Young Writers Society

With a scrape along the icy floor, the door sunk inward, swinging on indiscernable icy hinges. The first thing they saw was light. Somehow, beyond the door, the room was lit. As their eyes adjusted, they were able to see that they were actually looking into another hallway, but this one looked like a real hall, just one made out of stone and ice. Along the walls, there were chalices holding up flickering blue flames. The air from the hall rushed out, as if it had been contained for a long, long, time. It was cool, but refreshing. It was like they'd stepped outdoors, except... they hadn't.

Lake's eyes went wide as she took it all in.

The hall was wide, long, and grand, and there were even icy chandeleirs on the ceiling, holding the same, magical blue flames.

There was snow-dust in the air, just like after a fresh snowfall. The tiny ice-crystals shimmered in the air, catching the bright blue light. And on the walls, there were pictures. Illustrations, carved into the ice, like ancient cave paintings - except these were far more detailed, and some were even sculpted into the wall with ridges sticking out.

Lake took the first step into the hall, gingerly, but everything inside of her was itching with excitement and awe.

This was real. It was really real.

She couldn't help but feel like she was stepping into her dream, but now it was all tangible. She could feel it. She could touch it. It was really happening. She wasn't delusional. She had real, physical proof that something, someone had drawn her here.

She'd expected the vindication of this moment to feel a certain way. Full of passion and even a self-justified bitterness, to maybe rub it in Fish and Rain's faces for doubting her and calling her crazy. But all she felt at the moment was just... relief.

Tears pricked at her eyes as she silently followed along the wall, seeing runes carved above and below the pictures. Now, she knew at least four of the words, but it wasn't like she could read the story. But she could look at the pictures.

Behind her, she could hear Fish and Rain's trepid footsteps, and the patter of paws following with them. But no one said anything.

It was weird. It felt like they'd intruded on something ancient and sacred, but at the same time, they were welcome. Lake felt like she was supposed to be here.

She reached out, gently running her fingers over the first picture on the wall.

It looked familiar.

It started at the same place every folktale about Chevan ever did. Generations ago, when their people met Cheva in the rough winters of the arctic, and Cheva blessed them. The image showed three human figures, and a icy, humanoid hand reaching out to them, with streams of light radiating from it.

Lake smiled softly. As she slowly walked along the wall, the story seemed to resemble the book they'd lost. It followed the same pattern, and even some of the pictures looked the same.

There was Chevan. It started small, and then it grew, and it grew.

There were her people. Generation after generation, learning the magic, passing it down. The spells. The stories.

But where she expected the story to end, it kept going. Instead of ending in Chevan, it seemed to return to the glaciers, and the pictures seemed to travel through them. Into them. There were the icy tunnels, then the door. A bright light around a large, humanoid figure, and then a panned out image of Chevan from afar. One picture, the lights were on, then the next, they were all out.

Lake felt a chill run down her spine.

She noticed the word "magic" was written below it. The symbol was the simplest of all the runes. Essentially, it was just a swirl.

Without having to read the context around it, she understood what the pictures were saying. Apparently, it was foretold a long time ago that magic would die out. Did that mean their whole journey into the glaciers was for nothing?

No. They wouldn't have gotten this far if it ended there.

The story kept going.

After the image of Chevan buried under snow and plunged in darkness, there was a picture of three silhouettes coming up from a snow-covered hill.

One reached out in front of them, melting away the snow, pushing it back like a wave.

One reached up to the sky, and called forth the sun.

One flying in on the wings of a giant bird, with creatures following behind them.

What had Rain said?

Children of the water, sky, and beasts?

After the grand appearance of the three "heros," there were three silhouetted portraits of them that had smaller runes. At that moment, Lake really wished she could read the ancient language, because it seemed like there were more details about the "children of x,y,z." If she could read it, maybe it'd confirm things more. Or give them answers.

After the portraits, there was a picture of the three silhouettes entering town, and a burst of light as magic returned. Hovering over the town, there was the same icy, humanoid figure, and Lake could recognize what seemed to be a smile.

And that was where the "story" ended. But Lake realized now that it was more of a prophecy than just a story.

Lake swallowed, and turned to look back at Rain and Fish finally. Their eyes were wide as they stared at the wall too. The dogs herding around them, however, were entirely clueless, and were just sniffing around.

"So uh," Lake said. "Does this mean I'm famous?"

She pointed to the silhouetted figure commanding the waters.

Rain looked like she wanted to have a sarcastic comment, but came up short, instead her eyes flicking from Lake back to the intricately carved prophecy. "... bruh."

"This is not what I expected to find in here," Lake went on, finding the words spilling out without filter. "But uh, wow! What a surprise!" She went on to laugh a little more nervously than intended.

Rain glanced at her again. "... what do you think it means?"

"Uh. Um," Lake pursed her lips, looking at the illustrations, then her friends, then the illustrations, and her friends again.

"We're uh... supposed to be like, heros or something I guess," she said.

Why did it feel like even 24 hours ago, she'd be thrilled by this, but now it was entirely overwhelming? She wasn't a hero. She was literally just some gal who chopped wood for a living.

"I don't know how we'll bring magic back or whatever, though," she muttered. "Feels like there's a lot of missing steps here in this graphic novel."

Rain's eyes were glued to the wall, flicking back and forth between the various images as she tried to fill in the holes. She was intent and ran her fingertips across the ridges in the ice closest to her eye-height as she paced back and forth along the wall. "...we need to figure out how to read this."

She didn't come up with any further suggestions or ideas, though, and instead settled for staring intently as if that would force the ice to open up and share its secrets with them.

"What am I supposed to do with a bunch of animals?" Fish finally blurted, sounding bewildered and anxious.

"Have a bear army?" Lake suggested.

"We are so not qualified for this," Fish deadpanned. Lake realized he was being very serious.

"I'd argue that you're overqualified having spent so much time with fish all your life, and being named Fish," Lake said.

"I'm being serious!" Fish retorted, though he sounded more worried than upset.

"So am I," Lake said with a shrug.

"So they were supposed to get their magic...then go back to Chevan," Rain said, still pacing along the wall as she tried to piece together what was written between the lines.

"Okay now before you start telling me you were right and we should've turned around a lot sooner--" Lake started to say.

"What are we even supposed to do?" Fish interrupted.

"Maybe we've done it?" Rain said, glancing at them with a furrowed brow before she looked back at the wall. "Everything happened. Magic died. We got our magic. Now we just have to go home... right? That's what that's saying, right?"

"But now we're stuck with this magic forever?" Fish went on, flailing his arms at the wall. It didn't sound like he was even listening to Rain. "Am I going to be hearing animals talking all my life? Oh, Cheva. Am I going to be hearing fish talk all my life too? I BUTCHER fish for a living! I can't handle that!"

Oh no. Fish was spiraling.

Lake reached over to him and planted a hand firmly on his shoulder.

"I think Rain's right," Lake said. "Now we just have to focus on finding a way out and going home, right? Just like the original plan."

"But what about Cheva?" Fish asked. "Where even is she???"

Lake blinked.

She didn't have an answer for that one.

She looked out down the hall, as it continued on even after the story came to an "end."

"Huh," she said softly to herself. "Good question."

"I can't do this," Fish started to say. "I can't do this. Can't we go back? Maybe we could wish for her to take our powers back? This was a bad idea. We should go home."

The dogs started to whine and yap as Fish visibly grew more distressed and pulled away from Lake, shaking his head.

"Stop it!" he said, clearly snapping at the dogs. They just got louder.

"Fish, it's okay," Lake said. "We're okay. We're going to get through this."

Fish looked down the hall, and after the illustrations came to an end, the walls were smooth and sleek, apart from the intermittent lit flames lining them.

"We have to get out of here," Fish said, clearly worked up into a panic. "Before she finds us!"

As he broke into a run, Lake reached out to try and stop him.

"Fish!" Lake shouted in exasperation.

"Wait, what--?" Rain turned back towards them, pulling from her cerebral pondering of the inscriptions. "Fish! Stop it! You can't run from a Goddess! Get back here before something bad happ--"

Before Lake could even reach Fish, he slipped.

Slamming onto the icy floor, he groaned, and as Lake hurried over to him, she saw a string shimmering just a few inches off the ground. From afar, it was clear, and practically invisible. But Fish seemed to have run into it and snapped it.

Her eyes went wide. There was a loud groan in the ice heard above them.

"Shit! A booby trap!" Lake shouted. "Get up!"

Without waiting for Fish to meet her hand, she grabbed him, pulling him to his feet.

"Rain! Get over here!" she shouted. "Storm! Come!"

Storm came bounding over, and the other dogs followed behind her. The was a loud thump in the icy ceiling above them, and suddenly, it began to crack.

The dogs rushed past Lake, further down the hall, away from the noise. Lake shoved Fish ahead of her, hoping he wouldn't trip again this time.

Rain was on their heels, also giving Fish a shove as she rushed forward. "Go-go-go--"

They were booking it. Lake's backpack bounced on her shoulders, and for a moment, she considered ditching it completely, but she feared even attempting so would slow her down. She and Rain held up the back as Fish scrambled into the herd of dogs ahead of them, and with one glance over her shoulder, she could see the ceiling caving in.

It crashed down behind them, crumbling and shattering against the walls, the floor. It kept crumbling down behind them as they ran, only a narrow few feet behind them.

Eventually, the shattering and the crashing came to a final end, but they kept running. Running, running, until they were positive they were free of it. Hoping that in the process, they didn't somehow set off any other booby traps.

Finally, Lake started to slow.

"Woah!" she called out to the dogs, and they all started to slow, skidding on the icy floor.

Fish got bumped by Big Guy in the mess of it, and fell over again, but this time at least caught himself on his hands and knees.

"OW!" he said in offense to Big Guy. Big Guy actually responded in an apologetic whimper, and came back to Fish, licking his face and nudging his shoulder to try to help him up.

Lake came to a stop, huffing and puffing, and leaned forward with her hands on her knees. Rain seemed to have slowed down a few steps behind her, and with heavy footfalls, caught up to her.

They were all breathing hard. Lake could see the puffs of smoke around their mouths.

"Well," Lake said through breaths. "Looks like Cheva has some built-in... security."

"You're telling... me that..." Rain was panting, but it sounded like she was huffing a little extra out of annoyance. "A goddess has a booby trap for her heroes? Wack."

"Maybe it's... for intruders?" Lake guessed. "Or... maybe it was... a recent installment?"

"Of course there's booby traps," Fish bemoaned, flopping to the floor beside Big Guy instead of getting up.

"Cheva, on her death bed, 'let me make a trap to cave in the heads of people trying to come help me'-- seems legit."

"She's on her death bed?!" Fish nearly shouted.

"SHHHHH!" Lake hissed. "Don't go triggering something else!"

"It wasn't like I was trying to!" Fish defended.

"Well you did anyway!" Rain shot back.

Fish groaned, defeated, and stared up at the ceiling as Big Guy started to lick his face again.

Lake stood up straighter and let out a long sigh, looking back behind them.

"Well... there's no going back the way we came now," she said. "I guess it's Cheva or bust."

Rain looked at the caved-in tunnel behind them helplessly, then looked down the other direction, seeming equally hopeless at those prospects as well. She glanced back towards the rubble regretfully. "... so much for figuring out what the runes mean."

"It's not like I know what any of the other ones mean anyway," Fish mumbled.

"Still, you could've given it a minute before freaking out," Lake said, about to lean against the wall before deciding against it. Now she was a little paranoid.

Fish sighed.

"You two are never going to let me forget this, are you?" he lamented.

Lake looked to Rain with a raised eyebrow.

"At this rate, none of us are going to be alive to remember it," Rain muttered, brow furrowed.

"We'll be more careful this time," Lake said, trying to be more hopeful. "I'll take the lead, okay? Any everyone keep your eye out for anything sus."

She walked over to Fish and extended a hand to him, this time, waiting for him. He looked up at her for a moment, seemingly defeated, and then let out a sigh. He reached up and took it, and Lake pulled him to his feet once more.

Fish scrubbed his face where Big Guy had been getting his slobber all over him.

"On the bright side," Lake said. "We were going to keep going this way anyway. So... we'll just keep with it. We're going to make it out of this."

Fish looked down to the floor with despondence and only nodded. Lake gave him a quick shoulder pat and then stepped past him, weaving past all of the dogs.

"Alright, come on, guys," Lake said. "Modern heroes or not, we've got ourselves to save first before we can help anybody else."

It was Monday morning, and Fischer was getting impatient.

It was hard enough brushing off his son's request to go camping on his own. He knew he was going to find Cheva. He knew that he was destined to fulfill a prophecy, and it wasn't his place to get in the way, or else there could be unintended consequences. He had kept this from Gilson for so many years, but now he was learning the truth.

Or at least, he was learning what little his friends likely knew. Fischer was unsure they would ever tell them the full story. There wasn't a reason to.

But now he was getting worried. Where was he? Why wasn't he back yet? Maybe something happened. Fischer had anticipated his son going on this trip and had prepared for this trip for years, packing the giant bag little by little over time, only returning to it to add an item or replace expired foods. He only hoped that it was enough to prepare Gilson. Everything else was outside of his hands.

With a sigh, Fischer turned over the sign on the shop door from 'open' to 'closed.' No use in opening shop today. He was going to find his son.

They all were.

Fischer took a deep breath, briefly looking around the empty room before he quietly walked over towards the attic. The cords to pull staircase down were tucked away from prying eyes, but Fischer carefully pulled them out and gave it a gentle tug. Dust and stairs descended down from above. Fischer carefully walked up each step, praying that the groaning boards could still support his weight these days.

More dust and stale air filled his lungs. When Fischer flicked on the light, a dim lightbulb overhead lit up the small room, revealing old boxes of items. The room was rather ordinary and unremarkable, but in this room, he stored his extraordinary and remarkable items of his youth.

So what, maybe Fischer was feeling extra nostalgic today. Made no difference to him. With a smirk, he opened up a box and picked up his old banjo, dusting it off. It has been years since he played this old thing, but he used to be quite the musician back then. His alter-ego as a young scout was "campfire man" since he would conjure fire magic when he played.

Fischer could even remember the chords of All Star. He and Keigan loved that song to death. Lee, however... well, he seemed to enjoy dancing to it.

A white plush blanket on the bottom of the box caught his eye. Fischer stared at it for a long moment, the silence ticking by as he just stared, until, finally, he reached over and gently pulled it out.

He hadn't even washed it since that day. It was hard to move on if every little thing reminded him of the pain from that day.

Holding the blanket as if it were made out of fragile glass, Fischer slowly and carefully brought it close to his face so he could sniff it.

Even after all these years, the blanket still smelled like her. Perhaps it should have smelled like his son as an infant, or perhaps Gilson was simply an extension of her. Of Gilda. His late wife.

She probably wouldn't like that everyone nicknamed Gilson "Fish." Hell, Fischer didn't either. It almost feels like wiping her name and little legacy she had left was like wiping her existence. And maybe he was, in a way, since only Lee and Keigan knew the truth of what happened to her.

Some truths were better left a secret. Some things were better left forgetting and moving on, leaving you hardened.

But it didn't mean he didn't have to keep her alive in his memory.

There was an old rocking chair in the corner. After dusting off the cobwebs, Fischer slowly sat down and melted into the seat, ignoring the creaking wood threatening to give in under his weight. Still clutching the blanket, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

He was feeling nostalgic, after all. It didn't hurt to remember her again.

They were so young. So naive. Fischer was aware of his wrongdoings and misdeeds, but anytime he looked back at this memory, he couldn't help but feel the bliss that emanated out of his wife like rays of sunshine.

He wished to meet the love of his life.

And Cheva granted it.

Fischer watched Gilda with a childlike innocence. It was hard to not feel that way when she was bundled up in a coat that was way too big for her, and a hat that nearly covered her big nest of hair, and mittens that were only held in place by buttons. She was a small but fierce woman, but when she was around Gilson, she was the gentlest person in the room.

"Shhhh," she cooed gently when Gilson started to fuss. She covered his wispy hair with the thick plush blanket so only his face was exposed to the elements. "I've got you. Mama's got you. Don't you cry now."

Gilson was born six months ago, but Gilda was determined to go on this trip anyways. So damn stubborn, that woman. But that was one of the many reason of why Fischer loved her more than anything in the world. Any time her mind was set on something - especially if it was a wrong that could be corrected to a right - she wouldn't stop until she accomplished her goal.

At first, her goal was to understand every detail about Fischer before they got married. Even the mundane details, like his favorite color and animal. Gilda mostly focused on his family and social life, and she was a fantastic listener. Never had Fischer met anyone who was sincerely and openly interested in every facet of his life, attentively listening and asking specific questions.

So when he let it slip that he had gone on a trip with his friends some years ago... well, he couldn't escape her curiosity.

"Where'd you go?" she asked with sparkling eyes. "What'd you see? How long was it? What happened?"

She didn't let go of this for weeks, even despite his reluctance and vague answers. Gilda chipped away at him like a miner determined to find gold, until finally, he cracked. He broke his promise to his friends that he would never tell a soul.

"You actually found Cheva?!" she exclaimed, mouth agape. "How was she? Did you make a wish? What did you wish for?"

And then more weeks had passed of more vague answers and reluctance. Her stubbornness persisted until the crack deepened.

"I didn't want to tell you, because -- 'cause I killed her," Fischer blurted out, the guilt and shame becoming too much to bear. With eyes full of sorrow, he cupped her face with his hands, trying to be gentle. "Not intentionally. But she's not alive because of us... But I can't regret it. Because I met you, love. It was all for you."

And Gilda, of course, was touched.

And Gilda was also, of course, stubborn.

"We're going back. We're going to do this again. The right way this time, with the three of us," Gilda huffed as she immediately started to pack, ignoring his complaints.

Her mind was set, and there was no changing it.

And that was why they were camping outside in the cold with their newborn son.

Gilson continued to fuss despite her gentle hushing, and so she started to sing in a deep voice.

"Hush little baby, don't you cry. Mama's going to sing you a lullaby..."

Puffs of steam blew around Gilson's face and body, bundling around him like a warm blanket. The fussing faded away until his eyelids were heavy, and he was soothed into sleep.

It was always endearing to watch Gilda sing in a deep voice, especially since she was a small woman with a natural soprano voice. She admitted that she used to be embarrassed that this was how she conjured her fire magic, but she was fully confident now, frequently singing to show off her fire magic skills. Nowadays, she mostly spoke in a deep voice to keep Gilson comfortable. He seemed to prefer the lower bass notes that caused a mini sauna, finding it soothing since he would quickly doze off to sleep.

"Fish, honey. How much farther do we have to go?" she asked softly after ensuring that Gilson was indeed asleep.

Wordlessly, Fischer carefully pulled out the folktale book. It used to be in pristine condition and stuffed with carefully folded pages of his own notes. Documentation of their previous journey such as maps and drawings of runes used to be placed between the pages, but unfortunately due to lack of preparation and the impulsivity of this trip, they were destroyed by animals and lost by the forces of nature. He only had the book now, but even then, pages were missing, torn, or disheveled. Luckily the folktale included a map with only pictorials and a compass. He also had his trusty memory too, of course.

"We can take a shortcut through these tunnels here. Last time we arrived by sledding across the lake, but I'm 'fraid the ice is much too thin to do that now," he said as he tapped on the starred destination on the map. "We're comin' in from the other side of the tunnel. Shouldn't make much of a difference."

Gilda nodded, gently cradling Gilson in her arms. "You sure there's another entrance?"

"Pretty sure. But we'll see when we get there."

Saying that was the biggest mistake he had ever made in his life.

No.

Letting her crawl through the tunnel was the biggest mistake he had ever made in his life.

"You sure this tunnel is big enough?" Gilda asked skeptically, crouching down to inspect it.

He should have been more prepared. He should have known. He should have been prepared for anything.

"I don't know..." Fischer said, starting to feel like this was a bad idea. "Let's go 'round to the other side. I can't fit anyways."

