Sorcerer Stabber Orphen Fan Fiction ❯ A Snowball's Chance... ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: The usual, I don't own any of the characters in SSO.

 

Author's note: This is set after Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Revenge. Although the central characters are strictly based off the Anime, references will be made to a character from the manga and novels. I know basics about the character but not many details so the ones I came up with may not match canon. Simply consider the events around that character as alternate universe.

 

Also, this originally started out as a gift fic for Alchephiliac (Shardy) although it ended up extremely late as the story got longer then the oneshot it was originally intended to be. I'm rating it M because there are some…um…light sexual situations and implications but nothing explicit.

 

 

 

Reaching the top of a hill, Orphen looked back at his companions trudging slowly through the snow behind him.  Although their movements indicated they were tired, he also saw that they were in good spirits bantering back and forth as usual, currently that including talking about previous snowball fights and threatening to start new ones.  To them, although cold, this was fun.  To him, this cold was nothing compared to the Tower winters or when he was on his own.  Still it triggered memories both good and bad of his time at the Tower and the family he once had; a family that was now scattered.  However, while cold only triggered memories, storms and blizzards were a different story, and he sensed that there was a big one coming.  He could tell from the sharp cold smell in the air, nothing but the onslaught of snow was quite the same. 

 

For that reason, he'd pushed them to walk through lunch and well into the afternoon.  Although it was difficult to tell due to the snow, he figured they were less than two hours to Sun Lake and he wanted to make it to town rather then camp outside again.  Last night, when the snow currently on the ground arrived, they were lucky to have found a cave just off the path.  Although the current terrain promised much of the same, he really didn't want to spend another night on the road, especially considering the side effect blizzards had on magic.  Better to make for the town with all possible haste.

 

He was still watching them when he made eye contact with Cleo and inwardly smirked.  Keeping his face neutral, he prepared himself for what he knew what was coming.  He knew he could solve the problem by explaining about the oncoming storm, but honestly, it was too much fun baiting her. Besides, he wanted to get to the inn, he had plans.

 

“Orphen…” she implored, “I'm tired and cold, can't we stop for the night?”

 

“No.”

 

“But it's getting late, the sun's almost down and we need to get the fire going before dark…”

 

“I said no.  Sun Lake's not far now.”

 

 “But Master, I thought we were still several hours…”  Majic trailed off at the glare he received from Orphen. 

 

“Several hours!”  Cleo shrieked, “No way.  We won't make it tonight.” She pointed skyward,

“We're stopping now.”

 

“Your choice.”  Orphen replied, “I'm going to town and the inn where it'll be warm and out of the snow.  Come on, Majic.” 

 

“You wouldn't dare!” Cleo shouted, when Majic continued walking passing her and Orphen turned back down the path.  “Why you!”  She looked frantically around for something to throw, before grinning wickedly.  She stooped, picked up some snow and quickly shaped it.

 

Orphen had stopped again just past the peak of the hill, to wait for Cleo or more specifically her reaction.  He grinned faintly, expecting that she was in quite the rage now.  Unable to suppress his curiosity and because he didn't hear her following, he turned back only to get smacked in the face with a snowball.  Faintly as he was wiping the snow off his face he heard Majic smother a giggle and Cleo say “Oops.”

 

Cleo braced herself; she'd just started something she wasn't sure she wanted to finish, even though her pride would demand that she gave it her best effort.  She knew she meant to hit him on the back of the head and not in his face, not that he'd ever believe it.  Sighing, she thought, `In for a penny in for a pound, besides father always said own up to your mistakes.'  She bent down and scooped up some more snow making another snowball.  Once complete, she felt Orphen watching her every move like a hawk.  Holding the snowball, she brazenly walked up to Orphen and offered him the snowball.  “Believe it or not, I didn't mean to hit you in the face.  Here.”  Cleo watched his eyes first widen in surprise then narrow in suspicion.

 

Orphen was utterly shocked when she up and offered the snowball to him, but he figured there was some sort of catch, so he simply turned away.  He then noticed a low hanging branch a few footsteps ahead of him and a slow wicked smile crept onto his face.  At least she was moving again so he continued down the path.

