Candela came out of her daze breathless yet invigorated. Seeing Moltres was both petrifying and live-giving. She felt powerful in its presence, even though she could sense a deep ache within the bird. It had so much rage inside that was barely within its control, most of that searing hatred focused on Team Rocket. Candela shared the sentiment. The two of them spoke the same language, shared the same storm of passion within their chests, overwhelming and fire-bright.

The first person Candela saw as she returned to the real world was Spark. He rubbed his eyes as if waking from a deep sleep. When he caught her staring, he offered a twitchy, crooked smile. She wondered if he felt the same way toward Zapdos.

She turned to Blanche, hoping to catch them looking disheveled so she could tease them about it and lighten the mood. Waik hadn't painted a sunny picture for them, but Candela wasn't going to let that get her down. She'd had her moment of snarky pessimism. She had to get her head back in the game now. Blanche and Spark needed that from her.

But Blanche wasn't disheveled. In fact, they looked perfectly serene, their eyes closed, lips soft and expressionless. Like they were meditating, cross-legged and distant from the world.

"I guess they're not back yet," Spark said, but he didn't sound convinced by his own words.

Candela looked to Waik for an explanation, but she and her attendants had collapsed backward, fast asleep, just as she'd predicted. Several guards approached them, murmuring to each other and gesturing at Blanche. That couldn't be a good sign.

Candela wracked her brain for an answer. Perhaps Blanche was still in the other world, but why? Candela couldn't have stayed there if she'd wanted to. It felt like she'd been tugged back to reality by an outside force. So why hadn't Blanche been pulled out with her? It was almost like they were trapped there.

And then in dawned on her.

"Spark, it's happening again," Candela said, conscious of her tone. She didn't want to raise red flags with the approaching guards.

Spark leveled a scrutinizing gaze at her, then his eyes widened as understanding set in. "They're under the ice… How do we get them out?"

"I don't know… I guess we wake them up?" Candela said.

"Is that safe?"

"Damnit, Spark, how would I know?" Candela spat. She hastily lowered her voice. "But what choice do we have? Maybe Blanche will wake up on their own like before, but we don't have time to wait. Waik has us on a tight schedule to get out of here."

Across from them, a group of people lifted Waik and her unconscious attendants and placed them into two-wheeled carts that hadn't been there before they'd entered that shared headspace. The people whispered to each other as they gently positioned the sleeping bodies into the rickshaw-like pull-carts. A tall man oversaw the operation, and Candela wondered whether he was the advisor Waik had spoken of. He eyed Blanche and snapped his fingers, signaling one of his underlings to trot out of the chamber.

"I say we try to wake them," Spark said, his eyes following the progress of the underling across the room.

Candela grasped Blanche's shoulders firmly. She shook them a little, not too quickly or forcefully, enough to rouse a normal sleeper. Blanche's head lolled with the motion, but they didn't stir.

Spark moved closer to help. He patted Blanche's face as he spoke. "Hey, Blanche. You still with us? Can you hear me?"

Blanche's eyelid twitched… or had it been Candela's imagination?

"Blanche, you aren't drowning. You are warm and dry, and you have plenty of air. Candela and I are here with you," Spark whispered close to Blanche's ear.

A low rumble of metal wheels against stone announced the arrival of another cart, pulled by the same person the advisor had sent out of the room. A familiar, raggedy duffel bag sat inside it. This one had to be meant for Blanche.

Spark must have realized the same thing. "Candela, they're not going to wait for us to wake Blanche up."

"Apparently not," Candela agreed, rising to her feet.

She stood defensively in front of Blanche as the cart approached and was pleased to see the look of intimidation on the cart-puller's face as he came near. The advisor reacted swiftly to her aggressive stance and strode toward her. Though he towered over Candela, she didn't give an inch.

The man said something to her, but of course she couldn't understand it. He pointed at Blanche, and then the cart, and made a sweeping motion with his hand, unmistakably urging them all to get a move on.

"Not until we know Blanche is OK," Candela stated, not caring about the language barrier. The man seemed to get the message anyway.

