Unlike the past few days, Candy woke up to the surprise of a hand grabbing her arm and gently shaking her. The pleasant feeling brought a smile to her face, but she soon had to slowly open her eyes to see that the person shaking her was Frost. His face hovered over hers, blocking most of the light coming from the uncovered window. But despite the bright sun stunning her for a moment, she started to make out his facial features and noticed that he was eagerly staring at her until she fully opened her eyes.
–Hey, wake up…– Frost whispered with a grin that was highlighted by the light now shining down on Candy’s face, forcing her to move her head and get a better look at Frost. She was confused to see him in the first place but was more caught off guard by his unusually cordial expression.
–Finn?... W-what a-...? Am I dreaming?– Candy asked nervously, stammering in disbelief while trying to get a closer look at Frost’s face, but he started drawing back and stood straight next to the bed to let her sit up.
–No, I’m really here. How was your sleep?– Frost asked in a friendly manner, with a bit of a playful chuckle upon seeing her reaction. But even though he seemed docile and easygoing, Candy had a hard time thinking of what to say, only being able to give him a puzzled stare until she figured out what was happening. It took her a few seconds of inspecting his seemingly genuine smile to realize that he was indeed there, not missing from their bed, and close enough for her to hold him if she wanted. And as she slowly realized this, she inched closer to the edge of the bed to retain his attention for a little longer.
–Umm, great… I love it when we-...– Candy replied in a coy manner but quickly gained confidence and turned frisky as she crawled closer to Frost. However, she was interrupted before she could finish her sentence, but not without managing to reach for his hand and pull him closer, although she didn’t need to force him as he leaned his head down on his own.
–I’m glad… Hey, can you cook breakfast for us?– Frost asked in the same affable manner but with more impatience, as he kept a smile for longer than he had ever done. Despite his slightly suspicious tone, Candy didn’t focus much on his request as she got distracted holding his hand and became fixated on his face. He was leaning lower, to the point where he was hovering once again, but that’s when Candy’s expression immediately changed as she finally questioned what he was saying.
–What? Did Indie leave?– Candy asked in confusion, taking a peek around Frost’s body to look at the open door of their room before glancing at the window, where she noticed that the sun was only rising with an orange tint that indicated an early hour of the day.
–No, she hasn’t woken up yet. No one has…– Frost replied right away nonchalantly, only confusing Candy further as a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over her and made her sluggish, prompting a big yawn that she tried to cover as Frost reached for her shoulder.
–Wait, what time is it?– Candy continued asking with increasing apprehension, but Frost just dismissed her question, opting to grab her shoulder to carefully turn her around and draw her attention back to his eyes.
–Doesn't matter, we need to be ready in an hour. I scheduled a meeting with the princess…– Frost replied with a smaller but still noticeable smile that spurred her to listen with a curious and lively smile, though mainly due to the way he placed his hand on her body and didn’t break eye contact. But since his response still prompted more questions, she still tried to clear her doubts, only this time showing less worry and more playfulness in her suspicion.
–What? When? How come I’m just hearing about this now?– Candy asked lightheartedly, trying to reach for his hands again, placing one over his as he was already slightly caressing her shoulder. But she was only able to graze him affectionately for a brief second as he kept quiet and started walking away, completely ignoring her advances.
–I’ll explain later…– Frost replied coldly before he headed for the door. But out of desperation, Candy stopped him by immediately grabbing his wrist after he removed his hand from her shoulder, which almost led to her falling off the edge as she tried pulling him back.
–Wait… Can’t you stay here for a bit longer? I just…– Candy begged with a coquettish tone and an adorable pout that almost tempted Frost. He turned around and considered it for a bit, but he only smirked at her before cutting her off.
–Get dressed, I’ll prepare the food then…– Frost responded evasively, now dropping his friendliness and turning bleak as he pulled away and continued to walk out of the room. Candy tried to hold on, but after seeing his negative response to her tease, she was disheartened and ended up losing strength in her grip, getting overpowered almost instantly, and failing to keep him in the room.
With Frost heading downstairs, Candy reflected for a while. She became slightly worried and dispirited, which caused a genuine pout of disappointment, but she then suddenly forced a smile as she got out of bed and began following him downstairs. Before he could get to the kitchen, she caught up to him, and even though they didn’t exchange any words again, she made it clear that she was the one cooking after aggressively heating the stove before he could even touch it to assert dominance in the kitchen. And while she did get a chuckle out of him, Candy had to conform to a simple smile as a gesture of gratitude since Frost immediately headed back upstairs to wake the rest of the team up.
–Hey man, what the hell? Why are we waking up so early?– Nitro complained as he was dragged out of the room, being met with complete silence as Frost was already knocking on Kiwy’s door, where she promptly came out, seemingly the least tired out of everyone. Nitro took his opportunity to return to his room, but Frost held him in place by the shirt while simultaneously leaning down to address Kiwy.
