Hello all! Happy New Year! Guys, you know what's crazy? Yes, me posting more than one chapter in a month, but also, that it's 2019. I've been working on this story for THREE YEARS! That's disgusting. I started this story when I started college - that's actually insane. If you have been here from the start, know I love you very very very much.

Phew, this story's world just keeps on getting bigger. Like, good lord! We have the ocean, the moon, the headless horseman, and...this. I cannot spoil. Just read, and enjoy. Oh, and remember, review!

Zen was not sure what had just happened.

For a moment, he just knelt in the clearing. Shirayuki's head was against his chest and she breathed as if it were an easy and peaceful sleep that had done this to her. Thunder, his ever mighty beast who had tried desperately to both reconnect with River and Shirayuki whilst avoiding death by fire, nuzzled the edge of River's mane. River did the same, but Thunder did it a little more gently – like she wasn't sure how hurt her friend was.

That jolted Zen and he gently touched Shirayuki's cheek. She was warm, and he couldn't tell if it was a fever or if it was heat from the ever dying fire. The Moon's trail was breezing all around them, covering each bit of flame and dousing it as if it were something of physical substance. He could not see the Moon Herself, but he was more concerned with Shirayuki at the moment to give it much thought.

His fingers gently moved up to her temple, where a bit of her hair was resting. It was singed slightly, giving it an odd wave. He pinched the strands, hating how dead they felt. Her breath was even, if not a little more deep than usual.

Something flashed in Zen's vision and he managed to pull his gaze up.

The knife – the sword – the weapon, floated above him proudly. Ether waiting for further instruction, or looking like it wanted praise. Zen truly, had no words. Rare of a prince, especially when he was so accustomed to politics throwing new ideas and insanity left and right, but he couldn't find the words when he faced this magic.

A cool hand that wasn't really there didn't really touch his shoulder. He looked up at the Moon, who looked grim. "Look out for us." She murmured to the dagger.

It spun once then darted around the clearing.

The Moon glanced down at Zen.

"What….just happened?" Zen asked.

The Moon smiled helplessly. "A lot. Right now, let's get you both to somewhere safe where you can rest and heal." She lifted her hands and below them the glowing path moved them. Zen jumped at the unexpectedness of it and clutched Shirayuki to his chest protectively. The Moon chuckled at him but did not say anything as he, Shirayuki, River, and Thunder all were pulled back towards somewhere.

"The-The headless horseman." Zen whispered. "I thought he was a children's fairy tale."

The Moon nodded, a frown marring her face as she watched the forest past them, scanning the destruction the fire had left. "I have learned from only watching, First Prince. But most of your so called 'fairy tales' are at least based on truth. But to call on them like that?" The Moon shook her head. "From what I have seen, the magic Above Surface is not like it is Below Surface. The mers connect and channel the magic they possess, you humans fear it and it haunts you."

The horses seemed to understand this would be a long journey, or at least a nonthreatening one. They both lied on their knees, River resting his head over Thunder's back with a empathetic snort. Zen stared at the little Arabian horse. He couldn't believe that in such a short time, River had bonded with Shirayuki that much to literally jump through fire for her. He also had only seen a glance, but he thought that the horse was controlling lightning during that battle.

"I didn't know any of this was real just a few weeks ago." He admitted breathlessly.

"Do you wish it wasn't?"

Zen thought of the headless horseman. He thought of the monsters and the Xerturts. He thought of puking his guts out in the bathroom at Garack's place. He thought about watching Shirayuki paralyzed for weeks.

Then he looked down at her face.

"No."

Shirayuki woke up to sunlight. She groaned, her mouth tasting dry and her head pounding. Her hands and her calves hurt when she tried to move them. Even so, she sat up uncomfortably. Her hair dragged off of her pillow – it had been brushed and was hanging in a curtain around her frame as she shivered.

She was sitting in their tent, Shirayuki wondered if it had all been a dream.

