Chapter 2! Many thanks to Ryu_No_Me for beta-reading!

Luka expected total silence, once there was no movement. But the windshield wipers powered on, rubbing against the glass, and the heating continued to blow warm air into the space. A low hiss added to the chorus.

She also expected pain, which she felt in spades. It felt like her seatbelt had buried its way into her collarbone and shoulder, her face was sore, the wind knocked out of her.

Luka sat back, realized she had been pressed against the airbag. She gasped, her chest aching, and next to her Miku groaned, sprawled back in her seat.

"Fuck."

Luka shook her head. The weight of her handbag in her lap was gone. The airbag in front of her was already deflating, sagging to rest on her knees. "What—"

The jock hissed, rubbing her face.

"Fuck..."

"Are you—"

"I got socked," the jock spat thickly, and Luka saw her nose was bleeding. The deflating bag in front of her was stained red as well. To the taller woman's surprise, however, the tealette chuckled. "That's what I get for leaning so close to the wheel."

"Are you alright?"

The jock batted at the bag with one hand, the other gently prodding at her nose. After a moment, she mumbled, "I think it's fine? I guess I'm lucky this is the worst I got. You ok?"

"I..." Luka breathed for a bit longer, sitting as far back into her chair as she could. "I think..."

The jock patted the bag down, dabbing at her nose with her sleeve. "My car... Shit..."

A click, then the smooth sound of a seat belt retracting briefly contributed to the sounds around them. A second later, her sleeve pressed against her nose, Miku opened her door to step outside. The instant the door opened however, the ice-cold wind hurried to fill the space. Luka yelped, the slamming of the door her only reply. Outside, with nothing but her blood-stained bomber jacket to protect her, Miku stood next to her car, assessing the damage.

Luka sat straight, taking deep, even breaths. The left side of the car still shined a light, illuminating the wall and the right side of the road. On Miku's side, however, the front of the vehicle seemed to disappear into the rock wall, the light devoured by the stone. The jock was barely visible as she peered, leaned, kneeled, then turned around to head back to the interior.

Luka recoiled when Miku opened the door, keeping her bare legs far from the gust of wind. The deflated bag rested on her knees, but it did little to keep away the cold.

"What—"

"We're stuck," the jock deadpanned, voice nasal. She kicked at the airbag so she could sit down properly before singing, almost mockingly, "We're stuck!"

"Stuck?"

"We need to call the police."

Luka fumbled for her phone. It merrily showed a full charge, but Luka's eyes focused on an icon right next to the battery level.

"There's no service."

The jock looked at the sleeve, then felt at her nose with her bare fingers, finding no fresh blood. "We can still make emergency calls."

Luka breathed for a second. "Can we?"

"Give."

Luka obeyed dumbly, handed over her phone, watched with glazed over eyes as the jock dialed the emergency number. For a second, neither of them breathed, but sure enough, faint ringing soon filled the space.

"Hi," Miku said after a few heavy heartbeats. She cleared her throat before she went on, saying with a slightly more normal voice, "I'm afraid I've made a stupid decision and I'm stranded on Nomugi Highway."

Luka listened, unable to understand the voice that struggled to get past the ongoing hum of the heating.

"I had an accident. No, the car is stable, we're away from the lake, that's fine." Miku listened, taking deep and even breaths, her empty hand resting on the wheel. Luka watched her flex her fingers, the shadows streak across her skin as her tendons raised from the back of her hand, before she formed a fist again. At that angle, the blood on her sleeve was hidden, but the stain on the airbag was obvious in the darkness. Out the window, she saw the empty road ahead, more snow, and nothing else.

Nothing but snow and blood.

The responder asked more questions, Miku answered. In the meantime, Luka struggled to simply breathe. Her gasping slowly accelerated, she worried at the hair on her shoulder with both hands. Just when tears started welling up, the tealette's eyes found her in the relative darkness of the car.

"Are you hurt?"

Luka shook her head.

