The wind howled in Cattleya's ears. It was so loud. But she couldn't hear it. All she heard was her own pulse, pounding in her skull. Heat patched up in burning locks under and above her eyes, making her sweat. She breathed raspily, the rough snow stinging against her raw skin. Another wave of heat coated her throat. She wanted to vomit, but that would only make her weaker. She needed the energy in whatever she had last ate to keep her going. If she had no energy, had no food, she'd collapse, and she wouldn't get up. She'd freeze, she'd burn. It was a predicament much too terrible to even think about.

"…Shuda…" she whispered into the wind, eyes glossy and irritated.

She stopped walking through the knee high snow. Her robe whipped around wildly, the under garments beneath hardly sparing enough warmth. Her hair flew out of its bun and tossed around her face. She forced herself another step forward.

"He has to be out there…" Oh, why was she doing this again?

Shuda slumped against a tree, breathing, coughing, choking on something in his throat. He had long since fallen and nearly slept, and was near the heart of the forest now. He felt ailed now as well. Slowly, he pushed away from the tree and looked up towards the canopy, snow still razoring past the thick, dead branches. His pants from knee down now were drenched with snow, ice clinging to his skin. His toes were numb. And he was tired. Slowly, he slid back off through the ice hell, his head pounding with anguish. His hair blew back, as did the loose ripples of his jacket. Unlike the one he often wore while working for the demon card, this one much more light, and rather unsuited for the type of weather it now endured.

A hare poked out from its hole, chocolate brown eyes watching Shuda curiously.

The tall man gave it a bitter glance and walked past – shoved really, having difficulty walking across the high snow. The rabbit poked its ears forwardand began hopping off towards the cold looking person, its paws light as it moved across the snow. Shuda noticed it catch up and hop along beside him, evoking a slightly agitated grumble from him.

"go on, get…" he said roughly, stopping.

The rabbit stopped. Shuda glared. He used to be a great warrior, a powerful general, but he couldn't intimidate a mere hare?

"Get away from me!" he snarled, flinging out his good arm towards the rabbit.

It spooked and stumbled backwords, nose twitching furiously. It then scampered ahead in a deep panic. However, its running came to an abrupt end soon enough.

It had been running to hard, and in that found a weak spot in the snow. As if ice, the snow collapsed and the rabbit fell down into the white abyss helplessly. Shuda watched the ordeal with a shocked… and curiously amused expression. If a mere rabbit's running had been strong enough to make the snow break, how was he to keep going without sinking? His legs would numb, limp up, he wouldn't be able to move. And who knew how deep the snow was now? Many feet, he was sure. Many feet.

He dared a step forth, then another. Soon he was lightly stepping past the hole the rabbit had fallen into. He took another step. Misfortune then struck. His blood seemed to run cold as his front foot sunk down in the snow, inches by the second. Soon he lost balance and stepped back, putting to much weight and pressure on the top snow there. He began to sink quickly, but stopped after a foot. Was this the ground? He looked down, kicked one of his feet around, then grinned. It was only a foot deep! Ahah. With new found confidence he stomped down on the ground, causing the glory of his discovery to be short lived. It, in fact, was not a foot deep.

The snow beneath his feet seemed to churn, then as if a supporter beneath had suddenly snapped, sunk down, the top snow swirling slightly. Then, as if the second supporter snapped, the snow tilted downward. This was a hill. A big hill. And that stomping was causing something Shuda hadn't expected. Landslide. His heart stopped as snow began descending down the hill quickly, gripping his legs and attempting to drag him along. Soon, the slide turned hectic, and trees along with small bits of foliage began passing by. Shuda was frozen on the spot. After a moment though, of course, he felt his feet sliding beneath him. He lost balance and fell back into the snow, which roughly shot down the steep hill. Large branches dared to hit him as they rushed past. A bush nearly scraped his side, and as it passed without a scratch on him he laughed, as if the entire thing was a game. However the laughter was also short lived. Regaining sense of reality he looked straight ahead, now eyeing a tree still rooted infront of him. Right infront of him. With a gasp, his eye widened.

…ouch.

Cattleya shuddered and slowly made her way past the outskirts of the forest, rubbing her hands together in order to make some friction and heat. The wind hissed and lashed on, snow slicing away at her face.

