Ft. Albany was a bustling but restricted Army base where only vetted soldiers with high security clearances could work due to its many operations concerning Outworld and the other Realms. The primary building and adjoining barracks were a mass of red brick and white plaster, with white-painted bars across the windows and MPs with attack dogs on patrol everywhere. At the edge of the property, tall, electrified kill fences topped in razor wire glittered dangerously in the sun, daring curious people to try to sneak inside the compound. If the fences didn't stop them, the armed guards watching from the towers around the perimeter would.
But it also was adept at keeping people and things reined in, even Miyuki, who'd long ago learned to love those fences' towering menace. She was one of the few who could easily conquer them and destroy her wardens in the blink of an eye if she so wished. But somewhere along the way she realized that she'd let them imprison her, not to keep her locked away from the world, but rather, to keep the world locked away from her. She felt safer in confinement, sheltered from the dragons at the back door.
But today, they were letting her fly away into a world of imagined freedom, and she was not particularly thrilled with the prospect.
"Something along the way has robbed you of confidence and courage and left you with a fear of change and a dread of everything unknown that may occur," Dr. Johnson had told her the previous day when she'd expressed her concerns about leaving. "But Miyuki, you are strong enough to weather the storm. No matter what life will throw at you, I truly believe you will rise above it."
"It's not that I will survive it," she had argued, thinking of the majo she'd been years ago, "but how."
"The how is up to you," he'd countered with a smile as he patted her knee. "If you don't want to become Frost again, then don't."
So now, Miyuki nervously dressed in the clothes Maggie had brought to her: blue jeans, a purple t-shirt made of brushed cotton, and plain black sneakers. Then she began packing her handful of worldly possessions into a single suitcase and her toiletries into a small makeup bag. A sense of sadness masked the apprehension growing inside her, and as she obsessively folded her clothes until they were just right, she imagined the sadness was that fear of returning to the Temple and whether or not she'd be welcomed or rejected by the Lin Kuei. She'd hoped that it was better than her cell, but she wasn't quite sure it would be.
"Babby, are you okay?" Maggie's elderly voice croaked from the corner.
"Yes," Miyuki answered absently as she folded a shirt.
"Are you certain?" she wondered.
Finally, the Cryomancer stopped and looked at her biological mother. The old woman sat straight in her chair, her liver-spotted hands resting atop a cane the hospital gave her after she had her knee replaced a few months prior. She trembled, but that was nothing new. Maggie trembled all the time now, and the tremors were getting worse with each passing day.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.
"Well, Babby, I could be wrong, but you seem out of sorts," the woman replied. "You've folded and unfolded the same shirt three times now." She pointed with a gnarled finger to the yellow sweatshirt in Miyuki's hands.
The Cryomancer sighed. "I guess I have a lot on my mind," she said.
As if reading her mind, Maggie smiled and said, "If you'd rather come live with me than at your brother's Temple, you can."
"We've been over this," she snapped as she resumed packing. "The doctors think it'll be better for me to go to the Temple so I can gradually start reintegrating into society. They say I'm institutionalized, and that means I'll be more vulnerable to doing stupid things that'll turn me into Frost again."
"True," the old woman agreed. "The Temple won't be as restrictive as this hospital, and it'll allow you far more freedom, but not enough to get you into trouble." She smiled. "And Kuai Liang will take care of you."
"Yes…" she agreed, her voice trailing off thoughtfully as she resumed folding her clothes.
True to his word many years ago, when he first forced her to come here, her older brother had visited her at least once a week without fail. Patiently, with far more dedication and compassion than she'd had any right to expect of him, especially given all that she'd done to him, Kuai Liang attended the family therapy sessions the doctors set up just for them to accommodate their unique circumstances. He'd brought her presents, and snacks, and sweatpants and t-shirts when her old ones wore out. Sometimes, he'd brought his family, and she found that she cherished the times she saw his children the most. In those times, she could daydream that Tommy, Jamie, and Sam were just like what she and her brothers would be like if their father hadn't ripped apart their family all those years ago. The only one of his children that she'd never met was Olivia, and though Kuai Liang tried to shelter Miyuki from the truth about why the girl refused to meet her, deep down, she already knew: Olivia hated her.
