21. battle of the fae

The action began instantly.

Alastair jumped into the sky away from Nyx's reluctant hands, and so did the rest of the fae. The flapping of wings created a wind that blew back Nyx and Catori's hair as the fae began soaring in the sky towards the castle.

Catori took hold of Nyx and pulled her down into the little shelter of earth that Abitha had created for them. They watched as everyone leaped into the sky. The ice fae keeping guard noticed almost immediately, but it took them a few moments to even realize who they were and what was happening. Once they saw a noticeable pair of black and red wings, their eyes widened in horrific realization.

Nyx almost wanted to cry as everything began happening at once. Ice spears were immediately thrown, and everyone was able to block the first round. Shrieks of fear could be heard from inside the castle as everyone was notified that there was an attack.

The air fae began creating forcefields of wind so powerful that the ice spears bounced right off of them, and that is when everyone began to part. Suddenly, dozens of ice soldiers marched out of the castle and leaped up into the air.

Two ice fae went for Alastair, but she sent a large flame of fire their way, and they hissed and retreated momentarily as she began flying towards the castle, hoping to get inside and go straight for Eira. An ice fae suddenly grabbed her in the air and began propelling her downwards, but with a large burst of fire, the ice fae was screaming as he let go and they both fell to the ground.

"Ah!" Abitha yelled as a spear barely missed her and cut along her side. She fell to the ground and rolled, coughing as the breath was knocked from her lungs. A group of ice fae landed gracefully at her feet and smirked down at her as she quickly recuperated from the pain in her side.

"What do we have here, mates?" one of them taunted, kicking at the snow on the ground and causing it to hit Abitha across the cheek.

"A dirt-monger, I think," another once laughed, reaching forward and tearing the leaf from behind her ear and tossing it to the ground. "Creature of the mud."

They all laughed as Abitha quickly stood to her feet and backed away. She looked at them for a moment before closing her eyes and raising her hands in the sky.

The ice fae paused and looked at each other before laughing hysterically at her. "Whatcha gonna do, beast? Make flowers grow out our ears?"

Abitha's eyes opened, and her hazel eyes glowed green as she opened her mouth and released a piercing scream before thrusting her entire body downwards, balling her fists and punching them onto the ground. The entire earth began to shake, a deep vibration sounding in the ice fae's ears. Their laughs ceased when a crack formed in the snow where Abitha's hands met the ground, and suddenly, the earth began to split right open.

The ice fae toppled over as the ground shook below them, and it suddenly opened up before they could think to fly away. Two of them fell into the widening crack in the ground, and the other two were about to leap into the sky, but roots shot up from the earth and slithered tightly around their ankles and yanked them into the crack in the earth.

Abitha looked behind her to see a few of her fellow earth fae conjuring roots from the earth and pulling the ice fae into it. She smiled thankfully and stood up, flying back into the sky to continue fighting.

Caspian hovered closer to the castle, using his water powers to control the spears and send them back towards the ice fae who stood at the towers of the castle, shooting a few right back in their chests and watching them topple off the towers and onto the stone spikes below. He began to become overwhelmed, though, and one larger ice spear hurled right towards his face speedily. Yelling out, he closed his eyes and dipped himself backwards, putting his hands in front of himself. He spread his hands outwards, and the ice spear that was only a foot from his face cracked then shattered right in front of him as he pulled its molecules apart. He used his wings to flip himself backwards in the air to avoid the little shards of ice still coming right at him. Luckily, he was able to avoid the ice and caught himself in the air after having flipped a full circle.

His eyes were no longer placid, but full of emotion so strong that dark clouds formed in the sky all above the castle. Thunder rumbled loudly in all the fae's ears, a bolt of lightning flashing from within the clouds as hard drops of rain began to furiously fall.

Since he was a water fae, Caspian was innately emotional. Most water fae had to train themselves to control their emotions so that they would not accidentally wreak havoc storms every time they became angry, and Caspian had done a good job at staying calm in the past eighteen years, even with all that he had been put through.

