"(Y/N)! Get away from the railings! What would you do if you fell overboard?!" I flinched as I heard my mother yell at me, worry coating her voice thickly as she hugged the door leading to the passengers' rooms.

I would never understand why someone so afraid of water would ever take the chance to get on a boat, but I guess her husband was just that persuasive, even with mom. After all, he'd persuaded me to come on this oversized hunk of metal and I had come to hate the man in the years since mom had married him. He would never replace my dad, no matter how much he thought he deserved my respect. That was something earned by people, not a right they were born with. I didn't care who thought otherwise.

Sighing, I pulled away from the railing I had been leaning on.

"I think I'll go get something to eat. I'll be back later, mom. Don't stay up late waiting, I don't think he's going to be back anytime soon," I muttered as I brushed past the worn looking woman who had given birth to me so many years ago, her eyes admitting what her words wouldn't.

We both knew that the man was a cheater. The difference between us was that only one of us had the courage to say it to his face.

--------

Far under the waves, hidden within the icy depths of the ocean, frost-covered eyelashes moved slowly as lids opened to reveal a pair of cruel eyes. Hardships and loss could be seen hidden within that gaze if any could survive long enough to look for them. What was not hidden, was the cold rage that lay just under the surface of those dark blue eyes being lifted up to stare at the distant wake left behind by a passing ship.

What foolish mortal dared to cross his territory? Had they so quickly forgotten what happened the last time one of their ships trespassed on his waters?

"I guess it's time for a reminder," his voice cut sinisterly through the liquid around him, the few fish nearby darting away in fright at the laughter that followed soon after.

--------

Glaring darkly at the man I saw, his arm around the much younger female next to him, I turned around and left the room, my appetite spoiled. Why had mom ever married such a horrid man, I would never know. Surely not because he was the best she could find, a fair few more gentlemanly suitors having trailed behind her in the years since father's untimely death. Surely one of them could have sparked something in her heart that would have lasted longer and been truer than whatever it was this piece of filth had given her.

There was no lack of money that he could offer to assist with, my uncle having been more than happy to run the estates in my father's place, assuring we would not want for anything. And as much as I hated to admit it, this man had wealth of his own, so he was no gold digger either. Not once had he taken so much as a coin from the estate, even though by marriage rights he could take it all.

Frowning at the thoughts running through my head, I turned down the hall and found my way upstairs to a higher deck, once more finding myself leaning against the railings. What did that man want from my mom? What did she have that he couldn't find elsewhere? Surely he didn't love her, for if he did, he would not cheat on her like he did.

It was as I looked out at the distant waves illuminated by the setting sun that I saw something strange, a darkness beneath the water like a cloud of ink moving slowly towards the ship, followed closely by an unusual paleness growing upon the surface of the suddenly still ocean. Ice. The very waves were freezing in place, liquid one moment and solid ice the next.

"Impossible...," I whispered, my voice almost lost to the fear that caught me in its grasp upon seeing such an unthinkable thing.

Before I could even think to shout to one of the sailors working further down the deck, the sound of metal being torn apart filled the air, the once proclaimed "unsinkable" ship taking in water faster than one could imagine. From that moment onward, everything was like a nightmare come to life as strangers began screaming and passengers began fighting each other in a hellish attempt to be the first assured of survival.

I never did see that man again, but neither did I ever see my mom. I could only pray that she survived, just as I hoped that he did not. If I had known what the future had in store for me, I might have jumped from the liferaft myself, if only to spare myself and the others aboard the fate that was in store for us.

--------

For the first time in far longer than he wanted to think about, curiosity slipped its way into his senses, the sight of that one small boat drifting in the water drawing his attention without causing his rage to build. He doubted that it was because of something as foolish as their strong will to live, nor did he think it had anything to do with the fact that there were females on board, having never paused in the past just because there was a woman screaming in fear or pleading for mercy before him.

Shaking his head with a grimace of disgust at his own foolish show of said mercy, he flicked his long, dark tail once more before heading down into the depths of his realm, leaving the boat with nothing more than a fresh coat of frost to numb the fingers of those aboard.

"I'll deal with them later. If they even survive the night," a dark smirk flashed across his lips before the sound of cruel laughter trailed through the waters behind him.