–Kiwy, could you wake up Indie and Tricky? We have an important meeting…– Frost asked politely, receiving a short nod with a devoted smile from Kiwy before she ran down the stairs, where they stumbled upon Panda. He was woken up shortly after Candy ran to the kitchen and was now peeking his head out of the corner at the bottom of the stairs to see what both of his teammates were up to.
–Important meeting? With who?– Panda asked curiously while trying to get rid of his sleepiness by rubbing his face and beard. Nitro stopped resisting as he and Frost reached the bottom of the stairs, but he grew curious as well and stopped Frost from walking any further until he answered.
–I talked with the princess. She has invited us to welcome some guests in the city…– Frost replied casually, dragging his words a little to wait for Tricky and Indie to leave their room as Kiwy had gotten them out of bed. Nitro joined Panda at the couch to lay back and listen to the announcement, but they reserved their other questions now that Indie stepped out and was immediately intrigued.
–What’s the problem?– Indie asked skeptically, but Frost partially ignored her, not once turning to look at her but still responding as he addressed Nitro and Panda, with Tricky joining them on the couch to get a bit more sleep but still listening.
–Their army is coming back to the city, so I asked if we could meet them. We’ve been permitted to talk to them, and possibly join them on a future mission, but only if we give them a good impression… I’m sure we won’t have any problems, right?…– Frost announced with some enthusiasm and optimism that sparked excitement in the squad, even getting Indie curious despite not trusting his words much, although she wasn’t the one to oppose the news.
–No way! I can’t wait to leave the pretty ladies and the nice food to go back to the trenches with strangers!– Nitro exclaimed in an overly sarcastic manner that instantly killed any affability in Frost’s face, prompting him to turn back to his usual bitter self in a split second.
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–Just get dressed. We eat and then go straight to the castle. We should be there in about an hour…– Frost responded indifferently before he turned around, walked right past Indie, with both of them avoiding any eye contact, and joined Candy in the kitchen to help her cook. The squad was left slightly confused but didn’t question his orders, only looking at Indie for confirmation before getting their hopes up.
To their surprise, Indie also seemed indifferent and said nothing, so instead of worrying about it, Tricky, Panda, Nitro, and Kiwy returned to their rooms to get dressed, except Panda, as he had to grab his clothes from a bag next to the couch he slept on before changing in the bathroom upstairs. They put on their casual clothes, but they didn’t keep it too plain since they were meeting the flashy princess. They also left their backpacks and equipment to bring as little as possible since Frost hurried everyone up to eat breakfast in the living room before getting dressed himself. He joined them at the door, but before leaving, Candy looked around and noticed that one of them was missing.
–Has anyone seen Saint? Isn’t he supposed to come with us?– Candy asked with slight concern, but since Frost was pressuring them to leave the house, she didn’t get time to go upstairs to look in the rookies’ room.
–Doesn’t matter, we are running late…– Frost replied impatiently before dragging her out of the house. The others didn’t object, and with Indie closing the door behind them, there was no way to go back for Scott. However, as they began walking out the alleyway to the main street, with Frost leading the group, he noticed a couple coming from the park’s direction, walking towards them until they met at the corner of the street, where they all found exactly who was missing.
–Oh, there you are. You are coming with us now– Frost ordered nonchalantly as the squad walked by Scott, who didn’t even notice them as he was too distracted sharing a laugh with Zoey. But as soon as he heard his chief’s voice, he immediately distanced himself from his girlfriend and tried to play cool, although he was stunned to see the whole squad catching him with Zoey.
–Sorry, I was-... Wait, what?– Scott asked nervously as he tried to explain himself but struggled to think when terrified by Frost grabbing and forcing him to join the group. He tried to resist, but with the squad continuing to walk to the main street, Scott had no other option than to leave his girlfriend behind. He looked back at Zoey, who just laughed with slight embarrassment, though she was more amused to see him being grabbed by Frost against his will. Before he knew it, Scott had changed direction and was now walking alongside Crisis down the street without a clue of where they were heading.
–What is going on?– Scott asked again after being completely ignored by Frost, who still refused to elaborate but had let go of him to allow Scott to walk on his own. He wasn’t pleased with the lack of answers, so he looked around the squad while trying to fix himself up since his pants were loose enough to show some of his underwear. His teammates seemed too tired to say a single word to him, although they did give him slightly mocking looks, including Candy, who started cracking up after Scott noticed his messy appearance.
–You would know if you weren’t too busy screwing around in those motels…– Nitro teased smugly, drawing Scott in as he finally received some response, although it only provoked him instead of clearing his doubts.