But now, seeing those ice fae in front of him again, remembering what they did to Aerwyn, to Caspian's own family, he dared not let anything happen to the new family he was trying to create.

He was full of anger and grief and torment, and it showed not only in the tears falling from his eyes but in the heavy rain falling from the sky.

Alastair, who had been wrestling with an ice fae on the ground, felt the rain pour over her. Her ice adversary, whom she was putting in a headlock, looked up to the sky and saw the rain pouring. Smirking evilly, he lifted his hand and turned the rain that was falling over Alastair into hail.

The fire fae winced and released the ice fae, using her wings to cover herself from the hail. She attempted to throw fire at the fae, but the water and ice extinguished her fire and she could only produce enough heat to melt the hail back into water. She looked up and found Caspian hovering in front of the castle, violently throwing the ice that the ice fae hurled at him back towards them. She watched as the ice fae fell from the towers of the castle one by one.

"Caspian!" she screamed loudly.

From the woods where they watched, Catori and Nyx gasped.

"What is happening?" Nyx breathed, holding tightly onto the fae.

Catori's eyes filled with fear as she watched Caspian lose himself in the fight as the thunderstorm even reached where they sat in the forest. The sky was almost black, and the rain poured so loud she could barely hear what Nyx said to her. She had spent years helping Caspian through his emotions, but now he was fully and completely succumbing to them.

The younger ice soldier that Alastair had been fighting rose to his feet and lurched towards Al who was distracted by Caspian, throwing her onto the ground. Rolling with the ice fae who was trying to freeze her, she tried again to produce fire but it was again put out by the heavy rain.

An earth fae from across the field saw her struggle and flew over to her, conjuring a large root from the earth. The root wrapped around the ice fae's neck, pulling him away and holding him up in the air.

Alastair quickly rose to her feet and looked above her, seeing the earth fae hovering above the ice fae with her hands stretched outwards, holding him right in the sky and strangling him. The ice fae sent a spear towards the earth fae and it shot right through her stomach, the fae screaming as she fell to the ground. The root around the ice fae unlatched itself, and he caught his balance with his wings.

Hovering above Al, he growled and lifted his hands in the air and began freezing the rain again, and Alastair shielded herself with her arms and wings. When she felt no hail dropping down on her, she looked up to see that the ice fae was holding the ice in the air and letting it quickly accumulate into one large ball of ice.

Al attempted to jump up into the air and attack him, but he threw out his hand and sent an elongated strip of ice her way. The ice chain attached itself around Al's neck and squeezed, causing the fae to fall to the ground as she frantically attempted to melt the ice. The rain mixed with the coldness on her throat was quickly putting out her powers.

"Al!" Nyx whisper-screamed at the sight of Al falling onto her back and writhing on the ground, struggling to release the ice chain from her neck.

The ice squeezed harder around her throat, and her vision began to dim. The ice fae had now made a huge ball of ice in the air above him, and he smirked as she looked down at her.

Al made one last attempt to raise her hand, using all the power and life left within her to conjure fire, but all she could get was a tiny blue flame that barely left her palm. She was getting hardly any oxygen, therefore she could not produce any fire.

Suddenly, an air fae who was flying near formed her lips into a circle and sent a strong burst of air down towards Alastair. The air met the start of fire at her palm, and the oxygen helped the blue flame turn into a roaring flame of bright orange and red. The heat caused the ice around Al's neck to melt, and she took a deep breath before pushing the fire even further until it reached the ice fae who screamed loudly. He fell to the ground engulfed in flames, and his ball of heavy ice fell right on top of him, crushing him.

Gasping for breath, Al muttered a quick thank you to the air fae before flying into the air and quickly disappearing into the dark clouds.

Nyx's entire body tensed as she watched Al's form vanish within the clouds. "Where did she go?"

