Cryo was so nervous that he could barely fly straight.

That speech he'd given her was so unlike him. He had no idea where it'd come from, it'd just spurted out of his mouth like--no, scratch that, he knew exactly where it'd come from. It'd come from that little nagging Banshee that had been sitting in his head for the last few days through everything he did, telling him that he was enough, that he did deserve to feel happy.

But the look on Olivia's face just now, before she'd turned away flustered and muttered something about having left her bag here somewhere only to realise it was still on her shoulder a few seconds later--well, something about the way she did it with her hands tucked under her chin had killed a little piece of him, and he was fairly sure it wasn't coming back.

Cryo had to force the thought out of his head and focus on the flying as Olivia leaned down close to his ear from her perch on his back and pointed at the sky.

"Cryo, auroras are out!"

He knew, too. He could feel Sae hanging on, fighting against whatever it was about the auroras and their energy that paralysed the Ascended, but his power was draining. He'd been flying low regardless to try and avoid freezing Olivia, but it was getting harder to keep the winds under his wings.

Cryo glanced up, searching for the trees that marked the place he was looking for. He spotted them, but they were too far to make. Flying, he could reach it about thirty seconds, but he was fairly certain he had about twenty. He wasn't going to make the destination, but he could get them up and over the cliff face.

He made the decision and adjusted his course. After one final burst of speed to cover as much ground as possible, Cryo extended a hand, snap-froze a small section of canopy and crashed through it talons-first. As his claws touched the ground under a rain of glittering shards, he felt the last of his power instantly vanish, like Sae had been holding onto it for dear life.

Olivia's shout of surprise had her clinging on in a strangely familiar way, one bent arm looped around his neck, the other under his left arm with her hands clutched firmly together. She loosened her grip as Cryo stood straight and helped her off his back.

"That was cutting it a little close," she said with a giddy laugh. "Full points for the fancy landing, though."

Cryo smiled. "Thank you. I didn't quite make it as far as I was hoping, so we'll have to walk a short distance. May I carry your bag?"

Olivia shouldered her back on the shoulder opposite from him and they started walking. "Nope, sorry. I carry my own bags, Feat--erm, ahem. Nope, I'm good!"

Cryo narrowed his eyes. "Were you about to call me Featherbutt?"

"Nope."

"Banshee told you, didn't she?"

Olivia licked her lips. "Uh, maybe?"

Cryo groaned.

For some reason, that just made Olivia laugh even more. It took her a few minutes to stop, time that Cryo spent with his eyes on the canopy doing his best not to sulk. It was bad enough that the artist Manifested from the other night had heard without Banshee telling everyone else.

"Okay, okay," said Olivia, wiping away a tear. "She just stopped by one night and it slipped out and I asked her to tell me, don't worry. She isn't going around telling everyone. She made sure to tell me not to tell anyone else, so don't worry. It's our secret, kay?"

Cryo attempted to maintain his annoyance, but one look at Olivia's face and it just disappeared. "If by 'our', you mean Banshee's and mine, then yes."

"That's exactly what I mean," said Olivia, a secret smile on her face. "So, where are we going? We're in Cevinari's forests, right?"

"We are indeed," said Cryo. "Most civilians can't get here. Where we are now is up on a cliff level on Skypillar's side, part of the waterfall system that originates at the Celestial's Eye lake."

"And how come you wanted to be at this place when the auroras were out?"

Cryo extended a hand in front of him. "I believe you'll see when we arrive. There is something special about the Riverweed that grows in closer proximity to Skypillar. You'll know it when you see it."

Olivia kept asking him, but Cryo simply sealed his mouth with a smile. That drove her even more insane, which Cryo found he quite enjoyed. She was persistent, but after a few more minutes, her questions settled with a curious grumble and she switched gears.

"Are we there yet?"

"No.

"Now?"

"No.

"How about now?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

Cryo sighed. "No."

