Okay, I just want to say that Lakestorm and the rest of you have a total right to never review again. However, do keep in mind that I have a life, and not the entire time was I simply being lazy when not updating. Some of the time I was busy. And actually, I should be asleep right now, but...that's not going to happen. X3
And I know this is very short, but I just had to update SOMETHING, and I'm very busy with studying for final exams and whatnot. I'll try to update a full chapter tomorrow night. I kind of owe you all...

Cold

Fire had always thought she'd known cold. Cold was when she got a drink from meltwater. Cold was when she slipped and fell into the river. Cold was when she walked on a patch of ice. She knew that cold. This cold was a different kind of cold. The kind that filled her entire being, that kept her from moving. It kept her paralyzed. This cold froze her bones, her heart, her mind. This cold was the kind that killed.

White flakes blurred her vision, and somewhere in her subconscious she knew it was snow. It was natural. Except in this frozen state, her mind didn't register natural. The white was her killer. It leaped for her, wrapping her in its agonizing clutches. She marveled at how horrible, how beautiful it all was. This white would entomb her soon, and soon the very same cold, white snow that caused her such agony would bring her peace.

Somehow, Fire welcomed it. The release from this life was what she had wanted all along. When she had first been taken from her home, she had not been able to admit that it would never end with happiness. She'd had to believe that despite all the horrors she'd seen, somehow she'd make it out okay.

Fire laughed at her naiveity. She knew now that there was never going to be happiness again. Even if she could fix her messed up life, even if there was hope for her future, there was no hope of survival. The cold had her in its clutches.

It was calling to her.

The screaming of the wind, the tugging of it at her fur was calling her into the darkness. Spots appeared within the swirling white. Colors danced behind her eyes. Flaming reds, deep chocolate browns, golden yellows, and every other color she could imagine. She was pulled to them in awe. She barely noticed that the agony in her frozen body was fading. That the feeling was disappearing from her limbs.

Then it was all pulled away from her. The wonderful, welcoming lights were gone. Instead she was confronted with the agony of the bitter cold of the winter. Somewhere, she had the sensation of being dragged through the piles of snow. Real flashes of color came to her. Striped brown fur. Horrified green eyes.

The colors in her mind may had been taken from her, but she could not escape the dark in her head that had been threatening her ever since she'd collapsed in a snow drift. Now as she was being hauled through the snow, she gave in to it.