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~~~

Summer watched as Winter slept peacefully in his bed in his hospital ward. He had a bandage around his neck, where a gash had somehow appeared, as well as bruises in the faint shape of fingers. His chest rose and fell slowly, in a gentle, relaxed rhythm, a hand resting on his stomach.

Glade stood beside her, watching his brother. "I wonder what happened back there." he mused, more to himself. A soft breeze blew through the open window of the ward, ruffling Winter's hair. Summer went to brush his stray bangs away from his eyes.

At her touch, Winter's eyelids fluttered. Stunned, Summer pulled her hand back quickly as the blue-haired boy groaned softly, blearily blinking his eyes open. He sat up slowly, a grimace flashing across his face as he gingerly touched his collarbone. He glanced at her, recognition in his eyes. "Summer...?" He whispered, looking mildly surprised.

Summer propped up his pillow and helped him to lean against it. "Are you alright?" She asked worriedly, touching his forehead with the back of her hand. A blush appeared on his cheeks, and he suddenly shuddered.

"Fine I guess..." he muttered, clutching his head. Winter kept silent for a moment, then scowled, as if he was annoyed by something. "Would you please shut-" he stopped abruptly, giving Summer a glance. He smiled awkwardly.

Summer raised an eyebrow at him. "Talking to yourself again?" She said, amused. Winter blushed, looking away.

"I... guess so," he murmured, pressing his lips together. Summer found it hilarious that Winter seemed so dazed, unlike his usual calm self, and found it cute, for some reason. She giggled, and he looked at her, astonished. "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing." she smiled at him, feeling a flutter in her chest when he smiled back, a little tiredly.

"Hey, you know I'm still here?" Glade piped up from the back. Summer turned to him, giggling once again. She wondered why she was giggling so much.

"Ah, sorry Brother. I didn't see you there." Winter apologised, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Glade snorted.

"That's because you were too caught up in your lovey-dovey act with Summer." he muttered under his breath, but Winter heard it. He flushed rose red, glancing at Summer as she blushed as well.

"It isn't like that..." the two of them said simultaneously, then looked at each other in surprise, before breaking into a fit of laughter.

Glade rolled his eyes, scoffing, before a small smirk slipped onto his face.

~~~

Sometime later in the afternoon, Winter was discharged. Doctor Bree had checked him over again, found there was nothing else wrong, and gave him clearance.

Summer found herself in between the brothers as they walked down the streets, deciding to hang out for a while. Winter was on her right, dressed back in his usual Frostanium armour, looking genuinely pleased that he was finally out of the hospital.

Glade stood on her left, munching on some chips he had bought earlier.

"So," the silver-haired boy said, crumbs flying out of his mouth as he spoke, digging into his bag of chips. "Whatcha gonna do now?" He picked out a handful of the fried potato strips and shoved them into his mouth.

"Ugh, Brother," Winter sighed, wrinkling his nose in a grimace. "Don't eat like that, please. We're in public."

Glade shrugged, proceeding to continue devouring his snack. "Let all them people think what they want. I don't give two shits about first impression." He snorted, more half-eaten bits spraying from his lips.

Winter looked just about to face-palm himself right there and then.

Summer glanced between the both of them, amused. Was this how they always interacted? It was funny how Winter nagged at Glade, and his brother wouldn't even care.

Though she found it very annoying that the both of them were taller than her, causing her to have to look up at them every time. It definitely hurt her neck.

Winter was currently berating Glade for being so ignorant and about public face.

"Whatever Bro," the victim of Winter's nagging sighed, dramatically flipping his hair. The blue-haired boy frowned, eyes furrowed in frustration, but didn't say anything else.

"Can we get some ice cream?" Glade went on casually, as though nothing happened.

"You just had a packet of chips." Winter reminded him.

"And a bag of meat buns," Summer added in. Both boys looked at her, one with an incredulous expression, the other looking faintly bored. "Before that, he had three jumbo bottles of milk tea. And before that, a triple-decked burger, full meat."

"What?" Winter cried out in horror, staring at his brother with his eyes wide. Glade shrugged, patting his stomach, which was still considerably thin.

"My stomach was calling. The food beckoned. Couldn't resist it." He defended himself.

"Brother, how many times do I have to tell you not to eat whatever you want just because you won't gain weight? You have to consider your health." Winter snapped, looking about to strangle something. Or someone.

"Hang on, what?" Summer gasped, thoroughly shocked.

"Apparently, I was gifted by the gods of heaven a really, extremely helpful ability: I can eat whatever I want but never grow fat." Glade smirked, giving an exaggerated hair flip once more.

"But your health will still be affected. Keep eating such fatty foods and you'll get hypertension or diabetes in no time." Winter shot back, fuming.

Glade gave his brother an expression of mock hurt. "Why must you be so fussy about food?" He whined. "Food is the love of my life! I can't survive without it!"

"Maybe Winter's just jealous that you have such a wonderful ability." Summer teased. Winter turned a bright rose red, his mouth opening, but no words came out.

"Oooh, makes sense. So, Bro. Are you jealous of my fabulousness?" Glade smirked, poking his brother's arm over Summer's head.

"I am not!" Winter denied vehemently, his lips pursed. "I'm just worried... okay?"

"Same thing," Glade grinned slyly, lifting his head high with pride. Winter smacked him upside the head in indignation.

Summer giggled at their antics, and saw Winter blush even more. Glade merely scratched the back of his head, his grin now teasing.

"Back to what we were talking about..." the silver-haired boy said. "Can we get some ice cream?"

