I looked at her hand.
I remembered all the hugs she had given me over the past many days that I had known her. I'd always endured them. Endured them like a punishment when they were supposed to be a gift. Something to be enjoyed.
And strangely… I had done that, too.
Subconsciously.
It had hurt the first time. Hurt in an odd way. I hadn't recognized that way until later.
Not until I had been frozen. Frozen entirely. Cold water being everywhere and… the warmth returning.
It had hurt. The newly returned feeling in my limbs had hurt like that first hug.
She had made the first step. The first leap to be accurate. She had taken me by surprise.
Just like back then when she had made me travel with them. Or when somehow she got me to cut loose Raw.
She had forced my heart but never my hand.
She had always made the first step.
With every hug she had warmed me more and more. With every act of kindness she tickled out of me she had shaken me.
If my heart were a person it would have fallen into that lake like I had and she would have warmed it, shaken it, demanding of it to stay alive.
Now the ice in my chest has melted away, it hurt at first but now I am relived.
I made the first step in keeping Zero alive.
Now I had to make the first step concerning the hug.
An almost invisible smile tugged at my lips and I drew her into my arms.
First step down, a million to go.
