So, I didn't get much of a response with the last chapter, and to be honest, I was a bit disappointed about that. I know that not to many people actually read this, and that those of you don't really care either, but it'd be a bit nice to know what you think you know? I mean, my Beta reader lets me know what they think of this, and that's nice and all, but having people let me know what they think, that don't actually try and make the story better before its posted help a bit. I'm not going to force anyone to do something that they don't want to do, but it would be a bit nice as it is.
Moving on, I'm a bit worried that this chapter was a bit on the boring side. I tried my best to make things as interesting as I could, especially since we are diving right into the first arc of this story next chapter, and the official fight scene's will start next chapter as well! I'm really excited to start this up, as this story is going to go right up to cannon as well, but of course, there are going to be things that change here and there. Just because Ooo is the main focus of the story, doesn't mean that I wont go to different places in the world. You'll see what I mean near the end of this chapter. I wont bore anyone anymore as well, so here's the start of the chapter yeah?
I do not own anything but my Oc's. Everything else is owned by Pendleton Ward and cartoon network. Please support the official release, and the company who made the show possible. The song used for this chapter was made by adriana figueroa, and all rights go to her.
You are the dawn of a new day that's waking
A masterpiece still in the making
The blue in an ocean of grey
You are right where you need to be
Poised to inspire and to succeed
Auriel let out a small sigh as she leaned against the tree that she was sitting in, a piece of wheat in her mouth, something that she had taken from the countryside which wasn't hit as hard as the large cities, but there was still no one in the house's that they found. More monsters, but no Humans. The white haired girl was almost certain that she herself wasn't human, something that was proved more and more as she realized that her internal temperature was dropping more and more as things went. She wasn't bothered by it physically, but it was something that kept going more and more, until, in the last couple of days, it just stopped.
Her internal body temperature was at what would have been humanly possible, if the fact that the thermometer they used said that her temperature was at -40. That would have literally killed anyone else, so the fact that she was alive meant that she was either a mutant of some sort, or she wasn't human. All things considered she was going more towards the latter than the former, consider she was fairly certain that she had seen a Vampire at one point when they were in a city. She never could figure that out, what with Ursa taking them out of town as quickly as possible after that.
Speaking of the short haired woman, the two of them were getting more and more like actual friends, but the fact was that they were becoming friends through survival more than anything. Auriel would have been sad about that under any other circumstance, but the fact of the matter is she couldn't care less at the moment. She wasn't sure that she would ever have any friends, and she wasn't going to be picky now. Survival was a lot more important than having a choice when it came to friends. They had to fight against Mutant monsters more times than either would have liked, but that was all a part of actually surviving this nightmare.
There were a lot of animals that had actually managed to survive at the moment as well. They had ended up finding free roaming Chicken, cows, and other things like that as well, thought Auriel was almost certain that she had seen a werewolf as well at one point, but she wasn't completely certain considering the fact that she was still skeptical about Magic in the first place. Of course, she was still going to try and give everything a once over as knowing that she could freeze things as easily as touching them anymore was enough to make her cautious.
She had wanted to try and pet a cat at one point, but the feline shied away from her, making her hand miss, and the grass around her hand froze on the spot. The cat, in turn, ran away as fast as it could manage, causing a slightly heartbroken look to appear on Auriel's face. She had always loved cats, but of course she wouldn't be able to touch anything if her skin was cold enough to freeze it with just a touch. It was part of the reason why she had ended up putting gloves on her hands so that she could touch things without freezing them.
From what she was able to find out, she wouldn't freeze anything if it wasn't skin on skin contact. As such, while her hands would definitely feel cold for anyone that touched them, she wouldn't freeze them just from contact. It was for reasons like that she actually kept multiple pairs on her at all times. She didn't want to lose one and accidentally freeze something or someone by accident. And she didn't even want to try and touch one of those freaky monsters
Continuing on from there, Ursa had been sure to teach the girl anything she could manage when it came to protecting herself. More times than she could count, the white haired girl had frozen things that were together to create a weapon, the black haired woman saying that she would eventually be able to freeze the air she bet. That was more than enough of a reason for her to try and create weapons using something. One of the more ridiculous ideas that the woman got was to blow some grass into the air and freeze them in just a way that it would create a sword out of ice.
That ended up with the girl giving the woman a blank look, considering the fact that she was certain that wasn't possible, even with the power of magic. Ursa insisted that it was possible in one way or another, but Auriel ignored that in favor of attacking with a sword made out of ice, a stick being the object that she froze to get the shape in this case. It would probably work better if she used something more solid, but that was the first thing that she managed to find before she blocked the spear that Ursa had created.