Miyuki wasn't quite sure how she felt about her big brother forcing his daughter to come to Ft. Albany today of all days. But, she reasoned, if there was a problem, it was probably best it happened here where there would be trained psychologists around to help Olivia work through her feelings on the matter, and not at the Lin Kuei Temple where the witnesses were all probably on Olivia's side. Still, the girl's hatred bewildered her aunt. Logically, she understood the why of the matter: Frost had been a heinous, homicidal bitch who very nearly succeeded in murdering both of Olivia's parents before she was even conceived. But in her heart, Miyuki inwardly squirmed at the thought of someone who didn't even know her hating her like she did. She was Frost no longer. And she wished Olivia would give her the chance to see that she was sincere in her vow to never do harm again.
A sudden knock on her bedroom door made her jump, and her heart was still pounding when it opened a moment later and revealed her brother's stern visage. He was almost fifty, she knew, but his powerful body and lithe movements convinced her he was far younger. His dark hair was short and neatly combed, and had gone white at his temples in a distinguished sort of way, but it was as thick as it had been when he was a young man. His eyes, the same sapphire blue she possessed, were cold, and he certainly had the ability to freeze someone into a proverbial statue merely by staring at them. But for now, he felt like sunshine, Miyuki thought, like the promise of good weather.
"Hi," she tentatively greeted him, forcing a small smile.
"Hello," he greeted back as he stepped further inside and then allowed her to hug him lightly. He towered over her, his body a fortress against her own, and the strength of it alleviated much of her anxiety in a single instant. "Hello, Mother," he greeted Maggie when he pulled away a moment later.
"Hello, Babby," she beamed as she also hugged him, and pulled his cheek down to kiss it.
Then he met Miyuki's expectant gaze and smiled faintly. "I've brought someone with me," he told her before he stepped out of the way, revealing his oldest daughter. "Miyuki, meet Olivia."
As soon as her eyes focused on her niece, she found herself breathless in shock and wonder. She'd heard stories of the young Cryomancer often, and she'd often pictured a child who'd endured too much, a mirror image of the woman Miyuki had been years and years ago, someone very young. And physically, she was. But now, standing before her, she was certain Olivia was older than twenty-one. There was a maturity about her large, blue eyes, a hint of knowing that no one as young as her could've gotten yet. For an instant, she thought those eyes were deep pools about to swallow her up. Olivia held herself with a grace and air of command that made Miyuki feel awkward and unsure. Both women were of the same height, but her presence was such that she was the taller of the two.
Altogether, she was like no one Miyuki had ever seen before. The black hood of her jacket framed her face, and stark white hair, hanging to her waist in soft ringlets, was only slightly longer than her own. She'd never seen another woman with hair like hers - at least, another young woman. Olivia's minidress gleamed faintly in the light, green like a shadow in a forest, the color rippling like water as she breathed. A silver necklace with a sapphire and diamond-encrusted snowflake dangled from her horrifically scarred neck, the wound of which was now shaded blue like her father's scar across his eye. She knew, from Kuai Liang's stories, that a yurei tricked her into doing that to herself, and that the Hydromancers couldn't heal such vile magic, so Olivia was left with a permanent reminder of her time in Outworld.
"Oh, my," Miyuki finally breathed, her hands trembling. "Good morning, Olivia...ah...Livy," she said, awkwardly stumbling over her words as she tried to remember what her family preferred to call her. Her face grew hot at her fumbling. She'd faced down some of Outworld's and Netherrealm's vilest Champions. So why was this such a terrifying moment?
"Morning," the young Cryomancer coldly replied. She crossed her arms and pulled back her hood. She definitely didn't have the confidence issues that currently plagued her aunt. "There, I met her. Can I go now?" she asked her father, now looking at Kuai Liang with an expression of irritation for him.
"Young lady!" Maggie yelped in exasperation.
"What?" she replied.
"Olivia," Kuai Liang began in a low, threatening tone of voice. "I want you to think carefully about all you stand to lose, and I want you to ask yourself if causing trouble today is going to be worth it."
The young Cryomancer unhappily sighed, and she glowered at him before leaning against the nearby wall, never meeting Miyuki's wounded gaze. Miyuki then looked to her brother, waiting for some kind of an explanation. He sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Just let her be," he told her almost inaudibly. "She hasn't had a lot of time to process all of this. She just got home from a hard mission."
