The vast, empty hallways of Jos Gharo seemed even more haunted now, without light.

Quinn shivered on the backseat of another carrier, having flashbacks of the one she'd driven straight into the storm to save her sister.

Cassie was wrapped up against Quinn, her head resting on Quinn's shoulder. They were both buried under layers of coats, all that Rhys had found from the quick searches through the abandoned quarters. The volunteer warriors were walking around in icy halls where it snowed, the storm pulled in by the drafts of the breaches.

It would have been incredibly beautiful if it hadn't been so deadly.

Rhys was driving the carrier down to the lower levels, the looming stone walls looking down on the three of them. Sometimes Quinn heard the harbinger's comm link beeping, Kol-Eresh giving him updates of the situation with the main gate.

"How is it going?" Quinn called from her blanket of coats when Rhys once again shut down the link.

"Kol thinks it can be done in a few more days," Rhys replied.

"Days," Quinn gasped, looking around. "Gods, look at this. If the storm keep on wreaking havoc for two days..."

"It was always going to be hard this year," Rhys replied, looking back and giving her an encouraging grin. "This is alright, my love. This is the part of the long night we call "live through". The toughest part of the journey through the storm, the one that just needs determination and drive. After that, the rest will seem only easier for it."

Quinn thought that it was pretty amazing for Rhys to still be optimistic about it all.

"You speak as if this is nothing," she said, reaching out her hand, instantly feeling the freezing bite of the storm.

Snowflakes fell on her hand from the ceiling, so cold they hurt and Quinn quickly pulled back under the coats. She thought of Rhys' mother again and the woman who had been giving birth next to them on a night that was much worse than the one she was "living through" now.

If they could do it, so can I. So can Cassie.

"It's not nothing," Rhys replied, turning the carrier down a path so steep Quinn grasped Cassie to make sure her sister stayed in the carrier. "It's manageable."

He trailed off for a moment before continuing in a voice so full of emotion that Quinn knew it was coming from the bottom of his heart.

"This is a battle I know, a battle I can win. The storm is raging outside, there are enemies in my fortress, you are nowhere near safe, but back in the Gech, when I thought I'd lost you... This is nothing compared to that."

Quinn said nothing. There were no words to say when her heart was so full of love, knowing that even in the darkest parts of the galaxy people found each other and fell in love and fought and won.

"Those guys back there," Quinn said as Rhys took them deeper into the fortress.

It might have been her fruitful imagination, but the walls were not covered in frost anymore, the ceilings weren't dripping cold water and the air was almost breathable.

"Could there be others?" she asked. "Other men like Dolor, like that captain?"

Rhys scoffed.

"There are always men like that," he said with distaste. "Those who aren't born with the gifts to make them great, but none of the humility to know that. It's difficult for a Nayanor warrior to admit that he doesn't have the makings of a harbinger or even a captain. It's more to realize he's one of those who doesn't want to fare the perils of the wormholes.

"I can almost respect those who accept that, who accept their place on Luminos. I have no pity and no mercy for men who try to take what doesn't belong to them with trickery.

"Have no fear, my love. There are always men like me to keep them at bay and hold this world firmly in hands that can manage it."

Quinn felt her lips curling into a smile. It was nice, somehow, comforting to hear Rhys talking in his usual macho way. Only now she knew that he meant it and that he could back up his words with real actions.

It made her feel cared for, and loved, and not just that. For the first time Quinn was filled with hope that it was really going to be okay for the both of them – her and Cassie, too. With Rhys back in charge, the fortress could become a home to them, a home far from home.

It was at that moment of tranquility that a plasma blast hit the carrier from the side.

The carrier toppled, flying hard against the wall in the empty, cold hallway. The massive rows of pillars rose on either side of Quinn as she felt cold tears stinging in her eyes, climbing out from the wreckage of the carrier.

"Cassie..." she whispered as Rhys stood like a growling warrior god, shrugging off the destroyed carrier like it was nothing more than pieces of rubble to him.

Quinn saw Cassie lying under the carrier, miraculously unharmed, but still unconscious. The fear returned to her heart. If Cassie didn't wake up after a blow like that, what were her chances?

Quinn pulled her out from the burning remains and pressed her hand against her sister's cheek. Rhys stood over them, looking for the attacker with his sword unsheathed, snarling like a wild beast. The fury was almost palpable.

Cassie was still cold. Quinn checked to see if the diadon in her chest was still working. Some of the claws holding it in place had come loose with the attack. Quinn looked at Rhys, shaking. They were too close to lose everything.

"She's in a bad way," she called to her fated. "We need to get her to the healers, fast!"

Rhys gave her a curt nod, not looking their way as he searched for the person who was trying to kill them.

Then he heard footsteps and saw him very clearly.

Captain Jeroek was approaching them with a plasma cannon in his hands and an ashen, mad expression on his face. His armor was chipped and torn as if he'd been in a rough battle that he barely escaped. He was coming right at them.

