Mirror, Mirror

3.05 Melt

The shock of the cold was so intense that Starla gasped, and freezing water hungrily invaded her lungs. For several dazzling moments, her senses were overwhelmed, and all she could see, taste, and feel was the dizzying cold. Then, her survivor's instinct kicked in, and she launched herself toward the surface. Pain exploded from her arm as she smashed into something hard. Her scream was drowned out by the dark water, which gleefully filled her mouth and nose. She was trapped in a numb, silent world.

Then, he was there. The water exploded away from her and froze. Starla found herself lying on the slick rocks of a river bed, staring up at the innocently blue sky, thin walls of ice spraying out from her in every direction. How pretty.

Starla doubled over and heaved uncontrollably as she hacked up water.

"Starla!" Rayvin cried, and she heard him skid down one of the ice walls to reach her. Starla couldn't respond immediately, overcome with wet coughing.

"Can you stand?" Rayvin asked anxiously. "We need to get you warm right now." As if on cue, that's when the shaking began.

"Y-yeah," Starla chattered, getting to her feet. Her arm ached. She'd probably hit it against one of the rocks since the water wasn't deep.

Together, she and Rayvin made their way back to the campsite. Luckily, he hadn't gotten far in doing tear down. Rayvin worked on building a fire, while Starla stripped and bundled under layers of blankets, shivering violently. She'd tried her best to dry off, but a thin layer of sweat dampened her skin, and her hair was still cold. She closed her eyes miserably. She didn't think she'd ever feel warm again.

"Hey, keep your eyes open," Rayvin said sharply over his shoulder, still working on the fire. "Stay with me." Starla tried to snap something back, like, "Keep your own eyes open," or "How about you finish up that fire?" but she was so cold that she could barely focus. Instead, she curled her knees up to her chest and tried to think about warm baths.

After that, everything was a blur. She was dimly aware of Rayvin telling her to wake the FUCK up, then him cursing about how his ice powers were useless and why couldn't he build a stupid fire goddammit? And then Starla was trying to get up to help him, but then he was holding her back, and she started crying because her fingers were too numb and useless anyway, and what if they fell off and she could never make clothes again? And then Rayvin was shedding his clothes and then his body was wrapping around hers, skin against skin, hands gripped tightly. For an eternity, Starla shook in his arms. He held her.

Then, achingly slowly, the shivering began to subside. The warmth that crept back into her fingers and toes stung at first, but she welcomed it. Pain was good. Pain meant her body was alive.

Pain meant she was alive.