Not Your Typical Doomed Side Character

I was born soft. Delicate, high-maintenance, andaside from a face that could stop trafficutterly useless.

When the Great Freeze descended and the world turned into a geometric nightmare of ice and death, I didn't wake up with any Gifts. No superpowers, no survival instincts. Nothing.

Instead, I demanded that my boyfriend, Cade, use his fire-manipulation abilities to keep our reinforced bunker at a constant, balmy 78 degrees.

Today, the thermometer flickered down a single degree. I was already drawing breath to snap at him, to complain about the chill, when the air in front of my eyes suddenly fractured.

Glowing lines of texta digital barrageexploded across my vision:

[Ugh, when is this brain-dead side character finally going to get written out? Shes literally draining the life out of the Protagonist.]

[Cant she see the color of his face? Is she actually blind? Hes dying for her.]

[When does the Wood-Gifted heroine finally show up? Fire and Wood are the ultimate power couplefuel for the flame, if you know what I mean. Im so over this spoiled brat.]

[Hurry up and get to the part where she gets kicked out of the bunker and freezes to death. Ive got my popcorn ready.]

I froze. My gaze shifted to Cade. He was slumped in the corner, his skin a sickly, bruised grey, still straining to radiate heat for a room that didn't need it.

My hand trembled as I reached out and tugged at his sleeve.

Cade... babe. Im not cold anymore. Keep your energy. Stop.

I was lying on the small cot in our secure storage unit, and for a second, I felt a genuine shiver. I glanced at the thermometer. 77 degrees.

One degree lower than my "mandatory" 78.

Usually, that tiny dip would have sent a spike of irritation through me. I would have thrown a fit.

Cade! I called out.

He was curled in a sleeping bag in the corner. He opened his eyes slowly, the movement heavy and pained. The single emergency light cast a dim, jaundiced glow over us, and in that light, he looked like a ghost.

Why is it only 77 in here? I pointed at the gauge. You promised. 78, every day. No exceptions.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, his movements sluggish, a sharp contrast to the effortless strength he used to have. He looked at me, his lips parting as if to speak, but no sound came out.

Well? Say something.

I kicked off the duvet and marched over to him, giving his shoulder a sharp shove.

It was 77.5 yesterday. Now its 77. Is it going to be 70 tomorrow? Are we just going to freeze?

The shove made him lurch to the side. He reached out, his hand instinctively trying to steady himself by grabbing my wrist.

The moment his skin touched mine, I went cold for real.

He was freezing.

His fingertips were like ice.

That shouldn't have been possible. He was a Fire-Gifted. His body temperature had always been a furnace. Usually, when he held my hand, Id complain that he was too hot and pull away, telling him he was suffocating me.

Now, his fingers were colder than mine.

...Romy. His voice was a jagged rasp, sounding like it was being dragged from miles away. Just... give me a minute. Let me catch my breath.

Catch your breath for what? I asked instinctively.

And then, the Feed exploded in front of me again.

[Hahaha, here we go! The classic bitch-move. Watch her start her drama while hes literally crashing.]

[He looks like death warmed up and shes worried about one degree. Shes literally a parasite.]

[78 degrees, 78 degrees... if he keeps this up, hes going to be sucked dry. Hes running on empty.]

[Serena needs to get here ASAP. Fire and Wood belong together. Shell actually help him grow instead of just consuming him.]

[I cant wait for her to be tossed into the snow. Its going to be peak cinema.]

[Agreed. +1]

[Watching for the downfall. +1000]

I stood rooted to the spot. The words continued to scroll, every punctuation mark sharp and mocking.

What?

Im a "side character"? A villainous one? And Im supposed to be kicked out to freeze to death?

[Lol, did she see the Feed? Look at her face. Shes glitching.]

[Doesn't matter if she sees it. Shes slated for a permanent exit soon. She cant change the script.]

[Hang in there, Cade. The real heroine is coming for you.]

[Serena is at the Eastside Warehouse. Two chapters max until she finds the bunker. Just hold on, King.]

I scrambled backward, hitting the wall. The words followed me, hovering perfectly in my line of sight no matter where I turned. I swiped at the air, but my hand passed through nothing but cold oxygen.

Cade, startled by my sudden movement, forced his head up to look at me. Whats wrong?

His voice cut through the scrolling text for a split second.

I looked down at him. Truly looked at him. The pallor of his skin, the blue tint to his lips, the sheer, bone-deep exhaustion etched into the lines around his eyes. It wasn't just tiredness. It was the look of a man who had given everything away.

