Song listened to during this chapter: 'Oceans (Where feet may fail)' by Hillsong UNITED.
The loud sharp crack filled the air around them, the demons crowding around the safety of the shore hooting and hollering against the whistling wind, keeping them trapped in the middle of the icy prison. A Knight pulled its flaming sword from the edge of the icy lake, grinning in morbid amusement as the crack crawled forward, towards the ones trapped in its path.
Another sharp crack echoed in their ears, louder than the first, a tiny body pressed closer to his legs in fear and fingers clutched tightly to his leg as the crack slowly drew nearer.
"Zaves, what do we do now?"
It was meant to be a simple mission, just some deliveries to make, there and back again before they were really missed. And then they had been ambushed, weighed down with the friend he would give his life for rather then abandon, they ran in the other way tracking thick snow under them as they did, until they had been pushed out onto the frozen lake by their pursuers.
He tracked the approaching crack with clear focus, pulling the little body closer to him with his arm curled around it, and braced them as it neared ever more.
"Stand as still as you can."
"Zaves, I'm scared."
The messenger turned to look down to his little friend, his eyes portraying his sincerity as he replied, "Me too." He braces them as the crack spreads under their feet, trying to keep them as still as he possibly can, as long as they don't move the ice will remain despite how touchy it may be. The Knight hurls a good-sized rock at them, anything to get them to break through, it catches him heavily in the chest and he falls backwards.
The ice beneath him breaks; cold water, no breath, spikes dig into every part of him, pain so horrid that its numbing. The moonlight that was illuminating the lake around them slowly disappears. His arms flail weakly against the frigid water, the cold sapping his energy away like a sponge, and it steals the heat from every inch of his skin. Another splash follows his, a dark figure slowly falling towards him, arms flailing much like his had been, until they slowly come to a stop too. And the body just floats gently towards him instead, it bumps into his chest lightly, as they both sink to the dark bottom of the frozen lake, the bright moon becoming dimmer and dimmer.
As they drift downwards, the light weight pressing against him jostling with the currant of the water, gives him unknown strength to move as they sink deeper and deeper. First its his fingers, they twitch weakly, and them his arms begin to waver again, weak as he may be. Nearly as frozen as the water they're surrounded by, he curls an arm around the middle of the limp body sinking with him and manages to win the struggle to kick his legs. Slowly but surely the light from the moon begins to get brighter and brighter, until he can see it just beyond the crest of the rolling water above him, he explodes from the water with a might unknown, gasping in a deep breath and coughing as water laps into his open mouth. He tugs the limp body up weakly, pushing it up against the thick ice that was too much so to crack, struggling to lift it up high enough to get it onto the frozen solid surface again. After what seems like an eternity the struggles pay off, and the body glides upwards, a splat echoes in the silence as a pruned little hand falls limply outward and smacks against to solid ice, the body not moving from the position it wound up in at his insistent urging upwards.
Whatever adrenaline needed, to save his young friend from the cruel fate of drowning in the icy depths, starts to wear off once more and he can feel the grip of freezing darkness pulling at him. He looks to the shore as he slowly sinks, after a brief struggle to pull himself up, and makes out the fuzzy silhouettes of persons standing at the shore.
As he sinks again, he fears that it be the demons waiting to slaughter them in the weakened state, his mind whirling numbly at the idea that he left his closest friend up there limp on the ice, ready for the taking for anyone to do her in. He kicks once, then twice, and explodes upwards with one final burst of adrenaline, clawing at the ice as he weakly struggles to pull himself up. After another eternity, he manages it, and weakly falls over the still body of his friend on the thick ice underneath them both, choking on a cold breath as the darkness creeps up on him again.
Vaguely, over the numbing silence that threatens to take him captive, he can hear what sounds like strong wing beats in the air above them and warms arms wrap around his middle. Slowly he's lifted from over his friends body, hears the rustle of fabric as someone takes her up, and then the climb as they soar upwards.
Darkness pulls him under.
They both officially wake two days later, Akeelah blinks slowly into awareness, feeling the weight of someone's arms around her and keeping her in place. She moves weakly, from under someone's chin, and her hands press into a soft bare chest. The arms around her tighten slightly and she turns to look up at them, meeting the hazel eyes of her friend, he smiles down at her and pulls the blanket even more so around them both.
"You're alright."
She knows that voice and wants to ask it how they got there but she only has the energy to search out her friend, the one who had pulled her up from the water, the one who always gave everything to make sure she was okay. A hand reached out from under the blanket, pointing to the bed opposite, the one the Healer was leaning over.
"Your friend is over there. He's alright. You both gave us all quite the scare."
She nods, licking her lips, and turns to look up at him again, "Nis?" warm lips press to her temple, and he nods against it, "I am here." They settled into silence after that. The fledgling laying her head back down, watching from over his arm as the Healer tends to the messenger, and when he steps away her eyes meet those on the other end. Zaveriel tries to sit up but it stopped in quick succession, "Keela! You're awake! Let me go Oren, she's awake!"
The Healer calms him with a hand placed on his head, possibly to sedate him with his own healing energy, before he turns to check on the youngest one. Akeelah watches him silently, eyes wide, as he draws nearer and settles a nimble hand over her forehead, and then her cheeks "She is warming up nicely. It is good to have you back with us, little one." He rubbed a warm thumb over her cheek, "What happened, little Akeelah?"
"They came outta nowhere, big brother…"