COLD-HEARTED (A SNOW QUEEN STORY!)

Hellooo, beautiful readers! Today I'm super excited to be sharing another Trentley and Jynnia story. Feels like it's been a minute, yes?

If you didn't already know, every month The Fairy Tale Central features a different fairy tale. (This month it's The Snow Queen!) And then Arielle, one of the ladies behind FTC, shares a writing prompt on her blog inspired by that fairy tale. Here's this month's prompt:

And the original post: HERE

It's tons of fun and if you haven't taken part yet, you totally should!!

So, before you read this story, just a reminder that these are FAAAR from perfect. Lol. xD They're actually quite a mess and parts of them make no sense. I don't put a whole lot of time into making them cohesive with each other, because I just try to have fun with them and get to know my characters a little better. I'm also writing a full-length novel about Trentley and Jynnia that will eventually be the first book of a series, but many of the elements in these stories are inconsistent with that. Like I said, these are just for fun. And thank goodness for that because WOW are they a mess. xD (Honestly, it's like I take them less and less seriously ever time I write one. :P)

This story may have been the longest of these so far... and HA, I had to change my original idea because it would have been ever longer. xD There's just so much going on in the Snow Queen story, and so much to work with. But I did get a bit inspired for a book later. ;D I just looove the snowy atmosphere and I'm excited about someday writing a much bigger story for this world.

Well, anyway. A warm welcome-back to Trentley and Jynnia, and I hope you enjoy!

 "Ready?" Trentley smiled at Jynnia, his face brighter than the dazzling snow covering the world around them.
 "Ready." Jynnia laughed for the pure joy of the day.

