epic winter literally would've made so much more sense if the snow queen never got a husband & instead continued drifting absentmindedly around the kingdom. eventually realizing she had to pick an heir she grabbed a random ice pixie named crystal that she decided to make her daughter by adopting her & then doting on her excessively before completely disappearing & leaving crystal in charge. the reason jackie hates her is because it could've been any of them. why was it crystal? why her? why not jackie? crystal meanwhile has never experienced parental love before & becomes completely dependent on making her mother proud of her & gradually growing more bitter about her absence & eventually deciding to steal the four roses etc etc in order to get her attention. this is basically my epic winter rewrite idea
Danielle, stuck at age 12, reaches out to Frostbite, seeking answers.
Read on Ao3
"Frostbite, sir, there's a young ghost here looking for you."
"Oh?" Frostbite took off his reading glasses, setting them and the book he was reading aside.
A familiar face popped around the yeti, smiling brightly at him.
"Um, hiya! I'm Danielle, most people call me Dani, with an i, and-"
"You're the Great One's cousin! I've heard so much about you!"
"Yeah?"
"Yes! It is so nice to put a face to the stories, it is a pleasure to meet you Danielle."
"It's great to meet you too! Danny's talked about you as well!"
"All good things I hope!" Frostbite laughed.
"All great things! In fact he said that- when his ice powers first came in- you helped him?"
"I did-"
"Can you do that for other stuff? Or just ice powers?"
"Other stuff?" Frostbite questioned.
"Yeah, like-" Dani floated up, eye level with Frostbite, gesturing as she spoke, "are you specialized, or can you help with general medical questions and stuff?"
"General medical- Danielle, are you alright?" Frostbite placed a hand to her forehead, checking her temperature, "are you ill?"
She shrugged, looking away from him, "I mean I don't feel sick or anything, but something isn't right."
"Why do you say that?"
"You said Danny has told you about me?" Frostbite nodded. "Has he told you everything?"
"You're going to have to clarify a little dear, I don't know what I haven't been told."
Her shoulders slumped, avoiding his gaze she clarified, "has he told you about how we met? My past?"
Frostbite paused before answering, "yes dear, he has. I'm sure there is more to the story, but I know the broad strokes."
"Right. Great. So I don't have to give the full backstory. But I think there were- uh- complications from Vlad making me, I figured if you're like, a ghost medical professional you'd be a good person to go to for help?"
"I will do everything I can to help. You said you don't feel sick, what sort of complications are you experiencing?"
"Danny said he met you about two years ago?"
"Was it two years ago already? My, how the time flies."
"Sure, whatever, but I was made about two and a half years ago."
Frostbite stared at her without comprehension.
"Frostbite," Dani whined, "I look the exact same as I did then! I'm not growing up! I don't want to be 12 forever!"
"Ah, I see. Alright then, let's see what we can do."
~~~
Frostbite talked Danielle through the purpose of every test, and she sat impatiently through every scan and procedure, watching him intently as he took a sample of her blood and ectoplasm.
"What's the verdict Frosty?"
"We won't know for a while yet, it will take time to process the results, for example both the blood and the ectoplasm will need to be ran through a centrifuge before they can even be tested."
"Ugh so we have to wait?"
"Ah ah, Danielle, a watched kettle never boils," he placed a hand on her shoulder, guiding her out of the medical facility, "we aren't just going to wait for the results."
"What are we going to do?"
"Shh," Frostbite held a finger up to his mouth in a quieting gesture, the two step into the bright Far Frozen air in silence.
Frostbite pointed at the Yeti who had escorted Dani in, in a hushed voice he whispers to Dani, "are you ready Danielle?"
"Uh, sure?" She whispered back. "Ready for what?"
Frostbite grinned, sharp and toothy, as a bright light shot from his pointed finger, and coated the Yeti in snow.
"Snowball fight!" Frostbite roared.
"Cheap shot! You're going down Frostbite!" The Yeti roared back, scooping some snow into their claws to retaliate.
Dani giggled, ducking behind Frostbite and into invisibility as the snowball burst on Frostbite's fur.
She dove to grab ammunition of her own, and flew into the snowy fray, other Yetis jumping eagerly into the snowball fight.
~~~
Breathing heavily, Dani grinned up at Frostbite as she caught her breath after the snowball fight had died down.
"Oh! Frostbite! Have you ever made a snow angel?"
"What's a snow angel?"
"You don't know? I'll teach you! This is great, okay, so we find a bit of undisturbed snow, and then," she flopped onto a patch of snow, Frostbite followed her to the ground at a more sedate pace, "you spread your arms and legs out like this, to clear out the snow and mimic an angel's wings and dress, the hardest part for most people is getting up without disturbing the angel outline, but-"
"But we can fly!" Frostbite finished her sentence with her.