--------

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, I pulled again on the stick in my hands, wrapping the string quickly around it as I fought to bring in the fish that would hopefully become part of the meal tonight. With luck, it would be the first of many and we could go to bed with full stomachs for the first time since we found this frozen wasteland of an island. The first night had been the worst, of course, each of us mourning the loss of loved ones who had been aboard the ship with us.

Not that all of us had survived this ordeal, one of the women and an older man having passed away the first night from cold and shock, with the only other woman and a young sailor vanishing the next morning without a trace to be found. We had all been rather wary of the surroundings after that, wondering which of us might be next to disappear.

Even now, I swear I could feel something watching me, a sensation we all swore we could feel from time to time since that morning.

--------

"I wonder if I should kill them today," his voice questioned softly, ice cold fingers gently trailing over the icy shore he watched the human from.

Still unsure why he hadn't ended their existence already, he watched on in curiosity as she pulled at the stick again. He almost gave his position away with a bark of laughter when she stumbled back, the line finally wrapped almost fully around the simple "fishing rod" one of the men had created, a fish flapping tiredly around her feet as she jumped and shouted in happiness.

The smile on her face at that moment was breathtaking to the young-looking merman, his eyes wide as he heard her begin laughing. The sound was like nothing he had ever heard before, musical in ways even the ocean he loved so much couldn't match.

Maybe he could wait a little longer before he killed these humans...

--------

The smell of slowly cooking fish filled the air, the smoke trailing into the sky as we gathered close for whatever warmth we could gain from the small fire. We were just lucky that this snow-covered island seemed to have once been a lush and thriving place, the now dead trees providing a decent amount of firewood for the time being, although none of us wanted to think about how long it would last. Nobody wanted to imagine being here long enough to have burned even half of the wood they could provide us.

"(Y/n), could you gather some of those smooth rocks you found earlier? If I build up the fire a bit more after cooking the fish, we can warm the rocks tonight and heat up our bedrolls, even if just for a while," the grizzled looking deckhand asked, a small smile trying to peek past the exhaustion that plagued us all after a hard days work.

"Sure thing, just make sure those two don't eat my share of dinner!" I laughed tiredly as I winked at the man, waving a hand at the two young men who had been eyeballing the fish I'd somehow managed to catch. More than I had ever hoped for when I had cast that hook into the dark waters surrounding the island.

Laughing even harder at their reactions to my comment, I headed off into the growing shadows, hoping to be back before the light left the sky. Part of me wished that one of the guys would come with, but they had earned their rest far more than I, having spent the day working hard at cutting down trees to build both fires and reinforce what shelter we had.

I was so tired, I didn't even try to hide the shivers that grew stronger as I left the warmth of the fire, hands rubbing up and down my arms as I tried to bring warmth back to them. I had rocks to move, after all.

--------

He frowned as he watched her pick up rocks from the shore, her numb fingers fumbling with them before she held them against her body so she wouldn't drop them again. Each cold rock pressed against her seemed to increase the shivers that wracked her body, her breath escaping in pale puffs of mist from her lips that were slowly turning blue. He didn't even realize how close he had gotten to her until she froze in place, vanishing under the surface only moments before she turned her head, eyes trying to pierce the waters that still rippled where he had just been.

Not long after, he found himself staring intently at the icy sand lying upon the bottom of his domain, his features trapped in a thoughtful frown. A hint of worry slipped into his eyes as they darted upward for a moment.

"She could freeze to death up there. It's too cold for a mere human to survive long. What if she get's sick? What could those human men do to help? Nothing, that's what!" Worry transitioning to anger, he began swimming again, his destination set as he grabbed the chain around his neck.

"I won't lose her, not this time."

--------

I woke up to something I hadn't seen in days, maybe weeks by now. It was so hard to tell time when they sky was constantly overcast, the days blurring together with the nights as we tried to guess the time based on mild changes in the levels of darkness and cold. But not today, it seemed. No, not today.

Climbing quickly out of my bed, I hurried out of the shelter, a smile growing on my face as I passed the small 'window' that had been fashioned into the wall. I had never realized how good the sun felt on my skin until I didn't have it anymore, the constant clouds and frequent snow flurries hiding it from even the shortest of appearances.

"Am I dreaming?" I questioned as I laughed happily, spinning about in front of the shelter the men had built, finally falling into the snow as I grew too dizzy to stay upright. I sighed softly, a smile on my lips that didn't seem to hold anything back for once as I gazed up at a shockingly blue sky.

