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by BloodOfPhantoms
North of Eromaner lies a city known as Crystalia, the land of snow.
Chapter One
The air was cold... and snow continued falling gently. ~?'s POV~ My footsteps were light on the floor of the cave, and I went inside without hesitating. Icicles hung from the ceiling in almost a decorative way, but I chose to ignore them for now... unless they fell on me, of course. With each step I took I was soon able to reach where I wanted to be... right next to the Ice Rock. It stood in solitude, other than my presence being there... but I still felt drawn to it. I took a step in the icy water that surrounded it and walked towards it, the water being rather shallow. I climbed up on the small part of the floor that the Ice Rock was on and reached over to touch it... but then... "Come on Aneira, hurry up." My guardian's voice echoed inside the cave. I turned around to see her, but she was already walking out. "This place really gives me the heebie jeebies." She said as she proceeded to walk out of the cave, her voice still echoing a little. I sighed and touched the rock... memories flowing, tears falling, all because of this one... object... but it was more than that to me. Not wanting to keep my guardian back, I turned and walked back, stepping out of the cave and into the snow below me. A clear straight path was in front of me, and around it was the forest, as well as a road and well... my guardian's pink car parked up a few meters away. Opening the door to the back seat of the car, my brother, an Umbreon named Dart, looked at me with curious eyes as I went inside and sat down. "No." I answered before he could even say anything. "What?... I didn't even ask anything yet!" Dart looked over at our guardian, who was a Sylveon sitting in the driver's set. "Moooom, Aneira's being mean to me again." I held back a growl, but I kept my cool as she began to drive off. This car was different than other cars simply because my guardian's legs couldn't reach the pedals or brakes, so they were extended so that she could reach them and steer at the same time, which took a lot of training before she got her license. She wasn't the only one in the world with a car like this, however, and it wasn't really seen as weird once cars like these became popular. "Just be quiet until we get home, you two." She replied, paying attention to the road. With a couple 'pssssts' from Dart and several pokes, I managed to ignore him long enough until the car was parked next to our house and then I was able to hop out. "Come on, you're not telling me anythingggg." Dart said in a nagging manner, which made me want to ignore him even more, but I decided to answer him this time. "It was... good." I replied coldly, following my guardian as she came out of the car too and opened the door after inserting a key and turning it. "Wait, is that all? It was good... and- and- what else?" Dart followed me as I walked inside until I closed the door to my room and locked it. "Aneira, I just wanna know how it was, come on..." He fiddled with the door knob and after a few minutes eventually left me alone. I would've probably told him more if he wasn't just so damn annoying... hmph. I got up on top of my bed and put on the TV which was rested on the wooden cabinet in front of the bed. We had cable luckily, so weather like this wouldn't have affected my favorite channels and shows. With a buzz, I looked over to the left side of the bed to realize my phone was underneath the covers... so I grabbed it and checked my messages. I didn't really have many contacts, especially because we kinda lived close to a forest and not in a neighborhood like other people, but I kinda liked it. The entire area was a lot calmer and quieter than those noisy neighborhoods with annoying kids... probably even more annoying than Dart, honestly, so living here was pretty much heaven in my eyes. I went over to the notifications on my phone and I froze for a minute... then looked at the messages carefully to verify if it was him... and it was. My ex-boyfriend.
