Ice And Snow

Chapter 8

The four remaining Gaists stood still as the original one attacked Shiren again and again. Both its attack and defense is from the mirror it was holding, that much was clear for anyone to see.

When he attack, it would be deflected by the mirror, leaving an opening. The second he makes that opening, the Gaist would attack.

The people could only watch in horror. They couldn't run because they were surround by the Gaists. Alas, Haley ran up to the one attacking.

"Please, stop this already!" She begged. "He can't take much mroe of this, so please stop it!"

"Silence!"

The Gaist prepared another attack and Haley raised her hands up in defense from the blast. The people watched in horror, waiting for the inevitable. But it never came.

Haley opened her eyes slowly, to find the orange hair boy kneeling down in front of her. "Shiren...!!"

The townspeople gaped in shock at this scene. Especially her parents. The Gaist had a somewhat confused look.

"Hm?"

Haley covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming. For a second, she thought she had seen him flash a smile.

Slowly, he got up. "That won't stop me..." He muttered.

His movement slow and unsteady, he walked up to the Gaist.

"Last year, I lost my comrades."

"I lost my friends."

"I lost all the faith the people use to have for me."

"And I nearly lost my best friend as well..."

Right infront of the Gaist, he stood up straight and faced it.

"I won't let you hurt them."

His armor glowed blue with power.

"I won't let you hurt her..."

It glowed brighter and brighter by the second. On her Gai-Phone, Haley could see the Gai-Volts of his armor increasing rapidly.

"I won't let you take anything else I held dear!"

'Form change, Extreme Form!'

His armor turned into Gai-Metal and it grew bigger until about a third the size of the Gaist. Inside it, the armor expanded and it became a blue unicorn-based Gaist.

This is... Blizzard Unicorn's true form! Haley let out a small gasp.

The horned stallion ran up to the Gaist, and it's horn pierced through the mirror it was holding. It's 'heart', also known as Crush Metal, appeared, but before he could strike the next blow, his armor disappeared and he changed back to the clothes he was originally wearing.

He fell to the ground and laid there with no signs of moving. Haley ran up to him, despite being in a dangerous distance with the Gaist.

Then, the four remaining Gaists glowed with power and the Crush Metal within the original disappeared.

"Wha... I-it healed!" Haley exclaimed.

The townspeople gasped out of shock and ran forward without thinking. They didn't do anything but stayed behind Haley as she kneeled down beside the limp body of the boy.

About a minute later, his eyes opened and he struggled to get up. He was only able to kneel on one leg and leaned at Haley for support. He looked up the the Gaist and muttered a small curse.

"I went through all that for nothing?" He whispered, sounding weak and helpless.

Just when they were on the verge of giving in, the Gaist spoke up.

"One Earth-year had passed since that day."

"Huh?" Everyone there looked up at the Gaist as it continues.

"Those soldiers are frozen within the walls of this cavern."

It paused for a minute as the other Gaists stared at the people. Their gaze were fixicated on Shiren.

"To have nearly 'crushed' me, that is not a small achievement."

Then they all began to glow.

"As a reward, we shall free those soldiers from their icy prison."

The walls crumbled around them and there was a bright light shining from the five Gaists. When the light subsided, the Gaists were gone and they were all standing in the surface. All signs of injury were no longer visible on Shiren's body.

"W-what happened?" Shiren and Haley froze. Everyone else stiffly turned around to find the Icegard GCG soldiers standing behind them.

Toya was first to reciver from the shock. "F-father...?" He ran up to the comander of the soldiers. "Father!"

"Hiro!" Haley ran up to the man with dark blue eyes and grey hair and tackled him to a hug. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"Back?" He asked confusedly. "Where did we go?"

The people look at them all in surprise. Haley's mother spoke up. "You don't remember?"

Hiro shook his head. "Not a thing."

Haley caught a flash of blue and ran towards the orange haired boy, who was about to make his getaway.

"Shiren!" She called.

He stopped and turned back to face her. She couldn't read his face. It was completely expressionless.

"What is it?" He asked with a straight face.

Haley blinked. "Well, I just..." She shook her head. "I wanted to know if you'll be at GCG HQ after this."

"Where else would I be?" He stated bluntly. He hopped onto the hoverglider and flew off into the clouds.

There was a sense of loneliness in her heart. She sighed and shook her head again. I'll see you then...

Everyone went back to town and the didn't waste any time to celebrate. They were all cheering and laughing out loud despite it's still dark out. Everyone was happy. But Haley still had him stuck in her mind. And it was dragging her down.

Then she noticed the comander of the GCG soldiers making a speech upfront with a microphone. After he was done, she ran up to him and asked for the mic. Everyone stared at her in curiosity as she took a deep breath.

"Everyone, there's something I need to ask of you."

~~~~~

He sat by the computer, monitoring the area for Gaists. It wasn't because he was worried that they would start causing a mess. It was merely an excuse so that he wouldn't have to go to town to make a speech in front of the people that hated him for this long.

He had no problem in facing the people before. He merely has trouble facing his comrades who were believed to have fallen last year. After all, he was the reason why they were in that state in the first place. Even if they forgive him, he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself.

Then, he heard a knock from outside. And here they come. Hesitantly, he opened the door.

"Hello?"