Four hours have already passed. Four marbles already black, and the fifth not yet completely gone. I can't see the marbles in Aracely's lap from where I sit behind her, so I've been relying on the others to say when another hour has passed.

It's felt like four more have passed since Winston announced the fourth was dark. The minutes take twice as long and it's setting me on edge. Everyone is. We've been sitting in silence about it, staring at Fauna and waiting for her eyes to open.

Aracely sat down after Fauna passed out, and then she too was unresponsive. Mak said her eyes have turned all white and she hasn't blinked since. I've been monitoring both of their breathing, noting when one's would catch or slow or quicken slightly. Aracely's fingers will twitch at her side every now and then, but that's about as much of a reaction as we've gotten from her.

The Ginerva have been dizzy and paler in the last two hours or so. To keep them from moving and keep myself focused on something else, the voices of wind have been whispering in my ears and keeping them upright. None of us can move. Not if Fauna is to come back.

"Any minute now," Willa announces.

Those who can see the marbles look to them, yet they still say nothing. They don't even give any physical tells to confirm her claim. They've gotten better at hiding their reactions. That, or I'm too hyper-focused on Fauna that I can't see and feel what I usually can.

Any minute starts to feel like another hour. I do another sweep of the forest, searching for the creatures that used to prey on other forest inhabitants or someone who would very much like to take advantage of our current situation. Willa assured me that she warded a perimeter of thirty feet around the border of the clearing, but if Xaxias could get a device that we couldn't stop into the castle, then I'm not taking any chances. Especially with Fauna unconscious and the Ginerva weakened.

This whole situation is stressful and gives me anxiety I want to leave me alone and stop crawling along my arms like ants, but I knew this was the only option. I still don't like this idea. I don't like not being able to move and go to her just to touch her to reassure myself that she's still alive. My power can feel things, but it's not the same as feeling for myself.

Gods and their Saints know no power could make me feel what I felt this morning.

Five minutes. That's how long it lasted, and still, I felt like that could never be enough. I didn't need the fating bond before to slowly and surely fall in love with her, just a few cycles with her sharp wit and running a few cons and the casual timing of being crowned elemental rulers and learning that the fate of the world depends on us and our merry band of teenage asses. I still don't know how we haven't died yet, but I'd rather not let that day be today.

I can't lose her - that much I know.

Forget being without half my soul. Cheesy as it may sound, she is my other half, and I'm hers. Completely and utterly bound to her for eternity by nothing more than the beat of my heart.

Gods that sounded incredibly corny.

I just want her back. I want to be able to move over there and just...hold her. It's all I've wanted to do since she told me about the fating bond and breaking it because it would've allowed me to feel everything that she was going through. I understand her reasoning - Saints I would've probably done the same thing, per usual - but there are some things that will take time to forgive.

Much as I love my friends and am thankful for the Ginerva and Willa, I don't like secrets. I've kept some of my own, mind you, but not like this. I hid going out at night without permission, but I went with my guard and was mostly perfectly safe. I didn't hide that my friend was fated, that it broke, and that they were raped and got pregnant because of it. Yes, I would've been mad and maybe have even created another clearing like this, but I'm not stupid. I wouldn't have done anything too irrational, and they would've stopped me. That, I can trust them with. To stop me when I'm going too far.

No more secrets. I can't...I can't trust with them being kept, and I'll question their every thought and action. Seeing as we do crap like this, I want to be able to trust them, but they're making it harder and harder. How am I supposed to do what I'm supposed to do in protecting people and saving this damn world if people don't trust me with things like this?

Gods I don't want to save the world. I mean, I do, because I'd like to live and all, but this isn't living. Running, fighting, keeping walls up...that's surviving. I want to live. I have no idea what that entails, but I don't think it involves casting spells and killing demons. The Ginerva might consider that living. They live and breathe for it, doing their sworn duty in defending their people and us elementals, but as much as I'm ready to fight for all of that and so much more, I'd rather be somewhere peaceful and demon free. Too bad it's up to us to make that fantasy become a reality.