Catori herself was confused, until she noticed the lightning that had been flashing from within the dark clouds. She held Nyx closer and whispered urgently, "Cover your ears, Nyx."

"What?" Nyx asked, but she followed Catori's demand when she watched the spirit fae cover her own ears with her palms and squeeze her eyes shut.

Caspian, who had been wholly concentrated on the ice fae attacking him, noticed that they stopped sending spears his way and instead were looking up to the sky. He looked up, as well, and saw the large shadow of a winged form flying through the clouds. The shadow passed all around the field, causing everyone to stop their fighting and look up towards the near-black clouds. The rain had stopped since Caspian had returned his attention, but lightning still flashed from within the clouds.

His eyes widened in realization.

Turning towards his people, he screamed, "Get down!" But his words were cut off when Alastair suddenly appeared through the clouds, her eyes glowing white as electricity zapped along her entire body and wings. She outstretched her palms, and a bright flash of white blinded everyone. A large crack of lightning deafened every ear on the field, and a hot force of static propelled Caspian backwards and to the ground.

Nyx squeezed her eyes shut as the light and sound blinded and deafened her, and she stayed with her eyes closed and her hands pressed hard against her ears until she could not see the light behind her eyelids, and everything went quiet.

Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw.

In the place of where every ice fae had stood on the earth was now charred black, and so were the bodies of ice fae who had been in the air. Their dead bodies now lay on the ground where they fell, charred black with the small remnants of fire and smoke still lingering on their bodies.

The top of the ice castle now had a large black streak right across the top, and it was blazing with fire. The tower closest to where Al had sent the lightning quickly melted and fell within itself, causing a round of screams from within the castle.

There was not a single ice soldier outside the castle alive.

Alastair landed on her feet beside where Caspian lay on the ground, his hand shielding his eyes from the fire that roared along the tops of the ice castle which was quickly melting. He looked up and saw that Alastair's hair, filled with static, was lifting away from her shoulders. Electricity was still sparking among her feathers, and her eyes which once glowed with lightning were now bright red again.

He, as well as everyone else, had always been privy to just how powerful Al was, but he had never seen or expected anything like this.

A dark look crossed her face as she watched the castle burn. "Get the commoners out," she whispered to Caspian.

The water fae so still too befuddled to understand her command at first, but as he slowly rose to his feet, he realized that all the innocent ice fae and children were still inside the castle.

He turned to the earth and air fae and panickedly repeated Alastair's command, "Get the commoners out!"

Alastair watched blankly as Caspian and the others sprinted into the castle to save the commoners and the innocents. She would not leave until she saw Eira emerge from that castle, until she knew that she was dead.

Catori and Nyx both stared wide-eyed at the burning castle. Catori felt as if she should be happy, since she and everyone had waited eighteen years to watch that castle burn, but she remembered the innocent commoners inside who were all going to be killed if they did not rescue them fast enough.

They suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps in the forest behind them, and Nyx let out a shriek of fear, worried that there were more ice soldiers. But as her and Catori turned, they both widened their eyes in surprise to see Ilmari and Erlin sprint past them, not noticing the two women from beneath the nest of the earth, and stumble right into the open field.

Catori gasped and jumped up, running after the boys to keep them from danger. Nyx scrambled to her feet and followed her.

Upon hearing Nyx's shriek, Alastair frightenedly turned and looked towards the forest. Shock crossed her face when she recognized Ilmari and Erlin emerging from the trees, having followed them all the way there. She then saw Catori emerge, then Nyx right after her, and her eyes widened.

Caspian, Abitha, and everyone else were leading groups of ice fae out of the castle, carrying a few who had passed out from the smoke filling the castle or had been struck by melted ice falling into the castle from its towers.

"Where is she?!" Ilmari exclaimed, running up to Alastair with a panting Erlin running right behind him. He looked around and saw the castle on fire and the charred ice fae bodies. "Did you kill her?!"

