#fmq

Here it was before I went crazy

He didn’t expect the squirt to still be near that… that freezing place.

But when Snatcher teleported to them he felt everything around him turn frigid. He pretended he didn’t care. Which he didn’t, but it still bothered him.

Finding where Zebu was wasn’t an issue though. He found the faint string that kept them tied to the world, and Snatcher materialized into the physical plane. “Hey, squirt! Just checking in to… jeez, did you fall in the lake?”

Zebu looked up at the manor, then back down at the ice shards. “In a sense?” they handed him something else out of their bag, but he didn’t pay attention to whatever it was. “I mean, at least I got these.”

Snatcher subconsciously transported the items into his voidspace. “Yeah, okay, cool, but literally, what happened to you?”

Zebu thought for a few seconds too long to the simple question, then said, “This is a really stupid question, but when you fall out of a place that’s not near water… can you somehow get into water? Even if there was something over the water.” they thought for a moment, then added, “Hypothetically.”

“...No? Did you almost drown and get brain damage?”

Snatcher watched the little confidence on their face dissipate, and sighed. “I could have sworn… nevermind, it doesn’t m- matter…”

Zebu looked past him, and Snatcher turned around to see what they were looking at. Nothing. When he looked back, he saw them teeter, then their eyes rolled back and they fell to the snow with a muffled thud.

Well, shit.

they weren't…

No. they weren't dead. Just unconscious.

Whatever, not my fault, not my problem, Snatcher thought, drifting towards the gates of the Manor. He looked back for a second.

And they just looked so…

Exhausted.

And cold.

Snatcher sighed. He flew back over, and scooped Zebu up in his arms, reminded of all the times his sister did the same when he was half asleep at his desk, way back when he was about their age. Their clothes were soaked and clung to them, he worried that they would get hypothermia. He held them tighter against his fire-mage core.

As he passed over the bridge and drifted towards the treehouse Zebu seemed so fond of, he heard a voice. “Damn, what’d you make the newbie do this time?” Camellia said, dragging an axe coated in fresh blood.

“I didn’t make her do shit. They just fell in the lake, that’s all.”

“Sooo… you gonna help ‘em?”

He deadpanned. “No, Cam, I'm gonna let them freeze.”

Cam used the skirts of her torn dress to wipe off your axe. “Dude, I don't know how much I need to spell it out to you, but—”

“...but what?”

She laughed to herself. “You know what, nevermind.”

“Well what's that supposed to mean?!”

“Go take care of your contractor, dude.”

Snatcher grumbled to himself, floating up the tall, red-leafed tree. He gently placed Zebu next to their stuff. Snatcher realized they were shivering.

He looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then, he gently placed one of his talons on their arm, focusing on their faint body heat.

In a puff of steam, the water that they were drenched in vaporized into the air.

They stirred, and he placed a blanket over them.