A cough shook through her. Ugh, they were much harder on her frame without the support of the water around her. Human lungs were worthless. As if the cough had summoned it, she was suddenly aware of the soreness of her throat. She tried to stand, and winced, nearly falling over. Her fingers touched something cold and she found a canteen of water ready for her. She grabbed it and clumsily unscrewed the cap. She drained almost all of it, until a roll of water dripped out of the corner of her mouth and she wiped it with a sigh.

She managed to get to her feet, discarding the sleeping bag. Belatedly, she realized she was only lying on top of hers, Zen had opened his and was using it as a blanket on top of her. Her eyes hurt as she carefully brushed the tarp of their tent open.

They were in the same clearing, once again making Shirayuki wonder if she had actually fought the headless horseman or she was dreaming. But then there was a welcoming nicker, and she looked over to see River trotting towards her.

"River." She breathed. She stepped free of the tent and fell against the horse's head. River shifted himself so she was leaning on his shoulder, and he curled his neck around her protectively. Curiously, she ran her hand through his mane, though it hurt the burns on her palm to do so. No lightning cracked, no sparks flew. He was just a normal, land horse, once more.

Shirayuki looked around. The clearing was empty, there was no Zen.

Panic flared inside of her, but she fought to tamper it down. Thunder was here, scratching herself with her teeth on her forelegs. Zen's sleeping bag was in the tent. She caught a glimpse of the dagger circling the campsite. If Zen was really gone, there would be more signs.

A cough shook Shirayuki and she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Her head was killing her. Instinct made her to want to look for herbs, but then she remembered she didn't know any of them outside of the sea. She sighed. She had to assume Zen was out hunting or foraging or peeing, and she should go back to bed.

But instead she heard her name.

Shirayuki jerked and looked up at River, who hadn't reacted to the sound. She looked over to Thunder, who had finished teething her fur to teething the grass around her. The knife floated overhead casually, alert but not alarmed.

Shirayuki was about to chalk it up to a fever when she heard it again.

This time, she knew the voice.

She pushed off of River, stumbling a little but keeping her feet under her. "Dad?" She whispered.

"Shirayuki…" He said again. The voice sounded garbled to her ears, when she realized she was recognizing Mermish.

She closed her mouth and wanted to speak back, when she remembered she lacked the gills to do so. "I can't respond, I can't speak Mermish right now." She wanted to cry out into the woods, but her throat strained with just the effort of speaking. It felt like her throat was twirling itself into a tight, closed tube.

"Come home…." Her Dad called. "I miss you."

Shirayuki felt hot tears well in her eyes. "Dad I…I miss you too. So much. Is Mom with you? Where are you?"

"You don't belong here. This is enemy ground."

Shirayuki started to walk. She didn't know where, the word was becoming a glowing puzzle of fuzzy colors. "Dad? Daddy?" She talked again.

"I'm here. Come home."

Hot tears welled in Shirayuki's eyes. "I want to! Please, take me back!"

That's when the burning sensation made Shirayuki gasp and choke. She grabbed her elbow, furiously throwing the sleeve up past her elbow. The moon in its phases were glaring at her. They glowed a dangerous pearl, like a warning.

"Shirayuki." Her father's voice was harder – like he was reprimanding her. Like he had done when she was a little girl throwing a temper tantrum over how he had to leave the tavern her grandparents owned.

Shirayuki pressed a head to her hand. She fell to her knees, suddenly hearing another's voice.

YOU ARE BEING PUT UNDER A SPELL.

She didn't want to believe it, but her forearm felt like it was going to be singed off and her own magic welled up to defend her immediately.

Her father's voice, harder than she had ever heard it, harder than it would have ever been. "Shirayuki!"

Shirayuki wanted to call out to it to leave her alone, but she could never say that. Not to her father, when he was everything to her. When it was the very last thing she had ever wanted him to do to her.

FIGHT IT!

