A/N: Heyo! ZareEraz here with another new chapter! I don't have much to say other than enjoy and happy reading! :3
Chapter Two: Running Wild
"'Let's find a winter island next time,' I said! 'It'll be fun!' I said!" Buggy grumbled, tromping through the thigh-deep snow. "For your information Buggy: THIS IS NOT FUN!" And then she slipped and fell chest-deep into a snow drift. Steaming, the woman first floated her body out but then cursed the fact that she couldn't just float her feet out too. The splitting woman lamented the circumstances of her unfortunate situation as she reattached her body to dig herself out.
It had all been going so well: The Red Force and the Big Top had made it to the island with little issue and the crews all bailed out excitedly, wanting to play in the snow. A fight for gloves, scarves, and coats had ensued since there were many more Buggy pirates than winter gear to go around, with the more hardy (or prideful) members of both crews forgoing winter clothing in favor of not getting caught up in the ruckus. Buggy, of course, was all bundled up wearing a white coat, a pair of furry, white gloves, proper pants, boots, a scarf, and earmuffs. Alvida came out of her room, bundled up much the same in her pink gear and Galdino was lucky enough to snag a coat and gloves and nothing else. When they walked off the ship, the trio started laughing as they saw Richie having a ball in the snow. The lion was frolicking around, sending up great clouds of white whenever he switched directions or landed after a big jump. Cabaji, Mohji, and many other pirates had started a snowball fight, with the more resourceful pirates on both crews building up defenses or ordering other crewmembers to do it for them. Yasopp was one of those and he'd managed to bully several of his own men and some of Buggy's pirates to work on a fort while he and Lucky Roux hurled snowballs at the group siding with Benn. The first mate just calmly dodged the projectiles and sometimes obliterated them back into snowflakes by swinging his rifle like a bat. The man also made sure that every snowball he threw clocked someone in the face while he was giving out orders.
"I didn't think that everyone was going to take this so seriously," Alvida chuckled, waving at a group of pirates who were carrying her couch out. She pointed them to a place close enough to watch the action but far enough away to keep out of the line of fire.
"I wouldn't have expected any less," Galdino commented, barely missing getting a snowball to the face. "Oh look, they made a gate and a moat."
Buggy's eyes bugged out as Benn's defenses were quickly becoming an actual fortress. "What?!"
Galdino then looked at the rest of the field and his eyes were bugging out too. "L-Look over there!" he stammered, not believing his eyes. The two women look at where his finger was pointing their mouths hit the ground, literally in Buggy's case.
"CAPTAIN BUGGY!" a chorus of voices blasted across the field of battle. "We made this for you!" A group of absolutely nuts Buggy worshipers had designed and built a literal castle while fending off attacks and throwing snowballs. It had turrets, battlements, at least two floors, a moat, and a drawbridge.
"How the hell did they even do that!?" Alvida and Galdino shouted. Buggy was just laughing hysterically, delirious with power as she ran for her castle.
"This is turning into an all-out war!" Alvida gasped, ducking to avoid a snowball thrown in her direction. The smooth woman retreated quickly, getting as far away from the battlefield as possible and the wax man ran behind Buggy as fast as his legs would carry him. He wanted to be in the safest fortress for when things got truly serious if they weren't already!
The pair dashed across the moat and into the castle, the snow drawbridge pulled closed behind them. Buggy instantly assumed command of her underlings with Galdino heading the defense/building force. They worked together to defend the castle, keeping an eye on their snowball support squad, who took it upon themselves to keep the attackers supplied and built up their defenses. Within a short amount of time, all three forts had at least one wall, Benn's group had formed entrenchments around their fort, and Yasopp's and Lucky Roux's group had even slapped together a small catapult out of scraps found on board both ships, taking great pleasure in alternating between trying to knock Buggy off of her wall and taking shots at Benn's trenches with their enhanced snowballs. Alvida just asked for a steady supply of hot chocolate from her admirers as the battle continued, sipping delicately and laughing whenever someone got hit in the face.
