"One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine. And you will walk away not knowing that you are my life."

― Kahlil G.

River had only ever planned to help them through the prophecy. She wasn't a leader. She wasn't royalty like a prince. If she did go back now, she will just be an extra pair of hands. They can move forward well enough without her since they already have the cure. Now, all the tribes can re-unite. They are better off.

So, why does she feel like going home?

And by home, the image that comes to her is Aidan with his upper lip curling up on the side when he gives a lopsided smile. When she thinks of home, it goes to U'tu throwing his head back when he does that booming laugh. It goes to Crow who looks at her, impressed, as if she was made up of a billion starlights. When she thinks of home, it goes to Maksim who makes her feel safe and protected the instant he is near, like nothing can ever go wrong. His touch might have been cold but she swore, something in her lighted up when he gets close. She wanted that again. Even with his hurtful choice and words, she wanted that drug of him again.

Earlier at the moment, it was scary. She had never felt anything like it before. That man, Maksim, had caused reactions from her that was far too shameful because it wasn't deserved. He didn't deserve someone like her. She didn't deserve someone like him.

More so, she doesn't deserve a home. The apartment she rented with her roommates wasn't even a home. It was a shelter that doubled as a workplace. It never felt like the strange universe she stumbled into. U'tu and the cursed princes and their beautiful tapestry of myths and beliefs weaving around them felt a lot like coming home.

As though she was torn apart the second she was born and the moment she stepped foot into the sun tribe was the place she started to feel like she was being made complete again. Although, now that she was thinking about it, they merely made her feel welcome because they thought she would fix their problems. Now, that she has helped fix their problems, would they even want her back again?

Not likely.

Right next it was Rover who needed her. She just hoped she wasn't too late.

Setting her jaw, she swallowed the lump in her throat. There was no going back to U'tu or the princes. She had to accept that. Whatever Maksim had told her, she was taking that with a grain of salt. Even back there in that strange universe, not a lot of people were truthful to her. She had to have known better. She wasn't going to be gullible. For all she knew, Maksim was just saying it to be nice. Despite his pale phantom-like appearance, no matter how monstrous he looked and otherworldly, the guy was a soft teddy bear. Taking care of three orchards and watching over them then asking her questions if she was doing okay, there wasn't a shadow of a doubt that he was raised with courteous manners as a prince should. The guy even took the hard decision to end his people from dying slowly by killing them without the consequences of death's pain. He used his powers to create a dream sickness to guide snow tribe souls to peaceful orchards where they can live out their best fantasies until they grew strong enough to be reborn to a better life. And when he was presented with a non-violent way to fix his problems, he didn't fixate on his own violent plans but instead listened to her when she offered a better plan. He was no murderer. He was a cursed prince looking out for his tribe, trying to make it better. A nice guy, that's what he was. A nice guy who didn't have the heart to tell her that he was leaving her here for good.

No matter.

She can't really be stuck in here, can she?

Humming a sweet lullaby, she began thinking of Rover and of the mountains she had last seen them.

The doorway in front of her shifted its vision from a garden gate to a cabin house much like what she saw in her dream. She held her breath, reaching out to the vision, wishing that she could pass through.

The doorway vision rippled when her hand came through. She didn't waste any second, once her hand came through, she launched herself into it at a full-force jump.

Her bare feet landed on freshly-cut grass, the impact of it jarring her ankles straight up to her knees. The force swung her to stumble forward, falling on her face. Right away she felt the extreme heat of the sun on her skin. It was a familiar sensation. She was home. Finally. Just what she had always wanted right from the beginning.

"River?" a familiar voice called. It was Greg sitting on the porch-steps in front of a loghouse cabin.

Upon seeing him, she scrambled to stand. He came close, running up to meet her as she smoothed down the long red coat jacket over her front, and tugged down the sleeves. "Where's Rover?"

He was struck dumb with surprise, his mouth hanging open as his gaze darted behind her then to her damp clothes.

She looked behind her, worried that she might have to explain the sudden appearance of a misty doorway but it was gone. With a sigh, "Don't even worry about it." she said, "Again, where's Rover?"

He pointed to the front door leading inside the cabin.

She studied the loghouse cabin, noticing its well-groomed garden on the front and its carved wooden columns of its building. "This isn't a public cabin. You're trespassing." she panicked, growing hot on her heels as she ran inside.

Pushing the door open, Rover and Killian were in the midst of yet another heated argument.

She found the cabin in disarray. Empty food packets were strewn across the floor, used plates piling up on the kitchen sink, and furniture were re-arranged clumsily.

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Both of them hadn't noticed her coming in, and try as she might to call them, her voice got lost to the booming thunder of their angry voices.

"GUYS!" Greg shouted above their voices, catching their attention. "Look who is here."

"River." Her brother seethed, "Where the fuck have you been?"

"I got lost."

"Oh, you got lost? The great expert mountaineer extraordinaire got lost in her freaking mountains?! What sort of fucked-up shit did you get into? Admit it," he said, jabbing a finger at her, his hand shaking "You got fucked-up in drugs, didn't you?"

"I'm telling you the truth, Rover. Let's call off the hike, we need to get back down and off this mountain this instant. Where's your host?" she said hopefully.

Killian moved to stand next to Rover, "What host?"

