Chapter Text
It was an oddly cold, late summer night as Officer Winter Schnee patrolled the streets of Patch Island. The night to her seemed quiet and uneventful, but the illusion of peace she perceived was broken when a frantic call from dispatch came through on the radio in her police cruiser.
“Calling all units! Calling all units! 10-71 at the mall on Maidens Way and Garden Ave. Repeat, we have an active shooting in progress. One shooter confirmed, armed with a handgun. All nearby units, respond!”
A chorus of officer responses followed.
“Unit R-7-15, responding.”
“Unit R-7-200, responding.”
“Unit R-7-55, responding.”
Winter picked up the radio in her cruiser, hearing it crackle as she pushed the speak button. “Unit R-7-89, responding.”
Winter hit the sirens and made a sharp U-turn at the first stoplight she found, speeding to the mall as orders from dispatch came in.
“Units R-7-15, 55, 42, and 39 enter through the main entrance. Unit’s R-7-19, 200, 100, and 75 cover the side entrance. Unit’s R-7-10 and 89, cover the rear entrance.”
“Copy.” responded Winter and her fellow officers. Winter had only had to respond to one active shooting before, happening 6 months after she joined the force when the now Captain Ironwood was her training officer. Now, over 10 years later, they would be facing this together again. It would be an unfortunate reunion.
Winter raced to the back entrance of the mall, slamming the brakes when she arrived, the roar of her tires echoing into the night as they screeched against the pavement.
“Unit R-7-89 on scene.” Winter called out into her shoulder radio as she exited her cruiser and drew her weapon.
“Winter, ETA 40 seconds.” responded Captain Ironwood. “Check the entrance, then wait for me.”
“Copy, Captain.”
Winter rushed to the back door of the mall, seeing light creeping out from under the door. Then she heard two distant gunshots, followed by screams coming from inside the mall.
“Shots fired! Shots fired! Doesn’t sound like from the back entrance.” Winter said into her radio, wondering where the hell everyone else was. She took a deep breath and opened the back door, raising her gun as she scanned the interior of the mall and checked her corners. She found a body with navy blue hair laying face down in front of her, their clothes stained crimson as they lay in a pool of their own blood.
“Shooter not at back entrance. One victim found. Getting them outside. Need paramedic!” Winter yelled into her radio as she ran to the body in front of her. When she flipped the body over to check them, she took in their face as they let out a visceral blood filled cough.
Winter’s heart shattered.
It was her best friend. Her best friend who disappeared over 15 years ago and hadn’t been seen since.
“Oh god no.” Winter gasped as her friend opened their eyes.
“W… Winter?” they said as they looked up at her.
“DISPATCH! PARAMEDIC! BACK ENTRANCE! NOW!” Winter screamed into the radio on her shoulder.
She felt a wet hand touch her face, and looked back down to her friend, their mouth bloody, but curled in a smile. “I finally fou-”
They let out a short gasp.
Winter watched in horror as the light and life slowly left their amber eyes, and as their bloody hand drifted off her face, slamming onto the floor.
“NO!”
Winter shot up out of her bed, her face wet from a mixture of sweat and tears, her breathing rapid and heavy. Running on instinct, she tried to get her bearings to slow her breathing.
She looked around her, seeing her bedroom instead of the back entry of a mall.
Her breathing got a little slower.
She patted her body, feeling the soft, thin fabric of her pajamas as it pressed against her chest and stomach instead of the thick fabric of her police uniform as it pressed against the bulky bullet-proof vest underneath.
Her breathing slowed a little more.
She felt her face and looked at her damp hand. Her room was dark, but the light from outside brightened it enough for her to see that her hand was clear instead of the horrid crimson she was expecting.
Her breathing slowed a little more.
She heard a soft pitter-patter and looked up to see her 2 year old cat Fria, her fur as white as Winter’s hair, walking into her bedroom, then laying down to look at her.
Her breathing finally returned to normal. She fully realized everything she just saw wasn’t real. She would have called it a nightmare, but nightmare seemed like too soft a word.
Winter felt her eyes well with tears. She usually wasn’t one to express her emotions freely, no Schnee child was after how their father “raised” them, but she was alone with no one but Fria to see or hear her. Bringing her hands up to her face, she let her tears flow and sobbed, but only for a minute.
She reached into her nightstand drawer, grabbing her phone and her half of a silver flower friendship necklace, clutching the latter in her left hand as she held it over her heart. With her right, she unlocked her phone, and scrolled through her contacts to one labeled “M.”
She called the number. It didn't go through, just like the last few hundred times.
“Fucking Marigolds.” She hated saying that name, even if it was her best friend's name too.
She checked the time on her phone. 2:17 AM.
She checked the date underneath. September 19th.
It was the 16th anniversary of the day her friend disappeared.
No, was sent away. Nothing the other Marigolds ever said would make her believe anything but that they sent her friend away. She would never run away without telling Winter. She told Winter everything. Trusted her with everything.
She told Winter about how bad she wanted to leave Atlas. She told Winter how she wanted to leave her family business and do something to help people in Mantle, something her family would never approve of. The people of Mantle were poor, and to the Marigolds and so many other rich families in Atlas, if you didn’t have money, you didn’t have value.
She told Winter and showed her the tattoo of a blue and white butterfly that she got on the underside of her right forearm near her elbow, another thing that her family would never approve of.
She came out to Winter, and said that Winter was the only person she knew personally that she had told, at least so far, even keeping it out of her journals. She told Winter some of the names she was thinking of being hers. She hadn’t decided on a name before she was sent away. Winter hated not knowing her name.
Winter scrolled through the text messages she still had on her phone from all these years. Lots of unanswered Happy Birthday texts, New Years texts, and other holiday texts, along with so many that simply said “I miss you.” She continued to scroll up the text log, stopping at one in particular that she had sent.
Winter: “I need to come over. We need to talk. I’ll be there soon.”
It was from the night she found out her friend was gone, one of the most painful nights of Winter’s life. She cried for hours that night.
Just like her friend told Winter everything, Winter told her friend everything too.
At least almost everything…
Winter plopped down in her bed and stared up at her ceiling, familiar thoughts going through her head.
Where did they send you?
Why did they send you away?
I hope you’re okay.
I hope you’re safe and happy.
I know you would never leave without telling me first.
I know you would try to contact me, and that someone or something must be stopping you.
I miss you so much.
I…
I…
I never told you that I was in love with you.
Tears began to roll down Winter’s cheeks again, that last thought repeating in her head over and over. A lump formed in her throat.
She rolled onto her side, clutching her pillow and closing her eyes, begging for sleep to take her again for a few hours, but knowing full well there was no way she was going to be able to sleep again tonight.