Winter had come.

Icy winds began blowing through Gardenton, coating walls, posts, and plants in a mat of rime. Snow began to fall and accumulate along streets in drifts. This snowfall will no doubt begin to fall more harshly in the upcoming hours.

A fury of knocks came to the door. Muffled shouts demanding attention screamed at Stripe who was shivering uncontrollably underneath the bedframe. The flames that once baked the house in light and warmth had ceased to blaze in the fireplace.

"Wrap up, Stripe! Let's go to the library before we turn to popsicles!" The shouts demanded. It undoubtedly belonged to Tesla.

Heeding the calls of the shout, Stripe emerged from his hideout. He wrapped himself in multiple layers of clothing. Caps, coats, pants, scarves, socks, boots, mitts, goggles, linens; he wore as much as he could, making him appear like a those cartoon penguins wearing too much sweaters.

A barrage of biting cold and spearing ice met him upon opening the door. A figure stood stiffly against the growling storm. Frost grew from the furred collars of their coat. Their peach glowing eyes shined against the curtain of white and the pitch of night. Tesla stood before him.

"Let's go!" Tesla shouted. The wind's noise almost drowned it out. They grabbed Stripe's hand and began dragging him through snow and ice.

The chill of the snowstorm knew no barrier. It continued to nip and sap away the heat from Stripe. He could feel the viscous fluid that may be his blood crystallize near his skin. His giraffe horns had long hardened from the unforgiving cold.

A flashlight lit their way as they trudged through the snow. On their way, the wind began roaring. The remaining posts that defied the wind began bowing to the gale. Ice and snow began caking on their coats.

It was a sudden noise. Crack went a branch, made brittle by the blizzard. The roaring wind denied the noise to gain purchase to any ear as it fell squarely upon Stripe and Tesla. The light of their torch died.

Stripe's right arm, the arm held by Tesla, shattered like ice. Thankfully no blood leaked because of the wound being sealed by crystallized blood. In front of him laid Tesla, still and lifeless. There was no spark in their eyes; dark and dead. There was a massive dent at the back of their head where the bough had impacted on him.

Stripe tried to shake them back to consciousness, but Tesla remained asleep. He tried shouting for help, but the unforgiving storm ate them.

Stripe cried, piling over the cold metal body of Tesla. His tears quickly froze like wax that flowed down candlesticks. The wind screamed at his ears, seeking to erode his being one piece at a time. The cold silently tormented him with spears and lances that pierced his cotton armor.

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Crack. He heard it. The noise of ice and frozen snow breaking. Stripe quickly grabbed the flashlight, and shone its little flicker at the source. In the curtain of black and white, he saw a flash of red in the shape of the canine.

Oh my god. He saw me.

As quick the torch was flicked on, the light flickered out. Then all was veiled in black.

Crunching snow was heard against the roaring wind, fading. It was clear that the familiar creature that Stripe had seen had began sprinting away.

"Wait!" Stripe shouted, and ran after the canine.

Stripe followed the creature, against the roaring wind and nipping ice. He willed his body to trudge through slush and snow. Snaps could be heard as he forced his frozen fibers to move. He followed the creature through streets buried feet deep in snow, through narrow alleys a few feet wide, and wide avenues -- where in the limited vision of the blizzard -- were now desolate stretches of white.

He followed the noise, but it eventually went silent. The trail ran cold as the trail of tracks ended. Stripe dropped to his knees, and tears tried to leak from his eyes. He was now lost, lead astray by a red herring that may or may not have been their friend, Buddy.

Stripe trudged through snow in a straight line. He may be lost, but he was determined to not be lost and frozen. He eventually came to a large structure. It was a great arch coated in centimeters of ice. Metal spikes hung at its top like an upside-down palisade. It looked familiar... Like he've seen this thing before...

Multiple lights glowed beyond the curtain. Bluish white stars along with a singular orange flame shone in the veil of snow and night. Strong winds that swirled originated from beyond the arch. Lances of pain pierced his being as the last fluids of his body crystallized. The cold had turned his body into a frosty statue.

"No!" Stripe willed his body to move again, but the cold had sapped all his strength. He was left there standing, frozen and brittle. Hundreds of icy nails thrusted themselves through his flesh, not only sapping him of warmth but also consciousness. Blackness swiftly encroached his vision. Before he was overtaken by unconsciousness, Stripe saw something red.

~***~

Hero stood half-frozen on snow. The ungodly cold the blasted snowstorm brought was sapping the warmth of the magma that was his blood. His claymore blazed unhindered by ice, ready to cleave and sear the raging storm.

Hiding in the curtain was the adversary, the source and heart of the storm. A skeletal creature with skin pale as snow stood before Hero like an immovable horseman of the apocalypse. It bore the head of a jackal. The parka and trousers it wore was roughed by permafrost. Baleful aquamarine eyes stared at Hero.

"Get out... of my... way," the jackal commanded with strained breaths. Its voice barely audible in the heart of the storm.

"You shan't take this town, Winter. Not on my watch," Hero answered in defiance.

"If so... then I'll... have to... make you."

It approached slowly upon command. Its steps were drowned by the relentless screaming of the storm. It struck Hero at the side with metal appendages.

Hero turned to face the sneaky assailant. In the curtain of white and black, he saw a constellation of bluish-white lights. Before him stood a cyborg locust, not unlike the one that sieged Townston. Much of its exoskeleton was replaced by chrome-plated steel. Grey tubes distributing chemicals vital to life weaved in and out of its body. Multiple glowing eyes, not only located at its head, but also all over its body sent a mindless hateful glare at Hero.