Lily was wary as her two old teachers approached Niall's bed. It was paranoia fueling her distrust, seeing as her old PE teacher was in cahoots with Yuric the whole time she'd known her, but Lily knew Principal Lauren and Ms Marlowe had good intentions as they stood opposite her with the battered nymph lying between them.
"So, tell me Doctor," Niall joked, brushing his hair off his forehead. "Will I live?"
Henry Lauren smiled. "You've had a concussion, Mr Guthrie. You'll be back on your feet in no time."
Niall raised an eyebrow, smiling at being called mister, but Lily's attention snapped to Ms Marlowe stepping forward to his bed. The teacher surveyed his bruised wrists and bloody temple under her thick lashes, looking sly as she took in the dirt and blood streaked through Niall's white hair and the dark violet eyes never meeting her gaze.
When the teacher raised her hand to rest on Niall's forearm, Lily tensed. Ms Marlowe paused and looked at her former student in the new Supernova light. Lily couldn't help flicking her gaze between the fairy and the nymph, wondering what she was going to do.
"I'm just checking his wounds, Lily." Ms Marlowe's grin was as sharp as a knife.
Lily clenched her jaw as the veins in the fairy's hands flared purple, along with her eyes, and her magic draped over Niall's pale arm like a waterfall. He squirmed seeing the healing magic coat his body like dew.
Ms Marlowe frowned, a bead of sweat forming on her brow. "This...is unusual."
Henry Lauren leaned over Niall's bed and examined the bruises still there. "Your magic seems to be over the wound, Aisha."
"Yes but it's like there's no wound there. I feel like I'm trying to grasp a string in a whirlwind."
"Niall constantly floats above the ground as a nymph, maybe he's like me and can't be healed?" Lily asked but the hope of someone being like her died when Ms Marlowe shook her head.
"No, with you it's a whole other depth. This just needs..." The fairy narrowed her purple eyes and her magic, instead of pouring like water, snapped into mist. A purple, smoky haze gently breezed around Niall's arm before landing on his bruises, instantly healing them. "...A new technique."
The Principal cocked his head to the side. "Interesting. Upon hearing he floats, and my guess is you recalling he's an air-based supernatural, you turned your magic into a nature his body is familiar with."
Ms Marlowe's snake-like grin returned as her magic drifted to Niall's temple, healing the wound and the concussion wrapped around his mind. "Yes I did."
"Excellent work, Aisha."
"Thank you, Henry." Ms Marlowe looked to Lily, taking in her unharmed body and the wary expression on her face. "I spoke to some of my contacts about healing the impossible, they enlightened me and gave me the idea of new techniques."
"Such as?"
"Well, turns out the world is hiding more than we thought." Ms Marlowe shrugged, waving to Niall. "There are nymphs and phoenixes here, for one, and we never knew. I asked a contact in Egypt, a scholar, and she asked an old friend in Russia. They asked someone in Ireland, then Scotland, then Puerto Rico, and I finally got a response back from a new contact in Colombia - who knew someone in Cuba - that described healing rare supernaturals as 'a theft of clarity and a heist in illusion'."
"What does that mean?" Lily asked, her mind churning at the countries Ms Marlowe named.
With a wave over Niall's non-bruised skin, Ms Marlowe's smile twitched. "'Make the healing magic appear akin to the magic its host is gifted with', is what I translated it as."
Niall blinked. "Well that's not creepy at all."
"It still wouldn't work on you, Lily."
Lily sighed. "Of course it wouldn't."
"It's almost as though your abilities won't mix with a mine." Ms Marlowe cocked her head to the side with a gleam in her eyes Henry quickly caught. Before Lily could think too much on the teacher's eagerness to see why she was different, and before Aisha suggested experimentation, Henry gently pulled her back from Niall's bed.
"How about we send check over the werewolves one more time?" Henry suddenly said, pulling the fairy teacher away before she could respond. "I'm sure Alice would like another lollipop, Aisha."
Lily watched as they walked out of Niall's room and down the hall to another bed. On it would lay another hostage Yuric stole in the dead of night to lure Lily to her death. Her breath shook, the realisation of the past few hours hitting her suddenly, and sat down on a chair with her hands hiding the turmoil on her face.
Lily jumped when soft fingers brushed her arm. Peaking out from between her hands, Niall hesitantly drew his away, blushing. "Are you alright?"
"Am I alright?" Lily forced a laugh. "Am I alright? I should be asking you that! You, and Ollie, Alice, Claire... You guys were dragged into this and it's all my fault you were injured. Niall, you had a concussion! You could have died!"
Niall began to chuckle, his violet eyes bright with amusement. Lily blinked, pulling her hands away. "Why are you laughing? Is your concussion still there?" She asked, about to stand and call for the fairies again when Niall waved her doubts aside.
"No, I feel fine." Niall suppressed his laughter as best he could but looking at Lily, knowing her cheeks would be red in frustration, he was smiling. "You realise no one blames you, right? This was all on the rogues - and besides, I don't remember any of it. I'm just grateful I'm here and I'm alive. That's why I'm smiling."
