Chapter 9: Ember Footprints Left In The Snow
"W-What's he doing here?" Frostfire almost seemed scared of the impending doom that she knew would be the result of her brother's vengeance. She never thought she'd see him again.
"You mean that jerk that tried to ruin your life?" Manic asked, suddenly looking unnaturally angry.
Before Frostfire could answer, Auk approached them.
"Well, well, well… The arnaluk*1 who took everything I was supposed to have. You were so close to being the Chief's wife, so close to being the best hunter of the village, and so close to shedding the stigma of being a monster." Auk smirked and chuckled evilly. "Then I successfully got you exiled. Oh, that was a good day of my life… And it would have been better if you hadn't escaped me a month later! Otherwise, turning you into the hideous monster that you are and throwing into that machine would have been easy! But you had to go and run… Well guess what? I'm back and I will personally see to it that you finally die…"
Manic stepped in front of Frostfire protectively. "You even try and I'm gonna make sure you have a nice place in the ground!" He growled. His temper was rising to surprising levels and it was only a matter of time before he escorted Auk to his grave.
"Let me handle this babe… Fate led him here, so it is my duty to fulfill whatever fate has in store for me." Frostfire looked in Manic's eyes.
"Awww, is he supposed to be some replacement since you lost Snejok? How cute." The sadistic smirk on Auk's face sickened her to the bone.
"Quiet, brother! I am sick of your insults and tired of your biting retribution! Why can't you put the past behind you?"
"I am not nor ever will be your brother! You are but a parasite walking among Outlanders! And no, the past still haunts me to this day! You took my only chance to become the Chief, you possess the Amaqjuaq*2 blessing, the ONE thing I was supposed to have by lineage and you stole from me, somehow you received instead! And on top of that, you made me a laughingstock at the Sled Race!"
"We are siblings! I can comfort you! I'm sorry that you feel this way!" Frostfire's tears streamed down her face.
"It's too late for apologies." Auk said with gritted teeth. "I want to see you burn in hell for everything you've done…"
Frostfire's tears bathed into a deep sadness. "You are nudyuartok, a savage!" She screamed.
"And you are nothing but a low-life coward! And a wretched hingitaq*3!"
"Look in the mirror! Those words do not reflect my image but your own! You've framed me out of jealousy for what I had earned simply because you believed you deserved better! Your heart has become cold, black, and lifeless! You are no better than caribou angiaarniq*4!"
"Enough! I will end you!" Her brother immediately went for a punch to her face and, even with Frostfire's agility, did not expect nor prepare for it. As soon as she hit the ground, his appearance started to change into his Inferno form. He became more akin to a wolf than a Husky. His color rapidly changed to black and glowing orange. It was as if he were fire itself. His eyes were white like the hottest part of a flame. Four charcoal wings with radiating fire flowing through the feathers formed on his back. Horns forming in his forehead radiated with fire in the cracks within the keratin. His hair became unruly like his personality. His face was like a skull "Come prove your worth if you're so innocent!" He said trying to rid of the sickly feeling.
As Frostfire peeled herself off the ground and looked at her brother growling, she began to change also. Her once white fur turned black as night and the spots became as fiery glowing tiger stripes. A mane of fire formed on her head as if she were a lion; as well as a lion's tail with a fiery bushy end. Her permanent slit eyes became scorching blue and danced like flames in her ash colored pupils. Horns, much like Auk's new horns, grew on her head. Fire colored spikes grew all over her body, specifically her back, arms, and legs. Her claws were the same color as her spikes. As Auk watched his sister transform into her inferno-form, Auk felt sick remembering the first day that Frostfire stole his glory. "I am innocent!"
The two fought violently, throwing pyroballs, hailing fire, and other abilities at each other. It was an endless loop of attack and dodge. It wasn't until Auk created a fiery tornado, had it swoop her up, and had the gusts of wind throw her back down onto the ground. Auk walked over to her, touched her with just a finger, creating a flashing force field that shimmered over her body once and she slipped into a coma. "Perfect," He said. "Much easier to kill. Don't have to deal with a running opponent…"
Manic couldn't believe he stood there and allowed it to go on this long. He would not allow Auk to even come close to hurting Frostfire again. Guilt rose in his chest as he summoned his drums once again, hoping they could save her.