The ensuing fight had ended up attracting a few of the monsters that the girl had started to call Oozer's, something that Ursa had ended up agreeing with. They knew that they were mutated humans, it was kind of hard not to when there were just so many of them in places where the bombs dropped. Of course the ones that attacked them while they were training were taken care of a lot faster than one would expect. Ursa's training was a lot more effective than one would have expected.
"Auriel, it's time for us to go." Ursa's voice spoke, the woman appearing not to far from her on a branch above her.
The girl, instead of protesting, just gave a simple nod, already used to the fact that she was going to be traveling around for a long while. She wasn't completely sure where they were headed in the first place, but she did know that Ursa only wanted what was best for her. She was certain that the dark haired woman had refrained from eating a few times to make sure that she had something to eat. Ursa had even argued against the girl giving her some of the food, saying that it was more important that she kept her strength up.
There were more reasons showing that she cared for the girl than just that, but that was the biggest reason that Auriel could actually tell. There had to be other smaller things, and considering that days turned into weeks and weeks to months as they traveled, some became more obvious. The small humming that she heard occasionally when she was falling asleep, as it turned out, was Ursa trying to help her fall asleep. There was also, of course, the way that her red eyes trailed on Auriel every time the girl stumbled a bit from the various rubble they had to walk over when going through a destroyed city or town. She was turning into a mother bear, no pun intended.
Not knowing her past enough to actually know why it was that the darkhaired woman cared so much, but it was slow going when it came to Auriel actually trusting her. She believed that the woman didn't want to hurt her and everything along those lines, but there was still so much that she didn't know. Like, for example, was she a magic user as well, or was she something completely different? She obviously used some form of light magic, but there always seemed to be a slightly darker tint to it as well, which was something she just couldn't put her finger on.
Deciding to get out of those thoughts for the time being, Auriel looked towards the city that they were heading towards now. Ursa had refused to go further inland, something about how most of the bombs his the other side of the country more than they hit the one that they were currently headed towards. Whatever the case she knew that meant that going inland would have been a bad idea no matter what anyone said. Radiation was at the impact zones of the bombs, and it was luck that Auriel wasn't dead from the bombs themselves. She didn't even want to think about what could have happened to her if she didn't get to the ocean when she did.
The more she thought about it, the weirder it was, at least to her, that the ocean was the only thing that wasn't affected by the radiation that the bombs created. Deciding to ignore that for the time being, Auriel looked towards her companion once again as they walked, before her attention was Focused on the city in front of them. They were, at the moment, inside what used to be North carolina, heading down the road to Raleigh, and already she could see smoke in the distance.
According to the the map of the area that Ursa was using, they were going through an area known as Magnolia woods, somewhere northeast of Raleigh. The only thing she had managed to get out of the woman was that they were going to be heading for Jacksonville, and as such, they were stopping here to scavenge for supplies as much as they could manage before they left. When they finally made it Jacksonville, however, that was something that Auriel didn't know anything about. For all she knew, they could be headed there because that was a place Ursa had a safe house. She literally had no idea, and the woman wasn't giving anything up either which just made things more aggravating for the 14 year old.
Auriel sent another side glance towards the woman that she was walking with, a scowl obvious on her face, before she looked forwards towards the city in the distance. Supplies were the most important thing at the moment, and if that meant ignoring her thoughts for the time being. Considering she knew more when it came to getting supplies, evident by the confusion Ursa had when it came to canned food, Auriel would be the one to say what supplies they were going to need. The biggest thing though, was canned soup, considering how it wouldn't go bad.
"Why must things be put into these... Cans as you call them?" Ursa asked once they list was finally made, several of the items on the list being those that were canned items "They are extremely irritating, and they more often than not, only give you a small amount of food for so much effort."
Auriel sighed a bit, as she looked towards the woman that she was traveling a bit, not really aggravated, but a little confused as to how she didn't know about canned food "Canned food doesn't spoil nearly as fast as anything else, you know, kind of like how keeping it cold does the same thing. We need Canned food to survive until we either find animals, or we can fish."
"Why do you know all of this in the first place?" Ursa asked not to long after, a frown on her face as she realized that Auriel knew more about survival than she had given credit "One would think that a child would be more focused on their own interests, and less on survival."
