The Ice-Maiden's Tears

 “Marcel and Jin are somewhere along the path behind the shrine.” said Debuu with haste. “They went looking for whatever's been making people disappear – and they found it.”

“What is it?” Inês asked anxiously.

“A Yuki-onna.” it answered with a somber air. “A powerful woman who conceals herself in times of great snow. She can manipulate it at will and she can't be trusted.”

Inês and Lu shared a frightened look.

“The Yuki-onna is also a life-sucker.” the guardian continued. “She drains her victims' life force from them. You can't let her get close to you, and it's especially important that you protect Marcel and Jin, because she goes primarily after men.”

“Let's go, then.” said Inês.

She went to put on her sandals, but the fatigue was like a millstone on her back.

“Inês, you can hardly stand on your own!” exclaimed Lu.

“So what?! We can't just let them die!”

“Let me go.” Lu pleaded. “With my fire power, I can counter her snow and freezing, right?” she asked, looking at Debuu. The bug considered the thought an instant. “Yes. On paper, that would do the trick, but the Yuki-onna is tremendously powerful. Even if you have an advantage on her it might not be enough if you take her head-on.”

The girls looked at each other worriedly. Inês could feel them both trying to quickly come up with the best course of action. And maybe she had found just the one.

“Debuu.” she said. “What if I transformed right now? Would that take away some of the weariness?”

“Well, yes. You'd feel a rush of power, but only for a moment…”

“That's all that's needed.” decided Inês. “Lu, let's transform now, we'll get there quicker.”

“But the kickback will be…” the guardian started, but no one was listening.

“Power of purification: PurePure, let the light come forth!” the girls said in unison.

Her white crane emitted a powerful gleam, as though it were an extension of her. The netsuke let out a soft wind-chime tone and dissolved into a pure pearly mist into her left hand; it felt warm, but not uncomfortably so. The mist flowed along her veins toward her heart, where it transformed her.

“Memory, dwell in the snow.” summoned Inês.

The weight of her clothes, the weight of the fatigue, the weight of the world passed. She stood bare in light snowfall, soft bells echoing in her ears. A flowing uchikake took thread around her; it was white, with ice-blue crane feathers at the hem, trailing like a spirit's wings in her wake. A silver obi, adorned by an infinitesimal snowflake motif tied her kimono with a shimmering elegance. Before her, strong and graceful, an iron fan materialized. When she clasped it, the call of a crane made itself heard.

“White-Crane Dancing Princess.” she stated.

Lu and Inês leaped through the storm. From above, they must've looked like two rapidly spreading flames, one: big, bright, and orange; the other: gaunt, incisive, and frost blue. It didn't take them two minutes to find the dire scene. Marcel and Jin were in a precarious situation. The former was half frozen, his arms spread in front of a trio of children, hunched over behind him; the latter was still engaged in combat, his staff drawn, struggling to stop attacks. They couldn't see the Yuki-onna. Inês had an idea; hopefully it would work. She communicated it to Lu in the blink of an eye, and Lu vanished among the skeletal maple trees.

“Marcel! Jin!”

Inês deployed her tessen, throwing a powerful gust of wind that deterred another icy attack.

“You're here!” said Jin with relief in his voice. “And you're… here.”

He quickly looked her up and down. He seemed impressed.

“Now I understand what took you so long.” he said. “You'll have to tell me all about it.”

“You must be exhausted.” Inês said. “Stand behind me.”

Looking around in the direction where the previous attacks had come from, she declared with a stern, powerful tone: “Stop hiding in the snow, demon. If you want our lives, come and take them.” She could only hear the wind howl back. There was little in the way of visibility; it was early in the day, still, but it might as well have been twilight. Inês tried to concentrate and drown out the sounds of the elements. She had snow control too, after all. She raised her tessen and, all through instinct, like someone else was commanding her body, she danced. It was a slow, ancient dance she hadn't known before. Her head didn't know it, but her body did somehow. She didn't notice it at first, but the snow had frozen still. Then, it changed course, it started ascending. The wind went with it, carrying the flakes upward. Soon, the woods were unmoving, and there was nowhere for an ice-maiden to hide. That's when they saw her: a beautiful woman, with skin as white as snow, dressed in a shiromuku. Only the inside red lining of her garment would've been noticeable in the snow. She looked at them, not with anger nor hatred. Instead, her piercing black eyes seemed to take pity on them.

“Let the children go.” she demanded in a subdued tone.

“Whatever do you mean?!” asked Inês in anger. “You're trying to steal their lives! We're not letting you have anything to do with them!”

“I thought maybe you'd be different, but there's no point in conversation. You're blinded by the light. You won't accept the truth.”

Marcel whimpered. Inês glanced back at him. His lips were blue and he seemed to be in a sorry state.

A concert of drum beats resonated through the stillness. No one made a move; she left them no time.

“The truth is you're a killer.” said Lu.

Under the silver blanket that layered the sky above them, a crimson explosion descended with vengeful fury. Twirling her mallets in her hands, Lu had the look of a lone samurai in battle. Generating two immense orbs of ruby fire, she burned the Yuki-onna to a cinder in an instant. The heat even freed Marcel's, legs from their ice prison. In awe, the three sentai looked at Lu with mouths agape. Inês let go control of the snow and wind, which started falling once more.

“Lu! How did you do that?!” she asked.

The young girl looked around and answered with a shrug: “Well, you know… I was really pissed off.”

Inês held her in her arms. Lu wavered.

“Are you not feeling well?” asked Inês.

“I'm a little dizzy.” answered Lu. “I think I need to lay down.”

“You're spent.” said Debuu. The bug appeared, its chubby little body hovering like a bumblebee in the wind. “As you use more power and your attacks get more formidable, this will happen. Think of it as exercise: the more you do, the more rest you need.”

Inês supported her as Jin helped Marcel back up; his legs still numb, he could hardly walk. Debuu lingered behind an instant, looking at the Yuki-onna with an inscrutable expression. The three children, for their part, hardly seemed shaken by what they'd just witnessed. They simply excused themselves and went about their day merrily. Now black, the ice-maiden's scorched remains seemed to follow them with her gaze as they passed her; tears streamed down her face.