–Says the guy who is banned in like half the city…– Scott responded in a witty tone despite the slight embarrassment. However, he got him to shut up as Tricky, Candy, and Panda laughed at his retort. Nitro kept harassing him with a playfully threatening stare that Scott scoffed at, but while they kept insulting each other with their eyes, Tricky suddenly turned back once they reached the intersection with the main road.
–Umm, I need to pick something up from the shop, it won’t take long– Tricky said apprehensively before running to the shops she worked at without looking back at the squad, not giving them a chance to react despite her not running too fast.
–Make it quick. We need to hurry up and get there before the market opens…– Frost shouted at her as she gained distance with slight discontent, though he didn’t stress much over it and just kept walking with the squad until she eventually caught up to them after a couple of minutes.
But by the time she rejoined the group with a backpack, they were already walking by the market, which was only now opening, as Frost warned. The road was brimming with merchants and workers, who blocked the path with crates as they had to load up all their stock. Luckily, it didn’t become such a large obstacle for them as they stuck to the left side of the road, hugging the mountain, and continued to walk up the city without saying a word, at least until they reached the church.
Saint, Nitro, and Tricky stayed at the back of the group, with Indie letting Frost take the lead as she walked in the middle with Candy and Kiwy, paying more attention to her surroundings than him. But with Panda walking right by his side, he couldn’t help but grow curious after seeing Frost turn genuinely eager a couple of brief seconds in the past minutes, and with some time to chat before reaching the castle, he took his opportunity to ask what everyone had thought of for more than a week now.
–So is this what you have been doing lately? Negotiating with the princess?– Panda asked curiously but with a lighthearted tone to draw Frost’s attention. He was fixed on the castle growing closer to them, but for a second, he turned to Panda to chuckle before keeping his eyes on the road.
–You could say that… I’ve just been looking for opportunities to actually do something in this city… Find some purpose, you know?– Frost replied casually, giving a cheeky smile at Candy as she was right behind, but it was brief enough for only her to notice. She blushed a little, though she didn’t get a chance to smile back as Nitro stepped in and immediately ruined the mood when he opened his mouth.
–But are we even allowed to join them if they leave the city? I mean…– Nitro asked insecurely as he tried to point at Indie with a not-so-subtle glance. Frost pretended to ignore, and while Nitro tried not to stare much at Indie as he became nervous, she did notice his gaze and forced him to look away and prevent him from asking any more questions.
But right after, she fixed her eyes on the back of Frost’s head after seeing him turn around and glance as well. He could tell she was staring at him since he kept staring forward and stayed quiet, letting Panda and Candy walk next to him as they approached the castle. And while it led to a tense silence that drew more eyes to Indie, they all forgot their doubts once they were at the gate of the castle. They were immediately greeted by the guards as they recognized Candy, but they had to wait in the garden for a while, right outside the front entrance, as the princess took a long time to come out after being called. But once she did show up, she immediately broke the awkward silence in the group with her bouncy and eager nature.
–Hey! Good morning! Candy! You look fantastic!– Priscilla greeted the team enthusiastically but mainly focused on Candy as they shared a big and cheerful smile.
–Thanks, you too!– Candy replied in a similar manner but more sheepishly as the rest of the team looked at both girls with slight skepticism, although none of them got to say a word since the princess was already inviting them inside.
–Come in, come in. I was just getting ready for the party…– Priscilla said while brushing her colorful hair and fixing her dress, which had the same design as always but fluffier around the chest and neck, drawing more attention to that area, at least from Nitro. But while he focused on something else, the rest of the squad became curious as they stepped inside the castle and noticed a slight difference that caught their eye.
–There’s a party?– Panda asked with faint excitement as he looked up at a few balloon arches hanging from the ceiling in the throne room. The rest of the squad also inspected the interior, noticing the many signs with different names surrounded by various colors for each one, as well as all sorts of greetings for a group named “Heartaches”.
–Yes, of course! A welcome party for our brave heroes making it back home today!– Priscilla replied with a joyous smile while the squad contemplated the decoration. She took a moment to look at the sighs as well, but she started walking towards the left hallway to lead the squad, who all tried to keep quiet and contain their excitement while Frost caught up to the princess to talk to her.
–Oh, I can’t wait to meet them. I’ve heard so many tales about them in the market. Apparently, they once fought a dragon!– Panda exclaimed eagerly but showed a bit of disbelief that was reciprocated by his teammates. His comment sparked some speculation about these so-called heroes of the city, but Scott in particular was the one who was fully distracted with his thoughts, with the rest focusing more on the new rooms that they were discovering at the left wing of the castle. But as they had arrived early, there was plenty of time for Crisis to tour the castle and anticipate the arrival of the local heroes, though unfortunately, it was more than they expected.
| WE DONE BEEN THROUGH THE MUD
AND WE QUICKER TO SLAUGHTER
THE BIGGER THE ORDER, THE MORE GUNS WE BROUGH OUT |