"Hey, Buggs!" Shanks called out as he ran down the gangplank and joined the game very late. The man skidded to a stop as he saw the three growing fortresses and the literal battlefield before him, his mouth hanging open. There were even men laying on the ground and acting as if they were dead in all the chaos. "What the hell…"
"What took you so long?" the bluenette shouted back, standing on a battlement and hurling a snowball at an unlucky pirate. She looked like a fierce general with her blue hair flying behind her like a war banner.
"Uh…" was all the redhead could say for a moment, both a little overwhelmed and awed at how glorious she looked in battle. Maybe she was just more confident in herself since this isn't an actual battle, he thought. But damn, she's hot. "I couldn't find my gear," he finally responded after a long moment. It was true – he hadn't been able to find his coat, his two pairs of wool socks, and the one glove he kept around. While Shanks liked all seasons, he liked warm things, so he was dressed in a double layer of everything (for once) and even had his cloak over his coat as he would normally wear it.
"Typical," she huffed. "Your stuff was always messy as a kid.
"You're one to talk," he shot back. "You're just as bad."
"Not anymore! I've had to get organized ever since Alvida got on my ship!"
The raven-haired woman held up her steaming mug and added a "Guilty!" before going back to spectating.
"Anyway," the man started, "What the hell is all of this?"
"A fight, obviously!" the entire field chorused back.
"I know that but when did castles and moats get involved!?"
"Don't know, don't care!" Buggy ordered, "Fire!" and her goons unleashed a rapid-fire assault on Yassop's troops, successfully knocking over a weakened snow tower.
"Shit!" the sniper swore, glaring at the cackling clown. "Rebuild and keep attacking!" Shanks started laughing as his officer successfully dodged a snowball from Cabaji but got smacked by the one thrown by Richie. Who knew the lion could throw snowballs so well?
Taking advantage of the chaos, Buggy ordered her troops to attack, glorying in her success, but Shanks had other plans than to let her bully his officers. "Buggy, are you going to build a snowman with me or not?" he asked, placing his hand on his hip. That snapped the woman out of her revels and she thought for a moment before smiling.
"Hold down the fort, guys! Don't let them kick your asses!" she called, relaying her last orders and letting her feet drop to the ground. As she floated the rest of her body over to her boyfriend, her army roared its compliance and renewed its attack. "Oh wow, you actually put on pants," Buggy said sarcastically as they walked away from the fight. She hovered by him, waiting for her feet to catch up to Shanks' pace and reattaching herself when they did.
"And shoes!" he tossed back flippantly, pointing at his boots. But then he sneezed and Buggy rolled her eyes at him.
"You should've grabbed a scarf, idiot!" she scolded, her hands going to her coat. She unzipped it for a moment and yanked the sash around her waist off. "Here!" The bluenette took the blue fabric and wrapped it around her boyfriend's neck several times before tucking it into his coat. She made sure that his coat was zipped a little tighter than he'd hand it and patted his chest when she was done. Shanks blushed, thanking the heavens that it could be passed off as exposure to the cold.
"Thanks." The man buried his nose in the warm fabric and took a big breath. The sash-turned-scarf had a smell of lavender and the sea lingering on it along with her body's unique scent. He breathed in Buggy each moment and smiled. "You're such a good girlfriend!"
"S-shut up!" She blushed and stomped off into the snow. "Let's get going!"
