BEHOLD. I PRESENT YOU WITH A NEW CHAPTER. I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating like I said I would...life can sometimes swallow you up and yeah.

Shout out to TH4TON3GUY for providing me with some ideas to go on with! Much appreciated!

And now, the chapter. Enjoy!

We didn't stay sat on the sand like that for long. The temperature had different plans for us. It got colder, making my soaked, clingy clothing more unbearable. That led to my teeth chattering. They chattered so bad I tried biting my cheeks to try and stop them, that only leading to pain. Then the taste of copper. Great. Now I was cold and bleeding.

Cronus apparently had had enough of my shivering and chattering because he got up suddenly, taking me surprise and making me fall over in the sand. He started hurriedly finding the driest wood he could and a thick stick. After gathering these items, he dropped them to the sand then he himself to his knees. He started digging a hole, big enough to be useful but small enough to put a piece of wood across without it falling in, then searched himself.

I watched as he pulled a long knife from his boot, the same one he threw at me in the nest, and cut the wood lengthwise about halfway. What on Earth was a hole in the wood- Oh. I shook my head at my ignorance. Of course. Friction. My brother had done this plenty of times when we didn't have any other source of making a flame.

He began adding tinder to the wood, quickly scraping the stick against the plank. I could almost see the hope in his eyes dissipate as he did this for about what felt like forever. Sighing, I got up, figuring I should do something productive.

Before leaving to explore, I asked for the knife. He barely looked up as he stopped scraping, handed me the weapon, then started back up with his work almost angrily. I started to say something but thought better of it. I mean, he had just jumped off the only place he had known and called 'home.' If you would really consider it that. More like a sailing jail...I was losing what daylight I had left having these thoughts.

Snapping my thoughts back to the task at hand, I started my exploration, dragging any suitable materials for building back to what I assumed our camp. I did this for what seemed like forever, dragging and dropping small, fallen limbs and trees. Back and forth. Round and round. While on about my fifth or sixth time retrieving things, I heard a yell and ran back to the camp, only to find fire and a very ecstatic Cronus.

I stared blankly for a few minutes until he brought me back to my senses by taking me by my hands and spinning us around. He laughed, clearly happy that he made fire, and kept us spinning until he fell over, landing on the sand with an 'Oof!' Calming himself, he looked around almost in awe at the materials I had gathered.

"Wvhere did all this come from?" He asked, looking up at me from his spot.

"Oh. Uh...I, ah, found it? And drug it here?" I shrugged as if it were no big deal, which really, it wasn't. "You were busy with the fire so I thought I'd help with maybe some shelter materials.."

A smile lit up his face, making me smile as well. He only smiled wider and stood up, assessing the miscellaneous limbs and logs I had found.

"Wvell, wve should be able to make a small lean-to wvith wvhat wve got here..." He trailed off and looked back to me, tilting his head a little.

I looked back at him, puzzled by the look he was giving me. Almost as if...he was trying to figure me out. "...What?"

He just blinked then gave me a half smile. "It's just...you should smile more often. I wvould say all the time but that'd get tirin' for you."

"O-oh.." Was I still smiling? I quickly covered my mouth and averted my eyes, feeling heat creep into my cheeks.

"Don't covwer it.." I heard, then felt a careful hand around my wrist, gently pulling my hand away. My eyes were glued to the ground, cheeks as hot as the fire. I didn't dare look up for fear of seeing what I actually wanted to be there. A pair of eyes looking back, holding mine. But I didn't have to look up. He had positioned himself so he was looking up at me, smiling the smallest of smiles.

"I..." I needed to say something. Something not gibberish and filled with embarrassment. "But what if I want to cover it?" Nice.

He chuckled at that and stood straight, knowing I would most likely look up as he did so. And damn, was he right. "Then I'll be there to uncovwer it? You havwe a beautiful smile. Don't hide it from the wvorld, kitten."

I huffed at the infernal nickname but couldn't keep a tiny smile from sneaking out. Soon tiny turned to big and he smiled almost as wide as I was.

"Nowv that I'vwe got you smilin' and wve havwe fire, let's get this shelter started."