Author's Note: Okay, so I was going to wait to update until I was completely finished the entire story, but you guys have faithfully waited long enough. I still keep my promise, though it has taken a very long time. If all goes well, I should continue to write regularly and will finish shortly, even with my working full time. Hopefully I can get things wrapped up before I start school again in September. Happy reading!

The air was becoming hotter and more suffocating with every passing minute. The door was wide open, but somehow the body heat still managed to trap itself inside the small room off the narrow hallway. She could not tell if it was this specific environmental factor that was causing her to become increasingly anxious, or the fact that Ivan was sitting so damn close to her.

Upon their arrival, the wolf-like canine had merely lifted his head in mild interest, then had gone back into a graceful sleep. It was funny how creatures got into those kinds of moods when nothing could disturb them, not even the constant prodding and petting of a very excited teenage boy. She would mentally note that she could not use the word 'pair' here, because while Ivan seemed very interested in Polar Bear, it would be wrong for him to be ever described as excited.

The reason she was anxious to begin with was the unpredictability of the third member of their party. At the moment, he seemed to be supremely distracted by the sleeping white form, but she would have expected more torture from him at that point. Still, it was possible that at any moment he might decide that he was bored with the slumber of such a creature and turn his attention to making Maddie squirm. This was the complicated and nerve-wracking part. Just when she thought she was safe, it was possible for him to take all of that security away and reach for her hand, or worse.

It was not like she was completely opposed to the affections, as she had been ignored by most for so long that it was strangely welcomed, but the presence of her older twin brother was what made everything harder. She was aware of the almost fatherly protective shadow that Alfred had upon her at all times that she was within his scope of attention, but that did not mean that she accepted it. She could take care of herself, even though she appreciated his concern.

Luckily, for a great length of time, it seemed like she would not have to worry too much about the two who had accompanied her. Even if Ivan had tried to make some kind of silent move to incriminate her, Alfred was far too distracted by Polar Bear to notice, or to even register anything he might throw her way. It was convenient for her that he was, because even through his very focused state of interest, Ivan had managed to place a hand on her calf, which she had immediately pushed off.

"It's too bad that we can't keep him, Mad. He would be the perfect dog for me, if he stopped sleeping so much." He continued to pet the dog's head as he spoke, and Maddie composed herself.

"He was not this sleepy earlier, Al. Maybe he's just tired right now, and we should leave him be for awhile," she suggested, standing up slowly in the cramped quarters of the room.

"He's kinda like you then, right? He likes to sleep all the time." Obviously he had not registered a word she had said, which, while frustrating, worked to her advantage in certain aspects. Mainly though, she had learned to ignore his idiosyncrasies and just continue on with his train of thought.

"I do wish we could keep him too, but we don't have a big enough place to have a dog. We'll have to figure out somewhere or someone to keep him." She sighed, gazing longingly at the canine's tired face. Next time she saw Vash or Roderich, she would have to talk to one of them. Leaning back down again, she pulled the lid off of a small bucket of kibble that her father had left. As soon as she did so, Polar Bear's eyes opened slowly and he stood up to get a proper angle for eating.

Ivan at last rose to his feet and exited the room. Maddie said goodbye to Polar bear and closed the door behind herself, making sure to close it tightly.

"So," Alfred started casually, finally broken free from the spell of interest the canine had cast upon him. "What are we going to get up to today? Do you think that it's safe to be out skiing today?" It was funny that he should ask that, as she had just been wondering the same thing, but more like if it was safe for herself.

She shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I guess we can find that out by asking ,right?" She glanced over her shoulder at Ivan, who was being unusually quiet. He seemed to be buried deep in thought, and probably had not heard any of the siblings' conversation. It was just as well, as he would have less focus to be bothering her if he was distracted by something else.

They came to the end of the narrow hallway and could at last walk in some other fashion than single file.

As if on cue, Vash caught the three of them just as they were coming around the corner. He raised his hand to signal the group to stop, and pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket.

"In case you three were interested, we've cleared the hills for skiing."

Alfred's eyes lit up immensely at this, and he immediately started to babble. Maddie was excited by the prospect of being able to ski some more as well, but in the back of her mind there were serious doubts setting up camp about her ability to do so. She was just beginning to be used to walking on her injury, and was not sure that she was well enough to put considerable pressure from skiing on it quite yet.

Vash had still not unfolded the curious piece of paper, and she wondered what it could possibly be for. After all, she had taken note that he had purposely brought it out when he had run into them. Also relevant was the fact that he still looked like he had more to reveal.