"What in bloody hell are you doing here?!" she roared as Catori and Nyx came up behind the boys.

"Ilmari!" Catori exclaimed, grabbing the boy by his arm.

"I-I tried to stop him," Erlin panted, doubling over to catch his breath.

"Get Nyx back to the trees!" Alastair loudly demanded Catori, pointing her finger towards the forest.

A voice emerging from the sky interrupted their hectic conversation. "What do we have here?"

They all sharply turned and saw Eira flying up from somewhere within the castle and landing a few feet in front of them. Alastair quickly put her hands out and pushed the four behind her, outspreading her wings to protect them.

Another ice fae flew from behind Eira and landed at her side, and Alastair recognized him as her servant, Praen. He smirked from beside his Queen.

Eira creased her eyebrows and began sniffing the air. "Hmm... I smell rat. You must have a shifter there behind you." Her eyes fell to the side of Alastair's wing where she saw a young boy peering out. "I thought I had killed the last of you when I killed those two shifters."

Erlin's ears drooped slightly.

"It was a man and a woman... Of course, I did not kill them immediately." Eira tilted her head, the diamonds in her crown glinting as she stared at Erlin's big, scared brown eyes. "It was only after months of torture that I finally ended their misery. My subject do call me a merciful Queen, after all."

"You are far from merciful!" Ilmari shouted, pushing past Alastair who made an attempt to snatch him but missed.

Eira's white and blue eyes glinted as they recognized the boy. "Ah, you! You were that old air fae's son, right? What was his name? Arwin? Air-wind?"

Ilmari's fists balled at his sides. "His name was Aerwyn, and he is only one amongst all that you have killed, and I am only one amongst everyone who wants you killed." Pushing his hands in front of him, he sent a large gust of wind so strong that it knocked the Eira and Praen backwards a few feet, the two falling on their backs.

"Ilmari!" Alastair growled, grabbing him by his arm and aggressively shoving him back behind her.

Eira only laughed and adjusted the crown on her head that had almost fallen off. Praen quickly scrambled up and helped her up. As she rose, she eyed Alastair darkly. "You know, I smell something else over there." She stood up fully and straightened her back, lifting her chin as a look of hatred crossed her face. "The stench of human." A smirk curled like a snake at her lips. "You and Nikolaus were two of a kind, weren't you? Cozying up with humans," she spat.

Alastair's face burned red at her words. "Guess that shows he really didn't love you, huh?"

Yelling out, Eira ran towards Alastair and flapped her wings right as she grabbed the fire fae by her wings, pulling her up into the sky as Al shouted from the pain of being dragged by her wings.

Nyx gasped and watched fearfully as Eira and Al tumbled with each other in the sky, each trying to claw at one another without falling.

Catori was now eye-to-eye with the young Praen who was no doubt going to finish his Queen's dirty business. "I will not fight you," she told him.

"Then I'll fight you," Praen muttered before making a run towards the four, but Catori lifted her hands that glowed blue.

"Sleep," she whispered, and immediately the blonde boy's eyes closed, and he fell on his face in the snow right at their feet.

The sound of something hitting the ground nearby distracted the four, and they all turned to see Al laying on the ground behind them, convulsing slightly.

"Al!" Nyx screamed and made a start towards the fae, but a white figure swooping from the ground grabbed her by the neck and pulled her so that her feet were dragging against the ground until Eira finally released her, the girl falling into the snow.

Catori gasped loudly as she watched Eira send an ice spear right towards Nyx's face from where she hovered above her, but the girl was quick enough to roll over and just barely miss it. Catori began running towards Nyx, but Eira's evil eyes snapped to her and an ice spear shot from her hand towards Catori.

Ilmari lurched forward in front of Catori and crossed his hands over his chest, creating a large forcefield of air that swelled in a circle around them, blocking the spear. He uncrossed his arms aggressively, and the forcefield popped like a bubble, sending a powerful gust of air that punched Eira backwards and into the snow.