"The owner of this cabin. The one who is hosting all of you under their roof." When she noticed their blank expression, she said "Please don't tell me that you just came in here, looted the food, and had made a mess without ever being invited in."

"They were not invited." a rough voice confirmed, sounding gruff. He appeared from the doorway holding a shotgun. He looked exhausted. Ashes and soot clung to his cheeks, and it clung to his hands and pants. He was wearing a clean blue shirt but other than that, the rest of him was dirty with grime.

Immediately, River knew that this was the owner. "I am so sorry on behalf of them—"

He ignored her and nodded to the boys at her back, "Where are you licenses?"

Rover snapped back, "Who the fuck are you to tell us what to do?"

The guy leveled his shotgun forward and it prompted Greg, Killian, and Rover to throw their hands up in the air. "My house. My rules. First rule:" he said, slowly putting down his shotgun to rest against a wall "Do as I say."

"We don't have licenses" said Greg.

"She has one. Not us." Rover pointed at her.

"I just got here. I apologize, and I'm responsible for them. I'm supposed to be guiding them through the Ylein trail but.. we got separated. Again, I apologize for having intruded. Whatever they got to use or have taken.. um.. I'll reimburse them. No probl—"

The muscle in his jaw tensed before he looked down to her with impatience, "Where is your license?"

She patted around her hips, lately realizing she didn't have it on her.

Greg pulled up a backpack behind him, "Her stuff is here." he said, opening it up to pluck out her peach-colored wallet. As he was fishing through her wallet, she noticed the cash and credit card in it were gone. Then he slid free her professional license for hiking and handed it to the owner.

"Again, I apologize for the mess." River said "I promise to pay back for any damages and—"

"..the looting?" he finished, "Last I checked, that's illegal."

Killian spat, "That's not our fault. She left us for dead out there with no help whatsoever, with nowhere to go and no guide to take us off the mountains. This is all her fault."

Rover added, gesturing to the owner "Where the fuck were you, then? We assumed nobody lived in this cabin since nobody showed up ever since we arrived. It's been three days. It was only common sense to think this place could have been for public use."

"I assure you, it isn't." he turned to River, his glare getting colder "You're getting your license revoked for this."

She felt her jaw going slack, lips getting numb "I understand."she said, not meeting him in the eye since the top of her head only went up to his chest.

"What's that black thing on your face?" Rover asked.

"Ashes.. soot" he replied, wiping it off his cheek with the back of his gloved hand "My team and I have been dousing the fires for the last three days. Some reckless campers left their fire going and burned down a couple of hectares."

"Fire? Is it close from here?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"That must have been awful. Those old trees burning down. It takes years to have them grow back like it used to."

The owner dropped his bag sling on the floor, "It's nothing we can't grow back. But management is going to have to close down the open sign for tourist hiking while we clean up and start planting new trees."

"..thought I told you to put out the fire." she heard Rover hissed under his breath.

Killian fought back with a scathing reply that prompted another heated argument from the two of them. Somehow, Greg got pulled into their fight, and now she was fighting back a growing headache.

They started a fire. Great. They might get off on it lightly without any severe punishment but her parents were never going to let her live this down.

The owner fired a whistle using his mouth and it got the three boys' attention. He pointed a thumb back to the front door, "Bunch of my team are heading this way for lunch. I'm not gonna be the one telling them there isn't any food left here to eat anymore. You boys meet them down the trail not far from here, head out and tell them they can get lunch somewhere else."

"You telling us what to do?" Rover grunted.

The owner crossed his arms, "The guys heading over here are carrying tons of heavy equipment. Save them the trouble, will you?"

Killian spat, "Fuck that."

"They are also carrying a customized signal amplifier that works as a router for wi-fi. If you get to them, be nice, help carry their load, they might be willing to share their signal with you boys, so you know, you can get to call yours parents to bring you home." he shrugged.

The second he dropped the term wi-fi, the boys were already marching out the front door. Once they were alone, he turned to her, giving her a slow once-over. When he was about to say something, she beat him to it and said "I know I must look really strange but I swea—"

Screams of help exploded from the distance.

In the next heartbeat, the owner was bursting out the front door. She had to cram her feet into a pair of brown boots she found next to a bookshelf before she went running after him. The screams continued to ring out from the forest, and both of them ran into the direction with her lagging behind.

He said, "We only just finished putting out the fire. Didn't think there was any left."

"Fire?" she said, catching him by the arm and looking to the sky. "Do you see any smoke?"

His head snapped to her, eyes glaring daggers but it quickly morphed into bewilderment. Brows lowering, he tipped his chin down, watching the contact between where she had touched him in the arm.

She withdrew her hold on him but she couldn't help but catch a newfound panic in his features which disappeared the next moment as he grunted in momentous pain, falling to his knees.

"What's wrong?" she knelt in front of him, checking if he got hurt. "Are you having a heart attack?"

"The screams" he gritted, "It's in my head."

"It's ringing inside your head?"

He growled, hanging his head close to the ground, "This can't happen again. It can't."

"Calm down. Remember to breathe."

"No. This has to stop." he gritted between his teeth "I can't go back there. I won't."

Up ahead, pencil-grey clouds appeared in the sky. It expanded a wide net until it swallowed the entire blue heaven.

It was at that point she realized that the screams inside his head. She can hear it too.

They were asking for help.