"I know you three were all signed up for the competition," he started. Maddie's heart rate was increasing with every syllable bouncing off his thin lips. "And even though some of those who did sign up have since left, we have decided that a friendly competition of sorts is what everyone needs at this point."

She had completely forgotten about the imminent competition scheduled for the end of the week, in fact, the very next day. It was already Friday, and the contest had originally been planned for that Saturday. All of a sudden she had the greatest urge to wrap up her foot tenfold in bandage and find another larger boot to fit it if necessary, just so she could participate. She wanted to run upstairs at that very moment and grab her skis, which had not seen nearly as much snow as she had wanted them to, and start getting some practice time in.

"So, if you are still interested, we will be starting tomorrow at ten in the morning. Since the loss of volume of competitors, it should not run past noon." Technically if there were not as many people competing, it would possibly be easier to win, but remembering how Alfred had talked about Ivan's skill and prowess, somehow she did not think it would be as easy as it seemed. That is, if she felt she could even compete.

"We are planning a small celebration for the night time as well," he continued. "The trucks came in with a large stock of food, so we will be having a dinner of ham and mashed potatoes for all who are left, as well as fresh baked buns and lots of fruit and vegetables." He said the second part begrudgingly, as if the idea of giving away that much food at once went against the entire fibre of his being. He waved them a stinted goodbye and carried on his way.

"Well, I guess that answers the question of what we are going to be doing today," Ivan chimed, the first thing he had uttered in quite some time.

The first thing she had to do upon walking through the door was find her skis and poles, most likely buried underneath a pile of dirty clothes at this point, neglected by cause of no usage. She dug enthusiastically through pants and sweaters, like a dog digging up a long-lost bone, and at last saw the grip of a pole. Setting everything she needed aside, she tossed all the clothes across the room, in the general direction of her suitcase.

The next thing on her list was her boots, which she faintly remembered taking off and kicking either in the closet or under the bed. She had no luck in the bedroom closet, or even the main closet, so the only other option was under the bed. She kneeled down and crouched over to get a good vantage point and saw two footwear-shaped shadows at the head of the bed. She stretched her arms as far as she could, but still could not reach.

In a stroke of genius, she grabbed one of the skis she had set aside and slid the tip of it towards the boots, nudging them close enough for her to grab. Triumphantly, she picked up all her gear and set it on the couch near the door. The next thing she would have to do would be find some more padding for her injured foot, but not so much that it would no longer fit into her boots. Rummaging through her bag, she found a couple pairs of socks and decided that she would slip them all on her healing foot. She carried those too out onto the couch while she prepared to dress for the cold weather outside.

Most importantly was her jacket, which she found quite easily and stuffed it under her arm while she looked for the rest of her things. She knew where her proper pants were, as well as her toque and scarf, but could only find one of her gloves. The one she was able to locate happened to be in the side pocket of one of her bags, but when she searched it, and all the other pockets on the bag, she could not for the life of her find the second one.

The last time she remembered having the gloves, she was sure that they had both been put in the same pocket, so she could not understand where the second had gotten to. Starting to search through every drawer in the room, she found a multitude of other things, but could not find that pesky other glove. She was tempted to search through the pocket again, but instead opted to search under the bed again. Nothing was there.

Giving up temporarily, she attended to her growing pile of equipment and warm clothing and emptied her arms onto the couch, her father watching in quiet curiosity the entire time. Though she had still not found the other glove, she pulled the first on and began to equip herself for the weather outside. Maddie pulled all the extra socks onto her one foot and made sure her toque was on tight.

Next came the more tricky part.

She pulled on one boot with ease, but knew the second was going to be a bit harder to manage. To help ease the process, she decided she would open it up a little more to allow for the extra size of her foot. When she stuck her hand inside the boot to do so however, she felt something soft, like fabric, inside the footwear itself. She grabbed a hold of it with two fingers and pulled it out.

Hidden in the toe of the boot was the missing piece of clothing. Pleasantly surprised, she worked her fingers into the recently-found glove and admired her two now-matching hands.

"Come on, you slowpoke! Hurry up, I don't want to waste any more time!" He swayed impatiently in front of the open door, waiting for her to be done with her preparations.

Stuffing her foot into the boot snugly, she was at last finished padding herself. Alfred took this as a sign to head out and disappeared down the hallway. Maddie finally grabbed her skis and poles and followed her brother out of the room, yelling a goodbye to her father through the closed door.