The two of them found a nice, flat spot to build their snowman and got to work. Buggy suggested that Shanks work on the head first because he was "kinda useless" at snowballs with only one hand and he suggested that he not share the extra carrots and snacks he'd brought along. She pestered him for a snack while letting her detached hands form the snowball that would become the snowman's head and she didn't shut up until he shoved a carrot in her mouth. She handed him the snowball while munching and then made a second to start the base. The two of them worked on their respective bits, with Buggy pushing her ever-growing snowball around until it reached her waist and Shanks packing his snowball carefully since he had to hold it in between his knees. The redhead laughed when his girlfriend ended up slipping and sliding down the little hill she'd managed to roll up. She popped out of the snow with a befuddled look on her face and an inch of white on top of her red nose. She shook the snow of her nose and sneezed before smiling sheepishly. Shanks chuckled as she scrambled back up the little hill and rolled her snow boulder back down. Rolling the middle bit didn't take as long and soon the two of them were stacking the bits of snowman together. They managed to haul the middle section onto the base and Buggy had to float to place the head on top of that. The snowman ended up being taller than both of them and they were delighted. The redhead prodded the bluenette until she let him piggyback her to decorate the face. The two of them floated up by the head and used a carrot for a nose and two beer coasters for eyes, and they had to get creative with the mouth by using Buggy's spare hair ribbon. They found two sticks for the arms and the finishing touch was bluenette's scarf since she insisted she wasn't going to let the snowman wear it for that long when Shanks put up a stink about keeping her warm.
"Well, that's a good-looking snowman!" Buggy said, stepping back to get a better look.
"It would be better if we had old man Rayleigh's glasses!" Shank laughed, "But it's still pretty good."
"You could say the same thing about Captain Roger's hat. The woman then remembered that she had a hat of her own and her face lit up. "Oh damn! I could totally get my hat! I'll go get it!" She began running off, her hair streaming behind her, and Shanks smiled at her cheerfulness until he felt a presence overhead. The man looked up and saw several gigantic white birds descending from the cloudy sky. They didn't seem particularly aggressive and it wasn't until one of the birds headed straight towards Buggy with its talons out that Shanks knew shit was about to go down.
"Hey Buggy!" he shouted, sprinting after his girlfriend.
"What?" She turned around and found a huge foot coming right for her. That slight pause was what sealed her fate. She screamed but it was too late and Shanks was too far away. Buggy got scooped up and the bird gave a squawk of triumph now that it had gotten its prize.
The squawks of both woman and bird drew the attention of the other pirates, the commotion halting the sacking of Castle Yasopp and the siege of Fort Beckman and they all stared in disbelief as Buggy the Clown disappeared into the sky, becoming a mere speck before vanishing into the snowy peaks of the island. Shanks skidded to a halt in the middle of the battlefield.
"Boss…what just happened?" Yasopp asked, leaving his crumbling snow fort and standing next to his captain along with Lucky Roux and Benn.
"Um…Buggy was just carried off by a bird," the redhead replied, not believing what had just happened. And then he panicked. "What do we do?!" he slapped his hand to the side of his head and started running around frantically. "What do we do?! What are we going to do?!" Gone was the cool and collected Emperor of the Sea – only a frantic boyfriend remained.
"Boss, calm down!" the sniper shouted, trying to get Shanks' attention. However, he was drowned out by a thunderous "CAPTAIN BUGGY!" as the entire Buggy crew started freaking out too. Even Alvida and Galdino were running around in a panic with Richie at their heels.
"Oh dear," Benn sighed, watching everything fall into a different kind of chaos this time. And the birds were still there, hovering above the clamor.
Oh my god, what do I do?! How the hell am I going to get Buggy back?! Shanks was still panicking, still trying to see where his girlfriend had been carried off. It was useless, she was gone. The man's heart hammered in his chest, his body was restless, and he needed to do something, but what?
It wasn't until another bird swooped down and tried to scoop up a Buggy pirate who had recently tried to dye his hair the same color as his captain that it clicked. The man barely missed getting swiped by the animal's claws, his grayish-bluish hair flopping in front of his face. It happened again with one of his own men who was wearing a blue hat, but thankfully he got away too. Shanks' eyes flicked down to the blue sash tucked around his neck and he knew what he had to do.
Running out into the open, he yanked the sash off and wrapped it around his red hair, letting the end wave behind him like Buggy's ponytail. He then got in front of a diving bird in order to get spotted. It didn't take much and soon the man felt the winged presence getting closer. He jumped, leaping right into the opening talons and startling the bird – nothing had ever wanted to get caught by him on purpose! But without thinking too much about it, the bird closed his talons around his prize and swooped up into the air, leaving the shouting pirates on the coast far behind.
