who you are

"But I wanna go to!"

He was better now, no trace of the cold left in him. He could handle himself, why should he stay behind where it was safe and warm while all the others were out there taking risks to complete the mission?

"Absolutely not!" The general was unwavering. "You are for too important. We can't risk you going out there and making that fever worse again and that doesn't bring up whatever other dangers might be out there."

"but..."

Ironwood held up a finger to silence the boy. "Not another word. You are to remain here and that is final."

Oscar closed his mouth, then stormed out the room. Winter saw Ironwoods expression sadden as he watched him go. She didn't need to ask before going after him.

"Pine!" She called.

He kept on walking.

"Pine!"

He carried on like he couldn't here her.

She reached out to touch his shoulder but he simply shrugged her off and kept going. "Look, I know this might be hard to believe but he's doing this for your sake. You don't know what it's like out there"

Only then did he look at her, waving a hand towards her as if to say..."how would you know. We made it through half of anima to get here..."

"This is not like the north of anima. And believe me if you barely made it through that then you are not ready for the tundra."

"You don't know that! You won't even give me a chance!"

"You haven't had the chance because you've not been well. You will though. But heading out there on W dangerous mission is not a chance. It's a risk. And it's too great a one for us to stake someone like you on. Do you even have any idea of how important you are?"

"I know who I am, Winter, alright."

She stopped him in his tracks and pushed him against the wall. "I hope you do." She wasn't quite convinced. He was only a child. How could he possibly understand. "When beacon fell...and he died...a lot of the hope died with him. But you..."

His hassle green eyes looked at her

"Oscar Pine"

part confused part pitying, only a little afraid.

"You might just be the first glimpse of hope a lot of us have had in a very long time."

He looked at her for another few seconds before dropping his gaze looking a little ashamed.

She released her grip. "In time, you'll understand. When the two of you start to become one."

That only made him look even more conflicted.

"What is it?" She asked, noticing this.

He stared at her. "'Become one'...both of us."

He turned away from the wall and the two started walking again, slower than before. "It'll...be like..."

"If it's the pain your worried about..."

"I'm not afraid of the pain." He said, firmly. "I've known that before."

She glanced at him sideways. What did that mean? It didn't matter right now.

"Then what?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I just...everything's just, happing so fast...I just...wish it would slow down a little."

Winter considered this. He was still a young boy. Perhaps he just wanted to stay that way for as long as he could. In all fairness, it did seem right to Winter that he got that chance...but. "The longer it take, the stronger she becomes. You should be glad it's happening quickly. It means you might just be ready before she is. She probably doesn't even know about you yet and with any luck, she won't know until your strong enough to face her."