Frozen Beyond [gxg]

Pandora Caverns

They spent twenty minutes walking along the sandy shoreline until it turned rocky and into a tide pool. Elsa stumbled on the slippery rocks, Keahi catching her hand and helping her over them.

Within the tide pools, starfish and smaller guppies swam happily in the shallow depths. It fascinated Elsa that the fish, who had a whole sea to swim in, seemed so happy in their tide pool prison.

"Here!" Keahi cheerfully exclaimed.

Here, where? Elsa looked up at the large mouth of a cave, foaming seawater sloshed in and out, casting a hazy fog over the interior from the spray of ocean water as it lapped against the rocks. Keahi laced their fingers together and led her into the depths of the cavern along a small channel of rocks that raised above the water that rushed in and out.

At the back of the cavern, a sandy beach sat where the waves rolled and sloshed against the makeshift shore. The interior was dark, a lot of the light from the mouth of the cave dispersing.

"Follow me." Keahi ushered, reaching out and once more taking Elsa's hand. She happily obliged, feeling safe in the confines of Keahi's touch as they ventured further back into the cavern. She didn't even question where they were going, only that she trusted Keahi to lead her. A small sandy hallway dipped downward as they went into the heart of the cavern. Almost no light filtered in, and the further they went, the darker it got.

Elsa couldn't see her hand in front of her face until Keahi sparked a bit of fire to light their path. "Where are you taking me?" Elsa mumbled, looking over her shoulder.

"I used to come here as a kid, got lost in here a few times. I named it Pandora's Cavern's because of it."

"Well, now, I'm concerned." Elsa laughed nervously.

"Well, it took a while, but I figured out how to navigate it." Keahi glanced around and nodded her head, snuffing out the fire she had sparked.

Elsa scanned around, unable to see anything. All she could feel was the brush of Keahi's shoulder next to her. She wasn't sure if something was supposed to happen, or what exactly Keahi was waiting on.

"This place used to remind me that there was beauty in the darkness."

The walls lit an illuminated pink. Some sort of algae spidered up the walls. The pink glow hit the ceiling where purple and blue sparkled as the bio-illuminance hit crystals that scattered across the ceiling.

They twinkled like stars overhead.

Elsa watched in awe, doing a complete circle to look at every aspect that the cave offered. She couldn't believe that something so beautiful found its home in such darkness.

She rested her eyes on Keahi who was smiling and looking at the crystals above. For once, she didn't overthink her next actions, no matter how unconventional it was.

She didn't think she could live without Keahi, no matter how dramatic that thought was. The love she felt for her surpassed anything she had ever thought possible and transcended everything she had known before this.

She took Keahi's hands in hers, clutching them to her chest as she watched the surprised look cross Keahi's strong features. She swallowed hard, but what she said had conviction and no room for doubt. She was never more sure of anything. "Will you marry me?"