Opening his eyes, Slady grasped the entire situation.
"I'm so far from Libretãnhya... I'm far from them..."
Sitting up, he saw Ferinish's unconscious body. She was still weak from the experiments and injections.
"..."
He stood up and held her body in his arms, beginning to walk through the bone-chilling landscape. A few minutes later, he found a wooden hut that looked quite abandoned.
He placed Ferinish on the ground, opening the door to find... corpses...
It belonged to a family, a man and a woman, a boy and a girl. From Slady's analysis, the family had died of starvation, and their bodies were already forming ice fragments around them.
"..."
He sighed, now thinking he would have to remove those bodies...
Minutes later, the hut was more habitable, clean, but there were still some insects to eliminate. In the bathroom, there was a hole with a puddle of dirty water, where that poor family probably took their baths.
Slady goes to a bedroom, where he had placed Ferinish on a bed, which, luckily, was quite warm.
"If there's only one double bed in this house..."
He sits on the edge of the bed, touching the mattress thoughtfully.
"This bed isn't very deep, so the children slept here and the parents... on the floor."
He feels something close to empathy; the cruel end of a family seemed to touch his heart somehow.
"I need to find a way to keep us both warm."
Slady gets up and leaves the cabin, his mechanical claws emerging from his back, beginning to cut down all the trees around him with great speed and efficiency.
After cutting the wood into cubes, he brings the material into the cabin, placing it in a brick fireplace and lighting it with a cigarette butt he had collected from the ground.
What a relief to feel the warmth again...
He closes the windows and the door, sitting in front of the fireplace, which was the only source of light in the place. He removes his overcoat, leaving only his red short-sleeved shirt to feel the warmth.
Suddenly, Ferinish wakes up, confused by the surroundings. Seeing Slady, she puts her hand to her head, questioning him.
"What place is this?"
Ferinish scratches her messy hair, still feeling dizzy from the experiments she endured. She approaches the man, searching for his answer.
"It's the only place we have for now. Just warm yourself up a bit."
"I noticed. I'll go."
Ferinish sits beside Slady, beginning to open her kimono slightly, partially exposing her chest to feel the warmth.
Slady looks away in respect. Ferinish looks at him gratefully.
"You can look, but don't push your luck."
He simply nodded, not looking at her cleavage, uninterested. Only at the flames.
The man's lack of interest at her side surprised Ferinish, who was used to scientists' leering looks at her body and power.
"Thank you."
She puffed out her chest, feeling more comfortable, feeling the warmth in her chest.
The two of them were silent for a long time, simply enjoying the moment between them.
Slady looked at the window, seeing the darkness through the glass.
"It's already dark."
"Yes."
Slady stood up, adding,
"There's no water for bathing, we'll have to make do with the stench."
Ferinish shrugged.
"No problem."
She stood up, closing her kimono.
"You can sleep on the bed, I can sleep on the floor."
"No, you can go to bed, I've slept in plenty of uncomfortable places."
"You were kind enough to put me to bed, let me return the favor."
So...
"You two should sleep together."
Truth appears in Slady's mind, who just looks at her with an emotionless look.
"You're a bore."
She pouts her lips and crosses her arms. Slady just goes back to talking to Ferinish.
"Then why don't we sleep together? We can stay warm and comfortable."
Ferinish puts her hand to her chin thoughtfully.
"No problem, we can."
With the discussion over, Slady lets out a sigh... and Truth curses him for stealing her idea.
***
The two lay together in bed, both staring at the ceiling.
"You look uncomfortable—"
"I'm not!"
Although she wasn't blushing, Ferinish was a little nervous about the closeness.
"It's just... I've never slept with anyone..."
"We slept together in that restraint."
Ferinish turned to face him, resting her head on his arm.
"We were under the influence of those damn drugs."
"There's a point."
Slady sighed, turning her back to Ferinish.
"I won't do anything to hurt you, you can come closer whenever you want."
"Thank you."
Ferinish just watched his back with a cold expression, his warm hands moving toward the man's back, beginning to make invisible drawings. Slady ignored her, letting her do as she pleased.
Feeling more confident, Ferinish moved closer to Slady, resting her chest against his back and her face against the nape of his neck, whispering,
"Am I being weird like this?"
"No. If I were, I would have moved away."
Then the woman felt increasingly comfortable, still hesitant to touch him and be touched by him.
"Thank you for understanding. I'm not used to being treated well... if I'm being honest, you're the first person who hasn't looked at me with evil."
The redhead replied with almost innocent sincerity.
"I'm honored by that."
Slady turned to face Ferinish, who was a little startled but didn't move away.
"He looks really scary with those dark, red eyes."
She thought. Slady commented:
"I see you're sleep-deprived. So, to relax... do you want to tell me why you're afraid of touch, Ferinish?"
Ferinish hesitated, uneasy. It was ironic, a woman as strong and powerful as she felt vulnerable with a simple question.
"I'll tell you, but can it be just between us?"
"Yes, just between us."
Ferinish took a deep breath, assuming pure sincerity.
"When I was raised by those scientists, they touted me as something perfect they could use to kill anyone they wanted... After each mission, I arrived exhausted and injured, but they wouldn't let me rest. If I tried to resist, they neutralized me and put me in an eternal combat simulation, where I had to fight and fight without stopping, feeling everything that happened to me. I felt my arm, legs, eyes, everything being ripped out of me. But in real life, I was unharmed. And when they removed me, those scientists put me on more missions, until the same process was repeated."
Every word was painful, every sentence felt like a weight lifted from her shoulders, and every memory made her cringe, as if trying to protect herself from the cruel world they were in.
"That's why I don't want to be touched by anyone. Every touch feels painful, cruel. I don't like it. I hate being touched."
Slady looked at Ferinish blankly, but her mind wandered.
"Even with everything she went through, she was still a good woman. She was a victim, a weapon for those monsters... just like I should have been."
"I'm so sorry about that. I can't imagine how torturous it must have been for you, Ferinish." I hope that one day, your traumas can be healed."
"Thank you."
The coldness on her face disappeared for a moment, and Ferinish gave a small, almost imperceptible, but genuine smile. It struck Slady; even a woman like Ferinish, who has been through so much, can smile... and he can't.
"How do you feel after telling me this secret?"
"I feel better, much better..."
She closed her eyes, as if she could finally put her soul to rest for a moment.
"Good night, Slady."
"Good night..."
Then they both began to enter a state of sleep... sleeping peacefully.
***
In a kingdom near that hut, in a castle made of ice crystals, a woman sat on her throne. Her hair was crystallized, her eyes were cold as ice, and there was a kind of crystallized fragment in her irises. Her clothing was a dress that gave her an air of sovereignty and power.
The door to that room opens, and a woman enters, carrying a beautiful ice spear. Her attire resembles that of a soldier, giving her an air of toughness and authority.
"Your Majesty..."
She kneels in front of the woman, resting her arm on her spear, which, upon touching the ground, freezes around her. The woman seated on the throne simply looks at the soldier, gesturing with her hand for her to continue speaking.
"We have found two intruders near our kingdom. Should we eliminate them?"
"If they surrender, bring them; if they fight, kill them."