"Exactly!" Danielle finished her snow angel, using intangibility and flight to get up without disturbing it.
Frostbite followed suit, his snow angel dwarfed Dani's below them, with two indents in the snow above his head from where his horns had poked through the snow.
Dani giggled, "here," she floated down and connected the two horn holes into a ring, "now your angel has a halo and everything!"
Frostbite smiled warmly at her, "here," he mimicked her, he touches an icy finger to the snow between their angels, ice spreads from his touch, encasing the two snow angels, "we can always make more, of course, but now our first two will last longer, a memento of the day. Would you like to make more? I wonder if I shake my head if I can make a halo."
~~~
Frostbite held the head of a large snowman steady for Dani to place an ice nose into, one of Frostbite's spare capes draped around its 'neck'.
"Here," Frostbite held out a handful of gold beads, "for the eyes and mouth."
"Are you sure? Those look a little fancy for a snowman?"
"We can pick them up later, just focus on having fun making the snowman for now."
"Alright then. Any tricks for getting the eyes evenly placed?"
"Of course I do! Don't!"
"What?"
"It adds character, do it wrong on purpose, it doesn't need to be perfect, dear."
"Frostbite!" A Yeti called from the medical facility cave entrance, holding a folder of papers.
Danielle lit up, darting around Frostbite as he walked back to the cave, she asked, "are those the results?"
"Yes dear, I imagine they are. Follow me back to my study and we'll take a look."
She followed, excitement radiating off of her, snowman forgotten.
~~~
Frostbite flipped through the folder with care and calm, Danielle looked over his shoulder ignoring the hot coco set for her across the table, but she lacked a frame of reference for the numbers and notes she read.
"Well?" Danielle's impatience rang through her voice, "what's it say?"
"Drink your hot coco, dear, before it gets cold."
"Who cares about the hot coco? What do the results say? What's the verdict? The solution?"
"I'm afraid it's not so simple, Danielle-"
"What do you mean? Aren't the tests supposed to tell you what's wrong with me?"
"Ah. Danielle, there's nothing wrong with you-"
"Of course there is, I'm not aging Frostbite!"
"I know. And I'm sorry. The results were inconclusive."
"Inconclusive?" Her heart and core dropped in her chest as indignation rises in its place.
"Yes." Frostbite's voice was carefully level as he spoke, "many of your vitals are unique, which is to be expected considering your history, and you appear to have stabilized, but your core and ectoplasm are very young, and it's difficult to say. You may start aging tomorrow, or in ten years, or you may stay the age you are for the rest of your life."
"But that's not fair, I don't want to be stuck at the age I'm at! I want to grow up!"
"I know, dear-" Frostbite reached out, to put a hand on her shoulder, but she floated out of his reach.
"Don't 'dear' me! I should get a chance to live!"
"Yes, Danielle, you should have."
"What?" Dani's voice cracked on the word.
"You deserve to have gotten a chance at life, a proper one. It isn't right that you might not."
"So what, all those tests earlier were just a waste of time, life is unfair, sucks to be me?"
"Life is unfair, Danielle. But that does not mean there it is hopeless, or that there is no point. That's why we're here. To try and make it better."
"To try and make it better? What, instead of a normal life, I get a fucking job?"
"Everyone does, Danielle, it's part of sentience. Each and every thinking person is tasked with making the world the type of world they want to live in. I am assuming from what I know of you, that that is a better world. A kinder one."
"But that's-" Danielle bites back the end of that thought, repetition will not soothe the her outrage, but it's not fair and she-
"Danielle." Frostbite reached out again, carefully, and placed a heavy reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I know this is not the answer you wanted. But I promise that no matter what the outcome is, whatever challenges you face, you will not face your future alone."
She scoffed wetly, looking away to hide a tired eye-roll, "yeah, I know. I've got Danny, and Val, but…"
Frostbite squeezed her shoulder, cutting her off, "I imagine you do. But I do not speak for them. I speak for myself. I am here for you, young one." Frostbite spreads his other arm, an open invitation that Danielle collapsed into with barely a moments hesitation.
Frostbite stroked her back, whispering calming platitudes as Danielle cried into Frostbites fur, their hot chocolate growing cold.
Decided to do a pic of Kira from Snow Daze hypnotized. I remember I did a Snow Daze pic a while ago, and a lot of people liked it. Figured it would be a good idea to try and do more of that.
Nude version on my Patreon, www.patreon.com/theheckle which you can see if you pledge a dollar or more.
