Hello Everyone ^^ I'm sorry about the delay, but I'm having a hard time writing anything right now.

My depression is getting worse and I feel deader than ever right now. But writing is still one of the only things that brings life back into me, so I'll still be doing it, no matter how long it takes me.

Also, a side note; I'm now an Admin of a page on Facebook! I'm now working with several other admins on 'Rengar, The Pridestalker' under the Tag Wings. And Best of all, One of the Admins, the one who owns the page actually, is none other than Fellow League of Legends Fanfic writer, HoneybadgerDC xD He's a pretty cool guy and we've got good chemistry (Inb4 fangirls squeal and begin a Ship. WingBadger? HoneyWings?)

Anyway, this chapter isn't as long as the previous ones but it has alot more emotional intensity and character development.
In other words, LOTS OF FLUFF and some plot points.

Enjoy~!

- Wings Senpai.

Song Recommendation for this Chapter: Never say Never by the Fray.

Special shoutout to The Greek Geek3010! Thanks for being a friend, Katherine. And remember what I tell you; You're awesome and beautiful in your own way, so never hesitate or falter in your steps.
Another shoutout to my best mates, Sam and Mae. You two don't read stories, so you might never see this... But I still want to say that you two make this my lack of reason to exist a little bit bearable in this lifetime... Leaving you two will be the hardest thing I will ever do.

In her Icy Embrace

Chapter 12

If the air before was tense, it was nothing compared to how electrifying the air was right now. Lissandra, Alan, Reinhart and Analia, all fully armored and armed, were walking down a corridor lined with guards, all of whom were also fully armored. Alan led the way, since he had been here recently, even though everyone else in the group already knew the path, except for Reinhart.

After perhaps a minute of walking, they entered the grand hall that was Ashe's throne room. Just like the last time Alan had been here, guards were posted all around the room. Ashe was standing in front of her throne, arms crossed, wearing a large blue robe that seemed to define her role as a queen. She did not, however, wear a crown or anything of that sort.

"Ashe." Lissandra said curtly.
"Lissandra." Ashe replied.

"Ashe!" Analia said loudly, stepping forward and kneeling down on one knee.
"Analia?" Ashe seemed genuinely surprised to see her here. "Arise, Ana, you don't have to hold such courtesies for me, you know that."
As Analia rose back to her feet, Ashe turned her face back to Lissandra's.
"Now… What brings you here Lissandra?" Ashe asked.

"I suggest a truce." Lissandra said, her words being followed by a deafening silence as everyone stared at Lissandra. Even Ashe seemed surprised by her words as her eyes flicked over to Alan's face, which seemed the most normal, as if he knew this was going to happen.

"And Why, might I ask?" Ashe asked as Lissandra's lips thinned.

"You know why, Ashe. The watchers are returning." Lissandra said.
"That I know… But I'm asking why you're offering a truce. Do you plan on stabbing us in the back just like you did with Avarosa?" Ashe asked as Lissandra tensed a bit. Alan shot her a glance and he knew she looked at him through her helmet as well and her posture relaxed a bit.

"No… What I did before was when I was blinded by power. I am doing this now so as not to repeat the mistake I made all those years ago." Lissandra said as Reinhart stared at Lissandra in surprise. He didn't know about all of this to such extent.

"So be it, Lissandra. I do not believe you, but I believe Alan." Ashe said, glancing at Alan before turning her gaze to Analia and Reinhart. "Analia, if you would take him around the castle for a bit while we talk."

"Ofcourse, Lady Ashe." Analia said as she and Reinhart turned around, leaving the room, Reinhart casting a glance back at Alan and Lissandra before he left the room. Ashe gestured at Alan and Lissandra to follow her and together, they walked off to another end of the large hall, where a large pair of doors stood. Walking past it, Alan found himself standing in the middle of a large circular room, although not as large as the main hall. It had a similarly round table in the middle, with a large map of Freljord in it. This seemed to be the conference hall.

Closing the door, Ashe walked over to the table and placed her hands on the edge of the table, leaning on it.

"I'm in a very hard position, Alan." Ashe said softly as Alan walked over to the table as well, Lissandra right beside him. "Here I am… Being forced to decide between my emotions… And the fate of my people. And as a queen to my people, I must choose the latter. I accept your truce." Ashe said, looking back up at Lissandra, who stared back without reaction.

"But Lissandra, the two of us can't defeat the Frozen Watcher, no matter how hard we try."

"I know that, Ashe. Many of my soldiers are already in the watcher's grasp, although it is impossible to tell who is indoctrinated and who isn't. I myself have the watcher's taint, but I can manage to keep it under control." Lissandra said as Ashe sighed.

