Hey readers, I just want to say thank you for being patient. I wanted to get to this chapter out yesterday, but it was too late to start it on Wednesday. Anyways, enjoy.
Celsius
Falling was a lot more scary than Celsius expected. He could hear the faint screams of the IceWing bystanders at the celebration as he plummeted down towards the ground. Celsius knew that he couldn't die, but the chances of survival were small, even for his standards.
He only had ten seconds before he hit the ground, and during the three, he rememebered his enchanted knife from his adopted father. His arms scrambled for his back leg as Celsius heard the wind blow into his ears. He was right beside the building he was falling out of, and a plan formed in his mind.
"Here goes nothing," Celsius told himself, perhaps a little too calm. It was life and death at this point, and he chose life. He had a mission to complete, and he wasn't going to fail it within a week of starting it. He grabbed his Karambit blade and swung the knife over his head, and into the building.
Since the building was made of ice, the knife went into with no problem. The only things that caught Celsius offguard was the horrible screeching sound of a blade slicing through ice, shattering it as he went down. The other was the fact that he felt his arm stretch when he started to decelerate. Celsius shouted in pain as the nerves in his arm shot with sudden agony.
It was like feeling his muscles being slightly torn, each bit giving away one strand by another. Even though Celsius wanted to let go so much, he wouldn't let himself; he was still falling too fast to survive. Pieces of ice flew at him as he continued to slow down towards the ground. His eyes began to fill with tears as the pain in his arm became unbearable. His claw then let go of the knife handle, and Celsius' heart filled with fear that he was going to die.
As he free fell, the IceWing Agent failed to notice that he was only 15 feet off the ground, hitting the solid surface with a thud and a groan. He laid there for about a full minute, his mind thinking of the impossible scenerio he just faced. Celsius was surprised with himself being able to go through that amount of pain as he tried to get up.
That was a big mistake. As soon as he used his arm which swung into the ice building to lift himself up, Celsius felt large amounts of burning pain surge through it, and he collapsed back on the ground. That's going to be a problem, Celsius thought to himself, using his other arm to push himself up. Now time to get home.
Celsius knew it was going to be hard trying to get all the way back to the surburban shelter looking suspicious. He limp was going to get him spotted and questioned as soon as any patrolling guards found him. He started towards the direction of his home, picking up his knife and the sniper. Celsius didn't want to have the gun checked for DNA prints, and he was also keeping a gun from the enemy. So it's a win-win situation, Celsius thought sarcastically to himself.
"Frigid. Frigid! You there?" Celsius asked through his comm, which he was thankful for it still being intact from the fall. There was no response at first, but static soon followed. A voice then started giving Celsius a chat.
"Moons, Celsius! What were you thinking!" Frigid yelled over the mic, causing Celsius to wince at the sudden noise. "I think every dragon in IceWing Kingdom heard that. I heard that from the house."
"I thought the gun was going to have a suppressor on it," Celsius tried to defend himself, but he knew he was at fault- he should've checked the sniper to see that it was silenced. He mentally beat himself up at the stupid move to use it, but what else could he have done? If it wasn't for him, the Queen of the IceWings would be dead, and the kingdom would be thrown into chaos.
"Fine, but I'll have to tell the director about what happened," Frigid said, sounding irritated and nervous; it was never a good talk with the head of Pyrrhia Police. "Make sure you get back here unscathed. Also, what happened in the last two minutes I was gone?"
Celsius looked to his right and left as he left the alleyway he fell into. He quickly ran to the nearest spot of cover, his limp slowing him down. "Well, I took out one of the queen's guards, but he was about to kill her."
"So . . . you were right about it, then," Frigid said, a bit uneasy.
"Then I got shot at by two extremists with machine guns," Celsius went on, explaining how he was forced out of the window. "The terrorist cell is more equipped than we thought."
"Understood. Anything else?"
"Yeah, I almost plummeted to my death. That would've been the end of me if I didn't catch myself with my knife," Celsius then told Frigid about how his arm was hurt and that he would need to be bandaged up. "I'm lucky to be alive."
"Got it. Now just get yourself back without being spotted." The chat ended with Frigid cutting the communication, leaving Celsius alone in the dark. There weren't any IceWings in the streets, it being two in the morning. The wind was now colder than normal, Celsius shivered a bit when he was touched with the breeze.
Then, he heard the flapping of wings behind him, and he turned around to see two IceWings flying over the buildings, analyzing the ground. One was holding a spotlight while the other was holding a rifle.
No. No, no, no, Celsius thought to himself as they flew away, checking the next area on their list. I won't have enough time to get out of the city. He cursed silently, and bolted to the next bit of cover in the street he was moving down. This is going to take a while, Celsius thought as he bolted to a buildings side, out of aerial view from the street. It was going to be a long night, and a even longer day tomorrow.