Olivia grinned and skipped a few steps ahead. "You sighed, I win!"

Cryo raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware this was a competition?"

She just winked at him and walked backwards ahead of him, her hands linked behind her back. "Do you think we're gonna get there before the auroras end?"

"We should," said Cryo, glimpsing the beginnings of a glow through the trees ahead. "I apologise for the--"

"Nope!" said Olivia. "No apologising!"

Skypillar save him. "I was there earlier, but I didn't expect you to be so long."

"My parents made me dinner," said Olivia. "It was pretty amazing."

Cryo frowned. "Wouldn't their restaurant be particularly busy tonight?"

"Booked out," said Olivia with a nod. She pursed her lips. "But... I dunno. I guess they felt like they'd taken something away from me with the whole swimming thing. I didn't expect it or anything, but I really appreciated that they went out of their way just for me. I feel kinda bad that I'm sneaking out now."

"You don't seem to be particularly fond of rules," said Cryo, tilting his head. "Why did you respect their wishes today if you wanted to swim so badly?"

"Because they didn't do it out of spite or to try and make my day worse or to put me down," said Olivia, kicking at the grass in front of her. "They did it to keep me safe, and I know that if there'd been another alternative, they'd have given it an honest chance."

Cryo considered that. "Then why did you decide to come with me now?"

Olivia was quiet for a long moment before her hazel eyes flicked up to his. "Because I trust you with my life, and I know you won't let me down." As the heavy words settled in Cryo's heart, Olivia danced around to face the front once more and for the first time, noticed the faint glow streaming through the trees. "Is that it? Are we almost there?"

"I did tell you that you'd know it when you see it, so what do you think?"

"I think you were right!"

Olivia ran forward. Cryo chased after her, but his talons weren't made for running and Olivia outpaced him easily. When he emerged through the last layer of bushes, he found her standing by the edge of the small, secret lake fed by a small waterfall, her figure haloed by the glow of the auroralight around the Riverweed beneath the surface.

Cryo stopped beside Olivia, whose eyes were wide and rapt with wonder.

"Cryo," she breathed. "It's beautiful."

"It is," said Cryo, looking at her.

"I've never seen auroralight in water like this before," said Olivia, her eyes on the auroralight cloud that surrounded each piece of Riverweed on the bottom. The riverweed danced and swayed in the water, every movement swirling a new flare of light to life. "Does this happen every night?"

"It only happens tonight, when the Riverweed blooms," said Cryo.

Olivia bent down beside the water and ran her fingers through the water. To Cryo's surprise, ribbons of rich, blue auroralight trailed after her touch, fading once more as the water stilled. Olivia dipped her hands in again, scooping water between her palms. The auroralight illuminated, a hundred beads of light between her palms that she flicked in a shower of brilliance across the surface of the lake.

She glanced up at him, her face alight with wonder. "You try!"

Cryo kneeled beside her and reached a hand into the water. Just like it had for her, the water glowed, trailing after his claw as he swirled it across the surface.

Olivia sat down and unlaced her boots. With them off, she grabbed her bag and ran behind a nearby tree. "No peeking, I'm changing into my swimmers!"

Cryo awaited her return with his own curiosity burning. He'd never touched the water before, only sat nearby and watched it. To find now that the aquatic auroralight would gleam for them the same way it did for the Riverweed amazed him. He stepped into the water with one foot, his talons sinking into the soft mud beneath. The auroralight flared initially, but as he remained still, it subsided once more. Out of interest, he took a nearby stone and tossed it into the water. Once again, the auroralight chased it all the way down to the bottom of the lake in a trail of gleaming blue.

It was movement, then, he decided, that created the auroralight in the waters. Why, he wasn't entirely sure outside that the Riverweed bloom was involved.

"Okayyy, ready!" said Olivia.

Cryo glanced over his shoulder to the sound of her voice, and... oh dear. Skypillar save him.