Rhys barred his way, but even he wasn't mad enough to run headlong into a plasma weapon. Its destructive powers were evident in the smoking, charred carrier next to them.

The harbinger raised his sword, aiming it at Jeroek.

"Drop that thing and face me like a man," he barked at the captain. "Time and time again you try to kill my fated instead of settling the battle between us. If I didn't know you were born on this planet, I would never believe you are a Nayanor."

Jeroek's thin lips curled into a crooked smile as he kept approaching, only stopping when he was about fifteen meters from them.

"You keep saying that, Harbinger," he said with loathing, but Quinn could hear the bitter envy in his broken, rasping voice. "You always urge us to solve matters like you, but we are not you. I've been told that from the day I was born. Why in the name of gods would I want to fight you fairly? I don't have a death wish, if that's not obvious to you already. I want to live.

"And you know what? It's starting to look like I will. Because here we are. You have your big sword, Harbinger, I see. And I have a gun that will turn that into its component parts."

"Quinn," Rhys said, still covering her with his body. "Move behind that pillar, you and your sister both."

Jeroek laughed as Quinn did as she'd been told.

"Do you think that will save her once I'm done with you?"

Rhys didn't reply and Jeroek took aim with the cannon.

"Stop," he said and the mad seriousness in his voice made Quinn obey, looking at the captain's wild eyes. "I won't let you take my only way out of here from me. I know how bravely you ran out into the storm to save her. I have no doubt you'd do anything to keep her alive now. Including telling me how to unlock the secret passageway."

Quinn could hear Rhys bark a dark laugh in response.

"You," Rhys stated. "I knew it was you who somehow knew where it was. Funny how your plan to kill me backfired so horrendously for you. If you hadn't tried to leave us outside the gates, you would never have alerted me to the fact there was someone else who knew of the path. You could be out of here, free to die in the loving grasp of the long night."

The hateful look on Jeroek's face said that he'd realized that too.

"Careless of me, yes," he admitted through gritted teeth. "The man who told me the secret never revealed it could be locked. Perhaps he didn't know. Perhaps he wanted to trap me. It's no matter now. You will tell me or I will turn these females into ash."

Jeroek turned his cruel, wild eyes to Quinn.

"I'll take yours with me," he pointed. "As a guarantee. I should also thank you, Harbinger. I never figured out how to survive in case this all went wrong and I had to flee. Now you've parked my ride right in front of the main gate."

He laughed hollowly, the plasma cannon swaying wildly in his hands. Quinn couldn't take her eyes off the gun, wondering if Jeroek was capable of firing by mistake.

"That is not going to happen," Rhys said and the laugh was cut short.

"I don't think you heard me," Jeroek growled in response, aiming again. "I said I will kill all of you."

"If you dared, you already would have," Rhys answered. "Tell me the truth instead."

He took a step toward the captain who was looking at him, wide-eyed, backing away a step.

"All those stories you told those naïve fools, they were meaningless, weren't they?" the harbinger asked, motioning for Quinn to be ready. "They hated me so much they ate it all up. About me being under the influence of a female. About me being too weak to run this fortress when everything they'd experienced proved it wrong. I understand why they chose to believe your lies. All that remains is for you to tell me why you thought all this would work."

Jeroek glared at him, his eyes flicking between the harbinger and Quinn. She watched him struggle, hesitating between his escape plan and telling Rhys of his plan.

The same comic book villain mistake, Quinn thought. They can't resist telling their masterplan, can they?

"I didn't," Jeroek finally coughed, the maniacal grin spreading wider on his lips. "Gods, I didn't. I mean, look at all this."

He gestured to the empty fortress with his plasma cannon, eyes burning in his head.

"Who in here was going to follow me? Especially once Kol-Eresh arrived. I had some trouble convincing the others it was still worth going through after that. One harbinger was gone, but the other remained and he has a reputation as well."

Jeroek laughed, shaking his head as the insanity spilled out of him like a cascade. Quinn could barely believe her ears as he continued.

"I never thought I could do it," he admitted, chuckling like he found it all to be one great, terrible joke. "But the others... gods, Harbinger, if you only knew how badly they hated you. I have no doubt they're all dead now, aren't they? I see the blood on your armor.

"Don't move, female, I will blow your pretty little head to cinders!"

Quinn froze in her steps. Rhys glanced her way and the look in the harbinger's eyes was terrible to behold. Quinn had no idea how Jeroek still dared to go on speaking, but he did.

"They ate up all my lies so easily. I didn't even have to come up with good ones. Would you believe I convinced them that they could have a say in how this fortress was run after all those who sided with you were dead? As if leadership could be spread apart so thinly! Hah... ha-hah-hah.

"It was the greatest thing I'd ever heard, you know. To hear how much of their common sense they were willing to ignore to just believe, for one second! For one glorious moment that you could be defeated and made to pay for everything you'd put them through."

Jeroek stopped, finally seeing Rhys' face. The captain then took a better hold of the plasma cannon and said the last of his piece.