While, Auk had his back turned to him he started hitting the drums harder than he had ever done before. The ground gave way beneath Auk. He kept pounding until Auk was hanging off the side of a large cliff-like edge. Then he raced over to Frostfire and carried her far enough away from it so Auk could not see what he was doing.
He searched through his fanny pack until he found some smelling salts. He had learned to become prepared with anything, especially if you were the brother of Sonic. He uncapped the lid and held it up to her nose, hoping by some miracle this would wake her up. When she did not wake up he grew even angrier then he already was. He raced over to the cliff and looked down at Auk. "I don't know what you did but you better wake up Frostfire or so help me, falling is not the only thing you'll have to worry about!" He wanted so badly to wring Auk's neck, so ever badly. But that wouldn't help Frostfire.
"Nothing will help her… She is in comatose for good. She's as good as dead!" Auk said laughing, nearly losing his grip.
"Do you any idea how stupid it is to lie to a thief? Especially, a thief who is in love with your sister and has the ability to beat you to death without even touching you? "You have five seconds to either tell me how to wake her up, or to plummet from this cliff. One." Manic said, using what he had learned from Frostfire earlier.
"Do you really think you scare me, punk?"
Manic's eyes narrowed. He honestly didn't care about the countdown anymore. "You know what, let's just skip to five." He looked down the cliff-like edge. "That has to be a big enough drop to permanently paralyze you. Yeah, I'm good with that." Manic walked away from the cliff and over to his drums. He lightly hit the bass drum, causing Auk to nearly lose his grip.
"Killing me will not aid you in what you desire!"
Manic hit the bass drum again and the same result occurred only a bit worse. "Dead yet?"
Auk muttered curses in his foreign tongue under his breath. "Even if I told you how to bring her back, you'd never be able to find it!" He shouted, desperately trying to scale the edge.
"You know, someone told me once I wouldn't be able to find my way out of a maximum security cell yet here I am now. If I can do that then you can bet your worthless life I'll find whatever you're talking about! Now, you gonna tell me or can I just drop you?" Manic clamored.
"I won't tell you because I am afraid of you, I want to see you fail in resurrecting that monster! It's called the Inferno Choker. No Tlavian has ever recovered it because its location is not known. That is why every Tlavian destined to control fire has ended up nearly swallowing my village whole or, like her, sealed within her own path of inner destruction, never to be awakened again. You'll never find it and even if you do, you are but an Outlander unaware of Tlavian culture and therefore could not use it!"
"Inferno Choker, huh?" Manic said, thinking. He recalled hearing about something a few years ago, before he met Frostfire. Something about a spiked choker with a flame symbol on it... Suddenly he got excited and pulled a notebook out of his fanny pack along with a pen. He normally kept it to keep track of all the items he stole, his way of bragging. He quickly sketched a not-so good looking sketch of a choker he remembered hearing about in the news. He raced over to the cliff and held the notebook out so Auk could see it. "Does this 'Inferno Choker' happen to look like this?" The look on Auk's face was enough to know that this item was the one he was looking for. Now, just to find it...
"How could you possibly know of that?! It's not known to Outlanders!" Auk said with surprise and anger in his voice. His anger rose and he continued to push himself to get closer to Manic and hurt him. He smirked at Auk's pitiful attempts to try and harm him.
"As much as I love to tell the guy who almost murdered my girlfriend how I discovered the only way to save her, I've got a choker to find." Manic took a step away from the ledge and went straight to the base to find out where the Choker was.
"You'll never find it! But when I am out of this mess, I will find you!" Auk shouted was Manic fled the area with Frostfire in his arms to the base. Upon reaching his home, his siblings already were asking questions.
"Wait! What?" Sonia cried, watching her green brother scan a news website. "You're telling me you got attacked by her brother and you just left him there?! You didn't call the authorities?"
"Look, Frostfire was unconscious, I panicked! Cops couldn't touch him if they wanted to, trust me..." Manic said, not looking up from the computer screen as he was searching for the Choker.
