Chapter 9

One of the worst feelings is when you wake up somewhere and you have no idea how you got there, where "there" is, and what happened exactly that got you there.

Quiet moaned painfully as he rolled over his head, his small feet dangling in the air. Sitting straight up, he groggily noted that he was on some kind of shore that had dark grey sand. The waves gently licked the ground not too far from him, behind him smaller plants began to sprout from the ground, gradually getting bigger and thicker the farther they were from the shore. Quiet turned back to the sea, blinking sleepily at the rising sun. The water was really calm now, not like during the—

Sea battle.

Quiet screeched in alarm and jumped to his feet, all senses flaring up with full force suddenly. What happened to Leendonn?! Where was his friend?!

- LEEENDONN! – he screamed as he ran to the edge of the water, hopelessly staring at the horizon.

He couldn't be out there, right?! Right?!

Quiet burst out in tears. He shook his head, and just then he caught a glimpse of something dark on his right. It was Leendonn, completely unmoving, sprawled out on the sand, lying on his belly.

Quiet ran there and threw himself against the huumann, trying to shake him awake but to no avail. Leendonn didn't react to anything, even when the angel screamed into his ear. Fearing for the worst, Quiet pushed against the large body with all of his might, and managed to somehow turn it on its back. He remembered what Leendonn had done with the old huumann before calling him dedd, so he laid his small head onto the chest and listened. He could still hear the strange "thump thump" noises in there, although slower than he remembered.

It was a good sign, right? It had to be! Leendonn wasn't dedd, he couldn't be!

Quiet slid down from the chest, which slightly moved up and down rhythmically, and hopelessly began pacing around his friend. He felt pressure building up inside him from worry and fear, so he did that had worked so far: he began keening. Only now Leendonn did not come to calm him down and reassure him that everything would be fine. Quiet realized he missed the comforting, if unintelligible words of his friend, or the "hush hush" sounds, or how he held him close to his chest or kept him on his back, or held his hand during walking, or… or anything he did. Without Leendonn's presence, this heart-wrenching sound did nothing to calm Quiet down.

The little angel suddenly stopped, stomped his tiny legs, and forcibly swallowed his whines, blinking the tears out of his eyes. His little fists clenched as he tried to reign in his fear. He would achieve nothing by walking up and down and crying, a fact he felt like he had known for far longer than he could remember back. He had to do something to make things better, to change them! But what? Quiet closed his eyes, drew strength from his sudden anger to combat his dread, and pondered.

Leendonn was alive, and probably sleeping deeply. He must have been exhausted. He… he needed a safe place to stay, a small fire and silence, just like on that night when they stopped next to a river. Right. Got it.

Quiet looked towards the big plants. That place looked good enough, maybe it would even hide them from enemies, if there were any around. He knew he wasn't strong enough to make Leendonn's body move, so instead he asked the ground to do it for him. A few seconds later, his friend was sliding among the big plants as if moving on his own, with Quiet trudging next to him, looking for a good spot. He quickly got frustrated, though. Why was this place so dense?! Why couldn't it be more useable, something to fit their needs better?!

He wanted a better place now!

The plants complied and they twisted, turned and moved around them, until there was a small clearing, with some of the large plants leaning over it in a weirdly bent way.

Quiet snorted. About damn time!

He gently set Leendonn down and got to work. Envisioning how that campfire had looked, he ordered sticks to gather in a pile and promptly self-combust. Quiet didn't remember it having such thick smoke before, but whatever, it was warm and it gave liyt. That's all that mattered. With that done, Quiet thought about the warm soft feeling the blanket had given him on his first niyt spent with his friend. Taking the large leaves of some nearby plants that were slightly bigger than him, he willed them to merge and change into textile, which he then pulled to Leendonn and covered him with it. It was too short, though, so Quiet ordered a couple more leaves to join the weave, until it was long enough to cover the huumann's feet.

Only then, did Quiet allow himself to just stop, sit down on a small rock that popped out of the ground, and just think. He didn't want to sleep, he wanted to make sure his friend was arriyt.

The place around them was silent, only the soft sounds of nearby small animals could be heard. It helped Quiet to focus and recall what had happened last niyt. He remembered the strange old huumann, the seven small figurines, the giant being in the water, and the battle on that large wooden thing. He recalled how Leendonn transported them into the thing, by avoiding the wall thankfully (he was a quick thinker, truly), and then navigated through that chaotic interior with screaming and shouting huumanns, all of whom didn't seem to notice them at all. Well… at least until that explosion and…

Quiet felt a shiver run down on his spine. That absolutely mad long-haired huumann with the wicked weapon and the blue eyes… The little angel couldn't really imagine why, but he was sure those blue eyes stared at him, and not at Leendonn. He felt like he had seen those eyes before…

And he knew now for a fact that he had to stay away from her. Stay close to Leendonn, by any means necessary.

His friend was also very clever, transporting them here, away from the mad huumann. Quiet remembered how Leendonn used his magic to do just that, and the little angel shared some of his own strange powers with him, to make sure it succeeded. He just had to wonder why Leendonn hadn't use this spell before during the traveling, if he knew how to do it. Surely, it would help a lot, wouldn't it?

Strange.

