Entwine - shoes of ice

There was no time to stand with our mouths agape as I already started to shiver from the effects of the frosty weather.

Cold.

Half of the clothes that should have provided me with warmth were sliding down or were out of position. After few ineffective moments of trying to rescue my sister’s dignity and to avoid flashing her rear in the public, I decided to use the belt on its tightest setting to hold everything together like a lynchpin.

“L-let me h-help you.”

Seeing my struggles, Vio finally shook off some of the bewilderment and with our joined forces we somehow managed to tuck the jeans to a walkable length and secure them and the underwear in place with the belt, which was followed by fastening the jacket around my neck to prevent it from sliding.

It was extremely uncomfortable, my hands were buried deep in the jacket’s sleeves, the boots were like boats in which my feet were swimming, each time I moved everything shifted and the feeling that it barely held together became my new companion.

And those were only the problems connected with my outerwear. I had one previous experience with swapping bodies, but transcending genders was on a totally different level. The body itself felt strange like changing from writing on a pc keyboard to a much smaller laptop one, the distribution of keys was mostly the same and yet it took some time to get used to it without pressing the incorrect ones.

Later I will have to investigate the changes, for science.

But overall I took it surprisingly well, for sure better than Violet who, after helping me, put one hand on her forehead and went back to looking for a correct way of reacting to this situation. There was something dark hidden behind her gaze that gave me a bad premonition.

“Vio, are you ok?”

Whoa… using her voice to speak is peculiar.

“No… I’m not.”

“I will be back to being your onii-chan in a week, treat me like your onee-chan during that time.”

She was carefully observing the mirror image of her face, looking for something, but all she could possibly find on it was some bewilderment at how my passive turned out, slight curiosity - which I tried to suppress - connected with this body, a sense of discomfort and a bit of amusement that appeared while I thought of all the possible pranks I could pull off now.

But everything changed when a new realization hit me. It was probably reflected in my expression as a mix of horror, puzzlement, irritation and a little hope.

“What are you thinking about?”

She tried to sound normal but there was a trace of hostility in her voice.

“That I will have to attend Sunday's dinner like that, fight the wraith as a little girl, forget about going back to school on Monday and make a lot of corrections to every other plan I have. But there are also positives like being able to use your power.”

Somehow this answer appeased Vio who stopped piercing me with her stare, sighed, put a hand on my girly blonde head and patted gently. The spot behind the ear really felt quite good.

“How does it feel like to be the one being patted and not the patter?”

She said with a small, slightly forced, smile.

“I have to admit that being on the receiving end is equally nice or maybe even better.”

“I know right? Fufufu, this is going to be fun.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, for a moment her behavior scared me a little, but at the end, she went full ahead the ‘the pranks we can pull off with this are going to be godly’ route or she was thinking of using this chance to experiment on her reflected face with stuff that she wasn’t brave enough to test on her own like cutting the long hair or some piercing.

“Oni-, onee-chan, there’s something reaaaaaalllyyyyy important we will have to talk about back home, but for now let’s move already and not get distracted anymore.”

“I concur, but tying me down with a rope each time you won’t be able to keep an eye on me is forbidden.”

“Hoh~, you’ve already thought about it.”

“... let’s go! It’s late!”

We moved towards the cemetery or at least tried to but it proved to be hard. Each of my steps was slow and irritating to the point I considered getting rid of the flapping boots together with the loose socks and simply walk barefoot on the snow.

“Wait, I’ve got an idea. You’ve said that you can use my ability, right? Let me focus on making us feel warm and you focus solely on your feet.”

“Blonde twins in the middle of the night on the cemetery and one of them is melting snow with her bare feet? Vio, what horror movie are you trying to recreate?”

“Got better ideas? Or do you prefer the snail’s speed?”

“You’re right, let’s get this over with.”

I took off the boots and attached them to Vio's backpack. It took me a minute or two to adjust the ability and protect my feet from frostbite, but it worked and if I moved fast enough then not much snow would melt.

Let’s just hope that no one will see us.

Third Communal Cemetery didn’t change much.

Rows of marble gravestones lit by an occasional lamp and many grave candles were squeezed together side by side. Most of them were covered with a thick quilt made out of snow. I noticed that Vio was nervously looking around and each time we passed by one of the grim angel statues, she moved towards me as if being pushed by an invisible force emanating from the angel’s dreary sculpted face. I couldn’t hold her hand as I used mine to prevent the clothes from falling apart, yet she found a solution on her own and grabbed tightly the hem of my jacket.

Two sets of small footprints were left behind us. One completely normal and common, but the other - petite footprints of bare feet cast delicately in the snow with a protective layer of ice reflecting the dim light - could be seen as nearly artistic if not for the dark aura of this place which warped them into something entirely different.

Hehehe, a new urban legend is going to be born. How will they call it? ‘A frozen ghost’, ‘shoes of ice’ or maybe something more ethereal like ‘moonlight ice dancer’?

Each time we spotted someone in the distance, we changed our trajectory to avoid coming close to that person, but luckily there were only two times we needed to do that before we almost reached the place where I had found Luna.

