|
|
 |
|
A few days had passed since the latest event. The prolonged warm automn had swiftly and abrubtly turned into a brisk winter which found the generals and the princesses in an obscure room of the palace, lazily spending the day. Usagi, Makoto, Minako, Mamoru, Kunzite, and Nephrite were loudly acting out a game of charades while Rei and Jadeite furiously duked out a card game. Ami, of course, had found a ledge under a window to perch with a novel. Zoicite, from lack of other inspiration, had taken up an extra book she had brought and settled down in a chair near her, subtly stealing glances her way. The ice princess tried to calm her accelerating heart beat by telling herself that she was merely imagining the warm, prickly feeling in her chest and throat when she noticed those sort of movements out of the corner of her eye, but her heart would take no part in the denial. Distressed, Ami looked over her shoulder toward the window at her side. She didn't see the soft flakes sifting through the air outside as she puzzled over this new development. Her heart was winning out over her strong logic? But why, and how? And yet, she could recognise a pattern of such things over the past few weeks the Earthians had been with them. From behind her she heard a bored sigh and Usagi's forlorn words, "Now what?" From the sounds she had been hearing but not paying attention to, Ami realized the charades were over and Rei had gotten all of the "fish." Suddenly, Ami's eyes focused on the outdoor scene before her. Her eyes lit as she finally felt the coolness eminating from the glass panes. She spun around to face the group excitedly. "Who all brought their ice-skates??" * * * * Childish laughter broke the crystalline winter air as sharp metal blades glided, wobbled, and flew over the rock-hard surface of the lake. Scarves waved proudly like banners in the wind. Ami, in the lead, looked back at her gleeful friends, who were suffering from varying levels of skating ability. Rei and Makoto had fairly good ability and style, although Rei would have avoided the whole situation if she could have. "It's just too cold! Why does it have to be so cold?" Rei would shout. "Can't they figure out some way to do this where it's warmer??" But she was easily appeased by Jadeite's coat, which he threw over her at her loud complaints. Usagi and Minako, on the other hand, positively loved the adventure -- when they weren't watching everyone else have it from their seats on the ice. The moments that they did manage to have standing up were precious few. Of course, each girl did their best to fall in the direction of the gallant (i.e. Mamoru or Nephrite) who was following her attentively. Ami fairly flew across the ice, with Zoicite not far behind her. Her face upturned to drink in the frosty air rushing past her, she would bring her eyes back to more mortal matters only to laugh with her friends or reply to Zoicite's gentle conversation. "I am not surprised that you are such a talented ice-skater," Zoicite began in an easy, friendly manner. "Nor I you," Amy replied similarly. "I have always thought skating was nothing more than slippery dancing." Zoicite laughed at this analogy, but agreed heartily. They were smiling at eachother warmly over their joke, when across the lake a very exuberant "TAG!!" was heard, followed by a smack and the sounds of skates frantically clutching at the ice, then, after a short battle, a thud. Everyone turned to see a rather giggly Usagi standing over a very afflicted Mamoru, mumbling "You're it" amid snickerish giggles. Before anyone could laugh or help him up, Mamoru turned into a crouching-wolf stance on the ice, gave a playfully evil grin, and said threateningly, "Oh, now you've asked for it." To which Usagi let loose a scream of delighted fear and raced away (amazingly, upright the whole way) across the ice. In a flash, Mamoru had given chase, and the lake had turned into a chaos of flying skaters. Few stayed on their feet, amid the confusion, and several were flat on the ice when a truly terrified shout was heard through all the joyous ones, and a loud, spine-breaking crack broke the crystal air. Suddenly the happy chaos gave way to one of fear. Everyone quickly clustered around the fresh hole in the ice. Several plunged their hands in rashly, reaching for a grasp of Zoicite's. But at the speed he hit the ice, he would easily have sunk far down, and he might never find the break in the frozen surface, upon coming back up. Among the shocked hearts, none was more horrified than Ami's. She had heard the ice break just behind her, where Zoicite closely followed. Through all the confusion, she couldn't forget the feeling of the ice coming out from under her feet just as she passed over, and hers was the first arm in the water. Quickly seeing the vainness of this, she yanked her scarf from around her neck, and swiftly demanded the same from the girls around her. Confused but willing, they distractedly handed Ami the scarves, which she began to tie rapidly together in a sort of extended line. When she had them all together, she tied one end around her waist and threw the other to Mamoru, who held it wonderingly before he realized her plan. As she tore her skates off her feet, he reached out to stop her but could only grip the scarf end as tight as he could as she disappeared into the water. At this, everyone gave out an even more upset cry, but could do nothing but hope. * * * * A wave a piercing cold flowed through Ami, from the tips of her fingers, clutched together in a dive, to her abused toes, that found less comfort in the water than the air, which it left in such a desperate haste. Conversely, the biting temperature brought not an anxious shiver to her body, but a calm, serene sort of clarity. She hovered somewhere just below the opening in the ice (it wasn't really relevant where), looked about to meet up with a friend, who traveled down to this quiet depth recently, and waited for reality to hit. A tiny glimpse of her objective, however, brought that unpleasant awareness forward. Ami started and began to move more rapidly as her heart leaped into pounding action, and leaped into it's preferred position of late, her throat. Keeping enough sense about her to stroke over to his side at a pace reasonable in relation to the occasion, as she is wont to do, Ami was careful not to cause two lifeless bodies to hide in that tranquil tomb. She headed toward her "glimpse," which in truth was only a lightness in the black hole of her surroundings. As she drew closer, the paleness grew into a light that was distinguishable and certain. Her terrified mind, too busy with the business of staying alive, merely flitted over the thought of this, and quickly lost the wonder about such a thing, in such a place. She was certain that it was him, and her only hope. After what seemed an eternity, the soft brightness was as large to her eyes as a fire in a large fireplace, and Ami reached out her hand to touch it. A few strokes closer, and ... CRACK!! Her vision exploded in a miriad of pure white light, and the only thing her ears could identify was something similar to the sound of lightning, only all at once; silent as death, but with effects that were enough to split the earth in two. Ami's eyes and mind reeled from the blast, but she daren't move her body an inch. A few moments later, and the extremeties vanished; the water was bright as day, although Ami couldn't see a thing from momentary blindness, and she suddenly remembered to register what she was feeling. As the realization hit her, she threw open her eyes (for they had really been closed, not blinded) and saw the thing in her arms: Zoicite. As much as it was possible for her to do, she threw herself upon/around him (for there was no particular up or down at that stage) in a great hug. At the warmth of her body, his eyes opened, too, and he seemed to have felt the effects of the same phenomenon Ami did. He understood none of what was going on, but he realized who accompanied him through it, and hugged back with all his might. All this was done in what could only have been called a bright spot in the midst of mortal darkness. * * * * Breathless for a multitude of reasons, the general and his savior were dragged abruptly from the icy stillness to the chaos above, where they faced a crowed of faces feverent with worry and barely-dared hope upheld. (Though none of those faces showed any signs of knowledge of happenings more alarming than the fall thought the ice.) Only for their weakness could the two be separated by their friends, and they allowed it simply because they did not have the strength to stop it. Fussed on to no end, they were taken -- amid a malestrom of emotions and the people bearing those emotions -- to a soft, warm place which was probably indoors, but neither bothered to notice. The last thing either of them saw was the absence of sight under their eyelids, which looked distrubingly akin to the depths of Ami's lake. The last thing either of them felt was the warmth that filled them as they were taken indoors, which was unmistakably similar to that which they experienced in eachother's frozen arms.
|
||
 |
 |
