Cryo didn't let himself think.

He just blasted the icy air behind him and dove.

He streamlined his body, slicing the air with razor-edged wings. One flap, two--the frost crept in, but his terror was too loud, his heart throbbing too high in his throat to let it set him cold. Her eyes were closed. Her body was limp. Her tattoos had lost their glow--but the transformation held. Transformations didn't hold for dead Luminaries.

Her Scream had done its job well. Wyvern hadn't moved a muscle. He was still falling, conscious or not, just below Banshee. Wyvern's Manifestation would protect him when he hit the water, but then, Banshee would hit him--along with his horns and the outward-turned barbs of his tail, still glistening with poison and pinned by her daggers.

Cryo had to be faster. He had to be faster than the gravity pulling her down. She'd pushed herself too hard, too far. The pain had been a warning. He should have left her on the ground--but she would have found a way up with or without him. But if he'd been faster, if he'd been more capable against Wyvern--

Stop, he told himself. Don't make this another 'what if'. Think.

Another flap, trying to push himself close enough to reach her. He was close, so damned close, but the lake would reach her first. Even if he did, whiplash was a problem, but maybe--

Cryo gathered frost in both hands and aimed it at Banshee's wrist--the closest thing to him. He snap-froze the air between them, and as quickly as he dared, trailed an icy pathway down her arm, spreading it up to support her neck and anything else he could protect in the precious little seconds he had left before they smashed against the water below.

His tether of ice slowed her fall, just enough to bring her in range. With the threat of whiplash and the waves below, Cryo was out of time. He exhaled, giving one final, powerful flap that brought his arms behind him, where he unfroze his wings from his arms.

The last shot of speed closed the gap. When Cryo snapped his wingless arms forward half a heartbeat later, he reached her. He looped one arm around her waist, quickly pressing her head tight to his chest with the other as he curled his body around hers, flared his wings, and pulled them out of the fall.

He had her.

In a steady glide with Banshee safe, barely ten metres from the lake, Cryo turned his sights on Wyvern, hoping he hadn't been wrong.

Whether he had or not, it didn't matter. A warm, tumbling breeze on the surface of the lake had swallowed Wyvern's fall on a cushion of air. Cryo found Pegasus standing knee-deep in the lake close to shore, looking more than a little flustered with his arms raised awkwardly in the air.

Pegasus made a quick stay there motion in Wyvern's direction, cautiously waded a few steps deeper into the water, then realised what he was doing and flapped up into the air.

Cryo's talons touched the lake, instantly freezing it solid enough to stand on. Pegasus headed for Wyvern, plucking a feather and quickly turning it into a sturdy rope, but his gaze kept flicking back to Banshee.

It was no surprise when Pegasus called, "Is she...?"

Cryo tilted Banshee's mouth to his cheek. His legs almost collapsed beneath him when he felt a weak, but warm puff of breath against his skin. "Alive."

"Wyvern?"

"Scream-stunned."

Pegasus quickly nodded. "I'll get him to shore. You get Banshee there."

While Pegasus cocooned Wyvern in several loops of thick cloud rope, Cryo made his own frozen pathway to the shore, carefully cradling Banshee in his arms. It was an effort to not squeeze her too tight, to remind himself not to crush her. His muscles trembled on the inside, quivering from the adrenaline surging on every heartbeat that roared in his ears.

He had her. He'd caught her. She was breathing.

He checked every few seconds, just to make sure.

Cryo stepped onto the golden starstone shore of the lake. Despite the commotion over the lake which had no doubt been witnessed by many, the lakeside was eerily clear of people. Aside from the Luminaries themselves, there were only two others anywhere within a hundred metre radius. Ella, who stood nearby with a grim expression and a Lightblaster in each hand, and another girl, dressed in a strange, white garment that covered everything but her eyes.

Both ran towards Cryo.

A few steps away, it struck Cryo who the second girl was: Nereid's civilian self, dressed in a crude rendition, almost ridiculous version of her transformation, sculpted from Pegasus's cloud.

"Is she okay?" asked Nereid.

Cryo knelt down, carefully resting Banshee's weight on the ground as he kept her head supported in his hand. The blood in her hair had dried. "Alive. Any further, and your guess is as good as mine."

Nereid, after a glance at Cryo for permission, pressed two fingers against Banshee's neck. After a moment, she cursed, shook the cloud off her hand, and tried a second time. "She has a strong pulse, at least."

"She didn't Manifest or... anything else, did she?" asked Ella quietly.

"No," said Cryo. "She fell unconscious after she Screamed." He hesitated, then at the weight in Ella's eyes, asked, "Why?"

"She found me before she left the temple," said Ella. "Said she'd transformed without an Ascended, that she'd felt something dark below the power, and asked me to bring a couple of Lightblasters in case she Manifested. I told her she'd be fine." She swallowed. "I'm just glad I wasn't wrong."

The three of them looked over as Pegasus finished dragging Wyvern to shore, thoroughly bound with what looked like a million metres of cloud rope, shackles, ties, and restraints. Only Wyvern's head and sternum was visible through it.

