Okay, confession time, I LOVE this chapter. I hope you guys too. And it's LONG(er)!

Disclaimer: I hate this part because you guys already know it and because no one reads it anyway. I don't own these characters. Sheesh.

Starring Frank Zhang
Guest Star of Hazel Levesque

Hazel sighed, zipping up her jacket as far as if would go and stuffing her hands deeper into her pockets. "You Canadians are crazy," she decided, trying to cover her neck with the top of her coat. "Canada is freezing."

"It's only December," Frank told her, talking as they walked. "Just wait until February."

"Oh, the wonders of winter," she sang sarcastically. "Alaska was just this cold, I remember."

"Technically over there is more north."

"Yeah, but over here you've got the wind coming off from the ocean. It cuts right through your jacket and leaves you shivering like a skeleton."

The two of them had come to visit Frank's homeland all because of Hazel. She had wanted to try poutine and skiing, and had been surprisingly good at the sport; with the exception of the first lesson in which she had gotten so nervous a giant hunk of metal tripped the instructor. (Frank finished the hill on his face.)

After looking at the map of British Columbia for a few minutes, they discovered the hotel they were staying at was just a short one-hour drive away from where Frank grew up. So obviously they had to come and visit.

But all good things had to come to an end, and they finally reached the mansion (or where it once stood anyway). Once the fires had stopped raging and the area was deemed safe, all the charred remains were hauled out to the dump. Everyone assumed old lady Zhang had been trapped in there when the fire started and had been burned to an unrecognizable crisp. All that remained was a large empty property for sale.

Hazel noticed the nervous and maybe even scared expression on her boyfriend's face and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "We can still leave," she said.

Frank shook his head. "I need to stay. You can go, if you want." The freezing wind whistled, carrying the sounds of joyful neighbours preparing for Christmas.

She shook her head. "I'll stay," she decided.

They walked out onto the grass. It began to snow lightly, flaking the grass with little crisps of white. Frank pulled his jacket's hood over his head and exhaled softly. His breath came out as white puffs in the air. Occasionally they had to step over large boards of wood or broken pieces of furniture that had been left behind after everything was hauled away, and every time they did Frank felt more and more lost.

They reached the center of the area and stopped, standing there for a while.

"I'm so, so sorry, Frank," Hazel told him, hugging his arm tightly and resting her head sideways on his shoulder. "I wish this hadn't happened."

He didn't reply. The snow was falling a little more continually, melting as they touched their jackets. Frank looked around at the area, saddened. If he was remembering properly, they would have been standing in the living room.

But what was that? He frowned, thinking, then crouched down and grabbed it from where it was stuck under a shattered picture frame.

"What is it?" Hazel asked, kneeling down beside him.

"A plastic bag," he replied. "But I think what's important is what's inside it." He unlocked the zip lock and pulled out an envelope. He turned it over and the shock nearly drew the breath from his lungs. Right there on the back was his grandmother's signature, clear as day.

"Oh, gods," said Hazel. "Open the envelope. See what's inside."

But instead Frank tucked it inside his jacket pocket. "Later," he decided. "The snow will make it wet. And it's cold out."

"Just cold?" Hazel joked teasingly, bringing back the good mood. "It's freezing out here, Zhang. I'm surprised my nose hasn't fallen off."

He kissed her on the nose. "There. All better," he said. "Now let's head back. We have a long hour of driving to do before getting back to the hotel."

-o-O-o-

Fai,

I will have you know those horrible ogre monsters did not manage to catch me. I told you I would die by my own accords, and so I shall.

If you are reading this I know you have discovered your ancestor's power. If you are not then I assume you have died in some painful nasty way, and hope that death has taught you a lesson—don't be killed in painful nasty ways. It hurts.

But I know you have probably figured out your power. Remember to be reasonable with it. No three-headed dog beasts, please. It would be a pity to have someone of your power to die because of a simple mistake. But it can be used for relatively amazing animals as well. Use your imagination, Fai. Think of the Chinese tales of mythological beasts your mother used to read to you.

Good job on saving the world. I am proud of you, and Emily would be too.

-Grandmother

PS: By now that girl would be your girlfriend. Stay close to her. She is a keeper.

PPS: If whoever is reading this isn't my grandson, please refrain from sticking your nose in other people's business in the future! It is rude.

-o-O-o-

The next morning Hazel noticed Frank seemed to be in a brighter mood despite yesterday's findings. "What's up?" she asked him. "You haven't been this happy since we defeated Gaea six years ago."

"We're going skiing today," he announced. "Isn't that fun?"

Hazel knew there was something he wasn't telling her by his huge grin, but let it remain a secret and didn't ask any more questions.