"Neither of us are hurt," she replied into the phone after checking her nose again. "Just a little winded. Can we expect help anytime soon?"

Miku hummed a few times, nodding, mumbling replies, while Luka watched, absolutely gobsmacked.

"Right, thank you very much. I'll do my best to keep in touch. Bye."

Miku hung up, then hung her head.

"We're stranded here," she whispered.

"Stranded?"

"There's been no traffic up the hill on either side of the mountain for ages now. The storm pretty much shut everything down; there's accidents everywhere. They can't come get us."

Luka shook her head. "They have to."

"They physically can't," Miku said with a sigh, sitting back in the chair. Slowly, she undid her ponytail, ran her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry."

"I have to get home."

"It's not happening," she stated. "We need to prepare."

"Prepare?"

Miku's only answer was to open the door again, shutting it behind herself quickly. Her legs covered in goosebumps, Luka watched as she walked to the back of the car, opened the trunk. After a moment, she walked up to one of the back doors to toss a bunch of things onto the backseat, doing the trip three times total, before returning to the front of the car, which had become chilly.

Dusting herself of the snow, Miku said, "They said that most everything East of us has been snowed in pretty heavily. If they can't save us tonight, then chances are we're going to have to prepare for some hefty snowfall all on our own."

"But—"

"First, clothing."

Miku leaned over to Luka's side, pushed the bag so it rested on the dashboard, then opened the glove box. She took out the manual that came with the car, a folder with papers, an outdated phone, and finally a whole bunch of gloves.

"Fantastic," she muttered. "Choose a pair, I should have more right here."

Miku promptly kicked out of her seat to squeeze her upper body between the chairs, reaching for whatever she had dumped in the back. While she rummaged, quietly grunting from the effort, Luka squinted at the pile of gloves. All were old, there were no matches, and none were exactly the same size. There were four lefts and four rights, but that was about it.

With a deep frown, Luka selected one black mitten for her left hand and a red wool glove for her right hand. Seconds later, Miku plopped back in her seat.

"No spare pants for you, but I have another coat,"—she tossed an old tattered trenchcoat onto Luka's lap—"And plenty of scarves."

These were added to the pile on the central console. After pushing the coat away, Luka reached for the red scarf, but Miku seized it first.

"Hey, I—!"

"Just a sec."

Miku exited the vehicle without warning, returning to the trunk. After some more searching, Luka saw her grab one of the window scrapers that removed ice from windshields. Instead of scraping at the layer of snow that was already clinging to the windows, she walked to the front of the vehicle.

Luka gulped when she saw how much snow had fallen on the hood of the car. The shiny blue surface wasn't visible any longer, and the wall they had crashed into was pure white.

There, Miku stabbed the scraper into the snow, then tied the scarf to the top. Her teal hair was billowing in the wind, pure chaos, and she needed a few tries to secure the scarf to the handle of the scraper. Once her work was done, she stood back, watched it for a moment, then returned to the interior.

"It's freezing out there...!" she hissed, immediately grabbing a pair of gloves. "Ice cold."

Luka watched the bright red scarf wave erratically in the wind, the soft surface catching the snow, but the layer never got so thick that it weighed it down.

"What are we going to do..." Luka whispered, eyes on the scarf. Even though it had been so bright red, in the night it was just like the darkness all around them; barely distinguishable and faded.

"We need to dress up, insulate the car," Miku replied. "Get ready for a night's stay in here."

"We can't."

Miku paused, pulling on her own pair of gloves. Luka was staring at the scarf, panting almost as the reality of the situation started sinking in. Miku stared at her in turn, gaze even.

"Hey."

The taller woman took a second, but eventually turned to face the jock.

"This isn't the end of the world," she said, a hint of her lopsided grin returning. A faint smear of blood was barely visible, right above her lip. "It'll be just fine. As long as we stay cool, we'll be totally alright." When Luka failed to reply, she picked up the largest of the scarves. "Well, you know, so to speak. Here, put this on. The coat, too. You look like you'd freeze in a heartbeat."

