Loving is a gift worth gold

Written for the 'Torture the OTPs! Challenge! [Your OTP is trapped in a cave. They are unable to escape the cave on their own and must wait to be rescued.]

Written for the Rosaboxes challenge: Love level 1 [Prompt: "I'll always be there / As frightened as you / To help us survive / Being alive." from "Being Alive" - Company]

Note: again, slight spoilers for FBAWTFT

Word count without A.N.: 1,599

i. A love to give hope in frozen times

„Newt. Are you sure that's the right way?"

Queenie Goldstein asked and her exhaled breath formed a cloud of white smoke due to the freezing air.

Shaking slightly, she also tightened her soft satin and rosé-colored robe around her as best as she could.

Then she turned her head ever so slightly to glance at her friend of several years now with a rather worried expression.

"Erm, give me a little more time, Q …. I think…" Newt Scamander bit his lip – which was never a good sign.

Then he slipped his hand into his robe and retrieved a very old looking map. His eyes scanned it for several minutes, but the way he was turning and staring at it from several different angles didn't make the strawberry-blonde-haired witch feel any better at all.

Especially now, that she was standing here in Antarctica; the freezing air blowing right into her face and nothing but snow and ice around her.

But ever since Newt came back to the States, Queenie had happily agreed to help him with his search for rare and endangered magical creatures and she wouldn't let him down on his quest for the crystalline-ice-dragon either.

Though she really wished she had brought a warmer coat with her! 'But who could have known that magic – including a simple heating charm - didn't work properly here in Antarctica…'

Shaking her head slightly – in a vain attempt to get the snowflakes out of her curly hair – the grey-ish green-eyed witch focused on her friend again.

"We really are lost, aren't we?"

Newt turned and sighed. For some reason, her ability to read Newt's mind had ceased to function dramatically during the last couple of month and she had no idea why… but she could tell - even without her talent - that he was nervous.

"I probably would have used a different expression, but yes, lost is pretty good."

He looked at her sheepishly; the map still tangling from his hand and nearly touching the snow-covered ground.

Queenie knew that it didn't happen very often that Newt got lost on his adventures, which caused her beautiful grey-ish green eyes to widen alarmingly.

"Let's try to get out of here, Q," Newt suggested reluctantly. "Let's hope we can apparate into a slightly warmer area…"

The strawberry-blonde haired witch raised an eyebrow and pointed into the distance. "Apart from the fact that you and I both know that magic tends to backfire here, there's a pretty big snow-storm coming right towards us. I doubt apparating is a good idea, Newt…"

The former Hufflepuff followed her glance and his eyes widened. "We just have to give it a try, I guess," he mumbled; then closed the distance between them with a couple of steps and took Queenie into his strong arms.

Instantly, the witch's heart skipped a beat at his touch. 'This is nothing more than a little crush,' she told herself, though she knew that the more she tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, the deeper she was falling for her best friend.

Their friendship was something Queenie truly treasured and since she was indeed quite sure that Newt had no romantic feelings towards her, she didn't want to jeopardize it only because of a silly school-girl crush… so she tried to get her heavily beating heart under control.

"Ready?" The reddish-brown haired man asked and gave her a cute boy-ish smile. Queenie nodded, though her knees went week at seeing his lovely expression. "Good, then hold on tight. One. Two. Three."

...

Queenie cursed in frustration. She knew it wasn't appropriate for a lady to use improper language, but at this moment she couldn't care less.

Apparating had indeed been a fairly stupid idea; they had swirled right through the thick layer of ice and snow they had been standing on and they had landed hard on the cold and ice-covered ground.

She wasn't quite sure how much time had passed since then; all she knew was that they had already tried everything to escape the glacial cave, but it had all been in vain. Magic wasn't working at all down here and the exit whole above them was unreachable.

Rubbing her cold hands against each other, Queenie leaned back against the wall of the cave; her body shaking heavily. Her fingers were already stiff and hurting; her thin rosé-coloured gloves – that matched her robes so perfectly - were simply unable to hold off the terrible cold. Neither was her robe. The wind wasn't blowing as much as on the surface, but the cave was located under a thick layer of ice and temperatures had dropped alarmingly.