"If you are, so am I and I don't want to wake up, little lady," the usually grave-faced man, Henry if I recalled correctly, spoke from nearby in a voice far softer than usual.

Looking his way, I could see the hint of a smile on his face as he carefully carved a new bowl out of wood. Seeing him already at work, even in such amazing weather, I climbed to my feet and headed over to the fishing gear. An even brighter smile lit up my face at seeing the newly fashioned pole sitting there, replacing the unwieldy stick I had been using before. It might just be a pole with a line fastened on at the end, but at least it was longer and would allow me to cast out better and farther than before.

"I'll see what I can catch for lunch today! Maybe if I am lucky, I can bring back something for dinner, too!" I cheerfully exclaimed, the sun improving all our moods it seemed, waving to the handful of men that were busily working around the area we took refuge in.

"We'll look forward to it! Just be safe out there, since we don't know how this sun could affect the stability of the island," Henry called out as I carried the gear to my usual fishing spot.

Nodding to him, I turned back around and headed to the shore, watchful of the path I took. The last thing I wanted was to get hurt and become a burden on them after all that they had done for me, teaching me what they could so I would be able to help keep us all alive until rescue arrived.

I didn't want to think about the possibility that rescue might never come.

--------

His eyes were the brightest they had ever been as he watched her smiling form on the shores, having seen her carefully inspect the area before claiming it safe enough to fish from. As if he would let anything happen to her.  He wasn't some foolish human, willing to watch as someone he cared for died in front of him.

Pausing, he brought a hand to his cheek, feeling a mild warmth grow beneath his normally cold skin. When had this happened? How had this happened?! When did he start to...

"Care for her? She's human, mortal. Why do I care for her?" Confusion flashed through his eyes before he brought his attention back to the woman across the waters from him.

He watched the way the sun seemed to make her skin glow, her hair gently blown about by the breeze. A smile that seemed to rival the sun's brilliance lit up her face as she pulled another fish from the waters for the meal that day. He couldn't deny that the sight brought a smile to his own lips, his breath catching at the sound of her laughter when the fish splashed water across her face, even if said water was as cold as he was. He began to wonder if she would be able to laugh and smile at his own touch...

"I care for her," he spoke softly this time, the confusion slowly replaced by something he hadn't felt since before he began ruling this part of the oceans. Pulling his hand away from his face, he placed it over his heart, eyes trained on the (h/c) female.

What felt like mere moments later, he watched as she gathered the fish she had caught up and carried them away with her, his hand raised as if to call her back to where he could watch her. He barely stopped himself from speaking aloud, turning away once she had vanished from his sight and sinking slowly into the depths.

"Yes, I do care for her. The way her smile lights up the world brighter than even the sun can manage. The sound of her laughter as it carries over the waves. Even the face she makes when she is sad, looking like the whole world is falling apart around her. Everything about her is beautiful," his voice sounded as cold as the icy waters he ruled over, his skin frosting over as the temperature around him dropped significantly. "And everything about her should be mine and mine alone to enjoy."

--------

The warmth on the shore was blissful, easing the chill that had seemed to almost become a part of me after so long on this island. I'd come here as soon as I had awoken, hoping to be able to relax in the warmth that seemed to focus on this one specific area, odd as that seemed.

For the first time ever, I could actually see the sand that was usually hidden under a layer of ice. Creeping forward, I cautiously poked the sand with a lone finger, unsure what I would find. At the feeling of warmth radiating from the loose surface, I slowly began sinking my entire hand inside, a smile creeping across my face as I found more warmth hidden within the loose layers.

"It feels like the sun has been shining on it all day, but it has barely been up for more than an hour," I said softly before giving myself a shake. "Don't question it, (y/n). This world is filled with strange things, far less kind than warm sand. Enjoy what you can before it gets taken away. Like Mother got taken away..."

Walking forward, I pulled my shoes off before sinking my feet into the sand. The smile reappeared on my face as I wiggled my toes under the sand, determined to enjoy this happy moment in my life. It wasn't long before I was stretched out on the sand, arms reaching above my head as I enjoyed the feeling of the sun on my face and the sand on my back, both sending warmth into my body.

"I wish every day could be like this," I mumbled softly, eyes closing as I slowly sank into the gentle sleep I had left not too long ago.