Sonia started pacing. "What in the world are you doing, anyway? Shouldn't we be getting her to a hospital?" Sonia said, gesturing to an unconscious Frostfire laying on their sofa. Shot was pretty much glue to her side the entire time, scared out of her wits.
"Hospital won't help. The jerk did something and I'm trying to find the only thing that can wake her up! Sonic, please tell her to calm down!" Manic shouted, annoyance in his tone. He did not feel like dealing with his sister's worrying.
Sonic nodded and said, "Sis, chill. I'm sure whatever Manic knows will get poor Frost out of this."
"Chill?! Are you telling me to chill, Sonic Hedgehog?!" Sonia screamed.
"Cool it, sis! You're better with researching stuff than me, do you remember anything about a spiked choker with a flame symbol in the news a few years back?" Manic said, looking his sister in the eyes. "If you want to help Frostfire, than now's your chance."
Sonia calmed herself down and apologized for yelling before she turned to the computer. "Yes, yes. As a matter of fact, I do." Sonia snatched the computer from her brother and began quickly typing things down. "It was supposedly ancient and discovered in the frozen Tundra. No one could figure out what its purpose was or what origin it was from."
Sonic rubbed his chin then snapped his fingers. "Hey, that actually sounds familiar! While I was out for a jog I heard about a museum here in Mobotropolis obtaining that choker recently! Maybe that's where you can find it, bro."
"What museum?" Manic asked impatiently.
"Mobotropolis Museum. It's over by the chilidog stand." Sonic replied.
"Thanks, bro!" Manic said, rushing out the room.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Sonia called out.
"I'm gonna borrow a choker!"
"You're gonna steal a high-priority item from a high security museum?!" Sonic also called out.
"Nothing I haven't done before!" Manic voices faded in the distance. Sonia felt like facepalming.
"Our brother is madly in love, sis. It's kinda weird." Sonic said to his sister. She just smiled.
It didn't take Manic long to find the museum. This was the most important heist that Manic would ever involve himself in. It also didn't take that much time to disable the alarm system and walk in the back door, either. The problem was sneaking past a security guard that nearly walked in on him looking for the right exhibit. He hid behind a statue. Manic cursed himself for being so foolish.
When the security guard had finally left, Manic headed straight for the strange artifacts. He almost passed what he was looking for but was grateful he didn't. The Choker was in a large glass case. He examined it and discovered there was no real way of getting it out of there without triggering some kind of alarm.
He stuck a keypad to the glass and started to hack the system. When he was sure he had disabled it, he pulled out a glass cutter. The glass was glued to the base and he knew he didn't have the time, or the patience, to try and figure out some other way to get it out of there.
After he had retrieved the Choker he was just about to leave when he saw a light heading his way. He ducked behind the choker's display and calmed his breathing enough so it would go unheard. He heard footsteps coming his way and he hoped that they weren't heading for the display he was hiding behind. Why did people have to be so unpredictable?
When the security guard noticed the glass display was empty, he immediately called it in. Manic knew it was time to risk it and he bolted out of there at a speed even his brother would be proud of. The security guard took off after him but Manic was too quick and made several twists and turns to confuse the guard.
Eventually, Manic had made it outside and he didn't stop running. "Hey, get back here you punk!" The guard called out but he stopped trailing Manic and headed back to his post. Manic reached the base in no time.
"Did you get the Choker?" Sonic asked as Manic walked in, nearly tumbling from fatigue of his escapade.
"Yup!" Manic said, catching his breath.
"Now what? You just put it on her?" Sonic asked.
"I'm pretty sure, unless that jerk left something out, which I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest." Manic said, walking over to Frostfire's unconscious body. He placed the Choker around her neck and waited for something to happen. As soon as he put it on her, the Inferno Form that she was stuck in slowly faded in the same way it originated, returning her body to the look it once had. Once every part of her body was returned to normal, a tiny dancing flame appeared on the inside of the Choker's coffin-shaped box. Glass shielded and compressed the flame from pouring out.
