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I felt an inaudible crackle of fireworks in my chest as the curtains were pulled apart, letting bright sunlight break into the once dark room. I immediately put my hand in front of my eyes to block out the sudden light and blinked several times, finally getting a chance to look around.
The main room of the house, like all the others, was made predominantly of wood, and so was most of the furniture in it. The dark, chocolate colour of the furniture matched well the whiteness of the sheets, cushions and decorations, but the main surprise lay straight ahead, when you looked out the window.
Dropping my bag on the ground almost instantly, I rushed past the bed towards the huge glass doors that covered the furthest wall from the door, swiftly sliding one of them without much effort. As soon as I gave a step outside into the balcony that hid behind the doors, a gust of cold air blasted in my face, sending shivers all through my body. It was not winter’s frozen greeting what caused me to gasp, but the snow that looked as though it had been laid out deliberately over the mountains’ peaks in the distance, and the slow falling of snowflakes through the trees. The sight of the white kingdom of ice and snow took my breath away, and I was left in silence, merely taking in the wondrous view.
“This is your first winter in Cradle, right?”
I turned my head slightly to the side with a smile, feeling a pair of eyes on me. The figure stopped at the door, idly leaning against it and keeping his vision on the white world ahead. He wore a pale, thin smile on his lips, and for a moment, the whiteness of his skin suggested he could have been a part of the snow-covered treetops.
“It is!” My voice came through the scarf around my neck, which I had pulled up as a barrier against the cold. My eyes shifted back to the sight beyond us, and I held out one of my hands to the falling snowflakes, feeling several of them meet my skin and melt upon contact. “I had no idea that a world on the verge of war such as this one could be so beautiful and peaceful.”
“Don’t be fooled, Alice,” The man left the sliding door and approached me, placing his bare hands on the balcony’s railing, “Under all that snow hides a battlefield hungry for blood.”
“But… these are the outskirts of the Red Army’s territory, right? Will you actually fight here?”
The smile was gone from his face now, replaced by a frown, “Why do you think we brought so much weaponry with us? War could spark up anywhere. Nobody knows where or when we could be forced to fight the enemy. Even when we’re on holiday, we must rema-”
His words were quickly cut off by a loud noise from within the wooden house, at which we both turned in unison.
“Get your filthy hands off that bottle - that’s King Lancelot’s personal liqueur, you drunk!”
Even though we had both been initially startled, I felt relief spread across my body as Jonah’s scream thrummed through the house. His words resulted in the spiking of a series of insults and shouting, all of which contained some of the most colourful language I had ever heard. I turned to face a grinning Lancelot by my side, who merely shook his head as a low laugh built up in his throat. I couldn’t help but smile myself too.
“Jonah’s… fiercely protective of your stuff, I see.”
He gave me a sideways look of approval and stepped into the house past the glass door, his military uniform’s cape trailing behind him as he walked. I took that as a silent way of saying he’d deal with the situation himself.
My eyes were once again drawn to the snow outside. I couldn’t imagine, for one second, the tranquility of the northern woods being disturbed by war: bodies piling amongst themselves while blood tainted the white blanket that covered the grassy lanes. The peace that I knew both armies strived for was still far, far away. I was hopeful, however, that it would arrive sooner or later - that no more blood would ever have to be spilled in war. That was all I could wish for, for the sake of both the Black and Red Armies.
That particular thought brought back to me a lot of memories with members from both sides of this terrible war, and just imagining any of those people having to fight inspired true fear in me. I held my hand out towards the snowfall again, but this time, a hard object met my palms. I peered into them just to see a crooked snowflake that didn’t seem to melt. It sat in my hands, pulsing with a dim, white light. I blinked for a moment in silence, inspecting it, before I heard another scream from downstairs and dropped the ice figure.
It was Jonah’s voice again, but this time it was accompanied by a familiar laughter. Smiling widely, I bent over to the floor and picked up the intact snowflake, putting it in my pocket. I’d ask Lancelot about it later. With that, I slid back into the room and headed downstairs.
