Chapter Text
Pisces
Pisces shivered and slowly climbed up the steep mountain. She hugged the tattered cloth she called a coat around her, wishing she had something to guard her against the howling winds of the north. Her clear, pale green eyes glistened with unshed tears that froze, leaving her vision impaired, and she wished for something, anything, to take away the unbearable pain of walking any further. As the hours slowly churned, she passed nothing but rocks, dead trees, and icy wasteland.
In the distance, there was a howl, and Pisces was reminded of the dangers that lurked in the wild. She wasn’t usually afraid of wolves, or any animal, for that matter… but she also usually had a weapon on her as well.
Pisces’ teeth chattered, and her fogged breath came in short gasps as each of her feet took an agonizing step forward. One after another.
Must keep going.
Can’t stop.
Soon, her vision began to blur, and it wasn’t from the tears. Pisces realized that she hadn’t eaten in 8… no, 12… more like roughly 20 hours. The dizzy spell caused her to stumble, and as she fell painfully, surrounded by snow, she thought, hey, maybe this isn’t so bad.
She knew closing her eyes would mean never opening them again, but the weight of everything that had happened took its toll.
She could sleep for just a minute or two.
As her dark lashes drooped, Pisces felt cold, then numb, then… nothing.
——————
Alexei
“Oi! Maxim! Come back here!” Alexei shouted.
In the blizzard, he wasn’t able to see more than a few feet in front of him, and just as he began to panic, the dopey grin of a furry, wet Maxim bounded over the slope and bolted straight to Alexei.
After his daily bathroom break, Maxim always brought back a present to Alexei; usually, it was a rock or a stick of some sort. If he was extremely unlucky, Alexei would be greeted with a dead rodent; if he was lucky, he’d get some trinket that a traveler had lost.
But today, there was… nothing.
Alexei frowned in confusion, and before he knew it, Maxim was tugging on his pant leg. He’s trying to lead me somewhere.
Following his loyal companion, Alexei headed into the storm, winds slapping his face with frozen debris.
When the dog stopped abruptly, Alexei looked around, seeing nothing except the vague silhouettes of a few stones and a dead log.
Then Maxim trotted over to the log and nudged it. It rolled over, and a mass of dark curls tumbled out of it.
Not a log.
A person.
Alexei looked at Maxim, who was waiting patiently for his owner’s approval. “Khoroshiy mal’chik, good boy!”
Alexei scrambled over the snow to the person, and squinting, he could see tinted blue lips and an extremely pale face.
Hypothermia. Critical.
He gently pressed his fingers against the person’s neck, feeling a faint pulse.
Alive.
Without hesitating, Alexei picked up the person and let their head roll against his shoulder, carrying the stranger to his tiny cabin.
——————
Pisces
Pisces groaned, struggling to open her heavy eyelids. She had never felt so sore in her life. As she turned over to nudge her sister awake, she froze.
She was in a bed.
She had never in her life owned a bed.
Then she heard footsteps from behind the door. Someone was pacing.
Without warning, she jumped up and quickly scanned the room for a weapon. Her brain quickly registered everything: bookshelf, table, wood, and jackpot! An axe leaned on some logs in the corner, begging to be used.
Pisces grabbed the axe and picked it up. But she misjudged how heavy it was going to be, and she lost her balance, falling to the ground with a dull thump.
The pacing behind the door abruptly came to a halt, and a second later, the door burst open, and a guy was in the room.
Pisces’ muscles twitched as she swung the axe around so the blade was in front of her. Her gaze narrowed in warning: don’t come any closer.
The guy looked alarmed and put his hands up in surrender, taking a step back. “Polozhi topor vniz.” (Put the axe down.)
Pisces’ eyes just narrowed as she stepped forward, arms shaking from the weight of the weapon. She had no clue what he just said, but it sounded threatening.
In a flash, the guy was behind her, and he grabbed the axe, swinging her around so that the blade was inches from her chest. “YA predupredil vas, chtoby polozhit' yego vniz.” (I warned you to put it down.)
She glared at him, angry that she could now be killed and angrier that she didn’t know what he was saying.
Knowing full well that it was a risky move, Pisces crossed her arms over her chest and took the tiniest step forward so that the blade touched the space between her collarbones.
Then she gave him the worst look in all of history. Kill me. I dare you, her eyes screamed.
The guy went from pissed off to a mixture of surprise and confusion in half a second. “Chto delayesh'? YA mog by ubit' tebya.” (What are you doing? I could kill you.)
Pisces didn’t respond, staring blankly at him. He sighed, lowering the axe and gesturing to the bed with his head. “Idi sadis'.” (Go sit down.)
Pisces saw the tilt of his head and walked over to the bed, standing beside it. He left the room and returned without the axe. Walking up to her, he reached out; she flinched, the motion reminding her of something better left forgotten. But he just pushed her down by her shoulders so she sat on the edge of the bed.
“Kak tebya zovut?” (What’s your name?)
She stared blankly at him.
“Vy ne mozhete govorit'?” (Can you not speak?)
No response.
“Yesli ty menya ponimayesh', kivni golovoy.” (If you understand me, nod your head.)
Nothing.
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then an idea formed. He pointed to himself. “Alexei.” Then he picked up her hand, closing all the fingers except for one, and pointed it to herself.
Still no response.
Pisces was pretty sure that Alexei was his name based on the gesture, but she could not communicate back.