"Let's do what he wants us to," Spark said, still on the ground behind her, holding onto Blanche's shoulders so they didn't slump to the side.

"I'm not moving until Blanche comes back," Candela stated, frustrated that Spark was undermining her stand.

"We don't know when that will be. We should load them on the cart and get out of here," Spark insisted.

Candela wheeled to face him. "They're suffering right now, don't you get that? The longer we do nothing, the longer they're in pain!"

"Candela, you need to calm down."

She could feel the rage surging through her veins. "I do not need to calm down. You need to grow a fucking backbone and do something!"

In a flash, Spark's mellow face turned sharp and stern. It was not a face she was accustomed to seeing on him, and it left her speechless long enough for him to speak again.

"You. Need. To calm. Down."

He inclined his head toward the advisor standing behind her. Candela checked on him out of the corner of her eye and finally noticed that his hand had settled on the sword at his hip. It wasn't a warning gesture. He had the posture of a man prepared to draw his blade and strike in an instant. Because of course he'd been warned by Waik to watch for signs of hostility in Candela and to react quickly if she got out of control. Because she was a ticking time bomb now. She thought of Waik turning to her, specifically her, when she talked about the sedative she was sending with them. As much as it hurt her ego to acknowledge, Spark was right. If she didn't calm down, there could be dire consequences for everyone.

Spark's eyes bore into her. "Are we on the same page now?"

Candela made a show of backing off and lowered her voice again. "Yes. I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

She wasn't lying. Now that she'd pulled away from all the emotion, she saw how disproportionate it was. Of course she was worried about Blanche and about the agony they could be in. But the rage… that wasn't her rage. That was something bigger than her.

Candela and Spark lifted Blanche into the cushioned cart, and the advisor warily moved his hand from the hilt of his weapon. As soon as the three leaders were in position, he marched toward a corridor Candela hadn't previously noticed. She took up the handles of the cart and pulled. Spark limped alongside the cart, keeping watch over Blanche.

They proceeded in silence down the corridor, the carved stone transitioning gradually to the natural rock of the cave system. This had to be some kind of backdoor path, which was in line with Waik's wish to keep their travel secret.

The advisor never spoke. Not that it would matter, Candela supposed. Still, the quiet was unsettling and did little to calm her nerves. Ten minutes passed, then 15, and still not a stir from Blanche. The light from the sporadic blue crystals glowed in Blanche's white hair as they lay in the cart, still and peaceful, as if they were merely sleeping.

Ahead, the advisor stopped abruptly, and the momentum of the cart nearly pushed Candela into his back. He stoically pointed down a branch of the trail. Then, without so much as checking for acknowledgment from Candela, he turned and walked back the way they'd come.

As he faded into the dark, Candela lowered the handles of the cart to the ground, careful not to jostle Blanche as she did. "I guess that's all the guidance we get…"

Spark nodded grimly and leaned over the cart. "OK, now that we're not at risk for impalement, let's get Blanche back."

Candela ran her fingers through her hair, a nervous habit. "Right. When did you get so good with that steely gaze, by the way?"

Spark's cheeks turned rosy for a moment, and he smiled. "Like you've said before, I must be spending too much time around Blanche."

He reached into the cart and took Blanche's shoulder, preparing to shake it. But he stopped, his brows lowering and forming lines of worry across his forehead.

"What's wrong?" Candela asked.

Spark placed two fingers against Blanche's neck, just under their jaw. He looked up at Candela, his worried expression transforming to outright shock. "I can't find their pulse."

It took a moment for Candela to comprehend what he'd said. "But… but we were watching them, and they were breathing, and-"

"CPR," Spark interrupted.

Candela snapped out of it. She'd been trained for this. "Right. Get them on the ground, quickly."

Spark reached for them first, and a strange thing happened. Light flashed from his fingertips, crackling and bright, just before he could grab Blanche's shoulder and waist to pull them from the cart. Blanche's body arched up and their eyes burst open as the light struck them. Spark cried out and staggered backward, holding his hands away from his body as though they might turn on him next.

