-1Chapter 21
Malak was wandering through the midmorning streets of Piñata Island with Pandora sheltered in his arms. This was Piñata Island just moments before the war had officially begun. Prisca had no longer existed, so the island will continue to flourish with life. Sours nowadays had resided in the forests, jungles, and even some caves of the island.
This was Malak's re-creation. He couldn't call it his creation because Prisca had built it the first time. Malak had copied everything Prisca had, except for that evil mother of his and the sour empire, which meant that Piñata Resistance and PDF never existed.
The mallowolf was looking for a proper place for Pandora to rest. He could have whipped up a house easily, but his energy levels were pretty low, just enough to keep him going.
The sun had shined brightly in Malak's eyes as he spotted a young Pretztail adult with mache of pure white. A closer look revealed that the pretztail was female, her most noticeable feature besides her snow white fur was the long silvery hair the flowed with the breeze. The pretztail was watering her garden plants out in the front yard of her house when Malak came near her.
"Mam," he said hoping to gain her attention, though she didn't notice him at first. Hoping the pretztail would hear him this time, Malak called again a bit louder, "Mam?" Her ears perked as she looked over at Malak's direction and took notice of him.
"…Me?" She replied, soon surveying the area around herself, wondering if the mallowolf was calling for some other female, but no one else was in reach of the voice's call. Malak had nodded to her, answering her question.
"My friend here passed out," he raised Pandora a bit when mentioning her, "is it okay if I can lay her down inside," he said hoping that she would let him. The pretztail set her watering can down and stood up. Malak had tensed up a bit as she approached him. She had gazed at Pandora with her jaw dropped open as she noticed that the blue pretztail was in awful shape.
"Why not just let her rest at your house?" She suggested, not really wanting to share her house with total strangers, but something was different about them.
"I would, but I come from out of town, you see," Malak countered, "I found her lying in rubble and ash as is,"
"Why not try the hospital? I'm sure they have rooms available," she replied with another excuse, Malak was getting slightly frustrated now.
"Again, I would, but I'm short on money, but if you-" the pretztail cut him off after she heard 'short on money.'
"don't worry," she reassured him as she trotted into her house and closed the door behind her. Malak wondered if he drove her off into her home with his persistent pestering. The front door had opened before Malak could ponder the thought any longer. The pretztail came back holding a small bag, the contents inside had clinked against each other with each step she took. She offered it out to Malak once she had closed the distance.
"Take it," she offered, "that should cover it," Malak hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"I-I couldn't…" He winced, not wanting to resort to taking someone's money.
"I insist," she asserted, "no need to pay me back either," she added as she set the small bag on top of Pandora's stomach.
"T-Thanks," Malak forced himself to say as he walked off back into the sunrise. The white pretztail watched him for a moment before returning to tending her garden.
Falkor sat upon the toilet as he replayed the dream he had awhile ago in his head. He wished he could have changed the past for the better. The letter that he got when he was in the piñata resistance came to mind as he dwelled further on the dream. The fudgehog remembered that he mistook it as a letter from his parents when it first reached his paws, but his parents didn't really have a caring bone in their body for their son anymore at this point, that is, if they happened to be still alive by that point. Falkor tried going back in time in his mind and remembering it piece by piece.
"Come on Falkor… Think, think for once in your life…"
Falkor pictured himself back at the Piñata Resistance base, though he struggled where the whole matter took place.
You know where it is… Isn't it…. The place where we always hold our discussions? Of course, the lounge!
Falkor recalled seeing Jorelo and Pandora sitting together, and Jorelo was showing her something important, reading something from a sheet to the pretztail, but that part really didn't matter to Falkor. The white fudgehog sat across from them and put the letter on the table.
"I've been here for around a month now and I only get one letter…" Falkor interjected into the conversation, not knowing if he should be happy or sad about his first letter.
"So?" Pandora retorted, "we've been here longer and the only mail we get is emails from each other," she explained while pointing back and forth from Jorelo to herself. Falkor had sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I don't know who it's from, though I check the address and information on the front but it's all anonymous," he shrugged, Jorelo joined in the conversation after hearing his query.
"…Parents maybe?" he suggested, Falkor shook his head.
"I thought that too, until I remembered how much they hated me," Falkor said rolling his eyes again.
"Ouch…" Jorelo winced, thankful that his foster parents never hated him or Pandora. The pretztail spoke up shortly once Jorelo commented on Falkor's parents, "are you just gonna sit there, or are you gonna open it, maybe you'll find out who it's from then,"
"Okay, okay! I just wanted to share with you guys first before I did," Falkor replied as he retracted his letter back from the table and opened it carefully, not wanting to harm the contents inside. A lone folded piece of paper rested in the pouch, Falkor had pulled it out and read it aloud to his friends.
"Oh dammit…. What the hell did it say?"
By this point Falkor had gave up and resumed getting ready for the trip back home.
Outside, Jorelo and Priscilla were already in the spacecraft, which coincidentally looks like a miniature size of the stealth aircraft that the Piñata Resistance had, though it seems as if it could hold about twenty large piñatas and still be able to fly.
Jorelo was all belted into his seat, thanks to Priscilla. Unfortunately, Jorelo was still struggling to do most things without her help, but he was recovering. In just mere moments, Falkor finally met up with Priscilla by the front door of the snow house.
"Falkor, ready to say goodbye to this place for good?" Priscilla smiled at him. However, hearing that made him think of saying goodbye to Melony and he didn't really want to say good bye. The least he'd want to do before leaving for good was to create a grave for her. Maybe he could when he got back… If he ever did.
