trusts Buck to take us home. I'm doing this for us, Rosalina.
The twins continued to listen to the story until Buck ended it by saying, "It's kind of like the old saying: An eye fo' a tooth, a nose for a chin, a butt for a..." He did not continue the saying, for he knew it wasn't a good one and the females didn't need to hear the rest of it. Rosalina giggled at the expression he made when he stopped himself from continuing.
"Wow! That's an awesome story! Um, do you ever think about the herd? I mean, do you miss them?" Buck and Rosalina locked gazes at the mentioning of the herd.
Chuckling a little, Buck rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I admit, they were a strange bunch, but I did enjoy their company. Having no one but Roger, Rudy, Momma, and her little ones down here to visit, I guess I do kind of miss them."
"Have you ever thought of joining their herd?" Rosalina asked.
"They actually offered me to join after I thought Rudy died from that fall, but when I heard him roar, I just had ta' stay down here. Tiga' understood and let me go." Buck replied. A little hum of acknowledgement rumbled Rosalina's throat. A long moment of silence commenced until Buck told the twins to get some rest, though he knew Rosalina would be up for a long while since she was unconscious for who knows how long. It didn't surprise him that the cerulean-eyed she-weasel stayed up while Roxanne lied down. Since Rosalina wasn't in the least tired at the moment, Buck let her keep watch with him while he grabbed a nearby hunk of wood and started carving something.
Rosalina sat in silent thought as she stared absentmindedly at her "sleeping" twin sister. The teen noticed Roxanne had acted strangely. Right after she had woken up, Roxanne just remained silent. That wasn't like her. After staring at her for ten minutes, Rosalina got up. "I'm going to try to get some more sleep." She said to Buck, who was halfway finished carving what looked like a dinosaur. He looked up at her then nodded.
Roxanne heard her sister coming and let her eyes open. The cerulean-eyed twin lied down next to her, their gazes meeting. I guess it's time to tell her about the escape plan. Roxanne thought. Nervous energy enveloped the hazel-eyed girl like her mother's embrace. Taking a breath, she whispered, "Sis, you know I love you, right? I'm doing this for your safety."
"What are you talking about, Roxanne?" The sister asked.
"I know you're getting sick and tired of my plans that nearly get us killed, but this one will save our lives. Rosalina, we're running away, again."
Rosalina's eyes enlarged to the size of golf ball-sized hail stones. She whispered harshly, "What? No! Roxanne, no! He's are only chance to get us home. You don't even know where the Canyon of Your Worst Nightmare and Plates of Woe are! Buck does! I'm not leaving him! I have full confidence in him to bring us back to the Ice Age. I'm staying with him, whether you like it or not! Besides, there will be a fat chance we'll get killed with a plan like that, too."
Childishly, she crossed her arms and pouted with a defiant glare shooting in her twin's direction. Roxanne sighed. She knew it was going to be difficult to convince Rosalina to go with her. She had to get her to agree. "Sis, you nearly died back at that lake! Don't you remember that dinosaur Buck mentioned to us? Ruby, I think its name was…"
"Rudy!" Rosalina corrected her.
"Whatever! With that damned dinosaur out here, searching for Buck, I'm sure, we're not safe around him!"
"First, watch your mouth! Second, Rudy will not get us. Buck will fight him off as he did when the herd came down here to find their floppy green friend. If he can protect a strange-sounding herd, he can protect a couple of twins such as us. I'm staying with Buck and that's final. And, you're staying, too."
"Fine! You can stay and get eaten for all I care," Roxanne glared at her sister, "but mark my words; you'll wish you would have gone with my plan."
Cerulean pierced at hazel as Rosalina and Roxanne gave each other dirty looks. Rosalina replied, "You're insane! Can you imagine how dangerous it is at night? We'll be dead before dawn! This is ridiculous, sis! I'm not going to be the one to be eaten -if you go with your plan- it will be you."
"Okay. Say what you want. I'm leaving. Keep Buck distracted so I can escape future death."
"Shut up, Roxanne. I'm not doing that. Can't you see? Buck wants to help us, even if you want it or not. He's done so much for us already and I'm grateful for everything he's done so far. You should be, too, Roxanne. If he didn't save me, I'd be dead right now. If he didn't save you from falling off the raft, you would have had the same fate as me. Think about all that. Goodnight." With that, Rosalina turned over with her back facing her sister and went to sleep.
Roxanne exhaled in frustration. That conversation did not go so well, but she knew it was no use. Her sister wasn't going to budge. Only one option came to mind and it hurt the stubborn teen so much: She could leave Rosalina with Buck while she went to find her own way home. It seemed like a pretty selfish option, but she wasn't about to lose her life down here. As she got up from her spot carefully, Buck stood over her. His sudden presence scared the life out of the female, her chest tightening in fright.
"Rosy's right, you know. If it weren't fo' me, you two would both be dead right now. You won't stand a chance against the dangers of the night down here. I don't know wot' your used to up there, but down here, it's a whole other story. I'm your ticket home, lass, even Rosy knows that. My recommendation to you is for you ta' stay with me if you want to make it out alive and well. Now, get some shut-eye. We have a busy day tomorrow." Buck said in a rather serious tone before walking away to continue his wooden sculpture.
You speak some bull dung. You win this round, Buck. No matter what it takes, I will escape from you. Heck, I'll drag Rosalina's naïve rump with me if necessary. Growling lowly, Roxanne settled back down and let her eyes close in slumber.
Uh-oh. Looks like Roxanne's already had enough of Buck and Rosalina is mad at her sister. Stay tuned for the next chapter!
:D
