AUthors Note: I apologize if you don't get some of my humor in this one but... uhm... YEAH! :P Gonna wrap this little saga up in the next one! Stay tuned! :D Oh and Happy New Years tomorrow! :)

The sun had started to rise over the now calm ocean. The storm had passed days ago and I was already out and combing the beach for my locket again. Hoping that it had washed up on shore. Of course that was too simple… Trouble sniffed around close on my heels. The orange and pink sky was really pretty and I wished that I had time to enjoy it. I yawned scanning the shallow water lapping at the sand.
"You need to sleep you know." Edge said seeming to appear from out of now where. I jumped and took a deep breath.
"Don't sneak up on me like that." I scolded. "And I'll sleep when I'm dead." I told him as I walked right on by.

"You're human now Willow, you will ACTUALLY most likely… I think… really die this time if your not careful." His uncertainty and confusion made me laugh.
"I'm technically like over 100 years old or something. I should either be a wrinkled old hag or a pile of dust right now. But here I am, looking like the same small 19 year old I did the day I died… the first time." I yawned again, and my stomach grumbled and rolled. Edge gave me a look and I sighed.
"Okay… fine. I'll have a nap and eat a coconut or something." I rolled my eyes and walked towards the forest.

"Uh no. I'm going with you. There are dangerous wild animals and you're fairly fragile right now." he said catching my arm as I tried to walk around him again.
"I am NOT fragile!" I said looking up at him towering over me in my small voice. He squeezed my arm slightly tighter. "OWW!" I tugged it away from him frowning and rubbing the spot he pinched.
"Hop on my back and I'll give you a ride back." Was he kidding?
"'Uh no'." I mimicked what he said to me when he denied ME something. It seemed to become a pattern, us teasing each other in bad imitations of the others voice.

"Willow, it'll take like five seconds. Walking would take hours and be dangerous. You're not even wearing shoes!" He chuckled at me. If he keeps treating me like a kid and making logical statements I swear I'm gonna- he grabbed me and as soon as we were in the air I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck as tight as I could. Holding on for dear life, my human body didn't like the G forces… I felt nauseous.

Once we landed I felt so dizzy and light headed I was about to feint, Edge caught me before I hit the ground though… of course. I knew I was being carried like a child and I honestly didn't care at this point, being cradled against his chest was downright inviting. He smelled like ocean air and fresh breeze. Kind of like plants after it rains and some kind of sweet honey smell that I couldn't quite figure out.

When I woke up I felt well rested at least, there was a note and a pile of fruit in front of the door. So that I couldn't miss it if I tried to leave. I rolled my eyes and read the note, his hand writing was better than MINE? What is this rumpus…

Dear Willow,
I went out with Trouble to search for the locket. Eat and then you can come join us. Go down the path I made, it's less dangerous and easy on your feet.
-Edge

"Okay DAD." I said sarcastically to myself. I WAS rather hungry… so I grabbed a weird shaped fruit and bit into it. When was the last time I actually ate something other than candy? I gobbled down almost all of it before I really thought of an answer. Before I died… the first time. I think. Opening the door was like breathing fresh air for the first time. That stupid shack was so damn stuffy… being in the middle of the forest and right by the ocean you'd think it would be a little nicer but NOPE!

It took me a lot longer than I had hoped to finally get to the beach but I made it. Covered in sweat and smelly as hell but hey, I was planning on swimming around for my locket anyways. I looked around for Trouble and Edge but I couldn't see them anywhere… it also didn't help that I forgot the human me was terribly near sighted…
"Oh well…" I sighed stripping off my dress, I didn't bring my hat or socks because it was too humid out and it literally stuck to my head and legs.

The sun was really high in the sky and I wasn't sure what time it was but I assumed it was something like mid afternoon. The water was nice and cool against my over heated skin but as I got deeper in my breath became shallow and my heart started to race. I remember that night when I drowned… the waves tossing me around, helpless, dead. I took a deep breath, I was being silly. I stomped into the water and started treading in one spot.
"See, not so bad." I reassured myself. To be honest it wasn't so bad at all, I was instantly cooled off and everything. I took a few more deeper breaths and dove underneath, opening my eyes was odd. Everything was really blurry and not the usual crystal clear I was used to. Course human eyes aren't the same as mine used to be…

Way too soon I had to come back up for air and I saw two dark figures in the distance. I swam so my feet were touching the bottom again and then I stopped, realizing, once again, I was rather exposed. Trouble landed by my clothes, far away from any source of water and Edge floated just above me.
"We have to stop meeting like this." I said trying to joke but I blushed so horribly that I think it failed. Edge smiled his perfect jaw dropping smile, I think I might have a smile fetish…
"I don't really mind it." He floated through the air effortlessly, hands behind his head and laying like he was lounging on a hammock.

"I take it you didn't find anything?" I said forcing myself to look away from him. His mouth twisted to the side.
"No… sorry." I nodded and looked down through the water at my toes.
"It's alright…" It really wasn't… but I wasn't gonna let him worry more. "So Edge." I started, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.
"Yes?" his reaction confused me.
"What does THAT look mean?" I chuckled. He scanned my face seriously.
"Whenever a girl starts with 'So BLANK.' they are about to ask a question they don't ACTUALLY wanna know the answer to." he was so logical it threw me off.

"Why would anyone ask if they didn't wanna know?"
"Hope." He replied simply.
"Hope?" I asked.
"Yeah, they know the answer will probably be bad. But they hope that it will be better than they are expecting." he seemed to make it sound so… simple. Or something.
"But then… wouldn't they just be let down by their own doing?" I was asking him this stuff like he knew the meaning of life.
"Hope is what destroys us but, it's also what keeps us going." He said looking away from me almost shamefully.
"It's true I guess…" My voice sounded defeated. There was a long silence of just the sound of the ocean.