I'm only nineteen, yet I'm doing the job some ancient immortal deity should be doing. In what mindset were the Gods when they thought this was a good idea? A drunken stupor for a decade? They couldn't come up with someone else with more knowledge and experience in killing psychotic overlords?

If we all die, everyone should blame them, not us.

Aracely's breathing starts to change. A small hitch, then a slightly quickened pace. She hasn't done this before, so I find a soft voice in the wind and guide it to her. I've only just reached her when she gasps for air and her body lurches forward. She catches herself before she hits the ground, rolling and standing with athleticism I wasn't aware my professor witch had.

"Aracely-"

Her hand shoots out towards Ozzie, stopping him from moving. "Move and she's as good as gone."

"What's wrong?"
She ignores my question and kneels beside Fauna, putting two fingers to her neck. Checking her pulse. Why is she checking her pulse?

Her chest still rises and falls but it does nothing to keep my blood from running cold. Willa puts a hand on my arm to keep me from ignoring Aracely's own warning and running over there. Sitting and doing nothing is beginning to get harder and harder every day, and it's making me fully annoyed now, nearing another lash out that could end badly.

Aracely says something in Hisperian too fast for me to understand. Her hand turns upward and the bowl of red powder flies to her hand. She takes another handful and starts what sounds to be like another spell. The air around us suddenly shifts to something unnatural even to me.

"Something's wrong."

"That's how the afterlife always feels," Willa tells me. "Wrong."

Something like a hand lays on my shoulder, fingers tapping as if to tell me to pay attention, to look closer. I do, but my eyes catch on nothing, so I close them and send the wind to do the seeing for me. Aracely says something else, but I don't hear it. The elements still flow in a rhythm, though it flows in weird directions. Everything's a unit moving as one, except for around the space above Aracely and Fauna. Something above them breaks the pattern, solidifying its own.

My eyes open, looking straight at it but still catching onto nothing. That's when I notice everyone else calling Fauna's name. Aracely says nothing as she still feels for Fauna's pulse.

That hand taps my shoulder again.

Gods and their Saints, it's Fauna. Her spirit or soul or whatever is the break in the pattern, defiant but not moving. It's not moving.

Without thinking I wrap my power around it, protecting her. The feel of the afterlife bangs against my barrier, trying to smash it apart and get to her. It's cold and pecks at it like a murder of crows. It screams her name and keeps her there, still unmoving.

"Come back, Fauna. Fight it." My voice joins the others trying to pull her back. Aracely warned her that the afterlife would do whatever it could to keep her there. Too bad she couldn't warn it about me.

I try every name ever given to her. Every title those Thralian children cheered out through the garden to get people to clear a path for her. None of them work, so I try one more. One name I haven't said for cycles. I don't know why, I just didn't, but it was the first real nickname I gave her that wasn't a taunt or poke to annoy her, but something endearing that wasn't meant to be more than a part of the trick. I still have no idea where it came from, but it's her. Something beautiful but dangerous.

So I say her name. Over and over until that break in the pattern starts to move again, back towards the body still beating for her to return to. I call her name against the pull of the afterlife, against the Gods that rule and empower it. They won't be happy after this, but it's their fault for making this our life in the first place.

Over and over her name repeats from my heart to my tongue, and into the wind to fold around her. "Waterlily. Waterlily. Waterlily."

I lose her. In a second I can't feel where she was over her body.

Panic seizes me, and then she's bursting upright and putting Aracely into an armlock. Willa and I are the first to stand and get over there before Fauna dislocates the witch's arm. I grab hold of her arms while Willa tries to lower her hips. A little higher and the bone will be out of its socket.

"Fauna! It's me! It's Darius! You're back!" She blinks slowly and I feel her grip loosen, but not all the way. Her name's not enough this time, so I try something else. "Do you remember the first compliment I gave you? It was back in the ballroom when you first came to the castle. I told you that your eyes were enchanting and you kept looking at me like I was your next meal."