Gilda knocked on the side of the tunnel. "It seems to be made of solid ice. I think it's sturdy enough. If I crawl, I can fit." She paused, then turned around with a determined smile. "I'm going in. You said it's close to the destination, right? I'll come back in an hour and let you know if I see anything."

He shouldn't have let her go. He should have known better.

"Take care of Gilson while I'm gone, okay?" were the last words she ever said to him.

Like a haunting dream, Fischer could never forget the terror of watching the tunnel collapse not ten minutes later. He could never forget the loud rumblings of ice and snow snowballing around them. But most of all, he could never forget the deafening silence afterwards.

For hours he waited for her to come back, resilient like always. But she never did. She never did. Not even when he tried to shovel his way through this snow and ice himself with his bare hands, not stopping until he was on the brink of frostbite.

Still tucked away in the thick plush blanket, Gilson poked his head out and whimpered. He was cold, maybe. Hungry, maybe. But he couldn't have known the pain Fischer felt at that moment.

Fischer was out of tears, but he couldn't stop sobbing. There was nothing left in his heart. There was no hope, and there was no music. Magic couldn't save them.

But Gilson was crying now. He wouldn't stop, no matter how many times he rocked him, hugged him, shushed him. Whenever this happened, he usually gave him to Gilda, who would nine times out of ten be able to calm him down with her soft touch and voice.

But he couldn't do that anymore. He had to accept that. It was only him now.

It was only him and his son.

With a quivering lip, Fischer finally stood up, knowing he had to leave the site and return home, empty-hearted. With a hollow voice, he weakly started to sing in a deep voice.

"Hush little baby, don't you cry. Papa's going to sing you a lullaby..."

Fischer opened his eyes, blinking many times when he realized that tears threatened his vision. He had played that day in his head over and over again for more than two decades, and he hoped someday that he would become desensitized to it, but apparently he never will. But that was okay. This was his mistake, and remembering his misdeeds was the best way to prepare and prevent it from happening again.

Fischer let his mind wander for the next few minutes in silence, but it hardly did. Instead he emptily stared into the dim and quiet room, feeling at peace.

Until there was a knock at the door. Since the building was so quiet, Fischer could hear Keigan's muffled voice through the walls.

"Fischer? You in there, buddy? I see the lights are on still," Keigan said, still banging against the door.

With a gruff groan, Fischer rocked himself to his feet, glancing around for a moment before he approached the boxes again to daintily put away the blanket.

"Comin' out!" he yelled so loud in a low voice that ashen dust fell from ceiling.

It was time to come back to reality, which was Gilson being old enough to go on the same trip he went on when he was his age. But it was different, this time.

Because this time, he's got his papa who was going to save him.

Well if he would have known what she was planning to do, Lee wouldn't have let Rain just go charging off to try to go play hero. That didn't seem like her anyhow. She was never one to try to get wealth or fame for herself -- one of the other ways that she perplexed him to no end. But. Well. What did she possibly think this would solve? Surely she would have had the foresight to realize that this plan would bring nothing but trouble upon her and her friends?

He drummed his fingertips on the carefully polished mahogany wood of his intricately carved desk as he tried to think through this. Now that he had to, it seemed. Think about it, that was. He'd done his absolute best to keep his and his friends' shame as far from his own or anyone elses' memories as possible.

And now this.

Their town being plunged into an icy hell.

Rain and her friends going off to fight god.

He couldn't help but think about his own foolish quest all those years ago with Fischer and Keigan. They shouldn't have gone. Maybe even more than their kids shouldn't have gone. Things had been fine before they'd taken up their journey to go find Cheva and -- accidentally, mind you -- kill her in the process. But. Well. They'd made their choices. And suffered the repercussions. But they'd been young, dumb kids. They didn't know any better.

This, though? This was history repeating itself. The whole fool me twice, shame on me sort of deal.

But why did he feel shamed? It wasn't as if he was the one who had suggested the kids go off half-cocked like this. In fact, he would have stopped them, if he'd known in time. But Rain hadn't given him even a sneeze of a hint of what she was planning to do, and he hadn't seen Keigan for a solid day, day and a half after Rain left with her friends to be informed and have any chance to stop it.

He'd complained at Keigan, of course. Why hadn't he stopped the kids? Why hadn't he clued Lee in on the shenanigans? They all knew that Rain couldn't be trusted to relay messages to him. He'd stopped trusting her for that in elementary school. And yet here they were, Keigan pretending that Rain could be trusted to tell him that she was about to go off on a suicide mission to go find god based on a book that Fischer still had for some idiotic reason.

But that hadn't brought the kids back.

And there was no way to contact them. Too late to go after them or try to talk them out of it. Try to catch up.

And so they just had to sit and wait and hope for the best.

Three things which Lee was very, very, very bad at accomplishing. Especially seeing as he didn't really have the opportunity for much solitude what with how things were going. He was in his study now, sure, trying to think through their options as they progressively dwindled before his eyes. But for the most part he had to be in the living room with Katalina and Lia, since that was where the heat was. And even then, only trying to heat one room of the house, they were tearing through the pile of wood Rain had left at an alarming rate.

It was going to suck when they ran out.

There was more wood behind the shed, but the snow already covered all hints of there being a pile of wood there. And it would take ages to first dig out the shovel, then dig out the wood pile, then dig out the ax and, worse yet, try to remember how to use it. It'd been years. Years.

As much as he'd never in a million years admit it to Rain's face, or even say it about Rain to anyone else, he supposed she was useful. Sometimes. Now. The gods only knew how either of them had survived her adolescence. And she still made wildly poor decisions such as charging off half-cocked with the audacous goal of rescuing a goddess. But, to her credit, she did come by to ensure that they were taken care of before she went. So. Well. That was nice, he guessed.

But what would they do when the wood ran out?

Lia was... not Rain.

And he was not Rain.

And he didn't want to have to admit to Keigan that he didn't remember how to split wood. The hazing would never stop if he admitted that. Ever. Not in a million years.

He peered out his window. The snow had been absolutely relentless. It seemed worse now than it had when the kids left, though it was possible that that was just a perception shift that happened once you knew someone you cared about was in danger. The weight of the snow piling up on your shoulders instead of just on your lawn.

But. Well. The snow was piling up. And there were only so many times that paths could be shoveled before the walls of snow on either side of said path would get too high to toss more snow over. And they seemed to be rapidly approaching that point. It was an obscene amount of snow.

Had something happened to the kids?

That thought made him far more anxious than he'd like to admit. But what else could be causing this? Had there been a blizzard like this back when he and his friends had been the young idiots out on their quest? Did this...

He didn't know what this meant.

At all.

But it felt ominious and heavy and dark and bad. And he felt like he should do something about it. But he didn't have any ideas whatsoever about what. It wasn't like he had any ability to fix any of this.

The last time he'd gone off to find Cheva, he'd killed her. Well. Fischer had. But that was sort of splitting hairs, at this point. It was their quest that had resulted in that outcome. And whether it was his own fault or not, Lee had had to live with the guilt from that for years. Watching as magic slowly began to dwindle as the last embers of Cheva began to fade.

Lee stood up stiffly and began pacing, cracking his knuckles. His joints ached with the cold and he huffed on his fingers to regain feeling in them. His breath was a warm cloud of fog against the bitter cold of his office.

He walked over to the vintage record player he had in the corner of his office and squatted down in front of his rack of records to look at the various albums he'd collected over the years. He had an assortment. Some were classics that he'd gotten when he was young and cherished throughout the years. Some were stupid ones that his friends had gotten for him to mock him. And yet he couldn't quite seem to get rid of them. Even though he'd never be caught dead playing them unless he was certain his entire family was out of town overnight and wouldn't walk in on him. His dirty little secret.

His eyes landed on the stupid Smash Mouth album that Keigan got for him after they'd narrowly survived their own quest. He'd gotten matching ones for all three of them, even though Lee was the only one with a player. Forced all of them to 'autograph' their 'friendship records' for the memories or whatever.

He pulled it out of its case and looked down at their now-faded signatures. The way that Keigan had intentionally made his own signature big enough it overlapped over Lee's just to irritate him. He was fairly certain he'd done that on all three of the records.

Lee thought about how ridiculous that had been. Fischer aggressively plucking All Star on his banjo. Keigan singing it with an embarassing amount of gusto for a grown man his size. And Lee... equally embarassingly matching his energy with the dancing.

It'd been years since he'd danced.

Years.

It'd always made him feel foolish. And now it made him feel guilty, too. Couldn't separate his powers from the memory of the goddess he'd killed. It was... too much. He wasn't interested in magic, if that was the cost of it.

But he had to know.

He had to.

Lee took a deep breath, trying to think of how he was going to explain himself. Gods. He stood up and walked to his door and locked it before he went back to his record player and loaded up the record and started cranking it. The sound was sort of warbly and garbled at first before evening out to the iconic intro of All Star.

He slowly began swaying with the beat, feeling like a complete idiot. Anxiety bubbled up in him and he quickly walked to the window to draw the blinds, before pacing back to the center of his floor and stepping into the dance. He felt awkward at first, but slowly began shaking off the rust from his dancing skills and soon was back to the jig just as well as he could do it when he was young.

It was... invigorating, not that he'd ever admit it. But it got his heart pumping. Got him remembering what it was like when he had more magic than he had ego. Those had been simpler days. He... god, okay, fine, he missed them. Missed getting to be one of the boys rather than always having to be The Man.

He kept dancing and generating his energy as he tried to queue up magic, then turned and muttered at the fireplace. There wasn't so much as a spark.

Shit.

What had he been good at, in the olden days? Fire magic was never his greatest strength. He'd been good at... he had to think for a moment. Gods. It'd been a life time. Life times. Literally. He hadn't danced since before Rain was born. Had barely danced at all since they made it home from meeting Cheva. But he used to be good at using his magic to be an organized neat freak.

He pointed at the waste basket, trying to focus on uncrinkling a piece of paper. But... there was nothing. Not even the single hint of magic. In any sense. And he was actually trying this time -- not the infuriatingly low effort little prance Rain would try to get away with. No. This was a right proper dance. And it still wasn't working.

Gods.

They needed to have a meeting.

This was...

Not okay. At all.

He hastily turned off his record, shoved it back in its case and onto its shelf, and turned towards the door, trying to think of the best, most efficient path to where his friends were. He wasn't really in the mood to go fetch them himself. But... he stopped short as he heard a scraping sound at the window. Several scraping sounds, one after another, like the shoveling of snow.

Then a knock.

"Lee? Did I just hear All Star?" came Keigan's voice, muffled through the glass.

Lee scowled and rushed to the window and jerked the blinds open, glaring down at his friend.

Keigan had his face pressed against the window, and though the lower half of his face was covered in a scarf and his eyes were obscured by goggles, Lee could still see the smirk underneath. He heard it in Keigan's voice.

Right behind Keigan was Fischer, towering over him.

"Keegs," Fischer said, just loud enough to hear. "The door's that way."

"I found Lee," Keigan said.

"Oh." Fisher leaned down, looking into the window. "Hey, Lee."

"What are you doing?" Lee hissed, face cherry-red. So much for having to worry about his family hearing. This seemed much worse.

"We're digging you out!" Keigan said. "Just couldn't find your door. But we found your window, which is good."

"Yeah." He huffed but shook his head to clear it. It was good. Though humiliating. "Door's over that way." He gestured.

"Would be easier if we just came through the window," Fischer hummed.

"He'll have to get out the door eventually, though," Keigan said. "After he finishes packing. Though I guess he doesn't pack as much as you, so maybe not."

At that moment, Lee noted that both of them had heavy backpacks on, and were fully equipped for being outdoors in the heavy snowfall.

"Wait, packing for what?"

"Can you just let us in through the window?" Keigan asked, leaning against it with his gloved hands.

"Our kids aren't back yet," Fischer said. "They said they'd be back by Monday. It's Monday."

Lee looked at them for a moment, trying to think of a response, but nothing was coming to him. So instead he unlocked the window and pulled it open then stepped back to give them space to crawl through.

That wasn't an answer. Not really. And yet it was. Were they planning on setting out after them? That... seemed like an equally bad idea. And yet... he couldn't explain it. And yet he sort of was thinking the exact same thing. It was burning his ass to be sitting here helplessly when gods only knew what was going on up the mountain. He may not be able to help there, but he definitely couldn't help anything here. And he needed something to do or he'd go insane. "...Are you planning to go after them, then?"

Were they going to get them?

"Of course we're going to get them," Keigan said. Wasn't it obvious? They'd dug through several feet of snow to get Lee so they could make the trek up the mountain to find their children. "Did you think we dug in here just to say hello?"

Keigan walked up to the edge of the window, or rather, crawled. They'd dug down deep enough to clear the snow away from the whole of the window, but they were still standing on several inches of snow. Sliding in, Keigan managed to fit after taking off his backpack.

He slipped, though, on the way in, and he landed on his butt with a thump, tracking snow in that fluttered on the carpet around him. Lee sighed and bent down to grab his arm and start trying to help him up. "...now?"

"Yes, now," Keigan emphasized as Lee helped him to his feet. He patted himself down and turned to pull his bag inside to clear the way for Fischer.

Fischer, however, had stopped at the window, and paused. He was looking at it tentatively, and Keigan realized it was going to be a tight fit.

"I think I'll stay out here," Fischer said.

Heat was escaping as long as the window was open, though.

"Get in here," Lee snorted, leaning through to reach for his bag. "It'll take me a few minutes to get packed up. Come get warm while I do."

Fischer sighed, and after handing Lee his heavy pack, flipped on his belly and started sliding his legs in. His feet hit the floor before he even got his waist through, and he was able to walk backwards, just barely fitting his shoulders through the width of the window.

When he got his head in, he stood up tall with a little shudder, and then slammed the window shut.

"I'm surprised you're not fighting us on this," Keigan said to Lee. "I had a whole motivational speech prepared."

"Mm." Lee buried his hands in his pockets and glanced out the window. "I mean, make no mistake, I'm not happy about this by any means... but... damn."

"Well said," Fischer echoed.

"I don't know," Keigan said, somehow being obnoxiously facetious despite their circumstances. "I could use a little more elaboration."

"It's so bad that Lee started dancing again," Fischer said, gesturing to the record player.

Lee glared at him. "Did not."

"To All Star, no less," Keigan added.

"Didn't work, did it?" Fischer asked.

"I wouldn't know, since I didn't... but... if I had, then... no. No it didn't--wouldn't."

"That's because magic everywhere is dead," Keigan said. "At least, in Chevan."

He paused, looking out the window.

They had no idea what was happening in the glaciers, past the lake, past the mountains. They'd been there twice before. They knew the way in, and they knew the way out, but they'd never planned to go there again. Keigan had been holding out for hope that something would happen to change, but the steady decline in everyone's magic in Chevan had been getting disheartening.

When Lake said she wanted to go find Cheva on her own accord, without Keigan having told her anything beforehand, he knew something was up. Cheva must've been doing something. At least... the ghost of her spirit left behind.

It terrified him to think of sending Lake off alone, but when she said she was going to get her friends to come with her, there was a spark of hope as things seemed to fall into place.

Maybe... just maybe, their kids could fix the mistakes they'd made. Maybe they could be the heros that he, Lee, and Fischer never could.

But when they didn't come back when they said they would, something didn't feel right. Something had to have gone wrong. He could feel it in his gut, and the weight of their secret only grew heavier and heavier with each passing hour.

He should've told Lake.

But how was he supposed to tell her... Cheva was dead? Because of them?

"Maybe it's different for them," Keigan finally said. "They are the ones in the prophecy, after all."

"... it makes me uneasy that..." Lee sighed, looking out the window. "It feels like things have gotten worse, not better..."

"Things have been getting worse for a while, Lee," Fischer said lowly.

"You're telling me this," Lee gestured out the window. "That you don't notice a difference in this than a week ago? Less than that, even. It got worse after they left..."

"So, what, you think the snow is their fault?" Keigan retorted.

"Oh, get your panties out of a bunch," Lee scoffed. "I..." He sighed, looking out the window again, cheeks getting ever so slightly colored with a blush. He very clearly was bucking against the idea of admitting any vulnerability whatsoever, and it took him a moment to continue. "I'm just saying that... it... it's not great, when your kid goes off into a blizzard... and... well, we know what happened the last time our bloodline thought it was a good idea to go off on a fool's quest to go find Cheva... what if they got hurt?"

Fischer reached over to him, gently setting his hand on Lee's shoulder.

"That's why we're going to find them, and get them out of there," Fischer said firmly.

"Our kids need us," Keigan said. "And no one else is better equipped to go find them than us. We've done it before. We can go in again."

Lee nodded reluctantly, then glanced towards the door that led into the rest of his house. "... how'd you explain it to your families? Like... what am I supposed to say when she asks where we're off to?"

"They know Rain left, right?" Keigan asked.

"They don't know where or why," Lee said, shaking his head. "You know how she is. Didn't explain anything to any of us. I didn't even know, until you told me later that day."

Keigan looked to Fischer, and the two of them shared a similar look of concern. Lee had never had a good relationship with Rain, and over the years, it had really only gotten worse. They weren't surprised, but it was rare for Lee to express any kind of remorse over it. This was... maybe a turning point for him.

Keigan let out a deep sigh. Pulling down the scarf shielding his face and putting his goggles on top of his head, he met Lee's eyes.

"We don't have time to tell them the whole story," Keigan said. "But you can just tell them... your daughter Rain needs you, and you're going to go help her. You can tell them she went on a camping trip with Lake and Fish just before the snowstorm. That should be reason enough."

"Mm..." Lee hummed for a moment. "...I'll work on it. But. Uh..." He sighed, biting his lip. "Well, fine. If we're going to go off, then we need to get them--" He gestured down the hall with his chin. "Squared away first. Wood and all that. We're already running low from what R-we brought from outside."

Keigan and Fischer shared a look again.

"We'll take care of that," Fischer said.

"You go pack," Keigan added.

Lee nodded and strode towards the door to the hall, unlocking it and pulling it open. He walked to the master bedroom the very next door over and crouched down to pull a bag from under his bed.

Meanwhile, Keigan and Fischer had to make it to the back door to fetch more wood.

When Keigan and Fischer came out into the hall and looked around the corner into the open living room, they saw Katarina and Lia sitting around the fire, looking increasingly perplexed. The muffled sound of All Star blaring from Lee's office was probably surprising, to say the least. And then it probably sounded like he was talking to himself. But instead he was talking to two men that seemingly materialized in his study. The power of Smashmouth indeed.

Lia stood up from the couch and leaned her head around the corner to look out at Fischer and Keigan. She pulled an Airpod out as she looked at them skeptically and said with the most teenage attitude possible, "...hi?"

"We came in through the window," Keigan explained. "We were looking for the door. Found the window instead."

"... that clears things up," she deadpanned.

Keigan realized he'd probably end up explaining this to Katarina. Judging from the look she was giving him, she wanted one pretty quick.

"Rain went out two days ago on a camping trip with Lake and Fish," Keigan started to explain. "It was meant to be a weekend trip, and they were supposed to be back by now. We think they might've gotten stuck in the snowstorm, so we're going to go find them. Lee's coming with us."

That was enough to make Katarina stand up, frowning at him and then past him at Fischer, and then back again. "And just what do you think you're going to do about it?"

"Bring them home," Keigan said.

He wasn't sure what wasn't making sense.

"I know the camping spot they went to," Keigan added. "The three of us used to go there a lot when we were young. We know the way."

"Lee went camping with you?" she asked skeptically.

"I mean, we did force him to, most of the time, but he was still good company when he wasn't complaining," Keigan said with a shrug. "'Course we haven't been camping ever since he got this desk job."

"Yeah," Katarina agreed. "He's very much an indoor cat. Not... a camper."

"I have pictures if you really want evidence, but they're back home. Several hundred feet of snow away. So maybe another day," Keigan offered.

"Mm..." She took a deep breath and then sighed, glancing over at Lia, very clearly not happy about this idea.

"Why stop them?" Lia shrugged, then started smirking wickedly. "Some good ol' Daddy-Daughter bonding in a blizzard sounds like a load of fun. Love that for them." She plopped back down on the couch and pulled the throw blanket over her lap. "Have fun with that."

