Frozen

Ausren turns to his human companion, seeming quite alarmed. He obviously did not expect giggling hysterically to be Leonidas's reaction to near-death.

"Are you okay, Leo?" Ausren asks, his voice surprisingly gentle.

Through the spasms wracking his body, Leo replies, "Yes. Thank you."

"Are you sure? Why are you laughing?"

Securing his hold on the rock behind him, the human sits up once again, gasping as his laughter calms. His shoulder blades are aching from colliding with rock and his skin feels raw in the cold. But despite discomfort, he for once feels content. For just a moment, having Ausren defend him so thoroughly, he was happy. Scared, sure, but happy. Anyone else would have just let him get attacked. Everyone else would have just expected him to be able to defend himself as well as them.

"I'm fine," Leonidas says, hauling himself to his feet and balancing unsteadily. "Do you think you can fit into that cave?"

Ausren lowers his head, careful to not knock the human off his perch, and peers back into the cave. His wings rustle slightly and he murmurs, "Perhaps."

"Will you try?" Leo questions. "If you can fit, you'll be relatively safe and hidden here. You could stay here until you are healed. I can take the cloak and spread your scent out, so that the hounds can't find you."

Ausren tips his head back around, fixing the shivering human with a stare. "You will do no such thing. You are already too cold. You must go home. This terrain is dangerous enough in the light. I can fend for myself now, so you must go."

For a moment, the human just watches the dragon. He was starting to feel something close to a friendship with the prince. Now however, it is time to say goodbye. It is time to go back to being enemies. Perhaps they will never see each other again. Leo's not quite ready to give that up.

"I…" Leo starts, then trails off, staring into the fiery orb that is the prince's eye. Unable to hold the dragon's gaze, the human drops his stare to the ground.

"Perhaps, Leonidas, you could come back and visit, when it is not so dark. I will not be able to fly for quite some time," Ausren offers, his voice softening as he surveys the human.

Immediately Leo's spirits are lifted, and he smiles at the prince. "I will. I might not be able to for a while, but I'll come."

"Then I will wait for you," Ren murmurs. The dragon turns his attention to the cave, tucking his wings in tighter and squeezing down through the small entrance. After a moment, his voice floats back up, saying, "Goodnight, Leonidas."

"Goodnight, Ren," Leo breathes.

Turning from the cave, smiling fondly, the human begins the trek home. The minimal light only lasts another two minutes, leaving the boy to wade through inky blackness, shivering badly, and doing his best not to twist his ankle. A bad sprain or break could kill him. Staying too long in the cold, however, will also kill him.

The world around him is so dark that he has to bend down to feel his way along the rocks. It's so dark that he would not have a hard time believing he had gone blind. The total isolation and lack of sight begin to send tremors of terror through him. It would not be hard to get lost like this. Not hard at all. There is the chance that he's going in circles or simply wandering down the peak in the wrong direction.

Without his cloak, he won't survive a night lost in the darkness.

"I should have stayed with Ausren," Leo breathes, stopping his hesitant advancement. Without the ability of sight, his other senses have been heightened. He can feel his hands shaking violently, hear his rapid heart beat, and taste the tang of fear.

"I am going to die tonight."

Closing his hands into fists, Leonidas grits his teeth and bows his head, squeezing his eyes shut. "No. No, I will not die. Not after everything. Come on, Leonidas." Scrambling, trying to push the tendrils of panic away, the human turns his attention to a solution. He might not be able to see much of anything, but he has other strengths at his disposal. Staying calm ensures survival.

Opening his eyes once again, he whispers, "Okay. Deep breaths. Feel your way… everyone is always marvling at your sense of direction… which way is north?"

Turning slightly, Leo allows himself to relax. He does indeed have an uncanny internal compass. Plying his concentration to the job, Leo scans his heart. He needs to go northwest. Which way is North? Which direction?

"There," he breathes, turning a little to his right.

His breath clouds in front of him, creating crystals in the air. Only then does he realize that he can see the cloud. And there, down the slope, the vague shape of trees. His eyes are adjusting.

Knees suddenly wobbly, Leo takes a stuttering step forward. Good… good. He knows where he is… good. That's good. With his newly adjusted eyesight, the rocks start to take form beneath him, allowing him to adjust his pace. Now moving at a good clip, jumping from rock to rock in his haste, Leo heads down toward the trees. Once within the trees he will be able to move more quickly.

Turning his trajectory to an angle, Leo careens down the slope, more than once missing his mark and falling. He is lucky, he knows, to have not injured a leg yet. He should slow down but he is so incredibly cold. The faster he can move, the faster he will arrive at his destination. The faster he will be able to be warm once again.

Slipping down the last of the rocks, Leo hits the snow, and is in the trees. Sheltered from the wind now, some warmth returns to his shivering body. Immediately, he transitions his gait to a run. Bolting through the trees, attempting to avoid all branches whipping past him, the boy careens down the slopes.