The words from the Feed echoed in my skull: If he keeps this up, hes going to be sucked dry.

Sucked dry.

I looked at the thermometer. 77 degrees.

It had been a steady 78 since the day the sun went dark and the mercury plummeted.

When the Freeze started, people began "Awakening." I got nothing. But I didn't care because I had Cade. He was my personal heater. He could generate warmth from his very cells.

In the beginning, he told me, Romy, I can probably keep us at 65. Just wear a sweater, okay?

And what did I say?

65? Thats basically the morgue. I want it at 78. Youre gifted, Cade. Just try harder. Isn't that what you're supposed to do for me?

He had looked at me for a long time that day, and then he simply said, Okay.

Since then, this ten-by-ten storage unit had been a tropical oasis in the middle of a graveyard. I never asked if it hurt. I never asked how he did it. I just bitched whenever the temperature dipped.

[Do you remember now, you spoiled brat? Do you remember how he spent the last ten days?]

[He sleeps three hours a night. The rest of the time hes a human battery. Hes redlined his Gift so many times hes lost count.]

[One degree? That one degree is costing him half his life force, you idiot.]

[Im crying. Run, Cade! Leave her to the frost!]

[Where is Serena?! Ugh.]

I tripped over the edge of the cot and collapsed onto the mattress. Cade tried to stand up, using the wall for support, but his knees buckled. He swayed, his body a fragile reed in a storm.

My instinct was to reach out, but I stopped halfway.

If the Feed was right, I was a girl destined to destroy herself through sheer selfishness. I would keep pushing and pushing until Cade hit his breaking point, and then this "Serena" would show up, and Id be cast out into the negative-fifty-degree wasteland to die.

[Ooooh, look at her. Is she having a mid-life crisis at twenty-two?]

[Go on, do something bitchy. Give us the finale were waiting for.]

[She looks like shes seen a ghost. Hilarious.]

[His face is getting even paler. I cant watch this. It hurts.]

I looked at Cade. He was shivering. Not a big, dramatic shudder, but a fine, microscopic vibration. He was a wire pulled too tight, ready to snap. I saw beads of sweat on his forehead.

Sweat. In a room that was barely 77 degrees while the world outside was fifty below.

He was burning himself up from the inside out.

My mind went strangely blank. The Feed was still scrolling, but the words lost their bite. All I could see was Cade. I saw the way his jaw was clenched, trying to keep himself upright for me.

He didn't have to be this way. If I wasn't such a parasite, he could have saved his energy. He could have survived this comfortably.

I wasn't stupid. Even if the Feed was a hallucination, Cades condition was undeniable. Why hadn't I seen it for the last ten days?

Because 78 degrees was comfortable. Because I was used to him saying "yes."

Because I thought he was invincible.

Romy, he whispered, his voice so thin it was barely there. Dont be scared. Ill... Ill get the temperature back up. Give me a second.

He raised his hand. A weak, flickering orange glow began to throb in his palm.

Id seen that light a thousand times. Id complained it was too dim, or that it made the air too dry. I never realized that light was his life leaking out.

I lunged forward and grabbed his hand.

He flinched, the light dying instantly. What are you doing? Its okay, Ive got it

Im not cold, I said.

He froze, blinking at me.

I said Im not cold. I squeezed his hand. It was still icy, but I gripped it with everything I had. This is enough. Its warm enough. Stop. Dont do it anymore.

He stared at me, his eyes wide and vacant, as if I were speaking a language hed forgotten.

[???????]

[Did her brain short-circuit?]

[Wait, this isn't in the script. Shes supposed to throw a lamp at him or something.]

[She said shes not cold? Is she sick? How are we supposed to get to the 'Freezing to Death' scene if she stops being a bitch?]

[Forget the bratlook at Cade! Look at his eyes. Oh my god, is he crying?]

His eyes were indeed turning a bright, wounded red. The moisture gathered at the corners of his lids, and he tried to blink it away, but a single tear escaped. It tracked down his pale cheek and landed on the back of my hand.

It was searing.

He was a Fire-Gifted; even his grief was hot.

What did you say? he asked.

I said, I reached up to wipe the sweat and tears from his face, feeling the strange mixture of heat and chill on his skin, that Im fine. Youre done. Youre going to sit down, and youre going to sleep. Right now.

But you

78 degrees is over, I snapped, cutting him off. From now on, I dont care if its forty degrees in here. You stay alive. Thats the only requirement.

His mouth hung open. He couldn't find the words.

The Feed went into a frenzy.

