//------------------------------// // Rise Of The Ice Queen // Story: Subject 27 // by Phyrexian //------------------------------// Chapter 30 - Rise Of The Ice Queen         Standing in the Darkness, no Horror in sight, just the white box and Fade examining it. She’s bending over and studies it very closely, before bringing a hand close to it, as if she’s about to poke it.         “Fade, you don’t want to do that...” Trying my best not to burst into laughter.         “Oh! I didn’t see you come in, have you come back to play?” She forgets the box, without giving it a second thought and hastily makes her way over to me.         “Work before play, sorry Fade but I have a problem that needs to be solved.” Fade vanishes for a brief second before reappearing behind me as she hugs me, her cool body pressing tight against mine.         “Oh, come now Subject 27, can’t we just play a little?” Her chilly words turning my ears cold as they burn hot with each seductive word she whispers.         “Sorry Fade, my soul is in danger because of the Horror and it has already done a hefty amount damage to me. My body has been mutated and continues to mutate with each new day this god-forsaken virus rampages through me. And my soul, well you can see for yourself, its claws are already planted deep into my very being and I don’t have much time left.” Fade let’s go from her awkward hug and turns me around to face her, her face is filled with sorrow as my words start to sink in.         “Subject 27... I-I kno-.” I place my index finger on her lips, interrupting her before she could finish.         “Fade, what I’m about to ask, no one should bear, and it’s selfish of me for putting this all on you. But I can’t do this by myself, Fade, please, do this for me. Consume my soul before the Horror claims it for itself...” I lower my finger, only to see Fade still wearing the mask of sorrow.         “Y-You know better than anyone else that I would do anything to taste your delicious looking soul... B-But now that I have the option... I don’t want it any more...” The Horror makes itself known with a low but very powerful roar.         It crawls out from whatever dark corner it's been hiding at, I turn around to see the Horror approaching us, the clicking noise echoes through the Darkness... But this time its just not clicking, I can actually understand it, I can feel myself being drawn towards the Horror, as if my soul actually wants to merge with it. I meet the Horror halfway, standing just a few feet away from it with Fade right behind me.         “How should I address you? Subject 27? Demon? Or by your birth name?” Its voice is low and steady, the clicking becomes words to me as I can feel the Horror and I starting to the final phase, merging...         “Subject 27 will do just fine...” I narrow my eyes at the Horror, little surprised to see it might now my actual birth name.         “You and I are the same, Subject 27. But the others you’re traveling with; S.K, Nyuel, Fade, Friend, and Cloud. They’re using you for their own ends. You choose to be their puppet, but with me I could make you into a GOD!” His offer is very tempting...         “You and I are not the same... And you leave my friends out of this, it’s just you and me...”         “You’re mistaken. You and I were created for the sole purpose of killing; for wiping out an entire species. We’re both weapons of death without a handler; no one to wield us and use us for our true potential! join with me and we can become the perfect weapon.” A sinister grin breaks out across its face, revealing all of its teeth.         “That’s a very tempting offer, more power is always nice to have... But one problem though, my friends would be in danger, how will I know if you come out to be the dominant one that you wouldn’t hurt any of them?”         “You do not trust me, I understand. But we are more alike than you know. We both tasted death, with each soul we take, it brings us a whole new level of pleasure. Join with me, and we can become the master of this world!”         “Subject 27... Think hard about this offer... If you take it then you’ll be breaking our contract and probably Friend’s aswell...” Fade does have a good point, there is still unfinished work to be done here, but more power is always nice...         “Subject 27, I’ve already given you a small taste of my power, you know what we’re capable of.” My tail starts to wag as the Horror speaks truth with its words.         “Fade, I’m sorry...” I turn towards her, to be meet by her beautiful face with a frozen tear on it...         “27... Please do-.” I wipe away her frozen tear from her face.         “I give my soul willingly to you, Fade.” Her face lightens up as my words brings her joy.         “NO! YOU’RE A FOOL FOR TURNING DOWN MY OFFER! I WON’T LET YOU DECIDE!” The Horror roars about before lunging Fade and I.         “ENOUGH!” Fade yells out, as time slows down as the Horror lunges at me, the only thing I feel is teeth digging down into my neck, not from the Horror, but from Fade.         The Horror becomes frozen in place as Fade seemingly devours the all of the heat in the immediate area. I stand there helplessly as Fade devours me. Her frozen presence is welcoming to me; my body slowly freezes, mixed sensation sweeps through my body, mixture of pain and frozen pleasure. Fade embraces me closer to her cold, yet soft shadowy body, my heart beats slower and slower as my blood starts to freeze. The Horror starts to crack and shatter as small pieces of its frozen body begins to fall apart. Consuming my partially merged and tainted soul, I can feel the Horror dieing with me, as she consumes it along with me.         