…
What my eyes saw as soon as I got to the kitchen left me static. Every single person in the room turned towards me with surprised expressions, and I was left speechless. The Red Army’s most important members were sprawled across the room, carrying food to and fro, or standing by the kitchen’s counter. Jonah, the tempered Queen himself, wore a white apron patterned with stamps of red hearts and was mixing something in a bowl, while Edgar stood behind him, apparently trying to pour some liquid into the mixture, to the Queen’s dismay. Kyle was off to the side, with a pile of plates in his arms that wobbled and menaced to fall apart, while Lancelot organized several cups and cutlery that floated around him gently. His eyes were a deep crimson - he was taking advantage of his situation. They all froze as they saw me, and we were left in silence for a few heartbeats until Jonah spoke again.
“You idiots, it was supposed to be a surprise!”
Kyle turned his head towards Jonah, trying to stabilize the mountain of plates in his hands, “You were the one who was screaming all the time, don’t blame it on us.”
“ And you were insistent on only doing the cooking yourself. I want to help out too, you know?” There was a sinister sparkle in Edgar’s eyes, “I’m sure I could make the food ten times better with my secret ingredient-”
“Not in a million years!” Jonah’s eyes widened at his suggestion, and he pulled the bowl in his hands further away from him.
Just as he did so, Kyle gave a step forwards, probably with the intention of putting the plates down, but the pile wobbled once again, several plates slipping off the top. I gasped and dashed to catch one of them securely in my hands, but I was late for the rest. Lancelot moved from his place to launch a spell, but it’d be too late, too. Out of the corner of my eye, however, I saw a shadow swiftly breeze past me and grab the four other plates that had fallen before they hit the floor.
The Ace of Hearts stood before the doctor, holding the now safe and undamaged dishes. The brief tension in the room was lifted, and Edgar snickered with pride.
“Great timing, Zero. See? He learnt from a great teacher.”
Jonah rolled his eyes at this, pushing the Jack of Hearts away as he continued his mixing. Kyle finally settled down the plates in the dining room opposite the kitchen, followed by Lancelot, who grabbed the remaining plates from Zero’s hands and gestured towards him.
The Ace left the kitchen without a word, passing right by me and disappearing into the corridor. I blinked at this. He was normally quiet, but he didn’t even say hello. I thought we had become a little closer since my arrival to the Red Army but… I guessed I had been wrong. The feeling of him walking right past me left a sour taste in my mouth, but I quickly tried to push it away and turned to Edgar, who now carried a few bottles in his arms and had approached me.
“So… what’s all this about?” I inquired, still quite confused at the whole situation.
Edgar smiled, stealing a glance at the now empty corridor through which Zero had left, “Since we came with you for the first time to Lancelot’s private winter home for the holidays, we wanted to celebrate it all together by making dinner for you for once, but someone ruined the entire surprise with their screaming.”
Jonah scoffed from one side of the room without turning away from his bowl, “Oh, shut it, you were annoying me!”
At the entire chaos that had once invaded the room, I allowed a laugh to ring out of my chest, reaching out for one of Edgar’s bottles with a smile.
“I really appreciate this a lot, thank you so much, everyone,” as I spoke, Lancelot and Kyle emerged from the dining room, “but let’s do this all together - you really can’t organize yourselves properly, apparently.”
“You heard her, Jonah, let’s all help you with the cooking.” Edgar quickly put down the bottles and approached the Queen, who stared at me with pleading eyes while Kyle and Lancelot laughed from the side. After picking up the bottles and continuing to the dining room, where the table had already been set, I was able to take in the sight of the room with a breathtaking view of the white forests. The room stretched out into a wide balcony with a large, wooden table and several chairs. In one of the corners was a small table with several alcoholic drinks that had already been opened. That was probably Lancelot’s “private liqueur” that Jonah had been fighting over earlier. I had a feeling Kyle probably had something to do with it.