"We will need Sejuani and her troops. She has the strongest warriors as well as the largest army." Ashe said as Lissandra crossed her arms.

"For once, I agree."

…

"Where are we going, exactly?" Reinhart asked as Analia led him through the corridors. Finally, she pushed through a door and Reinhart followed, looking around to see that she had led him to a small training room.

"This is my personal training room." Analia said as she began undoing the straps of her armor. "Strip your armor, Ser Knight." Analia paused and turned around with a smirk at him, her green eyes flashing slyly at him. "Unless, you prefer to hide behind it."

"So we're spending our time off… With more training?" Reinhart said and then, after a moment's pause, he grinned and began undoing his own armor straps. "You and I have alot in common."

After maybe a few minutes, Reinhart was in a plain grey tunic and black pants while Analia was in a white, loose top and pale blue pants. "Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because you're a pretty boy." Analia said, throwing him a wooden sword before she began to tie up her long golden hair into a ponytail. Reinhart caught the sword and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Afraid to use real steel?"

"I simply thought it'd be bad to cut each other up while our respective Queens are in a tense truce." Analia said as she threw her sword up into the air and caught it again, repeating the gesture a few times to get the weight and balance of her sword. Reinhart switched his own sword from hand to hand, twirling it around to do the same. Finally, they both took a stance and everything fell still.

After an amount of time had passed, both of them rushed at each other at the same time.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

Both of them met their blades on each slash, strike for strike. Their wooden blades met for naught but seconds before they were already flying through the air again, moments before colliding with each other. Both of them parried and deflected each other's slashes with their own slashes, neither gaining ground. Finally, their blades crossed in between them again before both of them pushed off and disengaged, breathing harshly. They had been clashing blades for the last 10 minutes and both of them were badly winded, though neither had seen the time fly. "You are a very good swordsman. Better than Alan." Analia said, her tone approving as well as slightly indicative of her surprise.

"Well, Alan might be the famous Champion of Lissandra, but I'm still his mentor on swordplay." Reinhart said with some pride as Analia raised an eyebrow with a small grin, impressed. They dashed at each other again.

CLACK! CLACK CLACK! CLACK! CLACK CLACK CLACK! CLACK!

Their attacks were faster and more complex this time, but again, they kept cancelling each other out with every movement they made, like two dancers in complete sync. All of a sudden, Analia's right thigh, still sore and stiff from the injury done by Lissandra, cramped as she winced and faltered in her movement. Reinhart had already started a wide, horizontal slash aimed at her neck, having known that she would block or dodge it. But seeing her lapse, he knew it would collide. With every ounce of his strength, Reinhart managed to direct the slash upward so it sliced through the air above her rather than hitting her. The momentum, however, caused Reinhart to stumble and spin, slamming bodily into Analia.

They both fell onto the training mat as Analia's wooden sword skidded a few feet away, Reinhart's one flying out of his hand and clattering against the floor a good distance away. But that was not what the two fighters had focused on.

Reinhart was lying on top of Analia, his face barely inches above hers as he stared down at her, his ocean blue eyes gazing into her emerald depths. Sometime during the spar, her ponytail had come loose and this fall had caused her hair to escape it's binding, most of her golden tresses spread out around her head like a starburst of light. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared up at Reinhart and their close proximity. Her mind was muddled as her warm breath collided with his cold ones, his scent invading her nostrils and clouding her mind.

They leaned closer to each other, unconsciously, as Analia closed her eyes, feeling the ghost of his lips on hers yet the real thing was simple a hair's width away, his breath washing over her lips… And then, Reinhart drew away, pushing himself off of her and back onto his feet as Analia felt a rush of disappointment pour through her confusion.

"I'm sorry… I, uh… I'd offer you a hand, but we'd burn each other." Reinhart said with a bitterness in his voice as Analia realized that he had pulled away from the kiss because it would've burned both of them as well. A sorrowful yet guarded expression on her face, Analia stood up on her own as Reinhart averted his eyes, scratching the back of his head as Analia also looked away, unconsciously rubbing her left arm with her right hand. "Yeah, I get what you mean…" Analia muttered as an awkward few moments of silence passed.

"We should go freshen up, don't you think? I wouldn't want to show up all sweaty and smelly when Ashe calls us." Analia said, trying to defuse the situation. Thankfully it worked as Reinhart looked at her and gave a small smile. "Yeah, that would be bad."

"But hey, look at it this way, we'd be called 'The Sweaty Knight Duo'! I'd be Smelly and You'd be my sidekick, Stinky." Analia said sarcastically as Reinhart raised an eyebrow. "Me? Sidekick?"

"Well yes, you lost the fight afterall."

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Thigh-Spasms for being a gentleman."

"So you admit you lost?"