~~~

Summer found herself in the nearby park thirty minutes later, licking strawberry ice cream on a cone, and seated on a bench. Winter was sitting to her right, leaning back with a leg crossed over the other, licking mint ice cream.

While Glade...

He was on her left, and had a cone in each hand, with an extra one held between them. Each cone had three scoops of different flavoured ice cream.

"Why do you keep eating three of everything?" Summer asked, amused, as Glade enthusiastically slurped up his ice cream, his mouth like a vacuum.

"Three is my lucky number." The boy replied, finishing his ice cream cones. Summer blinked, stunned.

"That was fast." She commented, staring at Glade's now empty hands. He shrugged, leaning back on the chair.

Summer turned to Winter, and found him staring into space, his gaze blank, his grip on his ice cream loosening. She quickly plucked the cone out of his hand before it fell and created a mess everywhere.

At the sudden action, Winter jerked back to reality, blinking in confusion. "Wha... Oh." He gave Summer a sheepish look when he realised she was holding his ice cream and looking at him sternly.

"What were you daydreaming about?" She demanded. Winter opened his mouth to respond, when Glade cut in.

"He was probably thinking of stripping you down and having skinship with you." The boy snickered. Summer paused, remembering that moment in the hospital when Winter suddenly began spouting some random nonsense about 'lying you on my bed' and 'have some skinship'.

Her face turned red dramatically.

Winter was flushing as well, his face contorted into an expression of shock and horror. But then he calmed down, and his eyes seemed to glow a dull light.

"Exactly," he said, with a satisfied smirk. "I was thinking just that."

Glade turned pale. "Holy Armandia Bro. That was just a joke." He whispered, choking.

Winter shrugged. "But it was what I was thinking about," he looked to Summer, giving her a seductive smile which made her insides flip 360 degrees. "And I was also thinking about how much she would like me to do that." He added, his eyes glinting devilishly.

Summer lost her voice for a moment as Winter leaned forward. Her grip on the two cones in her hands slipped, and they both fell to the ground, splattering in a mess everywhere.

His face was uncomfortably close to hers now. "So," Winter whispered huskily. "Do you want me to do it with you?"

Summer couldn't breathe, her throat tightening as she could only gape at him dumbly. She felt Winter's slim fingers creep up her cheek, cupping her face. He came in closer, their bodies touching each other, until she could feel his cool breath and smell the mint in it from the ice cream.

Closer.

Closer.

Their lips brushed-

Stop it, Shiva.

The voice resounded commandingly in her mind, surprising Summer, and as if he could hear it as well, Winter jerked back, looking extremely- and genuinely- bewildered and overwhelmed.

It was then Summer found that she was leaning on Glade, and that there was a small crowd of people standing some distance in front of them, watching.

She quickly sat back up, trying to calm her flustered nerves.

"You're no fun, Renégal." She heard Winter whisper, and turned to see that his eyes were glowing that strange dull light again, before it disappeared shortly after.

