Scattered Light (Ami Yuuka)

It had been mere hours since the lifespark of Light Dol had faded from this world, but to her six children, it seemed like time had stopped forever.

They stood around her now, having rushed back to the ice cavern their mother had made a home for them as soon as Ice had informed them of the news.



Fire stood fast, fists clenched, as Water placed a hand on his shoulder, "First the old man and now mom... if there's a god out there, he doesn't give a damn about us."

With that, the hot-tempered doll walked out.

Ami stood at the back of the cave with her arms wrapped around her middle her face streaked with dried tears. "Why?" She whispered into the darkness.

Ice looked askance, the conflict in his eyes at odds with his usual stoic posture, as if he himself was searching to find an answer.



"It... was just her time, sis," Wind approached Ami and laid her little hand in the shadow doll's own, "She was laughing one moment, and the next she grew very weak..."

She sighed. "Dolls are supposed to live forever." Ami countered. "Does that mean we'll all fall someday too?" She shivered. "It feels like a part of me has died..."

"When my lifespark was damaged," Earth shambled out of the darkness, his voice seeming somehow as sad and broken as the rest of him, "When I was... loose wires, I was repaired! I was repaired!"



"It's okay, you're going to be okay," Wind steadied the still-malfunctioning giant and helped him to a sitting position.



As he felt the eyes of his sibling turn to him questioningly, Ice closed his own eyes, his posture tensing up, "I tried."



A hushed silence fell over the family for but a moment before, still staring out the cave entrance after Fire, Water sighed, "I'd better go after him before he does something foolish."

Ami nodded at Water and stumbled over, sitting at Ice's feet. She leaned against his leg. "Its alright...I know you tried your hardest Ice." She whispered as she stared at their mothers lifeless body.

Ice stood in stoic silence, letting Shadow comfort him as she wished. It was some time later, after Wind had already taken Earth off to recharge his own lifespark, Water having long since left to retrieve Fire, that the dam gave way.

"I tried...," he repeated, this time his voice breaking, "I could have saved her... I should have... It wasn't an accident. A Dol is immortal. Something blocked the channel. I couldn't get the energy to her!"

His eyes were full of guilt as he looked up, but also something more introspective; the realization of his own frailties, "I'm slipping, Shadow."

"Ice it was an accident it was..." Ami stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "You're not slipping Ice you're the strongest of us all..." She whispered. "You can't be slipping..." She continues to whispered as fresh tears streaked down her face and into the back of his coat as she squeezed her arms tighter. "You can't..."

Realizing how weak he was, Ice straightened up, holding his sister in turn, "You're right."

Standing after a moment, the implacable leader looked toward the direction his fiery-tempered sibling had gone, "I can't slip. Not if this family is to pull through. Let's go find our brother."

"Yeah...yeah lets go find Fire." Ami said wiping her tears away.

As the two set off to find Fire, they knew it would be a tricky pursuit. Like all of the Dol children, he and Water could fly through the air, so there were no tracks to follow. And unlike the others, Fire had a bad habit of disabling his communicator band when he went off on a rampage. Their only hope really was to find some trace of his destructive activity and hope to prevent him from creating any more havoc in the area.



As he flew silently through the sky, Ice seemed more resolved, though notably concerned.

"Ice? He's fine just...upset. This is how he deals..." Ami sighed. "Unfortunately." She mumbled.

Nodding a bit in response, Ice continued to look around for his brother, but there was no sign. By the time they had taken a really good sweep of the surrounding landscape, which seemed to stretch on forever, the sun was beginning to set.

"We're a bit far from home," Ice noted, "We'd better find a good place to make camp before dark."

"Alright." Ami nodded. She swept the immediate landscape a few times before spotting a clearing. She pointed to it. "Come on, the shadows wait for no one, even me." She joked.

"Still haven't lost your sense of humor I see," Ice returned a dry grin as they landed in the clearing.

Looking around briefly, he pointed to a cave at the edge of the open space, "In there. The weather will get us out here."

Ami stepped into the cave the and the temperature immediately rose. "Mmm." She whispered. Ami sighed and sat down.

Conjuring a frigid curtain at the cave's entrance, Ice looked around in the dim lighting, "Could've used Fire here. I guess we'll have to make our own."

That said, he gathered a couple of rocks and proceeding to strike a spark.

"Do you want me to gather some wood?" Ami asked quietly.

"The rocks in this area contain a high concentration of sulfur due to volcanic activity," Ice motioned to a pile of dust near the broken wall in one corner, "They should be flammable."

Ami raised an eyebrow. "Well alrighty then."

Minutes later, they had a roaring bonfire between them, the smoke billowing out the small gaps in the ice curtain.



"Homey," Ice half-muttered in thought, his mind apparently drifting through a memory.

Ami scooted towards Ice and laid her head on his lap the tears flowing freely again. "Yeah. Real homey..." She stared into the fire through her tears. "What are you thinking about Ice?"

"This time with mother," his mouth broke into a slightly embarrassed grin, "She was showing Wind how to bake a pie. I tried to help but I got the cooking spray mixed up with the cooking oil and set the pie pan on fire."

Ami grinned slightly. "Yeah, that sounds just like you." She sighed again, she was doing that a lot tonight. "I wish I could have spent more time with her before father lost it..."

"He wasn't always that way," Ice looked up, "I spent a lot of time pouring over father's journal in the early days. At one time, he had been a brilliant scientist. He hoped to use science to improve his body and did quite a bit for the gnome community in the department of cybernetics, but he never did feel accomplished. For all his intellectual power, he saw his body as a weak point."