A small glare made its way onto the girl's face as she took that the worst way it could have been "Well i'm not a normal kid now am I? I was one of the few people who took the who end of the world threat seriously, and look where it took me? I know how to survive a lot better than what a lot of people do."
"I am sorry for saying as such, it is just unusual is all." Ursa said right back, her tone calm and placating, not the least bit upset with the girl in front of her "It is just odd is all. I will not mock you for such abilities, nor will I disapprove of such."
The fourteen year old scowled in response, obviously not happy still, as she turned away and continued towards the City "Well than I guess it helps that I don't care what you think."
This was another problem that Auriel had for the last couple of weeks that she had been traveling with Ursa. It was confusing that the black haired woman cared for her, but the fact of the matter was that even with their little moment on the docks, she still didn't trust Ursa. To be honest, it also didn't help that the woman could be a bit overbearing. There were moments, like with the little humming to help her sleep, that she was fine with, but most of the time she was starting to get really annoyed with the black haired woman.
She needed to get used to what the real world would be like, especially now that everything was so chaotic. The Oozers were the first thing that she had ever had to deal with, and she was certain that there were other things as well. That she was going to have to get used to as well. And of course there was the fact that she wasn't even sure she was human herself. The more she thought about it, the more she believed that she should be dead.
There was no way that a human could have their temperature being at a subzero temperature and still walk around like they were completely fine. The fact that she also froze things when she touched them wasn't normal either. With that, however, her thoughts went back to what happened the first time she had froze things, which were those Oozer's. That was definitely not something that she could do before, even with the fact that she could cool things down before.
Leaving those thoughts behind for the time being, Auriel pretty much forced Ursa to let them split up, something that the woman wasn't happy about, but it was something that she had to deal with for the time being. They would find more supplies that way, and Auriel needed time alone to think things over. She wasn't going to shun the woman who helped her, but she just needed to herself so that she could decide what she was going to do.
The sound of something moving was enough of a reason for her to immediately turn towards the noise seeing that an Oozer, which hadn't spotted her yet, was groaning while digging for something in a trash can. There was no other noise, and considering the fact that she didn't want to fight one of those things if she didn't have to, Auriel slowly moved away, keeping her eyes between looking at the ground as to not step on anything, and back towards the Oozer to make sure that it didn't move.
Getting away from that one was easy enough, at least, until a loud scream echoed through the area that she was in. Auriel's head snapped towards the sound, to see a girl, who couldn't have been older than six or seven, running away alongside an older man, who's skin was oddly blue, but he seemed to have a pair of glasses on his face, as well as a backpack on. Auriel's eyes widened at the sight, before green narrowed and she decided to try and do something stupid.
Running over a car, and dodging an Oozer that was trying to grab at her, she jumped between the two human's, or at least she thought they were human, before she moved her hands in front of her, all of the monsters literally right behind them at the moment since she went through a cross street to get to them. Ice appeared as her anger at the monsters grew, for them trying to attack a small girl and an old man, the ice crawling up the monsters and causing them to literally be frozen in place.
While she was doing this, she absent mindedly noted that the girl said "Simon, she's doing the thing you do when you put the crown on!"
With all of the monsters frozen, expect for a few, which couldn't get past the literal wall of ice any time soon, Auriel turned towards the two, and quickly motioned for them to follow her "I'll explain everything you want to know, but right now we need to find a safe place."
"I'll hold you to that." The older man said simply, before they followed her towards the spot that she and Ursa were going to rendezvous later after finding supplies, and she was certain that it wouldn't be a problem considering she was in the office district when those monsters attacked.
Turning towards the small girl, and taking not of her grey skin, and slightly pointed ears, Auriel asked "What do you want to know? I'll answer what I can, but there's a lot I don't know either."
"How were you able to do that thing with the ice!" The little girl blurted out, excitment obvious in her eyes, despite the disapproval the older man had at the fact that she said so as suddenly as she did.
A smile made its way onto her face at the girl, before she said "I honestly don't know. I've been able to do this for about a month now, but it seems to go on my emotions solely at the moment. I don't even know if I'm human to be honest."
"So you're saying you're, what, a humanoid creature that can freeze things solid?" The older man asked, a frown on his face at the fact that she was just as confused as he was when it came to things, before he pulled out a golden crown that had red Jewels "You wouldn't happen to know about this would you?"
