Oh! Important tidbit! These ######### signify flashback breaks. ^_^
Anywho, read & review! No
reviews, no Chapter 5.
Morning in the Rainforest was a peaceful time. It was that time where the only sound there was was the calming rustle of the trees as a slight breeze traveled through gaps in the thick canopy. The birds had yet to start their harmonious choir of songs, and fortunately for the spider monkeys, they were still asleep and also out of fireballing range.
Curled up in a sundappled bed of ferns was a huge purple mass of scales and feathers. If one were to venture closer, they'd be able to see the white haired form that was comfortably nestled amongst the coils, the single wing that was draped over her nearly obscuring her from view.
As the first hesitant chirps and warbles begun to fill the air, the purple mass shifted slightly, a large head raising from the ground, eyes only partially opening as it's forked tongue tested the air a few times before a low grumble added itself to the now energetic songs of the disgustingly awake birds high above. Said birds were damned lucky that they were out of reach.
Figuring that he could steal a few more minutes of sleep, Malcho closed his eyes again and twisted to lie his head on one of his coils, a contented hiss escaping him when he felt the Elf move closer until her head was pillowed against his hair. He chuckled despite himself, thinking back to when he had met her only four days before, inwardly marvelling on how just one person could change him so much.
"Mrn? Wha's so funny?"
He hissed, startled by the drowsy mutter. "Amiga? Ach, go back to sleep."
"Hm? Wha time's it?"
"Too early. Sueno, mi amiga."
"....'kay...."
He felt her curl closer to him and sighed as he shifted his wing over her, enveloping her in his scaled feathers while carefully rearranging his coils to better cradle her. If I didn't know better, I'd swear she was only a child... Granted I am about a hundred times her size... but even in human years, she can't be very old... Moving carefully, he gently pulled away and rose his head, looking down at her as she sighed and shifted to rest her head on her crossed arms. I cannot believe that I am actually finding myself becoming protective of her! 'Friends'.... I can tell that means a lot to her, having friends.... but do I really want to.... to.... commit myself to that?
He shook himself out of his thoughts as he felt her shift again, blinking when he saw that she was now staring up at him sleepily. "Amiga...."
"What's the matter?" she yawned, stretching slightly before carefully sitting up, smiling in delighted surprise when he automatically rearranged his coils to keep her comfortable.
"Nothing. Just thinking. Did I wake you?"
"You were staring, so yes. It's damned hard for me to fall back asleep when I know that someone's staring at me. Hence the repeating of the question : what's the matter?"
"I.... I was trying to sort out some things...." he muttered evasively as he lowered his head onto one of his coils, sighing when she automatically reached out to gently run her fingers through his hair. "Amiga?"
"Hmm?"
"Gracias. Thank you. I should have told you that sooner."
"What? Why?" Lashana leaned forward a little to look at him. "For what?"
"For putting up with this old serpent for one. And for...." he glanced at her. "I do not have any friends, muchacha."
She smiled and rubbed her knuckles against his left eyeridge, chuckling when he hissed in pleasure and closed his eyes. "You damn well have one now. Well.... if you want that is."
Malcho opened his eyes and looked at her, holding her gaze for a moment before smiling and bobbing his head slightly. "Si, mi amiga. I would like that." He felt his cheeks heat and swallowed thickly as he rose his head away and carefully uncoiled himself, making sure not to knock her off his back as he stretched, limbering himself up. "Before this conversation becomes too uncomfortable for me to handle, let us go see if we can spot those gringos, shall we?"
"'We'? I thought you were gonna go alone," she frowned, tightening her hold on him when he slithered forward, heading for a break in the canopy.
He shrugged, well, as much as a snake can shrug. "I changed my mind. Besides, you said there is a sorcerer with them, si? I would rather not be shot from the sky like some overstuffed parrot.... and.... I would not leave you to face them alone were they to somehow evade me, mi amiga."
Noticing the faint darkening of his cheeks, she grinned and merely reached out to run her hands over his wings. "Then let's fly."
Chuckling at her enthusiasm, he sped up a little and spread his wings, pinfeathers brushing against nearby trees. "Hold on!" he warned, feeling her grip his scales as he threw himself upwards, bursting through the opening in the canopy and quickly gaining altitude. "I will be going rather high, amiga. If the air becomes too thin for you to breathe comfortably in, tell me, si?"
"Okay," she nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. Inwardly, she was cataloguing all the spells she knew she could weave, and the knowledge that they were rather pitiful compared to what that sorcerer could do left her with a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Worse comes to worse I can simply boost my magicks with a spell. It'll cost me later on once the power surge fades, but at least it'll give us a fighting chance if things get hairy.... And I still have that backup spell. Major Black Magick though.... I don't know what'll happen if I weave it, all the spells I've perfected have been shamanistic.... She jerked when she saw Malcho twist his head around to look at her worriedly, and abruptly realised he had been talking to her. "Sorry. Did you say something?"