(* * *)
Celsius opened the door to his residence, exhausted from the hours of dodging the guards flying in the sky. He quickly got inside and shut the door fast as if he was being watched by someone. Celsius then fell against the wall, taking big gulps of air. He didn't noticed Frigid walk up next to him, which he had a annoyed face.
"Finally decided to show up?" He asked, and Celsius nodded, setting the sniper rifle he stole from the enemy next to him. "What is that?"
"It's the gun I stole from the terrorists," Celsius told him between short breaths, his lungs being filled with the glorious oxygen once again. "And no, I didn't get spotted."
Frigid frowned, looking at Celsius suspiciously before he went back to his task at hand: not getting yelled at by his bosses. Celsius seemed relieved that he was walking away, but Frigid turned around, most likely forgetting something. Come on. Celsius looked up to meet Frigid's look, and Frigid just began to talk.
"Okay, the director took your findings into consideration and you have a new set of orders," he explained to Celsius. "Your new primary mission is to become allies with Princess Glacier."
"You mean friends?"
"Whatever you like to call it," he continued. "After you become 'friends' with her, you will need to protect her at all times without blowing your cover. Remember, do not get attached to her; you aren't here to make friends or dates."
"They're asking the impossible: do you know how suspicious she is of me?" Celsius asked his comrade, who had a clueless face. "She pretty much interrogated me after combat training on Friday."
"And what did you do about that?"
"Simple, she swung at me-"
"Did you seriously hit the Queen's daughter?!"
"No, I pinned her to the ground."
"For moon's sake, Celsius!" Frigid exclaimed, shaking his head. He walked to the other room and poured himself a cup of refreshing, icy water. "This could already cause the end of peace for the IceWings! The princess might not even talk to you."
"You're overreacting, friend," Celsius responded, smirking at him.
"And why is that?"
"She likes me."
Frigid choked on the water he was drinking and dropped the glass, shattering it. He stumbled to the wall and looked back up to Celsius. "What did you say?"
"I know she has a crush on me," Celsius told his companion, this time more seriously. Frigid left the room once more, this time getting a broom out of the closet. He then came back with the tool so he could clean up the mess he made. "She blushes whenever I'm near her."
"I think your imagination is getting the best of you," Frigid replied, swiping the broom across the floor and collecting the pieces of broken glass. "You might've run your lungs dry of oxygen."
"You don't believe me, do you?" Celsius asked, and Frigid replied with a nod. "I bet we will become friends within a week, and I'll introduce you to her."
"Deal," Frigid agreed, smirking at the IceWing agent. There's no way he believes me, Celsius thought, before a evil look spread across his face. "In fact, I'll put 30 gold coins on the bet, too."
"You got yourself a deal, my friend," Celsius responded before he slowly got up and realized that his chest was sore. He wheezed a few times, stumbled slightly with each step as he made his way to the bedroom he stayed in. He was too exhausted to clean himself up, so he just lied on his bed and closed his eyes, the sniper rifle lying next to him.
(* * *)
It was a Monday, meaning the class week started up again. IceWings in the class were still on edge from what happened on Saturday, and the celebration for Sunday was canceled on the queen's request. Apparently, the assassination attempt really shook them up; no one was paying attention to the professor. Rather, they were looking out the window, as if they were the next target and their lives were going to end.
"Class pay attention," the professor growled, but none of the students except Celsius were paying attention. "ATTENTION!" The class immediately jumped and all the students were now giving their undivided attention to the professor, who relaxed a moment before glaring at the pupils. "There is no threat to you, just to the queen and the Royal Family. You do not have to worry because the IceWing guard is already securing the building. They will be no harm from anyone except from me, and that's if you decide to ignore my lessons."
Everyone relaxed and Celsius held back a laugh towards his classmates. He knew that he would be in deep trouble if he somehow gave his classmates any trouble, and he couldn't blow his cover and lose trust from Glacier. She was the only one he cared about, for various reasons of course.
"Mr. Celsius," the professor called out to him, breaking the IceWing agent out of his thoughts. "Would you like to tell the class about the main weakness of a SkyWing."
"Of course, professor," Celsius responded. "The main weakness is the SkyWing's size. Since their wings are massive, they are slow and not agile enough to defend from fast attacks and objects. They will try to throw the enemy off-balance, but that can be a vulnerability, too. This will lead to their back vulnerable to enemy attack and a stab wound could kill them in short time."
"Very good, Celsius," the professor said in a impressed manner. "Do you know their weapons?"
"Yes professor: weapons of choice are spears or long range weapons in general. They are not fit for close quarters and that's why their important buildings are more open spaced."
The class bell rung, but the professor silenced everyone before they could get out of their seats. "Take in mind what Celsius said," the professor announced. "This will be on the quiz tomorrow, and I will show no sympathy to those who give no effort."