Another blink and her hips lower back to the ground, releasing Aracely from her grip. The witch pulls out of it cursing, Willa likely inspecting the damage done.

"You were such a dick then," she croaks, her voice hoarse. I suppose that's a good sign compared to one where she's on the edge of death again.

I laugh softly and help her sit up. Her hands instantly go to fist my shirt tightly. I can't tell if it's to reassure herself that she's still alive and that I'm real, or because she wants to rip it off. I'm really hoping it's the second and that Willa can get everyone out of here before I let that rising temptation take over.

The immortal woman gives me a glance that tells me no, she would not mist them back to the castle. So I take the edge off of myself and press a kiss to Fauna's forehead. Her lips were preferred, but neither of us would've had the restraint to stop after that if I had. She gives me a look as if she knew the same thing.

"Sorry," Fauna apologizes to Aracely who shakes out her arm. "I didn't realize it was you."

Aracely waves her good hand aimlessly in the air, looking even more tired than she did after I failed to pronounce yet another word properly during our lesions. "I knew what was coming. When people return from the afterlife they forget who they are and where they were. A side effect that could've had you doing more damage than making my arm sore if your soulmate hadn't snapped you back."

I blush at the new pairing name. It's still odd to hear everyone else calling us fates or a couple, or things like soulmates. Not sure how long before I get used to it.

Fauna's smile shows that she's all too happy about hearing everyone say it, and she never wants them to stop. I roll my eyes, if only because the woman's ego couldn't possibly ever be entirely dettered.

"Please tell me that my butt numbing past redemption was worth the five-hour wait," Branka yells. Benny helps her stand, though he and everyone else look just as stiff as I feel. The quick sprint over here didn't help my sore and tight muscles, and they're beginning to beg for more movement that isn't sporadic.

Fauna nods and shifts her legs beneath her. I stand up at the movement and offer her my hand to help her up. I definitely need a good stretch.

"What did she say?" I ask.

She looks around the clearing and shakes her head. "Not here."

"Very well." Willa holds out her hands, sighing as if misting us everywhere is becoming a burden she now dreads.

The Bhaltayr pick the Ginerva back up and we all draw close to her and mist back into the royal chambers in the larger sitting room. I pull Fauna over to the other and pour her some water. She takes it greedily, and I wait until it's gone before leading her to a chair and situating her on my lap while everyone else finds somewhere to rest more comfortably. Rohana and Henry start bickering again, stopping when Willa smacks them upside the back of their head and they bite their tongues.

I really hope Dawn's solution includes one to keep them both quiet for eternity. Much as we all may had been shipping the two into eternity, the efforts have fallen into annoyance and attempts to have them both beheaded instead.

"I hope she told you good news," Serephina sighs. She leans further into her chair, looking quite prone to passing out in a second. "I don't know how much more bad news we can take."

"She told me how to get your powers back." The Ginerva all stop breathing at the same time, and I'm pretty sure they don't start breathing again until after Fauna recites everything her mother told her.

"I suppose it's a good thing that King Markus and Queen Celestria haven't left then," I sigh.

"I hate riddles," Henry mumbles.

"It's not a riddle," Serephina says from beside him. "We do exactly as she says. Go to the southeast side of Fallen Lake in Kietha, find the cave with the sigil of the first King, go in and find a door that everyone here can't find except her and Darius, go down the path that's the quietest, and don't go down any other one until we hit a dead end."

"All before the next full moon or else they're as good as gone," Vanya adds, running at her own temples. I suspect they're all being pushed to the limit being awake this long.

"And who is this mystery person we're supposed to go searching for?" Winston asks.

"She didn't say," Fauna answers. "Only that she completely trusts them and that they can help us in more ways than just the one."

"You mean with the war?"

She shrugs her shoulders at Vlad. Her time with her mother ran out before they could speak any further on the subject. I can feel her melancholy, but she had more grief in her this morning than she does now. I'm glad that she found closure with her mother, though it does make me wish I had found some with my father before he disappeared.

