To Cease any confusion from here on out, parts of this story will switch from first person to third person. For the most part it will be primary third person, when Liam has flashbacks, it will usually be in first person narrative.:) Oh and if you were wondering what Liam looked like, his face claim is on the profile page for our account. Read and Review.P.S, Sorry if the first chapter kinda sucked. I've updated it and revised the first one if that helps. Hope this makes up for it. -Peeta
Well, let me start off by saying that sleeping on cold leather seats in the middle of fucking nowhere sucks dragon balls.
I mean really sucks.
Liam's eyes went directly for the small pocketwatch given to him by his grandfather. There were many small scratches around the top of its gold face from being wound while under the influence. He was what we called a 'social drinker', now if that means becoming so fucking intoxicated that you can't apparate home... then he was social all right.
The dull and dry sensation in his eyes was getting to him; as he tried to pry them from their adjacent eyelids, they burned and refused to open. His wand, tightly slipped against his chest, stabbed him and he jerked, waking myself up fully, startling the owl in the process; who flapped his wings madly, screeching as Liam bonked his head against the roof of the car.
"Relax. Relax." He groaned, rubbing his head for relief. "For fuck's sake, we're the only ones here."
As he rolled the windows down to allow Blade to stretch his wings, a sharp gust of wind slapped Liam in the face. Mother nature's reminder of how what had happened last night wasn't a dream and he was still homeless...to an extent anyway.
Deep puddles riddled the grounds, gifting small lakes all around; bark encrusted tall trees were stripped naked of their leaves, leaving him feeling empty and out in the open, despite dozens of enchantments drawn up to keep his location hidden.
He decided on taking a small stroll, stretch his legs and all that.
However, the boots he was wearing sank in the water and now his jeans, which had been slept in, had water splashed along the top and were leaking into his socks.
He groaned for a second time, shaking the few droplets of water he could, off and continuing on his merry way.
Merry...What a load of rubbish.
"Well. You got your wish, Benjamin. I'm miserable and out of your way." Liam chuckled softly, looking up into the skies, now dark and of a purplish hue.
"You happy?! Stupid piece of shit!" He soon shouted.
An array of colorful swears followed into the mountainside. His built up anger finally surfacing and exploited into the deep hills for no one to hear. His own little piece of heaven spurting wings and taking flight within the depths of purgatory.
Steam rose up from the floor beneath his feet, as if an underground hot-spring lay below and finally bubbled up enough pressure to begin a small eruption.
Sunlight lay hidden past the mountains lips, it had yet to kiss the sky good morning. He assumed now that it was about 6 in the morning, light enough to be able to see but dark enough to prevent a clear vision of a path that would lead him out of here.
That all too sudden lack of noise however brought anxiety. There were no birds singing, not a peep. It was still and quiet. A calm before the storm or so he thought.
The sudden rustle to his right, peeked at curiosity and quickly he turned around, a blank expression laced upon his face as he saw nothing.
Surely there had to be logical explanation for it:
An echo bouncing off an object from far away.
My wild imagination.
Blade perched up in a tree somewhere.
Something...
But there was nothing but water and trees for miles. Having driven for hours upon hours into who knows where, Liam ended up in these back wood mountains in the middle of nowhere after seeing invisible rabbits jumping into the path of his car and disappearing into thin air. The lack of sleep had divulged into blown out hallucinations and he deemed himself unfit to drive any longer in this winding road at cliff's edge.
"Blade?"
"Blade?" Liam called, small misty clouds escaping his chapped lips as he breathed.
When this didn't work and he didn't come, Liam stepped forward, licking his lips nervously with his wand leaving its holster and now tightly held in his grasp.
Another rustle was afoot and out of instinct, "Who's there?" He cried, turning around constantly to diminish the chance of a sneak attack from an unguarded flank. "Show yourself!"
Was he slowly falling into madness? Seeing and hearing things that weren't there?
"Who's there?!" Liam's heart fell into his stomach at the sudden sound of a branch breaking behind him. His breathing now shallow as he quickly aimed his wand blindly and shot a spell which would injure and maim his attacker.
The only thing he managed to stir, however, was the water on the ground from the rain they had last night and a large crater deep with mud, was the end result of the blast.
His heart jumped into over drive, picking up speed, thumping hard in his chest cavity.
Suddenly, a low and pitiful screech had him distracted enough to where he decided to investigate, keeping his wand ready, just to be safe.
There was a rustle, followed by more screeching under a bush the closer he managed to get, and when he finally reach the site, the noises stopped.
Knowing this could lose him an arm, Liam pried away the leaves and branches using both hands...What he then saw, shocked him...
Under a bush, being attacked, was a Raven, a young one at that, probably nearly ready to leave it's nest, by a badger, who had the animal by it's leg dangling from his mouth.
