BENEATH SHADOWED BOUGHS

[abaxmods]

"Sleighbells ring, are you listening? In the lane snow is glistening... A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a Winter Wonderland..."The eerie melody echoes through the quiet, snowy streets. A single line from a song so familiar to some, and yet there is no festive cheer that accompanies it. It whispers through the park, carries across

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Cheetara | not intending to visit tree | OPEN

[guardsthecrown]

Cheetara had little more clothing than usual to shield herself against the cold; just the dark-green, wool coat she'd taken from a shop, and a few extra strips of cloth wrapped about the balls of her otherwise bare feet. The coat she wore more for its color than out of need, which only coincidentally provided camouflage against the evergreens of the park. She had fur enough on her legs to keep them warm when she was still

[guardsthecrown]

"There must be a way," Cheetara said, even as she ran; the shinigami were fast.

She knew she had seen others go even closer to that tree. She didn't really know there was a solution, but she chose to remain positive, until proven wrong. "We should ask others. See what the experiences have in common. The tree itself, or distance from it, or even the ice or glowing lights."

"Those fireworks didn't harm the tree or keep memories from fading. But maybe something else can work."

[snowwhitesoul]

"I am horrified to think about what will happen if we don't."

Who knows how long that tree, that presence will be here. How many more memories might be lost to it. So Rukia runs until she doesn't feel the pervasive press of her body, and stops. At the edge of the woods, she turns to stare back at the forest, seeing the pale glow of the damned thing at the distance.

"We have to warn everyone."

[guardsthecrown]

Cheetara stopped close to Rukia. She reached to a pocket in her coat for her phone, then looked at it in her hand. She hadn't thought to check it, when she'd been studying the ice.

"Right. Let's go. We can warn any who may not realize the danger."

[snowwhitesoul]

Rukia nods, opening her own phone to call the boys - if they could even hear their phones over the scream of Getsuga Tensho's or Ceros. Failing that, she's pretty sure that her brother will answer his phone (he should be used to them now) and at least she could keep him away from this place. Still trying to comb over her memories for any obvious holes (which wont work), she speed dial's Ichigo's phone.

No answer, of course.

"Lets go," she mutters, trying for Shiro's number.