Happy Exam Week! Yay! Jk... But here's to almost Summer and surviving another year! Yay! Just a little while longer to hang on! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, there is some fluff I'm pretty darn proud of. ;) Also I'm almost done my biggest art picture yet! (And in no time flat! Watching videos really does pay off!) If you get a chance probably by the end of the day my Biana fanart will posted on Deviant Art. (You can find me as SeiriosSol). Now, onto the chapter! :D

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Alvar led the two through the streets as he pulled out a thin metal square. With the press of a button Fitz's stressed out face appeared on the screen.

"Did you find her yet?" He asked, his eyes intensely peering as he ran a hand through his hair over and over again.

"Yes. She's here, and she's safe. No one realizes it's her yet." Alvar calmly stated with his heavy matching accent.

The screen flicked off suddenly, leaving Alvar to sigh and force a smile. "He's just worried." He reassured Izzy.

Izzy nodded in response, but the knot tightening in her stomach made her wonder if she made the right choice to leave in the first place. Watching his eyes frantically search the screen filled her with guilt, and it only worsened when she saw him through the crowd. He looked like he hadn't slept, dark circles cradling his eyes, and his hair stuck out in every direction.

When their eyes met, it sent an electric shock through her heart. His bright teal eyes looked sharp as they narrowed, less sparkle to them than normal. And then he ran towards them.

Izzy had expected a hug, or a lecture, or an "Are you ok?!" Even, "What were you thinking, how could I ever trust you again?!" ran through her head, but instead she watched helplessly as he ran towards her, then didn't stop. Next thing she knew a giant whomp filled the air. Keefe was sprawled out on the ground as Fitz screamed over him.

Izzy turned and stared at Alvar with wide eyes; he returned the look. People began to watch and whisper as Fitz's voice filled the square.

"-AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN CONSIDER THAT MAYBE SHE'S NOT SAFE OUTSIDE EVERGLENN, OR THAT I HAD A PLAN! HOW DARE YOU *^%$# # BARGE IN AND SWOOP HER AWAY WHEN YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING! I-"

"Fitz!" Alvar loudly snapped, grabbing his shoulder hard enough to shock him out of it for a second. "You're drawing too much attention. If you want to scream your feelings out at Keefe, do it at home. I'm sure Dad would love to join you. In the meantime, it's not safe for Sophie. People are starting to take notice."

Fitz opened his mouth, only to close it and shake his head. Without another word he grabbed Izzy's hand and pulled her away.

Izzy wasn't quite sure how to react, but looking back and seeing how Keefe's eyes tightened, an intense and deep anger filling them, she didn't pull away either.

The rest of the very long walk was filled with silence. Awkward, tense, unbearable silence. Occasionally she could hear Alvar and Keefe whispering under their breaths, but they fell back a bit, Alvar convincing him that angering Fitz further was not in his favor. Then it was silent again.

Fitz didn't pull her along anymore, but his hand was still wrapped around hers too tightly, causing her fingers to go numb.

Unable to take the quiet any longer, Izzy sighed. "I'm sorry I left. It was stupid, and, well- I just thought, I mean it sounded like fun, and, and, well, I wanted to see more of the world, and-"

"I thought you were dead." Fitz whispered quietly. "Again."

Shock filled her feet like ice, causing him to accidentally pull her forward when she froze to the ground. Wanting to keep the distance between Fitz and Keefe however, she quickly forced herself forward.

"What? I mean, what?! Why would you think that? I left a note…"

Fitz ran a hand through his messy hair, a giant, hard frown cracked into his face, pulling down the corners of his eyes. "Yeah, but then you also transmitted to me that you were dying and needed help. You said you couldn't breathe. I thought-"

"Transmit?"

"All elves have abilities. Yours is telepathy, same as mine. I was going to teach you about it today…"

"Woah, woah, woah. Telepathy? Isn't that-" Then it hit her. Atlantis was real, elves were real, why not telepathy? "Nevermind. Um, sorry… I um, didn't know I could "transmit," whatever that is, or, read minds… But, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm really sorry."

Fitz stared at her from the corner of his eye. He looked, broken, like he could shatter apart at any second, or punch Keefe again. A few seconds passed before he spoke, his voice quiet and emotionless. "Why couldn't you breathe? What happened?"

Izzy pulled on an itchy eyelash before flicking it away, unsure how he would react. "Umm, well Keefe threw me into a whirlpool, and I forgot to breath…"

This time Fitz almost stopped walking, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to form words. Izzy walked a bit faster, hoping it would keep him from doing anything stupid.