She'd taken her glasses off and her hair was down, its ends brushing against her hips. Her swimmers were the same he'd glanced earlier in Ericka's hands, but now Olivia was wearing them, Cryo couldn't begin to think of the words that described it. The halterneck style of the top piece hugged her upper torso like a second skin. The cut of the fabric highlighted her well-toned muscles perfectly, like Ericka had known exactly what she was doing.

And the colours, the reds, the golds, the blacks and the greys... they reminded him so much of Banshee.

He realised he may have been staring a little more than was appropriate when Olivia shifted on the spot and rubbed her arm. Cryo immediately cleared his throat and dragged his gaze away, flicking it to a variety of spots as he tried to find a place to settle it.

"I--um, well, yes," he said, unable to help glancing back at her again. "Those suit you rather well."

Olivia bit down on her lip, but her smile still showed through. "Thanks." She approached the edge of the water beside him once more, running her fingers through the water as her gaze lifted. "Where do you think the best spot to jump in is?"

"If I could fly you, I would say at the top of the waterfall over there."

"Hmm," said Olivia, standing up. "Welp, I'm not waiting for the auroras to be over before I get in, so I guess here is as good as any!"

Olivia charged forward into the water in a shower of light. He heard the final splash as she dove in, could see her under the surface of the water, streamlined and beautiful as bubbles of light fell off her skin and wove through her hair. She surfaced and wiped the water out of her eyes with a laugh, her hair fanning out behind her.

"Come on, Cryo!"

She dove under once more before he could reply. Cryo shuffled a few more steps into the water, just content to watch her as she swam. She looked weightless and free beneath the water, like she'd been born to it. It warmed his entire body just to see her, the sheer joy that she seemed to get from the experience.

She surfaced a few more times, no longer calling him in, but eventually, she took matters into her own hands.

Olivia swam over to him at a leisurely pace, a sneaky smile on her face. "C'mon, Cryo!"

"I'll come in soon," said Cryo. "I'm just observing at the moment."

Olivia came closer, the water shallow enough for her to support herself on the bottom as the rest of her floated out flat behind her. "I think I saw something that needs some observing over there."

"Where?"

She beckoned him closer with one hand. Cryo leaned down, and before he could react, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him in.

Cryo fell forward with a splash of blue light and a shout. Olivia lost herself in a fit of giggles as gave her a look from his hands and knees. She only laughed harder when he attempted to blow a piece of wet hair now stuck to his face and failed.

Olivia reached over and wiped it off his face with one of the biggest smiles he'd ever seen from her. "Auroras are going to be over soon, so soon has to be now!"

"Oh, does it now?" said Cryo with a smirk.

Olivia bit down on one side of her smile. She seemed to read his intentions and pushed backwards into the water as he prowled forward towards her. "Yep!"

"Well then," said Cryo. "You'd better start swimming before I catch you."

Olivia splashed away from him with a squeal and dove into the water. Cryo let himself relish the sight for a moment before he made good on his promise and dove in after her.

The water was perfectly clear, the glimmer of light so much crisper without the distortion from the surface. The soft current brushed against his skin and made the Riverweed dance below him. The world below the surface was quiet yet alive, a place where he could believe that no one else existed outside the two of them.

The drag from his wings and outfit made it hard to match her speed as they ducked and dove, but he had one advantage: without her glasses, she couldn't see him particularly well. He soon figured out that she was tracking him by the auroralight glow as he moved through the water, so he changed his tactics. He moved slower, more careful, minimising the light that he made. With his wings flat against the surface of the water, he found it quite easy to float.

He gave her hints every so often. When she was sitting at the edge of the lake, scanning the surface looking for him, he'd call out some idle threat about how he was closing in, she'd grin and take off in the opposite direction--usually by swimming under him.

Cryo wasn't sure how long he'd been chasing her around for when he felt the auroras begin to wane. Olivia was under the water, holding her breath towards the bottom among the Riverweed in the centre as she'd done a few times before. He waited for her to come up, intending to let her know he was about to freeze her in place and catch her, but there was something different about her movements. Her legs were kicking towards the surface but they were slower, sluggish, and her right hand was clutching the side of her head.