[Holy shit. Holy shit.]

[Did she just... evolve?]

[What is happening? Is the author drunk? This isn't how it goes!]

[The original plot is ruined. If shes nice, Serena has no reason to kick her out.]

[Who cares about the plot?! Look at Cade! He looks so heartbroken and relieved at the same time. Hes so beautiful when he cries, I swear.]

Cade looked like he was about to collapse. I didn't have time for the Feed anymore.

I dragged him toward the sleeping bag. His feet were heavy, stumbling with every step. I threw his arm over my shoulder, taking his weight. He was a head taller than me and built of lean muscle; the weight nearly crushed me, but I didn't let go.

I shoved him into the sleeping bag, zipped it up to his chin, and then grabbed every blanket, coat, and spare rug we had, piling them on top of him.

He lay there, just a head sticking out of a mountain of fabric, his red-rimmed eyes tracking my every move.

What are you looking at? Sleep, I growled.

Aren't you cold? he whispered.

Only then did I realize I was standing there in thin silk pajamas, barefoot on the concrete floor.

Was I cold?

God, yes. I was freezing. My legs were shaking so hard I thought my teeth might rattle out of my head. But looking at his face, seeing the dampness of his feverish sweat, the cold didn't seem like the most important thing anymore.

Nope. Im toasted, I lied.

He watched me for a long moment, a ghost of a smile touching his lips.

Liar, he said softly.

He shifted over in the narrow sleeping bag, pulling the side open.

Get in, he commanded.

I hesitated.

Get. In.

[AHHHHHHHHHHH!]

[The tension! Im screaming!]

[Wait, is the heroine getting ghosted before she even shows up?]

[This is so much better than the original. Look at them!]

[Romy, if you dont get in that bag right now, I will find a way to reach through this screen and push you.]

I got in.

The sleeping bag was tiny. We were pressed together, chest to chest, hip to hip. His body was still radiating a strange, clammy chill, but his arms came around me, pulling me into the hollow of his chest.

Im going to sleep for a bit, he murmured into my hair. When I wake up... Ill make it warm again.

No, I muttered against his heart. Just sleep.

He didn't argue. After a long time, I heard the rhythm of his heart slow down, becoming steady and deep.

The Feed slowed down too, the comments trickling by.

[Okay, Ill admit it. The brat has some moves.]

[So what happens next? Wheres the drama?]

[Whatever, Im shipping it for now.]

[But what about tomorrow? Theyre almost out of food. Without the Wood-heroine, how do they survive?]

[Romy better think of something. She woke up once; she better wake up again.]

I stared at that last comment until my eyes burned.

I didn't know what I could do. I was just a girl who was good at being pretty and being a problem.

But I wasn't going to let Cade die.

And I wasn't going to die either.

I woke up the next morning because the air felt like needles in my lungs.

I reached out, but the other side of the sleeping bag was empty. The warmth was gone.

I sat up, shivering violently. Cade was by the door, his back to me, his shoulders shaking.

Cade! I scrambled out of the bag. The floor felt like stepping on dry ice.

He turned around.

His face was a mask of paper-white skin. His lips were cracked and bleeding. He tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace.

Youre awake?

What the hell are you doing? I grabbed his hands.

Cold. Still so cold.

You were supposed to sleep! Cade, how long have you been up?

He didn't answer. He just looked at his palms. The temp dropped too low. I had to... I had to stoke the fire.

I looked down. A tiny, pathetic ember of light was flickering in his hand. It wasn't a heater. It was a funeral pyre. He was using his own cells to keep the air from freezing.

[Oh my god, Cade, do you want to die?!]

[The brat changed, but hes still stuck in his old patterns.]

[Its like a runner who cant stop after a marathon. His body is conditioned to burn itself out for her.]

[Hes going to crash. Hes going to crash so hard.]

[Where is Serena?! Shes at the warehouse! She has the healing Gift!]

I grabbed his wrists, forcing his hands down.

Stop it. Stop the fire.

But Romy

I said stop!

The light went out. Cade swayed, and I caught him, realizing he was burning upnot with Gift-fire, but with a lethal fever. He was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering.

Youre sick, I whispered.

The irony was devastating. A Fire-Gifted dying of a fever in a frozen world.

[Its the backlash. His internal systems are failing.]

[Without a Wood-user to balance his energy, hes got three days. Max.]

[Serena is a days walk away. He wont make it.]

I hauled him back into the blankets. He was delirious now, mumbling about the temperature, about how Id be cold, about how he was sorry.

