[edited: 24/03/2018]

Maksim did not feel that he had much of a choice but to follow Remy into the depths of the black waters below. His whole body buzzed with magic as he sprinted to the cliff's edge and peered down for any sign of life below him. There was none. No ripples, no splash, no Remy. He was already preparing to jump when his brother's voice stopped him. He had had quite enough of that irritating sound for one day, but something about the tone of it now pulled him back to listen.

"I would not do that if I were you, dear brother." Ackmard was stood beside him, looking down at the lake and feigning inspection. "Those waters ... well, they are not all they seem, and I suspect that by now your little mortal girl is long gone anyway. It would simply be a waste of time. I do not want to see you waste your time, brother."

"That is you all over, isn't it?" Maksim sneered, an uncontainable sense of hysteria bubbling within the crevices of his stomach and chest. He did not know what to feel now: fear that he was in the process of losing perhaps the only thing that had ever mattered in his four hundred years of existence; anger at his brother, who could not help but bring pain and loss with him wherever he went, who had pushed Remy down into the water below without a hint of remorse; confusion, for his mother had hidden the fact that he had a sister, and an evil one at that. It was almost enough to paralyse him, but now was not the time to be still. "The caring, loving older brother, always looking out for me. Mother's prized possession. The star of the family."

"Be careful, brother," he smirked. "Your jealousy is showing."

Maksim couldn't help but scoff at that, and without thinking, he grabbed his brother by the collar of his black robes and slammed his body against the nearest cliff face, causing Ackmard to groan in pain. This was the first time he had ever gotten physical with his brother in all their years of sibling rivalry. This was the first time he had ever hated him—or anyone—enough to hurt him not with the use of his magic, but with his bare hands. He was vaguely aware of his mother crying out for him somewhere in the distance, but he could not focus on that now. All that existed in this moment was he and his brother and the waters that held Remy beneath them.

"You are not so strong and powerful now, are you?" he snarled through gritted teeth. "I am not playing your games. Now tell me what those waters truly are before I—"

"Before you what?" Ackmard wore a mask of amusement, but Maksim could see the fear in his black eyes and wondered what he must look like, with his brother pinned against a wall and his hands balled into fists, magic sparking from the tips of his fingers. "Could it be that our baby Maksim, the good one, is not so good after all?"

"It is a void portal, Maksim!" Hilda shouted just as Makism was about to shove Ackmard further into the uneven wall. "Just as the legends say, it has the power to take and destroy anything that falls into it. It is a black hole. I am sorry, Maksim, but Remy is gone."

Maksim unfurled the hand that clutched Ackmard's shirt and stepped away from his brother, his lip curling upwards in revulsion for the creature in front of him, the one that had the power to destroy every drop of goodness that existed, including his own.

"Remy is not gone," he muttered, finally glancing at his mother. He paid no heed to the woman that stood beside her, the one that seemed to share everything with Hilda except for her humanity. His sister. "She can't be gone. I can still save her."

He inched backwards, preparing to make a run for it. His mother was pleading with him to stop, but he tuned her out again. And then he was running, diving off the edge of the cliff, his arms outstretched as the wind stole his breath. It did not take long for him to break the surface of the lake, and immediately he could feel the current dragging him under, causing his arms and legs to flail. He panicked as his entire body shuddered and the feeling of emptiness consumed him. For a moment all he could do was shout, but of course, who could hear him when the water drowned out everything it touched? He could not even hear himself.

Then, he remembered why he was here. He opened his eyes though there was not much to see but blackness, relaxing into the force of the lake. His skin was burning just as it had with the toxic rain, but he barely noticed, because suddenly a flash of silver erupted in the water. He followed the light, and there she was. It was her hair he had seen; no longer yellow but as pale as moonlight. It did not belong among this blackness. She did not belong, suspended in the water like a plastic doll that had been left by its owner. Her skin shone iridescently like glass: a reminder of her fragility.

Her eyes were closed, her body stiff, and for a moment he thought it was too late. His heart sank and numbness poured into him at the sight of her limp body, thinking that perhaps he would never see her open her eyes again. It was not until he swam towards her and realised that she had not drowned, couldn't have done, because she was encased in some sort of bubble of light that seemed to block out the dark water, push it away. It was coming from the key, the one she still clutched in her hand despite the long drop and the dangerous waters.

He could feel himself being pulled towards the bottom of the lake and fought to get to Remy quickly. It did not take him long to realise that he couldn't use his magic here and his skin was corroding quickly, as was his lungs as long as he had no air to breathe. With as much strength as he could muster, he reached her, not noticing that he was inside the bubble too until he could breathe again. "Remy!" He called in an attempt to wake her up, snaking his hands around her waist and legs so that he could pull her up to the surface with him.

She didn't respond. He began to panic as the two began to rise to the top of the lake again. What if it was too late, after all?

