Sweet Nightmares: A Monstrous Beginning

Alice: Pointless Pity [Chapter Nine]

"Can't you go any slower!?"

"Can't you shut up!?"

This stupid dog! This was a horrible decision, why did I ever agree to ride this godforsaken-!

Not able to finish my thought, a sudden gust of snow and ice bombarded our group from ahead.

I shielded my face and waited for it to pass. We must have entered the mountain pass for snow like this. 

When the wind seemed to be pacifying, I opened my eyes once more. The first thing I could see was, of course, a face full of black fur, but aside from that, the sky was a little brighter. If lighter meant "A little less black than usual" that is. Great, made it through the night at least. 

"Hold on tight, and not with your claws." The wolf gave a warning before suddenly raising himself higher. I quickly clung to his fur, nearly pulling it out. The ice was so cold, it nearly burned.

"What are you doing!?"

The dire didn't answer, only continuing to increase altitude. He growled to himself before suddenly evening out, almost knocking me off his back. It would have happened too, had I not had a death grip on his neck. 

After a few deep breaths to calm myself down, it dawned on me that the air was clear. "We're above the clouds," I muttered aloud and looked down. The mountains were below. As big as... Well, mountains. 

I could have totally walked around those mountains...

Yeah. 

"So are you just going to yell at me the entire time?" The dire spat his question with annoyance. 

"It depends." I shot back. Big or not, I wouldn't let an animal talk down to me. "Are you going to keep being a pest?"

With a snort, the dire began to drift. "It depends."

What an insufferable creature. 

"Just tell me how long this will be." I refrained from looking down any more. I wouldn't admit I had a fear of heights. Hopefully, it wasn't too obvious. 

The wolf didn't answer but my attention was pulled away by the sound of crying not far off in a rather familiar voice. 

I snapped towards the location, watching the dire beside me. Caramel held herself tightly, eyes clamped shut with green tears streaming down her face.

The wolf was flying a little behind, slower than the others. 

"Watergirl, you alright?" I had to raise my voice some to make sure she heard me over the wind. Caramel didn't respond though, her body looking smaller than usual, which was saying something considering how small she already was. 

She didn't look okay at all.

"Mint!"

The octokin turned around when he heard my call. I gave a nod to the girl, and he followed my eyes to look behind him, quickly looking frightened. 

"We need to land right now!" He shot toward his wolf.

The dires broke formation at his order, moving to fly side by side, but didn't make a move to move to the ground.

"What are you doing?" I poked my dire's shoulder. "Didn't you hear him? We have to land."

The dire spat, lowering his head to look down to the mountains. "We're not landing down there. Ice monsters are-"

"Just do it!" 

No time for excuses, I can't let her die. 

I remember... The cold could kill her. An ice blast like that... The rest of us may be okay but to a slime... 

The wolf barked something to the others, something only they would understand. 

Finally, they began to spiral down to the mountain like a dark tornado. 

The closer we got to the ground, the more concerned I felt I was becoming. What was this feeling?

How irritating... I couldn't possibly be caring about their wellbeing, I just needed them to stay alive so I could follow them out of this world. That's all. 

The winged dires took turns landing, the ground rumbling an echo as they did. 

I hopped off the moment I had the chance to and hurried over to Caramel in a struggle. 

The snow was thick, making it difficult to push my legs through it. 

"Hey, are you alright?" I reached out and touched her arm. Cold... Too cold.

The girl didn't answer, merely continuing to shiver. Mint rushed to my side and helped pull the girl off the wolf. 

He stumbled as he did but caught himself and clung to her tightly, like a child holding a teddy bear. "This was a horrible choice." He bit his lip. "We need to warm her up."

Way to state the obvious. "How? We are on the summit of the mountain lands, standing knee deep in snow." I took a glance down, noting the white blanket of ice. It was a little chilly to stand in but not even worth my attention. Snow and ice doesn't affect someone with no blood. 

"I... I don't know!" Mint suddenly began to shout, hugging her tighter. At this rate, he was going to hurt her. The boy was probably upset, thinking irrational. Though when I attempted to reach for her and pull her from his grip, he suddenly jerked her away. 

"Leave her alone, you're just going to hurt her even more. You monster!" Without warning, he began to run, taking off through the snow and disappearing down the summit.

It wasn't worth going after him. Right? Well, that's what I would usually think but with Caramel in danger, that wasn't much of an option. 

