There were times when I loved being on the short side – I didn't look a step away from anorexia with my good metabolism, for example (unlike model-tall Stella), and I never had to worry about my heels making me too tall to dance with my boyfriend. Yes, there were definitely advantages to being slightly vertically challenged (as Flora would put it kindly). But when dealing with the bookshelves in the library, which were impossbily tall and reached almost all the way up to the high ceilings, it was more of a curse than a blessing.

The book I wanted was maybe two shelves up from where my fingertips could just barely brush if I stood on my tiptoes and stretched my arm so hard it hurt. This was so frustrating it almost made me want to give up, but after almost ten minutes of struggling to get it, I couldn't not get the book now. Funny how stubborn pride can be.

I was literally seconds away from just transforming and flying up to reach it (how pathetic would that be?) when I detected the presence of another person behind me. Inhaling that familiar smoky, spicy scent deep into my lungs, I felt hard muscle pressing against my back, and tensed; my body fighting its simulatenous urges to melt against him and run as far away as possible.

"Need some help, darling?" Baltor's voice was low in my ear, and shivers raced down my spine unbidden. Since he was almost half a foot taller than me, it was easy for him to reach up and grab the book, but not without practically gluing himself to my back (the spaces between shelves were not designed for more than one person to be in a row at a time). The close contact brought back a sudden rush of memories I'd tried so hard to keep buried, and a surge of desire with them that made my toes curl. I closed my eyes and unconsciously balled my hands into fists, trying my hardest to just stay still until it passed.

"What? No thank you?" After an incredibly awkward moment, I opened my eyes and maneuvered myself out from under the bookshelf to see him holding out a book to me.

It wasn't the book I'd wanted, but at this point I just wanted to get out of this situation. "Er, thanks," I said, reaching out to take it. Our fingers brushed briefly as the book changed hands, and in that split second it was like lightning racing through my veins. I could tell he felt it too, because he kept his hand there for a moment longer than necessary.

I hadn't taken a real breath since he'd appeared behind me, and I was starting to feel a little lightheaded, my lungs crying out for oxygen. Finally, he pulled away, staring at me with emotions I couldn't name swirling in those fascinating gold eyes. "Anytime," he said softly, before disappearing around the corner.

As soon as he was gone, I sighed and leaned against the bookshelf, my energy depleting like the aftermath of an adrenaline rush. Which, in a way, was like what that had been; certainly it had been the most physical contact we'd had since the… incident (to call it simply a kiss would be demeaning).

We'd never talked about what happened that night. For at least a week or so immediately following we'd sort of avoided each other, going out to work at different times and curling up in different parts of the library when the cold became unbearable. And then eventually, we sort of migrated back together without ever mentioning what had brought us apart in the first place. The incident was far from forgotten, though; our relationship was much more formal now, as if this were nothing more than a business partnership and not what had been beginning to feel like a fledgling friendship. As crazy as it sounded, I missed him – missed his sarcastic remarks and our playful banter, lively debates by the fire, an encouraging word or two exactly whenever I needed them most.

But heaven forbid I broach the subject. Though the cracks were plainly visible, there was a sort of mutual understanding between us that what we had now was a lot better than what the alternative might be if we dared open Pandora's box. So we continued to dance around each other uncomfortably, both wishing we could fix this but not knowing how to do so without confronting the elephant in the room.

The solid weight of the book in my hand jolted me back to the present, and I cracked the spine, opening it to the first page. It didn't appear to be a hideously boring spell book or anything of that sort, so I might as well read it now, after all that.

That was all I ever seemed to do these days – work with whatever life threw my way, never stopping to consider the idea of taking things into my own hands.

The girl I used to be would have scorned me for that.

"It's hopeless," I moaned, fighting the urge to cry.

Baltor looked up at me, concerned. "What's wrong?" I opened my mouth to explain, but a sob escaped instead.

I'd just gone out for a quick, routine inspection to make sure the protection spells were holding, and found miles upon miles of land we'd spent weeks clearing blanketed under a fresh sheet of thick snow and ice. Somehow, the dark magic in the weather had broken through our defenses.

This wasn't the only thing making me so defeated; it was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I'd been fighting this for so long, trying to remain optimistic, forcing myself to believe there was a chance this would work, but now I didn't see any point in pretending anymore.