"No." She cried. She so desperately wanted it to be true, but her own magic sent her falling over with the not-really-there metaphysical slap it gave her. She had to give it control, let it protect her. With a cry, she did. To her surprise, however, she still heard her father's voice.

"Shirayuki! Come HOME!"

Shirayuki wailed, clutching her chest and feeling the grass tickling her cheeks, causing the tear marks down her cheeks to only be half – wiped. She felt her dress tangling around her convulsing legs, her arm still feeling as if she had shoved it into an underwater volcano. The magic was stronger than her own powers, it couldn't block it out.

Then there was a cool, gentle touch on her cheek.

And it all stopped.

Shirayuki was left with just her heaving breath, the tall wall from her magic solidifying and easily fading into nothing. The voice of her father long gone. She was in her normal, slightly feverish body. And she was crying in a ball on the grass, with a concerned horse holding her pin gently between his front teeth against her cheek.

His breath parted strands of her hair as she reached up and took the pin, River backing a pace back with a huff of what must have been relief. She cradled the little pin. She had never felt any magic from it, but how had it stopped the spell?

At that moment, Zen stepped through the brush and into the sunshine of the clearing. He looked at Shirayuki in shock, then suddenly rushed to her side, falling to his knees in front of her without stopping. "What happened?" He asked, hands reaching out to her but only hovering, something stopping him from touching her. He let his sword sheath drop to the ground next to him, his hands still unsure.

Shirayuki let out a small, relieved sob that she wasn't alone with the horses anymore. "So-So much." She hiccupped. She got tired of his hands just hovering and pressed herself into Zen's chest.

He then easily folded his arms around her shoulders, stroking her hair and picking blades of grass from it. "I'm so glad you're alright." He breathed. Shirayuki could feel his heartbeat, a little faster than usual. He was also a little panty – she figured he must have been training away from the clearing with his sword, probably to avoid waking her. "You were so amazing last night. How did you – I don't even know how you did that. Ow!"

At that Shirayuki jumped back with a gasp.

Zen rubbed just below his ribs with a laugh, Shirayuki had accidentally stabbed him with one of the pin's edges.

"Oh, sorry!" She gasped, a little tiny laugh escaping her. A much needed bubble of laugh.

Zen laughed as well and pulled her back to him, this time his arm around his shoulder and his other hand gently touching the pin as well. Very much needed. "It's alright. You got a fever last night, the Moon told me you needed rest. We're not going to be leaving for another day, at the least."

"I'm not that hurt." Shirayuki fought off an eye twitch and tried to ignore the pounding in her head.

Zen's blue eyes glittered with a teasing remark, but before he could he looked up at River's impatient stomp. The horse was still hovering in front of them. He lowered his head and nuzzled Shirayuki's arm with a snort.

"Ew." Shirayuki complained, as he had gotten snot on her elbow.

Zen nodded as if the horse had made an excellent point. "You're right." Without warning, he pulled Shirayuki tighter against him and his other hand snaked under her knees. He hefted them into the air, and Shirayuki felt the almost weightless sensation for a moment that had her press closer to Zen's chest.

"A little warning would be nice?" She muttered, although she could feel heat rising to her cheeks.

Zen moved them towards the tent. River, apparently satisfied, moved back towards Thunder with a happy flick of his tail. Zen paused as he ducked in.

"What?" Shirayuki asked.

Zen stepped over something then knelt, putting her down on her sleeping bag. "Tell me that doesn't look suspiciously like a hoof print."

Shirayuki leaned forward, and sure enough, a muddy print of River's size was printed into the floor of their tent. Shirayuki gaped, then looked down at the hair pin in her hands. "How did he know?" She whispered.

Zen ran his hand through his hair. Again, it was longer and dangled just over his eyebrows, too close to his eyes. "I know you have a fever. And I know I'm a human who knows nothing about magic, but what just happened?"