We were in an alley without a direct line of view on Dorothy D. Olly's grave, about fifty meters away from it, I led Violet to a dark corner between two bigger gravestones, and said:

“Wait here, and prepare to throw the grenades, if you see or hear any sign of troubles throw them without hesitation. Don’t use your power on others, you’re not registered yet and it may end badly. In the worst case scenario… save my ass please.”

“I would hit you if you told me to run.”

“I know, let’s hope that I’m just paranoid and there’s no one there. Now help me please, hold the hair."

Vio brushed aside my long hair and held them till I finished putting on the smaller gas mask. Just in case, I also helped her to put on the other one, it took longer as I had to adjust the fasteners adequately. I also made sure that everything in the belt was prepared and slowly started sneaking my way forward, which was additionally slowed down by those damn loose clothes.

I should have done something with them first… but what? Send Vio in my place? Swap clothes with her? Go naked?

It was too late for that. Carefully, I peeked out from behind the corner, keeping my small body hidden behind a grave and scanned the area.

That son of a bitch.

Right in front of Dorothy’s grave, with his back turned my way, a guy in a brown biker jacket and a black hat was sitting on a folding chair and tried to warm his hands with the use of a portable stove.

Does he really have nothing better to do than guard a grave?

I didn’t have to see his face to recognize him, there was only one person among the ones I knew, fitting this description, who could be here.

“Refrigerator.”

My already quickly beating heart nearly jumped out the chest when he said this line and I desperately tried to pull out the tear gas grenade from the belt.

“Come on Rora, you’ve already used 'robot' once, think of something else.”

I froze, breathing deeply, with one hand ready to pull out the pin. He wasn’t talking to me, but to the smoke girl hiding inside.

“A, hah, haha? What do you mean that the previous one was a Japanese robot and now you’re using an American one, the word’s the same.”

They’re playing shiritori?

I gestured to Vio to come closer.

“This one’s ok, Tyrael- no stupid names? It’s not stupid, but alright… Torpedo.”

Adam’s voice was tender and gentle, a tone I’ve never heard from him before.

“What is an oakum... you’re not making it up are you now? Alright, but if you want to ban my strange names, please don’t use something which means ‘old ropes untwisted for caulking the seams of ships’. Pretty please, let’s do it properly at least once.”

There was a gentle pat on my back, Vio finished repositioning. I was worried that Adam would hear the crunching of the snow, but he looked completely absorbed in playing with Rora. Not to mention that she was probably babbling constantly in his head. I showed Vio the guy sitting in front of the grave and whispered:

*Kshhhh* “That’s Adam, inside him’s Rora. *Kshhhh* There is a hatch behind the grave he’s sitting. *Kshhhh* I can’t run. *Kshhhh* I will leave getting the phone to you. *Kshhhh* I will create a distraction. *Kshhhh* In case something happens, *Kshhhh* let’s meet near the taxi stand in front of the cemetery.” *Kshhhh*

*Sshhhh* “Got it, take care.” *Sshhhh*

I started the countdown with my fingers.

“Mercenary.”

Five.

I will throw the grenade first and see how he reacts to it.

“Yeah, sorry, no words ending with ‘y’ or ‘x’, I forgot."

Four. Violet prepared to sprint.

“In that case, multitasking.”

Three. I removed the pin from the first grenade, ready to turn on the valve and throw it.

“Only nouns? Why do you keep up making new rules?”

Two. Both I and Vio could feel the incoming dose of an adrenaline. It even felt a bit differently compared to the one in my body. A bit softer? Even the accelerated heartbeat felt different due to the slight chest cushioning.

“Fine, hmm… mushroom.”

One. I didn’t listen to Adam’s happy monologue anymore and immediately followed it with zero. We sprang into action.

I threw the tear gas grenade, but its trajectory got disturbed by the too long jacket's sleeve and due to the completely different strength of this body I misjudged the amount of power required - It flew only three meters instead of the expected fifteen.

Seeing my failure, Violet who was about to run next to the place of grenade's landing, deviated a bit from her course and kicked hard, sending the metal can much closer to Adam who was already turning back to check the commotion. It landed about two meters away from him and started to spin with perfect timing, releasing a quickly growing cloud of tear gas.

Adam instantly realized the goal of two gas mask wielding attackers, covered his face and while coughing slightly run around the cloud to grab the phone from the grave before we did it. He barely had any contact with tear gas at all, so I didn’t count on him being immobilized and decided to enter the action myself.

Fucking jacket!

It was bothering me at every move, but Vio had fastened it too tightly around my neck and I wouldn’t be able to remove it off without losing time. Nevertheless, I prepared another grenade and threw it at the grave, trying to create a smoke barrier around it. This time I made sure to throw it properly and it landed rather close to it, unfortunately not close enough. However, it wasn’t the second one, but the third one. Violet had made some extra preparations on her own and threw one of her grenades right behind the grave while running there.

*cough* “Bloody” *cough* “hell!”

Vio you rock!