The Queen was quick to send ice towards Ilmari, but the breath had been so knocked out of her that all she could conjure was a sphere of ice that struck Ilmari so hard it knocked him out immediately, Catori catching the boy before he could fall.

The gust of air had woken Alastair from her cold-induced seizure, and she hobbled up from the ground, walking in front of Nyx who had just stood up onto her feet, her knees wobbling as she panted. Al walked past her and towards Eira, raising her hands to burn Eira right where she lay on the ground once and for all, but the ice fae jumped and grabbed the weak Alastair's wrists and squeezed hard, extinguishing the fire and causing ice to form on Al's skin where Eira gripped her.

She pushed the fire fae onto the ground and straddled her, wrapping her hands around Alastair's neck and squeezing. Al tried to ignite fire as she struggled to pull Eira's hands away from her, the but ice fae's hands were so cold they snuffed her out. Even the heat quickly fading from Al's weakened hands was not enough to get the fae off her.

Thrashing her arms at the ice fae to get her off, Alastair managed to get a good scratch in right across her left eyebrow and eye. The ice fae hissed as the scratch began to bubble with blood and her left eye squeezed shut, but her hands only tightened around Al's throat.

"I'm going to put you down once and for all," Eira said through her rapid breaths, squeezing Al's throat even harder so that the fae began to choke for breath. "Like the animal you are!"

"No!" Nyx screamed as she watched Eira pin Al down and strangle her with her hands, pulling Al's head up from the ground only to smash it back down. A look of pain crossed over Al's face which was turning blue from the ice Eira was seeping into her through her hands.

Erlin let out a shriek of panic at the horrific sight of Alastair's red eyes beginning to dull. Although Al had a tendency to pick on the boy throughout his time with her, she was one of the only consistent adults in his life. He remembered the day Al finally saw him after his parents had been taken away. He remembered the only hug he had ever gotten from Al, and the first time anyone had seen Al hug someone.

Feeling a strange sensation at his feet, Erlin looked down and gasped when he saw that black scales were forming over his feet, his toenails painfully elongating and turning into black talons.

Catori, kneeling down and holding unconscious Ilmari's head in her arms, looked and saw the sight of Eira freezing Al. Lifting her hand, she desperately yelled, "Sleep! Sleep!"

Eira felt a drowsiness overcome her, but she was much too powerful for any hypnosis a spirit fae could attempt on her. If anything, it made her even angrier, and she dug her fingertips into the flesh of Al's neck, white flurries forming and spreading on the fire fae's jaw. Al's eyes were rapidly turning blue, growing lighter and lighter until a seal of white ice formed over her eyes, and her hands which had weakly clung onto Eira's white robes fell to her sides. Frost formed in her chestnut hair and began to turn it bright white. The crimson feathers in her wings formed icicles at the ends, and any trace of warmth or fire left her veins.

Nyx made a run for Eira, but the ice fae spread her wing and shoved Nyx back forcefully with it.

Erlin looked at his hands and watched his skin turn into black scales. "C-Catori," he shrieked when he felt his face begin to morph.

Catori looked at the boy and saw black scales inching across his face, his nose and chin protruding from his head. He doubled over and groaned as his wings began to grow wider and darker, his feathers turning into black webs of skin. "Oh, my God," she whispered.

Nyx, who had been too concentrated on recuperating from Eira's forceful shove, turned when she heard the extremely loud flapping of wings behind. She gasped and raised her eyes at the sight of Erlin towering above her. His legs grew black and muscular, and his face became unrecognizable as the whites in his eyes turned to black. He wretched and grunted, his once squeaky voice morphing into low growls. She took a step away from him as she realized what it was he was turning into.

Erlin's now monstrous body, as tall as the melting ice castle, had shifted into a black dragon. His spiky hair was the last of his Fae feature to leave him, his hair turning into black, bony spikes all along the back of his head. Fangs grew and poked from his snout, and he tumbled around, his wings flapping.