"I'm going to kill him." Fitz growl, running a hand through his hair yet again. He must have noticed how wide Izzy's eyes grew, because a slight smile crossed his lips. "Not literally. Don't worry, as much as I hate him, I don't think I could go farther than punching him."

"You say that like it's a regular thing."

Fitz shrugged. "It's not uncommon, but he always returns the gesture tenfold."

"What happened to make you both hate each other so much?"

Sighing again, Fitz glanced back. "It's… a long story."

Izzy groaned, causing Fitz to raise an eyebrow. "You sound just like him."

"I hope not. His accent is stupid."

Izzy did a double take. Didn't everyone but the Vacker's sound the same? Then she noticed the growing smile.

"Was that, a joke?"

"What, I can't make jokes? I'm not all serious you know."

Izzy couldn't help but smile back.

"I'm glad your safe Izzy." Fitz eventually choked out as they walked along the Sea Oat lined path.

"Me too." She smiled, squeezing his hand a little bit.

From where they stood at the dome's edge, finally reaching the end of the path, Atlantis looked like it had been plucked out of her music box and placed on the ground. A giant wand like tower grew out of the sand, casting a shadow over them. As Fitz's footsteps slowed, Izzy looked nervously back, hoping to meet Alvar's eyes again. The whole walk they had this unspoken agreement to keep the peace. It was definitely hard, since she had to all but jog to keep up with Fitz, every step he took equaling three of hers. Her calves burned like they had been set on fire, but it was worth it if no one else got hurt. However, something was off. This time, when she looked back, there was no Alvar smiling sympathetically in her direction, no furious, glaring Keefe to burn holes in Fitz's head. Suddenly, it was just the two of them.

"I think we lost them…" Izzy sighed, not sure what was the best option at this point.

"Keefe probably did something stupid." Fitz gruffly stated.

Rolling her eyes, Izzy just frowned, "Shouldn't we go look for them? Maybe the path veers off and-"

"No." He led her towards the tower, and even though she had dug her heels into the ground, he didn't even seem to notice. "They are adults, they can find their own way. The most important thing is right now is that you're somewhere safe. Anyway," He added with a forced smile, "I think you're going to like this part."

Fitz positioned her on a circle under the tower before standing next to her. He seemed like he was waiting for something, but with too much on her mind, Izzy just tugged on a few eyelashes and tried to push her thoughts to the side. She could deal with them later.

"Don't worry about them, really. They'll be fine. Alvar is probably prepping Keefe on what story to tell the Council anyway."

Izzy shrugged, but as a whirling noise filled the air, a giant, metal hoops dropping out of the sky, she suddenly had much bigger problems to worry about.

"Are you sure this is safe?!" She squeaked as she took a large step closer to Fitz.

"I'm sure. Promise."

Meeting his eyes, she tried to ignore the way her face lit on fire. Then the circle surrounded them, resting only a few feet above the ground. Izzy grabbed Fitz's arm, taking another step away from the circle as he chuckled.

"I'm trusting you with this!" She yelled over the sound as a thick, rainbow filled coating began to form around them, the circle having spilt into two pieces. They spun around them like a sphere of death, twirling faster and faster with every second.

"And I'm standing right beside you." He flashed a movie star worth smile that made her almost feel her heart melting into a puddle and dripping off her ribcage. Maybe that was why it made it hard to breathe…

Then, without another warning, the circles spun faster and faster, ripping off the ground and chucking their giant bubble into the sky. Izzy screamed. Fitz said something, but it faded under her voice.

Suddenly the bubble all but stopped, sending them crashing into the side. It didn't feel like what she would have expected. It was hard and warm, but as it made a gasp for breath, Izzy suddenly realized what she had actually crashed into. Her eyes shot open, only to find his inches away.

As her brain went into massive chaos mode, he just smiled.

"Well, I did promise you wouldn't get hurt." He laughed. "Hopefully I made a good landing pillow."

She could almost feel the smoke coming out of her tomato red ears. "I, umm, sorry, for falling on you…" She stuttered as she attempted to push herself up.

"It's fine, really. Something must need calibration in the machine, it's usually a much smoother ride, and relaxing. That was a bit-"

A wind had picked up the bubble, raising it into the sky and causing it to tilt. Her hand slipped against the bubble's strange surface. Fitz managed to catch her at the last second, and with both hands on her shoulders, he helped her steady herself.

"Maybe we should stay sitting, at least until you get used to it."

"Maybe…" She muttered, her brain too focused on how close she had come to accidentally kissing him.

He said something about the machine and contacting someone, but her brain was spinning faster than the metal hoops.

