Hello and welcome to Re:Freezing, a rewrite of an old story of mine! To those who migrated from the original Freezing story, don't mind me. For those who just clicked on this story, welcome!

Now, let's get the first chapter started without any more blabbering.

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"This can't be happening, not like this."

A woman reached her hand out as she cried helplessly.

"Someone please…"

It was getting cold.

The man holding her hand lying next to her began to dissipate.

It was getting darker.

"That is our only wish…"

"Please…!"

YEAR X774

…

…

…

It was early in the morning.

"I'm really sorry about this."

"We already told you, Pandora. We don't mind, really."

A young girl with black hair watched as her older sister lowered her head in apology to the lady in front of her while her older brother stood silently next to her looking rather drowsy.

"Karissa," Pandora said when she looked at her, "You be sure to listen to miss Mika and mister Silver, okay?"

Her brother, Van, approached her and ruffled her hair with a jovial smile on his face. "If you behave, I'll ask sis to buy you something cool. So just behave and focus on getting better, alright?"

Karissa just nodded sleepily. She was feeling lethargic from her fever. "I want a mango." she mumbled. Van chuckled. He poked her soft cheek for being adorable.

"We'll get you one, don't worry." Pandora giggled at the simple request.

Silver put his hands on his hips. "You kids be careful out there, okay?"

"We will, sir!" Van grinned while making a salute.

Pandora and Van were going to the next town to buy some groceries that were cheaper, especially since there was a sale. The town they lived in sometimes sold their products at a price that was too much for them to handle. Pandora, the only person who earned a living for her two younger siblings, was the only source of income in the family since they became orphans two years ago. While the Fullbuster family was kind enough to lend them some support out of sympathy, Pandora couldn't keep relying on their kindness.

The plan was to head to the next town that was at least a week away or less from their town with both her siblings. However, the youngest child of the family caught a fever a day before the departure. The older siblings tried their best to quell her fever but it was obvious that there was no way it would. They couldn't just drag their sick sister out of the house either. Pandora couldn't skip out on the trip to the next town since they were running out of supplies and she couldn't spend her money at her town's grocery market since it would limit the number of things she could buy. For that reason, she decided with shame to ask the Fullbuster family to take care of her sister while they were away. She was ashamed of pushing her sister onto them and for choosing to leave her instead of taking care of her. It was a tough decision.

However, Silver and Mika didn't mind looking after Karissa. They were glad to help.

Karissa, Silver and Mika watched as Pandora and Van walked away together. The two adults couldn't help but worry about the two. Pandora was only thirteen but she was already acting like an adult to take care of her younger siblings who were currently ten and eight. She had been doing this ever since she was eleven.

Karissa sniffled sickly.

Mika's head looked down to see the girl wrinkling her nose. "Ah, Karissa. Come on, let's get you inside." she said while opening the door for her.

Karissa walked slowly into the house. When she realized where she was, she looked around the house curiously before looking up at Silver.

"Where's Gray?"

Silver held up a finger to his lips. "He's still sleeping." He brought a hand behind her back and guided her further into the house. "You should rest a bit more."

"But… I'm not sleepy anymore. I can stay up." she said despite the sluggish manner in which she walked, making Silver smile a little.

"If you rest then you can get better faster."

He brought her to the guest room where he already dropped off Karissa's week worth of belongings when she arrived a few minutes ago. He opened the bed and helped her get inside. Mika came inside shortly and gave her a glass of water to drink before she lied down. Her head touched the pillow and she stared up to see both Silver and Mika smiling gently at her.

"Just go to sleep, Karissa."

"Mhm…"

Despite her previous protest, Karissa easily fell asleep.

"How are you feeling?" Mika asked Karissa, who was sitting in the living room, drawing. Silver and Gray went out together to buy some ingredients for supper while Karissa was sleeping, so Mika and Karissa were the only ones in the house.

"I'm okay." Karissa replied nonchalantly on her stomach while moving her legs back and forth. When she put down one of her coloring pencils, she felt Mika press a hand against her forehead after brushing away her bangs. Curiously, she looked at the brown haired lady and just watched.

"You feel a bit warm but it's better than before. Your fever should be gone by tomorrow."

This made Karissa brighten up with hope. She was already getting restless from how sedentary she was being.

"Karissa, do you want some fruit?" Mika asked while walking to the kitchen.

Karissa pushed herself on her knees. "Which one?"

"Orange."

"Okay."

Mika looked over her shoulder and gave Karissa a look. "What do we say?"

Karissa quirked up an eyebrow.

"Starts with a 'p'."