Her thoughts were simply confirmed when Frank drove into the parking lot of a different skiing/snowboarding company. She was horrified to find it was one of those parks where helicopters replaced the ski lifts.

"Frank?" she hissed, pulling him by the arm. "You crazy? I've only started learning five days ago! I'll be killed! And they won't let you buy the tickets if you're inexperienced. You need a card or something, I dunno. I've never been skiing before."

"Well, I've been snowboarding for a long time now, so I am able to go up," he replied. "I've done this mountain tons of times. It's fun, you'll be fine."

They treaded over to the helicopter lifts. Frank showed the copter operator his pass, and told him that Hazel was with him. The two of them must have been friends (or at least known each other for a while) because he didn't ask questions or demand to see her pass.

Hazel's sinking feeling grew larger and larger the higher and higher they flew. "I am going to die," she announced, looking down at the snowy mountain. The hill just didn't seem to end. "I died once and I am going to die again."

Frank wrapped an arm around her. "Just wait," he said. Hazel noticed how he hadn't said anything to prove that she wasn't about to get herself killed.

They reached the top of the mountain. "Where's the landing pad?" Hazel asked, looking at the ground below.

The pilot turned to face Frank. "First time?" he asked.

He nodded. "Hazel, there isn't one. You jump."

"Jump?!"

Frank did the latch on his snowboard and nodded to her. He pulled his ski mask over his face and jumped. The pilot looked at her expectantly, and Hazel sighed. She jumped after him.

The landing was rockier than she'd hoped, and she barely managed to remain upright. Fortunately the jump couldn't have been more than fifteen feet, and while fighting for the world's existence six years ago she'd fallen from heights greater than thirty. She followed Frank down the hill in slow horizontal turns like he'd taught her, occasionally stopping to slow down. This proved to be harder than she'd expected, as the mountain was a sixty-degree drop at the best. She had resorted to her demigod power over metals more than once. Soon they reached a flatter area where Hazel could stop without worrying about twisting her ankles.

"Oh gods, Zhang, I hate you," she panted. "I really, really do."

She could imagine him grinning underneath his black ski mask. He slipped out of his snowboard and stood on it normally, slowly easing his way down onto the snow so that he wouldn't fall into it.

Hesitant, Hazel did the same.

Suddenly her boyfriend was no longer human—he was a beautiful coiling ten-foot long blue dragon with two lizard-like wings and six legs, each bearing razor-sharp claws. Icicle-like spikes decorated his back in two straight lines down to his tail, which swished at the snow almost playfully. He was amazing.

"Frank…" Hazel muttered, astonished.

He breathed in and blew gently at the snow in front of her, it instantly solidified into ice. She carefully treaded over top of it, and cautiously patted Frank's snout.

"Wow," she breathed.

Frank fell forward to his stomach, allowing her to climb onto his back. She seated herself in between the two rows of spikes and grabbed onto two of them as a safety-reassurance. He flapped his wings once, then twice, and they took off into the air.

Slowly they rose, first a few meters off the ground. Then ten. Then fifty. Then the peak of the mountaintop of just a speck in the distance.

"Oh my gods!" she shouted happily as they flew into the cold British Colombian clouds. "I'm riding the back of my boyfriend the flying Chinese dragon over the snowy mountains of western Canada! Frank, this is amazing!"

They cleared the clouds, and the view nearly took her breath away. Hundreds of meters below them was a chain of endless snow-covered mountains, completely untouched by the urbanisation of civilization. A small river snaked in between the valleys, and off to the far left the Pacific Ocean gleamed brilliantly.

"Frank," she said, tears welling in her eyes both because of the wind and her joy. "This is breathtaking. I would hug you, but I'm scared that I'd fall off and die."

Frank dove down towards a valley, flying so close to the side of a mountain Hazel could have spat at it. The snow lessened the lower they went, and soon it was all trees. Hundred-meter tall trees with trunks she couldn't wrap her arms around. Caves and wilderness and she even saw a family of bears watching them curiously, as if they were wondering if they were in the wrong time period as well as mythology. The river gleamed underneath them, and it was so clear and clean she was tempted to jump off and dive right in. (But obviously that would be a stupid thing to do as it was the middle of winter and it was freaking -20 degrees out. Celsius.)

The dragon soared upwards again, and Hazel reached out and actually grabbed the snow off the peak of a mountain, letting it go gently as they flew.

They landed back on the mountain where they had started, and Frank turned back into a twenty-one-year-old man.

Hazel wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. "Frank, that was amazing," she said. "And no one ever taught you," she added. He could tell she was more than impressed.

"Nope," he said, hugging her back. "I taught myself how to fly." Hazel smiled at the joke.

Pause.

"But we still have to get down this mountain, you know."

Hazel pulled away and glanced at her skis. "Vae," she swore in Latin.

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