Frostfire stirred slowly.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Sonia cried. Manic didn't waste any time and immediately pulled Frostfire in for a hug. His heart was beating a thousand times a minute, he didn't realized how scared he was. His tears showed his overflowing happiness.
"Oy, my head…" Frostfire noticed the scared green hedgehog. "W-What happened?"
"That idiot knocked you unconscious and then I found the only cure. Which reminds me, I'm probably going to get arrested." Manic said, attempting to smile.
"Oh yeah… My brother… What happened to him?" Frostfire noticed the Choker on her neck, living up to its name, it was squeezing hard. "What is this?" So many questions ran through Frostfire's mind after she blacked out.
"Let's just say, he's hanging out." He smiled. "Yeah, and that's the 'Inferno Choker'." Manic said, pointing to the thing around her neck.
Sonia raced up to Frostfire and pulled her in for a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay." Shot had her turn to hug her, as well.
"Heh, thanks Sonia." Frostfire felt the spikes on the Choker. "Wearing this thing oddly gives me the feeling of more control over my Pyrokinesis. This must be the artifact I heard about in school back home." Frostfire was in deep contemplation.
"I know it looks adorable on you." Sonia said, attempting to lighten the mood.
Frostfire chuckled softly. "If it's what I think it is, it's supposed to suppress my anger and Inferno Form. It's funny. I've never changed before and I didn't know about it either. Somehow, I just knew what was happening and it's name. Apparently, my changing occurs when deep seeded hatred and anger is aroused suddenly. It's very lethal and I'm surprised I wasn't consumed by it."
"Wow. You sure are making me feel a whole lot better." Manic said, obvious sarcasm in his tone.
"Apologies… It just comes with being a Tlavian with Pyrokinesis. The good news is that this thing will prevent me from becoming a menace and terrorizing everything around me." Frostfire's eyes gleamed when she looked to her boyfriend. "You did more than just bring me back from that stupor, you gave me the ability to control what might have spun out of control." Frostfire kissed Manic.
Manic grew a genuine smile. He was so ecstatic! "Just doing what I do best!"
"Yeah, nearly getting yourself killed and arrested." Sonia said.
"And I do it so well."
Frostfire giggled at what Manic said. "You didn't have to do that. I… I do not feel worthy of you putting forth all that effort just to bring me back."
"How can you think you're not worth it when I went through all of that just for you? Don't ever say you're not worth it!" Manic nearly commanded. He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. Frostfire melted in his arms and from the kiss.
When the kiss had ceased, Frostfire smiled and nearly cried. "Th-Thank you…"
"You're welcome, Frost." His smile filled her heart like gallons of water fills an empty tank.
Frostfire's mind momentarily began to wander on her brother. As much anger and resentment she had for him, she did not want to end up like him. Whether this was the Choker's doing or not, Frostfire did not know but she knew forgiveness and compassion were the Tlavian conduct that was taught to each generation. However, there was no denying of the pressing matters concerning her brother.
"My brother will probably try come back for me to steal this choker from me for himself to adorn. Normally, he'd be the kind of person to believe his insanity was not anything more than strength and thus a reason he should deserve praise from anyone he considers minute. But sooner or later, he'd need it for himself to remain sane and calculatedly assume power as the man in red would. Just remember, his inner fire is the reason why he hates me; his desire to kill me literally burns within and it has eaten away at his soul. He is no longer compliant with the degrading compassion in his character. I, as his sister, wish there was hope for him but there is only so much hope required for a dying soul that refuses to be saved from his doom."
"Right now, your brother isn't here. We can worry about him later. Okay?" Manic said, reassuringly. He held her a little tighter and gave her a comforting smile.
"You guys should get some rest." Sonic butted in. "You both have had a rough day."
"You're right, bro. Manic said, suddenly looking very tired. Manic led Frostfire to her room and into bed, still very worried about her. With that Manic and Sonia as well Sonic himself, took the advice of sleep and the base became still with noiselessness that night.
*1 – Arnaluk is Inuit for bitch.
*2 – Amaqjuaq is Inuit for "The strong one". It's basically the werehog gene.
*3 – Hingitaq is Inuit for outsider and abandoned.
*4 – Angiaarniq is Inuit for shit.