Lea saw a whole lot of orange, red, yellow and brown. She was standing inside the residence of Autumn. It was completely different from Winter's place. The walls weren't made out of clouds but out of wood. Wood with branches growing out of it. Branches on which there were a lot of leaves. Leaves that sometimes fell to the ground in a slow movement.
"Winter?" a deep voice asked.
Lea looked to her right and saw a handsome man with dark brown skin and moss for hair staring at her.
"What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see you." Lea answered, trying to keep Winter's cold demeanor.
"Did something happen? Why aren't you with Moon? Not that I'm saying you should go to him. I'm really glad to see you."
"As a matter of fact," Lea said. "Something did happen."
Autumn seemed to panic when she said that. "Shit! I knew it. Winter we've been telling you for decades you shouldn't hang out with that god. We've told you that news about you and Moon would eventually reach Sun's ears and that you would be the one to pay the prize!"
"Stop talking," Lea interrupted Autumns lecture. "I've never done anything indecent with Moon."
Autumn gave her a stern look. "Even if that's true the way you act when you're with him gives a totally different vibe. Like Sun would care that you didn't have s*x with her husband. You've been flirting with him for a long time!"
"I was never serious with him," Lea stated.
Autumn looked at her incredulously. "Like hell, you aren't serious! Have you seen how you look at him?"
"That's because it was the only way he would stay at my side like a pretty accessory."
Autumn rubbed his eyebrows. "Just tell me what happened."
"Moon told me he liked me."
Autumn was impatient. "Tell me something I don't know."
"He also implied he was more beautiful than me, so I threw him away."
Autumn looked up with shining eyes. "You dumped him?"
"Yes."
Autumn made a jump in the air. "That's fantastic, Winter! Come, we'll have to immediately tell the others!" Autumn grabbed Lea's hand and teleported her away with him.
***
The four siblings were sitting in a small courtyard. It was common ground were they always met up with each other. The tree that stood in the middle was a mix of all seasons. Each branch was different. Some had leaves that were starting to fall off, some had cute little budding flowers, others had fully grown bright green leaves and the other branches didn't have anything on it at all, except for maybe a sharp icicle. The four gods and goddesses had created the tree together, to represent their strong bond that was intrinsically linked.
"You're kidding," Spring said when she heard the news.
"He must be," Summer reacted.
Both Spring and Summer couldn't believe their ears. Did they really hear those words coming out of Autumns mouth? How could the blindly in love Winter suddenly reject Moon? They looked at Winter skeptically, expecting to hear that Autumn understood her wrong.
"It's true. I've distanced myself from Moon. He was getting on my nerves."
"This isn't some sort of cruel joke, is it?" Spring asked. Although she really wanted it to be true, it just seemed so bizarre!
"Have I ever made jokes?" Lea asked, unsure of the answer herself, but bringing it with enough confidence so that even if Winter did it would be clear she wasn't joking now.
The seasonal gods went over their memories and concluded that Winter indeed wasn't a joke maker.
"We have to celebrate this event!" Spring said enthusiastically.
Lea almost got swept up in the happiness of Winter's siblings, but remembered her character just in time. "Why would we need to celebrate this? I don't see the point."
"Well," Summer answered. "Because it doesn't happen every day that you do something which makes us happy! Such a wonderful occasion must be celebrated!"
"I didn't do it to make you happy. I did it, because I wanted to."
"Doesn't mean we can't rejoice," Autumn rebuked.
[I've got a question, Dwyl.]
[Dwyl: About?]
[Do cruel people like to party? Because I certainly don't want to miss this!]
[Dwyl: I'm sure cruel people like to indulge themselves sometimes, but according to my information Winter is a quiet type. She doesn't like noise, which you could have known. Why else would she ask the God Animal to make most animals go to sleep whenever she has control over the world?]
[… Tell me again what the consequences are for going out of character?]
[Dwyl: This won't be considered OOC. My name is Doing Whatever You Like system, after all. You couldn't possibly do everything you like if the character settings are to strict! You only need to be cruel, coldhearted, ruthless and vain.]
[You should have told me sooner! I've been stressing this entire time.]
[Dwyl: I've been telling you this since the beginning. You're just too dumb to understand.]
Knowing this, Lea still couldn't do much to convey her excitement for a celebration with gods and goddess. A cruel person wouldn't give her siblings the satisfaction!
"I don't want to celebrate something this stupid. I've got better things to do."
"Like what?" Spring asked, right when the courtyard was being filled with bright sunlight.
"Like having a conversation with me," a warm voice interrupted the siblings' conversation.
Spring, Summer and Autumn stiffened at the sound. This was Sun! Moon's wife. What was she doing here? Just when they thought Winter was finally out of harm's way the person they worried about the most appeared. Why did they have this bad luck?
Lea on the other hand, didn't instantly recognize Sun's voice. She turned around to see who it was and an involuntary gasp escaped her lips. The woman who came down from the sky was breathtaking. Her bronze skin and golden hair shimmered. Her face was divine, with delicate eyebrows and voluptuous lips. The woman was simply perfect.
[Who is this?]
[Dwyl: This is Sun, obviously. Didn't the light she radiates tip you off?]
[She's the prettiest person I've ever seen.]
[Dwyl: Of course. I told you Moon was just average.]
[You did, indeed. The beauty standards of this world are incredibly… unrealistic.]
Sun stared at the dazed goddess. She raised her eyebrow. Why did Winter act like she had never seen her before? Sure, it has been a while since they'd last seen each other, but that was mostly because Winter didn't like the heat Sun emitted. If something needed to be said between them, they always used Cloud, but Sun wanted to see Winter face to face regarding the matter of her rebellious husband.
"Winter, I'd like to speak with you in private. It's an urgent matter."
Every word Sun spoke sounded like warm slippery honey.
[Dwyl: Focus! She's talking to you.]
Lea waked up from her astonished state. Why would Sun like to speak to her? She didn't have any reason to, since she broke up with Moon before they started an affair.
"What about?" Lea asked, filled with nerves. She shouldn't be alone with Sun. In the original timeline Sun kidnapped Winter. She didn't want that to happen! Who knows what this crazy goddess would do. At least with Winter's siblings here, she could maybe prevent that from happening.
"I'd rather not say in front of others."
Sun smiled at her siblings. "You understand, right?"
Autumn, Spring and Summer were very worried about their sister, but they couldn't do anything! It would be unreasonable of them to stay without giving a proper reason. Sun had the power to eradicate them, after all. With fear in their hearts they left Winter alone with Sun.