She was about to blackout.

Alarm bells went off in Cryo's head. He started swimming towards her at full speed, but she was still some ten metres away from him, and his powers still weren't back. His transformation dragged him down.

Olivia's head broke the surface, her eyes unfocused but still searching for someone she couldn't make out.

Her voice was dreamy. "Cryo..."

"Here!" he called, still furiously swimming towards her.

She tried to swim to him. Her legs kicked once, then stopped. Her hand came away from her head, her head fell forward in the water, her eyes closed, and she sank.

Cryo reached her just as her head slipped below the surface. He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back up, wrapping his own arm under hers and pressing her back to his chest. He leaned forward to check she was breathing, and upon feeling her breath on his cheek, relaxed the slightest bit. Though he was fairly certain she hadn't swallowed water, he angled her head as best he could to drain it out, just in case.

Cryo attempted a few sideways strokes towards the edge of the lake, but they were awkward, slow, and risked dropping Olivia's head into the water. By the time he got back to the edge that way, his powers would have returned and the sun would probably be up.

So Cryo floated, his arm around Olivia, his wings flat against the water and his stomach clenched into knots as he counted the seconds, waiting for her to wake up.

Twenty passed. Twenty five. Thirty.

Maybe--

Olivia stirred, lighting the water blue with her movement. Her eyes flickered open slowly the way they always did, her right hand reaching up through the water. It searched for something to hold onto, eventually settling on one of his ice crystals on his forearm around her chest.

They floated there for a little while as Olivia's forehead furrowed.

"I blacked out, didn't I?"

"You did."

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. "Sorry about that."

"You gave me a little scare, but no harm done," said Cryo.

"I just kinda forgot about the whole blackout thing," said Olivia. "Was a little bit of a rude shock when everything started feeling strange." She tugged away from him, and Cryo released her. She attempted to swim away, but her kicks were still far weaker than they had been and she soon turned back, holding onto Cryo's forearm crystals.

"I think I'm gonna need a break for a bit."

Cryo glanced towards the shore, then up towards the sky, where the last of the auroras were fading. "I believe I can fly us to shore. My abilities have almost returned in full. If you'll hold on?"

Olivia pulled herself forward along his arm towards his back, but she was clearly exhausted. Instead, Cryo wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her back to his front, and scooped his other arm underneath her knees. She blushed and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek close to his chest as he erupted out of the water with a few, furious flaps of his wings, frosting the gleaming water below.

It was harder without his arms frozen to his wings, but it only took a few wingbeats before his talons bit into dry land once more. There, he helped her stand, his claws still gently on her arm in case she stumbled.

"Thanks, Cryo," said Olivia as she sat down with a shiver.

Cryo retrieved her towel and glasses from beside her bag. He placed the towel over her shoulders and gave Olivia her glasses before sitting down beside her. "It's no problem at all."

Olivia huddled into her towel, and for the next while, the two of them just talked. Not about anything in particular, yet Cryo barely felt the minutes passing by. The way Olivia spoke to Cryo had something in it that wasn't there when she talked to Jason. She'd always been honest and open, but never around Jason had Olivia allowed herself to be something else: vulnerable.

It was a strange thing to realise. Jason had seen glimpses of it at the flower shop, but he hadn't realised she'd been keeping up a barrier. It was more than a brave face. It was a lie she told the rest of the world to help herself believe it, but with him, with Cryo, she didn't fear judgement, like he'd already seen her at her worst.

Cryo just watched her with a small smile as she talked.

"--and I don't think I could really believe it, y'no? I mean--" Olivia noticed him watching her and blushed. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

Cryo fought the urge to bury his face in his hands. Instead, he held his breath and looked towards the sky, but he couldn't get rid of the way his stomach clenched, nor the smile on his lips. "No particular reason."

