Memories of the Snow (Steve)

(A/N: Some fun crossover fiction using characters from the mind of Meredith S)

I was seven years old, at home, and bored out of my mind. I started pulling at the tassels of the couch knowing that I would get in trouble for it. Both parents were at work. I watched the snow fall and pile on top of itself. It drifted slowly and seemed to call my name. However, I was not in the mood to play by myself, so I had to wait for my brothers to wake up. I had no friends at this tender young age, at least not any outside the tight-knit circle known as family.

When Cory finally got up, we donned our snow clothes and set out to the snow. He led me outside and started rolling a snowball. I joined him and we even had a snowball fight between the two of us. He shook the branch of a spruce to snow would fall on my head. I did the same to him and we ended up making snow angels, building a few snow golems, and otherwise having a great time. Then, I suggested we play spleef. Cory agreed and we headed to a nearby seasonal spleef ring.

We raced around the ring, each one trying to undermine the other. This continued, each of us grinning and breathing hard. Cory got me several times, but he never bragged. He just kept encouraging me to chase him. Eventually, I caught up with him and ended up digging under him. However, the fun ended there. Cory hit his head falling through the spleef hole I had dug. Distressed, I started yelling his name. He did not respond. He started twitching with greater and greater intensity. He had what I now recognize as a tonic-clonic seizure. That memory has haunted me from childhood.
         "Steve! Steve! Something's wrong." Caitlin roused me from the memory. She looked rather distressed. "I don't know exactly what, though."
         "Go back to sleep. It was a dream." I was not in the mood to listen to her fretting.
         "I know this isn't a dream. It's more like this feeling in the back of my head that something bad is going to happen. I woke up because I sense something. I sense...a general upset in the world."
         "You're fine. I'm fine. You don't need to worry." I put my arm around her and she rested on me. Her body felt warm against mine, an exchange of heat, of energy, of something that cannot be described with words. She shifted and continued the exchange, but something interrupted the pure moment.
         "But they are not."
         "Who is 'they?"
         "I don't know, but something's definitely wrong! Check your phone."
         "Go back to sleep!" Getting woken up over nothing again and again was getting annoying.
         "Tu es bête!" She threw up her hands and pulled the pillow over her head. I have no idea what she just said, but her exasperation said it all.

 Out of curiosity, I got on my phone and what I saw shocked me. Village terrorist attacks ran rampant across Minecraft. TNT craters at least three chunks in diameter lay where the villages once stood. Caitlin was right! Something was definitely wrong. A commenter went on to blame me for the attacks, which is totally absurd because I never fight with TNT. I skimmed the article and came to these conclusions:
1. These terrorist attacks were supposedly led by Samantha Netherfield. Ok. First, Alisha becomes the CEO of Minecraft schools, Caitlin is a music teacher, Samantha is a terrorist, there are eight Netherfields and not seven or six, Emmeline exists, and the others, for all I know, are dead.
2. Her next targets are most likely the village across from our house and the one near Mindcrack.
3. Alex is within the blast radius for both attacks. Even if she stayed at home under her father Jordan's wing, she would at least get seriously injured in the attacks. Adrian is within the blast radius of the second attack, but not the first one. Adrian will be fine if he goes to Mrs. Carraway's, the science teacher's, house. We are not within the radius of either attack.
4. The TNT drills will come in handy.
5. Caitlin is freakishly intuitive.

I showed Caitlin the article. She read it thoroughly and, when she stopped, the color drained from her face. Then, she was livid with anger. I received a reminder that there is more peril in Caitlin's eye than in a thousand Ender Dragons.
         "Samantha, you..." She seethed. After breathing deeply, she apologized and left for her class. I gathered my music, put some toast in my mouth, and followed. "Je deteste les terroristes!"With that, we parted ways.