Candela stood back as Blanche sucked in a gluttonous gasp of air, only to choke on it and cough violently. As the coughing lessened, she rushed to Blanche's side, though she wasn't sure whether she should touch them. Before she could decide, Blanche reached for her, grasping for her shoulders, pulling her closer. Candela climbed into the cart with them, wrapping her arms around their shuddering body, letting Blanche cough and sputter into her chest. She reflexively stroked Blanche's hair and shushed them gently, as if she were comforting a child, though she wasn't particularly experienced in comforting children.

Really, she was comforting herself. The dark reality of the moment sank in as Blanche caught their breath in Candela's arms. Candela hadn't been able to process it in the moment, but there was no avoiding it now. One of her best friends had stood on the threshold of death and returned. Candela feared she would be crushed by the weight of the huge and unthinkable question of "What if…?"

"I'm cold," Blanche whispered, hoarsely.

Candela felt the hot tears forming in her eyes. She'd probably cried more times in this damned cave than she had ever before in her life. The thought of it was laughable. She tightened her hold on Blanche. "It's OK. I'll warm you up. Just like when we were kids, right?"

Blanche didn't reply, but their shivering gradually reduced. She wasn't sure, but Candela thought she heard muted sobs, and it made her heart feel ready to shatter.

Candela lifted her head to look for Spark while Blanche reacclimated to the land of the living. He stood a few feet away, frozen in place with his hands still raised, panting. Candela felt like she was looking at a ghost of Spark, as pale as Waik and her people, his mouth open in something between horror and agony, his pupils dilated so intensely that his irises were barely visible.

"Spark?" Candela ventured.

"Are… are they…?" He couldn't get the words out, and his voice sounded a million miles away.

"They're OK, Spark," Candela told him. "They're going to be fine. Come over here."

"I can't," Spark said. "My hands…"

Static crackled between his fingers, little arches of white electricity. He'd acted as a human defibrillator, jumpstarting Blanche's heart, and there could be only one explanation: Zapdos.

"Um, OK, hold on," Candela said, trying to gather her thoughts.

She had to diffuse the situation, but that was usually Spark's job. What would Spark do? Probably make some kind of lame joke. Candela wasn't quite up to that yet. She'd have to think of something. In the meantime, he needed to lose that electricity, before he stopped someone's heart instead of starting it.

"Try to ground it," Candela instructed. She looked around hastily from something that would fit the bill, and the only thing she found was the metal cart in which she and Blanche were lying. Fortunately, the cushions and blankets lining it would protect them. "The rickshaw. Grab the handle. We're safe where we are."

Spark gritted his teeth skeptically, but bent down and hovered his hands above the metal handle. Electricity zapped between his palms and the cart, and then dissipated. Spark held his hands before his face as if he'd never seen them before.

"Is it gone?" Candela asked.

He nodded, his whole body sagging in relief. He sank to his knees, close enough that he could reach both Candela and Blanche.

"They're OK?" Spark asked again.

"I'm f-fine," Blanche stammered, pushing away from Candela enough that they could both see their face. It was blotchy and streaked with drying tears, but for the most part, Blanche looked like themself again.

Spark's laugh bordered on manic. "You have a bizarre definition of 'fine.'"

"Were you… lost again?" Candela asked, fully aware of the vagueness of the question.

Blanche swallowed. "Yes. Drowning."

They started shaking again. Candela had never seen them like this. It felt unnatural.

"You're back now. It's going to be alright," Spark said. He reached to place his hand on their ankle, but paused for a second before making contact.

"Worried you'll zap them again?" Candela said, trying to make light of it.

Spark didn't find the humor in her jest. Judging by the look on his face, she may as well have stabbed him in the gut. She really wasn't cut out for easing tension.

"What do you mean?" Blanche asked as they tried to straighten up.

Candela jumped in so Spark could recover. "Let me get you up to speed. When you didn't wake up after the… whatever Waik's thing was… we figured you were having a, um, an episode." Was that the right word for it? Whatever, she'd already bumbled through that part. "But her advisor wanted us out of there, so we loaded you up and followed him to the trail Waik told us about. We were about to try waking you again when we realized that you had no pulse."