"Amiga, why is there doubt in your eyes?"
She winced and looked below them, watching as the forest rapidly dwindled. "If that sorcerer attacks.... I don't know if I can stop him...." A growl escaped her as she slammed her fist onto her thigh hard enough that Malcho grunted at the impact. "Dammit! If I could only get back home I'd be able to get some supplies, my talismans, something! I'm practically useless like this!"
"You are not useless," Malcho hissed, halting his forward flight as he twisted to look back at her. "That spell you wove, back in Agrabah. The one with the fire. Amiga, never have I seen a spell that is so powerful, and believe me, I have seen magicks at work before. Simply because you do not have spells capable of levelling an entire city does not mean you are not powerful in your own right. If anything, your adept control over the magicks that you do know give you an advantage."
Adept control? He's lucky he didn't see me practicing that Bephis Bring spell three weeks ago.... "Malcho.... I can't.... I can't promise that I can beat him."
"All I ask is that you keep yourself alive," he murmured as he returned his attention to the clouds and resumed his forward flight. "I have no wish to bury you amiga."
She closed her eyes for a moment, simply revelling in the sensation of the wind all around her before smiling. "I don't plan on dying anytime soon, Malcho. Besides, someone's gotta be around to keep your ego in check."
He chuckled softly. "I can think of no other better suited to the job." Still chuckling, he swung his head downwards and peered at the ground far below, seeing the jungle thin into lush plains before it ended into the desert. "We are in luck. I do not see them."
"Eh? I thought for sure they'd be here by morning." No longer afraid of falling off, she leaned over and stared down past his steadily beating right wing, squinting as she studied the sands. But it was when the small hairs on the back of her neck bristled and stood up that she knew exactly why they couldn't see the intruders. "Oh shit! Malcho! Get out of the air!!"
"Que?!"
"Land! LAND!!"
Spurred onwards by the pure panic in her voice, he folded his wings and dove, eyes widening when a blast of lightning skimmed his bushy tail, scorching the downy feathers. What in the---? CARUMBA! An undignified yelp left him as the calm skies seemingly turned against them, a vicious sandstorm enveloping them in the blink of an eye. "Amiga!"
"I'm fine! Go!"
Reassured, he nodded and made a beeline for the rather unwelcoming dunes below, grimacing at the sand that quickly saturated his wings and hair, the added irritancy distracting him for the one crucial moment that he should have been paying the most attention. For just as he managed to toss his hair out of his eyes, another blast of lightning streaked through the air directly in front of him, missing his nose by a mere feather width. The shock made him reel backwards, wings beating frantically as he stared right into the heart of a huge sand funnel. "¡Mi dios!"
We're gonna die! Lashana huddled closer to Malcho and clenched her eyes shut, silently praying that they'd live through this.... and as if in a mocking answer to her whispered words, a blast of wind hit her flush in the side, ripping her from the quetzacoatl's back. Correction: I'm gonna die!
"Amiga!!"
She twisted in midair so that she would land feet first, barely able to hear Malcho's voice over the wild scream of the winds as she looked at the oncoming ground. This is gonna hurt something fierce.
"Lashana!"
Startled by the yell that was almost directly in her ear, she rose her gaze and stared at Malcho for a second, barely believing that he had caught up with her before she threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. Muscles rippled under purple scales as he grunted and tried to slow their descent, the wind doing nothing to help them as it hit full force against his back, making him lose what little control he had over their flight. She damn near had a heart attack in shock when the quetzacoatl hurriedly wrapped his wings over her mere seconds before they hit the ground.
#############
"That had to have hurt," Blackwargreymon muttered as he sipped from his orange juice.
"You have no idea amigo," Malcho grimaced, shifting slightly to rub at this back, as if the pain had returned to plague him at the mere memory of that crash. "Granted it wasn't all to enjoyable for mi amiga either."
#############
Am I dead? No... I don't think I'm supposed to hurt this much if I'm dead.... What the.... THERE'S NO AIR!! The Elf burst to the surface of the sand seconds later, her breath coming in panicked gasps as she drank in deep lungfuls of fresh air, her gaze darting around the landscape and the once again calm sky before she scrambled to her feet. Where's.... "Malcho?!"
A low groan drew her attention to a rather large half buried form in the sands, and she half slid, half dragged herself over to him, frantically digging the sand away from his head as he moaned in pain, panting heavily.