The Mindcrack high school band broke into sectionals, but Andreas stayed behind.
         "Why aren't you joining the others?"  Andreas looked up at me half balefully and half pleadingly. I could see the tears in his eyes.
         "They don't want me in there."
         "Well, go in whether like it or not." Andreas sniffed and skulked into the large practice room with his flute. "Whether they like it or not." I managed to keep my breakfast in my stomach. While my musicians were in sectionals, I noticed that something was burning. I ran for the fire extinguisher and, after fumbling around with it for a while, I put it out. The entire section blamed Andreas, who I confronted about the incident. I searched his backpack for fire charges, flint and steel, and
gunpowder. I found none. "How did you..?"
         "I can't help it! If you ever were the bad kid even though you didn't want to be, you'd understand!" Andreas's hands flared. His eyes glowed brighter and filled with tears. He cried bitterly, hiding his face. I felt a pang of empathy for Andreas. I did understand. However, I did not want to have him burn down the school, so I busied the band with our song. We rehearsed Mambo, our only tune. However, it was a good one. The saxophones and clarinets managed the fast runs quite well. The flutes were glad to hand that part over to another section. When rehearsal ended, Andreas sank to the ground and cried. He told me through tearful eyes that the flames came from within and could not be controlled.
          "I understand how you feel. I really do." Andreas continued to tell his story. We compared stories. I felt a warmth as Andreas drew closer to me and even cried on my shoulder. I e-mailed his advisor that he was with me. I felt his athletic body sink into mine the way I cried into my brother's shoulder whenever I was sick and tired of being bad. I vividly remembered Cory recovering from his head injury in the hospital and he turned to me saying "It's not your fault". But it was. If we had never played spleef that fateful day, I would have spared him most of the trouble he went through.

Andreas got up to leave. I was glad that I was able to do that one thing for him, even if it had nothing to do with the music. The rest of the day whizzed by in a blur.  After the school day, I received a text from Anna, someone I had met whilst venturing in some obscure region of the world. I wasn't sure of her race, but I know it wasn't human.
         A: Are you coming to Lakeview Manor for our double date? This is Anna.
         S: Hi, Anna. Yes. Lakeview Manor was pretty much safe from the terrorist attacks.
         C: Steve! Are you kidding me? We need to stay inside because of the terrorist attacks!
         S: Relax, Caitlin. We'll be well outside the attacks. 
         A: What terrorist attacks?
         S: One of Caitlin's sisters has been bombing villages. We don't know why. 
         A: Is it Emmeline? 
         S: No. It can't be. 
Caitlin met me outside the office as always. However, this time, she looked even more beautiful than she usually does. The dress she wore fell about her legs just the right way and the lapis lazuli blue fabric sparkled in the sun like diamond ore. I must have been enraptured in her beauty because, when she asked me if I liked it, I couldn't say anything.
         "Well, I thought I'd try to look nice for the date." She leaned uncertainly on her cane, which she wore a purple pendant to match. Her hair was pulled back into a flawless French braid that even the most fashionable students Mindcrack could only hope to emulate.
         "Nice? You look...amazing!" Amazing did not do her appearance justice, but that was all I could muster.

On the way to Lakeview Manor, I noticed that Caitlin started wheezing. She paused, coughed, used her inhaler, and continued on like any good warrior would do. She counted as she walked, the lento to my allegretto. I offered to carry her horn along with both my trumpets because the Impulsive Brass Band has a tradition called Solo and Ensemble Week. During Solo and Ensemble Week, we break into groups, prepare a piece, and perform it. Caitlin and I would perform Everything's Alright as a duet.

When we got there, we met Anna and someone else I did not know the name of. He paced up and down the room and watched Anna as if she were TNT waiting to explode. Out of impatience, I dragged Caitlin to my side and introduced ourselves to the man. He looked at us with eyes the color of polished iron.
         "Oh, hello." He prompted Anna to look. "Can you introduce yourself?"
         "I'm Steve." I gestured towards Caitlin. "And this is Caitlin." We shook hands.
         "I am Farkas, which means 'wolf', which is funny because I am a lycanthrope. Luckily, the moon is a waning crescent, so we have nothing to worry about. Have a seat." Farkas gestured to a couch. Caitlin took her place next to Anna.
         "Parlez-vous français?" Caitlin nervously asked Anna.
         "Oui." Anna replied somewhat uneasily. "Est-ce que tu aimes jouer un instrument?"
         "Oui! J'aime jouer de la clarinette. Et toi?"
         "J'aime jouer des percussions." They continued talking in French, so I turned to Farkas.

         "So, what is that notebook for, exactly?" I noticed that he held one.
         "Um...It's personal." Farkas concealed the notebook. "Do you normally ask people awkward questions?"
         "Yes, I do!" I laughed, hoping to dissolve the tension. Instead, he seemed more guarded. He turned away and continued to monitor Anna, who played with her blond hair. Farkas regarded Anna affectionately. Caitlin stayed by my side and, because I was bored, I pulled out my trumpet. She pulled out her horn. Farkas and Anna looked at us attentively.