Benn slapped his hand to his face and dragged it down at his captain's rash actions. "Brilliant. Now we have to go find him too! Couldn't he just wait to come up with a better plan?"
"When it comes to Buggy, you know he isn't rational!" Lucky Roux replied, trying to the panicking pirates around him to calm down.
"It's a damn nuisance is what it is." The first mate then took charge, shouting loud enough to startle everyone else into silence. "We're going after them! Half of you are staying here with the ships! The rest are packing up supplies and we're heading out! Get going!" The pirates snapped to attention and began to divide up. Benn looked up at the snowy, cloud-covered peaks of the island and prayed. I hope nothing else happens.
Buggy was also panicking as she was taken higher and higher into the sky. She was far too high up now to even consider dropping her feet and splitting out of her captor's talons – she was stuck until the stupid thing landed. She had struggled to break free at first, but then the fear of falling had kicked in so now the woman was reduced to slinging insults at her captor.
"When I get down I'm going to turn you into a pillow, you feathers piece of excrement! There's no way I'm going to let you humiliate me like this for long!" The bird then hit a harsh gush of wind and dropped several dozen feet and Buggy hung on for her life. "O-Okay, I-I'll let you humiliate me until we're closer to the ground. But no longer than that!" The huge creature squawked indignantly as if in answer and dropped again, scaring the woman again.
Buggy cautiously looked down and saw all the tiny specks that were her crew and Shanks' running around like ants. It looked so comical from so high up, but she knew that it must've been absolute pandemonium for everyone down there. "You know," she started, still talking to the bird. "If I wasn't so terrified of dying right now, this would be really cool." And then the bird started to spiral high and the bluenette clung to its talons and prayed that it wouldn't decide to let go. She also shivered in her coat, feeling the temperature begin to drop as the mountains in front of them got closer.
"I don't even know why you want me," she grumbled. "And why is it always me?! Why do I attract the most trouble?! I wasn't even doing anything remotely mischievous and you just had to scoop me up, you bird brain! I ought to roast you up for dinner when I get the chance!" Buggy panted after her outburst, finding it hard to breathe in the thin, cold air. The higher she was carried, the harder it was to get a full breath and she hoped that the bird didn't go too much higher or she might pass out eventually.
The bird rolled his eyes at the very loud, squirmy thing he had picked up and debated on whether or not such a noisy thing was worth carrying back. His food didn't usually wiggle this much, which was odd. The bird decided that since he was already halfway to his nest, might as well carry it the rest of the way. However, he had figured out that the thing went quiet for a bit after drops and made sure to do that whenever it got too annoying. By the time Buggy reached her final destination, she was pale with fright and with cold and just wanted to have some solid ground under her feet.
I swear, if I get out of this in one piece, I'm never going to get into trouble again…maybe. This time, she was the one to squawk as the bird dove down into a cluster of peaks, zipping in between them and Buggy was too scared to make anything but little squeaks as the bird tipped one way and then the other before doing it again. By the time they reached the bird's roost nestled against the peak, Buggy had almost passed out from stress. The bird dropped the woman into his gigantic nest and when the bluenette came to, several things finally clicked into place.
One, there were "little" chicks in the nest and they were hungry, little being at least five feet tall and very excited that mommy or daddy had come back. Two, Buggy was clearly supposed to be dinner but it was clearly a misunderstanding. And three, the chicks seemed to eat a reedy plant that was the same color as Buggy's hair, which was confirmed when another bird had also just returned and dropped several bunches on top of it on top of the bluenette. Buggy shoved the reeds off of her as the four chicks and the bird that hadn't caught her were startled that the food was moving. The two adult birds squawked at each other, clearly having a discussion about the odd food, while Buggy had to fend off hungry chicks who were wondering why their food was fighting back. When one chick got too close, the woman broke apart before its beak caught her, startling the little thing. It snapped at her again and Buggy split her wrist from her hand, and then her calf from her knee as beaks came her way again. The chicks stared at her, surprised that they weren't able to get at her and unfortunately, it then became a game of "who can catch the weird food" while the parents kept discussing the matter. All four babies were now snapping at Buggy, trying to catch any of her splitting limbs or her blue hair that looked so much like food as she danced around and above them trying to figure a way out of this mess.
