Chapter Text
Pristine peaks, evening time.
The setting of the sun warms the chill of the snow-covered mountains.
It was a cold and peaceful evening in Pristine Peaks. The aroma of warm fires and a concoction of many various hot drinks fill the winter air. Friends and family wave goodbye to each other for the evening and shovel themselves back inside their homes to cope with the impending cold of the night.
Barefoot in the snow, a fluffy pink-haired rabbid named Popsicle was on her way home to her cabin, satchel in hand. Popsicle had only just come back from a long expedition with her friends, and was looking forward to crashing back at her cabin before being called over another adventure, not before making a quick stop for supplies. The sharp blade nestled over her shoulder bobbed up and down as she skipped across the snowy landscape. Intermittently, she would stop to look at the sky- mesmerised by the stars and the watercolour sunset.
The jolly atmosphere of the evening is disturbed by the sound of clanging metal, the thumping of heavy fists and a strange hissing noise. The sounds drew the attention of a few residents, Popsicle in particular, who was startled out of her daydreaming. After taking a cautious couple of steps forward, she noticed what looked to be splattering's of wriggling black ooze.
Popsicle recalled the rumours of an infestation of black ooze spreading throughout the galaxy, followed by bands of dangerous monsters and soldiers serving under the name of 'Cursa' -or so she heard. Could this infestation finally have spread to Pristine Peaks- and if so, what would that mean for the residents? Popsicle reached for her blade, drawing it out as it shimmered with crystalline ice.
Carefully hopping up the mountainside, she spied a gang of suspicious individuals. The gang consisted of a few giant rabbids dressed like blue tigers, aswell as smaller rabbids in red and blue cloaks. She started to get closer, holding out her blade defensively in case they noticed her, but the mob seemed preoccupied circling a figure which had only just come into her view.
Popsicle noticed a black-and-green haired rabbid crouching in the centre of the circling hostiles, carrying around an enormous blade. The sword-wielding rabbid brushed herself off and staggered upwards, pointing her blade at the mob. Even from a distance, Popsicle could tell that the stranger had taken quite the beating, but showed no signs of stepping out of the fight. She felt compelled to help the mysterious stranger- as the healer of her own team she felt obligated to lend to support to those in need, and this mystery rabbid was clearly outnumbered by Cursa's minions on her own.
Popsicle made a move towards the enemies, and ducked herself neatly behind a rock just inches away from one of the cloaked rabbids. Taking a deep breath, Popsicle readied herself for the possibility of stepping into the fight. She peered over the side of the rock, searching for an opening to make an attack, but was quickly caught of guard by a fast-moving spinning flash hurtling towards her at full force. She quickly ducked out of the way as an enormous blade came whirling by, cutting one of the cloaked rabbids into a mess of shredded cloth and sooty dust. The blade span around back to where its owner stood, the gothic rabbid caught her sword one-handed before whirling around in another direction to launch it again. Enemy after enemy met a grizzly end to the blade's might. Popsicle leaned against the rock, admiring the show.
The mysterious rabbid was relaxed despite her rough condition, appearing to be showing off rather than taking this battle seriously. She lunged herself into the frozen tiger, knocking it for six despite being half as tall. As the tiger tumbled off of the cliff's edge, she threw her blade upwards, somersaulted backwards to grab it mid-air, landed in-between the rest of the cloaked rabbids and slashed each and every one of them in half with a single hurricane motion.
The air was swarmed with thick black dust, reaching to the sky in a frantic dance. The warrior stood in the centre of the swirling black dust, panting wildy. She fixed her jacket, chuckling to herself, as Popsicle watched from the sidelines, completely speachless. Her martial prowess, her tasteful fashion, her bold confidence- Popsicle thought she was stunning. Whether she thought she was stunning because of the way she fought or some other reason she wasn't sure, however she wasn't given time to ponder that thought as the stranger turned her head to face her. The warrior, who so valiantly fought off Cursa's soldiers, locked her cold blue eyes with Popsicle.
Popsicle was caught completely by surprise, she let out a sharp gasp, causing her to breath in some of the black dust. The strange powder overwhelmed her senses- a horrible metallic taste stung in her mouth, her lungs felt heavy, her sight vanished and her head emptied into nothing. She coughed and wheezed in fits, helping to restore her sight and feeling in her nerves. As the black fog and migraine blaring in her ears started to clear, she could see the cold blue eyes of the stranger staring her dead on. The wheezing slowed down, and just as quickly as her senses left they returned to her once again, leaving her staring up at a furious and bewildered goth rabbid.
"Who- what- who are- what are you doing here?!?" the stranger shouted, fumbling on her words. She clearly wasn't expecting an audience, not knowing whether to perceive her as a threat or not.
Popsicle opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, just pathetic squeaks and a quiet "I- u-uh.." The angry expression on the goth rabbids face started to falter.
"Look, do you have ANY idea how much danger you could have put yourself in?!" She gestured over to where the stooges were, maintaining eye-contact with Popsicle. "These are soldiers of Cursa's army your dealing with, its not the place of any ordinary rabbid to get involved, they WILL hurt you."
