What the hell is he doing here?

"Hi. Brook sent me to find you guys."

"Did she really?" Why'd she send Ice? He doesn't know his way around. He just got freed from the Amethyst Throne and had his memory wiped.

"I convinced her it was better if she stayed back to help those living in the White Tent Sea. They wouldn't like me since I guess I was friends with King Garonda XIV. I came to see how you were."

"Well I'm doing just splendidly. Ky thinks we should rest, but I don't want to stop looking for Wolf."

"Are you really going to find Wolf if you're sleeping on your feet?" Ice tilts his head slightly to the side.

"I'll be fine."

"Fine as in not dead or fine as in actually having the energy to search successfully for Wolf?" Ice adjusts his stance to shake one of his forepaws before setting it back onto the ground.

"Just fine, ok?" Please stop talking to me!

"How are you actually doing, Dove?"

"Leave me alone. I'm fine, alright?"

"Ok." Ice shrugs, sitting down and curling up. He doesn't sound convinced.

I lean back against the tree again and close my eyes, drifting off to sleep at a snail's pace. Dreamland swirls in my mind until it eventually claims it.

I wake up a short while later. A blanket of darkness covers the forest, and the eerie light from the moon casts a sickly glow on the forest floor. A shadow moves off in the distance. Through my groggy vision, it looks identical to Wolf. I jump to my feet to chase the shadow, but then I get a second look and it's just a bird fluttering through the trees.

Get ahold of yourself, Dove. How are you going to find Wolf if practically everything that moves looks like her? Get your mind straight! A bird isn't Wolf!

"Dove?"

"Huh?" I turn to the side and see Ice.

"Why am I asleep?" I frown. Is he alright? Ice's eyes are wide open and focusing on me.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah."

"Ok..."

"Why am I asleep?" he repeats.

"What do you mean by that?" Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

"I'm asleep," he says. "My eyes are open, but I can't open my eyelids. I'm awake but I'm always asleep, and I can't wake up. I've tried. I've tried. I've tried, Dove! I've tried and I can't wake up. I'm still held in that same stupor. The one that held me at the Amethyst Throne! The same one that the snake put me in. What am I supposed to do? I can't wake up. I'm here without being here. I'm dreaming in reality. Real events, but I can't wake up. What am I supposed to do, Dove? How do I wake up?" Ice turns to me, tears brimming in his eyes and a few rolling down his cheeks to form icicles on his jaw. I lift a hand, unsure of what to do, and it falls back to my lap, limp. What do I do?

"Please, Dove? Can you help me wake up? Please?"

"Yeah, ok," I reply. What the hell does he mean? I want to help, but how?

"You really mean it?"

"Of course." But how?

"Yeah?" Despite the tears falling from his eyes, Ice's face lights up slightly. Like an ember, burning out but still there.

"Yes, of course, Ice. Is there anything you'd like me to do?"

"I just want to wake up," he murmurs, laying down and curling up. His side falls, giving him a look of complete defeat.

"Yeah," I say again. "I'll help you wake up." That seems to satisfy Ice, as he drifts off to sleep a little while later.

"Just as soon as I can figure out how," I add once he's asleep.

The sun rises a short while later. Tree branches break up the beams, turning them into blinding shafts of light. "Whoah," Ice blurts, shaking his head and blinking rapidly. He must've just woken up.

"You alright?" I shift closer.

"Yeah, the sun is just so bright. I can barely see."

"It's not all that bright," Phoenix snorts.

"Easy for you to say." Ice wrinkles his nose.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Phoenix's flames crackle and burn brighter.

"You don't have spots floating in your vision. You don't have everything looking like sand. You don't get afterimages from anything that's just even the slightest bit bright. So I might shut up and get your attitude in check, Phoenix. You don't know what someone else is dealing with. Take your anger out on something else." Ice trembles. His gaze is hard, but I know he's just waiting for the black cat to lash out. Phoenix bares his fangs and Ice stiffens and he tilts his head up, but he doesn't back down. Ky steps in front of his brother with a sigh and an eye roll.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's continue toward Ragdon Volcano, shall we?" Ky jerks his head toward the looming mountain. Phoenix mutters a retort but follows Ky's instructions.

What's on the other side of Ragdon Volcano? What awaits us? What will we find? Will we find the new Midnight Wolf? Will they be someone from Ragdon? Will they be someone from another timeline who's taken Arcane's place now that he's dead? What if Arcane was the last one? There are too many what if's to count.