She gulped. "Are you sure it's okay for me to come to the Temple again?" she asked, arching her eyebrows at him. "I don't want to cause trouble with your family. That's the last thing I want."
"It'll be fine," he said.
"But-" she started to argue as she looked at Olivia.
"I said, it'll be fine," he repeated, this time more certainly.
Miyuki nodded but sighed. "Okay," she whispered.
"Are you ready to go?" he now asked, gesturing towards her suitcase.
"Not really," she nervously laughed. "But yeah, we can go. The paperwork has all been signed and Dr. Johnson gave me my prescriptions and instructions and stuff."
Her brother smiled reassuringly at her, grabbed her suitcase from her bed, and promptly handed it to Olivia. "Carry this for your aunt," he ordered. The young Cryomancer glared daggers at her father, but he was unmoved, and she scowled as she took it from him.
As they filed from her cell, with Kuai Liang helping Maggie hobble along, Miyuki glanced back at the only place she'd called home for the last twenty years. A choking pain began in her chest and swelled through her throat, and as the memories of this place flooded in, they prompted a few stray tears to well up in her eyes. She could feel the start of her long journey now, the going away from Frost, the person she'd been. And for a fleeting, terrifying second, she didn't want to.
"It's normal to feel scared, Miyuki," her brother's soft voice said behind her.
She swallowed her tears and then slowly faced him. His face was its usual cold mask, his body an expressionless statue towering over her. "What if they're wrong about me?" she whispered so that Maggie and Olivia couldn't hear her from the hallway. "What if I'm not ready to go?"
"They're experts," he countered. "I'm sure they wouldn't let you loose if they thought it was going to end badly."
"I don't deserve freedom," she now argued as some part of her hoped he'd agree and make her stay. "I killed people. Innocent people. You should've thrown me in a hole and thrown away the hole."
He faintly smiled at that. "Perhaps," he nodded. "But freedom is what you've been given."
Miyuki started to argue with him once again, but this time he interrupted her. "I know that this is hard," he said. "I felt scared when I decided to leave the old Lin Kuei years ago. It's so hard to leave - until you actually leave. And then it's the easiest thing in the world to do." He paused, inhaled deeply, and then wistfully smiled at her as he rested a hand on her shoulder. "I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived where your past is buried deep, you have to leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because in truth, it's dead. Past years are safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a formidable cloud where everything is uncertain. And that's the scary part."
"Why are you so good to me?" she asked, nodding as more tears spilled over. "You're the last person who should want them to set me free. I was so terrible to you."
"We've been over this," he gruffly barked. "You're family. And you never abandon your family when they need you, even if what they've done is despicable. I would hope that if the tables were turned, Miyuki, that you'd forgive and help me."
"I would do everything in my power to save you," she softly agreed.
"Do you mean that?" he challenged, sternly raising his eyebrow and crossing his arms.
"Of course!" she breathed, mildly offended that he doubted her. "You're my brother."
Now he smiled. "Then the doctors are right about you." He winked and then gestured for her to follow. "Come on. Let's go home."
At last, Miyuki nodded and clutched her makeup bag tightly to her chest before following Kuai Liang from her cell. Like he'd told her, she never dared to look back once, and as she moved, every step became lighter and easier. The medical staff and guards wished her well as her family passed by, and she cordially acknowledged them, but refused to linger and make small-talk even when it seemed like that's what they wanted. Such things would only make this moment harder. But by the time they reached the hangar where the portal to Arctika was located, she was actually smiling.
At least until she saw Sonya Blade and Jackson Briggs standing in their path.
They were surrounded by several people Miyuki didn't even know, and an odd array of people at that. There were two young women about Olivia's age dressed in Army fatigues - a blonde woman wearing aviator sunglasses and a black woman with intricately woven cornrows on her head. Next to the blonde stood an equally young Asian man, abnormally tall, dressed in Chinese fighting robes with a bow strapped to his back. On the other side of the black woman, two other Asian men stood, the younger dressed in yellow and black while the older had a red cloth wrapped around his eyes.
As Miyuki's smile dropped in an instant, Kuai Liang stepped forward. "What is this, General?" he demanded to know.
"We're here to make sure this criminal doesn't cause any trouble on her way out," came the curt reply. She glared at Miyuki.
