The leisure not in his vault, Noel took two steps back, his lips formed in an 'O' as he took a sharp breath of the dry air, and narrowed his eyes. He focused his energy on his forefront leg and .... leaped in the air!
For a glorious half-second, a figure in a black oversized jacket with long sleeves and heavy boots was airborne in the foggy and snowy terrain—snowflakes glittering around him like diamond dust.
Perfect landing spot. He thought with a smile as his narrowed eyes observed the destination of firm snow. Right on—
!pǝddᴉlS
His vision tilted and flipped.
Shit. Just shit. Unparalleled shit.
His right boot hit what looked like packed snow but was actually solid ice underneath. His foot shot forward like it had been coated with a layer of grease while his upper body kept its momentum, before his body tilted as a whole.
Gasp!
His eyes fluttered in a state of disbelief, his mouth ajar as he struggled to grab onto empty air, only for him to grab nothing, and landing on his back on the stairs.
He landed hard on his backside and shoulder, the impact jarring his spine and knocking the breath from his lungs in a surprised "Oof!"
Snow packed instantly into his collar, icy water seeping through his shirt. His ankle twisted beneath him with a sharp twang of pain—not bone-breaking, but the familiar electric jolt of a bad sprain.
For a moment of bathing in the tranquillity of the weather, he gazed blankly at the large, expansive, lifeless grey clouds of the sky in admiration.
".... Okay, that was a stupid decision." He admitted in reproach, half-lidded, as he continued looking at the sky, realization dawning at him that he had forgot to keep track with Exile who had been walking. "Fuck, Exile, did you leave me?"
He called slowly raising his head from the snow, patting it away from his body that have began to freeze due to the cold seeping into it. He inhaled the dry air that burned his nostrils, before getting up from his current slipped position.
Standing up limply, Noel let out a small laugh of irony, as he lowered his head looking at the pain sensors that came from his foot to his mind directly, gently shaking it as if checking its health.
Yet, a sharp pain travelled through him, causing him to grimace for a split moment of a second. It was manageable yes, but it was irritating that he had to fall to his antics and even have to suffer from it.
He raised his head again, closing his eyes multiple times because of the snowflakes that had caught onto his eyes, rubbing them with his red, cold, and wet hands that had also slipped out from the jacket when he had slipped haphazardly.
Squinting his eyes that were half covered from his eyelids as if stopping the flakes from entering his eyes, he stood with his hands placed on his hips as he walked slowly in the snow with crunches.
"Sigh ... Lets just hope I don't lose the bastard because of the fog ... What am I to do with him. I don't think I can go back to Elias now. I would end up regretting not dying out of the cold instead." He murmured.
Letting out a sigh, Noel looked at the snow as if looking for any traces for the disappeared commander who did not hold an ounce of patience, and continued walking. However, as he walked, he stumbled on something he did not expect; small, narrow holes that were a few inches deep in the snow, cleanly.
The lightbulb in his mind lit up instantly as his mind found a piece of a puzzle that could assist his navigation in this god-forsaken weather.
"Ah, Exile's cane!" His eyes lit up, as his footsteps sped up, following the sequence of holes that were equally spread out in depth and distance apart.
This was his chance; if he missed it, he would truly be a sitting dick in a freezer waiting for its expiration date to come quickly. The snow was slowly but steadily filling the holes, and Noel's footsteps sped up much more.
"Exile, that son of a bitch. I haven't swore this much in my life as much as I have in these cursed fifteen minutes" He spat, eyes laced with anger.
His body had rapidly started getting cold, and his body had grown sluggish.
According to what he was able to estimate, the weather in this environment can be considered near –40 degrees Celsius back on Earth, a weather so harsh, many people ended up with frost bites.
Something even Noel himself feared; he had once almost gotten it if not for his sister's gloves at last moment.
His teeth rattled as his movements increased, his thoughts wandering on pointless points like 'How Exile is walking in this violent snowstorm without feeling death around the edge' or 'Whatever the f*ck his boots are made of' before he subtly narrowed his eyes.
His eyes meanwhile observed the cane prints carefully, before his thoughts paused at a certain notion of thought.
Now that he thought about it ... the cane prints that were apart ... they were too clear for the snow filling the holes, as if no snow of what was falling had filled them up. It was almost as if ... No.
