Ice And Snow

Chapter 6

Haley slid down her door and sunk to the floor. Her father had officially grounded her until her 15th birthday. She knew it was a bad idea from the get-go yet she risked it anyway. Now they were both banned from seeing each other again. What's worse is that her parents had decided to stay in Icegard so long as she still thinks about him.

I'm not going to forget just like that.

I'm not going to give up.

We'll see each other again soon.

Those words keep repeating in her mind. Each time they were said, her heart would twist in a painful way.

"I'll come back for you, Heliorosa." He had said. Heliorosa. Her real name. 'Helio' is her first name while as 'Rosa' is her surname. Her father disliked that name, so by the age of 5, her father changed her name to 'Angelina Haley'. 'Angelina' is her mother. 'Haley' is the nickname Shiren had always used.

That's why it hurt. There was a hint of pain when he called her by her real name.

She sat there thinking about what happened just a few minutes ago. There was shouting between her and her father. Her mother tried to keep us calm, but Shiren interupted. When her father told him to leave, he did with a hidden smile. After walking out the door, she went after him. Outside, he held her close and whispered those words into her ear, before taking off into the night sky.

She held a pink flower in her hand. The same one she picked out in the cave. She layed down on the bed and burried her face in her pillow. Then and there, she broke out into a sob, calling for her best friend. But nobody came.

~~~~~

A long time had passed since that day. Haley was still depressed, but she didn't let it show around others. She made friends fairly quickly, but none of them notice her suffering.

One day, she walked towards down town on her own. She saw many children playing in the snow, laughing and smiling. She smiled too.

"Excuse me miss..." She looked down to find a young boy tugging on her sleeve. "Can you please help me get my ball? It's stuck in that tree." He pointed to a fairly tall tree, and the ball was stuck in the top branches. It was a bit too high for her to reach. She jumped and started jumping from branch to branch. Once at the top, she carefully kicked the ball down, right into the boy's hands.

"Thanks you miss!" He said with a wide grin.

Haley nodded happily. She jumped down the tree and walked around absentmindedly.

How long has it been?

A week?

Two weeks?

A month?

She had no idea. Then she stopped. She found herself looking at a big crack in the ground. "This is... Have I really walked that far? I guess I better head back."

She turned around, but before she could take another step, a forceful blow stroke her chest and she ended up plunging into the ice cold cavern with a scream.

~~~~~

The flower shattered. The ice crystals left in his hand melted away into nothing. It caught him by surprise. Has it really been that long already?

He barely noticed. He had never checked the date or the time since that day. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to see her.

Before he could do anything, the Gaist Alarm went off. He sighed. Priority comes first. He thought sadly. He muttered an apology to both himself and his friend as he rode into the sky, taking his Gai-Medal and Gai-Phone with him.

He quickly Gaist On when he reached the coordinated destinantion. There, he saw a Gaist in the form of a red bird. It shot out fire balls at random directions.

If this keeps up, the ice walls will melt. And if they melt, it'll all collapse.

He flew down and scanned the Gaist with his Gai-Phone. Gaist name, Scorch Fireblaze. He was about to jump off when he heard a scream. He recocnized the voice immediately and glanced at the direction it came from. A flash of silver caught his eye and he swooped down immediately to catch the fallen girl.

He caught her half way down the cliff and brought her up to the surface. She had already fainted by the time he caught her. He landed on the other side of the ledge and laid her down on the hoverglider.

He ran up to the Gaist, already clad in armor. Have to finish this quick. "Crystal Symphony!" Crystal shards were blasted towards the gaist. Gai-Metal came out of it's chest, making in vounarable for a minute. Crush chance! He had merely kicked it and the Gaist reverted back to it's Gai-Medal form. "Crush complete."

He went back to his hoverglider and headed back to GCG base with the girl in his arms.

~~~~~

The girl woke up in an unfamiliar surrounding. "How did I...?"

She got up and looked around the room. "Is this... GCG base?"

She heard the sound of a door opening and look towards it. She tensed in shock at the orange haired boy smiling at her.

"So you're finally awake. That's good." He said with a sigh.

"S-Shiren? H-how... W-what... Why..." She couldn't find the right words. She was overcome with a mixture of pain and joy that she couldn't express.

"That Gaist attacked you and you fell down the gap. That's why your clothes are a bit torn up and your covered with bandages." He replied nonchantly.

'A bit' would be an understatement. Her clothes were shreded to the part below her chest, right on her stomach and her jeans were ripped up as well. There were several burnt marks being covered by the bandages around her arms all the way to her shoulder.

She nodded in understanding. "Thank you for saving me."

Shiren sighed. "You don't have to be so formal, you know? Nothing's changed since then, Haley."

She tensed and looked down to her lap. "Nothing's changed? Really?"

Her breathing became uneven and she began to feel lightheaded. Her heart was starting to twist again. It was throbbing painfully. Tears gathered from the corner of her eyes and they began to fall. Her body was trembling as she wrapped her arms around herself. She had never felt so cold.

All of a sudden, she felt warmth. Her cheek was pressed against his body and she couldn't help but feel the rise and fall of his chest. Slowly, she began to calm down and her heartbeat started to match his.

He slowly brought himself down to her ear and whispered, "I said I'll come back for you. I never had the intension of breaking that promise."