Immediately, the Cryomancer's heart leaped into her throat and she averted her eyes in shame. General Blade had never forgiven her for her crimes, and neither had Jax for that matter. She didn't deserve it. Years ago, under orders from Quan Chi, she'd ruthlessly murdered Sonya's mother and Jax's son. She swallowed hard and shrank behind her brother.
Kuai Liang, however, was not having it. "She's done her time, General," he shot back. "She's square with the house again. So it seems that the only trouble being caused right now is by you and this mob."
"For the record, I am extremely opposed to her release," she spat.
"Be that as it may, the doctors saw fit to release her. And the last time I checked, you are not a doctor. So step aside, General." The chill froze his every word into ice.
"We ain't here to stop you, Ice Man," Jax now spoke up. "But we are here to tell you to keep an eye on your sister." Now it was his turn to glare in Miyuki's direction.
"Two eyes," he replied.
"We're gonna be keeping an eye on her too," he said. "If she so much as steps a toe outta line, we gonna have a problem. You cool?"
"Aren't you retired, Jax?" he shot back.
The man, who Miyuki now noticed was dressed in overalls beneath his old Army jacket, scoffed. "I have a vested interest in Frost, and you damn well know it," he grunted.
Kuai Liang inhaled deeply to still his growing anger. "Is that all?" he snapped.
"No," the General replied. "We just got a message from Outworld that I think you'll be interested in, seeing as it was addressed to you." The Grandmaster looked at her expectantly but said nothing. "It's from Shŭdí Tsai Bing in Mòhé. Your kin. He wants you to come to him. Says it's urgent."
Now Kuai Liang crossed his arms. "Why?"
She shrugged. "Didn't say. Only that it was urgent."
Miyuki looked up at her brother, who was quietly contemplating this news. "Very well," he finally said. "I will return with a team at 1700 hours to go through the portal to Outworld. Now open the door to Arctika."
Sonya looked like she might say something to that, but Jax flashed her a look and she refrained from uttering her comment out loud. Instead, she glanced over to the soldiers manning the portal controls and nodded. Immediately, they went to work and opened a shimmering blue event horizon that looked as if cloudy, black arms were twisting through it like a galaxy. Miyuki hadn't seen it since she lived in the Lin Kuei long ago.
"Come on," Kuai Liang said to her.
"'Sup, Coldilocks?" the young, blonde soldier said to Olivia as the family started walking towards the platform again.
"Don't ask," the Cryomancer grouchily replied. "I'll DM you later," she said.
"You going to take General Blade's offer and join the team?" the yellow and black clad Asian man asked.
"You know, Taquito, I was going to say no," she replied. "But now I'm strongly thinking about saying yes." As she said it, she flashed a hateful look in Miyuki's direction behind the Grandmaster's back.
The blonde one snickered. "Taquito," she chuffed, prompting the young Cryomancer to smile. "Good one."
"Talk to you guys later," Olivia said before she disappeared through the portal. Soon, Kuai Liang, Maggie, and Miyuki followed.
Little had changed on the other side when she emerged. A young wisp of a man she didn't recognize was manning this end of the portal, and he seemed largely bored by the job as well. But his eyes went wide when they found Miyuki, and they seemed fearful. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Her reputation undoubtedly had proceeded her.
Kuai Liang led them into the hallway, which was dim like dusk even though it was lunchtime because of near-perpetual nighttime at this time of year. She'd forgotten about that. Inwardly, she grumbled about it. Constant darkness was difficult to adjust to, and she wasn't looking forward to doing it once again. But such was life in the Arctic Circle.
"Olivia, take your grandmother to see your mother in the infirmary," the Grandmaster ordered his daughter as he took Miyuki's makeup bag and handed it to her.
"Finally!" the young Cryomancer practically exploded in relief.
Kuai Liang sighed and scowled as he now pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed away the growing headache. "And you and I are going to have a discussion later," he told her. Her face fell back into a scowl, and he continued, "But first, you need to get ready for a new mission. You're going with me to Mòhé this evening."
"I am?" she replied, puzzled, as if she couldn't believe her father had asked her to go on this mission with him. But then she clearly remembered Miyuki was watching and said, "Yeah, that's right, I am."
Her father wrinkled his nose into a frown. "Just get ready for the trip," he drily remarked. "Gather enough supplies for at least a week."
"Yes, Dad," she said. Now she looked at Maggie. "Come on, Grammy."