--------

Resting himself on the sand, the merman held his gaze steadily upon her sleeping face, his fingers slowly reaching out to brush his fingertips gently along her jaw. A slow smile grew on his lips as he felt the softness of her skin, his eyes holding a small warmth that seemed to grow with each moment he spent looking at her.

And with each gentle touch upon her warm skin, his desire to spend more time with her grew, tired of just watching and waiting as other men were able to be close to her. How dare they look at her so freely, when he was only able to watch her from the shores. How dare they touch her, pulling her into warm hugs as they came to help her carry the fish he let her catch, when he had been forced to wait for this moment, catching her asleep on the newly thawed sands he had worked so hard to pull the chill from so the sun could warm it that much faster.

How dare they exist on his island, where only she should be able to enjoy the paradise he was releasing slowly from its icy prison. He was not doing so for them, but for her. Everything was for her. It would always be for her.

He would do anything for her.

--------

I must have slept for longer than I meant to, having wanted just a quick nap in the sun when I closed my eyes, but the sun was almost directly overhead at this point. I don't know how I ended up without a sunburn from spending so much time sleeping under the sun's rays, but as with earlier, I refused to ask questions that I might not like the answer to. Usually, I tried to keep some kind of covering on my head to avoid such problems, let alone the questions they could lead to.

Standing up, I put my gear together and quickly cast out my line, hoping I could at least have something to bring back with me for lunch. Maybe if I came back later on and catch some for dinner, it would make up for the time I had wasted.

After managing to catch a few fish, although smaller than I wanted to bring back, I packed up my gear and headed back to the shelter. My mind wandered as I hiked along the path, thinking about everything from if we would have enough fish to start smoking them for days when food was less plentiful to whether it would get warm enough to actually wash the clothing instead of just airing it out from time to time while wearing a spare made out of scavenged cloth washed ashore.

My own spare outfit was made from some torn sailcloth that had washed up some days back, having shared a spare set with the young man named Cole until then. He'd been the only one even close to being my size, everyone else too tall or too broad chested for me to even imagine trying to share clothing with them. At least Cole was only half a head taller than me, rather than leaving me looking up at them like they were some kind of tree rather than a man.

Passing through the forest of once ice-covered trees, I saw something that almost made me drop everything to the ground. There on the branches of the nearest tree, I could see the smallest hint of green, a tiny leaf just starting to form. A tear escaped my eye as I felt my heart fill with hope. Maybe all the ice had just been some weird late winter leftovers and this island really would see spring! Surely the waters would all be warm enough to send search parties out to this area!

Someone was bound to find them by then, at the latest! They had to! Surely they had to be searching for them, sending their boats to search the waters nearby, and in doing so they would find them before spring was over. At the very least, they should find them before summer had really taken hold. They had to!

They had to...

--------

It was hard to let go of the hold he had on the island, his icy grip loosening slowly as he allowed warmth to settle once more on the surface, even if only around that one small part of his territory. It was only for her that he would allow anything other than ice to reign over any land within his domain. Only for her that he would allow life to thrive where once he held it all frozen in place.

Everything he did now seemed to revolve around what would bring a smile to her face. What would make her happy enough that she would be willing to stay with him forever, of her own free will? What would make her pick him over everyone and everything else the world offered her?

What would make him as irreplaceable to her as she was to him?

--------

It was beyond strange how quickly the trees had gone from barely showing signs of life to outright flourishing. There were a few times lately that I had nearly screamed in fright, seeing some strange plant seem to practically appear from nowhere. After a while, it had become normal to walk by a tree and see the ripe fruit hanging that hadn't been there the day before.

Nobody complained about the added food source, although the men seemed to whisper among themselves often, having come back frequently to hear them in the middle of saying something that was cut off as soon as they saw me. They would try to smile as they hurried over to grab whatever it was I had found for us to eat that day before either suggesting I rest or asking if there was more for me to bring back.

I had noticed that they rarely seemed to find ripe fruit and the few times they did, it was damaged by frost. Odd, since I never saw a single sign of frost on any of the trees I picked fruit from. Not that I was complaining, since they had been working hard to build a stronger shelter, now that they had wood that was stronger and less likely to break. None of us questioned how trees that had seemed dead, suddenly was not only alive but covered in leaves within the span of just a few days.