They were to meet back downstairs almost exactly half an hour after they had departed, with everyone ready to test out their skis (or snowboard in Alfred's case) and the snow that the blizzard had left outside. Trying to catch up to her speedy brother, Maddie hurried as fast as she could down the staircase, only to be greeted by more people than she had expected. On her way down, a little bit of her excitement and anticipation seemed to disappear.

Ivan had managed to collect his two sisters in the process of grabbing his equipment, which Maddie did not object to, but it seemed that Ivan had a problem with it. He was constantly trying to wriggle his arm free from the grasp of Natalya, who had the grip of a crab on an unsuspecting beach-goer, it seemed. It did not help that he was attempting to hold not only his stuff but hers as well, making it much easier for her to get her way than for him.

"Hello Madeline!" Katyusha hummed in a sing-song voice, dropping her bags to envelop her in a tight bear hug.

"Let's skip the greetings! I've been waiting all week for another chance to get out on the slopes and that time is now!" Alfred exclaimed this with such excitement and giddiness that Maddie was, in the most mild sense of the word, jealous. She wished she could have some sense of anticipation, but she had a half-hearted feeling that she would not be spending too much time skiing that day. Silently, the group started to make its way toward the back door, gear in every hand except Natalya's, who had Ivan's left arm in both hands.

To distract the group from the awkward silence, Maddie suggested that they not venture out onto the hills themselves, as she was not sure how much she could handle. No one besides Alfred had any significant objections, so Katyusha found a small, gradual hill not too far away from the back door of the building. Alfred, of course, decided to head straight for the ski lift, leaving Maddie alone with the strange siblings.

Looking out at the landscape, it seemed like every single person still present at the lodge was out skiing or snowboarding. That is, every person except her father, who did not seem to be more interested in the outside world than his current book of choice.

Both she and Alfred knew this vacation was more for them than it was for him, as he was contented to sit in his favourite chair all day reading book after book. He read mostly fairy tales and fantasy stories, but also literary classics. His most current conquest happened to be Robinson Crusoe. Still, sometimes he would venture out with them, and even though he was no expert, he could hold his own against them. It was not that he was no good at skiing, it was that he preferred to do other things most of the time.

The snowy hills that lay behind the lodge expanded into the distance. Just yesterday, the scene would have looked like a barren white wasteland apart from the trees. Now, small, black, moving figures dotted the landscape, most likely skiers and snowboarders preparing for the following day's competition, which is what she should have been doing. However, she was hesitant to put pressure on her foot for fear of not being able to sustain or stand it.

Fear was keeping her from doing the thing she loved. She did not want to have to face the fact that she would have to wait a further period of time before returning to her athletic capacity. It was possible that she might even miss the rest of the season. Maddie was consumed with thoughts and doubts and fears, but she forgot to take the time to think positive. Katyusha's gentle voice snapped her from her swirling thought process.

"Are you ready to try this out, Maddie? "

Maddie paused for a moment, but she realized that her fear of not being able to ski was making her do just that - not ski. She was either to take a chance and try it, or to sit out and not do it at all. Even if she was not well enough, she would not be skiing either way. The only real choice she had was to attempt it. At least then she had a chance of success.

Tentatively, she pushed off down the gradual slope, slowly gliding downwards. The wind rolled by her face and reddened her cheeks a tiny fraction. Nothing seemed to be going wrong just yet. She tried moving a little faster, and the only pain was from her big toe of the quadruple-socked foot pushing against the top of her boot. So far so good.

So she could go downhill (albeit a gradual one,) but could she turn? That would be the final test of readiness for her before deciding she was well enough to try a steeper hill. The others were puttering around in the general area, but she was too focused upon her present goal to notice the difficulty Ivan was having handling his pole.

She climbed back up to the summit of the tiny hill and took a deep breath in anticipation. Lining up to push off, she let a soft breeze roll by before beginning to move.

She started off heading straight, then slowly turned off her good foot. It was fairly easy and painless aside from her large toe, which she had begun to ignore by that point. Satisfied, she decided to try turning on the injured foot. Gradually, she attempted to make a turn, but out of seemingly nowhere, there came a burning pain emanating from where she could tell was the cut. Distracted by the pain, she lost track of where she was heading and bumped into a large rock, knocking her over.

In that one moment, all her healing had reversed itself. None of the other three had seen her go down, and so were going about their business as usual. Sitting with her gloved hands resting in the fresh snow, Maddie could feel the pounding of her heartbeat in her injured foot. She feared that she had torn a few stitches, so she swiftly pulled off her boot and placed her foot on top of her other thigh. She could not see any blood through the multiple layers of sock just yet.

