AN: Dedicated to chinaluv, Dragon at Play and CrystalHauntress for reviewing the last chapter :) thanks guys! Just one more chapter to go!

Chapter 10

Darkest Hour

The sun rose the following morning, making Icy lift her head and open her eyes. Judging by her position she had slept the same way she wept. Dry tear tracks were slightly visible on her cheeks as she slowly stretched her numb legs. Inhaling a steady breath she looked up at the rays of light cutting past the leaves and the ghost of a smile pulled at her lips though her heart felt heavy in her chest. She had always wanted to save those she loved from harm, had always wanted to live a lonely life to save the fate of others she knew. She didn't want to ever be responsible for their loss and yet she had blood on her hands. Icy's life had been one long never ending nightmare of difficult decisions, harsh circumstances, lonely defeats and tragedy, and yet she came out of it strong. Until now.

Helia. He had changed things. He had shaped her personality, her morals, her ideals, his influence was ingrained into her spirit so much that she wondered whether she could truly wish everything would return to normal. Her fingers touched her tattooed mark as she pondered what a life without running would be like, what a life with complete freedom would be like. She even, for the tiniest and greediest second, wondered what a life with Helia would be like.

It was then, and only then, that she heard a stick snap to her left and she got to her feet a little too quickly. Her head swam with dizziness for a moment but she managed to find her balance and step backwards. Dark cloaked figures exited from the trees, surrounding her from the left to the right, she made to run but then saw him. Held by two men, unconscious so she stopped in her tracks.

"So, after years of searching, we have finally found you," spoke the leader, stepping forwards as the others cast a containment spell that formed a green dome around the centre of the circle, preventing any form of escape.

"Are you going to make this easy for us, or make it difficult?"

"I'll make it hell!" She replied, shooting four ice shards from her wrist at the leader who conjured a shield that stopped them in mid air. They lowered to the floor and Icy fired another one, this time managing to cut his left arm. He groaned slightly as it sliced his skin before stepping aside and making Icy see the same mark, in the same position, appear on Helia's. The wound hadn't been physically inflicted but his skin and shirt shred itself in the same way, making blood seep from the wound and down his arm.

"If you kill me, you'll also kill him," he smirked. "Is that what you want?" Icy lowered her hands just as Helia started to come around. He lifted his head and inspected their surroundings before his eyes landed on Icy's.

"Everyone that has helped me, or hidden me in the past, has been mixed up in my world," she paused, swallowing the building saliva in her mouth. "I don't want that for you."

"You didn't bring me into this," Helia replied, watching the way she looked away. He reached and took a hold of her shoulders to make her look at him. "You didn't make me do anything. I was the one who brought you into my home, I was the one who treated your wounds and when you gave me the ultimatum I decided to follow you. You didn't make me choose any of it, you aren't responsible for this."

"I am," she replied, shaking her shoulders from his grasp. "I'm responsible for more death then you will ever see. I have been cursed my entire life…but that doesn't mean that I should drag anyone else down with me."

"I'm not being dragged anywhere," Helia replied honestly, though another part of his brain instantly replied 'yes you bloody hell are by the fact that she is probably your only chance for survival'. "I choose my own path, I don't have anything to return to back home, I didn't really have a life or a purpose after Flora died, so I have no reason to leave."

"If you stay with me, you will die… I told you that you wouldn't but I can't promise anything and I shouldn't have misled you."

Icy's eyes started to fill again with tears but the look in Helia's eyes had changed. Yesterday it was full of rage and hatred but right now it was full of something else…

"With you I die, without you I die," Helia chuckled, "think I'd rather die with someone, who might not even want me around, then do it alone."

Helia's head nodded slightly before Icy's did the same. Her piercing eyes turned back to the leaders before she raced forwards and shot two more ice shards at his feet, they landed on either sides of his ankles and he laughed before firing another magic blast. She dodged it before blasting him with another that made him fall forwards. He turned again and lifted his hand and she took the opportunity, firing another shard just past his hand. "You really are pathetic, I can't believe my clans have been searching for you for so long! You can't even aim properly!"

"Actually she can!" Helia announced, the restraints around his wrists and legs now lying broken at his feet. Icy quickly created a sword using her magic and she threw it his way. He caught it in his hand and started the rampage, hitting away spells and magic as quickly as he could while delivering his own blows and cutting into the flesh of their attackers. The shield surrounding Icy vanished, those on the outside in hysteria, trying to fight away Helia and to overcome Icy who fired her shards perfectly into their foreheads, killing anyone stupid enough to get too close.

The leader fired an attack at the earth, ripping it into two and Icy fell through, finding herself hanging on with just one hand.

"If we can't have you alive than the least I can do to save my people is take your mark!" He seperated his hands from one another, conjuring another blade to appear which he held high in the air to strike and relieve Icy of her hand. But Helia was quickly on the scene.

"No!" He cried, tackling the man to the ground just in time before turning and reaching into the abyss to catch her hand before she fell. "It's okay, I'll pull you up."

"Helia, I'm…"

"I am too," he admitted when he felt something sharp against his throat.

"Let her go," breathed the leader, holding a dagger to Helia's jugular and adding pressure. The shard did not care who stood in their way, who they needed to kill, they were necessary sacrifices for their cause. "Helia, just do it," she mumbled and he carefully shook his head to indicate no. The pressure increased and he felt a trickle of blood seep from the wound and drip down onto his hand. "No."

"Yes!" barked the leader, whispering into Helia's ear. "This war has been going on long enough."

"But what are you fighting for?" Helia asked, hoping to buy some time for Icy to think of a way out of their situation. "If you want her, you need to tell me why."

"Because she is my people's only hope," he answered. "My people were destroyed, centuries ago, our planet devastated because of her ancestry. Her family caused havoc and wreaked disaster for thousands of years and finally, after fighting for so long, those of us remaining had found the rest of their bloodline. Did she ever tell you what she did to her sisters?"

Helia shook his head to indicate no, but his eyes never looked away from Icy's. They were the same sparkling blue and he sought comfort in her gaze. Pressure increased on his arm though he never let her go, as much as his shoulder was aching and he thought he couldn't hold on he refused.

"She killed them."

Icy's free hand fired an ice shard into the air and she controlled its path in a circle, killing all those who were spectating above. All but one.

"The marks were a curse that they brought on themselves, a curse that I want to use to save my people and bring them back. We have nearly collected all the pieces of the puzzle except for this one."

"But you won't have it," Icy smiled, "your people destroyed countless other planets and decimated millions of innocent men, women and children. What my ancestors did was saved the dimensions from you otherwise your crusade would have no end. They did what was right then," she watched the leaders grip on the dagger increase and her mark began to glow, "now I need to do what is right now." Helia threw his head backwards, breaking the nose of the man behind as Icy pulled Helia further into the abyss, towards the ground below.

Icy kept her hand on his and looked back into his eyes before she did the most impulsive thing she ever had. Taking his face between her hands in free fall she placed a kiss against his lips. They felt warm against her own, a mixture of nervous butterflies and warmth overcame her body and when they parted Icy smiled. "I just needed to know what that felt like."

They entered the darkness together.

AN: Thanks for reading, please review! Just one more chapter to go!