Chapter 7: A Savior on Tiny Wings
"How much further?" Nereus huffed, his wings twitching with pain as he tried to keep up with the shorter, younger haibane.
"Sorry! I'd normally wait for you, but I just...really, really hate this part!" Pyrrha called out breathlessly as she finally touched the other side of the wooden rope bridge.
Nereus looked at it dubiously. It was still swinging from side to side gently and it was a rather long drop. He took a tentative step and paused before taking another. He found that if he simply slid his feet over the planks instead of lifting them properly that it minimized the rocking motion that was threatening to make him feel ill. Calming his movements also seemed to quiet his wings, which were still horribly twitchy and not altogether under his control. It felt right to be as still as possible, yet he was also able to move relatively gracefully, despite the awkwardness of the weight of his new wings.
"Thank you for waiting," he said softly as he finally reached the other side.
Pyrrha smiled tentatively up at him and he couldn't help but smile in return. It made Nereus wonder if he'd been a parent in the Before. Perhaps he'd had a daughter. Somehow he didn't think this was the case, but it still felt somewhat familiar to be protective of others. All of this familiarity was disconcerting, and, rather than helping him feel better, it merely made him frustrated.
"It's just around this bend!" Pyrrha called out, waving from a few paces away.
He blinked. He hadn't seen her go ahead.
"I am right behind you," he said softly, moving towards her.
There was no time to be standing around musing about the past. He had to keep going forward.
It had been odd visiting the Haibane Renmei, and Nereus felt relieved that it was over. He'd received a scolding from the odd, stooped man with the even odder mask for entering the sacred place without a summons. It had been even more odd to be forced to wear strange, bell-like implements on his wings. Pyrrha had been the one to communicate while he stood there mutely, glowering down his nose at everyone.
But finally it had ended, and they'd left, trekking back across the pathways towards the place where Pyrrha had left the scooter parked. He pulled out the little booklet that had been given to him and frowned at it before placing it back in his pocket. He wished that he could wait just a bit before having to go job hunting, but something about the booklet made him think otherwise.
"Don't worry," Pyrrha said shyly, when they'd reached the rickety bridge, "I got yelled at too, when I first came here. I think it's part of the ritual of becoming a new feather, to be honest."
He chuckled as she ran across the bridge with a squeak of terror, following behind with smooth, sweeping motions. The ride back to Old Home was fairly uneventful, but when they finally returned with the sun setting behind them and a decidedly chilly breeze setting in, he noticed that a new tag had been added to the entranceway- a tag with his name on it.
"Come on, then!" Pyrrha said excitedly, flipping over her tag and motioning for him to do the same, "I think I can smell dinner!"
He followed her with a nod, a smile quirking up his lips as she skipped ahead of him. It seemed that even though Pyrrha was shy, she was becoming used to him, and it the sensation of being familiar with others, of being wanted made his heart pulse with happiness. Still, there was a sense of terror in his chest at the thought that perhaps it would be snatched cruelly away from him at any moment.
He awoke in a cold sweat, thrashing about under sweat-soaked sheets. There had been a terrible buzzing noise and glowing red eyes and a black, gaping maw that seemed to open and open eternally wide. No matter how fast he ran, it was always nearly upon him and when it had finally snapped down on his leg, he found himself sitting up and clawing at the air with a sharp cry.
It was then that he realized that there was something loud battering and buzzing against the glass doors out to the balcony. Cautiously, he pulled himself out of bed and approached the windows, which were covered with gauzy material. He pulled it back and nearly jumped back in fright. There wasn't enough light to see, but it seemed like something small and round was attempting to smash itself against the glass repeatedly. He stepped back over to the lamp on the nightstand and switched it on, illuminating the windows with a soft glow.
There was a final, sickeningly loud thud and then all fell silent. He quickly made his way back to the door and pulled back the curtain to see a tiny huddled form near the bottom of the door. Pulling the leftmost door open, he gingerly knelt down to his right and picked up a tiny, shuddering hummingbird. He shivered as the freezing night air hit his skin and immediately swept back inside with the creature in his hand, pressing the door closed with his foot. Once inside, he looked down and noticed that the creature in his hand was absurdly still for such a creature. Its little beak stuck out between his forefinger and thumb and he could see where it was resting its tiny forehead against the warmth of his finger. Though it was tiny, he could tell that its plumage was rather puffed out instinctively as a response to the cold. And, as he inspected her plumage, a slightly shimmery golden-brown, he realized that it was indeed a female hummingbird that had nearly brained herself to death on the glass window. He looked down at her and she turned her head, fixing one dark eye on him. With a tiny squeaking chirp, she nuzzled into his hand a bit more and promptly shut her eyes.
Nereus gathered a towel from the bathroom as slowly and quietly as he could to avoid waking the tiny creature and, wrapping it around until it was shaped like a makeshift nest on the bedside table, he slowly lowered the bird onto it. She made a sleepy squeak before closing her tiny eyes again, and he lowered himself into bed, looking at her quizzically. There was something about her that seemed familiar though he knew it was ridiculous.
"Perhaps I am simply thinking that everything is familiar," he mused softly to himself before he switched off the light and pulled the covers up to his chin and suppressing a massive yawn. "No matter. I shall think more about it tomorrow morning."
Somehow, falling asleep with the sound of tiny, chirping snores in one of his ears was far easier than it should have been, but Nereus spent his last moments of wakefulness wondering if perhaps he would wake up in yet another world. His wings twitched once as though in reply, and he sank into a dreamless sleep in moments.