"I never did nor will I ever do so."

...

The discussion had been finished and Reinhart and Analia had both returned to the conference room, fully armored again.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, I would like to outline our plan." Alan said, looking around the table at everyone. "Our first objective is to gain the support of Sejuani and her Winter's Claw. They have the strongest troops in Freljord and we cannot do anything without her support. She should also possess the third Frig weapon, maybe even the third champion."

"Ashe's scouts have been tracking them and they are to the North West, which is good in a way, because our next objective is there." Alan continued.

"The Seeker's temple." Ashe said as everyone except Analia grimaced slightly. "I'm guessing you don't know about the Seeker's temple. I don't blame you; I didn't know about it until a few minutes ago." Alan said to Analia before looking at Lissandra, who took the cue from him.

"The Seeker's temple is supposedly the home of a prized artifact of Freljord. Long ago after the fall of the Frozen Watchers, there was a man who sought out the shards of the Ultimate Weapon. But then, the shards did not belong to our ancestors. Rather, they were strewn around in the depths of the Howling Abyss. As you all know, that area goes unfathomably deep and temperatures fall close to absolute zero, something not even us iceborn can withstand. Therefore, this man, known as the Seeker, made a set of armor, built from the remains of the ancient Watchers, a chitinous-metal. He used that armor to trek through the abyss and come out alive."

"And the temple is where he lives?" Analia asked.

"Not quite. He was human, just like you or Alan." Reinhart said.
"Meaning he's long dead." Ashe added. "But his armor still rests within the depths of the temple."

"And we're going to get it." Alan said. "We don't know what we will be facing when Vel'koz rises, so we need all the help we can get."

"So, Reinhart. Go back to camp and tell everyone to rest up for tomorrow, we travel after a day's rest." Lissandra said as Reinhart nodded, giving her a small bow and then turning about on his heels, walking out of the room.
"Ana, please tell the servants to prepare a room for Lissandra and Alan. One for Ser Reinhart as well." Ashe said gently as Analia nodded, also turning around and briskly walking out. As the three of them were left alone in the room again, Alan could feel the tense silence between the two.

"I believe we're done for now." Lissandra said before walking out of the room, leaving Alan and Ashe. Ashe, who had kept a strong, calm demeanor up until now, sighed and sagged against the table, allowing herself to lean onto it. Alan looked at her weary expression and it seemed like she had grown 10 more years. There were no wrinkles on her face, yet the tiredness in her pale blue eyes, coupled with her white hair, made her seem very old and fragile.

"You should stay with Lissandra, Alan. She needs your company now more than ever…" Ashe muttered, effectively dismissing anything he was about to say to her. Alan stayed silent, before nodding and walking out, leaving Ashe in the room alone.

Alan walked aimlessly through the halls, exploring Rakkelstake Castle yet not really seeing anything. He found himself standing infront of a large pair of double doors, flanked by both Lissandra's guards and some Avarosan Guards. He guessed this was Lissandra's door, so he knocked on it.

"Its me." He said as he waited a couple of moments.

"Come in." Her voice came from behind the closed doors, so Alan opened the doors and entered.

Alan saw that all the lights hand been turned off in the room, and as he closed the doors behind him, it plunged the room into darkness. Not complete darkness, however, as light flooded into the room from the open balcony doors.

"I'm out here." Lissandra's voice drifted out from the balcony. Alan followed the light and stepped out into the balcony, surprised to see that darkness was already falling. The sun had fallen below the horizon and the sky was now the dark blue illumination of evening, the starts twinkling up in the sky. Alan felt his breath catch in his throat.

Lissandra was sitting on the edge of the balcony, fearless to the precarious she sat over. Her feet were curled below her and hooked into the balcony railings, as the long blue robe she wore fluttered in the wind that blew through. She was, surprisingly, not wearing her mask, so her long white hair was free to dance along with the wind, gently swaying to the side as she turned around to look at him, her periwinkle eyes focusing on him. Her long, cat-like ears twitched as Alan found himself mesmerized by the sight of her in that posture, bathed in the blue light of the dying twilight.

"Why aren't you wearing your mask?" Alan asked, too dumbfounded to ask anything else.
Lissandra gave a small, sad smile as she looked back out at the sky again. "War is coming, Alan." She said as Alan stepped up beside her, leaning on the balcony railings right next to her. "And this little war I had with Ashe and Sejuani… It won't even compare to the one that is coming. Time is short and you never know when it might be the last chance to do something." She said sadly as Alan stayed silent.

"I simply wanted to watch the sun set and the stars shine without hiding for the fear of being judged… At least, once." She said again as Alan acted instinctively, suddenly side-stepping so he was right behind Lissandra. He embraced her from behind gently, his arms crossing around her waist as Lissandra stiffened up. He rested his head on her left shoulder as he stared up at the stars as well, disregarding how Lissandra's face was suddenly flushed.