“I wonder where Zero left to, though.” I continued, arranging the bottles along the long table, “Is he alright?”
Kyle glanced back at me from the door, and gave me a look that caused mixed feelings to spark in me, “He looked a little grim on our way here, so I’m not quite sure. He should be fine though, don’t worry about it. It isn’t rare for him to do this sort of thing - so he’ll be alright.”
I had my doubts, but I let it slide just this once, and turned towards the kitchen with a sigh as I heard Jonah scream again about something burning.
…
“A-are you sure it looks okay?” I felt blood rush to my cheeks as I twirled around in front of the tall mirror, trying to get a full view of my body.
Jonah stood by my side in my room in the winter cottage, with a finger on his lips as he watched his work with determined, narrowed eyes. He eyed my outfit up and down, and after hours of trying out different combinations of both hairstyles, shoes and dresses, he finally nodded.
“You look a little more worthy of your title as a princess, Alice. I knew I could do it.” A smug smile lit up his lips as he carefully arranged a few loose strands of my hair. “I’m sure even King Lancelot will be impressed.”
Seeing how it was my first time at the winter house, we had decided to make the dinner a little bit like a formal party, just… without the overdone etiquette. As any other party, we had all agreed upon dressing up for the occasion, and Jonah had insisted on helping me with my dress for some reason. I wasn’t too surprised, but it had been going on for hours on end. He was a very indecisive man.
The dress we had finally settled with was a sleeve-less, navy blue, long dress that was covered with a thin layer of transparent, glittery fabric on the bottom piece. The top piece had been a little tight at first, but with some patience and needles, we had managed to loosen it up a bit and make it fit perfectly. With the dress, I wore a pair of flats that were the same colour as the dress and a thin, silver chain that held a small, embroidered heart around my neck. We had decided to let my hair fall loose around me, according to Jonah, to “outline my face better”, or something along the lines. I’m not quite sure what he meant.
He smiled finally at the result, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, now that’s perfect!” He himself was wearing a black suit, that contrasted well with his fair skin and hair, along with a red rose in his jacket’s chest pocket.
“You don’t look bad yourself,” I grinned, “black suits you well.”
His pride showed through his eyes again, and he was about to speak when someone knocked on the door.
“Are you guys done?” Kyle’s voice was heard from the other side of the door, “The food’s ready, and no one will let me drink until we settle for the food.”
“We’re almost done!” Jonah then smiled at me, and grabbed one of my hands quickly, putting something in it and curling my fingers around it. “I’ll go on ahead, but you put that on and come last. I want everyone to focus only on my masterpiece. Especially- well, you’ll see in a bit.”
As quickly as he had spoken he was out the door, and left me staring at myself in the mirror in silence. I opened my hand slowly to find the crystal snowflake that I had found earlier, but it had somehow been attached to a hair pin, and polished.
“How did he-” I began, but shrugged and pulled it onto my hair with a smile. It seemed to pulse gently with a recurrent, warm light that relaxed my nerves. I then stepped back and gave myself one last full look before stepping out the door and heading downstairs.
As I stepped down the stairs, my shoes making soft pats on the wood, I heard the hushed, hurried voices from the dining hall become silent. What were they talking about? I couldn’t help but ponder on the entire situation, but I calmed my rushing thoughts and entered the dining room. As soon as I was in, a confetti cone blasted in my face. At which, I almost jumped in surprise.
“Surprise!” Edgar smiled brightly from the side as he held the cone, while the other members stood in the center of the room, dressed with party suits. The table had been decorated with colourful candles, and a pair of string letters had been hung on the walls, which said: ‘Welcome, Alice!’ in bold, bright letters.
“We never really welcomed you to the Red Army, so we decided to bring you here to celebrate.” It was Lancelot this time, who wore a feeble smile on his face.
“It was a surprise party all along! We almost ruined it, but we kind of pulled it off in the end.” Jonah smiled triumphantly.
“Well, you almost ruined it.” Edgar flashed Jonah a smirk.