"What if I don't get my powers back?" I looked up at him, feeling scared and sad. He turned to me and frowned.
"Well… does it matter that much? couldn't you just… be human?" He asked. I wrinkled my nose at what he said.
"I don't think so… I think it's one of those 'once you go black you cant go back' scenarios. Being so average and fragile and HUMAN is just so…" I couldn't think of the word.
"Bland?" He suggested. I nodded. "Ah I see…" there was another slight silence.

He seemed to be down and lost in thoughts that I could probably never know. I sighed, we can take an afternoon off from searching couldn't we? I mean we have quite a few months before October rolls around… I flicked my hand up ever so slightly so that a few water droplets landed on him. He pulled himself up in the air.

"What was THAT for?" He asked a smile playing on his lips.
"Being sad. It's not aloud anymore." I smiled up at him. He gasped
"Well this is my favourite shirt!" He said with a mockingly shocked expression.
"Well you clearly didn't get my note about wearing your SECOND favourite shirt while looking for a girls lost necklace." I teased him. He pulled off his now wet t-shirt and tossed it towards the shore, it somehow landed beside mine. I swallowed hard, damn these immortal guys. Damn them to hell with their… bodies…
"You WILL have to pay for that Willow." He said, pretending to threaten me. I gasped cupping my hand over my mouth.

"Oh no! What ever will you do Edge? Splash me to death!? Please go easy on me, I am but a simple human!" He kicked water at me with his bare foot and it made me giggle. I splashed him back and he eventually landed in the water beside me. I tried to shield myself the best I could but… I didn't exactly have the immortal speed he did anymore and I ended up falling over into the water. He pulled me back up and I lost balance on the bottom. I just fell right into him, his body was so cold, both of us stopped laughing.

There was this moment, this crazy slight moment that seemed to last forever where we locked eyes and I just imagined what it'd be like to have him pull my chin up so that our lips hovered so close to each other that they just-
"Mrrrrrrrrowwwww!" Trouble hit Edge with a bout of bad luck, he stumbled backwards and fell into the water. My mind came back to reality. Wow that, no more of that! I scolded myself and started walking towards shore.

The butterflies in my stomach were gonna lift me up and carry me away they were batting their wings so hard. I got dressed and Edge came to join me on the sand, his wet jeans stuck to his legs, still shirtless and his hair half dry on his head. I probably looked like a beached whale right now… not the god like spirit he was… I used to be…

"Hey now, no sadness aloud. Remember?" he punched me in the arm, possibly a little too hard but I chuckled anyways.
"Right. Right sorry." We sat in the quiet for a long time, Trouble purring beside me as I scratched behind his ear. It was a few minutes later that I realized he had COMPLETELY avoided my question from earlier, so I started the same way.
"So Edge." I turned to him, he sighed and turned his head towards me.
"Yes?"
"If Pitch is your dad… who's your mom?" he looked out over the ocean, like he was telling it and not me.
"I'm… not entirely sure." he spoke to the waves. "I know, your next question will be 'if I got the fear thing from my dad, what could I have possibly gotten from my mom?' and well, I do have a theory but… it's kind of far out there."
"We live in a world where Santa Clause is real and the Tooth fairy has mini fairies collecting teeth. I have met the Easter bunny and up until a few days ago could fly and had magic powers bestowed upon me by the moon after I died. It cant be THAT far out there." That got a smirk out of him, he still wouldn't look at me. "Try me." I challenged. He paused for a moment.

"I think MAYBE she was the spirit of Spring." he said.
"I wasn't aware there was one of those… like Jack Frost? But… with spring time?" I assumed, he smiled and nodded. "What makes you think it's her?" He finally looked at me in the eyes, the gorgeous green that was reflected there was like the ocean. Not spring time flowers…
"Well… this." He whistled a melody that had me entranced from the first note. Slowly animals came out of the forest, just to sit and listen. The green tentacles were more like vines, they wrapped and twisted through the air as the melody continued, sprouting small flowers and pretty deep green moss across the sand. I watched in wonder, I knew he had good in him. "I created this island." he motioned towards the trees and thick forest/ jungle.

"Well, that is definitely a good guess I'd say." I said looking around, kind of dazed that the music was gone.
"Well thank you." He said curtly. The animals went back into the woods and he laid down on the sand, hands behind his head, looking up at the sky.
"So… have you ever thought of finding her?" I asked, he nodded.
"Yes. A few times. I've read a lot about her from my books but I could never even find a place to start looking. It's a big world out there…" I fell back onto the sand, laying beside him.
"That it is…" I might still be human but I could still feel the tension from him. "Maybe," I said to the sky. "After we find my locket, I can help you look for your mom." His smile was wry and his jaw was tense.
"That's if my dad doesn't find YOU first." He stated blankly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I tried to keep my voice from cracking. It didn't work.
"He isn't a fan of me. At all. He feeds off of fear and pain." He turned his head towards me in the sand. "Taking the one friend I've ever had would cause A LOT of pain and fear for me." he smiled at me, and I forced myself to smile too. I felt uneasy though, like a dagger had been shoved down into my chest and was left there to rot. These feelings weren't safe, especially if Pitch was involved. Edge probably knew that… probably had better self control. Probably higher standards…

I looked away so he couldn't see the hurt in my eyes.
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess." right now I couldn't really focus on anything else other than my missing locket anyways.
"Sounds like a plan to me."