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Have you ever wandered lonely through the woods
And everything there feels just as it should?
You're part of the life there,
You're part of something good
If you've ever wandered lonely through the woods
Cleo could understand why Pearl and Scott had chosen to build their base in this spot. The taiga wasn't always the coziest biome, but it felt peaceful here. In the heart of the woods, you could pretend it was a peaceful server. They took a deep breath, filling her lungs with fresh, clean air. It didn’t smell of smoke.
Forests were often a symbol of a fresh start. They bounced back, could regrow after even the worst circumstances. Even after fires.
Little saplings dotted the landscape where great trees of the past had once fallen. It must be hard for them, to start from scratch when things had once been so great. Cleo understood that. It was easy to feel alone, to feel like she could never have again what they once had in the Fairy Fort. Friendships couldn't be built up as easily as bonemealing a sapling.
But even the tallest spruce once started from a seed. Cleo had something here: the beginning of new relationships, new alliances. She was just as much a part of the Scottage as Scott and Pearl were, just like how all trees are a part of the woods, no matter how long they'd been growing.
No matter how alone they felt, they would have a chance to be a part of something.
Have you ever stared into a starry sky?
Lying on your back, you're asking why
What's the purpose?
I wonder who am I?
If you've ever stared into a starry sky
It was an odd feeling. That was the only way Scott could describe winning. There was something deep within him that celebrated the victory, and a part right next to that one that could do nothing but mourn. He'd won, hadn't he? But he'd experienced so much grief, and he'd caused a fair amount of pain himself. The two sides blended into something that could be mistaken for numbness.
He wasn't thinking about all the dying as much as he thought he would've, though. In that moment, as his memories of the last game came back to him, he found peace in the fact that this wasn't the first time. He couldn't think about what he'd gone through when he was distracted thinking about why.
Why were they here? Did someone really have that much to gain from all this suffering? Could it be avoided?
The stars blinked down at him, as if they didn't know either but still wanted to comfort him. He blinked back.
A cluster of storm clouds gathered up ahead, too quickly to be natural, and he knew the end was here. He hardly felt his final death—it was just a quick flash of light before absolute darkness—but he still remembers wishing it could have been on his own terms.
Have you ever been out walking in the snow?
Tried to get back to where you were before
You always end up not knowing where to go
If you've ever been out walking in the snow
All she'd wanted was her friends. She didn’t know why she wanted them, because clearly they didn't want her, but her allegedly-cold heart was yearning for a warmth she didn't remember feeling, but she knew she'd felt it once.
The snow helped to balance it out. To make her feel cold everywhere, despite yearning for the opposite, and to make Scott hurt, because he'd hurt her.
She wanted to make up, to go back to being friends, to have some stability again... or rather, for the first time, but again felt right. She knew these people, she wanted these people, but they treated her like a stranger at best and a villain at worst. Every attempt to reach them just pushed her further and farther away.
Could she ever find connection? Would she be let back into society? Should Cleo and Scott ever forgive her? Or was she destined to walk this path forever?
At least if they hated her, they still knew her. There would still be some sort of relationship connecting them; she wouldn't be irrelevant.
That's what the snow was for: to remind them to hate her.
What else could she do?
The cold settled into her skin, seeping into her bones until she couldn't remember a sensation that didn't involve feeling frozen. It hurt, badly, but it made her smile. It may not be the path back to happy days and warm laughter, but it was the path she was going to follow because it was the only path she could find.