Blanche tensed in Candela's arms. "What?"

Candela spoke deliberately so as to keep the quaver out of her voice. "We'd been monitoring you as we walked, but we had no warning. Your heart just… stopped."

Blanche stared at her incredulously. "I… died?"

Candela winced. "Well, yes. A little bit."

"I died. A little bit."

They said it in such a blasé fashion that Candela didn't know how to proceed. Fortunately, Spark picked back up for her.

"We were going to try CPR, but when I reached for you, I, er… I shocked you. Enough to, uh, start you pumping again."

Blanche closed their eyes, but Candela could see motion under their eyelids, as if their eyes were chasing a wild cycle of thoughts around their skull.

"How?" Blanche finally asked.

Spark fidgeted with his hands. "I'm not sure. It wasn't intentional."

"It had to be Zapdos, right?" Candela cut in. "Somehow, Spark must have channeled it."

Blanche's hand rested over their heart. "And managed to deliver just the right amount electricity to just the right locations?"

"We all completed the same first aid training, you know," Spark said, countering the disbelief in Blanche's tone. "But since I didn't really mean to do it, I guess we were just lucky."

"Or Zapdos is invested in keeping us all alive and knows enough about human anatomy to resuscitate a host," Blanche said, and Candela felt odd about the insinuation that the legendary birds were parasites to them. "It needs us all to survive long enough to open the door, or Zapdos and the other birds will surely die with us."

Their words were chilling. Blanche pushed themself away from Candela and tried to pull themself up with the side of the cart. Both Spark and Candela grabbed them to hold them back.

"Whoa! Slow down, Blanche," Spark said. "Let's take a moment to recuperate."

"There's no time," Blanche stated, shaking themself free of the others. They again attempted to haul themself upright, but their legs slid out from under them and they collapsed back into the cushioned cart.

Candela rearranged herself so she could pin Blanche down before they could have another go. "Blanche, you aren't ready to-"

"I died, Candela."

It hardly sounded like Blanche's voice. It was rough and broken and enough to freeze Candela's blood. She looked into Blanche's eyes and saw a terror she'd never seen in her friend before. She wanted to look away, to deny what she was seeing, but she couldn't.

"I died," Blanche repeated softly, their lips quivering. "I thought we had time. I thought I might disappear for a while like I did before, but then come back. I thought it would be a gradual descent for all of us, but it's not. If you hadn't been there, if you hadn't noticed, then I wouldn't be here now. Do you understand?"

Candela fumbled for a response. "Blanche, don't talk like this…"

"We have to go. I don't care if you have to pull me in this cart, but we cannot stay here," Blanche stated, tightening their jaw to combat the shaking. "Spark, we'll go with your plan. See if Rutabaga can charge Dr. Dillinger's communicator. If she can, send out a message and let Team Rocket track the device."

"Aye-aye," Spark said, but without the cheerful spirit that should have accompanied the comical reply.

"I'd like to think that meeting with Waik influenced the severity of what just happened, but I can't be sure," Blanche said, their voice a bit gentler. They were backtracking, it was obvious. "Let's not take risks, though. The sooner we're out of here, the better."

Candela stood and picked up the cart handles again. "OK. Spark, can you walk and charge?"

Spark plucked a pokéball from the duffel and tossed it in the air, trying to be playful, despite the broken smile on his face that betrayed how he really felt. "Rootie and I can handle it. In fact, with my new superpowers, maybe I can handle it on my own."

"Don't do that," Blanche said.

Spark chuckled. "I won't. I'm glad you're back, Blanche. Even though you're being a backseat driver at the moment."

Blanche smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, Spark."

"That's OK, Blanche," Spark said as they started down the trail. "But you're footing the cost of our first therapy session when we get out of here, since you've forever traumatized us by dying and all that."

It was supposed to be funny, but Candela didn't feel like laughing. Luckily, Blanche surprised her with a laugh from their seat in the cart.

"I suppose that's only fair," they said.

Candela caught Spark turning his face to hide his tears as the trio began the final leg of their journey.