Lily paused, a cramp in her chest forming. "What's the last thing you remember Niall?" She said gently while recalling the beautiful dance they had and their kiss as it began to snow.
Niall furrowed his brows in thought. "I think... Did you leave Cody's party? I think I remember you leaving her party, not much else between then and waking up to see you march out the woods like a badass."
"...Nothing else?"
"No, why what happened?" Niall cocked his head. "Did I miss Nick embarrassing himself again?"
Lily opened her mouth and squeaked. "Uh, nope! Just, uh, your family panicking about where you were...You missed out on Jack and Haidan, Cody too, defending everyone when the rogues came though! That was a lot more badass than me walking out a forest." She cleared her throat, hoping her cheeks weren't as hot as they felt, and fiddled with her fingers.
Niall sat up and gently grasped them, looking her in the eye with a mischievous grin. "So we didn't dance under snow and I didn't have the best kiss of my life?"
Lily's jaw fell. "You lied!"
Niall fell back on the pillows laughing as Lily gasped in shock, eventually laughing with him, but neither removed their hand from the other. Lily couldn't help staring at the nymph; his wheezing laugh as he clutched his chest, the ear-splitting grin on his face and the playful shine of his loving eyes as they looked her way once more.
"So you remember everything then?" Lily asked when he'd stopped laughing. She had a feeling she would never be able to wipe the smile off his face for the rest of her life.
"I remember everything until Nerry took you away," Niall's smile softened for a moment. "And then a pain at the side of my head. I think I woke up a bit when I was being carried down Mount Tyrill, but other than that the next thing I remember is waking up as you were walking into the clearing."
Lily's hands clenched tightly around Niall's, thinking back on the clearing. She knew there was no way she could have prepared for the six people waiting to be rescued - the three werewolves whom were kidnapped during the night under cover of darkness, Claire who'd been taken while driving to Karen, tracked from the scent of Lily's blood soaked into her clothes. Then her Aunt Ollie; the rogues had gone to the hospital to get Karen, but Ollie had stepped between them, ordering to take her instead because Karen couldn't move yet - Jacob had followed, invisible, after running from Freida Slater's with a warning and seeing his fears come true.
She lost her breath seeing her family's headstone under them, broken at the base, with cracks through her mother's name.
Lily remembered the anger that coursed through her bones and clanged in her skull seeing it, but there was nothing she could do about it now. The pain she felt seeing them all wrenched from their places; the werewolves with the pack, her aunt and Claire at the hospital, and Niall from her side. She could only put her pieces back together and heal while moving forward.
"Hey," Niall whispered, sitting up again so they were eye to eye. His hand was still tightly on Lily's. Despite being the one held hostage for a night and having a concussion and bruises, he knew Lily was wounded beyond a healing touch. A part of her soul was laid bare seeing the Morgan family gravestone, and Niall wasn't blind to how gingerly she held the fractured piece when they drove back to Nova High. "It's over now. We're okay."
"I know." Lily breathed. Her eyes were watering. "I know. It's just hit me, what I caused, what I did, and I... I'm sorry you went through-"
"You don't ever need to apologise." Niall said, wrapping his arms around her as she cried into his shoulder. The past month's events finally catching up and no longer satisfied with being anchored deep within her soul.
Lily cried everything out; from discovering her powers when she saved Alice, punching Ryan unconscious, making all the girls in Meditation besides Jack faint from the accidental humidity fluctuation, the lock down's chaos, Poppy's kidnapping and trade, being bound to be struck down by Yuric and his rogues... Everything up to the point Lily pulled away from Niall's comforting hold.
Despite everything that happened, she had found herself through the hardships thrown her way. She had never felt more alive - and it was more life she'd lived in years. Grief had hidden her away and made her numb for too long, a rock in a frozen lake beginning to thaw. After the surface had broken, the rock could finally flow through the current it had been destined to go down after all this time locked in place. Lily could finally move forward.
A sharp knock at their door halted the moment Niall and Lily were sharing, staring into each others eyes, grateful for the life they'd been given when death had almost washed them away hours before.
Ryan Croft walked in, his blue eyes frozen on Lily holding Niall's hand and the flush on her cheeks. "Hope I'm not interrupting?" He asked, walking in while leaving the door open, letting the sounds of Andrew's raised voice echo through the room.
Niall raised an eyebrow, playfully smiling at Lily. She knew what he was going to say, You were about to, can you come back later? so she spoke up first. "Is everything okay Ryan?"
He shifted on his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, it is now. Andrew's taking us back to the pack house."
"Is that what that yelling is?" Niall cocked his head to the side as they all heard Andrew snarl.
Ryan winced. "Alice wants more lollipops before going but Andrew's pretty set on leaving before the witch and the phoenix get back."
"Where are Jack and Haidan?" Lily asked immediately and Ryan smiled at her unwavering loyalty to her friends, knowing he made a big mistake in fearing instead of respecting her. That unwavering loyalty could have been for him if he'd done things differently.
