"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

I flew off the ship and landed straight on the solid, dirt road connected to the dock.

"Never again…" I muttered. I still felt green from the journey and I felt sick just thinking about it. Cooro hopped down next to me and stuck his face right in front of mine, in typical Cooro-fashion.

"Nana, are you alright?"

"Ack!" Startled by the sudden loss of personal space, I scooted away from him and fell backwards. I sighed and laid on the ground, enjoying the feeling of solid ground beneath me instead of the horrid, rocking motion I had to deal with for days. I am a country girl, thank you very much, and I prefer land over water to travel on. Even the river that had taken us out of the mountain into Sailand made me queasy.

Suddenly, the sun darkened as Husky's head blocked the light. "What are you doing on the ground? Get up and get your stuff off the ship," he snapped.

I sat up and pouted. "I've been sea-sick for this whole journey and we finally landed in Asteria! At least let me get reacquainted with SOLID GROUND before we leave again. And don't be so inconsiderate to a girl; if she's not feeling well you should help her with her bags…"

"This is why I hate girls; they always make up excuses to get out of work and make you do everything for them," he muttered, just loud enough for me to catch.

"What was that? Wanna tell that to my FACE?" I grabbed a bag that Senri had just put down and began whacking Husky with it.

"Stupid! Mean! Insensitive! Husky!" I punctuated each strike with my words.

"Alright, alright! Cut it out already! I'll go get your things, geez!" Husky yelled, holding up his hands in defeat. I beamed at him and returned the bag to Senri, who quickly checked the contents and sighed in relief. I peered inside and realized it was filled with his possessions.

"Oops! Sorry, Senri!" I was flustered and embarrassed but he smiled forgivingly.

"S'okay," he said.

I sighed too and watched Husky leaving the dock with my own bag slung over his shoulder and his staff in his other hand. Bouncing over to him, I grabbed my pack and said, "Thanks, Husky!"

"Get it yourself next time," he muttered. He walked off, mumbling something to himself about selfish girls. I twitched but decided not to correct him.

"Yay, we're going now!" Cooro exclaimed happily as he ran in front of Husky and taking in all the sights the port town offered us. He tried to convince Husky to lend him some money for snacks and got a whack on his head instead. "We have to save our money, now that we actually got some!" he barked over Cooro's whining.

I grinned and turned to Senri, who was quietly marching alongside me.

"Back to the old days, huh, Senri?"

He looked down at me and nodded in agreement with a small smile on his face.

Oh, if I only had known.

The sun was already beginning to set and the sky was beginning to redden when we settled in a small clearing in the forest beside the lake. With my sensitive bat ears, I could hear the voices in the trees, telling me what each creature was and where I could find them. Behind me, Cooro was happily nibbling at a small pile of blackberries we had found earlier in our trip, and Senri was starting a fire and laying out the herbs and plants he had collected.

Husky was still sulking about earlier, at the port town. Childish grudges, I muttered to myself. But we did almost lose Husky to his homeland and as much as I disliked him, I never wanted him to leave. Even way back when, when I barely knew him, I didn't want him to leave just because I was a girl. The perfect apologetic action came to mind. I knew I wasn't going to like it, but it was something that I can do. I grit my teeth and spoke.

"Hey Husky?"

"What?" He was unbuckling his cloak and still not looking at me.

"Well, I was wondering...I mean, I'm kind of sick of seafood since that was pretty much all we ate during our trip, so you don't have to fish today. I can just go out and catch some stuff to eat and Senri can cook them…" I began to walk towards the trees, wiggling my bat ears and stretching my wings.

"What are you, nuts?"

I froze as soon as I heard his sharp words, dripping with annoyance.

"If you don't want any fish, just don't eat any. And get Senri to hunt if you want something else that badly. Your loud girl noises will scare away everything edible in this forest, even the plants." I wheeled around and saw him tuck his gloves into his boots before getting ready to dive.

I stomped over to him and promptly shoved him into the lake. Unprepared for the sudden plunge, he came up spluttering as his anima did its job.

"What the heck was that for, Nana?" Husky yelled.

"Oh, you want to know why I did that?" I snapped back, my tone soft and dangerous. "I did that because I was only trying to say sorry for making you get all my stuff from the ship even though I knew you were still tired and stressed out and upset from everything that happened in Sailand and I wanted you to take a break and let the rest of us actually get something to eat for a change but if you like fishing so much I hope you'll die a crazy fat old fisherman living all by yourself with no one to ever visit you in a stupid old shack!"

I breathed heavily, having yelled out the rest of my tirade in one breath. Cooro and Senri had looked up and stared on in concern and confusion. Husky had joined their staring; his light blue eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open, giving him an altogether stupid expression. I would have laughed at him if not for the present situation we were in.

With a huff, I whipped around and began running into the forest. I could feel tears burning in my own eyes as I took off, ignoring my phobia of dark forests. The only reason why I never freaked out while camping at night, except for the very first night I spent with everyone, was because I had everyone around me. They made me feel safe, especially Husky…

But now, I just ran as fast as my legs could possibly handle. I just wanted to get away from him, at least for now. Roots and bushes began to creep their way in my path as I went deeper into the forest, making me stumble and trip countless times. Sharp branches tore through my sleeves and opened small wounds in my arms, staining the cloth red. Normally, I would have stopped running and started complaining about the ruined clothes; I had just got them remade from Crystala, but now they're in shreds. I didn't care right now. The pain I felt inside hurt far more than the physical pain.

Finally, the exhaustion got the better of me and I slowed down. I folded my wings against my back, not quite putting them away, and leaned against the inside of a cave that I had reached. I sank to the cold stone floor and began to cry, the kind of cry that shook your entire body and contorted your face and wore you out as if you had been running. My head buzzed as the tiniest sounds I was hearing from the forest swirled around inside my head, mixing together and making some unearthly noise. I eventually began to calm down and I hiccupped a few times before wiping my tears with my already damp sleeves. At the moment I regained control of myself, my phobia, which had been unfairly ignored until now, washed over me like the ocean's waves. Every sound around me was magnified and I froze in my curled up position. Bushes rustled several feet away and I instinctively screamed. I watched as a small brown rabbit keeled over from the bushes, unconscious. The sight of the rabbit frightened me; it looked as though it were dead.

Suddenly, I felt the weight of a somewhat small, yet comforting and heavy hand on my shoulder.

"Husky?" I exclaimed. I wheeled around and came face to face with an ominous silhouette and shining, white fangs.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Hi hi, Wings here!

First, I want to clarify that I am NOT copying, imitating, or plagurizing Kay Hau's Husky and the Merman Prince in any way, shape, or form. I was given permission to use the idea in Kay Hau's story and develop a plot, characters, etc of my own. If you don't believe me, go ask Kay Hau -3-

So yeah, this chapter is annoyingly short, but since I am way past the due date, I might as well put up what I have right now...

And hopefully this will grow into something almost as good as Husky and the Merman Prince.

For now, this will have a somewhat similar introduction, but I'm planning on branching off in my own style. Maybe.

Also, this is a just a little side project, but maybe it'll become more than that if you like it.

Also, if I write anymore, this note will become longer than the story. 0_0

Hope you enjoyed this!

~Wings flying off~