The bluenette managed to scramble up the side of the nest and was now almost out of reach of the snapping. She peeked over the side and found that she was nearly tipping over the edge of a snowy cliff with a hundred-foot drop yawning below her, maybe more. Buggy whimpered still keeping her arm away from chirping chicks, but found her options limited. She couldn't stay in the nest, that was obvious enough, and she couldn't expect a ride back down to the coast – the only option was to jump, and she didn't like it. Not one bit. But, her decision was made for her when one of the chicks caught her foot in its beak and pinched, hard. She yelped in pain and yanked her foot back, putting her off balance. The woman tipped over the side, her heart leaping into her throat.
Buggy didn't even scream at first as she fell, she was too shocked for her brain to function. The cold wind rushed past her, drowning out all other sounds except the pulse of her blood running in her veins. She felt numb and for a moment, suspended in time, as if she'd just keep falling forever and be locked in this silent panic for eternity. She felt oddly connected but disconnected from her own body, like she felt everything that was going on but also that it didn't matter. There was a ringing noise in her ears now, but she couldn't place where it was coming from. She looked up, watching the nest and the birds peeking out of it get smaller and smaller until they were blotted out by white.
The bluenette let out an "Oof!" as she fell into several feet of powder, the impact shocking her back to reality. Now she felt everything – the hammering of her heart, the tightness in her throat from fear, the ache in her lungs from screaming, the icy feeling of snow getting into her clothes and melting against her skin, and the bruises that were going to form from her fall. She also started to panic when she couldn't figure out which way was up as her arms flailed and she swallowed snow, which made her cough and inhale more snow. It took her a few moments to remember that she could float and when she did remember, the woman mentally kicked herself. She disconnected her feet and let the lack of gravity tell her which was up. She coughed violently as she broke the surface, hacking up melted snow and whatever was left in her stomach from breakfast.
"Idiot, you should've dropped your feet first and just floated down," Buggy grumbled hoarsely, shaking herself off and then rinsing her mouth out with snow. While she was digging her feet out of the snow, she heard a squawk from high above and her head snapped up as both chicks and parents watched the struggling food in the snow. They were more interested in watching than eating at that point, but Buggy still yanked her hood up over her blue hair so that they didn't get any funny ideas. Once her feet were free, the splitting woman let them walk on the snow, light as can be, while she floated away from her captors.
She spent the better part of several hours tromping through the snow and sliding down unexpected drops while cursing like the sailor she was when her panic broke her concentration and she snapped back to her feet. Soon Buggy was very cold and very wet but had managed to find a forest nestled in between the peaks on either side of her, getting some shelter. Her feet were taking the worst of the trek towards where she hoped the coast was, but the rest of her body had been battered by the biting wind and the smattering of snowfalls that popped up frequently. She thought her luck was turning until she realized that what she thought were the bottoms of the trees were actually more of the middles. She did this by falling through the hardened top layer and landing in thigh-to-waist deep snow.
"'Let's find a winter island next time,' I said! 'It'll be fun!' I said!" Buggy grumbled. "For your information Buggy: THIS IS NOT FUN!" And then she slipped and fell chest-deep into a snow drift. The woman continued on much in the same fashion, swearing, and getting colder and wetter the longer her troubles went on.
It wasn't until the bear debacle that she really started cursing up a storm.
"Oh, my FUCK! WHY THE HELL IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!" Buggy screamed as a black bear galumphed after her through the snow. She had run into the animal accidentally in her wanderings, literally. He'd been taking a rest during his search for a few more pounds of food in preparation for hibernation and had gotten stormed on to the point where he looked like a huge, white pile of snow, which Buggy had bumped into because she wasn't paying attention. Being curious about the small thing that had run into his behind instead of irritated his nap had been disrupted, the bear had started following her. If Buggy had known anything about bears (and she knew nothing about bears), she would've known to stay still or move away very slowly, but she didn't. Instead, she panicked and now the 200-pound bear was running after her. Even with her feet detached and floating far ahead of them, the bear was still catching up to her.
