Lifeline (Chills Fanfic)

39 - Dylan

Dylan, Autumn, Arlo, Emma, and Freya are reunited and Freya takes them to Viiros. Dylan sits in his room in a big house he shares with his friends. He's been trying to figure out his power, this strange ice that lives in his veins now.

He stands in the middle of his room, calling the ice to him over and over again. He looks at his hands, seeing the frost creep over his fingertips, and he wonders if it is trying to eat him alive, like it does to his enemies.

As he stands there, in his freezing room, shivering, he decides maybe to head downstairs and get some blood to drink. He dispels the frost as best he can, and he heads to the kitchen.

It is not quite sundown yet, and so the others are all asleep, but he couldn't sleep. He walks over to the kitchen, and sits down at the table after getting a glass of blood.

He sits there for a while, staring at the minutes ticking by on the clock, as he watches five become five thirty, and he wonders if the others will get up soon. Of course, he knows that Autumn usually gets up around seven, so he supposes he still has a while of solitude and silence.

Dylan doesn't know how much longer he sits there before someone comes down. He finishes his drink as Autumn walks into the kitchen and sits down across from him.

"Hi," she says. He looks at her, really taking in her appearance today. Her auburn hair is down, flowing down her back, her green eyes bright and shining, her pale skin has a slight blush to it, and her skin is also dotted with shadows. Shadows that writhe and squirm and swirl around her limbs like snakes or something. They move like they're sentient. Dylan looks at her clothes, her purple pajama dress, and he sees more shadows lacing around her waist.

"Hi," he says, remembering to answer her.

"So, do you uh .... know some of what happens with our new powers?" she asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, is it normal for the shadows to be wrapped around me like this?"

Dylan looks down at his hands, and after a moment, frost swirls around his palms and fingertips. He stares at the frost as it reaches the center of his palm, and he blinks and shakes his head.

"I dont know. But look," he says, pointing to his hand. Autumn looks. Her eyes widen.

"It ... looks like it's eating you."

"And it is freezing in my room," he says. "My control over my power is fading every day. I'm scared for what that means. I'm so, so scared about what this could mean."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you can freeze to death."

"No," she says, her voice sharp. "No. Dylan. You're not ... we aren't dying."

"Shadows won't kill you, Autumn. But I honestly feel like the ice is freezing me from the inside out."

Tears fill her eyes, and he stops talking then. He doesn't want to make her cry, he doesn't want to even think of the possibility that he could be .... that his own power is killing him slowly. He doesn't want to think that maybe her power is killing her, too.

"They could kill me," she whispers, her voice breaking.

When Dylan hears the sorrow and hopelessness in her voice, he vows to never hear such sadness from Autumn ever again. Dylan stands and walks over to her. Autumn stands up, and he hugs her.

She wraps her arms around him, not even flinching at how cold his body is now, because of his power. The shadows swirl around him, and his frost hovers over her, swirling around her skin. He closes his eyes, holding her close, and wishing that Viiros was the safe haven they thought it was.

They have to leave Viiros.

"Dylan," she says quietly. He steps back and looks at her. Her green eyes are full of tears. He gently reaches for her hand. "What can we do? Why is this happening to us?"

"We'll talk to Freya about it," he says.

"Yeah. Yeah ... okay. You're right, she'll probably know."

Dylan nods, and he sits down beside her at the table. They talk about life, about little things, about anything that are not their powers or weird circumstances, or whatever is blooming between them.