Its okay, I whispered, tucked the blankets around him. Its enough. Im warm.

I sat there for a long time, watching him breathe. Then I stood up and walked to the door.

It was a heavy steel door. I pressed my ear against it.

Silence.

The kind of silence that sounds like a scream. No birds, no wind, just the crushing weight of the ice.

I looked back at Cade. He was a small, broken shape under the blankets.

The Feed started scrolling again.

[What is she doing?]

[Is she going to leave him?]

[Shes going to run away, isn't she? To find Serena?]

[Shell never make it. Its negative fifty out there. Shell be a popsicle in ten minutes.]

[Wait... shes looking for something.]

I was tearing through Cades backpack. Id never touched his gear before; hed always handled everything.

As I emptied it, my heart broke.

The bag was filled with my things. My favorite skincare, my silk pajamas, my spare sweaters, my heat packs.

And his stuff?

I found a single pack of compressed biscuits and two bottles of frozen water. That was it. Hed been living on crumbs for ten days while keeping me in luxury.

[Im crying. For real.]

[He really does love her.]

[Why did she have to be such a brat for so long?]

I found a map at the bottom. Cade had circled a few spots in red. The nearest one was labeled Supply Cache. It was six miles away.

Six miles. In a blizzard. On foot.

[Shes going to do it. Shes actually going to go.]

[Shes a normal human. Shell die before she hits the first mile.]

[Romy, dont! Stay with him! If he wakes up and youre gone, hell lose his mind.]

I folded the map and shoved it into my pocket.

I knelt by Cade one last time. His face was flushed with fever. His lips moved.

Romy... he breathed.

I froze. Wed been together two years. He usually called me "babe" or "princess" or "sweetheart." But in his fever, he used my name.

[Who is Romy?]

[Thats the side-characters name. Romy Vance.]

[Oh, I forgot she even had a name. I just call her 'The Bitch.']

[I think her name is Romy Jiang in the original? No, its localized now. Romy Vance.]

I touched his cheek. He was scorching.

Ill be back, I whispered. Stay here.

He couldn't hear me.

I put on every layer I owned. Three sweaters, two pairs of leggings under jeans, a heavy parka. I wrapped a scarf around my face until only my eyes were visible.

When I cracked the door, the wind hit me like a physical blow. It was a wall of white.

I looked back at Cade. One last look.

Then I stepped out and shut the door tight.

The world was a void. Snow came up to my thighs. Every step was a battle to pull my leg out of the drift.

Ten yards in, I couldn't breathe. The air was so cold it felt like swallowing glass.

One hundred yards in, I wanted to turn back.

[Shes actually doing it.]

[This is suicide.]

[The plot is officially off the rails. Romy was supposed to die in Chapter 5. Were in Chapter 1.]

[Shes turning blue. Her eyelashes are freezing.]

I didn't care. I just kept moving.

Left foot. Pull. Right foot. Pull.

Six miles. In the city, thats a twenty-minute jog. Here, it was an eternity.

I lost my sense of direction. I lost the feeling in my toes. I even lost the ability to feel the cold. There was just a dull, heavy numbness.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared in the white.

I stopped, squinting. A man. He was wearing a heavy military coat, his face obscured by a fur cap.

He saw me and started walking over.

Youre out here alone? he asked, his voice muffled.

I nodded, unable to speak.

Heading to the cache?

I stared at him.

Dont be jumpy, he said with a rough laugh. Me too. Theres a warehouse up ahead. Probably still got meds and food. We should go together. Safety in numbers, right?

[DONT TRUST HIM.]

[Hes a scavenger. These types are the worst.]

[Romy, run! Hes looking at your gear.]

[Hes going to rob her and leave her in a snowbank.]

I looked at the man. I looked at the way his eyes darted to my backpack.

No thanks, I croaked.

I stepped around him. He shouted something, but I didn't turn back. I just kept walking until he was swallowed by the white.

I don't know how long I walked. My vision started to tunnel. The edges of the world were turning black.

Im not going to make it, I thought.

Im going to die, and Cade is going to wake up alone.

[Shes been walking for three hours.]

[Three hours? Thats only two miles in this weather.]

[Shes done. Look at her.]

[Romy, dont give up! Get up!]

I tripped. I didn't even feel myself fall; I just realized I was face-down in the snow. It felt surprisingly soft. Like a bed.

I just need a minute, I told myself. Just a minute of sleep.

And then, a hand grabbed my shoulder.

I was hauled up out of the drift. I looked up, my eyes blurring, and saw a face.

Cades face.