"What is he doing?" One of the dires spat with irritation and laid down, getting comfy in the snow. "Just... Wait here." Giving the order, I began to follow the tracks he left. He was rather quick for a little guy, wasn't he?

And insulting me like that... Yeah, totally makes me want to go save his little-

I had to take a deep breath before I blew a fuse. 

"Wait, can I..."

Cocoa hopped off his wolf, hobbling some when he hit the ground. "Can I come with?"

I only needed to take one look at him to come to a decision. Still much too weak to try, he could barely walk. "I don't think so."

I proceeded to follow the trail once more until I heard the shuffling behind me. Looking back, he stood there, looking determined. "I want to he-help my friends." He frowned, small fangs poking out his lips. 

This boy... 

Well, he was the son of a Chimera after all. Maybe he was stronger than I originally thought.

Plus it would be better for him to come along than him going off on his own after I left. 

The dires helped him because of his parents, but knowing them, they wouldn't do anything if he put himself in deliberate danger. 

Rolling my shoulders, I kneeled down as carefully as I could. "Climb onto my back. Let's go."

His face brightened and he climbed onto me as if climbing a tree. 

When I felt his grip was tight enough, I rose up again. "Aren't you cold?" 

Cocoa shrugged. "A little. I ha-have fur under my clothes though. I'm alright." 

Sighing once more, the trek down the mountain began. The deep snow did Mint no service of deceiving his trail. 

"What are these mountains anyway?" The boy wondered in a tired voice.

For a question like that, there was no clear answer. At least, not any for me. 

Mountains were mountains, that's all. One way or another, I expected to have to go through them, but not in this situation. 

Having gone around would have taken a little bit but I know I wasn't lying about our trail being a straight shot to the demons, they were a path-blocker, that's all. 

I decided not to answer his little question. 

Though the cold didn't affect me in the way it would a normal human, I could still feel it at my legs, pricking my skin like needles. With each step, it was becoming more obvious my body was cold, I just couldn't perceive such things. 

The way the snow melted into my pant legs and clung to my shoes was becoming fairly heavy, but I could keep going. I heard a heavy breath behind me, then Cocoa chuckled softly. "For an evil monster world... It's kinda... Pretty up here."

I couldn't help a chuckle. Evil he says? 

Perhaps that's how outsiders see it but in my eyes, that other world may be the evil one from what I've heard. Here, we do what we do to survive, or because it's what monsters have always known. But what's that world's excuse? 

I looked down the side of the mountain. It was a struggle to pinpoint any exacts, but I could see the dead forest and the river from here. 

"Hey, uh-"

Cutting himself off before he spoke, the boy cleared his throat. What now? 

"Hm?" I briefly looked back behind me to see him looking away. 

"I uh... I'm just curious... About who you were and all..."

Yeah, whatever. My foot must have hit a rock because at that moment, I slipped, almost falling over if I hadn't caught myself in time. Down the summit was like a large drop. One false move and we could be sledding down on our butts. 

Cocoa's grip tightened and he let out a startled noise but he seemed alright too. I exhaled before continuing. Mint is gonna get it when I find him. 

When we were in the clear, the boy continued to speak. "Can you just tell me a li-little? After you came here? What... What happened?"

Talk about that? He must be out of his mind! I didn't want to even think about it. I opened my mouth, ready to tell him off but something in me stopped the words from coming out. 

"I belonged to the demons." I started. What was I doing? "They controlled me and whispered in my ears. They made me kill, they don't me to hate, and I listened because they were all I had after I lost my family, then my body."

"Are they evil?" He questioned quietly. At that, I shook my head. 

"No." Which was true... To an extent. "Not to us, at least. The demons find their job in hurting humans. When we were close, I was human in my heart." I couldn't help a heavy sigh. 

"I lost my humanity after years of being under them. And then... They just threw me out. They became silent, they stopped guiding me, they stopped caring because I was a monster. So I ran." I spat in the snow before stepping on it. Thinking out that angered me faster than I expected it to. How could they just cast me aside like garbage? 

"I ran as far as I could, and I killed any that tried to bother me as I did. When I was finally exhausted, covered in blood, hungry, I found my cave and stayed there. Drinking makes me forget my memories, my emotions-"

"And who you are?" Cutting me off, I felt my heart momentarily freeze. 