"I'll race you," the elderly woman replied with an ornery smile. "And then we'll have a talk of our own, Babby." Olivia groaned at that but said nothing more on the matter. Together, the two of them walked off towards the infirmary.
"You're coming with me, Miyuki," Kuai Liang now said to his sister, leading her in the opposite direction.
She followed him to his office without question, trying to ignore the fearful looks the younger Lin Kuei warriors and the children flashed at her as they walked. They'd undoubtedly heard the stories about the psychotic, terrible Frost, the Cryomancer who'd tortured and tried to murder their Grandmaster and his wife. Olivia had probably told them all about her, and she cringed, thinking that this whole thing was a mistake.
Inside Kuai Liang's office stood Tomas and Bomani, the latter of which was miraculously healed of his automation when Onaga threatened Outworld. These two aging warriors were her brother's chief lieutenants, and they both regarded her like they'd rather jump rope with a cobra than welcome her back to the Lin Kuei.
"Hello, Tomas," she nervously greeted as she extended her hand to him.
The Enenra looked at it as if it was a trick. He looked from it to her to Kuai Liang, and then back to her. "Hello...uh...you," he stammered awkwardly, never taking her hand. His Czech accent was noticeably thicker than she remembered.
Miyuki sighed and then looked to Cyrax. "Hello, Bomani," she greeted him, also extending her hand. "It's good to see you in the flesh."
Unlike Tomas, Bomani took her hand and shook it, though he did so warily. "You saw me briefly without my cybernetic armor when Onaga had imprisoned all of our wills," he replied. His Tswanan accent was also thick. "But it was years ago, and we were not ourselves."
"No, we weren't," she agreed.
"Please, everyone sit," Kuai Liang now instructed, and the three of them obeyed, taking places in the leather armchairs before his desk. "We must establish some ground rules if you are to live here, Miyuki," he said. "It's for your safety as well as ours."
"Okay," she replied, swallowing hard as she nodded.
"You cannot leave the Temple without an escort," he said. "I don't want to give General Blade any excuse, do you understand?"
"Perfectly."
"I also reserve the right to have any one of the Hydromancers touch you to see what you're thinking whenever I deem it necessary," he told her. "But I encourage you to reach out to us if something is troubling you. Don't hold it inside. Dr. Johnson told me that's dangerous and could cause you to relapse into old habits."
"I understand," she agreed. "He told me the same thing. He said I shouldn't isolate myself. But…" she trailed off.
Kuai Liang looked at her expectantly, but when she didn't finish her thought, he sighed. "But what, Miyuki?"
Uneasily, she glanced at Tomas and Bomani before meeting his stern gaze. "But it's going to be hard not to isolate myself," she said. "I can already tell I'm not welcome here. That people are afraid of me. I've earned that, I guess. But-"
"But it's going to take time," he said. "They haven't seen firsthand the progress in you that I've seen. Trust is earned. You're going to have to win their trust. But I know that you will."
She shrugged. "I hope you're right." She sighed. "Kuai Liang, maybe this is a huge mistake. Maybe I should've just gone with Mom. She needs someone to take care of her anyway."
"The doctors think it's better for you to be here," he argued.
"There are a lot more people here to get hurt," Tomas now interjected.
The Grandmaster scowled at him. "You're not helping," he snapped.
The cyber-ninja bristled. "Again, you act like I was supposed to," he shot back. He looked at Miyuki. "I sincerely hope you've healed yourself and gotten yourself together," he told her. "No child should've gone through what you went through. But your victims shouldn't have gone through what you put them through either."
Anger unexpectedly flared up inside of her. "You were right there beside me, if memory serves," she coldly hissed. "I got credit for a lot of your kills. Bi-han's too."
"The circumstances were different, and you damn well know it," he shot back, his eyes narrow and scowling. "I had no free will to stop me. You did."
"Well, how lucky for you that you can sit there and be Lord God King Right," she snapped. "How convenient that your lack of free will automatically absolves you of all guilt in those matters."
"It doesn't absolve me," he replied. "It will never absolve me. But-"
"Enough!" Kuai Liang snapped as he slapped his desk. Immediately, both Tomas and Miyuki stopped arguing and withdrew. He glared from Tomas, to Bomani, to her. "There is plenty of guilt to go around between all of us," he growled. "But I am not interested in the past. Only the future."