It wasn't. As soon as they broke through the surface, she was coughing and gasping for breath, her legs struggling against the current. Maksim fought to bring her to shore, the pain of his skin burning and blistering much more prominent now it had been met with cold air. Still, they reached the grey ashy sand and he pulled both of their bodies, heavy from damp clothes, out of the water, relief flooding through him.

"Are you alright?" he asked with urgency, forcing himself not to collapse and fall unconscious though he knew his body was trying desperately to.

Remy nodded, gasps escaping from her lips as she hunched over on her knees. "I think so. I still have the key."

"I don't care about the key!" All of his anger and worry seemed to flare to the surface at once as he spoke. "I care about you. Are you alright? Are you hurt, bleeding, in pain?"

He was kneeling over her, trying to see for himself, but Ackmard had hurt her and thrown her up against walls so many times that he could not distinguish which bruises and cuts had already existed before she had fallen into the lake.

"I don't think so," she breathed, sitting up finally and turning to Maksim. She gulped at the sight of him and he wondered just how much of his skin the toxic water had taken. It felt like a lot. "Oh my god, Max. What happened to you?"

He knew that now was not the time to joke but he felt uneasy as Remy took his face in her hands and scrutinised every part of him. "You mean to say I do not look my usual handsome self?"

"You're covered in blisters and blood." She looked down at his chest and put a hand over her mouth. "Your clothes."

They were tattered and torn, having no doubt been partly dissolved by the lake. The skin underneath no longer looked like skin at all, for it was too raw and inflamed. "I am glad you are more concerned about my sense of fashion than my health." Somewhere inside of him was a line where his consciousness sat, and he was very aware that it was beginning to wobble unsteadily over that line. But he was not ready to go yet. Not until he knew she was safe.

"What can I do?" she asked. She must have sensed that he was fading, or at least in great pain, for he couldn't help but wince every time he breathed now. Every movement sent a jolt of pain through him. "Tell me what I can do to help."

He ignored her. He did not need her help; he needed to know that he would not lose her the way he almost had today—but he couldn't very well just say that now, could he? He tried. His mouth tried to shape the words. Then he gave up and simply looked at her, at her grey eyes that he had thought he might not see again only moments ago.

"I thought I had lost you, little mortal girl," he murmured finally, his voice slow and gentle. It was the first time he had called her that without her taking offense. It was the first time the words sounded affectionate rather than cold and belittling.

"You're not that lucky, wizard boy." She was still watching him carefully—perhaps now she was feeling the same fear that he had felt when he had watched her fall off the cliff.

Something that fell between a smile and a grimace curved his lips, and he reached for her despite his pain, not knowing quite what he wanted until his fingers found her damp hair and he tucked a strand of it behind her ear to reveal a small cut and dried blood at the corner of her temple—no doubt another injury she had sustained because of her brother's doing. He only looked at it for a second before he cupped his hand behind her neck and pulled her face towards his.

For a moment, their foreheads rested against one another's—hers cold and his hot—and it was enough for him to simply feel her breath tickling his singed skin. It was the closest that perhaps they had ever been to one another. Until now, there had always been an invisible space between them that prevented them from ever getting too close, like a wall that could not be demolished. That space could no longer exist. Not now. Not when he finally knew just how real his feelings were, and what it meant to risk being without her.

"Won't Ackmard be looking for us? I still have his precious key." Despite her words, she made no effort to pull away. "I don't think I could fight him off a second time, and you definitely can't." 

Maksim glanced upwards, towards the cliffs. He could no longer see his brother and the rest of his dysfunctional family, but on the other side of the lake it was clear that the Warlock Army were winning their battle. There were far more streaks of red than black now. With any luck, Ackmard would think they were dead, or at least trapped in a void.

"No more fighting." Exhaustion was taking over his body, limb by limb, fibre by fibre. If he did not do this now, he probably never would. So he did.

He kissed her. Her lips were cold and trembling, yet somehow they still had the power to warm up his soul. He could taste the tang of magic on them, too, but it was not black magic as one would expect after falling into a whole lake of it, but light, lighter than even his own. It felt like sunlight hitting the surface of his lake, it felt like his boots crunching through golden leaves and everything that he had ever wanted without really knowing it.

And then she pulled away and he was left feeling hollow because he knew he could never be this close to her again, not after she had nearly died because of him.

He wished he could read her expression to tell whether she had felt what he had. Instead, she cleared her throat uncomfortably and turned her face away from him.

"What do we do now?"

Maksim sighed, glancing far behind her to where dozens of multi-coloured portals swirled. He had not forgotten that his mother was still here somewhere with his brother, but he was not sure that he could climb up the clifftops again to find her. The darkness was weaselling its way into his vision and he would be lucky if he could make it to the portals.

"Maksim?"

Remy worried at her lip, causing it to draw blood. He was trying to focus on that, keep himself awake for her because he knew she could not do it alone, but he was in too much pain. He couldn't stay with her for very much longer.

"No, Maksim. Stay. Please, stay with me."

All he could think about as his body finally shut down was how she usually called him Max.