Snow (Elliot The Littlest Reindeer)

*~* Chapter Five: Guidance Of The Stars *~*

It's fairly well known that when one's mind starts to race, a lot of other things like logic and sense shut down.

When one loses all sense, one becomes...disoriented.

And when one becomes so disoriented they can't process their surroundings, it is most definitely a very frightening problem.

Yuki's vision whirled about as rapidly as her thoughts, a tornado of anxiety grasping at her every movement like a vice grip. She fell back into a sitting position, her eyes squeezing shut as they stung with tears, which might as well have been lemon juice from the burn she felt. Her chest was heaving with every shuddering breath she took in, and she knew she'd have to calm herself down or risk blacking out. However, all she could think about... We need to get OUT of here!... But my friends, I'll let them down... But the OTHERS... I'll be fine, they won't!

The rest of the moment was a blur. Her ringing ears, her blurring vision, the distant echo of hooves that seemed so eerily close... Yuki barely noticed or even felt herself tipping off to the side until...

"Yuki!"

The voice was a far off echo to her, the sound ricocheting through her ears and narrowly escaping her mind. It was too late by the time she felt an uncomfortably rough edge catch her...her vision had completely faded to black.

*~*~*~*~☆~*~*~*~*

"Yuki?..."

The voice was sure a familiar one, but uncharacteristically soft. She couldn't put a hoof on who it was, or what was happening, but all she knew was that she was definitely still lying on her side in the bitter cold snow, and that she'd been prodded awake by a hoof.

"I know you're awake, Yuki."

Wait... Yuki's internal voice was oddly as slow as she felt, and a lot softer than the mental cries she'd heard earlier. DJ? She managed to gradually peel open her eyes, and low and behold, there was DJ. He hovered worriedly over her, a look Yuki had never seen on the boastful reindeer's face before. She immediately felt a pang of guilt in her stomach, then rolled onto her stomach to try and push herself to her hooves.

"Here, DJ's gotcha." DJ quickly moved forward to catch her in his horns, helping to lift her up onto all fours again. He took a step back to let Yuki breathe for a moment. "Wow...you're a wreck."

Yuki snorted softly to herself, trying to ignore the anxious thoughts trying to break down her mind's doors. "I guess." She shook her head, turning a questioning gaze onto DJ. "What are you doing out here?" Yuki interrogated, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Nobody was supposed to know I was gone."

"I...uh..." DJ, for once, looked caught off guard. He fell silent, his voice dying as he searched for the words to say...or at least that was the energy he had. His gaze fell...sympathetic? Or was that pity? It was hard to tell with someone like DJ. Either way, his gaze darted between Yuki and the ground, before brushing something under a pile of snow (I'll definitely ask about THAT later.). He finally flashed Yuki a grin. "DJ heard a commotion and felt like it was something important... I guess he was right..."

"I-It's nothing, really." Yuki quickly lied, turning her head off to the side to avoid his gaze. She fixed her eyes on a nearby tree, which reached its bare branches into the sky like tendrils of shadow. Yeah, just focus on the tree, and not at all on DJ who's ABSOLUTELY about to ask you a personal question.

"You sure about that?" DJ squinted down at her, his ocean blue eyes somehow appearing colder than the lashing chill of the night air's whip. "You were all panicky and then fell to the floor."