Winter in July

The morning sun blazes high in the sky. Autumn Ali-Summers and her wife Kayra Ali-Summers are sleeping peacefully in their unconventional bed. Their bed consists of an old pickup truck with hay and blankets spread along the truck bed. As the sun continues to rise, light peers through some of the holes in the old barn wall. The light shines in Autumn's eyes which wakes her up just enough to convince her to move around in their makeshift bed. The couple's dog, a dachshund, named Pumpkin takes this as her cue to get up for the day. She hops off the bed of the truck and exits through the broken barn doors.

A soft barking is heard.

Kayra shakes Autumn awake. "Love, Pumpkin found something again."

"Ghhhrrrmmmmm…"

Kayra, still in her deep purple sleep dress, goes ahead to make her way outside when she's taken aback by the state of the outside. A decent amount of snow fell last night, and a fair amount was still falling. In said snow is a dachshund jumping through the powder, blanketing the ground as best as possible with its stubby legs. Kayra stares out at the horizon with a sense of wonder, only comparable to someone who had never seen snow before, which isn't too far from the truth. The young woman had grown up most of her life in low-altitude areas of the Middle East, where it is usually too hot and dry for snow. In her baggy t-shirt and shorts, Autumn stumbled out of bed and looked on with a more disinterested, sleepy gaze. Still, a small smile graced her lips whenever she would look down at her enthused wife.

"I've never seen anything quite so beautiful," Kayra took a couple of glances to her left and right to get the full scope and bearings of the snowstorm around them. "Well, that's not true. But this is still gorgeous!"

"It sure is pretty when you just see it, but living in it is another story," Autumn said absentmindedly.

Kayra's eyes shimmered, still looking at the snow on the ground.

"If I'd known you would be this in love with some snow, I would've done this sooner."

Unhesitatingly, Kayra grabs hold of Autumn's fiery hand. This would cause the skin to melt and bones to crackle from the heat for an average person. Kayra was unique in her own way too. Kayra can heal from just about any wound. This allowed her to hold Autumn's hot hand like it was nothing. The burns she acquired would heal almost faster than they could occur. Kayra squeezed her wife's hand and turned to her, smiling. Autumn couldn't help but blush.

"You're doing this, Autumn?"

Autumn holds out both her hands, and in one hand, a ball of fire forms, and in the opposite, a smaller ball of icy wind. "I am the master of fire and frost, Kayra. Doing this just isn't as useful when military goons are pointing machine guns at you, but it is charming."

The taller woman yawns. "It did take me all night to do, though, since my frost powers are weakest around this time of the year."

Kayra lets go of her wife's hand and steps out of the barn onto the snow. A slight jolt from the tingling sensation of the chilly powder on the ground, but she quickly relaxes.

Autumn pipes up, "You'll like it better now like this than in the Winter. It'll melt before too long here in July, but when it's Winter, we have to worry about shoveling it and making sure it doesn't muck up the fields too much."

Kayra pouted, "Now you're trying to ruin it."

Autumn tensed up, but an idea clicked in her head almost instantly to calm her down.

"Can I show you my favorite thing about snow, love?"

Kayra's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, that's good. I was just about to ask you to close your eyes."

A snort escapes from Kayra, but she decides to go along with Autumn's request and fully close her eyes. While her wife's eyes are closed, Autumn reaches down and loosely balls up some snow. Snickering all the while, Autumn finishes.

"Open them."

Kayra does, and suddenly a white, powdery orb collides with her. As she wiped the snow from her face, she could hear a series of loud snort-laughs belonging to her one and only.

"So the master of fire and frost is going to challenge me to a snowball fight?"

Autumn didn't say anything. Instead, she opted to hold out her arms with her palms facing downward. A stream of snow began rising slowly to fill in the empty voids of Autumn's hands. In almost no time flat, she had two fully-prepared projectile weapons to Kayra's zero. The currently defenseless woman lowered into a ready position and gave a determined grin. Kayra meets her wife's gaze before very sincerely pointing in a random direction. Autumn looks that way in an instant, worried about what it could be. While her wife was distracted, Kayra ran away, letting the snow obscure her slightly.

Autumn turned around to not find her wife where she left her, but luck favored the master of fire and frost. Pumpkin started barking playfully in Kayra's assumed direction.

"Get her Pumpkin! Find Kayra for me." Autumn playfully ordered the pup.

Pumpkin ran as fast as her little legs could carry them. Happy barks disappearing in the same direction Kayra seemingly ran in. Autumn trods carefully in that same direction. Keeping her eyes fixated on any possible angle of attack. She continued following the trail of happy barks that just barely reached her over the intensity of the snowstorm. Soon the barks stopped, and with it, Autumn's nerves started to creep up. Her trotting through the snow became more slow and eerie as she moved forward into essentially the unknown.

"Pumpkin! Please bark whenever you find my wife," Autumn shouted out. "So I can peg her with a snowball, of course."