Luka blinked, sneered at the pile of clothes. "I wanted the other scarf..."

"It was the brightest one, and we need a way to signal our position somehow, in case they do manage to come and rescue us," Miku said slowly. "Just put on whatever will keep you warm."

"I don't..."

"What's your name?"

Luka's eyes returned to the jock with a scowl. "Luka."

"Your full name," she insisted. When she still didn't reply, she said with a light smile, "I'm Miku Hatsune."

"...Megurine."

"Alright then. Luka Megurine, it's literally just you and me in this car. Look at me: you don't have to impress me, and there's nobody else around. Just put on what feels warm and snug, and we'll get out of here alive. That's what matters."

Luka still didn't move however, rooted in her chair, scooted as far back against the door as she physically could. Miku's smile faltered. She put down the scarf she was offering.

"I think it's important to remember that sure, your parents might be upset that you didn't make it home this evening, but they would be far more upset if they find out that you died tonight. Making it through this alive matters more than glitz or glamor."

The taller woman took another moment, stock still, yet she finally did grab one of the scarves, wrapping it around her neck. Miku smiled as she did so before turning her attention to the console. Seconds later, the high beams outside died, the wipers stopped, and the heating grew silent.

Darkness all but drowned them.

"We need to save energy," Miku explained as she pulled on the other glove, then turned on a small light inside the car. "Turn down the temperature of your seat."

"But—"

"Not off, just down. We need to make sure the car lasts until morning, but we have to, too," Miku summed up. "I'll be right back."

Once again, the jock opened the door, quickly shutting it behind herself. Luka watched as best as she could as the tealette started working on something outside, but with the high beams down and the interior suddenly so bright, it was impossible to see past the glass.

She inhaled shakily, then exhaled slowly. Then once again, for good measure. With a trembling hand, she turned down the heating of her own seat just a little. Then, she turned her attention to the collection of scarves and gloves.

In the brighter light, their state and appearance was all the more pitiful. One of the scarves was a faded old pink, covered in little unicorns; another was short, narrow, stiff wool that had surely been put through the dryer by accident; a brown scarf was fraying at the edges; a cream one of felt was so thin at parts they were almost holes. The gloves were in a similar state, though all were adult-sized. One was missing a finger, another used to have grippy pads on the fingers, their only remains being dried pieces of plastic clinging to the fabric. The trench coat was stained, frayed, but generally whole.

With a scowl, she slipped on the coat with some effort, wiggling in her seat as she made sure it would go around her legs. Outside, Miku had made progress to stand behind the car, actively doing whatever she was doing. After a bit more thought, Luka grabbed the cream scarf and the pink one to wrap each around one of her bare feet and ankles. To top it off, she put her shoes back on, then retrieved her bag that had fallen to the floor.

Tears welled in her eyes once again as she finished the work, sitting back in the seat, pulling the trenchcoat on tight, clutching the bag in her lap. She took in the car interior, the buttons before her, with all their little symbols, and wondered which would turn up the heating; it was far too chilly. In front of Miku's seat hung the pale airbag, the bloodstain glaring at her, the whole thing like one big eye that sagged down to the floor, hanging from the steering wheel, a dark circular socket.

She shook her head, crossed her arms, tucked her hands into her armpits. At least, generally speaking, the car looked good. Sure, it wasn't totally new, a few scratches here and there, but the screen was clean, and the seats were comfortable. Their material, dark gray and blue, was soft and easy on the eye even with the bright LED light illuminating it all.

Miku had reached her window by then, and Luka saw with surprise how the jock was pushing snow from the road up against the sides of the car. The back passenger windows were totally blocked out by the snow, and after a look in the rearview mirror, so was the back window.

She was trapping them under a layer of snow.

