You wake up with a pounding headache, your vision blurry as the snowstorm swirls around you. The last thing you remember is searching for insect fossils in the Tundra along with your best friend, there was a loud rumbling, and then… then… you’re not really sure what happened next.
You suddenly freeze. Your best friend. Charlotte. You were with Charlotte. Frantically you survey your surroundings, but you can’t see her anywhere. Every direction, just the endless, swirling white. You try your radio, but all you get is static.
“Char!” you scream at the top of your lungs. “Charlotte! Where are you?!” Unfortunately, the flurry of ice and snow drowns out your cries.
There’s just so much snow.
----
“Wow! Looks jus’like snow.” You know exactly what the hand suddenly touching the back of your head is talking about. Seems like things at the Academy will be just like back home.
All your life, you’ve had to deal with people pointing out how pale you hair is, made all the more obvious by your grey ears sticking out of it.
While everyone always says that you look just like your mother, a delicate Newman with fair features and golden hair, you have, strangely enough, inherited your Deuman father’s coloration. Needless to say, you tend to stick out like a sore thumb.
“Umm… excuse me, can you please stop that?” you meekly say as your unknown “assailant” jostles your hair back and forth. “You’re making me a bit dizzy.”
“Woops! Sorry‘boutthat, Snowy,” the voice behind you says. As you turn around and start to stand, you see it belongs to a Deuman girl. With a massive grin and an outstretched hand, she continues, “Guess Sis an’ Erin are right, I tend t’be too friendly. Name’s Charlotte.”
You’re a bit annoyed, but she doesn’t seem to mean any harm. You take her hand, and with a polite smile introduce yourself, “Ophelia. My name’s Ophelia.”
Pulling you the rest of the way up, without a moment’s hesitation she responds, “Nice t’meetya, Snowy.”
-----
You always hate when she calls you Snowy, but right now, you would give anything to hear that stupid nickname.
Even though your radio is down, you hope that your other gear is still functional.
No such luck. “Great, navigation systems aren’t working either,” you mumble to yourself.
You realize that standing around yelling won’t accomplish anything, so you start walking in what you think is the direction of your telepipe. You can only hope that Charlotte had the same idea.
While your natural Photon affinity keeps you from suffering too many negative effects in this blizzard, the biting cold is starting to get to you just the same. Moving forward, you push your growing anxiety to the back of your mind.
“Stay calm. Remember your training,” you murmur, trying to reassure yourself.
----
You and Charlotte end up being partners during most of your time at the Academy. While you joined ARKS to be a field medic like your parents, she doesn’t seem to have any particular goal aside from getting to go to new planets and seeing all there is to see.
“Sis joined up a couple years ago, and after hearing her stories, I knew I couldn’t jus’stay at home.”
You find it a bit difficult to get used to her at first. She’s always talking about “Sis” and “Erin” like you know who they are, slurring words together like she can’t say them fast enough, and messing up your hair whenever she gets close enough. The worst thing is that no matter how many times you tell her not to, she keeps calling you Snowy; sometimes you wonder if she even remembers what your name actually is.
However, after your first couple of months training together, you come to realize how easily you work in sync; she’s a crack shot with a rifle (apparently thanks to “Erin”), and you provide support through your Techs. You have to admit, over time you start to find that her annoying habits help to brighten your mood after a long day of training.
By the time you graduate the Academy, the two of you are inseparable. As full-fledged ARKS members, rarely do you go out into the field without each other. Most missions you take are simple extermination orders, and others, like today, are research and collection requests.
----
You try to collect your thoughts. You’ve been walking for what seems like hours.
The storm has been slowly dying down as you trek through the snow, though you still can’t seem to get a stable signal on your radio. Just a few broken messages you can’t quite understand. Something about arms? It sounds urgent, but your main concern is finding Charlotte.
Suddenly, you hear a familiar voice echoing through the canyons. “OPHEEEEEEELIIIIIAAAAAAA!” Hearing your name, the tears start to well up in your eyes. “CANYAHEARMESNOWY?!”
The snow is almost completely gone now, and although it is getting dark, you can easily tell what direction the call is coming from. Without hesitation, you take off running toward it.
You round a corner and are able to make out a figure just a few hundred yards away.
You stop and yell with all your might, “Char! I’m over here! Char!”
She turns around and after a moment of recognition, you both start running toward each other, stopping short when you notice a chasm between you. You can figure a way across later, but for now you are just happy to see one another alive.
She looks beat up and exhausted, but then again, you probably don’t look much better. Alarmingly, you notice her holding her left arm.
“What happened to your arm? Are you okay? Is it hurting?” you ask with panic in your voice.
With a wince and a forced grin she replies, “Was stinging real bad when I woke up. Must’ve hurtit when I passed out. Don’t worry ‘boutit too much.”
How dare she tell you not to worry? In the sternest voice you can muster, you start, “I’m going to take a look at it when I get across. I need to make sure it’s not broken. This isn’t something you can take lightly.” Like a wave, the pent up frustrations from the past few hours rush out. “You always act like this and you’re always so carefree about dangerous stuff and what would I do if something happened to you and what would I tell your sister and…”
“Fine, whatever,” she interrupts with a soft chuckle. “You can yell at me sa’more while you checkit out, but first you gotta get over here.”
It’s frustrating knowing she’s right, and that stupid smile makes it worse. You try to calm down and start walking around the edges of the chasm. Wiping the tears from your eyes, you decide that once you make sure she’s fine, you’re going to punch her.
To your relief, the snow has stopped and the clouds are starting to thin. You are able to find a ledge along the chasm just large enough for you to shimmy across. As you find a handhold and begin to cross, your radio starts crackling again.
“….mmence … ase Two... ack and st… …ark Falz while it’s weakened!”
Looking up, you are filled with a sense of wonder and dread; a field of debris and bright lights litter the now visible night sky. It slowly dawns on you what the rumbling had been.
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