We played together from memory, the low notes from Caitlin's French horn supporting my high notes. The melody soared through the air, the notes flowing from our horns into the air and back to our souls. A sublime bliss washed over me as I let the dust of everyday life, the trauma of my past and the hardships of the present, wash off of my soul. As we cut off, we looked at each other with that knowing expression that only comes four or five times in a lifetime.

Anna and Farkas applauded quietly, but sincerely. We dismantled our instruments and put them in our cases. Caitlin excused herself to go to the bathroom, but when she stood up, a puddle formed at her feet. Tears formed in her eyes and fell one after another. She shut herself in the bathroom after that. Now, I was without a date and alone with two people I barely knew.

Anna left the house and Farkas went after her, so that left me to clean up the puddle. I found the cleaning spray underneath their sink. Once it was gone, I wandered around the house and found that one of the doors was locked. The light was on and, when I held my ear to the door, I heard hints of crying. I knocked.
         "They don't like me." It was Caitlin.
         "Why would you think that? I thought they liked you very much."
         "Not after..." She started crying again. "They left."
         "I'm sure it's nothing personal! Maybe they're just getting dinner." I tried to extrapolate towards positives.
         "No." I continued to talk, but with every word, Caitlin retreated further into herself. "Do you want me to come in?" She opened the door slowly. Her dress was still visibly wet and her eyes were red from crying. Still, I thought she was beautiful.
         "I don't want to come out. Not yet."
         "Me neither. I'll get you cleaned up." Caitlin disrobed as I helped her dry off and slip into the change of clothes she prepared: a similar dress with diamond blue fabric instead of lapis blue. This one glistened under the lights like a polished, sharpened diamond sword. She changed her shoes to her concert shoes, which suited her better. She kept the purple jewelry. To be honest, I liked this new look better. She smiled, took my hand, and got steadily to her feet. After embracing me, she got back out with newfound confidence.

Anna and Farkas got back to us with pizza. Anna seemed more tired, but otherwise in good spirits.
         "They only had cheese." Farkas explained. However, I was so hungry I didn't care. I sank my teeth into the hot, melty cheese, the tangy sauce, and the buttery crust. I only had one other pizza that came close to this one and that was with the Mindcrack high school band. A Witch Express had promised us free food and, since we did not get food, I ordered several pizzas and tried to convince the delivery guy it was not a prank. I eventually convinced him with "Do you want to be eaten alive by fifty hungry high school students?". It was one of the "lines" I used to get food for my band...and myself. Somehow, Caitlin noticed that I was eating a little too sloppily for her tastes. She was halfway through her slice when I had already eaten two.
          "Do you really need to eat like a starving wolf?"
          "I am a starving wolf." Everyone cracked up, especially Farkas. We continued eating and talking into the night. I found something small and hard in my pocket and suddenly remembered what I had to do. Caitlin talked openly with Anna and Farkas changing in between French and English to suit their needs. She laughed this pure laugh and had this glint of enthusiasm in her eyes that I know all too well. My heart pounded in cut time. I looked around nervously. Should I do this? Should I not? As if sensing my internal panic, Caitlin put her arm around me and said this, which got me on my feet.
           "I love you, Steve. Don't ever forget that."

Seconds later, I eased down onto the ground. I put one knee forward and one knee back the same way I had always done during spleef injuries. A million images raced through my head. From Caitlin and I holding hands together in the moonlight in our old age and me holding a baby with her smiling wearily at me to me spamming the red button in the neurology unit and irrationally pleading with Dr. Chen to make the seizures stop, my head spun. I saw Alex belting out Everything's Alright, Emmeline meeting her sister, and her students listening in the classroom. I saw Adrian completing a race, my students playing in a concert, and Andreas's white eyes. I finally stopped here in a daze.
          "Caitlin, will you marry me?" The phrase slid off my tongue easily. She looked me in the eye, which she does not usually do, and ran to embrace me.
          "Of course I will, my dragon slayer." After that, we continued on our adventures...and this time we did it together. Caitlin answered her phone.
          "Alex says 'I let myself in. Now what?"
          "Tell her you're coming.
          "I will." Caitlin, as a teacher, formed connections with her students I could only dream of. As much as my students claim to like me, I don't think any of them would have sheltered with me. We continued on the path to Alex, who would be an integral part of our journey.