The dragon teetered and nearly toppled, and Nyx let out a scream and ducked out to avoid his large, spiky wing that was heading her direction as he lost his balance. She felt the wing pass over her, only grazing the back of her coat.

The scream broke Eira's concentration on killing Al, and she turned just in time to see a large dragon stumbling her way. She frantically sent an ice spear and that only bounced off Erlin's scaly leg. Erlin opened his large snout, turned it to the sky, and meant to let out a scream of fear at his newborn mutant state, but instead a large stream of fire erupted from his mouth, reflecting in Eira's white eyes. He lost his balance and turned, his wing pushing Eira off of Al and throwing her in the snow. Her crown fell off her head and rolled a few feet away.

The ice fae tried to scramble to her feet, looking up at the dragon who was screeching loudly, fire shooting into the sky. Erlin stumbled again, and this time his foot landed on Eira's leg.

The fae let out a scream as her leg was smushed underneath the dragon's enormously heavy foot, his talons scratching her flesh right open. Finally, Erlin lost his balance once and for all, and went toppling to the ground with a thud that shook the ground, his foot freeing Eira.

Nyx watched as Eira attempted to get up, but her leg was nearly torn apart. Instead, the ice fae flapped her wings furiously until she got some leverage, hoisting herself into the air and flying unsteadily towards the trees, leaving trails of blood in the snow.

Once she saw Eira's figure disappear in the distance, Nyx turned her attention back to Al and rushed over to her side.

"Alastair," she breathed, horrified at the sight of her. Her eyes had been frozen open, her lips turned blue, and a sheet of frost coated the skin of her face and neck. She could see the imprints of Eira's hands on her throat. "Alastair!" She grabbed the fae's face and almost winced at how cold it was.

"Nyx," Catori whispered sadly, rushing over to the blonde and holding her by her shoulders. She looked at Alastair with horror, tears brimming her eyes.

Caspian and the others had gotten most of the ice commoners out of the castle right as it suddenly melted into itself, crashing loudly to the ground as the fire roared. Caspian turned and saw Erlin's dragon form lying in the snow, convulsing softly. His eyes widened at the sight, but when he saw Nyx and Catori leaning over a blue Alastair, he began sprinting over to her.

"Al!" He screamed, jumping over Erlin's dragon tail. "Al!" He kneeled on the other side of the fire fae and placed his hand on her face. He saw the hand prints on her neck, and he clenched his teeth with anguish. "No!" he screamed loudly, leaning over and pressing his head against her cold shoulder. Thunder echoed in the sky, and a few droplets of rain fell softly upon them.

"Do something!" Nyx screamed, shaking Al's body. "Start a fire! Unfreeze her! Do something!" Her vision blurred with tears.

"Nyx," Catori whispered, holding the girl tightly as she looked at the corpse of her friend over which her partner sobbed loudly. "Nyx...she's gone."

Erlin whined sadly behind them, his large ears drooping as his black eyes closed, tears pouring down his black, scaly face.

"No," she whispered, staring at the fae beneath her.

Caspian moved away and stood, pacing in a circle as he sobbed into his hands. Alastair had been his best friend before and after Eira. He had watched the Ice Queen steal her happiness, and now she had stolen her life.

Abitha, eyes full of tears, approached the huddled group. She looked over to the dragon and placed her hand softly on his hide, causing Erlin to whine sadly again as more tears left his black eyes.

Nyx sobbed loudly, her hands holding the fae gently by her face as she had done just the other night. She leaned forward and buried her face into Alastair's cold chest as sobs raked her body. Catori moved away to give the girl some space, going over to Caspian and engulfing him in a hug. Abitha began to sob, too, burying her face into Erlin's large side.

"Wake up," Nyx whispered through her choked sobs, hot tears falling down her body. She had never been religious, but she prayed to every god she had ever read about. She prayed to the heavens and the stars. She prayed to the earth. She prayed to her father and mother, begged the universe to undo what Eira had done.