"Oh," Karissa hunched a little when she realized her little goof. "Yes, please."

Mika nodded with a smile. "Good."

Mika peeled her an orange and sat with her at the kitchen table as she ate. They ended up looking at the photo album together to pass the time as they ate oranges.

Gray and Silver returned home a few minutes later.

"We're back." Silver spoke with his gruff voice from the front door. "Hi, mom." Gray's voice followed after.

Upon hearing his voice, Karissa turned around in her seat to look at him. "Hi, Gray!" she said happily while waving her hand.

The eight year old known as Gray looked at Karissa. "Oh. Hey, Karissa. You're awake."

"Uh-huh."

"How you feeling, kiddo?" Silver asked her when he put down the bag of groceries.

"I'm okay." Karissa smiled at him. Silver looked at his wife to affirm her answer. "Her fever's going down. She'll be fine by tomorrow."

"That's good to hear."

"So, what? You get to freeload for a week?" Gray wondered, causing his mother to reach down and pinch his cheek. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"You don't say 'freeload', Gray! That's not nice." she scolded him with a stern look. "Karissa is welcomed here."

"I-I was just asking…!"

Silver and Karissa looked at each other for a brief moment before chuckling together.

…

…

…

When it was dinner time, everyone was eating together at the dinner table. Silver was cracking jokes here and there, making everyone laugh. The atmosphere in the house was nice and warm, just like how a family should be. That feeling must have been the explanation as to why Karissa suddenly started shedding tears while eating her food next to Gray.

"Gah!" Gray flinched. "Wh-Why are you crying…?!" he managed to say after freezing up for a second.

Karissa put down her fork and put her fingers on top of her eyes to try and stop her tears. She didn't answer him, she just lowered her head and hid her face. She didn't know what to do. It felt a little shameful to cry in front of everyone but she just couldn't help it.

She didn't make a sound.

Mika put down her eating utensils and wiped her mouth her napkin. She looked at her husband who just gave her a quick nod as she stood up from her seat. She went over to Karissa and gently brought her out of her chair, guiding her down the hall to her temporary room.

"What's wrong with her?" Gray asked his father while chewing his food. "Is she okay?" he asked his father, worried about his friend.

Silver scratched the back of his head. "She's probably missing Pandora and Van already."

She hasn't really had any opportunity to get over separation anxiety. Pandora always makes sure that Karissa is with people since she's the youngest of the family.

"But doesn't she know that they're coming back?"

"Eh… it's a bit complicated. But I guess you could say it's like when you used to cry when mom would leave the house." Silver smirked when he said that last part, enjoying the way Gray reddened in embarrassment.

"I-I didn't cry…!"

"Oh, you did."

"Nu-uh." Gray shook his head stubbornly.

…

…

…

Mika stroked Karissa's head softly while she sat next to her. They were both sitting on the edge of the bed, Karissa was no longer hiding her face with her hands but with her sleeve. She wasn't sobbing or anything like that but the tears still kept coming out.

"It's going to be okay." Mika cooed while adding a back rubbing to her comforting. "They'll come back."

"I know… they said they would." Karissa mumbled while rubbing her sleeve against her face to wipe her tears. She lowered her arm and looked at the floor with puffy eyes. "But I'm still a bit sad…"

Mika smiled softly, she brushed a stray tear away. "And that's fine. You're lonely because you love them, that's fine. It's normal."

"Sorry…"

"You have nothing to apologize for."

Mika brushed some hair out of her face. "Do you want to go back out and continue eating or do you want to wait a little so you can clam down?"

Karissa looked at Gray's mother as she thought about it.

…

…

She sniffed and shook her head to push away her thoughts. "I wanna eat."

Mika stood up and followed after her back into the kitchen.

She's a strong girl.

Later, after eating dinner, Karissa went to her room after washing up. She was rummaging through her bag that she brought with her. She stuck a hand inside. She was looking for something that might help her find some type of comfort while Pandora and Van were absent.

Her door creaked open.

With her hand still in her bag, she looked at the door with surprise.

Gray was standing there his towel on his head; he just came out of the bath.

"Hi." Karissa smiled.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously, stepping into the room to sit on the bed.

"Looking for something— oh! Got it." Karissa pulled out a stuffed animal.

Gray stared at it. "What's that? A pig?"

Offended, Karissa gave him a confused face. "What? No! It's like… a dog."

It was light yellow, almost white. It had a big pink nose with blue eyes. It had a small bow with heart-like polka dots underneath its head. Its paws were baby blue. And the best thing about it was that it made jingle sounds every time Karissa shook it. There was a little bell inside.