"We'll try," Keigan said.

"We're just trying to get the kids back safely," Fischer said lowly.

"By risking your own necks," Katarina chided, brow worried as she glanced down the hall at the muffled sound of Lee packing. "I..." She sighed, clearly conflicted. "... you really think you can? Help them? Not just go off and get your own selves lost and hurt? Or worse?"

"Lee may not be as well equipped for outdoors adventures," Keigan said. "But Fischer and I are. I believe we'll be able to find them."

She hesitated for a long moment, then lowered her voice, "... then couldn't the two of you just do it."

It wasn't low enough, though, and Lee still heard. He huffed and came to the doorway. "I'm going, and that's final." He turned his gaze on Fischer and Keigan. "Weren't you getting wood?"

Keigan gave Lee a flat look, but shrugged. It wasn't his fault Katrina came out and started asking questions, but he could leave it to Lee, now. With a wave to Fischer, they turned to continue down the hall.

"Getting wood," Keigan echoed. "We'll be back."

Katarina sighed and Keigan could hear her stride down the hall in the opposite direction of them. "Really?" Their bedroom door closed behind them, sealing off whatever fight they were about to have.

Lia looked from Fischer and Keigan, down the hall, then back at them. Then she shrugged and went back to her book.

Keigan and Fischer shared a look once again. Hopefully, their rescue mission would go as planned. Or, at least, end as planned. They both set their bags down by the back wall of the living room, glancing at the side door that sat between the kitchen and living room. It looked like it was blocked up with snow, so they'd have to dig out the back first to even get to the wood shed. It was a good thing they had shovels.

Keigan straightened with his shovel and glanced over at Lia. She was watching him with a slightly narrowed, suspicious gaze. She glanced towards the hall, but Lee and Katarina's voices were barely even audible, muffled by the door, so she looked back at Keigan instead. "... you really think Rain's in trouble?"

"In this snow?" Keigan said, glancing back at her before he dug into the snow with his shovel. "Undoubtedly."

He wasn't exactly assuaging any of Lia's fears in saying so, but he was being realistic without giving the full story. Fischer came alongside him and started clearing the snow above the door first, since he had the height for it.

Lia didn't like that at all. She stood up, brow furrowed as she slid her book onto the couch and looked between them, mind clearly working a thousand miles per hour as she considered that. "Then I'm coming too."

"You have to take that up with your mother and father," Keigan said. "But I'm positive their answer will be the same as mine, which is a hard no. Lee already has one daughter stuck out in this snow. I'm sure he doesn't want another."

Fischer scraped the top foot of snow out of the way, finally opening up a hole to the open air. The dim, clouded sunlight peeked in, along with a few light flakes of snowfall. Fischer started working faster to avoid any pile-up flowing into the house, and Keigan started working on the bottom.

Lia watched them in silence for a moment, sliding her AirPods into their case one at a time, brow still furrrowed and lip worried. "If they're in danger, then you need to bring people who can help them. Which is me. Dad can't even build a fire."

"Your dad has other helpful abilities, despite what it may seem," Keigan said, still persistently shoving snow to the side. Lee really let it pile up, didn't he?

Back at his own home, he and his son, Snow, had been working practically around the clock to keep as much snow clear of their home as possible while keeping the fire going. His wife was taking care of his mother, and his daughter Feather and her family had come over to share the warmth and manpower.

"Then I can come as an addition rather than a replacement," she decided to compromise.

"I said it before," Keigan said. "But I'll say it again. You have to talk to your parents first, not me. I'd rather you either stay here, or you and your mother can be brought to my house, where you'll have more helping hands to keep the fire going and stay warm in our absence."

He glanced back down the hall, wondering how the argument was going. But there wasn't a hint, aside from the occasional slammed drawer and heated but whispered voices that were impossible to discern.

Lia considered this for a moment, still visibly conflicted. "How far is this supposed campsite?"

"It's not a day trip," Keigan said. "And it won't be easy."

"Obviously." Lia rolled her eyes in true teenage fashion. "Rain wouldn't have gotten in trouble if it was an easy trip. She knows what she's doing. So... so what happened? What do you think happened? Why aren't they back?"

Keigan wedged his shovel in the snow and turned to her for a moment, letting out a small sigh.

"You've lived here long enough to know what can happen when people get stuck out in snowstorms underprepared," Keigan said. "We're hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. I know that's not what you want to hear, and we're going to everything we can to help your sister, but the best thing you can do for Rain right now is stay safe and help look out for your mother."

Lia drummed her fingertips on her legs, getting visibly more agitated the longer she thought about it. "...yeah... that's probably what Rain would want, huh? Me to stay here with Mama?"

"If I know anything about your sister," Keigan said. "She'd want you to stay safe and stay with your mother. It's obvious how much she loves you both."

Lia somehow both prickled and softened at the exact same moment when he said that, lifting her chin as she looked at him. "Mm... yes." She inclined her head once, clearly trying to be Mature and Respectable about this. "You're probably right, I guess... but..." She huffed a little. "But I'm not just going to sit here. There's got to be something I can do in the meantime."

"If your mother approves," Keigan said. "You both could come over to my house. And you could help there, preparing to receive us on our return. I'm sure they'd appreciate the help and company. When we get back we'll need help taking care of Rain, Lake, and Fish, and the dogs as well. All hands on deck."

"Hmm... yeah, maybe." Lia nodded once, accepting this answer.

"We'll see what your parents decide," Keigan added, finally returning to help shovel, only to see Fischer had already cleared away the door and was outside, continuing to carve out the path in the snow.

"We'll be outside," Keigan said, stepping out the door. "I'll get this door closed to keep the heat in."

"Mm..." Lia watched him, then turned towards the hall. "Mama! Dad!"

At that, Keigan shut the door behind him, muffling her voice. He returned to help Fischer, and after several long quiet minutes of carving into the snow, they finally made it to the wood shed. Thankfully, it was enclosed, so when they got through the door, the wood was still dry, just cold. Grabbing as much wood as they could carry, they hauled it back to the house.

Fischer was a step ahead of him and made it to the door first. Shifting the wood stacked high to one arm, he turned the knob and pushed the door open.

"That's enough, Lia!" Lee snapped, not immediately visible from where all three were still down the hall for now, though the bedroom door was open so they could hear everything clearly. "Just stop."

"I'm not going to stop anything!" Lia huffed. "I'm going to help, whether you like it or not."

"All you're going to do is get yourself hurt if you get in the middle of this," Lee snapped.

Keigan briefly looked to Fischer, and the two of them simply walked in. Closing the door behind him with his foot, Keigan followed Fischer to the fireplace where they set the firewood down and started stoking the fireplace.

Lia scoffed and you could basically hear her eyeroll. "Right. So it's sooooo much better to let you go hurt yourself first so then I have to come rescue both of you because you're being stubborn."

"Lia!" Katarina chided, aghast.

"I'm right, and you know it."

"What I know is that you need to stop," Lee said, voice firmer than it usually was when he was talking to this daughter. "You're not Rain, no matter how much you try to be. It's not cute. Stop."

Lia growled in anger and there was a door slam before she came stomping down the hall angrily, face burning red. She hesitated when she saw them, seeming surprised that they were inside.

Fischer kept stoking the fire, and Keigan nodded simply in acknowledgement, but figured she needed a minute to process and calm down on her own. This wasn't his family, even though Lee was his friend. It was sad, though, to overhear Lee comparing Rain and Lia to one another. He knew he'd made that mistake sometimes with his own daughters, Feather and Lake, and without intentionally meaning to, he caused strife within his own family.

"Fine, you take him," she huffed after a moment, casting an annoyed glance down the hall before she looked back at Keigan. "What needs to be ready when you get back?"

"Depending on how we find Rain and our children," Keigan said. "We'll want to be prepared to nurse them back to health. Blankets. Hot water bottles. Soup. Food, water, and basic necessities. The dogs are likely getting hungry and cold at this point too. So we'll want to have food and warmth ready for them too."

He paused, and offered her a small smile.

"And you. Just you being there when Rain gets back will be helpful in and of itself," Keigan said.

Lia snorted and rolled her eyes, but it just seemed discouraged now, not defiant. "Yeah. Okay... at your house, then? Is there a path shoveled there?"

"How do you think I got here?" Keigan asked. "We can bring you there if you and your mother are ready. But only if they've agreed to it as well."

"That..." She gestured vaguely down the hall, then sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Mama will listen to reason once... it's quiet enough for her to hear it. So... we'll just go after you do."

"We can wait," Keigan said, glancing down the hall.

They'd have to, anyway, but he for sure wanted to make sure Kat and Lia were settled before he ran off with Lee. Anything he could do to help.

Keigan took a seat on the floor by the hearth, not wanting to track the snow clinging to him on the furniture, after he and Fischer had already tracked it across the floor.

He figured while they waited for Lee and Kat, he could strike up idle conversation to ease the tension.

"So, have you been keeping yourself entertained, stuck inside?" Keigan asked.

"No," Lia said dryly. "I've been running laps outside for fun." She strode past them and cut up the stairs. "I'm going to go pack."

Ah. Right.

"Good idea," Keigan said. "We'll be ready when you guys are."

Lee wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. He should have been expecting all this tension and frankly melodramatic behavior from both Lia and Katarina. But it'd all happened so suddenly. This quest being thrust upon him after his friends climbed in through his study window without warning. He hadn't really had time to think up how to broach the subject with his family. And it didn't exactly help that Keigan had led with telling Katarina that Rain and her friends were in danger.

Since that of course led to all kinds of questions he didn't want to answer. Did he know where Rain had gone? Why hadn't he told her, once he did know? What exactly did he plan to do? What was she supposed to do if she lost her husband and daughter in one fell swoop?

Fair questions, he supposed.

But tense. Awkward. Uncomfortable.

But he was packed now and had gotten to a very grudging cease fire with Katarina. So now he came trudging into the living room with his packed bags, Katarina trailing in his wake, silent but clearly discontent.

"Right, well..." Lee cleared his throat awkwardly, holding up the bags as he looked at his friends. "All packed. You guys ready?" His eyes flicked towards the wood pile to see what progress they'd made on it.

There was a long puddle that stretched along the wood floors from the door right up to the hearth where they both sat now. There was a solid amount of wood stacked up, plenty to last for at least a day or two. Enough. But somehow not as much as he'd been expecting. His friends usually had a tendency of being ridiculously extra and this wasn't it.

He lifted an eyebrow and looked at them in a silent question as to what was up.

Keigan got to his feet.

"Kat," he said. "I was telling Lia that if you two don't want to be cooped up in here alone, you're more than welcome to come to my house and be with my family. Our house is warm, and we have food, and that way you'll all be in the same place for when we return. It's an open invitation, if you'd like to come. It may make things easier for you, to have more people around to help. And my family would be happy to have your company. Olive always loves when you come to visit, anyway."

Katarina hesitated for a moment, considering it. "I... um..." She glanced at Lee.

Lee also hesitated, not at all sure how he felt about that. On one hand, it was hard not to feel like this was ever so slightly a dig at him. A 'hey I can actually take care of my own family, unlike you' sort of deal. But he forced himself to shake that off. That wasn't true, and they all knew it. Keigan was trying to be legitimately helpful. And. Well. As much as he hated it... well... he could take care of his family -- and by extension, Lee's family -- better than Lee could.

In situations like this, anyway.

The world might literally end if it was relying on Keigan to gracefully navigate a political negotiation. But that's not what they needed right now. Right now they needed their families warm and fed and safe. And the best way to do that was to get them all together. At least closer together.

So... maybe he should encourage it?

Before he had a chance to really think through it, though, Lia came back down the stairs wearing all three winter coats that she owned, with two huge duffelbags -- one slung over her shoulder, and one in her hands. She was very off balance coming down the stairs and it wasn't a graceful decent by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever.

It also irritated him.

He'd thought he'd made it clear that she wasn't coming with them.

Lia wasn't usually this stubborn. This was Rain's role in the family -- resident pain in the ass. Opinionated. Mouthy. It almost felt like Lia was trying to expand to fit the role of oldest sibling now that it was, hopefully temporarily, vacated. And it wasn't going to work. There wasn't much he could do about Rain at this point, but he sure as heck wasn't going to cave in to Lia at this point in their lives.

She wasn't coming on this trip with them and that was final and--

"I see you're ready for the sleepover already," Keigan said with a small, amused smile as he looked to Lia.

Lee hesitated, looking at Lia suspiciously.

"You... want to go over to the [redacted surnames]' house?" Katarina asked, looking her over with a worried brow.

Lia nodded, shrugging her pack off her shoulder to let it rest on the ground. It looked heavy. She straightened her coat. "Yeah. We should go be ready for when they get back."

"Right... well..." Katarina looked around, clearly trying to assess if she was actually as out voted as she felt like she was right now. "Um... wouldn't it make sense to... keep heat going at both houses? So there'd be more space and resources and such?"

"We can help get the fire going again when we get back," Keigan offered. "If that's what you're worried about."

Keigan paused, but it looked like he had more to say.

"And..." Keigan started. "It may be nice to have the added company. While you both wait."

"I wouldn't want to impose," Katarina said, shaking her head slightly.

"You won't be," Keigan said. "You're family friends. We look out for each other. And I'm inviting you."

Katarina took a deep breath, considering how to respond.

"I'd feel safer if we went," Lia cut in.

Lee and Katarina both blinked and looked at her in surprise.

"You... feel unsafe here?" Katarina asked, worried.

"...yes?" Lia said slowly, clearly making up her story on the fly. Lee squinted at her. She continued, "...I do?"

"Why?" Katarina asked, even more concerned.

"Because..." She hesitated, glancing at Lee for help.

Was she bluffing? She was bluffing, wasn't she? Lee looked at his daughter for another moment, assessing her. This whole 'being afraid' gambit was brand new. She didn't go from angry she couldn't go charging off into the wilderness to afraid of her literal home in five minutes.

"It'd be good for you to all be together," Lee said at last. "Safety in numbers and all that, right?"

"And then we'd be ready to help as soon as they get back from the trip," Lia added eagerly. "We can have food and things--" She awkwardly pulled a backpack around her shoulder that had previously been hidden by the dufflebag. "I got all of our first aid supplies--" She patted it and looked at her mother. "And. Yeah. It's smarter to go there."

There was a beat of silence.

"And... less... scary?" Lia finished, pouting a little to sell it.

Lee almost snorted.

But Katarina fell for it. "...sure, sweetie. Okay. If that would make you feel safer. I'll go pack."

Katarina turned and walked back down the hallway to the master bedroom to pack her own bags, leaving Lee and Fischer and Keigan and Lia in the living room. Lee felt awkward now. He wasn't sure why. Should someone say something?

"So one jacket wasn't enough, huh?" Keigan asked Lia with a teasing smile.

Lia smiled sheepishly. "You never know."

"I see you follow the Fischer model. Always better to be overprepared," he said.

Fischer, who'd been quietly standing by the fire, finally looked up now that attention had been brought to him.

"It's a good practice," he said. "To be prepared."

"Personally," Keigan went on. "I try to wear five jackets. On a good day."

He was clearly exaggerating for the sake of humor. Out of all of them, Keigan probably had the most tolerance for the cold.

"Why stop there?" Lia said with deadpan delivery that still somehow seemed amused. "Why not seven? Ten? There is no limit."

"I guess I should aim higher. I'll have to start getting bigger jackets," Keigan said.

"That's the spirit," Lia said with a nod.

"Though at about the ten jacket point, it really does start to inhibit movement. The things we do for the sake of warmth, I suppose," Keigan said with a dip of his head.

"Is this experience or speculation speaking?" Lia mused.

"I'll leave that up to your speculation," Keigan said with a grin.

She grinned as well. "Well, I suppose I'll settle for three, then."

Katarina emerged a few minutes later carrying a bag that looked like she planned to spend two weeks there rather than a few days. But they were all together and packed and now were heading to the office window to climb out to the sled that Keigan brought.

They piled a few bags onto Fischer's snowmobile, then the Elstans awkwardly crammed onto Keigan's sled. He shouted to the dogs, who started pulling, slowly at first before they got some momentum going and sped up a bit. They still weren't super fast, but Lee had no doubt they'd speed up once they got the extra weight off and had less to carry.

They got to Keigan's house quickly and started collecting their bags, then looked at him expectantly.

Keigan had pulled around the back of his home. There was a snow drift that had built up on the east wall, but otherwise, the space around the house was clear enough to get in and out of the back, despite the constant downfall of snow. Still, his house - normally appearing to be a large, two-story home - somehow looked smaller, being partially buried.

There was a steady stream of smoke billowing out of the chimney, and there was a warm light hidden behind the ice-covered windows. They could see a shadow move past one of the back windows, and then the back door opened.

It was Keigan's son, Snow. He looked a lot like his father, especially when he smiled. He bounded down the steps towards the sled.

"The Elstans will be staying with us while Fischer, Lee, and I find Lake, Fish, and Rain," Keigan explained as he hopped off the sled, reaching in to grab some of Lia and Katarina's bags to help carry them in.

Snow came over and did the same, but not before waving to Lia and greeting her first. Lia smiled and waved back.

"Hey, Lia!" Snow said. "You look warm."

"That's the goal," she said with a little smirk and nod of her head. "Plan worked swimmingly."

"Well, you won't be needing all those jackets inside," Snow said as he took her dufflebag. "It's warm in there."

Snow helped Lia out of the sled and led her to the back door while Keigan stayed with Lee and Katarina, piling his arms high with things. Fischer came up behind him and plucked a bag out of his arms that was covering Keigan's face.

"Love to hear that," Lia said with a little smile, striding forward to get the door. "Thanks for carrying all that!"

Lee climbed down and offered Katarina a hand to steady her, then grabbed the last of the bags and walked towards the door, guiding his wife with a gentle hand on her lower back. They stomped off the snow on their shoes and then stepped into the little landing within the door of the house to be sure they didn't track anything in.

Keigan and Fischer followed in behind them, and after quickly removing their shoes, Keigan passed off the bags to Fischer, telling him to drop them in one of the bedrooms upstairs. As Fischer disappeared, Keigan came up alongside Lee and Katarina.

"Come on into the living room," Keigan said with a smile.

Already, they could hear talking and some laughter from around the corner. Katarina bent down to carefully untie her shoes and set them along the wall. Lia stepped on her own heels to slip her Uggs off, utilizing the last little bit of them hanging on her toes to drop them more or less along the wall as well, though the left one toppled over and fell on top of the right. Lee slipped off his shoes as well and followed Keigan with Katarina and Lia in his wake.

"What have you been up to?" Lia asked Snow as they walked.

"Well, we're currently in the middle of a game of monopoly," Snow said. "Grandma is winning at the moment. She just got all four train tracks and honestly I don't think I'm going to make a comeback. I'm almost broke."

"Granny got game," she joked.

"That she does," Snow agreed.

The short hall opened into an open living room space, with the kitchen at the far end of the room. It was a large living room, with all of the couches and seating arranged around the fireplace, which was warm and crackling. It lit up the whole room with a vibrant, orange tinted light, and Lee could see the whole of Keigan's family sitting around a large, round coffee table with a monopoly board set up.

Keigan's mother sat on the couch, wedged in by Olive and Keigan's daughter, Feather. Sitting on the floor was Adrian (Feather's husband) with their daughter Dyna in his lap. Snow eagerly gestured for Lia to join them around the table to observe before they started a different game that she could hop in on. She sank down next to him, looking over the board with a little smirk.

Olive looked up and met Keigan's eyes, then smiled at Lee and Katarina. Excusing herself from the game for a moment, she walked around the table and hurried over to greet them.

"Kat!" she said, rushing over to embrace her. "It's so good to see you! I'm glad to see you and Lia are alright."

"You as well!" Katarina gave her a tight hug in return. "Man, this weather has been downright insane these past few days!"

"I know!" Olive exclamed, patting Katarina on the back before she pulled away. "The snow's been coming down non-stop. I'm glad Fischer and Keigan were able to help dig you guys out."