Enough, Dove. No more thinking of all the what if's you can come up with. Focus on finding Wolf. You know tracking down the new Midnight Wolf might lead to some clues on how to find Wolf, so we're going to do that. We will find the new Midnight Wolf and then we will go from there. Stay calm, Dove. Getting caught up in everything won't help. Stay calm and remember you will find Wolf. You're going to find her, Dove. She will be found.

I take a deep breath, returning from my thoughts. Having gone into autopilot, Ragdon Volcano is now much closer. A faint line of smoke floats from the peak, near where Arcane hid for decades before coming down.

Where he met his death, where he shed the Midnight Tear and killed himself, my subconscious adds.

"How much longer?" Phoenix grumbles.

"Dunno. Haven't been to the other side of Ragdon before. Who knows how much land is there? Maybe we'll find the new Midnight Wolf quickly. I certainly hope so. We'll just have to wait and see!" Ky looks over his shoulder toward his brother.

"Can we take a break?" Ice asks softly. I turn around. Ice sways on his feet but is able to mask it almost perfectly as just shifting his weight. Almost perfectly, not perfectly.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

"I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

"Hmm." Phoenix glances back for a moment before turning back. Flames crackle across his jet black fur.

xxxx

We walk until sunset, only stopping for a few short breaks and to catch a few rabbits to eat, roasted courtesy of Phoenix's fire. I was just about to say that we should probably look for a place to rest that's out of sight in case any Guard and Soldiers are out looking for us when Ice suddenly cries out. I whirl around to see him stumble, tripping over his paws. The ground hisses when Ice collapses, flash-freezing the ground. He gasps and his claws dig deep into the ground. I race over, dropping to my knees. "Ice!"

"What's going on?" Ky scrambles to Ice's side.

"What the hell?"

"Think very carefully about your next sentence or you'll be reliving things I know you don't want to," Ky growls without looking back. He doesn't get a reply from Phoenix.

"Whoah, wasn't expect-." Ice's words break off as he rolls to his stomach and begins coughing. Scarlet trickles down his chin and neck. I look helplessly at Ky. What do I do?

"I-is there anything I can do?" I reach out a hand, and my fingertips flutter as I try to think of something that might help.

Ice coughs a few more times, sides trembling as his eyelids droop. He falls back to the ground, eyes blinking once, twice, before shutting.

I curse. Are cats like wolves? Are they the same? This better work. I press my fingers underneath Ice's foreleg, and relief washes over me when I feel his heartbeat

"He's alive, I guess. What's going on?"

"Lemme see." Phoenix shoulders his way past his brother. I reach out my hand again, needing to get the reassurance that Ice is still alive. It works, but only to alleviate a little bit of the worry- Ice still hasn't woken up and remains unmoving.

"Well, that sucks."

"Care to elaborate? What's going on? I knew I should've chatted a little more with the doctors back in the White Tent Sea! Or if I could heal people who aren't just myself!" Curse you, healing abilities. If I wasn't just limited to healing myself, I could help Ice!

"Well," Phoenix starts, placing a paw on Ice's flank. "His body temperature seems to be dropping. I'm not a doctor, but that doesn't seem like something that should be happening. Is his heart rate slowing?"

"Mm, yeah. A bit." Come on. Go back up! This seems way too slow for him.

"Hmm." Phoenix's face remains expressionless, and his fiery eyes betray no emotion.

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Not really," he says. "I'm guessing it's something with the venom from the snake. He had so much of it running through his bloodstream. There's gonna be aftereffects of it."

"So what do you do with that much venom?" My voice is sharp. Come on, Ice. You gotta be alright. You just got freed! How would I tell Clap or Brook that something happened? You just found them again, even if you don't remember anyone except Clap.

"So basically he's just freezing again? Like his body is getting completely taken over by ice again?" Ky asks the question, wrinkling his nose as he looks at his brother.

"Don't ask me! I'm not the doctor. But yeah. That might be the case."

"Heat him up, Phoenix!"

"What?" Phoenix looks at Ky as if he's grown a second head.

"So Ice is getting, like, super cold. You have fire, Phoenix. Heat him up so he doesn't get so cold."

Thanks a million for reading this chapter! If you enjoyed it, please click that little star and vote! It would make my day! And, of course, please comment- I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Ice has joined the trio. What's that gonna mean for the trip to try to find the new Midnight Wolf?

Uh, oh. Ice seems to have passed out! Will he be ok?

Ice is freezing... quite literally. Will Phoenix be able to heat him back up? That is, provided the black cat can be convinced. Good luck, Ky and Dove! You might just need it!

-Werewolf14-