Alysia groaned as she was thrown back onto the mat for the thousandth time. "Ouch." she muttered, glaring at Nathan as he held a hand out to her. "Like I said before, you using your wind powers is just not fair."

Nathan rolled his eyes, amusement glimmering in them. "You're just saying that because you're losing." He retorted, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. "Your defense is weak, I could easily just..." Alysia fell back to the ground as a gust of air hit her body. "Knock you down."

"You're a jerk." This time, when Nathan held out his hand again, Alysia grabbed it, pulling him down with her. He let out a small grunt as he fell, putting his hands on either side of her to prevent him falling onto her.

He hovered over her for a minute, and Alysia swore she saw him glancing down at her lips. "That was unnecessary." He said quietly.

"Well, so was knocking me down using your powers." She replied. "That was just rude." she muttered. She gulped as Nathan stared at her, his usual dark blue eyes, looking even darker in the shadows.

What was happening?

He leaned in slightly, their faces only centimeters apart. Alysia held her breath as Nathan put all his weight onto one arm, moving a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail, out of her face.

Nathan rested his hand on the side of her face, his eyes searching hers. He leaned in a bit more, his gaze flitting like butterflies all over her-

The sound of the hatch opening brought them out of their trance. Nathan quickly stood up, Alysia following suit, dusting herself off hurriedly. She cleared her throat awkwardly, glancing at the hatch, seeing none other than Ben standing there, staring.

"I bought coffee." He muttered, placing the tray of coffees and a big brown paper bag on the table. He pulled out what Alysia assumed were breakfast sandwiches, putting them on the table. "Bacon, egg, cheese breakfast sandwich for you." He tossed a sandwich at Alysia.

Alsyia's eyes widened as she grabbed the sandwich midair, fumbling with it in her hands. "And I got the same for you, since I don't know what you like." He told Nathan, who caught his thrown sandwich with ease.

"Thanks." Alysia muttered, leaving it on the table. "I'm going to go change." She went over to her suitcase which she had quickly packed before leaving her apartment. Alysia glanced over her shoulder, rolling her eyes when she saw Nathan and Ben glaring at each other.

Nathan unwrapped his sandwich, taking a bite out of it. "Decent."

"Whatever." Ben muttered, and Alysia rolled her eyes, taking a random pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of her suitcase, heading to the bathroom. She quickly pulled off her training clothes, putting them in the washing machine that Nathan had conveniently decided to put in the bathroom. She heard her phone chime, and she glanced down at it, smiling when she saw it was April.

From Apes: Are you busy today?

Alysia's fingers flew over the electronic keyboard, typing a quick response.

To Apes: Yeah, kind of. Nathan and I are trying to figure out who Frostbite is, so we're stalking this dude named Flynn Cross. The police are being too slow.

Ever since Alsyia was fully certain that April knew that she was Monarch and that Nathan was Frostbite, a huge sense of relief had come over her. She had hated lying to April, the two barely kept secrets from each other.

And now she could tell April what was going on and didn't have to live with the guilt of lying to her. A benefit to having April as a friend, especially with all that was going on, is that she was a good hacker, so if needed, April could help them.

April helping out would be beneficial and meant that Alsyia wouldn't have to be the only one dealing with Nathan's and Ben's constant bickering. April would also have the patience to deal with the two men, and patience was something that Alysia was running low on at the moment.

From Apes: Ooh! Fun! Tell me if you need help! I can find people easily!

Alysia smiled.

To Apes: Will do.

She quickly bunched her hair up into a ponytail, opening the door of the bathroom. She walked out, shoving her phone into the pocket, rolling her eyes once more when she saw Nathan and Ben sitting on opposite sides of the couch, fiercely glaring at each other.

"So are we going to stalk the two with ice powers?" She asked, breaking the tension between the two. "Or are you two going to keep acting like children?" Alysia crossed her arms, looking between the two.

"Yeah. Let's go." Nathan said, standing up, grabbing their coats from the coat rack, tossing Alysia's at her. "Make sure you lock the hatch." He said to Ben, who rolled his eyes.

"Pretty sure you can do that on your own."