She prayed with every bit of light in her soul.

Catori's face, which had been buried in Caspian's neck, turned when she saw a soft yellow light. From under Nyx's bent over body, her hands which were now pressed against Alastair's chest were glowing a bright golden light.

"Caspian," Catori whispered. The crying water fae pulled away from Catori's shoulder and looked where she was looking. His blue, teary eyes widened.

Abitha gasped and stepped forward at the sight of Nyx's hands glowing against Al's chest.

Nyx heard the sound of crackling under her hands. Opening her eyes, she was met with the bright glow emanating from her palms. Gasping, she slowly sat up and watched what she was unintentionally doing.

As her hands pressed into Al's sternum, the light from them seeped into the fae's body. As it traveled up the length of her neck, the frost on her skin slowly faded away, the white draining from her soft locks of hair as they returned to their normal chestnut color. The golden light travelled up to her jaw and passed through her face, now glowing so bright it pained Nyx's eyes. The cuts on her face from the shards of ice that had been thrown at her all night patched themselves together and healed.

"Healing," Catori whispered. "She's healing her."

The ice throughout Al's body and face faded away, her skin returning to its normal hue. Her wings turned their normal color again, and finally, the ice over her eyes faded away, and blue left her irises that turned their original red tint.

The golden light disappeared from both Al's body and Nyx's hands, and she waited. Everyone waited in shock and anticipation.

Still, her body did not move. Her chest did not rise and fall beneath Nyx's hands.

Catori looked at Nyx and saw that her tears, which had fallen down her face, were filled a golden glitter-like shine. She watched a certain tear trail down to Nyx's jaw, forming a bubble right at the bone before it finally fell.

The golden tear dropped down and splashed onto Alastair's neck, and with a huge glow of golden light, the fire fae came to life and gasped for breath, her eyes turning bright scarlet as the golden glow faded.

"Al!" Nyx exclaimed as the fire fae sharply sat up, and the girl threw her arms around her and shrieked, more tears falling from her eyes.

Confused, Al looked at Caspian who quickly rushed to her side. She coughed, her dark eyebrows sewing as she placed her hands around the girl who was near to squeezing her back to unconsciousness.

"W-What happened?" Al mumbled. Her eyes shifted to the big black beast who was slowly rising from the ground in front of her and standing upright, casting a shadow over all of them. "What the..."

Nyx released the fire fae and grabbed her face with her hands, looking at her with a smile across her reddened face.

Al held onto Nyx's wrists and looked at the girl, her eyes widening at the glittering tears on her cheeks. "Nyx!" she breathed, and she noticed that her eyes were now fully golden and glowing.

"You're alive," Nyx whispered, brushing a stray hand of hair away from Al's face and tucking it behind her ear.

"I-I suppose so," the fae breathed, to which Caspian chuckled and platonically shook her shoulder before standing up to give them some space.

"I-I thought you were gone," Nyx croaked, a fresh golden tear falling from her eye. Feeling her heart burst with relief and happiness that Alastair was live, she smiled and kissed the fae on the lips, holding her warm face in her hands.

Taken completely off guard by the kiss, Al paused at first before she snaked her hands around the girl and kissed her back, her heart beating loudly in her chest.

Catori and Caspian looked at each other and smiled, and Abitha smirked. They all turned away to give the lovers privacy, instead turning their attention to Erlin who was still a dragon, standing there awkwardly.

"Ya big beast!" Abitha exclaimed before jovially punching Erlin's leg, causing the dragon to step away and whine. "Oh, sorry."

Nyx finally released Al from the kiss, gasping to catch her breath. "Sorry."

Blinking rapidly, Al looked into Nyx's golden eyes. "No, don't be," she whispered. "Although... I do have one question."

"What?" the girl breathed.

Al looked at Erlin who began to twirl around, chasing his own tail.

"Where the bloody hell did you get a dragon from?