Removing one after another, she did not see any sign of red until she reached the second to last sock, where a small line of blood had come through. She ripped the last two off together and inspected the damage she had done herself.

The stitches had stayed in largely place, but the cut itself had torn a bit more on the lower end of it. She groaned in frustration and agony at her few days of healing undone. Deep inside, she had had the sinking feeling that her attempt would turn out like this, but she had not heeded it. There was no way she was going to be competing the next day. Her father would not allow it, and after experiencing the pain she had led herself to, she would not allow herself to either.

The injury was not serious enough for more stitches, but she definitely was not going to continue skiing. She collected a small amount of snow in her gloved hand, inspected it to make sure it was pure enough, and then used it to wash away a bit of the excess blood. Once her foot was clean enough for her liking, she pulled on the socks that had not been soiled by the blood and put her boot back on. There was no sense in giving herself frostbite by merely sitting outside with her boots off.

"If you'd stop trying to push yourself, you'd heal much faster."

The presence of another voice broke the windy silence and startled her slightly. She had thought she was alone, and did not hear anyone approaching. Turning over her shoulder, she saw a familiar body standing a few feet behind her. Immediately, an air of hostility invaded her body.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Relax. I saw someone fall over and waited but whoever it was did not get up, so I thought I should come over and see what happened." Nikolaas slid himself a little bit closer to her and extended his hand to help her up. She regarded it with suspicion, but ultimately accepted the help. She straightened herself up, but opted not to put pressure on the newly-opened injury.

"Quit walking around so much. If you want to heal you have to be as gentle as possible on yourself."

She was mildly surprised that he of all people was the one giving her advice. Of course, it was along the same lines as the advice Dr. Wang had given her, but still, it was reinforcing said limits to her abilities as she healed. She knew he was right, but still started to defend her knowledge of healing as an athlete.

"I've dealt with plenty of injuries before, and I always come out fine. I think I know how to heal." It came out much more indignant than she had anticipated. Knowing Nikolaas' temperament and hoping for a mild reaction, she busied herself in adjusting her skis.

"Every time you go out walking and gallivanting around, you are causing wear on the injury and it reopens. It'll take forever to heal if you keep on that way." Slight annoyance in his voice was all that she could detect, and she was amazed at his level-headedness. She could not in any capacity deny that he was right, but it was so odd to hear that coming out of his mouth. She had pinned him as a rotten kind of guy, but it was possible that she had been wrong to judge him so quickly.

'Evil,' Maddie learned, was such a subjective term. Most of the time, evil was merely perceived from one side of a problem. The concept of good and bad was a lot more complicated than most presumed it to be. When she was younger, Maddie was prompted to see good and bad as merely black and white. There were good people, and there were bad people, simple as that.

However, as she got older, the distance between the two began to fill itself with various shades of gray: People who did bad things but did not intend to, people who spent many hours contemplating acting upon evil impulses, but rarely made a move to realize them, liars , cheats and thieves not nearly as evil as the unspeakably sick people that thankfully did not grace her daily life. She learned people had motives, passions, and complicating factors that led to their apparent 'evil.' A little white lie was looked upon as a sparing action as opposed to blatant trickery.

Every day she lived, it became harder and harder to distinguish good and bad. Almost everything and everybody had an explanation.

Now that she was back on her feet, the real challenge would be making her way back up the hill. Despite her recent decision that he was not all that bad, she still did not want to have to ask him to physically help her, but she had another idea.

"If you don't mind, would you go find my friends and get them to come and help me? They should be around here somewhere." She hoped that this was not too much to ask him for, and luckily, it seemed like he had no problem doing so. She waited a few minutes in silence, heartbeat finally receding from the extended injury in her foot, before she saw Katyusha appear over the crest of the hill. Nikolaas, Ivan and Natalya were not in sight.

The woman slid down the hill carefully and came up beside her. Maddie explained what had happened, and without even a moment's hesitation, Katyusha placed her arm around her shoulder and slowly helped her up the hill. Maddie was so grateful that she was around, but when they reached the top of the hill, she could not see the others anywhere.

"Where did Ivan and Natalya go?"

Katyusha helped to shift Maddie's weight closer and closer to the back door of the lodge. "Ivan could not get a proper grip on his ski pole because of the injury to his hand, so Natalya took him inside and is forbidding him to ski any further."

Maddie contemplated this statement for a moment before she realized its implications.

"So that means that he can't compete tomorrow either?"

A nod was all the answer Maddie needed. Neither of them would be in the competition.

Reviews will encourage me to write more so please please do! :]