Chapter 17

Sabin shivered and felt his heart thumping wildly in his chest, and he cringed. "No... not now..." he stumbled a bit in the knee high snow and exhaled slowly, trying to reestablish his footing. "Reowr!" a kato poked its head out of the snow and growled at Sabin, who had unwittingly trodden on its tail. He lifted his foot wearily and the pink kato scampered away to a large, gnarled, tree situated on a precipice, hunching over quite stubbornly in the face of many winter blizzards and cutting winds.

He staggered over to the tree and peered in cautiously. Eight fuzzy red kato kits stared up at him with big green eyes, and the pink kato swung a clawed paw at him tiredly and yowled at him. "Hey... I'm not gonna hurt you..." The kato curled up and opened its mouth, emitting a scratchy, digital, sound. "What the...?" he lifted out the pink kato and its color morphed to green, and then to white. "You're Edgar's kato-bot! Edgar! Edgar! Can you hear me?" All that Sabin heard was the kato-bot's digitized wailing, and he put it back in the tree. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of Edgar's voice repair chips, and gave it to the kato-bot. He patted it and turned. "Gotta keep walking, got keep my heart working... Just a little longer."

He trudged onwards, head down to the swirling snow and ice. Maybe he should turn and head back home... but he was too far gone now, he wouldn't make it uphill in a blizzard, he was too old for that, and much too weak. His fingers started to numb, and he held them under his armpits for warmth, staggering through knee high snow. He stopped abruptly and felt his heart jumping in his chest, felt his chest tighten. He started to sweat, and the sweat froze as soon as it hit the icy air, making a mask of ice on his face. He took another step forward, then another, willing himself to keep going, and his body complied.

His body complied, but his heart didn't, and he collapsed in the snow, fresh ice burying him where he had fallen.

Locke rubbed his hands together through his thick gloves and ran up the slopes of Mount Koltz, as chipper and cheerful as ever, even though he was faced with a fierce blizzard. He was glad he had made Celes stay at home, for she would not have liked the frigid snowstorm as much as he did. He surveyed the slopes appreciatively, thinking he would ask Sabin to paint him a picture once he reached the house. He tied his headband a little tighter around his ears, a bit lower from where he would usually have tied it; Celes would not think well of a man without ears. He grinned broadly at the thought of himself without ears. What a funny little picture he'd be then. The snow was starting to get a little deep, and the trek a little boring. Once you'd traveled through a blizzard for a little while, it ceased to be challenging for a master treasure hunter like himself. He contented himself by running in a zig-zagging motion through the snow, then stopping further up to survey his handiwork.

Whilst he was enjoying himself in this fashion, he tripped and fell through the snow with a crack, and quickly bounced back up, shaking the white out of his hair. He didn't need any more white than he already had, no not at all. He picked up his knapsack and looked around for what he had tripped over, digging around in his immediate vicinity. He had nothing better to do anyway. Then, he felt something. Something kinda smooth and roundish... he thought ashe moved his hands up. Speak of the Empire, that feels like a nose, and a pair of eyes... he burrowed into the ground some more. "Sabin! What the heck are you doing out here, having a nap!"

He dragged Sabin up a ways by his arms and spotted a cave. "That should be a nice camp site, wouldn't ya say?" he gave Sabin a filthy look. "Or at least, you would say if you were a bit less stupid. Who sleeps outside in the event of an imminent blizzard anyway? Princes these days... humph."

He laid Sabin down inside the cave and rubbed his hands again. "Quite some weather we're having; couldn't be worse. Mayhaps I should seal this up..." he sized up the the mouth of the cave. "Ooh... a challenge. This'll be a doozy." he held up his hands, a determined look on his face, and opened his mouth.

"Shoot, I forgot the words... uh... oh, yeah!" he held up his hands again and muttered something under his breath. A faint sheen of ice shone over the mouth of the cave. "Hm... somethin' thicker..." he tried again and a more solid wall closed over the mouth of the cave. He looked at his work admiringly. "Isn't that pretty? We'll be warm now. Now, what are you conked out for?"

He leaned over Sabin, and then withdrew, alarmed. "Holy heck, you're not breathin' all to good, are ya'? And your heart's not to good either. Why don't you do that shockie thing and give yourself a jump-start, eh?" he touched Sabin's hand and jumped back when it shocked him. "Yow! Not me, you big oaf, your heart!" he grabbed Sabin's wrist quickly and put his hand onto his chest. "Go on! Work! I can't do electric, you can!"

Nothing was happening, not even a spark. "Oh, you wanna be stubborn huh? Must be a defence mechanism... like electric eels or something... ah ha!" he stepped back a pace. "Sorry buddy, but you'll thank me later." he kicked Sabin with all his might, and the sudden attack caused sparks to fly from Sabin's hand. "Er... what if I kicked too hard?"

He used his shoe to gently nudge off Sabin's hand. "No shockie the Locke, no shockie the Locke..." He bent down again and breathed a sigh of relief. "Great... all is well with the stupid prince. Now... time to sleep." he took a blanket out of his sack and slid down the wall. He pulled his headband over his eyes and started to doze.

A couple of hours later, Sabin woke up, surprised that he was still alive. He looked around, and there was no mistaking the headband or that brown mop of hair. "Locke! Locke!" Locke woke slowly, and looked at him drowsily. "Yo, what's up? Other than the ceiling, by the way." Sabin got up, feeling rather warm and short of breath. "I'm up. Why's it so hot in here?"

Locke thumbed the iced up entrance of the cave. "I sealed it up, blizzard outside. It's nice and toasty in here." He curled up underneath his blanket. Sabin raised an eyebrow. "Been practicing with the ice stone, have you? Why is it so hard to..." he cast another glance at the wall. "Locke! You idiot! You forgot to leave an air hole! No wonder it's boiling in here."
Locke poked his head out from under the blanket. "Oh, oh yeah. Here you go." he waved his hand tiredly at the ice and a circular hunk of it fell out, about half a foot around. Sabin picked it up. "Not your best work, Locke?"

"I'm tired, leave me alone. All I want to do right now is sleep."

Sabin laughed and laid down as well. "Good idea. Night Locke."

Locke was already snoring, and Sabin laughed again, settling down for sleep.