If Sana had known - before all of this - that she'd end up solo-ing with Nayeon years after the fact, she's not sure if she would've said yes. Not when her heart was still cradled in the warm palms of Dahyun: the girl she loved and wanted to protect more than anything.

But Nayeon had been equipped with the lantern, and Momo held their only flashlight, and Dahyun had always been too polite to argue.

Then the collapse happened, and their cries were swallowed by the falling tiles, and then - the dust settled. And Sana was left with Nayeon, cowering into each other for warmth, faces uncomfortably close.

The snow crunches under their hard-worn feet, shoes making ornaments of the dirt. Rusted bells hang off door frames of long-abandoned houses, their clappers turned to icicles, frozen in another time.

Nayeon stomps lightly on the wooden planks grounding the floor of a cozy-looking one, checking its solidity before entering. Sana wipes at the bell, feeling the cold seep into her old gloves. Then she rings it, once, twice. The sound is tinkling. It makes her feel better. And even though Nayeon shhs her to come inside, Sana can see her lips curve into something she hasn't seen in a long while, too.

Sana follows her inside, and breathes. Formless clouds escape from the space between her lips. 

"Sana?" Nayeon's voice is croaky from disuse. The floorboards squeak as Sana turns to look at Nayeon. "I think the logs are dry enough," Nayeon says, pointing toward the fireplace.

Sana nods. Tries a smile that reaches her eyes. "That's good."

Then Nayeon gets to work on the old kerosene lantern, still steady in her hand. They'd sacrificed one of their only two canteens for refills a few years back, when the winter nights had become unbearable, and the goosebumps upon their shared skins would not deflate even under the cover of a single blanket.

(On hot summer days, they'd lap at the small rim of the canteen, with dry tongues and sour spit. The water was always grimed with a bit of brown. Sana would pretend that it was a latte instead when the sun's beatdown was heavy-handed. Nayeon entertained her sometimes; other times, she just sighed. 'Let's carry on,' she'd say.)

Sana decides to wander around the house, feet entering the main foyer. Faces she doesn't recognize adorned the walls, floral wallpaper peeling at the corners. She hears the cracklings of a burgeoning fire from the living room, and smiles. Th