"…I guess so," Falkor let out a depressed filled sigh. Priscilla held the spacecraft's side door open for him as the fudgehog stepped aboard. Priscilla took one last look at the igloo-like home before boarding the craft herself.
Falkor plopped down in the seat next to Jorelo, not caring how much it'd hurt his bottom. Jorelo offered Falkor a friendly wave and a smile, Falkor nodded at him in acknowledgement. Priscilla however, sat right ahead of both of them in front of the large operating board. There were about six other empty seats in the room that sat motionless, the emptiness it made the place feel a bit secluded.
The engine started to pick up its roar a bit as Jorelo and Falkor both withdrew slightly from the sound. And in moments the spacecraft was soon in midair and charged ahead to the clouds above. Jorelo wondered why they needed to be so high in the air, in fact he asked Priscilla about it.
"Where are you going Priscilla? Aren't we going back to Piñata Island?" He tilted his head in confusion. Priscilla looked away from the main screen and twisted her chair around to face Jorelo.
"Yes we are. Which reminds me… Prisca's secret hideout was on the moon! Who knew?" The pretztail started laughing, "she's got a good way of keeping things secret from those she doesn't like, speaking of which… I better engage the cloaking device!" Priscilla rotated the chair back to the controls and threw a small lever, nothing seemed to change on the inside of the spacecraft, but they were perfectly hidden on the outside.
Falkor ignored the chatter as he was tuned out, gazing outside through the side window, saying goodbye to the igloo home and to Melony in his head. After bidding farewell, Falkor's mind trailed over to the letter he had received in the past, as if it had came back to haunt him.
The trio were now as high as the stars, which Jorelo gawked at them in wonder until Priscilla had broke his concentration.
"…Just to let you both know," Priscilla started, "it might be quite a long ways back, I can't predict the time we'll have to enjoy the ride, so if you want to explore the place for awhile, that's fine with me," she informed them, smiling a bit, mostly at Jorelo.
"I wouldn't mind a tour," Jorelo spoke up as he unbuckled himself from his seat. Priscilla did the same and headed to aid Jorelo out of his seat.
"Are you gonna come along, Falkor?" Priscilla asked him.
"…Nah, I think I'm just gonna take a nap," Falkor answered as he folded out his chair until it was laid out nearly flat.
"There's beds in the back if you want to sleep there," Priscilla offered.
"I'm not picky…" Falkor closed his eyes.
"Okay," Priscilla gave up as she led Jorelo out of the cockpit. Falkor hoped maybe a dream would answer his questions, he wished he wasn't so careless back then.
Back in the dream world, Falkor began reading the letter aloud, "'to Falkor,'" Falkor tilted his head a bit and gave a puzzled look at the parchment surprise.
"What's wrong?" Jorelo asked him, wondering why the white fudgehog stopped reading it.
"I never seen handwriting like this before…" he pointed out, but what he didn't know was that he had seen it before. Back when Hilary and himself were still together the crafty fudgehog would sneak into her room without her parents knowing, and once Hilary herself wasn't looking at the sly fudgehog, he would sneak peeks in her diary. Falkor learn a lot about her back then. In fact within the first few weeks they had became friends he happened upon a part in her diary about her having a crush on him. The fact made him blush and pretty quiet for the rest of the day after he read it.
"Well keep going then!" Jorelo replied, wanting to hear the rest.
"Okay, okay! calm down," Falkor returned to the letter, "'I'm sorry Falkor, but my family is moving tomorrow, my parents want me to be as far away from you as possible, they told me not to tell you where we're moving to, but they never said I couldn't reveal it to you by letter!'" Hilary was cunning as she was obedient, "'look at the address on the back, that's where I'll be… Forever yours, Hilary,'" Falkor finished up.
"Ha!" Pandora shouted, "seems I'm not the only one who finds Falkor annoying!" Falkor scowled at her remark.
"Falkor, flip it around and take a look at the address," Jorelo motioned his paw in a circle and Falkor did as he was told, but before he could make out the words he woke up back in his seat. Falkor growled while clinching his fist.
"Dammit!" He shouted at the ceiling, "I was so close too!" Falkor had wanted to cry, and he ended up giving in to the urge. All Falkor wanted was to fill the void that was longing for that someone to love, and who could blame him?
Malak had entered the hospital with Pandora still in his arms, he had gone up to the desk and waited for the barkbark receptionist behind the desk to look up from what she was doing.
"Yes?" She asked with a false smile over her face, clearly trying to brace her day of boring work.
"Um…" Malak started, he wasn't so good with talking to total strangers and not to mention he knew nothing about hospitals, "my friend here…" The barkbark stood up from her chair to get a better look at the pretztail.
"O-o-oh, we better get her into the ER," she sat back down and called them in. They had to wrestle Pandora out of Malak's arms, he didn't like the idea of random piñatas taking the pretztail away from him, but then again he didn't know how hospitals worked.
He followed them into a room where they started hooking Pandora up to wires and tubes. They urged that Malak stayed outside the room for the procedure, but he made a forceful point by giving one of the doctors a nice black eye. Eventually they all left Malak and Pandora alone once she was fully hooked up to a monitoring system.
Malak sat on one of the high-legged stools next to Pandora and watched over her. Pandora's heart rate on the beeping monitor was relaxing for him. The slow rhythm of the machine brought him to a drowsy sleep.