"...Yes." I finally muttered out once I caught myself again. I didn't want to keep talking about it, especially not to someone like him. 

In such payback, I would want information about him too, but he wouldn't be able to provide me with much, or anything at all at the moment. 

Maybe I only said as much as I did because it was something to do as we walked, even I'm not sure. 

I refrained from finishing though. 

Telling him why I didn't want to kill anymore. It's not that I can't, or won't if I needed to, but because I was so tired of seeing blood all around me. Blood, more blood, that stench clung to me for years, but I feel... Conflicted. 

Some part of me told me to keep killing. A piece of me still craved it like a baby craved milk or a dog craved meat.

It was something like clockwork and without killing, the hour wouldn't chime. 

But I still refused. I was stopping myself from that pleasure. Was I dangerous to these otherworlders?

Who can tell?

Even I didn't know. 

The tracks suddenly came to an abrupt stop and a shaft laid before us. 

Did he fall through an iced-over cave? 

How far was the drop? I leaned over to inspect the inside. It was a direct shot down, but I could see the ground. Not that far at least. And it looked a lot warmer than hiking down the mountain.

Maybe Caramel was still okay. A stretch, but a possibility. 

Lucky lollipop...

I looked back to Cocoa and kneeled down. "Here. I'll go down first, then I can catch you as you come down."

He looked hesitant but nodded before releasing my back. I suddenly felt... Not all that lighter actually. What was he? Ten, Twenty pounds? 

The hole looked a little small though, would I even fit? Well, worth a shot. 

Inhale... Exhale... And step inside. 

I fell quickly and abruptly hit the cold ground. 

It may have been an 'ow' situation, though more so saying it without actually feeling any pain. That was perhaps a four-foot drop. I looked back up to Cocoa watching me from the surface. His hair screened his eyes but the way his lips curved, it appeared unsure. 

I went to stand only to hit my head on the ceiling. 

Right... Four feet high. This would be complicated. 

My body was already closed, but it was still a little too low for me to stand suitably. Instead, I kneeled before the hole and held my arms out. Still, he didn't jump. 

I grinned up, tilting my head innocently. "Is it my claws?"

The boy averted his head away, the nervous look upon his features growing. 

How vexatious...

"Just jump, we don't have time for this."

Cocoa tensed before he gazed back down and slowly lowered himself down the hole. Once he dropped, I swiftly caught him in my arms and set him down where he stood on his own. 

Well isn't he lucky to be short? I, on the other hand... 

I dropped myself to all fours and opened my body, stretching out as far as it could go. Yeah... This was comfortable. 

Crawling like the monster I was. How long has it been since I've had to do this?

"You're...." Cocoa twiddled his fingers before him. "A little... Scary."

In return, I gave him a grin. "Be lucky you aren't on my bad side. Let's go find them."

The hybrid moved in front of me, walking agonizingly slow. I'd still carry him if I could but I would need to be patient, as hard as that was right now. At least he was walking. The cave seemed to go deeper into the mountain down a narrow path until suddenly splitting into two directions. One moving up, and one down. 

The first one smelled fresh, and a soft breeze told me an exit was through there. 

The second though was damp and still. That one probably went further down. 

Logically, Mint would have tried to get out. I moved to the first path but Cocoa suddenly grabbed my shirt. "This way." He whispered, gesturing to the other one. 

"Yeah? What makes you say that?" Why would he have gone down? 

Cocoa paused before looking down the path. "His scent."

Scent? I couldn't smell anything, but I hope he was right about this. I awkwardly backed up and headed down the other path. Why couldn't a mountain cavern be just a little bigger? The farther we went, the darker it became. The crystal ice became black, looking more like an empty void. It was fairly difficult to see, but Cocoa didn't seem to have any trouble. 

Aside from our footsteps, the only sound was the soft patter of dripping water. I was starting to hesitate on my decision to follow the sick monster. Right before I had the chance to say anything though, I spotted a small, dim light. 

Fire?

The path opened up into a small room, a fire crackling in the center. And there he sat, Mint trying to urge an unresponsive Caramel to move closer to the warmth. 

He stopped and froze in place as we entered. Just looking at his ugly mug made me want to slap it. "What did you think you would accomplish by bringing her into the mountain?" I pushed my way past the hybrid, not really caring if I knocked him over or not. 

