Checking In (Multi POV)

Emma sighed as she saw Paige pacing back and forth in the forest. She knew the others were trying to give the earth mage space. But she couldn't bear to see the younger girl coping with all of this alone. "Is the pacing helping?" She asked simply.

Paige looked up, surprised. Her eyes met Emma's, and her lips twitched slightly. "Not really." She admitted.

"Talk to me babygirl." Emma said, sitting down on a log in the show, inviting Paige to sit with her. Paige obliged, and the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I don't know what to say." Paige said.

“How about this: what are you feeling?" Emma prompted gently.

The younger woman breathed deeply, letting out a big sigh. "A lot. I don't know." She said.

"Tell me." Emma replied, putting her hand on Paige's back for support.

"I just.....I just want it all to stop.... " She said.

"You want what to stop?" Emma asked.

"Everything. Just....everything. I don't know. It's too much. I can't deal with it." Paige said.

Emma smiled at her reassuringly. “You don’t have to hold it in. You can let it out with me, I promise.” She said.

Tears welled up in Paige’s eyes and she sank into Emma’s arms, sobbing into her body.

“I have nightmares every time I sleep, I see Mia dying over and over, and it’s not just Mia, it’s all of them, it’s you, Gemma, Ivy, even Olivia, and it’s too much. How am I supposed to keep going knowing how screwed we all are?”

“We can all just die because some idiot has a bad day. I just wanted to be happy. Why can’t I just be happy? Whycan’twejustlivehereforeverand notworryaboutanythingelsethathappensoutside?” Paige confessed in a rapid tirade, her words growing more jumbled by the second.

Her shoulders heaving, her entire body shaking, Paige sobbed wordlessly into Emma.

“Oh sweet girl.” Emma cooed, holding the younger girl tightly and massaging her back.

They stayed that way for a while, Emma wasn’t sure how long for. Paige cried and cried, letting out everything she’d been holding in the past 3 days.

Eventually, she spoke again. “And the worst part is that I’m…I’m questioning my relationship with the others. Like I love them, and they make me happy, but is that enough? Is that…is it…” She trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

“Hey, look at me sweetie.” Emma said, prompting Paige to look up at her.

“Your relationship with the others is fine. I see it in the little glances they give you, when you’re not looking. They care about you. They’re really worried about you. They love you. I saw it in you too, before….that night. If I had to guess what you’re going through right now, I’d say that you’re feeling really overwhelmed by everything that happened, and now you’re questioning everything because your whole world feels off.” Emma said gently.

Paige blinked a few times. “I think…that’s….exactly how I’m feeling…” She said, confused and processing the words. “How did-”

“I know? Babygirl, my entire job before all of this was working with people like you, and helping them process trauma. I know what happens when someone experiences a traumatic event.” Emma said.

Paige smiled, despite herself. “Is this what trauma feels like?” She asked. Emma nodded sadly. “I don’t like it.” Paige said, and Emma gave a small laugh.

“Most people don’t.” She said.

They sat in silence together, holding each other. “”The price of love is loss, but we still pay, we love anyway.”” Emma remembered a quote that had stuck with her.

“What’s that from?” Paige asked, looking up at her.

“A musical. I’ll show it to you sometime if you like.” Emma offered.

“I think I’d like that.” Paige said, her gaze returning to the snow covered forest floor. “The price of love is loss huh?” She repeated.

Emma nodded. “It’s the risk we all take.” She said.

“How do I know if it’s worth it?” Paige asked.

“If you’re with the right people, it’s worth it. You’ll know.” Emma affirmed.

The younger girl nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Thank you Emma.” She said, embracing her once more.

“You’re welcome sweetie.” Emma replied.

She supposed she should be thanking Paige herself. The earth mage didn’t know it, but she’d helped Emma figure something out for herself. She didn’t know why she hadn’t figured it out earlier, but it seemed so obvious to her now, the magical path she should pursue. She wanted to protect people like Paige. She just needed to ask Gemma how she could.

Elsa was very happy with the different shades of blue paint she'd been able to get. The abyss had pretty interesting magical varieties of paints, including colours that could change or shimmer supernaturally, mixtures that dried within moments, and erasers that allowed for the perfect correction of mistakes.

Elsa however, was typically more fond of mundane mixtures, or at least, mostly mundane. She never used the magical paint erasers that could correct mistakes easily. She had grown to like the mistakes she made in her artwork. She felt it gave her work character and more of a human element.

