Rise like the Phoenix
A/N Well sorry for the wait again although it wasn't super long I still think it was a decent wait. As for why I guess I just didn't feel like writing. I'll try now to catch up but school's being annoying. Well let's go.
Demodius had been hiding from the whole town with the exception of Torque and Stream for a day now and he was already feeling frustrated with being stuck in his room for most of the day. Torque did his best to keep him amused without seeming suspicious and during they even planned to have him come along on the watch just so Demodius had something to look forward to.
He was in the room right now with Torque and they were talking about plans further in the future.
"So how exactly do you plan to get everyone's trust if Scorch spills your life?" Torque asked.
Demodius sighed "I don't know, how can you defend yourself with the accusation that you are a murderer?"
Torque shrugged "I'm sorry bud, but maybe you'll get a miracle other then that I can't find an answer"
The dark dragon slouched and was about to say something but they heard a knock and he instantly disappeared. The knock wasn't the secret knock that they had made for Torque and Stream to tell Demodius who it was and Torque opened it to see Scorch.
"Hey bud, sorry that Demodius took off but I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" the red dragon said putting the slightest amount of hate in Demodius' name.
Torque said "Scorch I don't know what happened to your face two days ago but even with the red crystals shouldn't you be resting?"
Demodius had fazed through the wall and was right beside Scorch still invisible and used everything he had not to kill him right there for ruining his life but merely whispered like a ghost "You will pay…"
Scorch heard the ghostly but familiar voice and looked right and without knowing it locked eyes with the dark dragons and said "Huh?"
Torque said "Scorch… SCORCH! Why'd you just zone out like that?"
Scorch flicked his head back to him and said "N-nothing just heard something. So are we gonna hang or not?"
Torque said "Well I guess but give me a second, I was just finishing something up" he turned before Scorch could answer and entered his room and closed the door and whispered to Demodius "Ok, I know you'll hate this but I'm gonna go with him"
Demodius had come back quickly and said "Ya sure go ahead" he really did hate the idea but wasn't going to let his emotions control him again. Torque nodded and left to go hang out with Scorch and Demodius watched them walked down the street of the town through the window and turned thinking of something to do. He looked to the drawing stuff Awan had given him and decided he might as well use it.
He opened it up and saw everything inside including good pencils, plenty of erasers, stencils, paper and other stuff. He took out a few things and started drawing but didn't know what he was drawing at the same time and soon he was in a daze as his hand and mind did all the work.
Soon he didn't even notice but he had made a decent drawing of two dragons and didn't even know it until he focused really hard to stop and was surprised with what he ended up with.
It was a non-colored picture of him and Awan facing the viewer except their faces with the tips of their snouts were just touching and they tails were intertwined in-between them. He blushed even though nobody could see it besides him and thought "Wow, I really do have her on the brain"
He almost wanted to put it up on the wall next to his creepy picture but knew someone would notice the change and put it in the nightstand under his small collection of books. He hated to put such a nice picture in the drawer hidden from eyes that would appreciate it but knew it was for the best right now.
He pulled out the book he had currently been reading and closed the drawer slightly. He read for an hour before he heard a knock and once again it wasn't the code they had made and groaned since the book was at a good part and disappeared in case the person walked in.
Unfortunately the door did open so it was someone who had access to the room and saw Awan come in and looked to Torques bed expecting him to be asleep but saw he was gone and smiled. She looked over at the mostly empty half of the room and walked over.
Demodius had gotten off the bed so he could stay away from her, against everything he wanted, and watched as she looked over his stuff. She seemed to notice the drawing kit had moved and investigated it seeing some of the stuff had been taken out and was now on the desk. This made Demodius gulp until she said softly to herself "Torque, you at least wait a few days before going through his stuff. Sometimes you can be a bit of an inconsiderate guy. Besides if anything I should get that since I payed for it and I'm the better drawer"
Demodius sighed knowing she didn't suspect him and saw her notice his slightly open drawer from when he grabbed the book. He had luckily turned invisible with the book so it wasn't on the bed and realized he had left the picture in there and looked around to try and make her stop her investigation.
He walked quickly to Torques side of the room and looked around. He saw the small closet and peaked inside with his fazing ability to see everything was barely standing and would fall without the door. He made his paw come back into view and pulled the door open making all the boxes fall over making the floor get covered in other pictures of dragoness' Torque had collected and he shook his head but saw Awan react and she groaned.
"Torque, why did you have to get all those damn pictures anyway, you've had a crush on Stream forever why do you need more?" she picked up the stuff and put it back barely and luckily forgot what she had been doing before. She groaned again before leaving and Demodius sighed coming back into view.
"That was close" he said to himself and went back to reading.
Another hour or so later Torque came back to find his friend still reading his book and was nearly done it and said "Sorry man I kinda didn't want to go out but you know the suspicion thing"
Demodius nodded and said "It's ok, besides I got to read for a bit so it was fine" Demodius bookmarked his page and said "Oh and if Awan starts getting angry at you for using my stuff it's because she thinks you messed with the drawing stuff and may also get angry at all the pictures you have in the closet"
Torque blushed "Wait, she went into my closet, why?"
Demodius said "She was snooping around and may have figured out I'm here unless I opened the closet" he smirked.
Torque looked at him and gave him a face that asked "Really?" and said "You seriously did. One of your problems could have been fixed right then and there"
Demodius rolled his eyes and said "Not yet, leave me alone on that ok?"
