Happy Holidays! This chapter, Harpy is almost as allergic to opening up as she is to water.

89. The Replacement

The worst things in the world were silence and stillness, and they were everywhere now.

Flux chewed on her leash. Not to escape—there was nowhere for her to go, because she didn't know where Gigas was and anyway she was too small and weak and scared to help him. So she chewed and chewed and chewed because it was distracting, and because she didn't want to remember the fight. Her first flight, diving down at the intruders' heads, gigantic enemy dragons in every direction...

Gigas.

She whined and rolled onto her side, shivering with the empty space in their tent. Brand's rider was still in the camp, and he wasn't supposed to see her, so she had to stay inside. She liked it inside. Gigas was always the one who wanted to go into the camp, to smell and taste and touch everything there was... but it was so empty without him.

Her whole body crawled with jitters. Each one came with sparks that popped and stung her. And every time her heart would beat faster, until she finally hid her head under her wing and shut her eyes and tried to squeeze herself still.

She didn't mean to make the noise. It was somewhere between a whine and a howl, and she smothered it as soon as it started, and what if the human had heard and she'd ruined everything and—

The tent flap parted, and Sienna strode inside. "What is it?" she demanded, crouching down. Flux whimpered and buried her head under her rider's arm. Sparks jumped, and they both flinched.

"I'm sorry," Sienna murmured, "but you need to stay quiet while he's here."

Flux bobbed her head. Her rider scratched her behind the ears, and the horrible crawling feeling eased. She relaxed, her body trembling only a little, and buried her head under her arm.

But then Sienna had work to do, and Flux was alone again. And she gnawed on the rope some more, until finally it was down to a few thin stands. She stared at it. Her mind raced.

Before she could think twice, she used her talons to snap it. Then she crawled over to the corner of the tent, the place where the big one had come through. Someone had stitched it up. In the moment that she clawed it open again, it was almost like her brother was there with her—he'd always wanted to do this, but she'd been too scared and now—

She tried not to think about where he was now.

Flux found Harbinger in his enclosure, lying on his side half-submerged in mud.

"Hey," she whispered.

He didn't move.

She hopped over the fence and approached him. "Hey!"

One ear flicked.

She poked him with her tail and let sparks fly. He leaped to his feet with an indignant yelp. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Someone will see you!"

"They're all asleep."

"I was trying to sleep."

Flux huffed. "You sleep all the time, now. You're acting like Brand." She didn't understand it—even the thought of spending that much time lying around doing nothing made her itch.

"I'm tired," he said, and put his head down on his paws.

She sat next to him, her tail twitching back and forth. The moon was out, and shining brittle-bright—she'd never seen it so clear before, only the light once or twice on cloudy nights. Gigas would have loved it.

"Harbinger?"

"What?"

"We can save them, right? When we're bigger and better at fighting, and when Sienna and the others make more hybrids?"

He heaved a sigh. "I don't know."

She flicked him with her tail. He grumbled and shoved her with one of his huge shovel paws, which only got him shocked again.

"We'll do it," she said, half to herself. "We'll get Gigas, and Justice, and the big one, and then we can all—"

"We'll get Gigas," Harbinger said. "But Ilia's a traitor, remember? We can't bring Justice back here."

"What about the big one? She fights Grimm all the time, I bet she could—!"

"No!" Harbinger's ears flattened in alarm. "No, don't do that. You have to stay away from her."

"But..."

"She's dangerous." He looked away from her and hunched his shoulders. "She... she doesn't like Sienna."

Flux stared at him. How could anyone not like Sienna?

"Don't go looking for her. With any luck she got lost in the woods and we won't see her again."

"Oh." She sat there a moment, until the jitters started up again. "Can we play for a bit?"

"...Not right now," Harbinger said, very quietly. "I'm tired."

Penny was with Pietro. She was with Pietro so that he could build her a body of her own. He was building her a body of her own because—

Storm shook her head violently. The thought didn't go away.

Ruby was with Jade. She was with Jade because Jade had just lost her rider, and she'd asked Storm if she'd wanted to come with her, and Storm had said no because—

Because she didn't want to hate Jade. Especially not right now. But she would if she went, and she sort of did even though she hadn't gone, because Ruby was with her and she knew that didn't mean anything. She knew Ruby wouldn't leave her behind. Except...

Except that she couldn't fly.

Storm snorted in frustration and stalked off across the grounds. This was stupid. She wasn't some little hatchling crying at a closed door just because her rider wanted to go into town for a few hours.

Even if she sometimes wished she was.

Jaune didn't mean to stare. It was just that he'd been sitting outside with Twiggy, and he'd gotten up to go to the bathroom, and he'd almost stumbled right into Harpy. So he'd hung back, because he didn't really feel like dealing with her right then, and Pyrrha was there too, and... well...

Harpy had taken to affection like a shark to water. She curled up around Pyrrha, her tail twitching in lazy contentment, purring and licking her face. Pyrrha moved with her, a strange sort of up and down half-nod, until she eventually nudged her away. "Okay, okay!" she said, laughing. "I'm not going anywhere, you know." The dragon whimpered and nuzzled into her side.