Karissa gave him a demonstration by shaking the stuffed animal. "Pretty cute, right?"

Compared to the starry look on her face, Gray looked unimpressed with it. Instead, he just looked it with an unsure expression.

"Looks weird."

Karissa gaped at him. "That's not true. Look at it!" she shook it even more aggressively, making more jingle sounds. Gray slowly reached for it and then held it up in one hand as if to critically observe it.

"Admit it, you think it's cute." Karissa sat next to him.

"… I guess." he squinted his eyes.

She pouted at that. Gray gave her back her stuffed animal which she proceeded to hug to her chest. It was the last thing left of her parents since they died.

Gray and Karissa became friends three years ago. At that time, her parents were still with her. Her parents were friends with Mika and Silver, that was the reason they got acquainted in the first place. They got along pretty fast because Karissa wanted to play tag with someone. At first, Gray just looked weirded out when she patted him and called him it before running off. When he decided to play along, it somehow turned into a competitive game of who can keep the it from touching them. After running around, they just collapsed on the grass together when they tried to catch their breath.

It was after that simple game of tag that Gray and Karissa started hanging out with each other, they didn't even live too far from each other. Kids had the uncanny ability to easily make bonds with other kids.

When Gray came to Karissa's room, he wanted to ask if she was feeling okay since he couldn't help but feel somewhat bad that she crying earlier. Obviously, he was never going to say that. But judging from the way she was acting, it seemed like she was okay.

"Hm? What is it?" Karissa blinked when Gray kept staring at her.

"Huh?!" Gray jolted. "N-Nothing." he looked away, reddening at the fact that he was caught staring.

"Weirdo."

"Says the girl with the pig toy."

"It's not a pig!"

"Look at his nose!"

"Only you would think it's a pig's nose, Gray!" she stuck her tongue out.

"What are you two up to?" Silver appeared at the door, prompting the two children to look at him. He was already dressed in his nightwear with his wife standing behind him wearing her nightdress.

"Gray's a weirdo." Karissa grinned.

"Am not!" Gray scowled.

"Oof, son, you're gonna let her call you names?" Silver taunted with a laugh. Mika giggled on the side before stepping into the room.

"If I'm a weirdo then that makes you an even more weirdo." Gray nudged her with his arm which she retaliated by shoving him lightly. "Whoever calls the person weird is definitely the weird one." She countered. "Weirdo."

Gray smirked. "Then you gotta be two times weirder than me!"

Karissa opened her mouth to say something but she couldn't find a way to counter him.

…

…

"You're a mama's boy!"

There was a pause for two seconds.

"Wh-Wh-What?! No, I'm not!" his ears turned red as he scowled.

Silver let out a boisterous laugh at that, especially since it was so true. He ruffled the back of his hair with a smile. Before Gray could say something, Mika came up behind him and started towel drying his dark wet hair.

"How many times have I told you? You need to dry your hair or else you'll get sick, Gray."

"… No, I won't." Gray muttered while sitting cross-legged, letting his mother pamper him.

Karissa couldn't help but feel victorious in their little banter since he didn't retort. She was about to say something until she also felt a towel being rubbed on her head. She let out a surprised cry. When she was able to peek through her messy hair, she saw that Silver was towel drying her hair too.

"You don't want to get sick again, right?" Silver told her as he deftly towel dried her hair.

"No…" she pouted adorably as she stared up at him.

Silver nearly clutched his shirt where his heart was supposed to be when he saw how cute she looked. No matter how many times he saw her display adorable expressions, he could never fully get used to it.

As Mika and Silver dried their hair, Gray and Karissa nudged each other with their foot with playful smiles.

The next day, Karissa was bursting with energy. She wouldn't sit still in the house. Silver thought it would be good for Karissa to get her mind off things and just have fun for a while. He decided that some sight seeing up a hill would be nice.

Gray and Karissa walked side by side in front of him while wearing light sweaters since it was a bit cold outside. They were just talking about random things that kids thought about while Silver walked behind them with a smile on his face. Having Karissa around definitely made him feel like he had a daughter.

"Dad," Gray looked at his father and pointed ahead. "Are we going up that hill over there?"

Karissa curiously looked ahead when he pointed, wondering what hill he was talking about. Pandora never really let her and Van up any sort of hills out of fear of loosing track of them if they weren't inside the town. Up ahead, behind some houses, there was a hill just outside the town. It wasn't too high up.

"Yup, the same one from before."

Gray looked at Karissa and smirked. "Wanna race?" he suggested with an arrogant tone. "I bet I could make it up there before you and my dad."

