At first, it was only a little tingle.
Then he felt it.
Felt the cracking of his bones and the surge of power that shot through his body like a lit firecracker.

With a grunt, he pulled her towards him in one swift movement, and began to swim towards the surface without any difficulty at all.

He surfaced, gasping for the long awaited fresh breath of air, and spitting out the water that he had swallowed. Holding her tightly against him with one arm, he used his free arm to drive them both towards the snow-covered bank.

Hoisting her dripping wet body onto solid ground, he knelt over her, on his knees, tilted her chin up and began pushing rhythmically on her chest. Not getting a response out of her, he lowered his mouth over hers, without even thinking about it.
However, once his lips came in contact with hers, he forgot completely what he was going to do.

Her lips were so very cold, but they were what he had expected – incredibly soft.
What had intended to be a simple giving of breath, very quickly turned into a long yearned-for kiss.

He knew it was wrong.
But he just couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t lift his lips away from hers. All that pent up desire seemed to be pouring out from every pore of his half-frozen body.

Whether it was because it was her, or because she was a female, he didn’t know.
He just knew that there was a burning deep inside that was eating him alive. He’d been holding it in for too long, if only he could just…

“*COUGH!*  *COUGH!!*  *COUGH!!!!*”

He tore his mouth away with surprise at the sound of her coughing and was quickly filled with overwhelming relief, guilt, and disgust.
He watched, dumbfounded and unable to move, as she tried to spit out water and gasp for air all at the same time.

Her whole body hurt.
She fought to get rid of the water in her lungs, but the more she tried to spit out water, the more she coughed. The more she coughed, the more air she needed. When she tried to take in one large gulp of air, she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest, and she let out a sobbing cry.

That immediately snapped him out of his daze, and he lifted her into a sitting position, patting her back, as she tried to calm herself. Her head rested against his chest as she took in wheezing breaths, alternated with painful coughs.

He quickly took notice that she was shivering uncontrollably, and her body was so cold her skin was turning blue and transparent.
That was when he also noticed how cold he himself was.

“… Zenki…”
She finally was able to cough out a word.
“Shh. Don’t talk.”
“…… You came…”
“… You called, didn’t you?”

He was answered by another round of rough coughing. He held her tightly against him, trying to give her some warmth. That, unfortunately, fanned his desire even more. He bit his lip and tried to let the ever-present coldness numb his nerves.

“…… I… I… f-fell….….. I’m s-sorry…” came another soft whisper.
“Why are you apologizing?” he asked, eyes cast down.
“…. B-be… cause I’m … c-clumsy..….”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said quietly.
“..…. I’m sorry…….” She sounded near tears.
“… Does it hurt?”
“…… Y… yes…” she replied softly.
“…. Where…?”
“…. E…. e… every… w… where…. I… I… c-can’t … f-f-feel my le-egs…”
Her teeth where chattering so hard none of her words were coming out straight.
Damnit!! She needed him right now! And all he could think of was…!!

He suddenly set her back down on the ground, and punched himself across the face as hard as he could.

“Z-Zenki!! W-why d-did y..you d-do that!!??” She tried to sit up, but she couldn’t move her right arm to host herself. When she forcefully lifted it and placed her body weight on it, her elbow let out a crunching sound and she cried out it pain.

“No! Damnit, don’t move! You’ve got broken bones everywhere!” he said, gathering her back into his arms.

“… Zenki…” She wore that look of worry again, as she lifted her movable left hand up to his lip to wipe away the blood that he drew.

How could she still be worried about him when she herself was in such pain?
He closed his eyes and knew what he had to do. Ever so carefully, he lifted her up, and began to take slow, wobbling steps forward.

“Don’t worry. I’m gonna get you outta here…..”