"Uhm, go away, people. Nothing's happening here. Shoo!" Glade said awkwardly, flicking his hand back and forth. The crowd before them whispered amongst each other for a few moments, before dispersing slowly.

Summer breathed in deeply, trying to stop her heart from beating so rapidly. Winter had nearly kissed her. Nearly.

Great Armandia. Summer pursed her lips, trying to forget the entire thing. His fingers on her face, body touching hers...

That was... very unlike Winter. Confused, she stared at the boy, who had a hand on his head and looked as if he was fighting an internal war in his mind.

Was there something wrong with him that the doctor had overlooked? Clearly, he wasn't his normal self. He spoke to himself way too often, and his personality would just suddenly switch at any time.

But the most important thing...

Shiva? Renégal?

What did those names mean? She wondered if Winter knew, considering his intellect.

But he was still silent, grimaces occasionally flashing across his features.

"Mind explaining what you guys were doing? And what, or who, is Renégal?" Glade piped up suddenly in the uncomfortably deafening silence. So he heard Winter's mysterious words too.

Winter froze, his eyes flickering for a moment. Then he stood up, head bowed, face shadowed. "I... I need some privacy for a while." He murmured to them, before quickly heading out of the park.

Summer stared after him, feeling a stab of worry.

There was definitely something wrong.

"Bro's been acting pretty strange lately." Glade mused, looking anxious.

"I'll go and find him. You just stay here." Summer said, standing up determinedly.

"And do what? Sleep?" Glade deadpanned.

"Yeah, just go to sleep." Summer replied, growing impatient.

"But I'll look like a homeless guy! And besides, Winter is my brother. I should be going too." The silver-haired boy protested, getting to his feet.

Summer turned on her heel and strode off without saying anything else. She heard Glade call for her, and picked up her pace.