She looked to Keigan, looking like she'd already done the math, or they'd already discussed the possibility of the Elstans coming over to stay.

"Do you have everything you need?" she asked, looking to Katarina again.

"I think so!" She nodded, glancing at the family and then back at Olive. "Are you... um... did you guys already talk this out? I don't want to invade your space."

"We already talked about it," Olive said with a smile. "It's not a problem. How about you come on in? You can join us in the living room."

Olive waved her hand and gestured for Katarina to follow. Katarina did indeed follow behind with a little smile. Lee hesitated, glancing at Keigan. He wasn't sure how long he planned on staying here to see Lee's family to get settled. They were safe here now, so Lee's mind could be set to ease. Katarina and Lia were both social creatures -- they'd do just fine here.

"We're planning on leaving soon," Keigan said. "I'm going to go outside and prep the dogs."

"Need any help?" Lee asked.

"We've got most everything ready," Keigan said. "I want to give you a moment to say goodbye to your family."

Keigan patted Lee on the back, and then turned back down the hall to go slip his shoes back on and go outside.

Lee nodded to him and watched him go, then strode forward and lingered in the doorway to watch the Monopoly match going on. He couldn't help but feel the tiniest prick of... not quite resentment. But... jealousy, he supposed? At the closeness of this family. And even at the closeness of his wife and daughter to this family.

He never felt that with his own family.

Maybe a bit with Katarina in the early days of their marriage. But these days she felt... distant. She had been ever since Rain got old enough to run her mouth and earn consequences for her disrespectful attitude. He hadn't expected their children to come between them, but here they were: with him constantly annoyed with Rain, and Katarina constantly annoyed with him for being annoyed with Rain.

Sometimes he wished Lia was the older sister. She was usually so quiet and submissive. Doing anything to keep the peace. This sudden lashing out was out of character for her -- but, then, Rain had never been in this amount of danger, so he supposed that the concern made sense. The acting out.

But even she had been getting more distant the older she got, withdrawing from both him and Katarina, and getting even more argumentive with Rain. While somehow at the same time going through stretches of wanting to sleep over with Rain. It felt like she was just trying to get away from him during those weekends. Was he really that bad of a father? That both of his daughters and his wife didn't want to be around him?

He buried his hands in his pockets, trying not to let his feelings get hurt. Why was he getting so sentimental? This wasn't like him; he wasn't a sap. Why should he care if they didn't seem overly concerned? He'd be back in a few days. They all knew it.

Right. So. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I, um... I think we're going to head out in a minute..."

"Oh! So soon?" Katarina turned from where she was chattering with Olive, and strode back over to him. She wrapped him in a hug. "Be safe, dear."

"I will." He returned the embrace, planting a kiss on the top of her head. "You too."

"Oh, we'll be fine!" Katarina smiled, pulling away from him. "Biggest threat here seems to be Stream's Monopoly skills."

Lee blew out a little laughing snort through his nose, shaking his head. "Good luck with that." He glanced over at Lia, who was very focused on Snow and not very focused on him at all. "Bye, Lia."

"Mm?" She looked over at him. "Oh. Bye."

She seemed entirely unbothered. And not at all as concerned as she'd been when Rain left. Katarina didn't seem as worried, either. He forced himself not to linger on it.

"Right, then..." He said awkwardly, taking a step backward towards the door as he glanced around at Keigan's family. "Good to see all of you..."

Keigan's family all turned with smiles and waved.

"Be safe," Olive said, and she sounded sincere. Glancing at her, Lee figured that Keigan had clued her into the plan more than he'd told his own family. But, then, maybe he was just imagining things. Maybe Olive was just being her normal sweet self and he was getting in his own head. His family tended to have that effect on him: making him doubt himself. His relationships with them and everyone else.

"Thank you." He dipped his head to her. "We will... shouldn't take us too long!"

Olive's smile faltered a little, but she nodded.

"I hope so," she said.

Katarina's brow furrowed and she looked between them, concerned. "... me too... I'm still not sure I think this is a good idea..."

Olive got to her feet.

"Let's go see them off," Olive said to Kat.

Katarina nodded and strode towards the door. Lee turned and walked down the hall before them, taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders. He needed to make sure he didn't make a fool of himself when he was leaving. He had appearances to maintain afterall. Couldn't let anyone see him getting soft.

He stopped in the entryway to put on his boots, not sure if Olive and Katarina were going to come all the way outside to see them off or just stop here in the doorway.

"Can you get Keigan?" Olive asked.

"Absolutely." Lee nodded and stepped outside. "Hey? Keigan? Your wife wants you." Unlike mine.

Keigan was finishing tying something down to the sled and turned when he heard his name. Hurrying over, he came to the doorstep, and Olive pushed past Lee. Keigan wrapped Olive in a tight hug, and after a quick kiss, they pulled away.

"Come back with Lake and the other kids, okay?" Olive asked.

"We will," Keigan said firmly.

Lee nodded awkwardly, glancing at Katarina. She was looking at him with a worried brow, but inclined her head. "Yes. Do."

"We will," he assured her as well.

"Well, goodbye for now, then," Keigan said. "Ready, Lee?"

"Ready." Lee nodded to him, then glanced back at Katarina. He lowered his voice to a very quiet whisper. "Love you."

She smiled a little. "Love you. Be safe!"

Lee nodded and strode down the stairs after Keigan, taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders, getting ready for the icy hell that waited before them. He was never really a fan of winter. Especially not a winter this cold and this snow and this just... dramatic in all ways. But. Well. Someone had to go check on the kids. And, well, he supposed it was kind of their own fault since they'd killed Cheva -- so, double the reason for them to go find their kids.

He glanced around to see if Fischer was ready. He was sitting on the back of the sled, and he gave Lee a thumbs up. Keigan hopped on the back, and they both looked to Lee expectantly.

"Right, then." Lee climbed on as well and plopped down with a heavy sigh. "Off we go."

It was getting colder. And colder. Now that their exit behind them had caved in, the air seemed to get thin, and stuffy. The dogs were moving slower, and Lake couldn't help but feel a little worried about them. It was cold, they were tired, and they were all getting more tired. It wasn't like they'd gotten great sleep in the cold caves the last two nights, and after they'd lost the sled, they were running really low on food.

They really needed to find Cheva, and fast.

The tunnels felt like the went on for a long time. Maybe it was because the stakes were higher, and each step felt like it cost more. Maybe it was because there was a who-knew-how-many centuries old prophecy weighing on their shoulders, and none of them knew how to follow through with it.

There were no more runes on the walls, and no more signs of anything, although distant thunder rumbled periodically.

Lake kept ahead of everyone else, keeping an eye out for booby traps. There was one more "invisible" ice trip-wire that she ended up spotting, and they all had to carefully step over it. Fish was able to help with the dogs, telling them about it. Amazingly, he was able to reason with them.

The dogs were also happy to obey Fish, which seemed to be a first. Maybe even they understood the intensity of the situation, too.

They'd walked in silence for some time, and honestly, Lake couldn't think of what to say. She was still processing, and trying to commit the story she'd seen on the walls to memory, in the event that it really had been destroyed. Because it was important, right? It was going to help them get out of this?

But as much as the turned the story around and around in her head, she just kept thinking about Fish's question.

Where was Cheva?

The dream that started this whole journey started with her. In her gut, she'd felt like Cheva was in trouble, but even she was beginning to wonder. How could a goddess be in trouble? What could they possibly do to help a goddess?

As she painfully spun the question in her mind, finding no answers, she began to notice that the icy hall, or tunnel, or path, or whatever was widening. And then, it came to a complete stop as it took a sharp turn.

At the head of the party, she slowed a little. Hesitant. They could be another booby trap for all she knew. Attentive and alert, she looked up and around, bending down to look for any mysterious shimmering near the floor or in the air where there wasn't supposed to be.

Nothing seemed out of place.

"I think we're clear," she said.

Carefully, she turned the corner.

Instead of it being more hall, it opened up into a giant cave. But it wasn't just a cave. It was more like a room.

There were immaculate pillars holding up the ceiling, lining the walls and outer edges of the room. The floor was sleek and shiny, and there were several icicles hanging from the ceiling like stalagtites, but it was too cold for them to be dripping and melting like what you saw in the cartoons. At the edges of the massive, ballroom-sized space, there were a bunch of pedastals with things on them, but Lake found her attention zeroed in on something in the center of the room.

It was... a person.

Sort of. A giant person, made of ice, and snow. She laid there like she'd fallen. Still, with no signs of life.

Lake couldn't help but stare.

No... no.

Was she... sleeping? Did goddesses sleep?

Dumbfounded, Lake found herself slowly walking up to the elemental-looking ice giant that she could only assume was Cheva herself. She was an intimidating presence -- her sheer size was overwhelming in and of itself. Her head was made out of solid ice -- the opaque, somewhat white type rather than the clear type -- and carved to look somewhat human. Her features were gentle, despite the severity of their composition, and, as ironic as it seemed, Lake felt like the figure probably had a warm, kindly disposition when she was awake. She wasn't awake now, though.

Her eyes were shut and there were tendrils of snow standing in as eyelashes and eyebrows, white and fluffy on top of the icy skin of the sleeping -- or dead, as the case may be -- figure before them. Her head was surrounded by fluffy snow drifts that hung around her shoulders like frigid strands of hair. The distinction between her snow hair and her snow clothes were blurred a bit around her shoulders as the snow morphed into a kind of dress kind of robes sort of ordeal that billowed down her body.

Her bare feet poked out the very end, also carved out of the opaque glass that her head was carved from. As Lake looked closer, she realized that the figure was also wearing a crown. It was carved out of particularly hard looking ice crystals -- each the size of two of Lake's fingers combined or even bigger -- and organized to look particularly spiky and intimidating. In between some of the ice crystals were sapphires of all different size and shapes and colors -- some a very light blue that almost looked like ice themselves and some a really dark blue that contrasted sharply against the stone and drew the focus. There were also some opals and alabasters and other precious stones that Lake didn't have any idea what the name would be, but they were beautiful and fit for a queen. Or, well, she guessed, fit for a goddess, since that's who was wearing them now. A sleeping goddess.

The whole room was deathly silent, but Lake was too afraid to look back and see if her friends were right behind her. As if, if she were to look away, all of this would cease to be real.

It was strange. It felt so familiar, like in her dream, but it wasn't at all what she'd expected. Then again, she guessed she didn't know what she had expected.

"Cheva...?" she finally squeaked out.

No movement.

"Is that her?" she heard Fish's voice behind her, barely audible.

Swallowing thickly, Lake finally dared to look back.

Fish had drawn surprisingly close, right behind her shoulders. It was then that Lake realized he was... kind of using her as a shield. Rain was lingering back a bit as well, but more off to the side so that she would have an unobstructed view of the figure before them. She looked at it for a moment longer before glancing back at Lake with the same question on her expression.

Lake looked back at the fallen goddess.

Perhaps, very stupidly, she stepped closer, and poked the body with her foot.

"You awake?" Lake asked lamely.

"Really?" A voice came from behind her, sounding unimpressed. It sounded like a woman's voice.

Lake whipped her head around, eyes wide. Rain and Fish also whirled around, with Fish grabbing Rain's shoulders and turning her into a human shield now as they both looked for the source of the voice.

"Did you hear that?!?" Lake exclaimed.

"Look up," the voice came again with a tired sigh.

Look up?

Lake very slowly and cautiously turned her eyes overhead.

Floating above them, there was a giant, spirit-looking ghost that resembled the unmoving, icy figure in front of them. Lake met the icy woman's eyes, feeling frozen in place for only a second before she screamed. Fish was a step ahead of her, though, and his scream roared over hers. Rain's fight or flight response was triggered equally quickly to their screams, and she tore away from Fish's grasp to scuttle away backwards, fast. She let out a pained, terrified whimper.

The dogs followed Rain, scrambling after her. Rain stumbled as Fang crashed directly into her legs, but her gaze -- eyes wide and filled with panic -- stayed locked on Cheva.

"Please, please, calm down," the icy ghost begged wearily. "It's me. Cheva. The goddess of your town? I wasn't trying to spook you. But alas, it can't be helped. This is most people's typical reaction to seeing me for the first time."

There was so much to unpack in that statement that Lake wasn't even sure where to start.

Confusion was the first, prevailing emotion next to the initial terror. But something about Cheva's voice was oddly soothing and melodic, and it seemed to push enough of the fear out of the way for Lake to finally have control over her limbs again.

No longer frozen stiff, Lake nodded slowly, eyes still fixed on the apparition floating above them, though Cheva's ghost lowered down to the ground, at something closer to eye level. Lake was still looking up, but at least she wasn't craning her head back so much it hurt. Fish had, at some point, shaken himself enough out of the stupor to go and hide behind Rain, who was still gaping herself, once again. They were staring in a terrified silence as their whole heads rather than just gazes followed the movement of Cheva's descent.

Cheva's snowy ghost dress fluttered around her feet as she "landed," and Lake noticed how the ghost was an exact representation of the body in front of them. It was... her spirit, just disembodied.

Tempted to jump right into the "how are you dead" question, Lake took a hard turn in a different direction. Old tension-relieving instincts kicked into high gear like a bad habit, and the clown mask was back on.

"Is there a different kind of gravity in the ghost spirit world?" she asked. "Or is the ethereal floating fluttery thing just a special thing ghosts get becuase it looks cool?"

Cheva raised her brow, but then threw her head back and laughed. Her laugh was soft, and yet, seemed to fill the whole room.

"I see you are your father's daughter," she said. "I'm glad you made it here safely."

About five different witty retorts, jokes, and insults passed through Lake's head at once, but the one that flew out of her mouth was literally the worst one.

"Yeah. No thanks to you," Lake said, and, with her eyelids fluttering in annoyance and embarassment at herself, she stuttered. She had to recover from that. She was talking to a powerful, supernatural being. "I mean uh. When did you make the booby trap installations? How long did they take to put in? Do they have a home depot out here in the ice where you got all that trip wire?"

Cheva chuckled and effortlessly sat down. Though it was more like she folded up her legs first, and then floated to the ground a few too many seconds later. Leaning forward on her knees, she propped her chin up in her hands. Her face was terrifyingly large - and maybe it was just as scary on Cheva's physical frame, but something about seeing a giant person moving triggered what Lake considered to be very normal survival instincts. Anything that big was like, supposed to be a predator or dangerous.

Except, Cheva was being neither predatorial or dangerous. At least... not at the moment.

She at least had a decent sense of humor and wasn't getting mad at Lake's clownery.

"I put them in after your fathers visited... a second time," Cheva said.

Lake blinked.

"They visited... twice?" Lake asked. She looked back at Rain and Fish in confusion. They only offered her equally bewlidered, clueless looks.

"They never told you, did they?" Cheva asked.

"Wait, whose fathers?" Rain asked, brain visibly working and yet also not working whatsoever. At least not coming to any conclusions that were helpful to them just then.

"Yours," Cheva answers. "You are the children of Keigan, Fischer, and Lee, aren't you?"

"Uh. Yeah," Lake said.

Was it weird to hear a goddess namedrop her dad? Yeah. Then again, everything had been getting weirder and weirder the moment they started manifesting crazy magical powers. If she was being more accurate, things had started getting weird the moment she found that book and had that crazy pizza dream.

Now she knew it wasn't just a pizza dream. She just... despite having anticipated all of this, it was like she was still trying to convince herself it was actually happening.

"Your fathers came here many years ago," Cheva said. "Though they were not as many for me as they were for you. They were a little younger than you three. Far more bright-eyed and hopeful than they seem now. Though it seems they haven't told you the reason why."

Lifting off the ground as she "sat up," Cheva looked down at her body, which Lake was beginning to realize might've been a corpse. Except that... ice didn't rot. And in this cold, it didn't melt.

"When they found me, they each requested one wish," Cheva said, her eyes drifting over to Fish. Lake felt his hands grip her shoulders as he again came up behind her, clearly still terrified. And, well, weren't they all?

"After their wishes were granted, I welcomed them to explore my chambers, with the condition that they didn't touch anything," Cheva continued. Eyes falling to her corpse, there was a look of sadness.

"Of course, they didn't listen," Cheva said, her voice growing more quiet. "I should have expected so. Humans are unpredictable creatures, and often too curious for their own good. It was all an accident... which is what makes it all the more cruelly ironic. They hadn't intended to kill me. They were merely clumsy. And in the process, shattered my heart. The essence of my magic."

Cheva turned her attention to Rain, and then Lake again.

"The magic that you've used since then had been the remnant of what remains. The last effects of my dying breaths. But I felt the end was nearing, and I decided to take fate into my own hands. With the last whispers of magic I could access, I tried to call out to you for help, Lake," she said. "In your dream."

She paused, and then shifted her weight from one hip to the other.

"Of course, the magic being as weak as it was, some things may have gotten lost in translation," she said. "Like the whole... flying sled bit. But that's not important. What's important, is you responsed, and you made it to me. I'm sorry that I couldn't assist you any more before you came. As I said, I used the last of my magic to send a cry for help."

Lake stared at Cheva, letting it all sink in.

But it was a lot. A lot to sink in.

What Cheva said confirmed some of their theories. Their fathers had gone to seek out Cheva to each be granted a wish. They must've heard the old myth and believed it - or something crazy had compelled them enough to go seek it out. And somehow, they'd succeeded? Except their success was short-lived, because in merely looking around they'd managed to kill Cheva. Not in any glorious or dramatic manner, but just by... shattering her heart.

Wait, was that a metaphor, or was Cheva being literal?

"Very enlightening," Lake said a little distantly.

"I know you have questions," Cheva said.

Well if that was an invitation, Lake was going to take it.

"How exactly did they uh, shatter your heart?" Lake asked.

Floating higher up into the air, Cheva nodded her head to point behind her.

"Would you follow me?" Cheva asked.

Not seeing any reason to say no, Lake, of course, nodded. Shaking herself from her own shock once more, Lake rapidly shook her head back and forth before she started to patter around Cheva's dead body and trailed after her giant floating ghost.

When she caught up to Cheva, she saw that there was a key element of the room that she'd missed because she hadn't been able to look over Cheva's giant body.

Behind her, there was a small, slightly raised stage with five pedastals on it. Atop each pedastal, there were four "eggs" shaped out of ice, each with swirls of different colors in them. In the center, where another egg was expected to be, there was... nothing.

Except a pile of shattered ice on the ground around it.

Oh. Okay. So when Cheva said "shattered" she literally meant shattered.

Lake let out an empty, nervous little laugh.

"So uh," Lake said. "Your heart is like, outside of you, on display, huh? Is that a goddess thing? Like every powerful being has to have their kryptonite, huh?"

"Like Pirates of the Caribbean?" Rain breathed, clearly meaning for her voice to only be audible to Fish even though everyone could most definitely hear her.

"Do you only speak in modern world movie references?" Cheva asked flatly.

"...Basically," Rain admitted sheepishly, blushing furious and averting her gaze.

"Do goddesses not watch movies?" Lake asked. But then realized maybe that was a stupid question.

"It's essential to sharing the magic with this region. If my heart was inside me, it would stay with me. The shrine helps expand the magic's reach to all of Chevan's inhabitants. My heart had been on display ever since I promised to bless your people," Cheva explained.

Huh. Lake shrugged slightly. She guessed that made sense enough. The logic tracked.

"So what, did they just, uh," Lake said, motioning a little bump of her hip. "You know?"

"Actually," Cheva said. "They tried to take it. Not knowing what it was. By the time they said 'souveneir,' it was too late for me to warn them."

"Man," Lake said, staring at the shattered glass-like shards on the ground. "That sucks."

There was a small pause, before Cheva agreed.

"Yes. Very much so," she said.

There was an awkward pause of dead silence as they all stared down at the shattered heart.

"Who broke it?" Fish's voice broke through suddenly, almost like a whisper behind Lake, like he was too afraid to raise his voice.

Cheva seemed to hesitate.

"Your father, Fischer, was the one who dropped it," Cheva said.

Lake's eyes went wide as she turned around to look at Fish. She had a feeling her face matched his.

He looked devastated. Lake was at a loss for words.