Popsicle noticed the tiger had slowly started to crawl its way back up from the side of the mountain. Popsicle, struggling to formulate the words "look out!" or "behind you!", waved madly in the direction of the blue tiger bounding towards the two of them in a frantic effort to get her attention.
"Shit, she must still be delirious from the darkmess dust, she probably can't even hear me!" The goth rabbid muttered to herself.
Popsicle, could in fact, hear everything she was saying, and even managed to formulate a pathetic sounding "th-there!" while pointing in direction of the tiger, who was already in a position to rush them.
"Hm?" the goth rabbid puzzled, finally turning around. The blue tiger rabbid let out a deep guttural growl before charging directly at the stranger. Popsicle watched the strangers eyes widen as all confidence she saw before vanished in an instant, only having the time to duck her arms over her face defensively before the tiger slammed its fist down in front of her.
The force of the tiger's fist slamming down sent the stranger flying backwards into the snow, crashing into several trees and sliding even further off the mountain as she desperately tried to find her footing again. Watching her tumble bruised and helpless caused righteous fury to surge through Popsicle, she withdrew her sword in retaliation and pierced the hide of the already weakened enemy, destroying it immediately. Popsicle covered her face before she could choke on this so called "darkmess dust" again, and scoured the mountainside to see where the stranger went.
Thankfully it didn't take long for Popsicle to find where she'd landed; following the trail of disturbed snow and feint bloodstains she could see the stranger, curled up and wincing in pain. Panic started to set in- but why? Why did she feel such a dire need to protect a complete stranger? Of course it would be the right thing to do anyway, but the sheer intensity and urgency to rush to her aid was... strange to say the least. Something about her was so compelling- she wanted to know more about her.
Popsicle landed at the foot of the mountain, just inches away from where the stranger lay. Slowly, the goth rabbid raised her head to look at Popsicle. Her bright blue eyes looked weary and pained, it was difficult for her to hide her condition no matter how she tried.
"Mmmn…. you again..?" she mumbled, spluttering on snow. Facing her- an intimidating stranger- made Popsicle feel irrationally anxious, but now wasn't the time for nerves.
"H-hello, are you o- no, c-can you move at all?"
The stranger shakily tried to hoist herself up, but the moment she put weight on her left arm she immediately flopped back down pathetically. "Fuck! No not really..." the stranger yelled, grabbing her bruised and scratched arm.
Popsicle crouched down to help her, but the minute she got closer the stranger unexpectantly flinched. The two just stared at each other for a moment, as if unsure how to feel about the other. After a period of silence, Popsicle slowly held her hand out, and despite her hesitation the stranger took it to help herself up. Staggering to her feet, the goth rabbid grabbed her sword, which attached itself to her back like a magnet. When Popsicle let go of her hand, the stranger immediately toppled forward into the snow. Popsicle let out a short yelp, and she instinctively wrapped her arm around hers to lift her back up. After getting up, the stranger locked eyes with her; she looked confused- scared even, like she couldn't fathom why some weird and wimpy rabbid would try to go out of her way to rescue her.
"Are you ok?" Popsicle whispered. "I'm... Who are you?" grumbled the stranger, still wincing in pain.
"Popsicle. I live around these parts."
The stranger chuckled, unable to hide her own amusement. "Popsicle? I mean, I suppose it's not the strangest name." Popsicle looked at her disapprovingly, this far from the first time she got this reaction, although it was relieving to see her in lighter spirits even if it was at her own expense. "Name's Edge, I'm sorry for putting you on the spot earlier." Edge looked over to her impromptu carer with a weary smirk, looking a little less uncomfortable than she was a moment ago.
Popsicle shuffled through her own bag, looking for something. "Hang on a moment, I have some balms I could use to treat your wounds with! Um- only if you're ok with that that is, I-I can see that you're uncomfortable- I mean I would be in your situatio-"
"Woah woah, slow the hell down, I can't understand you if you're speaking in a million miles per hour." Despite her initial discomfort, Edge saw no reason to distrust the other rabbid, she seemed genuinely concerned for her well-being, something that not many other rabbids she'd met have ever even considered- hospitality from anyone was hard to come by in her profession, and who was she to reject a girl named after a freezy treat?
"Ok... um, Edge was it? My balms are all at my place, a-and I don't think its a good idea for you to be out in the snow for too long in your condition." Edge looked at her understandingly. "I-I'd like you to come back with me to my place, just so I could monitor your condition. I'm a healer for my own team, so I know what I'm doing if you were worried about that."
Edge paused for a moment before shrugging. "Sure, don't think I have any better options- lead the way I guess."
Popsicle was relieved to see the return of Edge's smug confidence like she saw before, it made her feel less awkward in asking her to come home with her. Popsicle started to walk with Edge joined to her by the arm, Edge forgetting that she had her weight pressed against Popsicle for balance nearly fell flat again. Popsicle stopped her before she went down to kiss the snow again, and giggled at her clumsiness. Edge rolled her eyes playfully, trying to keep steady footing while using Popsicle as support.
The sky was completely dark now, and the snowfall grew heavier; yet despite that, Popsicle guided her new acquaintance through the night, determined to get her home safe before her wounds could get any worse.