Chandelured7: My first fic! Any constructive criticism is appreciated. :)

"Oh, Lucas!"

Lucas heard a familiar voice behind him as he was trekking through Route 217. The mountains and trees glistened in the frozen tundra, covered by the blanket of snow, with no intentions of melting anytime soon. Even in the spring, the path making up Sinnoh's northern half was not to be taken lightly.

"Maylene?!" Lucas exclaimed. "It's been a while!"

"Right? So, um, are you on your way to Snowpoint City?" Maylene asked, just catching up with him.

"Yep!" he replied enthusiastically. "I'm on my way to earn my seventh Badge."

"I'm on my way, too." She couldn't help but let out a grin at his confidence. "I'd Fly there if I could, but I'm walking for my training."

"Wait, you walked all the way here? How are you not freezing?" Lucas asked, incredulous. Maylene was wearing her usual outfit—a leotard, fingerless gloves, and sweatpants, all while barefoot. Compared to Lucas, bundled up in his white scarf wrapped in the middle of his layered winter jacket, saying she was underdressed was an understatement.

"It's no problem! I'm used to the cold because I always go out lightly dressed," she assured him.

"You'll catch a cold."

"Achoo!" she sneezed, immediately after Lucas warned her.

"See?"

"That was nothing. It's fine! I'm not c-cold at all," she said, trying to hold back her shivering as the weather seemed to get even colder. There was no way she was going to turn back now when Snowpoint was only less than a day's walk away. The realization that Maylene wasn't going to give in and ask for help dawned on Lucas, who was hardly surprised. Maylene may not have been sure about her own strength in the past, but if there was one thing Lucas could count on her for, it was that she was stubborn enough to never give up.

"Well…alright," he sighed, resigned. Maylene bid him farewell for now as she decided to walk on ahead, thanking him for the concern. Lucas later followed the same path, after making sure his Pokémon were healthy enough to proceed.

Little did they both know that the latter half of Route 217 was infamous for its frequent blizzards. Bright whiteness was all that could be seen as Lucas struggled to walk through the storm. He began to sink a bit as the snow got deeper. He then fell on his knees, exhausted. The piercing winds started to feel like glass shards scratching his face.

Lucas was about to collapse until he heard a muffled cry for help. Maylene! He mentally cried. I shouldn't have let her walk ahead on her own! With his remaining strength, he pushed himself back up and tried to find her. Struggling to move forward, he fell in another snow pit. Trying to escape, he felt someone underneath him.

"Maylene!" he tried to yell over the storm. "Try to stay with me!"

Maylene was barely conscious at this point. Her eyes met with Lucas's, barely open, as she tried to mouth a response. She ceased to move afterwards. "It's going to be okay! I'll get us out of here!" Lucas said, trying to stay optimistic. He carried her on his back, hoping the worse hasn't happened.

He climbed out and walked for what felt like eternity. His drive to save her was all that was keeping him from going under. Lucas began to lose hope as his grip on Maylene began to slip.

Suddenly, a faint brown shape in the distance crossed his eyes. No. It couldn't be. He must have been seeing things. Lucas continued onward, hoping his apparent mirage was real.

It was. A cabin. And behind it, a frozen rock surrounded by tall grass. He was surprised to find the door unlocked and quickly shut it before settling in.

"It's…empty…" he muttered under his breath. The cabin wasn't that much warmer than the elements outside, but it was hospitable enough for the both of them. It contained only one room—a bed to the side, and just a sink and cabinet on opposite corners in the back, with a table and cushions adjacent to it in the middle of the room. The only source of light came from the two windows on both sides of the door. He settled Maylene on the bed, both their clothes sopping wet now that the snow on them had melted a bit.

Lucas noticed he had stopped shivering, when he had been for most of the walk here. Fearing hypothermia, he looked around if there were any extra clothes in the one cabinet in the room.

Just my luck. Empty.

In desperation, he stripped down to his boxers, placing the rest of his outfit on the table. It was best he kept his Pokémon in his Poké Balls to spare them from the cold as well. Especially since none of them were Fire-types. He turned to Maylene and checked her pulse. Still unconscious. She was out in the blizzard longer than Lucas had. He didn't have any choice at this point.

Lucas took off her gloves. He then murmured an apology and took off her sweatpants, still completely drenched, and squeezed some of the water out over the sink. She didn't bring any Poké Balls? Lucas thought. After placing them near his clothes to dry, he hesitantly took off her leotard, doing his best not to stare at her private areas. When he reached the bottom, he let out a surprised gasp when he glanced and saw she wasn't wearing any panties.