I guess I wasn't the only one who was afraid if it was spoken of and questioned aloud, that it might all vanish again and we would be left back in the situation we had started in.

--------

It had taken time, but he had finally found out which of the fruit she seemed to enjoy the most, which ones she was okay with, and which ones she avoided if there was something else to eat instead. He had learned which flowers she preferred to gaze upon and which ones she liked the scent of, which ones she would pick and bring back to keep near where she slept or put in her clothing and which ones she left where it grew but visited each day to smile at when she saw it still there.

He had hated spending more time without her by his side alone, shared with those humans that much longer, but he needed to know her likes and dislikes about his island. How else could he make sure it would be perfect for her after he was done? After all, he needed to know what to remove from it so that nothing would be left that was undesired.

He would make his island into a perfect paradise before gifting it to her. It was only fair to give her a place that could make her happy. His own paradise was right at her side, where he could gaze upon her smile as often as he liked. They would both have their paradise soon.

He just had to get rid of the things that made them imperfect first.

--------

"Henry! Henry? Henry, where are you? I brought back more of those berries you liked!" I walked around the shelter, searching for a sign of the man who was usually somewhere nearby either carving something from the available wood or weaving more thatching to put on top of the shelter. You never knew when it might rain, since it wasn't likely to always be sunny just because we had been lucky so far.

Looking further away from the shelter, I began looking for anyone who I could ask where Henry had gone, noticing the unusual quiet from the woods that usually held the sounds of the men cutting down and dragging trees toward the area we lived in. At first, I had simply thought maybe they were taking a rest, but as I wandered further and further into the woods, I felt an icy knot form in the pit of my stomach. Something wasn't right.

"Henry? Cole? Matthew?! Anyone, please answer me!" I began running, desperate to find someone, anyone, who could tell me what was going on.

No answer rang out and no sign of life met my eyes nor ears. Not until I finally made my way to the island shore that lay beyond the woods the men would usually work in, far from the shore I preferred to fish from. It was on this one strip of rocky beach that I found answers to everything that had been going on.

Ice coated every surface of the beach, frost trailing up into the grass nearby for several feet before it stopped just shy of the first few trees leading into the woods. The water that washed so gently at the shore looked cold and deadly, unlike the mildly warm waters of my own beach that splashed so playfully at my feet each day. Even the sky looked darker here, no longer seeming so bright and cheerful from the sun shining down.

But the worst thing about the beach was what I found standing on it. Henry, Cole, Matthew and the rest of the men who had survived with me for so long were all standing there, coating in a thick layer of ice. They were forever stuck pointing towards the ocean with their eyes wide and mouths open like they had been shouting in either shock or fear.

Falling to my knees, I began crying, my heart squeezed harshly within my chest as I thought of all the time we had spent together on this lost island. How had this happened? Why were they taken away from me like this? What had I done that was so wrong that these men were punished? Why was I left behind, unless it was so I could suffer alone on this island until I finally died?

Reaching out slowly, I rested a hand on Henry's ice covered leg for a moment before standing up again, my eyes turning towards the ocean. Without a word, I moved forward into the cold waters, my desire to continue waiting for rescue gone with the men I had come to see as family.

--------

He had waited, ever so patiently waited, for her to come to their sandy beach where he usually watched her enjoy the mornings while basking in her presence, but she had never shown up. He never thought she would bother searching for those filthy humans. Otherwise, he would have been waiting for her there instead. He felt lucky to have found her before she had drowned, having reached her just as she was sinking down towards the bottom of his realm, her eyes close as she drifted into unconsciousness.

Even now he watched her closely, touching her hands and face often to make sure she was still warm and alive, taking the chance to reassure himself that this was all real. That she was real and not some figment of his imagination, a painful reminder of someone lost long ago in a distant past.

Each warm touch, every soft breath she released, made his lips curve up a little more until he was finally smiling in full. It felt so unfamiliar on his face that he had to bring a hand up to feel what it was his face was doing, having only started to give the smallest of grins recently. It was almost a shock to feel such a large sign of happiness on his face and all it did was solidify in his mind how much he desperately needed her in his life.

He hadn't been this happy since everyone he cared for so long ago died, stolen from him by the tribe that once claimed this territory as their own. They had paid the price for daring to take what was his. No creature in the waters dared speak of that tribe since and in the centuries that past, their names had been lost to time.

