The morning came as quickly as night fell, China continued tossing and turning on her mattress during her sleep, buds of sweat dripped down her forehead as Winter woke up to China's loud thrashing and groans, China's lips trembled as she rolled onto her side, her eyes shut as small tears streamed down her face.

"Don't leave me..." China mumbled in her sleep, Winter felt her heart wrench at the rare but vulnerable sight of her sister. This was one of China's few night terrors. The way Jay found China was horrific in itself, considering that both of these girls had lived in the slums literally all their life. Winter shuffled across the floor and crouched down, her hand towards China's hair.

China's soft stirs quickly came to a stop under Winter's gentle touch along her face. "Stop it," Winter whispered.

According to Winter, China was the strongest ones in the shelter, it was easy to build muscle and pull a trigger, but it was difficult to keep a fair sight of yourself while doing so. China was the living embodiment of hope and happiness, you would almost never catch her frowning, her bubbly, energetic and optimistic insight was so strong, it defied any other emotions, despite the pain she had to endure in the past, she smiled and put one foot in front of the other, not even stopping to marinate in any source of negativity.

Winter sighed to herself, remembering the day that China and her were in the alley way, repeatedly thrown out of restaurants and pharmacies in attempts to find some food...then one night this all changes.

We should've went for help together, dammit China, why did you stop?

China's eyes fluttered open, "Winter, was I snoring again? Sorry about that." China chuckled, Winter hid the pain that was resting in her stomach.

Winter shook her head, if she tried to ask China about her night terror, China will somehow evade it, knowing her. Any sort of risk or doubt that was told to her sister was immediately thrown off, that's just how China was. Winter often got nightmares from China experiencing the most gruesome and horrible things that the outsiders on the surface had to offer, but Winter had decided to keep this to herself.

That is...until this moment.

"China...you were having those dreams again," Winter blurted out, she was incredibly forthright so it was hard holding the truth from her sister.

China sluggishly sat up, her braids tussling over one another as she glanced at Winter, "Wait...I did?" She asked with a yawn, only to get a nod from Winter.

"Yeah, China...how are you feeling?" Winter asked, China looked down at her toes then her eyes flickered back to Winter.

"Aside from my drool drying on my face and my stomach-demon messing with me, I feel pretty damn great," China chirped with another giggle, Winter grabbed China by her shoulders.

"Will you stop that?! You were crying in your sleep!" Winter yelled, "China! Can you take this seriously for once?" Out of sheer frustration, Winter had given China a violent shake, only for China to slither her hands over Winter's and give them a gentle squeeze.

China closed her eyes, a small smile crept on her face. "I'm sorry, but really, it was just a night terror...nothing more." China reassured her.

"They come and they go, so it's gonna take more than that to tear me down." China added, pulling Winter into a hug, "Nothing bad is gonna happen to me Winter, I promise,"

Winter couldn't break away from the hug, due to China's uncanny strength from her relentless exercise and the urge to let all of her feelings go. Winter gripped onto China as if she was drowning, and her sister was a piece of drift wood floating above the water.

"I don't want you to die!" Winter blurted out, a soft sob escaped onto China's shoulder. China allowed Winter to rant for a period of time, her hand rubbing along Winter's backside. "China, you're always going out...and you don't even acknowledge things like this...it makes me mad!" Winter complained.

"I always come back." China reassured her. Her sister broke away from the embrace in such a fit, China's hands were left awkwardly frozen.

"What if you don't?" Winter shot back, "You go alone almost all the time! What if an outsider were to follow you back?"

Winter continued on through her list of worries, tears had escaped the crevices of her eyes and met with her chin, her eyes red and her bottom lip trembled.

"What if-" Winter was immediately cut off by China's soft stare. The grin was different, her large brown eyes had smiled, and Winter was left speechless by China's uncanny optimism once more.

"Winter..." China's voice was neutral, it didn't have that child-like pitch to it anymore, she gazed deep into Winter's eyes and said, "What's the point of surviving if we aren't enjoying the life we're fighting to keep?"

"It's so easy to be mean...be cold...I don't wanna be like that, I won't be like that," China added, "We're all we got, how can I be cold?"

Winter's tone got snippy. "It's not fair either...we always had each other-"

"Shhhh," China hushed Winter's premature rant, "Hey now, what matters now is that we're here in a nice shelter, we got everyone else..."

"And more importantly, you have a bigger chance to make your move on North," China added with a giggle, Winter quickly broke away, her face quickly flushed with embarrassment.

"China!" Winter whined, "We promised not to talk about that!"

China gave Winter a good-natured eye roll, "Ahh who cares? You have feelings for him and I see how he looks at you, what's the wait worth?" She asked.

"What if one of us-"

"If that does happen, you both would want to know how you feel about each other. Every moment counts for something Winter," China whispered, her pure optimism caused Winter to shudder underneath her warmth.

"I know I don't say this a lot, but I'm glad I have you around China." Winter admitted, using her thumb to wipe away the last few tears that gathered the corner of her eyes.

China gave Winter a small kiss on the cheek, "I love you Winter, I know how you feel and I'm glad that I have you by my side too."

"I love you too, despite you being too trusting with everyone," Winter confided, earning a unfazed nod from China. "I feel like such a baby," Winter added.

"Even babies give people life," China whispered smoothly with a grin.

The girls giggled, their hands held together as China let out a sigh.

"I'll be back soon, but I'll be extra safe when I arrive on the surface in a few days." China reassured Winter, "So you won't have to worry."

You're tough as nails Winter, someday you'll see that. China thought to herself.

China twitched her nose, her eyes widening, "While I'm out, I'm gonna look for those Twix bars for you." China added.

"The extra large?" Winter asked, China chuckled.

"The extra large." China clarified.

The two grinned at each other. Regardless of the things they do, how contrasting their perspectives of life are, they truly loved each other and no one, could drive a wedge in between that.