When she died… there was no grand finale. No battles, and no speeches. Just the ice burning deep in her veins, and yet taking away the pain, giving her a chance to breathe again- like she was drawing her first, and not her st, breath. It was pain, a hacksaw, a fire and salvation, to be born again all at once… These were the thoughts swirling around inside of her head as she died, her eyes fluttering closed for what would be the st time... It was funny, really, for things to end this way...

  “I escaped so much. I survived...” She ughed into the wind rushing over her head, her eyelids fluttering as her vision swam through tints of red and bck. “I survived so damn much, and then... for what...”

  Her ughter turned brittle as she ignored the coppery taste spilling up her throat and onto her tongue. She closed her eyes fully for a moment, then opened them again, admiring what y overhead: a sea of stars so brilliant it may well have been a soft velvet tapestry inid with diamonds.

  “She was right. Some people aren't meant to make it out alive, are they?” Eyelids slowly drifting closed one st time, she shook her head, trying to bring her consciousness back. “I... she was really... right... Some people... aren't meant to survive... I should just go... to sleep...”

  Adrenaline spiking, she tried and failed to open her eyes- but her tears had frozen, and no longer could she look up into the sky. “I wanna wake up... Let me wake up, let me wake up...” Whispering into the air, for nobody to hear. “-but what does it matter, anymore… not like, I've got somebody waiting on me… should just go ahead… and get some sleep…? Gods know, I need it…”

  With that final whisper, the young woman closed her eyes and let the bitter warmth of the cold take her, drifting off to rest, if but for a while.

  ===

  “Is this a dream? Am I dead? Or maybe I've gone to heaven… Maybe it’s real...” Lynx yawned quietly as she began to stir, but her eyes refused to open.

  There was something rough and scratchy underneath her, like dry grass in summer, not to mention a soft, warm breeze wafting over her. Groaning as her stomach churned with nausea, she began the process of sitting up as she managed to open her eyes.

  Am I dead...? What's going on with me...?

  Around her stood a field of tall grass, but there were beautiful wooden carved posts spiraling into the air in the shape of a helix, supporting gss nterns that radiated warm, orange firelight scattered seemingly randomly about her. Close, far- there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to their pcement. Angling her head, Lynx sat up, then slowly stood, groaning- her clothes were nothing but pin robes, like something she might have found in a stupid children's book about mighty wizards of legend, but…

  “Where am I? What the hell is this?” Swallowing, trying to steady herself, she shook her head as though to shake the confusion out through her ears. “Where am I? What is this pce?” Try as she might to recall -the ice, the blood, the burning, the stars, the cold- her memory was slipping away. Her name was Lynx, and she... The rest, it was... What had thrown her into the ice? A man shrouded in darkness... The crack of a firearm... The crack of?... What was a firearm? What was the man doing there? Was he trying to help her? Everything had been cold. Was she alone, or was there somebody with her? Just the cold, the cold... Lynx... cold... cold, dark, stars...

  Am I a student? Am I an adult? I think I'm an adult- but what did I do? What was I, who was I... Was I anything at all? Just the cold, the dark, the-

  Lynx was brought out of her stupor by the deep coo unsure if better word of an owl. Her eyes snapped open, drawn to a pattern that was beginning to stand out to her. The nterns formed a path forward, she was noticing- not quite even, but they did seem at least to indicate a path through what seemed to be an endless field of tall grass. Well, the grass was taller than her head, save for a path of much shorter grass under her feet, which, ahead of her, was often interrupted by the taller foliage and its swaying in the low breeze.

  “My name is Lynx, and...” But, much to her frustration, she couldn't remember. There were bits and pieces- the reeking of smoke and sex, neon lights, steel, the fsh and sting of a stab wound... There was the ice... but none of it formed coherent thoughts or memories. There was only Lynx and the ice that was constant. Everything else was disjointed images that may have been pulled from anywhere, be it memory or hallucination. Shaking her head, eyes clenched shut, Lynx walked, confused, gripping the sides of her head. As she did, she mistakenly pushed a few blonde locks into her eyes, and, frustrated, shoved them away. Her limbs seemed to be retively strong, or at least, she could see the muscles along her arms.

  “What happened to me? Ngh-”

  Frustrated, at her inability to remember, Lynx kept walking, her legs crossing more than they should in her disorientation, stumbling awkwardly at times. She grit her teeth- so many sensations, the way her thighs rubbed together, the robes around her body, the grass in her hair and against her body, the faint sweat from the warmth- her body, the robes, the fire, the wind... but she just wanted to remember, what happened, the ice, the ice, the ice, the stars... there was only the ice, gods dammit, only the ice, ONLY THE ICE ONLY THE ICE ONLY THE ICE-