"What the hell do I do?!" she whimpered, hearing what she thought was a growl from behind her. She floated high into the air, whipping around and tree and trying to hide. For a moment, she could catch her breath and try to think of how to get out of this situation. The only good thing about this was that all of the running had warmed her up a little bit. Her heart pounding with both fear and exertion, Buggy rubbed a stinging spot on her cheek. At some point, she'd smacked her cheek on a tree branch or something and was probably going to have a bruise there. Wanting to rest but still see if she was safe, the bluenette peeked down to see if the bear had passed her by but then yelped when she saw a furry black face looking up at her.
The bear delighted that a challenge had presented itself, didn't notice the woman's trailing feet in the snow, and instead started climbing up the tree Buggy was hiding in, scaling it quicker than the woman was expecting.
"Holy shit! It's climbing up here!" Buggy wailed, trying to fly off again. She was yanked to a halt when her coat got snagged on a branch and struggled to free the fabric. She nearly yelped again when the bear, now only a handful of feet below her, opened his maw and showed off his sharp teeth. She scrambled to free her coat and the animal woofed at her as he saw her trying to get away. The second her coat was free, the woman zipped off into the forest, the bear half-falling half-jumping down to lope after her.
Buggy's brain just kept going, Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! as she floated/ran through the forest, just a dozen feet away from getting caught by a bear. She was tiring fast and the bear was gaining on her. I can't keep going on much longer! Stop that nonsense! Come on, Buggy! Keep it together! The woman spotted a possibility of escape: an outcropping of rocks where she could hide if she managed to get out of sight. Desperate for anything, Buggy put on a burst of speed, running as fast as her feet could and whirled around and outcropping.
The bear followed her a few moments later but found that he was alone by the edge of a cliff. Skidding to a halt, he looked around, not finding his plaything anywhere. Snuffling the ground, he found its scent and footprints but didn't see it anywhere. He even peeked over the edge of the smallish cliff but only found more trees and drifting snow. The bear put his nose to the ground again and padded around, trying to figure out where it could've gone. He even climbed part of the way up the rocks to see if the loud thing was not being loud and hiding from him, but had to give up after a time. He snorted, disappointed the fun was over, and lumbered off to find something yummy to eat.
Shanks had also gotten himself into a pickle. His bird did not take him to the same roost where Buggy's bird had gone. He was dismayed when he didn't see (or hear, more accurately) the woman in any of the nests he'd flown over. Unbeknownst to him, the woman's bird had swung away to the right and had landed its own rookery far ahead of his bird, and the redhead's carrier had ended up swinging to the left and flying towards her own group. When the bird dropped him into her nest with her chicks, she was surprised to find that the blue food she'd picked up was nowhere to be found and instead there was an annoyed red thing in its place. She squawked indignantly and shooed the red thing away with her beak and Shanks was all too happy to get out of the nest before the "little" chicks came after him.
He had a better time getting down his cliffside than Buggy since his cliff was not as steep and was littered with snowy rock outcroppings where he could slow his descent. Though, he did fall thigh-deep into several snow drifts and had to dig himself out each time. By the time he'd reached the gentler slopes leading into a forest nestled in between the two great peaks, several hours had passed. He was grateful for the shelter from the wind but was still doing pretty well in his multiple layers of clothes. His face was the coldest part of his body but Buggy's rewrapped sash was still doing a pretty good job of keeping his neck warm. And when he buried his nose into the fabric, it eased the wind's sting and the smell of his lover comforted him.
"She's got to be around here somewhere…I hope," he mumbled into the sash. "If she's smart, she'd come down here out of the wind. If she didn't fall off a cliff first." He shook his head to banish the thought. "Buggy's smart, she'll figure it out."