Noel shook his head at the ridiculous thought, but as soon as it took root, it was difficult to shake it off easily.
Perhaps Exile had been waiting for him several minutes every few steps ...?
The theory sounded ridiculous since Exile looked insensitive, but other than that, it didn't make sense how the cane was this clear.
Although his younger sister had taught him not to judge a book by its cover, clearly Noel's young dementia had forgotten this information.
Noel's mind was still occupied with how Exile's cane marks were visible and not disappearing to god-of-the-world-knows-where despite the man not being in ... s ... ight?
"Hey, Exile, there you are! You son of a bitch, wait!"
No, a faint outline could be seen from a distance. The back of a man walking slowly, without even turning his back, despite Noel's heartfelt voice filled with the heat of anger echoing in this raging snowstorm.
Yes, he definitely heard him. He's doing on purpose. He must be. Probably?
Noel ran towards the man, his gasps heavy, carefully avoiding any mislips similar to earlier, as one wrong step, and he would be falling into the dark void below.
The small dots of snowflakes that flaked down that empty void was infinite, making Noel avoid his eyes instinctively, as he navigated in urgency despite the numb feeling curling around his freezing toes.
Noel started doubting whether his feet had caught frostbite.
Finally, and with the effort of a dying man on the brink of reaching the other side of Styx, Noel finally reached the man who paused his steps as he felt a tug on his back.
Slightly turning his body, his expression was unreadable as he took in Noel's exhausted state that leaned forward on its knees, his hair a mess and sticking to his forehead, cheeks red from the sheer effort of running with heavy boots, in deep snow.
"What is it, boy?" The man asked with a tranquil expression, as if nothing irregular had occurred a few minutes ago with Noel pouring his soul, both body and mental strength in navigating this hellish landscape.
"Wh... at ... huff ... do yo ... u mean, what ... is it?" Noel rebuked in irritation slightly tilting his head while still breathing heavily. "I've been calling you for the last few f*cking minutes, and not once did you look back, you son of a bitch"
The man did not answer Noel, but merely averted his eyes from him as he proceeded walking, pushing Noel's hand aside that had earlier grabbed his shirt.
"How crude, I am a man of age. Haven't you learned any respect when you were younger? You cannot expect me to hear everything one has to say, no?"
Noel stood for a moment, processing the man's words, before rummaging his hair in frustration, shaking his head.
This man is hopeless. Completely hopeless, a lost cause.
Catching up to Exile, Noel walked besides him and continued talking. "Exile, have you been married before?"
"... Why the question?" Not looking back at him, Exile spoke neutrally, with his hands in pocket, as he brought up a drink encased similarly to the drink he had brought before to Elias, propping it open with his pale, worn fingers.
"Because I can see you getting a divorce filed"
In response to his jab, Exile merely ignored him as he directly drank from the black crystal flasked he opened, leaning back his head to reveal his read neck as he drank the liquid.
When the man finished drinking, he capped the flask once more and was about to put it back in his pocket, if not for Noel's eyes that were practically glued to the bottle, and his shivering body that he had curled up, his arms crossed.
"Hey Exile ... can I have a sip? You know ... maybe just one, small sip? Maybe consider it as an investment in me, for, you know, the future?" Noel pleaded.
Yet he was once again met with silence, and Exile's footsteps walking in the footsteps, adjusting his military form as if the cold was nothing more than a breeze.
Cursing under his breath for Exile's stinginess, Noel was about to follow him with furrowed brows before he blinked once and looked down at a shadow that appeared suddenly beneath his feet.
It wasn't a meter or two.
It encapsulated the whole area in a shadow.
He took a step back in shock, as his neck snapped to the sky, his eyes open wide-pupils diluted, body trembling as his body froze in sheer terror, his dopamine and adrenaline surging at the sight before him in the sky.
He straightened his back subconsciously, his hands that were crossed slipping out of their position, rubbing Noel's face is disbelief before he looked once more.
He didn't need to speak; Exile raised his head with his indistinguishable expression as he also gazed at the sky for a moment, a nostalgic chuckle escaping his lips, as his eyes sharpened.
"Alas, it has finally appeared after two centuries, it seems."
"What ... what in the seven hells is that? Is that even a 'that'?"
Noel voice trembled, his eyes glued to the sky, unable to accept his new reality.
Something flew in the sky, covering him with 'its' shadow.
Something that made his blood run cold.