Autumn's tone bled with concern for her wife and their adopted dog. Their place on this farm definitely wasn't without its worries or concerns. This location in the countryside provided them with a great deal of safety and privacy from the ongoing chaos following them due to their escape from a United States superpower testing facility. Although it was safer, that didn't mean they would never be found. It had been weeks. Maybe their luck ran dry. Maybe Autumn's Winter in July plan to surprise her wife led them here.

Autumn was shaken out of her dark thoughts by the familiar sound of her beloved doggy companion. The woman listened closely to the sound and quickly turned in that direction and began walking at an average pace, relieved that all of her worst fears had not been met. Autumn was eventually able to make out the shape of their little dachshund. Autumn stopped and quickly kneels down and scoops up Pumpkin when she comes to her. But still no Kayra…

Without warning, A snowball beaned Autumn Ali-Summers squarely in the back of the head, and the culprit of the slung icy material was none other than Kayra.

"You might have a significant advantage over me when it comes to making ammo, but there's no way you could possibly conquer my ingenuity!"

Kayra began throwing more snowballs at her stunned wife, who simply let them hit her as she clenched her hands into the snow.

"The same ingenuity that allowed me to outwit those power-hungry scientists at the facility-" Kayra was cut short by the sight of dozens of snowballs floating in mid-air. Autumn stood up and slowly turned around. The blue in her eyes shining brightly from the use of her frost powers. Kayra stared at her. She winced in slight terror.

Kayra gulped before trying to run away in the opposite direction to disappear again in the snow. The woman could hear the snowballs whizzing by her at speeds comparable to baseball players. The somewhat obscured vision might be throwing off Autumn's aim. She also isn't wearing her glasses or contacts, so she's a little blind. Kayra finally caught sight of a nearby tree. She lets a couple more snowballs whiz by her before ducking behind. Kayra catches her breath. The cold isn't bothering her so much, another beneficial side effect of her healing ability. Still, she's winded from moving through the snow. Kayra suddenly feels something touch her leg.

Kayra flinches, looking down to find her puppy. "PUMPKIN!" Kayra whisper-screeched, thrusting her hands down to grab the little dog. She held her Pumpkin tightly in her arms, looking her dog in the eye "Well girl, it looks like we need to refocus our efforts and regroup if we want to defeat Autumn. It won't be easy, but I think together we can beat the master of flame and frost."

As soon as Kayra finishes saying that, Pumpkin starts barking relentlessly. In no time flat, a dozen or so snowballs surround the tree and Kayra, locking her in place.

Kayra looks her dog in the eye again. "Traitor."

In the distance, Autumn's piercing blue eyes can still be made out. "Love, let's be reasonable. You don't want Pumpkin caught in this mess, do you?" Kayra pleaded.

Autumn moved her hands a bit, and the massive group of the snowballs collided together to form a gigantic snow hand. This hand quickly plucks Pumpkin from Kayra's grasps and places them in her own arms. The dachshund snuggles up closely with Autumn.

"TRAITOR!" Kayra yells across the airspace.

The hand reforms back in dozens of little snowballs, all aimed towards Kayra.

"Any last words?"

The cornered woman thought for a few moments.

"I…Love you…m-my Autumn leaf?" Kayra gave a crooked, uncertain smile.

Autumn didn't even move. Instead, she let the hundreds of snowballs fly towards Kayra at a breakneck pace. She shielded herself from imminent impact.

But it never came.

Feeling brave, Kayra decided to open her eyes, and she witnessed hundreds of individual snowballs surrounding her. Then at the drop of a hat, they all began flying away in every direction. Kayra looked in awe as the snowballs flew away.

"Kayra," Autumn called out to her wife in a husky voice. Kayra looks where she swears she heard her wife. To her surprise, a single snowball hits her in the face, and Autumn couldn't help herself from laughing wildly.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," Autumn snorts, "But I was never going to hurt you just so you know."

Kayra was simply awestruck.

"Love? I'm sorry if I-"

Kayra rushed into Autumn's arms which were already holding Pumpkin. Autumn struggled a bit to position them all but eventually figured it out to continue a loving hug.

"Autumn. You never cease to amaze me!"

"I...I didn't scare you?"

"Oh no, you scared the crap out of me. But that doesn't make you any less badass and cool."

"Really?" Autumn responded sheepishly.

Kayra nodded vigorously.

Autumn thought to herself for a moment. "You're a special woman. You know that, my love?"

Kayra blushes lightly at the sincerity of the compliment.

"I've heard it once or twice. And it is a lot more thoughtful coming from you than some less than ethical scientists from the facility.

Autumn pulls Kayra's head close and tenderly kisses her forehead.

"Good. Now let's get home. It's been a fun day so far, and now I get to teach you about the next best thing about snow days before our Winter in July comes to an end."

"Which is?"

Autumn smirks before willing a ball of fire in her right hand.

"Hot cocoa."