Hey guys! Sorry it's been taking me so long to update and thank you all for hanging in there! I'm going to aim for updating once every two weeks! Things have gotten a bit crazy, but I feel like this is a good, realistic place to start! (I can always adjust it if I'm writing faster!) Also a humongous thanks to strawbr'y blond periwinkle love who's review gave me back my motivation and literally saved this whole story! Seriously though, I was on the verge of giving up. Now I'm back, and more motivated than ever! :D (*Sends all the mental hugs*) I won't keep you all any longer. Enjoy the chapter! ^.^

.

.

.

As the trees went by them, their heavy footsteps thud thudding on the grassy, leaf strewn carpet, Izzy pulled her arms around her. The trees danced as a brisk autumn wing flew through the forest again and again as if it was racing itself. Where ever they were, it was definitely not Venice. She missed the warm, sunlit cobblestone streets, but as least she was safe now, probably. As the wind whipped by them again, whistling an unrecognizable tune, she shivered, hugging herself tighter. Not even a second passed before a large, weighted fabric was draped over her shoulders.

Glancing up Fitz smiled gently back at her, though a sheen of the scar hiding under it was still visible, raw from their encounter with, Keefe was it?

"The weather is a lot different than what you're used to, huh?"

Izzy nodded, hoping she could blame her red cheeks on the wind.

"Are you sure? It's pretty cold…" She pulled the cloak around her, hoping to soak up any warmth she could before handing it back. She wasn't sure if it was because she didn't want him to be cold, or if it was the thought of relying on someone, but it made caterpillars squirm in her stomach, and not the good kind.

Fitz stopped walking, and Izzy followed suit without thinking. He took a step forward, reaching out towards her neck. She flinched, the cloaked figures dancing across her mind.

"Relax." Fitz whispered softly as his fingers latched a gold winged shield like pin onto the cloak, trapping the fabric around her body and away from the wind's freedom. "I wouldn't hurt you Soph, I promise."

His bright, surreal, impossibly teal eyes met hers, causing her whole body to go into panic mode. Did he notice how close they were? How close was it even? Three inches? Four? How would she even measure that? Does he notice? How can he not notice?

Smiling a small, yet incredibly sincere smile which reached his eyes, causing them to twinkle, he took a step back. The icy air that rushed in to fill the hole where he had been standing burned her lungs. Was it that cold before, or was he just really warm?

"Anyway," He turned around gracefully before taking a few steps, only to stop and look back to make sure she followed him.

Taking a deep breath, she plastered a smile on her lips and began walking again.

"I'm used to the weather around here. I don't really need it." He assured her.

It took Izzy a split second to even realize what he was talking about. She glanced over, about to say thank you, when she saw he was shivering.

"It's still really cold though…" Izzy offered, feeling guilty for taking his warmth.

"Really? I mean, it's a bit nippy, but it's kind of nice." His voice quaked as he said it, his shivers worsening.

Izzy picked up her pace as best as she could.

When a massive, glittering mansion arrived in sight, Izzy began questioning her actions. Was it really smart to return to the place she had been kidnapped? No, definitely not, but this nagging hole in her heart forced her forward. The sadness in everyone's eyes and words was too real to be fake, right? Fitz walked a few step in front of her, glancing back every few minutes like he was checking to make sure she wasn't going to run off again.

Izzy sighed as she tugged on a few loose eyelashes, the sparkling palace of a home bringing back thoughts of before. "Sorry I kicked you… and threw things at you."

Fitz gave a shrug, effortlessly falling back a step to meet hers. "I didn't take it personally. It must be hard, with all that's happened."

Izzy didn't respond, the events of the past day flashing through her mind's eyes, stopping on her red headed aunt and Maria's last smile.

"I didn't mean to disrupt your life Soph-" he cleared his throat, as if it could hide his blunder. "Izzy. I would have left you alone if I could, if you were safe there." He must have guessed what she was thinking…

Izzy tore out another eyelash, this one not so loose. Fitz glanced over like he expected her to speak.