“Oh, stop that, will you!” The Queen retorted, turning his eyes away.
Kyle approached me with a drink in hand, placing a hand on my shoulder and smiling, “Welcome, Alice. You’re officially one of us now, huh?”
I couldn’t contain my happiness enough, feeling as though my faucet was at its limit. I felt my eyes water and brushed my tears away. “Thank you all so much, I’m so thankful. And- yeah, I guess I am.”
Soon, we settled for dinner, and while we ate, I suddenly realized that Zero was still nowhere to be seen. I finished chewing on some chicken and put down my fork and knife.
“Where’s Zero, by the way?”
Edgar shrugged from one side of the table, but Kyle was the one to speak as he gave one last sip to his drink. “He said he was feeling sick, so he won’t be joining us tonight, unfortunately.”
Zero was sick? That was probably the first time I’d ever heard of him falling ill. It was understandable though, considering the amount of stress and physical demand that was normally put on his body. I nodded in understanding.
“We should take some food up to his room when we’re done though, I’m sure he’s hungry. Actually, I’ll take some to him right n-” I was about to stand up, when Jonah pulled my arm down, forcing me to sit back down abruptly.
“Oh, but we haven’t finished eating!” He looked around at the others, signaling towards Kyle, who stood up in a second and left the room. Turning to me, he smiled, “We still have to eat dessert! You can go see him afterwards, I’m sure he can wait.”
“But he’s sick!” I began to protest, freeing myself from his grasp and standing up firmly, pushing my chair away from the table and heading towards the door, “We’re all having fun while he sits in his room alone. He deserves a little attention too! You’ve all been ignoring him all day, and I know he’s quiet and it’s normal for him, but he also needs some recognition. He’s a lot smarter than he looks, and he means a lot to me - he’s my friend too! I’m going t-”
I swiftly turned around, but the lights suddenly turned off, and through the door came in Kyle holding a cake with candles on it. By his side, stood a figure in the darkness holding a gorgeous bouquet of white roses.
The figure approached me as I stood there, in shock, with a hand covering my mouth and feeling my pulse quicken in my chest. He looked at me with the most gentle, meaningful smile I had ever seen, and handed me the bouquet. His blue eyes watched me in complete silence, and he stood still, wearing a white tux that contrasted so beautifully with his tanned skin and the tattoo on his neck. In his chest pocket, he also carried a white rose that matched the bouquet.
For the first time, the sight of Zero made my heart race.
“I’m not great at expressing myself or talking to people, but…” The smile on his lips widened, “Welcome to the Red Army, Alice.”
My instant impulse forced me to run into his arms, tears in my eyes. At first his body seemed stiff at the sudden embrace, but soon enough, his arms curled around me too, and we stood there in silent contentment. Everything around us seemed to disappear, and it was just us in the room.
“The others told me you were sick. I was about to go and take you some food.” I said as we broke off the hug, though one of his hands remained linked with one of mine.
He looked down at the ground with a smile, “Yeah, I heard that.”
Wait, had he heard everything I had said? My cheeks turned hot at the thought. I frantically tried to remember what I had said exactly, and looked up at his expression to search for any signs. But he just wore that same, joyful smile. He surely was smarter than he looked, so I assumed he had heard everything.
“I- I meant it though!”
Surprise fluttered on his eyes and mouth for a moment, and he nodded after a second, staring at me straight in the eye.
“I know.”
Jonah suddenly cut him off, “Will you two lovebirds finish up sometime before dawn? Alice has some candles to blow out, and Kyle’s been standing there for five minutes with the cake.”
The doctor let out a laugh, setting the cake down on the table, “Thanks for remembering I’m here.”
Zero let my hand go and approached the table, now looking at me with the others. I watched them all with a smile as I stepped towards them and looked down at the cake. With a smile on my face, I closed my eyes and made a wish - a wish for them, for Zero and for me. A wish for the war and our peace. I wished for happiness.
And I blew out the candles.