Torque said "Fine but try to distract her some other way" he turned to his bed and suddenly asked "You've been reading all day? That had to be boring"
Demodius said "I did some drawing ok?"
Torque asked "Oh can I see?" he asked excitedly turning around.
Demodius said loudly "NO!... I mean, no you can't"
Torque gave him a suspicious face and noticed him sneaking peaks at the nightstand and dove for the drawer. Demodius saw and in a flash from his training dove to it too and they wrestled for control. Demodius tried to use his front paw to push his face away but Torque threw his club tail into his gut knocking the wind out of him and he nearly let go. He kicked him in the gut knocking the wind out of him too but continued to push making him lose his grip on the drawer knob. Demodius then tackled him and forcing him to back away more.
All the noise raised suspicion downstairs and they heard another knock on the door and heard Awan's voice "Torque, what the hell are you doing, do you realize what everyone downstairs thinks you're doing!?"
Torque blushed and instantly got up without anymore resistance. Demodius barely held back laughter as his blush became so bad it went a bit up his snout. Torque gulped and said "I won't be able to face everyone for another hour or so now"
Demodius said quietly incase Awan was still listening "Well that means you'll have to sit here and talk to me"
Torque looked at him "Well it's gonna be harder with that secret picture you have, it's soooo tempting. You better hide it again or I'll get it soon"
Demodius said "You even look at it and I'll rip you to shreds" he threatened knowing Torque would take it more seriously knowing his true past.
Torque did kinda stop for a second and said "Ok…"
Demodius nodded and they spent the day talking, mostly about Torque and his relationship with Stream, but Torque kept trying to avoid it. After a lot of coaxing a bit he finally revealed that he wasn't sure if Stream liked him the way he did towards her.
"You should just go in for the plunge, get those lips together and see how she reacts" he said with a friendly smile.
Torque had no idea to answer that for a second "… I don't think I could do that. What if she thinks I'm coming on too strong and avoids me? I REALLY like her and I finally got her to start seeing me and I don't want to screw it up"
Demodius thought "Well give it time, if she starts sending signals then you're good, but I'd rather of lost her trying then lost her not trying and make her think you aren't interested that way I guess" He wasn't absolutely sure what to say since he had never been in the dating scene until a few days ago and didn't even realize it.
Torque nodded still kinda confused and said "Alright, I'll remember that just in case" he looked outside and saw it was getting darker and said "I'll meet you at the crow nest"
Demodius nodded and just in case took the make shift pack he made when he was about to leave and put a book or two inside and also took the picture incase Torque was waiting for him to leave. He flew to the crow's nest invisible and waited there until he saw Torque appear.
He landed and whispered in case anyone could hear "Demodius? Hey where are you?"
His dark friend said "BOO!" reappearing right behind him scaring the crap out of him.
He jumped up and back away almost falling off the perch holding his chest and said "Come on… you nearly killed me" he said panting.
Demodius laughed and they spent the rest of the night in mostly silence and reading. On a few occasions Torque would try to reach into his bag to see the picture knowing it was there but Demodius would slap his hand away and he would curse lightly and continued reading.
Like always Torque would fall asleep and Demodius groaned rolling his eyes. He waited until the sun to start coming up before waking him up before Burn came like every morning to relive them and take over for half the day.
He said he'd meet him back at their room and left moments before Burn appeared and flew back to their room like he said and changed back into view. He took off his bag and hid it under his bed for now and nearly walked out the door to get breakfast like he normally did after watch but stopped last second realizing he was still undercover.
He lay in bed to catch some sleep instead even though he didn't need it and heard someone walking upstairs and open the door. He knew it was Torque since he walked with heavy feet especially since he was an earth dragon and nodded to him. Torque nodded back and said "I'll get you some breakfast but don't blame me if it's small. I don't want to attract suspicion by bringing two plates upstairs"
Demodius shrugged and lowered his head again and waited. Soon he was back with only one plate but it was larger than normal and said "Ok we'll split the stuff"
Demodius shrugged and they shared what was on the plate. Demodius finished fast and didn't eat half since he was ok on food right now and also believed if Torque bought it he deserved more and Torque didn't complain.
The schedule continued like this for another three days and Torque started to increasingly complain that he needed to do something and threatened to tell Awan he was still here only to have his dark friend threaten him and back off.
Torque also continually mentioned how much Awan was changing since he 'left' and told him how she was slowly becoming more secluded and depressed. She even stopped doing her meditation sessions lately making Demodius fell terrible but would always say "I'm looking for the right moment" Stream would constantly try to force these moments to happen but Demodius would chicken out every time and Stream would have to think of increasingly outrageous things to say to Awan to explain her actions. The two were afraid Demodius would never come out publicly again but weren't going to give up.
Demodius was lying in bed staring at the picture he had made and sighed looking at the dream moment he had created by accident. He had even added onto it adding a sun over the horizon in the background and colors making him feel even worse for not telling Awan of his presence. He couldn't take it much longer and was slowly going insane in the cramped room. He was worried he would never achieve his goal but was too worried on what Scorch would do if he came back. But what was really holding him back was if Awan really wanted him back thinking her depression was for wasting her time with a monster like him.
He felt a tear come out of his eye as he the word 'monster' repeated in his head from his evil self's voice as he slowly drifted asleep.
Yay chapter is done. Hope you like it and for anyone who read my other Spyro story I will try to add onto it soon.
Admiralkirk