Alexei left the room, and when he came back, he had a pen and paper. He shoved it at her, and she took it, writing: I do not understand.
“Ah, so you understand English. My English is passable.”
She blinked and nodded, surprised of how well he hid the Russian accent.
“You can speak, yes?”
She shook her head.
“I thought you would be dead by now. Why were you up here? It is a mountain in the middle of nowhere. And what kind of traveler packs that light?” He shook his head. “That was stupid of you.”
Pisces’ temper flared, and her expression turned dark. She scribbled, doesn’t matter. How did I get here?
“Wrong. It does matter, and you will tell me all about it later. Maxim found you half-dead in the snow. You are welcome, by the way.”
Pisces snorted. I didn’t ask for your help, she wrote.
He looked at her with disgust. “This is why I do not live near people,” he muttered. “I should have just left you out to die.”
She looked at him, taking in the dark hair and weirdly golden eyes. What normal person has golden eyes?
When she didn’t respond, Alexei walked to the door. “There is food and water in the kitchen. Do not expect to stay here long, because as soon as you can manage to take care of yourself, you are gone.”
He turned the doorknob, and as it opened, a wild animal bounded into the room. Pisces grabbed a book and held it over her shoulder, ready to swing it at the wolf-like creature’s face.
“Maxim! Stop!”
The animal immediately reacted, screeching to a halt right before Pisces smashed the book into its face.
“What the hell are you doing?” Alexei demanded, his gaze sweeping to the book in her hand. “He is the reason you are not dead.”
That creature was the Maxim that Alexei mentioned?!
“He is my dog, so he will not hurt you.”
Pisces picked up the notepad and pen, writing, dog?
“Yes, dog.”
That is a wolf, she scribbled.
“What? No. Have you ever even seen a dog before?”
Embarrassed at his tone, Pisces shook her head sheepishly.
“He is harmless.” Pisces tensed as the wol-- no, dog-- approached her, and then he licked her leg.
Her face scrunched in disgust and surprise, and she leapt back so fast that her back smashed into the wall. She groaned.
“So you can speak. I heard that; if you were unable to talk, you could not have made that noise,” Alexei said.
As usual, Pisces didn’t respond.
“Fine, just be stubborn all you want. You will be gone soon anyway. Just try to annoy me as little as possible, and do not bother me.”
He opened the door, and Maxim went out, but Alexei hesitated. “What is your name?”
Pisces took the pen and paper, but Alexei shook his head. “No, you need to say it. Do not write it.”
She shook her head. I can’t.
This seemed to be a bad response, because Alexei’s eyes darkened. “Fine then.” Each word was as sharp as a knife. He slammed the door behind him.
——————
Pisces was exhausted, and she wanted to sleep, but she tossed and turned all night, unable to shut off her brain.
Finally, after her stomach’s insistent whining, she decided to get up and have something to eat. It had been a few days since her last meal, and she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen that reminded her of that fact.
As quietly as possible, she tiptoed to the door, opening it; it made an obnoxiously loud creak, and she cringed, hoping that wherever Alexei was, he didn’t hear it. After a few seconds of silence, she wandered around, searching for the kitchen. It wasn’t hard to find because the cabin was so tiny. The giant area in the center served as both a kitchen and sitting room, and there were a few doors on two of the walls—probably another bedroom and a bathroom.
As she stood on her toes and opened cabinets, looking for something to eat, a low voice came from behind her.
“You know, you should probably look in the fridge.”
Pisces stiffened in shock. She didn’t think she was loud, so why was he awake?
She whirled around to see Alexei leaning against a wall.
“There is better stuff in the fridge. You can make a sandwich or whatever. Or not. You can starve for all I care.” He looked away.
Pisces ran back to her room, grabbed the pen and paper, and scribbled, fridge?
“Oh no, do not tell me you do not know what a fridge is.”
Pisces shook her head.
“Honestly, do you live in the stone ages? Am I going to have to show you how to do everything?” His eyebrows rose for a moment, and his accent became noticeable. “You do know how to use a bathroom, right?”
Pisces’ eyes widened and she nodded rapidly, the blood rushing to her face.
Alexei visibly relaxed, his usual scowl returning. “Good. Because I was not going to explain how that works anyhow.”
Of course.
Alexei strode over to the thing that was called a fridge and opened it. It had big metal doors and a tiny cold room inside to store food. As he made a sandwich, he explained what a microwave, toaster, dishwasher, and other various appliances were. Pisces listened intently. She thought it was a miracle that one could simply place food in a box and press buttons to make it hot instead of waiting for a pot of water to boil over a fire.
The sandwich was the best thing she had ever tasted.
She ate it in under twenty seconds, and Alexei looked… impressed? No, probably annoyed, as usual.
“There are some spare clothes in the bathroom. I do not have any girl things, so we will have to go to the market tomorrow, if you are feeling up to it. But they should do for now.”
Pisces smiled a little at the way he spoke. The lack of contractions reminded her of a little kid talking.
She nodded and went to the bathroom, where a plaid button-down and sweatpants waited for her. She showered quickly, scrubbing the dirt off. Immediately afterwards she slipped the clothes on, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
Her brown hair was already curling at the edges, despite still being wet from the shower. She looked gaunt and hollow, like she hadn’t slept in ages, and her body had become all angles from the lack of food and extreme conditions. Pisces sighed.
It would have to do.
——————