The four walked into the cortex, with Hiccup carrying Shannon where Cisco and Caitlin were waiting for them. Hiccup helped Caitlin get Shannon situated in the medical bay, setting up a heating panel above her.
"Hey, and if that doesn't work, we can always call Rory over and have him just, like, blast her with the Heat Gun. That would do it." Cisco suggested, gesturing with a hand. Hiccup glanced at Cisco.
"I know you're kidding, but that'd actually speed up the process." Cisco shrugged, but before he could respond, two men walked into the cortex.
"Nox! Viggo!" Emma exclaimed, hugging Nox, and then Viggo. Hiccup quickly hugged the two also.
"Is-is everyone-" Nox nodded.
"Yes, everyone's okay." Hiccup let out a breath of air, relieved.
"Thank goodness." He murmured. Then he glanced around the room. "Do you guys, uh-"
"Go, we'll be fine here." Caitlin encouraged him. Hiccup smiled gratefully and ran off.
"How'd you guys know something happened?" Snart questioned.
"Cisco called us." Viggo explained, glancing at Cisco, who nodded.
"I had to make sure everything was back to normal."
"And is it?" Emma asked. Cisco nodded again.
"Yup. Well, y'know, normal for us." Barry walked over to the group, grinning from ear to ear, clearly happy that everything was gonna be okay. Before Emma could too, Snart placed a hand on her arm and gently pulled her aside.
"I wanted to talk to you about something." Emma nodded.
"Okay, sure, what's up?" Snart glanced over at the group before turning back to Emma.
"About what I said earlier, about messing things up. That was just me being paranoid. And paranoia is just that, paranoia. And I'm sick of being paranoid." Snart said, quietly. Emma's brow furrowed in confusion.
"What're you saying?" Snart gently cupped Emma's face and kissed her.
When the kiss broke, the two leaned their heads in together, foreheads touching.
"Everyone's looking at us." Emma whispered.
"Let them." Snart replied, tucking a lock of Emma's hair behind her ear before turning to look at the others. Both Caitlin and Cisco's expressions were shocked, Barry's face was mildly surprised, and Viggo and Nox just looked straight up smug.
"Uh, was that like that before?" Cisco questioned, pointing at Emma and Snart. Nox nodded.
"Yup, you guys just didn't know." He responded.
"How long have you two been together?" Caitlin asked. Emma glanced at Snart before turning back to Caitlin.
"Since November." She replied.
"November?" Barry questioned, folding his arms.
"Oh, don't look so flipped off, you knew longer than those two." Snart spoke up, gesturing to Caitlin and Cisco.
"I was cursed. I didn't fully know what I was finding out." Barry retorted. "I just don't understand why didn't you guys tell us sooner?" He added.
Emma shrugged.
"Leonard thought that Shannon would kill him if she found out, so we decided to keep it on the down low." Snart cleared his throat.
"Yeah. About that. Apparently said person we were trying to keep our relationship from knew the entire time."
"What?" Snart glanced at Emma and shrugged.
"Yeah, did I forget to mention that Shannon was the one who gave me the advice?"
"Leonard!" Snart put his hands in the air.
"I didn't know until she told me, I swear." Emma shook her head, chuckling.
"All this drama could've been avoided if you had listened to me."
"And you were right."
Nox turned to look at Viggo, who seemed to be enjoying this way too much.
"I just want you to know, about the bet, I won't be cashing in my reward right away." He whispered, before walking off towards the medical bay. Viggo's face immediately fell the moment he remembered the bet. That was the moment Cisco suddenly let out a delighted gasp.
"What is it?" Emma questioned. Cisco pointed from Emma to Snart.
"Emma's full name is 'Emerald'. And Snart was a jewel thief, oh!" Cisco dramatically leaned backwards, his hands on his chest, for a moment before straightening up.
"Beautiful. Just beautiful." Emma glanced at Snart.
"Regretting your decision?" Snart smiled at her grimly, but said nothing.
Shannon came too a week later. She woke up to see Nox sitting by her side. He perked up when he saw her awake.
"Hey." Nox murmured.
"Are we dead?" Shannon questioned. Nox smiled and shook his head.
"No. We're very much alive. All of us." Shannon grinned ear to ear and sat up to kiss Nox. Nox broke the kiss and looked her in the eye. "And you should probably know that Snart and Emma finally told the team."
"They certainly took their sweet time." Shannon replied. Nox chuckled and sat down beside Shannon. "How long have I been out?" She questioned.
"About a week. You haven't missed much, though. It's been quite uneventful. Quiet. Except for the couple days where the team teased Snart and Emma." Nox remarked.
"Oh, man, I missed that?"
"Don't worry, I caught as much of it as I could on camera for you." Shannon grinned and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"You really are an amazing husband." She said, kissing him on the check.
Nox smiled.
"It's really good to have you back, Shannon." Shannon smiled back.
"And it's good to be back. And everything is really back to normal?" Nox nodded.
"Normal for us, yes."
"And Rohan?" Shannon questioned.
"Barry said that in all the commotion he got away." Nox stated with a sigh. Shannon squeezed his shoulders tighter.
"Hey, don't worry. We'll get him, I know we will."
"How can you be so sure?" Nox questioned. Shannon looked her husband dead in the eye.
"Nox, Rohan just hit us with the best weapon in his arsenal. Yet we're still standing."
"But we almost lost you in the process of dealing with it."
Shannon shrugged.
"Almost being the key word in that sentence. My point is, if we can survive this curse, we can survive anything Rohan throws at us. We can take him down." Nox let out a breath of air through his nose and gestured loosely with a hand.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm just worried about what we could lose in the process."
"Don't think about the 'what ifs', my love. Just think about what we know for sure." Nox tilted his head to one side.
"Which is?"
"Which is that we'll all be together until the very end. No matter what, we will always be here for each other." Shannon replied. Heroes deal with many obstacles in their life. Otherwise their role as a hero wouldn't have much meaning to it. But, even when the going gets tough, heroes still stand up for what is right, and do what they have done in the past and what they will always do: protect people. Even if it means being willing to sacrifice everything, including their own life. And that's what being a hero is all about.
THE STORY CONTINUES.........
Next Story: Quest of the Diviners