He looked away, suddenly looking a lot smaller. "I just wanted to help-"

"You're an i***t!" I reached out, almost grabbing his annoying little turtleneck until I managed to stop myself and took the heaviest breath I could manage. "You're hurting her, all we had to do was get past the mountains and she would be fine, but look at her!"

I gestured to the girl, who already had frost biting at the tips of her hair. "You said it yourself, the cold can kill her. What possessed you to do this?"

"She was cold!" He began to argue, facing me with a furious look. "We had to warm her up as soon as possible. But what would you know!? You just know how to kill, that's all you've wanted to do! You wanted to kill Cocoa, and the Succubus, and the Wraith, and the Wendigo, you were going to kill her too!"

So that's it, huh? "I'm just a murderer to you."

I wanted to feel angry but instead, I felt nothing. After all this time, I'm just a dangerous killer. 

Something flashed in his eyes before he looked away again. 

Cocoa moved up beside me, shoulders dropped and his head down. "Mint, pl-please... We need to bring her back..."

When he didn't respond, Cocoa dropped to his knees and suddenly hugged the octoboy, catching him by surprise. 

He turned back with a surprised look and opened his mouth to say something but didn't get the chance when Cocoa suddenly kissed him. 

It didn't last for more than a few moments but when he pulled back, Mint went from surprise to tears beginning to roll down his face. His breath hitched and he tried to stop them to no avail. "I'm sorry." He choked out. "I... I only wanted to help her. This is all my fault.

Well, I knew they were close but even I didn't expect that. It seemed like Mint finally came to his senses though. 

Using his tentacles, the octo wiped his face clean and sniffed. "I'm so sorry." He repeated. 

"We have to go now, we've wasted too much time already." I went to grab Caramel when the cave suddenly shook. 

Great, what now!? 

"What was that?" Cocoa whispered once the shaking stopped, clinging tighter to Mint. 

"Ice monster." It finally hit me. That was what the dires were talking about, right?

"I saw it when I tried to get out of the cave. It's down the other path, a giant... Bear or something." 

No, not a bear. If we're talking ice monsters, it had to be... "Saumen Kar."

The boys looked at me with a face of utter confusion. "Allow me to reword that. Yeti." 

I was met with Mint's "ohh" until it clicked in his mind and a look of horror crossed his face. I raised an eyebrow at Mint, somewhat expecting him to drop his monsters knowledge as always but he couldn't be bothered to say anything. 

Even when he was scared, he still looked sad. I'm glad he regretted what he did, but there would be time to rub it in his face later. 

Cocoa, on the other hand, looked utterly confused.

"Alright." As carefully as I could, I pulled Caramel close with my tendrils and held her close to my chest under me. "We can't go back the way we came so we're either going to have to fight the monster or sneak past it."

"Let's try the latter first. A majority of us can't really fight." Mint pulled himself to his feet, causing Cocoa to release him from the hug.

It was... Quite uncomfortable to have a slime against me in the cold weather but I would just have to deal with it for now. My shirt was ruined though. 

The others moved past me to take the lead back to the tunnel, leaving me to deal with having to awkwardly turn around and follow them out. Moving up was a lot more difficult than going down, especially with the extra weight. Aside from that though, I was feeling a case of claustrophobia. The walls pushing against my shoulders, squeezing me tighter and tighter... I can't think about that right now. I felt trapped, and thinking about that feeling would only make it worse. Stretched out like this, I was nine feet long at least, and with my body closed, I was still six feet tall. These candy canes were only around four to five feet, Caramel being the shortest among us.

Reaching the fork in the path once more, the cave widened out some.

The boys paused, looking up the second path with some hesitation. Cocoa met my eyes as I followed them out. "What's a yeti?" He wondered aloud. 

"Isn't there a version of them in the human world?" The octo finally spoke, voice cracking as he did. 

I gave him a nod but didn't elaborate more on it. The version of the yeti in human stories is much tamer than the one we had here. 

More mindless animal than anything, our yeti was a brute. Thick fur, sharp horns, long fangs, and a hatred for anything that wandered into its cave. 

"Very big monster," I explained to Cocoa. "We're going to have to be as quiet as possible. They can't see well, but their hearing is exceptional. It probably already knows we're here somewhere from the yelling." I glanced to Mint but he didn't meet my eyes. 

When I was done, I looked up the path once more. Alright, up we go.