Well That's Not Good

Chapter 6 - Can't Get Much Worse Than This!

There is nothing quite like waking up wrapped in someone's arms. The warm, safe feeling of someone caring, holding you close, keeping you still. This is what True wakes up to. Sun streaks in through the car windows, giving a lovely golden glow to his blurry sleep vision. He tries to raise his hands up to rub his eyes and finds his arms are pinned down with blankets and Sky, who is sprawled across his lap, asleep. 

True looks up best he can. Lox's eye is closed, but the dim green light remains on. He's set to sleep mode. True sighs, leaning back again on Lox. The more he wakes up, the more he finds his hand has a dull throbbing pain. He tries to shake it off, blinking and shifting again to try to free his hand. Sky isn't helping the situation by serving as a large, warm weight on True's body. Eventually, he managed to pull his hand out from under the blankets to see it covered in a bandage. 

"I don't remember getting cut..." he says quietly to himself. Instantly, he knows he started chaos. Lox sits up, pushing True up with him, and shoving Sky off the seats and onto the floor of the car with a startled yelp. Lox throws his arms around True, pulling him into a tight hug as Sky scrambles to get back up the seats. 

"True! You're up! You're alive! Lox said you could've ended up in a coma and not been able to eat or drink and died and you didn't!" Sky cheers, adding to the already crushing hug. True lets out a strangled squeak, and he is released. 

"I'm okay! I'm okay. I'm sorry I went out without you... what happened?" Sky frowns, and Lox shifts True to the side so he can be bundled up between them. Lox and Sky retell the events that occurred best they can, jumping about and interrupting one another as they go, but after ten minutes or so, True has gotten the gist of it. 

"So... what happened here? You didn't say my hand got hurt" He waves his bandaged arm. Sky bites his lip, adjusting his blindfold. Instantly, True's heart drops. Something important had been left out. 

"Well, you see, you were the first one frozen... and... well... it could have been a lot worse-"
"We amputated your finger."
"He amputated your finger! Not me! And um. Two on your left hand..."
"Frostbite." 

True gets quiet, silently fighting to pull his other hand out from under the blankets. Both are bandaged. Nothing feels too different, but he isn't sure what not having a finger would even feel like. His hands hurt, that's all. True bites his lip. 

"I was being stupid," he says quietly, "I was stressed and tired and it cost me three fingers." 
Hey, look on the bright side!" Sky exclaims, "We're one step closer to Seto, and if anyone can give you new fingers, it's him!" He smiles warmly, and True relaxes. 

"Yeah. Yeah you're right. Do we know what that even was?" Lox nods, resting his head on True's shoulder. 

"Mmhm. Read up on it while you were sleeping. He called it an ice golem. They mirror what you do and freeze anything that touches it. That's why it was so muddy, everything was thawing out when you found it." True frowns, leaning back to try to see Lox better. 

"How did you stop it then? I'm happy you're okay, but man, I had no time to react." 

Sky grins, and Lox stays quiet. 

"Lox?" True asks. He starts to worry. If water had gotten into the wiring, it could easily mess him up. One flaw True hadn't had time to fix yet. 

"I called it a bitch and decked it." 
"You what." 

Sky bursts out laughing, and Lox shoots him a dirty look, forgetting that Sky can't see a damn thing at the moment. True breaks a smile, and finally laughs lightly. 

"Oh! Well. That works." 

"I'm not alive. I don't think it registered me as something to mimic," Lox mutters. Sky lays down on True's lap and shrugs. 

"Eh. There's benefits to that. And don't worry, we didn't loose to much time. Lox let me drive the car!" True tenses up. 

"What. No. You can't drive!" 
"I can't drive in the daylight! Night is far less blinding." 
"You don't use the headlights!" 
"We didn't crash."
"You don't read the speed limits either!"
"Hey, we didn't crash!" 

"That's true," Lox pipes in, "We didn't crash, and we made it pretty far. If I watch him, we can cover more ground by having you drive during the day and Sky at night." 

True sighs, sinking back against Lox once again. This is a good point, but he's not sure he's ready to trust Sky's driving. After all, it was his ship crashing that even caused them to meet. An even that Sky often blamed on the unexpected gravitational pull of being near the planet. 

This excuse did not help True trust his driving. 

"Yeah. Fine. I guess that's a good point. We're going to cover way more ground, but apart from Sky's driving- Lox, will your battery last?" Lox frowns. 

"I should be good for a week. We've already made a lot of progress, and I went into sleep mode for a good amount of time, that saved battery. As long as we don't take longer than maybe ten days, I think I'll be fine." 

"Yeah!" Sky cheers, "And at the rate we're going, it'll be fine! They practically left a trail for us!" Lox hums in agreement, and True gets another worried feeling in the pit of his stomach. If Seto was kidnapped, they wouldn't try to leave a trail, right? Maybe the dangers they're encountering were meant to kill them, and the worst was yet to come, or maybe the kidnappers had wanted the trio to go after them. He shudders. 

"Yeah. Yeah. Sky, let me up please, I'm going to try to drive. We still have a lot to do."