Hi guys, I haven't posted a story in about a year and a half (?), so please be kind! My writing is kinda shotty because I haven't had the time to write anything for ages, so I decided to go back to who I know and love best: Everlark, my original OTP.

I actually had a dream when I fell asleep watching Lilo and Stitch, which pretty much formed the basis to this story... I am not Hawaiian, but I do love the place dearly. So if there are Hawaiian readers, please feel free to correct me on any mistakes that I make regarding the culture.

I'm just going to post this one chapter and then I'm going to see the response it garners, and then we'll go from there.

Happy Reading!

Prologue

Lily Bay, a twenty-four-year-old medicine student was about to die.

She was standing in the surf, in awe of her lush surroundings that were so different from the city of skyscrapers she was used to. The wave had struck her out of nowhere, pushing her to the bottom of the ocean floor. Wave after wave crashed over Lily's head, making it hard for her to break the surface of the water.

Lily was not a strong swimmer, growing up in the hustle and bustle of New York, her experiences with swimming was limited to family holidays to the quiet beaches of Florida maybe once or twice every few years. Finally, Lily broke the surface, gasping in as much air as possible, silently thanking her parents for forcing her into swimming lessons as a child. She starts towards shore where she can see her two best friends lounging lazily in the sun. Just as she starts to make progress, another wave drags her under, once again trapping her in the confines of the sea.

Lily struggled and struggled, trying to get her feet under her and using her arms to propel herself up, but to no avail. This time she was screwed. Her body was tired from all the struggling and kicking. She was going to die.

She was going to die.

Tears leaked out of Lily's eyes as the capacity of the situation finally hit her. She was going to die.

Her mouth opened screaming hysterically causing a rush of bubbles to whoosh out of her. She was going to die.

Lily's vision started to blur. She was going to die.

Water began to fill her lungs. She was going to die.

Lily's arms and legs stopped thrashing.

Everything went still. Her body began its descent to the bottom of the ocean floor, her wavering vision tracking the bubbles that floated from her body to the surface above and the sunlight that filtered through the deadly white wash illuminating the magnificence of the ocean.

Beautiful.

The word filtered through Lily's mind as the darkness surrounding the edges of her vision finally consumed her.

There was no white light. No flashes of memories, good or bad. No angels singing. Just the sound of the ocean as it crashed steadily on the shore.

There was a pounding in her chest, in her head. Lily could hear someone crying. Or were there two people crying?

Her body was heavy. She couldn't move, but as the pounding in her chest became more consistent and harder, Lily couldn't fight the nausea that was rising. She choked and coughed, water pouring from her mouth and landing on the white sand she laid on. She blinked open her eyes slowly, gasping for breath as she did so.

The first thing Lily registered was the hysterical crying coming from somewhere behind her. The second was the blue sky and the rays of sunlight warming her skin. And finally, the broad, sculpted chest that took up most of her vision.

Lily's eyes trailed over washboard abs and firm pecks, her mind marvelling at the golden, sun kissed skin. Her cheeks heated.

A rumble of a laugh sounded and the body in front of her shook. Lily's eyes snapped up to the face of the most gorgeous man she has ever seen. His smile was blindingly white, his jaw was clean and sharp, his hair hung over his forehead and into his eye. Oh, his eyes. Lily's mind went blank as she studied the swirling storm of brown, green, and… silver?

He must have saved me Lily mused as her eyes travelled over the length of the man once again. But her eyes froze as she heard the rumble of his laugh again.

A moment passed. The man laughed a little bit harder, smiling down at her with such mirth and happiness in his eyes. The awkwardness of the situation brought Lily to her senses, and she tried to speak.

"I-I uhh, umm-" Her voice was weak and her mind was at a loss for words. Lily finally settled on a murmured "Thank you."

"I should be thanking you," Her saviour said, humour lacing his words. "It's not every day that I get to save a pretty girl."

Lily snorts at this, rolling her eyes. "Smooth. But seriously, thank you. I thought… I th-thought that I d-" the word gets caught in her throat and she swallows trying again, "died. I thought that I had died."

The man smiles down at her, it's pitying, but she doesn't mind. He holds out a hand for her to take, which she accepts gently. Lily is pulled into a sitting position, and immediately her two best friends swarm her. Questions of "Are you okay? Do you need some water? Do I need to call an ambulance?" bombard her ears as her friends hold her tightly against them, Lily just shakes her head 'no' in answer. The whole time her eyes stay riveted to her saviour, kneeling in the sand across from her, an odd look on his face.

"Well, I best be going," Her saviour declares, rising from his spot in the sand.

"Wait!" Lily bursts, cutting off the ramblings of her friends and capturing the attention of the man in front of her. "What's your name?"

The man smiles, and with the sun at his back and the ocean surrounding them, Lily thinks it's just about the most beautiful sight she's ever seen.

"Kalani. Kalani Everdeen," Kalani pauses for a second, taking in Lily with her 'I-almost-drowned' glory. "Welcome to Hawaii."