A/N: sorry for yet another slow update ... but marellinh, here we come :D (btw, did you guys see the art of Marella by Laura Hollingsworth? she's so gorgeous omw)

By the way … I can't remember anything about splotching and elvin PE, so please bear with me and feel free to (politely) correct me if I'm wrong, lol. Thanks for understanding!

LINH SONG

earlier …

Sometimes I catch myself staring at the ground, at the shadows, some tiny part of me hoping and wishing that they would reach out and meet mine. That my twin brother's voice would fill my head and would comfort me, telling me, I'm here.

But, as I walk side-by-side with Keefe and Marella, the shadows stay still. I risk a glance at Keefe, and I can't help but notice that he's watching the ground, too, a small frown curling at the corners of his lips.

He misses Tam as much as I do.

Keefe meets my eyes and we smile at each other, a soft, sad smile. Ever since Tam's departure, I think Keefe and I have become closer. He's the only one that's as worried about Tam as I am, even though Keefe rarely shows it.

On my other side, Marella clears her throat. I jump in surprise, red spreading across my cheeks. Keefe quickly looks away, his smile morphing into a smirk.

"Ugh, I think we're doing another splotching championship," Biana complains, rolling her teal eyes as she glances back at us. "We all know how that's going to turn out; Sophie beating my brother with ease -"

"Wait, where's Fitz?" Sophie interrupts. "And Dex?"

Keefe snickers.

"Let's not bother them," he says, his smirk widening. Sophie covers her mouth, eyes wide. Biana giggles.

"Interesting," Marella notes, raising a delicate eyebrow. "I guess that means Sophie will be winning this one, huh?"

Sophie rolls her eyes. "You never know what can happen … I'm not as good as you guys think!"

Biana sighs and wraps an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders.

"You're right." She smiles. "You're even better."

Splotch!

I wince as the ice-blue paintball splashes across Keefe's face. Keefe laughs easily at my facial expression as he starts to walks away.

"You're pretty good at this game," he says, and I shrug.

"Probably because of Exillium," I reply, and his face falls. I know the look in his eyes - he's thinking about his boyfriend.

"Losers to the wall! I'm talking to you, Mr. Sencen," the instructor calls out cheerfully. Keefe sighs and shoots me a quick smile before jogging off.

"My turn?" The familiar voice gives me a strangely familiar feeling, like a river of cold running down my back, but in a refreshing way. I turn to face Marella.

"You beat Maruca?"

Marella hums in agreement, her blonde hair swinging around her petite face. We face each other, and I can feel a soft blush creeping up my arms. Something about Marella makes me warm, like a gentle hot spring. It must be because she's a Pyrokinetic. Right?

We catch the paintballs and face each other. The instructor shouts at us to splotch, and my heart pounds as I concentrate on the blue ball over my head. Suddenly splotching feels very, very intense -

As the paint whirls towards me, a flash of orange catches my eyes, and I can see fire licking around the corners of the paint. A scream lodges itself in my throat as I throw water at the paintball inferno, and the paint splatters on the ground.

Tiny flames appear on the ground, dancing playfully as they begin to grow. I look up quickly and see Marella's ice-blue eyes wide with panic and terror.

She's out of control.

I know exactly what it feels like.

I gather the moisture in the air and extinguish the flames as fast I can, until all that's left is a puddle of water and paint. Heads turn to face us, and Marella's face burns a fiery red (not literally).

"Whooooa!" I quickly say, facing Marella and laughing awkwardly. "You scared me! Sorry … I shouldn't have splashed you and the paint with the water. I guess I'm still not used to these games."

Marella's colour slowly returns to normal and she rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever," she replies easily, flicking her soft blonde hair over her shoulder and turning away. I swallow a lump in my throat and turn away as well, walking towards Keefe and Dex to the "loser wall". An uneasy feeling swirls in my stomach, but I push it away before I can identify it.

No one is surprised when Sophie wins the final round against a female a level above ours, but Biana still runs up to her girlfriend and hugs her like she'd won the Lost Cities. I feel a small smile creep across my face. I wish …

"You okay, Linh?" The voice startles me, and I turn to face Maruca, nodding awkwardly. She glances at the door, where a blonde, petite figure was running away.

"Huh. Okay." Maruca shrugs and begins to follow Sophie, Biana, and Keefe down the hall, so after a moment of confusion, I trail after them.

The feeling swirling in my stomach finally names itself: disappointment. But why? I sigh at my own behaviour and draw little water animals in the air, my smile returning at the familiar process.

"Psst. Linh." A hand grabs my arm and yanks me into the washroom. I yelp in surprise, my heart hammering for fear that this is the male's washroom, but to my relief, it's not. Especially because the pretty blonde elf in front of me is definitely not male.

"I. Er. Thanks, Linh …" Marella's face reddens and I can feel heat rushing to my cheeks as well. I avoid her eyes and look instead to her shoulder, where her hair cascades down like a waterfall.

"I just … I hate being out of control. But you ... " Marella shakes her head. I twist my fingers together.

"You make it alright," Marella finishes, and before I can move she leans in, smelling like sweet smoke and wildflowers, and presses her petal-soft lips to my cheek. A bucket of ice-cold water seems to be dumped on my head and I freeze, the feeling beautiful and surprising and refreshing.

She pulls away far too quickly, her warmth vanishing as she flees from the washroom. Her footsteps fade away as I slowly reach up, still frozen, and touch my cheek.

Did that just happen?

The answer becomes clear as the plumbing explodes.

A/N: hope you enjoyed! I don't know why Linh is so punny and kind of out-of-character, but … oh well.

I am very sorry, but I will probably have another long break before the next update. I have a scary exam coming up that might get me into a special program, so I have to study for that. I'm also really struggling with my mental health right now, so everything is kind of sped-up and slowed-down all at once. Sorry! I'll update when I can 3 love you guys so much!