Luka gulped heavily but didn't comment, didn't open her door to protest as Miku piled snow up against the door, then the bottom half of the window. The jock even started tossing more snow onto the windshield, but it was like hauling a bucket of water to the sea; it was already coated with the stuff as it continued to fall, harder and harder still.

A minute later, the tealette returned to her seat. With the LED on, the impact of the cold on her was all too obvious; the tips of her ears and the end of her nose were an angry red while the rest of her skin had gone waxy. Her bright teal hair was dark and hard from re-frozen snow. She took off a glove to clumsily wipe her running nose as she shivered and sniffled.

"Fuck it's cold out there," she hissed, sounding legitimately miserable.

"What did you do?" Luka asked, voice quiet. "You buried us..."

"Snow is insulating, believe it or not," Miku replied, her clogged nose audible. She fiddled with the console and heating turned back on with an aggressive hum. "This should help us keep the heat we generate for longer."

Luka didn't reply, eyes downcast, feet tucked up close against the foot of her seat, coat pulled low over her knees.

"Either way, we're going to get covered up," Miku mumbled again, rubbing her hands together. A strip of skin on her wrists was bright red as well, which she stroked gingerly. "So we can only hope the flag stays up, if the car-sized lump of snow in the middle of the road doesn't attract enough attention..."

Luka watched her as she recovered from the outdoor trek out of the corner of her eye. The jock dusted off all the snow onto the floor at their feet, cupped her ears for a bit, even ran her fingers through her hair, wincing as she did so.

"No more outdoor trips," Miku summed up. "Ok, what can we do now?"

Luka stayed mute as the tealette thought. Again without warning, she kicked up to start rifling through whatever she had put on the back seat. Seconds later, she started tossing things onto the floor at their feet.

"What—"

"We need a smaller space to keep warm," Miku explained as she moved bottles, blankets, tarps, bags of chips, bundles and boxes of all kinds. "Everything we'll need, we need to bring closer; I'm going to close off the back seat, get rid of these bags."

Luka watched as she did just that, summoning a huge tool box. From it, she pulled out an impressive pair of scissors which she immediately took to the airbag in front of her. Seconds later, the empty eyeball was severed from the steering wheel and tossed onto the backseat.

"Want me to—"

"Please."

Miku kicked up and over the console to give the airbag on Luka's side the same treatment. Once done, the scissors were put away, a roll of duct tape was taken out. From the pile at her feet she picked up a dirt-caked plastic tarp. After some fiddling and folding, the top was taped to the ceiling of the car, right behind their seats, down the wall as far as she could reach. Once done, she sat back in her chair, heaved a sigh, then extended the roll and scissors to Luka.

"Here."

Luka accepted them, then carefully turned around and did her best to imitate the jock, taping the tarp to the wall of the car without allowing for any gaps or crinkles to let air escape. Dirt fell to the floor, to the seat, clung to the folds of her trenchcoat as she worked.

When she was done, she turned to see that Miku had propped wads of old newspaper on the dashboard, up against the windshield. After taking the tape back, she taped more layers of paper to her window, then had Luka do the same to hers. While Luka was busy, Miku then arranged all she had brought to the front in neat piles, and the taller woman recognized the snacks and drinks, old grease-stained bags, more clothing accessories, tarps and blankets. A first aid kit was allowed to sit towards the top, alongside an empty bag.

With the paper all around them, the tarp behind them, all within the car, buried in snow, they were totally and uncompromisingly cut off from the rest of the world. Still, the storm raged on so hard they could hear it, the wind howling around them, and the continuously adding weight of the snow onto the vehicle was almost physically tangible.

After a few minutes of toiling, Miku sat down with a sigh.

"We're in for a long night," she whispered, and even though she still looked affected by the cold, the tip of her nose and ears red, her hair dripped, sweat was beading her brow. She turned down the heating once again, then asked, "You're alright?"

Luka hummed, pressed against the door.