This was... a lot.

Too much. This was too much.

Rain wanted to be like 'stop the world, I want to get off' but even that was too many words for her to string together in her current state. This wasn't a time for joking, regardless of how much Lake seemed to be joking around.

No. They were here, face to face with a goddess.

Awkwardly standing next to said goddess' corpse, pretending like that one wasn't so freaking weird as it actually was. Just... laying there. Too icy to decay; too cold to melt. Just... perfectly preserved. Did this count as an ice mummy? Or...? She shook the thought away. That wasn't a helpful thing to be thinking about right now.

No, for now she needed to stay focused on the present.

And the present just dropped this earth shaking bombshell on them. Their fathers had been here. Had met Cheva. Twice. And, more than that, their fathers were the reason that magic was dying and that they had to come here in the first place. That it was their own foolishness and nonsense that killed Cheva and led to the downfall of the entire town.

Good going, dads. World class effort. Not just anyone could accidentally kill a goddess through sheer idiocy and clumsiness alone. But they could. More specifically, Fischer could.

Rain wasn't sure how to react to that revelation, much like her friends, judging from their bewildered expressions. She supposed she couldn't blame them. Especially Fish. She had no idea how she'd feel if Cheva said that it was her own father who had personally broken her heart and killed her. It was... a lot.

"So..." Rain started carefully when no one else started talking. "... we... need to... fix your heart? Like... put the pieces back together?"

"I didn't bring super glue," Lake said faintly.

Rain sighed, sending an annoyed glance at her. This was the time to be serious. And she couldn't seriously be suggesting they superglue a goddess' heart back together.

"I mean, how are we supposed to fix it?" Lake asked. "There's a million little pieces."

Cheva let out a sigh, but coming from above them, it sounded louder than a normal one. More like a huff. Honestly, that may be what it was. Rain wouldn't blame Cheva for being fed up with them. They were stupid little humans. And their fathers had already started annoying Cheva decades ago, before any of them were even born.

"The only beings in this room with magic anymore are you three," she said. "I'm sure you've all become at least mildly aquainted with your new abilities."

"Are you saying I have to water magic it back together?" Lake asked, voice squeaking a little nervously. "I've had this magic for like, less than 48 hours or something. You think I know how to use it well enough to trust me with that?"

Cheva pursed her lips.

"This was not how I envisioned the heros of the prophecy," she said with another sigh.

"...wasn't this whole thing your idea?" Rain asked hesitantly. How was she really going to critique them as unworthy quest-ers when she was the one who had brought them on this fool's quest in the first place. It's not like it'd been any of their ideas. Cheva had intentionally given Lake the dream. Surely she knew what that was going to lead to... right?

"I didn't write the prophecy," Cheva said. "I received it in a divine vision, and recorded it. I didn't foresee my death any more than I foresaw the heros being fools."

"You're the ones who called us," Rain scoffed.

"Because unfortunately," Cheva said. "You are my only recourse."

"I'm flattered. Truly," Rain said flatly, glancing over at her friends.

"Okay, okay," Lake cut in. "Enough sassing the goddess."

The goddess has it coming. She kept that thought to herself and instead sighed and looked back at Cheva, still annoyed.

"Guys...?" Fish said.

Rain and Lake turned their attention to Fish.

"We should... try," Fish said. "To fix it."

"Fix what?" Rain asked dumbly.

"The heart," Lake said. "Obviously."

"I've yet to hear a 'how' for that," Rain said with a sigh. "I can't very well just yeet it into an avalanche and hope for the best."

"There's a spell," Cheva said finally. "I can walk you three through it."

Looking off to the side, Cheva seemed... distracted. Rain followed her gaze but couldn't tell what she was looking at.

"Though... it requires six people, not three," Cheva said.

Rain sighed and rubbed her face. "Well... we have three."

The weight of that statement settled across all of them, heavy and oppressive. They couldn't very well quest all the way back to town to grab three more people and drag them back up here in quest 2.0 to come rescue Cheva for realsies. Especially not since this goddess was being so infuriatingly elusive.

Who knew goddesses could be this annoying? She hadn't been expecting... this. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. But she was absolutely certain that it wasn't this. Cheva acted more like a petulant teenage girl than she did a powerful, timeless deity that should, in fact, have her shit together and be able to give enough prophetic details to make things work smoothly. But. Well. Here they were, she guessed. Up shit creek without a paddle, as it were.

"What if we all just do it twice?" Fish suggested hesitantly.

"What?" Rain scoffed, looking over at him.

"What?" he said defensively. "I don't know about you, but it's the only idea that's coming to mind for me. It's not like we had a warning that we needed six people." He hesitated, glancing at Lake sheepishly. "...right? We didn't have a warning? Your dream didn't say we needed six people, right?"

"Yeah..." Lake said, looking very much like she didn't want to critique Cheva and yet having nothing to say in her defense either. "It... um... would have been cool to get a warning... since... you know... it's just us three in the OG friend group."

"I'm sorry if my dying words weren't adequately satisfying to you," Cheva said dryly. Rain was getting increasingly annoyed with her. Why was she having so much attitude with them? And for what? They were here trying to help her. And they were the mortals. You'd think she'd be putting more effort into helping them help her, rather than just being annoying and roasting them while remaining entirely unhelpful herself.

"Well, maybe they wouldn't be your dying words if you'd given us a heads up," Rain said, the frustration evident in her voice. "You didn't give us much to work with. And..."

"And we may be fools," Fish tagged in. "But we're trying to help you."

"We just don't know how," Lake continued. "So... Fish's question... can we just do the spell twice?"

"No," Cheva said. "It has to be done concurrently with all of you and your f--"

"Oi! Is this the right wall?" A very, very faint voice came from the other side of the ice wall that Cheva had glanced at a few minutes ago.

Rain's gaze snapped back to the wall again, brow immediately furrowed as she tried to work out who that voice belonged to. It was familiar, though muffled and somewhat distorted. Had someone followed them?

No. That didn't make sense.

They'd come in from the tunnel off behind them. Meanwhile these voices were ahead and on the right. Nowhere close to the same path whatsoever. It wouldn't make sense for someone who followed them to be taking a different route. That's not how following people worked. Not that she followed people. But. Well. In theory, she was fairly sure the concept of following people required actually, physically following the path they took, not just showing up at the destination however you wanted to.

"...Dad?" Fish asked lamely after an awkwardly long pause, voice nowhere near loud enough to come close to penetrating the wall.

Dad? That... that would be too convenient. This wasn't just some story where the authors could throw in a lazy plot device like their fathers showing up right now, at the critical point in the story, to be heroic supporting characters and let their kids shine as admirable protagonists. No. That was crazy talk is what that was.

"Only one way to--" There was a loud thump and the entire wall quivered, dislodging snow and ice on the ceiling and making it fall. Icicles fell and shattered on the hard packed snow floor and were instantly almost completely buried by the falling snow that had also gotten dislodged in the process. "Find out!" Another thump. This one made the wall shudder even more.

"Dad!" Lake ran towards the wall.

"No way..." Rain muttered, eyes wide as she looked from the wall, to where Lake was sprinting away, to Cheva.

"Oh, me," Cheva muttered, fully utilizing the fact that she was a goddess to take her own name in vain, and rubbing her ghostly face tiredly. She looked very much like an exhausted, haggered babysitter that had been dealing with toddlers for far too long. Even though they'd only showed up a few minutes ago and had, in fact, been behaving the entire time. "They're back."

"Now wait a second--" Rain heard her own father's muffled voice behind the wall and strode towards it despite herself, too morbidly curious to just stay where she'd been standing while she tried to work all this out.

"Hit 'er again!" Fischer's muffled voice encouraged. "You got this Keigs!"

There was another loud thump.

Another.

Another.

And then there was the shiny end of a pickaxe poking through the wall, a bit above eye height. Lake was already nearing the wall. "Dad?!"

"Lake!" His voice got as animated as Rain imagined his expression probably did, too. "Lake, stand back! I'm coming through!"

Lake took a step backward, staring at the wall eagerly. Rain stopped where she was, a few steps behind Lake, with Fish next to her. He was anxiously looking between the wall and Cheva. He offered a tiny, nervous smile to her, clearly trying to lighten the mood and distract from this perplexing development. "So... um... third time's the charm?"

Cheva huffed through her nose, creating ghostly tendrils of smoke from her nostrils that hinted at warmth, despite her icy appearance.

There was another loud thump, this one even stronger and more passionate than the first few. The tip of the pickaxe peeked through the hole again, making it slightly bigger. Then Keigan's eye pressed against it. "Lake! Honey, you alright in there? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Lake said, clearly forcing herself to keep clear of the wall despite everything in her posture indicating she wanted to launch herself at it. She even had her hand on her own pickaxe, as if she wanted to help him, but was restraining herself.

"What are you doing here?" Lake asked, sounding both bewildered and relieved.

"To rescue you--"

"Gilson!" Fischer's voice called, slightly muffled and yet also making its way through the hole as Keigan was suddenly elbowed to the side and Fischer appeared instead. He had to adjust for the height difference before he could see.

"Dad!" Fish said earnestly, striding forward to join Lake.

"Gil!" A grin broke across Fischer's face before he finally bent down far enough to peek through with an eye. "You okay, son?"

"We're--um... yeah. Yeah, we're okay, Dad," Fish said hesitantly, nodding. "Just... um, well, very confused... right now. Are you... all there?"

"Can you see Rain?" Lee's muffled voice was barely loud enough to break through and travel to the room for them to be able to hear it.

Rain prickled, instantly feeling guarded and defensive as she glared at the wall. Why was he here? He always did this. Always. Showed up where he wasn't wanted and took all the attention and praise for himself. Forcing her to live in his shadow. He couldn't just be satisfied with killing a god. Oh no. No, he had to rescue her, too. Apparently. Whether Rain meant herself or Cheva by the 'rescue her' was anyone's guess, honestly.

"Let me look..." Fischer's eyes dramatically scanned the area. "Yes! Yes, she's in there! Are you alright, Rain?"

"Mmmhmm," she hummed flatly.

"Oh... good," Lee's voice was quiet and lame now.

"Move!" Keigan ordered. "Stand clear! We're coming through!"

True to his promise, it only took two more swings for his pickaxe to cut through enough ice and snow to reveal his head and chest and shoulders. A few more strokes and there was a hole big enough to climb through. Which is exactly what he did.

"Lake!" He left his pickaxe clanking against the icy floor and rushed over to his daughter and wrapped her in a tight hug. He rocked, lifting her off her feet and spun her around before he brought her back to her feet, and held her firmly. Lake met the hug with just as much intensity, and it looked like the two of them were practically in a squeezing competition for who could hold on the tightest and not relent.

Fischer climbed through next. "Gil!" He also rushed forward to hug Fish, who seemed more awkward and weirded out by it, but eventually returned it. Awkwardly. Fischer towered over Fish, and Fish looked like he was drowning in his embrace, but he let it happen.

Lee came through next, straightening his coat as he did so, glancing around the room. His eyes locked on Rain for a long moment. She met his gaze for a moment before her gaze flicked over him. He seemed unharmed, which was good. They all did. Good. She glanced back at his face and realized that he'd been sizing her up exactly the same way. He gave her an awkward nod of acknowledgment. She returned it even more awkwardly.

Gods.

She didn't want to deal with him right now. His stupid face was enough to put her firmly into a bad mood at baseline, and talking to Cheva had already made her feel a bit sour, so this was just adding to the fuel of her pissiness. She sighed and buried her hands in her pockets, waiting to see what was going to happen now. It felt like her life was getting progressively more and more chaotic before her eyes and that there was nothing at all she could do about it. So may as well just sit back and watch the show, she guessed. See what sort of a mess this was about to turn into.

Lee cleared his throat awkwardly. "Hey, uh, Cheva. How are--"

"Don't address me so casually," she said dryly. "Didn't I tell the three of you that you aren't welcomed back here anymore?"

"Okay, but that was different," Fischer said. "There were extenuatin' circumstances--"

"I don't remember listing any 'extenuating circumstances' that would welcome you back here," Cheva interrupted, narrowing her eyes at him. "You know what you did."

Fischer's face reddened with shame and embarassment. "I said I was sorry for that, didn't I?"

"Sorry wasn't enough to fix it," she shot back.

There was an incredibly tense silence that probably only lasted a few seconds but which felt like hours had passed in it. Rain looked around anxiously, trying to get a read on the room and also think up how to best soothe tempers and move forward in a direction that she wanted to go. To be the perfect little politician. But actually a smart one. Who would be successful. Unlike her father.

But before she could say anything, Lake spoke first. "Cheva... didn't you say the spell took six people?"

Cheva looked at her for a long moment then sighed heavily, suddenly seeming to be millennia old like she actually was. She rubbed her face, ghost fingers flickering a bit as they rubbed against her face apparition. Finally, she took a deep breath, looking among the six of them. She sighed again then nodded. "Yes. The spell will require all of you."

"All six of us..." Fish said quietly.

"You can count. Let's see if you can follow instructions," Cheva said flatly, rolling her eyes, which was a bit eerie to watch and Rain didn't enjoy it whatsoever. She hoped no one would make Cheva do it ever again. She sighed again and her eyes flicked between their fathers. "You get one chance to redeem yourselves, Elder Fools."

"Thank you," Fischer said with a hopeful though hesitant grin.

"We won't let you down!" Keigan said eagerly.

Cheva looked them up and down, assessing them. It seemed like there was something she wasn't saying, like, perhaps she wasn't giving them the whole story, or she knew something they didn't. Something she wasn't willing to disclose.

"You will need that confidence," she sniffed. "Get with your child and come closer. To the shattered remains of my heart."

Rain glanced around and realized that Cheva must be speaking about her and Lee, since the others were already together like they were supposed to be. She strode over to her own father, only giving him a single sideward glance as she stopped next to him before she looked back at Cheva. Cheva gestured for them to approach, and they all walked up to the small raised stage, eventually lining up around the shards of ice on the floor.

"For this to work, you'll have to work together as a team," Cheva explained. "Parent and child."

Rain huffed a sigh that came out a bit louder than she meant for it to, kind of like a scoff instead. Lee sighed too, though his was a bit quieter. Just audible, though. Psychologically his sigh was absolutely as loud as hers was since he wanted this even less than she did. It would be absolutely humiliating to have to dance again. In front of Rain. In front of her friends. Hell, in front of his friends at this point, since it'd been so long.

"You all have complementary family magic," Cheva explained. "Which means you'll have to work together to amplify your magics to be exponential rather than additive when you pair them together. For example, rather than Lee or Rain doing their usual dances, they need to dance together--"

"Ew!" Rain scoffed, expression disgusted as she looked at Cheva, though she gestured at her father. "I'm not dancing with him."

Lee cast an irritable glance at her, a bit offended even though he agreed with that sentiment, and they all knew it. Rain didn't even know that Lee danced in the first place. And, well, it'd be one thing for her to witness it. But participating in the same dance? Absolutely not. "Yeah, no."

"I'm sorry, did it sound like I was asking for your opinion?" Cheva asked sassily, her snowy eyebrow raising as she looked at them flatly. "You asked me how this was going to work, and now I'm telling you. You're both dancing, and that's final."

"I'm not dancing with him!" Rain argued, feeling her hackles raised as high as they would go, hair on end. If Cheva was all knowing, surely she should know what an absolute tool she'd given Rain for a father. And she also should have known that there was no chance in heck that Rain would ever agree to dance with him in this lifetime or the next. That made her feel gross just thinking about it.

What dances involved limited physical contact?

Almost none of them, it felt like. Aside from line dances, she guessed, but you couldn't do a line dance with just two people. And she doubted her father knew line dances. She doubted he knew any dances at all, honestly. He didn't seem to be the dancing type.

"Rain, I swear to Chev-uh--," Lake huffed, stopping mid-word, but continued, glaring at her. "Just this once? Dance long enough to save the world?"

Rain blushed and rolled her eyes.

Lee huffed and buried his hands in his pockets.

"Don't make me make you, Lee," Fischer threatened.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Fischer's eyebrows shot up and he stepped towards him. "I've done it before, and I'll do it again--"

"Or-- or," Lake said desperately, hurrying forward to stay in the middle before Fischer could get anywhere close to Lee and Rain. "We just... figure out what all of our magical quirks are? So, Rain, yours is dancing. Is... that also yours, Mr. Elstan?"

Lee hesitantly nodded, flushing a little.

"Okay, so. Elstans dance. My dad and I can sing. So I guess we should find a song we all know. At least all three of us."

"How about All Star?" Keigan suggested.

Lake looked back at him, eyebrows raised, but her mouth turned up in a smirk.

"You know what, you're so right," Lake said as her smirk grew into an amused smile that she and her father shared. "You're a genius."

"Some-body once told me that," Keigan said. "Thanks for the confirmation."

Lake snorted out a laugh. Rain rolled her eyes.

"Cool, cool, cool, ty, ty, ty," Lake said, turning to Rain and Lee. "You good with that one?"

No, she wasn't 'good with that'. She wasn't good with any of this whatsoever. It'd be absurdly awkward to have to dance with her father. And to a song as crackheaded as All Star no less. Everyone else seemed to be 'good' with this horrible situation, but that didn't make it even remotely okay. And it didn't make dancing to All Star with her awful father okay, either. Still. She was starting to feel like she may get chased by an angry mob if she didn't consent to something sooner or later. So may as well agree to a song that she knew as well as she knew that one. So she let out a heavy sigh and rubbed her face and managed a resentful, "Yeah."


"Perfect." Lake nodded. Rain was a Zoomer afterall. And Shrek was a formative memory for most of their generation at this point. It was basically compulsory to know Smash Mouth to the All Star degree. But the old people? It was hard to say. Lake looked at Lee with a raised brow. "Do, uh... you know it, Mr. Elstan?"

"Of course he does!" Keigan crowed with a grin. "Show 'em, Lee! Show 'em!"

"All Star isn't a partnered dance," Lee said stiffly.

Rain gaped slightly, turning to face her father more fully as her brain refused to process that statement and just buffered for an embarassingly long time instead. Her dad... had danced to All Star before? Who was this man, and what had he done with the man who raised her? Or "raised her" she supposed would be more like it, seeing as Mama had done almost all of the heavy lifting by herself.

"You can figure it out," Keigan muttered, waving his hand dismissively. "Just pick a dance and follow the rhythm. Figure out a dance you want to do together."

"Literally doesn't exist," Rain said.

"There's not one," Lee said at exactly the same moment.

"PLEASE," Lake whined. "It's not about you! Just do it this once! Come on! The future of Chevan is at stake here! Maybe even the future of all humanity!"

If someone had told Fish that they were all going to be here, right now, in Cheva's ice chamber, with their dads of all people... well, Fish thought they would be spouting some fantasy nonsense. He thought nothing comical (and scary) could surprise him again since Gavin the bear stole their book. But then the whole sledding across the lake thing happened, and then the whole dream thing happened, and then this icy shrine, and then Cheva's dead body, and then learning about his dad dropping Cheva's heart, and then the dads somehow and conveniently appearing out of nowhere, and then... and then...

They had to dance, sing, and play music? To All Star, like that dream, which indeed was true? Either Fish was dreaming, or this really was some fantasy nonsense.

It was all bizarre, really. It was too much to process, but he wasn't really sure what else to do but keep on swimming along.

So, All Star. Okay. To fix a goddess's heart? That wasn't so bad. It was weird, yeah, but it was worth trying.

"Maybe we could do a different song if you don't want to do that one," Fish offered.

In turn, his dad scoffed. "Lee, we saw you dancin' along just the other day, to All Star, too. C'mon, do it for the kids. No one else is watching."

"Literally everyone is watching," Lee sniffed. "And you didn't see anything. My curtains were--" He cleared his throat, lifting his chin. "I..." He looked at Rain with a little sigh. "Fine. What if we just both dance at the same time, but not together?"

Rain relaxed a little and nodded. "That's better."

"That's not an option," Cheva cut in. "You're in or you're out. Which is it?"

Lee snorted.