The humans that had whispered about trying to steal her away had met a similar fate, frozen in time until he either chose to kill them or release them.

--------

I had to be dreaming, right? I mean, there was no way that what I was seeing could be true. Even after everything I had seen on this island, I couldn't even begin to believe that this was anything but a hallucination. There was no way this could actually be happening.

I kept repeating these thoughts in my mind as I gazed up at the face hovering above me, slightly scaled skin glistening in the sun's light. It was the splash of cool water hitting my legs that had me gasping aloud, having not even taken notice of the warmer water I had been halfway laying in up to this point.

"Who are you? What are you?" I whispered, terrified he would get upset with me as I watched frost form and melt in a repeating cycle on one side of his face. 'No wonder the water closest to him was cold' was the thought going through my mind as I tried to scoot back, looking down at the black tail slowly moving up and down beside my legs.

"Did you forget about me so easily, love? It's me, Gray! Well, I guess it did take me a while to find you again, but don't worry! I'll help you remember who I am, who we are! I'll help you remember everything," his voice rose and dropped as he spoke to me, one hand grabbing my arm and holding me in place as he spoke, leaning closer to me with each word until finally pressing his cold lips against my forehead as I squirmed in place.

"Please, let me go," I whimpered, my skin where he was touching me already feeling like I had been pressing it against ice since I had woken up. Shivers began racing up and down my spine, my arm trembling within his grasp.

I felt him jolt before pulling away, looking worriedly at my reddened skin where he had been holding my arm before looking swiftly to my face. His face dropped in sadness as soon as he saw the slightly chapped looking skin where he had pressed his lips against me for such a short amount of time.

"We will have to be more careful next time. I will have to be more careful. I don't want to hurt you, my love, not after having waited for so very long to find you again. After all, it isn't every day that someone finds their lover's reincarnation standing before them. We must be soulmates to have met up again," he flashed me a smile as he brushed his fingers through my hair, a mild look of concentration on his face as he did so.

Whatever he was doing, he must have succeeded judging from the look of achievement he had when he finally finished, having seemed to ignore the look of fear in my own eyes the whole time as I waited to be frozen in place. Or so I had thought.

"Shh, you don't need to worry so. I would never hurt you. I could never hurt you. Not after having thought you were lost to me forever after that tribe killed you and the rest of our tribe. But you don't have to worry anymore because I killed them all and got revenge. Now that you are back beside me, we will rule together over the waters I took from them!" A finger slowly came up to brush along my jaw, forcing my terrified gaze to meet his. "And I will make sure that nobody ever takes you from me again, even if I have to kill every human or mercreature that dares enter into our domain."

--------

Over the years, he told her about the tribe he had once been part of, the life he had lived with them, and the mermaid who had won his heart so thoroughly. He had broken the island into several pieces, forming waterways so he could follow her no matter where she went, ensuring she was never alone. Ensuring her safety, both from outsiders and from herself, not that outsiders ever made it to the island.

Even now, she watched from the icy shore as yet another ship sank in the distance, barely within range for her to see the sails ripped to shreds by her captor's ice. It had been interesting to find out that only part of those powers were his own natural abilities, the rest having been gifted to him by his lost lover. The very lover he claimed she we the reincarnation of.

The very powers he used to stop her when she tried to escape him, freezing her feet in place until he could catch up to her, usually through raising the water level until he could reach her. Afterward, he would spend hours apologizing to her as he warmed the waters around her feet, having formed a wall of ice around the area to ensure she couldn't run away from him no matter how hard she tried.

In time, the attempts at escape became fewer and farther between, until finally, she stopped trying. The smile on his face when he realized she must have finally realized they were meant to be together had been radiant. Radiant and totally lost to the one he aimed it at, her own eyes having grown dim with the realization she would never make it off this island, would never see her mom again or find out if the woman was even alive.

--------

With a single tear trailing down my face, I watched as the few lifeboats that had managed to escape the ship were frozen in place, left to float away until they sank in the waves of the distant storm Gray used as a barrier to keep all but the bravest or most foolish far from this island. I kept watching as the ship sank beneath the waves, soon to join the multitude of other failed rescue ships that had come searching over the years. Some had likely come looking for me and my lost companions, others for the ships that had vanished in the attempt.

Every single one of them failed as Gray kept his word to me. He kept me safe at his side, whether I wanted him to or not.