The class then dispersed out the doors and into the hallways. Celsius was the last one out of classroom, and he began to search for the IceWing princess. Fortunately, she was no hard to spot; for she was being accompanied by two IceWing guards. They watched every IceWing cadet in the building, analyzing what they might do if they were threats to the Royal Family.
The princess was also with her two friends, and they were chatting about something. For Celsius, he knew it was most likely about him or the event on Saturday, and he was worried that the princess was coming up with a conspiracy about him. Celsius quickly decided to go chat with the IceWing princess, and he sped up his walking pace.
Unfortunately, the IceWing guards saw this, and one of them swung his spear at Celsius before he could say a single word. As soon as Celsius saw the weapon zooming towars him, he quickly made the decision to grab the spear by it's wooden pole and hold onto it. Everyone in the hallway stopped in the hallway to look at what happened, and the guard seemed surprised on how Celsius was able to do what he did. Glacier turned back to look at him, and Celsius saw a small blush followed by a shocked face on how Celsius was holding the spear against a very well trained guard.
"Guard, yield," Glacier commanded.
"But your majesty," the guard responded. "He could be a assassin."
"I said yield," she repeated, confidence in her voice as if she was in charge of the entire world. "Everyone else, continued with your day." She looked around to everyone, giving them all daggers. They seemed to get the message, because all the IceWings dispersed to their next class. Glacier then turned around to tell her friends to leave them alone. They complied, but one of the princesses' friends wiggled their eyebrows suggestively, and Celsius immediately knew what was going on. She does like me.
Glacier then turned back, her cheeks had a fading spot of dark blue blood, trying to keep the blush away. "What do you want, Celsius."
"I was hoping we could have a little chat; just you and me," Celsius suggested, but then he heard the two guards growled in disapprovement.
"I don't think we will have that luxury," Glacier responded, looking at the two guards, making her diamond jewelry sway from side to side. "They were ordered by my mother not to leave my side no matter what." Their spears went to their side as they watched Celsius carefully. "But I can have this chat later at the palace, if you want to have a private chat there."
"No, no it's fine here," Celsius responded, giving his most formal stance. Glacier then gestured him to walk by her side, and he did so.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Glacier asked curiously, getting closer to him. He felt a little uncomfortable when she did this, but he decided not to say anything about it.
"Well, I was wondering if we could forget about everything and start over, this time on good terms," Celsius told her, and she found this a little unexpected, especially coming from him. "Just forget of the . . . disagreements we had over the pass week and a half."
Glacier looked up slightly and frowned, considering the offer. Celsius knew she was thinking of the positives and negatives of the proposal, and he was hoping Glacier would accept this. After a long minute of silence besides the noise of metal hitting the ground, she spoke again.
"I will accept this request," Glacier responding, agreeing to the IceWing agent's proposal. "I apologize for all the rash actions I made against you."
"And I apologize for all the rash things I did to you," Celsius responded as he slowly grabbed Glacier's claw and kissed it in thanks for accepting his apology. This clearly stunned her as a blush formed across her snout. Celsius, along with the two guards, saw this, and the guards eased up on the situation. The IceWing princess looked away from Celsius as she tried to control herself, but was failing.
"I guess I should be getting to class," Celsius excused himself from the princess.
"Yes . . . I should get to class, too," Glacier responded, and she sped down the hallway being followed by her two guards. Celsius smiled, but he forgot something. "Wait, Glacier!" She stopped and turned her head as Celsius walked down her quickly. Once he was a few feet away, he asked the million dollar question: "Can we start out this new situation as friends?"
Glacier stayed still for a few moments, but responded with a blind nod. This started the relationship that Celsius never thought would happen, with the IceWing princesses' skepticism and all. Glacier knew this as well, because she quickly twined her tail with his, ensuring that their friendship just begun. Celsius smiled at the princess, then checked his watch to see that class was starting in twenty seconds.
"Oh moons! Got to go," Celsius exclaimed as he ran towards his class, leaving Glacier to walk to hers. As Celsius continued to move toward his target, he didn't know that Glacier was in a fantasy that she thought she would never have. I guess asking works. Well, most of the time, Celsius thought, smiling to himself as his friendship started with the most unlikely dragoness in the IceWing Kingdom.
Hey there guys, I'm just going to come and say that this was long overdue. I deeply apologize and I scold myself, knowing that I under estimated the importance of my finals (which I passed) and the fact that my laziness took over me. I failed to keep my promise with my updating schedule, and there is no excuse for this. I am also very sorry with not updating the Christmas chapter, but Christmas doesn't end until January 6th, so hope that I don't get lazy.
Speaking of which, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you had a awesome time with the Holiday you celebrated today or over a series of days.
I will continue to do my best with the updating schedule and I will see you all soon in the next Not Always Alone chapter.
P.S.-no one spoil The Last Jedi for me. I haven't had time to see it yet.