"What's the point of all this?" I cried. "Nothing's going to work. No matter what we do, no matter how hard we fight, the Ancestresses' spell is just too powerful. Sparx is going to stay a frozen wasteland for the rest of eternity, and nothing we do will ever change that. All that's going to happen if we stay here is that we'll just die. I bet they'd love that – would just die of laughter, wherever they are. The last heir of planet Sparx dead by their own magic after all. Irony's a bitch, ain't it? Ahahahaha!" Somewhere in all that, the crazy forced laughter turned into genuine tears, as I collapsed into the sobs I'd held back for so long.

I was crying so hard, I didn't even notice the strong, warm arms wrapped around me until I looked down and saw the wet tear stains all over his shirt. "Shhh," he soothed, tracing circles on the back of my neck comfortingly. His voice was soft and gentle, like the tone one might use to calm a hysterical child.

I wasn't exactly sure how I'd ended up on his lap without my noticing (I didn't think I'd been that out of it), but I wasn't about to complain in this condition. Instead, I just focused on breathing steadily, resting my head in the curve of his shoulder (where, I couldn't help but notice, it fit perfectly) as he gently twisted his fingers in my hair. The constant, steady thump-thump-thump of his heartbeat lulled me into a state of security.

Eventually, the hysteria ebbed, replacing by an overwhelming sense of fatigue. I could feel myself hovering on the brink of consciousness, when I swear I heard him whisper something into my hair.

"You're going to get your planet back, princess. No matter what I have to do."

I strained to see if he would say anything else (I wasn't sure if he thought I was awake or not), but the exhaustion hovered like fog, creeping in around the edges of my mind. Too worn out to fight it, I gave myself over to the dark depths.

Two things called themselves to my attention when I woke up the next morning.

One, Baltor was gone.

I might have been half out of it last night, but I distinctly remembered falling asleep with his arms around me. But I was definitely alone in the waking. I shivered slightly at the loss of his extra warmth.

Whatever that was last night (as much as it embarrassed me to remember my mini breakdown), it had given me a sudden clarity of mind – what we were doing, dancing around the topic of the incident like it didn't exist, was ridiculous. Then and there, I resolved to finally have that long-overdue conversation.

My new mental clarity didn't stretch so far as to cover what would happen once we did – certainly this was getting into very uncharted territory here – but I didn't care. All I knew was that after last night, I did not want to lose him.

The second thing I noticed was the shaking.

I grew up in California (otherwise known as the earthquake capital of Earth), so I knew how to deal with quakes. But this felt different, not the least of which being I'd never experienced anything like this on Sparx. Something wasn't right here; I could feel it in the air.

I reached out to Baltor with the Dragon Fire connection, wondering if wherever he was, maybe he had an answer to this. But when moments passed and I couldn't find him, a new, chilling fear gripped me to the bone. I remembered the words he'd whispered to me last night when I was barely conscious: You're going to get your planet back, no matter what I have to do.

Somehow, that did not fill me with hope.

I followed the shaking – which hadn't given in even for a second, yet more proof that this was far from normal – to what I'd deemed to be the epicenter: a couple miles from the library, in a fairly clear expanse of rock that had managed to stay snow-free. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw him standing in the center, power radiating from his hands channeled intensely into some kind of beam that was crushing through the rock – apparently, deep enough to cause the quakes. There was a loud roar and rumble as tons of rock were crushed and moved, and the wind was fierce – I could barely keep him in my line of sight, and I doubted he could see me, as intently focused as he was on whatever it was he was doing.

Nothing seemed to make sense, though. What was he trying to do? And why couldn't I sense him with the Dragon Fire connection anymore? That was the truly scary thing – no matter what, I'd always been able to do that. But here I was, standing maybe ten feet away from him, and the tingle was gone.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I demanded, flying close enough for him to hear me. Even then, I had to scream at the top of my lungs over the deafening sounds.

Baltor looked up, startled. "Bloom! What are you doing here?" The shaking lessened slightly, as his concentration ebbed. "You weren't supposed to… I never thought that you'd…"

"That I'd what? Feel the quake? Yeah, little hard to disguise that." I didn't mean to sound ticked off, but somehow that was how it came out, and I had to admit that I didn't actually mind all that much. I mean, I was ticked off. The concern just happened to overpower it in my mind.

He opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment there was an earsplitting crack as his magic seemed to penetrate something billions of miles beneath the surface. The aftershock felt like a ripple in the fabric of space and time, and it brought with it a surge of warmth and magic that I felt in every fiber of my being. Suddenly, it hit me what he was trying to do.

"Are you crazy?" I yelled, as his body started to glow with Dragon Fire energy. "You won't survive this! You'll burn up! And even if by some miracle that doesn't happen, you were made from the Dragon Fire. How long do you think you'll survive without it?"

He turned to stare at me with those gold eyes, which against the brilliance of his magic seemed to sparkle like stars. But there was also a resigned sort of sadness in them, like someone who's seen his fate and simply accepted it.

No matter what I have to do.

He knows exactly what he's doing, I realized, the understanding like a shock of cold water. He's doing this… for me. Because he thinks this will make me happy.

The light was so intense, I had to shield my eyes; it was like staring directly into the sun. "Don't do this," I begged, feeling on the verge of tears. "Please, don't do this."

But if he could hear me, he gave no sign of acknowledgment.

My throat felt tight. Something painful twisted in my gut for reasons I couldn't entirely explain. I can't let him do this, I thought. Already, his form was a mere outline against the radiance of the Dragon Fire; soon, I knew, it would be nothing. And there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it.

Or is there…?

Would that work?

A second wave of heat energy rippled through the planet, and I braced myself against the blast, my resolve strengthened. If there was any chance it would work, I had to do it now.

Without sparing a second thought, I reached deep inside my soul and channeled my own Dragon Fire, erecting another brilliant glowing sphere around myself. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming at the all-consuming pain, like part of my spirit was being separated from me. The world flared bright and hot around me, and then everything went shining white, like I was being enveloped into the sun itself.

And then… nothing.

Flying.

Like my bones had turned to jelly, feather-light and weightless; without anything to keep me grounded, like I might float away on the slightest breeze.

It took me quite a while to realize that I was not actually as untethered as I felt; that instead of floating on clouds, I was lying on a bed of what felt like soft grass. But how is that possible? There's no grass on Sparx…

Every muscle in my body felt achy and sore, like I'd swum thousands of miles underwater, and it took a Herculean strength just to lift my head five or six inches off the ground. Finally I managed, my eyes growing wider and wider as I took in the sights around me.

This… couldn't be Sparx. Sparx was an icy frozen wasteland, while this place… Full of warmth and light, lush trees and flowering meadows, a sparkling sun high in the clearest blue sky I'd ever seen…

Could I have done it?

Slowly, I pulled myself into a sitting position, wincing at the shockwaves of pain any slight movement sent racing through my body. Even though there were no physical wounds on my person, there was still intense pain like nothing I'd ever felt before, like a scar on my soul. I could feel myself healing, though – renewed by the life-giving restorative powers of the Great Dragon's Flame that now pulsed throughout every molecule of air on Sparx.

Baltor's plan, I'd realized in the heat of the moment, had been to transfer his Dragon Fire to the core of Sparx, heating it up from the inside out. (Hence, the earthquakes as he cut through billions of miles of rock to reach the core.) If I hadn't gotten there in time, he most likely would've burned up from the sheer intensity of what he was trying to do, or just died some other way from giving up the power that had created him.

Because I drew my power from the Dragon Fire, but didn't rely on it the same way he did, I had been able to add some of my own without much self-sacrifice. And it was easy enough for me to heal from it, now that Sparx – the source of the Dragon Fire in the magical universe – had been restored to its former glory.

But was it enough? I wondered desperately, twisting my neck for any sign that I'd managed to achieve my real goal. All I could see for what looked like miles was grass and trees.

Then I heard a pained groaning sound to my left, and immediately jerked my head to see what was wrong.

Sweet relief flooded my veins.

Baltor lay immobile near me, fingers twitching as the only sign of life. The fabric of his gloves and the edges of his jacket appeared to be singed or burnt, but other than that he was remarkably whole and alive.

