“Are you sure about this?”

  Seunghyo’s voice was gentle.

  And he’d always been gentle, but this was different. Hana looked up at him and saw herself reflected in his eyes. Her face was full and her smile was bright. For a moment, she imagined what life would be like if that’s what she always looked like. If everyone in the world could see her that way. But of course, that didn’t matter.

  He was enough.

  She nodded her head.

  “He might still be out there somewhere, but I can’t stop living my life. And I don’t want to put this off any longer,” she said.

  Seunghyo’s smile told her she was making the right choice.

  “So?” The excitement in his voice was immediately evident.

  “Okay,” Hana echoed with a smile equally as wide. “I mean, yes.”

  She stood up on her toes to whisper into his ear.

  “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  The cold spread through Hana’s arms, threatening to push past her shoulders but her pounding heart kept it at bay. It kept the pain alive.

  Seunghyo shuddered. The black slowly faded away until his pink skin shone through.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but it came out like a whisper. “Hana?”

  Before anyone could breathe, his legs buckled and he collapsed.

  Hana half-sat and and half-fell with him in her arms

  Seunghyo smiled, that same smile that promised Hana dozens of times that things would be okay.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  He put his hand on her cheek. It was warm. “You okay?”

  She nodded and hoped she looked as brave as she was pretending to be.

  “Not the reunion you were planning?” she asked.

  Seunghyo smiled again. His eyes twinkled and he took Hana’s hand in his. They were cold, but he kept smiling reassuringly.

  Tears filled Hana’s eyes, but she didn’t dare blink or wipe them away. She just kneeled there waiting for him to speak.

  ***

  Jinyoung stopped.

  It felt like his heart had stopped beating. He knew what he had to do next, but… He tried to move, tried to speak. But his feet wouldn’t move and tongue went dry in his mouth. Seconds passed like hours and in that instant he knew he would remember this moment for the rest of his life.

  Eventually, he found his hands on Hana’s and gently moved her hands from the spear. Her hands shook from the cold and shock. Instinctively, Jinyoung took her hands in his and clutched them tight.

  “Hana, we-”

  Jinyoung, we’ve found a way to close the gate but we need to hurry!

  Youngho gently took her weight on his own and nodded at the gate.

  “We’re not done,” he said.

  Jinyoung forced himself to let Youngho take Hana away while he turned to face the gate. Until now, it had flickered ominously, but now the lights were flashing chaotically. It reminded him of a pot of boiling water. Unstable. Dangerous.

  We? He responded wearily before making his way to the collapsed section of the room where Muyeon sat. The battle had taken its toll, but her eyes blazed with life. If not for her injuries, he had no doubt that she could rise up again and fight a hundred more battles.

  The gate has an overload sequence, but it’s a two-way system. There’s one on our side and another on the other. Willow sounded distant. Jinyoung, the cradle is shielded. And while we can’t deactivate the shield, we can overload it.

  That sounds safe.

  Jinyoung held out a hand and helped the stranger back to her feet.

  “That’s where you’re from, isn’t it? The ‘other side’?”

  Muyeon looked at Jinyoung thoughtfully. She had never been off-world before, generally trips through gates were one-way. The few that had gone through the gates and returned described worlds overrun and beyond ruin. They described hell.

  But there were people here. They lived, fought, and died of their own will and volition.

  The warriors here had no knowledge of Volux, which meant that however much things had progressed here, they were still in the early stages of their apocalypse.

  Muyeon nodded. “And it’s time I went back.”

  Jinyoung took a deep breath.

  Willow, get Hana and the old man out of here. I’ll take care of the rest.