Quiet glanced at his friend. He was still sleeping. Maybe they will stay here for a day? Asking the plants to temporarily move out of the way, Quiet glanced up at the sun. It barely moved higher since he woke up on the shore. Hopefully that meant there was still a lot of time until niyt arrived. Quiet really hated the niyt, especially now that he feared Leendonn would still be sleeping deeply throughout that. Bad things tended to happen in the dark, if the past two days had been any indication.

Under Quiet, the stone changed shape so he could lean back slightly, but remain sitting up right. Maybe now he could ponder on the questions that haunted him. What was his name? Who was he? What were these weird images he sometimes saw? Especially, that one about those strange frozen flames. He saw those a lot, and upon looking at them, he got a distinct feeling that a part of him had been unmoving and stable for the longest of times. This traveling, moving around was foreign to it, which was weird since Quiet was also damn sure that he had moved around a lot in the past, even if he couldn't really recall the reasons why.

There were other… disagreements inside him too, now that he paid more attention inwards. At one moment he felt he had been absolutely massive, eternal and truly majestic. The next, he remembered being much smaller, but strong, agile and fast, soaring high or running on the ground. He had stayed in one place, his powers used by others to… do something. Next, he had much less power, but he made things happen by himself, no one else. He had been unique, one of a kind, but he was also an angel, one of many.

As if now there were two sides to him, which originally did not belong together.

- Aye, that's smoke, lads. Stay sharp!

The distant rough voice tore apart Quiet's line of thought, whose red eyes flew open, but otherwise he remained still. He waited, mind going blank, listening to the approaching heavy stomps of multiple feet. His senses once again opened up, and he could feel how these beings trampled the plants and the ground, how the leaves brushed against their brandished swords. Leendonn did not twitch at the sounds, but Quiet could basically pinpoint their location with absolute accuracy.

From among the plants, four huumanns stepped onto the clearing. They wore strange clothes, somewhat similar to those serving on that wooden thing last niyt, and they held a sword and a dagger in their hands. Their leader, the one standing on the front, had a black thing covering his left eye.

- Ey, an unfortunate camper! – he barked happily, his one eye glinting with hunger and malevolence. – An' a small brat! 'Tis a good day, lads! Some easy bounty, an' a new slave on me ship!

The others behind him agreed heartily. Quiet stood up from his seat, red eyes kept on the intruders.

- Yo pop's drunk, brat? – the half-eyed man grinned at him with his ugly teeth. – He's sleepin' like the dead. Won'cha wake'em up to have some fun?

They wanted to hurt Leendonn.

Why did everyone they met want to hurt them? Why was everyone so evil?!

What was wrong with this world?!

Quiet felt his anger finally exploding into him as the ugly huumann took a step towards him. He had had enough of this! This was all wrong! This was not how it was supposed to be! He knew all this… all of this was a terrible mistake! Now look at it, all wrong, all ugly and imperfect, and it shouldn't be existing, may Anu damn it all to the Burning Hells and back! Where did it all go so wrong?!

The ground sucked the shouting huumanns in, only allowing their heads and necks to stick out. One of them threw his dagger in alarm, which Quiet called to his outstretched hand. All ten fingers curling around the handle, he held up the weapon and looked at its blade, sensing a familiarity with its shape. He had held such weapons before. And now he saw how Leendonn fought with it. Quiet glanced coldly at the intruders who were shouting incoherent words of fear.

They were evil, ugly, imperfect. They must be removed!

Recalling how Leendonn did it, Quiet stepped forward and stabbed the dagger in between the neck and the shoulder of the half-eyed huumann, whose voice stopped with a choke. Red blood gushed out of the wound, just like that niyt at camp, and a sudden power rushed from the wound, through the weapon and into Quiet who shuddered. He felt strength coursing through his body, and with the dagger now only held in one hand, he dashed forward, slashing throats of the two up next. Every time those ugly voices stopped working and blood fell onto the ground, Quiet felt yet another boost of power, all emanating from the dying huumanns.

It was intoxicating.

He was at nobody's mercy now!

Stopping at the last huumann, who was crying and saying something that sounded like pleading, Quiet frowned at his weakness. What a pathetic being! Only good for being the holster of his weapon. The dagger slashed and sunk into the forehead, cutting the begging short.

Silence settled back in. Quiet ordered the ground to swallow up the intruders completely. They weren't needed anymore. He looked down and saw his hands and clothes dripping with blood. It was sticky, had a strong smell and stuck to his fingers more than water did. Quiet stared as it slowly dripped from his hands. The rushes of power were gone, but their afterglow still lingered in his body. He didn't know where those came from, but they felt amazing!

Quiet glanced up at the still sleeping form of Leendonn.

Leendonn was fine. He was good and not ugly, and he kept the angel safe. Not like those ugly monsters! Quiet allowed his anger to be replaced by the happy and calm feelings from remembering how he protected and looked after him.

Leendonn was his friend. And Quiet would make sure that none of these ugly mistakes would ever separate them.


Alternative title: "Cute Baby Quiet stops being Cute, holy FUCKING shit!"

You cupcakes thought I would leave out Inarius' ugly as fuck side out of this story?! HAH! Oh boyyyyy, that would be just too easy! Honhonhonhonhon, this will be juicy...

I've actually wanted to write a Quiet-centric chapter finally, and the circumstances granted me this opportunity now. Can't wait for more. -u-

PaulM and JC, you guys are still around! Thank you so much for all of your kind words! ^^ I wish I could reply to your reviews in PM, but I guess we have to settle for the next best thing. Let's see where this story takes us, shall we? ;)