| Winter Puppets Chapter Two : The Unexpected by Bottou-chan |
He was awakened by a sliding jolt and a muffled obscenity. His first reaction was to tell Neon that it wasn't very ladylike, but when the sliding jolt was replaced by a very solid slamming feeling, banter was forgotten.
That was the first moment. The second moment, his eyes flew open, and the windshield was a mass of grayish-white in front of him, with intricate, spidery cracks in the glass. Somehow, his own window was completely missing, and snow was piling in onto the side of his head. There were growing red patches in the snow, and a dull, throbbing ache in the side of his head. Several smaller, sharper pains began appearing randomly along the side of his neck and shoulder.
"Oi, Neon-han, why is everything ninety-degrees off?" he asked, getting his bearings, not daring to move.
"The car tipped over," said Neon flatly. "Kurei's going to kill me."
"Oi, Neon, car's don't just tip over-- it requires a little something else," Joker debated delicately.
Neon swiveled to stare at him. "The road is icy. We don't have chains on the tires. And we're driving an SUV. I don't need to take anything from *you* right now, okay? Let's just get out of this mess." She winced and clutched her wrist, biting her lower lip.
It took a good deal of maneuvering, but they succeeded in freeing themselves from the wreckage. An assessment of the damage wasn't particularly heartening. The car was lying on its side. The two passenger windows had shattered completely, and the windshield was severely cracked. Joker had a number of minor cuts which bled profusely, against his will, in addition to a large knot on the side of his head. Neon seemed to have sprained a wrist on the steering wheel. It took only a second with the Taishaku Kaiten to right the vehicle once more, but it only confirmed what they knew would be the case.
The car wasn't about to go anywhere anytime soon. The passenger side looked rather mangled, one of the tires was no good, along with countless internal damages which the two assassins were too tired and too cold to assess.
Joker irately wiped at the side of his head with his scarf. "Were there any towns?" he asked, looking nervously at the sun, stomping his feet to keep them warm. Darkness came early, in the mountains, and the temperature would drop considerably lower than it already was.
Neon shook her head. "It's a pretty remote place," she said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "I've driven this route before, and you can go for an hour without seeing another car on the road. There are a few villages... if memory serves, there's one a few miles up the road."
"Let's do that, then," nodded Joker. He looked at Neon with concern. "Can you walk okay?"
"It's my wrist, not my ankle," snapped Neon, peeved at the thought of being perceived as weak. It didn't stop her from wincing, though, as they began trudging along the side of the road, through the flurries. The continuous bounce of walking sent a shot of pain through her wrist at each step. She nearly slid and fell once, and Joker caught her. From then, she kept a tight grip on the sleeve of his overcoat with her good hand, and kept her injured one close against her chest.
They trudged together in silence as the shadows lengthened and the flurries increased. They were cold, wet flakes, which spotted Neon's hair. Joker had removed his mask, due to the bleeding, and had left it behind in the vehicle. His own uncovered head was now spotted generously with flakes of snow. He wished they'd brought more than their overcoats and their scarves. He wished they'd brought waterproof shoes. He wished they'd brought earmuffs and warm woolen knit hats. Heck, he'd be happy for a cell phone and a bonfire right now. He pursed his lips and continued walking, noticing with apprehension that the shadows were lengthening and still no sign of habitation appeared.
"We're in a mountain valley," explained Neon, her breath curling in tendrils of vapor as she spoke. "This part is heavily forested, but there's a few scattered farms that have been cleared out, and that village shouldn't be too far ahead."
"Oi, Neon-han, forget the village!" said Joker, pointing. "See, look." He pointed-- there was seemingly a street in front of them which came to a T-intersection to the road they were on. "If we follow that street, I think I saw lights."
"Okay," said Neon reasonably. She laughed nervously. "Let's just hope we don't scare the people out of their wits."
Joker made a face. "They'd have to be heartless to turn us away on a night like this," he remarked.
"So if any of them look like Mikoto, we should leave immediately?" grinned Neon, raising an eyebrow impishly.
"If any of them have eyes that don't point in the same direction, we should leave immeditately," returned Joker, a fang glinting.
"Like I said," teased Neon. She didn't care much for Mikoto, and let the fact be well-known.