Chapter Two
By the way, for later chapters I may not include who's POV it is just like the story with Eromaner, and when that happens, it's always Aneira, so remember that in the future. I'll do it this time, though, but this'll be an exception along with maybe a few other exceptions such as possibly switching from one POV to another. ~Aneira's POV~ After looking through the messages on my phone, I eventually closed it as tears began to form in my eyes. I was such an emotional wreck... but I didn't care. I rested my face on the bed to sort of wipe away my tears on the fabric... and then I heard the someone knocking at my bedroom door. Jumping off the bed, I opened the door, hoping it wasn't Dart. "I'm going out tonight Aneira, so please keep your brother company and make sure he doesn't break anything important." My guardian asked. "What?! Why do I have to-" I couldn't say anything more after she hugged me tightly, then let me go and gave me a kiss on my forehead. "I know you think he's annoying, but he's your brother... you two share the same blood... so you should treat him like your brother rather than just an annoyance." I remained silent. "I'll leave you to it." She smiled and walked to the living room, told my brother something, then opened the front door and went outside. Regrettably, I walked into the living room to see where Dart was... and of course, he was watching TV and sitting down on the couch. "Oh, mom said you have to watch over me, Aneira!" Dart looked over at me and smirked. "Otherwise, I'm gonna tell her you didn't do anything and you'll get in so much troubleeee!" "Please be quiet." I growled and walked over to the couch, hopping up on the left side of it and sitting down. Hours passed, and from what was considered as afternoon soon became night as I lied down on the couch and almost drifted off to sleep until... a knock on the door took me out of my doze. "Is mom back already?" Dart asked. "She said she wouldn't be back till about midnight..." "Well, there's only one way to find out." I replied, jumping off of the couch and walking over to the door, opening it. "Hi... Aneira." A Weavile stood at the door, holding his claws together nervously. "Can I come in?" I was shocked... totally shocked to the point where I stood there for a minute or so just staring at him. "O-oh yeah, sure..." I said as he let himself in and closed the door. "Thanks..." He shivered. "I know I'm an Ice type, but it's still really cold out there, brrr." My mood right then and there changed from being shocked to being angry in a heartbeat. I growled loudly as I slammed him against the wall with my paws, making him grunt in response. "I didn't tell you you could come to my fucking house in the middle of the night, Zachary." I whispered so that Dart wouldn't hear me curse, but my voice still sounded angry. "I-I'm sorry, but you weren't responding to my texts, so I just wanted to know if you were okay..." He whispered back with a guiltless expression on his face. "We broke up months ago and you're only texting me now?... Of course I'm not responding to your texts... even if I was the one that- that..." I let go of him and started to tear up again... but he wiped the tears from my face gently, which made me look up at him. "Do you wanna talk about this in private? Being here right now isn't really the best place to talk." "Hey Aneira! Is that mom?" Dart walked over to the left side of the couch and looked over it to see us. "Who are you talking to-... Zachary?!" Zachary waved at him. "Long time no see, pal..." He laughed nervously. "I thought you had left Crystalia! I haven't seen you in like, forever!" Dart hopped off of the couch and walked over to us, but I raised my paw and he stopped in his tracks. "Why are you crying Aneira..." He looked at me, but I just glared at him. "Leave us alone... we have things to talk about, okay Dart?" I said, his name sounding rough on my tongue as I uttered it out and walked to my room, Zachary following me along the way. Zachary looked over at Dart, then back at me as I opened the door. "Hey Aneira... I think you kinda hurt your brother's feelings..." He said, walking inside along with me as I slammed the door in anger, locking it shortly after. "He deserves it for being such a pest almost all the time." I responded, climbing up on the bed as Zachary did the same. "Now..." I looked over at Zachary. "Back to you."
Chapter Three
"Back to me about what?..." He looked confused, but I think he knew what I was getting at. "About you acting so perfect, when you know you're not, but yet, you still try to be that way," I sighed. "just like everyone else in Crystalia..." "Oh, that discussion again, huh..." He sighed as well. "It's not even a joke, I'm sick of everyone here trying to act so fancy and proper when they know that they're fucking not deep down inside." "But I'm an exception, Aneira... just like you, and your brother, and well... a lot of other people are exceptions, but you just gotta find the right ones... which is a bit hard, honestly." "You're not an exception anymore," I looked away from Zachary for a moment. "you're just... just, ugh." He laughed a little. "As I said before with our little 'discussion', Crystalians probably just don't want to end up like Eromanians and vice-versa... it's sort of like a natural thing, maybe." "I don't think there's anything natural about this place but the snow... and that's it." "You may think that... but we're natural, aren't we?" He winked, which made me giggle a bit. "I'm still pissed at my brother... although you have gotten me out of a bad mood I had earlier." "Does that mean we're back together?" "...Uh, well... I don't really know about tha-" I stopped talking as he leaned in and pulled me into a passionate kiss. "I'll take your blush as a yes." He smirked, then jumped off of the bed. "Wh-what..." I put a paw on one of my cheeks, then saw him walking to where the window was. "Don't worry, I'll try not to be perfect, just for you." Zachary then climbed out of the window, closed it back afterwards and walked off, leaving my room in utter silence. Walking over to the center of my bed, I curled up under my blanket on top of my bed and closed my eyes. I wanted my mind to get away from all the things I had to deal with, and fast before Dart could ever bother me again. Then, I fell asleep.