Rain let out a little agonized whimper, very, very clearly against the idea of having to dance with her father. Fish couldn't really blame her, especially since she was always so wary of her dad. It did seem weird having to dance with your dad, nevertheless her dad, since they had never gotten along that well. But, well... surely they could see what was at stake here.

Lake looked like she was going to blurt out a million logical reasons on why Lee and Rain shouldn't be so stubborn and dance to save the literal world, but Keigan cut in before she could even take in a breath.

"Lee," Keigan said casually and gently, gesturing all around them. "I know this is probably a little weird. But what's the good in music if we all don't do it together? Think of it this way. We're like an orchestra, and we all follow the music. We'll try our best here. No one's aiming for perfection."

"Fine," Lee said petulantly, rolling his eyes as he looked at his daughter warily. "What dances do you know?"

Rain looked at him for a long moment, then sighed. "... well... with All Star being like it is..." She sighed again. "Swing, I guess? If you know that?"

Lee looked like he was blushing a little and he buried his hands in his pockets. "Yeah... that's fine... I guess." He shrugged and glanced around, clearly trying to move past this quickly. "So, what is this going to look like?"

"Lake and I will sing. Right, Lake?" Keigan said.

Lake nodded eagerly. "Yup. And Rain and Lee will dance. Which leaves..." She glanced at Fish and Fischer. "Fish, you can hum deeply like you did last time. And Mr.Fish can too. Maybe you both can harmonize."

It was at this moment that Fish realized that his friends also probably have never seen his dad do magic. Since Rain and Lake shared the same magic as their dads, it was a fair assumption that Fischer also did magic by singing or talking in a deep voice since that was how Fish conjured his magic. That wasn't the case, though.

Fish exchanged a look with his dad. "Did you, uh--?"

"Lovely idea, Miss Lake, but I've got all the music in here," Fischer said as he randomly pulled out a harmonica from his pocket.

Fish couldn't help but stare at it. "Why do you have a harmonica in your pocket?" he asked.

"It's best to be prepared, son. Never know when you'd need to play music. Banjo's too big to bring," he simply said.

Fish shook his head, deciding to let this weirdness slide since there were a million other weird things happening at the moment. "My dad does his magic by playing an instrument," he explained to Lake.

"Ohhhhhh," Lake said with interest. "You learn something new every day. Cool, cool."

"Alright, looks like we have an orchestra. Lake and I will sing, Fischer will play his harmonica, Fish will harmonize bass notes, and Lee and Rain will dance. Any questions?" Keigan said.

Lake raised her hand, but instead of turning to pose the question to her dad, she looked up at Cheva.

"What spell are we trying to cast together?" Lake asked.

Cheva looked down at them like she'd been waiting patiently (or maybe impatiently, as the case may be -- it was hard to tell when she was merely staring at them overhead). It seemed she was waiting for someone to finally ask.

"A restoration spell," Cheva said.

And then, leaning over their heads, she breathed out a puff of ghostly smoke along the wall. Following the fog of her breath, there was a large, simple script carved into the ice that came into view as snow-dust was gently blown away.

"You will have to incorporate it into your song," she said, backing away so they could clearly see.

Written just above the pedastals, in centered text, there was a spell written not in runes, but in English.



Fish read it over a few times.

The little rhymes they learned for different spells were always so simple, almost like a jingle. This one seemed a little on the nose, but Cheva probably made it to be so.

"I guess we could bring it in right after the chorus," Lake said. "Sing it through once, then sing or say the spell instead, but to tune of All-Star."

"You will all need to contribute to the verbal component," Cheva said.

"So, Rain and Lee, you could just say it while dancing, I suppose," Keigan suggested. "Fischer..."

"I'll figure it out," Fischer said.

"Great," Keigan nodded.

There was a moment where they all looked to each other expectantly, Cheva included. It felt like someone needed to take the lead here, and yet no one seemed to want to do so. So instead, they stood around in awkward silence, waiting for someone to get around to it.

And then Lake, thankfully, stepped up to do just that.

Rain also felt the awkward tension hanging over all of them, but she certainly wasn't going to be the one to take control of the situation. If anything, she wanted to be removed from the equation entirely -- not sent straight to the front of the line to then have to be the voice of the movement.

She glanced around, trying to gauge everyone's feelings.

And yet she found her gaze lingering on her father.

He had his hands buried in his pockets and eyes on the floor, for once in his life looking a bit cowed. She wished she knew what was going on his brain. If she could read his thoughts, she would know that he felt as anxious and awkward about this as she did. And guilty -- standing here before Cheva with his friends and his kid and his kid's friends. Remembering all of the terrible things they'd done here when they were younger, even though it was all just a freak accident caused by a bunch of dumb boys who didn't know any better.

But since she couldn't know that, she just assumed that he felt resentful if anything. Annoyed at the inconvenience of having to dance with her before man and god, as the expression went. Only it was men and women -- or woman, she guessed, since she'd be a participant herself rather than a witness of whatever idiotic dance they managed to cook up and so Lake was, in fact, the only woman watching -- and goddess. But. Well. Close enough, you know? The point remained that they were about to utterly humilate themselves in front of their closest friends and patron goddess of Chevan.

"Well," Lake said at long last, straightening up and putting her hands on her hips as she glanced around at everyone. "I guess it's up to us, then, now. We're all here for a reason, so let's do our part. Mr. Fish, could you give us a starting note?"

Fish's dad nodded and lifted up his harmonica, playing a scale up and down before landing on the starting note. Wordlessly, Lake and Keigan seemed to have a quick conversation with their eyes as they hummed to meet it, and they nodded.

Lee and Rain also made hesitant eye contact, the tension so thick it could have been cut with a knife. God, she didn't want to do this. She didn't want to do it at all. She already felt gross about the idea of having to be near enough her father to dance with him. At least he'd consented to swing dancing. There were a lot of variations, but at least most were fast paced and limited contact with your partner. Which, honestly, if they had to dance together, then that was an ideal outcome of the terrible situation that they were in.

Finally, her father took a deep, resigned breath and asked, "...do you know the Lindy Hop?"

"...Yeah," Rain said reluctantly, sighing once again. She didn't want to dance it with him. It'd just ruin the dance for her -- imprint her father in her muscle memory of the dance and make her not want to dance it anymore in the future, which would be wildly unfortunate given it was a style she really happened to like, as it so happened. But. Well. She didn't have any better ideas. And the sooner they got started, the sooner they could be done. "God, this is going to be weird."

He nodded in agreement, making no secret of the fact that he fully agreed that this was going to be completely and utterly terrible. He was standing stiffly, looking at her warily as he tried to work up the motivation to actually start dancing with her.

She just felt... she didn't know how to describe it. But she didn't like the feeling at all. Dancing was her thing. She didn't have many of those things. She was constantly being measured against her father. When she was good at debate, her coaches praised her as Lee's little up and coming legacy. When she was charismatic and winsome, people would praise her supposed 'innate' ability to wine and dine people to win them over and earn their favor.

And, of course, it worked in reverse, too. And it was even worse that way. If she got in a fight with someone, then of course it was her fault. Mayor Elstan wouldn't do something like that -- he was a real diplomat and maybe she should try to learn a thing or two from her pop.

If she choked during a presentation, then she was clearly a failure, since she should have been as articulate as her father was. No matter how old she was. That critique had started somewhere around junior high she was pretty sure and followed her to this day. Although she was much better at speeches now, so instead she usually just got likened to him and praised for being his prodigy, even though she wasn't similar to him in the slightest. She worked hard for each and every one of her wins, and she didn't appreciate that the acknowledgment of her efforts were stripped from her as her father got to take the praise and glory for her achievements.

So, she'd gotten lucky -- or, she'd thought that she got lucky -- that he didn't have magic. That she could be the only dancer in the family. He'd refused to let her take lessons as a child and only barely tolerated her demands for instruction as she entered her teenage years. She hadn't gotten properly good at dancing until quite recently, actually, now that she was a grown adult able to fund her own lessons and take time to really hone her skills.

But now there was this bombshell of a revelation.

Dancing wasn't unique to her.

No. It was just yet another thing that her father had apparently already done before her. Which meant it wasn't special anymore. It wasn't her thing if he could do it too. She hoped he'd be really, really bad at it. Let everyone see that she was the dancer of the family. He could stay in retirement. Hiding his pitiful dancing skills in shame. Where they belonged.

In unison, Keigan and Lake started to sing.

"Somebody once told me--"

Lee reluctantly held his hand out to Rain. She took it equally reluctantly, taking a deep breath as she tried to push down the self pity and focus on the dance. She figured that if they were going to do a dance to restore magic to the entire world or whatever she probably needed to give it an honest effort and do her best to be crisp and clean and careful with all of her movements rather than just a lazy little shimmy like she'd sort of made a habit of these days.

He wrapped his other hand around her lower back, making them both tense up and glance at each other awkwardly. She hadn't been this close to her father in literal years. And she could go years longer without it, too. His grasp was ever so slightly too tight, like he wasn't sure how to dance with a partner anymore. And his own body was tensed and awkward and uncomfortable.

They had gone through a several year period where their arguments had turned physical almost every single time -- which happened almost every single day -- and had permanently cemented in each of their minds that proximity to one another meant they were trying to hurt each other and was therefore dangerous. These days, they still shoved each other sometimes when the fight got too heated to be had with words alone, but there was enough space and distance between them that those fights were fewer and farther between than they had been in previous years.

Still, she didn't like the feel of being in his arms, even though he wasn't threatening her. This time. And he also didn't like the feel of having her in his arms, even though she wasn't fighting with him this time. They didn't have to worry about the other elbowing or shoving, and that almost made it worse because, these days, they didn't know how to act right when they were within arms' reach of each other.

True to the name of the dance, however, her father quickly swung her away from himself so that they both had their arms extended and a decent amount of space between the two of them as they settled into some fancy footwork, trying to get a read on each others' styles so that they could become more complementary and dance as they should as dancing partners, since that's what Cheva was being so insistant upon.

"--the world was gonna roll me."

Rain followed her father's lead as he then tugged her closer to himself. They wrapped their arms around each other's backs and swayed together, quickly modifying their gaits until Rain was easy to lead.

"I ain't the sharpest tool in the sheeeed!"

Rain was focusing so hard on her footwork that she almost was starting to forget who it was that she was dancing with. Lee, too, was determined to let his dancing skills shine and woo Cheva and all the others that he was putting full effort into being the best lead he'd ever been in his life up to this point.

They took each others hands, hand in hand while they were facing each other, and did a little twist, spinning each other around and around and around again. Rain felt her breaths getting faster with each passing moment, body temperature rising from the exertion and little puffs of steam coming out of her nose with each breath that she released into the frigid air around them.

"--She was looking kind of dumb--"

He spun her individually now, hand over her head as she twirled around and around and around, going faster and faster and getting progressively dizzier as the world blurred into a blob around her. Still, she kept her rhythm and danced to the tempo. She didn't have to see, afterall, to be able to listen to the music and dance along.

"With her finger and her thumb, in the shape of an "L"--"

They were going faster and faster with each passing moment. Now they were both breathing heavy and focused on their own hands and feet and the space that they were occupying -- as well as the hands and feet and space the other was occupying -- that they didn't have any room left to remember their decades old war with one another.

"--On her forehead! WELL--"

They were dancing quickly now, perfectly synchronized. They started twisting back and forth, the ice beneath them smooth and lending itself nicely to the dance, even though their snow boots caused a significant amount of friction and made dancing substantially harder than it usually was and harder than it needed to be. They broke into a high kneed gait that involved faux skipping along with one another amid spinning towards and away from one another again and again in alternating sequence.

When the song hit the chorus, Keigan and Lake split into two part harmony.

Rain and her father danced all the faster and Rain was smiling despite herself. There was just something satisfying about nailing so many moves in a row, success after consecutive success, that sat right with her. It was nearly enough to make her forget that she was swinging around with her father -- taking his instructions, even, without so much as an argument or hesitation. And almost enough to make her forget about the severity of the situation. Until the chorus was sung one time through, and then Keigan and Lake seamlessly started singing the spell instead.

Rain could hear Fish's low voice droning the words underneath the music in a rich undertone, and Fischer's coming in through the harmonica somehow. Rain and Lee managed to say it more like a chant to the same rhythm, in time with the others as they kept dancing just as fast as before, though they settled more for a peppy back and forth sway rather than the aggressive spinning. Seeing as they needed to actually remember what the enchantment was and focus on saying the words at the same time as everyone else, rather than just having to keep their bodies moving along the correct tempo.

As they all said the spell together, they could see a bright light trickling down in little bursts, almost like fireflies around the shattered shards of the heart. The moment the pulsating blips of light hit the ground where the shards laid, the lights started dancing and swirling rapidly around in a circle above them.

The millions of pieces that had been strewn about around the pedastal started to lift up into the air, against all natural laws of gravity, and everyone watched as they started to come together and reform. This was enough to distract both Rain and her father, and they slowed to a half-hearted sway as they watched the literal magic happening before them. As if piecing back together like a puzzle, little by little, each piece came back into place, and before they could make out the original shape of Cheva's heart, it suddenly emanated a violently bright light.

Nearly blinding them, the light burst throughout the whole chamber with a bass-filled sub-drop, radiating out from the heart with a powerful soundwave that pushed everyone to fall back onto the ground. Rain cried out and covered both ears with her hands. She was sensitive to noise at baseline, and this felt like she'd been subjected to sitting directly beneath a rocket as it launched itself into space. Or worse. She didn't really have a valid point of comparison to use, which, in itself, was sort of a comparison. It was that loud that nothing else seemed to come close enough to describe it.

When Rain dared to open her eyes again, she saw, hovering in the air over the previously empty pedastal, a large sculpture of ice. Instead of looking like a literal heart, or even like the eggs on the other pedastals, Cheva's heart looked like... three people embracing each other. And at the center of their embrace there was a blue glow in the center, pulsing and thumping like a heartbeat.

The air settled around them, and then they heard a heavy thump behind them, and what sounded like the clinking of dozens of ice crystals. When everyone turned around slowly, they found themselves staring up at Cheva. The real, not-ghostly Cheva, in her true, physical form.

She was standing. Towering.

And just like that, Rain suddenly understood, despite all of Cheva's occasional sass or moodiness, why she was a goddess.

The sheer power radiating from her simply existing was terrifying, and everyone stared at her, awe-struck for a solid moment.

It had worked.

They'd brought Cheva back.

Had they brought magic back too? Gods, she sure hoped so. Hoped that this entire trip was worth it, now that they had accomplished what they'd set out to do. Now they could go home. That's all that she wanted at this point. To rescue Cheva, restore magic, and then go home. Eat some warm food. Turn on her heated blanket. Curl up in her bed with hot chocolate to watch TikTok for hours on end.

It was the simple things in life, really. And she missed them greatly. Already. It'd only been a few days at this point, but it felt like a lifetime had passed between the teacher that left and the... whatever the heck she was now, that laid on the floor of an ice cave staring at the goddess that she and her friends brought back to life.

This was it.

The end.

Now they could go home and stop being heroes and just go back to being themselves. Their calm, simple, un-important selves with basic, boring, safe little jobs. And keep this to themselves, she guessed. It's not like this was really something she could mention at school on Monday. She wasn't even really sure if she was going to tell Mama and Lia about this. It... seemed far fetched, to say the least.

But, she supposed that was a problem for future Rain.

Current Rain needed to make it up off the ground.

Or... was she supposed to kneel before the goddess?

She really wasn't sure, honestly, and decided to just lay low and stay put until she got some sort of social or context clue to give her an idea of what, exactly, she was supposed to be doing. But she wasn't sure she liked the clue that was starting to reveal itself now.

There was a low rumble that emanated and rumbled around the room. It was a low growl at first, but then expanded to a howl until it became a wild laughter -- all originating from Cheva.

As she roared into a fit of laughter, icicles vibrated overhead until a couple pierced down from the ceiling like little daggers. One of them almost hit Fish, but his dad swooped in on time and pulled him away.

Had they done something wrong? Why was she laughing?

"Finally," she sighed with a smile still tugging her lips. She seemed to melt back at the back of the room, and what Fish thought were random pillars turned out to be a throne. Her throne. "I'm back in my body. I have been in spirit form for so long, I almost forget what it feels like to have senses. You humans smell as bad as I remember last time."

"It worked, right?" Lake cut in, taking a step forward as she craned her neck up to see Cheva. "We restored your heart? We restored magic?"

Cheva laughed again, this time with even more gusto and heart. Her hand tapped against the armrest of her throne, shaking the entire shrine.

There was something uncanny about watching and hearing her laugh. Fish could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and something in him told him to run. There was just something about her massive physical and domineering presence that made him want to take off and run away.

Did all gods and goddesses possess this feeling? Did his dad feel this way, and the other dads too? What about Lake and Rain? Was it just him? Fish couldn't help but glance back the way they'd come from.

"Oh, you humans can be funny sometimes," she said breathily, then paused, suddenly scowling. "And annoying. Killing my physical form was an bothersome setback, but since I am back now, all is forgiven."

"Cheva," Lake said more seriously and earnestly now. "Did we restore magic?"

"No. Not yet. You simply restored my heart. A spell that is played with heart can heal the heart. To restore magic across the lands, though..." Cheva lifted her arm to gesture around her shrine. "Well, you would have to take the magic to the lands. Are you following?"

Everyone seemed to glance at one another, seemingly at a lost of words. Cheva sighed again. She twirled her icy fingers, sending little whirlies of snowflakes circling around Lake, Fish, and Rain.

"The fathers are well aware of the prophecy I have told them the second time they stepped foot in here. They know that their mistake means magic will slowly fade away, and only the children of the water, sky, and beast can restore the magic," Cheva explained.

The swirling snowflakes then swirled against the wall, and the runes magically lit up. It was the same runes as the previous room before Fish activated the booby trap. He was no expert, but from the pictures and words he did know, it seemed that the runes were telling the story about the prophecy. It seemed that they were finally getting answers since Cheva began explaining the story.

"The gods and goddesses of the earth know that humans have a tendency to veer towards destruction and chaos," Cheva said, highlighting the runes one-by-one, as if she were paraphrasing the writings against the wall. "Case in point: my physical form died for nearly a quarter century, and that was something I did not predict, but I digress, because I knew that the prophecy was going to happen for at least a millennia now."

She sighed again, flicking her eyes to Fish, Lake, and Rain.

"I also did not anticipate that the prophecy would involve inexperienced children and their foolish fathers. Really, kids were much more equipped for quests back then," she said snippily, but the continued onwards. "Regardless, my blessing across Chevan is not infinite. And with humanity's tendency towards unpredictable chaos... well, after a millennia, the blessing begins to corrupt itself and turn into a curse."

As she spoke, the room began to get dimmer and dimmer. Trails of darkness swirled around the room, starting from the ceiling and ending towards the floor. It was snowfall, manifesting in the enclosed caves of the glaciers without even being able to see the sky or clouds. Fish knew this couldn't be Rain - the movement of the swirling snow and snowflakes was too deliberate. It was graceful, and almost mesmerizing, but the darkness that came with it kept him from getting too mystified by it. When the temperature dropped, Fish found himself actively shivering.

"What you see around you is what could've been if the prophecy did not exist. There would be an age of ice and snow for a millennia. Sunlight would only shine for an hour a day. Fire would be a necessity for every minute and every second, but with this ice age, came a loss of magic. Without my blessing, this winter would spread to the ends of the earth, sending the whole world into a dark, cold, endless slumber, with no more magic to warm you."

The runes lit up with a bright blue light. It reminded Fish of the same light that lit the runes on the door, but this time, it wasn't just runic instructions lighting up. It was the prophecy. The prophecy about them. As he scanned the wall, he saw a few of the words he still recognized, 'magic' being one of them. But when he glanced over to his father, he noticed that his dad seemed to actually be reading it as his eyes followed along with the ancient dead language.

Turning back to look, there were three images that suddenly illuminated with a burst of blue light, like the light was carving them into the icy wall by itself.

It was there figures. People. But this time, they actually looked familiar. Recognizable.