She had needed a lot of different shades of blue and white to paint Gemma's castle the way she wanted to. To capture it just the right way in the weak artificial sunlight, bright enough to beautifully light the castle, but not bright enough to reflect painfully off the snow. It was the most beautiful landscape and building she had ever seen, and she'd seen many landscapes in barriers, being a fateweaver.

Elsa had been working on the painting for the last two days now. It was something she promised herself she'd do, as soon as she got the time. Having tendered her resignation with the Fateweavers (thankfully they were super understanding and made sure she knew she'd always have a place there if she chose to come back one day), she now had a lot of time to spare.

She heard footsteps behind her, and she turned to see Mia, looking bright and radiant as always. She smiled and waved at the beautiful air mage, her brush still in her hand.

"Hey! How's the painting coming along?" Mia asked. Elsa looked back at her canvas and easel, set surprisingly firmly in place in the snow.

"Really nice. This is a beautiful place." Elsa said.

Mia's smile broadened. "Yep. And it's more beautiful with the people in it." She replied, winking flirtatiously.

Elsa hummed happily at that. She really enjoyed Mia's company. She wished they got to spend more time together, but she understood that Mia was busy.

Mia's next words came as if she was reading her mind. "I'm sorry we don't get to spend more time together. I'd really like to." The athletic woman admitted.

"I would too. It's okay, I understand." Elsa said peacefully.

Mia nodded apologetically. "Once this is all over, we will." She promised.

"Okay." Elsa smiled again.

"How are you finding being here?" Mia asked, changing subjects.

"It's nice. I have lots of time now, so I get to paint more. Belle is a bit scary." The fateweaver said and Mia giggled.

"Yeah she's a little aggressive. Don't worry, she's fine." Mia replied.

"Yeah. I wanna talk more to Gemma." Elsa added.

"She's a busy girl." Mia remarked, and Elsa nodded.

"Her ice powers are really cool. I'd love to see them more." Elsa said.

"Trust me, she would love it if you asked her to show you. She loves her ice magic." Mia replied, smiling.

"You know, she's also never seen most Disney movies. Including Frozen." Mia prompted.

"Really?" Elsa asked.

"I know it's easy to forget, but she didn't grow up as a girl like we did. She wasn't exposed to those types of movies growing up, only ‘boy’ movies." The air mage reminded her, using her fingers to signify quotation marks.

"That makes sense. Can we show her Frozen later?" She asked.

"I'm sure she'd be down for that." Mia nodded.

"Yay!" Elsa said, and Mia giggled. "You're so cute." She said, reaching out and patting her on the head. The smaller woman glowed happily, enjoying the headpats.

"How's everything with you?" Elsa asked, once the moment of affection had passed.

Mia's mood shifted at the question. Subtly, but immediately. She sighed. "I'm trying." She said simply. Elsa hugged her sympathetically, and Mia hugged her back.

"I....I froze up today....I got hit with an arrow and I panicked and thought I was back there, that night with Mathias..." Mia admitted.

"That must have been awful." Elsa empathised.

"I'm trying to move on, it's just hard. It's really easy fighting against dungeon enemies or whatever. Fighting real people, and knowing how completely outmatched you are....that's a lot worse." Mia said.

Elsa nodded again. "Yeah of course."

"I'm sorry, I don't wanna be a burden." Mia said.

"It's okay. I'm here." Elsa replied, nuzzling against her gently. Mia stroked the Fateweavers hair absently. "Have you talked to your partners about it?" Elsa asked.

Mia shook her head. "Like I said, I really don't wanna be a burden." She said again.

"You're not a burden. You should tell them you're struggling." Elsa encouraged.

"Maybe. I feel like they're all dealing with enough." Mia replied skeptically.

"They won't mind. That's one of the amazing things about people: we help each other get through life." Elsa reiterated.

"You're such a sweetheart, you know that?" Mia said, and Elsa smiled up at her. "Thank you for being here. I gotta go and train more, but we'll make Gemma sit through Frozen tonight, deal?" Mia asked.

"Deal." Elsa nodded.

Mia booped her on the nose as she walked away. Elsa was left feeling the warm glow of her care and affection for Mia, as well as a slight spark of worry for her, as she turned back to her painting.