Shirayuki felt steady enough to try and explain it to him. "I heard my – some kind of voice. It was trying to lure me, though I don't know where to. I could tell it was magic, my own magic tried to fight it off but couldn't. It hurt." She admitted.

Zen tensed. He adjusted so his feet were under him, and he was knelt in an almost predatory crouch, ready to spring away. "Does that mean there's someone near us?"

"Not necessarily." Shirayuki rubbed her forehead, careful to avoid the blisters. She felt uncomfortably hot, even though she was sure the fall day was relatively cool. "Listen, do you remember –" She winced at the thought. "When I first sang to you?"

Zen paused, his ears turning red. He fixed his stance again. This time, it was casual and soft – meaning that he would still spring at any moment. Less fight, more flight. "Kind of. It's a little hazy."

"You heard me singing when you were back on land and I was still in the sea, right?" A memory of watching Zen be pulled away on a tiny little piece of wood, staring after her with brilliant blue, curiously confused eyes surfaced for her. She shook it clear.

This made Zen nod. "I kept thinking I heard you singing for-for, well me. I kept going back to the ocean."

Shirayuki nodded. "This is what that could be."

"But you sang to me face to face first. Doesn't that mean this…whatever it is, trying to pull you away, had to be face to face?"

She heard the headless horseman's laughter in her head and shook her head with a frown. "Not necessarily…" She sighed. "I don't know, Zen. This isn't the Sea's magic, this is land magic. You've got to have some kind of legend about Above Surface temptation."

Zen bit his lower lip. Shirayuki's eyes were immediately drawn to the motion, and she felt her heart clench in her chest. She had the strangest urge to mirror his action, but she instead bit her tongue. Then Zen huffed out a breath, ruffling a hand through the back of his hair attractively. Why was he being so gorgeous right now? "The only thing that comes to mind involves sex."

Shirayuki leaned away from him, making a face.

Zen's face reddened and he held up his hands, shaking them and his head. "Wait wait wait! Incubus and Succubus! They're-they're these creatures who can make you do anything by having sex with them."

Shirayuki, still blinked. "I don't really want to share this, but my sex life has not been very active as of late."

Zen blushed even harder at this. "M-Mine ether. Listen, it was just the first thing that popped into my head." He looked away from her, ears red again and his hands agitatedly running over his face.

They were quiet for a very strange moment.

"Other than them, mermaids." Zen finally said. "Mermaids are legends that lure men to their death." He looked at her again, with a look that showed he didn't know how to feel about this anymore.

"That-" Shirayuki shivered from the memory of the voice or because she had a fever. "That wasn't a Siren's song. It wasn't even a song. Just words."

"Kelpie?" Zen offered.

Shirayuki threw her head back and groaned. "Are you serious?"

Zen opened his mouth in offense. "They lure people to their death!"

"They're horses. They don't talk."

"Maybe they could! In some legends, they can be pretty girls."

"Of course they can. I'm sure they lure people to death with sex, too."

"Then a kappa."

"On behalf of all Merkind, and of the Sea, I'm going to kill you."

They stared at each other, then burst out laughing.

Shirayuki felt dizzy, but then she showed Zen the pendant. "Whatever it is, it can't touch me so long as I touch this."

Zen frowned at it, wiping a leftover tear from his eye. "I thought you said it wasn't magic?"

"I was wrong." Shirayuki shrugged. Even now, she couldn't feel any pulses from it. "I-I think it's a kind of protective ward."

"But…" Zen shook his head, clearly getting lost.

"Okay, look." She thought about the words. English was hard. "So, I can't feel any magic from it because it stops magic. Every time I feel power from some other magic, it's because of my magic. My magic can't feel this magic because it won't let it."

Zen looked like he still didn't get it, but then he scratched his chin and said; "But you've used the Aigua with it on your person. It let me hit you with Aigua."