"Great. The dispatcher told me to call back regularly, so I'm going to do that," the jock said. "Want to give me your parents' number? I'm gonna have them call mine so they know what's up. Maybe Gakupo too if they'll allow it…"

The taller woman frowned, but nodded. After searching through the tool box some more, Miku pushed over a piece of paper and a pencil, which had been sharpened down to a barely usable stub.

"Great. I'll make sure to tell the police to contact them, let them know you won't be able to make it to that event you're missing."

Luka faltered, but finished writing the number. "There's no event," she said quietly.

Miku stilled. "What?"

"There's no event."

"Oh."

The jock didn't ask for details, wordlessly dialing the emergency number on Luka's phone, accepting the slip of paper when it was pushed back towards her without even casting her a glance.

The taller woman listened to the call with one ear. She shivered despite the warm seat and hum of the heating; the floor was cold and her shoes were doing nothing to protect her. She fidgeted, pointlessly rifled through her bag, all the while pressed against the door. Her hair caught on the tape holding up the tarp. No matter how much she swatted, dirt continued to tumble from who knew where. There was no visibility at all, and all she could see was the car and the jock on the phone, who was pointedly avoiding any kind of eye contact.

Luka gulped, tried to comb the lock of hair, but the gloves were too big and clunky. In the end, she crossed her arms again, tucking her hands under her armpits, but it didn't help much at all.

"That's right," Miku said at one point, eyes on the slip of paper. "I'll call back in half an hour, give you an update. We have food and water, yeah. Any ideas what I can do to further insulate the car?"

Luka did her best to breathe as the person on the other end of the phone started down a list, the jock humming and saying short words as they went on, indicating that she was listening.

"Great, thanks for the help. We'll keep in touch. Bye."

With that she hung up, then returned the phone to the charging slot. Miku sighed, started clumsily pulling at the knotted ends of her hair.

Luka inhaled deeply before whispering, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," the jock said back, though her lopsided grin failed to return. "I was going to head this way anyway. And yeah, as I said earlier, we probably wouldn't have been able to outrun this once it caught us."

Luka didn't reply.

"I hope everybody else made it home safe."

"...I hope so too."

The jock sniffled, removed her gloves so she could retie her hair. "Yeah."

"Is there anything else we can do?"

"Here, now? No. Unless you have a lighter."

"I don't."

"Yeah. We're insulated, and we should have enough energy to get us through the night," Miku said, pulling her gloves back on. "We have water, so we don't have to worry about, I don't know, melting snow to drink." She snorted, adding, "Good thing I grabbed the extra snacks."

Luka nodded, the movement stiff, her eyes downcast.

"Seriously, it's fine. At the very least, I would have been trapped in this blizzard. I guess it sucks most for you to be here, too, especially since you had other places you could have run to. I didn't really have a choice but to head this way."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, I'm not saying it to rub it in!" Miku exclaimed, her voice jarringly loud in the small interior of the car. "Seriously. I'm sorry you're here. It's not the end of the world but yeah, this sucks."

Luka fidgeted, hid a shiver in the loose form of the coat.

"I guess..." Miku sniffled again, wiped the drop that dangled from her nose with the back of her hand. "...Gross. But yeah. I guess I was wondering why you needed to get back home so bad? If you don't mind sharing."

"My parents wanted me home."

"Yeah, well, I get that," the jock said, leaning over to check the glove compartment. Empty handed, she shut it once again before looking through the pile of stuff at her feet, casting a long look inside the first aid kit. "But we were driving right into a blizzard, you know? I figured it would be something worth dying for? Or something."

Luka scowled. "You didn't have to listen to me."

"Sure, that's on me," Miku conceded, sitting back in her chair empty-handed. "I'm a bit of a pushover at times, yeah. But man. I was sure it was really important or something."

"It is important."

Miku raised a brow, the piercing there glinting in the light as it moved. "If you say so."

"You don't believe me."

"I believe you. I just don't get how making your folks happy is worth going into a storm and risking your life."

Luka scoffed, dug into the seat a bit deeper. "Of course you don't."

