Vin hung over Lynn's shoulder like dead weight.

She staggered through the swamp with him, gasping, crying, slipping on roots she couldn't see beneath the dark water.

"Please… please…" she whispered between steps.

There was nothing in sight to answer those pleas.

Her adrenaline drowned out the truth.

That Vin's heart had already stopped. He was gone.

She trudged forward anyway—water splashing under her feet, her arms shaking violently beneath his limp body.

She covered pointless ground. That was—until something changed.

A brilliant, silent FLASH cut her off.

There was a tear in space that bled colors that tore through the darkness—unnatural, warm, and blinding.

Lynn froze, trembling like a trapped animal. Her sobbing stalled into terrified silence.

The world stilled.

And inside Vin's mind—something stirred.

A gray pulse.

A faint, weak thump.

Like a heartbeat wrestling with death.

More light washed over his lifeless body, sinking into him.

His numb mind clawed its way back toward sensation.

He felt… warmth.

Color.

Movement.

And when his eyes opened, he couldn't believe reality.

Dozens of small, fairy-like entities made of pure light fluttered and flickered, leaving wisps behind them.

They took various shapes, some animal, others human-like.

They circled him and Lynn with childlike curiosity, whispering in a soundless hum.

The entities' auras continually healed the humans, either intentionally or as a byproduct of their otherworldly existence.

Vin couldn't speak.

He could only stare.

One figure broke away from the others—a small, glowing, icy-blue fairy.

A trail of soft snowflakes trailed it as it hovered near Lynn's cheek.

It placed both of its tiny hands on her right cheek, shut its eyes, and leaned in.

A kiss.

Light. Delicate. Beautiful.

The sentiment seemed sweet, as if congratulating her on a hard-fought battle. 

Lynn exhaled—a soft, hopeful gasp—before everything went wrong.

Her breath frosted instantly.

Cracks of ice shot across her skin.

Her cheek crystallized.

Then her jaw.

Then half her face.

"V–Vin!" she shouted, but only half her mouth worked.

Her body began to freeze over.

Vin's eyes went wide with horror.

He found his footing—half-alive, half-dead—and hurled himself at her.

He clawed at the ice spreading across her body.

His nails tore.

Warm blood smeared across the frozen surface.

"Lynn! Lynn!" he screamed.

The glowing creature only watched—offended—as if his interference was sinful.

Ice swallowed her waist.

Then her legs.

Vin's breathing hitched. He could feel her slipping, inch by inch.

"It should be me!" He yelled.

Lynn had done so much for him when he was dead weight. Yet, she was the one being punished? She was the only good thing left in that hell.

It wasn't fair.

A weight landed on his shoulder.

Vin flinched hard—expecting frost—but was met with heat.

A silhouette of a bird perched there.

It was jet-black—feathers illuminated by a magenta flame.  

Spirits recoiled from its mere arrival.

It wasn't a fairy. Not an angel.

A black phoenix.

Vin felt its near-devilish, heavy presence claw into his mind.

He sensed something.

Not sound or words.

It was intent.

A pact.

One that didn't require words, a handshake, or a blood oath.

A vow, for a vow.

A blessing for a promise.

Vin didn't care what it wanted.

His mouth flared open, and he roared, "Save her!"

The phoenix touched its beak to his face.

And Vin erupted into flames.

Violet fire tore through him—burning veins, ripping skin, boiling marrow, turning him inside out. He screamed so loudly his voice broke, but kept screaming even when his throat shredded from heat.

He still didn't stop.

He threw himself around Lynn—just as she had around him when he was sick—holding her despite the agonizing inferno wrapping his body.

Steam exploded outward as fire met ice.

A mass of vapor flooded the swamp, turning everything into a giant haze.

The other entities scattered.

The ice fairy looked appalled.

It raised both hands—conjuring an arctic blast that froze the swamp solid in a single breath.

Trees turned to crystal.

Water became glass.

The world whitened in a blink.

And still, Vin held her.

His flesh melted off bone.

Yet, he clung tighter.

A little fire was nothing compared to the guilt he'd feel for failing her.

He would not let her freeze.

One more second.

One more shred of strength.

One more painful push for the girl who saved him first.

It wasn't enough.

Despite how much he struggled, his entire body incinerated in seconds.

His consciousness burned away, too.

Leaving nothing behind but a final, fading echo:

A vow, for a vow.

A blessing for a promise.