Frostbound

Rachel

Everyone stood and observed the icy encasement for a while longer but no one said anything. There was nothing they could do and it somehow felt wrong to speak.

To break the tentative silence.

Some had tears welling up and falling, others looked downcast at who they thought would lead them for years to come. Rachel herself was upset.

Before the System, she and Christopher weren't the closest but they had spent a decent amount of time together since practicing their various skills. Other than watching him grow up, she got to watch him grow in a different way.

It was odd to have that pillar removed from her life. She hadn't even known the pillar had been there in the first place. The sturdy...strength he had that made nothing seem to be out of hand. Hell, he fought the waves alone! Having someone who did that just took the edge off as they explored their new circumstances. A fallback parachute she hadn't realized was there until it was gone.

Besides the silent but steady support being gone, she became that support for everybody else. Rachel wasn't sure if it was an unconscious thing, but it was like they looked toward the next powerful person to lean on.

She didn't hate doing so, but after the day she had, and standing over the near-dead body of her nephew, she wasn't prepared for this.

The people from their City arriving to ask for directions only made it worse.

She had to tear herself away and take care of matters, as Elizabeth and Gabriel were never going to be able to do it. Gabriel because his powers were needed to keep the ice frozen and Elizabeth because the world would sooner stop spinning than her leaving her son's side.

Oh, how she wished Abigail was here to take care of all this. Scratch that, she would honestly be worse with Chris in that condition.

"I need a count of how many healing potions we have left. Run triage on the most wounded and separate those who can't be healed anymore." She commanded to those of her City that were still standing.