I feel a yawn begin to creep up on me, and a few people in the room succumb to the requests of their bodies. This will be the earliest that we've gone to sleep, but if we're to figure everything out in the morning then a few more hours of sleep won't do us harm.

I nod to Willa and she mists out from where she leaned against the window. She was looking tired herself, but her mind is clearly elsewhere and won't let her sleep, so I let her go busy her thoughts and turn back to everyone who looked at me after she left.

"There are fifteen rooms up here, go find one to rest in. We can talk in the morning." They clearly want to disagree, but they're smart and find a chair, couch, bed, or carpeted floor to sleep on for the night.

Dee and Winston are the only ones who stay in this sitting room with me and Fauna. Everyone else splits up, some arguing, others easily coexisting. Dee lays down on the couch she sat on. I smirk at Winston when he picks up the blankets from the basket in the corner and tosses me one before unfolding the second and flaring it over her. He's a big softie.

He takes the third couch, and I don't give Fauna a choice before picking her up and taking us both to the last couch, throwing the blanket over both of us. I lay on my right side, a barrier between her and the edge.

"You wanna talk about it?" I ask her after watching her eyes move back and forth between space.

She shakes her head. "I'm okay. I'm just remembering, is all."

I nod. There are moments where I remember my grandmother, though now that I think about it, I haven't in a little while until yesterday. I suppose trying to save the world will do that. You'll forget what you had until you have time to sit and think about it all, and sitting isn't the same as laying down without the worries and thoughts of the war still going plaguing you until it ends.

Fauna's hands slide beneath my shirt, doing nothing more than seeking the warmth her hands lack and wrapping around me. I always forget that with fire in my control my body runs warmer than usual until someone with cold hands touches my skin. I pull her closer and let the warmth within me break through and heat this room, and then all the others.

I feel Fauna smirk against my chest. "You make loving you so easy."

"And you make it hard as shit to love you."

She laughs loudly enough that both Dee and Winston shush her. It only makes her laugh louder.

*****

The next morning is slow. Fauna and I woke up at dawn, but everyone else took two more hours to rise from wherever they found somewhere decent enough to rest for the night. We took a walk through the castle while they did, and I stopped when we passed my mother's rooms.

That hand tapped on my shoulder again, and I followed its voice through the doors and towards another song that wasn't being sung, but played. I paused by the doors and realized what it was. I told Fauna to go in, trying not to get lost in the notes myself. When she asked me why, I told her that she'd regret it if she didn't. So she opened the doors and stopped when she heard the piano playing a familiar song she herself had played months ago for the first time in ten years. I let her walk in alone and then headed back up here where I found everyone still sleeping.

Kat had clearly already been here. The smell of breakfast marked her trail into the dining room where she laid out the several platters of food on one side of the table. The other half was occupied by a sleeping Henry who somehow made sleeping on the mahogany surface look comfortable. A few feet away Rohana slept on the floor, looking like he literally dropped her onto the floor during one of their arguments and took the only other furniture in the room for himself. No one else was in this room with them, though I don't understand why they chose here. There are nine other rooms they could've chosen from.

I made myself a plate and then walked through all the rooms, laughing at how some of them went to sleep and pop upwards when they smell the food I eat while on my rounds. Soon enough they're all up and crowding the dining room. Gabe and Ethan found two buckets of water somewhere and dumped them on Ro and Henry who still hadn't awoken. I can't say I was mad to see them both drenched and grumpy. Even a few hours later they still look like wet cats with death stares. I've had to avoid looking at them to keep from laughing as we figure out logistics with my Generals and the Counselors of Thralia.

"Has anyone identified the new demon we encountered?" Nilsa asks the Counselors.

Counselor Kestrel leans forward, a stack of papers placed neatly before him that he always straightens when one of the Generals bangs a fist on the table, causing the papers to shift. It happens more times than you'd think in a civil conversation.

"I was unable to identify the description you gave us, but Counselor Hellӓ was able to