 

Cleo watched Orphen turn away again. Frowning she looked down at the snowball in her hand, `What's the point?' she mused letting it slip from her fingers to fall on the ground. She took a few steps following them before realizing that since they weren't stopping, she couldn't either, `After I adjust a few things that is…' she thought. Shivering slightly, she realized that with the rise in tension, which she admitted with a sigh, she caused, there would be no more talking and teasing for quite a while. If she wanted to stay warm, she figured she'd better change a few things.  She dropped her pack on the ground, jostling Leki, who after a disgruntled whine jumped out and started sniffing around near Cleo's feet.  Once the pack was out of the way, she started to move the cloak so she could cocoon herself in it better, However to do that, first she had to open it and that, unfortunately for her, was when Orphen's counter attack hit.

 

While Cleo was busy with her cloak, Orphen pulled the low hanging branch back and, with an evil grin, released it causing the branch to snap back towards Cleo, showering her with the snow that had accumulated on the branch.

 

Majic chortled as he listened to Cleo splutter incoherently going from shock to anger to utter disbelief.  Ducking his head, he hid his mouth so she wouldn't see or hear him laughing because he knew that Master had just thrown down the gauntlet for a full fledged snowball fight and Cleo's aim was legendary back in Totokonta.  Apparently, his Master did not register the danger or the fact he'd just covered her with the raw materials for killer snowball, because he laughed.  Not just a little chuckle but an all out laugh.  It was nice to hear since Orphen didn't laugh much.  However, Majic could tell by the death glare she was giving Orphen that she wasn't in the mood to appreciate it.

 

She started to shake the snow loose from the front of her shirt and pants before smirking herself. She gathered most of the snow that had landed on her and packed it together, glaring at Orphen all the while.  He was laughing so hard now that he had his hands wrapped around his stomach and his head was back, when she acted without thinking.  She stomped up to him, grabbed the waistband of his pants and shoved the snow down the front of his pants, gleefully listening as his laughs turned to shouts of surprise and fury.

 

Orphen howled in alarm and rage, “You little bitch!  You're gonna pay for that!”  He reached for her not immediately sure of what his intentions were.  His hands were up near her neck, but he couldn't take his eyes off her lips.  Part of him wanted to show her just what fire she was playing with, the other wanted to shut her up before she gloated for getting him.  He'd advanced on her to the point that he felt her hands, in a defensive posture, resting on his chest.  Feeling her hands there, made him almost glad of the ice because he was sure heating up now.  It was one of the reasons he avoided touching her. 

 

Fortunately, the chill in his pants won out when he shifted his gaze up to her eyes, which were wide and fearful.  He stopped, lowered his hands and examined her shocked face.  He closed his eyes aware before he did so that her lips were moving as he shut her out, knowing instinctively what she was saying.  She'd obviously realized she'd gone too far and was apologizing.  But at this point, he wasn't sure who needed to apologize.   Either way, he knew he needed to get away from her, quickly.  Resisting the urge to caress or hold her hands where they were, he simply stepped back and away from her.

 

“Meet me in town.  `Towers in heaven that dance around me.'”  Orphen growled and teleported away.

 

Cleo stood speechless, one minute he was about to strangle her and the next he was gone.  She looked over at Majic, hoping he'd be able to explain what just happened.  Since what she saw in Orphen's eyes wasn't entirely anger, but anger mixed with something else, something she didn't recognize.

 

“Let's just get going to town.”  Majic said, “I'm sure he'll have the room ready by the time we get there.”  Majic shook his head, she really had no clue.  He wasn't worried, rooming with Orphen he'd seen this often enough, she'd fire up his temper and he'd go work off his… problem.  Today, Majic thought Orphen might make a move to alter their relationship after her retaliation, but no, the status quo returned.

 

“O-Okkkkay.” Cleo stuttered and started following Majic.  Now that the adrenaline from the last few moments was waning, she realized she was cold and feeling colder. She did her best to shake lose any remaining snow, but much of it had already melted. After pulling the fabric away from her skin, she silently hoped the town was close since the prospect of the inn and a warm bath, far outweighed the trepidation about her welcome when they got there.

 

They walked in silence for awhile before Cleo stopped again.  After a few moments, Majic stopped and looked back once he realized she wasn't following behind.  “We need to keep moving Cleo, please.  It's cold and the inn will be warm.  Plus I'll get you some hot chocolate to drink in the bath once we get there.”