"You'll be the last one to leave, dumbass." Nathan scoffed, pulling on his coat.

"Actually, no I won't."

Alsyia felt a breeze go past her, seeing a blur of blue disappear from the hatch. Nathan let out a sigh of frustration. "I'm going to murder him."

"If you could catch him."

Nathan rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

***

The first thing Alysia noticed when they walked out of the abandoned warehouse was the thin layer of white that coated their surroundings. Snow already? She heard Nathan groan quietly.

"What, not a fan of snow?" She asked him, arching an eyebrow. Nathan unlocked his car, opening up the passenger seat for her.

"Not particularly." He retorted, getting into the driver's seat. "It's quite annoying."

Alysia wanted to bring up the possibility of April being a beneficial partner for them. And more so for her. She hesitated before opening her mouth. "So, I was thinking."

"That's never a good sign." Nathan muttered, and Alysia gave him an unimpressed look. "Kidding. Kind of."

Alysia rolled her eyes. "As I was saying. We're both not the best at finding people, well, hacking wise and what not. I mean, we're okay, but it takes a lot of time."

"Are you suggesting what I think you are?" Nathan asked and Alysia shrugged, giving him a charming smile. "No."

"Come on, why not?" Alysia complained, slumping into the leather seat of the car.

"She's too happy." Was Nathan's reply. "So, no."

"Please?" Alysia asked, and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "And what's the problem with being happy? You do need some light in your depressing life."

Nathan rolled his eyes, "If we actually need her, we'll go to her." He put the car in reverse, pulling onto the busy streets of Ziren City. "No need to involve anybody else in this."

Her phone buzzed.

From Apes: Flynn Cross, 27 yrs old, ice powers? That guy?

Alysia smiled at the text. Yup, that's the one. She replied. She waited a few minutes for a reply. And April didn't fail to impress.

From Apes:So, I found his address, his place of work, and I found all his relatives along with the places he frequents.. Did you know he frequents expresso??? Yk like the gang coffee shop?

April proceeded to text Alysia all the details that she had mentioned, and her eyes skimmed over it. Was he part of Gevasi?

Alysia looked up from her phone, confused when she saw that they were in front of the hospital. "What are we doing here?" She questioned, and Nathan pointed to the backseat where a cake laid.

"It's my dad's birthday, I have to give this to him." Nathan said shortly. "You can wait in the car unless you want to visit your Dad or see your friend that got stabbed or whatever."

Alysia shrugged, getting out of the car. "It's cold. I'm not staying in your car. I'll come with you. Do I get cake?" Nathan got out of the car as well, opening up the back door to get the small cake.

"No. You don't." Nathan said, cradling it in his arms. He gently closed the door to his car, before walking towards the front entrance of the hospital.

Alysia jogged to catch up with him. "Why not? Cake is cake. And you know what they say, sharing is caring."

Nathan pulled the door open with one hand, keeping it open for her to go through first. "Well, I don't care." Nathan retorted, letting the door close behind them. The receptionist gave Nathan a nod as he walked past.

"I'll be at my Dad's hospital room. Fifth floor." Nathan said.

Alysia nodded as Nathan walked away from her.

Alysia decided to roam around the hospital, stopping when she found herself outside her dad's hospital room. The last time she had been there, she was so tempted to end it right there. End it for Henry Lockheart.

Remembering the feel of the pillow in her hand, the only thing she had wanted to do was put that pillow over his face and end it. It would be better for everybody.

But damn her good heart.

It was always getting her in trouble.

Happy Friday! Well it's been a hot minute since I've updated... and by hot minute I mean month... But I should have more constant updates now that I actually have a decent writing schedule and have gotten better at managing time! I took a slight break off of writing and now I'm back better than ever!

What were your thoughts on this chapter? It ended up being a bit longer than my others, and by a bit, I mean 500 words. Hope you enjoyed it! Remember to vote, comment, or share if you enjoyed!

Now onto question of the day!

QOTD: What's your favorite winter activity?

Mine would probably be making some nice hot chocolate and cookies and then snuggling up on the couch. Ooh or making hot chocolate and reading a book.