And then the tears started to fall; hot and fast they stung my cheeks. What I was crying for, I wasn't quite sure – tears of joy over having finally accomplished my goal, tears of sorrow for the fact that my parents weren't here to see this, tears of heartache for the loss I'd almost suffered…

I was still crying when I heard another groan, and then through tear-soaked eyelashes saw his eyelids flutter and blink open as he slowly sat up. He stared at his hands in amazement, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I'm… alive," he said softly, more to himself than anything.

All my resentment towards him for what he'd tried to do – the choice he'd tried to make for me – came bubbling up to the surface, and even though I was grateful beyond words that he was alive, the first words that came out my mouth were, "Sorry to disappoint. If I'd have known you were suicidal, I'd have kept you away from all sharp objects."

He chuckled softly, and his face contorted in pain from the slight movement. Immediately, my anger dissipated.

"You… you scared the crap out of me," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. "You are never allowed to pull a stunt like that again, you hear me? Never." (Granted, this would've been more convincing if my cheeks weren't still tear-stained.)

His chest rose and fell unevenly, like he was struggling to breathe. "I don't suppose I'd have to now." Carefully, he craned his head to take in the extreme beauty of my formerly dead planet. "It's even more beautiful than I remembered."

Rage boiled inside of me at his cavalier treatment of something that meant so much to me. Coupled with my extremely fragile emotional state at the moment, it was not a nice mix. "You don't get it, do you?" I exclaimed through the tears, which were starting to fall again, much to my disdain. "I don't know what you were thinking, but I wouldn't have wanted this if you had died for it. I couldn't have done any of this without you."

"So you finally admit that this was more than a one-person job?" The light, teasing tone of his voice made me want to scream. How was it possible that he was more or less himself after all this, while I felt like a giant mess of broken pieces inside?

I sighed frustratedly, feeling unable to put everything into words. "I couldn't have done any of this without you. When I realized what you were going to do, it just about killed me. I don't know what I would've done if you died. I…" I hesitated. "I love you."

I held my breath as I watched him process my last statement. There was so much I had left unsaid – how I'd been wrestling with my conscience ever since I started to think about what would happen after we brought Sparx back; how much I'd come to value his company; that I'd dreamed about the incident for weeks; how I'd always found him attractive and fascinating even when we were on opposing sides…

His face was a blank slate, completely unreadable, and for one terrifying moment I worried that I'd done something irreversible. My heart did a somersault and smacked straight into the icy depths of my stomach.

Then he broke into a grin, his entire face lighting up in a way I'd never seen from him before, and somehow I just knew he'd heard everything I'd left unspoken, loud and clear. "Took you long enough," he said, pulling me into his arms and tilting my chin up to meet his lips in a soft kiss.

The rest of the world seemed to melt away at his touch, and my eyes slid closed, tiny jolts of electricity racing through my veins. It was almost supernatural, the effect he had on my body. Is it the Dragon Fire connection? I wondered. Or maybe is it just Baltor?

When we finally parted, he leaned his forehead against my own, so we were still intimately close. He reached up to push a piece of hair out of my face, his fingers tracing a path from behind my ear down the curve of my jaw, eventually intertwining with my own in my lap. "I love you too," he said, in a low, smooth voice that sent shivers down my spine.

"I don't know what's going to happen now, and I don't know how my friends are going to react, but I am never going to leave you, okay? And you are going to behave yourself, because I don't think I could survive if I had to go through that agai–"

He cut me off with a long, drugging kiss that I felt in every cell of my body, leaving me too blissed out to think coherently. "Bloom, darling? I love you, but will you please just shut up?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but then he was kissing me again, leaving me breathless with desire, and I never, ever wanted him to stop.

Lucky for me, he didn't.

I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart

But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start

I hope that you see right through my walls

I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling

I'll never let our love get so close

You put your arms around me and I'm home

Author's Note: How's that for a Christmas present, y'all? ;-)

Credit where credit is due, of course - the idea of transferring Dragon Fire to the core of Sparx to defrost the ice belongs to waterbendergirl101. No one will say I plagiarized. :-)

So as it stands, this story is now officially half over. You guys better hold on tight, because the second half is even more crazy (aka fun to write :D ) than the first was. What, you thought all the fun stopped once I got them together? Never.

And since I'm probably not going to get to say it any sooner, Happy New Year's everyone! Let's hope 2012 is filled with nothing but good things (including finishing some stories, haha!).

Catch you on the flip side,

- Authoress