 

“I-I'm t-t-too c-c-cold.  I-I n-n-need t-t-t-to g-g-get w-w-w-warm now!”  She stammered out shivering as she sat down on a rock.  “M-m-my s-s-spare c-c-c-clothes?”

 

“Cleo, you'll stay warmer if you…” Majic trailed off when he turned back to look at her.  He realized after she'd gotten hit with the snow, he hadn't taken a good look at her but he did so now.  The snow she'd been hit with had resulted in the entire front of her clothes to be wet, trapping the cold by the core of her body.  Her teeth were chattering and her skin as a rather scary shade of white, verging on blue.  There was no stopping it now, she wouldn't be able to go on to the town tonight; she needed to get dry by a fire and fast. `Damn it, I should have noticed something sooner. Master's gonna be pissed. Then again…he didn't exactly… no, I can't think about that now…focus.' 

 

He quickly surveyed their surroundings and saw a tall snow covered cliff, figuring that would have the best chance of having a cave near it.  Resisting the urge to berate her for not speaking up, Majic simply focused on what needed to be done and started by getting her back on her feet. “Cleo you've got to keep moving. I'm gonna find us some shelter. Keep moving but stay in this area.”

 

Knowing she needed him to hurry, he hustled off the path to search the base of the cliff.  After a bit of looking, he silently blessed their luck, although there was no cave, there was an abandoned mine.  Whether it was abandoned because of the season or that it was played out, didn't matter much to Majic, it was dry and, near as he could tell, well ventilated.  That additional boon would allow for a larger fire further away from the entrance and the winds. His hurried walk turned into a run, when he saw her curled up on the ground shivering.  He scooped her up, bringing her up under his cloak and rushed to the mine, vaguely noticing that the wind had picked up while Leki bounded ahead of them. Leki entered the mine ahead of Majic. Since he didn't seem alarmed, Majic took that to mean that there weren't any nasty critters in the mine waiting to pounce on them. 

 

Once in the mine, he ripped through their pack, yanking her spare clothes out.  After handing them to her, he started digging around the mine, finding some wood and familiar rocks.  He chuckled quietly to himself, `Coal.  Of course, we're almost to Sun Lake. Thank goodness for small favors.'  He cast to start the fire even though it seemed to take more energy then normal. `I wonder why…' he started thinking when Cleo handed him her wet clothes indicating she had finished changing.

 

“The fire's started get close to it.” He told her as he watched her wrap up in a blanket and sit next to the fire while he tried to decide what to do with her wet clothes; finally he decided to shove them in the pack.  Once finished, he started to remind her they needed to get moving, but hesitated, she was still very pale and from her movements in the blanket, still shivering. 

 

He stepped up to the entrance to get a better look at the weather and see how long he could allow her to warm up.  First, he noticed that Leki was now sitting by the entrance looking like he was waiting for permission to go play, which Majic granted.  Next he saw that the wind was picking up and there was a lot of snow blowing around, whether new or blown snow he didn't know.  Either way, he knew they shouldn't stay any longer. But did he really want to take her back out in that. Mentally he went over the list of supplies, and they did have enough to last for a day or two, if they were careful. So staying was an option, however even with the fire, it was still cold and likely wouldn't get much warmer. And with her getting wet, she needed to get fully warm as quickly as possible, which wouldn't happen here.  Reluctantly, he stepped back into the mine and haphazardly started dumping everything back into the pack.  “Cleo we really need to get moving to the town, it looks like it's going to storm.”

 

“Good instincts, Majic.  What are you two doing here?”  Orphen's voice cut in and continued before Majic or Cleo could answer.  “The room at the inn is all set up.  And you remembered wrong Majic, the town's only about an hour down the road now.  Get moving.”

 

“But Master, Cleo's…”

 

Cutting Majic off, Orphen stated, “I'll take care of her.”

 

“But…”

 

“Majic!” Orphen barked, “There's a blizzard coming.  Get moving.”

 

“But send…”

 

“I don't repeat myself and you're wasting time.  Finish setting up the rooms.”

 

“Yes, Master.” Majic replied, dropping his pack and scurrying out of the mine.  Just outside the entrance Majic stopped, the weather was really looking bad…the storm was almost upon them.  He turned to go back in and tell Orphen about the weather when he heard a step behind him. 

“Correct.” Orphen said answering Majic's unspoken question. “The fast way, focus now.  I'll guide you.” 