I can feel her cold lips pressing against the skin of my neck, I don’t know if she’s trying to make this as painless as possible, or if this is how all her victims feel as she consumes them. My brain swarms with frozen pleasure the longer Fade takes to consume my soul. My heart is barely beating now as it starts to freeze over. Ba-bump... ba-bump..... ba-bump...... And then nothing, my world comes to an end by Fade’s hand. I welcomed her frozen hell with open arms, I can feel the Abyss beckoning me to it as I slip away from the Darkness. - - -         I can feel myself being swept along in the current that is the Abyss, just lazily floating there as I accept whatever punishment that is bestowed upon me from the Abyss. I manage to laugh lightly as I just drift along the current.         “To be honest, I didn’t think it would come to an end like this... But I’m glad I was able to stop the beast within me before I totally lost control... Pass any judgement you see fit upon me, Abyss. I’ve soiled my hands repeatedly by taking souls with your power, I’m grateful for the watchful eye that you’ve bestowed upon me.” I slowly close my eyes for the very last time, just for a voice to snap them back open.         “Are you seriously quitting on me now? Pathetic!” That voice... Sounds so familiar...         “W-Who are you?!”         “Who do you think I am?”         “Arkis...?” His hand pulls me out from the torrent.         “That's it ‘Subject 27’, now, what am I going to do with you? Hmmmm...” I can hear is finger tapping against his chin.         I just lay there, staying silent as he taps away on his chin. I can still feel the Abyss trying to pull me into it, but Arkis won’t let me go.         “I’ve come to a decision on your fate. I’ll give you a second chance, but do not disappoint me again.” With a snap of his fingers he catapults me away from the Abyss and back into the Darkness. - - -         I awake in the Darkness, my head resting on Fade’s lap as she pets the top of my head, her frosty touch chilling my scalp. I can hear her humming something as she pets me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what song she’s humming. I just lay there, my eyes barely open as I enjoy her company; her cold yet beautiful voice puts me in a tranquil state of mind; she continues to hum whatever song she’s singing as I lay there.         “T-Thank you, Fade.” Is all I can manage.         She keeps on humming tell she finishes the song, she looks down at me with a satisfied look upon her face.         “No, thank you 27, what you've done has greatly helped me. I only took a small portion of your delicious soul, just the infected part, and maybe a little more.” She chuckles a little after she licks her lips.         “Could explain why I’m still alive... You’ve must’ve taken very little of the non-tainted part, but I’m fine with that though.” She places her hand on my cheek, cold to the touch but still pleasing.         “I’ve learned a little more about you though, some memories I haven't looked at yet, I didn’t want to intrude too much; but your world’s music is rather interesting.” My tail wakes up from its catnap and lays itself on Fade’s shoulder.         “I’m still not used to you having a tail, but I could find something useful for it.” She laughs some more as the tip of my tail starts to wag happily.         “And what big horns you have, when did you get these?” She pokes at my horns.         “Shortly after I landed, I assume they belong to Friend.”         “I think the tail suits you, the horns on the other hand, I can go either way with them.” She strokes the tip of my tail, causing it to wag even more.         “Hey Fade, what was that song you were humming?”         “Sum 41 - Crash- I don’t know the meaning of the song itself, but the memory I saw was you were singing this song while you were laying on the ground in a pool of blood, some smoking heap of metal that was twisted and mangled was right in front of you. You slowly rose from the pool and took of some kind of helmet, you limped over to another metal shell and opened the door, only to see the people inside were all dead. Holes littered the metal box and the inside was covered with blood. That’s all I wanted to see of that memory, I felt every emotion you did. I...” She stops to think of what to say next.         “That’s enough Fade, the memories I’ve been reliving are extremely vivid and detailed. You’re free to go through any of the memories that you’ve obtained from me, just be careful though.” I give her a reassuring smile.         “27, do you want to know why I decided to spare your life that day?”         “I thought it was because we made a contract with each other, but if there’s a different reason, I would love to know.”         “No, that’s just the smaller reason, but because of your eyes.” She places both her hands on my face and moves her head close to mine, her shadow like hair falls down, barely touching her hands.         “You’ve lost me Fade.” I’m a little confused behind her reasoning. “If you look into someone’s eyes you can tell what kind of person they are; the eyes are the portals to see someone’s soul. Most of my prey’s eyes were filled with fear, but yours weren't, yours were filled with bravery. And when I looked into your eyes and you looked straight back into mine, I believed what you believed, that anything is possible.” Her face is even closer now, just a few inches away, the only thing I can see is her beautiful face and the curtain like hair that drapes past my head. “Fade... That’s beautiful, no one has eve-.”  