  No, but there was more- the screaming, crackling fmes and screams of pain, the fsh of a steel knife entering her mouth, the smell of gore and of smoke, acid... but the ice, the ice... what's wrong with me who am I what happened to me where am I WHERE AM I- and still she wandered down that dirt path even as those barely-grasped mental images faded again, once more leaving the ice , the cold- id the ice kill her? Or did she simply live in an icy pce- but then why am I here, where am I where am I where am I- WHERE- WHO- the world seemed almost to rip at her for a moment, but, breaking her out of the stupor was the air clearing. No more tall grass, no more stifling heat- Lynx opened her eyes and found that the dirt road had now ended in a small wooden staircase leading up to a grand manor of some sort, with a snted roof and wooden walls. Through the windows, she could see a great many people, all in robes simir to her own. Of every skin and hair color, height and build that she could imagine- the manor must have been four stories tall and long enough to house an entire school. When her eyes settled on the the grand front doors, two ornate wooden doors, the left swung slowly open, silent, on well oiled hinges, as if inviting her inside. She could see no other way to go, either- grass hugged the lower bits of the house- for all intents and purposes, this was still only one path. RETURN

  The manor sported a retively simple entryway. Shockingly, a few people chatted here in these same dark robes she now wore. Beneath the hoods she could make out a young man with dark brown hair and a tall, broad-shouldered woman with braids. Both of them ignored Lynx as she gnced about, unable to focus, and she, confused, felt it would be best not to interrupt what seemed to be a very deep and personal conversation. Knowing not where to go, she pushed through a door to her right, finding herself in a grand sitting room. All sorts of people in bck robes were here as well. The room… it confused her, a mix of architecture from what felt like many hundreds years past and yet televisions pying along the walls. One seemed to be pying a deeply romantic moment, the other a comedic one about an old man haggling with a shopkeeper... but there were twenty or so people here, watching the screens, stargazing through the windows, talking to each other... all of them, seemingly so easily enjoying their time.

  Why am I here, though?

  Lynx shook her head, swallowing and grabbing her head again as a wave of overwhelming dizziness brutally hit her, almost sending her to her knees. ‘The ice. The... The what? The cold... so cold... I hate the cold…’

  Not conscious of where she was going, Lynx tried to focus on steadying her breathing as her feet carried her on, almost as if independent of her mind. That being said, it probably shouldn't have surprised her when she ran into somebody, recoiling. Her eyes opened- everything was hazy, but she could see the figure stagger back before fighting themselves. Before her stood a young woman with soft, dark hair and the triangur ears of a fox. Oddly, her hair was trimmed neatly, yet twigs and leaves stuck out of it in random pces; Dirt, grime, and blood smeared the fox girl’s face, as if she'd just gone through a wrestling match with a small rabid animal; there were small scratches, cw marks, scars. Lynx gnced up at the girl's fox ears and then down at her face as the other girl studied her in turn. This was the first person to look at Lynx since she'd entered this pce.

  “What brings you here?” the fox questioned but backtracked, saying, “I suppose that's a dumb question. I, myself, don't remember why or how I came here. Nobody ever seems to remember... What's your name?”

  “It's... It's Lynx,” The blonde replied truthfully, angling her head and stepping forward. “What's yours?”

  “My name is Nara,” the fox answered quietly, “I've been here too long. I don't remember what happened to me anymore, not even a trace.”

  “What is this pce?” Lynx asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes as drowsiness crashed over her like a wave.

  “It's called The Court- don't ask me why, I don't know,” Nara answered quietly, shaking her head as she pushed a few locks of dark hair away from her eyes. “People come here when they're dead but it's not time for them to die yet... You get shoved back into the world, when the time is right,” she expined as she began to sway and lean against the wall.

  “I feel faint,” Lynx mumbled, slowly taking a seat. They were in a stairwell - something she only just noticed as she leaned back, sitting at the nding before the next floor.

  “I do, too...” Nara answered, voice thick with exhaustion, slowly sitting down beside Lynx. From her robes popped out a long, dark, bushy tail, matching her ears, but tipped in white. “Say... do you remember anything about why you're here?”

  “Damnit, don't ask me that. I can't do this again...” Lynx slurred, letting her head fall back and loll to the left, gring at Nara through half lidded eyes. “I'm so confused. I'm dead but I'm also not dead, apparently? All I remember is the cold, so, so cold. I dunno why… Maybe I died in a blizzard?”

  “Sometimes people say that you've got a purpose to fulfill.” Nara shrugged, yawning and leaning closer to Lynx. Their foreheads collided with a dull thud, but Lynx didn't register any pain as weariness ripped at her bones and her very soul itself. “I don't know what your purpose is, nor mine, but we've got one, for sure. That's why people... end up in The Court. They can't die just yet... They're a puzzle piece...”

  “Does that mean, I'm immortal for some reason? Because a god said so, right?” Lynx snorted, rolling her eyes.

  “I don't think it's like that,” Nara sighed, yawning wide and revealing an acutely sharp set of canine fangs. “I mean, I've been here for a while. It's been months since I got here, but I’ve never seen somebody twice. I don't know the rules, though. Can't tell you for sure, sorry...”

  “It’s probably no coincidence we're getting this tired at the same time, is it?” Lynx tried to sit up, but her body felt so heavy, she fell back, panting raggedly. She tried again to sit up, and Nara, as if to help, slowly wrapped her arms around Lynx's neck, pulling her down, until the blonde found her cheek buried in Nara's bosom, her thick, albeit dirt-caked, fox tail wrapping around the cat’s waist.

  “I've got you... You're safe here,” Nara whispered, and Lynx nodded her head as the exhaustion overtook her and the world went dark, sounds of chatter and liveliness around her fading to silence.

  Tunabun