Part 5: Winter Wonderland... or Not

By this time, the brothers had finished their duties and were exiting the caves.
"Good job, Lyude. I was starting to think you were a worthless traitor." said Skeed, "You are no longer worthless."
"Again," said Lyude, "I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.
"Take it as you will, but..."
Skeed stopped talking when he saw his ship. Since they'd been gone, the aircraft had been completely vandalized. A window was smashed, scratches were cut into the metal, and graffiti spelled words such as: You suck! and Go to hell, imperial f00lz!1, as well as one that Skeed couldn't quite make out.
"Damn kids," Skeed said under his breath.

For a third time, he boarded the ship first, and slammed the door behind Lyude, and thus causing another window to break.
"Well, at least this ain't my ship." said Skeed, "You can put the guns over there for now, Lyude," he added, nodding to a shelf.
Lyude did as he was asked, and then took a seat by a window that wasn't broken. It was getting late, and the sky had darkened considerably. As the ship lifted awkwardly off the ground, a ring of smoke appeared underneath. Soon enough, the ring was but a small circle on the ground as the ship rose into the clouds.
The moon was full, giving the sky a silvery color. In a way it was so quiet and relaxing, and Lyude fell asleep with ease.

...Only to be awoken moments later when he fell out of his seat and hit the floor.

---

When day broke, the ship Lyude and Skeed were in was still flying. Lyude felt a frigid air break through the broken window and shivered.
"Where are we going now, brother?" he asked.
"Ice Lands..." Skeed replied.
"Hmm? What's in Wazn?"
"Nothin,' which is why I'm going to leave you there."
"What?"
Skeed kicked the door open as the ship flew, letting in a rush of icy wind and snow. He snatched Lyude by the collar of his uniform and held him at the doorway so that the icy winds lashed his back.
"Dear brother, I beg you to reconsider!" Lyude begged, eyes wide with fear.
"You wanna go into the Taintclouds?"
"N-no!"
Skeed said no more. He smirked down at his younger brother, then thrust him out into the snowy lands below. It was a long way to fall, but if Lyude was lucky, the piles of snow would prevent any fatal damage.

Skeed looked down into the blank sky as bits of snow blew into his face and hair. Looking behind him, he noticed the two Ultima Rifles on the shelf.
"Ha, looks like the twerp left his new gun here. Oh well, Vallye will appreciate a nice gift." he said to himself. He wasn't surprised or disappointed at all about the situation. This is what he had planned.
He laughed to himself and slammed the door behind him. This time, the door creaked and broke free from its hinges, falling off of the ship.
Skeed suddenly stopped his menacing laughter. He didn't need to look back to realize what had happened.
"Ah, crap."

Miles below, Lyude lay unmoving in a heap of snow and ice, some of which was being dyed red. His eyes were closed, his mouth partially open, but not taking in air. One side of his uniform had been torn on a sharp column of ice on his way down, leaving his skin exposed to the harsh weather. His magnus had been spilled all over the ground, and his gun was somewhere to his left, a few feet away from his arm.
Slowly, snow from above began to cover him, his weapon, and his cards.

Meanwhile, as daylight came upon Annuenue...
"G... Giacomo, what's up with you, man?" Amye asked, her eyes showing confusion and some fear.
Giacomo had not moved besides a few twitches in his shoulder. He clasped the gold object tightly in his fist, its light streaking out from between his fingers. His eyes were blank, his pupils smaller than they had ever been. Ayme thought she heard him say something, but he didn't repeat it, so she didn't question it.
"Hey, come on, boss. You're getting wet. Let's get you someplace dry and attack the village when this rain clears up... okay?" Ayme said sympathetically.
She then heard a series of clicks from the golden object in Giacomo's hand. Then, to her surprise, the object unfolded into what seemed to be a scythe-shaped winglet of pure, glowing gold.
"W-what the hell?" Ayme exclaimed.
Suddenly, Giacomo turned around and slashed the winglet across her stomach as though he were fighting with his scythe.
Ayme grunted, then fell to the ground. She wasn't injured too badly, but the attack took a lot out of her.
Giacomo looked down at her cowering body for a second, and then said... "Oh my god! I'm terribly sorry about that, Ayme! I didn't realize you were standing so close behind me!"
Amye replied with a confused groan. "...?"

Wet leaves and undergrowth squished under the feet of Folon and Vallye as they ventured through the dewdrop-sprinkled rainforest. The storm had passed in that location, but they were still quite wet, and tired.
Hmm... No sign of anything yet... Vallye thought, Although this trail doesn't seem to be made naturally. Perhaps someone-
"...Erm... Excuse me..."
"Not now, Folon."
"But I-"
"I don't have any mirage weed."
"No, I just-"
"Can it wait?"
"Um... Maybe... I hope so..."
"All right, what is it?" Vallye sighed.
"I need to go to the bathroom..."
". . ."

And so, Vallye waited as Folon took care of business behind some colorful plants. Soon enough, her impatience caught up with her.
"You done urinating yet?"
"No, just give me another minute."
"Ugh..."
"Hey, this kind of thing requires great care and delicateness!"
"You're unbelievable."
Silence.
"... Say, Vallye, this plant here isn't poisonous, is it?"
Vallye was about to turn around and yell at him, but before she could utter a word, an extremely loud and horrifying roar broke through the air.
Both Folon and Vallye stood still with terror.
"F-Folon? Are you finished now?"
"Y-yeah... Although I probably would have wet my pants a second ago anyway..."

Back at Wazn, Lyude was in a thin blanket of snow. His lips had gone purple, and the exposed skin on his side tingled with pain. And he felt it. He was alive.
Opening his eyes weakly, he began to realize where he was. It didn't take long. Most of his limbs were numb, and the areas he could feel were tormented by the cold. Sitting up, he wiped blood from his mouth and sifted through the snow to find his magnus deck. He managed to gather most of it, but he had lost two finishing attack magnus in the snowbank. Now he had to locate his rifle. He would have to stand up in order to walk over and get it. However, his legs seemed to be frozen and exhausted, and he had to force them to move to let him stand.
Once up, he felt his side ache, and he came to an unfortunate realization that not only had his uniform been torn, but his side had been gashed by the ice. The scar was long and thin.
"I don't believe this..." he said to himself. "How could I have trusted Skeed so blindly? How could I do him a favor in getting a weapon from men who are against the empire? How could I have been so foolish since the explosion at the Imperial... Ugh, what am I saying? I can sulk about this once I find shelter. Just standing around here with these wounds is only going to get me frozen to death."
With that, he made his way to his his gun and picked it up from the icy ground. He brushed some snow off of it, and examined it for damage. It looks fairly well, but I wonder if the trigger has been frozen... he thought. He then heard a hissing over the wind. Looking behind him, he saw a large, metallic-looking spider that was obviously hungry.
"I suppose now is a good time to find out." Lyude said with a smug grin.