Finally free of the Scream's worst effects, Wyvern struggled against the cloud. Unlike the frost, the cloud was far more flexible, and doubled with Banshee's daggers still pinning his tail and her Scream's lingering daze, Wyvern accomplished little more than glaring at everything with a menacing gleam in his eyes.

"He's ready when you are, Nere," called Pegasus.

Nereid stood up, her hands pulling close to her chest as she took a long, deep, breath.

A few, slow steps took her closer to Wyvern. She stood there for a long moment, silent and still, before retreating a few steps backwards and throwing a helpless look towards Pegasus, then Cryo.

"I don't know the plan," said Cryo finally. "I'd assumed she told you."

Nereid's fingers nervously tapped against her cloud-covered sternum. "Banshee just said I had to... claim my Ascended. It sounded simple when she said it, but now, I... I don't know."

Silence.

Pegasus clopped a hoof. "Well, If I had to claim my Ascended, I'd probably start with a 'Hey, you're bonded to me, get back here', or if that failed, maybe lure it over with a carrot. It likes carrots. It can't actually, y'no, eat the carrot, but it likes it on principal. Maybe you can just point out that it doesn't wanna be stuck with Wyvern for another twenty years and it'll just--"

"Stuck with me?" snapped Wyvern. "As opposed to a powerless, useless child?"

Nereid sucked in a breath, stiffly forcing herself to turn and almost face Wyvern. "Kael is my Ascended now."

Wyvern bared his teeth. "Doesn't look like he agrees."

Pegasus flicked his tail, catching Wyvern across the mouth. "You want me to gag him, Nere? Better yet, want me to throw him back in the water?"

"No." Nereid dropped her hands from her chest, settling her shoulders and turning the rest of her body to Wyvern. With a little more force, she said, "Kael is my Ascended, whether he's conscious or not. You went Dark, and Kael--"

"What?" Wyvern spat on the ground. "You think because I went Dark that my bond is less than yours? Nineteen years we were bonded, and we are bonded again, inseparable, forever--"

"Through the Other's power!" Nereid shot back. "Banshee said that the one thing you'd fight for was Kael, that you would let your friend go, because you care more about your friend than the power."

"I care--"

"An Ascended too close to the Other's corruption shuts down," said Nereid. "The Serpent placed a corrupted fragment on Banshee, and her Ascended shut down. What do you think your Manifestation is doing to Kael?" Nereid paused, and to Cryo's surprise, Wyvern didn't interject. "You were willing to Manifest for the chance to save him, but you can't Wyvern--you can't save him like this." Nereid took a step forward. "You have to trust someone else, you have to trust me, that I'll look after Kael and do everything I can to save him."

Wyvern was no longer struggling against the cloud. He stopped pushing, stopped fighting, locked into a perfect stillness that settled straight on Nereid. Almost like he was assessing her, like there was something surfacing above the Manifestation, drawn up by a will so stubborn it couldn't just be told no.

"You have to trust me," said Nereid again, softer this time.

"Trust you to what?" hissed Wyvern.

"To do what is best for Kael."

Wyvern shifted within the cloud. "And what would you--"

A great, shuddering heave silenced Wyvern. He convulsed, lasting only a few seconds before he released a gasp, then quickly settled to leave his chin drooped across his chest.

Nereid took a cautious step to the side, adopting a ready stance. "...Wyvern?"

"And what," said Wyvern, voice silky and sleek as he lifted his head with a delicate stretch of his neck. "You think that with an Ascended, the Luminaries will finally accept you?" Wyvern regarded Nereid with haze-swallowed eyes as an all too familiar presence crept over Cryo. "You're jealous of them--envious, one could say. They only wear one mask. How many do you wear? How many have you worn to deceive people out of their hard earned money?"

Nereid stilled.

The grin crept over Wyvern's face, unnaturally amused. "You resent your partner for getting the working Ascended. You figured that you deserved it, that it was a cruel joke with how many times you'd played Luminary, but you're right to feel the way you do, to listen to that little ember of truth that wants more than you have, that wants what everyone else has just by being born. Stability, a choice outside the con. Work for yourself." Wyvern glanced down towards his sternum. "Being a Luminary is just another chain, another secret. You have another option."

Nereid's sea-green gaze was far too steady, too quiet, the way Cryo had only ever seen her when she was thinking, assessing--planning. "You mean you--the Other."

On the other side of Wyvern, Pegasus gave a nervous whinny. "Nere--"

Nereid's gaze flicked up to Pegasus, quickly shutting him up before she looked back to Wyvern.

"Yes," said Wyvern, weaving the word around the smile. "Isn't that what you want? Your own power--the ability to change things, to fix things?"

Fixated on the exchange, Cryo felt movement in his hand and looked down. Banshee's eyelids fluttered beneath her visor, her eyebrows creased together in the smallest of frowns.

Cryo took her right hand in his, giving it the slightest squeeze, the same way he would when she woke from a blackout. "Banshee? Can you hear me?"

No response, but he'd felt movement. Softly, he called her name a second and third time. Nereid was saying something else to Wyvern--to Envy who used his mouth--but Cryo was too focused on Banshee to listen. He spared them a glance only to ensure Wyvern wasn't free.