The rest of the ride was relaxing. Once she got over the whole heart-about-to-explode thing, it was a lot of fun. The rainbows in the bubble had vanished, leaving a crystal-clear view to everything. If it wasn't for the slight sheen, she would have believed she was flying. Unfortunately, Fitz said that was an impossible ability. But she still had the giddy feeling of weightlessness, and the view made it even better. She felt kind of childish, but she couldn't help constantly giggling and pressing her face against the bubble. Fitz didn't seem to mind though, as he kept pointing to different places he recognized. Eventually they just stared at the clouds for a while, finding strange and funny sounding things hidden in the shapes. At least, they were strange to her, since most everything he compared them to was something she had never even heard of. Maybe being trapped in a bubble as it floated along the wind, with a really cute boy inside, wasn't such a bad thing.

Eventually it landed seamlessly and calmly on the same cliff she had been on earlier with Keefe. Fitz helped her up like a complete gentleman, making her cheeks tinge red, and then he pulled out the last thing she wanted to see.

"What's wrong?" Fitz asked, eyebrow raised as Izzy made sure a good ten feet separated them.

"NO! Not doing it!" She pointed at the wand in his hand as he twisted the crystal and locked in one of the facets. She had seen that movement before, and she was not doing it again!

"What? What's wrong with light leaping?"

"I just, no, I'll walk, or take another bubble, or… what other ways can I travel here?"

The corners of his mouth tugged up, like he was holding in a laugh, and then it vanished. The stars in his eyes went a bit dim as he took a deep breath. "Keefe." He all but growled.

"Yeah…"

"Look, Izzy," he ran a hand through his hair and took a step towards her. "I don't know what ridiculous thing he decided to do this time, but I'm not him." He held his hand out, as if to ask her to take it. "I won't let anything happen."

Izzy pouted a bit, staring at the sparkling gem as it shone a beam of light onto the grassy ground. Before she knew what happened, Fitz had crossed the distance between then and clasped a cuff around her wrist, a large teal stone glittering back at her, swirls of diamonds decorating the sides.

When he let go, she tried to pretend it didn't have such an effect on her. She had never seen anything like it before. It was, beautiful. It was also the first time anyone, but especially a boy, a really cute boy, had given her jewelry.

She stared at the large stone, running a finger over it and pretending it didn't make her heart race due to a striking resemblance. Part of her wondered if he noticed… Wasn't it kind of weird to give someone he barely knew something like this?

"I don't know if it's something you still like," He cut through her thoughts. "I can always get you a new one, but I remember teal was your favorite color. My mom actually got this for you."

"Thank you." She choked out before meeting his eyes and smiling. "No, teal is my favorite color." Her eyes grew slightly as she realized what she had just potentially admitted to… "Uh, well I mean it was a color I grew up with that I really always liked, a lot, and um, well my mom always wore it. And," Blushing even more when she realized she was rambling, she looked up. He just kept smiling kindly at her, like he actually cared about what she was chattering on about. "And it's beautiful. Thank you. But… why now?" She stared at the wand in his other hand while wishing time travel was an ability so she could erase that whole spiel.

Fitz's eyes followed her gaze, so he gave her a reassuring smile. "It's called a Nexus. It puts a barrier over you when you light leap, so that your atoms don't become too scattered until you learn to concentrate."

It must have been the look she gave him, because he just sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. "Keefe didn't tell you anything about this, did he."

Izzy rubbed her arm nervously. "Not really. He sort of just, pulled me in."

Fitz seemed to quickly hide the growing frown that began to take over his face. He carefully took her hand and gave her a small smile.

"Well, I would never do that, and I can teach you all about the science behind it when we get back to Everglenn. Unfortunately, though, this is the only way back. You trust me, right?" He added as she looked a bit green.

"Yeah." She sighed, a bit annoyed. "Yeah, I trust you. I already said I do."

"I'm just checking. I don't want to make you do anything you're uncomfortable with, and I know it's not been an easy few days for you. But, if for some reason anything does happen, not that it would," He quickly said, "you can punch in the arm me as hard as you want. Deal?"

"Even harder than you punched Keefe?"

"If you can do that, sure!" He laughed.

"Then deal." She smiled nervously, not that she could actually punch him. "I don't really have a choice anyway, so let's get this over with."

As Fitz held up the wand, Izzy squeezed his hand and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath as he reassured her. Then the light surrounded them, like a million feathers rushing under her skin. Then a cool breath sent them scattering away, and the blindingly bright gate of what she assumed was Everglenn came into view.