Murphy's Muddle

Chap. 2 - Frozen Tears

 After a while of trekking through the static snow the memory vault skidded to a stop, Psyckey catching up a little after because of the uncomfortableness of the snow shocking his feet with every step. Although this ground felt different, it wasn't shocking him anymore. He took a moment to look around, the two were still surrounded by the trees except now they were more akin to their normal popsicle tree counterparts with barely any lighting rod resemblance. The ground also felt more like regular snow, except upon closer inspection it was covered in multicolored sprinkles, there were also swirls and scoops of ice cream surrounding them. Psyckey was in awe, it was like he was standing in the middle of the real Frosticon landscape. However the memory vault nudged his foot, snapping him out of his wonder, as soon as he did he heard sobbing. Sobbing was normal to hear in the mind due to everyone having emotional baggage, but he also heard a second kind, not baggage, but mixel. He looked around and noticed a small blue figure holding a crying suitcase sitting on a scoop of chocolate ice cream. There was also a hatbox next to the scoop.

"Hello?" Psyckey walked toward the blue figure, surely a Frosticon, the Frosticon half of Murphy. The Frosticon sobbed gently alongside the baggage as they looked up at Psyckey, "Who are you? How did you get here, this place is supposed to be a secret..." The Frosticon looked at Psyckey with an innocent gaze, "I'm Psyckey and I'm here to learn about the mixel's mind I'm currently in, and also help you if you'd like. I heard you crying with the baggage here," he answered. "Hello Psykey," the Frosticon replied softly, "I'd greatly appreciate your help with these bags, I don't know how to get them to stop crying." They let out a quiet sound half way between a sigh and a chuckle. "It should be easy, all they need are these," Psyckey rummaged around in a psychic pocket he'd manifested to keep anything important. He pulled two tags, one pink and one yellow to match the colors of the suitcase and hat box respectively. Walking up to the bags and giving each their respective tags caused the bags to cease their crying and happily cuddle up to their tags. The Frosticon scooted down off the ice cream scoop onto the snow, landing with a crunch. They turned to look at the bags and gave a content sigh. After gently patting the bags with their icy claws, the Frosticon turned back to Psyckey, wiping their eyes of frosted tears. "Thank you again."

"No problem, uhh, sorry but what's your name?" Psyckey questioned. "I'm... I," the Frosticon racked their thoughts for an answer, "I... don't know."

What felt like a couple of odd minutes passed as a heavy silence filled the space. "You don't know your name? Being Murphy for so long must've taken a toll on your memory," Psyckey spoke. The Frosticon just stared through him, lost in thought with tears starting to form and frost at the corners of their eyes. "I can't remember my name," they said quietly under their breath, "They were right, I'm not good for anything," the Frosticon broke their words with sobs as they fell onto the ground. "Hey hey it's ok, you're going to be fine. Deep breaths, deep breaths," Psyckey guided the Frosticon back onto their feet. "Breathe in, hold," Psyckey brought his hands up to his chest in a breathing motion, turning his hands to face and moving them downwards after about 3 seconds. The Frosticon followed his movement, it was a simple breathing exercise. After about 6 repeats of the exercise the Frosticon was calmed, slightly hiccuping but calm nonetheless. "Who said that you're useless?" Psyckey asked.

"'They' did," the Frosticon shivered, Psyckey sighed. "Your gonna have to be a little less cryptic there bu-"

"Murphy," the word stung not only the Frosticon but the surroundings as well, everything quickly grew quiet once again. "I should've known," Psyckey face palmed, who else could it have been. "Hey listen, you're not useless," he placed a hand on the Frosticons shoulder, "You were trying your best to help that baggage and I'm sure you've probably done more helpful stuff before you were a part of Murphy."

"But..." the Frosticon sighed only to be cut off by Psyckey, "No buts. Maybe you could help me by finding a way out of this forest huh? Would that help you feel a bit better?" The Frosticon silently nodded their head in agreement. "Ok then uh, hmm. We never figured out your name did we?" Psyckey put his hand to his chin in thought only to snap his fingers after a second, "I could list off some names and you could say which one you like," he suggested. "Yea," the Frosticon replied. "Ok here goes. Icy, Snowy, Scoopert, Flaker, Popcicero, Cryo, Fr-"

"I like that one," the Frosticon piped up, cutting Psyckey off. "Which one?" Psyckey questioned. "Cryo," the Frosticon perked up at the sound of the name.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Cryo," Psyckey responded, putting his hand out for a handshake, Cryo opted for a hug instead. "Now let's find a way out of here," he said as he struggled free from Cryo's cold, but warm hug.