Corals POV

She called his name into the snow, but no one answered. She stumbled around in the cold for hours, but she never saw the flash of blue and green scales she had come to love. For three days she walked around in ankle deep frost, covering her talon prints and wiping away tears.

But on the fourth day, it began to snow. Hard. Until that point, the snow remained unmelted on the ground bit the skies were perfectly clear. But then, it was like a blizzard, and she couldn't see, she could hardly move, but she had to find him, so she trudged on, fighting every step to keep her footing.

She knew she couldn't do it much longer, and she was soon  going to be in the same state Ripcurrent was before they entered the Sky kingdom, before all of this had happened, but she wouldn't stop. She couldn't, because if she did, she would break and never be fixed. But on the 8th day, she couldn't do it anymore and passed out cold in the snow.

Ripcurrents POV
Nine days after losing Coral, he found her again. Her scales were so pale blue from cold she looked like an Icewing, and her breathing was labored. He hated himself for still loving her. She betrayed him. She loved Ash.

But Ash is gone; whispered a voice in his head. He couldn't leave her to die. So he pushed her up on his back and began the long walk back to the sea.

He couldn't fly with her there, and part of him wanted to abandon her, to fly off into the glorious warmth of the sea. He imagined the places where sunlight filtered through the water, and he wanted to be where she couldn't hurt him again. But something kept him with her, pushing through the snow. He didn't want to admit that it was love.

And finally, three days after e found her, they reached the kingdom of the sea. They collapsed on the beach, where it was warm and sandy, and he could see color returning to her scales and her eyelids fluttered open.

"You came back for me."
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I couldn't leave you, even though I wanted to." He saw her flinch.
"How are we going to tell Mom we failed?"
"I don't know."
"I thought I could do anything. I'm an animus."
"Can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
"I'm afraid I'm in love with you." There was hurt in her eyes as she said
"Why does that make you afraid?"
"I... All my life I've done things by myself. My siblings loved me, but they never really wanted to be with me. I learned never to accept help, never to open myself to another person. Then I met you, and I did. You left me, and that makes me scared. I want to be in love with you, though."

For the first time in 12 days, Coral smiled.
"I love you, too."

Yayyyy their back together!