As if Gray flipped a switch inside her, Karissa narrowed her eyes at him and scoffed. "You wanna bet?"

Silver sweat dropped at the sight of the two staring at each other intensely. He reached a hand out to them, "Oi… let's take it easy, we're not in a rush—"

Gray and Karissa bolted away from Silver, leaving him in their dust.

"GAH! Wait a moment you two!"

…

…

…

Gray and Karissa ran side by side at full speed while avoiding many people.

"Eat my dust, loser!" Karissa shouted as she started getting ahead.

Due to having a thrill, Karissa ended up laughing as she ran. It almost made her look crazy. Meanwhile, Gray was letting out a shout as he ran. Her laughter, however, was stopped when she ran into someone's side by accident. She pivoted on her heel upon impact and then fell on her side, hard.

"Ugh, watch where you're going."

Karissa sat up with a frown and looked up to see a boy that was a few years older than her. Judging by the scowl on his face, he didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"Sorry." She muttered while pushing herself up and then patted herself to remove the dirt on her clothes. Unfortunately, the teen didn't seem to accept her apology since he just leaned down and narrowed his eyes at her. He poked her harshly on the shoulder, shoving her back. "Sorry doesn't cut it you, runt. You nearly made me fall and ruin my clothes."

Karissa cocked her head to the side. "But you're fine…?" she said bluntly. "No big deal."

"Hah?"

"Geez. It's just clothes." Karissa grimaced in irritation. "And I already said that I was sorry." she mumbled.

Karissa wasn't exactly the type to back down from an argument. Because of that, she got into a little scuffle once with some neighborhood girl.

Not liking the way she was talking back to him, he was about to shove her with his hand this time. But a smaller hand just as harshly pushed his hand away. Karissa blinked in surprise. She looked at her side where she found Gray panting as he looked at the older boy with an annoyed look on his face. This brought a smile on her face knowing that her friend was backing her up in this situation.

"She said she was sorry!"

"Yeah! I did!"

"Geh, now there's two of you… So annoying." he stood tall and looked down on them. Gray and Karissa took a step back but still didn't back down.

"Ahem."

The teen flinched when he heard the rather deep voice of the person standing right behind him. When he turned to look, he found Silver looking at him with crossed arms and an eyebrow raised, daring him to try anything funny in his presence. This made Gray smirk and Karissa pull a face with her tongue out behind the teen's back. Seeing the adult made the teen rethink his choices. He opted to just slowly walk away from the three of them without another word. Silver eyed him until he went around the corner before looking at the two kids in front of him.

Karissa had a friendly arm around Gray since she was super happy that he came back for her. Gray just stared at her with an arrogant grin, feeling good about his father scaring away the teen.

"My dad's the best!"

"I know right?! He made that guy run away!"

But when the two sensed Silver's gaze lingering on them, they fell silent and slowly looked at him while letting each other go.

He gave them a look. "No more running off like that."

"Sorry…"

The three of them took their time going up the hill. When they reached the top, there was a bench next to a tree waiting for them behind the safety of a rail. Karissa and Gray jogged over to rail and both looked down. They were so high up. It was so fascinating for Karissa since it was her first time up there. The only time she got to see a view from above was when she went up a rather small grass hill in the town or when she swung high enough on her swing at the park.

"Oh, look. I can see my house from here!" Karissa exclaimed while pointing downwards while rocking on her heels. "Look, mister Silver!"

"Careful, Karissa. Don't lean too close." Silver warned her.

"Oh, sorry. But look! There's my house! Do you see it too, Gray?"

"Well, duh. You keep pointing at it."

One thing that Silver noticed about Karissa was her inability to sit still and her love for attention. She liked moving around since she was always so curious. She liked having attention whether it be in a negative or positive manner, something that she definitely needed to work out. She was also rather affectionate towards people she liked, often asking hugs from adults like the nice man who sold fruit near her house.

Karissa turned away from the view to look at Gray for a moment. Then she noticed how he had a leaf on his hair. Without a word, she reached for the leaf and pulled it off of him. Gray's eyes shifted to look at the leaf she held up between his eyes.

"Huh? When did that get there?" Gray raised his hand to ruffle his hair to check if another leaf was on it.

"I dunno." She shrugged.

"Hm… oh, uh, thanks."

"No problem~" she firmly held the leaf between her index and thumb before she held her hand past the rail. Her dark brown eyes moved to look down for a moment and then she let the leaf fall. She tried her best to keep track of the green thing until she eventually lost track of it from the breeze.

"By the way," Gray looked at her, "I totally would have won that race."

