Winter's Coldest Night [a cookie run oneshot]

Discovered

  It didn't even take a second for the cold air to hit Cotton once the door was opened. The inside was dark, and she could barely see anything, the only source of light currently being the open door, and the dim fireplace that had seemed to have already gone out a good couple hours ago...why wasn't it lit...?
- "Sherbet? Are you in here..? Are you alright?" she called out, stepping inside the house. Thankfully once she stepped in, the lantern she held lit up the area a bit better. It was...covered with a very thin layer of frost everywhere - the floor, the walls. Feeling her anxiety rising, she rested her staff against one of the walls and looked around with the. lantern frantically.
- "Sh-Sherbet??"
    Still no response, just eerie silence.

Taking a moment to think, she slowed her rapid movements down to actually look around properly. The bed was messy..almost untouched even..and of course covered in the same thin layer of frost. Once she started to look in the direction of the fireplace, she instead saw something on the ground, and it didn't look like anything that Sherbet personally owned... Both curious and hella worried, she slowly started to approach whatever it was, noticing that the frost only became more apparent.
  Within seconds, it clicked. It was the blanket that she had made and...
- "Sherbet?!"
  The boy stayed there, completely unmoving and unresponsive. Lots of frost covered him, his clothes and other nearby items - like the blanket. Cotton quickly set the lantern down and kneeled, nudging him a bit harshly, praying for any response.
- "Sherbet, hey! Are you okay?? Please, say something!" she'd sob, pulling away once she got no response again. His body was as cold as ice, or..even colder than that, in a way. Cotton, confused on what to do just went for him again and grabbed Sherbet, sort of holding his upper half on her arms and lap, slightly shaking him, still hopeful for a response, that this would be some stupid prank...even when it was very out of character for him.
- "Sh-Sherbet please! Th-this isn't funny at all..!"
- "Just say something! P..please..!"
                  ...Still no response.
  ...Cotton was now at a complete loss, sobbing as she stared down at her friend. Did..did he really die...? Was he really dead...?? His once open eyes had seemed to have frozen shut overnight, little snowflakes and bits of frost over the eyelids, and his nose and cheeks...and a couple more spots...
Cotton felt so helpless, so...so wrong. It felt like it was her fault that Sherbet was dead, and nobody else's, not even the Frost Witch was to blame, even if she was just a fairytale for kids.
- "Sherbet you d..dummy...why couldn't you have gotten b..better...? I still need you, you know..??"
  All cotton could do now was cry and hug onto her best friend's ice cold body, as it was clear there was no way to bring him back. No healer could heal him, and it was even attempted when he was alive...it was no use.

   ...Outside, it seemed like the snowfall was groowing again.