No, she needed to talk to Winter alone.

~~~

After about two hours of searching all over the city, Summer found Winter at Lake Trinity, seated at the lakeside, talking.

To himself.

"Why can't I know yet?" He grumbled in frustration. A pause. "Why won't you answer me?"

Who on earth is he talking to? Is there someone in his mind? Has he gone mad? Is he talking to a ghost? Summer wondered, stepping closer.

Then Winter suddenly perked up and whirled around, spotting her. His reaction was immediate: his face flushed red, eyes growing wide.

"S-Summer..." he mumbled, dropping his gaze in embarrassment and nervousness.

"Is there a problem?" She asked, cocking her head at him. The boy looked faintly upset, and definitely confused. Then his eyes suddenly began glowing again, with that same hollow gleam.

"Nothing's wrong, Summer." He said, smiling pleasantly.

And Summer had the strangest sensation of her consciousness being forcefully pulled away from her body.

There were sparks, and warm flames sprung up all around her. She saw astounding fiery red hair for a brief moment, but the image slipped away quickly.

Voices.

"How many times do I have to keep telling you to stop, Shiva?" a man's voice, which strangely sounded like the one she heard in her head, spoke in an irritated tone.

"He is my charge. I can do whatever I like." A frosty female voice answered, in an equally annoyed tone.

"You are revealing too much, going too far. What if they find out? Their lives will be ruined." The man snapped.

A flash of blue.

A flower of ice embraced by flames.

"You worry too much Renégal," the female sighed, sounding extremely pissed. "He's perfectly fine, isn't he?"

"He is not fine, Shiva," the man retorted furiously. "Look at him. His mental state is in shambles. Stop possessing him."

"But it's fun," The woman whined. "Honestly, you ought to try taking control of yours one day."

"I will do no such thing to my Mistress." The man argued hotly.

"Stop being so stiff, Renégal. You should start flying more often, instead of being cooped up in that room of yours." The lady's tone was sharp.

A burst of enraged fire.

"You will stop with your actions, Shiva," the man growled, although it strangely came out as a bird's cry. "You know what will happen to them if they find out. If the whole world finds out."

There was a silence.

"Fine, but only because I don't want the same thing as last time to happen," the lady hissed, and there came the sharp sound of rattles, like a rattlesnake's tail. "Cocky bird."

"Perverted lizard." The man's voice shot back.

And Summer was shoved back into reality.

She stumbled, surprised by the suddenness of it. She saw Winter sitting blankly on the ground, blinking in confusion.

"Summer...?" He whispered, staring up at her with wide blue eyes.

"Uh..." she fidgeted. Best to pretend that nothing happened. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes... I'm fine..." the boy replied softly, his mouth turning downwards in a frown. He sat there quietly for a moment, then gave a sigh of relief, his shoulders slumping. Summer went and sat beside him at the lakeside.

"Has your head cleared?" She asked in concern, gently touching his arm. Winter shrugged.

"I guess so..." he mumbled, looking away. "... I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's okay," Summer assured, deciding not to say anything else.

They sat like that in a comfortable silence.

"Say, Winter. Do you know anything that goes by the name of Shiva? Or maybe Renégal?" She asked then, remembering the conversation she had heard.

Was it just her, or did she feel a burning sensation somewhere in her mind?

Winter stiffened, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. "Why do you ask?" He said.

"Just... heard those names somewhere..." Summer replied awkwardly. The boy stared at her, expression thoughtful.

"Did you... hear those names in a conversation in your head, by any chance?" He asked slowly, a grimace appearing on his face, as if his words had just hurt him. Summer gaped at him.

"How did you-" she sputtered, but was cut off when a sudden intense searing sensation flared through her head.

She had a brief vision of white flames, and a furious bird screeched in the background.

Silence.

"I-I mean, what are you talking about?" She gave a nervous laugh, trying to clear the throbbing headache that came after the burning went away.

Winter looked faintly disappointed. "Never mind..." he sighed, looking dejected. "I must be becoming paranoid..."

"What do you mean? You're perfectly normal." Summer said with a huff. Winter gave her a tired smile.

"It's nothing... I just feel a little unwell, that's all." He said dismissively, but Summer caught a hint of sadness and hesitance behind his exhausted tone. She decided not to push it.

The silence returned again.

"Summer... I..." Winter suddenly blurted out. "I..."

Summer waited patiently for him to continue as he reigned in his emotions.

"I-I k-kind of... l-l-like..." he stammered, flushing the darkest red she had ever seen his face go. "L-l-like..."

"You kind of like...?" Summer tilted her head, raising an amused eyebrow. Winter winced, biting his lower lip.

"I-I like..." he stuttered uncontrollably, his fists clenched tightly.

"I like y-"

"Are you guys on a date now?" Glade's voice interrupted.

Both of them jumped, turning to spot the silver-haired boy standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, a disgruntled expression on his face.

"D-date? No, we aren't!" Summer sputtered incredulously. Winter's expression seemed to fall at that.

"Well, since I seem to intruding on your time together, I will take my leave." Glade said flatly, ignoring her words. He whirled around and stalked away.

Summer sighed. "So, you were saying?" She asked Winter, who was looking depressed.

"No... no, i-it's nothing..." he answered softly. Summer tried to figure out what was wrong with him.

"A-are you upset over the 'date' thing?" She tried, flushing slightly. Winter tensed, and began chewing on his lip.

"I... It's just... well...I'm kind of..." he stammered, avoiding her gaze.

"If you are, then maybe we could... I don't know... we could treat this as a date then!" Summer exclaimed, frustrated that the boy was becoming extremely negative. Winter blinked in surprise, and a light entered his eyes.

"Really?" He asked, sounding strangely eager. But Summer found herself nodding without a second thought.

"So... are we... uh... in a relationship or something...?" He went on, looking hopeful.

What?

"Technically, we're not together..." Summer said slowly. Winter's face fell again.

"But... I guess we kind of are too?" She quickly added. "Let's just keep this a secret between us, okay?"

Winter looked at her inquisitively, confused for a moment, before he comprehended what she meant.

"Oh I see. So, we'll be dating in secret," He said, eyes brightening, a delighted smile on his face. "I'm fine with that." Summer found herself nodding again.

"Then it's settled? Don't even think about telling Glade." She warned, huffing. Winter laughed, his voice like chimes.

"Of course I won't. Thank you, Summer." He murmured softly, then leaned in and gently pecked her on the forehead.

In the distance, the sun was setting, casting vermillion streaks across the sky, a gradient of orange and blue.

Like fire and ice.