Chapter 3

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for your support. Here's chapter three!

Enjoy!

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The three children and the beast were sleeping soundly. The fire had already gone out and there was nothing, but the sound of wind blowing through the trees.

Suddenly, the sound of a twig snapping woke Trico from his sleep. The beast's eyes searched the dark, trying to see where it came from. His big ears then caught another sound. Footsteps.

Something was near and it was approaching them.

Trico's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a dark silhouette between the trees. His weariness grew when he sensed that the creature was not alone and he let out a loud growl, startling the children awake.

"T-Trico, what's wrong?" Tomi asked, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. However, he instantly realized what was going on when he heard a low growl coming from between the trees. Soon the figures stepped out of the shadow and the boy saw them for what they were. Grey wolves.

Trico growled again at the wolves, his eyes flashing a fierce violet. While they did seemed to be startled by the beast's size and appearances, they refused to flee, their eyes locked onto the three children with him. They kept their distance for now though.

Jumping straight into action, Ico sprinted to where the fire was and picked up the thick branch, clutching it tightly in his hands. "Back off!" he shouted, swinging his improvised weapon around, but that didn't seem to be enough to scare them away as the wolves stepped closer to the boy, gazing hungrily at him.

Gulping, Ico hurriedly joined the others and stayed close to Tomi and Yorda.

Just then, the children cried out when the first wolf pounced at them. Without hesitation, Trico quickly knocked him away with his paw, sending it tumbling across the clearing. This seemed to enrage the rest of the pack as they closed in on the four and one by one they began lunging at them.

Ico swiftly smacked one with the branch, trying to put as much force as possible in his blows. This was different from fighting the shadowy wraiths at the castle. His main concern back then was protecting Yorda since they didn't have any interest in taking him. They only saw him as an obstacle and nothing more.

But this was a different case. These wolves actually saw him as a prey. He can feel fear and panic filling his heart as they bared their fangs at him. He tried to keep his attention divided between the wolves and his companions.

Tomi meanwhile took out his mirror shield, using the weapon to smack away a wolf when it charged towards them. He tried frantically to think of a way out of this, but he was having a hard time focusing on anything other than fighting off the incoming predators.

He glanced back to check on his friends and gasped. "Look out!" he exclaimed and pulled Yorda out of the way just in time as a wolf tried to attack her from behind. Ico saw this and didn't think twice about smashing the branch against its muzzle and sending it reeling back in pain.

Trico cried out suddenly when a wolf grabbed onto his hind leg and sunk its teeth into it. The beast tried shaking it off, but the wolf refused to let go.

"Trico!" Tomi exclaimed and hurried to his friend's aid. He aimed his mirror and flashed the light into the wolf's face, blinding it and causing it to fall down. Trico snarled and smacked it away.

"There is too many of them!" Ico muttered as he took Yorda's hand and backed away next to Tomi.

Biting his lip, Tomi looked down at his shield and for a moment he considered using Trico's lightning to fight them off, but decided that was too extreme and thought of another option.

"Ico, take Yorda and go to Trico. We're going to escape on him!" Tomi said.

Ico looked at him aghast. "What!? But-"

"Hurry!" Tomi exclaimed. Deciding to trust the boy, Ico quickly took Yorda and hurried towards the beast.

Wasting no time, Tomi began his plan. He held the shield in his hand and shined the beam in front of the wolves who were startled by the strange light, but the boy knew it won't distract them for long once they realized it was harmless. Come on, come on.

Soon enough, Tomi heard the sound of energy charging before a bright sphere of lightning flew past him and blasted the area in front of him. The force of the blast knocked the wolves away while scaring the nearby ones giving Tomi enough time to run back to his friends. "Trico, sit down!" he exclaimed and the beast complied. "Climb up now!"

After doing this countless times before, the boy managed to get on the beast's back with ease. The same can't be said for his two other friends. Ico hesitantly grabbed onto the beast's feathers and began climbing up.

He then leaned over and reached out for the princess. "Yorda, come on!" he called out. Yorda took his hand and let him pull her up with him. Ico sat behind Tomi while Yorda held tightly onto his back.

"Trico, run!" Tomi exclaimed. Trico gave off one final roar before dashing through the trees.

Tomi held on tightly as the beast ran through the dark forest. He could hear the growls far behind them and dared to glance back to see the wolves were chasing after them. He yelped when Trico jumped over a fallen tree and continued sprinting down the forest path.

"Where are we heading?" Ico asked over the noise.

"I don't know. We have to lose them somehow!"Tomi called back as he, like the rest of them, tried to keep himself from falling off.