"Hey!" Liam shouted, punching the animal in the muzzle, hoping that it would let go. "Stop!"
When it clenched it's teeth around the bird's talon sharper, He found no other choice but to use his hand to pry the beasts jaw free and give the bird a chance to escape.
Liam quickly took this chance, after being bitten and scratched, while he had the animal nearby, to use his one element he knew would scare it enough to run. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, the ground shaking under his feet, the feeling of hot coils condensing in the pit of his stomach and when he shot his eyes open, water had risen from the ground in a tall wave behind him, awaiting his command to bring disciplinary wrath upon the misguided.
A growl fell from the animals lips as the fur along his spine raised up in order to make him seen larger and snarled, backing away with his trophy while the Raven chick still howled in distress.
He was running out of options, and with no disregard as to if someone was watching, Liam's ocean fleet attacked the persistent creature, soaking him to the bone in one felt swoop, actually sending him drifting a few meters away and into a small boulder.
It yelped loudly upon impact of the icy cold waters, it's side slamming into stone. The badger soon hobbled off as quick as it could, past the hill and into a burrow, leaving the washed out bird to fend for itself.
Liam then sprinted ahead, hoping the tiny animal was still breathing after all that.
"Hey." He said in a soft whisper, finding a muddy, cold bird in an open patch of land, approaching his little friend slowly, and bending down to inspect any injuries it may have gained.
"It's ok."
But the little Raven was smarter than that and pecked at his fingers when they got too close. Hissing at him with no fear, with what looked like a bloody broken leg, all splayed out and bent at an angle.
He raised his hands in surrender instantly and bent down to the chick's eye level on one knee. "I won't hurt you." He cooed.
A smile, a genuine smile graced his lips, "I bet you're hungry." And he reached into his pocket, pulling out the remainder of an oatmeal cookie, chipping off a piece and offering it to him with an open palm. "Here."
He looked Liam up and down warily, backing into the wet earth the closer the strange wizard got.
"Come on." Liam sat on his knees, egging the little guy on. "We both know you're hungry mate. The faster you admit that, the better I can help you."
Still, the Raven refused, eying his every movement.
"Look." He bit into the treat, quietly chuckling to himself. "It's not poison."
The Raven was persistent, he'd give him that, clever too. Though, it was strange for a fledging to be down here with no sign of a parent nearby. There was an awful lot of rain and wind last night, he could have fallen out of his nest or that badger may have taken him an easy target and stole him from up a tree.
As careful as he could, Liam reached over and set the crumb near the raven's head, earning him a long and deep puncture wound to his index finger as he for the third time, got too close for comfort.
"You've got a lot of balls don't you." He winced, yanking his hand away and shaking his injured finger to dull the pain and sucking on the newly gained wound to his appendage, and spitting out blood.
Well this friendship was going off to a brilliant start wasn't it?
"Just take a bite, will you?" He sighed, "I'm trying to be nice here."
The bird had puffed himself up with an open beak ready to strike.
Liam slammed his palms against his thighs in defeat, "Fine. Stay here. It won't be long before that badger comes back and I won't be here to save you." He stood up, taking one last look at the animal and shook his head, scoffing as he made his way back to his car. "What do I care?"
xXxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
The wind was picking up again, it's icy daggers snipping his jacket and breaking into his flesh. A dark and ebony gathering of calls from forest creatures sprung to live as night was approaching. Once high in the sky with grey blankets all around, the sun was nearly gone, dipping into the mountains with nothing but a sliver of gold to mark it's existence for that small period of time.
"Damn it. Where the fuck is he?!" Liam snapped, pacing back and forth near his car.
It was now late afternoon, and Blade still had yet to return to their camp site.
"He's never gone this long unless I've sent him on an errand."
He gazed up, scouring for any sign of his owl circling around.
"Blade." Liam whistled sharply. "Blade!"
Was his companion in trouble?
There would be no other way to calm his nerves than to go out and search for Blade, even if that meant having to drive day and night.
Liam jumped into his car, stabbing his keys in the ignition, turning the car over but jumped backwards, hitting his head for a second time as a surprising screeching came from his passenger seat.
"What the fuck?" He rubbed the top of his head which was now throbbing. No doubt there would an ugly lump growing beneath his curled hair.
There, at his side, was the little Raven nestled in one of his jackets, obviously pissed to have been woken up from his nap, flapping his one wing, and jumping up at him as best he could.
Liam stumbled out, falling into, you guessed it, face first into a puddle of water. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"
A mask of thin chocolate brown dripped down his face in clumps, dirt and pebbles in his teeth and grazing his tongue.
He reached up to wipe his face, blinking his eyes rapidly, mud stinging the already sore layer of corneas from the lack or sleep and briefly blinding him.