"We won't get out of here in time, will we?" Queenie whispered in a scared voice and laid her head on Newt's shoulder, who was sitting next to her.

The grey-ish green eyed witch knew that the longer they would be trapped in the cave, the more energy they would lose. And she already felt that exhaustion was about to get the better of her.

"Don't think that, Queenie," Newt whispered back and pulled her closer to his body in a weak attempt to warm her.

Shivering, the blonde witch felt the heat from his body slowly approaching hers; but they had been down there for hours and it was only a matter of time until they would both freeze to death.

The only good thing was that as long as his strong arms were wrapped around her thin waist, Queenie's heart would continue beating quickly.

"Queeny, listen. I'm sorry for all this," the former Hufflepuff apologized and looked at her with tired, guilty blue eyes.

"Newt – "

He put a cold finger on her already slightly blue-ish lips.

"This is all my fault," his words came out in a hoarse voice and his exhaled breath immediately formed into a white foggy cloud. "I was so sure the legend about the crystal-dragon was true! And now we're trapped in this bloody…"

He trailed of and looked at her sadly. "I never wanted you to get hurt."

Queenie didn't know what to say. She wanted to assure him that everything was going to be alright; that the cold wasn't as bad as it seemed; that someone was going to rescue them… But she knew better than lying to him.

"I know you'd never hurt me, Newt," she then replied softly and took his cold hand in her equally freezing one.

A sudden wave of exhaustion then hit her and she felt her eyes closing slowly.

She thought about something warm… the sofa in their apartment in New York… the heat of baking strudel in the oven… and the -

"Don't fall asleep," her friend's voice and the way he was carefully shaking her brought her back to the present.

She slowly shook her head and blinked.

"I know it's tempting, but we mustn't fall asleep or we might never wake up!" Newt sounded firm, but there was also worry in his voice.

"I – I'm s-so c-cold," Queenie whispered in a shaking voice and despite her best affords she wasn't able to hold back the tears that started to form in her beautiful eyes.

"I know… "

The witch felt him move, and she gathered all her remaining strength to hold her head up.

Then she felt the soft fabric being put around her.

"What… are… you… doing…?" She asked confused.

"Making sure you'll stay warm," was all he said as he laid his own robe around her, drew her closer to his – now only in a shirt covered – chest and once again put his strong arms around her.

Shaking terribly, Queenie snuggled closer against his warm body and buried her head in his chest.

"T-thank y-you," she mumbled tiredly.

Newt's chest was also shivering as he took a deep breath and the freezing air was filling his lungs. Then he lowered his own head and rested his chin on her curly-haired head and whispered something she couldn't quite understand. "I'll always be there… as frightened as you… to help us survive… being alive…"

Queenie's eyes felt heavier and heavier with each passing moment. She tried to stay awake and looked around, but all she saw was ice, ice and more ice.

Exhaustion was finally getting the better of her, though her lips formed into a tiny smile as heard Newt's last words before she drifted off to sleep.

"Don't give up, Queenie, please! I care for you, I… I don't know what I would do without you."

...

Someone was shaking her. Hard.

"Queenie… Queenie… Queenie… wake… up… please…."

The witch barely heard the hoarse and muffled voice, but she fought with all her might and her eyes slowly fluttered open.

At first, everything was blurry. Then she slowly turned her stiff head. Newt was kneeling in front of her; his hands holding on to both her shoulders.

His hair and eyebrows were frozen, his face was ashen and his lips blue from the cold. But there was a sparkle in his blue eyes that gave her hope.

"Look," he whispered.

Queenie followed his glance and her tired green eyes widened in amazement. There he stood in all his beauty: The legendary ice-dragon. His skin was shimmering in several different shades of blue, his kind eyes resembled a deep blue ocean and he looked like he was made out of pure ice-crystals.

"He was hiding in the glacial-cave all this time," Newt whispered softly; then swept a completely exhausted Queenie up in his arms and mounted the dragon's back. "He'll bring us home."