Auriel frowned at the sight of the crown, her hand reaching out to touch it, and the second her head did, she jumped backwards, her green eyes widened in what could only be fright. The feeling she got just from grazing her hand on that crown was concerning. There was just so much Insanity emanating from it! It was like the crown was literally a cornerstone of some insanity inducing obsession.
"W-what is that thing?" Auriel asked after a few second, her eyes focused on the crown in a way that showed that she was afraid of it "Its like all of the madness in the world is centered on that thing."
The old man let out a sigh, as he spoke "You're not completely wrong to be honest. This crown is cursed, you see, and the only reason that I keep it is because of the fact that it keeps me and Marcy here safe. Oh! How rude of me, I never introduced myself. My name is Simon Petrikov. Its a pleasure to meet you."
"My name is Auriel. I don't have a last name that I know of, its nice to meet you as well. Both you and Marcy." The fourteen year old gave a smile towards the little girl, even as she pouted while standing up in her slightly ruined denim dress and ripped up red shirt.
Standing up tall, the grey skinned girl put her hands to her hips as she said "My name is Marceline not Marcy."
"Oh Marcy, you know that you like it when I call you that." Simon spoke with a sigh as he looked towards the small girl with a smile "Or is it just that you don't like anyone but me calling you that?"
Marcy's face grew a bit red, as she turned away while saying "No one but Simon can call me Marcy."
"Well than, I guess I'll just have to call you Marce." The older girl said with a smirk on her face as she looked towards Marceline from her spot on the ground "In return you can call me Riel. That seem fair?"
The little girl gave a big smile as she nodded her head rapidly "Ok, but only I can call you Riel!"
The smile that appeared on her face at that was enough of an answer to show that she didn't have a problem with it, something that caused a smile to appear on Marceline's face as well. Auriel really thought that the little girl was really cute, and there was a big chance that she would want to stay with them, but Ursa had some idea of where they were going for something, and she had no clue as to what exactly that was. Somehow though, there was a part of her that was willing to follow mainly because of the fact that there was something that had her drawn towards Ursa.
It was confusing to say the least, and she didn't understand it. Despite this, though, she still understood the fact that Ursa knew her from before, whatever happened. This meant that wherever Ursa was bringing her was going to have something to do with her past, or at least she hoped that was the case. Either way, her thoughts drifted off and she returned her attention back towards Simon and Marceline, the two doing something at the moment that caused a smile to her face.
Simon had found a TV that was broken, and was currently playing around with the little girl in a way that made it seem like she was controlling the TV. Simon played the different parts of the shows with ease, something that was causing Marceline to giggle uncontrollably at times. It was sweet to say the very least, but there was also a bitter sweetness to it. The world had pretty much ended with how things were, and Simon was trying his best to make sure that Marceline was happy.
A few hours passed after that, and the Marceline ended up falling asleep, a small sigh coming from Simon as he looked towards the small girl "I really hope that she has a good life at the very least."
"You seem to be doing wonders for her at the very least." Auriel said with a small smile as she looked towards the sleeping girl as well, a sadness in her eyes that wasn't present before "What now though? I'm heading towards Jacksonville, so I can't go with you guys."
Simon frowned at that, before he said "To be honest? I don't know where I'm going, but I have to get her there."
Auriel knew that he was referring to Marceline, and that ended up bringing a smile to her face as she realized just how much he cared for the girl. It wouldn't have surprised her if that wasn't the first time that Simon had done that, and it probably wouldn't be the last time either. Unbidden a frown made its way onto her face as she looked towards the crown that was strapped to Simon's waist. That was not something that she wanted to get near again, but she knew that it was keeping them safe, or so they told her.
The rustling of some leaves caught Auriel's attention, Simon reaching towards the crown, only for the fourteen year old's hand to go out and stop him, her hands already having a an Icy aura around them as she stood in front of Simon and Marceline as to protect them in case whatever it was that was coming towards them was going to hurt them. Her hands quickly dropped, however, when she saw that it was Ursa that was walking out of the bushes, her red eyes flashing towards Simon, and Marceline who was still sleeping, with a questioning look.
"Who are these two Auriel? And were you truly searching for food?" Ursa asked, a frown on her face even as her eyes traced over the small girl's form with a slightly sympathetic look in her eyes.
Auriel, in turn, frowned as well, her hands no longer having the Icy Aura to them, as she crossed her arms "What do you think? I was searching for an hour at the least before I found these two running away from a mob of Oozers. I couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves."
