AELLA

After serving us dinner at a late hour, Eira showed us to our rooms. I tried going to sleep, but I just found myself lying in bed and staring up at the ceiling while listening to the snowstorm outside. Eventually I decided to just get out of bed and to wander around, since I obviously wouldn't be getting any sleep. I just needed to focus on things; everything has been so hectic as of lately. There are still so many things to figure out that I just hope we figure them out before it's too late. I pace around the main room, which I wandered to about a half hour ago, and sigh while stopping in front of a window. I watch as snowflakes fly by outside in the hurricane of white and my breath fogs up a small circle on the window's glass.

"What are you doing out here?" Salem asks.

I inhale sharply and whirl around in shock. I never even heard him approaching.

"Salem? What are you doing up?" I gasp.

"Didn't I ask you first?" He smirks at me and crosses his arms.

"Yeah," I sigh, "I guess you did."

His smirk falters at my tone and his lips part ever so slightly.

"Are you sure you're okay? I know I asked you earlier but I don't think you told me the truth."

"I'm fine," I shrug.

"Are you? Or are you beating yourself up over the fact that we couldn't get the Fae to help?" Salem asks.

"Well," I pause for a moment, "I suppose it's not only that but I'm just wondering how many things are not actually like they seem to be. I mean, I thought Asher was gone, but apparently the Asher we know is the Asher I knew from my childhood. And I thought Alder was dead, but apparently he isn't and he's entirely psychotic. Then there's the fact that the person I trusted my entire life since I was little wants to kill me and take over all of the realms. Plus there's my stupid necklace that keeps acting up and hindering us. And then there's trying to figure out why Alder and the Time Twins are following Tala's diary as well. I suppose it's just a lot to process."

"Do you," Salem clears his throat and glances down at the floor before looking back at me, "Do you care for Alder?"

"What?" I'm taken by surprise with his question, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, if it came down to it, would you side with him over us?" Salem asks.

"You can't ask me to choose between people I care about," I shake my head and sigh, "It isn't possible. I care for who I care for, and I don't like to choose between the ones that I do, it's unfair."

"I'm not asking you to choose," Salem smiles weakly at me, "I would never do that. I just want to make sure you won't leave us."

"Are you questioning my loyalty?" I scoff.

"No," Salem's eyes widen before he runs a hand through his hair and makes a pained expression, "I just..."

"If you came here to make me feel better, you're doing a great job," I scowl and go to walk away, but he grabs my wrist and whirls me back around to face him.

"Wait," Salem says and frowns, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you even more than you already are. I know how much you must be warring with yourself inside your head."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snap.

"Nevermind," He says quietly and releases my wrist, "I guess I made a mistake when I first opened my mouth."

"Salem," I sigh before frowning, "Don't worry about it."

"Look at you," Salem smiles weakly, "Putting the other person first again."

"What?" I question.

"You know something that I've noticed about you? No matter how broken you think you are, whenever it comes to helping others who need it you never stop trying to prove to them that they're okay or that what they've said isn't true, even if it means ignoring your own problems and needs for as long as you can before they drown you. You hurl yourself forwards with a burning, fiery passion when you need to prove a point to people, to break down their walls. You scream at them without even yelling, your voice becomes so filled with emotion and power that no matter how strong their resolve is, you manage to pierce right through it, and if you don't, you never stop trying until you can't do anything anymore for certain -- and I mean for certain, because you believe that nothing is impossible. You choose the perfect words to say and your emotions drive you, they empower you even more than you empower yourself to prove to them what needs to be proven, no matter how stubborn they are. You're an immovable force, unstoppable, it seems. And yet you yourself are so full of broken pieces that are fixed back together, but you still aren't the same, never will be. You're able to pull others back together with a single word, but no matter how hard you try you can't fully fix yourself, yet at the same time, you already fixed yourself, it just doesn't feel like it because you're different. Maybe you truly aren't fixed then, if that's the case, but who wants to be fixed? It's better to be unique, to show off all that you've been through and to be proud of it, even if the only person you show it to is yourself, and even if it still haunts you. You push people away, but at the same time you want them closer, and when you try to bring them closer, you push them away. Isn't that how it goes? You want to be the strong one, to not let anyone see you cry, but yet you want someone to notice when you do, right? Look at me, I can't even word this right, it doesn't even feel like I'm saying what I want to how I want to. What I'm trying to say is -- you're powerful, have known pain, you push yourself to the limit, you never give up, and you're beautiful and intelligent, no matter how you see yourself. You don't feel like you can let anyone too close to you because then something bad will happen, whether it be their fault, your fault, or someone else's fault, but yet you long for just one person. I want to be that one person. I want to be the one who notices every little detail about you, knows everything about you, is there to wipe all of your tears, who fights beside you, and who never leaves you."