 

Majic closed his eyes and focused his energy to cast the spell he'd only just learned.  Momentarily, he felt his Master adding power and giving Majic the destination before adding a final push he needed for the spell.

 

“Away.” They said in unison.

 

Orphen watched as the purple light faded from Majic's teleport, pleased that it worked, but frustrated.  He'd had to do a lot more pushing to get Majic out ahead of the storm than he expected.  He probably shouldn't have sent Majic on since it was so risky. Additionally, that left him with a problem.  With the oncoming storm he didn't have enough power to teleport both him and Cleo into town.  He could probably teleport himself but leaving Cleo wasn't an option. Teleporting someone else took more power and control, and he already felt his power diminishing under the storm effect so sending her to town wasn't possible either. Not to mention the fact that once the storm truly started, he wouldn't be able to cast at all. In fact, he shouldn't cast anything now; with his power fading any spells would be unpredictable and potentially dangerous.

 

Standing there, second guessing himself, would get them nowhere, better to focus on finishing what Majic started inside the mine. Before leaving the entrance, he saw Leki out in the snow and whistled, signaling for the pup to come inside before turning and walking back into the mine to see Cleo huddled in the blankets close to the fire, still shivering.  He had to suppress the urge to grab her and hold her close partly out of duty to keep her safe and warm, but mostly because it was just getting harder and harder to keep his distance.  This time though, guilt and duty were winning out, since he caused it.  Since she'd changed, he suspected that what Majic was trying to tell him was that she'd gotten soaked. Running his had through his hair, he grimaced, he should have sent her back, but with the weather and her not being a sorceress; it was just too risky. That and he needed to talk to her, alone, but he realized he should have ported both of them back and trusted Majic to make his way to Sun Lake on his own.

 

`Damn it. She nailed me in the face with a snowball and even dumped snow down my pants, but she had the sense to stay away from the core of my body. I didn't.' He paused, looking back out towards the entrance where the blizzard continued to build. `I should have known better. I thought I'd learned that lesson.' Resolving to apologize, before he told her they were stuck there for the night, without Majic.  He stepped up to the fire and said, “You shouldn't have started throwing the snowballs, but…”

 

“Shut up!  I can't believe you!” She shouted, standing shrugging off the blanket, immediately shivering at the absence of warmth.  “Yeah, I admit, I threw the first snowball but y-you… No, you are n-not going to blame this one me!”  She stomped towards the entrance, “Fine, I'm changed so l-let's g-go! W-where's Majic.”

 

“In town but that isn't…” Orphen broke off, alarmed as he noticed her visibly shaking with cold, his own anger rising at her stubbornness especially considering she did not even allow him to finish before she snapped at him.  “We're not going anywhere!”

 

“Oh no!” Cleo shouted whirling on Orphen. “Y-you're not going to blame me for having camp out with a storm coming when there's an inn an hour away.”  Wrapping her arms around her body to save some warmth, she turned back and moved to the entrance where she realized she could barely see Leki, who was happily snapping at the snowflakes in the air not far from the mine entrance.  Snowflakes that were blowing around much more then just normal snowfall, even Cleo could see that.  She paused before stepping out of the shelter of the mine, only to be yanked back by her arm.

 

“That's a blizzard building out there nitwit!”  Orphen started dragging her back to the fire.  “We're not going anywhere tonight.  Now get back by that fire.”

 

“Wait… blizzard?”  Cleo paused, twisting out of Orphen's hold before hurrying back to the entrance and shouting, “Leki!”

 

Outside, Leki was getting very frustrated at not being able to catch any of the snowflakes.  Growling in frustration, he started powering up his attack when he heard his mistress's call.  He looked around and realized he couldn't see or smell her, worried now that she might be stuck in the snow someplace, he howled. 

 

Cleo tried to run out of the cave to get Leki when he howled, but Orphen grabbed her by the waist pulling her back in.

 

“Call him…”  Orphen broke off when they both heard grumbling from above.  “Shit…” Orphen cried, running deeper into the mine dragging Cleo along.

 

“What are you…”  She shrieked in protest, until she saw the snow coming at them.  Just as it was catching up to them, Orphen flung Cleo in front of him as he shoved her into a small alcove against the wall, shielding her as best he could when the snow and debris hit. 

 

 

 

This is the end of part one…so don't kill me, especially if you want me to post part two.