"Yeah… The sky really is beautiful tonight." He said as the final rays of sunlight faded from the horizon. The sky, however, suddenly lit up with bright, multiple colors as a wave of light began dancing in the sky. "An Aurora." Lissandra said in mild surprise as she slowly relaxed into his embrace.

"Alan?" Lissandra said, her voice low as Alan hummed in reply. "What if we don't win the war?"

This was one of those moments again… One of those moments when Lissandra stripped herself of her hard, cold exterior and revealed her inner innocence. She asked him the question like a child might, who was scared of the prospects.

"We will win, Liss." Alan muttered as he allowed his head to tilt a bit to the side, resting his head upon the crook of her neck as Lissandra also tilted her head towards him, resting her head ontop of his, her cheek touching his hair. "We have to." He added.

"If we don't…" Lissandra muttered. "I'm just.. I just want you to know… That… I'm glad I rescued you out of that avalanche." She said, a small smile coming onto her lips as Alan also allowed himself a smile. "I'm glad I decided to risk my life coming here in the first place. Otherwise, I would never have met you." Alan said. After that, the two were silent, simply content to enjoy each other's closeness and company as they stared up at the beautiful, shifting colors of the night sky aurora.

…

She was in so much pain. She was suspended in the air, her limbs held by some kind of snake… No… They were tentacles. Large tentacles with a harsh texture that rubbed her skin raw, and they were pulling at her limbs so hard… She screamed as she felt her joints being pulled to the absolute limit. And then… Past that limit.

This time, she screamed loudly in reality, jumping up into a sitting position as she looked around wildly. Her hands scrambled all over her body, checking to make sure she was completely fine. Again, another nightmare. Again, it was so real…

Analia couldn't take it, the same torture night after night. Every one had a breaking point and Analia had reached hers as a sob escaped her, half caused by fear and half caused by frustration, as she stared down at her hands, which were trembling badly. Actually, her whole body was trembling, now even more as they shook from her soft crying.

The door to her room opened as her green eyes shot up to see Reinhart standing there, staring at her in surprise, worry in his eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked her as Analia simply buried her face in her hands again and cried, ashamed that he would see her like this. He stayed silent, watching her cry like that and felt helpless at not knowing what to do. "I'm… Sorry, I shouldn't have intruded." He muttered and began to back away.

"Wait!" She suddenly cried out as Reinhart stopped, looking back inside to see her wiping her eyes, sniffing to clear her nose as she tried to compose herself. "Reinhart… Would you please… Sleep with me tonight?" She asked timidly, fear evident in her eyes as they took on a large, round shape. Reinhart stared at her and didn't wait to be asked twice as he stepped in and closed the door. As he looked around for another surface, Analia scooted over to one side of the bed. "It's okay… We can share the bed." She muttered softly as Reinhart walked over, sitting on the edge. "Are you sure it's okay? I mean… What if we touch each other?" He asked gently.

"It's okay… We won't… I trust you." Analia said as she attempted a small, wavering smile. Reinhart's gaze softened as he stared at her before he swung up his legs and lied down on the bed beside her. "Bad dreams?" He asked.

"Yes." She muttered, lying back down on the bed and on her side to face Reinhart as she pulled the covers up. Reinhart lied on his back, staring up at the ceiling as he sighed. "Well, are there any monsters in your dream?" He asked and the way he asked, Analia couldn't help but smile a little. "Yes, I guess." She answered.

"Good. So now, go to sleep and if the 'big bad monster' shows up again, I'll be there to save your helplessly pretty ass." Reinhart said as Analia snorted. "I don't know what I should comment on, the fact that you're jumping in to play the shining knight who saves the damsel or the fact that you've checked out my butt." She said as Reinhart looked at her from the corner of his eyes, a grin on his face. "Goodnight, Analia." he said as Analia pulled the covers further up and curled up slightly, making herself comfortable. The mere presence of him beside her gave her more comfort than she had for the last few nights, and right now, she let out a sigh of relief as she relaxed completely for the first time in many nights.
"Goodnight, Reinhart." She said sleepily as Reinhart's eyes drifted shut as well.

I don't have much of anything to say right now, other than; Please leave a review on your thoughts or comments on the chapter, or anything you might want to say.

...What? Are you waiting for something? Oh, you're waiting for me to make a cold-related pun? Don't lie, I can totally tell you're waiting for it. What's that? You think I'm out? Pfffft, Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. BECAUSE ICEY WHAT YOU'RE DOING THERE.

HahahahaaaaaaaI need a life. ._.

~ Wings