Wynter's eyes fluttered open. His vision was blurred, and he could barely make out where he was. He blinked a bit, trying to recover his vision.
Where's Willow? He thought to himself. As if on cue, he heard a small groan beside him. That was when he noticed he was lying on the floor, wrapped up in a blanket.
His vision was returning, and he glanced around a bit, not moving. He was in a small cabin, a wooden one, and there was a fireplace a few feet away. There was some furniture and a door. Next to the door was two jackets on a small chair.
Wynter finally got up, and turned to see Willow. She was also in a blanket, but her leg, the one which had been frozen earlier, was unwrapped. Wynter noticed that the ice on her leg was melting, most likely due to the fireplace.
"Willow, where are we?" Wynter asked, shaking his sister a bit to wake her up. Willow snorted and slowly got on her knees, half-asleep.
"Wha-what?" She asked, yawning in-between.
"Where are we?" Wynter repeated. Before Willow could give an answer, a different voice filled their ears.
"Honey, they're awake."
Willow barely heard the voice and instead dropped back on the floor, clearly dazed. Wynter, however, finally got to his feet and turned to see who had spoken.
He saw the two figures. They were the same ones he saw before he passed out, but now he could see them more clearly.
One was a man and the other was a woman. They both appeared to be in their early thirties at least. They had brown hair, but the man had a much darker shade. As Wynter looked closer, he noticed the man looked like an older version of himself, and the woman looked like an older version of Willow.
"Mom? Dad?" Wynter half-questioned as he began to recognize them.
"…Son?" The woman asked.
"I know you're names," Wynter said as his memories came flooding back to him. He pointed a finger at the man and said, "You're Noel."
"Yes, and what about her?" The man, Noel, asked.
"That's Holly," Wynter said, and he smiled.
"Oh, my son!" Holly said as she embraced Wynter. Noel soon joined the hug as well. Wynter started shedding tears of joy.
"I thought you two were dead," Wynter said. "We thought you were dead," Noel said. Holly kissed Wynter on the cheek and finally let go.
"We saw that yeti attack you and we knew we had to find some way to get him away from you two," Noel said. "But it wasn't until now we realized it was our own programmed children."
By now, Willow had finally gotten up. She took one look at Noel and Holly and said, "Wynter who are these two?"
"These are-" Wynter started but Willow cut him off.
"Wait a minute, I remember you," Willow said. "You're Noel and you're Holly. You're….our parents!"
"Yes, that's right," Noel said. "I think we're programmed to know of each other."
"However, I think we were also programmed to believe you two were dead, like you thought we were dead."
"Our programmers are screwed up, then," Willow groaned.
"So, why were two out in the cold?" Noel asked.
Wynter opened his mouth to explain, but then remembered how he was tricked into thinking a doppelganger was his sister. He didn't want to tell his parents that.
"Um, it's a long story and not worth your time," Wynter said quickly.
"Oh, don't worry, we have plenty of time," Holly said. Wynter gulped nervously.
"Well, I could explain things very well," Willow said. "However, I was absent for a good chunk of it." Then she remembered how she inadvertently caused the whole thing in the first place, and she too quieted down.
"What's with you two?" Noel asked.
"Yeah, frostbite got your tongue?" Holly joked, never guessing the cruel irony to her statement.
Just then, the door swung open. It was the wolves.
"Man, that was a really winter blow out, wasn't it?" Adolf said, shaking snow off his fur.
"Willow, who are they?" Holly asked. "Lady, who I assume is the mother of Willow and Wynter, I am the acquaintance of your son, ready to help him stop a conspiracy that your daughter may have started," Adolf exclaimed.
"Oh reindeer," Noel gulped. "This will be a long story, won't it."