Chapter Text
It was cold. Like really cold. But up in the snowy mountains, it was always cold. Mapicc huddled around a campfire, shivering as he toasted his freezing hands to the fire, which was the only thing keeping Mapicc from freezing to death.
'W-w-when is s-spoke coming b-back?' he whispered to Jumper, who was sitting next to him, warming her hands.
Jumper shook her head, too cold to speak. Mapicc understood her, though. Whenever spoke was done leading Leo's soldiers away from their temporary base, and from the vunerable Mapicc and Jumper. He nodded at her and turned his head back to the fire, which flared happily at his attention. He stared into the glowing embers as he chewed on a golden carrot. When would spoke be coming back? Was he okay? Did he need help? Was he in trouble? Mapicc shook these negative thoughts out of his head. Of course Spoke would be fine, he was Spoke after all.
As he sat, staring at nothing particular, Spoke's sudden teasing, mocking voice was at the entrance of the cave.
'I am heeerree!' he said, removing his hacked-up armour.
He plopped down beside Mapicc and started cleaning it, trying to remove the damage by splashing xp and sheer willpower. Mapicc didn't understand why he loved that chestplate so much. But he knew that most of the things Spoke did was for a reason, and he did not want to question him.
'What t-took you so l-long?' Jumper asked Spoke skeptically.
Spoke sighed dramatically. 'Leo wouldn't let go of me,' he said, carefully storing the armour piece in his inventory. 'Had to lead them around the mountain and back down again, then through the forest with my pre-prepared traps.'
Mapicc nodded and stared out of the small cave opening. Night had fallen, and it was Jumper's turn to keep watch while he and Spoke rested. It was still cold out there, but now with Spoke back, he felt safer, lighter. And really starting to feel sleepy. His head drooped, and his legs felt like lead. He was content now, as comfy as he could be against the now-warm, hard stone floor. Beside him, Spoke's head rested on his shoulder as he snuggled in next to Mapicc. Even Jumper, who was sitting at the opening of the cave, relaxed as she quietly whistled a harmonious, bittersweet tune.
He lay down beside to the fire, which flickered dreamily. Spoke flopped down next to him, and curled into his side for warmth. As his eyes started to close and mind begin to slip into a deep sleep, the last thing he heard was Jumper's sweet tune, so much like the lullaby of a mother that used to sing him to sleep, and Spoke's arms wrapped around him in a hug, like the warmth of his mother's arms as she rocked him, singing that melody with such love in her voice, oh he could remember her so clearly now. What usually was a indistinct memories, a thick wall of fog that hid his mother's face from view, was now as clear as day.
Her pale skin, smooth as alabaster, and her sharp crimson eyes framed by a pair of thick, long eyelashes. Her dark hair that fell over her face but never covered her motherly beauty, oh how he missed her now. Not that he'd object to becoming friends with Spoke, it was when she had left him forever, and he was found by Spoke, when his life had really began. Adventuring with him had given Mapicc a perspective that he loved, a brief window of excitement, anxiety of the high-stakes battles that he had won. Yet he sometimes still reminisced of the hazy life before everything else.
Mapicc sighed quietly. He was alive. He was here, safe with Spoke and Jumper watching for danger.