"They went to get cupcakes, I think." Ryan put his hands in the pockets of his trousers, nodding to Lily. "I just wanted to talk to you before I went?"
"Oh," Lily looked to Niall briefly, still bed bound. She didn't want to leave him, not yet. The image of him in Ms Winter's claws was still in her mind. "Um..."
"It's okay it's not a private conversation." Ryan stepped back to put some space between him and the powerful couple. "I wanted to say thank you for saving us."
"It was nothing, don't worry about it." Lily said quickly, flustered. If someone else thanked her for saving their life, she would panic further about all the attention she was beginning to receive. Lily could already feel the static begin in her belly, the nausea lightly churning.
Niall and Ryan both looked at her, the wolf raising an eyebrow. "Right, well." He cleared his throat. "I also wanted to apologise to you-"
"It's okay." She squeaked. "All water under the bridge, don't worry."
Ryan blinked in surprise before grinning. "Great, me too!" He walked back to the door, smiling at the two of them. "You still owe me a letter of apology for when you punched me in the face, you know, but I think we're even now after you saved our lives."
"Yep. You too. Thanks Ryan." Lily said stiffly, thinking about how she never had any intention of sending that letter.
"See you around then, Supernova."
When Ryan mock saluted before closing the door, almost skipping down the hallway with the new weight of guilt off his shoulders, Niall waited as Lily held her head in her hands and groaned. "If another person looks at me I'm going to scream."
The corner of his mouth turned up as he looked at the anxious Supernova. "You know, the rogues were calling me your boyfriend."
Lily shot up, wide eyed. "Oh, yes I heard, um, they probably saw...the dancing and the, uh, other bit."
"The other bit?" Niall leaned forward a little further, his cheeks reddening. "Which bit was that?"
"I can't remember." Lily whispered as her mind completely focused on the mischievous glint of Niall's eyes and the coy tilt of his smile. She couldn't remember her own name even if someone asked. She was utterly captivated by the nymph in front of her.
"I should probably remind you." He said, looking between her lips and her eyes.
The static in her belly shut down her ability to think. "I-I don't know how to respond to that."
"Like this." Niall said, waving his nerves aside as he gently kissed Lily, his hand coming up to tuck her loose hair behind her ear and softly stroke her tear-streaked cheeks with his thumb. Lily shut her shining eyes when his lips brushed hers, unable to stop the breathless grin when he pulled away. Neither noticed the gentle frost coating the outside of the windows.
She blinked, her dark eyes sparkling while looking at Niall. "I'll definitely remember that for next time."
Niall laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear again. "Next time." He promised, frowning when he saw the shadow over Lily's face. He looked up at the door and went as red as Lily's hair seeing the silhouette in the window.
Jack Garcia-Slater had been watching with a half-eaten cupcake in hand, her eyes wide, and a wicked, delightful smirk spread on her face.
"Oh no," Niall groaned, falling back on the bed as Lily noticed who had seen him kiss her and laughed at his embarrassment, despite her own cheeks flaming once more. "Please tell me that's not Jack and she didn't see that."
"I heard everything too!" Jack shouted back. Niall threw a pillow over his face. Haidan appeared in the little window and he opened the door. The witch practically sprinted in with the cupcake miraculously still in her tight clutches, Haidan following suit with a box of six more.
"Is she here?" Niall's voice was rather muffled under the pillow but Jack's eyes danced.
Lily looked between the witch and the nymph, then shrugged at the phoenix. Haidan shrugged back with a smile and held out the box to her. "Cupcake?"
"Yes please." Lily said, grabbing a vanilla sponge cupcake with a jam centre and strawberry icing piped on top like a flower.
"That was such a beautiful moment, Niall." Jack teased.
"You saw nothing!"
"I really liked the ear tuck, that was rather sweet, hey!" Jack grabbed the pillow Niall threw at her before her second cupcake could be knocked on the floor.
"Now you know how Nick felt when he talked to Caroline." Lily joked, Niall sending a sharp look her way.
"Don't tell him!"
"I won't let you live it down anyway, I saw everything." Jack coyly looked at her friend, who was as red as her hair. "Lily and Niall," she began to sing, "sitting in a tree!"
They all laughed as Jack sang the rest of the verse, Haidan offering a cupcake to Niall out of sympathy - he took a red velvet with butter cream icing twirled over the sponge and grated chocolate dancing on top.
As Haidan took out a salted caramel cupcake with caramel icing for himself, he held it out like a champagne glass. "To more adventures," He said, locking eyes with the witch, reminding her of the words they'd shared before they entered Nova High again.
"With less risk of death!" Jack joked.
"And more fun," Niall rolled his eyes at Jack's wicked grin. "Fine, and embarrassment too!"
Lily paused looking at the three friends in front of her - three people she'd forever have at her side, watching over her and keeping her afloat for the rest of her life as Supernova. She would never be frozen in time again.
She had a whole life to live yet. The whole world was ready for the Supernova and she was finally ready to seek the answers it held in waiting.
"To us," Lily finalised, gently knocking her cupcake with the others.
There was just one thing she had to do first.