Trico took a left turn and headed straight into some trees. Tomi screwed his eyes shut as he felt branches hitting them from every direction. They soon burst out from the tree, leaves scattering in the air around them.

The boy opened his eyes to see they had reached the end of the road. There was a huge chasm separating them from the other side.

"Tell him to stop!" Ico said.

"No, we're going to jump. Hold on tight!" Tomi replied determinately.

"What!? Are you crazy?" Ico exclaimed.

"Please just trust me!" Tomi muttered before staring up ahead. "Trico, jump!"

Trico chuffed and ran as fast as he could before leaping off the ledge. The three children screamed as they flew over the chasm and landed on the other side roughly.

Panting, Tomi glanced back to see the wolves had stopped and were howling in their spot. The boy sighed in relief, glad they were safe now, but flinched when an angry voice yelled from behind him.

"What were you thinking? We could have fallen down and died back there!" Ico huffed, scowling at him.

"But I knew Trico can do that jump. We've done something like this many times before," Tomi stated.

"Yes, but we didn't. Have you even done it while someone else was riding with you?" When his question was met with silence, Ico sighed. "Look, I know you were trying to help, but Yorda and I could have fallen off back there."

Tomi lowered his head guiltily. "I'm sorry,"

Ico ran a head through his hair. "It's alright. At least we got away."

Trico was looking around, not know where to go next. The trees were very tall in this part of the forest and even though he can see in the dark, the children won't be able to. He glanced back at Tomi and made an unsure noise.

"What do we do now?" Tomi asked.

"We might as well keep going. Staying in one place is probably not the safest thing to do now." Ico answered.

Tomi nodded and pointed ahead. "Trico, go!"

With that, the three children and the beast headed deeper into the dark forest.

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For many years, Yorda had always been curious about what it's like to live in the outside world. She spent her entire life wondering what lay beyond those stone walls, but she never believed she would find out because of her role in the castle.

And then one day, that boy with horns came and freed her from her cage.

He had looked so confused and yet determined to escape the castle. She never really understood his reasons for bringing her along or why he tried so hard to protect her and take her with him to freedom, but she was grateful nonetheless.

Now they were travelling with the other boy and his beast. She had been frightened when she saw the huge creature for the first time. She never imagined animals like this existed outside of the castle and had expected him to be like the terrifying monsters her mother used to tell her about, but he had proven to them that he meant no harm.

"Akai su ko," Ico said breaking the silence and snapping her from her thoughts.

She raised an eyebrow as she tried to pick up on what they were saying, but their words were lost on her. Sighing, she glanced around, taking in the sight of the huge trees surrounding them.

Just then, she noticed a flash of blue at the corner of her eye and looked over to see it was a butterfly. It quietly fluttered right by them and she seemed to be the only who noticed it.

Curious, Yorda reached out for the butterfly, but it quickly moved away from her hand.

"Yorda?" the girl stiffened and turned to meet Ico's confused gaze.

"Look," she said and pointed to the butterfly. Now the two boys seemed to notice it too and watched it fly past them. Even Trico stopped to see it head over some bushes.

The beast was about to move again, but stopped again when another butterfly flew by and went to the same direction the first one took.

Confused, the beast began following it. The boy in white didn't try to stop him as he seemed to be curious about it too just like the rest of them.

Yorda could feel something in the air that tugged at her senses, but didn't know what it was. The feeling somehow grew stronger the further they went in that direction. Trico made it past more bushes and stopped when he came across a strange sight.

There were several blue butterflies fluttering around something on the road, their bright wings almost shining an ethereal light.

The boy in white gasped suddenly as if he realized something and quickly climbed down the beast. He walked over to where the butterflies were circling to see something sticking out of a ground. He quickly knelt down and began digging.

Yorda didn't know why, but she felt the need to go inspect it as well. She carefully looked down to ground and swallowed back her fear as she began climbing down the beast just like she saw the boy did. She tried to think of it like climbing down the ladders in the castle.

"Y-Yorda, digu!" Ico exclaimed, probably telling her to be careful. She gave him a reassuring look before hopping down to the ground and making her way to the other boy to see what he was digging up.

"Ah-ha!" the boy exclaimed and pulled something out of the ground. It looked like a dusty old barrel and it seemed that it's what the butterflies were drawn to as one landed on top of it. "Trico, kumi!" he said with a huge grin.

The beast's eyes flashed yellow and began bouncing in his spot in joy while Ico cried out as he tried to not get tossed off the beast's back.

Yorda's attention returned to the barrel. She reached out and placed her hand on the barrel, feeling peculiar energy pulsing from within it.