"Well, you were looking at me for some reason."

"Is it not polite to look at someone while they're speaking?"

He heard her shuffle as she replied. "Then why aren't you looking at me now?"

Cryo glanced back towards Olivia to find her now leaning on one arm facing him instead of the lake, the full force of her curious gaze melting his ice into a puddle. His cheeks burned, but his stomach settled with a terrifying truth. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't find the words.

"Like that," she said quietly, biting down on her lip, but her eyes never left his. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because..." His voice barely came out as a whisper. He swallowed. "Because you scare me, Olivia Shadowheart."

"I... scare you?"

"You make me..." She was so close. Less than a metre away. He could reach out, and she'd be right there, her damp auburn hair, that fierce strength. He could barely breathe. "You... you make me want to do something that I've never wanted to do before. It terrifies me."

Her voice--her beautiful, melodic voice--was barely a whisper. "And what do you want to do?"

Cryo pushed forward before he lost his courage and froze this river that was sweeping him away. "I want to kiss you."

He could hear nothing but his own heartbeat as the words left his throat.

Olivia didn't look away as he'd dreaded. Instead, her gaze flicked around his face, from his eyes to his mouth.

"Well," she said, her soft voice breaking through. Her hand shifted across the ground, so close to his that if he were to click his claws together, the tips of her fingers would have been between his. She sucked on her lip. "I think that someone said something earlier tonight about not living without things just because we can live without them."

Cryo closed his fingers around hers. "This is a decision that affects more than just me. I don't want you to live with it if you'd rather--"

"Cryo," said Olivia with a small, helpless smile. "I'm already affected. It's too late to pull me out now."

He brushed a piece of hair off her face with his left hand. She closed her eyes and fell into his touch, and with that, Cryo gave in. He slid his hand to the side of her jaw, his fingers caressing the back of her neck, leaned in, and kissed her.

Their hands entwined on the ground as Olivia shifted her fingers to interlock with his. Through his frost, all he could feel was her warmth, her fire. Her lips moved against his, soft and careful, like she didn't want to scare him, but Cryo was beyond fear. He'd thrown himself off the side of the cliff into freefall. Wherever the bottom was, he would not regret the risk of finding out.

I feel like I've known you my whole life.

They broke away, their foreheads touching, their breaths entangled, their fingers still laced together.

Like I've just been here, waiting for you.

Neither of them spoke. Neither of them had to. He felt her fingers trail up his arm as they remained like that. He wanted to kiss her again, to stay here all night with her, just talking and admiring the stars.

I feel like, if I have you beside me, nothing is impossible.

His last thought brought Banshee to mind, and in a strange wave of emotion... part of him felt like he'd betrayed his partner just be thinking it. He was being selfish. So very selfish, not just because of Banshee, but the vision of Olivia on the ground, unmoving below Ella with the aurorastone. Getting close to her was too dangerous.

Cryo leaned away from Olivia, but he was unable to stop himself from stroking his thumb down the side of her face as she opened her eyes. "It's... getting late. I should return you home so you have a chance to sleep tonight."

A flicker of confusion crossed her face before she hid it under a smile. "Probably a good idea. Let me change back into my clothes first."

He watched her disappear behind the tree, and alone, he dropped his forehead to his knees. For her own good, he needed to let her go.

But by Skypillar's peak did he want to be selfish.

*+*+*+*

A/N - OKAY SO I'VE BEEN DYING TO POST THIS CHAPTER FOR GODDAMN AGES. A G E S. LIKE SINCE I WROTE IT AHHH.

It wasn't planned. They were supposed to go for a swim but it wasn't supposed to end like that, but Jason was just YELLING at me and literally wouldn't let it end any other way and just.. I'm very glad he decided to yell at me <3

ALSO KIBAART WEW ISNT IT JUST MAGICAL (quality is a little ruined because wattpad, full version on Patreon~)