Half an hour later, the man stumbled upon a set of tracks in the snow that looked suspiciously like Buggy's boots. They were hard to see though, and the man figured that she was floating in order to make her feet as light as possible. Knowing why her tracks were so shallow didn't help the man follow them any better, and as Buggy did with everything, she made it incredibly difficult. The sky was also getting darker due to the increased cloud cover and Shanks didn't want to get caught in a storm. Even though evening and night were still a long way off, things could go very wrong very quickly and he wanted to get back to the ships.
"Buggy! Buggy! Where are you?" Shanks stomped through the snow, following his girlfriend's footprints. They seemed relatively fresh now, but he couldn't quite tell because of the constant snow flurries and how light her feet were, so he hurried, finding holes where she'd fallen through the snow and the places where she'd slid down unexpected slopes.
Then came the bear tracks. It was clear that Buggy had been chased, as her footprints were mixed with the huge pawprints scattered throughout the forest floor. Shanks started to panic, realizing that there was a real possibility that she could've been hurt by the bear or worse. She may be immune to slashes, but if a bear got her pinned underneath its bulk...he didn't even want to think about it. Shanks started running as the footprints became more chaotic and Buggy's boot prints began sliding all over the place.
"Buggy! Buggy, where are you?!" he shouted, not worrying about the bear in the slightest. If he ran into it, he'd take care of it, but right now, all he wanted to do was find his girlfriend. "Buggy! If you can hear me, shout for me!" The man saw both her footprints and the bear's tracks run around a rock outcropping and he followed them.
He nearly tumbled off of the cliff and only just managed to keep his feet. He looked down at his feet and even with his disturbance of the snow, Buggy's footprints were nowhere to be seen. The bear's prints meandered around the area but it was clear that it had wandered off. The redhead sighed in relief: at least the bear didn't get her. But now there was another question: Where did Buggy go? Shanks looked down slowly, praying that he didn't find a body. Thankfully, he didn't. But there were several broken branches lying around the closest tree and barely visible footprints leading away from said tree. Buggy!
"Oh shit, she really did fall off a cliff," he whistled. The man then gracefully leaped from the cliff and landed calf deep in the snow below and continued his search. Fifteen minutes later, he became worried again as the footprints became wobbly and uneven, as if Buggy had been stumbling and shuffling. She had clearly gotten tired and cold but his worry turned into outright panic when the footprints suddenly disappeared.
"Buggy?! Buggy?! Where you are, you dumbass!?" he shouted, frantically looking around. "You better not be frozen somewhere! Why do you always do this to me?!" The man then spotted something distinctly out of place just a few feet from him: a red orb resting on top of the snow. His eyes teared up when he saw that.
"Oh, Buggy girl, there you are!" Shanks ran over and fell to his knees, digging around her nose with his one arm. Snow flying everywhere, he quickly unearthed his girlfriend's head, neck, and chest before wrapping his arm around her and yanking with all of his might. The rest of Buggy popped out of the snow and Shanks bundled her into his arm. He pressed his cheek to her forehead, a few tears of relief falling into her hair. Her skin was ice cold! Her blue hair and eyelashes had a dusting of snow and she was unconscious, but still breathing, even if it was shallow.
"Oh thank god!" the redhead sighed in relief. "Be grateful you have such a huge, red nose," he murmured, kissing her cold cheek.
"What…did…you…" she breathed, one blue eye cracking open the tiniest bit. Her voice was barely audible but Shanks couldn't help but smile.
"Say about your nose? That you have a lovely, big, red one." He kissed her nose this time and the woman shivered before her eye slid shut again. "Stay with me, okay? I'll get you someplace safe." The man hauled her up, doing his best to hold her with one arm. He managed to get his hand under her ass and propped her against his chest, his arm cradling the outside edge of her body.
The wind picked up, ruffling both their red and blue hair and sending a spray of snowflakes into their faces. "Let's get going," Shanks said, not really expecting a response. He was relieved when Buggy unconsciously pressed her cold nose into his neck, even though he shivered at the touch. Once she was settled comfortably, the man started tromping through the forest again, looking for some kind of shelter, hoping she'd hold out a little longer.
To be Continued...
A/N: And there you go! We'll finish up this adventure next time! :3