Shirayuki nodded. "I think it only protects from unwanted magic. Or, dangerous magic. We were just playing around, nothing serious. And it doesn't stop my magic because that's protecting me as well."

"Does mine do that too?"

Shirayuki's head was really starting to hurt. She grabbed the canteen she had nearly drained earlier and drank the rest of it. She handed the empty jug back to Zen with a dismissive "sorry". "You don't have one of these." She told him.

"No, I mean –" He put down the canteen and his hands started to dig under his shirt's collar.

Shirayuki found she was hypnotized by the action, and her eyes fell to his revealed collarbone for the tiny moment she could see it. Then Zen pulled the pendant he had been given out and into view. He looked at her questioningly. "Does mine stop magic too?"

Shirayuki, curious, put her hand on it. She felt a thrum of power practically sing from it. "No." She decided. "I can feel some kind of magic from it, meaning whatever it does, it doesn't do my clip's…thing." She shook her head. "I'm really dizzy."

Zen immediately touched the back of her head and pressed his finger between her eyebrows. Gently, he lowered her back until her head rested on the sleeping bag's built in pillow. "Just rest." He brushed her hair from her face, then after a minute took the pendant from her and pushed it into place at the top of her head with a frown. "Just be careful not to roll on this."

As he lifted his sleeping bag over her, Shirayuki felt the inviting warmth of sleep tickle her. She smiled at Zen's joke, but she had always been a still sleeper, especially when sick.

"I'll get you some more water." Zen promised.

Shirayuki could only smile at him. In the only slightly dimmer light from the tent, his messed hair was golden, and his blue eyes so gentle. His smile put tingles in her toes. She wanted to tell him that the pendant was hanging off of him, complimenting those eyes and giving him look like he was a gift from the Sea. But instead, she just smiled until her eyelids fluttered closed.

Zen left the tent in a huff of something untrained folk would think was anger.

But any fighter knew that it wasn't anger, but urgency. He flicked open the flap and rushed to where he had dropped his sword. His eyes never stopped scanning the clearing, the ground, between the trees, the creek, the treetops. Anything for a clue of someone's presence.

He felt his tattoos glow on his side, but there was nothing around him to react to.

Still uneasy, he looked at the horses. They didn't seem particularly bothered, besides maybe by his uneasiness. Surely, if someone else was here, the horses would have seen it? Not to forget, the Moon's spell made it so no one could see them.

"No one human, anyways." He muttered to himself, locking the sword's sheath to his belt, hand still resting on the hilt in an untruthful show of relaxation. The headless horseman had no issues seeing and trying to kill them both last night.

He wished it were night, so he could see the Moon's spirit and have her guidance. He was freaked out enough by the Sea's magic, he didn't like knowing that the land he was so desperate to return to was not the same place he thought it was.

He moved to the river and refilled the canteen, eyes still scanning. He felt absolutely useless, and a little afraid for himself, too. He wondered what Shirayuki had heard, exactly. Judging by her tear streaked face, he knew better than to pry. It looked painfully personal, and he figured she would share when she felt she could. What would Zen hear to tempt him? Would he hear anything?

Curiously, Zen stared at the flowing water. He lifted his hand over the stream, then lifted. The water followed like a dog following a treat. Out it moved, away from gravity and the current. He stood, a staff of live water following his motions. He looked around, scanning for anyone around. As casually as one could defy the laws of physics, Zen tossed the water into a tree. Upon impact, he clenched his fingers into a quick fist. The water froze, half way around the tree and with spikes now bared all around it. It was a crash site stuck in time.

The horses had their ears pricked towards the dangerous, sparkling, pointy act of magic. Zen scanned the clearing. In a voice set for a king, he declared; "To anyone who aim to harm Shirayuki, know where your fate will lie."

The knife twirled in agreement.

There was no answer from the wood.

Zen, still not even close to satisfied, moved back towards the tent with his water to tend to Shirayuki.

Unbeknownst to him, something dark did slink away from the ice covered tree.