I’m interrupted as her lips makes contact with mine. It feels like an eternity as Fade and I just sit there, kissing. My lips slowly start to turn cold and blue, but I don’t care. I’m a little surprised to see Fade how much she cares about me. She slowly pulls away, revealing a smile across her face. I’m speechless but this sudden kiss. “Don’t you dare die on me, 27. I’ll never forgive you if you do.” A serious tone fills her playful voice. “As long as I have you as my handler, this weapon will never quit.” “You’re such a fool 27...” The playfulness returns to her voice as she says this. She gets up, letting my head rest on the floor. She makes her way next to me before sitting down, leaning over, resting on my chest with arms draping over my shoulders. She takes a few moments, as she puts her thoughts together before speaking. “You’re the only thing I have left, I only had my mistress before, but since she was banished, I became alone... when we met that day, I never thought that I would be teaming up with you, but I’m glad that we did.” Her heartfelt words sink in deep. “I know how it feels to be alone, Fade. Every memory that I’ve relived I feel alone, like the only thing worth fighting for was just to fight; no one to go home to, no family, just me versus the world. I can only recall so much about my past life, with the man who went by the name of Arkis. But we were alone, the only reason why he went on one suicide mission after another was because he was hoping that he would meet his end; praying that someone would be lucky enough to get a lucky shot on him, or just end up beating him senseless. But he would come out alive, not even feeling a single shred of emotion, only looking forward for the next big fight. Fade, I promise you that I will not let you be alone as long as I can still breath.” “27...” Fade does not deserve to be alone any longer; I’ll fight through hell or high-water to make sure she’s never alone again. I pull her closer to me, our lips meet again. Time comes to a screeching halt, the only thing that seems to move is my heartbeat. I don’t feel bad about doing this, I know Fade’s pain all too well; if I can ease her pain in any way, this would be the best bet. She and I never did start off on the right foot, but over time she’s become a powerful comrade, and a great friend. I can tell her feelings for me are strong, that she cares about me enough to do anything to keep me safe. I took a big risk on letting Fade consume my soul, she could have easily killed me right then and there; most likely gaining enough power to do whatever she wanted; but she only took what was needed, maybe a little more, but that’s fine with me. Fade has also gained some insight as to who I, or at least who Arkis really was. Those memories that she received from me, I don’t even know them; hell, they could hold some key information that could reveal to me more about I or Arkis really was. Fade slowly pulls away from me, I didn’t realize how long we’ve been kissing until I can feel warmth and feeling returning back to my face. She lays her head on my chest, listening to my heartbeat for a few minutes before breaking the silence. “Thank you for that, 27.” Still whispering softly. “No Fade, thank you, I owe you my life and a great deal more. I-.”  A outside voice penetrates into the Darkness. “Don’t stop, Horror.” A playful giggle follows pursuit. “Looks like it’s time to wake up, 27.”Fade whispers one last time, before she pushes me out of the Darkness and into the real world.” - - -         I slowly start to wake from my hellish-but-pleasurable dream, I keep my eyes close as I try to stay in the warm embrace of pillows and blankets of the bed. My head rests on a rather soft feathery pillow, the pillow feels very soft and welcoming. I nuzzle my head deeper into the pillow as I pull myself closer to the very warm and soft blanket. I run my right hand down the blanket, until it meets another feather pillow, my fingers run in through the feathers in the pillow, causing my blanket to become a little closer to me; it now rests right on top of me, I wrap my leg around the blanket, trying to bring the warmth as close as possible.         “O-Oh Horror, aren't you the playful one?” Playfulness still fills the words, silly tail, you can’t talk.         My tail wraps itself around the feathery pillow that my hands occupies. The playful trickster moves its tip up and down the long, slender pillow, causing my blanket to shake. I run my hand down the back of the blanket, following the curves of the fur blanket, until it reaches a round, soft spot.         “D-D-Don’t stop, Horror!” Moans fill the room, causing me to fully awaken.         I open my eyes, only to see nothing but a sea of white. Talons digs into my scale-covered back, pulling me even closer to the source of the warmth. Laying there, slightly confused on what I’ve been doing in my sleep, I take a deep breath, causing the salty scent of sea water to fill my nose.         “S...K?” Is the only thing I can manage to say as her talons dig even deeper into my scales.         “Morning, sunshine.” Her laughter fills the air after she says this. Credits Editor frieD195