Mirror, Mirror

3.19 Snow Angel

Gasping for breath, Starla startled awake with her cheek pressed to the cold floor. She was sopping wet, as if she'd just been drowning. Frantically, she touched a hand to her temple. To her relief, all she felt was damp, sticky hair. The crown was gone.

Her hand came away smeared in red. Shit. She was bleeding.

Was she... was she in the palace medical bay?

She dizzily got to her knees, and came face to face with her beloved Rayvin, who was peering over the side of a patient bed with bleary, shocked eyes.

And then Rayvin was there holding her, and both of them were crying, and she was whimpering that it hurts it hurts it hurts. Then, Rayvin was shouting for help.

Starla wasn't fully there for everything that happened, but she remembered seeing the cousins, Crystallia, and even the King. Although, she couldn't tell where her dreams ended and reality began.

Starla had a lot of dreams. The most common theme in all of them, though, was Rayvin. Laughing with Rayvin. Fighting with Rayvin. Kissing Rayvin. Rayvin, Rayvin, Rayvin.

It was in the middle of a dream where Rayvin was joking that only a prince could awaken a sleeping princess, and kissed her, that Starla jolted awake.

When she was finally fully awake, she was in a bed next to Rayvin's in the medical bay. She sat up, confused, and met his eyes. He had been watching her sleep. Relief bloomed across his tired face.

"Starla," Rayvin breathed.

"Rayvin," Starla said. He tumbled out of his bed and rushed over to her side. Starla pulled him into bed with her, even though it was small. She just needed to hold him and know he was real and that it was all over.

She wasn't that much smaller than him, but she crawled into his lap, just wanting to be held. He held her like she was a dream he was afraid he'd wake up from.

"We did it," Rayvin whispered into her hair. He sniffled, as if he'd been crying.

"We did it?" Starla echoed.

"Look," Rayvin said. He leaned over toward the curtained window next to them and pulled the curtain aside. Sunlight filtered into the room.

"Oh," Starla said numbly, leaning her head against Rayvin's chst. She closed her eyes and listened to the soft chirping of birds. She inhaled deeply and smelled the earthy scents of rain and soil and budding plants. She felt warm.

"My magic's gone too," Rayvin whispered.

"What?" Starla exclaimed.

"Yeah. Ever since you woke up with the crown gone, my magic's been gone, and so has all the snow outside," Rayvin said.

"Oh," Starla said. This was too much for her to process. She closed her eyes again.

"I should get the nurse," Rayvin said after a while. "How does your head feel?"

"No, please just hold me. And it's just a bit of an ache," Starla said, putting her hand to her temple, where she felt a bandage wrapped around her head. "But better."

"I'm so glad to hear," Rayvin said, relieved. "I was so scared. You were frozen since you put the crown on, and then suddenly the crown was gone, and there was so much blood..."

"I was unresponsive?" Starla asked. "For how long?"

"Starla, you were frozen for a month," Rayvin said.

"A month," Starla hissed.

"I tried to take the crown off of you," Rayvin said, voice thick with emotion. "To reverse it. But I couldn't. I thought I'd lost you."

"You didn't lose me," Starla said, curling into him further. "I'm here. And I'm OK."

"Yeah," Rayvin said.

"How did you carry me all the way back here?" Starla asked into his chest, and she felt him rumble with a laugh.

"You carried me," Rayvin said. "Well. Sorta."

"I— what?"

"You were like an icy guardian angel, Starla. A snow angel, if you will. Haha," Rayvin said.

"Explain," Starla demanded.

"When you put the crown on and your body turned to ice, I tried to use my magic to reverse it. It kind of backfired though. It— well it enchanted your frozen body so that it could move," Rayvin explained in a hushed voice. "You couldn't speak, and you didn't seem to be awake, but you... you protected me. You helped me get all the way back to the palace. You were terrifying. And really really sweet."

"That... sounds like me. Wow," Starla said, mind reeling at this information. "I can't believe I did all that in my sleep, and while also going toe to toe with the ancient Queen Winter herself."

"You what?" Rayvin gaped. Starla explained everything that had happened to her since she put the crown on.

"Do you think it was all real?" Starla asked. "Or was it all just hallucinations?"

"I think it was real. Or real enough that it affected the real world," Rayvin said. "You took off your crown in your 'dream,' and I guess you took it off in real life too. When you came too, there was just shattered ice around you."

"But you said you tried taking off the crown," Starla said. "Why did it work for me but not for you?"

"I guess you had to take it off yourself," Rayvin said. "I guess it was a choice you had to make."

"I think you're right," Starla said, suddenly feeling very tired. "Rayvin?"

"Mm?"

"Can we just lie here and enjoy the sun? I don't think I can handle any more thoughts or responsibility for the time being."

"Of course dear."