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One Year Ago ❄ From the tips of her fingers to the bottom of her feet, all Pidge could feel was cold. A birthday party in the winter didn’t seem ideal, but with everyone there what could possibly go wrong? ❄ January 13th, 2014 or Hunk’s 18th birthday party. Lotor, Ezor, and Acxa were kind enough to host Hunk’s party at their father’s ski lodge. This huge estate was constructed on Blackwood Mountain, after being bought for an insane amount of money. With three floors and no parents around, there were endless possibilities as to how the group would spend their night. Using the ski lift to get on the mountain and after a lengthy walk through the blizzard, Shiro and Keith were the first to arrive. They greeted the three siblings and took a seat on the couch near the fireplace, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Matt and Pidge were second while Allura, Lance, and Hunk were the last ones to come. The lodge had been decorated just like any birthday party would; streamers, balloons, banners, and drinks. Lots of drinks. ❄ Later that night, around 4 AM, Allura, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk all sat in the second-floor guest bedroom. Any type of adult who cared about safety was downstairs, leaving the four to drink as they pleased, minus Pidge. Acxa had been sitting on the bed while the rest sat on the floor, sober enough to make a decision. Matt had been passed out on the bed, whether it was being drunk or tired was an impossible question. The three drunk teens had been giggling and laughing over seemingly nothing, leaving Pidge to film and poke fun at their drunken antics. Downstairs left the other three, Lotor, Keith, and Shiro, who had been in the kitchen. Shiro was tipsy while Keith was already out. Lotor had gone to bed early, losing the battle of sleepiness. As for Ezor, she was going up and down, carrying drinks for the teens on the second floor. ⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆ ❄ Since it was (apparently) the funniest thing in the world, Hunk and Lance started to crack jokes about Keith, despite him not being in the room. “That dude never fucking smiles or anything...” Lance slurs as he chuckles and Hunk chokes out from laughter “Maybe cuz he’s Galra- y'know?” And they just erupt into laughter. More of those types of jokes were said, as the two of them got louder and louder. They even roped Allura into making those jokes while Pidge just laughed and filmed, capturing how stupid they all sounded. Of course, they truly had no ill intentions with their jokes. That’s all they were, jokes. None of it was meant to be taken seriously. ❄ All of a sudden, Acxa stands up and pauses. She looks down at the others just laughing, not even noticing that Acxa had stood up. She stormed out the door in an instant, accidentally shouldering Ezor who was right outside the door holding her phone and a drink for herself. Ezor watches in confusion as she sees Acxa storm down the stairs. “What the hell?- What was that about???” She asked the other teens sitting on the floor. Pidge ended the video and placed her phone down, “where’s she going??” She asked quietly as Allura, Lance, and Hunk were now just looking at each other with humorous disbelief. Due to the awkward silence, Allura can’t help but snort. Which causes the other two to start laughing again. Pidge stands up to peek out the door, checking if Acxa’s still there. Ezor takes matters into her own hands, she goes into the room across from the guest bedroom, grabs a coat and wears it over her sweater, throws the hoodie over her head, and speed walks downstairs. ❄ Almost tripping down the stairs, Ezor finds Shiro setting a wasted Keith on the couch. “Did you see-“ “She went out the back, did something-'' A quick conversation that leads to Ezor yanking the side door near the kitchen open and walking out, not letting Shiro finish his sentence. Not being able to see 5 feet in front of her, she takes out her phone and turns on the flashlight. She sees footprints in the snow and she follows them. “Acxa!?” She cried out for the other girl. Out in the woods and surrounded by trees, Ezor quickly gets lost. The blizzard was still alive, throwing tiny snowflakes around in the air, making it difficult to see. As Ezor continues the search for Acxa, continually calling out for her, she finds herself back on the path. She sees… flames?? Flames up and behind the nearest hill. A screech echoed through the dense forest. Confused but still focused, Ezor finally manages to find Acxa. “Oh my god, are you alright?? It’s not like you to run out into the forest in the middle of the night.” Ezor tries to start up a conversation but she notices the other girl shivering. Ezor removes her own jacket and offers it to Acxa. Putting the jacket on, Acxa has a distressed look on her face. “Hey… what’s the matter??” Ezor softly speaks to Acxa. She opens her mouth to respond but is interrupted by another screech, only this time it’s way closer. The two girls exchange worried looks. In a moment of panicked silence, the two girls start to slowly back up from the noise. Suddenly, they’re extremely aware of how close the creature is. ⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆ ❄ The wind blows past Acxa’s short hair as the two girls sprint. Constantly turning back, Ezor almost trips over a log. Her lungs are pumping air in and out of her body. They’re both thinking the same thing, “Where’s the lodge?” Their fingers and noses were once freezing but now they burn from the heat as they sprint to escape whatever creature was hunting them. Their legs smash into the snow, which only slows them down, as their boots and socks grow wetter and wetter. They run across the old, rotting wooden bridge that spans the freezing river. All of a sudden, Ezor trips over her own feet in a panic, her phone falling through the cracks of the bridge. Acxa immediately comes to her aid, a wordless gesture that leaves Ezor grateful. The two girls continue running, not looking back this time. They finally reach a breach in the forest and they run towards it. Not knowing they ultimately ran into their death. ❄ The two girls are cornered. They trapped themselves, almost running off the ledge of the mountain. The wooden Danger sign mocks them as they slowly start backing up, trying to face the creature head-on. Acxa puts herself in front of Ezor, trying to shield her from the beast. Of course, she took responsibility as it was she who ran out and Ezor came after her. With nothing to fight back with, they’re both left defenseless against something they can’t even recognize. All it took was one wrong move, and Ezor found herself slipping on the ice and falling backward. Unfortunately, she had instinctively reached out and accidentally brought Acxa down with her. Two screams are let out and echo into the cold blizzard air. Miraculously, Acxa and her quick thinking let her hand grab onto a thick branch embedded inside the underside edge of the cliff. In her right hand, she holds on to Ezor’s wrist with the tightest grasp. Ezor returns that grip, as every other limb sways with the strong wind picking up. They see flames peek over the underside of the cliff, and an extremely loud screech. Ezor had to cover her ears by moving her shoulder up and covering with her swaying hand while Acxa didn’t get that luxury. Suddenly, a masked figure reached their hand down. Was it to help them up? Was it to knock them down? Acxa couldn’t take that risk. She heard Ezor shouting for help and her whimpers of fear. Acxa looked at the masked figure in the eyes and let go of the branch. Ezor let out a blood-curdling scream while Acxa just closed her eyes. Acxa had hit the ground and rolled down the steep and rocky hill into a huge ditch of darkness. Ezor, who hadn’t been so lucky, fell directly on her back and collided with a bigger rock as she also rolled down into the same ditch. ⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆ ❄ The crows watched the two figures fall, their cries echoing in the night. After a few moments, it was as if nothing ever happened. A somber silence over the forest reminds us all that life goes on.