Adam got caught perfectly in it. I stopped moving and waited for Vio to grab the phone so we could both escape.

"Aaaaaarrghh!"

A long scream full of pain pierced the air and I watched petrified as my little sister fell down next to Dorothy's grave.

I didn’t see the exact reason of why this happened as my line of sight was obstructed by the numerous graves and the expanding cloud of tear gas but it was probably due to Adam’s taser.

A burning feeling of anger clouded my brain. The only important person to me in this world got hurt by someone I hated. Moreover, her tortured voice still loudly reverberated in the area - intensifying and enhancing my rage to a level I never knew it could reach.

As fast as possible I moved over to her and noticed two long electrodes piercing and sticking out from Vio’s jeans on her left thigh. She was conscious but couldn’t move due to uncontrollable muscle contractions and only cried from the pain. My first thought was to tore them out, but I heard the crackling sound of running electricity. Three meters away, behind the Dorothy’s grave, was crouching Adam, coughing heavily and covering his incredibly swollen face with a hand in which a box with the DOLL was tightly grasped, two streams of tears were running down his cheeks from the burning and irritated eyes, but he still held the taser’s trigger sending constant waves of pain to Violet.

*Kshhhh* “I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!” *Kshhhh*

With a hand that was shaking with the fury of emotions, I pulled out the combat knife from the belt. At the same time, I focused the pyromancy ability on two thin wires coming out of the taser and tried to snap them by heating.

For a second, Adam forcibly opened one of his eyes with fingers.

*cough* “Got…” *cough*”... you.” *cough*

The box with the DOLL was in his left hand, the taser in right, I was standing in front of him and couldn’t force myself to do anything! I couldn't stab his hand! I couldn't slice at his face! I couldn't pierce his chest! I couldn't run the knife through his heart! Even cutting off his fingers was out of the question - he had blocked every hostile action from my side. Melting the wires also failed, they only got slightly red.

*Sshhhh* “AaaAAa!” *Sshhhh* “StOp!” *Sshhhh* “ArRGHh!” *Sshhhh* “PlEAe!” *Sshhhh* “HelP!” *Sshhhh*

Violet's screams for help were interrupted by periods of incomprehensible vailing from pain warped by the mask she wore.

Adam didn’t allow the build-in blockade of the taser to kick in and deliberately pressed the trigger time after time. Neither running nor moving out of the tear gas cloud, he looked to be perfectly confident in his ability to disable my attacks, brave the pain, and take us both out as soon as he got a little better. All he had to do was to wait for a few minutes for the tear gas to clear and another five or ten for its effects to subside.

Unable to listen to any more of Vio screams I shifted my way of thinking and redirected the target of my rage from Adam to the taser’s wires - swinging at them with the knife. After a few attempts, they finally broke. A new way of resolving this situation appeared in my mind, instead of aiming at Adam I tried attacking the box with the DOLL itself. Each time my swing or stab was going to hurt him it was forcibly stopped, even in mid-swing. Bereft of his vision Adam didn’t notice my attempts till it was too late - I finally managed to get a clear hit on the box itself and knocked it out from his hand.

Before grabbing it, I took the remaining two grenades from the belt and set them off right in front of his face. Just as with the box, as long as I didn't direct my hostile action against a specific person it didn't get blocked. He couldn't bear it anymore and started vomiting uncontrollably. Getting the vomit all over his face and clothes due to the violent coughing fits and finally decided to escape from the gas on all fours.

This look fits you perfectly vomit-mongrel.

Vio was still conscious and tried to get up, but had a lot of trouble with it. Because of the gas mask, I couldn't see her face, but there was a loud sound of her crying coming from the inside of it. I helped her to stand and kept supporting while moving towards the taxi stand. I was deliberately picking narrow routes where it was hard to spot us.

But I soon changed my mind about grabbing a taxi as almost every part of my skin started to itch and turned red.

I found a dark corner and, with our masks still on, removed both my and forced Vio to remove her clothes. It was no time for shame or stupid jokes. Everything was heavily soaked with the tear gas which already started to irritate and inflame our skin.

Melting the snow with the pyro ability I cleaned my body to get rid of the chemical residues. Violet was sobbing the entire time while shivering from cold. Nevertheless, she as well used her ability to support my attempts at keeping us from freezing and started to clean herself. Only when we were done I allowed her to remove the mask.

There was no way we could go and grab a taxi - naked - without getting a free ride to the police, or spreading the tear gas all around with our contaminated clothes, so instead, I took my sister's phone and called our father. While impersonating Violet I told him a brief summary of the situation we were in.

He didn't ask many questions and said that someone will pick us soon. Althought there was a problem.

I should have just run over there myself, naked if needed.

“It’s ok.”, “Everything will be fine.”, “Don’t worry.”, "Sorry.", "We will endure it.”, “No one will hurt you.”, “You’re safe now.”, “Just a little more.”, “You were great.”, “You’re way braver than me.”, ‘I’m so glad you’re my sister.”.

I repeated those and many others encouragements while we were waiting for the promised ride to the mansion.