The figure on the left distinctly looked like Rain, raising her hand to the sky. Clearing away the clouds. Calling forth the sun.

In the middle, there was Lake, holding her hands outward, pushing back a massive wave of water in front of them.

And on the right end, there was... Fish. Surrounded by animals. He was riding a polar bear. He looked... happy. They all looked confident and happy.

"But the prophecy prevents that," Cheva continued, and Fish snapped out of it just enough to follow along again.

"The prophecy is an extension of my blessing, and therefore, my magic," Cheva said. "Gone are the days of allowing everyone to survive to keep warm. No, instead, you three will bring my magic into the world and undo the destruction that your lineage has caused."

Cheva gestured towards Rain. There was a mysterious flash overhead, sounding like muffled thunder. The sounds of white rain-like noise came from all directions, and a bright and warm light hovered above Rain's head. Rain most definitely retreated, but the light followed her like a little, ironic rain cloud over her head. She shrank, pulling her shoulders up in an involuntary attempt to protect her head.

"You are the child of the skies. In your future, there will be storms of destruction, caused by other humans. The sky will be hostile and unforgiving, causing wakes of disasters across the land. With my blessing, you can help stop this and teach others to take good care of the skies. One-third of magic will be restored once you restore the skies."

Cheva then gestured towards Lake. The lights and noise faded away as they heard the sound of waves lapping against an invisible shore. It was a familiar sound. One they could all remember from when the lake wasn't frozen over under inches and inches of ice. A deep blue light hovered around Lake, making her look like she was glowing.

"You are the child of the waters. In your future, water will become a foe instead of a friend. It will not be there when you need it the most, and instead will cause wakes of destruction because of the devastation caused by other humans. With my blessing, you can prevent this and teach others to take care of the water. One-third of magic will be restored once you restore the waters."

Finally, Cheva gestured towards Fish. The sound of waves faded away and was replaced by the sounds of various beasts overlapping. Bear roars. Whale calls. Hawks screeching. Moose bellowing. Fish felt a warmth all around him, and realized he was glowing with a warm, bright light too.

"You are the child of the beasts. In your future, the beasts of the lands will become hunted to extinction. Those that survive will have hatred in their hearts against other humans, the killers of their family. The remaining beasts of the land will become aggressively hostile towards other humans. With my blessing, you can talk to the beasts and humans of the land, finding the forgiveness and humility in their hearts to live in harmony with each other. The last one-third of magic will be restored once you restore the beasts."

You know, it's amazing how much can get lost in translation when you're trying to read a language that you don't know. As it turned out, trying to decipher the prophecy based on pictures alone had left a lot of gaps in their understanding, and hearing Cheva lay it all out in precise details felt like she was hearing an entirely new prophecy. A different one entirely. And it was hitting her all over again.

Should she be writing this down?

Lake had understood that Cheva needed help when she'd gotten the dream. Just a few days ago she'd been emboldened to drag her friends out to the glaciers to help the goddess, and even though she'd been determined, she somehow didn't imagine them succeeding after all the trouble they went through to get there.

Now, though, it was all starting to sink in.

A prophecy came with responsibility. And as Cheva explained, they had a prophecy to literally save the world.

Lake thought it only had to do with Chevan. That would've been enough for her. More than enough, actually.

But now, the prophecy came with a different level of sobriety that she hadn't expected, and finally, she felt her normal survival instincts shifting. Something of this severity required a certain level of maturity. A kind of maturity she wasn't sure if she'd displayed to earn this kind of power.

Here she was thinking this was just... a fool's quest, really. After all the skepticism she was met with, for a moment she really had started to believe it would just end as a camping trip. But that got harder and harder to believe, and, well, of course she couldn't believe it now.

Something like this...

All she'd ever wanted was to settle for being a lumberjack. The simple life. Now that she'd tasted more, she wasn't sure if it was really what she wanted. But it wasn't about what she wanted. It was about what she was handed.

Cheva said they were just a bunch of kids, and she was right, but she also said it was a prophecy, which at least, in some ways, meant it was how it was meant to be, even if Cheva didn't imagine it so.

Maybe - even if Lake didn't feel it herself - there was a reason they got picked.

Sometimes the universe didn't pick the most qualified. Sometimes it just picked the people who'd say yes and do what needed to be done. The people who'd do what no one else wanted to do.

Lake felt something within her reach down. Rooting itself in her.

Resolve. Determination. Understanding that the road ahead of all of them might not be as easy as the movies and comic books sometimes made it seem. But there was also an understanding that if she was given this power, she needed to use it like Chevan said. To make the world a better place.

Lake stood up tall, and just as she was about to open her mouth to tell Cheva she was ready to save the world, starting with Chevan, someone spoke first.

"Now hold on a minute," Fischer's voice boomed around the walls, causing the last of the light magic to melt away to the regular normalness of the room. "You told us that the prophecy is only for bringing you back. We brought you back. You never said they'd go on to do all that. What do you mean, restore the beasts, the waters, and skies? They're just kids. They don't know how to do that!"

Cheva deeply sighed, like she was agitated that she had to waste her breath on this topic.

"Maybe," Cheva said slowly as if that would help him understand. "If their family came around them as a competent support system, they could learn."

Lake felt her father's arm come around her shoulders, and he pulled her in slightly. Lake looked to him, and he met her eyes.

Neither of them said anything, but she felt like she understood.

He felt like some of this was his responsibility, too, that she'd gotten wrapped up in this. But he was going to stick with her through it.

It gave her a sense of comfort, but she couldn't help but wonder about Fish, and Fischer. And even moreso, Lee and Rain.

"So, what? You're tellin' us we just..." Fischer gestured wildly towards Fish, Rain, and Lake. "Let them go to save the world? We only want the fire magic back in Chevan."

Fish shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he glanced back at his dad. "Dad... It's bigger than that," he said in a hushed voice.

"And no one - not even Cheva the almighty goddess with this prophecy of hers - has done anything to prepare you and the others for it," Fischer said gruffly aggresively shaking his head. "Lee, Keigan? What do you think? This is not right."

Lake saw the conflict cross over her father's face.

"All due respect, Cheva," Keigan said, not letting go of Lake. "Why couldn't you restore the earth? Why does it have to be our kids?"

"Why do we have humans roaming the land if it could just be filled with gods?" Cheva said tiredly with a wave of her hand. "This is a human problem. This is a problem caused by humans and and thus should be solved by humans. You should be grateful that I even gave you my divine blessing. You think I didn't help you? I gave you three extravagant powers for a reason. To use them. If you don't want to use them, so be it. But that is humanity's problem, not mine."

Lake supposed Cheva had a fair point.

"Then let it be us instead. The fathers," Fischer said, nodding towards Keigan and Lee. "Just keep our kids out of this."

Cheva stared at them blankly. "Is that supposed to be a joke? You are asking me if I could instead pick you, the man who shattered my heart due to clumsiness? And you--" she pointed at Lee, "-- the man who planted the idea of taking a souvenir in the first place? And you--" she pointed at Keigan, "-- the man who thinks a pickaxe will solve everything?"

Lake felt her dad bristle, and he let out a small sigh.

Cheva roared into laughter again, the room shaking as it were a mini earthquake.

"What an entertaining joke," Cheva said with the remnants of laughter before falling back into a serious expression. "But no. Absolutely not. The prophecy is set in stone, and even if I do possess the fantasy power of changing the fate of prophecies, I would never pick the three of you. Ever."

"Well that's a little harsh," Keigan muttered.

"Cheva," Lake cut in, before anyone could complain or argue any more. "I'll do it. I'll fix the waters. I accept my role."

She looked over to her dad, and the others. Her dad seemed wary but supportive, but the others were more of mixed bag of emotions. Fish seemed nervous and was hiding behind the shadow of his father, who was adament about not letting him fulfill his role of the prophecy. Lee and Rain both looked like they weren't sure who was supposed to be protecting who here, and instead were just standing side by side with an expression somewhere between fear and confusion on their faces. And skepticism. They clearly -- both of them -- weren't thrilled with this turn of events, and it was hard to guess whether they planned to go along with it or not.

"There are so many people in the world who feel helpless to do anything. To help. to make a change. And here we are, with these powers just handed to us. I know it's not ideal. And it's not how any of us imagined our lives going, and it's really not what any of us wanted," Lake said. "But it would be stupid of us not to take it just because it seems scary and impossible. I don't think it's going to be easy, but for me to throw a gift like this back in the face of a goddess just because it's a lot... like sure, I don't expect to save the world perfectly. No one ever really does in the stories. But if we're all in this together--"

Did she have to, even in this moment, keep herself from singing the High School Musical song? Maybe. She pressed on.

"--I really do think we could do it. I don't know about you guys, but all I ever expected from my life was that I would be some normal nobody, and kind of a loser in some ways. And if I'm being honest, I do kind of want the mundanity of it all. But this... we have a chance to help people. It's about more than just us. I know it's a big decision, and it feels like a huge chance... but I want to take it."

Maybe that was what set them apart from their fathers.

Their fathers had come asking for wishes on their own behalf. For their own personal benefit. And Lake didn't even judge them for it, but... well, when Fish and Rain and Lake had all discussed even the possibility of wishes, all they really wanted was for other people to be okay. And now instead of being granted wishes, they were granted the power to make that happen.

Maybe the old folktale really was true. Anyone who met Cheva got their wish granted. Their wishes just happened to align with the prophecy.

There was a short silence that followed, but it was Fish who decided to step up and speak up first.

"I agree with Lake," he said after he cleared his throat, flicking his eyes between everyone, which he tended to do before a nervous speech. "Dad, I understand that it's scary - believe me, I think it's pretty scary myself - but, well... Lake's right." Fish sighed and longingly looked towards the runes, sounding almost defeated. "I've always wanted to, I don't know... Make something of myself. I don't even like fishing. And now? Now I can't fish. I can't even -- I'd hear and understand -- anyways..."

He turned back towards everyone else, taking another deep breath.

"I just want to do something that makes a difference and helps other people. And now it's being handed to us, just like that. So I'm with Lake on this one. I want to do this, even if it's a little scary and we don't really know what we're doing."

Lake looked to Fish and offered him a small, encouraging smile.

He did good. He was assertive. She was proud of him.

Good gods, there was a lot going on right now.

So many thoughts. Conflicting opinions. New information to try to absorb. Tempers to sooth -- or not, depending on how you wanted to approach things. But above it all this jawdropping, earth shattering bombshell that Cheva had just dropped on them all.

They were the children of the prophecy.

No way.

No. Freaking. Way.

This was just supposed to be a stupid weekend camping trip in a half hearted effort to support her friend in her nonsense talk. And now here they were. Staring at a goddess that they'd just brought back to life, getting told that they were these prophetic hero protagonist whatevers -- she didn't even know what to make of it.

She glanced at her father and realized that he'd shifted his weight to stand directly between her and Cheva. She wasn't at all sure how she felt about that. It definitely made her feel, though. It... was just... weird, honestly. Almost heartwarming that he was, finally, being the protector she was always told a father was supposed to be. But kind of smothering in the exact same moment.

She'd never needed him to stand between her and the threat before, so why should he start now? Actually, that wasn't even true. She had needed him to stand up for her in the past. And he never had. So her question remained: why should he start now? She'd made it well into adulthood without his help, and she'd make it through this brand new and frankly kind of scary turn of events that was leading to the thorough upending of her life as she knew it.

But, as much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, they did sort of seem to be agreed on this right now. The passionate speeches from her friends were all well and good and everything, but she was more of a realist. A survalist, as it were. And going off questing with powers you neither asked for nor were equipped or properly trained to use were not the way to live a long, fulfilling life.

Still. She felt like everyone was waiting on her to react somehow. To say something or do something, which meant that she needed to kick her brain into overdrive and figure out how she wanted to respond and then to respond in said manner. Rain glanced at her father, then at Cheva, then her friends and their dads, then at the wall. Her expression was very drawn and she was thinking very, very hard about what all this meant and what she was supposed to say. Finally, she looked at Cheva and said quietly, "I'm going to need more details before I can make my decision. How am I supposedly going to be able to help?"

Cheva, instead of seeming annoyed, seemed to consider this a reasonable question.

"You can start with clearing away all the pollution in the air," she said plainly. "Your powers enable you to do that if you will it. But in more immediate concerns, you should probably take care of the snowstorm that's been going nonstop since you made it in here. You may have noticed that your magic is tied directly with your emotions. How did you feel when you danced?"

Rain and Lee glanced at each other, and then instinctively took a step away from one another and glanced away, clearing their throats. Rain shrugged, glancing back at Cheva with what she hoped was a nonchalant gaze. "I don't know. Fine? I guess?"

"You were happy," Cheva dead-panned.

"So, what, I'm supposed to dance climate change away?" Rain asked flatly.

"How else did you do your magic before?" Cheva asked. "You danced. Is it really that much of a stretch to consider dancing as a positive tool to channel your new magic to help you control the weather?"

"Yes!" Rain scoffed. "I danced before to make an itty bitty campfire, not--"

Cheva continued on anyways, cutting her off and ignoring Rain's comments.

"And combined with your father, you will have even more power to control the weather. You can not only control the weather of the skies, but you can prevent natural disasters from occuring. Torrential thunderstorms. Snowstorms Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Wildfires. Earthquakes. Together, you two can bring the wealth and prosperity that you have originally wished for."

"How is this my job?" she huffed.

Cheva blinked slowly at her.

"Did you listen to me when I explained the prophecy?" she asked, and then pointed to the drawing on the wall of Rain. "This. This is you."

"Okay, but like..." Rain sighed, rubbing her face. This was too much to process. "You're saying it's a human problem, but, I don't know, all the insurance companies call those natural disasters 'acts of god' which sounds like it's fully in your jurisdiction, not mine."

"So you're saying you'd rather listen to... insurance companies," Cheva said slowly, and then looked back at the magical wall with magical writing with literal magical drawings of the three of them.

Rain was quiet for a long moment, hopelessly looking at the figures on the wall again. It was her. There was no denying that now, since these figures were more detailed than the ones on the wall in the now destroyed hall had been. But... but that didn't explain why or how or, or...

She sighed heavily, voice tired as she said, "So I just dance and hope I don't PMS us all into extinction?"

"If the sun was always shining, humans wouldn't enjoy the sunny days," Cheva said simply. "Every season serves its purpose. We need the rain as much as we need the sunshine."

Pausing, Cheva let out a long sigh, and leaned down closer, looking Rain in the eyes. She shrank despite herself, staring at Cheva with wide eyes. She felt very, very small. And very much like she should probably shut up and stop arguing with a literal goddess, and soon. Cheva wasn't just like her father. She could smite Rain with much more than tossing a few books at her. But then Cheva's expression softened.

"I know you feel helpless," Cheva said. "Even with great power, it's easy to feel helpless. But you are not as helpless as it seems. As much as your powers are connected to your emotions, they are also connected to your will, too. Sometimes, you just have to make a decision. And when your heart has decided, your powers will follow through."

Then, she reached out, and with surprising gentleness for a being so, so, overwhelmingly large, she patted Rain on the head with her finger. Rain very much felt like she was in Big Hero 6, but blinked and stood very, very still. Somehow physical contact with a goddess, even as gentle and tender as this, was wildly unsettling and she wasn't sure how she felt about it at all.

"I know it doesn't seem like it will be okay," she said. "But you're far more capable than you think."

Rain let out a shaky breath and dipped her head. This was complete insanity. And yet. Well... if she was lucky, this was all just some wild dream brought on by too many nachos. And if she wasn't, then, well... you couldn't just say no to being the chosen one, right? It was 'the chosen one' not 'the asked one who subsequently gave their consent one' right? So... well...

"I know it may take a while for reality to sink in," Cheva said, as if she'd somehow read Rain's mind. At this point, Rain wouldn't put it past her. "But this is all very real."

"I... don't understand," she admitted. "Am I supposed to just dance around Cheva and pray the jazz hands into the uttermost parts of the earth? Or... is this like... road trip time? How far do I have to go? Is anyone going to be able to help me? How do I know what I'm supposed to do?"

"If you knew all the answers, you would also be a god. Part of being human is to discover life yourself, by your own means. I have told you everything you needed to know. Now it's up to you to fulfill it," Cheva said.

Rain stared at her flatly, not at all amused by these cute little riddles that she was speaking in. If you knew everything, you'd be a god -- so then this wouldn't be your job, seeing as gods apparently shunted these quests off to people in their quarter life crises.

"You won't have to figure it out alone," Lake said softly. "We'll all be figuring it out together."

"Yeah, Rain," Fish added on, lightly elbowing her side. "It's not like we'll all go off on our own. We can try to figure this out together."

"We're a team," Lake said with a small, tender smile. "Always have been."

She still had so many questions and this was so wildly frustrating. The all knowing, all powerful goddess before them had all of the answers you could ever possibly want to know. She could fix things with a snap of her fingers. But instead she decided to first insult them as unworthy heros, and then go on to saddle them with massive heroic shoes to fill, meanwhile not equipping them with anything but the power of friendship.

"Yeah," Rain said with a little sigh, glancing at her friends and forcing a tiny smile, though it looked a little pained. Then she hesitated and deadpanned, "Worked out great for us this time."

Lake snorted. "Okay, but, none of us ended up dead," she said.

"Yet," Rain cut in.

But Lake kept going, "And, we did do what set out to accomplish. We saved Cheva. We have the means to restore magic. It's just not how we expected it to go. But life rarely ever goes how we expect it to go."

Rain was quiet for a moment, trying to process all of this. Then she glanced at Cheva. "Wait, so we're saying that I'm in charge of the weather now? Like, full stop? So I could just, you know, turn our town into like a resort when I get home?"

"The weather will move on its own without your interference," Cheva said. "But when it begins to move in unnatural, harmful ways as a result of human consequence, you can intervene for the sake of everyone's safety. After all, it is your greatest wish to keep as many people safe as possible, is it not?"

Rain recoiled, feeling really freaked out that Cheva knew that. Was she reading her thoughts? If so, Rain should probably stop mentally roasting her. That didn't seem like it was going to end well. "I... I mean..." She huffed a sigh, furrowing her brow. "... I don't like this at all."

She'd still do it... probably. But. Well. She didn't have to be happy about it.

"I know," Cheva said. But she sounded so gentle that Rain's shoulders involuntarily relaxed ever so slightly. Like she'd been patiently waiting for Rain to land on that conclusion. She sighed and nodded, more resigned to her new supernatural unwillingly heroic job that she just had thrust upon her.

"I don't really like this either," Fish said. "If it makes you feel better, maybe we can start small, together."

"Like ending the snowstorm that's going on right now," Lake said. "Apparently."

"Or finding Gavin the bear to get our book back," Fish added on like that was important.

"I could probably help people dig out their houses from all the snow," Lake hummed. "Or just melt it, I guess. Since I was able to do that to the Lake a little bit. And that was without trying. Imagine if I did try this time."

Rain was quiet for a moment, considering all of this before her gaze flicked back to the prophecy on the wall. This was... overwhelming. "...How will I know when I'm done? Does this... like... have term limits? Or something?"

"You'll know once magic becomes restored to everyone. It is a slow process and is dependent on location as well. I know humans don't like the 'process,' but it is a natural part of life. For now, you can start with Chevan."

"They haven't ever even left Chevan," Fischer said in a low voice, glancing around. "Most people haven't."

"Yet!" Lake said, pointing her finger up in the air with a comically big smile. "Haven't left yet!"

Rain had never had any aspiration for leaving Chevan or questing or being god of weather and natural disasters, but, well, here they were. So she supposed she may as well get used to the idea sooner rather than later.

"I mean, I'm as comfortable staying in Chevan as the next townsperson," Lake said. "But... I'm beginning to see how it could be fun to travel with all my friends."

Rain took a deep breath and then let it out and inclined her head, feeling very, very tired already. "Then... I suppose I'll do what I can to help."

"That is good to hear," Cheva said with a nod. "Like I said, you can start with Chevan and restore the magic there. Once you restore the magic in Chevan, the town will no longer be snowed in. I will allow you and your family to pass the magic walls, but keep in mind that only your new magic will work until you restore the waters, skies, and beasts of all the lands. Over time, the magic will grow and will be shared across everyone in all the lands."

