Enneagon

Chapter 12: Frigid

Hello all! To the person that got my knast joke last chapter: we share the same terrible sense of humor and I LOVE it. Thank you to Runereader of the Nightwings and KitsuneStarzzz for their reviews! Your comments are much appreciated!

On with the fic!

[Hexagon Academy, Briox]

[10.4.2065]

"Slowly now, no pushing! Hey! Berrynose, I said SLOWLY, didn't you hear me?"

"He never gets the stick out of his ass, does he?", Berrynose grumbled to Lionblaze, inclining his head toward Ashfur. "Actually, forget stick, there's probably a tree trunk up-"

Lionblaze choked on his water, and resurfaced from the rim of the bottle, sputtering. "You can't say that while I'm drinking, are you trying to kill me?"

"Lionblaze, for the last time, you are a captain", came an extremely cross voice from behind them, and both boys turned to see Ivypool standing there, with her arms crossed irritably in front of her. Then, her frosty veneer broke, and Ivypool leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially to her two teammates. "What's with him today, sweet StarClan, he's even more uptight than usual."

"Foxleap", someone said rather sagely from a nearby locker, and they turned to see Icecloud, grinning. Lionblaze gave her a tentative smile, and was happy to see that she smiled back with ease. She looked much better than she had in their confrontation in that empty classroom, her skin less pallid and the dark under her eyes less prominent. He could only guess that getting it off her chest had done her wonders.

"What do you mean, Foxleap?", Berrynose said curiously, and Lionblaze came back to himself. "Is he coming?"

"Oh, yes. I invited him", Icecloud remarked, grinning. "And I'm happy to report that he's been annoying Ashfur since 5 this morning." She put on voice uncannily like Foxleap, then began cranking out Foxleap's rather tinny rendition of "99 Bottles of Beer". "He was on bottle 56 the last I heard."

"Poor, poor Ashfur", Berrynose snickered, sounding supremely unsympathetic. "Look, here he comes now."

And so he was. Ashfur came scrambling out off the dock with Foxleap trailing behind him. His facial expression told the story his pride was unwilling to: namely that Ashfur was at the end of his rope. His face brightened visibly when he spotted them, clearly seeing a chance to rid himself of the singing Foxleap. And sure enough, Ashfur hastily dumped the redhead by his sister, then made immediately made himself scarce, as if he couldn't get away from him fast enough.

The second Ashfur's tracksuit-clad form disappeared back onto the dock, the group burst out into poorly stifled laughter.

Icecloud and Foxleap high-fived.

Although no one said it aloud, it was nice having the old Icecloud back. The bitter, angry version of her had soured her surroundings like a fart in a crowded elevator, and seeing her laugh and grin the way she had prior to Echosong's arrival was a metaphorical breath of fresh air.

Cinderheart, smiling, gave her boyfriend a knowing jab in the ribs.

"Where is Echosong?", he wanted to know, murmuring the question to her as Icecloud broke into a particularly loud bout of laughter.

"I don't know", Cinderheart muttered back. She looked around, at the bustling section of Hexagon's underbelly. Docked into depressions in the floor, attendants scurried around cargo shuttles, unloading food, water and other supplies. On the other side of the room, several massive, multi-hundred-gallon tanks of water were being hooked up to the wall using a massive hoses.

The rush of water made it difficult to speak, but Cinderheart continued. "I haven't seen her. Maybe she isn't coming?"

"Hopefully", Lionblaze muttered back. "I haven't seen Icecloud this happy in a long time, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Speak of the devil.

A door on the far side of the room slid open, and a coal-black head with mint rock green eyes ducked into the room, bowing under the weight of a massive backpack.

"...fuck."

…

Echosong felt very, very small indeed. Coming into the docks over half an hour late to see the Hexagon soccer team already assembled on the docks was disgraceful. Not to mention humiliating. She was just happy the shuttle must be running late. What if she'd missed it? What if she'd turned up at the docks, only to find it devoid of her teammates?

She didn't want to think about it.

There was a knot of her teammates and their friends, talking and laughing by the belly of a large supply shuttle, and Echosong was able to pick out the distinctive ginger head of Hexagon's resident prankster. Berrynose's tall, muscular frame and gleaming chestnut hair were easy to distinguish. Next to him was the team captain, significantly shorter and not as bulky in muscle. Besides. Lionblaze's unusually effeminate face and red-gold hair stood out no matter where he went. Lionblaze and Cinderheart had been standing a little apart, talking amongst themselves. Then Cinderheart's azure gaze locked onto her, and the conversation between her and the Captain immediately stopped.

Well, if that wasn't a dead giveaway as to who they'd been talking about.

But all that? All the unusual forms of her teammates, the potpourri of traits that made up the Hexagon soccer team? Nothing stood out quite as much as the sleek, platinum blond head of her would-be rival.

Echosong let herself stare for a short, indulgent minute. The nickname Ice-face suited her well. Her face, all edges. The sloping planes from her cheekbones down, the sharpness of her nose, the pointed nature of her cupid's bow. Her eyes, two chips of ice glittering angrily out from under fine blond lashes. Everything about her. The way the light caught on her pale hair and skin. The sunlight settled on her and left her glowing a frigid white.

The name "Icecloud" had never had a more literal meaning, and Echosong hated herself for the way she couldn't stop staring.

Then, the powerful, disciplined part of her gave itself a shake. Stop. Staring. Get a fucking grip.

Icecloud locked eyes with her, and all Echosong could see was gleaming chips of ice. Crystalline. Glittering. If she focused on beauty of them, she could almost ignore the deep-seated loathing, twisting around the ice in a hissing boil.

That kind of hate would be difficult to overcome. And no petty, appearance-based infatuation was worth trying.

So Echosong stared back, dislike reading plainly across her face. She didn't have to like Icecloud to admit she was beautiful.

Just then, Ashfur came scurrying across the dock, waving his arms to get his team's attention. "The shuttle", he bellowed. "It's pulling in, I want all of you getting ready. Hazeltail, you'd better make sure you didn't forget anything-"

"-I swear to StarClan, that was ONE TIME-"

Ashfur, ignoring her, carried on, "-and Berrynose, don't you dare leave your uniform at home. Now hurry up, the pilot doesn't have all day!"

"That's ironic", Hollyleaf remarked. "Seeing as the pilot's the one that's late."

"Don't say that to Ashfur, he'll pitch a fit."

Echosong ran a hand through her hair and watched the shenanigans proceed with exasperation. Immaturity at its finest, amusing as it may be. Then, with Foxleap once again beginning to sing, the team crowded its way into the shuttle.

End Chapter 12

I'm very sorry about the short chapter annvfoauvbioa

This chapter is unfortunately incomplete, because I injured my hand and am currently having a hard time typing. Hopefully no one is too upset about it!

And yes. Echosong is very much crushing on Icecloud. I do love myself a good enemies-to-lovers :D

Azra out!