Sometimes it was hard not to resent Harpy. After all, she'd clawed up Pyrrha's back, and attacked them, and started fights with Twiggy. But as he stood there, half-hidden in the shadow of a building, he had love her. He had to love anything that could make Pyrrha smile like that. Hell, he'd have been glad to see her adopt Crucible, if it made her this happy.

Still. It kinda sucked to miss her when she was twenty feet away.

As if she'd heard the thought, Pyrrha glanced up. Jaune froze. He felt a bit like he'd been caught, which was stupid—and for a second he worried that she might be angry with him, which was way stupider. But when she caught his eye, she only smiled.

"Later," she mouthed, and pointed at the spot where she was sitting.

And, well, that was all she had to say—Jaune was already determined to wait there all night if he had to.

He didn't, though. Pyrrha came back a little bit past midnight, her hair a tangled mess and her eyes bright and shining. There was nothing to do but kiss her, and stand like that, wishing the world would just stop for a second...

Twiggy nudged them with her nose. Jaune pulled away and pouted at her. "Five more minutes?"

She snorted, disgruntled, and pulled her ears back. "Nno!"

Jaune sighed and settled in against her side, one arm around Pyrrha, and tried to concentrate on the fact that Twiggy hadn't gotten to see much of her either, lately. They definitely needed to do something about that. Soon. But for now...

He sighed and leaned his head against hers. "I missed you," he said—even though it was dumb, even though she'd been right there the whole time.

"I missed you too."

"How is everything? With Harpy, I mean."

A perfect, wonderful smile spread across her face, despite her chapped lips and split knuckles. "It means a lot. To be trusted like that."

...Yeah, Harpy could have one of his kidneys, at this point. Not that she'd need it, being a dragon and all, but she could totally have one.

Jaune squeezed Pyrrha's shoulder. "I was kinda curious..."

"Hm?"

"You were moving your head. Uh, before, when she was—"

"Oh!" Pyrrha laughed again. "Oh, that. Her tongue is quite rough, like a cat's, and... well, it hurts if I don't move with it."

Jaune blinked. "Huh. I didn't think about that."

"It can be challenging," she admitted. "I've been going to our Professors for advice, but there's really only so much they can tell me."

"It must have been like this for every dragon," he mused. "I mean, there had to be a first one, right? And no one would've known what they were doing."

"Imagine the first fire riders."

Jaune grinned. "I bet they were never bored."

It felt impossibly good just to talk again. The cloud of grief wasn't gone, not completely, but it felt like sunlight had finally broken through. They could finally be alone together, with no crisis situations, no hovering dragons—well. One hovering dragon. But Twiggy seemed content to lie there with her head in their laps, her eyes half-closed.

If he could have frozen this moment and bottled it... but he couldn't, so he kissed her again instead.

Harpy jolted awake with the phantom stink of the evil tent lingering in her nostrils. She twisted onto her side, her head lifting up, seeking out a better scent—leather and sweat and a hint of smoke—but found only a trace of it.

She was on her feet in an instant. Sniffing. Pyrrha's trail was easy to follow, and within minutes she'd found her. Sitting with the human and his dragon.

It had been along time since she'd felt it—the black mood that brought monsters to her den. Before she could think she was sprinting full-tilt across the lawn, and she snatched Pyrrha away and under her wing. The earth dragon reared up, showing off her size, and roared.

"Wait!" the boy blurted, and Harpy bared her teeth.

Twiggy jumped in front of him, snarling, "No!"

"Mine!" Harpy's ears pinned back. She wasn't going to lose the one who asked.

The earth dragon lunged at her. But Harpy slithered backwards out of reach, and pulled moisture from the air until the scales on her outstretched paw cracked.

"Twiggy, no!" the human boy shouted.

"She's his human, not yours!" Twiggy pounced. Harpy made to slide out of the way, but she'd forgotten about Pyrrha in the heat of the moment. The extra weight made her clumsy. In an instant she was on the ground. She thrashed and snarled and flexed her powers, but the sheer weight of the older dragon kept her pinned.

That was one of the first things she'd learned in the woods—never let them hold you down. So she imagined it was an Ursa bearing down on her as she struggled. She let claws dig into her shoulder, wrenched at her tail where it was stuck under Twiggy's foot, let herself hurt as much as she needed to as long as she got away. And then she was loose, and she spun around, and she tensed herself up to bite—

Pyrrha got in the way. She yelped and pulled up short, and Twiggy tripped over herself trying to stop herself halfway through her charge. "Sit," she said, her voice sharp. "Both of you."

Harpy nearly snarled at the command—but then Twiggy sat, and she sensed something in Pyrrha that made her do the same. Like a fraying rope about to snap.

"We can't keep doing this." Pyrrha hugged both arms around herself, her hands clenched tight. "So we're going to deal with it. Right now."

Twiggy sat with Jaune beside her, partly covered by her wing. Watching Harpy, who had twined her tail around her legs. Pyrrha was with her. Still standing, still with her arms folded.

"Well?" The little wobble in her voice made Twiggy want to crawl away and hide.

