~~~ Sage Tooley ~~~
Blindness.
Suffocation.
I'm drowning.
Sage kicked around blindly, writhing in black liquid. Her joints screamed at the effort, and her eyes and lungs burned viciously. She didn't know where she was or how she ended up there, but something was very clear:
Her life was in danger.
The greenette reached out in hopes of touching the surface but came back with nothing. There was no light, no way of knowing which way was up. Her heart rate climbed with every passing second she didn't take in a breath.
Finally, her limbs grew too tired to move anymore. Sage sank further and further away from any hope of saving herself. This, she realized, was what it had all come to. The constant running, the devastation, the pain she had endured for years -- it all ended when the dam holding her emotions back broke down, releasing her inner thoughts and horrors like a tsunami that threatened to swallow her whole.
Just as Sage had come to accept her fate, she felt her feet hit something solid. The scene before her changed, and she found herself on a beach. The pressure on her chest from holding her breath vanished and her clothes dried out. She could feel the sand beneath her toes and just a little ways away was the ocean, its waves breaking gently against the shore. A breeze rustled her wavy green hair as the sun set on the horizon. The Iris looked around.
This is Valcoast. What am I doing here?
She brought her hand up to her face and gently ran her fingers across her cheek. Nothing hurt and she couldn't feel any of the contusions she knew she should've had. But as confused as she was, the girl stopped questioning it. Being home and smelling the sea and seeing the familiar surroundings was comforting. It made her feel as if a missing piece of herself had been found and put back into place.
Before Sage could process another thought, she set out down the beach. At first she walked, but eventually her pace picked up until she was jogging. She grinned as a wave came up and washed over her feet.
As she made her way across the sandy expense, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. It was a small gray building with white trim sitting at the edge of the woods. She gasped. She would have recognized that structure anywhere.
It was the Valcoast Seaside Bakery, the entrance to the Tanna Society.
Sage broke out into a run towards it. All common sense left her as she approached the bakery. Her relieved smile stretched from ear to ear.
I'm finally home.
But in the blink of an eye that same smile disappeared. She skidded to a stop as smoke suddenly spewed from the windows and underneath the front door. She watched in horror as flames trailed up the walls and engulfed the building until it was one large inferno. Sage covered her mouth with her hands and fell to her knees, tears already spilling over her eyelids.
"No. Please no. Not again," she said between sobs.
Her surroundings changed just as gunfire rang out.
Sage felt the sand get replaced by cold rock. She shakily wiped away the tears that still graced her cheeks and got to her feet, the sound of bullets leaving the barrels of firearms still blaring in her ears. She was in a small, dimly lit room. It took her a moment to adjust to the darkness, and even then she couldn't pinpoint where exactly she was.
It wasn't until she spotted the shackles hanging from the far wall did it hit her.
Sage's eyes widened in fear as she scrambled back and into the wall behind her. She looked for a door or window -- anything that would allow her to escape. Shadows danced around her and the temperature in the chamber seemed to rise drastically, the heat trying to suffocate her.
The greenette slid down the wall and curled up at the base of it, bringing her knees up to her face and squeezing her eyes shut.
Get me out. I need to get out. Why am I-
"Sage."
The Iris glanced up warily. The voice sounded familiar, yet she couldn't remember who it belonged to.
"Sage, wake up."
It sounded welcoming.
"I'm serious."
It sounded concerned.
"Sage, you have to wake up."
It sounded like home.
~~~ Frost Statice ~~~
Frost shook Sage's uninjured shoulder with as much force as he could without hurting her further. He hadn't been able to fall back asleep since he had cleaned her wounds but the Iris had dozed off eventually, the emotional outburst draining what little energy she had left. He had been scared half to death when she had started shaking violently beside him a few hours later right as the sun rose, her face contorted in an expression of terror. Mana had woken up as well and was now watching worriedly as he tried to get the girl to come to.
"It's just a bad dream, snap out of it," the Silverkeep native stated, concern lacing his tone. "Come on, you have to-"
Sage's eyes suddenly flew open and she sat bolt upright, making Frost jump. She looked around the clearing wildly and muttered something under her breath that was too quiet for her comrade to hear. She was still trembling, which prompted the boy to tentatively reach out and touch her arm.
"Hey, you're okay. It was just a nightmare, you'll be-"
He cut himself off when the greenette's eyes landed on him. For a split second he thought she was going to break down again but, to his surprise, she did the opposite. Her shaking ceased after a few minutes and her panicked expression relaxed. She took a couple deep breaths as well. Sage slowly lifted a hand to his cheek and gently traced her thumb over his skin, making Frost's heart beat faster.
"I'm so sorry."
He furrowed his eyebrows at her words and the sudden sadness on her face and in her voice.
"For what?"
She dropped her hand and set it in her lap. Frost couldn't help but feel disappointed as the warmth from her touch vanished.
"For this mess we're in. None of it would have happened if I had just followed Corinne's instructions to begin with." Sage abruptly looked away. "You shouldn't be following me. I'm going to get us in trouble again."
While the criminal didn't know what she was talking about regarding Corinne or what her instructions had been, the last part of her statement made him frown and Mana whine. He leaned over to be in her line of sight.
"Look, I'm not sure what this stuff with Corinne is about, but us getting arrested by chance wasn't your fault and definitely doesn't make you unfit to lead. Hell, you helped run an entire organization. You're meant for this kind of thing." Frost gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Maybe you made a mistake, but that's alright. We all do."
Sage shook her head and blinked away the tears that pooled in her eyes. "It's not alright. I almost got us killed because I acted with my emotions and not my head. I put finding Carter and the others above our own safety, and that was so wrong of me. What if this happens again? What if I put us in another deadly situation?"
Frost bit his bottom lip as the girl across from him ran a hand through her hair and sniffled. He could see the war she was waging with herself, and it hurt him to know that she was in so much pain both physically and mentally.
He took Sage's hand in his, making her look up at him. Frost glanced away nervously and stared down at their intertwined fingers.
"It won't happen again," he said firmly.
Sage frowned. "How do you know that?"
Frost squeezed her hand and finally made eye contact.
"Because I trust you. I've always trusted you."
The pair stared at each other for several long moments, and a range of emotions coursed through Frost's body. Holding her hand and gazing into her emerald eyes made him confirm what he already knew.
He needed Sage.
Not in the way where he just needed her for guidance or leadership, but in the way where he couldn't possibly imagine a world without her in it. He felt her roller coaster of feelings in waves. Her passion, her liveliness, her fears -- he felt them as if they were his own. He had never grown that sort of attachment to anyone else.
From the time he was young, Frost had been looked at as the cold, heartless boy who roamed the halls of his elite academy by himself. The one whose rich parents gave him a status he didn't want. Someone whose life was already laid out for him whether he liked it or not. But in the end, it was Sage that had seen more to him. She had given him the chance to better himself.
Frost took his free hand and gently cupped her cheek with it. He leaned in, slowly bringing their faces closer together. Her breath tickled his face as their noses touched, and the last of Sage's tears disappeared. His heart was beating out of his chest as she wrapped her arms around his neck, but for once he was able to ignore it as they closed the distance between their lips.