"...wing...."
The thick rasp sent her gaze over to the two great feathered vanes, and she paled at the sight of his right wing. It was crumpled next to him, hanging limply against the sands. A closer look showed her what she feared : the wing-joint was obviously dislocated. He was land bound. "I see it. Hold still, okay?"
He nodded, gritting his teeth to keep from verbalizing the pain he felt as she stood and slowly walked over to his wing, the sensation of her fingers brushing over his pinfeathers making him shudder. "You.... you must, put it back in before the swelling stiffens the muscles."
"What?! I can't--"
"Muchacha please! I do not want to lose the power of flight!" He looked at her pleadingly, seeing her eyes widen in surprise for a moment before she nodded and gently but firmly reached out to locate exactly where the wing was dislocated. "A little further down... AH! There!"
Moving carefully, she probed the already stiffening joint and frowned. "Malcho.... I.... I can't.... I don't want to hurt you."
Surprise overran the pain for a moment as he looked at her, genuinely startled. "Mi amiga." He stretched his neck out and lightly nuzzled her in the ribs. "Amiga I trust no one else. Por favor, mi amiga, ayúdeme. Help me."
She shivered and closed her eyes, hating herself for what she had to do. Tightening her fingers around his wing, she took a moment to dug her heels into the sand, then took a breath and whispered. "Ready?"
"Si."
Not giving him a chance to reconsider, she flinched and threw her weight backwards, the sensation of the joint popping into place making her wince in sympathy as he let out a muffled cry and tensed, every muscle tightening into pure steel. Moving quickly, she ripped the hem of her shirt apart and tied the strips together until they were long enough for her to securely wrap his wing, preventing him from using it. It only took her a moment to weave a Healing spell on him, but she knew that while it would speed his natural healing, it would do nothing for the pain. Dammit.... If only I were stronger....
That finished, she turned and went to kneel by his head, rubbing her knuckles against his right eyeridge as she looked into his grimace of pain. "I'm so sorry...." She reached out and hugged him as best she could, closing her eyes when he moaned thinly and burrowed his head into her arms. "I'm sorry...."
He shuddered as his wing sent another wave of agony through him and merely took comfort in the sensation of her arms cradling his head. It was only by taking in a few deep breaths of her scent that he realised that not only was she distressed, but that she was bleeding, the coppery tint making him raise his head from her reach to look down at her worriedly. "Lashana! You're wounded!"
She blinked and looked herself over, frowning at the raw scrapes over her bare arms. Must've happened when we hit the ground, the sand rubbed my skin raw. "It's nothing. It doesn't even hurt... well okay, now that I've noticed it, it hurts, but it's not major. I'm more worried about you."
"Understandable..." he murmured as he looked back at his wing, noticing for the first time how she had bandaged it to support the injured joint while keeping the strain off of it. "Gracias...." Sighing, he looked at her again and hesitantly lowered his head towards her again. "Por favor, mi amiga?"
Knowing what he wanted, she nodded and shifted so that she was kneeling, her arms automatically curling around him when he sighed again and gently rested his head against her. "We can't stay here long. We have to get out of the sun."
"I cannot--"
"You damn well can!" she growled, startling him. "If you think for one second that I am leaving you here then you're completely out of your arrogant egotistical mind!"
He opened his eyes and stared up at her, stunned speechless at the emotion in her eyes. Carumba.... I hadn't realised.... "I didn't mean to upset you, muchacha. But you stand a better chance of reaching the rainforest than I."
"I don't care. I don't abandon my friends."
"...gracias." Shifting slightly, he rose his head a little higher and rested his chin on her right shoulder, closing his eyes again as he felt her curl her arms around his neck. No matter what happens.... I believe that I shall treasure this moment always..... He rested a moment longer, then sighed and pulled away, raising himself to his full height while being ever so careful not to attempt to extend his right wing. "Alright, amiga. Let's go."
#############
"Wait, wait, you two trekked...."
"Through three miles of desert, yeah," Lashana chuckled, meeting Tvashtar's shocked gaze. "And I had to stay coherent throughout all of it to keep this one," she poked Malcho in the side with an overlong nail, "from passing out."
"Serpents don't do well in extreme heat, amiga. It was not my fault," he muttered, folding his wings in front of him in a very human gesture.
"You survived a volcano. You can't tell me a little
sun is that bad." She grinned at him for a moment, then turned to
look at their audience when he refused to meet her gaze, blinking when
she saw that Wolverine had almost managed to knaw through the duct tape.
".....anyway. You can imagine our relief when we finally reached what could
be termed 'shade'. I was just glad I could collapse and not have to worry
about digging sand out of my bra again...."