"Sssorry," she mumbled.

Jaune patted her neck. "It's okay. We just want to know what's going on."

Twiggy looked at Harpy. Harpy stared pointedly off to one side, her ears flat against her skull.

Pyrrha sighed. "Twiggy? Can you go first?"

She didn't want to go at all... but she shuffled her wings and said, "Hurt." And when Pyrrha didn't seem to understand, she gently nudged her shoulder with her nose—the scratches that still hadn't completely stopped bleeding the last time she'd seen them.

"...Oh." Pyrrha patted her nose. "Is that it? Twiggy, I really am fine. That was just a misunderstanding."

Twiggy narrowed her eyes. "Nno."

"I promise, it's alright. She was just scared." Harpy grumbled a little at that.

Pyrrha beckoned the hybrid over and rubbed her neck. "I think that means it's your turn. What was all that about, just now?"

Wordlessly, Harpy wound her tail around Pyrrha and buried her under her wings. Twiggy rose into a crouch, growling, but stopped when Jaune put a hand on her chest.

"Listen—" Pyrrha wriggled free. "Harpy, I want to spend time with you too. But this—this has to be better, okay? Can you please try? For me?"

Harpy snorted again, this time in frustration. She lay down and shut her eyes, and for a second Twiggy thought she'd given up completely—but then she mimed waking up and looking around. Her tail lashed back and forth.

Pyrrha winced. "Oh. I—you're right, I shouldn't have left without telling you. I'm sorry."

Twiggy made an indignant noise, but stopped when Jaune shot her a pleading look.

"But," Pyrrha added, tapping Harpy lightly under the chin so that she met her eyes, "I need to see my teammates more than just in passing. They're important to me. Just like Gigas and Justice are to you."

Harpy huffed and flicked her tail.

Pyrrha's expression softened. "They are. I can tell."

Jaune let out a long, relieved sigh. "Okay. Is that better, girl?"

Twiggy whined.

"Hey." He hugged her around the neck. "I know it's a lot, but... it makes her happy, right?"

But...

"Nn..." She choked on what she was trying to say. It barely made sense to her, it was so jumbled up in itself, and trying to say it so that they'd understand was just impossible. So she glared at Harpy and said, "I'm supposed to protect her."

Harpy stared back. Blinked.

"She's my brother Titan's human, and he's gone, and that means I have to keep her safe."

"I protect," Harpy said, her neck arching so that she could look down at Pyrrha. "You protect. Better?"

It should have been.

It wasn't.

Harpy was dangerous. She'd scratched Pyrrha. She'd also helped them in the fight... but Twiggy had to be the one to protect her. Had to make it better.

The hybrid cocked her head. "Your human?" She narrowed her eyes and stared pointedly at Jaune. "Have one. Two?"

"No!" Twiggy blurted. Then, "Nno..."

"Hey." Jaune pressed his forehead against her cheek. "What is it?"

"Nn... need Rruh ssafe." Twiggy bumped her head against his chest, felt another pang for the days when she could fit in his arms. "Tann... want..."

Silence. Twiggy squeezed her eyes shut, because she didn't want to see their faces. "Tann... mme. Nno fly..."

Jaune's hands stilled where they'd been scratching under her chin. Something lurched painfully inside her, and she keened like a hatchling into his chest.

"Oh..." Pyrrha said, into the horribly quiet. "Oh, Twiggy, no..."

Then she threw her arms around her, and Jaune hugged her head, and Harpy just stood there as still as a statue. "None of that was your fault," her rider murmured.

Pyrrha didn't say anything. She tried several times, but all that came out were little choked noises. Then, finally, she managed, "I don't—never—"

Harpy hid behind one of her wings.

They stayed that way a long time, with Jaune whispering reassurances to Twiggy and Pyrrha both. Then, finally, Pyrrha could speak again. "Don't ever think that was your fault."

Twiggy whined.

"Promise me. Promise you won't ever think that. Not—not when those bastards are still out there, saying you both deserved to die because of how you were born."

Helplessly, Twiggy nodded.

"Good." Pyrrha wiped at her eyes. Her shoulders were still shaking. Then a shadow unfolded itself from behind her, and Harpy nuzzled into her side. She managed a wobbly smile. "Thank you."

Twiggy wished there was someplace to hide. She'd forgotten Harpy was there, and she'd said all that, and...

Harpy kept her eyes fixed on something off in the distance, but her ears were flat and her tail twitched anxiously. "Council... killers."

"...Yes."

"Fang, too."

It took a moment for Twiggy to realize she wasn't talking about Yang's Fang, but the White Fang. Then her ears drooped. "We know. We saw their lab."

Harpy's tail stopped moving. All of her stopped moving, but she kept one foreleg around Pyrrha's shoulders. "Saw," she agreed. "Ran."

There was nothing Twiggy could say to that, so she butted her head against Harpy's shoulder instead. The hybrid reared back—but she didn't look angry, only startled. Like no one had ever done that to her before.

"Sorrry," Twiggy said again. To Pyrrha, and to Harpy.

And, after a long moment, Harpy risked a quick glance at her before looking away again.

"...Sorry."