She decided to finally break the silence, because she was going to have to sooner or later. None of this was going away anytime soon. Her voice softer than usual, nearly swept up in the crisp wind that raced through the meadow they had entered, she answered him back.

"I… Everything is, different." Izzy stopped walking. "I don't know this place, I don't know why you kidnapped me, and, I don't know your girlfriend. How can you even be sure Sophie and I are the same person?"

Fitz blinked a few times, raising an eyebrow. "I can understand the rest, but girlfriend?"

Izzy shuffled her feet slightly, her legs still sore from lack of use. "Sophie, that's your girlfriend right? Why else would you go to such length to find me-her." She quickly corrected herself, blushing slightly at her mistake. "Plus one of the waitresses at the café said something, I thought…" She quickly added, not even sure anymore if it was her assumption or not. So much had happened these past, however many days.

Fitz smiled, but it didn't reach the sadness sitting in his eyes. "No. We were just kids when you- she disappeared. I've gone to such lengths because, well…"

He ran a hand through his hair a few times and sighed. "We'd better get inside." He took a few steps forward before he noticed she hadn't budged.

"If it has to do with me, I deserve to know, right?"

Fitz's fake smile disappeared, and for a split second she could see a deep pain covering his face before he quickly put on a stone mask, though it still had cracks running along it, showing glimpses of his deeply buried emotions.

"It, was my fault…" He whispered as he kicked the ground. "If I had trusted my instincts, and trusted you, this wouldn't have happened." He looked up, his eyes shining with intensity as they locked with hers. Her heart did a poorly timed flutter. "I wasn't there when you needed me. I should have gone after you. You were my responsibility, and I made a lot of promises to you, and I failed."

She tried to ignore the blush settling on her cheeks as she spoke, her brain spinning much too fast. Something about what he said seemed to poke at her, like an itch she couldn't reach, but he was so sad, and so sincere…

"I forgive you."

He gave a small, hollow chuckle, a smile somehow sitting on his lips. "You don't remember. You can't forgive me until you know what actually happened."

"You said we were kids, right? Well unless you made me disappear, it wasn't your fault. Plus I don't even remember what happened so…"

Fitz bit his lip, once again running his hand through his hair. There was a pause, like he was deciding whether to tell her, like her supposed past was a giant secret she wasn't allowed to know.

"You transmitted to me. I should have trusted you. Even before that I should have been present more. I should have gone after you when you got into a fight with my sister. I should have-"

"Fitz!" She snapped. He froze, meeting her eyes once again, unshed tears and surprise clouding them. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but if you spend all of your time focused on what you should have done, you'll never get to live! From what I've heard it sounds like you've dedicated years towards finding me. Isn't that enough?-"

"But if I could have preve-"

"No! No could haves! What's happened has happened. Stop blaming yourself! Anyway, I'm not quite in a place to be comforting my kidnapper!"

Sophie began walking towards the palace, or whatever it was. For some reason his depression about the past her made her extremely frustrated and a bit mad. Maybe it was because she would never know what happened, maybe it was because if anyone should have sole moping rights right now, it was her, but it was probably that he saw someone else when he looked at her. The few people she had met here so far had all seen someone else, someone she could and would never be. Sighing, she glanced back, afraid that maybe she had been too hard on him. That's when she noticed Fitz hadn't moved. She turned around, staring for a few seconds as his nearly frozen body.

"…Fitz?... I'm sorry, I-"

"Please." He quietly choked out. "Don't call me that, alright?"

Seeing him so, beaten down and sad made her feel nauseas, and very guilty, not that what she said wasn't true…

"Sorry. I.. won't."

Fitz said nothing, just nodded his head as he quickly began walking. She thought she saw the glimmer of a tear as he passed by, but it was probably just her imagination… right?

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry as her brain tried hopelessly to grasp something to say. It wasn't the best the thing to be called, no one was arguing with that, but why did it affect him so badly?

But she never did come up with words, so they walked the rest of the way in silence, Fitz always five steps in front of her. This time he didn't check to make sure she was following him.