"Salem," I gasp.

"I guess that's why I'm worried about losing you," He shrugs and smiles.

His smile falters when tears start to spill down my cheeks and his eyes soften. He comes closer and brushes away my tears with his hands, tracing his thumbs over my cheekbones.

"See," He chuckles lightly, "I'm already wiping away your tears."

"Thank you," I take him by surprise and hug him.

"I'll always be here for you, Aella, remember that," He says.

"How could I ever forget?" I smile up at him.

***

During the morning I wake up and walk to the dining room to find that Eira and Svetlana both helped prepare breakfast for us all. Plates and silverware were already laid out on the wooden table, along with a floral arrangement in the middle of the table in a white vase. The gold, white, and silver chandelier hanging above the table's candles were lit as well, even though from the looks of it there's plenty of sunlight streaming through the open windows. Lucilla looks up at me from her plate of pancakes with fresh blueberries piled on top and she smiles at me while shoving a pancake in her face. Amorette grabs a roll of bread from the basket near the middle of the table and places it on her plate, as well as a some butter from the stick of butter sitting next to the bread basket. She nods to me and smiles before going back to her food. Corliss grabs several pieces of fruit and a pancake, as well as some syrup for her pancake. She smacks Salem's hand away when he goes to take a roll of bread that she already has her hand on and he rolls his eyes. Salem smiles at me and I smile back at him before taking the seat on the other side of him.

"Good morning," Eira says as she holds a pitcher full of ice water and starts pouring it in each of our glasses, "Make sure you eat well; we won't have time to waste when we start going up the mountain."

"Um," Blaze says as she watches little pillows of white clouds float up from the glasses of ice water, "What is that?"

"It's ice water," Eira says.

"I know that," Blaze says, "But just how cold is it?"

"As cold as liquid nitrogen," Svetlana says.

Salem's eyes widen and he nearly drops his glass at Svetlana's comment.

"Um," Salem coughs, "Is it safe for me to drink that?"

"You aren't a human, remember?" Eira raises a brow.

"Oh," Salem sighs, "Right...I'm a Demon Prince..."

"Good morning," Asher says as he walks into the dining room and smiles.

"It is good to see that you are well," Svetlana smiles and takes a roll of bread from the bread basket.

"I couldn't be better," Asher smirks before turning Blaze around in her chair and kissing her, "Isn't that right, Princess?"

"U--Um..." Blaze stammers and turns back around in her seat to find all of us staring at her and Asher with an array of different expressions, "Yeah..."

Asher smirks again and grabs a plate while scanning the different kinds of food lying on the table.

"Wait," I point my fork at Blaze, "Are you two dating?"

"Uh," Blaze's gaze shifts around to all of our faces, "Yeah, as of last night."

"Yay!" Lucilla shouts and beams.

Blaze smiles sheepishly at Asher and he smiles back at her, meanwhile I give Svetlana a knowing smile and she just shrugs innocently.

"If you hurt her," Corliss says inbetween bites of food, "I'll rip your insides out and feed them to the wolves before personally having you resurrected just so that I can kill you again."

"Well would you look at that," Blaze smirks, "You do care about me."

"Eh," Corliss shrugs, "Whatever."

"I wouldn't dream of hurting her," Asher says and sits down in the empty seat next to Blaze, "Trust me."

A playful chatter soon ensues around the table, which happens to be a nice distraction from all of our worries. After breakfast I help Svetlana and Eira clean up before all of us meet at Eira's from door.

"You'll want to change into warmer clothes than that," Eira says, "Even if you transform into any of your Angel sets you'll freeze to death because none of you contain frost powers. Well, I suppose Svetlana would be alright, but only for a short period of time."

"My Anyz set would not make it very long, even though it is made for colder areas," Svetlana says, "You are correct."

"Is that the one with the frost bow?" Lucilla asks.

"Yes," Svetlana nods.

"Here," Eira says and passes specially made coats to each one of us, "They will keep you warm long enough for our adventure. Be sure to keep your hoods up as well. Hurry, we must go."

"Great," I mumble sarcastically as we go out the door, "I've always wanted to freeze to death."