It is not long before his endurance fails him, his armor heavy and slowing him down. With frozen fingers an alarming shade of purple, the human fumbles with the straps keeping the armor on his body. Every second spent out in the elements is a second he loses strength. Every second he can feel the precious little heat in his body escaping into the snowy forest.

"I should have stayed with Ausren," Leo whispers, the words slurred by his numb lips. Everything is an odd mixture of too dark and way too light. He can see relatively well now, but his head feels light. There is black on the edges of his vision as well, stars dancing there every time he blinks. It feels as though there is a rope around his chest that is being drawn tight. For every second he stays out here there is an increase in instinctual panic.

"Breathe," he whispers frantically, his fingers stumbling with buckles as he walks. "Breathe, breathe, breathe. Calm down and breathe."

Finally, after much too long, the straps are free. His skin hurting from the contact, Leo shucks off the armor plating and once again breaks into a lope. The journey takes him much longer than he would have liked. He keeps running into cliffs and getting rimrocked, needing to turn back and find a different way down.

Eventually, when he has fallen multiple times and is starting to have a hard time feeling his feet, he stops. Steam collects in front of him as he pants, curling his arms around himself. Glancing around, seeing nothing but trees, Leo closes his eyes. There is a pit in his stomach, something that has opened up, letting his heart fall directly into despair. He can't breathe. He can't see straight…

Through the trees, directly in front of him, there is a soft, warm light. Light means fire.

Peeling his mind out of the darkness, the boy forces his legs to move. Step by step he moves through the cold. Shivering violently, his mind spinning, he stumbles forward.

Farther and farther he moves. Then, through the trees, a clearing opens. The road. He made it to the road. And right there down the road is the fort.

Immediately, a weight releases itself from his shoulders and he staggers forward, releasing a gasping breath.

His left foot hits a patch of ice buried beneath the snow, and his leg goes out from under him. Suddenly, he is falling. Falling and falling and finally hitting the snow.

Immediately upon impact, everything goes black.

"Leo!"

Slowly, light bleeds into the world.

"Leonidas!"

Something scrapes beside him. Distantly, he can hear a heartbeat.

"Leonidas! Leo!"

Hands are on his sides, then his arms. Feeling explodes through his body and he gasps, arching. Everything is cold, so cold. And his skin… it burns. He chokes, his eyes opening, revealing a splitting headache.

"Leo, easy. It's me, Ruhban."

Leonidas rolls, grunting, and pushes himself up on shaking forearms. He is lying in snow, which feels sharp against his skin. Blinking the pain from behind his eyes, the boy whispers, "Oh. Hello, Ruhban."

There is a moment of silence, then Ruhban gently grabs his twin's arm and hauls him upright. "You collapsed outside the fort, half-frozen and covered in blood, and when I run to you, the first thing you say is 'oh hi'?"

Leo groans softly, nearly falling again, and Ruhban slings Leo's arm over his shoulders, supporting his entire weight.

"Where's your cloak? And your armor? And what the heck is all this blood?" Ruhban asks.

Half-asleep, head still spinning, all Leo can focus on is the warmth radiating from his brother's body. "You're warm," he murmurs softly.

Seeming to realize how cold his twin is, Ruhban asks, "Can you stand, Leonidas?"

"Sure," Leo whispers, his head spinning so badly he is having trouble focusing. Gently, Ruhban lets go, and immediately the older twin sways and staggers closer to his brother, desperately missing the little warmth his arm provided. For a moment, the boy simply blinks blearily at the fuzzy shape of the fort. Cecil is in there somewhere. Oh how disappointed he will be.

Something touches him, and he flinches instinctually, until Ruhban drops the cloak on his shoulders. Then, immediately, he tries to collapse again as warmth spreads across his shoulders.

Ruhban catches him and hoists him back up, wrapping an arm around Leo's waist. "Come on, let's get to the fort."

Leo closes his eyes for a moment, leaning against his brother. For a moment, he feels completely warm. And, he suddenly realizes, utterly and completely tired. His body has been in overdrive all day, pumping adrenaline to keep him alive.

"Leo," Ruhban murmurs softly. "Stay awake, alright?" There is a moment of silence, in which Leonidas attempts to form a reply. He fails multiple times, and eventually gives up. Attempting to put words together has the distinct feeling of wading through slush. After a minute, Ruhban starts across the expanse of snow, helping a stumbling Leo along.

The expanse between the twins and the fort seems incredibly long. Nearly unspannable. Leo is so tired. All he wants to do is sleep. He could even sleep right here, in the snow. In the cold.

Step by step the fort draws nearer and eventually, Ruhban slides through the gate, pulling his older twin with him. Distantly, Leo is aware of voices, rising in exclamation. The noise is followed by Ruhban's quick answers and demands, too fast for Leo to keep up with.

He needs to sleep.

Suddenly, Ruhban murmurs, "Oh… no," the words punching easily through the fog around the eldest twin's brain.