"Shuda, .. be okay," she wished aloud, her eyes roaming across the brambles and trees randomly passing by.

It was a good hour before Shuda found himself awake again. "Ungh…" he grumbled as he rubbed his forehead.

He was eagled out on a field of snow in the outskirts of the forest. The other side of the forest, of course. Lucky him. He sat up, rubbing his forehead still. It ached with immense pain. He must of hit it on that tree, been knocked out and carried down to the outskirts. So, yes, that had been lucky in one light. However in a negative light he was soaken wet from lying in the snow, and in that frigid, as well as slightly dazed. He stood up and wobbled a bit uneasily, whirling around in a drunken fashion for a bright light to meet his eyes.

"…the…sun?" he questioned, taking a limpy step forward.

No, it wasn't the sun. It was the medicine shop. It was the pharmacy! It had to be. He took a step forward in the dazed, blurry world around him. The pharmacy seemed to be coming towards him. He reached out to grab the door, his heart thumping wildly. He was finally, finally there…

But just as he grabbed it, it disappeared. Diminished. Reduced itself to a wod of snow twirling around by the wind. Yet the smokey aroma that had come from the brightness remained…even when he light had been nonexistent. A mere side effect from hitting his head, wasn't it?... He was lost, he was hurt and confused. Where was he to go now? He didn't know which way was north now, or south, west, east.

He wandered over to a tree and leaned against it, closing his eyes tight. Cattleya's picture entered his mind. Oh, if only she were here right now, he could put his arms around her and tell her everything would be all right. He was sorry for being a jerk at times, for being such a rough, stoic moron around her. All he wanted now was her to be okay, cured from her sickness and warm at home. And that's where she was, wasn't she? Yes, she was warm at home, on the couch with a blanket while Musica put on her favorite show on the TV for her.

He grinned slightly at the optimistic thought.

His body slid against the tree and towards the ground. He hardly noticed the bruises and cuts he had obtained from the snowslide. Don't fall asleep… Don't fall, he thought to himself. But he just couldn't do it. He didn't have the willpower. Oh how lucky Elie, Haru, Griff and Plue were. At a grocery store… Probably bathing in a pool of froot loops by now…

Everything seemed to shut down. He collapsed to his knees, his good hand holding his chest.

'I'm sorry', he thought as he recalled Cattleya again. She would have to stay sick. But Musica would cure her, Shuda knew he had an eye for her. If only he had been wise enough to share his true feelings to her when he had the chance.

Snow began to cling in heavy bits to his mechanic arm. It melted at the small heat in the iron, running over every nook and cranny in it. Shuda was nearly asleep when the thick smokey smell grew even thicker, and an actual faint light blazed above the nonexistent forest canopy after an ember or so hit scraped up tree bark, sending up a flame through the snow, more fire intiating on a nearby tree. Shuda fell unconscious in the burning forest chamber, freezing at the same time.

Snow began to cover him up, fire spreading rapidly around. Don't fall asleep, his mind told him, don't fall.

Smoke billowed up an into the air. Cattleya took notice of that. She gasped, thinking 'heat'!

Maybe there ws a nice fire, with marshmallows…Cocoa. Yes, campers out making smores in this horrible blizzard. She sprinted out towards the smoke, a new smile of hope drifting onto her face. After a good half hour of dreamy running, she came across a disturbing sight. A rabbit lay limply like a bag of meat near a tree. It had been crushed. She lost all happy features and gave a muffled squeal of fear, her hands to her mouth. She backed away from the frightening sight, and looked back up at the smoke.

Without her optimistic thoughts, she came to realize that probably wasn't a fire at all… Was it? …Was it, though? A fire, of course, but there weren't any campers crazy enough to be out here.

Shuda, she thought.

Her glossy eyes obtained a new coat of wetness. She bolted off towards the sign of the smoke, gasping and flailing her arms at any vines or branches in her way. Shuda was in trouble, she just knew it.

(Okay, that's part 3 How did that fire start? Will Cattleya make it in time? You'll have to wait and see on the finale…

BTW, I tried spacing it out a bit. . I'm not too good at all this paragraph stuff and spacing out… but I hope this is easier to read.)