 They sat on their sleds, pushed off, and flew down the hill. The sound of the runners whooshing across the snow filled their ears. Soon two more sounds joined: the sound of a body hitting the snow and then of said body groaning.
 Jynnia saw Trentley's tumble just before she took her own, and rolled off her sled laughing. When she sat up, Trentley was sitting in the snow rubbing his eyes. "Are you all right?" Jynnia called, still smiling. Her smile died when she saw that he kept rubbing his eyes and did not answer her.
 She stood up and rushed over to him, holding a hand out. "Are you okay?"
 Ignoring her, he shook his head and opened his eyes, blinking as if there was sun shining in his face. He looked around him, a disgusted look on his face. "Ugly," he said under his breath. "Ugly, ugly..." Finally his gaze rested on Jynnia, and the repulsed look on his face didn't go away as his voice rose. "Ugly, ugly, ugly!"
 Jynnia's mouth dropped open. "What? What's ugly?"
 Trentley stumbled to his feet, nearly knocking her over as he tried to get his balance. "You! You... everything!" He blinked, as if it pained him to have his eyes open.
 Jynnia tried to comprehend what he was saying, but all she could see around her was beauty. Snow, white-blanketed trees, the sparkling spectacle of winter. "Trentley, I don't understand. You're not making any sense."
 Trentley was clutching his chest with one hand now, his other hand rubbing his eyes vigorously. "Did you get something in your eye?" Jynnia asked. "Let me see!" She stepped toward him and tried to pull his hand off his face.
 "No!" Trentley swiped at her. Jynnia gasped and jumped back, tears immediately blurring her vision. Trentley never acted this way. Something must be seriously wrong.
 Something nagged at her mind, but her foggy, distracted mind couldn't identify it. Tears streaming down her face, she rubbed the back of her neck and thought hard, but she felt numb.
 Her eyes fell on Trentley's sled that he had tumbled off of moments earlier. Just a few feet away from where the sled had come to a clumsy stop, something sparkled in the snow, casting a bluish light on the white ground. "Yes," she whispered, her eyes wide. "That's it!" She pressed her fingertips into her temples trying to will thoughts into her head. "Snow," she muttered. "Ugly. He says things are ugly."
 "Be quiet!" Trentley yelled. It sent a pang into Jynnia's heart, but she ignored it and kept racking her brains, mentally flipping through her big fairy tale book at home.
 Heart.
 Jynnia gasped and stood up straight, whirling around to look at Trentley. Snow. Heart. Eyes.
 "Trentley!" she cried, not caring if he yelled at her. "Trentley, there are splinters of the mirror in your eye! And your heart! We have to get them out!"
 Just then, Jynnia heard something approaching, and turned to see a sleigh pulled by a reindeer coming through the trees toward them. Jynnia gasped. There was no doubt now that she had thought of the right fairy tale, for there on the sleigh sat the Snow Queen herself.
 After all, it couldn't be anyone else in the world.
 She sat impossibly tall in her seat, wrapped in snow-white furs and looking down on Trentley and Jynnia with a severe look on her face. The only thing around her that wasn't white was the brown animal that pulled her sleigh.
 "Touch him and die!" the alarming woman yelled, her expression changing little.
 Jynnia gawked at her. "Excuse me?" she yelled back at her, turning to face her head-on. The confrontation called to her, but she changed her mind and went back to Trentley. That was more important right now.
 "Trentley," she said, her voice shaking. She was not sure what was happening, but she had a feeling that somehow the stakes had just risen several notches.
 Trentley was standing there, no longer covering his eyes, but gazing at the Snow Queen as though she were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. Jynnia, personally, thought she was rather unbecoming, with her harsh white skin and lack of a smile.
 And then she saw what was happening. With the shards of glass in Trentley's heart and eye, the queen was taking advantage of the situation and enchanting him. She wanted him for herself. For what, Jynnia did not wish to think about.
 The queen descended from her sleigh and advanced toward Trentley quickly, determination in her eyes. Deadly determination.
 "He is mine," the woman said. Her voice boomed, and the world around them crackled like a frozen lake. Trentley began stumbling toward her.
 "No," Jynnia said. Tears began to choke her, and she reached out for Trentley. "Trentley, don't go to her! She's got you under a spell!"
 The queen turned her icy eyes on Jynnia, making her feel quite cold. The woman lifted a hand to her lips, kissed it, and then blew the kiss toward Jynnia.
 Jynnia frowned. Why on earth was this woman blowing her a kiss?
 She was surprised to actually see the kiss floating through the air, in the form of a bundle of snowflakes hurtling toward her. Before she could dodge it, the kiss landed on her forehead, and could spread throughout her body as if ice was flowing through her veins. She cried out and faltered, nearly falling face first in the snow. She called Trentley's name again, but he didn't even acknowledge her.
 "No!" she sobbed. She could feel her strength fading; whether it was from the queen's kiss or the cold, she didn't know. But the space between her and Trentley was growing dangerously greater than that between Trentley and the queen.
 Jynnia bent and balled up a handful of snow, then threw it at the queen. Luck or fate aided her weak arms, and the snowball hit the queen right in the chest. Of course, that did nothing to slow her down. But it was the only retaliation she could think of.
 "Leave him alone!" Jynnia screamed.
 "Listen to her," the queen said, looking only at Trentley. Her voice was like a soothing song. "Listen to that awful voice. Don't look at her," she said quickly when Trentley moved his head as if to turn around. "She is quite ugly. Everything is ugly except for me. Keep your eyes only on me."
 Jynnia bent again for more snow, and as she reached down she saw the queen's movement out of the corner of her eye. When Jynnia looked back up, it was too late to escape the second kiss soaring toward her. It hit her in the cheek, and Jynnia felt her very bones freeze and threaten to crack. She cried out, louder than before, and fell in the snow. Even as she struggled on the ground, she tried to shape the next snowball with her trembling, aching hands.
 The Snow Queen had Trentley by the hand, and he was about to step into her sleigh.