Karissa gave him a skeptical look, totally unconvinced. "I was ahead of you."

"I would've caught up."

"Uh-huh."

Four days had passed since Pandora and Van left the town. Karissa wasn't as sad a she used to be when it came to their absence. During that time, Karissa enjoyed her time with the Fullbuster family. She did get in trouble with Mika once when she and Gray argued over something that she started. She also got scolded by Silver when she climbed up a tree and nearly fell out of it. Other than that, she genuinely enjoyed it there so much that she couldn't help but let the fact that her siblings were absent slip her mind. Her stuffed animal that she used to keep her company at night was back inside her bag since she wasn't feeling so lonely anymore.

Everything was fine.

…

…

…

Until one night she was woken up by a loud thud that shook her bed.

Her brown eyes shot open at the tremors. What was happening? She sat up in her bed and looked outside the window. It was still dark outside. But, she could see some house's shinning with light. The light looked a bit orange. She couldn't tell since she was still drowsy, her brain was still half-asleep.

Then, all of a sudden, there was loud noise. Karissa flinched, her hands shot up to her ears and she covered them to block the noise.

"What is that…?" She muttered to herself. When she moved to pull the sheets off her body, she felt another tremor, making her freeze up for a moment.

Seriously, what was happening?

Her body went from sluggish to alarmed with that tremor, she landed on the ground and went to her door urgently.

Then, she heard Mika's voice shrieking outside.

"Oh my god! Silver, get the children! Hurry!"

Karissa opened her door where she was faced with Gray who was also peeking outside his room. His room was situated right in front of the guest room which was hers right now. They looked at each other with anxious expressions.

"What's happening?" she whispered to him. She was just in socks wearing a pink long sleeve shirt and white pants with dog patterns on it.

"I-I don't know…" Gray said nervously. His hair was all messed up from sleeping. He was just in a dark blue shirt, white shorts and socks.

Then, still dressed in his house clothes, Silver appeared around the corner and wordlessly went to grab Gray and Karissa, making them yelp in confusion and surprise. Karissa was under his arm while Gray was being carried on his shoulder.

"Dad, what's happening?"

"Mister Silver?"

Then, there was another loud sound, it was similar to the second sound she heard. It was then that Karissa realized how similar it sounded to some beast she heard when the townspeople brought a live monster from their hunt in the forest. Something out there was roaring.

"What was that?!" Gray panicked.

"We're in danger. We have to get out of here!" Silver told them as he ran to the front door of their house. There was a booming sound that shook the earth, making Silver stumble from the sudden tremor. He nearly fell. The father could feel both children shaking from the fear in his hold.

"Mika!" he shouted, "I've got Gray and Karissa, let's go!"

Karissa saw Mika standing at the door, waiting for them. When they got closer, she opened the door and then the dark house was illuminated by the dancing flames outside. The house in front of theirs was destroyed and it was on fire. Despite that, Silver and Mika dashed out of the house with the children.

Gray and Karissa were witnessing the destruction around them. There was smoke and fire everywhere. Everyone was screaming. People were crying over bodies that no longer moved. There was blood.

It was nothing like a few hours ago.

It was a nightmare.

Karissa practically shook like a leaf in Silver's arm. "Wh-What's happening?!"

Gray's eyes widened when he saw a large figure behind them.

"Mom… dad…! What is that?"

It was looking around as if admiring its work. It was obvious that the cause of this mass destruction was that thing standing over there. Gray tensed when he saw it raise its head to let out another terrifying roar, causing Karissa to her head around to try and see where it was coming from. Suddenly, a beam of light came from the monster's mouth. The beam flew right past them. The next second, the ground practically exploded with fire. The buildings around them were destroyed in an instant.

And then everything went black.

Those who came from the original Freezing story might have already noticed something different.

I'm a little annoyed that 'Team Natsu' was removed in the list of characters to put for this story.

By the way, you guys see the cover of this fanfic?! You probably can't see it unless you're on a computer, but I think I did a good job. I make it a rule to not publish any new stories unless I make a cover for it. (｡•́‿•̀｡)

Here's two things I'd like to point out right now:

1. Birth year

Pandora: X761 (same year as Laxus)
Van: X764 (same year as Freed, Evergreen)
Karissa: X766 (same year as Gray, Cana)

2. The main series' timeline won't be covered just yet. It's going to be a slow burn for the next chapters, just a heads up for those who might not like slow burns. We get things moving around chapter 8.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say for now. I hope you'll find this story interesting enough to give it a chance and stick around until the end. Reviews are always appreciated.

See you in the next chapter!