As the winter continued, it brought with it pure, pristine tranquility. Few plants sprouted through the snow, yet even the scant harvest was enough to suffice for the coming freeze. The occasional squirrel and hare could be seen plucking at the winterberries, where their bushy fur contrasted against the stark red. But upon hearing a stampede of hooves, the creatures quickly scurried away, avoiding the footfall of elk sprinting through.

As their antlers scraped the trees, tangled the gnarly branches, and sliced through the misty air, the elks were pursued by an agile shadow, whose paws darted across the snow. Twisting and turning, Lewis swiftly maneuvered against the biting wind, while his hackles kicked up flurries of snow. Meanwhile, another was following from the bushes, his long body stretching thin.

"Haha, gotchu!" A pair of paws clamored against Lewis' fur, desperate to hoist themselves up.

"Not this scamp again…" the lynx hissed inwardly, glancing at Edward catching a ride on his back. But a single second was all the elk needed to disappear from view—causing the lynx to let out a frustrated groan.

"What is it this time?" Lewis muttered, his tone irate.

"Don't you think this method of hunting is inefficient? How about letting me join you next time, pretty please?" Edward pleaded, rolling around in the lynx's soft fur. "What are friends for if not hunting buddies?"

Dismissing it with a low growl, Lewis rebuked, "And have you catch my next meal? I find that hard to believe. And…" Lowering his head with an indignant sigh, the lynx murmured, "...How many times do I have to tell you that we aren't friends?" But no matter how many times he said that, the ermine kept accompanying him, while also making up a new excuse.

"Come on, it's so lonely this time of year! With you here, at least there's somebody I can talk to."

"You've never considered visiting your family again…or even making snow pals?"

"What are snow pals?" Edward asked while sitting against Lewis' resting form. The latter was heavily panting from today's chase, his chest heaving each second. But even the sound of Lewis' heartbeats soothed the agitated ermine, whose skittish form relaxed against the eerie quietness of everything.

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"...They're what the children call snowmen. Apparently, it's become a tradition to mold snow into spheres and stack them on top of each other."

"So like this?" the ermine asked, hopping onto the snow. After molding four irregular snowballs, he began stacking them on top of each other, their height going as far as his body could allow. Before he revealed two weirdly shaped snowmen standing next to each other. Slapping on some twigs and pebbles he found, Edward mused, "Tada, now it's perfect!" while revealing an overenthusiastic grin on one and an angry frown on the other. "Looks just like us, doesn't it?"

"Hmph." Huffing to the side, Lewis laid his head on the snow, his ears twitching against the soft showers of ice. "If it's companionship you seek, then I'd imagine the task itself must be difficult for you."

"Hey, I have friends! Like…" Jumping defensively onto the snow, the ermine looked sideways, his expression perturbed. "...My Fling-a-ma-Thing! Or…Or…the Automatic Nut Breaker! At least my friends don't need to hunt once a week like you do!" Before he wailed dejectedly.

"Oh, what's the point? Who's going to hang out with an eccentric weirdo like me?"

"Hm, so it seems you are aware of how intolerable you are…"

"Hey, nobody asked you to agree with me!" Edward spat back, wagging his tail defiantly. "I've been told that my looks can asphyxiate a rabbit at just one glance!"

"That isn't something to be proud of, scamp."

"For the last time, it's Edward! Edward Erwin—!"

Before he could finish, a shrill sound rang through the forest, deafening the air around it. In that brief moment, the forest fell silent, where only the sound of falling snow tumbled onto the ground. From a distance, bloodcurdling screeches soon billowed into the air, their sound dissipating into the frigid void. Lewis' eyes dilated, his nose sniffing the air, while his ears kept twitching and turning. Meanwhile, a small figure huddled up against him, his trembles becoming painfully obvious.

"W-W-What was that?" Edward squeaked out, peeking his head over Lewis' back.

"Only one way to find out." Standing to his paws, Lewis kept his head pointed towards the sky. There was an unusual odor coalescing in the air, which smelled of thick metallic iron and the musky petrichor of sweat.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Edward exclaimed, his paws attempting to catch up with Lewis' pace, as the two of them sprinted through the wintry woods.

"Figuring out the source of that sound. For all we know…"

"...It couldn't have come from a mere animal."