"Like a big magic blanket," Lake said, gesturing a blanket being thrown over something.

"...Sure," Cheva said.

A big, magic, terrifying, overwhelming, smothering blanket. One that Rain didn't want to be responsible for whatsoever. It was even more stressful than one of your grandmother's quilts that felt like it could get ruined if you looked at it the wrong way since you couldn't really wash them well in your residential machine and then your mom would get mad at you for... yes. That was a good analogy. That...

Okay, it was a bad analogy. Thankfully she hadn't said it aloud so no one else knew about it, unless Cheva was still listening in on her thoughts. And. Well. If she was, then that was rude and was her own problem. So... she still blushed a little, trying to recover from the way that her brain embarrassed herself.

"So... is that it?" Lake asked. "We go off to do the magic thing now?"

The dads seemed to exchange a look between one another as if it were a wordless conversation. This seemed to put Fish on the edge.

"We'll be okay. We have our roles, but..." Fish faltered, watching his dad in particular. "Cheva told us a lot, but I think there's a lot you haven't told us. We're prophecy kids who are going to save the world with new magic. Don't you think we need to know everything by now?"

Cheva looked bewtween all of them, eyes flitting between their fathers.

"Would you like to explain this one?" she asked.

Keigan looked ready to speak up, but Rain's gaze bore into her father instead. He'd been being suspiciously quiet. And, now that she looked at him closer, he seemed... guilty? Well, that couldn't be good. The man barely had a conscience to begin with. What had he done to get him--? You know what? She was going to find out.

"What did you do?" She glanced around at all the dads. "All of you?" Then back at her father. "But especially you."

"It's complicated," Lee huffed, defensive. He crossed his arms, now both physically and metaphorically closed off. "And it's not relevant at this point anyhow."

Rain narrowed her eyes at him, but he didn't relent. At least not at first. She could tell that he was getting progressively more agitated the longer she stared at him. He was definitely guilty about something. What had he done? Whatever it was was bad enough that even her scum bag politician father was embarrassed? That couldn't be a good sign. She watched him warily.

"Uh, pretty sure it's relevant to how you guys even found us and knew about this place," Lake said. "And also literally for the future of our relationships as families. Which is kind of a big deal."

"... We've been here before," Lee relented. "Like Cheva said. We... made some bad choices that...were partly my fault--" He looked at Cheva uneasily, who narrowed her eyes at him.

"Lee," Keigan said flatly. "You either start being specific or I'm taking over the storytelling."

"Look." Lee gestured vaguely with his hands. "It's... complicated... and..." He sighed, looking very much like he hoped someone else did take over for him. For once in his life, he seemed like he didn't want to be the center of attention. Thankfully, his friends were talkative, and he only had to endure a brief awkward pause before the conversation moved on without him.

For once, it felt like Fish had a direction in his life now. For all of his life, it was like he was aimlessly wandering, obediently following his father's suggestions and letting the time slip through his fingers. He enjoyed spending time with his friends, sure, but at the end of the day, there was only so many movies, video games, and pizzas they could consume before it started to all feel meaningless.

Day in, day out. Fishing, butchering, selling.

When Cheva went through each spiel about the individual prophecies, it felt like... well, Fish didn't believe in this kind of crap, but it truly felt like destiny. Like he was supposed to do this, all his life.

"I'm sure you kids have heard the old folktale," Fischer cut in instead when it became clear that Lee was not going to expand further. "If you meet Cheva, she would grant you a wish. And that's what the three of us did. Went up and seen her. Because like you kids, we felt like we didn't have too much direction in life either. Remember that book I showed you, son? That was an ancient relic, safekept by the elders of our town. Your grandfather, and Keigan's grandmother, and Lee's grandmother were among them, and that's how we got access to it, and heard about it. When we came back the second time around, we made sure to document some of what we know. It got lost along the way, but... the book guided us, and we held on to it so it could guide you too."

Fish's mind was slowly piecing things together, but it still felt like he didn't have all of the pieces. So... this didn't just involve them and their dads, but their grandparents too? How long was this prophecy?

"Let's start from the beginning, hm?" Fischer said with a brisk nod towards Keigan and Lee. "If I'm missin' anything, feel free to chime in. But it started a few years before you kids were born. We got our hands on the book, and we played with the idea of following the map. Of course, our own parents weren't going to let us, but we went anyways. And it took more than a week, but we had our fun, and our wisdom to pass the knowledge to you someday. Anyways, when we got to the door and indeed found Cheva, we couldn't believe it. We were just as surprised as you all are. We didn't know about any prophecy though. She congratulated us for comin' and asked what our wishes were. We told all of them and that's it... until we got too ahead of ourselves.

"We toyed with the idea of a souvenir. After all, who'd believe us? Not I. The heart over there -- we didn't know what it was. But the three of us thought it was mighty pretty and we could show it to our folks as proof that the myth exists. So we took it. I agreed to keep it safe, but as you all know, it was dropped. My mistake, I know, and we've all learned to live with the consequences. Cheva came back in a ghostly form and screamed at all of us, saying she'd curse us. We didn't know what to do, so we left.

"We didn't think anything would happen, but the magic was slowin' down. It wasn't as powerful. We struggled. The whole town struggled. We figured it had something to do with Cheva. So a few months later, we trekked on back over there. Turns out she had anticipated our arrival. She told us about the prophecy, sayin' our children are destined to bring her back. We wanted to tell all of you. But doing so meant that we had to reveal many ugly secrets. We promised to not tell a soul until the right time."

He paused for a second.

"Which is now. No more secrets. Whatever questions you have, we'll answer," Fischer said, nodding to the other dads. "Right?"

Keigan nodded.

"Right," he said.

They looked to Lee expectantly, both Fisher and Keigan burrowing holes into his head. He furrowed his brow, looking uncomfortable as he buried his hands in his pockets and let his shoulders round a bit, but he reluctantly nodded as well.

"What did you guys wish...?" Lake asked hesitantly.

But Fish already knew this one. He had dreamed it. He knew this, but somehow, like most things in his father's life, he hardly questioned it.

"Wealth and prosperity," he said as he looked at Lee. "A happy family," he said to Keigan. "And the love of your life," he said lastly to his dad. "...Right?"

"I know that," Keigan said with a tilted head. "How do you know that, Fish?"

"I dreamed it," Fish said, like that was an answer that answered everything.

"I gave them the dreams," Cheva added absently by way of explanation. "Moving on."

"We, uh, did all have dreams about-- well, pieces of your journey," Lake said. "But as you can tell obviously there were still a lot of gaps."

Keigan cast a glance Cheva's way.

"Huh," he said. "Alright, then."

"So... the wishes," Lake said, still not off of that point. "You guys made the wishes, and Cheva granted them, but..."

"Did they come true?" Fish finished for her.

Keigan's eyes flicked to Fischer, and then to Lee. He met his gaze, then glanced at Fischer as well, then glanced away from all of them, clearly embarassed to tell his part of the story.

"Sort of," Keigan said. "They did at first."

"Like Cheva said," Fischer said solemnly, "the wishes were corrupted into a curse."

"It wasn't a curse," Cheva interrupted. "You were responsible for killing the magic in the land. The very same magic that helped carry out your wishes. It was a natural consequence that your wishes couldn't be upheld once Chevan's magic started fading."

With a sigh, she leaned back on her throne, looking down at them all.

"Continue," she said lightly.

"Okay, so your wishes came true at first, but then things got... worse?" Lake asked hesitantly.

She looked to her father, like she at least, in part, already knew the answer to that question. They were all talking about their families, after all, and Fish had a feeling the dads being friends as they were, they all probably had a good idea of how everything went south for each other as much as Fish and his friends did.

"Yes," Fischer answered, still solemn.

Lake turned to her father specifically.

"Does mom know about this?" Lake asked.

Keigan sent a furtive, guilty glance towards Fischer and Lee.

"Yes," he said quietly. "She promised to keep it a secret too."

Lake pouted. Clearly her mom had.

"Does my mom know?" Rain demanded.

"Of course not," Lee scoffed, sending an annoyed glance at Keigan. "We said secret."

"I wasn't going to keep it from my wife, okay?" Keigan said, defensive. "I can't keep anything from her anyway. She finds out eventually."

"Simp," he muttered under his breath.

Keigan rolled his eyes and sighed, but it was unclear if he overheard.

"What about my mom? Did she know?" Fish asked, curiosity piqued.

To be honest, he didn't really know a whole lot about his mother. His dad told him that she left when he was young, but that was pretty much it. He was naturally curious growing up, so he did manage to see a picture of her, but again, that was really it.

And now Fish was getting suspicious, especially since he had a feeling that his mother was somehow connected to this wish of his.

"She knew too," Fischer admitted. "Keigan and Lee already knew that."

"Soooo...?" Rain prompted, gesturing for him to continue.

Lake gestured with her hands, wavings them in a circular motion to indicate Fischer should keep going.

Both Rain and Lake knew that Fish had always wanted to know about his mom. And now Fischer was right here, withholding answers.

"You said that the wishes became corrupted, right? As in, the opposite came true?" Fish said, trying to help his dad out. It wasn't everyday that he didn't have any words or answers for him. "So, what, she left because of it?"

"Not exactly," his dad said with a surprisingly soft voice, which only put Fish even more on edge. His dad seemed to be nervous himself, who, like Lee, was disliking being put on the spot. But he seemed to persevere, continuing on. "After we made our wishes, everything fell into place. Lee married Katarina and networked his way into being mayor. Keigan was already married with Olive, and soon bore their eldest daughter Feather. And as you have guessed, this wish was how I met your mother, Gilda."



"It was like she came out of nowhere. We were good for each other, and at the time, all of us were together all the time. It was a good time... before the wishes backfired," Fischer continued to explain. "They all backfired in different ways, sure. But the short story is, your mother did not leave you. She died trying to protect you. Us. When she found out about what we all did, she was determined to piece Cheva's heart together somehow. But we weren't prepared for everything that happened... Nature got her, son. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

It was weird hearing all of this. Fish almost thought it was a joke, but he knew his dad wasn't really the one to joke around. He didn't really know how to feel about all this, especially since he didn't really have any recollection of this. He was mostly hurt that he had to find out now in front of an audience (and a goddess who apparently doesn't count as an audience).

And most of all, he was hurt that he had to find out that his father lied to him.

It was a lot to process, but then again, the whole day way.

"Oh... I did not... know that," was all he managed to get out.

Fish had a lot of questions. For everyone, really. But for now just needed time to think through all of it.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Keigan said. "All of you."

Lake reached out and set her hand on her father's arm.

"Well... thanks for telling us now," she said softly.

"How did the, uh... how did the other wishes backfire?" Fish asked. Now he was starting to feel like his dad: awkward and stiff in the spotlight.

Keigan glanced at Lee, but seeing as Lee didn't look eager to speak up, Keigan answered first.

"Happiness is something that's difficult to measure," Keigan said quietly. "Around the same time as Gilda's passing, things in our family started getting more difficult. We were struggling financially and there's been a lot of... internal strife, namely with my daughters."

It seemed he was leaving out personal details, but from the look on Lake's face, it seemed like she understood what he meant.

"In my own expectations for happiness, one of the things I wanted most was a big family," Keigan said. "But after Snow... we had several miscarriages. And then eventually, I wasn't able to have kids at all."

Rain was looking at Lee expectantly, and it was clear he was getting uneasy. He cleared his throat lamely once there was a brief silence that he seemed like he felt the need to fill. "... and my wish was for wealth and prosperity... but I didn't quite understand the implications of what I was asking for. It led to a lot of deals I'm not proud of that compromised my integrity and one moment I was on my way to the top, then the next... I'm the mayor of a dinky little town, at the apex of my career."

This was a lot to take in. Fish didn't think that their dads would come in an open up so easily. Why couldn't they have just told them all earlier? Why wait? Fish could understand the shame and guilt they must have carried... and to cast so much hope on their kids, too... It made sense why his dad and even Keigan let them go on this quest so easily.

Their hope was them. They had hope that Fish, Rain, and Lake could undo the actions of their past.

And of course, it was much bigger than that. It was much bigger than any of them could have thought.

"Any more questions?" Cheva said, clearly stifling a bored yawn. "You can discuss the details outside of my shrine at your own time. But eventually, and I would suggest sometime soon - even now - that you go see to your town that is currently drowning in snow."

"...so like, how far does our magic work now?" Rain clarified. "Like, if Father and I go outside and dance, it'll just... clear up?"

"Why don't you just trust me and go find out?" Cheva said, looking to the door. Or, what was sort of a door. Rain looked like she didn't trust Cheva even a little bit but, for once in her life, kept her mouth shut this time.

At a closer look, Fish saw that the hole in the wall that Keigan had created was made... just a few dozen feet before an actual open doorway.

"Child of the skies, you will restore the skies through your love of dance. Realize that your wish for wealth and prosperity is hidden in your heart. Child of the beasts, you will restore the beasts of the land through the power of your voice. Realize that your wish to find love is already present around you. Child of the waters, you will restore the waters of the land through your song. Realize that the family you have around is enough to be happy. Now go," Cheva urged them. "Before it's too late. People are already suffering. You can help them. Go."

That was enough to kick Lake in the butt.

If snow had been coming down heavy, nonstop since they were in the ice tunnels, then it'd been at least two days by now, and she knew well enough how much snow could pile up in that time. And with no power? No magic? And likely, a dwindling fuel supply?

Chevan needed their help.

"Okay," she said loudly, gathering everyone's attention. "I know everyone still has a million questions and isn't thrilled with everything. But our townspeople need our help, and I'm going to help them."

She turned to the door, determined. Looking over her shoulder, she looked to everyone.

"Are you coming with me?" she asked.

And for a moment, she really did feel like she was back in Chevan again, begging her friends to follow her into the glaciers to help a goddess. But now, they were turning around to help their own people. Their own families.

Rain glanced around the group, then stepped forward with a shrug. "Why not?"

Fish followed next, jogging after Lake. "Right behind you," he called after her.

Lee looked at the other dads, then also shrugged and followed the kids. "Guess it's time to quest our way back home."

Fischer laughed through his nose, following behind Lee. "Off to save the world. Our kids are growing up fast."

Keigan hurried up beside her, matching her pace.

"I'm with you, Lake," he said. "And I'm so, so proud of you."

Lake couldn't help but smile softly at him, but then let out a little laugh.

"Don't be too proud," she said. "We haven't saved Chevan yet!"

Lake turned her attention from her dad and hurried down the steps of the platform, away from the pedastals. Away from the throne. Away from the heart. She heard the footsteps following behind her.

She scanned the room, looking for where the dogs had undoubtedly run off to to hide from Cheva and all the other freaky magic going on. Thankfully, they hadn't run off too far, and were cowering behind one of the large pillars.

Lake turned and looked at Fish, nodding from him to the dogs.

"I'll let you take this one, child of the beasts," she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, okay, Katara," Fish said with a huffy sigh before he took in a deep breath to gather the air for his lungs. "Hey, dogs! Listen up! Follow the sound of my voice -- we're leaving!"

The dogs still looked scared and confused, but at the sound of Fish's voice, they perked up, whining as they tentatively wagged their tails.

"Yeah... this place is pretty freaky," Fish said, dropping the militant act as he crouched down so he was more at their eye level. "That's why we're leaving, though. We're going to save the town from the snow. Think you can help get us over there then use your digging skills to save some snowed-in people?"

At that, the dogs seemed to open up, barking with their tails wagging fast as they approached him, crowding all around him. Fish laughed, but then huffed and mumbled a bunch of incoherent sentences as Big Guy toppled him over.

Fischer was grinning, watching his son with a look of pride that Lake had never seen from him before. "That's my boy," he said with a cackle.

"Alright," Lake said with a smile, waving to Fish. "Come on!"

As Lake hurried to the door with her father at her side, she heard the Elstans behind her.

"So, uh..." Lee said quietly, somehow finding himself walking next to Rain. "We're... not gonna mention...? Right?"

"Mention what?" She glanced at him.

He furrowed his brow. "That we...?"

"We didn't do anything," she gave him a pointed look.

He hesitated, then nodded. "Good... good! Guess there's something we can agree on afterall."

"Do what? Dance?" Fischer's voice boomed behind them.

"Noooo," Lee said, turning around with his finger raised. "Stop that!"

"No more secrets!" Keigan said with a laugh.

Lake glanced behind her with a grin and led them all through the doorway into the icy hall. Unlike the one leading into this place from the spot on the lake, this one seemed better kept, and was carved to stay a consistent width. The floor was thankfully less slippery, but the air was still frigid and cold. Behind her, she could hear Fish laughing with the dogs, and his father, Fischer, keeping a back and forth with Rain and Lee, who were still trying to cover up their embarassment about the whole dancing thing.

But at this point, Lake was just happy that they made it out. They had a big job ahead of them, but it seemed a lot less scary knowing that they were doing it together.

Lake's dad helped them navigated their way through the tunnels, and Lake couldn't help but feel a weird sense of pride that her dad knew what he was doing, even if the ways he came to the knowledge were less honorable. He was being helpful, and she could tell he was wholly sincere and earnest in his desire to be close and be a good support to her.

Sure, they'd had their rough patches. Life growing up hadn't always been the easiest. She and Feather were like oil and water (not like a feather in a lake, because that made no sense), but every once in a while, they'd look past their differences, and Lake didn't think it was impossible.

Would it take work? Sure. Everything took work. And a lot of the time, the things you valued the most were the things you had to work for... and Lake was beginning to wonder if, maybe that was the whole point of all of this.

Wishes were a whimsical, fantastical thing that people liked to think would solve everything, but even if the wishes hadn't been corrupted, Lake had a feeling that things still wouldn't be "perfect."

No matter where you were at in life, you had to learn to be happy. And, well, Lake was excited to learn what that looked like now, in this new chapter. With her friends and their families alongside them.

Was it going to be crazy chaotic when they got home and had to explain everything?

Oh, for sure.

But she believed they were going to make it out alright. If they could make it through everything they just endured in the past three days, they could make it through what was to come. Together.

With hope rising in her heart, and a resolve even more solid than before, she found a grin forming on her face as they finally made it to the end of the tunnel.

They weren't met with sunlight, but they were met with open air.

The sky was dark, and the air in front of them was white, drowning in the blizzard. The constant, merciless downpour of cold, cold snow.

But Lake was about to have an Elsa moment. A "the cold never bothered me anyway" moment.

Looking at the mounds of snow ahead of them, Lake stepped forward with the confidence of one blessed by a goddess.

With a grin, she set her focus on the snow.

What did it look like in all those prophetic descriptions?

The snow was pushed back like a wave, melting away.

Stretching out her hands, she took in a deep breath.

The way she channeled her magic was always through music. But for something like this? Well, she didn't have a spell for something of this magnitude. So she decided to come up with her own, and started to sing, her voice getting carried away in the wind, but she could hear it, and that was what mattered.


There was a wave of raw power that seemed to pulse out of her. Her eyes went wide as she steadied her stance, and watched as the snow in front of her instantly cleared away.

Just like in the pictures.

It created a path in front of her, carved out through the snow. The snow was pushed back like a wave, and though it was piled high enough to be over their heads, she'd melted it through to the actual ground.

And the path... went all the way to the town.

Snow was still coming down, but now that the way was clear, she realized the tunnel let out closer to the town than she'd thought they were. Through the clearing, she could see the houses as little silhouettes, within reach.

This... they could actually do this.

"Hey, Lake," Fish said with a big smile on his face. "Ready for another pizza dream quest?"

Filled with exhilaration, she gave Fish the biggest smile ever and darted out onto the solid ground, too filled with joy to even put it into words. Lake's excitement and the melting of the snow seemed to bring a hearty laugh out of Rain, and she ran after Lake with a giant grin on her face. Fish took this cue to do the same, and the dogs barked and ran even faster, almost tripping him in the process.

She hadn't seen the ground cleared like this in two long, long years.

And this was only the beginning.