"All I ever wanted was to see that look on your face, Harbinger," he said. "I never had any chance of defeating you in single combat. That's insanity. Those are rules imposed by those who know they can win fights like that. All I wanted was to see you looking at me, standing here in the ruins of your fucking fortress, knowing that I did this, that I brought you here.

"That it was me who brought you so much destruction and pain! If I would have gotten your fated as well, that would have been something... but no matter. I can still see the horror in your eyes when I drag her away from you.

"And I know you'll never forget me. I can stay in your mind forever, as long as you live, as the enemy who hurt you the most."

Quinn couldn't believe it. The man in front of her was clearly out of his mind. A week ago she would have found it to be a good joke. She would even have laughed at the irony that even Nayanors had deal with their own madmen from time to time. Now, listening to the man who had no problem killing thousands of people just to get back at Rhys... it was too much.

She barely even noticed the cold that made her body shake from head to toe.

"You're a monster," she spat at Jeroek, unable to stop herself from speaking. "All of Jos Gharo has to suffer because you want to be remembered? We had lunatics like you back on Terra."

Jeroek looked at her but Quinn couldn't be sure the man actually saw her. It seemed he was beyond comprehending such things. Someone fueled by that much hatred couldn't grasp the world properly.

"You are bonded to a monster, female," Jeroek replied. "To a man who destroys lives before they have even been lived. Who gave him the right to decide over the fates of others?"

"Are you insane?" Quinn called to the man, so angry she no longer remembered not to draw attention to herself. "How can you accuse Rhys of ruling over lives when you just murdered thousands of people? And if he discarded you, I don't think he was wrong. Clearly."

"You know nothing, female," Jeroek said, grinning, but there was no conviction in his voice. "Now, come with me and I might let you live."

Rhys was about to say something when the plasma cannon rose again and this time, Jeroek's hands didn't shake. Quinn was starting to think he wasn't nearly as out of control as he seemed.

"It's okay," she told Rhys then, making sure Cassie was safe behind the harbinger, stepping past him and seeing the confusion on his face. "I know you can save me."

She looked her fated straight in the eye, hoping he saw her meaning. Rhys' gaze was incredulous, but he didn't say a word. Plasma cannons changed the rules of close combat, after all.

"Save you?" Jeroek laughed. "I like you, female. You're funny. I'll keep you to amuse me and to keep your fated off my back. Yes, I think this is good. Come, female. You can lead the way, Rhys. Leave the other one. I won't be dragging her along."

It's going to be alright, Cassie.

Quinn approached the captain slowly, aware of what people might do when they felt cornered. She reached him and Jeroek grabbed her, like she'd known he would. Turned around, Quinn saw that Rhys had followed her, the sword still bared and his eyes almost black with rage.

She could feel Jeroek wince.

"Stay back," he warned, raising the cannon in his free, left hand. "Don't come closer or I'll –"

Quinn moved. She knew it was her only chance, just as she knew that Rhys was faster than the cannon. She'd seen him move in combat before. Her backhand punch probably didn't hurt Jeroek in the least, but it served to distract him for the lone second Rhys needed. She jumped on the man's arm with her entire body weight, pinning him down.

Even so, the plasma cannon barked before she could get to it.

Quinn's heart almost stopped, but then Rhys was there, moving like he was the storm itself. He ripped her out of Jeroek's grip, his armored fist breaking the captain's nose before the long, wide blade descended. Jeroek's hand toppled to the ground along with the cannon and Quinn jumped back.

Jeroek's mouth opened in horror as he searched for words, but it was no use. The world they were on was called Luminos and it was ruled by swords and muscle.

Rhys' blade dealt out swift and clean justice.

Then Quinn was in his arms, shivering in the prevailing cold against his freezing armor. Somehow, it didn't compare to the warmth she felt inside when the harbinger softly kissed her hair.

"I love you," she whispered.

The words came out of the blue at long last, but she finally knew they were true without a shadow of doubt. Quinn was shaking, clinging to the harbinger, her eyes never leaving his as she tried to force the emotion that overwhelmed her into his mind.

She didn't need to.

"And I love you, my heart," Rhys said, holding her tighter in his embrace, the smile on his lips telling her how long he'd wanted to say that.

The moment was perfect despite everything. There had been moments when it had seemed impossible they would ever have the chance to confess their feelings to each other. So many things had stood in their way – enemies, the storm, their own fears.

It had all been worth it just to have each other in the end. Now they were free to say those words forever.

"You're safe," Rhys said, his rough voice shaking a little. "No one will hurt you now."

Quinn believed him, unable to keep the smile off her lips at a moment when even that simple movement hurt. She raised to her tiptoes to kiss Rhys, his mouth against hers the only warm thing in the galaxy, but it was enough.

It seemed that even the gods were happy with them, because when they returned to Cassie, Quinn got the first good surprise in what seemed like a lifetime on Luminos.

Her sister was lying on the ground under a pillar, darkened three feet above her head from the second plasma blast. The heat was like a furnace in the midst of a snowstorm and Cassie's eyes were open, blinking and confused, but alive.