Miku waited for a bit, her gloved hands resting in her lap, before shrugging, turning her attention to the various blankets she had folded up. "Alright."

The other woman glared at her, waited as well, but the jock merely selected a blanket, unfolding it partially to gauge its size. Satisfied with it, she completely unfolded it and draped it over herself.

"There we go," She said under her breath, pulling on the blanket to hold it close, kicking around to get it under her feet. Then, she turned to the other woman, all smiles and bright and enthusiastic, then pointed to the pile. "Want one?"

"...Don't you care?"

Her smile faltered, mere confusion, before she said, "About you not freezing to death? Yes?"

Luka shook her head, glared out the window, or rather at the layers of paper that hid snow-coated glass. She struggled to find a reply, simultaneously trying to stay pressed against the door and leaning forward, inhaling to spit some retort, only to find her next exhale devoid of any words. She breathed for a moment, angry and unwillingly mute, until finally she seethed, "You don't care about what I think. Or feel."

At that, the jock stayed quiet for a handful of heartbeats. Finally, she deadpanned, her clogged nose once again audible, "Well, no. I don't exactly know you, you know."

"You don't care about anything!" Luka snapped, lips curled into a snarl. "Walking around the way you do, dressed the way you are, talking like that? The world can just go and burn in hell as far as you're concerned, right?!"

A sniff, but her tone was far more casual than hurt. "Sheesh, I care about quite a few things, at least?"

"You just don't get it," Luka growled. "You don't get what it's like to care, knowing what people expect from you! You just go off and do whatever you want!"

"I don't—"

"You couldn't even show up to a party in the appropriate attire! And that piercing! What else have you decided to totally disregard?"

"You got issues."

Luka inhaled deeply before hissing, "You just said yourself that you don't care about making your parents happy."

The tealette raised a finger. Enunciating every word slowly, her voice still somewhat nasal, she said, "I said I didn't get how your life is worth a small moment's satisfaction for your folks. I like making my parents proud, yeah. I'm not jumping off a cliff for them to have a sensible chuckle." After a pause, she asked, "Don't your parents care about you?"

"They care," Luka whispered. "They care about my future."

"What about your happiness?"

Luka averted her eyes again. "Of course they do."

"I don't have to be in the faculty of medicine to know that success doesn't mean happiness," Miku said, punctuating her sentence with another sniff.

"What would you know?"

"I'm plenty happy," the jock said, her smile back on her lips, though hesitantly. "I'm the resident expert on happiness."

"Oh yeah?" the other woman sneered, though she once again clutched the hair on her shoulder, unable to brush through it. "So, what's your wisdom?"

"Just be brave enough to do what you want. Chase your own dreams, live your life. Don't go... Headfirst into a storm because mom and dad insist that that's the way to go."

Luka crossed her arms, holding her bag close to her chest. Miku regarded her for a moment, with her legs pressed against the foot of the seat, trench coat and scarves struggling to cover her bare legs.

"Making people happy won't necessarily make you happy," Miku whispered after wiping away another drop with the back of the glove.

"Says you."

"Yep, says me, the one who kept driving just because you told me to. I'm ready to admit that." The jock sighed. "Just take a blanket already; I'm freezing just looking at you."

Luka held her hand out and let the other woman give her a blanket of her choice. Wordlessly, she draped it over her shivering form, not even moving from the door to tuck it around her shoulders. Miku watched her work with the blanket with restrained, rushed movements, a slight frown pulling at her lips.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine."

Miku sniffed again, rearranged her own blanket. "If you're hungry or anything, just let me know."

Luka nodded.

"And do turn up the heating if you're really cold. I didn't refuel super recently, but I think there's enough charge to stay comfortable for the rest of the night."

The other woman didn't move, staying pushed into the corner against the door. After a moment, Miku leaned forward and turned her seat heating up anyway, then did the same for herself, before she sat back with a sigh, closing her eyes.