Momentarily freed from his drowsy, light-headed state, Leo manages to ask, "What?"

"Leonidas!" a voice barks. That voice immediately has Leo snapping out of his stupor on instinct, flinging the fog off his mind for just long enough to listen.

"Cecil," Ruhban tries, trying to physically place himself between his brothers. "Can we not do this right now? Leo's really cold. He needs medical attention."

One glare is all it takes for the twin to back right down, stepping to the side and staring at the floor.

"We will attend to his needs in a second, Ruhban. Leonidas, did you kill that dragon?" Cecil demands.

Leo blinks, attempting to focus on Cecil as the eldest brother pins him with a stare. Taking a deep breath, trying to stall for time, Leonidas asks, "What?"

"The dragon," Cecil replies levelly, undeterred. "Did you kill him?"

Leo swallows, hard. Instinct says to lie, but honor will not allow him to. Besides, if he claims he did, there is no explanation for his current state, or the state of his missing cloak. So, dropping his gaze to the snow, the twin whispers,"No."

Suddenly Ruhban's support vanishes as Cecil shoves Leo, quite hard. Ruhban lets out a startled yelp, his grip slipping free of his twin. Next thing Leo is aware of, he hits the cobbled ground, a strangled bark of pain escaping him.

"What." Cecil snaps, his voice bland with suppressed rage. His face has gone completely still. There is no emotion there. It is… terrifying.

At the same time Cecil speaks, Ruhban snarls, "Cecil!" The younger twin whips around on his eldest brother, attempting to interject.

"You did not kill him?" Cecil growls, standing menacingly over Leo and ignoring Ruhban.

Leo pushes himself up again, gathering himself over his knees. There is something building within him, something like rage. It is a flame, coiling around his heart, making the twin want to punch something. Making his exhausted body rally one last time for a fight. And suddenly, with that feeling, Cecil does not seem so scary anymore.

Gesturing to himself, wrapping the cloak tighter around his body, raising his eyes to his brother's, Leonidas snaps, "Does it look like I did, Cecil?"

Cecil is silent for a moment, staring down at Leo with this dark, disappointed light in his eyes. Just as quickly as it had come, the bravery in the eldest twin's heart is suddenly gone. Under that gaze, everything seems to shrivel.

Leonidas drops his eyes.

"You are telling me that after I shot down a dragon prince for you, gave you every opportunity to kill it, even let you go out by yourself to claim that trophy… served up one of the most powerful beasts on the planet to you on a silver platter, you still failed? How can you manage to let an injured dragon that cannot fly slip right between your fingers?" Cecil growls lowly, his breath coming in pants.

Cecil's voice is sharp, and the burning slowly transfers itself from Leo's heart to his eyes. Whatever joy he felt in those moments with Ausren, whatever good could come from saving the dragon, it all seems worthless in the face of Cecil's wrath. As a young boy, all Leo ever wanted was to be like his brother. Even when he joined the Fifth Army, it was that notion that kept him going. He wanted to be great, to be the untouchable, amazing, kind person that Cecil was. He wanted to be just like his hero. And now, sitting on the cold ground, shivering and exhausted, Leo can feel that dream slipping right out of his fingers. Draining out of his grasp like kernels of sand.

He did not do something good by saving that dragon. He did not do anything more than prove to himself and his idol just how worthless he is. He failed. He failed the one person he has ever wanted to respect him.

"I-" Leo tries, attempting to save any shred of reputation he might have with his eldest sibling.

Cecil turns with a scowl, spitting over his shoulder, "I should have known when the report came that you couldn't even take out a dummy. You are a coward and a fool. You're a disgrace to this country, this cause, and most of all, this family. If you couldn't kill an injured, downed dragon, then you should at least do us the favor of letting it kill you."

Leo ducks his head farther, turning his gaze to his shaking hands. The tremors are not all because of the cold. No, that fire is still there, still in his chest. Frustration and rage. Frustration and rage buried beneath layers and layers of pain. His heart hurts with every beat, as though someone has shattered it and pieced it back together incorrectly. It is as if a hand has reached out and grabbed his heart, slowly squeezing, crushing it until it stops beating.

"Cecil!" Ruhban barks, whipping around on his older brother. "What is with you? How could you possibly say that?!"

Cecil stalks back toward the fort, snapping only, "It is up to you whether to leave that wretch out here in the snow or not."

Ruhban stands for a moment, staring at the back of his older brother in complete and total shock. He lets out a shaking breath and turns to Leo, crouching down beside his brother, and murmuring, "Come on, Leo. Let's get you up."

Leonidas closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and allows his twin to hoist him up. It is only when he is on his feet, leaning his head against his brother's shoulder, that everything shatters. His heart breaks, that fist curling in so tight he can't breathe. In a cascade of light and dark, pain and rage, and absolute twisting agony, the world Leo built comes right down on his head. One moment he is hurting, burning, and the next he is numb.

Completely and absolutely numb.