 Jynnia could barely move, and Trentley was falling farther and farther away from her. Her heart hurt as she watched him step into the sleigh. She was about to lose him. She could not lose him.
 "Kiss me, young fellow," the queen said to Trentley. Jynnia's stomach turned.
 "No!" Jynnia cried. "Trentley, it'll kill you! Don't kiss her!"
 Trentley looked at the queen, and he seemed to be considering it.
 Jynnia managed to pull herself through the snow on her elbows, but she knew her speed was no match for that of the reindeer's once the sleigh started moving. As Jynnia crawled, sobbing, her tears freezing to her skin, her elbow bumped against something.
 She looked down and saw the jewel that she had seen earlier. She had crawled right over to where it had been lodged in the snow.
 The queen sent her one last kiss.
 Jynnia was so cold now that her hand shook as she moved it to grab the jewel. She was moving as slowly as if she were in a dream, but she knew that the queen's deadly kisses of ice would not be so.
 The kiss flew toward Jynnia. She felt it hit her right in the temple, and heard the spintering of freezing blood and aching bones.
 But at the same time, she grasped the jewel in her palm and squeezed it as if it would escape.
 Suddenly she felt the magic coursing through her body, melting the ice that had been paralyzing her. She heard and felt her blood crack as it melted, and finally she was able to stand again. She had survived the queen's third kiss, which she knew in her fairy tale book would have killed her. And now she would make sure Trentley was a survivor, too.
 "Trentley!" she yelled, as loud as her dry throat would allow.
 He turned around, his attention drifting from the distracted queen, who looked quite angry that Jynnia had escaped her kiss of death.
 "Well, are you going to kiss me or not?" the queen asked, her voice shaking. She grabbed Trentley's face and turned it roughly back toward her.
 "We've been over this, your majesty," Jynnia yelled. "Kissing you would kill him, and I happen to value his life right now."
 "Shut up!" the queen said. "Kiss me," she said again as she looked into Trentley's eyes.
 "Look at this!" Jynnia called, holding up the jewel for Trentley to see. She held it above her head as she hurried toward him, both as a reminder and a shield. She didn't know just how much the jewel would protect her should the queen try anything else, but she felt safer with it on display.
 "No!" the queen shrieked. "You will not take him away from me!"
 "You won't take him away from me!" Jynnia shrieked back. She hurried her steps, praying the magic in the jewel would keep the queen from attacking. 
 Trentley was looking at her, disgust still on his face at the sight of her, but he blinked as if confused. "Let it go, Trentley!" Jynnia yelled. "Look at me! Don't think about the queen's spell! Don't think about the ugliness in the world!"
 She reached Trentley, took one of his hands in hers that didn't hold the jewel, and pulled him off the sleigh. She pressed his hand to his heart. "I know there's a shard of glass in there," she said. "You don't have to let it control you." She left his hand there on his chest and gently placed her hand over his eye. "And I know there's one in there. Think about warmth, Trentley. Don't think about anything else. Just think warmth."
 He still looked confused, although perhaps beneath the surface Jynnia could see some sort of fight.
 "Trentley," she sobbed, still holding the jewel out toward the queen. The warmth emanating from it seemed to hold her at bay, standing there with her hands held up in front of her. "Trentley, get better. Please." She took a deep breath from her tears and impulsively stood on tiptoes to kiss his eye.
 She let her lips linger there for a few seconds, willing warmth to seep through his cold skin. She felt nothing happening, but oh, she hoped it was working.
 When she stepped back, she saw tears flowing down Trentley's face. A tiny speck glinted as it fell to the ground. The shard. It was gone.
 "Trentley! Are you you again?" she cried, holding her hand over his heart in hopes of getting rid of that shard too.
 Trentley blinked a few times. "Jynnia," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
 "Trentley!" Jynnia sobbed. She wanted to throw her arms around him, but they still had the matter of the Snow Queen to deal with.
 "You," Jynnia said, turning to stare her down, still holding the jewel in front of her. As she proceeded toward the woman, the queen backed away from the warm light around the jewel. "I don't know where you came from, but go. Get out of here and don't bother anyone anymore."
 The queen glared at her. "You're lucky this time," she said as she backed toward her sleigh. "But next time won't be as fortunate for you." She slapped her reindeer with the reins, and they sped away. Jynnia only hoped that somehow, with the jewel in hers and Trentley's possession, this story would end and the queen wouldn't be able to harass anyone else.
 "Trentley," Jynnia said when the queen was gone. This time she did throw her arms around him, and it felt so good to feel him return her embrace.
 "I'm so sorry, Jynnia!" Trentley said, and she could hear the pain in his voice. "How could I ever say those awful things to you?"
 "It's okay. It wasn't you," Jynnia said, wiping the tears from his face before they froze.
 "What happened?" Trentley whispered, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes as if to get any last remains of the shard out as he could.
 "I suppose when you fell in the snow, the shards from the mirror were in there and got lodged," she said. "The jewel was nearby, after all. Causing trouble, as always."
 Trentley laughed. "Well, I'm just glad it's over."
 Jynnia nodded. "I'm glad you're back. Now let's put this jewel with the others." She tossed it in the air and caught it.
 "First we have to race again," Trentley said. "Our last one ended kind of sourly."
 Their laughs rang off the snow-covered trees, the sound more beautiful than all the winter wonder around them.

Yes, there was a "Let It Go" joke in there. XD

Also, I sort of forgot to write the story around the prompt at first... haha. Oops. So you can probably totally tell that's just kind of weirdly inserted in there AND tweaked a bit. Should I admit that? Probably not. But we're all honest here. xD

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this installment of The Adventures of Trentley and Jynnia! (Working title. XD) Definitely check out the prompt and write your own!

Have you read The Snow Queen? And have you taken part in these prompts? (Because you should give it a try!)