Strange.

Yorda's gaze then turned to the boy holding the barrel who stared back at her in confusion. She felt a similar kind of energy coming from him. She could feel that this boy was different from Ico. While she felt something eerie and mysterious coming from Ico due to his horns, this boy here was filled with so much energy, so much life.

The princess found herself wishing she could ask the boy to get some answers, but she knew that won't be possible.

The two barely had the chance to react as Trico impatiently snatched the barrel from the boy's and munched on it.

"Trico!" the boy in white scolded though he had a smile on his face.

"Boy, what is your name?" Yorda asked. She knew the boy was probably trying to introduce himself to her by the river, but she couldn't understand anything he was saying.

The boy gave her a puzzled look and asked something in his language.

"I'm Yorda," she said. She placed a hand on her chest and repeated. "Yorda,"

She then pointed at him with a questioning look.

It took the boy a moment until understanding lit in his eyes and he smiled. "Tomi,"

"To…mi," Yorda tried saying the name out loud and he nodded. She smiled at him, glad that she finally learned the name of her new companion.

The two then looked up to see the butterflies flying away now that the barrel was gone. The boy looked down at the hole as if he was wondering how it gotten here in the first place.

He eventually gave up on finding an answer and motioned for her to follow him back to Trico.

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It was about a half hour later that they made it out of the forest where they reached a cliff and the sun was peeking on the horizon. Tomi sighed in relief at having escaped the forest and the wolves and then turned to his friends.

"Alright, where's the way?"

Ico blinked. "To where?"

"To you your village, of course!" Tomi said, rolling his eyes playfully. "Trico can take us back there right now if you want,"

"Oh," Ico's face suddenly became downcast and had a conflicted look in his eyes.

Tomi frowned in concern. "What's wrong?"

"I….I'm not sure if I should go back,"

"What do you mean?" he asked confused. After being gone so long from his village, Tomi thought Ico would be thrilled to head back home like him.

Ico sighed. "I told you the reason I was sent to that castle is because everyone is afraid of my curse. Imagine what will happen if went back to them. They will be terrified!" he explained dejectedly.

"Then….then come to my village!" Tomi offered, surprising the boy.

"B-But what will happen when they see these on my head? They'll be scared of me too!" Ico stammered, gesturing to the stomps on his head.

"I can vouch for you. We'll show them that they don't have a reason to be afraid." Tomi replied.

"I….I don't know." Ico bit his lip, unsure of what to do.

Well, what choice did he have? He couldn't just live in the forest for the rest of his life nor did he even know the way back to his village to begin with. This could be his only chance to find a place to live in without having people fearing and hating him.

He finally sighed. "Alright we'll go with you, but you have to promise me that you won't tell them anything I told you about my curse or the castle,"

Tomi grinned. "Don't worry, I promise! Now hold on tight!"

Ico felt nervous at the thought of flying through the air, but nodded anyway and made sure Yorda was holding on to him.

Tomi reached out and rubbed the top of Trico's head. "Are you ready, Trico?"

The large beast barked in response and began flapping his wings.

"Let's go!"

Without hesitation, Trico ran towards the cliff and jumped off ledge.

Ico screwed his eyes shut and heard Yorda yelp as the air rushed past them. For a while there was nothing but the sound of wind blowing and wings flapping.

"C'mon, open your eyes!"

Ico slowly opened them to see Tomi grinning at him from his spot. He looked around for a moment in puzzlement and then gasped when he looked down and saw they weren't falling down or even on the ground anymore.

They continued ascending higher as Trico flapped his wings. The boy watched in awe as the forest below them got further and further by the second. The huge cliff they had jumped off was now a tiny speck in the distance.

"Isn't it great?" Tomi laughed.

"Yeah," Ico answered breathlessly, a smile stretching across his face as they flew past some birds. This felt like something out of a dream. He glanced back to see Yorda gazing down below in silent awe. When she met his gaze, she smiled back at him.

Trico chuffed lightly over the laughter of the children before diving through the clouds.

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A/N: Tomi and the others finding that barrel is actually based on a headcanon that a long time ago the nest wasn't closed off from the world and people used to live inside it. Those people used the blue substance that the Master of the Valley created for them to power all those machines in the Nest and even traded it with nearby kingdoms.

But when the humans found out how the blue substance was created, they got angry and waged war on the Master of the Valley.

The Master then sealed off the Nest from the world to keep them from entering, but still sent the beasts to capture the chosen humans and bring them to the valley. The barrel that the children found in forest could have been dropped by someone a long time ago.

Anyway, thanks for reading!