"Banshee?" he called again.

This time, her fingers squeezed his back. Her touch was so light, but she was conscious.

"Cryo," she murmured, his name a whisper on her lips. Her eyes flickered open, crimson irises peeking out of her squint. "I... I think I'm out now." She tried to sit up, managing only with a pained gasp and Cryo's help. "Have we..."

She trailed off as she noticed Wyvern and Nereid.

Wyvern's voice was more like an undercurrent, burrowing beneath thought and sound to dredge up the dark things that were often left unspoken. "I claim no slaves or servants. I empower those who choose me to harness their own feelings, to release the truth they know lays inside them, to get what is theirs, what they desire. Free will without consequence."

Pegasus looked far too nervous at how close Nereid was getting to Wyvern, at the spark in her eyes, the calm in her words.

"I'll admit, it's tempting," said Nereid. "But you're forgetting that you're talking to the daughter of a con artist, Other. I know that when an offer sounds too good to be true, that's because it is."

"Can you be certain, though?" said Wyvern. "Can you truly say you know that turning me down--"

"I ask myself, what do you get out of it," said Nereid firmly. "If I accept, you keep Kael--an Ascended, and remove one of the six guardians of this City you have coveted--envied for so long."

Wyvern snarled, but Nereid rushed on.

"You weave pretty lies, claim the power is for us to wield, but it serves your purpose, Other," she said. "Because that's what you are. You're Other. You aren't part of this City, and you want to be, whether by its destruction or its nightmares." Wyvern--Envy--tried to speak over her, but Nereid refused to be denied, increasing the volume of her words until they drowned him out. "I've seen what jealousy breeds. I've seen what envy and resentment turns into, and I am not going to be a part of it!"

"You can't deny me!" hissed Wyvern. "I am built into every one of you, always there, always--"

"You're there, yes!" Nereid shouted. "And we fight you! We resist you! We do things for other reasons, no matter how strong you are, how much you try to push us around! Every single time we take a breath and say no--every time we walk away, every time we're happy for someone, we beat you."

Nereid took the final step towards Wyvern, and with a stubborn breath, she shoved her palm against Wyvern's sternum.

"I am not unworthy," Nereid yelled. "I am strong enough to make a difference--powerless or not. I am a Luminary. I am Nereid, and I claim back the bond with my Ascended!"

With a flash of silvery light, Nereid's fingers slipped inside Wyvern's chest. The light crept up her wrist, gaining speed as it reached her elbow, her shoulder, before finally reaching her sternum where it erupted, sweeping over the rest of her in a single, brilliant flash.

The light didn't stay silver long. A bright, iridescent cyan bloomed at the centre of Nereid's chest, quickly overpowering the silver with a hum, a shifting, tide-swelled melody lit by the sun, changed by the stones it encountered. Nereid withdrew her hand from Wyvern's chest as her silhouette changed, leaving her engulfed in shifting, swirling water.

When the light dimmed, Nereid's transformation was no longer badly mimicked by Pegasus's cloud. Her fins glistened, her scales gleamed, and the sea-green eyes were the only hint of the civilian that had demanded it.

Though Cryo still had to help Banshee sit up, the near-manic expression on her face could have sent any Manifested running. "I knew she could do it."

Nereid looked down towards Wyvern. "This Ascended is not yours to corrupt any longer, Other."

There was a true, jealous hatred in Wyvern's haze-swallowed eyes when he stared back at Nereid, then Pegasus, then Cryo.

"No," growled Wyvern. "The Ascended were convenient, but they will know regret when I finish taking the one thing they truly care for." His gaze settled on Banshee. "One. Last. Piece."

"One last piece of what?" said Nereid.

But Wyvern didn't answer.

He just screamed.

And screamed. And screamed, and screamed and screamed, until the sound rubbed his throat raw and the haze that had been sealed inside erupted from his mouth, expelled in one, ugly, repulsive mass that eroded Pegasus's cloud restraints from Wyvern's body, then quickly vanished into the sky.

The following silence left a chill down even Cryo's spine.

His Manifestation gone, Wyvern collapsed with a glassy-eyed stare. Nereid caught his head before it hit the ground, laying him down. Banshee tried to move towards Wyvern, but without Cryo, she barely had the energy to hold herself up.

"There's nothing you can do," Cryo said to Banshee, feeling a grim relief as her mouth set into an anxious line.

"Wyvern?" said Nereid, gently tapping the side of his cheek. "Wyvern, can you hear me?"

"Uh," said Pegasus. "Guys?"

Nereid and Cryo looked at Pegasus, following the direction of his gaze towards Skypillar.

The entire cliff face around the waterfall was cracking, crumbling down in large chunks, knocking free even more rock as it careened down the cliffside, but that wasn't even their biggest problem.

Because when the cliff finally gave out, the entire contents of the Celestial's Eye Lake at the top of the waterfall was going to race down in one, massive wave, and drown the City.

*+*+*+*

 A/N - Hey look, a literal cliffhanger about a cliff. 

Also HECK YEAH NEREID <3