"Save it for Pinterest, my pr̆ítel," he retorted. "This is a foolish decision. You, of all people, should know that."
"I know what she's done better than anyone," he replied. "But everyone deserves a second chance. And this is not up for debate."
"Grandmaster?" Bomani now interjected.
"What?" Kuai Liang barked.
If the Cryomancer's curt tone upset him, he hid it well. "I have set up her sleeping quarters close to ours as you've directed," he said. "Should I show her where they are?"
"Yes," he grumbled, now red in the face. He now looked at her. "But don't settle in just yet, Miyuki. You're going with me to Mòhé as well."
She wrenched up her face in puzzlement. "I am?" she asked, bewildered. "Oh, Kuai Liang, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Neither do I," Tomas added. "And, pray tell, why are you going there?"
"Tsai Bing sent a message to Ft. Albany," Kuai Liang replied. "He said it's urgent that I come."
"And you think it's wise to take her with you?" he said, looking at her in staunch skepticism.
"She deserves to meet the other Cryomancers," he told him. "They're her kin as well as mine."
"Then I'm going with you."
"As am I," Bomani added.
"No, you aren't," he told them both. "I want you both to stay here and hold down the fort. I don't know what Tsai Bing wants. His definition of urgent might be my definition of urgent and-."
"True, it could be worse," Tomas interrupted. "And you would be stuck there, alone, with just Miyuki to have your back."
"Olivia's going as well," Kuai Liang retorted.
"Oh, well, that makes it better."
"Grandmaster, I have to agree with Smoke on this matter," Bomani said. "You need more protection than that. Otherwise, I must insist that one of us go in your stead to answer Tsai Bing's summons. I will not allow you to potentially endanger yourself-"
"I'm not a danger to him," Miyuki indignantly interrupted.
"Not you as much as the other Cryomancers," the Tswanan told her. "They are aggressive and hostile towards the Grandmaster because of his unfavorable lineage. They would treat you similarly. Additionally, they are intolerant of women warriors. Both you and Olivia would be at risk there. Without added protection, there would be nothing to deter them from harming our diplomatic envoy."
"That's right, the only reason they didn't kill us the last time we were there was because Himavat forced them to play nice," Tomas added. "So I'm going, and I'm bringing a squadron with me to protect you and Olivia. Cyrax can stay here and run things while we're gone. So just accept it, my pr̆ítel."
"I'm not going," Miyuki now declared, prompting them all to look at her. "I'm not ready for missions."
"And I'm not ready for you to be alone in the Temple without me," her brother abruptly told her.
She recoiled as if he'd just slapped her. "I thought...you believed in me," she stammered. "I thought-"
"I do," he said. "But quite frankly, you're fragile right now, Miyuki. I don't know what, if anything, could trigger an episode. And the last thing I want or need is for you to lose control and go on a rampage while I'm gone. If you decide to use your powers, you know that nobody is going to be able to stop you and a lot of people could die or get hurt, including Anya and my children. So I'm keeping you close. You're going with me."
"Kuai Liang, if there's a fight, you know I won't be able to help you," she said. "I can't. I can't risk becoming Frost again."
"Then I guess we better not get into a fight."
Reptaliator, Congratulations on being my first review for this story! And LOL I'm kind of proud of my version of Reiko. He's the new Frost ;)
MKDemigodZ-Warrior, thanks! And I'm curious to see where this goes as well ;)
Sub-Pion, thank you! I'm glad you're so excited :) Yeah, I'm actually going back and revising my stories for Wattpad, and then I'll probably re-upload them here. The point of me telling you that is that I'm going back and toughening up Kuai Liang a little (amongst other things).
Obelisk of Light, it's already strange writing Frost as a relatively sane, mellow character. I'm so used to making her let loose with the crazy. But this time, let the other villain(s) out to play ;)
ROCuevas, thank you!
The Titan's Shadow, thank you, I'm glad to be back. I'm feeling much better now after my respite. I hope this story delivers!
Daniel Barga, LOL Happy New Year! Yeah, Frost is one of my faves too. You should read Frostbitten if you want to see how she was then vs. now. She's much more docile now, to be honest. It's all part of my character arc for her, and hopefully a redemption as well. As for Alex, Olivia's going to have a bit of trouble. You'll see ;)
Tikcus, well, I use an iPod. Okay, technically it's built into my iPhone, but still. I love it.