"Really?!" Liam leaned up against his car, spitting out all the debris that had rooted in his gums and under his tongue. "This is the thanks I get?!"
After everything that he had done for that little Raven who was on the verge of becoming nothing more than a snack a few hours ago, that BIRD was laughing at him.
Cackling away like some bloody lunatic at his misfortune.
Still, as he leaned in to peek at his reflection in the window, he had to admit, he looked fucking ridiculous.
"Hey!" Liam chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You don't look any better!"
"Now. Are you going to let me bandage that leg or are you going to keep being a stubborn ass?"
With a wave of his wand, he cleaned himself off, now inching towards the Raven. "Come on. You can bite me all you want AFTER I fix that leg of yours. Sound good?"
The bird headed right for his arm to clamp down and slipped, falling near the stick shift, uttering a small low chirp.
"See? You're hurting yourself." He sighed, scooping up the Raven in his arms and holding him close to his chest. "Now. Now. There's no need for all that. Shh.." Liam cooed as he ran his thumb over it's black feathered back. "It's all right."
At first the bird was struggling to get free, going bananas and flailing about like a child drowning, but as minutes passed, the screeching subsided, the flapping ceased and the quiet ensued.
"There. There." He whispered, tending to it much like a newborn babe. "What's wrong, eh? Lost your mum?"
Yeah, Me too.
Orphans. Castaways. Forgotten.
Roaring spurts of rain were rummaging from enclaves of hills beyond; A storm would hit soon and if they didn't leave, the wheels of the car would sink into the muck and make it impossible to leave even if they wanted to.
"We can't stay here." He said to himself, looking around.
Blade would have to find his own way back to him, right now he had to abandon camp in the hopes for a better location.
Once back in his car, he shut the door, slowly brushing his wand over the fledglings feathers, to clean and dry them. Smiling as he saw that his friend had found comfort with a stranger and had fallen asleep.
With the tiniest of feather soft whispers, Liam casted a healing spell on the Raven while he was out, bandaging it in a splint after fusing the bone back together.
To his dismay, the Raven awoke with the most ear piercing screech he had ever heard, and shot his hands up to spare his ears of torture, the minute the bone snapped back into place.
At least be civil about this.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, "I was trying to help!"
Seems that would be a no...
"Ow! Stop that, don't be such a brat!" Liam's finger was being severed, or so it felt like, tapered between the beak, feeling more like a razor sharp blade than a mouth and with every move he made to break away, the bird only clamped tighter, refusing to budge. "Merlin's beard, let go! I swear if you were an actual boy, I would have punched you by now."
Had he said something wrong? Possibly offended the creature?
Why else would he have been glaring at him all pissed off from his lap, growling?
"What? What did I do now?"
His finger was tucked under the bottom of his shirt to clot the blood the Raven managed to spill, wrapping it tightly.
"Speaking of which, can't very well have you running around without a name now can we? That is while you're here, until you can fly off on your own."
He sighed for what seemed like the billionth time that day, "Since, I take it you're not a girl by the way you seem to attack me, I think-"
Without warning, his free hand was attacked, nipped at sharply, and cutting him off. "Ow! What?!"
This bird was not making this any easier for him, being a foul git and all.
"I'm sorry if I called you a girl, I won't do it again."
His bottom lip would keep him from shouting about the pain coming from his fingers, biting down quickly to muffle his cry and bouncing his heel on the car floor.
"Sorry! Fuck!"
Why would this bird be getting all pissed off for no god damn reason?
Then it hit him like a pile of hippogriff shite to the face.
"You're a girl." It wasn't a question, but a self-revelation.
"Is that it?" He chuckled, noticing that the bird had curled itself into a small ball of ebony fluff, with it's talons tucked inside. "That's the reason you were willing to chop my fingers off? You didn't want me giving you a boy's name?"
"In that case," He shrugged, "I don't blame you. I'd be cross if someone wanted to name me something I wasn't fond of."
"How do you feel about, Lucy?"
"Rose?"
"Allison?"
"Amber?"
Every suggestion he came up with was shut down with either a hiss or warning bite.
"You're rather picky aren't you?"
"Hmm." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, the small droplets of rain dripping on the outside of his car urging him to make a decision. "How do you feel about, Davina? It means cherished and beloved."
At least this name didn't seem to make her angry.
"You like it?"
She stared at him, nudging her beak against his waist and surprisingly, purring, nuzzling into his jacket to warmth and making herself comfortable.
"Davina it is then. Now, let's get out of here." He turned the car over for what he hoped to be the last time and drove into a path that would hopefully lead him back into town. "I've had enough of this place to last me a while."
This bird would be an additional reason of his vacant and blatant disrespect for sanity, and it was at that moment in time that the thought of never earning that said 'sanity' back, didn't bother him in the slightest.