He tried to burn any thoughts of what he just saw from his mind and set her leotard down to dry with the rest of their clothes. Still freezing, he wanted to make sure Maylene was okay over everything else. He tucked her under the blanket, making sure she was wrapped completely around it. The blanket was more of a light sheet, but beggars can't be choosers.

Seeing her lay asleep, Lucas's cheeks couldn't help but grow a light red seeing her snooze soundly. With nothing for him to use to keep warm, he simply lay by the side of the bed, curled and huddled on the floor. He gazed out the window, the blizzard having gotten even stronger since they found shelter.

All that could be seen was whiteness. He just hoped she was okay.

"Wh…What happened…?"

Lucas snapped out of his gaze at the blizzard hearing Maylene's voice. He had ended up passing what felt like hours in a daze trying to keep his mind off the cold. He sighed in relief.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said, leaning up from the floor to face her.

"Where am I…?" she asked, still feeling hazy. She felt a bit of a draft inside her blanket, as if something was missing. "Wait…" She immediately put two and two together and jolted up with a start. "Where are my clothes?!"

Lucas quickly turned away and covered his eyes. When she realized she had inadvertently revealed her bare chest to him when she jumped up, she blushed and quickly covered herself back up. "Th-they're over there…" Lucas pointed to the table where both their clothes were laid. He was worried Maylene would think of him as a total creep for stripping her down like that. He grimaced as he tried his best to give an explanation.

"I found you knocked out in the storm. I carried you all the way to this cabin, but by then, our clothes were soaked, so I… I-I…" he trailed off, embarrassed. "I'm sorry! I was really worried you weren't going to make it, and there weren't any extra clothes around, and—"

"It's okay," Maylene said, consoling him.

Lucas took a deep breath, calming down, but he wasn't sure if he had heard her right. "Wh-what?"

"It's okay. You did what you had to do for us to make it okay," she gave him a reassuring smile as she continued. "And I should be the one that's sorry. I was the one that took the risk going ahead when that huge blizzard was about to hit. Normally, I can take the cold, but that snowstorm was way worse than anything I've faced before."

"So, how about explaining everything from the beginning? And less panicky this time?" she asked jokingly.

Lucas faced her and told her everything that had happened. He also assured her that he hadn't peeped too long at anything he wasn't supposed to see. Maylene chuckled at how uptight he sounded over that last detail. She appreciated his honesty, and she felt how concerned he must have been for her when she was out cold.

"I understand now. If I was still in my clothes now, still drenched like that... I'd probably be facing severe hypothermia. Especially if they froze... Thank you, Lucas."

Lucas felt less guilty of his actions now. With the weight off his shoulders, the cold began to settle in on his body again. He began to shiver now that his senses were in-tune with his surroundings once again. "Lucas, are you okay?" she asked.

Maylene was surprised to see him shiver for the first time they were here. Then, she realized that Lucas had sacrificed his own warmth to keep her safe. He must have been freezing, having to huddle in his underwear with nothing to keep him warm.

"I-it's fine," he said. "I… I think I'm actually used to this weather by now."

"Please. Now you'll catch a cold," she teased.

"Achoo!" he sneezed.

"See?"

Lucas's shivering began to worsen. He went to check their clothes. He had lost track of time sitting down that it pained his arms and legs to get up, having been scrunched in the same position for so long. "Still drenched," he sighed.

Maylene moved over slightly on the bed. "Here," she said, patting the other side. "You need to stay warm, too."

The bed looked like it was clearly made for one person, with only just enough room for Lucas to fit in comfortably. Not to mention that there was only one pillow. Lucas blushed, embarrassed. "A-are you sure?" he stuttered. "There's barely enough room for the both of us…"

"It's okay," she said, blushing as well. "We both have to make it out of here alive. You've already gotten weaker from being out bare like that. Besides…" she paused, her blush growing a shade deeper. "It'll be easier to stay warm with the both of us sharing body heat."

Lucas gave in and reluctantly got into bed next to her, wrapping the blanket around him carefully. "Better?" she asked sweetly, making eye contact. Lucas nodded, unable to speak. His heart was racing. He had never heard her voice from this close before. The two of them were much closer to each other than they had realized.

"We should get some rest. This blizzard doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon," she yawned, turned to the other side of the bed, and closed her eyes. "Sweet dreams, Lucas." Her drowsiness was contagious, as Lucas began to drift off as well, exhausted.

"Sweet dreams, Maylene."