"I am not questioning that. I would have been very disappointed if you had left those two to fend for themselves, but the fact of the matter is that you did not find anything when we are short on provisions." Ursa explained even as she dropped a large bag that was full of canned food, as well as some other foods that had been deemed 'non-perishable' by the fourteen year old.
The frown on the girl's face grew at the fact that Ursa said that she was disappointed, fury seeming to appear on her face, causing her to open her mouth, but before she could, the older man walked forward, a frown on his face as well "Listen, I don't know who you are, but that isn't a very nice thing to say. She did her best with finding what she could, and she helped us in the process. Isn't that enough? I'm sure that you're not her mother, so why not just let her do what she thinks is right for the time being since its obvious that she doesn't trust you just yet."
"It is my duty to take care of her." Ursa argued, her frown turning into a glare as she stared at Simon "You have you're own responsibility as well yes?"
The blue skinned man gave a nod towards that even as he didn't back down "You're right about that, but the fact is, I don't think you understand that Auriel is starting to become a teenager. Teenager's need their space."
"How is it you would know this?" Ursa asked, her eyes narrowed as she looked towards the older man with a frown "You do not look like someone who would know what teenager's are like."
"I would have to disagree with that considering I was a professor." Simon spoke with a frown towards the woman "Even if I didn't teach people, I had to deal with plenty of new faces on the many times I went out to dig something up."
The black haired woman was starting to get annoyed with the man in front of her as he continued to make valid points towards her argument "I am only doing what I believe to be best for her! I admit that there is much that i need to tell her, but I am afraid of what will happen if I were to tell her as such!"
"Than tell me right now." Auriel's voice suddenly broke out between the two, her green eyes digging into Ursa's own red eyes, trying to find something, anything, that she could take away for some form of answer "I don't know you, at least I don't remember you! What is it you're protecting me from?! What are you trying to help me with?!"
Ursa's eyes flickered between Simon, and Auriel, before she sighed, obviously knowing that she wasn't going to be able to get away from what was going on at the moment She did not want to have this conversation with someone that she didn't know near by, but she could tell that the man, though touched by something of ice elemental nature, was not a part of the same group as the man that she was trying to keep Auriel safe from. She wasn't happy about talking now, but it was something that she knew she had to do.
"I was planning on taking a functional boat from Jacksonville so that we could head south towards Antarctica, stopping in southern america here and there for supplies when needed." Ursa spoke with a frown as she looked towards the man that had a confused look on his face as well as Auriel, who had her eyes narrowed "The reason for this is because of the fact that it is time for you to face you're Uncle, who is the reason that you're memories are fragmented."
Auriel's eyes narrowed even more at that, anger obvious in her voice as she asked "My uncle is the reason I can't remember anything before the age of 8?!"
"Yes." Ursa said in a tone of voice that showed that she truly hated the man who called himself Auriel's uncle "He had planned for your death since the day that you're mother was found to be pregnant. He is also the reason that you're mother is dead. I wish that I could have avenged her death, but I was to weak at the time..."
The anger that was emanating from Auriel was obvious, her green eyes seeming to glow a small amount even as the icy aura spread around her. She was beyond pissed at the man who was considered to be her uncle. She didn't know who he was, or even why he did it, but she didn't care anymore either. She was going to kill him, and even if she knew that she shouldn't think that, she was going to. It was something she needed to have done for her mother.
"What I don't understand, is what did her uncle have to gain with killing Auriel?" Simon asked, his voice strained with anger, but at the same time, worry.
Ursa sighed, obviously not wanting to say it "His aim was for the throne of the ice elemental's."
"What?" Auriel asked, her tone confused, as she didn't seem to register what was being said, at least not completely.
Ursa's red eyes showed a deep sadness as she looked towards the fourteen year old, even as she spoke words that change things more then she ever would have expected.
"You're father was the king, and you're mother the queen. That makes you Heir to the elemental throne Auriel Von Drasconia."
Soon you'll finally find your own way
So, Auriel is not only royalty, but her Uncle tried to kill her... Yeah, to be honest I really hoped that no one guessed that she was some form of royalty, and that the fact that it was her Uncle who tried to kill her, wasn't to Cliche to be honest. I worry to much sometimes, but these are Valid concerns. I'm trying my best to be original, and to have you guys happy with what I write, but I know that I'm not going to be able to please everyone. I hope to get Reviews on this as well to be honest. Criticism of any kind is always welcome, but try to keep the flames in the fire kingdom. We dont really need any of those over here.
Till next time, yeah?