One thousand, two hundred and thirty-four.

That was the amount of times Norbert had heard the "tch" sound.

The number of times he had restarted, finding himself sprawled on the ground before sitting up, crossing his hands and legs and waiting for the freezing to return. No longer was he screaming or crying when it happened, knowing it would only be unpleasant for a while.

Not wanting to worry Obsius more than he was, Norbert patted the bird as he waited for the freezing process to begin. Norbert sat there and waited, knowing that escape would be pointless; whenever he tried to retreat, he would instantly be unable to move, his body frozen as he watched the pink border on the appendages thicker, more prominent than usual.

As he progressed further, sitting there after the fiftieth time, Norbert did not see a way out of his current predicament, having tried running, jumping, climbing along the wall, going backwards or walking in a particular pattern, all resulting in the same fate, being frozen and waking up sprawling on the floor.

Many more after, Norbert just sat in silence, waiting to be frozen, hoping he could outlast the others. Norbert continued staring off at the other side of the hall, unable to see the exit as he waited. As he looked longer, Norbert saw the flames starting to flicker, the ash pile on the torch going higher than before.

As Norbert stared at the torch, he confirmed that it was once more what he had thought. Norbert started counting then, and so he noticed that the timing of each one took longer and longer to come.

Starting to count how long it took Norbert, make it to twenty seconds before he felt any coldness entering his body, thirty in total, until he heard those above "tch", signalling that it was time to push himself off the ground.

Counting how long it was taking Norbert, seeing that with every ten or so, it would increase by a second, Norbert just sat there as he waited for it to go. Going past the one thousand mark with only progress being made, how long would the "tch" sound take to come?

Caught back up to the one thousand, two hundred and thirty-fifth attempt at doing this, Norbert waited, feeling nearly a minute and a half that the freezing in his veins had once again begun. Staring before him, Norbert stayed with magic vision, not wanting to miss anything; looking down at the ground, Norbert saw the pink outline thicker than before, not paying attention to it for many attempts now.

The thin line, almost invisible, was now thick, nearly as thick as his finger going around the entire edge of the appendage now latched onto his body. Following the pink lines, Norbert saw them curve towards a single point when the appendages were mixed in the shadows.

Curious as to why Norbert stared at the point where they came together, not wanting to miss anything that could be a clue. Staring forward, Norbert waited as he felt the freezing slowly spread up his body. Needing to wait longer now, he became impatient as he waited for the sound to be heard again.

Norbert waited, letting the energy around his body and mind wait, stay together as he felt more and more of his upper body freeze, now unable to move his lower body.

Staring forward, Norbert waited, feeling the last bit of his mind being consumed.

"Tch"

Norbert heard the sound once again, his body still staying upright; having balanced himself, Norbert forced all the energy that he had in his body into his mouth, hoping that it would be enough to say something.

"Wha-"Norbert's mind froze completely; the energy he had allotted all used up in that desperate half cry.

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"ARGHHHH!" Norbert screamed in annoyance, making Obsius jump in surprise at the actions. Norbert got to his feet as he paced around, annoyed at the success that he felt so close to his fingertips.

Going back to his position, Norbert sat on the ground, crossed-legged again, tapping his thumb on his knee, waiting for it to happen again.

Obsius jumped around until he finally landed on his head. Norbert patted the bird, confirming she was no longer moving. Norbert waited for the two appendages to appear again, their pink outline the same thickness as before; Norbert stared at where the two points came together.

Norbert, annoyed, went to his feet, already feeling his veins freezing over. Pushing energy around his body, Norbert leapt forward, leaving the torch behind him as he ran in the darkness. Seeing the four pink lines merging into two, then one up ahead, Norbert sprinted forward, wanting to find this mysterious figure doing this to him and making those irritating noises.

As his body began to freeze again, Norbert was no closer to finding the figure than he was now. He was falling to the ground with his last bit of strength before his legs stopped responding to him, at least wanting to be comfortable before returning to lying on his nose.

He was waiting for Norbert to hold the energy in reserve, to have an even bigger push than last time, hoping to finish a sentence and hear a reply from the individual chastising him constantly.

Once more, Norbert felt it going around his body, all freezing up, as the last bit of his mind froze over. Norbert resisted, using his purple energy to resist as much as he could.

"Tch." Norbert heard the voice say.

"What?" Norbert asked, unable to get any more out, his energy depleted with that little outcry.

"Resist", came the reply, this voice sounding different, the irritation gone. Just sounding old, reminding him more of Skelly than anything else, Norbert's mind was utterly consumed.

***

Waking up, the last word he heard rattling around in his head. Resist. He said it as if it was as easy as lifting a finger.

Shaking his head in annoyance, what was he trying to do so far? Just sit there…

Norbert trailed off, remembering what he had been doing for who knows how long. It was probably the individual who seemed so annoyed to begin with.

Norbert sat there, ignoring Obsius as she pecked at him before flying off. Annoyed, Norbert sat in this cross-legged position, letting his thoughts trail with him and remembering what he did with his energy to allow it to go so high, for keeping it in and pushing out.

Before feeling any coldness, Norbert started pushing it around his body, letting it surround him, engulfing every part of his tissue. Focusing around his ankles, knowing they always started there for whatever reason, Norbert could not understand why before it moved to the rest of his body.

Using it, Norbert pushed, centring around the ankles to try and put up defences against the attack he knew would be coming.

On the ground, seeing the two appendages once more come out, their pink borders thicker now than last time, Norbert could see visible progress. He hoped his assumption was correct because the thicker it was, the better it was for him; a part of him wondered what would happen when it was entirely purple and no longer contained in darkness.

Feeling the freezing in his ankles start again, Norbert chastised himself for being distracted, knowing that every moment he let it go forward would make it more complicated to resist and hopefully have a more extended conversation to unpick how to solve the issue.

Pushing against it once more, Norbert felt the coldness being pushed back, no longer absolutely freezing but still extremely cold; as it spread further, Norbert could not push back, as his ankle made it to the freezing temperature.

Remembering the studies from Azalea about forcing it around his body while still maintaining control, Norbert did so again, easily able to get it to the same speed as before. Feeling like the freezing of his body was slower than before but not halted entirely or pushed back.

Norbert felt the energy moving around his body, forcing it to go deeper and richer around, and not just going on the surface like he was currently, skipping over sections that were not needed.

As he did this, Norbert felt it slowing down just that bit more; most of the time, by now, his knees and bellow would be consumed in ice; however, now it was only halfway up his shins. His toes only felt tingly with pins and needles as they resisted being consumed.

The energy circulated his body, forcing it out as Norbert sat there, waiting for the individual to come. Counting further, he started to lose ground slowly, sweat dripping from his furrowed brow as he focused on it.

Feeling a bead go into his eye, forcing him to squint, Norbert felt the ice in his veins rush forward, no longer being held back. Unable to stop the avalanche coming his way, Norbert became consumed.

Trying to push back as much as he could, slowing down the freezing process at the last moment, Norbert heard a word he never would have seen coming: "Better."